HISTORICAL LECTURES ON TIIE LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, BEING THE dIt5fan flnris for ife erat 1S59. WI TH NOTES, CRITICAL, HISTORICAL, AND EXPLANATORY. BY C. J. ELLICOTT, B.D., PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY, KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON; LATE FELLOWV OF ST. JOIIN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE; AUTHOR OF CRITICAL AND GRAMMATICAL COMMIENTARIES ON ST. PAUL'S EPISTLES. BOSTON: GOULD AND LINCOLN, 59 WAS11INGTON STREET. NEW YORK: SHELDON AND COMPANY. CINCINNATI. GEORGE S. BLANCHARD. 186 3. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by GOULD AND LINCOLN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. W. F. DRAPER, Printer and Electrotyper, Andover, Mass. THE REV. WILLIAM HENRY BATESON, D. D. MASTER OF ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE; VICE-CHANCELLOR; THE REV. WILLIAM WHE WELL, D. D. MASTER OF TRINITY COLLEGE; THE REV. WILLIAM HEPWORTH THOMPSON, M.A. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK; TRUSTEES OF MR. HULSE'S BENEFACTIONS AT CHRISTMAS, 1858. PREFACE. THE following work consists of eight Lectures, of which the first six were preached before the University of Cambridge in the year 1859. The two remaining Lectures are added as giving a necessary completeness to the subject, and as in substantial accordance with the will of the munificent Founder. It is scarcely necessary to make any preliminary remarks upon the text of the Lectures, as nearly all that seems required in the way of introduction to the subject will be found in the opening Lecture. It may, however, be desirable to remind the reader that he has before him no attempt at a complete Life of our Lord, but only Lectures upon it. These it has been my object to make as complete as I have been able in everything that relates to the connection of the events, or that in any way illustrates their probable order and succession. The separate incidents, however, have not in every case been dwelt upon at equal length; some being related by a single Evangelist, and requiring no explanatory comments, while others, from being related by two or more, and sometimes appearing to involve discordant statements, have called for somewhat lengthened considerations. Those portions in which, for every reason, it has seemed desirable that some X PREFACE. regular continuity of narrative should be carefully preserved, viz., the Last Passover, and the Forty Days, were not required to be delivered from the pulpit, and have thus approached more nearly to regular history. I have, however, in both been most careful to preserve the same tone and character which marked the rest, and I have been thankful that the circumstances under which the others were written and delivered have prescribed for me in these last two Lectures, almost as a matter of course, that gravity and solemnity of tone which is so especially called for in the recital of events so blessed and so holy, yet withal so awful and so stupendous. To adopt the usual tone of mere historical writing when such subjects are before us, seems to me little short of profanity; and I have been taught, by the repulsiveness of some narratives of the closing scenes of our Lord's ministry, written in the conventional style of ordinary history, to be more than usually thankful that the nature of my present undertaking has at any rate prevented me from sharing in an error so great and so grievous. A few remarks must be made on the notes. In these it has been my effort to combine two things which are not always found in union — a popular mode of treating the question under consideration, and accuracy both in outline and detail. How far I may have succeeded, it is for others to judge. All I will venture to ask the reader kindly to bear in mind is this: that much time and very great care and thought have been expended on these notes (more, perhaps, than might have been needful if they had been longer or their language more technical), and that thus they are not always to be judged of by their brevity or the familiar list of authorities to which they refer. In my references I have aimed solely at being useful, PREFACE. xi not to the special, but to the general student, and thus have but rarely permitted myself to direct attention to any works or treatises that are not perfectly well known and accessible. I have not, by any means, attempted to exclude Greek from my notes, as this seems to me, in such works as the present, to savor somewhat of an affectation of simplicity; but I have still, in very many cases, either translated or quoted from the translations of others the longer passages from the great Greek commentators which form so considerable and so valuable a portion of these notes. A similar course has been pursued in reference to German expositors, though longer quotations from them are only occasional. These latter writers are, as it will be observed, often referred to; but care has been taken only to give prominence to the better class of them, and further to refer, where translations exist, to the work in its English rather than its German form. In a word, my humble aim throughout these notes has been to engage the interest of the general reader, and I pray God that herein I may have succeeded; for much that is here discussed has of late years often been put forward in popular forms that neither are, nor perhaps were intended to be, conformable to the teaching of the Church. Of my own views it is perhaps not necessary for me to speak. This only will I say, that, though I neither feel, nor affect to feel, the slightest sympathy with the so-called popular theology of the present day, I still trust that, in the many places in which it has been almost necessarily called forth in the present pages, I have used no expression towards sceptical writings stronger than may have been positively required by allegiance to catholic truth. Towards the honest and serious thinker who may feel doubts or difficulties in some of the questions connected with our Lord's life, all tenderness Xii PR EFACE. may justly be shown; but to those who enter upon this holy ground with the sinister intentions of the destructive critic, or of the so-called unprejudiced historian, it is not necessary or desirable to suppress all indication of our repulsion. Marginal references have been added, as indicating the authority for the expressions and statements of the text. When these are not present, and guarded conjecture has been resorted to, particular care has been taken to make this most distinctly apparent. It is not necessary to detain the reader with further comments; and it only remains for me, with all lowliness and reverence, to lay before Almighty God this attempt, this poor and feeble attempt, to set forth the outward connection of those incidents that inspired pens have been moved to record of the life of His Eternal Son. May He pardon its many failings and defects; may HIe look with pity on efforts, many of which have been made while the shadow of His hand has rested darkly over him who strove to make them; and may He bless this partial first-fruits of a mercifully spared life, by permitting it to minister, in its humble measure and degree, to His honor and glory, and to the truth as it is in His blessed Son. TPIAY, MONAY,'EAEHMON. CAMBRIDGE, OCTOBER, 1860. CONTENTS. LECTURE I. ntfoa tutd or C noSib tartions on ftI ~aratitristits of {be foux 5ne0p1s. Statement of the subject, 19. -Reasons for choosing it, 19. -Method adopted in the Lectures, 24 sq. - Caution in applying the principles laid down, 25.Sources of the history, 26. - Details mainly in reference to internal characteristics, 28 sq. -Necessity of recognizing the individualities of the four Gospels, 31. - Errors of earlier harmonists, 32 sq. —Individuality of St. Matthew's Gospel, 35. - St. Matthew's portraiture of our Lord, 36. -Individuality of St. Mark's Gospel, 37. - St. Mark's portraiture of our Lord, 39.- Individuality of St. Luke's Gospel, 41.- St. Luke's portraiture of our Lord, 42.Individuality of St. John's Gospel, 44 sq. —St. John's portraiture of our Lord, 45. - Conclusion, 47. LECTURE II. Zbe 4 xitk arc nfannq of out orb. General aspects of the present undertaking, 49.- Arrangement of the subject, 51.- The Miraculous Conception of our Lord; its mystery and sublimity, 52 sq. —The narrative of the conception considered generally, 54. -The narra 14 CONTENTS. tive of the conception considered in its details, 56 sq.- Self-evident truth of the narrative, 58. —Journey of the Virgin to Elizabeth, 60 sq. —Internal truthfulness of the two inspired Canticles, 63.- Return of the Virgin and the revelation to Joseph, 64.-Journey to Bethlehem, and taxing under Quirinus, 66 sq.- The Nativity and its attendant circumstances, 69 sq. - The Presentation in the temple, 73 sq. -The visit and adoration of the Magi, 77. -The guiding star, 78 sq.- The extreme naturalness of the sacred narrative, 80. -Flight into Egypt and murder of the Innocents, 83. -The silence of Josephus, 83. -The return to Judaea, 85 sq. - Conclusion, 87. LECTURE III. r larg 1url a Lft istra. The early years of our Lord's life, 89. —Reserve of the Evangelists, 89. -The brief notice of our Lord's childhood, 90.- Equally brief notice of our Lord's youth, 91. -Visit to the temple when twelve years old, 93.- Search for and discovery of the Holy Child, 94 sq. - Frivolous nature of the objections urged against the narrative, 98. —Silence of the Evangelists on the next eighteen years of our Lord's life, 99 sq. - The mental and spiritual development of our Lord, 102. —The ministry of the Baptist and its probable effects, 104 sq. - Journey of our Lord to the Baptism of John, 106 sq. - The nature of St. John's recognition of our Lord, 108. -The Temptation of our Lord; its true nature and circumstances, 110. —The temptation no vision or trance, 111. - The temptation an assault from without, 112.- The temptation addressed to the three parts of our nature, 113. -The ministering angels, and the return to Galilee, 115. —The testimony of the Baptist, 115. -The journey to and miracle at Cana in Galilee, 117. -Remarks on the miracle, 117 sq. —Brief stay at Capernaum, and journey to Jerusalem, 121.- The expulsion of the traders from the temple, 122. - Impression made by this and other acts, 124. - The discourse of our Lord with Nicodemus, 124. - Our Lord leaves Jerusalem and retires to the northeast parts of Judaea, 125.- The final testimony of the CONTENTS. 15 Baptist, 126 sq. -Our Lord's journey through Samaria, 129 sq. -The further journey of our Lord to Galilee, 131.- Our Lord's return to Jerusalem at the feast of Purim, 132 sq. - Main objection to this opinion, 135 sq. - The miracle at the pool of Bethesda, 136.- Distinctive character of this epoch, 138. —The termination of the early Judaean ministry, 139. —Concluding remarks and exhortation, 141. LECTURE IV. Upe Alhistrt'1 Mdasitra (6a31re. Resumption of the subject, 143.- Brief recapitulation of the events of the Jud:ian ministry, 143 sq.-Two preliminary observations, 146. —The exact period of time embraced in the present Lecture, 146. —The variations of order in the three synoptical Gospels, 147. -The order of St. Mark and St. Luke followed in this Lecture, 149 sq. -Appearance of our Lord in the synagogue at Nazareth, 152.-Departure to and abode at Capernaum, 154. —Special call of the four disciples, 155. —Healing of a demoniac in the synagogue at Capernaum, 156.- Continued performance of miracles on the same day, 157. - The nature of our Lord's ministerial labors as indicated by this one day, 159.- Probable duration of this circuit, 161. —The return to Capernaum, and healing of the faithful paralytic, 162. -The call of St. Matthew, and the feast at his house, 164. -Further charges; the plucking of the ears of corn, 165.The healing of a man with a withered hand on a Sabbath, 167. —Choice of the twelve Apostles, and Sermon on the Mount, 169. - Probable form of the Sermon on the Mount, 170. —The healing of the centurion's servant, and raising of the widow's son, 171 sq. - The Baptist's message of inquiry, 173. - Short circuit; fresh charges of the Pharisees, 174.- The teaching by parables, 176. —The passage across and storm on the lake, 177.-The Gergesene demoniacs, 178. -The raising of Jairus' daughter, 179. -The second visit to the synagogue at Nazareth, 181. —The sending forth the twelve Apostles, 182 sq. -The feeding of the five thousand, 184. - Concluding remarks, 185-6. 16 CONTENTS. LECTURE V. dje Wilxni trg Ut ttrtrern Oatlirt. General features of this part of our Lord's history, 187.- Special contrasts and characteristics, 185. - Chronological limits of the present portion, 188. - Progressive nature of our Lord's ministry, 189. — Contrasts between this and preceding portions of the narrative, 190. —Teaching and preaching, rather than miracles, characteristic of this period, 191.- Such a difference probable from the nature of the case, 193.- The return across the lake; our Lord walks on the water, 193 sq. - Return to Capernaum; our Lord's discourse in the synagogue, 196 sq. —Healings in Gennesareth, and return of the Jewish emissaries, 199 sq. -Journey to Tyre and Sidon, and the miracle performed there, 201. -Return toward Decapolis and the eastern shore of the lake, 203.Journey to Decapolis; healing of a deaf and dumb man, 204. -The feeding of the four thousand, 205. -Not identical with the feeding of the five thousand, 206. -Return to the western side of the lake, 207. -Journey northward to Cnesarea Philippi, 208.- The locality and significance of the Transfiguration, 210. -The healing of a demoniac boy, 211.- Return to and probable temporary seclusion at Capernaum, 212 sq. - Conclusion and recapitulation, 215 sq. LECTURE VI. (Ztz gournturhgs to axb }truzalntm. General character of the present portion of the inspired narrative, 218. -Limits of the present section, 219. — Harmonistic and chronological difficulties, 219 sq.- Precise nature of these difficulties, 221.- Comparison of this portion of St. Luke's Gospel with that of St. John, 223 sq. - Results of the above considerations, 225. —Brief stay at Capernaum; worldly requests of our Lord's brethren, 226 sq. — Journey to Jerusalem through Samaria, 228.- Our Lord's CONTENTS. 17 arrival and preaching at Jerusalem, 230. —The woman taken in adultery; probable place of the incident in the Gospel history, 232.- Further teaching and preaching at Jerusalem, 233 sq. - Departure from Jerusalem, and mission of the Seventy, 235.- Further incidents in Judaea recorded by St. Luke, 236. -Our Lord's visit to Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication, 237 sq.-The Lord's message to Herod, and preparation to leave Persea, 240. —Probable events during the last two days in Pervea, 242 sq. - Apparently confirmatory notice in St. John, 244. -Effect produced by the raising of Lazarus, 245.Incidents in the last journey to Judaea, 247 sq. -Onward progress toward Jerusalem, 250.- Arrival at Jericho, 251.- Conclusion, 253. LECTURE VII. ('t t ast V assab zr. Introductory comments, 254.- Characteristics of the preceding portion of the narrative, 255.- Characteristics of the present portion, 256.- The journey to and supper at Bethany, 257. —The triumphal entry into Jerusalem, 259 sq. - Reflections on the credibility of the narrative, 263. - Our Lord's entry into Jerusalem, 265.- The cursing of the barren fig-tree (Monday), 266 sq. - The cleansing of the temple, and works of mercy performed there, 268.Answers to the deputation from the Sanhedrin (Tuesday), 270 sq. —Continued efforts on the part of the deputation, 273. —The question about the duty of paying tribute to Caesar, 274 sq.- Exposure and frustration of the stratagem, 277. -The question of the Sadducees touching the resurrection, 278. -The question of the lawyer about the greatest commandment, 280. - The question relative to the woman taken in adultery, 281. —Our Lord's question respecting the Son of David, 283.- The offering of the poor widow, 285.- The request of the Greek proselytes, 286 sq. -The departure from the temple, and the last prophecies, 288. —Consultation of the Sanhedrin, and treachery of Judas (Wednesday), 290. -The celebration of the Last Supper (Thursday), 291 sq. —The agony in Gethsemane (Thursday night), 296 sq. - The betrayal of our Lord, 299. -The preliminary examination before Annas, 18 CONTENTS. 300. -The examination before the Sanhedrin, 302 sq.- The brutal mockery of the attendants, 305. -The fate of Judas Iscariot, 306.- Our Lord's first appearance before Pilate, 307 sq. - The dismissal of our Lord to Herod, 310.Second appearance before Pilate; his efforts to set our Lord free, 311 sq. - Scourging of our Lord; renewed efforts of Pilate, 314 sq. -The CRUCIFIXION, 317. - Occurrences from the third to the sixth hour, 319.- The darkness from the sixth to the ninth hour, 320 sq. -The portents that followed our Lord's death, 323. -The removal from the cross, and burial of the Lord's body, 325 sq. - Conclusion, 328. LECTURE VIII. Introductory comments, 331. — Doctrinal questions involved in this portion of the history, 331 sq.- Characteristics of the present portion of the narrative; number of the accounts, 334. —Their peculiarities and differences, 335 sq. - Resumption of the narrative, 338. -Visit of the women to the sepulchre, 339 sq. -The appearance of the angels to the women at the sepulchre, 343. —The two Apostles at the tomb, 344.- The Lord's appearance to Mary Magdalene, 346 sq. - Probable effect produced on the Apostles by Mary's tidings, 349. - The Lord's appearance to the other ministering women, 350 sq.- The appearance of our Lord to the two disciples journeying to Emmaus, 352 sq. - Inability of the disciples to recognize our Lord, 355.- Appearance to the ten Apostles, 357 sq. - Disbelief of Thomas; our Lord's appearance to the eleven Apostles, 361. —Appearance by the lake of Tiberias, 362 sq. —Reverential awe of the Apostles, 365. — Appearance to the brethren in G alilee, 367. - The Lord's Ascension, 369 sq. - Conclusion, 371 sq. THE LIFE OF CHRIST. LECTURE I. INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. THESE ARE WRITTEN, TIIAT YE MIGHT BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD; AND THAT BELIEVING YE MIGHT HAVE LIFE THROUGH HIS NAME.- St. John, xx. 31. THESE words, brethren, which, in the context from which they are taken, allude more particularly to the miracles of Christ, but which I venture Statementof Subbhere to extend in application to the whole evangelical history, will in some degree prepare you for the subject that I purpose laying before you in this series of Lectures. After serious meditation on the various subjects which the will of the munificent founder of these Lectures leaves open to the preacher, it has appeared to me that none would be likely to prove more useful and more edifying than the history and connection of the events in the earthly life of our Lord and Master, Jesus Chrlist. Two grave reasons have weighed with me in choosing this momentous subject; one more exclusively relating to the younger portion of my audi- Reonsforchot. ence, the other relating to us all. Therfirst reason has been suggested by the feeling, which I believe is not wholly mistaken, that these i'rst reason. Lectures are too often liable, from the nature of the subljects to which they are restricted, to prove un o20 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. attractive to the younger portion of those among us. It is but seldom that the young feel Inuch interested in the debated questions of Christian evidence. Nay, it is natural that they should not. With the fieshness and warmth of springing life, with the generous impulses of yet unchilled hearts, they are ready for the most part to believe rather than to doubt, to accept rather than to question. The calm and impartial investigation, the poised judgment, the suspended assent, which must all characterize the sober disputant on Christian evidences, and which wMe of a maturer age may admire and appreciate, are, I truly believe, often so repulsive to our younger brethren, that after having sat out a sermon or two, they company with us no more. This applies with still greater force, as has been thoughtfully suggested to me, to the new comers in the October term, whose first entrance into the Church of this our mother University is commonly during the second part of the course of the Hulsean Lecturer. They have thus all the disadvantage of coming among us in the middle of a course; and when to that is added a consciousness of defective sympathy with the theme of the preacher, they are tempted, I fear, thus early to withdraw from what they deem unedifying, and so to lay the foundation of the evil habit of neglecting attendance at this Church, and of treating lightly the great Chrlistian duty of assembling ourselves together in the house of God. It has thus seemed desirable to choose a subject which, if properly treated, ought to interest and to edify the very youngest hearer among us, and which may admit of such natural divisions as may cause the later hearers to feel less sensibly the disadvantage of not having attended the earlier portion of the course. IMy second reason, however, for the selection of this peculiar subject is one that applies to us all, Seconld reason. and is still more grave and momentous. It is based on the deep conviction, that to the great questions connected with the life of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 21 Son of Adam, the Son of God, all the controversies of these latter days are tending noticeably to converge. IIere it is that even the more abstract questions, that try the faith of our own times, - questions as abstract as the degree of inspiration of the Written Word,l or the nature of the efficacies of the Atonement 2 which that Word declares to us, - must seek for their ultimate adjustment. Here is the battle-ground of the present, here, perchance, the mystic Armageddon of coming strife. Already forms of heresy more subtle than ever Ebionite propounded or Marcionite devised, — forms of heresy that have clad themselves in the trappings of modern his1 In every complete discussion on the Inspiration of the Scriptures, the nature of the more special refebrences of our Lord to the Old Testament must be fully and fairly considered. To take an extreme case: when our Lord refers, distilctly and explicitly (Matt. xii. 39, 40), to " the sign of the prophet Jonas," have we any escape from one of two alternatives, either, (a) that, in spite of all that has been urged to the contrary, and all the scarcely disguised contempt with which the history of Jonah has been treated by modern criticism (comp. Hitzig, Kleinen Propheten, p. 361 sq. ), the narrative is notwithstanding true and typical, and referred to by our Lord as such; or, (b) that it is fabulous, and that our Lord wittingly made use of a fabulous narrative to illustrate His Resurrection? Modern speculation does not hesitate to accept (b), and to urge that it was not a part of our Lord's mission to correct all the wrong opinions, more or less connected with religion, which might be plrevalent in the minds of those with whom He was conversing (comp. Norton, Gesnuineness of Gospel, Vol. ii. p. 477). If we rest contented with such unhappy statements, we must be prepared to remodel not only our views of our Lord's teaching, but of some of the highest attributes of His most holy life: consider and contrast Ullmann, Unsundlichkeit Jesu, ~ 19 (Transl. p. 8, 75, Clark). The assertion that " the sign of Jonah" was not referred by our Lord to His resurrection, but to His whole earthly life, seems distinctly untenable (see esp. Meyer on Matt. xii. 40); but were it otherwise, it could scarcely affect the above considerations. To contemplate a rejection of these words from the inspired narrative in the face of the most unquestioned external evidence (Maurice, Kings and Prophets, p. 357) cannot be characterized as otherwise than as in the highest degree arbitrary and uncritical. 2 Everything which tends to derogate from the Divinity of our Lord tends, as Priestly long ago clearly perceived (History of Corruptions, Vol. i. p. 153), to do away with the idea of an atonement, in the proper sense of the word, for the sins of other men. (Comp. Magee, Atonement, Dissert. 3.) So, conversely, all limitations of the atonement, all tendencies to represent our Lord's sacrifice as merely an act of moral greatness (comp. Jowett, Romans, Vol. ii. p. 481), will be found inevitably to lead to indirect denials of the Catholic doctrine of the union of the two natures in our Lord, and to implied limitations of His Divinity. (Compare, but with some reserve, Macdonell, Lectures on the Atonement, Donellan Lectures, p. 61 sq.) 22 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. torical philosophy,' and have learned to accommodate themselves to the more distinctly earthly aspects of modern speculation, have appeared in other Christian lands, and are now silently producing their influence on thousands and tens of thousands who bear on their foreheads the baptismal cross of Christ. Already, even in our own more favored country, humanitarian views with regard to the Person of our Redeemer are thrusting themselves forward with a startling and repulsive activity, - intruding themselves into our popular literature as well as into our popular theology,2 yea, and winning assent by their seductive appeal to those purely human motions and feelings within us, which, while we are in the flesh, we call harldly deem separable fiom the nature of even sinless man. Already too a so-called love of truth, a bleak, barren, loveless love of truth, which the wise Pascal3 long since denounced,- a love of truth that like Agag claims to walk delicately, and to be respected and to be spared,- is gathering around itself its Epicurean audiences; already is it making its boast of fabled civilizations that rest on other bases than on Christ and His Church,4 daily and hourly laboring with 1 For a clear statement of the two problems connected with the Gospel history (the criticism of the evangelical writings, and the criticism of the evangelical history), and the regular development of modern speculation, see the Introduction to the useful work of Ebrard, Wissenschaftliche Kritik der evangelischen Geschichte, ~ 2-7, p. 3 sq. (ed. 2). 2 See Preface to Commentary on the IPhilippians, Colossians, and Philemon, p. x. 3 The following remark of this thoughtful wrviter deserves consideration: " On se fait une idole de la verit6 meme: car la verit6 hors de la charit6 n'est pas Dieu; elle est son image, et une idole qu'il ne faut point aimer, ni adorer; et encore moins faut-il aimer et adorer son contraire, qui est le mensonge." Pensees, II. 17. 74, p. 297 (Didot, 1846). 4 It does not seem unjust to say that the views advocated in the most recent history of civilization that has appeared in this country (Buckle, History of Civilization, Lond. 1858) cannot be regarded as otherwise than plainly hostile to Christianity. There is a special presupposition in viewing the history of Christ in its relation to the world, which such writers as Mir. Buckle unhappily either scorn or reject, — a presupposition which a historian of a far higher strain has well defined as the root of all our modern civilization, and as that from which civilization can never separate itself, without assuming an entirely changed form; "it is the presupposition that Jesus is the Son of God, in a sense which cannot be predicated of any human being, -the perfect image of the supreme LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 23 that restless energy that belongs to "the walkers in dry places," to make us regard as imaginary or illusory those holy prepossessions in reference to the Evangelical history, that ought, and were designed by God himself, to exercise their unquestioned influence and sovereignty over our whole inner life.' It is this feeling that has more especially led me to fix upon the Life of our Lord and Master as the subject of these Lectures. It is the deep feeling, that every effort, however humble and homely, to set forth the groupings, the harmonies, and the significances of that holy History, is a contribution to the spiritual necessities of our own times, that has now moved me to enter upon this lofty theme. Here it is, and here only is it, that our highest ideal conceptions of perfection find only still higher practical realizations. Here it is that, while we humbly strive to trace the lineaments of the outward, we cannot fail, if we be true to God and to our own souls, to feel the workings of the inward,2 and while the eyes dwell lovingly on personal God in the form of that humanity that was estranged from Him; the presupposition that in Him appeared the source of the divine life itself in humanity, and that by Him the idea of humanity was realized." Neauder, Leben Jesit Chr. p. 5 (Transl. ~ 2, p. 5, Bohn). Contrast with this the unhappy and self-contradictory comments of Hase, Lebenz Jesu, ~ 14, p. 16. 1 It has been well said by Ebrard, "We do not enter on the Evangelical History, with spy-glass in hand, to seek our own credit by essaying to disclose ever fresh instances of what is contradictory, foolish, or ridiculous, but with the faithful, clear, and open eye of him who joyfully recognizes the good, the beautiful, and the noble, wheresoever he finds it, and on that account finds it with joy, and never lays aside his favorable prepossession till he is persuaded of the contrary. We give ourselves up to the plastic influence of the Gospels, live in them, and at the same time secure to ourselves, while we thus act in the spirit of making all our own, a deeper insight into the unity, beauty, and depth of the Evangelical History." - Kritik der Evang. Geschichte, ~ 8, p. 38. 2 It is satisfactory to find in most of the higher class of German writers on the Life of our Lord a distinct recognition of this vital principle of the Gospel narrative: "As man's limited intellect could never, without the aid of God's revelation of Himself to the spirit of man, have originated the idea of God, so the image of Christ could never have sprung from the consciousness of sinful humanity, but must be regarded as the reflection of the actual life of such a Christ. It is Christ's self-revelation, made, through all generations, in the fragments of His history that remain, and in the workings of His Spirit which inrFpires these fragments, and enables us to recognize in them one complete 24 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ONT TIIE LECT. I. the inspired outlines of the history of Jesus, and of Him crucified, to feel His image waxing clearer in the soul, His eternal sympathies mingling with our infirmities, and enlarging into more than mortal measures the whole spiritual stature of the inner man.l After this lengthened, but I believe not unnecessary introduction, let me, with fervent prayer for grace and assistance from the illuminating Spirit of God, at once address myself to my arduous and responsible task. Method adopted (I.) And first, as to the method which, intheseLctures. with the help of God, I intend to pursue. My first object in these Lectures is to arrange, to comment upon, and, as far as possible, to illustrate, the principal events in our Redeemer's earthly history; to show their coherence, their connection,2 and their varied and suggestive meanings; to place, as far as may be safely attempted, the different divine discourses in their apparently true positions, estimated chronologically,3 and to indicate how whole." -Neander, Leben Jest Cli.r. p. 6 (Transl. ~ 3, p. 4, Bohn). See further the eloquent remarks of Dr. Lange, in the introduction to his valuable work, Das Leben Jesse nach den Evangeliesn, I. 1. 