Class J5Sl&^^>Q 
 Book .f\^g 
 
CONVERSATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 JESUS CHRIST 
 
 REPRESENTATIVE MEN. 
 
 1JY WILLIAM ADAMS, D.D., 
 
 PASTOR OF MADISON SQTJABE CHURCH, N. Y. 
 NEVER MAN SPAKE LIKE THIS MAN. JOHN 7 :46. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 AMERICAN TEACT SOCIETY, 
 
 150 NASSAU-STKEET, NEW YOKE, 
 la 
 
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 2,43 c 
 
 NOTE 
 
 In the preparation of the several chapters of this 
 volume, use has been made of the best commentators, 
 ancient and modern, on the sacred text. To have made 
 reference in every case, to the author consulted, would 
 have been greatly to encumber the page. His one 
 purpose being to interpret the Worct in the simplest 
 and most practical manner, the author takes this 
 method of acknowledging in general terms his obli- 
 gations to all those critical helps which it is^the habit 
 and privilege of every student of the Scriptures to con- 
 sult. 
 
 By Bxcha;. 
 Army And Navy Club 
 iff. 13,1928 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 
 the American Tract Society, in the Clerk's Office of the District 
 Court of the United States for the Southern District of Xew York. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 » i 
 
 I. Nicodemus: Tlie Eationalist page 7 
 
 II. The Woman of Samaria : The Obtuse Sensualist 35 
 
 III. The Young Euler : The Moralist 63 
 
 IV. The Intelligent Scribe : Not far from the Kingdom of 
 
 God - 91 
 
 V. Zaccheus : A True Convert - 115 
 
 VI. The Centurion of Capernaum : The Modest Man of 
 
 Faith - 149 
 
 VII. Martha of Bethany : The Mourner --- 179 
 
 VIII. Pilate : The Vacillating Man of the World - - 205 
 
 IX. Mary Magdalene : Love Kewarded 237 
 
 X. Peter: The Eestored Penitent 2C5 
 
, 
 
There is this advantage in studying the personal 
 conversations of our Lord : that we are sure of the 
 directness and appropriateness of his words. As 
 the several persons with whom he conversed may 
 be considered as the representatives of as many 
 different classes, it is the same for us as if we, in 
 the variety of our own characters, had enjoyed the 
 privilege of a private interview with the Son of 
 Gocl. 
 
 In an animated conversation, how. much of mean- 
 ing is there in look, and tones, and pauses even, 
 which never can be printed. In reporting or inter- 
 preting a conversation, it is important that we 
 understand, so far as possible, these unwritten 
 expressions; and this must be done by a careful 
 study of the different parties, and the circum- 
 stances in which their conversation was conducted. 
 
 There is a general impression produced by a 
 conversation, which is not fairly represented by 
 any one or two of its expressions. Though it be 
 true that any one of the assertions which fell from 
 the lips of Christ in any one of his recorded con- 
 versations contains thought enough for volumes; 
 yet sometimes it is well, instead of isolating such 
 
6 PEEFACE. 
 
 remarks, to study their connection, and observe 
 how each is related to the total impression which 
 is left by the whole interview. 
 
 In every conversation of Christ, there is some 
 one point which must be considered as the key to 
 the whole. Particular expressions may be hard to 
 understand; certain words may have a depth of 
 meaning beyond our power to fathom; .neverthe- 
 less, in the connection in which they were used, 
 they contribute to a general impression which it is 
 impossible to evade. 
 
CONVERSATION OF CHRIST 
 
 WITH 
 
 NICODEMUS: 
 
 The Rationalist 
 
 JOHN 3:1-21. 
 
I. 
 
 NICODEMUS: 
 
 The Rationalist. 
 
 This conversation of Christ with Nicode- 
 mus presents the whole of revelation in minia- 
 ture; and if we believe and conduct according 
 to the words which are here uttered by our 
 Lord, we shall not perish, but have everlast- 
 ing life. 
 
 Christ came to Jerusalem to observe the 
 Passover, the first after his public entrance 
 upon his ministry. This was the time at 
 which this conversation was held. "Now 
 when he was in Jerusalem, at the Passover, 
 on the feast-day, many believed in his name, 
 when they saw the miracles which he did." 
 What miracles these were, we are not inform- 
 ed. They must have been of a notable char- 
 acter, for they made a great impression ; nev- 
 ertheless, the account of them has not been 
 transmitted. Yet one thing quite remarka- 
 
 1* 
 
10 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 ble is recorded of those who at this time were 
 greatly affected by the miracles of Christ — 
 "Many believed in his name 77 because of 
 them ; but ' ' Jesus did not commit himself 
 unto them,' 7 because he knew them all, and 
 all that was in them. This describes them as 
 believers of a certain kind. They were not 
 true, cordial, and earnest believers, for it is 
 expressly said that Jesus did not treat them 
 as such. Our Lord never held himself at 
 a distance from a sincere believer ; but here 
 were some who believed only to a certain 
 degree, and who, therefore, did not reach at 
 once the recognition of full discipleship. 
 
 Imagine, now, one of this general class 
 going to his home after he had himself seen 
 some of these miracles of Christ. He is a 
 Pharisee — a ruler of the Jews. He is in the 
 highest official position, a "teacher of the 
 law, 77 and as we may suppose, quite advanced in 
 years. He is no trifler, and no mocker. Oth- 
 ers of his order may have curled the lip or 
 shot out the tongue in disbelief and derision 
 of the whole affair ; but what he had seen had 
 taken too strong a hold upon him to be 
 
NICODEMUS. 11 
 
 disposed of in this manner. The wonderful 
 works of Christ certainly transcend nature 
 and man. Moreover, the person who had 
 performed them had assumed a most author- 
 itative mien, actually driving out from the 
 temple, which he called "his Father's house,'' 
 the buyers and sellers and money-changers, 
 which no other authority had ever interfered 
 with ; and strange sayings had he nttered 
 before the people, of a most incomprehensible 
 meaning. 
 
 ' Who is this person ? To what order of 
 beings does he belong? He discourses of 
 religion. His words and his works all appear 
 to be related in some way to the coming king- 
 dom of God. Who can he be ?' So is it that 
 Nicodemus ponders the matter as he walks 
 thoughtfully to his house ; and when the shad- 
 ows of night had fallen, he makes a resolve 
 to seek out Jesus, and inquire what all these 
 things import. He is not decided enough to 
 go by day, encountering the " world's dread 
 laugh f yet timidity in him differs every way 
 from timidity on our part, after accumulated 
 evidence ; for he was curious to ascertain the 
 
12 CONVEBSATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 truth, not wishing to involve himself in a mis- 
 • take. This mental condition of Nicodemus is 
 of more importance to "be borne in mind than 
 his outward description ; because the words 
 of Christ, as of one who "knew what was in 
 man," were addressed directly to his interior 
 consciousness ; and if we clo not understand 
 this aright, we fail to catch the pertinency of 
 what was said to him, and in Christ's conver- 
 sation there will be many an ellipsis which 
 we cannot supply. 
 
 Behold, then, this man coining to Christ by 
 night! Thoughtful, but cautious, revolving 
 how much he should admit, and how much 
 hold in reserve ; yet a teacher himself, and 
 bent on searching the matter from his ration- 
 alistic position. This quality of rationalism — 
 this desire and purpose to know and judge of 
 every thing according to his own understand- 
 ing — is the characteristic of Nicodemus, and 
 so the key to the entire conversation. He 
 believes more than he is willing to avow. He 
 begins his salutation with an admission, and 
 closes it with a most "cautious inconsistency." 
 He is very far from being the miserable "time- 
 
NICODEMUS. 13 
 
 server ;; which some have supposed ; yet before 
 the conversation closes, he is reproached by 
 our Lord for not giving more of expression to 
 his honest convictions. He is quite in earnest, 
 and honest in his way ; but it is just such 
 a combination of rationalism and materialism 
 as we might suppose would characterize a 
 thoughtful Pharisee, which describes the man 
 who, in the darkness of night, now seeks out 
 our Lord. He was already a believer, but 
 not a believer of the right sort. The mira- 
 cles of Christ had carried the outposts of the 
 citadel, but the whole man had not assented. 
 Every thing which is said by our Lord through- 
 out the whole interview is adapted to meet 
 this semi-persuaded rationalistic condition of 
 mind, by the presentation of truths which were 
 designed to test the counter-quality of faith. 
 u How?" "how?" is the interrogatory of the 
 ruler. "Believe" "believe" is the response 
 of Christ. By his own admission of being 
 convinced by miracles, Nicodemus puts him- 
 self in a position where it was right and wise 
 that he should be pressed with this duty of 
 faith as a logical necessity. If he confessed, 
 
14 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 as he did, that the person with whom he 
 talked acted with Divine sanction and power 
 in his indisputable miracles, then nothing could 
 be more consistent or appropriate to this con- 
 fession than that he should believe the testi- 
 mony of the Being whose words were corrob- 
 orated by such preternatural wonders. This 
 is the point, as we shall see, to which he is 
 pressed by every word which was uttered by 
 Christ : belief in Christ himself, as the most 
 rational deduction from belief in his miracles. 
 There is no talking at random. There is noth- 
 ing here which is loose and disjointed. From 
 the beginning to the end of the conversation, 
 the design of. our Lord is to develop a simple 
 faith in his own person, on the part of a man 
 who admits that his convictions were carried 
 by the miracles he had seen. If so much, why 
 not more ? Miracles admitted, faith is the 
 most rational sequence that can be conceived. 
 Therefore is it that our Lord at every utter- 
 ance holds up those great objects of faith 
 which together form the Christian creed and 
 the Christian life. 
 
 Let us suppose that Nicodemus, as he drew 
 
NICODEMUS. 15 
 
 near to the place where Christ was — we know 
 not where it was, whether in doors or with- 
 out — is seriously revolving what he shall say, 
 what apology he shall make for seeking the 
 interview, how much he shall admit concern- 
 ing the claims of the Man he is about to visit, 
 and how much he shall hold in reserve, through 
 fear of committing himself too far. 
 
 At length he stands in the presence of 
 Christ. His salutation is respectful, cour- 
 teous: "Rabbi, we know" — we know ; would 
 he conceal his personal convictions and inten- 
 tions behind a general admission, as though he 
 represented - his ecclesiastical order ? — " that 
 thou art a Teacher come from God." 
 
 Every word is guarded and well weighed. 
 " Come from God ;" the expression in the 
 original is very significant ; it is used only, 
 in regard to the Messiah. That He is the 
 Messiah, he does not assert; yet the thing 
 which he intends to ascertain is, what are the 
 relations of this Man to the Messiah ship and 
 to the Kingdom of God. John the Baptist had 
 announced him to be the Sent of God. He 
 touches the outer border of the subject ; he 
 
16 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 cannot bring himself to admit more — than 
 " Teacher" — -''for no man can do these mira- 
 cles which thou doest, except — except — God 
 be with him." Every thing is shaded off and 
 toned down to the extreme of caution. Noth- 
 ing here like the round and hearty admission 
 of Nathanael: "Rabbi, thou art the Son of 
 God." There is inconsistency ; there is res- 
 ervation; there is. mental timidity. "Rabbi, 
 we know that thou art a Teacher ;" is this all 
 which he can admit of one who asserts himself 
 to be the Messiah? "a Teacher come from 
 God ; for no man can do the miracles which 
 thou doest, except God be with him.' 7 
 
 This salutation accomplished, this cau- 
 tious admission made, the doctor of the law 
 stands not altogether at his ease under the 
 calm and solemn eye of the young Rabbi. 
 Let us remember what we are advised of in 
 the preface of the narrative, that " He knew 
 what was in man," and we shall perceive that 
 there was nothing abrupt or inappropriate in 
 the words which first were uttered by our 
 Lord. "Jesus answered and said unto him, 
 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a 
 
NICODEMUS. 17 
 
 man be born again, lie cannot see the king- 
 dom of God." We wonder at first why Christ 
 should have said this rather than any thing 
 besides. But nothing could have been more 
 pertinent to the state of mind of the man by 
 whom he .was accosted. Half-convinced that 
 Jesus was the Messiah, yet not brave enough 
 to admit it, his secret intention was, to ascer- 
 tain His relations to the coming kingdom of 
 which he himself, as a Pharisee, was in some 
 sort an official representative and agent. 
 Nothing that ever fell from the lips of man 
 could have been more pertinent than this re- 
 ply of Christ: "You have addressed me as a 
 Teacher related to the divine kingdom ; then 
 verily, verily, I say unto you: You have said 
 that no man can do these miracles, except God be 
 with him ; let me say that no man can see the 
 kingdom of God, except he be born again.' 7 
 How many of the very words which Nicode- 
 mus used are turned upon him with a point and 
 emphasis which went to the very heart of things. 
 Nicodemus begins with a complimentary ac- 
 knowledgment concerning Christ. Christ re- 
 plies in words which send the thoughts of the 
 
18 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 Pharisee to himself, into his very heart. 'If 
 you would know who I am, and what I am to 
 teach, and what I am to do, the first essential 
 thing is within thyself. We must not invert the 
 alphabet, and begin at omega — at results and 
 conclusions ; the kingdom of God which I came 
 to establish is not external, but interior and 
 spiritual, consisting of gracious dispositions, of 
 love, and joy in the Holy Ghost ; and if one is to 
 share in it at all, he must be brought into affin- 
 ity with it by a change in himself.' Nothing 
 is wanting here to make the connection and 
 complete the sense. The divine Teacher — - 
 recognized as such, addressed as such — asserts 
 a lesson which is at once the simplest and the 
 sublimest. Nicodemus is acquainted only with 
 an external kingdom of God ; so that the first 
 words of Christ reverse all his old habits of 
 thought. ' My teaching and my testimony are 
 not about visible wonders,* but interior affec- 
 tions ; not so much about what I can do and 
 have done, as what you are, and you, in your 
 own soul, must become.' "Yerily, verily, I 
 say unto you, except a man be born again, 
 he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
 
NICODEMUS. 19 
 
 It is in the use of figurative language that 
 our Lord begins, and out of it he emerges 
 gradually into a simpler teaching. ' ' Born " — 
 "born again/ 7 or "born from above' 7 — it mat- 
 ters not which idea we adopt in the use of 
 the word awQev — " born afresh/ 7 says Nicode- 
 mus, What can this import? " Row can a 
 man be born when he is old? Can he be 
 born a second time as he was born at the 
 first? 77 Whatever may have been the real 
 thought and feeling of Nicodemus on the sub- 
 ject, his words imply that he understood this 
 language of Christ in its literal sense, as 
 descriptive of some physical birth. It is the 
 rationalistic, materialistic spirit which moves 
 his lips. " Verily, verily/ 7 is the rejoinder of 
 Christ, "except a man be born of water and 
 of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the king- 
 dom of God. 77 'Except he have that interior 
 birth, which is symbolized by baptism and 
 realized by the Divine Spirit, he has no part 
 in the kingdom of God. 7 Here is an advance 
 in the words of the great Teacher. He de- 
 fines the sense of the figurative expression 
 of birth before used, so that it may not be left 
 
20 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 to inference. "That which is born of the 
 flesh, is flesh, and that which is born of the 
 Spirit, is spirit." ' That which is begotten and 
 born carries within itself the nature of that 
 from which its being was derived. Flesh is 
 born of flesh ; spirit is born of spirit. I speak 
 not of being born again of the flesh. The body 
 is born but once ; but my words intend another 
 birth, which is produced by the Divine Spirit/ 
 So far our Lord goes in the way of explana- 
 tion. " How can a man be born?" asked the 
 rationalist. How wisely our divine Master 
 leads him on to that boundary of knowledge, 
 where faith will be absolutely requisite. He 
 explains the meaning of his figurative terms, 
 "born again." He intends a moral and spir- 
 itual regeneration which corresponds to the 
 spiritual forces by which it is engendered. 
 Spirit is born of spirit ; and so Christ teaches 
 a birth which is by and of the Spirit; and 
 then, as if the very word suggests an illustra- 
 tion which prescribes the limit to all marvel- 
 ling and cavilling — the same word in the 
 Greek meaning spirit and wind — he refers the 
 listener to a most admirable analogy. ; Hark ! 
 
NICODEMUS. 21 
 
 the night- wind is sighing around us ; the leaves 
 of the trees and the tendrils of the vine are 
 tremulous before its breath ; yet these effects 
 of the wind are all that you can see ; the wind 
 itself is invisible, but its work is evident.' 
 ' ' The wind bloweth where it listeth ; and thou 
 nearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
 whence it cometh nor whither it goeth ; so is 
 every one that is born of the Spirit." Our 
 Lord would help the faith of the ruler by a 
 very simple analogy. Having defined his own- 
 words, just what he meant by the new birth, 
 a regeneration of the human soul by the 
 Divine Spirit, he teaches him that concerning 
 this invisible Power, its rise and its method, 
 we know nothing, judging of it only by its 
 visible effects. 
 
 Here was the place for Nicodemus to 
 give his assent ; but his rationalism takes 
 on a shade of arrogance which draws from 
 Christ a gentle reprimand. "Nicodemus an- 
 swered and said unto him, l How can these 
 things be V 11 This was but the repetition 
 of the question which had been already an- 
 swered, and which therefore should not have 
 
22 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 been asked again. Having answered it be- 
 fore as it could only be answered, our Lord 
 does not pursue the topic farther, having 
 informed the ruler, in answer to his "How" 
 that the mode was mysterious and incompre- 
 hensible. But "how" is the question of Nic- 
 odemus again. "Jesus answered and said 
 unto him, ' Art thou a master of Israel, and 
 knowest not these things? 7 " This is not a 
 taunt ; but it is just such a reproof, just such 
 a turn of words as prepares for the heart- 
 thrust which follows: "You are a master, a 
 teacher in Israel, the representative of that 
 order which presides over the national reli- 
 gion ; and you have come to me as a Teacher, 
 and you acknowledge me as such ; ' ' Yerily, 
 verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do 
 know, and testify that we have seen, and ye re- 
 ceive not our witness.*' Recall the admission 
 which was made by Nicodemus in the very 
 first words which he uttered in this interview : 
 •Rabbi, we know that thou art a Teacher 
 come from God ; for no man can do these mira- 
 cles that thou doest, except Grocl be with 
 him." This admission is now turned upon 
 
NICODEMUS. 23 
 
 him with the greatest force : ' If you acknowl- 
 edge me as a teacher having a Divine commis- 
 sion, then you should accept my testimony, 
 instead of pressing your inquiries into the do- 
 main of mystery which by a familiar analogy I 
 have shown you to be withdrawn from your 
 understanding ; you ought rather to give it 
 your assent on the simple ground of my affir- 
 mation and my testimony, as an accredited 
 witness come from Gocl. Men are believed 
 when they are acknowledged as competent 
 witnesses ; give me your faith in regard to 
 that which I have affirmed, though you do 
 not yet understand the mode of its working.' 
 Faith is demanded of the Pharisee as a logical 
 result of his own premises. What is incom- 
 prehensible and unseen by him, is known and 
 seen by Christ ; and it is right that he should 
 trust in His testimony as the only one compe- 
 tent to testify concerning these spiritual mys- 
 teries. 
 
 A new subject is now introduced, and press- 
 ed most earnestly and cogently to the close 
 of the interview. Nothing more is said about 
 the new birth ; enough has been said upon 
 
24 CONVERSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 that subject — all that could be said. It has 
 been affirmed to be necessary ; it is explained 
 to be of a spiritual nature, wrought by the 
 Spirit in a manner which to us is invisible. 
 This, is enough. ' This is the point where, so 
 far as regards what is beyond our own senses 
 and understanding, faith in a divinely-com- 
 missioned teacher is both necessary and rea- 
 sonable. When, therefore, a rationalistic mind 
 urges its "how," " Jwiv can it be," giving rein 
 to its own marvellings and unbelief, it is right 
 that it should be met with the charge of unbe- 
 lief together with its own guilty tendency. Just 
 this is what such a mind should understand. 
 There is a point where it should believe. There 
 is a boundary to the understanding, and when it 
 is reached, faith is the continuation of rea- 
 son. This is the subject which, coining in so 
 naturally, so necessarily, is now held up to the 
 end of the conversation. This, nothing but 
 this : simple faith in the personal testimony of 
 Jesus Christ as the only one who has come 
 down from heaven to inform the world of those 
 things which are beyond all earthly knowl- 
 edge. And this language of Christ is so for- 
 
NICODEMUS. 25 
 
 cible, so earnest, so reasonable, that there is 
 no reply from Nicodeinus ; so that some crit- 
 ics hare been in doubt where the conversation 
 with the man ends, whether with the 13th or 
 the 21st verse. Eather would we understand 
 that Mcodemus was so impressed with these 
 words that he could do nothing but listen, 
 and so these several utterances of Christ are 
 continuous and uninterrupted to the 21st verse, 
 all in one strain, converging to one point, with 
 a stress and an emphasis which increase to a 
 most tremendous application. The beginning 
 is a reproof of unbelief; and it is concerning 
 believing and disbelieving the testimony of 
 Jesus Christ concerning himself, that the 
 whole of the remaining words find their true 
 explication. 
 
 ' It is not your knowing, your understand- 
 ing, but your receiving in true faith what is 
 affirmed by myself, the Christ of God, com- 
 missioned and accredited to teach and redeem 
 the world.' With this key in hand, nothing is* 
 necessary but to read the words which follow, 
 since they interpret themselves : "Verily, ver- 
 ily, I say unto thee, I speak that which I 
 
 Con. of Christ. 2 
 
26 CONYEESATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 do know, and testify that I have seen, and ye 
 receive not my witness. If I have told you 
 earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall 
 ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things ?" 
 Sometimes we are disposed to render this ex- 
 pression, " earthly things" as referring to these 
 analogies of birth and the viind ; common occur- 
 rences, which nevertheless imply so much 
 which is mysterious and invisible and incom- 
 prehensible as to rebuke rationalistic incre- 
 dulity ; but whether we refer the words to 
 these natural objects, or to that side and aspect 
 of regeneration which comes into view and 
 has it occurrence here upon the earth, the 
 force is the same — since the contrast is between 
 things which occur on earth and things which 
 belong exclusively to heaven, of which no 
 knowledge could be derived by any process 
 save the testimony of the living Person who, 
 as a witness, is now discredited by the skep- 
 tical Nicodemus. • No man hath ascended up 
 to heaven with power to see and testify of its 
 arcana but He that came down from heaven, 
 even the Son of man, which is in heaven. 7 
 From this point all centres in this personality 
 
NLCODEMUS. 27 
 
 of the witness. " And as Moses lifted up the 
 serpent in the wilderness, even so must the 
 Son of man be lifted up ; that whosoever heliev- 
 eth in him should not perish, but have eternal 
 life. For God so loved the world, that he 
 gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 helieveth in him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life. For God sent not his Son 
 into the world to condemn the world, but 
 that the world through him might be saved. 
 He that helieveth on him " — mark how this act 
 of faith is magnified as the great necessity of 
 our condition and being — " is not condemned : 
 but he that belie veth not is condemned already, 
 because he hath not believed in the name of the 
 only begotten Son of God." No positive act 
 of retributive penalty is necessary to curse a 
 soul that is without faith ; it is cursed already, 
 by its own suicidal exclusion from blessings 
 which are as free and ample as the light of 
 heaven. "This is the condemnation, that 
 light is come into the world." Think not 
 that these words are disconnected. "Rabbi, 
 we know that thou art a Teacher come from 
 God," so the interview began ; and thus it 
 
28 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 closes: "This is the condemnation'' — 'At the 
 beginning I said that a man's love — his heart 
 mnst be changed to have affinity with the 
 kingdom of God ' — "that light is come into the 
 world; and men loved darkness rather than light, 
 because their deeds were evil." A psychological 
 explanation of which is subjoined : " For every 
 one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither 
 cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be 
 reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh 
 to the light, that his deeds may be made mani- 
 fest, that they are wrought in God." Was it 
 so, as our Lord gave this last and inimitable 
 description of the nature, causes, and doom 
 of unbelief, that the two walked together, out 
 into the darkness of the night, and so, as 
 from the wind, the simplest and most natural 
 illustration was furnished ? Nothing to height- 
 en the dramatic effect of the scene is appended ; 
 but, as we have seen, the train of conversation 
 is continuous, closing with an application which 
 must have grappled the soul of Nicodemus 
 with a power which he could not resist. 
 
 The workings of his mind as he returned 
 to his home are not described. The effect of 
 
NICODEMUS. 29 
 
 the conversation, for the best of reasons, is not 
 recorded. We incline to the hopeful opinion ; 
 and the deep, perhaps saving impression made 
 by this conversation with Christ is proved by 
 the two occasions, the only two mentioned, 
 when Mcodemus made a sort of confession in 
 honor of Christ ; the one before his own class, 
 the Pharisees, when he took the part of Christ 
 then absent: "Doth our law judge any man 
 before it hear him, and know what he doeth?" 
 subjecting himself to the taunting retort that 
 he too must be a contemptible Galilean ; and 
 the other when, as the companion of Joseph of 
 Arimathea- — again was it secretly with both 
 of them — he brought his hundred weight of 
 myrrh and aloes, to embalm the crucified body 
 of Jesus. May we not hope that tender tears 
 fell upon that sacred body as he was engaged 
 in the gentle and pious act. 
 
 Is not our assertion verified, that this con- 
 versation contains a miniature representation 
 of the whole Christian revelation — all that 
 we must do, and all that we must believe? 
 First of all is it required that there should be 
 
30 CONVERSATIONS OF CHBIST. 
 
 a thorough change of affection in every one 
 who would be personally related to the king- 
 dom of God ; that no external observance or 
 privilege can be substituted for this ; for if 
 our Lord had intended by the new birth only 
 a reformation of the outward life, he asserted 
 nothing which was not already known to Nic- 
 odemus, and even to the wiser heathen ; noth- 
 ing, surely, which could have caused surprise 
 or excited incredulity. There is nothing ob- 
 scure, nothing which calls for the special exer- 
 cise of faith in a requirement so obvious and 
 so reasonable. But there is a point where that 
 which is obvious shades off into that which is 
 obscure ; where the understanding reaches its 
 own horizon, and faith must come into vigor- 
 ous exercise. But faith is not an unreasoning 
 credulity. It has for its basis the evidence of 
 the advent of one who came from heaven for the 
 very purpose of testifying, informing, reveal- 
 ing, redeeming, and saving ; and trust in him 
 is the perfection of reason. 
 
 This controversy between faith and philos- 
 ophy, as conducted in scholastic debate, has 
 been long and able and spirited. The great 
 
NICODEMUS. 31 
 
 metaphysician of Scotland, Sir Wm. Hamil- 
 ton, whose consummate learning and unri- 
 valled acuteness will be disputed by no man, 
 whether his opinions are embraced or rejected, 
 denying our ability to acquire any positive 
 knowledge of the infinite and the absolute, has 
 made faith the basis of philosophy as well as 
 religion. He and his disciples have asserted 
 the necessary limitations of human thought. 
 We do not enter here upon that scholastic 
 discussion ; but plain enough, faith is the very 
 life of our religion. This religion concerns 
 itself with objects which are above and beyond 
 our knowledge. It discloses the very heart 
 of God. It reveals those heavenly mysteries 
 which no wit o f man ever could reach. Heights 
 inaccessible, depths unfathomable, distances 
 immeasurable, extending into infinity and 
 eternity, are all revealed to us by Him wno 
 came down from heaven to be the light and 
 the life of man. Not without credentials did 
 he come. Never did he demand the faith of 
 men without giving them proof of his Divine 
 authority. This given, weighed, and accepted, 
 faith, simple, childlike faith in his every word, 
 
32 CONVEESATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 becomes our wisdom and our necessity. Thus 
 is it that in our religion every thing arranges 
 itself about the living form of the Son of God. 
 Having disclosed to us why He came, what He 
 has done, and what He will yet do, faith in 
 Him is the dictate of reason, the one necessity 
 of our being, our only wisdom and safety. We 
 cannot work our way through this life, in con- 
 tact with the commonest objects and the most 
 familiar occurrences, births and deaths, winds 
 and tides, light and darkness, without encoun- 
 tering mysteries which demand our faith. 
 That faith is the first lesson which childhood 
 learns, and it is the last and highest which age 
 and experience ever acquire. Plain enough, 
 our destiny for eternity depends upon a sim- 
 ple belief in Him who came clown from 
 heights which we cannot scale, and across 
 ocean-depths which we cannot traverse. ' Say 
 not, who shall go up into heaven, or who shall 
 go over the sea to find out knowledge V for the 
 Revealer has come; "the word is nigh thee, 
 in thy mouth and in thy heart, that if thou 
 wilt believe in Jesus Christ, thou shalt be 
 saved," So simple, so necessary, so rational 
 
NICODEMUS. 33 
 
 is this faith, that where it is wanting, there 
 must be some moral obliquity which causes the 
 defect. Come not under the condemnation of 
 loving darkness rather than light. The only 
 qualification for knowing divine things is to 
 love them. For knowing the sciences and 
 arts of men, many other things are requisite ; 
 but to know Christ, and to see the light of his 
 revelation, we have only to aspire after a filial 
 temper. What a condemnation this for an 
 immortal man, not to believe in Him who is 
 the incarnation of truth and love, and who 
 came for the sole purpose of conferring upon 
 us infinite favors ! 
 
 Surely we cannot be skeptical as to the 
 fact that such a Saviour was born into the 
 world, and that he gave such proofs of his 
 Divine commission ; for the world is full of 
 the monuments and evidences of his advent. 
 Then let us give him our faith, fuller and heart- 
 ier than we ever gave to any friend on earth. 
 Take his outstretched hand, and trust him ; 
 believe his words ; believe his doctrines ; obey 
 his directions ; follow where he leads ; com- 
 mit vcur soul to him* while you live, for that 
 * 2* 
 
34 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 soul's peace, even as you must commit it to 
 him wheu it is, going out from the body into 
 an unseen and unknown futurity; for in that 
 mystery of eternity there is no light save that 
 which shines from the face of Christ, and no 
 object about which your thoughts can gather, 
 on which your heart can rest, save the Son 
 of G-od, before whom you stand to-day, whose 
 words you now hear, urging you to give him 
 your confidence, that you may be saved. 
 
CONVERSATION OF CHRIST 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA 
 
 The Obtuse Sensualist. 
 
 JOHN 4:1-42. 
 
II. 
 
 THE WOMAN OF SAMAKIA: 
 
 The Obtuse Sensualist, 
 
 While all the personal conversations of 
 our Lord with different individuals deserve 
 our careful study, this interview with the 
 woman of Samaria commends itself to our 
 notice for many and peculiar reasons. When 
 He commissioned his apostles, on their first 
 itinerancy, he limited their range to the house 
 of Israel. With this conversation of his own 
 begin the religious labors and influence of 
 Christ outside of that original boundary, 
 giving us our first conception of the univer- 
 sality ,of his religion, as adapted to every 
 nation and tribe and person of the human 
 family. 
 
 Before we listen to the conversation itself, 
 conducted with such skill and success on the 
 part of our Lord, a few things should be pre- 
 mised of a general import and instruction. 
 
38 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 The very first thing which we are led to 
 notice is, the ease and naturalness with which 
 our Lord introduced the conversation. There 
 was nothing about it mechanical. It is the 
 speech of one intent on doing good at every 
 opportunity ; and the words flow from his full 
 he^rt as waters run from a full fountain. 
 There is a perfunctory method of entering 
 upon religious conversation which promises 
 but little good. It is the discharge of a duty, 
 rather than the utterance of the heart. It is 
 said to be the prerogative of poetic genius to 
 associate analogies with common objects. It 
 is the higher prerogative of religion, to use 
 familiar objects and common occasions for 
 lighting up and enforcing the sublimest spir- 
 i tual truths. Let the heart be replenished with 
 religious conviction and experience, and it will 
 be easy for men to converse on the thjngs of 
 God, without so much as one prompting from 
 the mere sense of duty. 
 
 Another thing suggested by the cursory 
 perusal of this chapter is, the satisfaction 
 which a religious soul is sure to derive from 
 every attempt to persuade and benefit others. 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMAKIA. 39 
 
 Before this conversation began, our Lord sat 
 by the well, weary and faint in the sultry noon. 
 His disciples had gone to the village to buy 
 meat. Such were the refreshment and vigor 
 which he received in the act of imparting truth 
 and life to a human soul, that when his disciples 
 returned from their errand, and pressed him 
 to eat, he declared to them that he had meat 
 to eat which they knew not of. Interpreting 
 the words in a literal sense, they supposed that 
 during their absence some one had brought 
 him food. Not only was he without bread, 
 but it does not appear from the narrative that 
 even the request which he made for water to 
 drink had been complied with. Nevertheless 
 he was, in body and soul, as one invigorated 
 and satisfied with meat and drink ; and his 
 own explanation is, "My meat is to do the 
 will of him that sent me, and to finish his 
 work." Activity in the kingdom of God aug- 
 ments the power of spiritual life, and deepens 
 the consciousness of religious realities. The 
 expression of Christian sentiments invigorates 
 the experience, and imparts a pleasure which 
 exceeds all physical refreshment. 
 
40 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 Another lesson arrests the eye in its most 
 superficial glance over this narrative. - 
 
 To a faithful soul, the opportunities of 
 well-doing are always present and immediate. 
 It is the sluggish spirit which would defer the 
 present occasion to some remote season. At 
 the time when our Lord had this conversa- 
 tion, the grain in the fields was in the blade, 
 four months intervening till it would be ripe 
 for the harvest. The spiritual harvest is 
 always ready. Pointing to the crowds of 
 people who were hastening to see him after 
 the report of the woman with whom he had 
 talked, our Lord assured his disciples that 
 there was no occasion for waiting, since the 
 fields were white already for the harvest. 
 Wherever there are living men, especially 
 such as are disposed to listen or inquire, there 
 are opportunities and inducements for religious 
 speech ; and one may thrust in his sickle, and 
 bind his sheaves, and rejoice over a harvest. 
 
 What results often follow a single conversa- 
 tion, is an additional thought suggested by these 
 incidents. The woman with whom Christ spoke 
 made such a report as stirred the whole town, 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 41 
 
 and induced them to entreat Christ to abide 
 with them some days; which he did. It is 
 reserved for a future disclosure to acquaint 
 us with all the results of the visits and con- 
 versations of those memorable days. Nor does 
 the matter terminate here. In the book of the 
 Acts, when the apostles began their march, we 
 find the region of Samaria prepared for signal 
 scenes, which filled it with joy. Christ, in 
 this early interview with one person, was the 
 Sower scattering seed, which other hands in 
 other times should reap in golden harvests. 
 From this incident let us learn that a wise 
 word is a prolific power ; what is said in the 
 ear of one may make thousands think ; an 
 imperial power, widening its circles over the 
 surface of life, of most blessed promise for the 
 future. A sermon preached to a thousand 
 people ought to be preached at least a thou- 
 sand times, every hearer becoming himself a 
 preacher, and repeating and applying the 
 truth to others. 
 
 These lessons are too valuable to be left 
 ungathered, but they are only prefatory to the 
 conversation itself, to which we now turn. 
 
42 CONVEKSATIONS OF OHEIST. 
 
 Leaving Jiidea for a season, for the com- 
 parative qniet of Galilee, our Lord takes the 
 direct route which led through Samaria. His 
 journey was accomplished on foot. At the 
 sixth hour, corresponding to our twelfth, just 
 at noon, he comes to the well which tradition 
 assigns to the patriarch Jacob. He is wea- 
 ried by the heat and the length of the dusty 
 road, and seats himself by the curb of the well. 
 Resting here alone, for his disciples had left 
 him for a season, a woman from the town comes 
 to draw water. He immediately accosts her 
 with the request to give him to drink from the 
 utensil which she had brought. Detecting by 
 his dress and the softness of his dialect that 
 he was a Jew, and not a Samaritan, she ex- 
 pressed surprise that he could or would make 
 such a request of her ; for the animosity and 
 the contempt of the Jews for the Samaritans 
 was a notorious feature of the times. Sub- 
 limely indifferent, as we should be also, to all 
 such national distinctions, conscious only that 
 he was to deal with a human soul, and mainly 
 desirous of acquainting that soul with its own 
 wants and leading it to himself, our Lord does 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMAEIA. 43 
 
 not even notice the topic which the woman 
 had introduced ; but giving a personal force 
 to his words, immediately replied: "If thou 
 knewest the gift of God, and who it is that 
 saith to thee, Give me to drink ; thou wouldest 
 have asked of him, and he would have given 
 thee living water. 77 
 
 Though the sublimest truths were convey- 
 ed in this figurative language, the woman had 
 not the most remote idea of their import. She 
 understood them in the most literal sense. She 
 supposed that they referred to spring-water, 
 cool and fresh and sparkling, such as she had 
 come to draw from the well. She looks at the 
 stranger who had a moment before asked her 
 for a draught of water, and who now assures 
 her that if she had only asked of him, he 
 would give her an abundance of water. ' ' Why, 
 sir, I see you have nothing to draw with ; you 
 have neither rope nor pitcher, and the well 
 is very deep, how could you give me fresh 
 water? Have you a better well than this, 
 which our father Jacob gave us, of which he 
 and his children and his cattle were accus- 
 tomed to drink ? 77 There does not appear to 
 
44: CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 have entered her mind the least shadow of 
 the spiritual meaning of the words spoken by 
 Christ. She thought of nothing but well-water, 
 and some more convenient or expeditious 
 method of drawing it up than she had used. 
 She judged of every tiling by her senses. She 
 comprehends nothing, imagines nothing be 
 yoncl. 
 
 Intending to lead her on, if possible, to a 
 perception of his meaning, our patient Master 
 answered and said: "Whosoever drinketh of 
 this water, shall thirst again: but whosoever 
 drinketh of the water that I shall give him 
 shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall 
 give him shall be in him a well of water spring- 
 ing up into everlasting life." Truths are here, 
 at once the very simplest and the very sub- 
 limest. Surely it is not possible that any one 
 could misinterpret such language ; yet so ob- 
 tuse, earthly, and sensual is this person, that 
 she attaches no other ideas to this promise 
 than that which belongs to the use of common 
 water. Verily she understood this stranger 
 to speak of water which, once taken, would 
 prevent all future thirst, and so save her from 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMAKIA. 45 
 
 the troublesome task of coming every day to 
 the well. She said unto him, "Sir, give me 
 this water, that I thirst not, neither come 
 hither to draw." 
 
 Though it seems impossible to penetrate 
 this vulgar mind with spiritual truth, yet our 
 Lord does not terminate the conversation ab- 
 ruptly and impatiently. With a kind and 
 lenient condescension which looks hopefully at 
 one issue, he immediately changes his method 
 of approach. Though in this case, as with 
 his conversations with his disciples and with 
 Nicodemus, he dropped germinant words, after- 
 wards to be recalled and made plain and po- 
 tent, yet now he does not pursue his spiritual 
 discourse, but employs a new and different 
 mode of startling her dormant soul. It is a 
 profound truth in human psychology, that the 
 conscience, that faculty or act of the mind by 
 which it judges of the right or the wrong of 
 our own deeds, is the only power by which 
 you can quicken a sense of the spiritual, not 
 merely in the obtuse and unthinking, but even 
 in many others of a more delicate organization. 
 The conscience belongs to the spirit, and not 
 
46 CONVERSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 to sense. It touches not the plane of the vis- 
 ible and the tangible, but the ideas of God, 
 and duty, and accountability, and demerit, 
 and retribution ; and these are all of the spirit. 
 He who enters the soul by this door of the 
 conscience, may pass on through all its halls 
 and chambers, from one spiritual truth to 
 another. Of what avail was it for the Son of 
 G-od to discourse of Himself as giving living 
 water unto the world, if there was no thirst- 
 ing in the soul which would desire it, or appro- 
 priate it, or relish it ? To excite this thirst, to 
 suggest to this ignorant and obtuse woman her 
 own guilt and want, Christ lays his hand at 
 once upon her conscience. Ceasing from all 
 imagery and parallelisms, our Lord directs 
 her to go and call her husband. She replies 
 that she has no husband. The words which 
 follow were like a spark falling into a maga- 
 zine. This woman was living in shameful 
 sin. Jesus informed her that* he was well 
 acquainted with her whole life. He knew the 
 history of her former marriages and divorces, 
 and the character of her present connection : 
 ■ Thou hast had five husbands, who are sepa- 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMAKIA, 47 
 
 rated from you either by death or divorce, 
 and he whom thou now hast is not thy hus- 
 band.' It was as when the sun strikes full 
 and strong on the face of an obelisk thickly 
 inscribed with dusky and illegible characters, 
 each word, each letter made to confront the 
 blazing eye of day. The woman saw that all 
 the secrets of her life were disclosed. Her 
 conscience was roused from slumber ; her dead 
 soul felt the first sense of vitality in the form 
 of self-reproof. She found herself under the 
 eye and within the power of One who arraigned 
 her before God. There was no misunder- 
 standing of what Christ said now. Neither 
 was there any hiding of herself from the charge 
 which, as by one stroke of lightning, lighted 
 up all the darkness of her soul. " Sir, I per- 
 ceive that thou art a prophet." There must 
 have been a pause and silence ensuing upon 
 these words. Our Lord did not break it, but 
 allowed what he had said to do its work most 
 thoroughly. No other word from him inter- 
 fered with the activity of conscience in this 
 miserable woman as she stood there abashed 
 and convicted in the presence of One who. 
 
48 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 with preternatural eye, read the whole of her 
 heart and life. 
 
 When the silence was broken, it was by 
 the woman herself, in words which have been 
 variously interpreted : ' ' Our fathers worship- 
 ped in this mountain — Grerizim — and ye, the 
 Jews, say, that in Jerusalem is the place where 
 men ought to worship." Most expositors inter- 
 pret this affirmation as an act of dexterity, a 
 woman's tact, in diverting the conversation 
 from a subject which had become painful to 
 herself. Stung with a sense of shame, she 
 •breaks off the topic of remark which had so 
 unexpectedly cut into her heart, and adroitly 
 alludes to a politico-theological* question as 
 the means of extricating herself from embar- 
 rassment. This may be so. If it were so, it 
 would agree with the habit of some when 
 touched in the quick by the sharp fidelities of 
 truth. But I cannot bring myself to believe 
 that this was the true attitude and intention 
 of her mind. Had her purpose been mere 
 evasion and diversion, we cannot su]jpose that 
 Christ would have answered her as he did ; 
 for he proceeds to speak as he would to one 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMAKIA. 49 
 
 inquisitive for the truth, and not one attempt- 
 ing to trifle with it or escape from it. What 
 hinders us from believing that this reference 
 of the woman to the hereditary religion of her 
 fathers, in contrast with the worship of the 
 Jews, was the incipient act of a repenting soul, 
 following immediately upon the consciousness 
 of her shame ? Is this the first incitement of 
 the thirst which shall lead her to Christ, and 
 enable her to understand what he has already 
 uttered concerning living and exhaustless wa- 
 ters? This was a Jewish Prophet, who had 
 read and exposed her heart ; and if she was 
 moved by a right spirit, the most natural thing 
 that could be conceived would be for her — allu- 
 ding to notorious differences of opinion by 
 which she was likely to be distracted ; to ask 
 for the right way, the place, and the mode in 
 which she might find those waters of life. That 
 this was the undertone of her mind and words 
 would appear from the reply of Christ, who, 
 instead of reproving her for her levity and 
 garrulousness, with an increase of condescen- 
 sion and gentle earnestness, proceeds at once 
 with the utterance which is pertinent to a 
 
 Con. of Christ. 3 
 
50 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 thoughtful, uot a superficial mind. Reproved 
 by a Jewish prophet, she is secretly revolving, 
 we may suppose, whether it will be necessary 
 for her, in search of the help she needs, to 
 leave the religion of her fathers, and go over 
 to that of the Jews. He whose words were 
 so sublime before, takes this uninformed, but 
 now awakened mind, to a point of perspective 
 which is far above all earthly politics and dis- 
 putes, where she and we may learn the per- 
 sonal relations of the soul to God: "Jesus 
 saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour 
 cometh, when ye shall neither in this moun- 
 tain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 
 Ye worship ye know not what : we know what 
 we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But 
 the hour cometh, and now is, when the true 
 worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit 
 and in truth : for the Father seeketh such to 
 worship him. God is a Spirit : and they that 
 worship him must worship him in spirit and 
 in truth." 
 
 Mark, there is here no relaxing of the 
 truth concerning the way of salvation. In 
 the very act of instructing a now sensitive 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMAKIA. 51 
 
 and inquiring mind in its critical acts, teach- 
 ing it a sublime indifference to the mere exter- 
 nals of place and form, Jesus still insists on the 
 divine superiority of the religion which was 
 committed to the Jews, the salvation which 
 was to be unfolded through his own Messiah- 
 ship. There is nothing here akin to the "abso- 
 lute religion" of which the modern rationalist 
 prates, discarding all definite belief, and dis- 
 solving all distinctions into a universal haze. 
 In the very act of demolishing partitions-walls 
 between things external and formal, our Lord 
 holds the mind steadfast to the one form of 
 faith which is revealed of God, which concen- 
 trates all upon his own person, as the only 
 means of introducing the soul of man to the 
 life of the spirit — the life of God. Worship, 
 the external act of a religious observance, 
 may be so indefinite and uninformed as to be 
 of no value; but "salvation is of the Jews." 
 Salvation! a most pregnant word, indicative 
 of the revelation which gleamed on the eye of 
 the dying Jacob ; the perspective point which 
 commands and interprets the whole of the Old 
 Testament, and which unfolds itself in that 
 
52 CONVEKSATIQNS OF CHEIST. 
 
 gospel which is designed for all the world. 
 Let us not fail to observe, that in the very act 
 of asserting independence of all matters of 
 mere form and place, our Lord affirms most 
 explicitly the exclusive divinity of that reve- 
 lation which, committed at first to the hands 
 of Israel, was destined to expand itself into a 
 redemption spiritual and universal. 
 
 How little our divine Teacher depends 
 upon mere " intellectualism" the "aristocracy 
 of culture,' 7 is evident from the manner in 
 which he applies the sublimest of all truths to 
 this uneducated woman. The highest of all 
 truths are also the simplest. Epic poems are 
 but the arrangement of alphabetic characters 
 in new forms. The substance of all knowledge 
 is here. Here is the alphabet with which 
 we must begin, capable of being compounded 
 and combined in endle'ss progress. True reli- 
 gion is not external worship in any place or 
 any form ; it is the approach of the soul to 
 God, spirit to spirit, in the way which God 
 himself has revealed through Jesus Christ. 
 We can see a deeper meaning in those pellu- 
 cid words of Christ than was reached by the 
 
THE WOMAN OP SAMAEIA. 53 
 
 eye of this ignorant Samaritan, for subsequent 
 revelations have reflected a stronger light on 
 those great sayings; yet even she knew for 
 certainty that something great and marvellous 
 was promised, for the fulfilment of which she 
 looked to the coming of the Messiah as a solu- 
 tion and a relief. When Christ declared, with- 
 out any reserve or qualification, " I that speak 
 unto thee am he," he intended to bring this 
 mind, and ours also, to faith in himself as the 
 medium of approach to the true knowledge 
 of the true God. It is not needful that you 
 should go to Jerusalem to worship, nor yet to 
 abide at Gerizim ; the true religion, if indeed 
 you inquire for it, is independent of place ; it 
 is the life of the individual soul ; and it has 
 these two distinctive properties — it is per- 
 sonal, and it is universal. That this act should 
 be one of the heart, performed sincerely and 
 truthfully, is the first requisite ; but even this 
 does not exhaust the full meaning of the words, 
 ivorslivp him in spirit and in truth; for the 
 antithesis of these terms, spiritually and truth- 
 fully, is over against those ideas of locality 
 and symbolism by which even the true reli- 
 
54 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 gion was once distinguished. The time was 
 when the only Divine revelation was confined 
 to certain places and certain forms. Even 
 then there were worshippers who called on 
 God sincerely and truthfully. But now that 
 Christ has come, the old ideas of place and 
 form and rite disappear. Christ is the Way, 
 the Truth, the Life ; and through him, the sum 
 and substance of all revelation, the soul of any 
 man, whenever, wherever he lives, may have 
 the knowledge and fellowship of the Eternal 
 Spirit. The true Holy Place is the soul itself. 
 All other religions before conducted man with- 
 out; this leads him within, and thus reveals 
 God through Jesus Christ. Here, as in all 
 New Testament teachings, the essential thing- 
 is the one Person, the Messiah, the Saviour of 
 the world. As he began with a reference to 
 himself as one that would bestow living waters 
 to every thirsty soul, so he ends by disclosing 
 himself as the only true salvation, jjhe Restorer 
 of the guilty soul to God. 
 
 The result of this conversation, let us hope, 
 was the saving of this benighted and miserable 
 woman. So full of wonder and joy was she at 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMAKIA. 55 
 
 what she heard, that she left her water-pot at 
 the well, and hastened to the city, and report- 
 ed to the people, that she had encountered a 
 stranger — was he not the Christ? — who had 
 told her all things which ever she did ; and 
 many of them believed on him ; and yet many 
 more in the city, where he continued awhile. 
 So may we hope that this woman, going forth 
 at noon, frivolous", obtuse, ignorant, and guilty, 
 did indeed, ere the day had. gone, begin to 
 drink of living waters ; for she had found u the 
 Christ, the Saviour of the world." 11 
 
 We drop the narrative at this point, and 
 concern ourselves now with the weighty truths 
 which it conveys in such a spirited form. As 
 well might we occupy ourselves with criti- 
 cism upon any old Greek manuscript as on 
 the correct reading of the passage before us, 
 if we did not believe that the latter contains 
 what is essential to our own personal salva- 
 tion. 
 
 " If any man* thirst, let him come unto me 
 and drink/ 7 said the Son of God in the temple 
 court on the last great day of the feast ; and 
 here he affirms, "The water that I shall give 
 
56 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 him shall be in him a well of water, spring- 
 ing up into everlasting life." Divested of all 
 that is tropical, the truthful sentiment is, that 
 Jesns Christ, and He alone, can give to the 
 human soul all the relief which it needs, and 
 that which alone can satisfy it for ever. 
 
 Have you that thirst already which would 
 dispose you to come to the cooling waters ? 
 Perhaps you are suffering already from those 
 compunctions of. conscience which our divine 
 Lord, with such exquisite skill, quickened 
 to life in the soul of this unhappy woman. 
 So it may be that some whom I how address 
 suffer many things in their own minds from 
 the memory of their own sins. Perhaps it 
 is so that He who, in his intercourse with 
 men centuries ago, gave such proof of his 
 power over the human conscience ; by a word, 
 by a look, by silence even, putting in motion 
 the alarm-clock in the chamber of the sleep- 
 ing soul, has employed some agency of his 
 own — a sermon, an affliction, the death of a 
 friend, a disappointment in business — to arouse 
 your conscience, and remind you of your guilt, 
 incurring the judgments of God. Or it may be 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 57 
 
 otherwise. Perhaps there is some sin on your 
 conscience with which you have grown famil- 
 iar, and to which you have become wonted, as 
 one becomes accustomed to a deformity or a 
 dull pain, but which operates to blind the eye 
 and deaden the sense to the glorious truth of 
 Christ. You wonder why you have not a 
 clearer perception of the spiritualities of reli- 
 gion. May there not be some personal sin 
 which is like a veil over your soul while we 
 discourse of living waters ? Is there not some- 
 thing in your business which you know to be 
 wrong? Possibly you have in your posses- 
 sion property which belongs to others. It 
 may be so that the real reason which keeps 
 you from a most thirsty and refreshing par- 
 taking of Christian promises, is the knowledge 
 on your part of some wrong which you have 
 not the courage to confess or the magnanimity 
 to repair. So it may be with some who are 
 living now ; that there are secret sins which 
 blunt the sensibility of the soul to that degree 
 that they cannot comprehend when Christ him- 
 self speaks of the river of the water of life, 
 and of the bread which came down from heav- 
 
58 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHUIST. 
 
 en, and who have need to be warned of their 
 guilt, just as the words of Christ sent convic- 
 tion and shame to the heart of this Samaritan. 
 Or, more likely still, have not these words 
 been read by some who have been conscious 
 of unrest and dissatisfaction in the midst of 
 worldly life ? They have been reputed as 
 prosperous among men ; they have pursued 
 wealth, and obtained it ; followed after prizes, 
 and grasped them ; devoted thejnselves to 
 pleasure, and been counted as her happiest 
 votaries ; but the very successes which have 
 crowned their life have taught them, as noth- 
 ing else could, the hollowness of a heart which 
 holds every thing but Christ. Riches have 
 been proved to canker the soul with cares. In 
 the midst of mirth, the confession has been 
 extorted, It is mad ; and the fruit, so ruddy 
 and tempting to the eye, has turned to ashes 
 in the hand. Desire is never satisfied by such 
 objects ; and their only effect is, to exasperate 
 thirst into a more restless fever. Then comes 
 disappointment itself : reverses, losses, thorns, 
 bereavements — a dusky train, sent, not to mock 
 our misery, but to incite that sense of want 
 
* THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 59 
 
 which shall lead the wounded and thirsty soul 
 to living waters. 
 
 What is werse than all, can it be that 
 there are souls so dead as to be conscious of 
 no desire after any thing better than they 
 have in this world? Above all who walk 
 the earth, pity not the afflicted, ■ and disap- 
 pointed, and sorrowful, who yearn and thirst 
 for divine consolation; but pity those who are 
 content with their husks, and whose hearts 
 ache not for their Father's house, with its am- 
 ple contentment. Pity most profoundly all 
 such as are satisfied with the "pleasures of 
 sin, which are for a season," with no longing- 
 after what is invisible and imperishable. That 
 soul is lost for ever whom God leaves to trust 
 to its own cisterns ; discovering, in the hour 
 of extremest-need, that they are broken and 
 waterless. 
 
 To all these varied classes Christ says now, 
 " If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it 
 is that talketh with thee, thou wouldest have 
 asked of him, and he would have given thee 
 living water." We wonder at the stupidity 
 of this uneducated mind, which could not catch 
 
60 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST: 
 
 the clew put into her hands, nor avail herself 
 of the auspicious opportunity thrown in her 
 way ; but what was her obtuseness, compared 
 with that of many now, who fail to recognize 
 the voice of Christ when he knocks at the door 
 of the soul, and offers his presence, his aid, 
 and his salvation ? The woman of Samaria 
 was not the only one with whom Christ con- 
 versed on themes of highest import. He ac- 
 costs every one of us ; and all are invited to 
 partake of his fulness. That fountain of which 
 the Hebrew Prophet spoke is sparkling at our 
 feet. Our path is not through arid deserts, 
 our feet blistered by hot sands, and our tongues 
 parched for want of water, distant and inac- 
 cessible. This is the day when "living waters 
 go forth from Jerusalem ; :? "in summer and 
 in winter shall it be." Xo frost conceals it ; 
 no drought exhausts it ; perpetual verdure 
 is all around it ; and you may come and kneel, 
 and drink, and thirst no more. This is the 
 only thing in the universe of which it is true, 
 that there is no place for moderating desire, 
 and no possibility of disappointment. Every 
 thing else decays, dwindles, disappears. This 
 
THE WOMAN OF SAMAEIA. 61 
 
 deepens and extends the farther you go — the 
 waters rising from the ankle to the knee, to the 
 loins, to the neck, deep enough in which to 
 swim ; an ocean, an element inexhaustible and 
 eternal. 
 
 Take counsel of such as, hearing the voice 
 of Christ, have found p eace - Consider such 
 as, believing his word, have testified, when 
 death was disparting them from all below, 
 that the best existence was before them — an 
 inheritance which fadeth not away. Think 
 of those who, betaking themselves in the hour 
 of need to the Son of God, have been taken 
 by him to that world where they repose in 
 green pastures and beside still waters, in per- 
 petual peace, contentment, and satisfaction. 
 ' ' Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall 
 giva him, shall never thirst ; but the water 
 that I shall give him shall be in him a well of 
 water, springing up into everlasting life. 77 
 
 Thirsty, weary, dissatisfied in this sultry 
 life, come as you are ; come at once ; come 
 because you are invited ; as you would not 
 do affront to infinite Generosity, come and 
 drink, and live for ever. 
 
CONVERSATION OF CHRfST 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE YOUNG RULER 
 
 The Moralist- 
 
 MATT. 19:16-22 
 MARK 10:17-22. 
 LUKE 18:18-24. 
 
Ill, 
 
 THE YOUNG RULER: 
 
 The Moralist. 
 
 It would be difficult to find, in all the 
 evangelists, a passage which demands a more 
 cautious discrimination in its interpretation 
 than those which record the personal conver- 
 sation of our Lord with the moralist, who was 
 honestly depending upon his good works as 
 the means of securing eternal life. If we 
 ascertain the right point of perspective, every 
 thing is plain and consistent. If we mistake 
 our point of view, we are sure to be em- 
 barrassed by multiform perplexities. Some 
 superficial readers have been inclined to re- 
 gard the terms of Christian discipleship here 
 proposed as hard, severe, and impractica- 
 ble — assuming that it is Christian discipleship 
 which is here described and enjoined. Oth- 
 ers, misunderstanding the spirit and intent of 
 
66 CONVEESATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 the man who seeks this interview with Christ, 
 regard the answer given by Christ as pro- 
 posing a method of salvation just the opposite 
 from that which is disclosed in other parts of 
 the New Testament — assuming, on their part, 
 that it is a method of salvation, distinctively 
 so called, which is here propounded. Is mo- 
 rality of no account in the Christian economy ? 
 Did it not, in this instance, provoke the admi- 
 ration of the Son of God ? But how is this to 
 be reconciled with the notion that all our right- 
 eousness is worthless in His sight who justi- 
 fies freely by his grace through faith in the 
 Redeemer, and not by works and merit of our 
 own? All these and other similar questions 
 most readily adjust themselves in perfect 
 harmony and consistency when once we have 
 found the right position from which to survey 
 and interpret the whole conversation. The 
 same words may bear very different significa- 
 tions, according to the circumstances in which 
 they were spoken. 
 
 Our first object therefore must be, to ascer- 
 tain those facts which are the key to the inter- 
 view. 
 
THE MOEALIST. 67 
 
 Our Lord was now on his way to Jerusa- 
 lem for the fourth and last Passover. No 
 sooner had he gone out into the road to pros- 
 ecute his journey, than one was seen running 
 towards him as if in great eagerness to meet 
 him before he should pass out of the town. 
 His manner indicates the utmost reverence. 
 He kneels before our Lord with most respect- 
 ful salutation. He is a young man of the very 
 highest social position. He is, we are informed, 
 very wealthy, a ruler, of a most exemplary 
 refinement of character. He was a rare spe- 
 cimen of humanity, in whom met all the qual- 
 ities of a correct life and official status and 
 large possessions, which made him to the last 
 degree winning and attractive. Scarcely had 
 he risen from his knees, ere he put the ques- 
 tion which, introducing the conversation, re- 
 veals the attitude of his own mind, and so 
 explains all which follows. " Good Master, 
 what good thing shall / do that I may inherit 
 eternal life V 1 Every word helps us to inter- 
 pret the character and intention of the man. 
 He is no malicious quibble r, seeking to entan- 
 gle Christ in his words. Neither does he 
 
68 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 resemble the other person with whom he is 
 often confounded, who came to question our 
 Lord in respect to the commandments, and to 
 whom Christ said, " Thou art not far from the 
 kingdom of God." The two were in very dif- 
 ferent states of mind, and represent different 
 classes of men. He was evidently a most ear- 
 nest and honest man. His mind was not upon 
 any thing trivial, but upon the attainment of 
 eternal life. He evidently wished and intended 
 to make sure of this noblest end of existence. 
 Regarding this as of the highest importance, 
 as every posture and expression and act indi- 
 cate, he puts the question which shows at once 
 that he was altogether at fault as to the pro- 
 cess of its attainment. This is not the lan- 
 guage of the jailor of Philippi — stricken by his 
 conscience — "What shall I do to be saved?" 
 not the importunate cry of the men to whom 
 Peter preached on the day of Pentecost — 
 "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" but 
 it is the inquiry of a man who had set out in 
 the pursuit of eternal life in his own way, 
 which was not the right way, and who asked 
 for further directions along the same line of 
 
THE MOBALIST. 69 
 
 exertion. Noble in disposition, elevated in 
 purpose, lie has set himself the task of win- 
 ning the highest of all prizes, a crown of life, 
 in the way of legal perfection ; and his wish 
 and expectation most evidently were, that 
 Christ would assign him new tasks and new 
 achievements, by which he might be impelled 
 yet farther and higher in his heavenward 
 career. 
 
 The possibility of his doing every thing 
 which insures his perfection he assumes, sim- 
 ply inquiring what other thing, he should add 
 to that which he had done already : ' - What 
 good thing shall I do?" He looked for the) 
 mention of some laudable act which would 
 impart new lustre to his ornate character, and 
 stimulate his ambition and his pride and his 
 s-elf-esteem. ' I do not mean that this young 
 ruler exhibited that form of self-esteem which 
 was the usual characteristic of Jewish Phari- 
 seeism, and which was so unlovely and repul- 
 sive ; for surely, if he had, Christ could not 
 have looked upon him with any regard or 
 admiration. He was no dissembler, but an 
 honest and zealous religionist — whose zeal and 
 
70 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 honesty, nevertheless, were expended upon a 
 false assumption: that assumption was, that 
 he could do in the way of personal obedience — 
 'he himself— whatever was needful to complete 
 his claim to eternal life. The ideas of imper- 
 fection and sin, forcing him to look about for 
 some other method of securing his end do not 
 appear to have entered his mind. He does 
 not ask, what we are accustomed to expect, 
 directions which shall inform us how, as sin- 
 ners, we may be saved ; but what meritorious 
 thing he could do which should advance him 
 to a higher promotion as one without sin, so 
 that he should lay his hand upon eternal life 
 as his own rightful inheritance. It is very 
 essential that we understand most accurately 
 this attitude of mind on the part of the yoijng 
 ruler ; for if we mistake here, we misinterpret 
 altogether the intention of our Lord in what 
 he replied, and start ourselves off in a wrong 
 direction. TTe have, then, the portraiture of 
 a man who is to the last degree refined, ac- 
 complished, attractive, who wishes yet further 
 to refine and adorn and perfect himself, so 
 that he may be a splendid specimen of piety, 
 
THE MORALIST. 71 
 
 heaping up new honors for himself as an un- 
 blemished moralist, and entering the kingdom 
 of God at last, like a ship under a great show 
 and press of sail, with a most magnificent ova- 
 tion. 
 
 How, then, should we have supposed that 
 our Lord would reply to a person who accosted 
 him with the spirit and language which we 
 have now explained. Those wiio resolve the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ into a mere system of 
 morality have a somewhat difficult task to 
 explain what follows in this conversation con- 
 sistently with their premises. They must hold 
 that Christ proposed terms which were very 
 exacting and unreasonable, even that this 
 young man should impoverish himself utterly, 
 that he might win the evidences and rewards of 
 Christian discipleship. Such surely was not 
 the design of Christ. This was, to convince 
 this moralist that he was radically wrong in 
 all his methods and expectations of moral per- 
 fection. The evident intention of Christ was, 
 to satisfy him that he could, not inherit eternal 
 life by his good-doing, and that it was neces- 
 sary for him to change his ground, and insert 
 
72 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 a new and very different element into all his 
 exertions and expectations. The method in 
 which this instruction was conveyed is the 
 most adroit that could be imagined. It is not 
 in the way of dogmatic assertion. It is not by 
 answering in didactic formula, that all human 
 goodness is imperfect, and needs a supply of 
 mercy and forgiveness — which is the substance 
 of the Christian doctrine. The method chosen 
 by Christ to carry the conviction of the truth 
 into the very centre of the living heart then 
 throbbing before him is superlatively skilful 
 and successful. 
 
 1 ' Good Master, what good thing shall I 
 do, that I may inherit eternal life?" "And 
 Jesus said unto him. Why callest thou me 
 good? there is none good but one, that is, 
 GodP 
 
 This verse has sometimes been quoted as 
 a disclaimer on the part of Christ of divine 
 attributes and qualities. This comes from 
 taking a particular expression out of its origi- 
 nal connection, and so putting upon it a sense 
 which it was never intended to bear. Dis- 
 claim his own goodness ! deny his own divin- 
 
THE MORALIST. 73 
 
 ity! How would that be pertinent to the 
 occasion? How would that prove an appro- 
 priate answer to the question proposed? Be- 
 sides, what will they do with the dilemma 
 which stares those in the face who construe 
 this remark of Christ as a disclaimer of any 
 kind? 
 
 Put in syllogistic form, it would be pre- 
 sented thus: "None is good but God" — 
 " Christ is good;" therefore "Christ is God." 
 Or, ' ' None is good but God ; Christ is not God, " 
 therefore — shall we give the conclusion an 
 utterance? u Christ is not good."* We mis- 
 take if we suppose that this first response of 
 Christ was intended either as an assertion or 
 a disclaimer of any quality or claim of his 
 own ; it was intended to touch the very heart 
 of that subject which had been introduced by 
 the first question of the ruler: "Good Mas- 
 ter, what good thing shall I do to inherit eter- 
 nal life ?" - 
 
 This man had an idea of goodness and 
 good-doing which was defective and false. 
 This Christ intended that he should see. Thai 
 * Vide Stier, I, 283, note. 
 
 Con. of Christ. \ 
 
74 CONVERSATIONS OF CHBIST. 
 
 idea was humanitarian only — from the plane 
 of sense, and not according to the true notion, 
 which is divine. The design of Christ was, to 
 transfer the mind of the questioner from the 
 one idea to the other ; to insert into his mind 
 the true, the only true notion of goodness as 
 represented by God himself. There is no 
 evidence that this young man regarded Jesus 
 Christ as any thing more than a human 
 teacher — a prophet sent from God. He ad- 
 dresses him with a form of language common 
 towards such ; and his form of salutation, 
 kneeling, was not designed as religious wor- 
 ship, but as the ordinary method of profound 
 respect : " Good Master, what good thing shall 
 I do?" The first thing needed is that this 
 mind, misled by a false judgment concerning 
 goodness, its own now in possession, its own 
 as purposed to be in future attainments, 
 should be corrected as to this idea of what 
 goodness is. So the reply of Christ is in- 
 tended most obviously to lift the mind from 
 its humanitarian level to the loftiness of divine 
 perfection: '''Goodness? what good thing 
 shall I do V What do you mean, my friend, 
 
THE MOKALIST. 75 
 
 by good? by being good? by doing good? 
 You use the word quite frequently. You used 
 it in the salutation with which you have com- 
 plimented me ; you used it in your first ques- 
 tion. If you have started off with the expec- 
 tation of winning eternal life by your own 
 goodness, it is well to cast an eye before you, 
 and see what goodness actually is." So he 
 directs him at the very outset to the Being 
 who is the only absolute goodness, whom we 
 must resemble if we expect eternal life by 
 affinity of nature, for the purpose of awaken- 
 ing in his mind the conviction that he could 
 not inherit the life and glory of heaven in this 
 method of being good, since our goodness does 
 not extend to God. It is imperfect, and God 
 only is the One absolute perfection. 
 
 Here was one who had no true idea of 
 the nature of goodness ; and yet, forsooth, he 
 intended to glorify himself by doing good. 
 " GoooZ Master," said he, "what good thing 
 shall I do?" and the very phrase which he 
 uses in a complimentary epithet and in his 
 introductory question is turned upon him with 
 an emphasis which is intensified to the end of 
 
76 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 the conversation. If goodness is to be the 
 method of inheriting eternal life, then be sure 
 that you have in you the genuine quality ; not 
 that which passes muster in human compli- 
 ments and human relations, but that which is 
 displayed in the Being and the commandments 
 of the good God — the whole in the way of 
 correcting the mistakes of the mind with which 
 he was dealing, diminishing the self-confidence 
 of him who was misled, and of introducing into 
 his religion an element of repentance in view 
 of defects which needed forgiveness, instead of 
 leaving it in its low and earthly judgments, 
 which were untrue. 
 