6, Vol. i. p. 71 sq. (HIeidelb. 1844), and compare the introductory comments of Ewald, Geschichte Christus', pp. xi. xii. 1 The admirable introductory exhortation of Bp. Taylor, prefixed to his Life of Christ, deserves particular attention. The prayer with which it concludes is one of the most exalted of those rapt devotional outpourings which illustrate and adorn that great monument of learning and piety. 2 On the two methods of relating the events of our Lord's life, whether by adhering strictly to chronological sequence, or by grouping together what seems historically similar, see IHase, Leben Jcsu, 6 16, p. 17. The latter method is always precarious, and in some cases, as, for example, in the Leben Jesu Christi of Neander, tends to leave the reader with a very vagule idea of the real connections of the history. 3 It may perhaps be safely affirmed, and many parts of the succeeding lectures will serve to illustrate the truth of the remark, that the exact chronlological position of all our Lord's discourses can never be satisfactorily ascertained. One of the most sharp-sighted and trustworthy of modern chronologers of our Lord's life prudently observes: " I will not deny that the chronology of the discourses of our Lord, and especially of all the separate discourses, is very hard to be ascertained; nay, the problem, viewed under its most rigorous aspects, owing to the nature of the evangelical accounts that have come down to us, -I refer particularly to the Gospel of St. Matthew, in which especially so many of these portions of discourses occur, - is perhaps never to be solved." - Wieseler, Chronologische Sysnopse, p. 287. Compare, too, Stier, le(len Jest, Vol. i. p. xi. (TransL Vol. i. p. 7, Clark). LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 25 they both give to and receive illustration firom the outward events with which they stand in more immediate connection. But all this must be, and the very nature of the subject prescribes that it should be, subordinated to the desire to set forth, in as much fulness and completeness as my limits may permit, not only the order and significance of the component features, but the transcendent picture of our Redeemer's life, viewed as one divine whole.' Without this ulterior object all such labor is worse than in vain. Without this higher aim, the divine harmonies of our Master's life become lost in mere annalistic detail; the spiritual epochs of His ministry forgotten in the dull, earthly study of the varied problematical arrangements of contested history. These last points the nature of my present office may compel me not to leave wholly untouched; nay, I trust that those who are acquainted with the nature of such investigations will hereafter perceive that I have not shrunk from entering into this very difficult and debatable province of our subject, and that opinions are not put forth without some knowledge of what has been urged against them. Still, the details will not appear in the text of the Lectures, or appear only in affirmative statements that are subordinated to the general current and spirit of the narrative. 0, let us not forget, in all our investigations, that the history of the life of Christ is a history of redemption, - that all the records which the CautioninapPyEternal Spirit of truth has vouchsafed to us bear this indelible impress, and are only properly to be seen 1," It is the problem of faith," says Dr. Lange, " to introduce into the church's contemplation of the life of Jesus, viewed as a whole, more and more of the various features of the gospel narrative, regarded in their consistent relations with one another. On the contrary, it is the problem of theological science to endeavor to exhibit more and more, by successive approximations, the completed unity of the life of Jesus from the materials ready to its hand." - Leben Jesut, i. 7. 2, Vol. i. p. 233. Some thoughtful remarks on the contrast between the ideal and the outward manifestation of the same (Gegensatz zwischenz der Idee und der Erscheinung) in the lives of men, but the perfect harmony of this ideal and phenomenal in Christ, will be found in Neander, Leben Jesu Chlr. p. 9. 3 26 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. and understood from this point of contemplation.l It is the history of the Redeemer of our race that the Gospels present to us; the history, not of Jesus of Nazareth, but of the Saviour of the world; the record, not of merely idealized perfections,2 but of redemptive workings, — "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work; " and he John v. 17. who would presume to trace out that blessed history, without being influenced by this remembrance in all his thoughts and words, must be prepared to find himself adding one more unhonored name to the melancholy list of those who have presumed to treat of these mysteries, with the eclectic and critical spirit of the so-called biographer, - the biographer 3 (0, strangely inappropriate and unbecoming word) of Him in whom dwelt the whole fulness of the Godhead. Sources of our (II.) In the next place a few words must history. on this occasion necessarily be said both on the sources of our history, and our estimate of their divinely ordered differences and characteristics. 1 Some very valuable remarks on the true points of view from which the Evangelical History ought to be regarded by the Christian student, will be found in the eloquent introduction of Lange to his Leben Jesu: see esp. Book i. 4. 6, Vol. i. p. 141 sq. 2 Compare Lange, Leben Jesu, i. 1. 5, 6, Vol. i. p. 41 sq. It has been well remarked by Neander, in answer to Strauss, that the picture of the Life of Christ does not exhibit the spirit of the age in which it appeared; nay, that " the image of human perfection thus concretely presented stands in manifold contradiction to the tendencies of humanity in that period; no one of them, no combination of them, dead as they were, could account for it." - Leben Jesu, p. 6, note (Transl. p. 4, Bohn). The true conception of the mingled divine and human aspects of our Lord's life has been nowhere better hinted at than by Augustine,-" Ita inter Deum et homines mediator apparuit, ut in unitate personae copulans utramque naturam, et solita sublimaret insolitis et insolita solitis temperaret." -Epist. cxxxvii. 3. 9, Vol. ii. p. 519 (ed. Mignh). 3 The essential character of biography is stated clearly and fairly enough by Hase (Leben Jessu, ~ 12, p. 15), but the proposed application of it to the life of our Lord can scarcely be defined as otherwise than as in a high degree startling and repulsive. This cold, clear, but unsound writer seems to imagine that some height can be reached from which the modern historical critic can recognize the individualizing characteristics of the life of Christ as the Evangelists desired to portray them, and may sketch them out in their true (?) relations to the time and age in which they were manifested. Compare the somewhat similar and equally objectionable remarks of Von Ammon, Geschichte des Leben Jesus, Vol. i. p. vii. (Preface). LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 27 Our sources are the four Gospels, four inspired narratives, so mysteriously overruled in their interdependence, that, regarded from the point of view in which the history of our Lord alone ought to be regarded, -viz., as a history of recdemption,-they are all, and more than all, that our most elevated conceptions of our own spiritual needs could have sought for or devised. Such words, perchance, may sound strange in an age that has busied itself in noting down the seeming deficiencies of the Gospels, rather than recognizing their divine fulness; that looks out for diversities, rather than accordances,' and that never seems to regard its historical criticism with more complacency than when it presents to us the four inspired witnesses as involved in the discrepancies of a separate story.2 Such words, I say, may sound strange, but they are the words of soberness and truth; and I will be bold to say that no patient and loving spirit will ever rise from a lengthened investigation of the four evangelical records without having arrived at this honest conviction, - that though here there may seem difficulty because faith is to be tried,3 there a seeming discrepancy because we know not all, yet that the histories themselves, no less in their arrangements and mutual relations than in the nature of their contents, exhibit vividly I A popular but sound article (by Prof. C. E. Stowe) on the nature of the modern assaults upon the four Gospels will be found in the Bibliotheca Sacira for 1851, pp. 503-529. The details are well sketched out by Ebrard, Kritik der Ev. Geschichte, ~ 3-7, p. 5 sq. 2 The early Church was fully aware of the discrepancies, not merely in detail, but even in general plan and outline, that were deemed to exist between the Gospels, but she well knew how they were to be estimated and regarded: obNe ya&p Toss EvaayyeALo'r&s 4aLjL7ervL v t v'revavrLTa 7rOLEv 4a3AXAots, OTT o' /E'v'i'apKIcoK'roO XpTO r krTr'oy &v X7YTXoAXinav, o'f eo T aeoAoyLto 7rpoe-'Brlqoav Kal of Ev Y EK Tuv Ka&Y 6gas, of 8; TOe inrT p 6gas d7ro'irav'ro rTV, &pX)r,' OvJTrW rb KipvIyga 8LEXd4LEVOL rpbs Trb Xp{O'L/ov oI.lac'ros 8eXOLAesVOLT, Kal oTCOw 7rapa'TOO'' av'ToLS'rv7roEsoG II rflY6/LacTos.-Greg. Naz. Orat. xx. Vol. i. p. 365 (Paris, 1609.) 3," Ipsa enim simplici et certa fide in illo permanere debemus. ut ipse aperiat fidelibus quod in se absconditum est: quia sicut idem dicit apostolus, In illo sunt omnes thesauri sapientice et scientice adsconditi. Quos non propterea abscondit, ut neget, sed ut absconditis excitet desiderilum." —Augustine, Serm. ii. 4, Vol. v. p. 336 (ed. Mign6). 28 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. the pervading influence of that Spirit which it was declared John xv.13. should guide, aye, and infallibly has guided, their writers into all truth.' But let us carry out these observations somewhat in detail. Omitting, on the present occasion, all investigations into the more distinctly external characteristics Details, -mainly in reference to in- of the Gospels, whether in regard of the ternal characterics- general aspect of these inspired documents, or the particular styles in which they are composed, let us turn our attention to the more interesting subject of their internal peculiarities and distinctions. And yet we may pause for a moment even on the outward; for verily the outward is such as can never be overlooked; the outward differences and distinctions are indeed such as may well claim the critical reader's most meditative consideration. We may note, for example, the pervading tinge of Hebrew thought and diction2 that marks, what we may perhaps correctly term, the narratives of St. Matthew; 1 The language of Augustine on the subject of the plenary inspiration of the Gospels is clear and decided: " Quidquid ille [Christus] de suis factis et dictis nos legere voluit, hoc scribendum illis tanquam suis manibus imperavit. Hoc unitatis consortium et in diversis officiis concordium membrorum sub uno capite ministerium quisquis intellexerit, non aliter accipiet, quod narrantibus discipulis Christi, in Evangelio legerit, quamn si ipsam manum Donzini, quam in proprio corpore gestabat, scribentem conspexerit." —De Consensue Evang. i. 35, Vol. iii. p. 1070 (ed. Migni); comp. in Joann. Tract. xxx. 1, Vol. iii. p. 1632. 2 Nearly all modern critics agree in recognizing, not merely in isolated words and phrases, but in the general tone and diction of the first Gospel, the Hebraistic element. The "physiognomy of this first of our Gospels," to use the language of Da Costa, "is eminently Oriental:" the language, though mainly simple and artless, not unfrequently rises to the rhythmical, and even poetical, and is marked by a more frequently recurring parallelism of words or clauses (comp. Lowth, Prelims. Dissert. to Isaiah, p. viii. Lond. 1837) than is to be found in the other Gospels: compare, for example, Matt. viii. 24-27, with Luke vi. 47-49, and see Da Costa, The Four Witnlesses, p. 28 sq. (Transl. Lond. 1851). 3 Perhaps the term narrative may be more correctly applied than any other to the Gospel of St. MIatthewr: it neither presents to us so full a recital of details as we find in St. Mark, nor the same sort of historical sequence which we observe in St. Luke, nor yet again the same connection in our Lord's discourses which we observe in St. John, but to a certain extent combines some distinctive features of all. Antiquity well expressed this feeling in the comprehensive title.rh Ao'yta (Papias, ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. iii. 39), which we may perhaps suitably paraphrase, as Papias himself seents to suggest (by his subsequent use of the terms Trwt KUpLaKCV Xoayiou, - but the reading is not certain), as Ta i7rb Xpfa LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 29 we may observe the more isolated though more unqualified Hebraistic expressions,' and even the occasional Latinisms,2 that diversify the graphic but more detached memoirs3 of the exponent of the preaching of St. Peter; 4 we may trace the Hellenic coloring that gives such grace and interest to the compiled history of St. Luke;5 we may recognize Tou hAXavYTa 33 rpaXa'wTa: see LUcke, in Studien su. KIritiken for 1833, p. 501 sq., Meyer, Kommenltar. uiber M~atth. p. 4, note, and Lange, Leben Jesus, i. 5. 2, Vol. i. p. 161. The general structure of this Gospel has been well investigated in a programme by Harless, entitled Lucubrationum Evangelia Canonica spectantium Pars ii. Erlang. 1842. As essays of this character are not always accessible, it may be worth noticing that the learned author finds in the Gospel five divisions: the first, ch. i.-iv., ver. 23-25 forming the epilogue; the second, ch. iv.-ix., ver. 35 —38 similarly forming the epilogue; the third, ch. x.-xiv.; the fourth, ch. xv.-xix. 1, 2; and the fifth, ch. xix. 3 to the end. See pp. 6, 7. 1 We may especially notice the occasional introduction of Aramaic words, most probably the very words that fell from our Lord's lips; comp. ch. iii. 17, Boavepyzs; ch. v. 41, TacXLa& KOV/zL; ch. vii. 34, iE'cpaead; ch. xiv. 36, &pia. See Da Costa, Four Witnesses, p. 89. 2 These have been often specified; it may be enough to notice, JrEKovUEdTwp, ch. vi. 27; Earisir, ch. vii. 4, 8; KceTrvpWcv, ch. xv. 39, 44, 45, and the use of XaAKbs for money, ch. vi. 8. Some good remarks on other peculiarities of the style of St. Mark, especially in reference to his adoption of less usual words and forms of expression, will be found in Credner, Einleitung in das N. T. ~ 49, p. 102 sq., and in the Introd. of Fritz, Evang. Marci, p. xlv. sq. The assertion that this Gospel was originally written in Latin, and the appeal to a so-called Latin original, have been long since disposed of. See Tregelles and Horne, Introduction to the 2. T. Vol. iv. p. 438. 3 This term may perhaps serve to characterize the general aspects of the Gospel of St. MIark, and to distinguish it from the more distinctly historic Gospel of St. Luke; it also seems well to accord with the spirit of the statements preserved by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. III. 39. A few remarks by De Wette on the characteristics of this Gospel will be found in the Studien st. Kritiken for 1828, p. 789. See also Lange, Leben Jesu, I. 7. 2, Vol. i. p. 247; and for details, Do Costa, Four Witnesses, p. 87 sq., Guerike, Einleitung in das N. T. ~ 39. 3, p. 258 (ed. 2). 4 It is perhaps unnecessary to substantiate this assertion by special quotations, as the connection between the second Evangelist and St. Peter seems now distinctly admitted by all the best modern critics. The most important testimonies of antiquity to this effect are Papias, ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. III. 39, Irenaeus, fi~er. III. 1, Clem. Alex. ap. Euseb. Itist. Eccl. vI. 14, and Origen, ap. Ib. vI. 25. 5 If in the first Gospel we recognize the Oriental tinge of thought and diction, and if in the second we detect some traces of the influence of Latin modes of thought, and of a primary destination for Roman converts, we can scarcely fail to acknowledge in the third Gospel the impress of Greek thought and culture (comp. Jerome, Comment. in Esaiam, vi. 9), and in its well-ordered and often flowing periods to discern the hand of the Greek proselyte; comp. Col. iv. 14, and notes in loc.; and see further, Da Costa, The Four Witnesses, p. 148, Lange, Leben Jesu, I. 7. 4, Vol.i. p. 253 sq., and for some details in reference to language, Credner, Einleitung, ~ 59, p. 132 sq., Guerike, Einleitung, ~ 40. 4, p. 278, 3* 30 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. L the marvellous and divine simplicity of the longer and more collective discourses 1 that form the bulk of the spiritual2 and, in some respects, supplemental3 Gospel of St. John. All these things may well suggest to us meditations of the freshest interest; but as they belong to the critical essay, rather than to the popular lecture, we shall be wise, perhaps, to confine ourselves now only to the more strictly internal peculiarities, more especially those which characterize the different pictures presented to us of our blessed Lord and Redeemer. Let us, however, never forget that in every effort to set Patritius, de Evangeliis, I. 3. 5, Vol. i. p. 83 sq. In those parts (e. g. ch. i.) where we find a clearly marked Hebraistic coloring, it seems natural to conclude that we have before us, in perhaps not greatly changed forms, trustworthy documents, supplied either by the blessed Virgin (in the chapter in question) or other privileged eye-witnesses (comp. ch. i. 2) and ministers of the word. Compare Gersdorf, Beitrdge z. Sprachcharacteristik des N. T. p. 160 sq., Patritius, de Evangeliis, I. 3. 4, Vol. i. p. 80; and for some general comments on St. Luke, the good lecture of Dr. Wordsworth, New Test. Vol. i. p. 130. 1 The discourses of our Lord, as recorded by St. John, have been defined by Schmidt (Biblische Theologie, ~ 3, p. 23) as " central," in contrast with those of the Synoptical Gospels, which he calls more " peripherisch." The observation is fanciful, but perhaps has some truth in it: in St. John the Lord's discourses certainly seem to turn more on HIis own divine person and His true relation to the Father, and the ideas and truths which flow therefrom, while those in the Synoptical Gospels relate more frequently to the general facts, features, and aspects of the kingdom of God. Comp. Ebrard, Kritik der Evang. Gesch. ~ 35, p. 143. 2 Compare Clem. Alex. ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. vI. 14, rbv se'TorL'Iwcd'vPrP eXaToV 0fVVLc84TaCZ 0TL r&a tWlaL71Ka E'V ToS. eba-YeMoLs e8lo'AwTLat, 7rpoTpa7revTa Irb Trv Pyv'opt!wLv, nvAev'aTL &eo(pop1Ev, eTar V pU a r L K b 7roLTOart EbayyhALov. The same distinction is preserved by Augustine: -" Tres isti Evangelistee in his rebus maxime diversati sunt quas Christus per humanam carnem temporaliter gessit: porro autem Joannes ipsam maxime divinitatem Domini qua Patre est wequalis intendit." - De Consensu Evang. I. 4, Vol. iii. 1045 (ed. Mignh). 3 This character of St. John's Gospel has of late been denied, but, as it would seem, wholly unsuccessfully. That this was not the special object of that sublime Gospel may be fully conceded (see Luthardt, das Johan. Evang. iv. 1, Vol. i. p. 109 sq.), but that St. John wrote with a full cognizance of what his three predecessors had related, that he presupposed it in his readers, and enlarged upon events not recorded elsewhere, seems almost indisputable. That this was distinctly the belief of antiquity is fully conceded by Lucke, Comment. fiber Johan. III. 13, Vol. i. p. 187 (ed. 3). See especially Euseb. Hist. Eccl. III. 24; Jerome, de Viris Illustr. cap. 9; and compare the expressions in the Muratorian fragment on the Canon, reprinted in Routh, Reliq. Sacre, Vol. iv. p. 3 sq. (ed. 1). LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 31 forth the life of our MIaster, our whole superstructure not only rests upon the four Gospels, but has to The Individualibe formed out of the elements which they ties qf the four Gossupply, and that unsymmetrical will it be and pelsmnust beefeltand incongruous, unless, like wise master-builders, we learn to appreciate the inner and essential distinctions between the precious materials which we are presuming to employ. Here has been the grave error of only too many of those who have taken in hand to draw up an account of those things that are fully believed among IZn Luke i. 1. us. Here harmonies have failed to edify; here critical histories have often proved so lamentably deficient. Nay, I believe that there is no one thing which the long roll of harmonies and histories, extending from the days of Tatian down to our own,l teach us more distinctly than this, -that no true picture of the earthly life of our Redeemer can ever be realized, unless by God's grace we learn both to feel and to appreciate the striking individuality of the four Gospels in their portraiture of the life of Christ, and are prepared to estimate duly their peculiar and fore-ordered characteristics.2 That antiquity failed not to recognize these individualities, we are reminded by the admirable treatise of Augustine on the Consent of the Evangelists,3 — a treatise from 1 A full list of these will be found in the useful but unsound work of Hase, Leben Jesus, ~ 21, p. 21 sqq., and a shorter and selected list in the Harmonia Evangelica of Tischendorf, p. ix. sqq. Those which most deserve consideration seem to be, Gerson, Concordia Evangelistarum (about 1471); Chemnitz, Harmonia Quatuor EvangelistarLtm (vol. i. published in 1593); Lightfoot, Harmony, etc. of the N. 7'. (Loud. 1655); Lamy, Harmonia sive Concordia Quatuor Evangelistarum, Paris, 1689; Bengel, Richtige JHarmonie der vier Evangelien, Tubing. 1736; Newcome, Harmony of Gospels, Dubl. 1778; Clausen, Tabulce Synopticce, Havnixe, 1829; Greswell, Hiarmonia Evangelica, Oxon. 1840; Robinson, Harmony of the Four Gosl)els, Boston, 1845, and (with useful notes) Lond. (Relig. Tract Society); Anger, Synopsis Evasgeliorum, Lips. 1851; Tischendorf, Synopsis Evangelica, Lips. 1851; and, lastly, the voluminous work of Patritius, de Evangeliis, Friburg, 1853. 2 See some good remarks in the Introduction to Lange, Leben Jesut, especially I. 3. 1, Vol. i. p. 98 sq. 8 We might also specify, as illustrative of this view of the individual character of the four Gospels, the ancient and:well-known comparison of the four Gos 32 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. which, though we may venture to differ in details, we can never safely depart in our general principles of combination and adjustment.l No writer has more ably maintained the fundamental position, that the four evangelical records in their delineation of the life of Christ have noticeably different characteristics, - that they present our Redeemer to us under different aspects,2 -and that these four histories (to use the simile of another ancient writer),3 though flowing from one paradise, go forth to water the earth with four currents of different volume and direction. It was the neglect of these principles that made so many of the laborious harmonies of the sixteenth Errors of earlier and seventeenth centuries both valueless and Harmonists. unedifying, and not improbably served to call out that antagonistic criticism which in these later days has acquired such an undue, and, it must be said, undesirable prominences These earlier efforts we may have never pels to the four living creatures mentioned in the Apocalypse (Irenaeus, Hcer. III. 1). Though later writers (Athanasius, Augustine, Jerome, al.) varied somewhat in their adaptations of the symbols (see Wordsworth, Greek Test. Vol. i. p. 51), this fourfold comparison may be considered as the practical manifestation of the belief of the ancient Church in the distinct individuality of the four Gospels. The more usual order and application of the symbols is stated by Sedulius in the following lines, which may bear quotation: - Hoc Matth.us agens, hominem generaliter implet, Marcus ut alta fremit vox per deserta Leonis, Jura sacerdotii Lucas tenet ore juvenci, More volans aquile verbo petit astra Joannes. 1 Augustine appears, from his own statements, to have taken especial pains with this treatise. He alludes to it twice in his commentary on St. John (Tract. cxii. 1, Vol. iii. p. 1929, and again Tract cxvII. 2, Vol. iii. p. 1945), and in both cases speaks of it as composed with much labor: compare also his Retractationes, Book ii. ch. 16. 2 See especially Book I. 2, 3, 4 (Vol. iii. p. 1044, ed Mign6), where the different aspects under which our Redeemer was viewed by the Evangelist are specially noticed. What we have to regret in this valuable treatise is the somewhat low position assigned to St. Mark's Gospel, the author of which, according to Augustine, is but the "pedissequus et breviator" of St. Matthew (ch. 2). Modern criticism has strikingly reversed this judgment. 3 Jerome, Prcf. in Mlatth. cap. 4, Vol. vii. p. 18 (ed. Migne). 4 I regret to have to express my dissent from the views of my-friend, Dean Alford, in the Introduction to his New Testament, Vol. i. ~ 7. Careful investigation seems to justify the opinion that between the forced harmonies, which LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 33 seen, perhaps never heard of. We may smile perhaps at the luckless sedulity that deemed it necessary to assign to St. Peter nine denials of our Lord,' and we may perhaps scarcely believe that such abuses of Evangelistic harmony could have been originated by one who cooperated with Luther, and whose works were not without influence on his contemporaries, and on them that followed him. We may perhaps now smile at such efforts; but still, if one only looks at some of the harmonies of the present century, it seems abundantly clear that these influences are even now not wholly inoperative;2 and that efforts to interweave portions of the sacred narrative, without a proper estimate of the different objects and characteristics of the Evangelists, still find among us some favor and reception. In our desire, however, to reject such palpably uncritical endeavors, let us, at any rate, respect the principle by which they appear to have been actuated, -a reverence, mistaken it is true, but still a reverence for every jot and tittle of the written word; and let us beware, too, that we are not tempted into the other extreme, - that equally exaggerfound favor in older times, and the blank rejection of evangelical harmony, except in broadest outlines, which has been so much advocated in our own times, there is a safe via media, which, if followed thoughtfully and patiently, will often be found to lead us to aspects of the sacred narrative which are in the highest degree interesting and instructive. Variations are not always necessarily inaccuracies: could we only transport ourselves to the right point of view, we should see things in their true perspective; and that we can more often do so than is generally supposed, has, I venture to think, been far too summarily denied. For some good remarks on Gospel harmony, see Wieseler, Cfhron. Synops. p. 5 sqq., Da Costa, Four Witnesses, p. 1 sqq. (Transl.). 1 Osiander, Harmon. Evang. p. 128 (Bas. 1561). This rigid and somewhat arrogant divine was born A. D. 1498: he was educated at Wittemberg, and afterwards at Nuremberg, in which latter city he became a preacher at one of the churches. He warmly supported Luther in his attack on Papal indulgences; but afterwards fell into errors respecting the application of Christ's righteousness and the divine image, which he appears to have defended with undue confidence and pertinacity. See Mlosheim, Eccl. Hist. Iv. 3. 2. 1, Vol. iii. p. 357 (ed. Soames); Tholuck, Lit. Anzeiger for 1833, No. 54; and for a short notice of his life, Schridckh, Kirchengeschichte (Reformation), Vol. iv. p. 572. 2 I fear I must here specify the learned and laborious work of Dr. Stroud (Newo Greek Harmony of the Four Gospels), in which in this same case of St. Peter's denials the event is recounted under different forms seven times; see the Introduction, p. clxxxix. 34 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. ated view of modern times, that the discordances of the sacred writers are such as defy reconciliation,1 and that all, save the great events in the history of our Redeemer, must ever remain to us a collection of confused and inconsequent details. In one word, let us remember, that though it is uncritical, unwise, and even presumptuous to fabriJudicious combihationthetrueprin- cate a patchwork narrative, yet that it is not only possible, but our very duty to endeavor iudiciously to combine.2 Let us remember that we have tour holy pictures, limned by fbur loving hands, of Him who was " fairer than the children of men," Psal. xlv. 2. and that these have been vouchsafed to us, that by varying our postures we may catch fresh beauties and fresh glories.3 Let us then fear not to use one to see more in light what another has left more in shade; let us 1 For some useful observations on and answers to the extreme views that have been maintained on the supposed discrepancies or divergences that have been found in the Gospel history, see Ebrard, Kritik der Evang. Geschichte, ~ 19, p. 71 sqq. 2 Modern writers on harmonistic study commonly draw distinctions between Synopsis and Harmony, and again between Chronology and Order of Events (Akolsuthie). Such distinctions are useful, and serve to assist us in keeping clearly in view the principles on which our combination is constructed. The problem, however, we have to solve can really be regarded under very simple aspects: it is merely this, (1) to determine, where possible, by reference to chronological data, the order and connection of events; (2) to reconcile any striking divergences we may meet with in accounts of the same event; compare Chemnitz, Harmon. Quatuor. Evang. Proem. cap. 5. In regard of (2) we must be guided by the results of a sound exegesis of each one of the supposed discordant passages, combined with a just appreciation of the apparently leading aims, objects, and characteristics of the inspired records to which they respectively belong. In regard of (1), where chronology fails us, we can only fall back on the principle of Chemnitz: —" Nos quaerimus ordinem, cujus rationes, si non semper certae et ubique manifestr, probabiles tamen nec absurdae nec vero absimiles reddi possunt." - Harmnonia Evang. Vol. i. p. 18 (Hamb. 1704). 