 That which passes as good among men is 
 one thing. Quite another thing is the good- 
 ness which is perfect and divine, and which is 
 expressed in the law of G-ocl. tt you would 
 do good, God, who alone is absolutely good, 
 must be your Teacher, and his teachings are 
 expressed in his statutes. We perceive the 
 intention of this heart -reading and divine 
 instruction, which was to convince this young 
 man that he had no correct idea of the spirit- 
 ual nature of goodness, or of that law by which 
 
THE MORALIST. 77 
 
 it was expressed ; but that he was satisfied 
 with garnishing his outward life with those 
 moralities which men call goodness. How 
 pertinent and congruous the whole from this 
 point of view : ' ' Good Master, what good thing 
 shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" 
 And Jesus said unto him, "Why callest thou 
 me good ? there is none good but one, that is, 
 God : but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
 commandments." The commandments are the 
 reflection and expression of the Being who 
 gave them; and the fulfilling of them is the 
 highest and greatest of all things. "Keep 
 the commandments !" This falls upon the ear 
 of the young man as the very thing for which 
 he had been asking — a new task ; expecting, 
 of course, that some new injunction was to 
 be specified, by which his morality would be 
 proved and advanced. "Commandments! 
 which, what are they?" " TJie command- 
 ments," replied our Lord ; "thou knowest the 
 commandments, the decalogue, the moral law : 
 1 Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not com- 
 mit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt 
 not bear false witness, defraud not, honor thy 
 
78 CONVEKSATIONS OF OHEIST. 
 
 father and thy mother ; and, thou shalt love thy 
 neighbor as thyself.' " As Christ rehearsed the 
 several precejats of the second table of the 
 law — and what follows shows ns why these 
 were specified rather than those of the first 
 table — he appended that which was the spirit 
 and the substance of the whole code, "Thou 
 
 SHALT LOYE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF." But 
 
 this appendix, designed to explain the import 
 of the several commandments, does not seem 
 to have made much impression on the young 
 man, who was quite pleased as this new 
 Teacher repeated those several precepts which 
 fell so familiarly upon his ear, and he -answer- 
 ed quickly and promptly, ' ' Master, all these 
 things have I observed from my youth : what 
 lack I yet ? ;; Great was his cheerfulness and 
 satisfaction when he could conscientiously 
 assert that he had abstained from every vice 
 and immorality condemned in the decalogue. 
 While he could make his boast of this in all 
 honesty — he being by the very terms of the 
 description externally moral to the last touch 
 and finish of art — it is certain that he was 
 spiritually blind to the real import of the com- 
 
THE MORALIST. 79 
 
 mandments. Scarcely did he hear the closing 
 of the catalogue, " Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
 bor as thyself," which was designed to show 
 that the true keeping of the commandments 
 was in a disposition of the heart, and not in 
 the observance of the letter. The command 
 of the one good God is fulfilled only by that 
 sincere and disinterested and masterly love 
 which is the only true goodness. As the young 
 magistrate, in the consciousness of his untar- 
 nished morality, put the question, "What lack 
 I yet ?" the Master turned upon him — not with 
 frowns and indignation, but with a gentler ex- 
 pression of mingled love and pity. "Then 
 Jesus, beholding him, loved him." 
 
 If the narrative and the conversation had 
 stopped just at "this point, we might have con- 
 cluded that, in the judgment of Jesus Christ, 
 there was one who was fitted to grace the 
 kingdom of God by his most admirable moral- 
 ity. But the interview was destined to have 
 a very different termination, as it was de- 
 signed to convey a very different lesson. The 
 smile of the Saviour's pitiful admiration con- 
 veys with it an emphasis ; for it shows how 
 
80 CONVEESATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 thoroughly moral, according to his own esti- 
 mate of morality, this young man was, and 
 how attractive he was in his personal accom- 
 plishments and deportment, in contrast with 
 the rude and dissolute and vicious transgres- 
 sor. Even Christ testifies to the beauty and 
 loveliness of this extraordinary morality, 
 which had in it no defect to the eye, that the 
 lesson of the whole incident might be the more 
 pointed and impressive. It was an uncommon 
 specimen of what would be called among men 
 a good life. " What lack I yet ?" said he, and 
 that honestly. That one look of love from the 
 face of Christ is the highest reward and enco- 
 mium which the moralist could reach; but 
 that was only preparatory for the sequel. A 
 question has been asked of the true Master 
 which demands a true answer; and that an- 
 swer will lay open the heart to its very core : 
 "Yet one thing thou lackest: if thou wilt be 
 perfect, go thy way, 'and sell whatsoever thou 
 hast, and give to the poor, and come, take up 
 the cross, &ndfottoiv me." 
 
 Mark, Christ does not say, "Thou lackest 
 only one thing " — but one thing thou lackest, 
 
THE MORALIST. 81 
 
 and that is the whole. Good enough, admi- 
 rable enough, so far as it goes, measured on 
 your humanitarian and visible plane, is your 
 law-keeping ; but in the eye which reads the 
 heart and inspects the invisible dispositions 
 there is a defect which vitiates the whole. 
 You are utterly wanting in that love which 
 is the keeping of the whole law. To convince 
 him that it was so — for this purpose only — 
 our Lord presents to him a test. He did not 
 assail him with severe charges ; he did not tell 
 him that in heart he was an idolater ; but 
 he proposed to him that he should do a cer- 
 tain thing — had he not asked what he should 
 do to inherit eternal life ? — which he could not 
 do if he was wanting in that love for his neigh- 
 bor which is equal to the love of one's self; 
 and this proposal was made for the very pur- 
 pose of satisfying him that there was in his 
 heart a radical defect. Say not that the terms 
 of Christian discipleship are severe. These 
 are not the terms of Christian discipleship. 
 Christ does not demand that every man who 
 becomes his disciple should sell all that he has, 
 and reduce himself to poverty. You say that 
 
 4* 
 
82 CONVEESATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 it was very natural that this proposal should 
 excite grief, and would be disposed of just as 
 it was in this case. Granted ; just what we 
 believe. This would be the natural, the com- 
 mon mode of disposing of such an exaction. 
 Just what our Lord intended to convey to this 
 inquirer. This man had wished to make him- 
 self or prove himself perfect. To prove to him 
 that his goodness was not perfect, according to 
 the spirit of the commandment, he gave him a 
 direction such as could be obeyed only by a 
 perfect love. You affirm that you would cer- 
 tainly have reluctated at such a proposal. 
 Undoubtedly you would, because you know 
 that your love is not perfect, and so not equal 
 to the sacrifice. God's goodness is infinite, 
 because his love is infinite ; and the Son of 
 God made sacrifices for man such as could 
 have been made by love only. 
 
 Say not then that Christ puts a hard yoke 
 and binds a heavy burden on his disciples ; 
 it is the man himself who has come under the 
 pressure, by undertaking to accomplish and 
 demonstrate his own perfection. To convince 
 him that he is not perfect, and that of himself 
 
THE MORALIST. 83 
 
 lie cannot do all which is implied in perfect 
 obedience to the law of love, he is bidden to 
 do what he feels himself nneqnal to perform ; 
 and all this that he might change his ground 
 and his endeavor, and assume a place in the 
 cliscipleship of Christ : " Come andfoUoiv me. 11 
 When the young man heard these words, his 
 countenance fell; he was very sorrowful, sad 
 at heart, for he had great wealth. Had the 
 probe touched the heart ? Had he discovered 
 that he loved himself more than his neighbor ? 
 Was he convinced for the first time that be- 
 tween him and that perfection which is de- 
 manded in the law ther.e was an immense 
 chasm? If he had just now and here, when 
 the kind fidelity of Christ had thus disclosed 
 himself to himself — if he had only confessed 
 and acknowledged the defect of his legal obe- 
 dience, and asked for forgiveness, a new ele- 
 ment would have entered into his life, which 
 would have insured salvation upon Christian 
 terms, in distinction from that legality which 
 he had prescribed for himself. He turned, sad 
 and depressed, and went away. The issue of 
 the case is veiled from our eye. Did he sub- 
 
84: CONVEESATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 sequently; under these new teachings, con- 
 scious of imperfection, return to God with 
 penitential prayer, and* so prove himself a 
 disciple of the Saviour? We know nothing 
 of his history after this; but as the eye of 
 Christ followed him as he went away, he 
 turned to his disciples — who, as the sequel 
 shows, were in danger of mistaking the inci- 
 dent — and gave them a most impressive teach- 
 ing concerning the idolatry of wealth. 
 
 But this is a new subject, and quite a dif- 
 erent phase from that which we have now 
 contemplated. Let us then follow up the re- 
 sults of this conversation in one lesson. That 
 lesson is, that no man can inherit eternal life 
 on the basis of a legal obedience. We are 
 not to be promoted to celestial honor and 
 blessedness because of our personal and meri- 
 torious goodness. That goodness, to consti- 
 tute a claim by inheritance to eternal life, must 
 be not only honest and cordial, but absolutely 
 perfect. It must come up to the full standard 
 of the commandment. The moment you attach 
 to it the quality of imperfection, of defect, how- 
 ever slight, that moment you introduce into 
 
THE MOKALIST. 85 
 
 your religion a new idea, a new element, which 
 must be met with its own correlative of for- 
 giveness ; but this is the Christian method, in 
 distinction from legality. 
 
 Shall we then conclude that morality — 
 understanding by the term this unblemished 
 and attractive exterior of life — is valueless? 
 or that a thorough obedience to law is not to 
 be prosecuted by every Christian disciple with 
 a most noble emulation ? This is the worst of 
 all infatuations. Two extremes have been* of 
 common occurrence : to undervalue morality, 
 however earnest, on the plea of Christian 
 faith ; and to exalt and honor secular morality 
 at the expense and in contempt of Christian 
 faith. 
 
 "It is what they see of the laxity, the 
 imbecility, the instability of many religionists, 
 which indurates secular men in their impi- 
 ety, and leads them, with an avowed con- 
 tempt of religious principles, to rest the mo- 
 tives of their conduct upon the lower ground 
 of expediency, utility, honor, and a regard to 
 reputation. On the other hand, the lax reli- 
 gionist, seeing as he does that secular princi- 
 
88 CONVERSATIONS OP CHRIST. 
 
 pies often produce a sort of consistency and 
 virtue of which he knows himself to be en- 
 tirely destitute, and finding that his doctrine 
 of faith, in Ms case, has no efficiency of a sim- 
 ilar kind, arrives tacitly at the conclusion that 
 the honor, truth, integrity, candor, ingenuous- 
 ness, and self-command in which some worldly 
 men excel are nothing better than '* worldly 
 virtues' or false semblances of goodness with 
 which a ' spiritual man ' should have little or 
 nothing to do."* 
 
 A Christian well instructed in the New 
 Testament holds to a golden mean which 
 involves no contradiction or inconsistency. 
 Morality is not the precedent condition of 
 saving faith, but it is always the result, the 
 fruit, and the evidence of Christian faith. 
 
 Propose the question, "What shall I do 
 to inherit eternal life ?" in the spirit of this 
 Jewish ruler, with the purpose and expecta- 
 tion of achieving your own immortal honor, 
 without the ideas of defect and forgiveness and 
 faith in a Saviour, and a greater task "is before 
 you than to tread the zodiac of the universe — 
 * Sat. Evg., p. 168. 
 
THE MOKALIST. 87 
 
 even to travel the star-paved highway which 
 leads on and on and upward to the absolute 
 perfection which exists in the Supreme. And 
 this must be without one deflection or diver- 
 sion or weariness or halting or mistake. Con- 
 scious that we cannot establish our perfect 
 goodness after this manner, we acknowledge 
 our imperfection, and so are bidden to trust, 
 as sinners, in the grace of the Redeemer. 
 
 What now ? Is this Christian faith an ex- 
 emption from all morality and a license for all 
 sins ? Is the act of believing in the Saviour the 
 paralysis of virtue ? or the power which stim- 
 ulates it to a greater vitality, supplying it 
 with a more potent force? We cannot mis- 
 take our answer to this question. Saddened 
 by the honest conviction that we cannot stand 
 the criterion of an unmixed and Divine per- 
 fection, we take our place, as grateful peni- 
 tents, in the discipleship of that Master who 
 forgives freely, whose yoke is easy and whose 
 burden is light ; and because forgiven and re- 
 enforced by new motives and helps beyond all 
 that can be found in ourselves, we go forth to 
 a new obedience, to the careful practice of all 
 
88 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 Christian virtues. We aim to obey the higher 
 injunctions, not that we may be promoted as 
 those who are without sin, but because we are 
 forgiven as sinners, and faith in the Redeemer 
 has admitted us to a new domain of freedom 
 and gratitude and love. Eternal life does not 
 depend upon our perfection; but because it 
 does depend upon the grace of Christ and the 
 love of the Spirit, that love shall prompt us 
 to emulate perfection. 
 
 "Come and follow me," says Christ. All 
 his conversations with men terminate with 
 proposing his own person as the object of 
 faith. We do not put ourselves before Christ, 
 but after him. We do not stand in prece- 
 dency of the Saviour, but follow in his steps, 
 as those who at once trust in his help and 
 imitate his life. 
 
 The review of this conversation of our Lord 
 with an accomplished moralist will greatly in- 
 struct us if we are reminded of this revealed 
 certainty, " that by the deeds of the law no 
 flesh living shall be justified" — that we are 
 justified freely by the grace of Christ : and 
 because of this we are impelled, prompted, en- 
 
THE MORALIST. 89 
 
 couraged to follow that holiness which shines 
 upon us down through those gates of Paradise 
 which are opened — to the weeping eye of 
 penitence — by the hand of the Eedeemer. 
 " Come and follow me," says Christ. Yes, 
 we will — not as those who are proved to be 
 perfect ; but that forgiven and blessed we 
 may go on unto perfection. ' ' Come and fol- 
 low me/' says Christ. Yes, we will, for thou 
 hast bought us with a 'price, and we are not 
 our own. 
 
 " Talk they of morals ? Oh, thou bleeding Lamb, 
 The grand morality is love of thee." 
 
CONVERSATION OF CHRIST 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE INTELLIGENT SCRIBE : 
 
 Not far from the Kingdom of 
 
 God. 
 
 . 
 
 MATT. 22:34 
 
 -40. 
 
 MARK 12:28- 
 
 -34. 
 
IV. 
 THE INTELLIGENT SCEIBE: 
 
 Not far from the Kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 In the New Testament we have not only a 
 series of precepts, but a moving panorama of 
 living characters, who come in contact with 
 Jesns Christ, propose their questions, receive 
 their answers, and pass along, giving place to 
 others ; but their questions and answers do 
 not pass away with them ; they remain for ever, 
 the record of spiritual truths in a living form. 
 
 Here was a man who was pronounced by 
 our Lord to be " not far from the kingdom of 
 God." If, then, we shall be able to under- 
 stand the very posture of the mind here intro- 
 duced and described, we shall very readily 
 solve the question whether we ourselves are 
 near to or remote from the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 The individual here referred to was a 
 
94 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 scribe, an ecclesiastical lawyer, learned in all 
 questions pertaining to the religion of his coun- 
 try. As it appears from the narrative itself — ■ 
 and the method of procuring the true stereo- 
 scopic impression of the whole scene is, to col- 
 late the language of the several evangelists 
 who have recorded it — he was a listener to 
 what had occurred in Christ's conversation 
 with other persons. The Herodians, designing 
 to entrap our Lord, had just asked him a ques- 
 tion concerning the payment of tribute to the 
 Roman government. Immediately after this, 
 the Sadducees proposed to him another ques- 
 tion concerning the resurrection. Both par- 
 ties received an answer — but an answer so 
 smooth, so adroit, so discreet, that they were 
 transfixed on their own dilemmas. They were 
 baffled and silenced, so that they did not dare 
 to ask him any more questions. The scribe, 
 who next appears in view, a spectator of the 
 scene, seems to have been struck wij:h the 
 peculiarly neat, wise, and unanswerable lan- 
 guage of our Lord. It evinced an accurate 
 knowledge of the Scriptures. "Wishing to 
 ascertain more of this extraordinary stranger, 
 
THE INTELLIGENT SCRIBE. 95 
 
 and to improve the opportunity for solving 
 certain matters which had long been upon his 
 own mind, he now steps forward and proposes 
 a question to our Lord for himself. His pur- 
 pose in so doing, we must believe, was honest : 
 his disposition was good. Matthew, indeed, 
 says, that the lawyer asked the question 
 u tempting him." But a very slight acquaint- 
 ance with the language of. the New Testament 
 satisfies one that the word thus rendered is 
 used in a good sense as well as a bad. If in 
 some instances it obviously imports a malig- 
 nant design, such as solicitation to evil, or 
 ensnaring one in mischief; in others it is used 
 just as obviously in the general sense of prov- 
 ing one for the purpose of ascertaining his 
 opinions and character. Beyond all ques- 
 tion this was the intention of the individual 
 now before us. There was no malign pur- 
 pose in his heart; for had there been, our 
 Lord never would have said that he was near 
 to the kingdom of God. Convinced that the 
 person who, in his hearing, had just before 
 refuted the Herodians and the Sadducees so 
 cleverly must have still further knowledge of 
 
96 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 the Scriptures, and wishing himself to obtain 
 information pertinent to his own profession, 
 he also asked a question which was intended 
 to develop the character of the man in whose 
 presence he stood. The question proposed 
 was this: "Master, which is the first com- 
 mandment of all?" To redeem this inquiry 
 from the appearance of frivolity, it should be 
 borne in mind that this was a point long 
 mooted by the Jewish teachers, whether the 
 law of sacrifice, or the law of circumcision, or 
 the law of the Sabbath, or the law of the phy- 
 lacteries should have the precedence. Our 
 Lord answered the question thus proposed by 
 reciting sentences which were written in the 
 phylacteries themselves — the compendium of 
 the moral law. Taking no notice whatever of 
 those disputed questions concerning the cere- 
 monial law, he rehearsed at once the substance 
 of the divine statute which epitomizes all mor- 
 als : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy Grocl with 
 all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
 all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This 
 is the first commandment." And the scribe 
 exclaimed : "Master, thou hast answered well" 
 
THE INTELLIGENT SCEIBE. 97 
 
 Our English word well does not exhaust 
 the meaning of the Greek mfc>s — beautifully, 
 excellently — conveying the high satisfaction 
 which was felt with that reply. It was an 
 answer which corresponded to his own judg- 
 ment. What are forms and ritualisms, burnt- 
 offerings and sacrifices, in comparison with the 
 temper of the heart, the right quality of the 
 affections? When our Lord perceived the 
 heartiness, intelligence, and discretion with 
 which the scribe responded to his own saying, 
 he said unto him, " Thou art not far from the 
 kingdom of God J 1 He affirmed not that this 
 man was in the kingdom, but that he was near 
 to it — far nearer than if his manner, his dis- 
 position, his opinions had been other than they 
 were. Few words need be expended in prov- 
 ing that the expression, "kingdom of God," 
 signifies, in this connection, that state of bless- 
 ed security which is revealed and proffered to 
 us in the gospel. It indicates that condition 
 of things which is by Jesus Christ, insuring 
 man's highest welfare for this life and for the 
 life which is to come. Whether the person 
 here conversing with Christ actually entered 
 
 Con. or Christ. 5 
 
98 CONVEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 within the kingdom, receiving the gospel and 
 the salvation of his sonl. we are not informed. 
 No farther mention is made of his case ; he is 
 not introduced again in the sacred annals ; 
 the cnrtain drops jnst at this time and place ; 
 so that we cannot even conjecture whether, 
 improving 'his advantages, he passed on yet 
 farther, even within the precincts of safety, or, 
 withdrawing his foot, retreated to a greater 
 distance from the kingdom of God. The point 
 of greatest interest to ns is, that which is dis- 
 closed in this one interview and conversation. 
 If this individual evinced a condition of char- 
 acter which brought him into a critical near- 
 ness to the kingdom of heaven, it is of great 
 concern to each and all to know what that 
 condition was, that we may measure our own 
 relations to the redemption of the Son of God.* 
 Our wisdom therefore is to ascertain, if it 
 be possible, what there was peculiar to the 
 individual thus described, which drew forth 
 this judgment from our Lord, "Thou art not 
 far from the kingdom of God." The only 
 source of knowledge which is open to us in 
 reference to this inquiry is, the narrative itself. 
 
THE INTELLIGENT SCKIBE. 99 
 
 The first thing of a hopeful character in 
 the state of this individual was, that he was 
 disposed to press an honest and earnest inquiry 
 after truth. 
 
 We are constrained to believe that this 
 was the case from all the attendant circum- 
 stances. He was not a skeptic, he was not 
 stupidly indifferent, he was not a crafty oppo- 
 nent, but he was disposed to inquire after the 
 truth. This was decidedly auspicious and 
 hopeful. The first thing which the truth of 
 G-od demands is, a mind open and attentive 
 to receive it. The greatest censure which 
 Scripture and observation compel us to pass 
 upon multitudes of men is, that though the 
 light shines, they will not receive it. The 
 doors and the windows are barred closely 
 against it. The mind has no interest in the 
 truth ; is profoundly insensible to its existence. 
 A disposition to ask for the truth, to inquire 
 for instruction, is the first sign of spiritual 
 vitality. Inasmuch as the truth of God is 
 nigh to us, flowing around us like the air, 
 shining about us like the sun, the opening of 
 the mind to receive it advances one immedi- 
 
100 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 ately into the most auspicious proximity to its 
 
 ■ 
 
 blessings. 
 
 This thoughtful teacher of the law was 
 favored with the opportunity of a personal 
 conversation with Christ. That is denied to 
 us ; but we possess what is better and greater. 
 The kingdom of God has had a fuller disclo- 
 sure since that day when the Son of man held 
 these memorable conversations in Jerusalem. 
 The redemption which is by Jesus Christ is 
 amply revealed ; and that revelation is given 
 to us in a written form. Eemote from all the 
 benefits of the gospel are all they who feel not 
 interest enough therein to consult the pages of 
 inspiration with a candid and earnest spirit. 
 Their faces are actually averted from the light ; 
 their backs are turned upon the kingdom of 
 God. 
 
 The first step — and that step advances one 
 farther than may be supposed — is, when he 
 begins with personal interest to ask for the 
 way of truth. That way is so plain and infal- 
 lible, that to inquire for it is to find it. Show 
 me the man who, roused out of apathy, is 
 inquisitive after the way of the Lord ; who is 
 
THE INTELLIGENT SCRIBE. 101 
 
 earnest for the solution of those questions 
 which have agitated his soul ; who daily seeks 
 for light and truth out of the oracles of God, 
 even as he would have hung upon the lips of 
 Christ in the days of his flesh ; who is alert to 
 improve every o*pportunity and help within 
 his reach for acquiring that knowledge which 
 is eternal life : and I will show you the 
 very man who is not far from the kingdom of 
 God. The only thing which separates one 
 from the abundant blessings which are in 
 Christ is, that opaque, inert condition of mind 
 and heart which is likened unto death. To 
 give heed, to inquire, to be candid, honest, 
 earnest in seeking, at the words of Christ, 
 what is needful for us to know, is to begin to 
 live. Deepen this spirit of earnest inquisi- 
 tiveness, and you bring one nearer and nearer 
 to the kingdom of God. Eyes that are shut 
 cannot see the light. Let them be opened, 
 and we may hope for the spiritual discernment 
 which brings salvation. 
 
 Indispensable as is this earnest action of 
 the mind, it is only initiatory. That which 
 shows a more decided advance towards- the 
 
102 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST, 
 
 kingdom of God is, a correct judgment as to 
 the import of the divine law. The gospel of 
 Jesus Christ is designed to be remedial of all 
 those defects which are under the law. The 
 consciousness of those defects must spring from 
 a knowledge of the law itself. That which was 
 the most hopeful of all things in the condition 
 of this scribe was, that he had a true discern- 
 ment of the spiritual nature of the divine com- 
 mandment. In his judgment, holocausts, obla- 
 tions, forms, rites were of no account compared 
 with that supreme love which is the one essen- 
 tial law of our being. He who has reached this 
 conviction will be likely to reach the convic- 
 tion, also, that by that law of judgment he 
 is impeached of a vast deficiency ; and for this 
 there is no remedy but in the grace of the Son 
 of God. The law is the schoolmaster who 
 leads us to Christ. Not far from the kingdom 
 of heaven is he who beholds himself in the 
 perfect law of his Maker ; while the gospel 
 will be an enigma and a stumbling-block to 
 all such as discern not the spirituality of the 
 divine statute. 
 
 To illustrate the many mistakes of men in 
 
THE INTELLIGENT SCRIBE. 103 
 
 reference to this vital subject, the New Tes- 
 tament presents us with several tableaux of 
 living personages. One resembles, as to the 
 outward appearance, the scribe introduced 
 into this narrative. He was a magistrate, in 
 the prime of life, of great wealth, and alto- 
 gether, as to position and character, one of 
 the elite of the land.* He too displayed an. 
 unusual earnestness in his interview with our 
 Lord. Seeing him approach, he ran, fell on 
 his knees before him, saying, "Master, good 
 Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may 
 inherit eternal life V 7 However mistaken and 
 impertinent the answer which we may give to 
 such a question, our Lord never misjudged 
 the character of individuals. The question 
 proposed by this ornate moralist gives us the 
 first glimpse of his character. " What good 
 thing shall I do, that I may inherit eteriM 
 life?" "If you are resolute in your deter- 
 mination," says Christ, "at legal perfection, the 
 category of duty is briefly summed : Keep the 
 
 * Vide preceding chapter. The persons introduced 
 on these several occasions, often confounded, are obvi- 
 ously distinct. 
 
104 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 commandments." "What commandments?" 
 was the quick and eager inquiry. " Those, of* 
 'course, which compose the moral law: Thou 
 shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit 
 adultery ; thou shalt not steal ; honor thy fa- 
 ther and thy mother; all of which may be 
 summed up in the one comprehensive require- 
 ment — Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
 self." With the utmost promptness and decis- 
 ion, the young man replied : " Why, all these 
 I have kept from my childhood. What lack I 
 yet ?» 
 
 Our Lord looked at him steadfastly, 
 his calm eye reading that soul through and 
 through ; when, breaking the silence of that 
 prolonged gaze, he said: "One thing thou 
 lackest — if thou wilt be perfect — if thou wilt 
 establish thy claim to a legal obedience which 
 hath no flaw — go sell all thy possessions, give 
 to the poor, and come take up thy cross and 
 follow me, and thou shalt have treasure in 
 heaven." No one who is not disposed to cavil 
 at the letter can misunderstand the meaning 
 of this direction. He would only display his 
 own petulancy and folly who should complain 
 
THE INTELLIGENT SCRIBE. 105 
 
 that this was an unreasonable demand made 
 by Christ of all his disciples ; and that this, 
 indeed, was a hard saying, that every man 
 must part with all hrs worldly estate before 
 he can prove himself entitled to the kingdom 
 of heaven. The passage contains no such sen- 
 timent, and the gospel presents no such condi- 
 tion. Here was a man who, by his own words, 
 declared a wish and expectation to inherit 
 eternal life on the ground of perfect obedience. 
 Upon that ground, the ground which he had 
 chosen, our Lord meets him ; and for the pur- 
 pose of convincing him that his legal obedi- 
 ence was fatally defective, he proposes a test 
 which was explosive of his hopes. The truth 
 was, that beneath all that fair and fascinating 
 exterior there was a heart of idolatry. This 
 man loved his money more than he loved his 
 God. The finger of the Physician was laid 
 upon the very tenderness and soreness of the 
 disease. He had asked what he did lack, and 
 the answer came with such a look and empha- 
 sis as convinced him that he lacked every thing. 
 The bolt hit the conscience in the core. He went 
 away grieved. Trusting in his own obedience, 
 
 5* 
 
106 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 he had asked how to inherit eternal life, and 
 he had received a response which proved that 
 no obedience of his had been commensurate 
 with the holy law of God, which requires a 
 love which is cordial, a love which is univer- 
 sal, a love which is supreme. The probe did 
 its office ; and this very man, who a few min- 
 utes before embraced the knees of Christ with 
 fervid emotion, now turned away from Him 
 with sadness, because the words which He had 
 uttered proved to his own consciousness that 
 he loved his riches more than he loved his 
 God — more than he loved his fellow-man, It 
 is not said of this man that he was near the 
 kingdom of God. Whether he ever aban- 
 doned his ideas of legal perfection and ac- 
 cepted the grace of his Eedeemer we know 
 not ; but this we know, that an honest admis- 
 sion of what the divine law is and what it re- 
 quires is a prerequisite to salvation through 
 the Son of God. 
 
 As if to make this one point clear beyond 
 all doubt, a third person is introduced on a 
 third occasion, and he also was a lawyer of 
 the church. The cast of his mind differed 
 
THE INTELLIGENT SCKIBE. 107 
 
 from those which we have considered already. 
 He too inquired, "Master, what shall I do to 
 inherit eternal life?" And Christ answered 
 him : ■ ' What is written in the law ? how read- 
 est thou?" And he answering said: "Thou 
 shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
 and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, 
 and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as 
 thyself." And He said unto him : " Thou hast 
 answered right ; this do, and thou shalt live." 
 But this inquirer, addicted to a literal and 
 superficial construction, was willing to justify 
 himself, and asked, "Who is my. neighbor ?" 
 Then followed the parable of the good Samar- 
 itan, the full meaning of which is not under- 
 stood, except we bear in mind the man and 
 the circumstances which called it forth. It 
 may seem to us like a beautiful painting, but 
 it was like one of those pictures in the Inter- 
 preter's House, which gleamed terror on the 
 soul of the Pilgrim, making him to tremble 
 like an aspen-leaf. Both of these incidents 
 had a common design — to convince the men 
 here described that their obedience to the law 
 of God was altogether defective, the one hav- 
 
108 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 ing no love for his Maker, the other no love 
 of the right quality for his fellow-man. 
 
 These interpretations of law are interpre- 
 tations of ourselves ; and no man is near to 
 the kingdom of God, as that expression is 
 used by Jesus Christ — salvation through re- 
 deeming grace, without merit of our own — 
 whose self-complacency has never been dissi- 
 pated by a right discernment of the law. The 
 law never can save us ; and he is the nearest 
 to the forgiveness of the gospel who, with a 
 contrite heart, discerns most clearly and feels 
 most profoundly that perfection of the divine 
 statute which impeaches and condemns us. 
 The publican, standing afar olff from the throng 
 of worshippers, was already within the king- 
 dom of God ; while the conceited Pharisee, 
 pressing up to the chief places of the temple- 
 courts and foremost in his religious histrion- 
 ism, was far removed from the grace of the 
 Redeemer. 
 
 We intend something more than the anal- 
 ysis of a historic incident. The instance which 
 is here recorded concerns every living soul. 
 Would you compute aright your own rela- 
 
THE INTELLIGENT SOEIBE. 109 
 
 tions to the kingdom of God, measuring your 
 own proximity to those incomparable benefits 
 in the gift of the Kedeemer,- answer to yourself 
 whether there has been any change as to the 
 interest you feel for the wise provision of your 
 immortal spirit. The time was, it may be, 
 when you were conscious of a most profound 
 indifference to the love which passeth knowl- 
 edge, and to the wrath to come. Is it so, that 
 by influences which you can neither control 
 nor describe, you have come to feel a want 
 that has never been met, and to inquire for a 
 good which never yet has been found ? Does 
 it seem as if a veil had been withdrawn from 
 before your mind, so that in hours of deep and 
 earnest thinking objects, which you never be- 
 lieved before, seem to start out from the shad- 
 ows as if just created? 
 
 Have you begun to knock at those gates 
 of wisdom where you never knocked before ? 
 Have you begun to pray for divine help in the 
 solution of those spiritual mysteries which agi- 
 tate you ? Have you felt that your pride was 
 melting clown into a meek and gentle desire to 
 know the way of the Lord more perfectly ? 
 
110 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 Are you a candid, diligent reader of the Scrip- 
 tures ? and do you ask that your soul may be 
 illuminated, quickened, and inclined aright ? 
 
 Have you been conscious of some new dis- 
 cernment of the divine law, admiring it as the 
 expression, not of grievous severity, but of 
 God's infinite benignity, clear as crystal and 
 glorious as the firmament? and does there 
 gleam across your mind, at times, the thought 
 of what you are when judged by that perfect 
 commandment ? — times in which the truth will 
 grapple with you as a mighty wrestler — that if 
 you love any thing in the universe more than 
 your Maker, then indeed you are an idolater, 
 whether that object of preference be hideous 
 as a hydra or fascinating as a syren? Are 
 you ever startled by the thought of what the 
 issue must be, if your self-assertion should 
 never bow itself in happy submission to God, 
 and your soul with such a purpose should be 
 set free amid the powers of a changeless eter- 
 nity? Does the conviction — sometimes clear 
 and strong, amid all your gains and profits — 
 plough through your deepest consciousness, 
 that you need out of yourself just that which 
 
THE INTELLIGENT SCRIBE. Ill 
 
 the Christ of God offers to give you — pardon, 
 hope, peace, suretyship, salvation? 
 
 My dear friend, amid all these agitations, 
 self-judgments, depressions, inquiries, gro- 
 pings, if you did but know it, you are not far 
 from the kingdom of God. You may be ready 
 to judge yourself at a hopeless distance • but 
 your condition is a thousand-fold more hope- 
 ful than it was before you awoke to this con- 
 scious sensibility. You feel that you are sick, 
 and lo, the physician is at your bedside ; the 
 wound pains you, the balsam is nigh at hand. 
 You have discovered that you are in want, 
 and hard by is all the fulness of God. 
 
 It is a great thing to be near the kingdom 
 of God, because it is such a great thing actu- 
 ally to be within it. All that is not within is 
 without. It is not enough to be near salva- 
 tion — we must be saved. I need not inform the 
 intelligent reader that the condition described 
 is peculiarly critical In that immediate vicinity 
 to the help which he needs, he stands balan- 
 cing himself on the question, whether he will 
 advance or retreat ; whether he will press on 
 
112 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 and cross the threshold, or turn back, and 
 prove himself not fit for the kingdom of God. 
 To remember that once we were near the 
 salvation of Christ, so near that our right hand 
 might have touched and taken it, and after all 
 that hand was withheld, this is a memory 
 which will enhance remorse for ever. The 
 recollection of former nearness to it will "bite 
 like a serpent and sting like an adder. ;; We 
 can all recall seasons in our lives when, in a 
 special sense, we were near to the salvation 
 of God ; affliction had mellowed us ; truth had 
 stolen into our hearts ; we were inclined to an 
 unusual sobriety ; parental faithfulness melted 
 us ; but let us never forget, that to be almost 
 persuaded to be a Christian is not the same as 
 being a Christian.; to walk around the city of 
 God is not the same as to enter it ; to discern 
 our need, great as that is, is not precisely the 
 same thing as to receive what that need re- 
 quires. Oui? subject therefore pleads with all 
 to press into the kingdom of God. Now, when 
 you are so near to its security ; now, when its 
 gates stand open wide ; now, when you can 
 look in upon the brightness of the celestial 
 
THE INTELLIGENT SCRIBE. 113 
 
 metropolis, and hear the gladness of its music ; 
 now, when invitations come forth from the 
 Spirit and the Bride to take the water of 
 life freely; now, when opportunities are so 
 favorable, when the breath of prayer seems to 
 waft you upwards ; now, while God waits to 
 be gracious ; now, while He who calls himself 
 your Redeemer, Saviour, Friend, Physician, 
 Helper, is so nigh, avail yourself of his offices, 
 and live for ever. 
 
CONVERSATION OF CHRIST 
 
 WITH 
 
 ZACCHEUS : 
 
 A True Convert 
 
 LUKE 19:1-10. 
 
ZACOHEUS: 
 
 fc True Convert. 
 
 In this passage we have the conversation 
 of onr Lord with a true convert, a penitent 
 sinner. It presents a phase of character 
 the very opposite of that demonstrated by 
 the moralist, in the person of the young ruler. 
 This might not appear to one whose eye merely 
 glances over the record. Indeed, a superfi- 
 cial reader might receive a very different im- 
 pression — even that this was a man inclined 
 to boast of his own good deeds, a self-right- 
 eous act which it would be hard to reconcile 
 with the blessing pronounced upon him by 
 the Saviour. The evangelists make frequent 
 use of ellipses in their narratives. They touch 
 only the main points. They give the substance 
 in outline, rather than in a finished picture. 
 By collating all the several incidents, fre- 
 
118 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 quently minute, we are sure to receive the 
 right impression. Whatever is omitted is of 
 small consequence ; that only is recorded which 
 is essential to the subject-matter. This visit 
 of Christ to Zaccheus, when we have compiled 
 all the facts of the case, will impress us as an 
 anti-Pharisaic demonstration, which resulted 
 in conversion and salvation. By this time we 
 must be convinced of the immense advantage of 
 this method of inspired instruction through the 
 medium of living persons — tableaux, as it were, 
 of various characters in personal interviews 
 with Christ — above all that could be conveyed 
 by simple dogmatic assertion. 
 
 Few things can interest us more than the 
 action of a mind in the very process of its 
 religious conversion. Elsewhere we watch a 
 soul through the struggles and conflicts and 
 victories of its sanctification, and rejoice our- 
 selves in the reflected joy of a ransomed spirit 
 entering upon the security and blessedness of 
 the heavenly city. Here is the beginning of 
 that which is destined to reach such a con- 
 summation. We feel a profound concern to 
 understand the very posture and act of the 
 
A TRUE CONVERT. 119 
 
 man who, a sinner before, becomes a disciple 
 of Christ, with the promise of such a magnifi- 
 cent futurity. Let us seek, then, to know the 
 truth concerning this person, of whom Christ 
 said at a particular time — a memorable epoch 
 it was in that man's life — " This day is salva- 
 tion come to this house." 
 
 It is not always possible to fix with ac- 
 curacy the birthtime of religious purposes; 
 yet when the process of change is defined 
 and marked, it possesses a special interest 
 for all thoughtful minds. We refer with 
 utmost satisfaction to every act of Luther's 
 mind at the epoch when light first broke 
 upon him, during his monastic life* at Er- 
 furth. A memorable time is that when an 
 earthly life begins ; more important by far 
 the time when, born again of the Spirit of 
 God, we commence a career which for ever 
 and ever advances us nearer to God himself. 
 In depicting, accurately as we can, the condi- 
 tion of this mind on the occasion here de- 
 scribed, we would not countenance the opin- 
 ion that its action is a model pattern for every 
 other mind in its conversion to God ; for all 
 
120 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 other persons may not be of the same habit 
 and disposition with Zaccheus at the time 
 when their conversion occurs. Nevertheless, 
 every instance of conversion which the Holy 
 Ghost has chosen to put on record is worthy 
 of our study, and is, to say the least, the rep- 
 resentative each of its own class. 
 
 The scene of the narrative is the city of 
 Jericho, that ancient city, large and strong 
 before the Israelites took possession of Ca- 
 naan. Its distance from Jerusalem is not 
 great, and thither our Lord was now going 
 for the last time. As his public ministry is 
 drawing to a close, every thing pertaining 
 thereto* attracts the greater attention and a 
 concentrated interest. His miracles, his teach- 
 ings, his theocratic claims had given him a 
 widening fame, and as the end approached, 
 his every movement excited public notice and 
 discussion. 
 
 In the suburbs of Jericho there resided a f 
 man by the name of Zaccheus, of Jewish ex- 
 traction, as the name indicates. He was a 
 publican, an officer of the revenue ; and as 
 the place was quite notorious for the extent 
 
A TRUE CONVERT. 121 
 
 of its trade in dates and balsam, by the manage- 
 ment of the imposts he had found his position 
 lucrative, and had become very rich. It is 
 hardly necessary to remind the reader of the 
 social condition and the general estimate of 
 the class of men to which Zaccheus belonged. 
 While the farmers of the revenue, of the first 
 class, were Roman knights of considerable 
 rank and dignity, their agents, the common 
 collectors of tribute, were regarded by the Jews 
 with the utmost contempt and odium. This 
 was owing not only to the fact that the Jews 
 thought it unlawful to pay tribute to a hea- 
 then power, but more especially to the fact 
 that the publicans, having a certain share in 
 the tribute which they collected, were gener- 
 ally noted for imposition, rapine, and extor- 
 tion. The Jew who accepted the office of pub- 
 lican was execrated by his own countrymen. 
 He was not allowed to enter the synagogues, 
 and his presents for the temple were not ac- 
 cepted, being regarded as wicked and offen- 
 sive. "Let him be unto thee as a heathen 
 man and a publican," is only one of the many 
 expressions in the New Testament which indi- 
 
 Cod. of Christ. 6 
 
122 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 cate the general detestation in which all belong- 
 ing to the order were held. It is nowhere af- 
 firmed that every man attached to the profes- 
 sion partook of the character usually associa- 
 ted with the order. Matthew, one of the apos- 
 tles of Christ, and the first in order of the 
 evangelists, was a publican at the^ port of Ca- 
 pernaum, or on the high road to Damascus, at 
 the time when he was called to follow the Mas- 
 ter. Neither is it affirmed that Zaccheus was 
 particularly notorious for his dishonesty and 
 exactions. Still he was not altogether clear 
 of the imputations which belonged to his class. 
 He was by no means immaculate, as his own 
 confession betrays before this interview with 
 Christ is closed. There were other things 
 upon him besides the social ban which distin- 
 guished his profession. "For the Son of man 
 is come to seek and to save that which was 
 lost" These are the words which last fell 
 from the lips of Christ — terminating the con- 
 versation, and explanatory of the whole trans- 
 action. Zaccheus, therefore, was one of the 
 lost sheep of the house of Israel. He occu- 
 pies the opposite pole to that where stood the 
 
A TRUE CONVERT. 123 
 
 young ruler, in the halo of his spotless moral- 
 ity. Not only did he belong to another class 
 socially, but in point of character also. The 
 one was scrupulously honest and upright, de- 
 frauding not and stealing not ; the other, we 
 are forced to admit, by the purpose of restitu- 
 tion which he afterwards avowed, had defraud- 
 ed, perhaps often. Instead of being classi- 
 fied with Pharisaic legalists, with ornate mor- 
 alists, with scrupulous religionists, we must 
 assign him a place in the general category of 
 publicans and sinners ; one who would have 
 been found wanting, if weighed in the balances 
 of common honesty. We shall lose the point of 
 the whole conversation, if we mistake at the 
 beginning the character of this man. We need 
 not impute to him any thing extraordinary in 
 the way of crime ; but from4hese several ex- 
 pressions — the judgment of his neighbors — 
 ' ' He was gone to be guest with a man that is 
 a sinner ;" and his own admission, "Wherein 
 I have taken any thing from any man by false 
 accusation /■ and Christ's final explanation, 
 "For the Son of man is come to seek and to 
 save that which was lost" — we are forced to 
 
124 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 conclude that this rich publican of Jericho 
 was open to the charge of dishonesty and 
 immorality. 
 
 But we are more interested in knowing 
 what this man becomes, than what he was. 
 Indeed, what he was is of no account, save 
 as it indicates the greatness of the change 
 which is here wrought, and the restoring 
 power of that grace by which it is accom- 
 plished. We have described his character. 
 What was the attitude of his mind at the very 
 time when this interview with Christ com- 
 menced ? We are not without materials "for 
 forming a judgment. 
 
 The person of Christ, as he passed through 
 the city, was surrounded by a great crowd, 
 composed chiefly of his avowed disciples and 
 such as had beea impressed by his miracles. 
 If, as the narrative of Luke would lead us to 
 believe, the miracle performed on blind Bar- 
 timeus was when Christ entered the city, all 
 the people who saw it or who heard of it 
 thronged around him, giving praise to God. 
 To say the least, Zaccheus betrayed a great 
 curiosity to see this extraordinary person of 
 
A TBUE CONVEKT. 125 
 
 whom lie had heard so much. Small of stat- 
 ure, unable because of the crowd to see Jesus, 
 he ran in advance, and climbed up on the 
 boughs of a sycamore-tree which stood by 
 the way along which Christ was about to 
 pass. What ensues will not allow us to 
 hold that the only motive he had was what 
 we call an "idle curiosity. 11 He was some- 
 thing more than a stupid starer. Curiosity, 
 however, is better than stolid indifference or 
 supercilious contempt. "I will turn aside and 
 see what this thing is" — when God kindles a 
 burning bush, or creates a stir in human souls 
 by the visit of his Spirit — is a purpose which 
 indicates a more hopeful condition of mind 
 than unthinking and unnoticing stupidity. 
 
 We are not at liberty to suppose that this 
 was the first time that Zaccheus had heard of 
 Christ. Bethany was not so far distant that 
 he was not likely to catch the flying rumor 
 concerning Lazarus and the miracle at his 
 grave. Most of the mighty works of Christ 
 were already finished ; most of his public dis- 
 courses had already been uttered — for this 
 visit to Jericho was within a few days of his 
 
126 CONVEESATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 crucifixion — and perhaps Zaccheus had heard 
 of the parable of the publican and the Phari- 
 see, or some other weighty saying of Christ 
 had put his thoughts in motion, and excited 
 an intense desire, on his own account, to see 
 this most remarkable personage. However 
 plausible such suppositions may be, we will 
 not trench in the least upon mere hypothesis, 
 but will confine ourselves rigidly to such evi- 
 dence as is furnished in the few touches of 
 the inspired pen. There certainly is great 
 earnestness in the man ; and what is more, no 
 disposition to conceal it. He has none of 
 that caution which the rationalist Xicodemus 
 showed when coming by night to converse 
 with Jesus. Whatever the motives which im- 
 pel him, whatever the emotions which strug- 
 gle in his soul, Zaccheus, the rich man of Jer- 
 icho, is not ashamed to put himself, in broad 
 daylight, in a most conspicuous place, before 
 all the people, where concealment was impos- 
 sible. 
 
 During his second general ministry in 
 Galilee, our Lord was invited by a certain 
 Pharisee to dine at his house. That Pharisee 
 
A TRUE # CONVERT. 127 
 
 thought that he was conferring a great honor 
 upon Christ by this invitation ; and though 
 Christ accepted it for the purpose of adminis- 
 tering the lessons which he did to the Phari- 
 saic guests, yet he pronounced no blessing upon 
 that house, for it was the abode of pride and 
 arrogance. How different was the temper of 
 Zaccheus. He did not presume to invite Christ 
 to his house ; but when Christ himself pro- 
 posed to be his guest, Zaccheus shows by 
 every expression that he regarded it as the 
 greatest honor. He must have had a poor 
 opinion of himself, which is the best definition 
 of true humility. There was nothing like pride 
 or arrogance or superciliousness about the 
 man, but a most hearty sense of his own 
 unworthiness ; for the alacrity he displays in 
 accepting the visit which Christ proposes is 
 a proof that he considers it as an honor and 
 a blessing. Nor do I see any thing to for- 
 bid the belief that his heart had often been 
 touched by the sense of his misery and guilt, 
 and that this may have been one among 
 other reasons why he did not obtrude himself 
 through the crowd with his own voluntary 
 
128 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 invitations to the Son of man. One thing is 
 certain, Jesus Christ never assorted with sin- 
 ners from any affinity of tastes, but solely be- 
 cause his gospel proffers the only relief from 
 guilt and misery; and He who "needeth not 
 that any should testify of man, since he him- 
 self knew what was in man," saw in the heart 
 of Zaccheus a disposition which was favorable 
 to the reception of the gospel ; and what this 
 disposition is, we are most abundantly in- 
 formed in other portions of the New Testament. 
 "They that are whole need not a physician, 
 but they that are sick f and, "Christ came not 
 to call the righteous, but sinners to repent- 
 ance.' 7 The pith of the entire narrative lies 
 in this, that Christ went in as a guest with a 
 sinner, in whom there was that very sense of 
 conscious humiliation on account of sin, which 
 fitted him to receive the grace, the life, the 
 hope which the Son of God only could give. 
 
 As the Saviour approaches the place which 
 Zaccheus had chosen, we observe an act upon 
 His part which interests us most of all. It was 
 by no accident that His eye was directed to the 
 spot. Seeing Zaccheus, He might have passed 
 
A TRUE CONVERT. 129 
 
 him without remark. Bat He is about to give 
 a new illustration of his aim in coming into 
 the world. He who, at the beginning of his 
 ministry, had astonished Nathanael by a ref- 
 erence to his habits of retirement beneath a 
 fig-tree, does not mistake the name or dispo- 
 sition of the man perched among the branches 
 of the sycamore. The reading of men's 
 thoughts by Christ, so many instances of 
 which are recorded in his life, was not an 
 act of mere sagacity, an inference from words 
 and looks and manners, but an actual knowl- 
 edge of what was passing in the heart, and 
 so must ever serve as an encouragement to 
 all who would still approach him for spiritual 
 medication. 
 
 Here we should notice that conjunction of 
 agencies and events which illustrates the man- 
 ner in which Providence ministers to the Spirit 
 in effecting the revolution of souls and clesti- * 
 nies. Christ finds that for which he was seek- 
 ing, the lost sinner ; the sinner finds what he 
 had sought to find, a condescending Saviour. 
 This was the last time that Christ was to visit 
 Jericho. If Zaccheus had not been alert now, 
 
 6* 
 
130 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 he would have failed of his only opportunity. 
 That is always a memorable time in any man's 
 history, when, through a book, a letter, a per- 
 sonal interview, a sermon, a special provi- 
 dence, he is brought into contact with that 
 spiritual power which arrests his wayward- 
 ness and changes the whole current of his be- 
 ing. This is a thought which should impart 
 activity, and caution to an improvement of 
 occasions, inasmuch as we have so many proofs 
 that the Divine Spirit is not indisposed to meet 
 our advances. 
 
 In the present instance, the advance is 
 altogether on the part of the Eedeemer. 
 Calling to Zaccheus by name. He bids him 
 descend without delay, for that He intended 
 to abide at his house. The conspicuous posi- 
 tion of the man crave sreat publicity to these 
 words, as our Lord intended — he being about 
 * to demonstrate anew most forcibly the whole 
 aim and scope of his mission. Xothing pre- 
 vented Zaccheus — no diffidence, no sense of 
 unworthiness ; no shame — from responding in- 
 stantly to the condescending words by which 
 he felt himself to be so highly honored. He 
 
A TKUE CONVERT. 131 
 
 hastens to come down, and received Christ 
 most joyfully. And the people murmured 
 when they saw that Christ had gone to be 
 guest with a man that was a sinner. 
 
 What passed between our Lord and Zac- 
 cheus while the former was resting in the house 
 of the latter we are not informed. The result, 
 not the process, is given. That the interview 
 was protracted for a considerable time seems 
 to be implied in the very words employed by 
 Christ when proposing the visit. Some high 
 critical authorities affirm that Christ probably 
 remained with Zaccheus through the night. 
 Whether it was for an hour or several hours, 
 or until the next day, it is certain that our 
 Lord w r as domesticated for a considerable 
 time with this publican of Jericho ; that the 
 time was not spent in silence ; that when we 
 next hear Zaccheus speak, it is in terms which 
 indicate the greatest of changes. We cannot 
 suppose that the words uttered by Zaccheus — 
 " Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to 
 the poor ; and if I have taken any thing from 
 any man by false accusation, I restore him four- 
 fold" — were the first words with which he 
 
132 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 began the conversation; rather are they the 
 determination with which it closes ; the ex- 
 pression of a purpose which indicates and 
 proves the reality of his repentance. Be- 
 ceive them as the words with which he first 
 accosted Christ — as it were introducing him- 
 self— : and they convey the idea of self-com- 
 mendation ; you cannot avoid the conclusion 
 that they contain a touch of Phariseeisro, and 
 that Christ gave him a blessing because he 
 was so charitable and so superlatively equita- 
 ble. Surely this cannot be the meaning or 
 aim of the conversation. Besides, if the words 
 are understood to refer to a past habit of his 
 life, a most singular .person would he prove 
 himself to have been, as claiming the benedic- 
 tion of Christ, mixing up his charitable gifts 
 and his false accusations, his frauds and his 
 restitutions, in one compound. 
 
 We must conclude that there was an inter- 
 val of time here — an ellipsis extending as long 
 as Christ abode with Zaccheus ; and that what 
 is reported here, from the lips of the publican, 
 is the issue, the result of the interview, em- 
 bodied in the form of a penitent purpose. He 
 
A TKUE CONVEKT. I 133 
 
 comes into our view as a sinner ; he passes out 
 of our view as one who is changed and con- 
 verted by the grace of Christ; a lost one, 
 whom Christ had sought and saved ; to whose 
 house salvation that day had come, with a 
 blessing from the Eedeemer. What is quite 
 an important item in the transaction is, this 
 avowal of purpose on the part of Zaccheus was 
 public ; it was heard by others, as the elev- 
 enth verse informs us, and so it assumes the 
 character of an open vow, demonstrative of an 
 entire change in the character of the man. 
 
 "And Zaccheus stood forth" This was 
 after we know not what words of confession 
 and inquiry on his part, and instruction and 
 promise on the part of Christ ; but now 
 Zaccheus stands forth before all the people, 
 and makes declaration of this purpose, in proof 
 of his repentance : " Behold, Lord, the half of 
 my goods I give to the poor ; and whatever I 
 have taken" — a more accurate translation is 
 this, than the use of an "if" as implying a con- 
 dition, an uncertainty, or a possibility — "what- 
 ever I have extorted from others by false 
 charges or any maladministration of office, I 
 
134 * CONVEESATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 will restore it fourfold." A new man is this, 
 a converted man, a Christianized publican ; 
 and in all these purposes which he avows there 
 is an air of honesty, a whole-heartedness, which 
 proves that the change is thorough and worthy 
 to be recorded. "And Jesus said unto him, 
 This day is salvation come to this house ; 
 forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham " — 
 not only a lineal descendant, however much 
 his Pharisaic neighbors might disown and dis- 
 card him, but recovered and confirmed in a 
 higher sense and by a better title — "for the 
 Son of man is come to seek and to save that 
 which was lost.' 7 
 
 Assuming, as we must, that this language 
 of Zaccheus, followed by such a benediction 
 from Christ, is the expression of a penitential 
 purpose, the fruit and evidence of the greatest 
 of changes in his character, we linger for an 
 instant upon the two things by which the sin- 
 cerity of his repentance was demonstrated. 
 Christian penitence is something more than a 
 thought or an emotion or a tear ; it is action : 
 "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give 
 to the poor." This is not the boast of self- 
 
A TKUE CONVEET. 135 
 
 commendation, but the purpose of a new life. 
 Conversing with the moralist who prided him- 
 self on his perfection, our Lord, to convince 
 him of his imperfection, even that his love did 
 not reach the standard of the law, bade him 
 sell all that he had and give to the poor. 
 That direction was given as a means of con- 
 viction, and not as a ladder by which to climb 
 to a higher morality. Here, in this picture of 
 the publican — the pendant of the picture of the 
 moralist — no such direction is give$ by our 
 Lord ; but there is a spontaneous expression. of 
 Christian feeling on the part of the true con- 
 vert which proves the genuineness of the 
 change wrought in his heart. Instead of a 
 wish to enrich himself as before, at the ex- 
 pense of others, there is now the new emotion 
 and purpose of charity. He does not make 
 this avowal in the spirit of a self-righteous 
 Pharisee ; it is the free act of a grateful and 
 penitent sinner ; it is the evidence of a new 
 affection. It is no act of a moralist, settirg 
 himself a task ; it is the cheerful resolution of 
 a man who has come to see how much he owes 
 to that mercy by which he is forgiven and 
 
136 CONVEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 saved ; and who, in the expression of Ids 
 novel Christian disposition, would evince his 
 love for his fellow-men. The legalist con- 
 fessed with sorrow that his love, even that of 
 which he boasted, was not equal to the sacri- 
 fice of his idolized wealth ; the penitent, con- 
 verted publican, of his own accord, proposes 
 to distribute largely of his goods to the poor, 
 in proof of that new love to God and man 
 which the grace of Christ has just enkindled. 
 This is always the way in which the reality 
 of. Christian conversion evidences itself. It 
 makes the selfish man charitable ; the churl- 
 ish, liberal ; and implants in the soul which 
 hitherto has cared only for the things belong- 
 ing to himself, a disposition to seek also the 
 things of others. The law of God requiring 
 us to love our neighbor as ourselves is not 
 repealed or modified; while we cannot look 
 to it for hope, or for the proof of our perfec- 
 tion, strange would it be if, forgiven and saved 
 as those that were lost, we should show no 
 sign of a wish or a purpose to conform to that 
 celestial statute. 
 
 The other proof of genuine conversion 
 
A. TRUE CONVERT. 137 
 
 evinced by Zaccheus was, in his purpose to 
 make ample restitution unto those whom he 
 had wronged. The Jewish law prescribed 
 several things in regard to the restitution of 
 property obtained fraudulently. In case of 
 voluntary confession, without detection and 
 without trial, the person implicated was re- 
 quired only to return what had been stolen, 
 with the addition of one-fifth of its value. In 
 case of judicial conviction, a much larger sum 
 was enjoined. In all cases the implication 
 was, that there could be no genuine repent- 
 ance unaccompanied by restitution. To be 
 sorry for having extorted property from an- 
 other, and still retain that property in pos- 
 session, would be more incongruous than for 
 sweet water and bitter to flow from the same 
 fountain. Zaccheus seems to throw his con- 
 stitutional earnestness into the purpose of 
 making restitution unto all whom he had 
 wronged. There is nothing halfway in his 
 resolution. Of his own accord, without any 
 detection or trial or conviction or compulsion, 
 he determines to restore fourfold — far, far 
 beyond all which law ever prescribed ; more 
 
138 CONVEESATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 than principal, more than interest, largely in 
 advance of all legal claims. He is determined 
 to make thorough work of his penitence and 
 his reform. Allowing that only a small frac- 
 tion of his property had been acquired by dis- 
 honest means ; if he gave half of all he pos- 
 sessed to the poor, and then restored fourfold 
 upon all he had purloined, it is evident that 
 very little was retained for himself, and that 
 he was determined that hfs new Christian hon- 
 esty should go to the very root of the matter. 
 Restitution is an indispensable part'of true 
 repentance. To right, so far as possible, those 
 we have wronged, is essential to a genuine 
 Christian conversion. That repentance which 
 expresses itself merely in words and down- 
 cast looks and regrets and confessions and 
 sighs and tears, while the wrong is not re- 
 dressed, and the hand still clutches what be- 
 longs to another, is of that sort which deceives 
 no one so much as the party himself. It may 
 be that the person who has most of all suffered 
 injury, either in property or reputation or 
 wounded affections, is gone from the earth, 
 beyond the reach of redress and confession 
 
A TRUE CONVERT. 139 
 
 and penitential restitution. When this is so, 
 the penitent has a lifelong sorrow which is 
 very bitter and very hard to bear, because 
 unrelieved by the forgiveness of those he has 
 wronged. Often will he wish that the injured 
 one might return to hear his confession, ac- 
 cept his reparation, and permit his honorable 
 amends. When death has thus interposed 
 between the injured and the injurer, the true 
 penitent will certainly discover some act or 
 some method of expressing the honesty and 
 thoroughness of his sorrow. The charities 
 which have been founded, the churches which 
 have been reared, throughout the Old World, 
 in memory of wrongs to be redressed, provi- 
 ded there is no confounding of penance and 
 penitence, are monuments of a most Christian 
 sentiment. 
 
 Upon this subject of restitution as an essen- 
 tial part and sign of repentance, it should be 
 said that it relates not merely to what was 
 purloined by downright stealing, by out-and- 
 out vulgar fraud, but quite as much to acts of 
 finesse and dexterity which may have even the 
 color and pretext of law for their exculpation. 
 
140 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 The original expression in the text is very 
 significant: "If I have taken any thing by 
 false accusation." All that is intended by 
 these several words in English is expressed by 
 one word in the Greek — kovKo$avrrioa — referring 
 originally to the act of informing against those 
 who were engaged in the contraband trade of 
 figs. It is the etymon of our English word 
 sycophant, shading gradually clown from a 
 fig-informer to a general tale-bearer, and then 
 into the modern usage of flatterer, one who 
 courts favor and carries his ends by crafty, 
 yet genteel dissimulation ; so that the true 
 sense of the word used by Zaccheus in his 
 penitent purpose covers a very large class of 
 transactions not unknown to a commercial 
 community; none so much as those which 
 have been performed with a most smooth and 
 oily blade, with an art and address and dex- 
 terity which elude the letter of the law and. 
 expose to no judicial indictment. May we 
 not go far in advance of this, holding that 
 many things are done in strictly legal pro- 
 cesses, under cover of statutes designed to 
 afford relief to the unfortunate, by which some 
 
A TKUE CONVEKT. 141 
 
 are "put through," as the phrase is, on terms 
 which cannot be justified in the forum of the 
 conscience, this inward and unbribed judge 
 pronouncing a verdict against the retaining 
 of that which honestly belongs to another? 
 There are wrongs besides those which are 
 perpetrated by coarse villany ; there are 
 plasters besides those which are made of flies 
 and caustic. Hezekiah had a lump of figs laid 
 upon the boil. Two days before he died, 
 when in the very acme of his power and glory, 
 Mohammed went for the last time into the 
 mosque, and asked if he had injured any man ; 
 if he owed any man : a voice answered, " Yes, 
 me three drachms/' borrowed on such an oc- 
 casion. Mohammed ordered them to be paid. 
 " Better be in shame now," said he, " than at 
 the day of judgment." "Let his own back 
 bear the stripes." Mr. Carlyle quotes the 
 incident as an act of heroism.* "Better," 
 says the Son of God, " to enter into life with 
 one eye, or one foot, or one hand, than having 
 two eyes, and two feet, and two hands to be 
 cast into hell-fire." Better to be poor, with 
 
 * Heroes, p. 90. 
 
142 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 Christian and magnanimous repentance, than 
 to be rich, with a self-reproving, stinging, rest- 
 less conscience. Eestitntion — principal and 
 interest, simple, compound, fourfold — spring- 
 ing from a Christian purpose secures a smooth 
 pillow for life, in death, and a crown of honor 
 for a head that shall be lifted up without shame 
 in the kingdom of God. "This day is salva- 
 tion come to this house," said Jesus Christ to 
 the true penitent; "for the Son of man has 
 come to seek and to save that which was lost." 
 Salvation is the key to the whole Christian 
 revelation ; and the way for us to obtain ad- 
 mittance to the kingdom of God is, by the 
 acknowledgment of sin and the purpose of 
 repentance. In unfolding and applying the 
 gospel, there need be no charge or suspicion 
 of crime and immorality. Nevertheless, we 
 are all under the implication of guilt, for sin 
 is the transgression of law ; and the law by 
 which character is judged in the sight of God 
 is that which requires a constant, faultless, 
 supreme, and perfect love. And Christ comes 
 to bring us forgiveness and salvation and eter- 
 nal life, on other and easier terms. 
 
A TRUE CONVERT. 143 
 
 Better to have Christ for a visitor than 
 any of the princes of the earth. One hour 
 from him, in his gentle offices as a Saviour, is 
 more than to stand for a lifetime before kings. 
 
 Ask not, as if suggestive of doubt, whether 
 he would be willing to honor you with his pres- 
 ence. He waits not to be urged by your im- 
 portunity, but proposes himself to visit you. 
 The advance is altogether and ■ always on his 
 part. Before you can doubt this, you must 
 tear out from the New Testament this narra- 
 tive of the penitent publican, the parable of 
 the lost sheep, and- every invitation which 
 gives significancy to the advent of the Son of 
 Man. Before you can question, with any show 
 of reason, this readiness on the part of Christ 
 to visit and to save any and all, you should 
 reconstruct the whole volume of Revelation ; in- 
 stead of the predictions which sparkle through 
 the night of ages, heralding the coming of the 
 Saviour, there should be nothing but gloomy 
 and portentous menaces ; instead of the Psalms, 
 which carol out the gladness and praise which 
 His advent awakens, there should be dirges 
 moaning the laments of the lost and forsaken ; 
 
144 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 instead of the angelic hymn which welcomed 
 His birth for the joy of the world, there should 
 have been silence, and fear, and wondering, 
 and concern, as at a dark mystery ; instead of 
 the promises, the invitations, the assurances 
 from the lips of Christ, which lie all over the 
 pages of the New Testament, for grace and 
 sparkle and number like, the drops of the 
 morning dew, there should have been reserve 
 and caution, as if the glorious gospel of the 
 blessed G-od were designed only for some 
 favored few, and hence every reason to sup- 
 pose that you were not of the class ; nay, you 
 must suspend this preaching of the gospel to 
 every creature, limit its phrases of welcome, 
 and whisper out its doubtful and contingent 
 terms ; instead of shouting aloud and to all, 
 " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
 waters ;" you must forget every thing you know 
 as to the joy which there is in heaven for ev- 
 ery sinner that repenteth ; all you ever heard 
 of the multitudes who, believing in Christ, 
 have found peace, living under his smile and 
 dying on his bosom, and who are now reclining 
 on the banks of the river of the water of life, 
 
A TEUE CONVERT. 145 
 
 and making the temple of God to resound with 
 the songs of their.eeaseless gratitude. 
 
 There is nothing sure in nature, nothing true 
 in morals, nothing certain in revelation, if it 
 be not this — that Jesus Christ is willing, is de- 
 sirous to visit us, and visit all, with his great 
 salvation. To each of us he says at this hour, 
 "Make haste and come, for to-day I would 
 abide at thy house." The question with us is, 
 not whether we can persuade this Prince of 
 all the earth to honor us with his presence, 
 but whether we are willing to receive him as 
 a guest, who asks that he may enter to sup 
 with us. 
 
 "Morning, noon, and midnight watches, 
 List, thy bosom-door ! 
 How it knocketh, knocketh, knocketh, 
 Knocketh evermore. 
 
 "Say not 'tis thy pulse's beating; 
 'T is thy heart of sin ; 
 'T is thy Saviour knocks, and crieth, 
 ' Rise and let me in.' " 
 
 No length of time is needed to mature your 
 purposes when called to decide whether you 
 will admit the best Friend you have in the 
 universe. Imitate the alacrity of this Jewish 
 
146 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 publican. Make haste and receive this divine 
 Guest most joyfully. That v^ery day Zaccheus 
 avowed his penitent purpose ; that very day 
 salvation was pronounced on his house. You 
 may not have anticipated such a blessing when 
 you began to read this narrative ; you may 
 not have thought what changes and whose 
 blessings were before you this day, any more 
 than Zaccheus, when he went forth that morn- 
 ing into the streets of Jericho ; but before the 
 day was gone, the greatest of all events had 
 occurred in his history ; and it would have 
 been absurd — nay, he would have lost the 
 divine favor — if he had asked for weeks, or 
 days, or*even hours, for consideration whether 
 he would receive the Saviour as a visitor ! 
 
 I do not say it with any qualified sense, 
 with any reserved meaning, but in the most 
 literal and truthful meaning of the words ; nay, 
 I do not say it at all ; it is Christ himself who 
 says, what we only repeat, that " whosoever 
 cometh unto him shall in no wise be cast out f 
 and that to-day, if you will hear his voice — 
 to-day, if you will but receive him who has 
 long waited to be gracious — to-day, if you will 
 

 A TRUE CONVERT. 147 
 
 go to your closet, and breathe out from a bro- 
 ken heart your confession of sin, and leave 
 your vow of honest repentance, then to-day 
 Christ will say, "Salvation is come to this 
 house;' 7 and this day. you shall begin a new 
 life, the life everlasting. 
 
CONVERSATION OF CHRIST 
 
 WfH 
 
 THE CENTURION OF CAPERNAUM 
 
 The Modest A/Lan of Faith. 
 
 MATT. 8:5-13. 
 LUKE 7:1-10. 
 
VI. 
 THE CENTURION OF CAPERNAUM: 
 
 The Modest Man of Faith. 
 