3 Compare with this the judicious observations of Da Costa: -- To picture Christ to the eye in equalfulness, that is, as an actual whole, and that in all His aspects, one witness was very far from being sufficient; but Divine wisdom could here accomplish its object by means of a fouzrfold testimony and a foursided delineation. In order to this, it was meet that each of four Evangelists should represent to us, not only the doings and sayings, but the very person of the Saviour, from his own individual point of view, and in harmony with his own personal character and disposition." - The Four Witnesses, p. 118 (Transl.). LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 35 scruple not to trace the lineament that one has left unexpressed, but another has portrayed. Let us do all this, nothing doubting; but let us beware, 0, let us beware, lest in seeking to work them up mechanically into what might seem to us a well-adjusted whole, instead of order we bring in confusion, distortion instead of symmetry, burning instead of beauty. Let me conclude with a few illustrations of those internal characteristics and individualities of the four Gospels, especially in reference to the teintlerstralchrnsacpicture of our Lord's life, to which I have tertics above alalluded, and so prepare ourselves for thoughtful recognitions, in future lectures, of divinely ordered differences, and for wise and sober principles of combination. How striking is the coincidence between the peculiar nature of the contents of the Gospel of St. Individuality of Matthew and what Scripture relates to us of St. Matthew's Gosthe position of him that wrote it. How natu- pel. rally we might expect from him who sat at the receipt of custom on the busy shores of the lake of Gennesareth, and who had learnt to arrange and to methodize in the callings of daily life, —how naturally we might expect careful grouping and well-ordered combination.' And how truly we find it! To leave unnoticed the vexed question of the exact nature of the Sermon on the Mount," — to whom save to St. Matthew do we owe that effective grouping of parables which we find in the thirteenth chapter,' wherein 1 See the thoughtful comments of Lange, Leben Jesu, I. 7. 2, Vol. i. p. 237 sq. It may perhaps be urged that we are here tacitly assuming that the details of the office of a TeCKv7Is were more in harmony with modern practice than can actually be demonstrated. That an apXLTeTA'&v7s (sub magistro) was especially concerned with administrative details can be distinctly shown, but that the simple collector (portitor), such as St. Matthew probably was, had any duties of an analogous nature, may be regarded as doubtful. The very necessities of the case, however, imply that the "'portitor" would have to render constant accounts to his superior officer, - and this seems quite enough to warrant the comments in the text. See Smith, Diet. of Antiq. s. v. "Publicani;" Jahn, Archceolog. Bibl. ~ 241; Winer, IRealwirterb. s. v. " Zoll," Vol. ii. p. 739 sq. 2 See the comments on its probable structure in Lecture Iv. 3 In this chapter we have the longer parables of the Sower (ver. 3-9) and of 36 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. each one by its juxtaposition imparts additional force and clearness to those with which it stands in immediate contact? Whose hand was it save the wise publican's that wove into narrative that glorious garland of miracles of which the eighth and ninth chapters are nearly entirely composed?l Who but he has brought together in such illustrative combinations the Lord's last prophecies, and the partially prophetic parables that usher in that most solemn revelation of our Redeemer to His Church, which concludes with the twenty-fifth chapter?2 But to narrow our observations to that Especially in his portraiture of our with which we are more especially concerned, Lord. od. with what force and effect are the contrasts, which such habits of combination naturally suggest,3 employed in presenting to us vivid and impressive aspects of our Redeemer's history. In what striking antithesis do the the Tares and the WVheat (ver. 24-30), and the shorter comparisons of the Kingdom of Heaven with the grain of Mustard Seed (ver. 31, 32), Leaven (ver. 33), the Treasure in a field (ver. 44), the Merchantman and the Pearl (ver. 45, 46), and the Net cast into the sea (ver. 47, 48). The illustrative connection that exists between these parables can hardly escape the notice of the observant reader. We have, as it were, seven varied aspects of the kingdom of God on earth. In the first parable we have placed before us the various classes in the visible Church; in the second we contemplate the origin and presence of evil therein, and its final removal and overthrow; in the third we see the kingdom of God in its aspects of growth and extension; in the fourth in its pervasive and regenerative character; in the fifth and sixth in reference to its preciousness, whether as discovered accidentally or after deliberate search; in the seveth in its present state of inclusiveness combined with its future state of selection and unsparing separation. See Wordsworth, New Test. Vol. i. p. 39; and compare Knox, Remains, Vol. i. pp. 407-425. 1 In these two chapters we have the narrative of the cleansing of a leper (viii. 2-4); the healings of the centurion's servant (viii. 5-13), of St. Peter's wife's mother (viii. 14, 15), and of numerous demoniacs (viii. 16); the stilling of the winds and sea (viii. 24-26); the healing of the demoniacs of Gadara (viii. 2834); of the paralytic on his bed (ix. 2-8), and of the woman with an issue of blood (ix. 20-22); the raising of Jairus' daughter (ix. 23-25), the healing of two blind men (ix. 28-30), and the dispossession of a dumb demoniac (ix. 32-34). 2 Especially the similitude of the Unready Servant (xxiv. 43-51), and the parables of the Ten Virgins (xxv. 1-12), and of the Talents (xxv. 14-30.) 3 Compare Lange, Lebenz Jesu, I. 7. 2, Vol. i. p. 240. The outlines and general construction of St. Matthew's Gospel are described by Ebrard, Kritik der Evanzg. Geschichte, ~ 22, p. 86 sq., but not under any very novel or suggestive aspects. For some remarks on the characteristic peculiarities of this Gospel, see Davidson, Introductiosn to N. T. Vol. i. p. 52 sq. LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF TILE FOUR GOSPELS. 37 opening chapters set before us the new-born King of Peace and the savage Herod; the mysterious adora- ch. 1, 3. tion of the Magi, and the hasty flight for life into a strange land; the baptism, with the Ch. ii. 11, 13. opened heavens and descending Spirit, and the temptation, with all its circumstances of ch.i 13sq. and satanic trial. Observe too, how, thus heightened by contrast as well as heralded by prophecy, the Lord appears to us as the Son of David and ch. i. 1. the Son of Abraham, the spiritual King of spiritual Judaism, the Messiah of the Israel of God.l Yet withal observe how the Theocratic Kingr and the suffering Messiah pass and repass before our eyes, in ever new and ever striking interchange, and how a strange and deep tone of prophetic sadness blends with all we read, and prepares us as it were for Gethsemane and Calvary; and yet again, when the Lord has broken the bands of death, whose save St. Matthew's is that inspired pen that records that outpouring of exalted majesty, "All power is given me in heaven and in earth"? To whom save to the.Malt. xxviii. 18. first Evangelist owe we the record of that promise which forms the most consolatory heritage of the Church, "Lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world"? att. xxiii. 20. No less strongly marked is the individuality of St. Mark's Gospel. No less clearly in this inspired record can we trace the impressible and fervid Individuality of St. Mark's Gospel. character which we almost instinctively Acts xii. 12. ascribe to John MSark, the son of Mary (for I hold the identity of the Evangelist with the nephew of 1 Compare the fragments of Irenaeus, taken from Possini, Catenza Patrum, and cited in the various editions of that ancient writer (Grabe, p. 471; Massuet, Vol. i. p. 337); it is as follows: Tb KaTa? MaToaa EdayyeAtov erpbs'Iovoaaovs',ypadpl' obTros yap Eirea'ouovv radi'v aopoapa e'K orE'pLtacros Aal3a XploTdV.'0O 8e Marcaaos, Kai CtrL ahovoV aqoSporEpaC gEXOv T?)V roia6vC'rl7 7FLtautvaY, wav-,roLws EaorevUe 7rX7lpotpopCaYv rapefXEi ars'7To, C&s Ey7'iK Core'p.tar'os AaB63 6 Xpao'r6s. Atb Kai arrb ryErs'eaes aubTO {paTro. Compare Ebrard, Kritik der Evansg. Geschichte, ~ 21, p. 85. 4 38 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. 1. Barnabas),' - to him that seems to have been so forward in action, and yet, on one occasion at least, too ready to fall away. I say on one occasion at least, for there are many whose judgment demands our respect who also find in the young man with the hastily caught-up.Mark xiv. 51. linen garment, who followed but to flee, him who alone has handed down to us that isolated notice. Time would fail me if I were to name all the many touches that stamp this impress of individuality on the work of the second Evangelist. Do we not recognize his graphic pen and his noticeable love of the objective and the circumstantial in almost every event, and especially in every miracle, which he has been moved to record? Is not this plainly apparent in the narrative of the healing of the paralytic, in that of the Gadarene demoniac, Mark v. 2 sqq. in the account of the gradual recovery of the Mlark ixi. 22 sqq. blind man of Bethsaida, and in the striking description of the demoniac boy? Is not this to be felt in the various touches that diversify almost every incident that finds a place in his inspired record? S Is it not 1 This opinion has of late been considered doubtful (see Kienlen, Stud. u. Krit. for 1843, p. 423), but apparently on insufficient grounds. The silence of Papias as to the connection with Barnabas, on which an argument has been based, cannot fairly be pressed, as in the passage in question (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. iii. 39) Papias appears occupied not with the question who St. Mark was, but simply with the nature of the testimony which he delivered and his dependence on St. Peter. Ecclesiastical tradition seems to have recognized three bearing this name, -the Evangelist, John Mark, and the nephew of Barnabas; but for such a distinction still less can be said. Comp. Coteler, Constit. Apost. ii. 57, Vol. i. p. 265. The opinion of Da Costa (Four Witnesses, p. 114 sq.), that St. Mark was the devout soldier who attended on Cornelius (Acts x. 7), is a mere fancy, wholly destitute of even traditional testimony. 2 Such was the opinion of Chrysostom (in loc.), Gregory the Great (M3oral. xIv. 23), and one or two other ancient writers. It may, however, justly be considered very precarious, as the common and not unnatural supposition that the young man was a disciple does not seem to accord with the comment of Papias, ovre -yap ~KrovoTe Tro Kvpiov, otVTE raP7-KAoVX'ooes, aotm, ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. III. 39. 3 These touches are very numerous, but are perhaps more easily felt than specified. We may notice, however, the effective insertion on three occasions of the very Aramaic words that our Lord was pleased to use (ch. v. 41, vii. 34, xiv. 36), of the emphatic UCo6e7E prefixed to the parable of the Sower (ch. iv. 3), and of the words of power addressed to the winds and sea (ch. v. 39). Sometimes LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 39 St. Mark that presents to us our Master amid all the loneliness and horrors of the wilderness, "with the wild beasts"? Is it not he who brings up, as it were before our very eyes, our Redeemer on the storm-tossed lake, "ill the hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow"? Is it not he who so frequently and precisely notes almost every distinctive gesture and look,] and is it not to him that we owe the last touch, as it were, to that affecting picture of our Lord's Mlark x. 16. tenderness and love, when He " took up the young children in Hils arms, and put IIis hands upon them, and blessed them"? But still more does this individuality appear - and with this we are now most concerned -in the Especially in Sis broad and general picture which this Evangel- portraiture of our ist presents to us of his heavenly MIaster. If Lord. in the first Gospel we recognize transitions from theocratic glories to meek submissions, in the second we see our Redeemer in one light only, of majesty and power. If in St. Mlatthew's record we behold now the glorified and now details are brought out by the introduction of a single word (ch. xv. 43,'roxtA/oas), sometimes by the simple use of a stronger expression than is found in the corresponding passage in the other Gospels (compare, for instances, Mark i. 10, aX~Ot.I eovS TOVS oh paov's, with Matt. iii. 16, Luke iii. 21; ch. i. 12, EiK3dAAetL, with Matt. iv. 1, Luke iv. 1; ch. ii. 12, E'4iao'Taat, with Matt. ix. 8; ch. iv. 37, ysfieaSoatw, with Matt. viii. 24, Luke viii. 23; ch. vi. 46, &7roTade~vos, with Matt. xiv. 43; ch. xiv. 33, ficKaupf3erat Kal ar3VLpoveLv, with Matt. xxvi. 37), while at other times we seem made conscious, perhaps merely by a repetition of a word or phrase (ch. i. 14, 15, ii. 16, iv. 1, xi. 28, al.), perhaps merely by a strengthened form (e. g. cognate accus., ch. iii. 29, iv. 41, v. 42, vii. 13, xiii. 19), of that graphic vigor which so peculiarly characterizes the record of the second Evangelist. The single parable which is peculiar to this Gospel (ch. iv. 26 sq.) may be alluded to as bearing every impress of the style of St. Mark. 1 Many instances of this could be cited: we may pause to specify the allembracing look (7repshA'7reO&at) of our Lord, which, with the exception of Luke vi. 10, is noticed only by this Evangelist (ch. iii. 5, 34, v. 82, x. 23, xi. 11), the expression of inward emotions on different occasions (ch. vii, 34, viii. 12. x. 14, 21), and the very interesting fact of our Lord's heading His band of disciples on the last journey to Jerusalem, mentioned in ch. x. 32. Compare Da Costa, Four WTitnesses, p. 121; Lange, Leben Jesus, I. 7. 2, Vol. i. p. 179 sq.; Guericke, Einleitsulg, ~ 39. 3, p. 258 note; and Davidson, Introduction to N. T. Vol. i. p. 150. 40 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. the suffering Messiah, in St. Mark's vivid pages we see only the all-powerful incarnate Son of God; the voice we hear is that of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. With what peculiar variety of expression does this inspired writer notice the awe and amazement no less of the familiar cir32arkx. 32. cle of the disciples than of the more impresfark ix. 14; xi. sible multitude. With what circumstantial 18. touches does he put before us Him on whose lips the multitude so hung that they had scarce Sfark iv.]. room to stand, or time to eat,- Him that arjk iii- 20; vi. wrought such wondrous works that all men ark v.20. did marvel, yea, and unbelieving Nazareth Mark vi. 2. was astonished, —Iim whose fame was spread Mark vii. 36. all the more that He sought to conceal it,Mark vi.. 5 Him before whose feet, "whithersoever He entered, villages or cities," the sick were laid out, and laid out only to be made whole. These things can escape the observation of no attentive reader, nor will they, perhaps, fail almost to convince him, as they have almost convinced me, that he whose narrative, like Stephen's glance, penetrates beyond the clouds, and tells us how the Lord "was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God," was John Mark the Evanlgelist.1 1 It is right to speak with diffidence on a point on which modern critics and commentators (even Dr. Wordsworth) have judged differently. It is not desirable here to enter upon a criticism of external evidence, which will be found clearly and ably stated elsewhere (see especially the critical notes to the new edition of Tischendorfos Greek Testament; Meyer, Comamenzt on St. lXark, p. 170.sqq.; and Tregelles, Printed Text of the N. T. pp. 246-261), except to remark that the only clear and unqualified external evidence against the passage is now reduced to B, the Latin Codex Bobbiensis, some old MSS. of the Armenian Version, an Arabic Version in the Vatican, and perhaps we may add Severus of Antioch and Hesychius of Jerusalem (see Tischendorf, 1. c.), -the testimonies of Eusebius and Jerome being not so certain (see Wordsworth, Four Gospels, p. 12d7). As a set off against the arguments founded on differences in the use of a few words and expressions (see Norton, Genuineness of the Gospels, Vol. i. p. 219, ed. 2), we may certainly plead the circumstantial tone of ver. 10 (rEvaouIrrvw al KXhacotvov), of ver. 12 ('v erxpt /.op p, 7ropevote, OLrs e's &yp'v), the specifications, of ver. 17 sq., —against which the objections commonly urged seem most noticeably weak, —and the conclusion of ver. 19. Why may not this portion LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 41 Still more clearly, if it be possible, can we recognize the individuality of the Gospel of St. Luke. HIere the coincidences between the nature of Individzality of,t. Luke's Gospel. the history and what we know of him who wrote it, - the wise physician of Antioch,' - the proselyte as it has been thought of the gate, -the only one of the four Evangelists who bore in his body the mark of belonging to the wide world that was not of the stock of Abraham,2 —meet us again and again, and press themselves upon our attention, in ever new and ever suggestive combinations. I may allude in passing to the frequent and characteristic statement of the circumstances or reasons that gave rise to the events or discourses recorded,3 which we have been written by St. Mlark at a later period, when mere verbal peculiarities might have altered, but when general sentiment and style might, as we seem to observe is the case, remain wholly unchanged? To speculate on the causes which led to the interruption at the end of the 8th verse is perhaps idle. The terrible persecution under Nero, A. D. 64, is, however, somewhat plausibly urged as a possible period when the Evangelist might have suddenly sought safety by flight, leaving the record, which he had been so pressed to write (Euseb. Hist. Eccl. II. 15, VI. 14), unfinished, and to be concluded perhaps in another land, and under more peaceful circumstances. Comp. Norton, Genuinesess of the Gospels, Vol. i. p. 221. 1 Compare Euseb. Hist. Eccl. III. 4, —Aovtcas'rb ley yevos &v'rwv a&r''Av7woXELas; see also Jerome, Catal. Script. cap. 16. This statement has been recently considered doubtful (winer, R WB. Art " Lucas," Vol. ii. p. 35; Meyer, Einleitusng, p. 182), and due merely to a mistaken identification of the Evangelist with Lucius (Acts xiii. 1), but apparently without sufficient reason. The recent attempt to identify St. Luke with Silas has been noticed, but refuted by Dr. Davidson, Introductiozn, Vol. ii. p. 20. 2 This has been usually and, as it would seem, correctly inferred from Col. iv. 14, where St. Luke and Demas are named by themselves, and, with Epaphras, not included in the list which preceded (ver. 10, 11) of those who were of the circumcision; see notes in loc. 3 This may be observed especially in the way in which the parables, peculiar to this Evangelist, are commonly introduced into the sacred narrative. Compare ch. vii. 39 sq., x. 30 sq., xii. 13 sq., xviii. 1. and very distinctly, xix. 11. We may also here specify St. Luke's account of the outward circumstances that led to our Lord's being born at Bethlehem, the valuable clew he gives us to one of the significances of the Transfiguration (ch. ix. 31), the notice how St. Peter came to be armed with a sword (ch. xxii. 38), the mention of our Lord's being first blindfolded, and then bidden to prophecy who struck Him (ch. xii. 63; compare Blunt, Coincidences of the Gospels, No. xII. p. 47); and, to conclude a list which might be made much longer, the allusion to the circumstance which led to our Lord's being taken before Herod (ch. xxiii. 6 sq.). Compare also Lange, Leben Jesu, I. 7. 2, Vol. i. p. 256. 4* 42 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. find so strikingly in this Gospel. I may notice the peculiarly reflective, and, if I may use the term, psychological comments,l which the thoughtful physician so often passes on the actors or the circumstances which he brings forward in his inspired narrative. These things we can here only allude to in passing; we may, however, with profit to ourselves Portraiture of pause somewhat on the portraiture of our our Lord. Redeemer as presented to us by this Evangelist. If, as I said, St. Matthew presents to us our Redeemer more especially as the Messiah, the Son of Abraham and the Son of David; if St. Mark more especially presents Him to us as the incarnate and wonder-working Son of God, assuredly St. Luke presents Him to us in the most wide and universal aspects2 as the God-man, the 1 We may specify a few instances; e. g. the passing comment on the as yet imperfect perceptions of Joseph and Mary, ch. ii. 50, 51; the notice of the expectancy of the people, ch. iii. 15; the glimpse given us of the inward thoughts of the Pharisee, ch. vii. 39; the passing remark on their spiritual state generally, ver. 30; the brief specification of their prevailing characteristic, ch. xvi. 14; the sketch of the principles of action adopted by the spies sent forth by the chief priests and scribes, ch. xx. 20; the notice of the entry of Satan into Judas, ch. xxii. 3, and the significant comment on the altered relations between Pilate and Herod, ch. xxiii. 12. We may remark in passing that the difference between these comments and those which we meet with in St. John's Gospel is clear and characteristic. In St. John's Gospel such comments are nearly always specially introduced to explain or to elucidate (comp. ch. iii. 23, 24, iv. 8, 9. vi. 4, 10, 23, 71, vii. 39, xi. 2, 13, al.); in St. Luke's Gospel they are rather obiter dicta, the passing remarks of a thoughtful and reflective writer, called up from time to time by the varied aspects of the events which he is engaged in recording. Comp. Lange, Leben Jesu, I. 7. 2. Vol. i. p. 256 sq. 2 The universality of St. Luke's Gospel has been often commented on. Not only in this Gospel do we feel ourselves often, as it were, transported into the domain of general history (comp. Da Costa, Fouer Witnesses, p. 154),- not only can we recognize the constantly recurring relations or contrasts of Judaism and Gentilism (Ebrard. Kritik der Evang. Gesch. ~ 31, p. 120),-not only may we, with most modern critics, see this universality very distinctly brought out in the notice of the mission of the Seventy Disciples (Credner, Einleitung, ~ 60, p. 144), but we may trace the same characteristic in some of the recitals of leading events, in some of the miracles and parables, and in several of our Lord's isolated comments and observations. Consider, for example, ch. ii. 31, 32; iv. 27; ix. 1-6 (especially when contrasted with Matt. x. 5-6), ix. 52 sq. x. 30 sq., xvi. 16, xvii. 11 sq., xix. 38 (as contrasted with Matt. xxi. 9, Mark xi. 9, 10, John xii. 13,-in all of which the reference is to the thteocratic rather than to the universal King), xxiv. 47; and compare Patritius, dle Erangeliis, I. 3. 5. 80, Vol. i. p. 92. LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 43 Friend and Redeemer of fallen humanity, yea, even as his own genealogy declares it, not merely the Son of David and the Son of Abraham, but the Son of Adam and the Son of God.l With what affecting delineation does He who tenderly loved the race He came to save appear to us in the raising of the son of the widow of Nain, -in the narrative of her who was for- Ci vii. 13. given "because she loved much,"- in the Ch. vii.37sq. Ch. xv. 3 sq.; also parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and in mFatt. xvii. 10. the prodigal son, —in the address to the C%. xv. 8sq. daughters2 of Jerusalem, —in the prayer for C. xi. 11sq. Ch. xxiii. 27 sq. those who had crucified Him, —in the gra- C%. xi. s. cious promise to the penitent malefactor, cIh. xxiii. 40. vouchsafed even while the lips that spake it were quivering with agonies of accumulated suffering. In all these things, and in how many more than these that could easily be adduced, see we not the living picture of Him who was at once the Son of Mlan in mercy and the Son of God in power, whose grace and redemptive blessings extended to both Jew and Gentile, and who, even as He is borne up into the clouds of heaven, passes from our view in the narrative of St. Luke Ch. xxiv. 50. blessing those from whom He is parting;- " and it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven, and they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy"? On the internal characteristics of the Gospel of St. 1 This difference did not escape the notice of Chrysostom;'O psyX MarTaos, c7Te'Epafois?ypi.bwv, ov 7rAe''ov'iijTrroe 6e Tal, ) orTL &rb'Appaa'/ Kal Aavat6 oPv bS E AouKas a TE K ~ 117 7 v OS LaXEy74EPOS Kacl lYWT pW TbP AXyov ayvdcyel, T OXps'o3'A8&u 7rpoi'sy, in 2Hiatt. Iiom. 1. p. 7 (ed. Bened). See also Origen, ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. vi. 25. and the comments on this Gospel of Ebrard, Kritik der Ev. Geschichte, ~ 31, p. 120 sq. 2 It may be observed that consistently with the characteristic of universality above alluded to, St. Luke brings before us, more frequently than the other Evangelists, notices of pious and ministering womnen. Comp. ch. ii. 36, viii. 2, xxiii. 27, 55; and see also vii. 37 sq. The same feature is especially noticeable in the Acts. Comp. ch. i. 14, viii. 12, ix. 2, ix. 36, xii. 12, xvi. 1, 14, al. Comp. Da Costa, Four WYitnesses, p. 189 sq., Lange, Leben Jesu, Vol. i. 259. 44 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. John, and the picture that is there vouchsafed to us of our Lord, I need perhaps say but little, as that Individuality of blessed Gospel is to so large an extent cornSt. John's Gospel. posed of the Redeemer's own words, and as modern thought no less than the meditations of antiquity seem rarely to have missed seizing the true aspects of the divine image of the Son of God that is there presented to us.l The very words which I have chosen as my text declare the general object of the Gospel, - even " that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God;" the very opening words suggest the lofty sense in which that sonship is to be understood - "the Word was with God, and the Word Ch. i. 1. was God." As in the synoptical Gospels the Incarnate Son is mainly displayed to us in the operative majesty of outwardly-exercised omnipotence, so in the fourth Gospel is He mainly revealed to us in the tranquil majesty of conscious unity with the eternal Father.2 Here we are permitted to catch mysterious glimpses of the very inner life of our redeeming Lord; we behold the reader of the thoughts and intents of the human heart,' we note the 1 The excellent work of Luthardt (das Johanneische Evangelium, NUrnberg, 1852) may here be especially noticed. In this the reader will find Iull and careful notices of all that is peculiar and distinctive in this Gospel, an exposition of the plan of development, and comments on the component parts of the narrative. The writer is perhaps too much carried away by his theory of the regular and dramatic structure of the Gospel, and sometimes too artificial in his analysis of details, still his work remains, and will probably long remain, as one of the best essays on St. John's Gospel that has ever appeared. For a review, see Reuter, Repertor. Vol. lxxxv. p. 97. A good essay on the life and character of the Apostle will be found in Lucke, Comment. iiber Joh. ~ 2, Vol. i. p. 6 sqq., and some useful remarks on the general plan and arrangement of the Gospel, in Ebrard, Kritik der Ev. Geschichte, ~ 35, p. 141 sq. See also Davidson, Introduction, Vol. i. p. 334. 2 Compare Augustine, de Consensu Evang. i. 5: " Intelligi datur, si diligenter advertas, tres Evangelistas temporalia facta Domini et dicta quve ad informandos mores vitse presentis maxime valerent, copiosius persecutos, circa illam activam virtutem fuisse versatos: Joannem vero facta Domini multa pauciora narrantem, dicta vero ejus, ea prsesertim quae Trinitatis unitatem et vitae aeternse felicitatem insinuarent, diligentius et uberius conscribentem, in virtute contemplative commendanda, suam intentionem prsedicationemque tenuisse." -Vol. iii. p. 1046 (ed. Mign6). Compare Lange, Leben Jesu, I. 7. 2, Vol. i. p. 265 sq. 3 This seems a decided and somewhat noticeable characteristic of this Gospel. LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 45 ever-present consciousness of truest and innermost union with the Father of Spirits.l Yet we feel rather than see; we are made conscious rather than observe. -Iere, in the stillness of our hearts, as we read those heavenly discourses, we seem to feel the Son of God speaking2 to us "as a man speaketh with his friend;" His Exodus xxiii. 11. image seems slowly to rise up before us; the ideal picture gathers shape; we seem to see, yea in exalted moments we do see, limned as it were in the void before our eyes, "the King in His beauty;" heaven Isai. xxiii. 17. and earth melt away from our rapt gaze, we spiritually behold the very Redeemer of the world, we hear the reassuring voice, and we say, with a conviction deep as that of him whom this Gospel tells Joko xx. 28. us of, "My Lord and my God." On the picture of our Lord which this Gospel presents to us,3 I am sure then I need say no more. I will only in See, for example, ch. i. 47, ii. 24, iv. 17, 18, v. 42, vi. 15, 61, 64, xiii. 11; compare xi. 4, 15. It may be observed that in some instances, e. g. our Lord's conversation with Kicodemus, a remembrance of this characteristic will greatly assist us in understanding the true force of our Lord's words. It would certainly seem, in a few cases, as if our Lord was not so much replying to the words of the speaker, as to the thoughts which He knew were rising up within. Compare Meyer, on Joh. iii. 3; Stier, 1Reden Jesu, Vol. iv. p. 376 sq. (Clark). 1 Compare ch. iii. 16, 35 sq. v. 17 sq. vi. 57, viii. 42, x. 15, 30, xi. 42, al. It may be further observed that it is in St. John's Gospel alone that we find the title!iovo'yst-rS applied to the Eternal Son. See ch. i. 14, 18, iii. 16, 18, and compare 1 John iv. 9. 2 In this Gospel our Lord is truly to us what the significant appellation of the inspired writer declares Him to be,-the Word. In the other Gospels our attention is mainly centred on our Lord's acts. but in this last one he speaks. See Da Costa, Four Witnesses, p. 240. It may indeed be noticed as one of the striking features of this Gospel that it makes all its characters exhibit their individuality to us by what they say rather than by what they do. We may recognize this kind of self-portraiture partially in the case of Nathanael (ch. i. 47 sq.) and Nicodemus (ch. iii. 1 sq.), and very distinctly in that of the woman of Samaria (ch. iii. 7 sq.) and of the man born blind (chl. ix. 1, 39). The very enemies of our Lord appear similarly before us; all their doubts (ch. viii. 22), divisions (ch. x. 19), and machinations (ch. xi. 47) are disclosed to us as it were by themselves, and in the words that fell from their own lips. For some good remarks on the individualizing traits and characteristics of those who appear on the pages of St. John's Gospel, see Luthardt, Das Johann. Evasig. III. 2, Part i. p. 98 sq. 3 For some further notices and i'lustrations, see especially Luthardt, Das 46 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS ON THE LECT. I. conclusion call your attention to the mystical completeness which this Gospel gives to the evangelical history. I will only ask you to spend a moment's thought on that everlasting wisdom by which it was fore-ordained that a Gospel should be vouchsafed to us in which the loftiest ideal purities and glories with which we might be able to invest the Son of David, the Son of God, and the Son of Man, might receive a yet loftier manifestation, and by which the more distinctly historical pictures disclosed to us by the synoptical Evangelists might be made instinct with a quickening life, which assuredly they lack not, but which we might never have completely realized if we had not been endowed with the blessed heritage of the Gospel of St. John.' Johann. Evang. III. 2, p. 92 sq., and for comparisons between the pictures of our Redeemer as displayed to us in this and the three other Gospels, Lange, Leben Jesu, I. 7. 