 This interview between our Lord and the 
 centurion of Capernaum will help us to under- 
 stand the nature and power of that simple 
 trust which is the distinctive element of the 
 Christian life. I speak of this as a personal 
 interview between Christ .and the centurion. 
 Following the record of Matthew, we should 
 never imagine any thing besides the personal 
 presence and request of the Roman captain. 
 Turning to Luke, we receive the impression 
 that the request was preferred, not in person, 
 but through the elders of Capernaum, who had 
 received great favors at his hand. Whether 
 the conversation was conducted with the cen- 
 turion in person, or through those whom he 
 had requested to act in his name, is of no con- 
 sequence whatever in reference to the main 
 
152 CONVEESATIONS.OF CHKIST. 
 
 teacliing of the passage ; this remains unaf- 
 fected by either mode of statement. It is an 
 old rule in law and in common life, that he 
 who acts through and by another acts for him- 
 self. What forbids that, collating the narra- 
 tives of the two evangelists, we should unite 
 them both in the supposition that the centu- 
 rion at first, in his great distress, sends his 
 friends once and again to Christ, and after- 
 wards comes himself? 
 
 But these are matters which pertain alto- 
 gether to the letter. Christ is now return- 
 ing to Capernaum from a tour of instruction 
 throughout Galilee, which had been extended 
 through the greater part of the summer. Ta- 
 king his seat upon the declivity of a mountain 
 near the town, he delivered to a great mul- 
 titude that most impressive discourse which 
 passes by the name of "The Sermon on the 
 Mount," which presents to us Christianity in 
 the form of ' ' Judaism spiritualized and trans- 
 figured ; and so is the transition from the law 
 to the gospel."* 
 
 No sooner had Christ reached Capernaum 
 
 * Neancler. 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF FAITH. 153 
 
 itself, than his aid was besought in behalf of 
 a sufferer. It seems that there resided at this 
 post a detachment of the Roman army, under 
 command of a centurion. He was of course a 
 Gentile. There is no proof that he was a 
 proselyte to the Jewish religion. If he had 
 been, the fact doubtless would have been men- 
 tioned by his Jewish friends and neighbors as 
 a special claim upon the kindness of Christ. 
 The faith which he exhibits appears the more 
 extraordinary because of his heathen origin and 
 education, being in contrast with that which 
 might reasonably have been expected from 
 "theocratic Israel." And this man, who ap- 
 pears to have been remarkably humane and 
 liberal, had a servant to whom he was greatly 
 attached, and who was now grievously ill — 
 paralyzed as to power of motion, yet exceed- 
 ingly sensitive to pain. Hearing that Christ 
 had returned to Capernaum, the centurion 
 sent to him with the utmost confidence that he 
 should receive assistance and relief in this 
 hour of extremity. What had led him to this 
 confidence we do not know. Undoubtedly he 
 had heard of the fame of Christ. Perhaps, 
 
 7* 
 
151 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 nothing more probable, he was the neighbor of 
 that nobleman whose son, at the word of Christ, 
 had been healed here at Capernaum. It will 
 be remembered that, during our Lord's first 
 general ministry in Galilee, when he was at 
 Cana, a man belonging to the court of Herod 
 Antipas came to him and begged him to go 
 down to Capernaum, where his son was lying 
 dangerously ill. Christ did not accompany 
 this distressed father to the place, but he 
 assured him that his son would recover. Re- 
 pairing to his home in Capernaum, which he 
 reached the next day, he was met by his ser- 
 vants on the road with the joyful news that, 
 at the very hour of the preceding day when 
 Christ had spoken the word, his sick boy was 
 entirely restored. The seat of this miracle, 
 accomplished by the Saviour when absent in 
 person, was this very city of Capernaum, where 
 the centurion now entreats the interposition of 
 Christ in behalf of his servant. His generos- 
 ity had secured him many friends in the place, 
 and the principal men, the elders of the Jews, 
 readily acceded to his request to represent the 
 case to our Lord. His true modesty appears 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF FAITH. 155 
 
 at the beginning. He does not venture to ap- 
 proach Christ directly, but only through the 
 mediation of others. So the elders came, and 
 stating the extreme illness of this humble man, 
 besought him to come down to the house and 
 heal him. To add force to the plea, they bore 
 testimony to the excellent character of the per- 
 son in whose behalf they preferred the request. 
 They assured Christ that this centurion was 
 worthy of this favor. Though he was a Gen- 
 tile, yet he was a worshipper of the true God, 
 and had shown great love for the Jewish na- 
 tion ; indeed, he had carried his generosity so 
 far as, out of his own means, to x build them a 
 synagogue for divine worship. And Jesus 
 said, "I will come and heal him. 7 ' So he 
 turned to go to the house of the centurion 
 with his attendants. Seeing him approach, 
 the centurion sent out other friends, and pres- 
 ently went forth himself, saying to Christ, 
 "Trouble not thyself to come farther; for I 
 am not worthy that thou shouldst come under 
 my roof. Indeed, I did not presume to intrude 
 upon you myself at all ; neither thought I my- 
 self worthy to come unto thee. All that I ask 
 
156 CONVEESATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 is, that, without putting yourself to further in- 
 convenience, you would speak the word only, 
 and my servant shall be healed. I know what 
 is meant by power and authority. I am a sol- 
 dier, having those who are under my com- 
 mand. My will is law to such. They are 
 moved and governed by my word. I say to 
 one, Go, and he goeth ; and to another, Come, 
 and he cometh ; and to my servant, Do this, 
 and he doeth it. And I believe that you 
 have as complete a power over the most des- 
 perate diseases as I have over my soldiers and 
 servants ; that the simple expression of your 
 will is all-sufficient ; and if, without going a step 
 farther, or entering that dwelling which would 
 only be too much honored by your condescen- 
 sion, you would here, even here in the road, 
 issue your authoritative mandate, disease 
 would flee away, and my poor servant would 
 be well." 
 
 When Jesus heard this, he -turned to the 
 people who followed him, marvelling at the 
 modesty, the humility, the faith of the man, 
 and said to them, " Yerily I say unto you, I 
 have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel ; 
 
THE MODEST MAN OE EAITH. 157 
 
 not even there, where I might have most rea- 
 sonably expected it ; among the descendants 
 of the very man who won the august title, 
 Prince of God, because of the wrestling power 
 of his faith — the progeny of that illustrious 
 ancestor, who was called throughout all the na- 
 tions of the East "the father of the faithful" — 
 among them all, never," said Christ, "have I 
 found such simplicity and power of faith as in 
 this modest and humble soldier from Rome." 
 
 The sequel of the narrative is familiar to 
 all. The authoritative word from the lips of 
 Christ was uttered, and without the necessity 
 of touch or putting forth of the hand, the sick 
 servant was instantly restored to health. 
 
 As this was probably the first heathen 
 whose relation to the kingdom of Christ was 
 thus infallibly announced by our Lord, the fit- 
 ting occasion was presented for alluding to the 
 greatest of changes which were afterwards to 
 occur in reference to the Gentile world. "I 
 say unto you," says Christ, " that many shall 
 come from the east and west, and shall sit 
 down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, 
 in the kingdom of heaven ; but the children 
 
158 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer 
 darkness : there shall be weeping and gnash- 
 ing of teeth. 77 
 
 For what use was this historic incident 
 furnished with a place in the inspired annals? 
 Precisely what is the lesson which it conveys ? 
 Something more, surely, than the compassion- 
 ate regard felt by our Lord for the sick and 
 suffering ; something more than his power to 
 befriend and help and restore. In the dispen- 
 sation of his mercy and power there was a dif- 
 ference. His miraculous interjDOsitions were 
 not in behalf of all, without discrimination. 
 We are expressly informed that in certain 
 places, and in regard to certain persons, he 
 could not do many wonderful works, because 
 of their unbelief; while in other instances faith, 
 instead of being summoned into existence by 
 miracles, itself summons miracles which, with- 
 out it, never would have been performed. 
 Observe what it is which elicits the panegyric 
 of Christ in regard to this man, whose portrait 
 is here presented in such vivid colors. Our 
 Lord does not praise this centurion for his 
 amiable care of his servants, nor for his gen- 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF FAITH. 159 
 
 erosity to the Jews, nor for his public spirit, 
 nor for his humility — a trait so unwonted in a 
 Eoman soldier. To none of these acts or qual- 
 ities does Christ direct our attention, but sim- 
 ply and directly to his faith. This faith is 
 eulogized as surpassing all that he had seen 
 among the Jews. He directs attention to it 
 as being so great faith. He is said himself to 
 have marvelled at this faith, as being some- 
 thing so extraordinary, both in quality and 
 quantity. It would seem that this pagan, un- 
 educated in the Jewish notions of the Messi- 
 ahship, had reached a point — which is set forth 
 for our emulation — where he reposed in simple 
 trust in the superhuman power of Jesus Christ. 
 Let us dwell on that faith which is here 
 illustrated in the words and acts of the centu- 
 rion, and embalmed in the eulogium of our 
 Redeemer. Not a child, whose eye is famil- 
 iar with the pages of the New Testament, who 
 does not know how much is made of this one 
 word, faith. It is sprinkled over the whole 
 surface of Revelation. It lies imbedded in all 
 duties and doctrines. We know how much is 
 made to depend upon it : even our personal re- 
 
160 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 lation to Jesus Christ in this life and in the life 
 to come. It is a subject concerning which all 
 would wish to have the simplest and clearest 
 conceptions. There is reason to believe that 
 many suffer themselves to be confused in re- 
 gard to the promise and power of a principle 
 on which such immense consequences are made 
 to depend ; while it is certain that in practice 
 none reach the full measure of their privilege 
 in regard to Christian faith. 
 
 The thing which first arrests our notice in 
 this recorded and panegyrized instance of faith 
 is, its extreme simplicity. It is faith, and noth- 
 ing but faith. It is denuded of all adjuncts 
 and accretions. There is here no analysis of 
 faith, and no definition of it. It seems to be 
 assumed by Christ and his evangelists that all 
 would understand what faith is. The thing is 
 enacted, not described. Nothing is said of its 
 pedigree, how it is produced, from what it 
 springs. To dissect living flesh, and to scrape 
 the bones with a scalpel, is no way to promote 
 health. Faith is not engendered by scholastic 
 definitions of its nature. Our libraries are full 
 of theological disquisitions upon the subject, 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF FAITH. 161 
 
 and yet in general practice something appears 
 to be wanting. That which is illustrated in 
 this incident, and which we all have need to 
 practise, is a simple trust in a personal Re- 
 deemer. If we can by any means increase 
 this temper of the soul, or hope to say any 
 thing which will tend to foster in any one 
 more of this habit of mind which was so em- 
 phatically eulogized by our Eecleemer, we 
 shall be sure of success in the way which lead- 
 eth to everlasting life. 
 
 The word which we have chosen is, trust. 
 Its synonym, faith, is so often used as a theo- 
 logical term, that some have come to regard 
 it as denoting what is arbitrary or incompre- 
 hensible — outside the circle of human experi- 
 ence. What we are most concerned about is, 
 the thing, not the word. The rind is of no 
 consequence ; we would get at that disposition 
 of the heart in this centurion which won the 
 kind words and offices of Christ. 
 
 This is something more than lelief. Belief 
 is the more generic word, which includes the 
 specific act of trust. Belief does not always 
 imply trust, though trust implies the prece- 
 
162 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 cling act of belief. Belief is the act of the 
 understanding; trust is an act of the heart. 
 The latter carries with it the whole man. It 
 has come to pass that too many in religious 
 circles occupy themselves exclusively with the 
 former, the act of the intellect ; and so we have 
 any amount of discussions and controversies 
 and theses concerning articles of belief, rather 
 than the practice of trust in what is already 
 known to be true, which is of the largest prom- 
 ise for our present and future wellbeing. It 
 cannot be forgotten that our Lord, on one oc- 
 casion, gave thanks to his heavenly Father 
 because that which was hidden from the wise 
 and the prudent was revealed unto babes. 
 Had what we call faith been a work of the 
 intellect, that work by which we sift evidence 
 and weigh proof and accumulate knowledge, 
 how would it be possible that the wise and 
 the prudent should not have the advantage 
 over those of inferior culture and capacity? 
 In all matters of science, the intellectual have 
 the precedency. Newton and Locke and Leib- 
 nitz and Boyle surely had a discernment of 
 astronomy and of the structure of the human 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF FAITH. 163 
 
 mind which no uneducated and ignorant rus- 
 tic could attain. But this was not the quality 
 which gives eminence in the kingdom of God. 
 It is a fact implied in the words of Christ, and 
 confirmed by thousands of instances, that men 
 of the highest intellectual culture, the wise 
 and the prudent, proficients in earthly scien- 
 ces, are oftentimes wanting — as they them- 
 selves confess sometimes most plaintively — in 
 all trustful repose of the heart. They philos- 
 ophize about religion ; they are very learned 
 in the dialectics of theology ;, they have sharp- 
 ened their intellects to the utmost keenness by 
 all manner of reasoning processes ; but they 
 are still restless at heart, tossed to and fro, 
 without any satisfaction. While others, who 
 deserve, according to any scale of intellectual 
 measurement, to be classed as "babes," take 
 Christ into their hearts with unquestioning 
 trust, acknowledging him and loving him with 
 a most honest affection. That which assimi- 
 lates all classes — the rich and the poor, the 
 learned and the ignorant — is not knowledge ; 
 for this creates dissimilarity, and so causes 
 contrasts and divisions ; but that • affection of 
 
164 CONVEESATIONS OF CHBIST. 
 
 trust which is an act of the heart, with no dis- 
 tinction whatever. What could he the mean- 
 ing of the apostle when addressing Greeks, 
 who delighted in philosophic discussion, he 
 abjured the wisdom of words, lest he should 
 make of none effect what was the chief end of 
 his ministry ? If his purpose was to convince 
 the understanding merely, why was not the 
 wisdom of words the means, the only means, 
 fitted to accomplish it? Surely that Spirit 
 which challenges us to grow in knowledge as 
 well as grace does not involve us in inconsist- 
 ency nor entangle us with enigmas ; but this 
 is true, that with the heart man believeth unto 
 righteousness ; that trust is more than belief ; 
 that confiding is more than knowing ; and 
 that they who take the "Phantom of Sense" 
 or the light of the understanding for their 
 guide and law, will find, to their incurable 
 sorrow, that they are working against their 
 own peace, and accumulating difficulties in 
 the way of that trusting affection and habit of 
 the soul which alone gives repose. 
 
 How often are we, in our full-grown 
 strength and pride, sent to little children for 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF FAITH. 165 
 
 the highest of all lessons. Childhood lies in 
 trust, as a bird in its nest. He who loses 
 early in life this habit of trust in parental 
 superiority parts with the secret of happiness, 
 and sets forth in a career which carries him 
 farther and farther from peace, making it 
 harder and harder to exercise true faith in 
 his Grod and Redeemer. He is pronounced 
 the highest in the kingdom of .God who is most 
 like a little child. He is a truly great man, 
 the greatest of his species, who, after all his 
 studies and attainments, after all the experi- 
 ments which have put Nature into the cruci- 
 ble, forcing her to answer with explosive 
 sparks ; after pushing his understanding to its 
 utmost vigor, comes back, in the temper of his 
 heart, to the point where stood this centurion 
 in his modesty and humility and undoubting 
 trust. 
 
 We are authorized to hold up this exam- 
 ple of perfect confidence in the power of Christ 
 as a thing to be imitated. Should we inquire of 
 each individual for information as to the causes 
 which operate to keep him from a full reli- 
 gious satisfaction, we should be told of a legion 
 
166 CONVERSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 of doubts and objections which have assailed 
 the understanding. Some would confess that 
 they are not yet satisfied as to the complex 
 nature of Jesus Christ. There are so many 
 mysteries pertaining to his being, that they are 
 baffled and perplexed. There are man}-' things 
 in the Scriptures which are hard to understand, 
 and they find themselves addicted to the habit 
 of revolving them, endeavoring to harmonize 
 and comprehend them. These difficulties all 
 belong to the sphere of the intellect. Let us 
 propose a method which is curative of these 
 perplexities. You have need to practise — I 
 say to practise — more of trust ; not a trust 
 which is eyeless, groping about in the dark 
 void, but a trust in this very Being — the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Surely you know enough, you 
 believe enough, concerning him to warrant your 
 confidence in him as your Friend and Helper 
 and Saviour. Just how much this centurion 
 knew concerning Jesus of Nazareth, what 
 judgments he had formed of his nature and 
 prerogatives, we do not know; but he had 
 seen and heard and known enough to justify 
 that entire confidence which he exemplified. 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF FAITH. 167 
 
 Surely this is true of every oue who reads 
 these lines. You believe enough concerning 
 the Lord Jesus Christ to make it right for you 
 to repose in him the utmost confidence. In 
 your hands is the Book which informs you of 
 his names, offices, purposes, intentions, and 
 promises. You are assured that he has all 
 power both in heaven and on earth ; and he 
 has bidden you to come to him, to look to 
 him, that you may be saved. We will not 
 now utter another word concerning his claims 
 and character, but ask you whether, with the 
 amount of knowledge, belief, and conviction 
 which you now have as to this one Being, this 
 unique Person, this living Redeemer, you could 
 do a wiser or more rational thing than to exer- 
 cise that very trust in him which was once ex- 
 hibited by this soldier of Capernaum ? I say, 
 exercise it — not merely admit that it is reason- 
 able ; not merely that you should define it and 
 comprehend it, but that you should practise 
 it, with the conviction that the more it is prac- 
 tised the stronger it will grow, and the hap- 
 pier you will be. We propose this to you just 
 as you are, amid the cares, and mysteries, and 
 
168 CONVEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 sorrows, and sins of life, and the anticipations 
 of your approaching death. Is there a better 
 thing which you can do than to try — not in 
 the way of skeptical experiment, but with a 
 most honest practice — what virtue there is in 
 a simple trust in Him whose authoritative word 
 can give life and health to the palsy of the 
 soul? What effect would probably be pro- 
 duced if, dropping all the ' questions of the 
 schools, and letting go your hold of all con- 
 fidences of the flesh, you should act awhile on 
 the principle of a simple, filial trust in this 
 personal Saviour? You have been taught to 
 acknowledge him ; you know that he lives : 
 now put away your pride, your intellectual 
 inquests ; and beseech him that, though you 
 are unworthy that he should come under your 
 roof, he would speak the word which shall 
 send health to your soul ; addressing him 
 awhile in the spirit of those who pressed 
 through crowds to touch the hem of his gar- 
 ment, or who importuned him in their blind- 
 ness to put his finger upon their sightless eyes. 
 Men do in regard to Christ almost every thing 
 in the range of possibility : philosophize about 
 
THE MODEST MAN OP FAITH. 169 
 
 Mm, study about him. reason about him, every 
 thing save trusting in him. Trusting, I mean, 
 after the simple method which impelled this 
 centurion to implore his help. Trust is not an 
 inert passivity. It is at once the most act- 
 ive and the most quiet of all qualities. " The 
 just shall live by faith." We are initiated into 
 the best form of life through modest trust in 
 Christ. 
 
 Let this subject meet you just as you are. 
 Perhaps you are in trouble ; clouds dense and 
 dark have rolled over you ; you are strangely 
 depressed by outward afflictions and by inward 
 fears ; life has suddenly changed with you, and 
 you are afraid as you enter into the cloud. 
 What will you do ? Will you set your under- 
 standing to the task of explaining these events 
 to your perfect satisfaction, so that you will 
 be submissive to them because of your abil- 
 ity to harmonize means with ends ? Can you 
 comprehend why a child was taken from your 
 arms by death, or why an estate was lost after 
 all your honesty and industry? Do you oc- 
 cupy such a high position in the universe that 
 you can see how apparent inconsistencies and 
 
 Con. of Christ. ft 
 
170 CONVEESATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 contradictions result in a happy issue ? Never. 
 Your consolation is not through your under- 
 standing, but your trust. It is all mystery, 
 it is all gloom ; but one thing you know — you 
 are in the hands of One who reveals himself 
 under the endearing name of Saviour, and you 
 must trust. It is all that you pan do. You 
 must not proudly push away the hand which 
 would support your infant steps ; you must 
 take it, and confide in its strength, when you 
 cannot utter a word. * 
 
 " Therefore, whatsoe'er betideth, 
 
 Night or day, 
 Know his love for thee provideth 
 
 Good alway. 
 Crown of sorrow gladly take; 
 Grateful wear it for His sake, 
 Sweetly bending to his will, 
 
 Lying still. 
 
 A To his own thy Saviour giveth 
 
 Daily strength; 
 To each troubled soul that liveth, 
 
 Peace at length. 
 Weakest lambs have largest share 
 Of this tender Shepherd's care. 
 Ask him not, then, ' When ?' or ' How ?' 
 
 Only bow." 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF EAITH. 171 
 
 Then this great mystery of sin. Its en- 
 trance into the world. Its permitted invasion 
 and hereditary descent. How many theories 
 which have attempted its explanation. What 
 a task is assumed if yon are to adjust all the 
 facts pertaining thereto to the satisfaction of 
 your understanding. 
 
 Then the atonement made for sin through 
 the death of the Redeemer. Men have sepa- 
 rated themselves into different schools by the 
 modes in which they have philosophized about 
 the atonement; but the essence of the thing 
 is this: "Jesus Christ came into the world to 
 save sinners." Men of all schools and theo- 
 ries — men of learning and men unlearned — at 
 last must meet in this, whether they can ex- 
 plain the mode or not ; trusting in the power 
 of Him who taketh away the sin of the world. 
 Committing — it is the last and completest act of 
 trust — our own soul, pierced, wounded, bleed- 
 ing with the sense of its sins, unto Him who is 
 able to save even to the uttermost. Is your 
 own heart palsied with sin? betake yourself, 
 with unfaltering trust, to this Redeemer — 
 humility always goes with trust — and say, 
 
172 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 "I am not worthy that thou shouldest coine 
 under my roof; but speak the word only — 
 say as of old, 'Be of good cheer; thy sins 
 be forgiven'" — continue in this trust — and 
 thou shalt be saved. 
 
 Then there is before us another mystery, 
 greater still, and one which cannot be evaded — 
 the necessity of dying. Let me suppose that 
 it is nigh at hand. To-day you are in health ; 
 to-morrow you are in your sick-chamber. The 
 curtains are drawn which separate you from 
 the world. One tie after another is detached, 
 and you cannot avoid the belief that your last 
 sickness has come, and you are about to go 
 into eternity. What can you do ? Must you 
 summon Reason to your side, to propound 
 some theory about dissolution and the physiol- 
 ogy of a future life, and bid your Understand- 
 ing to hold the light and play the .guide while 
 your eyes are growing dim, and your feet 
 are stumbling on the dark mountains of death ? 
 Nothing — nothing of the sort. You can only 
 look to Jesus Christ, and trust Helpless, 
 dissolving, alone, you can clo nothing but 
 look to Him who died once and rose again, 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF FAITH. 173 
 
 and in the language of simple trust, and noth- 
 ing but trust, say to him, "Lord Jesus, into 
 thy hands I commend my spirit. 77 There is 
 nothing more instructive or more touching 
 than to see the men who, by learning and 
 genius, have taken a place among the great 
 ones of the earth, when coming to die, putting 
 aside all in which once they gloried, and, like 
 little children falling to sleep in the dark, end- 
 ing life in simplest trust. In the philosoph- 
 ical revolutions of Europe, no man has acted 
 a more conspicuous part than Henry Jacobi. 
 A man of high sensibilities, and an anxious 
 and persevering inquirer after truth, he la- 
 bored under the common difficulty of philo- 
 sophical inquirers: he sought it with a tele- 
 scope, in the boundless space of the universe, 
 instead of finding it nigh unto him, in his 
 mouth and in his heart. At one time he 
 writes thus to a friend: "There is a singular 
 religious commotion throughout Europe, espe- 
 cially in Germany. I hear much respecting it 
 from travellers who visit me. There must be 
 something higher and nobler, and capable of 
 being apprehended and possessed by men, or it 
 
174 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 is not worth while that a theologian or philoso- 
 pher should open his mouth and talk. I hear 
 inquiries made on every side after this some- 
 thing, but I cannot find it. I am swimming 
 between two oceans of heterogeneous elements. 
 They will not unite to support me in common. 
 As the one raises me up, so the other carries 
 me down again into the deep." As his dying 
 hour approached, when the lecture-room and 
 books and speculation were all parted with, 
 Jacobi prayed like a little child, and found 
 what he never could find from travellers, from 
 philosophy, in Christian trust ; and he died 
 with thanks upon his lips that at last he was 
 permitted to pray, and enabled to pray with 
 simple confidence in the grace of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ.* 
 
 In September, 1860, the writer was walk- 
 ing, morning and evening, beneath the mag- 
 nificent trees of the university of Bonn, on the 
 banks of the Ehine. The leaves were begin- 
 ning to fade and to fall ; and hard by, Mr. 
 Bunsen, who had long occupied the highest 
 positions in the diplomacy of Europe, and at 
 * The Spirit of the Pilgrims, 1830, p. 64, 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF FAITH. 175 
 
 the same time in literary and theological la- 
 bors, was slowly declining to the grave, and 
 a few days after was born£ by his sons to his 
 burial. In his last waning days of life he 
 said: " In spite of all my failings and imper- 
 fections, I have desired, I have sought, what 
 is noble here below. But my richest experi- 
 ence is in having known Jesus Christ. How 
 good it is to contemplate life from this eleva- 
 tion. This is the kingdom of God. Oh, my 
 God, how beautiful are thy tabernacles!" As 
 his attention was directed to a beautiful sun- 
 set, " Yes," said he in English, " that is beau- 
 tiful ; the love of God in every thing." " May 
 God bless you," he added in French. u het 
 us depart in Jesus Christ." Afterwards in 
 Latin: " Christus recognoscitur victor ; Chris- 
 tus est, est Christus victor." And then in Ger- 
 man: "Christ must become all in all." "I 
 desire nothing theatrical • but I wish to say a 
 few words in the midst of my children and 
 friends. I am going to die, and I long to die. 
 I offer my blessing, the blessing of an old man, 
 to any one that desires it. To belong to a 
 church or a denomination is nothing. I see 
 
176 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 clearly that we are all sinners. We are safe 
 only as we are in Jesus Christ. All the rest 
 is nothing — nothing," So life ebbed away in 
 a loving, peaceful trust. 
 
 This is the whole. The life which we now 
 live is by faith in the Son of God. What the 
 centurion had not, we have : the positive assu- 
 rance and promise of the Eedeemer. This has 
 been verified by ages of human experience. 
 Every man who has died in peace, looking 
 unto Jesus, is an irrefutable argument for the 
 wisdom of faith. We know enough, we believe 
 enough concerning the Lord Jesus 'Christ, to 
 warrant our implicit confidence. Let not the 
 faith of a heathen soldier put us to shame. 
 While others come from the east and the west, 
 from the north and the south, to share in the 
 blessedness of the kingdom, let not the chil- 
 dren of the kingdom be excluded by their un- 
 belief. The simpler our trust in Christ for all 
 things, the surer is our peace. There is a 
 firm substance for the hand to 'grasp. Lay 
 hold upon it, and turn your eye to Jesus 
 Christ, and find repose by the confession of 
 your confidence in him. 
 
THE MODEST MAN OF FAITH. 177 
 
 "Trust his saying love and power; 
 Trust him every day and hour: 
 Trust him as the only light 
 In the darkest hour of night. 
 Trust in sickness, trust in health, 
 Trust in poverty and wealth; 
 Trust in joy, and trust in grief; 
 Trust his promise for relief. 
 Trust his blood to cleanse your soul; 
 Trust his grace to make you whole. 
 Trust him living, dying too; 
 Trust him all your journey through 5 
 Trust him till your feet shall be 
 Planted on the crystal sea," 
 
 S* 
 
CONVERSATION OF CHRIST 
 
 WITH 
 
 
 
 MARTHA OF BETHANY 
 
 The Mourner. 
 
 JOHN 11:17-27. 
 
VII. 
 MARTHA: 
 
 The Mourner-. 
 
 Here have we the conversation of Jesus 
 Christ with a mourner. Elsewhere we have his 
 wise words with the rationalist, the skeptic, the 
 formalist, the sensualist, the thoughtful inqui- 
 rer ; but here is the record of what he said to 
 one whom death had bereaved, and who was 
 yet in all the freshness of her inconsolable 
 sorrow. 
 
 What a memorable time is that when death 
 invades a family and fells his first victim. 
 "In the year that King Uzziah died" — so is 
 it that Isaiah begins one of his prophetic 
 records. He dates from an epoch that was 
 sure to be remembered. There is no anni- 
 versary in our domestic annals which is more 
 certain to be borne in mind than that which 
 marks the doings of death. "It is so many 
 
182 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 years since father died." " It was in the very 
 year that mother died." "It was so many 
 days, or weeks, or months since husband, wife, 
 brother, sister, child was buried." These are 
 the common measurements of time in house- 
 hold chronicles, which remind us what an im- 
 portant event in our personal history is the 
 death of a friend. 
 
 Four days had elapsed since Lazarus was 
 laid in the grave. How slowly, how heavily 
 those days had passed. The first day after 
 the death of a friend, how it drags itself along, 
 giving the mourner ample time to drain the 
 cup of bitterness to the dregs. The first wak- 
 ing of the first morning after we were left 
 alone ; the vague sense of a great evil ; the 
 heavy weight at the heart before one is fully 
 roused to consciousness ; and then the unmit- 
 igated feeling of the whole truth, when one is 
 completely awake — who that ever has experi- 
 enced all this will ever forget it? The funeral 
 of Lazarus was all over. Is there ever a time 
 when the sense of desolation caused by death 
 rolls over one so like a flood as when return- 
 ing from the grave to a lonely home ? It is a 
 
THE MOURNER. 183 
 
 most kindly arrangement on the part of Divine 
 Providence for our benefit, that even then the 
 necessities of duty will not suffer us to lie 
 prostrate in self-abandonment, but lay their 
 demands upon us for the occupancy of our 
 thoughts and our hands. The poor — or rather, 
 those who are under the necessity of personal 
 employment and exertion — have in this regard 
 the advantage over those with whom leisure is 
 only the ampler opportunity for sorrow. So 
 long as the remains of a friend are uninterred, 
 we feel that we still retain a hold upon them. 
 Then is it that one is much occupied with the 
 necessary arrangements preliminary to the final 
 disposition of the body ; and then there is the 
 stunning and bewildering effect of a novel ex- 
 perience, and the grateful sense of real sym- 
 pathy on the part of friends who come around 
 us as they never came before. But when the 
 funeral-day has passed, and the first wild 
 bursts o-f grief have given place to a more 
 gentle sorrow — now is the time above all oth- 
 ers most propitious for religious consolation. 
 The time which Jesus chose for his interview 
 with Martha and Mary, setting aside its rela- 
 
184 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 tion to the miracle lie was to perform, was far 
 better for their religious instruction than the 
 first or second hour after their bereavement. 
 
 Many were the friends of these bereaved 
 sisters, as we are informed, who filled their 
 house, to comfort them concerning their broth- 
 er. In regard to mourners, we should care- 
 fully avoid the two extremes of neglect and 
 inordinate intrusion. Now is the time for true 
 and cordial sympathy. It is one of the advan- 
 tages of sorrow, that it brings to the surface 
 all the kindly sentiments, and none other, of 
 our friends and acquaintances. Many have 
 expressed surprise, when passing through a 
 great affliction, at the number of real friends 
 who appear to have been called into life by 
 the event, and the expressions of genuine 
 sympathy which have fallen from their lips. 
 The custom of publishing in the daily newspa- 
 pers the names of those who die, not to speak 
 of it as a salutary memento mori, is of great 
 advantage, by infusing a most gentle element 
 into social intercourse. Survivors, who go 
 into the street with the dress of mourners, 
 have often expressed surprise at the many 
 
THE MOUENER. 185 
 
 tokens of tender and respectful regard which 
 they have received. Persons with whom they 
 were only partially acquainted, have seemed 
 to take special pains to recognize them with 
 1 some most affectionate salutation. Even when 
 acquaintanceship was not intimate, it was not 
 felt to be rudeness if the hand was extended 
 with a most significant pressure. This is all 
 as it should be. Sorrow widens the circle of 
 sympathy, and you take into your hearts, 
 through the fellowship of suffering, very many 
 you would not have presumed to know in the 
 common experience of joyous prosperity. If 
 it be not the only, it is certainly the chief 
 argument for the common custom of wearing 
 mourning for the dead, that it shields those 
 who wear it from unconscious and unintend- 
 ed improprieties, insuring in their behalf all 
 those nameless acts of Christian consideration 
 which spring from the rule of our faith, to 
 11 weep with those who weep." Should there 
 be any whom you neglect, let it not be those 
 who mourn. If so be that your sympathy is 
 sincere, you may even presume a little beyond 
 the claims and freedom of personal intimacy, 
 
186 CONYEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 and by.a visit, an inquiry, a message, a note — 
 a speechless, but most expressive salutation — 
 make some proof of your feeling towards those 
 who have just entered the great brotherhood 
 of mourners. 
 
 On the other hand, avoid in the house of 
 mourning every thing approaching to imperti- 
 nent formalism. The sick and dying are often 
 disturbed by the intrusive inquisitiveness 
 of visitors and the uncontrolled emotion of 
 friends. So with mourners, nothing can be 
 more annoying than visits of form, and the 
 coming of many merely because they must. 
 " As vinegar upon nitre," so are words which 
 are cold, superficial, and heartless to those 
 who are heavy at heart. Better to sit down 
 by the side of a mourner and open not your 
 mouth, than to say any thing which is not ap- 
 propriate and laden with gentle love. 
 
 When we read that "many Jews came to 
 Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning 
 their brother," we are reminded of the various 
 expedients which are employed by men to 
 comfort those who mourn. There are some 
 people, excellent in their way, who are alto- 
 

 THE MOURNER. 187 
 
 gether unfitted for the office of consolation, 
 because inexperienced in sorrow themselves. 
 Through no defect of their own, they are 
 wanting in complete sympathy ; for sympathy 
 means fellow-feeling, and implies equality of 
 experience ; but they never knew what it was 
 to be bereft of an intimate friend. They utter 
 good things. They intend well, but express 
 themselves only in general platitudes and inap- 
 propriate commonplace. As. well speak to 
 the wind as to real sorrow, unless you begin 
 your consolation with a most genuine condo- 
 lence. There is no likelihood that one will 
 succeed as a consoler who appears to begin 
 his office by the vain endeavor to lessen the 
 sense of loss.- You cannot, you ought not con- 
 vince a mourner that he has no occasion to 
 mourn. To forbid grief is only putting a clam 
 across a stream, throwing the water back and 
 deepening its volume. You jnust suffer it to 
 flow, and then infuse into it an apt and con- 
 soling quality. Christ himself, as the great 
 Consoler of our race, was made perfect for the 
 office through personal suffering; and it was 
 with weeping that he approached the grave 
 
188 CONVEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 where he wrought his most wonderful miracle 
 and uttered his most sublime teachings. 
 