2, Vol. i. p. 271 sq. Compare also Da Costa, Four Witnesses, p. 286 sq. 1 We may, perhaps, profitably close this comparison of the characteristics of the four Gospels with a brief statement of some of the distinctions which have either been above alluded to, or may be further adduced as evincing the clear individuality of each one of the inspired records. In regard of (1) the Externalfeatures and characteristics, we are perhaps warranted in saying that (a) the point of vielo of the first Gospel is mainly Israelitic; of the second, Gentile; of the third, universal; of the fourth, Christian; -that (b) the general aspect and, so to speak, physiognomy of the first mainly is Oriental; of the second, Roman; of the third, Greek; of the fourth, spiritual; -that (c) the style of the first is stately and rhythmical; of the second, terse and precise; of the third, calm and copious; of the fourth, artless and colloquial; - that (d) the most striking characteristic of the first is symmetry; of the second, compression; of the third, order; of the fourth, system;-that (e) the thought and language of the first are both Hebraistic; of the third, both Hellenistic; while in the second the thought is often Occidental though the language is Hebraistic; and in the fourth the language Hellenistic, but the thought Hebraistic. Again (2), in respect of Subject-matter and contesnts we may say perhaps (a), that in the first Gospel we have narrative; in the second, memoirs; in the third, history; in the fourth, dramatic portraiture; — (b) that in the first we have often the record of events in their accomplishment; in the second, events in their detail; in the third, events in their connection; in the fourth, events in relation to the teaching springing from them; -that thus (c), in the first we more often meet with the notice of impressions; in the second, of facts; in the third, of motives; in the fourth, of words spoken; —and that, lastly (d), the record of the first is mainly collective and often antithetical; of the second, graphic and circumstantial; of the third, didactic and reflective; of the fourth, selective and supplemental. We may (3), conclude by saying that in respect of the Portraiture of our Lord, the first Gospel presents Him to us mainly as the Messiah; the second, mainly as the God-man; the third, as the LECT. I. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR GOSPELS. 47 And now I must close these meditations. Fain would I dwell on some more practical applications, but the remembrance that these are lectures rather than Conclusion. sermons, and that the time is far spent, warns me to say no more. Yet I cannot part from you, my younger brethren, without simply yet lovingly urging you ere we again meet in this church to spend a brief hour in reviving your remembrance of the events in our Redeemer's history which conclude with the return of the Holy family to Nazareth, and precede the isolated notice of our Lord's visit to the Temple when twelve years old; for thus far my next lecture will extend. I venture to suggest this, for I feel that you will thus be enabled to enter with a fresher interest into the meditations into which, with the help of Almighty God, I hope to lead you next Sunday afternoon. Yet withal remember, I beseech you, that this is no mere investigation of chronological difficulties, no dry matter of contested annals, but involves an effort to see and feel with more freshness and reality the significance of the recorded events in the earthly life of the Eternal Son.L Remember that it implies a humble endeavor, by the grace of the inworking Spirit, to gain a more vital and personal interest in the inspired history of Him who stooped to wear the garments of our mortality, who submitted for our sakes to all the. conditioning circumstances of earthly life, was touched with a sense of our infirmities, yea, as an inspired writer has told us, was pleased to learn obedience "by the things H v8. that He suffered," though himself the King of kings and Lord of lords, God blessed for ever; Amen. Redeemer; the fourth, as the only-begotten Son of God. For illustrations of this summary the reader may be referred to the Four Witnesses of Da Costa, to Davidson, Introduction to the N. T. Vol. i.; Lange, Leben Jesu, I. 7. 2, Vol. i. p. 234-281; Ebrard, Kritik der Evang. Geschichte, ~ 10-39. 1 For some excellent remarks on the unity of the Gospel history on the one hand, and its fourfold yet organically connected revelation of our Redeemer's life and works on the other, see especially the eloquent and thoughtful work of Dr. Lange, already several times referred to, Das Leben Jesu, vII. 1, 2, Book i. p. 230 sq.- a work which we sincerely hope may ere long meet with a competent translator. 48 INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS. LECT. I. Such a work, if regarded under such aspects, and with such remembrances, both is and must be blessed. Such contemplations, if engaged in with a humble and loving spirit, will add a strength to your faith, which, it may be, the storm and stress of coming life will never be able successfully to weaken, and against which those doubts and difficulties which at times try the hearts of the young and inexperienced will be found both powerless and unprevailing. 0, may the grace of our Redeemer be with you; may He quicken your young hearts; may He show unto you IIis glorious beauty; may His image grow in your souls; and both in you and in us all may His life-giving spirit enlighten the eyes of our understanding, and fill us, heart and soul and spirit, with all the fulness of God. LECTURE II. TIE BIRTI-I AND INFANCY OF OUR LORD. JAD TOE eLID GIEIhW, AMI) WVAXED STIIONG' IN SPIInl', FILLED WVITH WISDOM:. A'D TIlE GRACE OF GOD WVAS UPON nII. -St. Lu.tle ii. 40. TilE text which I have just read, brethren, forms the concluding verse of that 1portion of the EvanGeneral aspects gelical history to which, with God's assisting of o te p.resent ungrace, I purpose directing your attention this t afternoon. We may now be said to have fairly entered upon the solemn subject which I propose treating in these lectures; and we shall do well at once to address ourselves to its discussion. And that, too, without any further preliminary matter, as I trust that my remarks last Sunday will have so far prepared us for the sound and reverential use of the four sources of our Redeemer's history, that we need no longer delay in applying the principles which were there alluded to. I will pause onlyso far, to gather up the results of our foreroing meditations, as to remind you that, if our observations on the general character and relations of the four inspired records were in any degree just and reasonable, it would certainly seem clear that our present endeavor to set forth a continuous and connected life of our MIaster must involve a constant recognition of two seemingly opposite modes of proceeding. On the one hand, we must regard the four holy histories as to a great degree independent in their aiins, objects, and general construction,as marked by certain fore-ordered and providentiallymarked characteristics; and yet, on the other hand, we must not fail to observe that they stand in such relations 5 50 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. to each other as may both sanction and jiustify our combining them in a general delineation of the chief features of our Redeemer's earthly life. While we may shrink fromn mere cold and sometimes forced harmonizing on this side, we must not, on that, so exaggerate seeming differences' as to plead exemption firom the edifying task of comparing Scripture with Scriptulre,2 and of supplying from one inspired writer what another might have thought it meet to leave unnoticed or unexplained. Nay, more, we must not shrink from noting even seeming discrepancies,3 lest we fail to learn, by a more attentive consideration of them, how they commonly arise from our ignorance of some unrecorded relations, and how the seeming discord is due only to the Selahs and silences in the mingled strains of Evangelical harmony.4 1 This, which Augustine (de Consenseu Evtang. I. 7. 10) well calls " palmare vanitatis," has been far too much the tendency of modern commentators and essayists, especially in Germany. We may observe this not merely in the repulsive productions of men like Strauss and his followers, but even in the commentaries of more sober and thoughtful writers. I may specify, for instance, the otherwise valuable commentary of Dr. Meyer. I-lere we lhave not only the fewest possible efforts to adjust or account for differences in the order of events in the Gospel history, but only too often a tendency to represent them greater than they really are found to be. Compare, for example, this writer's objectionable remarks on Luke v. 1-11,'Kommetar, p. 263. The results of the modern destructive school are stated fairly and clearly by Ebrard, Kritik der Evang. Gesch. ~ 114-118, p. 608. See especially p. 641. 2 Some judicious remarks on the true Christian method of estimating, comparing, and criticizing the inspired records of the four Evangelists, will be found in the introduction to Lange's Leben Jesu. See especially Book I. 4. 7, Vol. i. p. 141 sq. 3 The duty of the critic in this respect is well stated by Dr. Lange in the work above referred to: " The Evangelist," he says, " may certainly, nay, must appear to contradict himself; for the appearance of such contradiction is the mark of life, depth, and freshness. Nature appears a thousand times over to contradict herself. If a critic finds a difficulty in such an appearance of contradiction, and demands from the Gospels the precision of notaries, he clearly enough evinces his own incapability of forming a just estimate of them." Leben Jesu, I. 4. 7, Vol. i. p. 144. See also some brief but good remarks on seeming discrepancies in the introduction to Chrysostom's Homilies on St. liatt. I. p. 5 (ed. Bened.) 4 " But if in recounting the wonders (of the Gospel history) all did not mention the same things, but one mentioned this set of incidents and another thliat, do not be disturbed thereby. For if one had related everything the rest would have been superfluous; or if all had writteii new and peculiar matter in refer. IECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 51 But let us delay no longer, for the subject before us is so extended that it will fully occupy all our titme, and so varied that it will require some Aaget. of th adjustment to adapt it to the prescribed limits of these lectures. As the present course of the IIulsean Lectures is limited in its duration to one year, and consequently will, at the very utmost, only afford me eight opportunities of addressing you,' it will perhaps be best to adopt the following divisions. In the present lecture we will consider the events of the Lord's infincy. Next Sunday we will meditate on the single recorded event of our Lord's boyhood, and that portion of the history of His manhood which commences with HIis baptism and concludes with the miracle at the pool of Bethesda,- in a word, what may be roughly though conveniently termed our Lord's early J,4ckcean ministry. A fourth and a fifth lecture may be devoted to the ministry in Galilee and the neirghboring districts; a sixth may contain a brief account of the Lord's last three journeys to or towards Jerusalem; a seventh may well be given exclusively to the events of the passover, —that period of such momentous interest, and so replete with difficulties of combination and arrangement; - and a concluding lecture may embrace the history of the last forty days. In the present portion, if we leave out the commencement of St. John's Gospel and the early history of the Bal)tist,2 the first recorded event is of an importance ence to one another there would not have appeared the present evidence of agreement." - Chrysostom, ib. p. 6. See further some judicious remarks in the introduction to The Four Witnesses of' Da Costa, p. 1 sq. 1 Owing to recent regulatiols, this number of Lectures has been finally reduced to six. The last two Lectures were thus not preached, but are added both for the sake of still maintaining some conformity to the will of the founder, and also for the sake of givinr a necessary completeness to the subject. 2 These portions of the ilspired narrative are not commented on. The former belongs more to the province of dongmatical theology, the latter to the general history of our Lord's times, into neither of -which our present limits and the restricted nature of our subject will nlow permit us to enter. The student will 52 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. that cannot be over-estimated, - that single event in the history of our race that bridges over the stuconctioaculous pendous chasm between God and man. That conception of onr Lord; its...ystery first event is the miraculous conception of and sublimity. our Redeemer.' It is related to us both by the first and third Evangelists,2 and by the latter with such an accuracy of detail, that we may bless God for having vouchsafed to us a record which, if reverently and attentively considered, will be found to suggest an answer to every question that might present itself to an honest though amazed spirit. Yea, and it is a subject for amazement.3 Dull hearts there may be that have never cared to meditate deeply on these mysteries of our salvation, and to which the wonder and even perplexity of nobler find an elaborate and, in most respects, satisfactory article on the Baptist, in Xviner, Realzovrterb. Vol. i. p. 585-590; and some good comments on his ministry in Greswell, Dissert. xIx. Vol. ii. p. 148 sq. 1 Some good remarks on this profound subject will be found in ZNeander, Life of Christ, p. 13 sq. (Bohn). The student will there find an able exposure of the mythical view, as it is called, of this sublime mystery, and brief but satisfactory answers to current objections. The main position of Neander is, that the miraculous conception was demanded dpriori, and confirmed dposteriori. As regards any explanation of the special circumstances of this holy miracle, all that call be said has been said by Bp. Pearson, Creed, Art. III. Vol. i. p. 203 (ed. Burton). See also Andrewes, Serm. ix. Vol. i. p. 135 sq. (A.-C. Libr.). The dignity of the conception is well touched upon by Hilary, de Trinitate, Book II. p. 17 (Paris, 1631). 2 The objection founded on the assumed silence of St. John is wholly futile. If our view of St. John's Gospel be correct (see above, p. 30), it may be fairly urged that a formal notice of an event which had been so fully related by one Evangelist and so distinctly confirmed by another would have seemed out of place in a Gospel so constructed as that of St. John. What we might have expected we meet with, -the fullest and most unquestioned statement of this divine truth (ch. i. 14, comp. ver. 13), nay more, reasoning which depends upon it (ch. iii. 6), but no historical details. See 1Neander, Life of Christ, p. 17, note (Bobn), and compare Da Costa, Four Witnesses, p. 286. The similarly assumed silence of St. Paul (Von Ammon, Gesch. des Lebens Jesu, I. 4, Vol. i. p. 186) is abundantly confuted by Lange, Leben Jesu, II. 2, 4, Vol. ii. pp. 72, 73. 3 Well may Augustine say: " Quid mirabilius virginis partu! concipit et virgo est; parit et virgo est. Creatus est de el quam creavit: attulit ei fecunditatem, non corrupit ejus integritatem." —Serie. CLXXXIX. 2, Vol. v. p. 1605 (ed. Mign6). So, too, Gregory of Nazianzus, in a fine sermon on the nativity: npoexa5lv 8 ebeOs IrET& T1NS rpooAXI*IeWs'V fK 8'O TTV EvavTLw, oapKbS Kai nY6evuaTos' Wv Tb xv, W'f ce,'rb 8, d,3reaf. I T71er KaiviS p'eLWS, & T7S 7rapartov KpaccsEws, 6 bv yitvEraL, Ktal 6 &ccrrTOs KTL'STal, Kal O aXcp7lT-os XWepTaZ 8&& 07s vOOs"X~s soepap;s /.eteOril;s DesoTie' tcl'TaptcS 7raxurlTT. - Orat. xxxviii. p. 620 (ed. 3Morell). LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 53 spirits may have seemed unreasonable or inexplicable. Such there may be; but who of higher strain, as he sees and feels the infirmities with which he is encompassed, the weakness and friailty of that flesh with which he is clothed,' the sinfulness that seems wound round every fibre, and knit up with every joint of his perishing body, - who has truly felt all this, and not found himself at times overwhelmed with the contemplation of the mystery of Emmanuel,2 -the everlasting God manifested in, yea tabernacling in, this very mortal flesh? Wild heathenism, we say, may have dreamed such dreams. The pagan of the West may have vaunted of his deified mortality and his brother men ascending to the gods; the pagan of the East may have fabled of his encarnalized divinities, and of his gods descending to men; but this mystery of mysteries, that the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father, He whose out-goings had been from everlastingo whose hands had laid the bases of the hills and spread out the floods, that HIe should become incarnate, should take upon Him our nature and our infirmities, - can it be? Can such a thought have found an expression in prophecy?4 Can it 1 "What say you to flesh? is it meet God be manifested therein?'Without controversy' it is not. Why, what is flesh? it is no mystery to tell what it is; it is dust, saith the patriarch Abraham. It is grass, saith the prophet Esay; foenum,'grass cut down, and withering.' It is'corruption,' not corruptible, but even corruption itself, saith the Apostle Paul.... We cannot choose but hold this mystery for great, and say with Augustine, Dens; quid gloriosius? Caro; quid vilius? Dens in carne; quid mirabilius? -Andrewes, Sern. III. Vol. i. p. 37 (A.-C. Libr.). 2 " O, the height and depth of this super-celestial mystery! " says the eloquent Ilishop IIall,' that the inlinite Deity and finite flesh should meet in one subject, yet so as the humanity should not be absorbed of the Godhead, nor the Godhead contracted by the humanity, but both inseparably united; that the Godhead is not humanized, the humanity not deified, both are indivisibly conjoined; conjoined so as without confusion distinguished."'-Great lMystery of Godliness, ~ 2, Vol. viii. p. 332 (Oxf. 1S37). Chrysostom has expressed very similar sentiments and with equal eloquence. See liom. in Mlatt. II. p. 21 (ed. Bened.). 3 This thought is well expressed and expanded by Dr. Dorner in his valuable work on the Person of C7hrist, Vol. i. p. 4 sq. (ed. 2, 1845). 4 The prophecies of the Old Testament relating to the miraculous conception, so often and so recklessly explained away or denied, will be found calmly and critically, though not in all respects satisfactorily, discussed by Hofmann, Schriftbewleis, II. 1. 5. 3, Vol. ii. p. 54-69. 5* 54 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. have become realized in history? Say, - can it be? Can the world produce a narrative that can make such a conception imaginable? Is there a record that can make such an event seem credible, seem possible, we will not say to a doubting, but even to a receptive and to a trustful spirit? Yea, verily, blessed be God, we have that narrative, and on that narrative, not only in its general outlines, but its most special details, we may rely with a confidence which every meditative reading will be found to enhance and to corroborate. Let us pause a moment to consider a few of the more striking portions of the narrative, especially The narrative of from the point of view in which we are for the conception considered generally. the moment regarding it,- that of supplying the fullest conviction to every honest but anxious, every longing but inquiring, heart. Does the idealizing spirit that views the transcendent event in all the circumstances of its widest universality, -that seems to recognize the mysterious adaptations of earthly dominion,1 to read the tokens of the fulness of the times, and to discern the longings pervading, not only the chosen 1 The state of the world at the epoch when our Lord appeared was exactly that which, according to our mere human conceptions, might seem most fitted for the reception of Christianity. Judaism, on the one hand, had lost all those external glories and prerogatives which, at an earlier period, would have prevented any recognition of the Messiah, save as a national ruler and king. There would have been no Israel of God with chastened hearts and more spiritualized expectancies waiting, as we know they now were, for a truer redemption of Israel. Heathenism, on the other hand, had now gained by its contact with Judaism truer conceptions of the unity of God; and many a proselyte of the gate was there who, like the centurion of Capernaum (Luke vii. 5), loved well the nation that had taught him to kneel to the one God, and could bear to receive from that despised people a knowledge of his own and the world's salvation. Compare Jost, Geschichte des Judentlhums, III. 1, 4, Vol. i. p. 330, and M3ilman, Hist. of Christianity, ch. I. Vol. i. p. 21 sq. When we add to this the remembrance of the recent consolidation of the power of Rome (see esp. Merivale, Hist. of Ronans, ch. xxxIx. Vol. iv. p. 383 sq.), and recognize a political centralization which could not but aid, however unwittingly and unwillingly, the pervasive influences of the new faith, we may well feel that the very appearance of Christianity, at the time when it did appear, is in itself an indirect evidence of its divine nature and truth. See some good remarks on this subject in Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. 1. 1, p. 15 sq.; and for a fairly candid statement of the relations of Judaism to Christianity, the learned work of Jost, Gescl'icite des Judenthulsus, II. 3 11, Vol. i. p. 394 sq. LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 55 people,' but the whole wide realms of the Eastern world,2 — does such a spirit, meditating thus loftily and perchance blamelessly upon the mighty coincidences of time and place and history, seek in vain for some features in the record of the incarnation of the Son of God that shall respond to such feelings? Does not the direct message from Jehovah, the angelic Luke i. 26. ministration, the operative influence of the Ltke i. 28. Eternal Spirit, all tend to work a conviction Luke, i. 35. that to the receptive heart becomes of inexpressible strength?3 Or again, to the more humble and meek spirit, that seeks only by the holy leadings of simple narrative to gain for itself a saving knowledge of the history of its own salvation, is there not here disclosed, in the many notices of the purely human and outward relations of those whom the opening of the Gospel brings before us, those artless traits of historic truth that on some minds work such a fulness of conviction? Yes, let us take the very objections of adversaries or sceptics, and see in this portion of St. Luke's Gospel the more direct agencies of the spiritual world, and in the short notice of St. 1 The gradual development of this feeling, and the circumstances which helped to promote it, are well noticed by Ewald, Geschichte Christus', pp. 55-96. 2 It has been recently considered doubtful whether the well-known passages from Tacitus (Hist. v. 13) and Suetonius ( Vespas. 4) relating to the feeling that pervaded the whole Eastern world, and the attention that was directed to Judtea, may not have been imitated from Josephus (Bell. Jud. vII. 5, 4). See Neander, Life of Christ, p. 28, note (Bohn), and compare Whiston, Dissert. III., appended to his translation of Josephus, esp. Vol. iii. p. 612 (Oxford, 1839). Such an imitation does not seem clearly made out; still, even if in part we concede it, we have only thus far weakened the testimony firom without as to consider it an acceptance of a statement made from within, because that statement was felt to be correct. 3 " Our own idea of Christ compels us to admit that two factors, the one ratural, the other supernatural, were coefficient in His entrance into human life; and this, too, although we may be unable, d priori, to state how that entrance was accomplished. But at this point the historical accounts come to our aid, by testifying that what our theory of the case requires, did in fact occur." —Neander, Life of Christ, p. 13 (Bolhn), -- a loose, but substantially correct representation of the original (Leben Jesue Christi, p. 15). Compare Bp. Taylor, Life of Christ, I. ad sect. I. 4, Vol. i. p. 28 (Lond. 1836). 56 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. Matthew's Gospel their more mediate workings,'-let us accept the statement, and see in it only one more proof, if proof be needed, of the diverse forms in which Evangelical Truth is presented to the receptive mind, let us recognize in it only one more example of the varied aspects of the manifold wisdom of God. Let us now substantiate the foregoing remarks by a brief notice of the details of the inspired The narratire of the Coneeption con- history. side)ed in its details. dditdetails. What a vivid truth, speaking humanly, there is in the narrative of St. Luke! With what a marvellous aptitude to human infirmity do things, divine and human, mingle with each other in ever illustrative and ever confirmatory combinations. With what striking persuasiveness do mysteries seemingly beyond the grasp of thought blend lovingly with the simplest elements, and become realizable by the teachings of the homely relations of humble and sequestered life. With what a noble yet circumstantial simplicity - a simplicity that in the language, no less than in the facts related, bewrays the record of her who saw and believed 2 — is the opening story told 1 See, for example, Von Ammon, Gesch. des Lebens Jesst, I. 5, Vol. i. p. 194. We do not in these lectures notice, nor do we consider it either useful or edifying to notice, the repulsive opinions of writers like Strauss (Leben Jesu), W'eisse ((ldie Evaszg. Geschichte), or Gfrirer (Geschichte des U'rchristenthum): their general tendencies are so simply destructive, their unhappy criticisms so almost judicially infatuated, and their progressions in doubt and denials (see Ebraid, Kritik der Ev. Gesch. ~ 6, 7) such melancholy instances of a very 1uE;oSEeia 7rAadvs (Eph. iv. 14), that we may well leave them to themselves, and to their own mutual confutations. Writers of the character of the one above alluded to may, however, sometimes be profitably referred to, as evincing, as Von Ammon especially does in respect of this narrative (see pp. 190, 191), what an amount of unhappy effort it takes to resist the impression of its vital truth which the evangelical history makes upon doubting minds that will consent to be reasonable and candid. 2 See Lange, Leben Jess, II. 2. 6, Vol. ii. p. 93. We can, perhaps, hardly go so far with this able writer as positively to find in the recital of the events a diction that belongs rather to a woman than to at man; but when we mark the specialities of the narrative, the preservation of the exact expressions of the sacred canticles, and, above all, the tone of artless reality which pervades the whole, we seem perfectly justified in believing that we have here, partly perhaps in substance, partly in precise terms, a record that camre to St. Luke, mediately or LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 57 of man's redemption! The angel Gabriel, he who stood among the highest of the angelic hierarchy, and whose ministrations, if it be not too bold a thing to affirm, appear to have been specially Jiessiacnic, just as those of Raphael might have pertained to individual need, and those of Milichael to judicial power,' that blessed Spirit, who a few months before had been sent to announce the future birth of the forerunner, is now sent fiom God to a rude and lone village in the hills of Galilee, Luke i. U. — Nazareth the disesteemed,2 and to a betrothed virgin,; whose name was Mary. Of the early history of that highly favored one we know nothing. Yet, without borrowing one thought from the legendary notices of apocryphal narrative,4 it does not seem a baseless fancy to recognize in her one of those pure spirits that in seclusion and loneliness were looking and longing for the theocratic King, immediately, from the lips of the Virgin herself,-her Son's first evangelist. And with such a belief the peculiarities of the diction seem fully to coincide. While throughout we can trace the hand of St. Luke (see esp. Gersdorf, Beitrage, p. 160 sq.), we can also see in the transition from the studied dedication to the simple structure of the ancient Scriptures just that change which a faithful incorporation of the recital of another would be certain to introduce. Compare Mill, on Pantheistic Principles, Part iI. p. 23 sq. 1 This remark (valeat quantum) is due to Lange (Leben Jesu, ii. 2. 2, Vol. ii. p. 46), whose whole chapter on the subject of angelic ministrations deserves perusal. For further references on the nature of angels, see notes on Eph. i. 21; and for a most able confutation of the arguments against this portion of the sacred narrative, founded on angelic appearances, Mill, Obss. on Pantheistic Principles, Part ii. 4, p. 52 sq. 2 See Stanley, Palestine, chap. x. 1, p. 361 (ed. 2), and compare John i. 46, and the notes of Meyer in loc. The savage act recorded by St. Luke (ch. iv. 29) is a good commentary on the meaning of Nathanael's question. For an interesting description of Nazareth, especially considered with reference to the Gospel history, see Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 333 sq. (ed. 2). 3' So it was that the Virgin was betrothed, lest honorable marriage might be disreputed, and seem inglorious, by a positive rejection from any participation in the honor.' -Taylor, Life of Christ, 1, ad sect. I. 6, Vol. i. p. 29 (Lond. 1836). Other, and some of them singular, reasons are assigned by the older writers. See Spanheim, Dub. Evang. Part I. p. 116. The use of the word pE/Itr.7-rTEvgAevW is investigated with much learning by Blynmus, de Vatatli Jes. Chr. x. p. 28 sq. 4 The history of the Virgin is told at great length in the Protevaangelium of James, and in the so-called Gospels de OQru (Pseudo-3Iatt.) and de Nativitate M~arime. See Tischendorf, Erang l1pocryp2ha (Lips. 1S3); and for a connected history formed out of lhease apocryphal writings, the laborious work of HIof: mallnnll (R), (dts Lebel.7eesn;iach d7l dn )pocr!l)he n (ILeipz. 1851). 58 THE IBIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. and that, deeply imbued, as we see the Virgin must have been, both with the letter and with the spirit of the Old Testament, were awaiting the evolution of L e *4-. the highest of all its transcendent prophecies. Rapt as such a one might well have been in devotion, or in Messianic meditation,l she sees before her, at no lerendary spring-side,2 but, as the words of the Evangelist seem rather to imply, in her own humIble abode, Luke i. 28. the divinely-sent messenger, and hears a salutation which, expressed in the terms in which it was expressed, "Hail, highly favored one! the Lzue i. 28. Lord is with thee," and coming as it did firom an angel's lips, must well have troubled that meek spirit and cast it into awe and perplexity.3 What persuasive truth there is in the nature of the terms in which the announcement is conSeff-evrtenettrlth veyed. To that highly favored one, that perof the narrative. chance had long communed in stillness on the prophecies of the Messianic kingdom, to her is Jesus the Son of the Highest portrayed in that form, which, partially Israelitic in general outline, yet Christian in essence,4 1 Bp. Taylor censures any speculation of this kind; but it seems, to say the least, harmless, and not inconsistent with the meditative spirit which reveals itself in the Virgin's inspired canticle. Bengel hints at the time as evening, comparing Dan. ix. 21. 2 Compare Protevanlg. cap. 11, Hist. de Nat. caerice, cap. 9, and compare Hofmanni. Leben Jesu, p. 74. The expressions of inspired narrative (ver. 28) seem in this particular to justify the statement made in Suidas s. v.'I77o'os, where the Virgin is related as specifying, - El'E2AS&V e'v ijIU77v o01,U~aTL. The spring in question is alluded to and briefly described by Stanley, Palestine, p. 362 (ed. 2). 3 The addition of the participle i13oua in the received text, though not without great external support (see Tischerdorf in loc.), must still be considered as somewhat doubtful. Even if retained, we may perhaps more naturally refer the troubled feeiings of the Virgin simnply to the terms in which the salutation was couched: observe the specific Eirl,rr A2yc, and the conclfding clause, Kal Le2XoyLoETo 7ro(ra7,ros e'71 a7raoaabs o'Tros. 4 We seem to recognize this distinction in the expressions of ver. 33. — If, on the oCe hand, the heavenly messegiier declares, ini continuation of the image at the concludriig part of the former verse, that the Eternal Son " shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever;" he, on the other hand, seems to imply, by tlie very seeming repelitiou, " Alld of IIis kingdom there shlall be no end,'" a reference to a still more universal dominion. Comp. Dan. vii. 14, and see By:-nius, de BNatali Jes. Chr. xxxvI. p. 117 sq. LECT. I. OF OUR LORD. 59 must have begun to work in her the most lively conviction. Yet how characteristic is the question, "How Luke i. 34. shall this be? " the question not of outwardly Lua.e i. 18. expressed doubt, like that of Zacharias, or of Gen. xvii. 17. an inwardly felt sense of impossibility, like Gen. xviii.12. that of Abrahain and Sarah in the old and typical past, but of a childlike innocence, that sought to realize to itself, in the very face of seeming impossibilities, the full assurance of its own blessedness. No, there was no lack of real faith in that question.' It was a question to which the heavenly messenger was permitted to return a most explicit answer, and to confirm by a most notable example, even that of her kinswoman Elisabeth, that with God no word *Lake i. 37. was impossible,2- no promise that was not to receive its completest and most literal fulfilment. With these words of the angel all seems to have become clear to her in reglard of the wonder-working power of God; much, too, must have already seemed clear to her on the side of man. With the rapid fore-glance of thought, she must have seen in the clouded future, scorn, dereliction, the pointed finger of a mocking and uncharitable world, calumny, shame, death. But what was a world's scorn, or 1 The utmost that can be said is that the Virgin felt the seeming impossibility, and that in avowing the feeling she sought for that further assurance which she also felt would not be withheld, and would at once allay her doubts. Even the following excellent remarks of Jackson attribute to the Virgin somewhat more mistrust than the words and the case seem to imply: " It is far from my disposition at any time, or my purpose at this, to urge further to aggravate the infirmity of a vessel so sanctified, elect, and precious: and I am persuaded tho Evangelist did not so much intend to disparage hers, as to confirm our belief, by relating her doubtful question, and the angel's reply; the one being but Sarah's mistrust, refined with maidenly modesty, the other Sarah's check, mitigated and qualified by the angel." — Creed, Book vII. 1. 12, Vol. vi. p. 209 (Oxf. 1844). The earlier commentators, though perhaps they slightly overpress the wr(s in the Virgin's question (en7rC7?qToa by Tp~TroV TO-Oe prpdYaTOS, Theoph.), have in most cases rightly appreciated the true state of feeling which prompted the question. Comp. Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. 2, 3, Vol. ii. p. 66 2 It is usual to consider P//lla in this text as coextensive in meaning with the Hebrew 7'=i, and as implying " thing," " matter " (Wordsworth, isa loc.). This is now rightly called in question by the most accurate interpreters; the meaning is simply as stated by Euthymius, — iav } AE'ye, 7rway a erayyEAeTraL. See Meyer, Komn2ent. iiber Luk., p. 203. 60 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. a world's persecution, to those wordls of promise? Faith sutstains that possible shrinking fiomn more than mortal trial, and turns it into meekest resignation: "Behold the handl:l.id of the Lord; be it unto mne according to thy word." From that hour the blessed Virgin seemns ever to appear before us in that character, which the notices of' the Gospels so consistently adumbrate,i meek and pensive, meditative and resigned, blessed with joys no tonguie can tell, and yet, even in the first hours of her blessedness, beginning to feel one edge of the sword that was to pierce Luke ii. 35. through her loving and submissive heart. Tile last words of the miraculous message seem to prepare us for the next event recorded by the Jouirg to Ely isaf the Evangelist,- -the hasty journey of the Virgin to her aged relative Elisabeth,2 in the hillcountry of Judmea: "andc Mary arose and went into the hill-country, with haste, unto a city of Juda." u But why this haste? Why this lengthened, and, as far as we can infer from national custom,3 unusual journey in the case of a young and secluded maiden? Are we to believe, with a recent and eloquent writer of a life of 1 The character of the blessed Virgin, as far as it can be inferred from the Scriptures, has been touched upon by Niemeyer, Character, Vol. i. p. 54 sq. Some thoughtful notices, as derived from St. John's Gospel, will be found in Luthardt, das Johann. Evanyg. Vol. i. p. 114 sq. 2 It seems impossible to state confidently the nature of this relationship. It has been thought possible that the Virgin may have been of the tribe of Levi, and thus connected with Elisabeth, who we know was of that tribe; so the apocryphal document called the Testaimenstlm xii. Patrum, ~ 2, 7, and Faustus Manichmus, as referred to by Augustine, contra Faust. Mllanich. xxiiI. 9, Vol. viii. p. 471 (ed. Mign6). The more probable opinion is, that the Virgin was of the tribe of Judah, and that the relationship with Elisabeth arose from some intermarriage. Such intermarriages between members of the tribe of Levi and members of other tribes can be shown to have occurred in earlier periods of sacred history (comp. 2 Chron. xxii. 11); and in these later periods might have been far from uncommon. See Bynnus, de ATatali Chr. I. 1. 47, p. 141; and comp. Mlishna, Tract, " Kiddushin," Iv. I sq. Vol. iii. p. 378 sq. (ed. Surenhus.). 3 Passages have been cited from Philo, de Legg. Spec. III. 31, Vol. i. p 327 (ed. 3Mangey). and Talns. Ilieros. Tract, " Chetuboth," VII. 6, which would seem to imply that such journeys in the case of virgins were contrary to general custom. "The journey,*' says Lange, " was not quite in accordance with Old-Testament decorum; the deep realities of the cross, however, give a freedom in the spirit of the Noew."- Lebecs Jesu, Vol. ii. p. 85. LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 61 our Lord, that it was in consequence of a communication on the part of the Virgin, and a subsequent rejection on the part of Joseph?' Are we to do such a wrong to both our Lord's earthly parents? Are we to make that righteous son of Jacob the first Ebionite? Are we to believe that the blessed Virgin thus strangely threw off that holy and pensive reserve, which, as I have remarked, seems her characteristic throughout the Gospel history? It cannot be. That visit was not to receive consolation for wrong and unkindness fiom man, but to confer with a wise heart on transcendent blessings from God, which the unaided spirit even of Mary of Nazareth might not at first be able completely to grasp and to realize. And to whom could she go so naturally as to one toward whom the wonder-working power of God had been so signally displayed. Nay, does not the allusion to her "kinswoman Elisabeth," in the Luke i. 36. angel's concluding words, suggest the very ukei quarter to which she was to turn for further spiritual support, and for yet more accumulated verification? To her, then, the Virgin at once hastens. A few days 2 would bring the unlooked-for visitant to the "city of Juda,"whether the nearer village which tradition Luz.9. still points to as the home of Zacharias and Elisabeth,3 or 1 See Lange, Leben Jesus, I. 2. 5, Vol. ii. p. 84 sq.; fully and satisfactorily answered by Ebrard, Kritik der Ev. Gesch. ~ 45, p. 214 sq. There seems no sufficient reason for placing, with Alford and others, what is recorded in Matt. i. 18-25 before this journey. The discovery noticed in Matt. i. 18 (e Ve p e; 1 esre A da 7b &7rpodK71Tzov. Euthlym.), and the events which followed, would seem much more naturally to have taken place after the Virgin's return. So rightly August. de Consensus Evang. ii. 17, Vol. iii. p. 1081 (ed. Mignt). Comp. Tischendorf, Synops. Evang. p. xxi. 2 If Hebron (see below) be considered the Virgin's destination, the distance could not have been much short of 100 English miles, and would probably have taken at least four days. We learn from Dr. Robinson's Itinerary that the time from Hebron to Jerusalem, with camels, was in his case 8h. 15m., and from Jerusalem to Nazareth, with mules, 29h. 45m. The rate of travelling with the former is estimated at about two geographical miles an hour, and with the later somewhat less than three. See Robinson's Palestine, Vol. ii. pp. 568, 574 (ed. 2). A learned dissertation on the rate of a day's journey will be found in Greswell, Dissertations, Vol. iv. p. 525 sq. (ed. 2). 3 Now called Ain Karim, and a short distance from Jerusalem. Its claims are strongly supported by Dr. Thomson in his excellent work, The Land and the 6 62 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. the more remote town of Juta, or perhaps, more probably, ancient and priestly IHebron,' which Jewish tradition has fixed upon as the birth-place of the last and greatest scion of the old dispensation.2 There she finds, and there, as St. Luke especially notices, she salutes, the future mother of the Baptist. That salutation, perchance, was of a nature that served, under the inspiration of the Spirit, in a moment to convey all. Elisabeth, yea, and the son of Elisabeth, felt the deep significance of that greeting.3 The aged matron at once breaks forth into a Ver. 42. mysterious welcome of holy joy, and with a loud voice, the voice of loftiest spiritual exaltation, she blesses the chosen one who had come under the shadow of her roof; adding that reassurance which seems to supply us with the clew to the right understanding of the whole, "and blessed is she that beV~r. 45. lieved: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her fromn the Lord." We need not pause on this inspired greeting, and on the Book (Vol. ii. p. 537), and seem to rest mainly on the concurrent traditions of the Greek and Latin Churches. See, however, below, note 2. 1 This last supposition, which is that of Grotius, Lightfoot, and others, is perhaps slightly the most probable, as Hebron appears to have been preeminently one of the cities of the Priests. See Josh. xxi. 11, and comp. Lightfbot, IIor. Itebr. on Luke i. 39, Vol. ii. p. 386 (Lond. 1684). The second supposition is due to Reland, (Palmest. p. 870), and is adopted by Robinson (Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 206, ed. 2), who identifies it with the modern YUtta. The supposition that'Ilol6a is only a corrupted fobrm, by a softer pronunciation, of'Io6ra (Reland), is highly questionable; no trace of such a reading occurs in any of the ancient manuscripts. 2 See Otho, Lex. Rabbin. p. 324, and compare Joshua xxi. 11, where IIebron is specially defined as being "in the hill-country of Judah." This general definition of locality is perhaps slightly less suitable to the first-mentioned place, Ain Karim, which, though in the uplands of Judaea, is scarcely in that part which seems commonly to have been known as " the hill-country." Sepp (Leben C6hr. Vol. ii. p. 8) cites Talm. Hieros. "Schevith," fol. 38, 4,-" Quodnam est montanum Judaeve? mons regalis." 3 It has been well, though perhaps somewhat fancifully said by Euthymius:'0.Ufv XpLo'"rbs 4p&e"ytaro 8ta'ro ardplaeros Trs 8Las, 7rrlspds' 6 f'Icdvvys'frouo aL&'rcrly 6TwV'rns oIcK'aS /'Trpcs, Kal trnyvovs 67repqva3s rbwv aVTro 8f7rdT77wv a&vFKlpJPVeS avTbYv?j crK Xp7p1La7t. - Comment. in Luc. I. 41. LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 63 exalted hymn of praise uttered in response by the Virgin, save to protest against the discreditable, and, to use the mildest term, the unreasonable ness of he two inattempts that have been made to throw sired canticle. doubt on the credibility of the sacred narrative, by appealing to the improbability of these so-called lyrical effusions' on the part of Mary and Elisabeth. Lyrical effusions! What! are we to say that this strange and unlooked-for meeting on the part of the mother of the Forerunner and the mother of the Redeemer was as commonplace and prosaic as that of any two matrons of Israel that might have met unexpectedly under the terebinths2 of Hebron? Are we so utterly to believe in those wretched Epicurean views of the history of our race, as to conceive it possible that the greatest events connected with it were unmarked by all circumstances of higher spiritual exaltation? If there be only that grain of truth in the Evangelical history that our adversaries may be disposed to concede; if there be any truth in those ordinary psychological laws, to which, when it serves their purpose, they are not slow to appeal; then, beyond all doubt, both Elisabeth and the Virgin could not be imagined to have met in any way less striking than that which is recorded; their words of greeting could have been none other than those we find assigned to them by the Evangelist.3 Every accent in the salutation of the elder matron is true to the principles of our common nature when subjected to the highest influences; 1 Compare Schleiermacher, Essay on St. Luke, p. 24; well and completely answered by Dr. Mill in his admirable comments on these inspired hymns. See Observations on Pantheistic Principles, Part ii. 3, p. 39 sq. 2 Kitto, C'ycl. s. v. " Alah." 3 ", Such a vision of coming power and light and majesty as these hymns indicate,- a picture so vivid as to the blessedness of the approaching reign, so indistinct and void as to the means by which that blessedness was to be realized, - in which, while the view of faith is so concentred on the Source of salvation, then initially manifested the whole detail of His acts and the particulars of His redemption continue closely wrapped up inl the figure and symbol which represented them in the ancient dispensation, - such a vision could belong only to the particular position assigned to it, in the boundary of the old and new covenants."- Mill, Observations, Part ii. 3, p. 51. 64 TIIE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. IIH. every cadence of the Virgin's hymn is in most life-like accordance with all we know of the speaker, and with all we can imagine of the circumstances of this momentous meeting. O no, let us not hesitate to express our deepest and heartiest conviction that the words we have here are no collection of Scriptural phrases, no artful composition of an imnaginative or credulous writer, but the very words that fell from the lips of Mary of Nazareth,words which the rapture of the moment and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost alike called forth, and alike imprinted indelibly on the memory both of her that spake and her that listened.1 All speaks truth, life, and reality. On the one hand, the diction of the Old Testament that pervades this sublime canticle,-the reminiscences perchance of the hymn of Hannah, type of her who spake; on the other hand, the conscious allusions to mysterious blessings that Hannah never knew, — all place before us, as in a portraiture of most living truth, the rapt maiden of Nazareth, pouring forth her stored-up memories of history and prophecy in one full stream of Messianic joyfulness and praise. After a few months' sojourn with Elisabeth the Virgin returns,2 and then, or soon after it, caine the Retur n of the Virin, and the rev- trial of faith to the righteous Joseph. This elation to Joseph. elation to Jo St. Mlatthew relates to us briefly, but with some suggestive and characteristic marks of living truth to which we may for a moment advert. 1 Even without specially ascribing to the Virgin, as indeed we fairly might do, that spiritually-strengthened power of recollection which was promised to the Apostles of her Son (John xiv. 26), we may justly remind our opponents that the rhythmical character of these canticles would infallibly impress them on the minds of both the speakers with all that peculiar force and vividness which, we must often observe, metre does in our own cases. Comp. Mill, Obserrations, p. 42. 2 It has been doubted whether the notices of time may not lead us to suppose that the Virgin staid with Elisabeth till the birth of the Baptist, and that St. Luke has specified the return of the Virgin. in the place he has done, merely to connect closely the notices of her journey and her return. See Wieseler, Chtron. Synops. I. 3, p. 151. There is some plausibility in the supposition; but, on the whole, it seems more natural to conceive that the events took place in the order in which they are described. Comp. Greswell, Prolegomena, Cap. Iv. p. 178. LECT. Il. OF OUR LORD. 65 How very striking is the fact that, while to the Virgin the heavenly communication is made directly by an angel, the communication to the handi- Diefrentform oft craftsman of Galilee 1 is made by means of a dream of the night. How suggestive is it att. i. 20. that, while to the loftier spirit of Miary the name of Jesus is revealed with all the prophetic associations of more than David's glories, to Joseph, perchance the aged Joseph,2 who might have long seen and realized his own spiritual needs, and the needs of those around him, it is specially said, " thou shalt call his name Jesus; for lie shall save HTis people fronm their 21 sins." Surely, brethren, such things cannot be cunningly devised; such things must work, and ought to work, conviction; such things must needs make us feel, and feel with truth, that this and the following holy chapters, so carped at by the doubting spirits both of earlier and of later days, are verily what the Church has ever held them to be,-the special, direct, and undoubted revelations of the Eternal Spirit of God.3 I Chrysostom notices the different nature of the heavenly communications, assigning however what scarcely seems the true reason, -the faith of Joseph (XrtoTbs ijv b aVp, Kal OVK eIerTo 7'S of EWs 7'aivms). If we may venture to assign a reason, it would rather seem referable, first, to the difference of the subjects of the two revelations, - that to the Virgin needing the most distinct external attestation (Euthym.); secondly, to some difference in the respective natures of Joseph and MIary, and in their powers of receiving and appreciating divine communications. Comp. Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. 2, 5, Vol. ii. p. 89. 2 Without referring to the apocryphal writers, or seeking to specify with the exactness of Epiphanius (7rpEau6Tr7Ts 6-yaoKovra 7Tcv''rXeflw o eX.ao'aw, Hcer. LI. 10), it may perhaps be said that such seems to have been the prevailing opinion of the early Church. That he died in the lifetime of our Lord has been justly iniferred from the absence of his name in those passages in the Gospels where allusion is made to the Virgin and the Lord's brethren. See Blunt, Veracity of Evangelists, ~ 8, p. 33; and for notices and reff. as to the supposed age of Joseph at our Lord's birth, see the curious but often very instructive work of IHofmann, Leben Jesu nach den Apocryphen, ~ 10, p. 62. 3 It is painful to notice the hardihood with which the genuineness of these chapters has been called in question, even by some of the better class of critics. See, for example, Norton, Genitneness of Gospels, Note A, ~ 5, Vol. i. p. 204 sq. Wlihen we remember (1) that they are contained in every manuscript, uncial or cursive, and in every version, eastern or western, that most of the early Fathers cite them. and that early enemies of Christianity appealed to them (Orig. Cels. I. 6* 66 TIIE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. And now the fulness of time was come. By one of those mysterious workings whereby God Journey to Bethlehen, anI taxing makes the very worldliness of man bring undter Quirinus. about the completion of His own heavenly counsels, the provincial taxing or enrolment of the persons or estates of all that were under the Roman sway,a taxing almost proved by independent hisLuke it. 2. torical induction to have been made even as St. Luke relates it, during the presidency of Cyrenius238, II. 32); when we observe (2) the obvious connection between the beginning of ch. iii. and the end of ch. ii., and between ch. iv. 13 and ii. 23; and when we remark (3) the exact accordance of diction with that of the remaining chapters of the Gospel, - it becomes almost astonishing that even d priori prejudice should not have abstained at any rate from so hopeless a course as that of impugning the genuineness of these chapters. To urge that these chapters were wanting in the mutilated and falsified gospel of the Ebionites (Epiph. Hcer. xxx. 13), or that they were cut away by the heretical Tatian (Theodoret, Hcer. Fab. I. 20), is really to concede their genuineness, and to bewray the reason why it was impugned. For additional notices and arguments, see Griesbach, Epimetron ad Comment. Crit. p. 47 sq.; Gersdorf, Beitrage, p. 38; and Patritius, de Evangeliis, Quaest. VIII. Vol. i. p. 29 sq. 1 This point is so doubtful and debatable that I prefer adopting this more general form of expression. Compare Wieseler, Chron. Synops. 1. 2, p. 75 sq., and Greswell, Dissert. No. xIV. Vol. i. p. 541 sq. On the general lexical distinction between 4&roypacA and tolroIlTrTsI no great reliance can be placed: in Joseph. Ant. XVII. 13. 5, xviii. 1. 1, the words appear used interchangeably. See Wieseler, 1. c., and Meyer in loc. This much may perhaps be said, that if it was at first only an enrolment per capita, it was one that had, and perhaps was per. fectly well known to have, a prospective reference to property. 2 Without entering at length into this vexed question, we may remark, for the benefit of the general reader, that the simple and grammatical meaning of the words, as they appear in all the best MSS. [B. alone omits h before &7roTypopl], must be this: "this taxing took place as a first one while Cyrenius was governor of Syria; " and that the difficulty is to reconcile this with the assertion of Tertullian (contr. Mlarc. Iv. 19), that the taxing took place under Sentius Saturninus, and with the apparent historical fact that Quirinus did not become President of Syria till nine or ten years afterwards. See the Cenotaphia Pisana of Cardinal Norisius, Dissert. ii., and the authorities in Greswell, Dissertations, No. xIv. Vol. i. p. 466 sq. (ed. 2). There are apparently only two sound modes of explaining the apparent contradiction (I dismiss the mode of regarding 7rp6r77 as equivalent to 7rpoTe'pa as forced and artificial), either by supposing, (a) that 7l5eytOVvOVTros is to be taken in a general and not a special sense, and to imply the duties of a commissioner extraordinary, -a view perhaps best and most ably advocated by the Abb6 Sanclemente, de Vulg. EFrce. Dionys. Emend. Book iv. ch. 2, but open to the objection arising from the special and localizing term r7's vptLas (see Meyer, Komment. iVber Luk. p. 221); or by supposing, (b) that, under historical circumstances imperfectly known to us, Quirinus was either de facto or de jure Presidcnt of Syria exactly as St. Luke seems to specify. In LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 6T brings the descendants of David to David's own city. Idle and n-isclhievous doubts have sought to Ver. 4. question the accuracy of this portion of the Evangelical history, to which we can here pause only to return the briefest answer.' But this I will presume to say, that I feel certain no fair and honest investigator can study the various political considerations connected with this difficult question, without ultimately coming to the conclusion, not only that the account of St. Luke is reconcilable with contemporary history, but that it is confirmed by it, in a manner most striking and most persuasive. When we remember that the kingdom of Herod was not yet formally converted into a Roman province, and yet was so dependent upon the imperial city 2 as to be practically amenable to all its provincial edicts, how very striking it is to find,- in the first place, that a taxing took place at a time when such a general edict can be favor of this latter supposition we have the thrice-repeated assertion of Justin Martyr (Apol. I. ch. 34, 46, Trypho, ch. 78), that Quirinus was President at the time in question, and the interesting fact recently brought to light by Zumpt, (Commentationes Epigraphicce, Part II. Berl. 1844), that owing to Cilicia, when separated from Cyprus, being united to Syria, Quirinus, as governor of the firstmentioned province, was really also governor of the last-mentioned, - whether in any kind of association with Saturninus (see Wordsw. il loc.), or otherwise, can hardly be ascertained, - and that his subsequent more special connection with Syria led his earlier, and apparently brief; connection to be thus accurately noticed. This last view, to say the least, deserves great consideration, and has been adopted by Mlerivale, IIiist. of Romans, Vol. iv. p. 457. The treatises and discussions on this subject are extremely numerous. Those best deserving consideration are, perhaps, Greswell, Dissert. No. XIV.; Hiuschke, iSber den zur Zeit der Geburt Jes. Chlr. gehaltenen Census, Bresl. 1840; Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 73 sq. (in these Wrpc6Tl is explained away); and Patritius, de Evangeliis, Dissert. xviii. Book III. p. 161, where (a) is advocated. 1 The main objections that have been urged against this portion of St. Lukes narrative are well examined and convincingly refuted by Wieseler, Chron. Synops. I. 2, pp. 75-122. The most important work for general reference on the historical and political circumstances connected with this event, beside the above work of Wieseler, is that of Huschke, iiber den zur Zeit u. s. w., referred to in the foregoing note. 2 See Wieseler, Chron. Synops. I. 2, p. 93 sq. Passages which prove the dependence of Judmea, especially as tributary to the Roman government, are cited by Gresweil, Di.ssert. No. XXIII. Vol. ii. p. 375. For further facts and reference, see Winer, WlB. Art. "Judaia," Vol i. p. 630. 68 TIIE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. proved to have been in force; 1 and, in the next place, to find that that taxing in Judma is incidentally described as having taken place according to the yet recognized customs of the country, -that it was, in fact, essentially imperial and Roman in origin, and yet IHerodian and Jewish in form. How strictly, how minutely consistent is it with actual historical relations to find that Joseph, who under purely Roman law might, perhaps, have been enrolled at Nazareth,2 is here described by the Evangelist as journeying to be enrolled at the town of his forefathers, " because he was of the house and lineage 3 of David." Luke ii 4 This accordance of the sacred narrative with the perplexed political relations of the intensely national, yet all but subject Judaha, is so exact and so convincing, that we may even profess ourselves indebted to scepticism for having raised a question to which an answer may be given at once so fair, so explicit, and so conclusive. It seems almost idle to pause further on this portion of the narrative and to seek for reasons why the Virgin accompanied Joseph in this enforced journey to the city of his fathers.4 Is it positively necessary to ascribe to her some 1 See the 2Monumentum Ancyranutm, as cited and commented on by Wieseler, Cihron. Synops. p. 90 sq., and compare Bynaus, de Xatali Jes. C(hr. I. 3, p. 300; Spanheim, Dub. Evang. No. viii. Vol. ii. p. 162. 2 This is the objection stated in its usual form; but it seems very doubtful if, even on merely general historical data, it can be substantiated. In fact Husehke (fiber den Cens. p. 116 sq.) has apparently demonstrated the contrary, and proved that in every Roman census each individual was enrolled where he had his " forum originis.": This, however, need not be pressed, as the journey of Joseph is so much more plausibly attributed to the Jewish form, in accordance with which the census was conducted. Comp. Bynemus, de Natali Jes. Clhr.. 3, p. 337, and a good article by WVineri,RlBT. " Schatzung.' Vol. ii. p. 398-401. 3 The terms here used, oiKos and 7raTpia, seem to be specially and exactly chosen. The latter is used with reference to the *.a7' or gentes, which traced their origin to the twelve patriarchs, the former to the rlas in. or fanzilice, of which these latter were composed. See Winer, 1 WTB. Art. "$Stmne,' Vol. ii. p. 513 sq. 4 If the census had been purely Ronzan in its form, it would seem that the presence of the Virgin would certainly not have been needed, the giving in of the names of' women and children being considered sufficient. Comp. Dionys. 1lalic. Iv. 15; Huschke, fiber den Cei.s. p. 121. As, however, in accordance with the view taken in the text. it is to be considered rather as Jewcish in form, the presence of MIary is still less to be accounted for on any purely legal reasons. LECT. IT. OF OUR LORD. 69 inheritance which required her presence at the enrolment at Bethlehem? Is it really not enough for us that St. Luke relates that she did take this journey; and is it so strange that at that time of popular gatherings, and perhaps popular excitement,' she should brave the exhaustion of a long journey, rather than lose the protection of one to whom she must have been bound by ties of the holiest nature, and who shared with her the knowledge of a mystery that had been sealed in silence since the foundations of the world? On such subordinate and bootless inquiries we need, I am sure, delay no longer. And now the mysterious hour, which an old apocryphal writer has described with such striking yet The Nativity and such curious imagery,2 was nigh at hand. its attendant cirVery soon after the arrival at Bethlehem, umtances. perchance on the self-same night, in one of the limestone caverns, -for I see no reason for rejecting the statement of one who was born little more than a century afterwards, and not forty miles from the same spot,3 — in one of the The favorite hypothesis that she was an heiress, and possessor of a real estate at Bethlehem, and so legally bound to appear (Olsh. in loc.), is now generally, and as it would seem rightly, given up. See Winer, R WB. Art. "Schatzung," Vol. ii. p. 401. 1 Compare the sensible remarks of Wieseler, Chtron. Synops. p. 128. 