 As for those who prescribe diversion of 
 mind as the cure for the wounds made by 
 death, they only prove themselves sciolists in 
 the treatment of sorrow. " As he that taketh 
 away a garment in cold weather, so is he who 
 singeth songs to a heavy heart." By nothing 
 is the mind more distressed than incongruity 
 and opposition, of elements. The wounded 
 spirit courts whatever is congenial, never 
 what is antagonistic, creating effervescence ' 
 by the meeting of contrary qualities. There 
 is a time when it is wise to suggest to a 
 mourner to go forth into the light and warmth 
 and air of heaven, and avail himself, for the 
 health of body and mind, of all which God 
 has spared for our happiness. But even this 
 transition must be gentle, and not violent; 
 and the change must be accomplished so qui- 
 etly, that one is aware of it only by the sense 
 of refreshment. But as for forcible diversion, 
 for words and scenes and acts which would 
 compel a smile, it is an empiricism which ag- 
 gravates symptoms and exasperates the hurt. 
 
THE MOURNER. 189 
 
 As for those who intrude into the presence 
 of mourners with stoical counsel, couched in 
 such expressions as these — "We must bear 
 what we cannot help f " We must expect our 
 turn with the rest;' 7 " It is better to be brave 
 and manly than to give way to grief" — we 
 despatch them all with the words of Job, in 
 reply to advisers of the like quality : "I have 
 heard many such things ; miserable comforters 
 are ye all. Shall vain words have no end ? 
 I also could speak as ye do, if your soul were 
 in my soul's stead. I could heap up words 
 against you. Though I speak, my grief is not 
 assuaged ; though I forbear, what am I eased?" 
 
 Perhaps these prefatory remarks concern- 
 ing the condition of those whom death has be- 
 reaved, and the several expedients resorted 
 to by mistaken friendship, will help us the 
 better to understand the conversation which 
 ensues between a true mourner and our divine 
 Lord. It is a great art to know when, and how, 
 and what to speak to such as mourn ; and 
 blessed are they who go forth in the time of 
 sorrow to meet and converse with Christ. 
 
 The time had come in the cottage of Laz- 
 
190 CONVERSATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 arus and his sisters when they were in sore 
 need of sympathy and friendship. There is 
 no time when our wilted strength confesses its 
 need of friendly help so much as when extreme 
 illness has come, with all its fearful apprehen- 
 sions and forecasting shadows. How Martha 
 and Mary longed that Jesus should come unto 
 them when Lazarus was sick ! They sent one 
 to find him, and to ask him that he would 
 hasten to Bethany. Not understanding the 
 reasons of his delay, they looked for him as 
 one looks for a physician in whose skill he has 
 implicit faith. Time hastened by, and Laza- 
 rus died and was buried. Three days after, 
 Martha heard that Jesus was coming, and she 
 hastened to meet him. The first words were 
 uttered by the mourner herself. Generally, 
 it is well that it should be so. Our Lord uses 
 no superfluous words ; never those which are 
 inappropriate. Let the heart that is stricken 
 make utterance of itself; then will you know 
 how to adapt your own speech. "Then said 
 Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been 
 here, my brother had not died." That Mary, 
 who at this time appears not to have been in- 
 

 THE MOURNER. 191 
 
 formed of the arrival of the Master, should, 
 when she heard of it, address him in precisely 
 the same words, shows how much they had 
 talked together on the same subject ever since 
 their brother had died. In this they were 
 like all mourners, who are apt to indulge in 
 vain regrets, upbraiding either themselves or 
 others, and imagining if this or that had been 
 otherwise, death might have been averted. 
 With good reason did these mourners cherish 
 regret for the absence of Christ, for they had 
 seen his miracles, and were heartily convinced 
 of his power to rebuke disease and heal all 
 manner of sicknesses ; and well did they 
 reason that, if he had been present, he would 
 not have suffered his own friend to die. There 
 is no reproach, as some have thought, in these 
 words. Martha does not upbraid him for his 
 delay ; she speaks no word of reprimand ; she 
 asks for no explanation ; and if the expression 
 of regret for his absence seems to imply any 
 thing but her most hearty faith in the power 
 of Christ, that all disappears at once when she 
 subjoins in explicit terms, "But I know that 
 even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, 
 
192 CONVEBSATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 G-od will give it thee." That at this time she 
 had any determinate notion that Christ would 
 raise her brother from the dead does not ap- 
 pear ; rather the contrary ; for when, later in 
 the day, they went to the grave, and Christ 
 commanded the stone at its mouth to be re- 
 moved, Martha reluctated that there should 
 be an exposure of the face and form, on which 
 " decay's effacing fingers" had already begun 
 their loathsome work ; nor does she appear to 
 think of the possibility that her brother should 
 be brought back to life. # So far as we can in- 
 terpret the state of her mind at the beginning 
 of the interview, it was one of unfaltering faith 
 in Jesus, making utterance of itself in words 
 which are vague, as if she hardly knew herself 
 what she was saying. Her mind is so full of 
 faith in this great Friend, that death itself 
 could not shake it — as evinced in the words, 
 " even now/ 7 but as to what she was to expect 
 would be done — if there were undefined hopes 
 and fleeting presentiments, these were coun- 
 terbalanced by misgivings ; so that her mind 
 was in a condition hard to be explained to 
 itself, beyond this, that it held to an unshaken 
 
THE MOURNER. 193 
 
 confidence in onr Lord. That confidence was 
 to be advanced to its highest quantity : " And 
 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise 
 again ; ?; the first words that he uttered on this 
 occasion. Fit are they, as we now interpret 
 them, to be carved on the face of every grave- 
 stone. But what did they import as used on 
 this occasion? It is not necessary to limit 
 their meaning to the act of resuscitation which 
 our Lord was about to accomplish ; they are 
 simply future, declarative of that which was 
 designed to develop and strengthen yet more 
 that faith which had already been confessed. 
 How Martha understood the words, appears 
 from her response : "She saith unto him, I know 
 that he shall rise again in the resurrection at 
 the last day." What varieties of thought 
 and feeling are expressed in these few words. 
 Christ had said, "Thy brother shall rise again.' 7 
 Rise again! the assurance is unqualified and 
 strong, and therefore she connects it, of course, 
 with the final consummation, with the last day. 
 But there is an air of despondency even in this 
 admission. That day is too remote. Long 
 before it should come, the weary mourner 
 
 Con. of Christ. 
 
194 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 would herself be laid by the side of her de- 
 parted brother. She had hoped for something, 
 she knew not what, more consolatory, because 
 more immediate. She could not find in that 
 promise of an ultimate resurrection all the 
 comfort which her heart then craved; so she 
 said, "Yes, I know that he shall rise then," 
 as if she were but imperfectly satisfied with 
 the admission of this general announcement. 
 The wounded spirit of every mourner needs 
 an immediate consolation ; something nearer 
 and warmer and more real than can be drawn 
 from an event to occur we know not how many 
 centuries from this. This our Lord proceeds 
 now to give. The words which follow are the 
 gist of the whole conversation ; nay, of the 
 whole narrative ; for the miracle which was 
 afterwards wrought was only designed to give 
 confirmation of the central truth which is here 
 uttered. Had our Lord at this point distinctly 
 informed Martha what he was about to do on 
 that very day, in her wild and tumultuous joy, 
 she might not have paused to reflect that, after 
 all, this would be only a temporary relief and 
 respite. The destroyer, compelled to release 
 
THE MOURNER. 195 
 
 his victim now, after a season would return, 
 and the scene of sickness and death through 
 which they had just passed would be reenacted 
 at some other time. Were divine power to 
 meet us at every grave which we visit on our 
 way to our own, and restore our dead friends 
 to life, this would be felt to be true, (and so 
 far diminishing all the joy which their return 
 would occasion,) that they are mortal still, and 
 both they and we must ere long be subject to 
 the grim foe which has been so unrelenting, 
 and will be so to the last. Now it was to meet 
 this state of things, by a few words which 
 should stand for ever the grand consolation 
 for all mourners to the end of the world, that 
 our Lord, when he next speaks, addresses 
 himself— assuring this sister, bereaved of her 
 brother, that he and she were now, and always 
 should be united one to the other in a form of 
 life which was absolutely imperishable. "I 
 know," said Mariha, " that he shall rise again 
 in the resurrection at the last day." " Jesus 
 said unto her, I am the resurrection and the 
 life : he that believeth in me, though he were 
 dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever liveth, 
 
196 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 and belie veth in me, shall never die." Some- 
 thing very different from a belief in a remote 
 resurrection is here. Something which is pres- 
 ent and immediate . Something which was em - 
 bodied in his own living form. Have you 
 marked the transition? So gently, so skil- 
 fully, yet so naturally in easy consequence 
 upon what had been said before, that a su- 
 perficial eye might not notice it. The tran- 
 sition of thought is from the dead Lazarus to 
 the living Saviour ; just that which we should 
 always endeavor to make when administering 
 solace to the bereaved — from the departed 
 friend to the Friend who never dies, and in 
 whom those who have died and those who still 
 live to mourn may have a life which death 
 itself can never touch or wound. The abso- 
 lute form in which the announcement is made, 
 "I am the resurrection and the life" proves that 
 far more is intended by the expression than 
 the mere promise that he would so exert his 
 power as to cause those who are dead to rise 
 again; for, indeed, we can see in the language 
 no promise of the resurrection of the body, 
 save as that is included as a part or as a con- 
 
THE MOURNER. 197 
 
 sequence of a larger truth : that Christ himself 
 is in such a sense the life of men, that all 
 who believe in him shall share in that life 
 which is superior to all changes of the body — 
 an element of imperishable and endless joy. 
 11 He that believeth in me, though he were 
 dead, his body entombed, still lives, and shall 
 live for ever ; for there is another life than that 
 of the body. And whoever there be who is 
 now alive on the earth, and believeth in me, 
 shall never die." What ! shall he never meet 
 the gloomy necessity of death and decay? 
 Does Christ exempt any from the universal 
 condition of mortality ? None at all. Some- 
 thing better than this is here revealed ; and 
 the skilful manner in which it is affirmed should 
 not escape our grateful notice ; for nothing 
 could be more emphatic in all the evolutions 
 of human speech. There is no mention made 
 at all, in the concluding clause, of the death of 
 the body — as though it were not worthy of con- 
 sideration. It is an incident not to be taken 
 into the account. It is an inferior fact, which 
 does not interfere with the grander truth which 
 is here so sublimely announced. There is only 
 
198 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 one allusion in the two verses to the death of 
 the body, and that is in the first. ' ' He that 
 believeth in me, though he were dead." He 
 refers, of course, to the death of the body. 
 Beyond this, there is no more allusion to this 
 kind of death, that being treated as an incon- 
 siderable and unimportant incident ; a thing 
 not to be mentioned or regarded at all in 
 comparison with that immeasurable evil which 
 alone deserves the name of death ; out of which 
 every one that believeth is sure to be deliv- 
 ered. Christ is speaking to a mourner — one 
 who was lamenting a dead brother ; and his 
 words are these : "Faith in me is the source of 
 true life, now and for ever. They who have 
 it, whether their bodies are in the grave or 
 living upon the earth, have life, a life that 
 never dies f so that the death of the body is 
 overlooked and disregarded and unmentioned, 
 as something which is comparatively of small 
 consequence ; the only death which is to be 
 deplored and dreaded is that out of which we 
 are sure to be delivered by believing in the 
 Son of God. Yastly more emphatic is this 
 form of teaching than it would have been if 
 

 THE MOURNER. 199 
 
 our Lord had dwelt in many words upon the 
 death of the body, which was the thing then 
 uppermost in the thoughts of the weeping- 
 Martha. He lifts the mourner at once to a 
 region of thought so lofty that the dying or 
 the living of the body is to be treated as a 
 thing indifferent, of momentary consequence : 
 the main thing being this, that the true con- 
 sciousness of the Christian believer lives ; it 
 lives now ; it will live for ever ; for it is united 
 by faith to Him who is abstractly and abso- 
 lutely the Life. Just before, Martha had con- 
 fessed her belief that her brother would rise 
 again in the resurrection at the last day — 
 and that was a great thing to believe, in com- 
 parison with the blank and dreary creed of 
 paganism ; but when our Lord asserted what 
 I have now explained, which was something far 
 in advance of her first confession, he turned 
 to her and said: " Believest thou this? 11 And 
 she said : " Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art 
 the Christ, the Son of God, which should come 
 into the world." How much this admission 
 implied in her case we need not pause to dis- 
 cuss. Even if she did not rise to the full 
 
200 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 comprehension of those spiritual truths which 
 Christ had just uttered, her faith in Christ 
 was vindicated and confirmed : and this was 
 before she saw her brother come forth from 
 the tomb. But greater things than these have 
 been said and done since by our Lord himself; 
 so that those words which were first uttered 
 to Martha at Bethany are to be interpreted 
 by us in the reflected light of later disclosures : 
 the personal resurrection of Christ from the 
 grave, and the distinctive promise which he 
 gave, and gives now, that all who believe in 
 him shall surely live for ever. 
 
 Here then have we our model and our 
 rule in administering consolation to those that 
 mourn. Grief is always entitled to our respect ; 
 but grief should never be made a religion. 
 
 Nature must and will have its own expres- 
 sion. Let the mourner weep. Let him recall 
 all that was good in the qualities and life of 
 the departed. Enter with a most generous 
 sympathy into every grief ; listen to all which 
 its sobbing voice would utter : and then, re- 
 membering that divine truth is anterior and 
 superior to every thing besides, and that now 
 
THE MOUENEE. 201 
 
 the heart is mellowed by sorrow, susceptible 
 to impression as it never was before and never 
 may be again, turning away from all the empty 
 consolations of the world, direct the eye always 
 to Him who is the true life of men ; speak of 
 Him who himself tasted death, and who has 
 abolished death ; extracting its sting by the 
 remission of sin. Now is the time to press 
 the question, " Believest thou this?" * 
 
 You need not be apprehensive of mistake 
 in concentrating thought on the person of 
 Jesus Christ. This was what Christ himself 
 did. He who was ever zealous for the honG* 
 of. God, faltered not in directing the eye and 
 heart of the living and the dying immediately 
 to himself. It is by such acts on his part that 
 he has furnished proof of his divinity beyond 
 all words of positive assertion. He bids our 
 dying race to look to him, and trust in him as 
 the Resurrection and the Life. We need not 
 speculate why it is and how it is ; enough that 
 so it is ; that Christian believers, in the hour 
 of greatest need, in the depths of sorrow, and 
 amid the waters of death, always find them- 
 selves turning with a trustful look to that per- 
 
 9* 
 
202 CONVEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 sonal Redeemer to whom the dying Stephen 
 exclaimed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," 
 At such times it is not enough to have a gen- 
 eral faith in an Infinite Spirit, pervading all 
 time and space ; it is not enough to reason out 
 some conviction concerning the immortality of 
 the soul, or to question physiology and natural 
 religion as to the probability and modes of a 
 future existence ; the only thing appropriate 
 and adequate is, a belief in Him who bore our 
 own nature, entering into complete sympathy 
 with man, and who, in the form of a man, so 
 presents himself at the side of suffering that 
 ignorance may comprehend and utmost infirm- 
 ity may grasp his aid. 
 
 What do we know about the world unseen ? 
 What reasonings, what curiosity, what misgiv- 
 ings there have been concerning that impene- 
 trable mystery! Out of this mystery and 
 vagueness and vastness comes the human form 
 of the divine Redeemer. He assures us that 
 there is an unmixed and endless life, and that 
 all which we need to secure it is, to trust our- 
 selves to Him who came to declare it and to 
 confer it. It comforts us beyond all power of 
 

 THE MOURNER. 203 
 
 expression to know that those who - lived . a 
 life of faith upon the earth, and whom death 
 has taken from our arms, are partakers now of 
 a life of joy. We recall what they said in 
 their last hours concerning the preciousness of 
 Christ. Up to the very latest moment that 
 they were with us, they spoke calmly but 
 gratefully of the great Shepherd who was 
 with them in the dark valley ; a moment 
 more, they had ceased to breathe, but not to 
 live ; for Christ is the Life, and he has said, 
 "He that believeth in me,- though he were 
 dead, yet shall he live ;" and those who have 
 gone from our sight still trusting in him, are 
 full to-day of conscious thought and feeling 
 and life — of life, and nothing but life. But 
 He who has promised this for our consolation, 
 has affirmed also what is more important as it 
 concerns ourselves: "He that liveth and be- 
 lieveth shall never die." We are yet alive, 
 but do we believe ? In our ears has Christ 
 announced his own attributes and offices, and 
 turning to each of us he says: "Believest 
 thou this ?" There is a resurrection of the 
 dead soul which takes place here on the earth. 
 
204 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 There is a life imparted to such, as were dead. 
 And the whole of this is confirmed in that act 
 of the soul by wiiich it believes ; thinking of 
 Him, trusting in Him, following Him who is 
 the Hope, the Light, the Life of men. "I am 
 the resurrection and the life," says Christ of 
 himself. Convinced of your own guilt and 
 helplessness and mortality, look to Him and 
 say: "I know whom I have believed, and 
 that he is able to keep that which I have com- 
 mitted unto him against that day. 77 
 
CONVERSATION OF CHRIST 
 
 WITH 
 
 PILATE : 
 
 The Vacillating Man of the 
 World. 
 
 MATT. 27. 
 MARK 15. 
 LUKE 23. 
 JOHN 18: 19. 
 
VIII. 
 PILATE: 
 
 The Vacillating Man of th 
 
 ORLD 
 
 Jesus Christ, the Son of God, arraigned 
 before a mortal man for judgment to be passed 
 upon his claims and character! An eventful 
 thing was it, in the life of any man, to come 
 into personal contact with that mysterious 
 Being, who could read the secret thoughts, 
 and whose- every word seemed to have a pro- 
 phetic relation to future destiny. But it was 
 not peculiar to the days when he was in the 
 flesh for this same divine Person to present 
 himself before men, demanding a verdict upon 
 his own assertions. The prsetorium at Jeru- 
 salem was not the only place where Jesus 
 Christ has stood to be judged of men. Every 
 day, every Sabbath, every communion he pre- 
 sents himself to human hearts, stirring their 
 
208 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 hopes, their fears, their faith, their doubts, 
 their love, their hate, according as they are 
 affected towards him. 
 
 It is of Pilate, his character and his con- 
 duct — the working and decision of his vacil- 
 lating mind in regard to Christ the mystic 
 King — that I am now to speak. Because he 
 is immediately associated with that most tragic 
 and atrocious act, the crucifixion of our Lord, 
 it is common to think of him as a paragon of 
 sanguinary cruelty. The description given of 
 him by Josephus must be received with some 
 allowance. Josephus was a Jew, and was 
 never suspected of leniency or impartiality in 
 giving the portraits of the heathen officials 
 who ruled over his subject -country. The 
 facts as they are recorded by the evangelists 
 will not allow us to classify Pilate with men 
 of monstrous and unmixed crime ; for he was 
 disturbed by many fears, by activities of con- 
 science, by misgivings, even when he yielded 
 to outward pressure, and by many suscepti- 
 bilities to a just and truthful impression. Cer- 
 tainly he was the prototype of a large class 
 still living upon the earth. 
 
PILATE. 209 
 
 Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of 
 Judea under the imperialism of Tiberius Caesar. 
 The testimony of Tacitus, the Roman annalist, 
 on this point, is very important, for it fixes 
 beyond all question the time when the historic 
 life of our religion began. His words are, 
 "The author of that name (a sect of Christ) who 
 was capitally punished in the reign of Tiberius 
 by Pontius Pilate." Pilate was no instigator 
 of the violent act which hurried our Lord to 
 death, but soon became involuntarily involved 
 in it. It was the chief-priests and Pharisees 
 and rulers of the Jews by whom the Saviour 
 was arrested and arraigned. They dragged 
 him before Annas and Caiaphas the high- 
 priests and the council, or Sanhedrim, and 
 there, upon the charge of blasphemy, in assert- 
 ing that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, 
 he was by that ecclesiastical court condemned 
 to death. But this sentence the Jews had no 
 power to execute. About forty years before 
 the destruction of Jerusalem, as the Jewish 
 historian informs us, this power of inflicting 
 capital punishment was taken away from the 
 now provincial people, and was vested in the 
 
210 CONYEKSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 imperial power only. It was the policy of the 
 Roman government to leave the laws and reli- 
 gion of the countries which they conquered in 
 force, but the power of life and death it re- 
 served in its own hands. Believing that they 
 had their victim at last completely in their 
 power, the priests and scribes, after their ec- 
 clesiastical sentence, now resort to the praeto- 
 rium of Pilate, for permission to execute their 
 purpose upon the person of our Lord. There 
 was not in all Jerusalem a place more hateful 
 to the Jew than this Gentile palace, the ob- 
 trusive sign and seat of heathen domination. 
 Sanctimonious to the last degree, they would 
 not, even on such an errand, enter the judg- 
 ment-hall, the pra3torium itself, but stood 
 around the judgment-bench, which was with- 
 out. In the early hour of the morning Pilate 
 comes out to meet them. How he was sum- 
 moned, what were his first impressions and 
 sentiments, we .know not. He comes for the 
 first time before us, as he steps out, at this 
 unusual hour, on this extraordinary occasion. 
 Let us judge of what is passing in his mind by 
 his own words. He sees before him the whole 
 
PILATE. 211 
 
 council of the Jews and a great crowd highly 
 excited, holding a prisoner who was bound in 
 their hands. The treatment he had received 
 through that long and eventful night, without 
 sleep, without food, buffeted and spit upon as 
 he had been, must have had its effect upon the 
 pale face of Christ. Is it unnatural to suppose 
 that the heart of Pilate was touched with pity 
 as his eye first fell upon our Lord ? ' ' What 
 accusation. bring ye against this man?" Such 
 were his first words. Some commentators see 
 more in this question than it will bear. Lu- 
 ther, paraphrases it in this manner: "It is 
 marvellous that ye can have any thing to say 
 against a man so celebrated for goodness." 
 We are not informed that Pilate knew any 
 thing of Christ, or had ever seen his person 
 before ; and yet the answer which was imme- 
 diately given by the Jews, " If he were not a 
 malefactor, we would not have delivered him 
 up unto thee," implies that there must have 
 been somewhat in the tone, the expression, 
 the manner of Pilate, when he put the ques- 
 tion, "What accusation bring ye against this 
 man ?" which conveyed the impression that he 
 
212 CONVERSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 was not unmoved by the spectacle before him, 
 nor indisposed to believe that the person in 
 whom he saw so much that was dignified mixed 
 with so much of suffering, might be innocent. 
 This was the first movement of his mind in 
 regard to the Person with whom he is now 
 brought into contact. " If he were not a mal- 
 efactor, we would not have delivered him up 
 unto thee.' 7 ''Take ye him and judge him 
 according to your law/' was the taunting an- 
 swer of the governor. Be sure this was not 
 the authoritative disposal of the question ; it 
 was a shaft of keenest irony aimed at the Jews, 
 and intended to humiliate them by reminding 
 them of their impotence. He intended they 
 should feel that he was something more than 
 the passive instrument of their will : If you 
 judge and condemn a man alone, execute the 
 sentence, if you can. The arrow hit the mark ; 
 for the confession was immediately extorted 
 from the Jews, whose humiliation was com- 
 plete, "It is not lawful for us to put any man 
 to death." And here have we one of those 
 unconscious fulfillings of prophecy which, like 
 the smooth working of intricate machinery, 
 
PILATE. 213 
 
 one part fitting into another at the right time 
 and the right place, demonstrate the presi- 
 dency of one designing mind. "This said 
 they," interprets the inspired evangelist, "that 
 the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which 
 he spake signifying by what death he should 
 die." Christ had long before said that he 
 should be delivered up to the Gentiles, and 
 that he should be lifted up upon the cross. 
 Had he been put to death by the Jews, nei- 
 ther of these purposes would have been ac- 
 complished. Crucifixion was a Roman pun- 
 ishment. The Jews put to death by stoning. 
 Had our Lord been surrendered up into their 
 hands, his sacred person would have been 
 crushed, and instead of being laid in the sep- 
 ulchre without a bone being broken, it would 
 have been but a mass of bloody fragments. 
 
 Finding that Pilate was not disposed to 
 give them permission without inquiring into 
 the case, the Jews announce their accusation. 
 Had the governor been the cruel and sanguin- 
 ary person which some suppose, he would 
 have despatched the matter summarily, and 
 allowed the people to execute their fell intent ; 
 
214 CONVEESATIONS OF CHBIST. 
 
 but he seems to be impressed with the fact 
 that he has some responsibility in the prem- 
 ises, and that he must act the part of a court 
 of revision and appeal. Of great importance 
 is it, for the satisfaction of Christian faith for 
 all time, that the several steps of that process 
 by which the Eedeemer of the world was 
 brought to death should all be put upon the 
 record, so that never should it be affirmed, 
 and never imagined, that any stain of a just 
 and well-founded accusation, even from his 
 enemies, was left upon his sacred and adora- 
 ble name. 
 
 The accusation now made by the Jews 
 was (Luke 23:2), that Christ had perverted 
 the nation, and forbidden "to*give tribute to 
 Cassar, saying that he himself is Christ, a 
 king." Determined to investigate the matter 
 for himself, Pilate retires into the prgetorium, 
 and sends for Jesus to come to him. This is 
 something different from judicial publicity. 
 Behold our divine Lord in private conversa- 
 tion with this Gentile governor ! ' ' Art thou 
 the King of the Jews ?" It is not necessary 
 to put mockery into this question, as if Pilate 
 
PILATE. 215 
 
 intended to insult Jesus: "Art thou then 
 the King of the Jews V 1 Bather let us under- 
 stand it as a simple and honest inquiry — " Art 
 thou then the King of the Jews ?" If our Lord 
 had simply answered " Yes" or "No" there 
 would have been ground for misapprehension. 
 He might appear to protect himself under an 
 ambiguity of words. Our Lord therefore re- 
 plied in the form of a counter-question ; and 
 it must have interested and astonished Pilate 
 to find that this prisoner under examination 
 had the power of probing the heart of his ex- 
 aminer. Jesus answered him: " Sayest thou 
 this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee 
 of me ?" Every word in the question has its 
 meaning. First of all our Lord intended that 
 there should be no place for evasion, for am- 
 biguity. He would have Pilate explain in 
 what sense his question was to be understood. 
 "Do you mean to ask whether I am a king in 
 your own sense of the word, from your point 
 of view as a Roman governor, or do you intend 
 to ask whether I am a king in the theocratic 
 sense, according to the Jewish theology? Ex- 
 plain your own language, and we will then 
 
216 CONVEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 come to an understanding." More than this 
 is implied in the question of Christ. He re- 
 veals Pilate to himself. He touches his con- 
 science. He would have him to see and de- 
 cide whether he has any honest convictions 
 and purposes of his own, or whether he is 
 under the influence of external and unworthy 
 power. If Pilate had answered the question 
 honestly, when the surgeon's hand touched his 
 pulse, how different might have been the issue 
 of his case. When Christ comes too close, he 
 shrinks and draws back. As the flesh recoils 
 from fire and sharp edges, so did Pilate with- 
 draw himself from the faithful touch of Christ. 
 He tosses off the hand which holds the probe. 
 In lofty scorn he says, " Am la Jew ?" What 
 do I know or care about your theological dis- 
 tinctions, your Jewish Messiahship ? You are 
 accused by your own people of asserting your- 
 self to be a king ; what does this mean ? what 
 hast thou clone ?" The way is now prepared 
 for our Lord to affirm the truth concerning 
 himself. He does not disavow the name of 
 King, but claims it with explanation of its 
 meaning. He is not a king of this world, with 
 
PILATE. 217 
 
 swords and armies and revenues at his control. 
 He is no rival of Caesar in regard to an earthly 
 monarchy. He has never refused to acknowl- 
 edge the civil power. He and his disciples 
 have paid tribute to the ruling dynasty. 
 Every accusation which would make him an 
 usurper or a rebel by setting up an earthly 
 kingdom is false. The frequent use of the 
 word kingdom in this disclaimer prompts Pilate 
 to put the direct question, "Art thou a king 
 then? 11 "Yes," said Christ, "I am a King. 
 That word which you have said is true. Not 
 a king to fight, but to witness for the truth. 
 My kingdom is not of this world. It is spir- 
 itual, but none the less a real kingdom. I 
 wish for no evasion ; I ask for no concealment. 
 I do not wish to be acquitted through any 
 ambiguity of language. You shall know the 
 whole of that which your question implies. 
 This is the whole import of my birth, my res- 
 idence in the world. You have asked me 
 what I have done, and what is the cause of all 
 these Jewish accusations against me. This is 
 my whole offence : I have revealed truth ; I 
 have testified to the truth ; this is my kingly 
 
 Cod. of Christ. 10 
 
218 CONVEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 office. I reign in the realm of truth. Let 
 monarchs wear the trappings of robes and 
 sceptres and crowns ; my insignia of power 
 are the words of truth which I have announced, 
 and my supremacy is oyer the minds and the 
 hearts of men." Disabusing the mind of Pilate 
 of all these ideas of external and political 
 power, defining the nature of his spiritual 
 kingdom, with its kingly assertions of truth, 
 Christ brings the governor and examiner be- 
 fore whom he stands to a critical decision. He' 
 informs him that every one who is of the truth 
 hears his voice. "What an application is here. 
 Be sure there was an expression of the eye, 
 an intonation of the voice, which gave it an 
 irresistible meaning. "My kingdom is of the 
 truth, and every man who is of the truth hear- 
 eth me." Pilate, what an eventful moment in 
 your history is here ! Whoever desires him- 
 self to know that truth is sure to find it. And 
 here and now, if thou wouldst but know it, in 
 this meek, majestic Person, stands the truth, 
 who could inform you of all things. 
 
 A second time the conscience of Pilate 
 shrinks from the touch, and we pass the second 
 
PILATE. 219 
 
 stage in his downward progress. ' ' Pilate saith 
 unto him, What is truth V 1 Every thing depends 
 upon the tone and emphasis with which these 
 words are uttered. That they were not used 
 by Pilate in an honest sense, as one desirous 
 of knowing the truth, is very plain from the 
 sequel ; for he does not even wait for an an- 
 swer. Had he, with an earnest and candid 
 spirit, put the question to Christ, " What is 
 truth ?" what revelations would have been made 
 to him ! But he was frivolous. He was skep- 
 tical. He was indifferent. And yet it is hard 
 not to admit that there was something like 
 despondency and sadness in the tone and 
 spirit of the words — "Truth! what is it?" 
 It is the thorough man of the world who 
 speaks. He has no interest in moral distinc- 
 tions, and is very impatient under all matters 
 w^hich probe his conscience. No sooner were 
 the words uttered, than he steps forth to the 
 people, and assures them that he finds no fault 
 at all in the man whom they had accused. 
 So shall it stand for ever, out of the mouth of 
 this Eoman governor, that no impeachment 
 rested on the character of Christ. What now 
 
220 CONVERSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 shall he do ? Instead of following his convic- 
 tions of what is right, he resorts to an expe- 
 dient by which probably he would evade the 
 whole matter. He remembers the old Jewish 
 custom of releasing some state prisoner at ev- 
 ery annual return of the Passover. There 
 was a man then in confinement for notorious 
 crime. He was accused of robbery and mur- 
 der. This man Barabbas was under arrest for 
 participation in a most frightful insurrection. 
 Xow, thought Pilate, I will propose the alter- 
 native to the people to release Barabbas, or 
 Jesus. Surely they cannot hesitate what to 
 do ; they will not prefer that this blood-stained 
 culprit should be let loose on the city rather 
 than this quiet and well-behaved Person, whose 
 only offence is, that he has excited the ill-will 
 of the priests by some new claim or assertion 
 in regard to their religion. Little did Pilate 
 know the men with whom he was dealing. 
 He was foiled in this attempt to deliver Jesus 
 out of their hands. Immediately and clamor- 
 ously they demanded the release of Barabbas ; 
 so that Pilate, most unexpectedly and greatly 
 to his perplexity, found that the case of Jesus 
 
PILATE. 221 
 
 was still in his hands, and in some way was to 
 be disposed of. That perplexity was in no wise 
 diminished by a message which was brought 
 to him from his wife, begging him to have noth- 
 ing whatever to do with this man, for she had 
 suffered much in a dream concerning him. 
 What strange presentiments, what wild and 
 mysterious warnings agitate the soul of this 
 vacillating Pilate while fighting against his 
 own convictions. 
 
 Again the Jews repeat their charge against 
 Christ, that he had stirred up the people 
 throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee and 
 passing on to Jerusalem. " What, v said Pilate, 
 " is he a Galilean V Ascertaining that he was, 
 a new expedient for evading responsibility sug- 
 gests itself to this worried and restless man. 
 "A Galilean; then he belongs to Herod's 
 jurisdiction ; and luckily, Herod is now in 
 Jerusalem ; I will send him to Herod, and so 
 rid myself of all action in the matter."* Upon 
 this suggestion, Jesus is swept away to con- 
 
 * As to the question whether the sending to Herod 
 did not precede the offer to release Barabbas, see 
 Olshausen, vol. 3, pp. 72, 73. 
 
222 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 front this sensual, corrupt, brutal prince. 
 Right glad was Herod to see the man of 
 whose fame he had heard, and by whose mir- 
 acles he hoped to be amused, as by a mounte- 
 bank. Christ, knowing the man, maintains 
 the dignity of silence. Not a word does he 
 utter in that presence. Mocking him, putting 
 him to derision, dressing him ujd in some cari- 
 cature resemblance of royalty : after this in- 
 genious and cruel sport, Herod and his men of 
 war summarily terminate their connection with 
 the affair by sending Jesus back to Pilate. 
 