2 The sort of pause, as it were. in all things that marked this most momentous period in the world's history is thus curiously described in the Protevangelium Jacobi, cap. 18: " And I Joseph was walking, and yet was not walking; and I looked up into the sky, and I saw the sky in amazement; and I looked up to the pole of heaven and I saw it standing still, and the birds of the air in tranquil calm; and I directed my gaze on the earth, and I saw a bowl-like table, and laboring men around it, and their hands were in the bowl, and they who had meat in their mouths were not eating, and they that were taking up food raised it not up, and they that were bringing it up to their mouths were not bringing it up; but the countenances of all were directed upwards. And I saw sheep in the act of being driven, and they were standing still; and the shepherd was raising his hand to smite them, and his arm remained aloft. And I gazed on the torrent-course of a river, and I beheld the kids lowering their heads towards it and not drinking, and all things in their courses for the moment suspended " (ed. Tisch. pp. 33, 34). Compare Hofmann, Leben Jesu, p. 110. 3 The statement of Justin Martyr, who was born at Sichem, about A. D. 103, is very distinct: revvYETo be 8s rOTr roU rawtaov Ez' B-Xe,'EAE, E7rELa3'Iowa1)p 01cK eiXEP it Tr KcUp ie'KEl'7 7roO i a'rTXraaL, iv a r 7 Xh a [ r'Lvl oSV'eyyvs T-s KAd S tca Kar'xAvoe.- TryPh. cap. 78, Vol. ii. p. 264 (ed. Otto). This ancient 70 THE BIRTII AND INFANCY LECT. It. caverns in that narrow ridge.of long gray hill on which stands the city of David,' was the Redeemer born into a worl( that rejected Him, even in His mother's womb. HIow brief and how simple are the words that relate these homely circumstances of the Lord's Nativity. How surely do the mother's recital and the mother's storedup memories come fbrth in the artless touches of detail.2 And yet with how much of holy and solemn reserve is that first hour of a world's salvation passed over by the Evangelist. We would indeed fain inquire more into the wonders of that mysterious night; and they are not wholly withheld from us. The same Evangelist that tells us that the mid-day sun was darkened during the last Luke i. 44. hours of the Redeemer's earthly life, tells us also that in His first hours the night was turned into more than day, and that heavenly Luke ii. 9. glories shone forth, not unwitnessed, while angels announce to shepherd-watchers 3 on the grassy slopes tradition has been repeated by Origen (Cels. I. 51), Eusebius (Demonstr. Evang. vII. 2), Jerome (Epyist. ad M3arcell. xxIv.), and other ancient writers, and has been generally admitted by modern writers and travellers as far from improbable. Comp. Stanley, Palest. p. 438. Dr. Thomson (ThPe Land and the Boo/k, Vol. ii. p. 507), though admitting the ambiguity of the tradition, opposes it on reasons derived from the context of the sacred narrative, which are however tar from convincing. The Virgin might easily have been removed to the oK~aa specified in Matt. ii. 11, before the arrival of the Magi. For further details and reff. see Thilo, Codex Apocr. p. 381 sq.; Hofmann, Leben JesuL, p. 108; and a very good article by Rev. G. Williams, in the Ecclesiologist fbr 1848. 1 The reader who may have an interest in the outward aspects of these sacred localities will find a colored sketch of Bethlehem and its neighborhood in Roberts's Holy Land, Vol. ii. Plate 84. The illustrations, however, most strongly recommended by an Oriental traveller of some experience to the writer of this note, as giving the truest idea of the sacred localities, are those of Frith, and the excellent views of Jerusalem and its environs executed by Robertson and Beato (Gambart and Co.). 2 See above, p. 56, note 2, where this subject is briefly noticed. 3 Luke ii. 8, aypavAUoivres ica1l pvXhcd'orTes PvAaicKas 7js, VUicrs'; the last words defining the time and qualifying the two preceding participles. The fact here specified has been often used in the debated subject of the exact time of year at which our Lord's birth took place. But little, however, can really be derived from it, as the frequently quoted notice of the Talmudical writers (see Lightfoot on LukLe ii. 8), that the herds were brought in friom the fields about the beginning of November and driven out again about March, is merely general, and might include so many modifications arising from season or locality (see LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 71 of Bethlehem the tidings of great joy, and proclaim the new-born Saviour. How mysterious are Luke ii. 11. the ways of God's dealings with men. The Desire of all nations at length come, the Saviour born into an expectant world, and - announced to village shepherds. What a bathos, what a hopeless bathos to the unbelieving or unmeditative spirit! How noticeable that the Apocryphal writers, who spin out with the most dreary prolixity every other hint supplied by the sacred writers, pass over this in the fewest possible words,' and as something which they could neither appreciate nor understand. And yet what a divine significance is there in the fact, that to the spiritual descendants of the first type of the Alessiah, Abel the keeper of sheep, the announcement is made that the great Shepherd of the lost sheep of humanity is born Sepp, Leben Christi, Vol. i. p. 213; Wieseler, Ctlron. Synops. p. 146), that it cannot fairly be urged as conclusive against the traditional date in December. Nay, temporary circumstances - the large afflux of strangers to Bethlehem - might have easily led to a temporary removal of the cattle into some of the milder valleys to provide an accommodation of which at least the Holy Family were obliged to avail themselves. Still, it must be said, the fact viewed simply does seem to incline us towards a period less rigorous than mid-winter; and when we join with this chronological data which appear positively to fix the epoch as subsequent to the beginning of January (see Wieseler, Citron. Synops. p. 145), and further, considerations derived from the probable sequence of events, and the times probably occupied by them, we perhaps may slightly lean to the opinion that early in Febr. (most probably A.U.C. 750; Sulpic. Sever. Hist. Sacr. Book II. ch. 39) was the time of the Nativity. The question has been discussed from a very early period. In the time of Clement of Alexandria (Strom. I. 21, Vol. i. p. 407, ed. Pott), by whom it appears to have been considered rather a matter of 7reprep7ya, the traditions were anything but unanimous (some selecting Jan. 6, some Jan. 10, others April 20, and even May 20), and it was not till the fourth century that December 25 became generally accepted as the exact date. See the useful table attached to the valuable dissertation of Patritius, de Evang. Book III. 19, p. 276. Out of the many treatises and discussions that have been written on this subject, the following may be specified: Ittig, cle Fest. Ncativ. Dissert. IlI.; Jablonsky, de Origine Fest. Nativ. Vol. iii. p. 317 sq. (ed. te Water); Spanheim, Dub. Evangel. xII. Vol. ii. p. 208 sq.; Greswell, Dissert. xII. Vol. i. p. 381 sq.; Wieseler, ChLron. Synops. p. 132. Compare also Clinton, Fasti Hell. Vol. iii. p. 256 sq.; and Browne, Ordo Sceclorum, ~ 23 sq., p. 26 sq. A distinct Homily on this subject will be found in Chrysost. Homil. in Diem.Natal. Vol. ii. p. 417 sq. (ed. Bened. 1834). 1 See Psetudo-Matt. Evalng. cap. 13; Evang. Infant. Arab. cap. 4; and compare Hofmann, Leben Jesu, p. 117. Tradition affects to preserve their names - Misael, Acheel, Cynacus, and Stephanus. 72 TlHE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. into the world.l Wihat a mysterious fitness that that Gospel, of whieich the characteristic was that 2iat. xi. 5. it was preached unto the poor, was first proclaimed neither to the ceremonial Pharisee, who would have questioned it, nor to the worldly Sadducee, who would have despised it, nor to the separatist Essene,2 who would have given it a mere sectarian significance, but to men whose simple and susceptible hearts made them come with haste, and see, and believe, and spread abroad the wonders they had been permitted to behold.a Shepherds were the first of men who glorified and praised God for their Saviour; shepherds were the first earthly preachers 4 of the Gospel of Christ. IIow far their praises and the wonders they had to tell 1 "It fell not out amiss that shepherds they were; the news fitted them well. It well agreed to tell shepherds of the yeaning of a strange Lamb, such a Lamb as should' take away the sins of the world;' such a Lamb as they might' send to the Ruler of the world for a present,' mitte Agnzum Dominatori terrce,Esay's Lamb. Or if ye will, to tell shepherds of the birth of a Shepherd, Ezekiel's shepherd: Ecce suscitabo vobis pastorenz,' Behold, I will raise you a Shepherd,''the Chief Shepherd,''the Great Shepherd,' and'the Good Shepherd that gave His life for His flock.' "-Andrewes, Serm. v. Vol. i. p. 65 (A.-C. Libr.). 2 The spiritual characteristics and relations of these three sects are briefly but ably noticed by Lange, Leben Jesu, II. 1. 1, Part I. p. 17. The Pharisee corrupted the current and tenor of revelation by ceremonial additions, the Sadducee by reducing it to a mere deistic morality, the Essene by idealizing its historical aspects, or by narrowing its widest principles and precepts into the rigidities of a false and morbid asceticism. Superstition, scepticism, and schism alike found in the cross of Christ a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. For further notices of these sects and their dissensions, see Jost, Geschic1hte des Judenthums, iI. 2. 8, Vol. i. p. 197 sq. 8," Why rwas it that the Angel went not to Jerusalem, sought not out the Scribes and Pharisees, entered not into the synagogues of the Jews, but found shepherds..... and preached the gospel to them? Because the former were corrupt and ready to be cut to the heart with envy; while these latter were uncorrupt, affecting the old way of living of the patriarchs, and also of Moses, for these;nen were shepherds." - Origen ap. Cramer, Caten. Vol. i. p. 20. Compare, too, Theophylact in loc. For some further practical considerations, see Bp. Taylor, Life of Christ, Part I. ad Sect, 4, Vol. i. p. 45 sq. (Lond. 1836). 4 The first preachers, as Cyril rightly observes (Comment. on Luke, Serm. II. Vol. i. p. 13, Trans]., Oxf. 1859), were angels, - a distinction faintly hinted at by the very terms of the original: w's s&r~2ov &7r' abor&vY Es GrbY obpavCbv of tryEAoL, cKa of & v a p co r o i ol lrolyEJes e7Trov K. T. A. Here it need scarcely be said we have no more idle periphrasis (" homo pastor," Drus.), but an opposition to the preceding term &TyrXoL. See Meyer in loc. LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 73 of wrought on the hearts of those who heard them, we are not enabled to say. The holy reserve of The circumcision the Virgin mother, who kept all these say- and presentation in incrs 1 and pondered them in her heart, would te Tem17e. Luke ii. 17. lead us to believe that at any rate the history of the miraculous conception was not generally divulged; and that the Lord's earthly parents spake not beyond the small circle of those immediately around them. The circumcision, from the Luke ii. 21. brief notice of the Evangelist, would certainly seem to have taken place with all circumstances of privacy and solitude, -in apparent contrast to that of the Forerunner, which appears to have been with gatherings and rejoicings,2 and was marked by marvels that were soon noised abroad throughout all the hill Luke i.65. country of Judaea. Nay, even at the presentation in the Temple, more than a month afterwards,8 the Evangelist's remark, that Joseph and AMary Luke ii. 33. marvelled at Simeon's prophecy, would seem distinctly to show that no circumstances from without had as yet proved sufficient to prepare them for the mysterious welcome which awaited the infint Saviour in His Father's temple. 1 The expression ra& a AaTra'are'a (Luke ii. 19) is rightly referred by most modern commentators, not to the circumstances generally (Ta 7rpdctparTa,auTa, Theoph.), but to the things mentioned by the shepherds; so rightly Euthym. in loc. —7ar& rapa Tc'v 7roq.IAE`wv XaX7iarEv'a. On the reasonableness of this reserve, see Mill, on Pantheistic Princ. II. 1. 2, p. 212. 2 Even if we limit, as perhaps is most grammatically exact, the subject of jA&aov (Luke i. 59) to thoee who were to perform the rite of circumcision, the context would certainly seem to show that many were present. 8 The exact time in the case of a male child (in the case of a female it was double) was forty days, during seven of which the mother was to be accounted unclean; during the remaining thirty-three days she was "to continue in the blood of her purifying;" she was " to touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled." Lev. xii. 4. For further information see Michaelis, Law of Moses, ~ 192, Bahr, Symbolik, Vol. ii. p. 487, Winer, 1RJV11. Art. "lleinigkeit," Vol. ii. p. 315 sq.; and for a sound sermon on the subject, Frank, Seria. xxii. Vol. i. p. 340 (A.-C. Libr.), and esp. Mill, Ulniv. Serm. xxI. p. 400. The indication of the comparative poverty of the holy Family supplied by the notice of their offering (Luke ii. 24, Lev. xii. 8) has often been observed by modern, but seldom by ancient, expositors. 7 74 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. But what a welcome that was, and how seemingly at variance with all outward circumstances..Luke ii. 25. The devout, and let us add, inspired Simeon,1 whose steps had been led that day to the Temple by the Holy Spirit,2 saw perchance before him no more than two unnoted worshippers.3 But it was enough. When the eyes of the aged waiter for the consolation of Israel saw the Holy Child, he saw all. There in helpless infancy and clad in mortal flesh was the Lord's Christ, —there was the fulfilment of Ver. 26. all his mystic revelations, the granted issue of all his longings and all his prayers.4 Can we marvel that his whole soul was stirred to its depths, LuIke ii. 28. that he took the Holy Child in his arms, and poured forth, in the full spirit of prophecy,5 that swan-song 1 The history of this highly favored man is completely unknown. Some recent attempts (Michaelis, al.) have been made to identify him with Rabban Simeon, the son of Hillel, and father of Gamaliel, who was afterwards president of the Sanhedrin (Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. in loc.; Otho, Lex. IRabbin. s. v. " Simeon," p. 605): such an identification, however, has nothing in its favor, except the name, —a sufficiently common one, and this against it, that Rabban Simeon could not have been as old as the Simeon of St. Luke is apparently represented to be. For some notices of Rabban Simeon, see Sepp, Lebess Christi, ch. xvII. Vol. ii. p. 52 sq. 2 This seems implied in the words X;Ae-sP v n c IlYeViEaTL els rb iEpdv, Luke ii. 27,-the preposition with its case marking the influence in which and under which he was acting, "impulsu Spiritus " (Meyer, on Matt. xxii. 43), and though not perfectly identical with, yet approximating in force to, the instrumental dative; m' Ilvev'a'rL rp &IT 1CyLP KLeLs, Euthym. in loc. So, too, Origen, even more explicitly, —" Spiritus sanctus eum duxit in templum." - In Luc. Hom. xv. Vol. iii. p. 949 (ed. Bened.). 3 One of the apocryphal writers has represented the scene very differently, and in suggestive contrast to the chaste dignity of the inspired narrative: " Tum videt illum Simeon senex instar columnee lucis fulgentem, cum domina Maria Virgo mater ejus de eo letabunda ulnis suis eam gestaret: circumdabant autem eum angeli instar circuli celebrantes, tanquam satellites regi adstantes." — Evang. I7fant. Arab. cap. VI. p. 173 (ed. Tisch.). The Pseudo-Zlatt. Evang. keeps more closely to the inspired narrative. See cap. xv. p. 78. 4 For an essay on the character of this faithful watcher, see Evans, Script. Biogr. Vol. i. p. 326; and for some good comments on his inspired canticle, Patritius, de Evang. Dissert. xxvi. Part III. p. 304. In the early Church Simeon appears to have been designated by the title, o6 eso3Jxos, in memory of the blessing accorded to him. Comp. 3Menolog. Grcec. Feb. 3, and the oration of Timoth. Hieros. in the JBibl. Mlax. Patrum, Vol. v. p. 1214. 5 npO~q)nKp XXdpLT reTL/h71I.E'OS, Cyril Alex. ap. Cramer, Caten. Vol. ii. p. 23, LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 75 of the seer of the Old Covenant, to which our Church so justly and so lovingly assigns a place in its daily service? Can we marvel that with the Holy Child still in his arms' he blessed the wondering parents, though the spirit of prophecy that was upon him mingled with that blessing words that must have sunk deep into the heart of the Virgin,2 words often pondered over, yet perchance then only fully understood, in all the mystic bitterness of their truth, when, not a thousand paces from where she then was standing, the nails tore the hands that she had but then been holding, and the spear pierced the side she had but then been pressing to her bosom? and Serm. Iv. Vol. i.) p. 25 (Transl.). On the character of this and the other inspired canticles in this part of the Scripture, see the good remarks of Mill, on Pantheistic Principles, Part II. 1. 3, p. 43 sq. 1 Though we cannot, with Meyer and others, safely press the meaning of the verb KEiTra as implying " qui in ulnis meis jacet" (Beng.), it would yet seem highly probable from the context that this blessing was pronounced by the aged Simeon while still bearing his Saviour in his arms. For a good practical sermon on Simeon's thus receiving our Lord, see Frank, Serm. XXIII. Vol. i. p. 360 sq. (A.-C. Libr.), and compare Ilacket, Serm. x. p. 88 sq. (Lond. 1675). 2 The prophetic address of Simeon, which it may be observed is directed specially to the Virgin (Kal elTre 7rpbS Mapla/ T'rv /Irl7TEpa abio70, Luke ii. 34), has two separate references, the one general, to the Jewish nation, and the opposed spiritual attitudes into which the Gospel of Christ would respectively bring those who believed and those who rejected (7r7coarv uAEV, 7'V iy 1 7rlo'r7EUVrr, vdeoacraev BLe, Trav 7r'-e7EUVTwv, Theophylact); the other special, to the Virgin personally (Kal aov e aberis K.'r. A., ver. 35), and to the bitterness of agony with which she should hereafter behold the sufferings of her divine Son. So rightly Euthymius: po/cpafav aE Wovo4Iaoe 71) 7L'r/7AKgLKwrdT7V KCal 57eav oa'V,'Vv, XTlS 8IAaE T)P Kap5av Ti)s O~EO.L'4TpOS, 9TE 6 VibS au'rTTs Xper'qAcL'fl Ty( crravpot. Compare also a good comment in Cramer, Caten. Vol. ii. p. 24, and Mill, Univ. Serm. xxI. p. 415. The only remaining exegetical difficulty is the connection of the final clause, b,0rws K. T. A. (ver. 35). According to the ordinary punctuation, this would be dependent on ver. 34, the first clause of ver. 35 being enclosed in a parenthesis; according, however, to the best modern interpreters, it is regarded as simply dependent on what precedes: the mystery, that the heart of the earthly mother was to be riven with agony at the sufferings of her divine Son, involved as its end and object the bringing out of the true characters and thoughts of men, and making it clear and manifest-T-r s'v 6 &yairc& abrd, Kal tLExXpL &avdwTou r7 T EIs avr'T a&ydirrlyv E'se'LKtLVeOS' TIs 8E d6 ErtIrAaUTor eXwov,V Erv' ets v 7rt'ITTL, 0Kav8Adov wA7rX pwoels rsa Tr 0TraupJv. Cramer, Cates. Vol. ii. p. 25. So Augustine, in his answer to the queries of Paulinus of Nola (Epist. CXLIX. 33, Vol. ii. p. 644, ed. Mign6), except that he unduly limits the 7roXXAcv Kapstv, ataAo7tLr/LUol to the "'insidiae Judneorum et discipulorum infirmitas." 76 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. Yet man was not alone to welcome the Lord; one sex was not alone to greet Him, in whom Gal.iii.28. there was neither male nor female, but all Lukei.38. were one. Not one sex only, for at that very instant, we are told by St. Luke, the aged and tenderly-fiaithful Anna' enters the place she loved so well. Custom rather than revelation appears to have brought the widowed prophetess into the temple, but she too saw and believed, and returned grateful praise2 unto the God of her fathers; and of her this special notice has been made by the Evangelist, that "she spake of the Lord to all them that were looking for redemption in Jerusalem." The dauyghter of MIhanuelU was the first preacher of Christ in the city of the Great King. And her preaching was not long left unconfirmed. What she was now telling in secret chambers4 was soon to be proclaimed on the house-tops. The ends of the earth were already sending forth the heralds of the new1 The tenderness and constancy of the aged prophetess to the nmemory of the husband of her youth is slightly enhanced by the readilg of Lachllnann and Tischendorf, -X 1pa y os de'T 5'73oa'ovsra T'eredpwv, Luke ii. 37; but this reading, though supported by A, B, L, the Vulgate, and other versions, is by no means certain. The honor in which the': univira " was held by thie Jews, is shown very distinctly by the comments of Josephlus on the persistent widowhood of Antonia: Alttiql. xviii. 6. 6. Compare WViner, iJFB. Art. "Elhe," Vol. i. p. 299. 2 This perhaps is a fairly correct paraphrase of the peculiar term used by St. Luke,'aw~o/oXotyE7'To. The remarks of the accurate Winer on this word are as follows: "P'; ossis existimare de celebrandi lalula?diqLue significatione;..sed, ut dicam quod sentio, addendum erat, celebrantis istius pietatemn mulieris maxime in gratariuni actioie positam esse..... Itaque hsac videtur verbi ua;vo,uoXoy' vis propria esse, aPlT enim manifesto referendi rependendique sensum liabet, atque ita facile perspicias, quod inter 6loAo7y. ~ e et av.3o/oXoy. ~Oe, intersit." - Ie Verb. c. Prcep. Fasc. III p. 20, -a treatise unfortunately never completed. 3 The special mention of the fatther and tribe of Anna was perhaps designed to give to the narrative a still further stamp of historical truth. Annia, the danlhter of Phannel, might have been a name still remembered by many: frlur'vE 6 EuayyEXLOT77S 7 7rfpl T7rS'Atvws'spaqyoas-L, Kal TO'r 7raT'pa Kal TP7 cvA),uv KaTaA7XETv,''va poS,ueiv OVrt aA-7a) Ae'EyaS, adpTvpas E Woravel woXAovs 7rpooexaXov/EYos. Theoph. in loc. 4 Anna's preaching was not general, but T70o 7rPOO-5eXoIEyVOS hXVTrpCo'tV'Iepovaar,\u, ver. 38. The local addition ev'Iepovr. appears to belong specially to the participle ro0s 7rpoaeXojdev'oss. See Mleyer in loc. LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 77 born King. The feet of strange pilgrims and worshippers were even now on the mountains of the Promised Land. It would seem fiom the narrative that Joseph and Mary had returned but a few days to their temporary abode at Bethlehem,2 when sages, 7he visit and adI oration of the Magi. bearin(g the already almost generic name of Iagi, arrive from some Eastern lands not specified by the Evangelist, but probably remote as the Arabia which one ancient tradition,3 or the Persia which another ancient tradition,4 has fixed upon as their home. Witnesses were I According to one MS. of the Pseudo-M1att. Evangelium (cap. xvi. p. 79, ed. Tisch.), two days afterwards; according to the text adopted by Tischendorf, the completely improbable period of two years. See Wieseler, Chiron. Synops. I. 2, p. 59, note, who, however, himself (see below. p. 73, note 1) seems to press too strongly the &7rb Leroes Ka KIcawrrepw, Matt. ii. 16. The Protev. Jacobi (cap. xxi.) makes the visit of the Magi to have been made to the Holy Family while yet in the cave, a statement distinctly at variance withl Matt. ii. 11, eixdv'res Eis,r olKI'av. For chronological considerations substantiating the view taken in the text, see Wieseler, Chiron. Synops. p. 154 sq. 2 The narratives of St. Matthew and St. Luke have been here often regarded as almost wholly irreconcilable. See Meyer and Alford in loc. Is this however so certain? Why may not St. Luke have studiously omitted what he might possibly have known had been recorded by another Evangelist, and thus have left unnoticed the occurrences which intervened between this visit to the Temple and the return to Nazareth, specified by St. Matthew, ch. ii. 23? The reconciliation adopted by Eusebius ( Qucest. ad MIanrin. ap. Mai, Bibl. Patr. Vol. iv. p. 253), that Joseph and Mary went direct to Nazareth, and afterwards returned to Bethlehem, is not very probable, as no reason can be assigned why the Holy Family should have returned again to a place with which they appear to have little or no connection. See Augustine, de Consensus Evang. II. 5. 16, Vol. iii. p. 1079 (ed. Mlign6), Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 156. 3 Such is the older tradition, noticed and supported by Justin M,'artyr, Trypeh. cap. 78. Vol. ii. p. 263 (ed. Otto), Tertullian, adv. Jud. cap. 9, and adv. aclrc. III. 13. The objection to this view seems to be the term &vceaTOX&v, which, in the New Testament at least, can hardly be regarded as a natural designation of a country which elsewhere is always specified by its regular geographical name. See Winer, RWTB. Art.," Stern der Weisen," Vol. ii. p. 523, but also contrast the reff. of Patritius, de Evang. Dissert. xxvII. Part iii. 317. 4 This somewhat later tradition is maintained by Chrysostom (in loc.), PseudoBasil (Vol. ii. 855, ed. Bened.), Ephrem (Cantic de _Maria et AIagis, Vol. iii. p. 601, ed. Assem.), the Christian poet Juvencus, and many other ancient writers, and with considerable probability, as Persia and the adjoining countries appear always to have been regarded as the chief seat of the Magian philosophy (see the numerous confirmatory reff. in Greswell, Dissert. xviII.), and as the term at &varoAal might naturally and suitably have been applied by the Evangelist to the trans-Euphratean countries of which Persia formed a portion. Such, too, is the opinion of apparently the majority of the more learned modern writers who 7* 78 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. they, from whatever clime they came, of the wisdom of God displaying itself in the foolishness or misconceptions of man.' Witnesses were they of the cherished longings of ancient nations;2 bright examples of a faith that could dignify even superstitions, and of hopes that grew not cold when all must have seemed utter hopelessness. But what could have brought these first-fruits of the wisdom of the Eastern world from their own The guiding star. distant lands? Even that which was most calculated to work in them the liveliest belief and conviction. A new star,3 which the tenor of the narrative wholly prehave touched upon this subject; we may pause to specify the celebrated Orientalist, Hyde (de Relig. Vet. Pers. cap. xxxI. 383), who particularly notices their country as Parthia; the learned Dr. Thomas Jackson (Creed, Book vii. Vol. vi. p. 261, Oxf. 1844), and the no less learned Dr. Mill (Obs. on Pantheistic Principles, Part Ir. pp. 365, 375). For further information the student may be referred to Spanheim, Dub. Evang. xvIII. —xxIV. Part II. p. 255 sq., the excellent Dissertation of Patritius above referred to (de Evangeliis, Part III. pp. 309-354, where every question relating to these sages is fully discussed), Greswell, Dissert. xvIII. Vol. ii. p. 135 sq., Hoffmann, Leben Jessu, p. 125, and especially the sound and valuable comments of Mill, on Panth. Princ. Part II. 3. 1, p. 364. 1 See the excellent remarks of Mill on the true physical influence and true significancy of the heavenly bodies, and the counterfeit science of astrology with which it was adulterated. - Observations on Pantheistic Principles, Part II. 3 2, pp.-364, 365. Compare also a learned and not uninteresting dissertation on judicial astrology in Spanheim, Dub. Evang. xxxlIi. Part II. p. 334 sq. 2 It has long been a matter of discussion what precisely led these Magi to xnspe.t a birth so nrefilured. See Ssanheim. Dub. Evaznq. xsxXI. Part II. p. 3%% sq. ~asAthueo a carat- y iP-'a'Btb- ~0~t~~o~ %~ % Balaam (Numb. xxiv. 17-19), an opinion maintained by Origen (contr. Cels. Book I. p. 46, ed. Spencer), and the majority of the ancient expositors; or was it due to prophecies uttered in their own country, dimly foreshadowing this divine mystery (see the citations from the Zend-Avesta, below, p. 77, note 1, and compare Hyde, de Relig. Pers. XXxI. p. 389 sq.)? Perhaps the latter view is the most probable, especially if we associate with it a belief, which the sacred narrative gives us every reason for entertaining (Matt. ii. 12), that these faithful men received a special illumination both to apply rightly what they had remembered, and to recognize its verification in the phenomenon of which they were now the privileged observers. Compare Mill, Observations, Part II. 3. 2, p. 368. 3 Thus far, at least, correctly, Origen (contr. Cels. Book I. p. 45, ed. Spencer): T'v ocat'Tva ae3Tpca's T7 avaToAr K a *i v' dc fi to Slc i 8 c Yc Trcv ovus'awv 7rapacr iXoov ourc s TC'V E' T^ &iraviE7 OV're goY i'V rals caTw'rWpw rPcaIpasi. This great writer seems only to err when in his subsequent remarks he supposes it to be of the nature of a comet. On this star much, and that not always of a satisfactory nature, has been written by both ancient and modern commentators. That it was not a star in the usual astronomical sense (Wiese'er, Chron. Syno2ps. I. 2, p. 59) seems clear from the special motions appar LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 79 eludes our deeming aught else than a veritable heavenly body moving apparently in the limits of our own atmosphere, and subject not to astronomical, but to special and fore-ordered laws, had suddenly beamed, not many months before,I upon the eyes of these watchers in their own Eastern lands,2 and, either by cooperating with dormant prophecy or deep-seated expectation, leads them to that land, with which either their ownr sciences or, more probably, the ently attributed to it in the sacred narrative (see Mill, on Panth. Princ. Part II. 3. 2, p. 369, note); that it also could not be a mere conjunction of the greater planets (Miinter, Stern der tViesen, Keppler, and similarly Ideler, Handbuch der Chronol. Vol. ii. p. 399 sq.,-both following or expanding the older view of Keppler) seems also still more certain from the use of the definite term &o'71p. We therefore justly fall back upon the ancient opinion, that it was a luminous body, possibly of a meteoric nature, but subject to special laws regulating its appearance and perhaps also its motion. The literature of the subject, which is very extensive, will be found in Winer, R IVB. Art. " Stern der Wiesen," Vol. ii. p. 523 sq. I The date of the appearance of the star is a question that has been often entertained, and cannot easily be decided. Wieseler (Chron. Synops. i. 2, p. 59) urges a period of two years previous to the arrival of the Magi, pressing the sort of date afforded by Matt. ii. 16. See above, p. 77. As, however, Greswell (Dissert. xvIII. Vol. ii. p. 136, ed. 2) has fairly shown that the term a7rb 8LEToVs Kal KaWTrepw need not be understood as necessarily implying the extreme limit, and as it is also probable that Hlerod would be certain to secure to himself a wide margin, we may, with almost equal plausibility, select any period between thirteen and twenty-four months. Patritius (de Evang. Dissert. xxvII. Part III. p. 331) urges, with a little show of probability, a period of eighteen months, which, according to the rough date of the Nativity adopted in these lectures, would have to be reduced to sixteen. The time of the miraculous conception seems to commend itself as the exact epoch, but causes us either to reduce somewhat unduly the 7rob LTeroes, or (with Greswell) to assume an interval of nearly three months between the Presentation and the arrival of the Mlagi, which is Uot only improbable in itself; but absolutely incompatible with the date, (A. u. c. 750, the death-year of HIerod), which we have above fixed upon as the probable year of the Nativity. See p. 77, note 1. 2 A few interpreters of this passage, and among them our own expositor Hammond (on Matt. ii. 2) and the German chronologer Wieseler (Synops. p. 59), regard Ev? &avaTroAt, as used with an astronomical reference, " at its rising." This seems at needless variance with the use of the same words in ver. 9, where Iv Tp arohAp and ou v r 7 raZlov seem to stand in a kind of local antithesis, and is in opposition to the apparently unanimous opinion of the Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and other ancient versions. For yet another view see Jackson, Creed, Book vii. Vol. vi. p. 262 (Oxf. 1844). 3 Much has been said about the astrological association of the constellation of the Fish with the land of Judaea. See Miinter, Stern der Wiesen, p. 55 sq., Ideler, Ha;?ndb. der C7hrono!. Vol. ii. p. 409, and Wieseler, Chiron. Synops. I. 2, p. 56. As, however, this is more or less associated with the doubtful views as to the nature of the star above alluded to, we make no use of such precarious elucidations. 80 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. It. whole feeling of the Eastern world,l tended to associate the mystery of the future. Can we not picture to ourselves the excitement and amazement in Jerusalem, as those travel-stained men2 entered into the city of David with the one question on their lips, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" Can we wonder 3fatt. ii. 2. that the aged man still on the throne of Ver. 3, Judvea was filled with strange trouble and perplexity? Can we be surprised at the course that was immediately followed? Let us only consider the case in its simThe extreme naturalnests of the sa- plest aspects. Here was a question based creel narrative. on celestial appearances coming from the lips of those in whom it would have seemed most porten1 This general feeling has been above alluded to. See p. 55, note 2, and compare Mill, on Panth. Princ. Part ii. 3. 1, p. 366. 2 Some interesting notices of the probable time which it would have taken the Wise Men to travel from Persia to Jerusalem will be found in Greswell, Dissert. xvIII. Vol. ii. p. 138 sq. From the calculations there made it would appear that they could not have been much less than four months on the road. It has been computed by Chrysostom, in reference to the journey of Abraham, that the time occupied in a journey from Palestine no further than Chaldaea would be about 70 days.. Ad Stagir. ii. Vol. i. p. 188 (cited by Greswell). 3 The terms of this question deserve some notice, as they serve incidentally to show the firm belief of the Magi that the expected King was now really born into the world, and yet their complete ignorance, not only of the place of His birth, but, as it would seem, also of its mysterious nature and character. Comp. Greswell, Harmony, Dissert. xvIII. Vol. ii. p. 144, but see contra Theoph. is loc. They go naturally to Jerusalem, for where, as Jackson says (Creed, Book vii. p. 258), " should they seek the King of the Jews but in His standing court? " and they put forward a question which shows their conviction that a great King had been born in the land they were visiting, though, at present, who or where they knew not (opposed to Theoph. in loc.). In the sequel, they were probably permitted to behold some glimpses of the true nature of Him whom they came to reverence; so that, as Bp. Taylor well says, " their custom was changed to grace, and their learning heightened with inspiration; and God crowned all with a spiritual and glorious event";' - Life of Christ, Part I. 4. 4. Though then in the first 7rpOcrKUVYTaL (ver. 2) no more perhaps might have been designed than the outward worshipful reverence of Persian usage (Herod. I. 134), we may well believe that in the subsequent performance of the act (ver. 11) there was something more, and may not incorrectly believe with Tertullian (adv. Jud. cap. 9), Origen (contr. Celsum, Lib. I. p. 46, ed. Spencer), and indeed the whole early Church, that with a deepening though imperfect consciousness these faithful mnen adored the Infant at Bethlehem as God, no less than they prostrated themselves before Him as man. See the copious reff. in Patritius, dle Evang. Dissert. XXVII. 2, Part xrI, p. 348. LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 81 tous, - the Magi of the East, the ancient watchers of' the stars. When with this we remember how rife expectation was, and how one perhaps of that very council, which the dying king' called together, could tell of his own father's mysterious prophecy of the coming Messiah2 — when we add to this the strange rumors of the Child of Bethlehem, fast flying from mouth to mouth beyond that narrow circle to which Anna had first proclaimed Him, - can we wonder at all that followed? How natural the description of the probably hastily-sunnmmoned council, and of the question publicly propounded to it touching the birth-place of the Messiah. How natural, too, the private inquiry about the star's appearance made Matt ii.4. Ver. 7. specially to the Magi, and how accordant with all that we know of Herod, the frightful hypocrisy with which they were sent to test and verify the now ascertained declaration of prophecy, and the murderous sequel. How natural, also, the description of I'er. 8. the further journey of the Wise Mlen, their simple joy 1 The death of Herod appears alhnost certainly to have taken place a few days before the Passover of the year A. U. c. 750; apparently, if retrospective calculations can be depended on, towards the end of the first week of April. See Wieseler, Chron. Syn. p. 57, and compare Clinton, Fasti Hell. Vol. iii. p. 254, Browne, Ordo Saec. ~ 31, p. 31. If, then, we suppose the Saviour's birth to have been in late winter, say, at the beginning of February, the arrival of the Iagi would have taken place about three weeks before Herod's death, and a very few days before his removal to the baths at Callirrhoe (Joseph. Antiq. xvII. 6. 5). Comp. Browne, Ordo Scec. ~ 28. If we adopt Dec. 25, A. u. c. 749, a date which, as has been above implied (p. 70, note 3) is perhaps not quite so probable (compare Wieseler, Chiron. Syn. p. 134 sq.), the interval between the present event and the death of the wretched king will be proportionately longer, and in some respects, it must be admitted, more chronologically convenient. 2 If, as seems reasonable to suppose, the son of R. Nehumiah ben Hakkana was present at the council, he could scarcely have forgotten the prophecy said to have been uttered by his father, - that the coming of the Messiah could not be delayed more than fifteen years. See Sepp, Leben Christi, Vol. ii. p. 24, and the curious work of Petrus Calatinus, de A4rcanis Cathol. VFerit. cap. 3, p. 8 (Francof. 1602). The opinion that this was a special meeting of the Sanhedrin (Lightfoot) is perhaps slightly the most probable; the omission of the third element, the 7Errps3,VTEPO1e TO Aaoi, is similarly found in MIatt. xvi. 21, xx. 18. See MeIyer in loc. On the ypajyu.aTes roO AaoD here mentioned, see Spanheim, )ub. Evanlg. xxxviiI. Part ii. p. 392 sq., Patritius, de Evang. Dissert. xxIx. Part III. p. 366, and on the Sanhedrin generally, Selden, de Synedriis, ii. 6, Vol. ii. p. 1316 sq. Jost, Gesch. des JuLdenth. uI. 3. 14, Vol. i. p. 273. 82 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. when, on their evening mission to Bethlehem, they again see' the well-remembered star, and find that Ver. 9 the very powers of the heavens are leading them where Rabbinical wisdom2 had already sent them. How full must now have been their conviction; with what opening hearts must they have worship,)ed; with what holy joy must they have spread out their costly gifts; how they must now have felt, though perhaps still dimly and imperfectly, that they were kneeling before the hope of a world, —One greater than Zoroaster had ever foretold, a truer Redeemer than the Sosiosh of their own ancient creed.3 No marvel was er. 12. it, that with prompt obedience they followed the guidance of the visions of the night, and re1 This seems the only natural meaning that we can assign to the words Hal ZIov [surely an expression marking the unexpectedness of the reappearance], 6 &OarTp 5'v EO 5ov'r. a7aToX.j 7rpOjyEf, avroVs, Matt. ii. 9. Whether the star preceded them the whole way to Jerusalem, and then disappeared for a short time, or whether it only appeared to them in their own country, disappeared, and now reappeared, must remain a matter of opinion. The definitive o' e3o0 E' Tv e, ava-roAi, and still more the unusual strength of the expression which describes their joy at again beholding the star,- e'dpXloav Xapav.Esyc(7Av ao'apa (ver. 10), —seem strongly in favor of the latter view. So Spanheim, IDub. Eva?1g. xxix. Part ii. p. 320, Jackson, Creed, Book vII. Vol. vi. p. 261, and Mill, Observations, II. 2. 3, p. 369. 2 The recent revival of the older anti-christian view, that the prophecy of Micah (ch. v. 2) cited, by the Evangelist, either refers to Zorobabel (a view unhappily maintained by Theodorus of Mopsuestia), or, if referring to the Messiah, only alludes to His descent from David, whose seat Bethlehem was, has been ably and completely disposed of by Mill, Observations, II. 2. 3, pp. 391402. On this and other supposed difficulties connected with this prophecy, see Spanheim, Dub. Evang. LI. —XLVI. Part II. p. 406; Patritius, de Evanig. Dissert. xxx. Part III. p. 368 sq. 3 According to the statements of Anquetil du Perron, in his Life of Zoroaster, prefixed to his edition of the Zend-Avesta (Vol. i. 2, p. 46), Sosiosh was the last of the three posthumous sons of Zoroaster, and was to raise and judge the dead and renovate the earth. See Ieschts Sadcs, xxvIIi., " Lorsque Sosiosch paroitra, il fera du bien au monde entier existant" (Vol. ii. p. 278); Boundehesch, xxxI., " Sosiosch fera revivre les morts " (Vol. ii. p. 411); and similarly, ib. xI. (Vol. ii. p. 364); ib. xxxsII. (Vol. ii. p. 420). Whatever may be the faults or inaccuracies of Du Perronis translation (many of which have been noticed in Burnof's Commentaire slrt le Yafna, Paris 1833), it can at any rate now no longer be doubted that Zend has its proper place among the primitive languages of the Indo-Germanic family (see Rask's Essay, translated by Von der Ilagen, Berl. 1826), and that the Avesta must have existed in writing previously to the time of Alexander. See Donaldson, New Cratylus, ~ 86, p. 144 sq. (ed. 3). LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 83 turned to their distant home by a way by which they came not. No sooner had they departed, than the heavenly warning is sent to Joseph' to flee on that very Fliyht into Egypt night 2 into Egypt from the coming wrath of an~d murdtler of the Herod. And that wrath did not long linger. Innocents. Ver. 13. When the savage king found that his strange messengers had deceived him, with the broad margin that a reckless ferocity left a matter of no moment, he slays every male child in Bethlehem, whose age could in any way have accorded with the rough date which the first appearance of the star had been judged to supply.3 On this fiendish act we need dwell no fur- The silence of Joseph us. ther, save to protest against the inferences that have been drawn from the silence of a contemporary historian.4 What, we may fairly ask, was such an 1 Again, it will be observed, consistently with the notice of the preceding divine communication vouchsafed to Joseph (Matt. i. 20),- by an angelic visitation in a dream. See again ver 20, and compare the remarks made above, p. 65, note 1. Some curious remarks on the nature of angelic visitations in dreams will be found in the learned work of Bynaeus, de Natali Jes. Chr. I. 2. 14, p. 210. 2 Probably on the same inight that the Magi arrived; for there seems every reason against the view of a commentator in Cramer (Caten. Vol. i. p. 14), that the star led them ev 71,ppa, jeap. At any rate the Holy Family appear to have departed by night: the words, syepaels 7rapc(iaiSe, seem to enjoin all promptitude, -" surge accipe," Syr. 3 See above, p. 79, note 1. As Herod made his savage edict inclusive as regards locality ('v Bs7iAASk~ Kae 4' 7rawarv trois bpLois avtris, ver. 16), so did he also in reference to time: he killed all the children of two years and under (&7rb &erToes, scil. 7ratlo's, not Xpbvou, as apparently Vulg., "a bimnatu "), to make sure that he included therein the Divine Infant of Bethlehem; robs ECY 8Et7ses &ava'pLE, Yha EX- 7rAdaTos 6 Xpdos. Euthym. on 211att. ii. 16, p. 81 (ed. Matthei). 4 It seems doubtful whether we need go so far as to say, with Dr. Mill (Observations, II. 3. 1, p. 345), that this silence is remarkable. The concluding days of Herod's life were marked by such an accumulation of barbarities that such an event might easily have been overlooked or forgotten. At any rate the reference of the well-known passage of Macrobius (Saturnal. ii. 4) to this murder of the Innocents, though often denied or explained away (' aus der Christlichen Tradition geflossen ist," Meyer, Kommentar. p. 80), seems now clearly established and vindicated. See Mill, ib. p. 349 sq.; and compare Spanheim, Dub. 1Evang. LxxvI. Part ii. p. 534 sq. It is worthy of notice that if; as seems nearly certain, the son of Herod alluded to in that passage was Antipater, the date of the murder of the Innocents may be roughly fixed as not very far distant from that of the execution of the unhappy man referred to, and this latter event, we know, 84 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. act in the history of a monster whose hand reeked with the blood of whole families and of his nearest and dearest relations? What was the murder of a few children at Bethlehem in the dark history of one who had, perchance but a few days before, burnt alive at Jerusalem above forty hapless zealots who had torn down his golden eagle?' What was the lamentation at Rama2 compared with that which had been heard in that monster's own palace, and which, if his inhuman orders had been executed, would have been soon heard in every street in Jerusalem?3 Even doubters have here admitted that there is no real difficulty; 4 and why should not we? Is the silence of a prejudiced Jew to be set against the declarations of an inspired Apostle? Tlhe events of this portion of the sacred narrative come to their close with the notice of the divinely ordered journey back fiom Egypt on the death of HIerod, and the final was five days before the death of Herod. See Joseph. Bell. Jud. I. 33. 8; and compare above, p. 81, note 1. 1 See Josephus, Asntiq. xvni. 6. 2, Bell. Jud. i. 33. 2. This was an outbreak caused bv the harangues of two expounders of the law, Judas and Matthias, and resulted in the destruction of a large golden eagle of considerable value which Herod had erected over the gate of the temple. From the tenor of the narrative (BaoALXfus 8E KaTraS&aas ai)TroVs' E 7r e 1X r E' Els'IepLXo-ra, 3), and the subsequent oration in the theatre (comp. Antiq. xv. 8. 1), it would seem that Herod was at this time in Jerusalem. The date of the execution of these unhappy zealots, which probably almost immediately followed their apprehension, can be fixed with certainty to the night of March 12-13 (A. U. c. 750), as Josephus mentions that on the same night there was an eclipse of tile moon (!oc. cit. 6 4). See Ide!er, Ilandb. der Chronol. Vol. ii. p. 28, and comp. Wieseler, Chron. Stynops. I. 2, I). 56. 2 For some excellent critical remarks on the citation friom Jeremiah in reference to Rachel weeping for her children, see Mill, Observations, ii. 3. 1, p. 402 sq.; and for a good sermon on the text, Jackson, Creed, Vol. vi. p. 277 (Oxf. 1844). 3 It is distinctly mentioned by Josephus that this fiantic tyrant had all the principal men of the nation summoned to him at Jericho and shut up in the hippodrome, and that he gave orders to his sister Salome and her husband Alexas to have them executed immediately he died, that as there would be no mourners for, there might be some at, his death. Antiq. xvII. 6. 5. 4 See Schlosser, LUniversalhistor. Uebers. der alten Welt, Part III. 1, p. 261, referred to by Neander, Leben Jesu Chr. p. 45. For several questions connected with the murder of the Innocents, including some characteristically guarded remarks on their number, see Patritius, de Eveang. Dissert. xxxYII. Part III. p. 375. LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 85 return to Nazareth.'Warned by God in a dream of the death of Herod, Joseph at once' brings back The return to the Holy Child and His mother; and thus, Ju(ca. after a stay in Egypt of perhaps far fewelr days2 than Israel had there sojourned years, the word of ancient and hitherto unnoted prophecy receives its complete fulfilment,' the mystic Israel comes up to the land of now more than promise,- out of Egypt God has called His Son..latt. ii. 15. To what exact place of abode the blessed Virgin and Joseph were now directing their steps is not specially noticed by the Evangelist. We may, however, perhaps reasonably infer from St. Matthew's Gospel that this home1 If the remark made above (p. 83, note 2) be correct, the same inference must be made in the present case, that the heavenly command required a similar promptitude on the part of Joseph, and that the faithful guardian delayed not. We may observe, however, that it is now Eyep.aels 7rapcAao3e Kai 7ropEvov, not EyepSrels 7rapdAa,3e Kal psetey, as in ver. 13. This did not escape the observation of Chrysostom. 2 If the dates we have adopted are approximately correct, it would seem that little more than a fortnight elapsed between the flight into Egypt and the death of Herod, and that consequently we must conceive the stay in Egypt to have been comparatively short. Gresewell, by adopting April, A.u.c. 750, as the date of the Nativity, and 751 A.tu.c. as the death-year of Herod, is compelled to assume a stay there of about seven months. See Dissert. xII. Vol. ii. p. 392. The apocryphal writers still more enlarge this period (" exacto vero triennio rediit ex Egypto," Evang. Isf. Arab. cap. xxvI.; compare Pseuldo-Matt. Evang. cap. xxvi.), almost evidently for the purpose of interpolating a series of miracles. 3 This citation from ancient prophecy has been much discussed. Without entering into the detail of objections which have in many cases proved as frivolous as they are irreverent, we may observe, (1) that it seems certain that Hosea xi. 1 is the passage referred to. See Jerome in loc., Eusebius, Eclog. Proph. p. 46 sq. (ed. Gaisford); and (2) that little doubt can be entertained that the catholic interpretation which makes Israel and the promised Seed stand in typical relations (AE;dX71 rni' Xaa'rovn7rKCS, 4E37l be eGs i'rb XpoplOTbY &A71acs, - Theoph. in loc., in substance firom Chrysostom) is no less true and correct than it is simple and natural. St. Matthew, as writing principally to Hebrew readers and to men who felt and knew that the nation to which they belonged was the truest and most veritable type of their Lord, specifies a passage which they had perhaps considered but simple history. but which, with the light of inspiration shed on it, assumes every attribute of mysterious, and, let us add, to them at any rate, of most persuasive prophecy. For further references and information, the reader may profitably consult Spanheim, Dub. Evrang. LXII.-LXX. Part II. p. 474 sq., Deyling, Obs. Sacr. Vol. iv. p. 769, and Mill, on Panth. Prisnciples, II. 3. 1, p. 409. 8 86 THE BIRTH AND INFANCY LECT. II. ward journey would have terminated at Bethlehem, - that new home now so dear to them from its many marvellous associations, that home which now might have seemed marked out to them by the very finger of God, had not the tidings which reached Joseph, that the evil son of an evil flather, the Ethnarch Archelaus, was Jlatt. ii. 22. now ruling over Judaea, made that faithful guardian afraid to return to a land so full of hatred and dangers. While thus, perhaps, in doubt and perplexity, the divine answer is vouchsafed to his anxieties,2 and Joseph and the Virgin are directed to return to the safer obscurity of their old home in the hills of Galilee; and the spirit of ancient prophecy again finds its fulfilment in the designation the Messiah receives from his earthly abode, "qHe shall be called a Nazarene."3 1 The language of the Jewish deputies to Augustus fully justifies this remark:' he seemed to be so afraid," they said, "lest he should not be deemed Herod's own son, that he took especial care to make his acts prove it." See Joseph. Antiq. xvII. 11. 2. 2 This seems to lie in the word XP7C1aTTlaOEls (ver. 22). Though we may not perhaps safely, either here or ver. 12, or indeed in the New Testament generally, press the idea of a definite foregoing question, we may yet so far retain this usual meaning (Xp7,uarTt'E a7roipiLVETaL, Suid.) as to regard the doubts and fears of Joseph as the practical question to which the divine answer was returned. See Suicer, Thesasur. s. v. Vol. ii. p. 1521. 3 The very use of the inclusive rSL&'rav 7rpocP7yrrJ ought to prepare us to expect, what we find to be the case, that this is no citation from any particular prophet, but expresses the declarations of several: " pluraliter prophetas vocando, MatthTus ostendit non verba de Scripturis a se sumpta sed sensum." - Jerome in loc. We seem justified then in assigning to the word Na~wpaos all the meanings legitimately belonging to it, by derivation or otherwise, which are concurrent with the declarations of the prophets in reference to our Lord. We may therefore, both with the early Hebrew (Chlristians tsce Jerome) land apparently the whole Western Church, trace this prophetic declaration, (a) principally and primarily, in all the passages which refer to the MIessiah under the title of the Branch ('..) of the root of Jesse (Isaiah xi. 1; compare Jerem. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15; Zech. vi. 11); (b) in the references to the circumstances of lowliness and obscurity under which that growth was to take place (comp. Isaiah liii. 2); and perhaps further (c) in the prophetic notices of a contempt and rejection (Isaiah liii. 3), such as seems to have been the common and, as it would seem in many respects, deserved portion of the inhabitant of rude and ill-reputed Nazareth. See above, p. 57, note 2, and for further information and illustrations, Spanheim, Dub. Evang. xc.-sxcI. Part Ii. p. 598 sq., Deyling, Obs. Sacr. xL. Vol. i. p. 176, Patritius, (le Evang. Dissert. xxxvII. Part III. p. 406, Mill, Observationls, iI. 3. 1, p. 422 sq. LECT. II. OF OUR LORD. 87 I must now at once bring this lecture to a close, yet not without two or three sentences of earnest exhortation to you, brethren, who form the younger portion of this audience. If there be ought in these hasty outlines of contested portions of Evangelical history that has arrested your attention, and deepened your convic- Conclusion. tions, I will pray to God that it may yet work more and more ill your hearts, and lead you to feel that there is indeed a quick and living truth in every sentence of the blessed Gospel, and that they who read with a loving and reverential spir'it shall find it in its fullest measures. 0, pray fervently against the first motions of a spirit of doubting and questioning. By those prayers which you learned at a mother's knees, by that holy history which, perchance, you first heard from a mother's lips, give not up the first child-like faith of earlier and it may be purer days, - that simple, heroic faith, which such men as Niebuhrl and Neander2 knew how to appreciate and to glorify, even while they felt its fullest measures could never be their own. Remember that when faith grows cold love soon passes away, and hope soon follows it; and, 0, believe me, that the world cannot exhibit a spectacle more utterly mourn1 It must be regarded as very striking, that the great historian who could express himself with such strength and even bitterness of language against much that, however exaggerated it may have been in the case in question, was really fundamentally sound in pietism (see Letter CCLXXX.), could yet feel it right to educate his son in a way that must have led to the deepest reverence for the very letter of the inspired records. These are Niebuhr's own words: "l ie [his son] shall believe in the letter of the Old and New Testaments, and I shall nurture in him, from his infancy, a firm faith in all that I have lost, or feel uncertain about.'"-Life ansd Letters, Vol. ii. p. 101 (Transl. 1852). 2 After some comments on extreme views as to what is termed, not perhaps very correctly, " the old mechanical view of inspiration," this thoughtful writer thus proceeds: "IBut this [existence of chasms in the Gospel history] only affords room for the exercise of our faith, - a faith whose root is to be found, not in demonstration, but in the humble and self-denying submission of our spirits. Our scientific views may be defective in many points; our knowledge itself may be but fragmentary; but our religious interests will find all that is necessary to attach them to Christ as the ground of salvation and the archetype of holiness." - Life of Jesus Christ, p. 9 (Bohn),- a paraphrastic, but substantially correct representation of the original. 88 BIRTHI AND INFANCY OF OUR LORD. LECT. Il. ful, more full of deepest melancholy, than a young yet doubting, a fresh yet unloving, an eager yet hopeless and forsaken heart. MIay these humnble words have wrought in you the conviction, that if with a noble and loving spirit, Acts xvii. 11. like the Beraeans of old, we search the Scriptures, we shall full surely find, - yea, verily, that we who may go forth weeping to gather up the fevw scattered ears of truth that might seem all that historical scepticism had now left us, shall yet return with joy, js. cxxvi. 6. and bring with us the sheaves of accumulated convictions, and the plenitudes of assurance in the everlasting truth of every part and every portion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. LECTURE III. THE EARLY JUDA AN MIINISTRY. AND JESUS INCREASED IN WISDOM AND STATURE, AND IN FAVOR WITH GOD AND AXN. - St. Luke ii. 52. IN my last lecture, brethren, we concluded with that portion of the sacred narrative which briefly The early years notices the return of the Holy Family to ofour Lordo's iUe. Nazareth, and the fulfilment of the spirit of ancient prophecy in the Redeemer of the world being called a Nazarene. Between that event and the group of events which will form the subject of this afternoon's lecture, and which make up what may be termed our Lord's early Judlean ministry, one solitary occurrence is recorded in the Gospel narrative, - our Lord's second appearance in the Temple at Jerusalem, his second presentation in His Father's house. WVith the single exception of the notice of this deeply interesting event, the whole history of the Reserve of the Saviour's childhood, youth, and even early Evaneliests. manhood, is passed over by all the Evangelists with a most solemn reserve. Even he of them who appears to have received so much, directly or indirectly, fiorn the blessed Virgin herself,' and fiom whom we might have expected some passing notices of that mysterious childhood, -even he would seem to have been specially moved to seal all in silence, and to relate no more than this one event which marks the period when the Holy One was just passing the dividing line between childhood and 1 See the remarks above, p. 29, note 5. 8* 90 THE EARLY JUD2EAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. youth. Both periods, that preceding and that succeeding this epoch, are described in two short verses, Luke ii. 40 and 52. closely similiar in expression, and tending alike to show that the outward and earthly development of our Redeemer was in strict accordance with those laws by which those He came to save pass fiom childhood into youth, and from youth into mature age.l In regard of the first period, that of the childhood, one short clause is graciously added to warn us Tile brief notice of our Lord's cild- from unlicensed musings upon the influences.,ood. of outward things upon the Holy Child,2Luke i. 40. one clause only, but enough, —" and the grace of God was upon Him." In regard of the second period, that of the Lord's youth and early manhood, one event at its commencement, which shows us how that grace unfolded itself in heavenly wis1 It is well said by Cyril of Alexandria: " Examine, I pray you, closely the profoundness of the dispensation; the Word endures to be born in human fashion, although in His divine nature He has no beginning, nor is subject to time. He, who as God is all-perfect, submits to bodily growth: the Incorporeal has limbs that advance to the ripeness of manhood.... The wise Evangelist did not introduce the Word in His abstract and incorporate nature, and so say of Him that He increased in stature and wisdom and grace, but, after having shown that He was born in the flesh of a woman, and took our likeness, he then assigns to Him these human attributes, and calls Him a child, and says that he waxed in stature, as lIis body grew little by little, in obedience to corporeal laws." - Comment. ows Luke, Part I. p. 29, 30 (Transl.). So, too, Origen: "Et crescebat, inquit, humiliaverat enim se, formam servi accipiens, et eadem virtute qua se humiliaverat, crescit." - In Luc. Hom. xIx. Vol. iii. p. 953 (ed. Bened.). 2 On this subject see more below, p. 99 sq. Meanwhile, we may justly record our protest against the way in which a most serious and profound question is now usually discussed, and the repulsive freedom which many modern writers, not only in Germany, but even in this country, permit themselves to assume when alluding to the mental development of the Holy Child. See, for example, the highly objectionable remarks of Hase (Leben Jesu, ~ 31, p. 56), in which this writer plainly tells us at the outset that " the spiritual development of Jesus depended on fortunate gifts of nature" (glicklichen Naturgaben); and that these, though enhanced by the purposes and circumstances of His after-life, still never went beyond the culture of the time and country, and never " transcended the limits of humanity." Compare, too, Von Ammon, Leben Jesu, I. 10, Vol. i. p. 236, where the highly questionable views of Theodorus of Mopsuestia find a ready defender; and for an example from writers of our country of eloquent and attractive but still painfully humanitarian comments on this mysterious subject, see Robertson, Sermonos, Vol. ii. p. 196. LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. 91 dom,l is made fully known to us, —one event, but one only, to which one short verse, that of our.EquaHll brief notext, is added, to teach us how that wisdom tice of our Lord's youth. waxed momently more full, more deep, more broad, until, like some mighty river seeking the sea, it merged insensibly into the omniscience of bztke ii. 52. His limitless Godhead.2 One further touch completes the divine picture, -"in favour with God and 1 On this subject the following are the sentiments of Gregory of Nazianzus: " IIe was making advance, as in stature so also in wisdom and grace. Not by these qualities receiving increase, —for what can be more perfect than that which is so from the very beginning? — but by their being disclosed and revealed by little and little."- Orat. xx. p. 33 (I'aris, 1609). It may, however, be justly doubted whether these statements, -especially the negative assertion, -though confessedly in close accordance with some expressions of Athanasius (7rpoKdir-.TOPTOS r'o ao&pa'Tos 7rpoeKo7rTErv 4s aTCevr Kal 71 Cpacpoarts'rT1s aeEdT7TOS 70iS 6p&ryv. Adv. Arian. IIn. 29. 