 With what chagrin and dismay did Pilate 
 behold the concourse once more approaching his 
 judgment-hall ! Instead of escaping responsi- 
 bility, he found himself becoming inextricably 
 involved in it, beyond all power of evasion. 
 Again he resorts to expedients, rather than 
 do the right. Finding no fault in Christ, and 
 inclined to save his life, but at the same time, 
 in his weakness, disposed in some degree to 
 gratify the maddened people, he gave direc- 
 tion that Jesus might be scourged. Undoubt- 
 edly he intended this as a means of pacifying 
 the Jews, substituting. this as a more lenient 
 
PILATE. 223 
 
 sentence than death. It would seem that Pi- 
 late was not a spectator of this cruel punish- 
 ment, but that for decency's sake he withdrew 
 for a season. During this interval the sol- 
 diery indulge their hate in all manner of mock- 
 ery. Little knowing what they did, they 
 platted a crown of thorns — a symbolism most 
 sublime and memorable — and put it on his 
 head. Finding that this act of scourging, 
 instead of pacifying the accusers of Christ, 
 only exasperated them, Pilate goes out to the 
 people, and assures them again that he finds 
 no fault at all with Christ. Standing in their 
 presence, and interposing himself as a break- 
 water to the foaming madness, the door from 
 the court is opened, and Christ is presented 
 to their sight, the blood trickling from the 
 wounds made by the thorns on his head, the 
 marks of the scourge on his back, and a pur- 
 ple robe about his person. There stands the 
 man whose condition might well move the 
 pity of all. "Ecce homo/"—" Behold the 
 man !" says Pilate. It is incredible that these 
 words were uttered in anything like mockery 
 and derision. Bather let us understand them 
 
224 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 as intended to convey and excite a real sym- 
 pathy and compassion. It is very ]3lain that 
 Pilate, in all his indifference about questions 
 of religion, had become profoundly concerned 
 in finding himself entangled with a matter 
 from which* he would gladly be rid, especially 
 as he acknowledged the mysterious power 
 which this unknown person appeared to exert 
 over his own movements — ''Behold the man!*' 
 Instead of pity, the sight inflamed the mad- 
 ness of the concourse, who thirsted for the 
 blood of Christ, and shouted, " Crucify him! 
 crucify him!' 7 Well, said Pilate — determined 
 to shuffle off all responsibility to the last — 
 well, "Take ye him and crucify him, for 
 I find no fault in him." But this empha- 
 sis did not suit the Jews ; for if they should 
 assume all the responsibility, and crucify 
 their victim, they might be called to an 
 account for it, and suffer the consequences. 
 Determined to obtain permission from Pilate 
 in due form to execute their purpose, they 
 answered him: " We have a law, and by our 
 law he ought to die, because he made himself 
 the Son of God:' Like a bolt from heaven fell 
 
PILATE. 225 
 
 these words on the ear of Pilate. Here is 
 something new and strange and inexplicable. 
 Before, they had accused the prisoner of usurp- 
 ing political power, of exciting insurrection, 
 of being a King ; but now they say that this 
 same person ought to die, because he called 
 himself the Son of God. Deeper and deeper 
 grows the mystery. Pilate turns and looks 
 at Christ — that bleeding, pale, bound, derided, 
 yet meek and patient prisoner. He call him- 
 self the Son of God ! He knows nothing, he 
 cares nothing about the definitions of Judaistic 
 theology ; but in that raiment of mockery and 
 in that state of suffering helplessness the Ro- 
 man magistrate acknowledges that there is 
 something in this claim of divinity which awes 
 his own mind ; gets hold of him, and masters 
 him. He was afraid. When Pilate heard 
 that new word, Son of God, "he was more 
 afraid." He looks, he wonders. The very 
 indenniteness and vagueness of the expres- 
 sion increase his alarm. He withdraws into 
 his house, directs Jesus to be brought to him 
 again ; and once more, and once only, he is 
 confronted with our Lord in a private inter- 
 10* . 
 
226 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 view. Pilate and Christ together again, and 
 alone ; and Pilate, with this fear and dread 
 in his heart, quickly asked, with white lips, 
 " Whence art thou?" The question relates to 
 the words just uttered. That he was born in 
 Galilee, he had ascertained before ; but now 
 he would touch the mystery of this new and 
 incomprehensible word, "the Son of God.'' 
 "Whence art thou?" And Jesus spake not a 
 word. Silence was an answer. In that im- 
 pressive stillness, was not the Sufferer preach- 
 ing to the heart and conscience o.f Pilate ? 
 That is the one great question for all time for 
 all men: "Who is Christ?" "Whence art 
 thou ?" We have seen all along how the con- 
 science of Pilate shrunk from every touch of 
 truth. He had gone too far in this jDerilous 
 process to expect now any satisfaction . or 
 relief through a question which is prompted 
 only by fear. Had he not before been told 
 by Christ that he was King in the realm of 
 truth, and that every one who loved truth 
 would acknowledge himself a subject ? Pilate 
 had written out his own condemnation before, 
 as one that disliked truth, and hated the light ; 
 
PILATE. 227 
 
 for great was the violence which he had done 
 to his own convictions, as stirred already by 
 the words and person of Jesus. Therefore, 
 when a strange curiosity, impelled by per- 
 sonal fear, prompted the question, "Whence 
 art thou ?" our. Lord was silent. At first Pilate 
 wondered. But that silence continued, his 
 condition became awkward and embarrassing. 
 Wonder gave place to wounded pride, and 
 he was forced to break the silence himself: 
 "Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou 
 not that I have power to crucify thee, and 
 have power to release thee?" Then Jesus 
 answered: "Thou couldest have no power at 
 all against me, except it were given thee from 
 above." The haughty presumption of this Gen- 
 tile governor is brought at once unwillingly 
 before the almightiness of God. Be sure this 
 from above has no reference to higher earthly 
 magistracy ; it connects the transaction imme-" 
 diately and inseparably with the ideas of God 
 and supremacy and accountability. The gov- 
 ernor was mastered, and himself put to silence. 
 The prisoner, by a few smooth and quiet words, 
 had tamed his restless pride, without reliev- 
 
228 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 ing hiro of his fear. From that moment Pilate 
 was determined that he would release Jesus. 
 But he Jiad begun to slide when he practised 
 his firet delay, his first irresolution, his first 
 violence to conscience : and there was no stop- 
 page to his slippery descent. He went to the 
 people, and announced his purpose. But they 
 knew his weakness, and were determined to 
 avail themselves of his vacillation. The Jews 
 cried out : "If thou let this man go, thou art 
 not Caesar's friend : whosoever maketh himself 
 a king speaketh against Caesar." They touched 
 the man in his weakest point. Accusations 
 against him for maladministration had already 
 gone up to Rome, and he was afraid, if the Jews 
 repeated the charge to his imperial master, 
 he would be called to account, and displaced 
 from office. This new jealousy for the rights 
 of Caesar on the part of the Jews, who ordina- 
 rily made no secret of their intense hatred for 
 the Eoman authority, he did not pause to 
 Aveigh. He himself was influenced by the 
 meanest of all motives, the fear of losing an 
 office, rather than do what he knew to be right. 
 Yielding to this worldly suggestion, the last 
 
PILATE. 229 
 
 struggle was over, and he went down before 
 the rushing tide. The stern, unrelenting big- 
 otry of the Jews pressed him on with resist- 
 less power. If he had hitherto any honest 
 purpose to do what was right, that purpose 
 was swept away by the fear of personal dis- 
 advantage. To the honor of Christ, and to 
 his own shame, by a most impressive symbol- 
 ism, washing his hands before the people, 
 Pilate assured them that he found no fault in 
 Jesus Christ; and after all these several at- 
 tempts to evade responsibility by expedients 
 of various kinds, he yielded up the person of 
 our Lord, and gave his consent to the cruci- 
 fixion. 
 
 In dismissing the evangelical narrative at 
 this point, it is not impertinent to add what 
 we derive from other sources. I make no 
 reference to what is questionable ; there were 
 Acta Pilati, spurious productions, which we 
 pass unnoticed ■ and there is no doubt that 
 Pilate made a report of this case to the em- 
 peror at Rome, though it is lost ; but from 
 other and reliable sources we learn that, as 
 Judas failed even in his reward, so Pilate 
 
230 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 found that the last motive by which he was 
 foiled proved too weak to help him. He was 
 recalled ; he was exiled in disgrace from Rome 
 into Gaul ; and the traveller who now de- 
 scends the Rhone sees, in the south of France, 
 still standing the very tower from which, as 
 tradition says, Pilate precipitated himself to 
 the dreadful end of the suicide. 
 
 The character of Pilate is briefly summed, 
 ie was a thorough man of the world, des- 
 titute of all high principle, and sacrificing 
 conscience to circumstances. Inclined to do 
 right, when to do wrong worked against his 
 advantage : aspiring for the honor and power 
 which come from man ; indifferent and skep- 
 tical as to the rewards which come from Grod. 
 He has a conscience, but dares not to follow 
 it. He has perceptions of what is right — ■ 
 impulses, misgivings, fears, susceptibilities ; 
 but every thing that was good was superfi- 
 cial, while within all was weak, and waver- 
 ing, and vacillating. The best opportunities 
 ever enjoyed by a mortal for knowing the 
 truth were his. in personal intercourse with 
 Christ ; but for want of earnestness and sin- 
 
PILATE. 231 
 
 cerity and candor, all these served only to 
 exhibit his folly and enhance his guilt. 
 
 What an effect, think you, was produced 
 on Pilate when he heard that the man whom 
 he had suffered to be crucified had risen from 
 the dead? Suppose you he was a party or a 
 dupe to the fraud invented by the priests, that 
 the body of Christ had been stolen, while his 
 Roman guards, at the known peril of their 
 lives, had slept ? While the story was told to 
 the credulous; did not Pilate and his wife, as 
 with a sword in their hearts, talk together 
 about their connection with this strange mys- 
 tery which, when they thought it past, returns 
 with a deeper shadow and a more dreadful 
 warning ? 
 
 Think not that we have here a mere his- 
 toric tableau for intellectual entertainment. 
 The scene is directly related to ourselves. 
 Christ, the Son of God, still lives ; and he 
 presents himself before the minds of men with 
 a degree and power of evidence which sur- 
 pass all that he exhibited when here in the 
 flesh ; and before every man he awaits a ver- 
 dict. He comes not as a prisoner, in bonds, 
 
232 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 his glory under eclipse ; nor vet as a Judge, 
 in the terrors of omnipotence : but in the atti- 
 tude and offices of love. The head which 
 drooped upon the cross wears a crown. He 
 asserts a kindly claim over our hearts and 
 lives ; asking for our faith, our gratitude, our 
 loyalty, our devotion to him ; and necessity is 
 laid upon us to make a choice, and to express it. 
 In your misapprehension, you may wish that 
 you could evade the responsibility of making 
 that decision; but this is impossible. Rival 
 claimants for your heart necessitate a choice. 
 "Is it this Man, or Barabbas?" Shall it be 
 for Christ, or against him? You have tried 
 delays, you have practised evasion, you have 
 employed expedients, you have manifested 
 indifference : but Christ is before you again, 
 and you must give your verdict. You need 
 no dreams, no mysterious warnings to con- 
 vince you that this divine Claimant is related 
 inevitably to your eternal destiny. Your 
 life, your immortal life, is somehow woven in 
 and dependent on his. Presentiments shall 
 I call them? convictions rather, clear and 
 strong and rational, if you would allow them air 
 
PILATE. 233 
 
 and voice, are in your soul, concerning the 
 name and power and jurisdiction of Jesus 
 Christ. " If I had not come and spoken unto 
 them, they had not had sin; but now have 
 they no cloak for their sin. 7 ' According to 
 this equitable rule, is not our guilt greater 
 than was that of Pilate, if we withhold our 
 earnest convictions from Him. whose life and 
 offices and truth are before us, with stronger 
 light and more resistless evidence? "What 
 is truth ?"' " Whence art thou V 1 What op. 
 portunities and auspices are those in which we 
 can propose these cardinal questions. If we 
 will but urge them with all candor and ear- 
 nestness and sincerity, how sure it is that He 
 will reveal himself in us, so that we shall bend 
 before him in most grateful cliscipleship. Our 
 great peril is in Pilatical vacillation ; in that 
 weakness which seeks delay and evasion and 
 indifference, instead of acting promptly ac- 
 cording to the convictions which are already 
 in the soul. To-day Christ, in a certain sense, 
 is on trial before us all. In these living hearts, 
 in every one to-day, there will be a judgment 
 of some sort passed upon his sacred person.. 
 
234 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 " Every one that is of the truth heareth his 
 voice. ?? If you would prove these blessed 
 affinities with Christ, yield yourselves to the 
 truth which he has announced, and follow him 
 most trustfully and obediently. 
 
 Be not content with concealed and reserved 
 convictions ; give them utterance in open court. 
 Be prompt, be open, be resolute, be decided ; 
 and of this be sure, the time is at hand when 
 you will have no reason to be ashamed of 
 that verdict which numbers you with the dis- 
 ciples of the Son of God, 
 
 Long ago Pilate has stood to be judged 
 himself in the presence of the glorified Re- 
 deemer. In that presence we too shall stand. 
 Pilate was afraid when he heard these words, 
 the Son of God. You too have your secret 
 fears and misgivings, when your thoughts fly 
 onward to the judgment-seat of Christ. We 
 shall all be there, either on the right hand or 
 the left of the Judge. Where do we hope to 
 be ? where should we wish to be ? where do we 
 intend to be ? with those who denied Christ, 
 of whom he will be ashamed, or with those 
 who confessed him, whom he also will confess? 
 
PILATE. 235 
 
 This process of assortment has begun, and 
 will go on for ever. Behold the communion- 
 table, where Christ comes to us. Behold the 
 judgment-seat, where we shall stand before 
 him. "Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast 
 the words of eternal life, and we believe and 
 are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of 
 the living God." We lay hold of the skirts of 
 our great High Priest, and prefer any thing 
 to the act of disbelieving, denying, forsaking, 
 despising, rejecting the Eedeemer of our souls ! 
 
CONVERSATION OF CHRIST 
 
 WITH 
 
 MAET MAGDALENE; 
 
 Love Rewarded. 
 
 JOHN 20;1-18. 
 
IX. 
 MART MAGDALENE 
 
 Love Rewarded. 
 
 
 The scene before us is the interview be- 
 tween Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ, at 
 the sepulchre from which he had just risen. 
 Such an interview was never before or since. 
 She the first person of all the human family 
 to whom our Lord revealed himself after his 
 resurrection, and these the first words which 
 he uttered after the silence of the tomb. 
 
 It was at three o'clock in the afternoon of 
 Friday that Christ bowed his head and expired. 
 The time when a friend dies is the last to be 
 forgotten in our domestic annals. It was such 
 a year, such a month, such a day, such an 
 hour, and such a minute. That Christ actu- 
 ally died— that fact so essential — is confirmed 
 alike by friends and enemies. The Jewish 
 law expressly forbade the exposure of cruci 
 fied bodies upon the Sabbath ; and as the Sab- 
 bath now at hand, the first after the Passover, 
 
240 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 was a "great day," one of unusual sacredness ; 
 the Jews sent to Pilate the request that he 
 would direct the Roman guards to expedite 
 the death of the three then suspended upon 
 the cross, as otherwise they might have lin- 
 gered for days ; and so their bodies might be 
 taken away before the going clown of the sun. 
 The order was issued, and the soldiers broke 
 the legs of the two malefactors. Proceeding 
 to the body of Christ, to their surprise they 
 found that he was dead already. There was 
 no need of further violence. When, a little 
 later in the afternoon, Joseph of Arimathea 
 went in to Pilate and asked that the body of 
 Christ might be given to him, Pilate marvelled 
 if he were already dead, knowing how linger- 
 ing this method of execution was ; so he sends 
 for the centurion who was in command that 
 clay, from whom he receives the official report 
 that death had actually taken place. Physi- 
 ologists have conjectured, if not demonstrated, 
 that Christ died of a broken heart, the actual 
 rupture of this vital organ. Though they broke 
 not . his legs — unconsciously fulfilling, in the 
 person of the Pa'schal Lamb, the ancient Scrip- 
 
MARY MAGDALENE. 241 
 
 ture, " A bone of him shall not be broken 77 — 
 one thing was done which the apostle John 
 himself saw, and which he records with an 
 emphatic affirmation of its truth, as an eye- 
 witness. A soldier pierced the side of Christ 
 with a lance, inflicting a wound which of itself 
 would have been mortal, out of which came 
 blood and water, and which was the last proof 
 that life was extinct. The resurrection, there- 
 fore, was not resuscitation frQm a swoon, it 
 was restoration to life after a real and com- 
 plete death. 
 
 The evening was drawing on, at which 
 time — the appearance of the stars — the Sab- 
 bath began, when Joseph, assisted by Nico- 
 demus, took the body of our Lord, and pre- 
 pared it for its burial. Those who had been 
 his avowed disciples took no part in the trans- 
 action. Stricken with terror, they had fled 
 early in the day. It could never be said by 
 any who should be disposed to question the 
 reality of his resurrection, that there was any 
 collusion on the part of the eleven disciples 
 with a feigned and histrionic death. Time 
 did not allow the final embalmment of the 
 
 Con. of Christ. 11 
 
242 CONVEESATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 body, so it was simply wrapped in clean linen, 
 with a mixture of spices, and then was it borne 
 to a sepulchre hewn out of a rock in an adja- 
 cent garden, which Joseph had prepared for 
 his own family, and in which no man as yet 
 had ever been laid. And these two men, 
 when they had finished their reverent act, 
 together rolled a great stone to the door of 
 the sepulchre, and then withdrew. And Mary 
 Magdalene and the other women who had loved 
 Christ and ministered to him sat in the garden 
 over against the sepulchre, beholding where 
 and how his body was laid. So the night 
 wore on. On the day following — our Satur- 
 day — the Jewish Sabbath, the chief priests, 
 the instigators of the crucifixion, reminded of 
 what " the deceiver'' had frequently said as 
 to his rising again, plied Pilate for additional 
 securities over the sepulchre. The mandate 
 was given, " Ye have a watch, .... make it 
 as sure as ye can." So they went and sealed 
 the stone ; and when all was made secure, 
 they ordered a detachment of soldiers for a 
 guard. 
 
 All these incidents — the number of per- 
 
MAEY MAGDALENE. 243 
 
 sons implicated, the minute details of Christ's 
 crucifixion and interment — go to corroborate 
 the record concerning the reality of his death. 
 A memorable day was that Sabbath in Je- 
 rusalem ! Who can surmise all that was felt 
 by the disciples when, they thought of him as 
 a mangled and buried corpse, who, as they had 
 trusted, was to redeem Israel? Mary the 
 mother of Jesus, and the other women, and 
 John and Peter, had no voice for song in the 
 worship of that Sabbath. If the scribes and 
 priests felt that their malice was gratified, it 
 was not manifested by loud exultation, for 
 there had been too many portents and mys- 
 teries to allow of that ; rather were there mis- 
 givings and tremors. The sun never went 
 clown on heavier hearts or more afflicted 
 mourners. Truly this was "the power of 
 darkness." Never did Death hold such a vic- 
 tim before ; and never was his gloomy pow- 
 er more effectually expressed by stones, and 
 seals, and guards, and silence. 
 
 The very night when the women whom we 
 have already named returned from the garden 
 of Joseph, they made preparations of spices 
 
244 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 for a more complete embalming of the body 
 of Christ; and so they rested on the Sabbath- 
 day. 
 
 The Sabbath passed. While it was yet 
 dark, just in the early dawn, they went forth 
 with the courage of love to perform their pious 
 office. The foremost in the group was Mary 
 Magdalene ; so called from Magdala. the town 
 in Galilee in which she lived. The utmost 
 wrong has been done to her name by the gen- 
 eral belief that she was once a woman of dis- 
 reputable life. There is not a word in the 
 Xew Testament to countenance such an opin- 
 ion. There is no reason whatever for infer- 
 ring that she was the woman who crept into 
 the house of the Pharisee to anoint and kiss 
 the feet of Christ. That woman was a peni- 
 tent outcast : loving much because forgiven 
 much. Let her not be identified without 
 proof with Mary Magdalene. The first we 
 know of the latter is upon the occasion of her 
 being relieved of demoniacal possessions by 
 the word of Jesus. A mysterious affliction 
 was that, but surelv nothing; which involves 
 the idea of a dissolute life. Her associates 
 
MAEY MAGDALENE. 245 
 
 were of the most respectable class ; one of 
 her companions is the wife of a man holding 
 an important office in the king's household ; 
 and they all appear to have been possessed 
 of sufficient substance out of which to minister 
 to their Friend and ours, Jesus of Nazareth. 
 Wretched as she had been on account of her 
 physical or mental sufferings, grateful as she 
 w T as for relief, it is most unfortunate that her 
 name, the Magdalen, should have been ap- 
 propriated, in all modern languages and art, 
 to that particular class who have been res- 
 cued from a life of infamy. 
 
 While these grateful, loving, and pious 
 mourners were wending their way out of the 
 city and along the unfrequented road in the 
 dusk of the morning twilight, an event had 
 occurred within the garden for which nei- 
 ther they nor the w 7 orld were prepared. The 
 guards were pacing before the sepulchre or 
 reclining at their posts, when there was a 
 great earthquake, and an angel from heaven 
 descended, and rolled away the stone from 
 the door of the sepulchre, and sat upon it. 
 He uttered not a word. His silent calmness 
 
246 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 displays the consciousness of power. His 
 countenance was like lightning ; and for fear 
 of him the keepers did shake, and became as 
 dead men. When they had recovered their 
 senses, they fled away with utmost haste. 
 
 Had this narrative been of human origin, 
 doubtless we should have had at this point a 
 high-wrought description of the reappearance 
 of our Lord anions: the livino\ such as we find 
 ill works of fiction when dealing with the mar- 
 vellous : instead of which, we are not apprized 
 of the exact time when our Lord issued from 
 the sepulchre. Nothing is said of his dignity, 
 his mien, his sublime force. Just where art 
 and fable would have been most elaborate, 
 truth is most simple and reserved, even while 
 recording a marvel such as no pen had de- 
 scribed before. 
 
 "While they were pursuing their way with- 
 out the city through the suburban vineyards, 
 the women were wondering -how they should 
 succeed in gaining access to the sepulchre. 
 Some of them had seen the size of the stone, 
 and the Strength which was requisite in roll- 
 ing it against the door, and how should they 
 
MARY MAGDALENE. 247 
 
 alone be able to roll it away. While they 
 were conversing abont this perplexity, Mary 
 Magdalene, who appears on all occasions to 
 be a person of great ardor and earnestness, 
 presses on in advance, and to her astonish- 
 ment sees that the stone is removed, and the 
 door of the sepulchre is wide open. JSTo other 
 thought appears to be in her mind than would 
 be in yours when approaching the tomb where, 
 two days before, a friend had been deposited, 
 and finding most unexpectedly that it had 
 been disturbed. Her first thought must have 
 been, that the sepulchre was opened for no 
 good purpose, but for some new indignity on 
 the. part of those who had most cruelly put 
 her friend to death. She had not so much as 
 an imagination as to his restoration to life. 
 She is possessed by one thought — the grave 
 has been rifled, and for some evil purpose the 
 resting-place of the dead has been invaded. 
 What could have been done within that tomb 
 which she had herself seen so effectually se- 
 cured ! Without pausing to investigate or 
 reflect, she sweeps by her companions, flees 
 back to the city, finds Peter and John, and 
 
248 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 informs them what she had seen. Excitement 
 is too intense for talking. We have no rec- 
 ord of what these disciples said ; only of what 
 they did. They ran, without any delay or 
 order, to the garden. John, the youngest, 
 reaches the sepulchre first, and his first glance 
 confirms the report of Mary Magdalene. While 
 he stands without, stooping down and looking 
 within, Peter arrives, and with, his usual im- 
 pulsiveness, went into the sejmlchre, where 
 John followed him. They are wondering what 
 could have become of the body. As yet, ac- 
 cording to John's recorded confession, they 
 knew not the Scripture, that he must rise 
 again from the dead. One thing arrests their 
 attention. All appears to be decent and or- 
 derly. There are no signs of ruffianism. The 
 linen clothes had not been stolen ; neither 
 were they torn or ruffled. They were dis- 
 posed most decorously, and the napkin which 
 had been around his head was- carefully folded 
 and placed by itself. All this does not look 
 like violence or haste such as might have been 
 expected from enemies ; yet who but enemies 
 would or could have invaded that sanctity? 
 
MAEY MAGDALENE. 249 
 
 Did Joseph know any thing of the occurrence ? 
 Could Mcodemus give them any information ? 
 Could they discover any thing about it in the 
 city? In a tumult of emotion, they hasten 
 back to the city, and Mary Magdalene is 
 left alone at the sepulchre. She stood with- 
 out, weeping. All her tumultuous emotions 
 of grief and love and wonder find expres- 
 sion in tears and sobs. Many a stricken heart 
 before and since, like Mary, has mourned 
 at the grave. She could only see the vacant 
 niche where the body of her Friend had been 
 laid. She stoops down, and gazes on the spot. 
 Presently the tomb grows bright, and two 
 forms are seen, white and resplendent, the 
 one at the head and the other at the feet 
 where the body had been. "And they say 
 unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She 
 saith unto them, They have taken away my 
 Lord r and I know not where they have laid 
 him.' 7 She is denied the sad satisfaction of 
 paying the last offices of friendship to the 
 sacred form which, beyond a doubt, is subject 
 to slier knows not what neglect and indignity. 
 While she is thus replying, she is conscious 
 11* 
 
250 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 that some one is approaching behind her, for 
 she hears his step ; and casting her eyes back- 
 ward, sees his form distinctly as she could 
 through her flowing tears. She did not recog- 
 nize who it was, and supposed, as we after- 
 wards learn, that it was the gardener. But 
 it was Jesus. She was listless as to who it 
 v^as at first, her whole soul intent on one thing. 
 And Jesus saith unto her, in a tone which she 
 did not recognize: "Woman, why weepest 
 thou? whom seekest thou?" The fast words 
 uttered by our Lord after his resurrection, 
 but destined to be repeated in a higher sense, 
 with a better import, as the grand consolation 
 of the world to the end of time. "Why weep- 
 est thou ?" Occupied with one regret, per- 
 plexed by one marvel, supposing that he w T as 
 the keeper of the garden, a ray of hope gleam- 
 ing upon her mind that now the mystery of 
 the morning would be explained, not repeat- 
 ing her reply just made to the angels, but com- 
 pleting it, as if what she had already said to 
 them must have been overheard also by the 
 person who now accosts her, she says ••*• Sir, 
 if thou have borne him hence, tell me where 
 
MAEY MAGDALENE. 251 
 
 thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.' 7 
 What a gentle confession of sincere love is 
 here! She would save every one else from 
 trouble, if she could only find the object of 
 her search. She would protect it from all 
 indignity, and see that it was interred most 
 decently and affectionately. The time has 
 come when, in a manner the most natural, the 
 most simple and proper, our divine Lord is to 
 manifest himself to the first one who greets 
 him after his resurrection. Not the last, 
 blessed be God, to whom he reveals himself 
 as a loving Saviour ; not the only one 5 for 
 others too shall wait and weep, and seek and 
 love, to whom, through all centuries of time, 
 Christ will show himself as he who was dead, 
 and is alive for evermore ! Happy art thou, 
 Mary of Magdala, for thy patient, sincere love — 
 ministering to Christ all the way from Galilee, 
 standing by his cross, braving a cruel and 
 insulting heathen soldiery, and weeping for 
 him who wept not for himself, waiting now 
 so long at his empty tomb — this thy love 
 shall not go unblessed. "Sir, if thou have 
 borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid 
 
252 CONVERSATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 hhn, and I will take him away. Jesus saith 
 unto her, Mary!" That voice she has heard 
 before. That intonation she cannot mistake : 
 "Mary!" She turns herself fully round. One 
 word only breaks from her lips — " Rdbboni!" 
 "My dear Master! 7 ' — as she falls at his feet. 
 There, we may suppose, she lies in a most 
 passionate expression of her gratitude and 
 love and joy. This was an act of artless im- 
 pulse. Afterwards, when he showed himself 
 to the other women, they held him by the feet 
 in fervid embrace, and worshipped him. So 
 Mary would have held him, in her sudden 
 revulsion of feeling, as if to satisfy every doubt, 
 express every delight, and detain him from a 
 second departure. Then Jesus saith unto 
 her, "Touch me not: for lam not yet as- 
 cended to my Father: but go to my breth- 
 ren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my 
 Father and your Father, and to my God and 
 your God.' 7 
 
 It would not be for edification to em- 
 ploy time with the detail of the various inter- 
 pretations which have been put upon these 
 words — " luucli me not" — some of them plau- 
 
MAKY MAGDALENE. 253 
 
 sible, and some ingenious and subtle. We 
 incline to that which is the most simple and nat- 
 ural. The principal thing in the verse is very 
 plain, namely, the announcement that he was, 
 at a time not very remote, to ascend from the 
 earth to heaven and to God. That which is 
 plain is to be the interpreter of that which is 
 obscure ; that which is paramount must ex- 
 plain what is subordinate. The main thing, 
 concerning which there can be no difference 
 of opinion, is, that Mary was to inform the 
 disciples of Christ of the event, not yet accom- 
 plished, but next to ensue, in the sublime pro- 
 gramme of redemption, his ascension to the 
 skies. All that is intermediate is of small ac- 
 count. Her commission includes, of course, 
 the announcement of his resurrection. She 
 had seen him, aiid he had told her, and through 
 her all his brethren, what was next to occur 
 in the completion of his great work. Keeping 
 this in mind, it is of very small consequence 
 which meaning we attach to the phrase, Touch 
 me not, if we only avoid what is farfetched, 
 and adopt what is most in keeping with the 
 facts and the occasion. There she lies, cling- 
 
25i CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 ing to his feet, in an ecstacy of joy. And 
 there she would have remained, we know not 
 how long, as varied emotions were surging 
 through her soul. Is she afraid that he will 
 again disappear from her sight? would she 
 detain him by her fond embrace ? would she 
 satisfy herself by a continuous touch that in- 
 deed it was her Master, and she was subject 
 to no illusion of her senses ? was she content 
 with expressing her unspeakable joy by these 
 natural methods of clinging to his person and 
 kissing his feet ? How pertinent would it be 
 for our Lord, in either of these shades of feel- 
 ing, after allowing the first impulse of her 
 wondering joy, to direct her to stay there no 
 longer ; to pass no more time in these acts ; 
 for he was not yet parted from the world ; he 
 should remain yet longer befoi'e his ascension ; 
 both she and his brethren would see him again 
 before that event should occur which now was 
 the most important of all, as they should un- 
 derstand the consummation and success of his 
 redemption, his ascension to that God and 
 Father who, in a new sense, becomes our God 
 and Father, through that new relation which 
 
MAEY MAGDALENE. 255 
 
 we sustain to Him who is not ashamed to call 
 us "brethren." 
 
 Leaving what ensued in other manifesta- 
 tions which Christ made of himself before his 
 ascension to heayen, we recur to the event 
 authenticated in this interview with Mary, as 
 the most momentous which ever occurred upon 
 the earth. 
 
 Like Mary, let us visit the sepulchre, stoop 
 clown, and gaze within it. I do not mean the 
 sepulchre of Christ, but the resting-place of 
 man, the entombment of the human body, the 
 end of life — and I was almost committed to 
 the venturesome act of asking you for one 
 moment to put out of mind what is now so 
 familiar, the resurrection of Christ, and all 
 the hopeful consequences of that great event. 
 Mary Magdalene was not the first of our race 
 who went to the grave to weep. What a dark, 
 cold, narrow, lonely place it is! Here we 
 bring one friend after another, never, never 
 more to return. "Dust to dust 5 ashes to 
 ashes." Here we shall at length be brought 
 ourselves. Here we shall be for ever exclu- 
 ded from all which is done under the sun, as 
 
256 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 much as if we never had existed. The noise 
 of the world will keep on, but we shall not 
 heed it. Xo voice, no motion, no life ; buried 
 beneath the ground. "If a man die, shall 
 he live again ?" A tree is cut down ; but the 
 vital sap is in the root, and straightway it 
 sendeth up its new and thrifty shoots. Will 
 the dead ever revive ? Is this the end of him 
 who was the sublunary lord of creation — cor- 
 ruption and the worm? Is there another life? 
 What are its conditions? How shall it be at- 
 tained ? Weep, mourner, weep at the sepul- 
 chre, both for the dead and the living. Knock 
 at the barred door of the tomb, whence comes 
 back no sound but the sullen echo of thy grief, 
 and wonder. and fear. 
 
 So was the tomb before Jesus himself en- 
 tered it, to rise again. His resurrection has 
 changed all the conditions of our being, pres- 
 ent and future, and is the crowning proof of 
 his divine mission; the last act which was 
 necessary to authenticate and finish the re- 
 demption of the human race. There is no 
 other fact which implies and proves so much 
 as the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
 
MARY MAGDALENE. 257 
 
 dead. Early in Ms ministry, when the Jews 
 sought of him a sign of his Divine authority, 
 he said unto them: "Destroy this temple, and 
 in three days I will raise it up." " He spake 
 of the temple of his body ; and when he was 
 risen from the dead, his disciples remembered 
 that he had said this" — which seemed enigmat- 
 ical to them at the time — "and they believed 
 the Scriptures and the word which Jesus had 
 said." Whether it was at the gate of the tem- 
 ple, or on Mars Hill at Athens, or before Fes- 
 tus at Cesarea, wherever the apostles preached, 
 this was the fact and the doctrine which they 
 announced — Jesus and his resurrection ; for 
 this included and covered all other facts and 
 truths which it is important for us to be- 
 lieve. In the argument of the inspired 
 apologist for the general resurrection of men 
 [1. Cor. 15], the whole structure rests, as 
 on a corner-stone, upon the fact that Jesus 
 Christ himself rose from the dead. If Christ 
 did not rise, then our faith is vain ; we 
 have no revelation, no light, no Saviour. 
 Then our deceased friends have utterly per- 
 ished ; then we are in our sins, and nothing is 
 
258 CONVEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 before us but gloom and extinction. But now 
 is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits 
 of them that slept. Slept — a new word in hu- 
 man speech ; "for since by man came death, by 
 man came also the resurrection of the dead." 
 Come, let us visit the sepulchre again. Be 
 not afraid, for we go to meet there our risen 
 Lord ; and his words are gentle : " Why weep- 
 est thou?" Propound your questions now, 
 and renew those inquiries which came back 
 so dolefully before, "If a man die, shall he 
 live again?" Yes, "because I live, ye shall 
 live also." "What, is not the tomb the end 
 and extinction of man ?" No. " He that be- 
 lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
 he live:" "Is there another life beyond and 
 besides that of the body ?"■' " I ascend to my 
 Father and your Father, to my God and your 
 God ; and where 1 am, there ye shall be also." 
 But death is still before me, unavoidable, the 
 disgust and abhorrence of my nature. ' ' Death 
 is yours," says the great Conqueror, who has 
 vanquished the destroyer, and proved himself 
 the Lord of life. "The grave! the grave! it 
 seems as dark and lonely as ever." " Say not 
 
MAKY MAGDALENE. 259 
 
 so," replies lie who could not be liolden within 
 its walls of stone ; who had power to lay down 
 his life, and power to take it up again. What 
 was safe for the Precursor is safer now for all 
 his followers. Any question which fear, or 
 grief, or helplessness may propose now at the 
 sepulchre, shall have its answer of good cheer 
 from Him who met and despoiled Death. 
 How much is included in that one word, death! 
 The progeny of sin, the dread agent of retri- 
 bution. That one word which is the expres- 
 sion of all that is terrific and i;epulsive and 
 painful in any and every world. And Jesus 
 Christ proves himself the Redeemer of the 
 human race, in the act of enduring death him- 
 self, and then rising victorious over it. This 
 one event proves, by the majesty of facts, 
 and not by uncertain reasoning, that the 
 Being who invites our faith in himself has 
 shown that Death is disarmed ; that there 
 is a power superior to his dread and cold 
 touch. We come to the sepulchre now, 
 though it be with reverent step, sorrow bear- 
 ing her burden there with a most becoming 
 awe, yet it is with thanks to God, who giv- 
 
260 CONVEESATIONS OF CHKIST. 
 
 eth us the victory through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 On the Sabbath-day, for ever to commem- 
 orate his resurrection, joy should return to 
 the cheek which once was blanched with fear, 
 and songs to the lips which before were mute 
 with agony. The very disciples who were 
 stricken with fear when the Lord was cruci- 
 fied and buried, afterwards, when they saw 
 him alive, returned to Jerusalem with great 
 joy. What in the universe should occasion us 
 gladness, if it be not this assurance — that Je- 
 sus Christ was raised up from the dead by the 
 glory of the Father, and that we too, conform- 
 able unto his death, may be made partakers 
 of his resurrection ? Come to the vacant sep- 
 ulchre of Christ, and sing for joy. Death is 
 abolished ; let us rejoice and be glad. Angels, 
 those spirits of purity and love, hasten to meet 
 us here with their message of joy. They too 
 are interested in the redemption of Christ ; 
 for they sung on the night of his advent ; they 
 ministered to the sufferer in the garden of 
 agony ; they rejoice over every sinner that 
 repenteth; and they bear the spirits of the 
 
MARY MAGDALENE. 261 
 
 righteous to the bosom of Gocl. Heaven and 
 earth, angels and men, meet happily together 
 at the open tomb of Christ. Sorrow may 
 be for a night ; joy cometh in the morning. 
 With grateful hearts, with a head lifted up, 
 and with a full-toned voice should we ever 
 repeat the great articles of our faith : "I be- 
 lieve in Jesus Christ, who was crucified, who 
 died, and was buried ; who rose again from 
 the dead ; and who is now at the right hand 
 of God : I believe in the forgiveness of sins, in 
 the resurrection of the body, and the life ever- 
 lasting." These are the few sublime facts 
 which give dignity to existence, tranquillity to 
 fear, and hope to futurity. Coming to take 
 away the sin of the world, the Son of God 
 takes aw^ay also all its consequences ; "through 
 death, destroying him that had the power of 
 death, and delivering those who, through fear 
 of death, were all their lifetime subject 
 to bondage." "Made like unto us," whom 
 he calls his brethren, by taking upon him- 
 self a nature which is subject to the humili- 
 ating necessity of death, He is also our 
 Divine Deliverer, the Restorer of that which 
 
262 CONVEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 was lost, through the "power of an endless 
 life." 
 
 Amid all such assurances of joy, one thing 
 alone demands our personal concern ; even 
 that we become identified with Christ by acts 
 of intelligent trust. His mediatory life does 
 not avail for our advantage by the force of a 
 natural law which consults not our will, but 
 by a moral adaptation which requires our own 
 choice and judgment and consent. "If ye 
 then be risen with Christ," says the Scripture, 
 "set your affection on things above. 7 ' "If 
 ye be risen with Christ 77 — a condition of our 
 present life : a condition which is indispensa- 
 ble, if we would insure for ourselves the ben- 
 efits which Christ conveys. As Christ rose 
 from the dead, so we must now rise from spir- 
 itual death, and live a new life. The greatest 
 of all promises, all that is in God's gift for man, 
 are made sure to those who believe on Him 
 who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead ; 
 who was delivered for our offences, and rose 
 again for our justification. Do you ask why 
 Mary Magdalene was the one chosen to whom 
 first of all Christ showed himself after his res- 
 
MARY MAGDALENE. 263 
 
 urrection ? This we know — she trusted in 
 him, and she loved him ; she waited at his sep- 
 ulchre ; she sought, she looked, she wept ; and 
 if we would have Christ reveal himself to us, 
 we too must seek, and wait, and long, and 
 trust, and love. This is spiritual resuscita- 
 tion. This is life in the best sense ; the quick- 
 ening of thought, going forth to seek Christ ; 
 the stirring of the soul's affections towards the 
 great Object of confidence and love. To one 
 so disposed, Christ will manifest himself as he 
 does not to the world. To one so inclined to 
 seek his favor, God will make known what is 
 "the riches of the glory of this mystery, which 
 is Christ in you, the hope of glory." 
 
CONVERSATION. OF CHRIST 
 
 WITH 
 
 PETER : 
 
 The Restored Penitent. 
 
 JOHN 21:15-22. 
 
 Oon. of Christ • ~j_ ^ 
 
X. 
 PETER: 
 
 The Restored Penitent. 
 
 This was the third time that Christ had 
 shown himself to his disciples after his resur- 
 rection. In his previous interviews with the 
 apostolical group we have very little informa- 
 tion concerning the attitude of their own minds. 
 We have the words of Christ addressed to 
 them ; very few of their words to him. It is 
 natural to suppose that they were not yet fully 
 at ease. They had not yet completed their 
 self-adjustment in reference to those marvel- 
 lous events through which they were then 
 passing. They had received directions from 
 Christ to return to Galilee, where he prom- 
 ised to meet them. The scene of the inci- 
 dents now to be described was that bright, 
 deep inland sea which had been so often asso- 
 ciated with the person of Jesus of Nazareth. 
 Here it was that the principal personages in 
 
268 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 the company of disciples formerly pursued 
 their occupation as fishermen. It was when 
 they were in the act of casting their nets 
 in this very lake that Peter and James and 
 John had been called to the discijxleship of 
 Christ. Here it was, when they were afraid 
 in a violent squall, that Christ had stilled the 
 waves and the winds to a perfect calm by the 
 simple utterance of his command. Here it 
 was that he was seen, through the gloom of 
 night, walking upon the surface of the water, 
 as if it had been a marble floor. It was in the 
 villages and cities which looked down from the 
 adjacent hills upon this sheet of water that 
 most of the wonderful works of Christ had 
 been performed. A fitting place, most surely, 
 for our Lord again to meet his disciples ■ for 
 every object reminded them of him. 
 
 Precisely the posture of their minds when 
 resorting to their old haunts we cannot define. 
 There must have been a strange mixture of 
 thoughts and emotions. They were like in- 
 sects in the very act of transition from the 
 chrysalis state. They might be compared to 
 the animals on the sixth day of creation, some 
 
PETER. 269 
 
 of whose limbs were free and agile, while oth- 
 ers still adhered to the sod out of which they 
 were summoned into life. Yet we cannot go 
 so far as some, who detect a disposition on 
 the part of the apostles to abandon the whole 
 enterprise as a failure and delusion. We have 
 heard of some interpreters who construe the 
 words of Peter, when lingering on the shores 
 of the sea of Galilee — " I go a fishing" — as a 
 confession of disappointment ; as if he was 
 ready to abandon all connection with the mys- 
 terious person who now seemed to be the den- 
 is- x 
 
 izen of the air or parts unknown. Neverthe- 
 less, we cannot believe that these seven men, 
 as they swung that night in their boat, were 
 altogether at ease in their minds. They were 
 not over-talkative. Thomas must have re- 
 proached himself for his incredulity, and Pe- 
 ter must have felt an unusual heaviness at 
 heart when he recalled his own perfidy and 
 blasphemy and cowardice. An air of sadness 
 must have been on all these fishermen through- 
 out that long and weary night. The hours 
 wore away, during which their toil was fruit- 
 less. When the morning broke, they were 
 
270 CONVEESATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 hailed by a stranger from the ehore : "Have 
 you any fish ?" The answer was very curt 
 and monosyllabic, as was natural: "No." 
 "Cast your net on the right side of your 
 boat, and you shall catch them." Without a 
 thought who it was or why he gave the direc- 
 tion, they did as they were bidden, and their 
 net enclosed so many that they were not able 
 to draw it in. Suddenly the truth flashes 
 across the mind of John. The wonder is, 
 that it did not occur to them all — to Peter 
 and the other son of Zebedee — for it was a 
 repetition of the very act which occurred, in 
 the same place, about three years before, 
 when they were first called to follow Jesus 
 of Nazareth. The gentlest love has the quick- 
 est instinct, and he who had leaned on Jesus' 
 bosom at the supper, now pulling at the ropes 
 of the net, said in a low voice to Peter, 
 "This must be the Lord." The suggestion 
 was enough ; coincident no doubt with the 
 surmises stirring already in his own mind. 
 Girding his coat about him, without further 
 question or delay, Peter sprang into the sea 
 and struck for the shore. Fast as their oars 
 
PETEE. 271 
 
 could be plied, the whole of the boat's com- 
 pany follow, dragging their net with them. 
 
 Nothing is recorded of the first words 
 which passed between these disciples and their 
 Master. They seem to have been hushed with 
 awe. Though they were now convinced that 
 it was their Master, they did not presume to 
 interrogate him as to his appearance, but 
 waited for his own explanations. Soon as 
 they had landed, they saw a fire of coals 
 already kindled, in preparation for a meal. 
 Why should we pause to discuss the proba- 
 bilities of its origin? If left by some other 
 party, that would be nothing strange. If pre- 
 pared by our Lord himself, anticipating the 
 wants of his wearied friends, this surely was 
 in keeping with his character, and with the 
 gentle, kind care which he always had exer- 
 cised in behalf of his disciples ; nor is there 
 any thing in the act, allowing it to have been 
 miraculous, which should excite incredulity — 
 the lesser fading in the power of the greater. 
 If the meal of which they now partook to- 
 gether there upon the shore was not passed 
 in silence, the conversation is not reported; 
 
272 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 while it is affirmed that the astonished disci- 
 ples did not feel at liberty to question their 
 Lord as to his identity. All this, however, is 
 introductory to what follows : that personal 
 conversation with Peter which evidently is 
 the main subject of the chapter. 
 
 Nothing could have been more kind, more 
 gentle, more skilful than the mode in which our 
 Lord proceeds to deal with this now penitent 
 disciple. We are not informed that any thing 
 had ever passed between Jesus and Peter since 
 the resurrection which could be regarded by 
 the latter as his complete reinstatement in the 
 favor of his Lord. It was true that, when Mary 
 Magdalene and the other women were bidden, 
 at the vacant tomb of Christ, to announce his 
 resurrection to the disciples, a special mention 
 is made of Peter: "Go tell his disciples and 
 Peter" — as if without this specification the 
 disciple who had disowned his Master might 
 conclude that he was disowned now by him. 
 and that he had no right to rejoice with oth- 
 ers in view of the tidings which to them were 
 full of joy. Twice, if not thrice, Christ had 
 shown himself to this apostle since he rose 
 
PETER. 273 
 
 from the dead. But as yet we hear not one 
 word which had passed between them rela- 
 tive to the painful subject of his defection. 
 We cannot but think that Peter still had many 
 misgivings as to what were to be his relations 
 to that Master whom he had so grievously 
 wronged. He had indeed been sorely afflict- 
 ed because of his grievous sin. He had wept 
 bitterly over it. Never could he forgive him- 
 self on account of it. He had reason to ex- 
 pect the sharpest upbraiding. Surely he was 
 disposed to chide himself. So may we sup- 
 pose his mind alternated between hope and 
 fear, ill at ease with himself, and quite in sus- 
 pense. And now for the first time there was 
 to be a full understanding of th.e terms on 
 which he was to stand with his Master. We, 
 who are so often exhorted to restore the fallen 
 in the spirit of meekness, will do well to study 
 the whole scene for the inimitable method in 
 which our Lord dealt with this honest disciple. 
 The occasion itself was well chosen. It was 
 not in the first wild burst of emotion conse- 
 quent upon the flying ridings of the resurrec- 
 tion morning, but when the mind had recov- 
 
274 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. ' 
 
 ered a more sedate and tranquil condition. I 
 am disposed to believe that the conversation 
 was private. If not absolutely so, it was cer- 
 tainly without that degree of publicity which 
 would have entailed somewhat of mortification. 
 The very same words, uttered in public and 
 in private, would be susceptible of different 
 intentions. John was a witness of the inter- 
 view ; perhaps more ; perhaps all of the seven. 
 If they were, faithfulness and gentleness were 
 so skilfully mingled in the words that there 
 was no needless opening of the wound ; noth- 
 ing more than was necessary to insert the oil 
 and the wine. 
 
 It was after they had dined that Jesus said 
 to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
 thou me more than these V 1 In this question 
 there is the very mildest form of reproof, re- 
 duced to the very minimum, so that to a hasty 
 eye it would not appear at all ; yet being there, 
 it is just in the form and degree which were 
 necessary to give completeness to the act of 
 restoration. There could not be a full and 
 satisfactory understanding between the par- 
 ties, if there had been no allusion whatever 
 
PETER. 275 
 
 to the past ; yet that allusion is made with all 
 the delicacy conceivable ; an allusion by way 
 of suggestion, rather than direct and positive 
 charge. "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou 
 me more than these ?" Here is no taunt, no 
 upbraiding ; but there is just so much of refer- 
 ence to what had occurred before as was neces- 
 sary ; as if Christ foresaw the uneasiness which 
 the reference would produce, and was desirous 
 of mitigating it to the utmost. The secret 
 cause of Peter's defection was, his self-confi- 
 dence, his vain boasting. When he was told 
 by his Lord that all the disciples would for- 
 sake him, Peter exclaimed : " Though all men 
 should deny thee, yet will not I." So had he 
 expressed himself before the arrest of his Mas- 
 ter. So loud and boastful were his words. 
 Nevertheless, he was the first to deny his Lord. 
 The storm of his passionate grief, excited by 
 the mild eye of Christ turned upon him in the 
 judgment -hall, has passed, and now Christ 
 says : " Simon, .... lovest thou me more than 
 these ?" Though it was so mild and gentle — 
 the mildest and gentlest that reproof could 
 be — the answer of Peter shows that he under- 
 
276 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHKIST, 
 
 stood and felt it. He does not affirm that he 
 loved his Master more than did the other dis- 
 ciples. He is ashamed of his former rashness 
 and self-confidence. He knows more of him- 
 self now than he does of others. He begins 
 to have somewhat of that lowliness of mind 
 which esteems others better than one's self. 
 He contents himself, therefore, with the hon- 
 est asseveration of his love: "Lord, thon 
 knowest that I love thee." A second time 
 the same question was put ; a second time the 
 same answer was returned. When for the 
 third time the question was repeated, signifi- 
 cantly, emphatically: "Simon, son of Jonas, 
 lovest thou me ?" the disciple saw the intent 
 of the triple interrogative. It was not to give 
 an unnecessary pain, for the pain which was 
 thus excited was needful, absolutely so — the 
 touch of the probe on that wound which waited 
 a cure. Three times had Peter denied Christ — 
 over and over and over again — with cumula- 
 tive stress. When he saw that his Master 
 evidently intended by that triple repetition 
 of the question to remind him of his triple de- 
 nial, Peter was grieved. He remembered his 
 
PETEE. 277 
 
 offence, over which he had wept before, and 
 over which he weeps now again. " Perhaps," 
 he soliloquized, "I shall never be restored to 
 the confidence of my Lord again. Perhaps 
 he sees other perils to which I am exposed, 
 in which my weakness and dishonor will a 
 second time be enacted. He foretold before 
 my former temptation, that Satan had desired 
 to have me, that he might sift me like wheat ; 
 perhaps his eye foresees a second apostacy, 
 and he distrusts me, as well he may." So the 
 penitent renews his grief. He is not as one 
 put upon the rack, whose bones are disjointed 
 and broken, but as one in the hands of love, 
 who is brought only into that form of sorrow 
 which is the precursor of consolation and a 
 cure— that kind of grief which has a blessing 
 in it ; the child of truth and honesty, and lead- 
 ing on to carefulness and sincerity and truth 
 again. The reproof administered, the balm 
 was not far removed. The question asked 
 and answered once, the restorative direction 
 was given immediately, to be repeated just as 
 often as were the query and the reply. "Feed 
 my lambs." 
 
278 CONVEESATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 11 Lovest thou me?" This is the one test 
 question of our religion ; for he that loveth 
 is born of God. Careful criticism has no- 
 ticed that, in the original Greek, two differ- 
 ent words are used in the question and the 
 answer, to represent what in our version ap- 
 pears one and the same, love; "Lovest thou 
 me ?" — vAyafiospe? it is the word which, through- 
 out the New Testament, denotes the high rev- 
 erential quality which defines the religious 
 sentiment: God's love to man ; man's love to 
 God. In making his reply, Peter does not 
 adopt this word, but another, "cvoUag on <pac> <*?.» 
 It is the word which expresses rather the sen- 
 timent of a human affection. Is this a mere 
 accident? Just at this moment Peter might 
 have shrunk, through a sense of his own weak- 
 ness, from making any demonstrative expres- 
 sion of a high religious sentiment ; but this 
 he could do with the fullest conviction of his 
 own infirmities : assert, in all honesty, his per- 
 sonal attachment to his Master. So he does, 
 most heartily: "Lord, thou knowest that I 
 love thee." Notwithstanding all which I did 
 in the hour of peril, of my weakness and temp- 
 
PETEE. 279 
 
 tation, " thou knowest that I love thee." The 
 same the second time. In the third question, 
 our Lord changes the word himself, adopting 
 that which Peter had twice used — "+&£{ pe? 
 Do you indeed have this strong affection for 
 me ? The last answer of the disciple is inten- 
 sified : "Lord, thou knowest all things" — not 
 me only, as before — "thou knowest that I love 
 thee." This honest, hearty expression of his* 
 love — accompanying as it did three repeated 
 allusions to his previous defection — was in- 
 tended, and so was received, as the confession 
 of his repentance. That confession reitera- 
 ted, the word and the act of restoration ensue 
 immediately. The two are always associated 
 together in the Divine purpose, if not in hu- 
 man consciousness — as light and its shadow. 
 " I said, I will confess my transgressions unto 
 the Lord ; and thou forgavest the iniquity 
 of my sin ;" the confession and the pardon 
 simultaneous and inseparable. "Feed my 
 sheep." Had Christ merely informed his 
 apostle that he forgave him, assigning him 
 no office, no act by which his love could be 
 expressed, his restoration would have been 
 
280 CONVERSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 incomplete. Men sometimes forgive in this 
 imperfect manner. They will promise to for- 
 give a past offence, but they will not trust the 
 offender for time to come, True reconciliation 
 leaves no such suspicion or distrust. It con- 
 fides. It returns his sword to the warrior. 
 It renews his commission to the man who 
 repents of his disloyalty. Believing that his 
 repentance was sincere and his attachment 
 strong, Christ restored his disciple without 
 any reserve, assigning him a post of duty, and 
 intrusting to him, as to the other apostles, the 
 great interests of his church. This is some- 
 thing to be borne in mind for our imitation. 
 Many a generous nature has been perma- 
 nently and incurably injured by being denied 
 the confidence which it craves. Parents harm 
 their children through habitual distrust. Let 
 us copy the wisdom of Christ, who, in forgiv- 
 ing, prescribed, as in fullest confidence, the 
 very mode in which he who was forgiven 
 could make proof of his love. 
 
 Nor was this the whole. Soldiers regard 
 it always as the highest honor to be assigned 
 to positions of the greatest peril. He who 
 
PETEK. 281 
 
 is advanced to service at a most critical 
 and important point, in the very face of 
 .death, feels himself promoted by the solem- 
 nity of the trust. Just this was what occurred 
 on the occasion I am describing. Not only 
 was Peter fully restored to office and duty, 
 but he is distinctly informed of the suffer- 
 ings which lie in that career, which is to 
 be terminated by the honors of martyrdom. 
 Christ does not invite his disciple to a life of 
 ease and tranquillity. Neither Peter nor the 
 sheep whom he was commissioned to feed were 
 destined to repose in green pastures or beside 
 still waters. Our Lord foretells in his hear- 
 ing what will come to pass in his future life : 
 "Yerily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou 
 wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walk- 
 edst whither thou wouldest; but when thou 
 shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, 
 and another shall gird thee, and carry thee 
 whither thou wouldest not." We are not left 
 to conjecture the meaning of this, for the evan- 
 gelist immediately subjoins: "This spake he, 
 signifying by what death he should glorify 
 God." Our Lord — I will not say forewarns, 
 
282 CONVEKSATIONS OF CHEIST. 
 
 for it is an honor and a promotion, not a shame 
 and degradation, of which he speaks ; but he 
 foretells to this earnest, cordial friend how 
 much was implied in this protestation of at- 
 tachment. He fully informs him of the cost 
 at which his love will be attested. He de- 
 scribes the old age which was before him — not 
 one of liberty and serenity, but of duress and 
 helplessness, to be closed with crucifixion. 
 When young, you girded yourself, just as you 
 have now done, when you sprung into the sea, 
 going where you liked ; but the time will 
 come when you shall be bound by the hands 
 of an executioner, and your arms shall be ex- 
 tended upon the cross, dying painfully in proof 
 of your love. Wonder not that John, who 
 survived Peter so long, and who wrote this 
 gospel many years after the martyrdom of his 
 brother apostle, should have had this part of 
 the conversation recalled to his mind most 
 vividly, embodying it in his record. The true- 
 hearted Peter did not shrink from the test. 
 Such was now the sincerity of his love, that 
 he was willing to prove it, not merely by feed- 
 ing the flock of Christ, but by facing death 
 
PETER. 283 
 
 itself in its most terrific forms. And when 
 Jesus had spoken this — with this explicit infor- 
 mation of what was in certain prospect — he 
 said to the penitent, restored, sincere, loving 
 disciple, ' ' Follow me /" The same words which 
 were uttered in his hearing at the beginning 
 of his discipleship, years before, when sum- 
 moned from his nets as a fisherman, to be 
 prepared as a fisher of men, are repeated 
 now, with how much greater significance ! 
 Through death Christ had passed already ; 
 unto death ; and through death the disciple 
 was to be as his Master. This sublime com- 
 mand, in prospect of danger and imprison- 
 ment and martyrdom — " Follow me!" — opens 
 the way to Peter to prove his love. He with- 
 drew not his foot, he turned not back his eye, 
 but lifted up that head which drooped once, 
 once only, but which will droop no more, for 
 his love is true and courageous as it is sincere. 
 Tradition reports that when, at the end of 
 his glorious apostleship, Peter came to the 
 cross as a martyr, he made request that he 
 might be crucified with his head downward, 
 regarding it as too great an honor that he 
 
284- CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 should be permitted to die in the same man- 
 ner as his blessed Master. 
 
 One other thing was infused into this act 
 of Peter's restoration, and his avowed pur- 
 pose to follow the Eedeemer. Apprized of 
 his own mode of glorifying God by painful 
 martyrdom, he very innocently and naturally 
 inquired what was to be the history of his 
 friend and companion, his fellow-fisherman, 
 and now his fellow-apostle, John. "Jesus 
 saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I 
 come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me? 11 
 This remark, we are told, was misunderstood. 
 The saying went abroad that John should not 
 die at all. A good illustration of the origin 
 of traditions, and of the little credit which 
 should attach to them. This very tradition 
 has had a wonderful longevity. Grave efforts 
 have been made by men now living to prove 
 that there must have been some truth in the 
 old tradition of the. church that John did not 
 die even when he was buried, but that the 
 earth of his tomb actually heaved with his 
 continuous breathing ; and so late as the time 
 of Cromwell, there was a sect in England who 
 
PETER. 285 
 
 professed to believe that John was still alive, 
 and that he would be manifested as the pre- 
 cursor of Jesus Christ at his final advent. 
 The very letter of the passage proves the 
 contrary of all this : ' ' Yet Jesus said not unto' 
 him, He shall not die ; but, If I will that he 
 tarry till I come." Frequently had our Lord 
 referred to his coming at the destruction of 
 Jerusalem, the event which John actually 
 lived to see, surviving it several years. 
 
 But we are wandering from the point. 
 We cannot call it a vain and idle curiosity ; 
 yet something of curiosity there was in the 
 question of Peter concerning his brother dis- 
 ciple ; and this was rebuked. He was bidden 
 to observe that he who enters upon the march 
 of duty must not be diverted by side-issues, 
 by any thing irrelevant. Matters there may 
 be which concern others which do not concern 
 ourselves. The world is full of objects which 
 are unrelated to our personal duty. He who 
 enters upon the service of Christ under the 
 impulse of love should understand, when ma- 
 king the most of his life, that there may be ten 
 thousand side-questions, of greater or lesser 
 
286 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 interest, which ought never to divert thought 
 or purpose from the one great vocation of a 
 Christian disciple. "What is that to thee ? Fol- 
 low thou meP 1 Embarrass not your strength, 
 weaken not your purpose, dilute not your 
 power by entertaining questions which are in 
 no wise related to your own duty; but make 
 this intention to follow Christ one and indivis- 
 ible, concentrating all the forces of existence 
 into one decisive energy, and pressing on to its 
 end, undiverted by trifles, undaunted by death. 
 Gathering up the several words and inci- 
 dents of this conversation, we are in posses- 
 sion of a lesson most pertinent and valuable 
 to ourselves. I have said already that we 
 have here the test-question of our religion: 
 ■' Lovest thou me V Not only as the thought 
 is expanded and reiterated by the same apos- 
 tle in his subsequent epistles, that love is the 
 essence of religion, but more than this, this 
 love takes the form of personal attachment to 
 the Redeemer, the living historic Person — 
 unseen now, but not .unknown— rather than a 
 vague sentiment for universal being, dissolving 
 away into a pantheistic haze. Jesus Christ, 
 
PETEE. 287 
 
 in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the god- 
 head bodily, is the central form in our reli- 
 gion ; and he who loveth Him who is the ex- 
 pression of all love for us, is adopted into the 
 family gf the redeemed. 
 
 But how shall this love be demonstra- 
 ted? After what method shall it be ex- 
 pressed ? Not by secret musings alone ; not 
 by the chanting of religious sonnets alone ; 
 not by grateful remembrances of Him at his 
 table only — but by deeds of love towards 
 those who in a real sense represent him, 
 because partakers of that nature, our com- 
 mon humanity, which he condescended to 
 assume. The Shepherd himself is invisible 
 now, but we prove our affection for him by 
 kindness to his flock. Jonathan is dead, but 
 Mephibosheth liveth, whom, for his father's 
 sake, we may visit with acts of fondest grati- 
 tude. Whatever we do for man in Christ's 
 name is as if it were done to Christ himself: 
 " Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of 
 these, ye did it unto me." "Lovest thou 
 me?" "Feed my sheep." All around us, 
 accessible to our living sympathies, with voice 
 
288 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 and hand, are the objects which remind us of 
 our Lord — his very members and body ; and 
 every act which is prompted by love towards 
 them, will be regarded as a proof of love to 
 him. Nor is this love an easy, unconscious 
 emanation, as flowers diffuse an involuntary 
 aroma ; it demands an effort ; and in its high- 
 est expression, always manifests itself in sac- 
 rifices and sufferings. It gives not only what 
 costs nothing, but imitates the love of Christ 
 for man, which cost him every thing. The 
 eye of the penitent Peter, suffused with the 
 tear of sorrow and glistening with the ardor 
 of love, was directed to those heights of Chris- 
 tian affection which he was permitted to scale 
 through the honors of martyrdom. So com- 
 pletely was self expelled from that love which 
 now takes full possession of his soul. The 
 cross, in the same literal sense, may not be in 
 our path ; but this quality of love, that it is 
 willing to deny itself, to suffer in itself for the 
 good of its object, is universal. As Christ so 
 loved us, in the same manner we are to show 
 our love for him ; by deeds towards those who 
 now represent him in actual life. 
 
PETEE. 289 
 
 All other questions we may postpone. 
 Whatever mere curiosity might suggest, we 
 may defer. But at the close of the evange- 
 lists, the sealing up of the record of what 
 Christ said and did, the finale of revelation, 
 this is the one all-inclusive and critical ques- 
 tion, " Lovest thou me?" Grateful should we 
 be for every opportunity in which we may 
 give proof of our affirmative response. Spe- 
 cially grateful should they be who, like this 
 disciple, are conscious that they have hith- 
 erto often denied their Master ; fallen into 
 inconsistencies and defections most dishonor- 
 able ; but who, like him, are also truly pen- 
 itent, and ask for nothing so eagerly as to 
 know the methods by which they may prove 
 their newness of love ; specially grateful and 
 emulous should they be for all occasions and 
 modes for expressing their attachment to their 
 most gentle and forgiving Master. - 
 
 • ' Lovest thou me ?" All down through time, 
 the question, in various ways, is presented 
 to living souls. The human race is, and will 
 be, divided by that one test. It will be uttered 
 again from the throne of judgment, that throne 
 
 Con. of Christ. 13 
 
290 CONVERSATIONS OF CHRIST. 
 
 high and white, before which a disparted 
 world shall pass to his right hand and his left. 
 That throne will be occupied by the resplen- 
 dent form of incarnate Love, and the destiny 
 of every man will be, must be, as are his affin- 
 ities in regard to Him. "Lovest thou me?" 
 He that loveth is of God ; and they who are 
 like God shall be gathered to his bosom; 
 while all that is contrary thereto is repelled 
 as an incongruous element : " Depart from me ; 
 I never knew you." God grant, before that 
 irrevocable decree, even now, often as the 
 question meets us from our Lord, "Lovest 
 thou me ?" that we may be able humbly and 
 heartily to say: "Yea, Lord, thou knowest 
 al] things ; thou knowest that we Iotc thee." 
 
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 to reclaim and bless five hundred working men 50 
 
 Annals of the Poor. The three inimitable stories of Legh 
 Richmond - 50 
 
 Seamen's Narratives. Full of interest and finely illustra- 
 ted - 40 
 
 Five Years in the AHeghanies. Equal in interest to any 
 work of the traveller in unexplored regions - 40 
 
 The Dairyman's Daughter; 
 
 The Young Cottager. In separate form and finely illus- 
 •trated each 35 
 
STANDARD WOEKS ON INFIDELITY AND 
 THE EVIDENCES OF CHEISTIANITY. 
 
 Paley's Natural Theology and Horse Paulinae. Illustra- 
 tions on wood $1 25 
 
 Paley's Horae Paulinae - 50 
 
 God's Word Written : the Inspiration of Holy Scripture ex- 
 plained and Enforced. Strong, clear, logical and conclusive SI 
 
 Evidences of Christianity. By Bishop Mcllvaine. It has 
 
 won many from infidelity to Christ 80 
 
 Letters on Infidelity. By Olinthus Gregory, LL. D. It 
 combines solid learning and argument with clearness of thought 
 
 and illustration - 75 
 
 Cause and Cure of Infidelity. By David Nelson, D. D. Steel 
 
 portrait. It is full of interest and is greatly useful 70 
 
 The Bible not of Man. By Bev. Dr. Spring - 70 
 
 Astronomical Discourses. By Bev. Dr. Chalmers. Evan- 
 gelical and eloquent -- 60 
 
 Yolume on Infidelity. Arguments of Jenyns, Leslie, Lyttle- 
 
 ton, Watson and West, unanswered and unanswerable - 60 
 
 Universalisni not of God. Arguments from the word of God 
 
 and from the Author's bitter experience- - - 40 
 
 Bogue's Authenticity of the New Testament. Able, candid, 
 
 conclusive - 40 
 
 Bishop Watson's Reply to Paiue 35 
 
 Morison's Counsels to Young Men on Modern Infidelity- 35 
 Five Sermons on the Atonement. By Eminent Divines: 
 
 Chalmers, Butler, Hall, Bishop, Baring, and Maclaurin 35 
 
 Keith's Evidence of Prophecy - - 25 
 
 Catholic Doctrine of a Trinity. A hundred short and clear 
 
 arguments - 25 
 
 Hawes' Letters on Universalisni 25 
 
 TVhen were our Gospels Written? By Teschendorf 25 
 
 Conversion of St. Paul. Lyttleton 20 
 
 Saome Jenyns' Evidences 20 
 
 The Bible True, and Infidelity Wicked. By Dr. Plumer--- 20 
 
 Summary of Scripture Truth 25 
 
 Bishop Porteus on the Evidences of Christianity. A pocket 
 
 treatise of great value - - - 15 
 
 The Truth of Scriptures. By Bev. Bichard Cecil 15 ,