14), and other orthodox writers, are not unduly restricted, and whether the words of the inspired Evangelist do not clearly imply (to use the language of Waterland) that our Lord's increase in wisdom is to be understood in a sense as " literal, as His increasing in stature is literal" (Script. and Arians Compared, Vol. iii. p. 298). While then with these catholic writers we may certainly acknowledge a gradual and progressive disclosure of the Lord's divine wisdom, we must certainly, with other equally catholic writers, recognize a regular development and increase in the wisdom and grace of the reasonable soul, i. e.,-to speak with psychological accuracy, of the avxA and vois; the true and complete statement being, —" Christum secundum sapientiam divinam, hoc est eam, quat ei competit tanquam Deo, non profecisse: secundum sapientiam autem humanam, hoc est eam, quoe ei ut homini competit, vere profecisse, hominis quidem more, sed tamen supra modum humanum." — Suicer, Thes. Vol. ii. p. 269 (appy. from Bernh. de Consid. Book II.). In a word, then, as Cyril of Alexandria (in loc.) briefly says, " the body advances in stature and the [reasonable] soul in wisdom." See Ambrose, de Incarn. cap. 72 sq. Vol. ii. 1, p. 837 (ed. MIign6), Epiphanius, Iacer. LXXVII. 26, Vol. i. p. 1019 (Paris, 1622), and the good note of the Oxford Translator (J. H. Newman) of Athanasius, Select Treatises, Disc. III. Part ii. p. 474 (Libr. of Fathers). 2 This simile, though merely intended to illustrate generally a profound mystery, and not to be pressed with dogmatic exactness, is still, as it would seem, substantially correct. The fact of the present verse (Luke ii. 52) being one of those urged by the heretical sect of the Agnoetae, as tending to show limitations even in our Lord's divine nature, was not improbably the cause of its having received some interpretations (see above) so rigid, as to favor by inference the Apollinarian statement that the Word itself was in the place of YosE (Pearson, Creed, Vol. ii. p. 122, ed. Burton). The whole subject, and a scholastic discussion, " de Christi scientia et nescientia et profectu secundum humanitatem," will be found in Forbes, Instruct. Hist.-Theol. Book III. ch. 19, 20. See Petav. Dogyn. Theol. (de Incarn. xI. 2) Vol. vi. p. 39, Suicer, Thesaur. s. v. Adyos, Vol. ii. p. 268, and the sensible remarks of Boyse on our Lord's omniscience, Vindic. of oar Savciotzr's Deity, Vol. ii. p. 23 sq. (Lond. 1728). 92 THE EARLY JUDMEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. man," perchance designed to hint to us that the outward form corresponded to the inner development, that the fulness of heavenly wisdom dwelt in a shrine of outward perfection and beauty,l and that the ancient tradition,2 which assigned no form or comeliness to "the fairest 1 Upon this point, it need scarcely be said, nothing certain can be adduced. From the Gospels we seem to be able to infer that our Lord's outward form, on one occasion at least, sensibly struck the beholders with a feeling of the majesty and dignity of Him who condescended to wear the garments of our mortality. Compare John xviii. 6. Perhaps, however, we may go so far as to say, that there was still nothing that merely outwardly marked the Redeemer of the world as strikingly different from the general aspect of the men of hlis own time and country, otherwise it would seem strange that the Apostles who beheld him by the lake of Gennesareth, and to whom He was near enough to be easily heard (John xxi. 4 sq.), did not inzstantly recognize who it was. The similar failure of recognition in the case of the two disciples going to Emmaus (Luke xxiv. 13 sq.) can perhaps hardly be urged, owing to the Evangelist's own remark (ver. 16), and the further illustrative comment of St. Mark (e''Tre'p wopq?7, ch. xvi. 12). This, perhaps, is all that can safely be urged. The more distinct descriptions of our Lord's appearance, especially those in the Epistle of Lesntulus (see Fabricius, Codex Apocs. N. T. Vol. i. p. 301 sq.), and the very similar one of Epiphanius Monachus (p. 29, ed. Dressel,- and cited by Winer, R YJVB. Art. " Jesus," Vol. i. p. 576, after a better text supplied to him by Tischendorf), appear clearly to be due to the imagination and conceptions of the writers. The statue of our Lord said by Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. VII. 18) to have been erected at Coesarea Philippi by the woman with the issue of blood (Matt. ix. 20), might perhaps be urged as showing that our Lordis appearance was nob unknown to the early Church, if it did not appear probable from historical considerations that the statue in question really never represented our Lord, and was never erected under the alleged circumstances. See the " Excursus " of Heinichen, in his edition of Eusebius, II. E., Vol. iii. p. 396 sq. The student who is anxious to pursue further this interesting but not very profitable subject, will find abundant notices in Winer, RW/B. Vol. i. p. 576, and especially in Hase, LebenJesu, ~ 34, p. 62 sq. (ed. 3), Hofmann, Leben Jess, ~ 67, p. 292 sq.; and may consult the special work of Reiske, de Imaginibus Christi (Jen. 1685). Some curious remarks of Origen in reference to a supposed diversity in our Lord's appearance to different persons, will be found in the Latin translation of that great writer's commentaries on Afatt. ~ 100, Vol. iii. p. 906 (ed. Bened.). Comp. Norton, Genuineness of Gospels, Vol. ii. p. 274 (ed. 2). 2 See Justin Martyr, Trypho, cap. 14, Vol. ii. p. 52 (ed. Otto): Tlh' Tre hA&yc TOVT0WV al T0roVTo7Vi, e prj77Lc'ovW irb Vr T&I 7rpO771TqV, ZAe-yo, & Tp5)upov, on Ae, YPsVTat 1EIS T7V' Prp&rlv I7rapovolaz r70V XpOTOO, sev Ka' aai ros 1c Ka a e 1 s Kal rVOTbS (paLov(eafaL KEKIlPV71yUEVOS?aT[V, oR be ELIS r'V uevre'pav aVTroD 7rapoucrav. So still more distinctly Clem. Alex. Pcesdag. III. 1. 3: Tbwv 3 KSpiov airVTb TrV'I/v ao'XpbJv yeyovyEvaL &a'Heoa'ov To Ivie-Va,saprvpeZ. Compare Strom. III. 17. 103, Orig. CGels. vi. p. 327 (ed. Spencer),-where the concession is made to Celsus, and Tertull. de Carnse Chr. cap. 9, adv. Jud. cap. 14. This opinion, however, soon began to be modiaied. See Augustine, Serm. cxxxviii. Vol. v. p. 766 (ed. Mign6), and Jerome, Fpist. Lxv. Vol. i. p. 380 (ed. Vall.), who well remarks, —"I isi habuisset et in vultu quiddam oculisque sidereum, nun LECT. III. TtIE EARLY JU'DEAN MINISTRY. 93 of the children of men,"l was but a narrow and unworthy application of the merely general terms of Isaiah's prophecy. Thus waxing strong in spirit and in the grace of His heavenly Father, the Holy Child, when F'sit to the Temtwelve years old, goes up with both his pa- ple,when twelve rents to the Passover at Jerusalem, not, how- years old. ever, as a worshipper, nor as yet even what Hebrew phraseology has termed a " Son of the Law," though possibly as a partaker in some preparatory rite which ancient custorn might have associated with that age of commencing puberty.2 We observe that it is incidentally noticed that the blessed Virgin, not only on this occasion, but every year, went up with Joseph to the great festival of her nation. Like Hannah 1 Sant ii. 19; comp. i. 7. of old, year after year, though compelled neither by law nor by custom,3 she might have longed to quam eum statim secuti fuissent Apostoli, nec qui ad comprehendendum eum veneralt, corruissent." 1 Chrysostom rightly urges this indirect prophecy: OvhE yap aavtparovpTjP jt aavUcarLTbS.vovt, aAa Kall pavYt.eevos 7roAkxs fecs XCptPTOS, Kail ToTo b 3rpoepX r77s thAv h'Ae'yev'npa1os KcEAXet 7rapae Tobs viobs IcLY &~,Vpaorwv. Honm. in M1att. xvIII. 2, Vol. vii. p. 371 (ed. Bened.). 2 This perhaps is the critically exact statement, as it would certainly seem that the age of puberty was not considered as actually attained till the completion of the thirteenth year. See Jost, Geschichte des Judesnth. III. 3. 11, Vol. i. p. 398 (where the statement of Ewald is rectified); and compare Greswell, Dissert. xII. Vol. i. p. 396, and ib. xvIII. Vol. ii. p. 136. It has been doubted, then, whether on this occasion our Lord was taken up to celebrate the festival, or whether it was merely to appear before the Lord in company with His parents, and perhaps take part in some introductory ceremony. The patristic commentators (e. g. Cyril Alex. " upon the summons of the feast," Part I. p. 30, and probably Origen, Hornm. in Luc. xix.) appear rather to advocate the former opinion, and would lead us to think that our Lord, either in compliance with the wishes of His parents, or more probably in accordance with His own desire (comp. ver. 49), attended the festival as an actual worshipper. The latter opinion, however, seems most correct, and most in accordance with what we know of Jewish customs. See Greswell, 1. c. Vol. i. p. 397. The rule appears to have been that all males were to attend the three great festivals, " Exceptis surdo, stulto, puerulo.... puerulus autem ille dicitur, qui. ]2isi a patre mannu trahatur incedere non valet." —Bartolocci, JBiblioth. Rabbins. Vol. iii. p. 132. Compare Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. (in loc.) p. 499 (Roterod. 1686). 3 See the very distinct quotation adduced by Schioettgen (Flor. Ireb. Vol. i. p. 266), from which it would appear th:at the injunction of liiilel, that women 94 THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. enter into the more immediate presence of the God of Israel, and, though but dimly conscious of the eventful filture, might have felt with each revolving year a mysterious call to that Festival, of which the Holy Clild beside her was hereafter to be the Lamb and the sacrifice. After the paschal solemnities were celebrated, most probably on the afternoon of the eighth day,l Search for andI discover y of the the Virgin and Joseph turn their steps backHoly Clild. wards to Galilee,- but alone. They deem the Holy Child was in another portion of the large pilgrim-company, — perhaps with contemporaries to whom, after the solemnities they had shared in, ancient custom might have assigned a separate place in the festal caravan,2 and they doubt not that at their evening resting-place among the hills of Benjamin (not improbably that Beeroth which tradition has fixed upon),3 they shall be sure to find should once attend the passover, was not binding, and indeed self-contradictory. Such a habit on the part of the blessed Virgin must be referred to her piety. Schoettgen quotes from the tract, " Mechilta," a similar instance in the case of the wife of Jonah, —"' Uxor Jonae ascendit ad celebranda festa solemnia" (loc. cit.). 1 It has been correctly observed by Lightfoot (Hor. Ilebr. in loc. p. 740), that the expression TEXELOwcdvWrv TaS sl'Edpcas (Luke ii. 43) seems certainly to imply that the Holy Family staid the full time of seven days at Jerusalem. During this time it is not improbable that the youthful Saviour had been observed by some of the members of the venerable assemblage among whom he was subsequently found. Perhaps even, with Euthymius, we might further attribute the Lord's prolonged stay to a desire to consort longer with those on whom the words of grace and wisdom which fell from His lips could not but have produced a startling and perhaps long-remembered effect: 67r4e.etvwe aE, Efrov' V7r5eXeLELa Ev'IepovlaAau, /3ovXlxe'vos ov/CLuatL 70?oSS aolKcd'Aois (Vol. ii. p. 279, ed. Iatt.). 2 Greswell urges, on the authority of Maimonides (de Scacrf. Pasch. ii. 4), that a paschal company could not be composed of." pueri impuberes." This would seem certainly correct (comp. llishna, "Pesachim," vII. 4, p. 118 of De Sola's transl.); but it does not seem to militate against the assumption in the text, that in returning a separate company might be formed of those who had gone through the preliminary ceremony which 3Maimonides himself seems to allude to. Comp. de Sacr. Solemn. II. 3 (cited by Greswell, Vol. i. p. 397). 3 The usual resting-place for the night appears to have been Sichem, which, though in Sainaria. was not forbidden as a temporary station: " Terra Samaritanorum munda est, et foutes mundi, et mansiones mundan," Talm. Iiieros. " Abodah Zarah," fol. 44. 4, cited by Sepp, Leben Christi, Vol. ii. p. 45. But tradition and probability appear to prevail in favor of Beer or Beeroth, a place distant, LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDAiAN MINISTRY. 95 Him. But they find Him not. Full of trouble, they turn backwards to Jerusalem; a day is spent in anxious search, perhaps among the travelling companies which would now in fast succession be returning homeward from the Holy City; yet another day they search in vain.l On the third they find the Holy Child, but in what an unexpected place, and under circumstances how mysterious and unlooked-for. In the precincts of the temple, most probably in one of the rooms2 where, on Sabbath days and at the great festivals, the Masters of Israel sat and taught, they find Him they had so long sought for. They find Him sitting in the midst of that venerable circle; sitting,3 yet at no Gamaliel's feet, but, as the words would seem to imply, spontaneously raised to a position of equal dignity; not the hearer only, but the indirect teacher by the divine depth of HIis mysterious questions.4 No wonder that the Evangelist should according to Robinson (Palest. Vol. i. p. 452), about three hours from Jerusalem. Comp. Winer, R IB. s. v. " Beer," Vol. i. p. 146. 1 The exact manner in which the time specified was spent has been differently estimated. It seems most reasonable to suppose that one day was spent in the return and search on the road, a second in fruitless search in Jerusalem, and that on the third the Holy Child was found. The remark of Bengel is curious: " Tres. Numerus mysticus. Totidem dies mortuus a discipulis pro amisso habitus est." If there be anything in this, we might feel disposed to adopt rather the view of Euthymius: " One day they spent, when they went a day's journey and sought for Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance; a second, when, in consequenlce of not having found Him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking Him; in the course of the third day they at length found Him." - Comment. on Luke ii. 44. The expression/ e5' y pas Trpes seems, however, rather in favor of the first view. Comp. Meyer in loc. 2 We learn from the Talmudic gloss cited by Lightfoot (in loc.), that there was no Synagogue " near the court, in the mountain of the Temple." Comp. Deyling, Obs. Sacr. xxx. Vol. iii. p. 283, Reland, Antiq. I. 8. 6. Here, or in one of the many buildings attached to the Temple, apparently on its eastern side, we may conceive the Holy Child to have been found. See Sepp, Leben Chr. I. 16, Vol. ii. p. 47, and Jost, Gesch. des Judenth. II. 1. 2, Vol. i. p. 140. 3 The Talmnudic statement, cited by Lightfoot, that scholars did not sit, but stand ("a diebus iMosis ad Rabban Gamalielem non didicerunt legem nisi stantes,' " Megillah," fol. 21. 1), is apparently untenable (see Vitringa, de Syaqnag. Vol. i. p. 167), and not to be pressed in the present passage. The words ica.Se6oCe.vov'v,lew O&V'TWY & aouCaoAv seem, however, to bear out the view adopted in the text, and are so interpreted by De Wette in loc. 4 This is the patristic and, as it would seem, correct statement of the exact 96 THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. tell us that His parents when they saw Him "were amazed;" no wonder that even the holy Luke ii. 48. mother when she gazed on that august assemblage, when she saw, as she perchance might have seen,1 the now aged Hillel the looser, and Shammai the binder,2 and the wise sons of Betirah, and Rabban Simeon, Hillel's son, and Jonathan the paraphrast, the greatest of his pupils, - when she saw these, and such as these, all hanging on the questions of the Divine Child, no wonder that she forgot all in the strange and unlooked-for circumstances in which she found Him she had so sorrowingly sought Luke ii. 49. for. All the mother speaks out in her halfreproachful address,3 all the consciously incarnate Son in relation in which the Holy Child now stood to those around Him: " Quia parvulus erat, invenitur in medio non eos docens, sed interrogans et hoc pro setatis officio, ut nos doceret, quid pueris, quamvis sapientes et eruditi sint, conveniret, ut audiant potius magistros, quam docere desiderent, et se varia ostentatione non jactent. Interrogabat inquam magistros, non ut aliquid disceret, sed eut interrogans erzudiret." - Origen, in Luc. IIom. xIx. Vol. iii. p. 955 (ed. Bened.). "Those very questions," says Bp. Hall, were " instructions, and meant to teach." Contempl. ii. 1. The view taken by Bp. Taylor (Life of Christ, I. 7), that the present exhibition of learning was little short of miraculous, seems far less natural, and less consonant with the tenor of the sacred text. 1 The names mentioned in the text belong to men who are known to have been alive at the time, and who occupied conspicuous places among the circle of Jewish Doctors. For further information respecting those here specified, see Sepp, Leben Christi, I. 17, Vol. ii. p. 47 sq., and the notices of Petrus Galatinus, de Arcan. Cath. J7er. cap. 2. 3, p. 5 sq. (Francof. 1602). There may be some doubt about HIillel being still alive; but if our assumed date of this event (A. U. C. 762) is correct, and the dates supplied by Sepp (loc. cit.) are to be relied on, we seem justified in believing that that venerable teacher was one of those thus preeminently blessed. 2 " Shammai ligat, Hillel solvit." Comp. Lightfoot, in M~att. xvi. 19, p. 378. For an account of the general principles of teaching respectively adopted by these celebrated men and their followers, see Jost, Gesch. des Judenth. II. 3. 13, Vol. i. p. 257 sq. 3 The prominence which the Virgin-mother gives to the relation she bore to the Holy One that vouchsafed to be born of her can hardly be accidental,-,r e /c v o v ETr erot7a1as,tztv OUTws, ver. 48. The emphatic position of the 7rpbs auTrb might also almost lead us so far to agree with Bp. Hall ("it is like that she reserved this question till she had Him alone," Contemnpl. ii. 1) as to think that it was addressed to the Divine Child in tones that might not have been heard, or intended to have been heard, by those around. All the patristic expositors comment on the use of the term or -yovE7s aThroD, and 6 graTrp oov in reference to Joseph, and none perhaps with more point than Origen: "Nec miremur parentes vocatos, quorum altera ob partum, alter ob obsequium, patris et matris LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDLEAN MINISTRY. 97 the mysterious simplicity of the answer, that reminds the earthly mothler that it was in the courts of His heavenly Father's house' that the Son must needs be found, that His true home was in the temple of Him whose glories still lingered round the heights of -Moriah. And yet with what simple pathos is it noticed by the Evangelist that "He went down, and came to Nazareth, Ver. 51. and was subject to them." As that Holy One left tile glories of heaven to tabernacle with men, so now in retrospective shadow and similitude he leaves the blessedness of His Father's temple for the humble home of earthly parents, and remains with them as the loving and submissive son, the sharer, perhaps, in His reputed father's earthly labors,2 the consoler, and perchance supporter, of the widowed Virgin after the righteous son of Jacob, who henceforth appears no more in the history, had been called away to his rest.3 meruerunt vocabula.'-I-n Luc. Hom. xix. Vol. iii. p. 955 (ed. Bened.). So Augustine, though with a further and deeper reference: "Propter quoddam cum ejus matre sanctum et virginale conjugium, etiam ispse [Joseph] parens Christi meruit appellari." —Contr. Faust. Alanich. III. 2, Vol. iii. p. 214 (ed. MAignl). 1 The exact meaning of the words'y Vror T ro TOraTrpJs yov has been differently estimated. Common usage (see exx. in Lobeck, Phrynicus, p. 100), and still more the idea of locality, which would seem naturally involved in an answer to the preceding notice of the search that had been made, may incline us to the gloss of Euthymius,-s- Tor OKCW rTOO ra'p4s pOU. So also the Peshito-Syriac and Armenian versions; the Vulgate, Coptic, and Gothic are equally indeterminate with the original. 2 This statement is perhaps partially supported by Mark vi. 3, oX oVTTrs Eor*Tv o TrdKrWY, - a reading which, even in spite of the assertion of Origen in reply to Celsus, that our Lord is never described in the four Gospels as a carpenter (C'ostr. Cels. vI. 33), must certainly be retained. See Tischendorf, in loc. When we add to this the old tradition preserved by Justin Martyr (Trypho, cap. 88), that our Lord made " ploughs, yokes, and other implements pertaining to husbandry," we seemn fully warranted in believing that our Redeemer vouchsafed to set to us this further example of humility and dutiful love. The silly legends of the apocryphal gospels hardly deserve to be noticed. See, however, Evang. Thioni. cap. 11, Evansg. If. Arab. cap. 38, 39. 3 See above, p. 65, note 2. According to a simple comparison of two passages in the apocryphal Historia Josephi (cap. 14, 15), this took place in the eighteenth year of our Lord. Upon such authority, however, no further reliance can be placed than, perhaps, as the expression of a belief in the early Church that Joseph did not, as Ambrose seems distinctly to imply (de Instit. Virg. cap, 7, 9 98 THE EARLY JUDSAN MINISTRY. LECT. IIl. And this is the narrative, this narrative so simple and so true, in which modern scepticism has fanFrivolous nature of the objections cied it can detect inconsistencies and inconurged against the gruities.' And yet what is there so strange, narrative. what so inconceivable? Does the age of the Holy Child seem to preclude the possibility of such contact with the Masters of Israel, when the historian Josephus, as he himself tells us,2 was actually consulted by the high priests and the principal men of the city at an age but little more advanced than that of the youthful Sa:viour? Are we to admit such precocity in the case of the son of Matthias and deny it in that of the Son of God? Or, again, is the assumed neglect of the parents to be urged against the credibility of the narrative,3 when we know so utterly nothing of the arrangement of these travelling companies, or of the bands and groupings into which, on such solemn occasions as the present, custom might have divided the returning worshippers? But I will not pause on such shallow and hapless scepticism; I will not do such dishonor to the audience before which I stand as to assume that it is necessary for me to make formal replies to such Vol. ii. 1, p. 318, ed. Mignu), survive our Lord, or even the times of His publie ministry. 1 For some notices of these objections, see Ebrard, Kritik der Evang. Gesch. i 5O, p. 247. 2 "Moreover, when I was a child," says the historian, "and about fourteen years of age, I was commended by all for the love I had to learning; on which account the high priests and principal men of the city came then frequently to me together, in order to know my opinion about the accurate understanding of points of the law."-Life, ch. 2, Vol. I. p. 2 (Whistonhs trans].). Such a statement would seem inconceivable, if it were not remembered that so much, especially of interpretation of the law, turned on opinion and modes of reasoning, rather than on accumulations of actual learning. See especially Wotton, Discourses, ch. Iv. Vol. i. p. 24 sq. 3 Much has been said by a certain class of writers about the want of proper care for the Holy Child previously evinced by Joseph and Mary. Such remarks are as untenable as they ate clearly designed to be mischievous. Even Hase remarks that the Lord's staying behind in Jerusalem is perfectly conceivable without attributing any carelessness to His parents. Leben Jesu, ~ 30, p. 55. Comp. Tholuck, Glaubwisrd, p. 214 sq. Bede (in loc. Vol. iii. p. 349, ed. Mign6) suggests that the women and men returned in different bands, and that Joseph and hary each thought that the Holy Child was with the other. This, however, seems " argutius quam verius dictum." LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDXAN MINISTRY. 99 unmerited cavillin(s. I will only presume to make this one mournfiul cornmment,-tll that if a narrative like the present, so full as it is of life-like touches, so exquisitely naturallin its detlils, and so strangely contrasted with the silly fictions of the Apocryphal Infancies, -- if such a narrative as this is to be regarded as legendary or mythical, then we may indeed shludderingly recognize what is Imeant by the "evil heart of unbelief;," what it is to have that mind that will excogitate doubts wrhere the very instinctive feelings repudiate them, and vill disbelieve where disbelief becomes plainly monstrous and revolting. And now eighteen years of the Redeemer's earthly life pass silently away;2 a deep veil falls over that Silence of the mysterious period, which even loving and Etangeli.ts oen te inquiring antiquity has not presulned to raise, fxteilhteen years I_)1..1 ~ of our Lord's lij~. save in regard to the brief notice of the Saviour's earthly calling to which an early writer has alluded,3 and to which both national custom and the 1 The simple evangelical narrative of our Lord's interview with the Doctors has, as we might have imagined. called forth not a few apocryphal additions. These will be found in the Eovang. Infant. Arab. cap. 50-52, pp. 199, 200 (ed. Tisch.). 2 This wouild seem the place, in accordance with the arrangement in the Gospel of St. Luke, for making a few comments on the genealogies of our Lord as recorded in this Gospel and that of St. Matthew. Into this difficult subject, however, it does not seem desirable to enter, further than to remark for the benefit of the general reader, (a) that the most exact recent research tends distinctly to prove the correctness of the almost universally received ancient opinion, that both are the genealogies of our Lord's relputed father; (b) that the genealogy of St. Matthew is not according to lineal descent, but according to the line of regal succession fiom Solomon, and that, in accordance with national and scriptural usage, and possibly for the sake of facilitating memory (Mill, p. 105), it is recorded in an abridged and also symmetrical form; (c) that the genealogy of St. Luke exhibits the natural descent from David through N'athaIn; (d) that the two genealogies can be reconciled with one another, and with the genealogy of the house of David preserved in the Old Testament. For a corrplete substantiation of these assertions, see Mill, Obs. on l'antheistic Principles, II. 2. 1, 2, p. 101 sq., Ilervey (Lord A.) Genealogies of our Lord (Cambr. 1853); and compare August. de DitCersis QUcest. LXI. Vol. vi. p. 50, and contra Faust. liantich. III. 1 sq. Vol. viii. p. 214 sq. 3 See above, p. 97, note 2. 100 TIIE EARLY JUDf EAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. examples of the greatest teachers, IIillel not excepted,' lend considerable plausibility. On this silence much has been said into which it is here not necessary to enter. Instead of pensive Profid(ential nture of this siZence and mistaken longingrs, it should be to us a vindicated...ex- subject of rejoicing and thankfulness that in eaplifted. this particular portion of the sacred history Scripture has assumed to itself its prerogative of solemn reserve.2 Think only, brethren, how the narrative of simple events of tllhat sccludledl childhood would have been dealt with by the scoffer and the sceptic. Nay, pause to think only what an effect it might have had even on the better portion of Christianity; how our weak and carnal hearts might have dwelt merely on the human side of the events related, and how hard it might have seemed to have realized the incarnate God in the simple incidents of that early life of duty and love. I ground this observation on the very suggestive f:lct recorded by St. John, that our Lord's brethren "' did not believe on John vii. 5. Him." IIowever these words may be interpreted; whether the word "believe" is to be taken in a more general or more restricted sense; whether the brethren be regarded as sons of the Virgin, or, as I humbly believe them to be, sons of MIary her sistelr,3 affects I For numerous citations from the Rabbinical writers confirming- the above statement, see Sepp, Leben Christi, I. 19, Vol. ii. p. 59 sq. The quotation in reference to Hillel is as follows: " Num forte pauperior eras IIillele? Dixerunt de l1ilele seniore quod singulis diebus labor!abat, conductus mnecede munmmi."Tract " Joma," fol. 35. 1. Compare Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. p. 444. 2 A brief discussion of the question vlhy so great a portion of our lledeemer's life is thus passed over, will be found in Spanheinm, Dub. E'rantg. xcvr. Part If. p. 651. The contrast between thlis holy silence on the part of the Evangelists, and the circumstantial and oftenl irreverent lnarratives of some of the apocryphal gospels, especially the Pseuzdo-Mlatt. Eran.y/eiam and the E atng. Ilfant. Arab)icum), is singularly striking and suggestive. See further comments, in Camb. Essays, 1856, p. 156 sq. 3 Upon this vexed question we will here only pause to remark, that the whole subject seems to narrow itself to a consideration of the apparently opposite deductions that have been made from two important texts. On the one hand, if we rest solely on the rigid meaning of the word E'7rLOr'evo in John vii. 5, and regard ol &Sekco? atl"-o as inclu4i-,g all so designated, it would certainly seem LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDEAN IINISTRY. 101 our present armgument but little. This momnentous fact these words do place before us, that some of those who stood in the relation of kinsinanship and affinity to the Saviour, who saw Him. as the familiar eye saw IIim, were among, the latest to acquire the fullest measures of faith. Though so many blessed opportunities were vouchsafed to them of seeing the glory of God shining through the veil of mortal flesh, yet they saw it not. Their eyes so rested on the outward tabernacle that they beheld not the Shechinalh within. The material and familiar was a linderance to their recognition of the spiritual, — a hinderance, be it not forgotten, which in their case was ultimately removed,' but a hinderance, in the case of those who could not have their advantages, which mirght never have been remove]d, an obstacle to a true aIcknowledgment to follow that none of them could be apostles, and that consequently James the brother of the Lord was not identical with James the son of Alphaus. On the other hand, if w-e adopt the only sound grammatical interpretation which the words of Gal. i. 19 can fairly bear, we seem forced to the conclusion that James Ihe Lord's brother was an Apostle, and consequently is to be identified with James the son of Alphxaus. If this be so, James the Apostle and his brethren, owing to the almost certainly established identity of the names Alplhiwus and (.';opas (3Mill, Observations, II. 2. 3, p. 236), must be further identified with the chlildren of Mary (Matt. xxvii. 50; MIark xv. 40) the wife of Clopas and sister of our Lord (John xix. 25), and so HIis co0usins. We have thus two texts for consideration, upon the correct interpretation of which the question mainly turns. That G(a!. i. 19 cannot be strained to mean "I saw none of the Apostles, but I sawthe Lord's brother," seems almost certain from the regularly exceptive use which El /j7 appears always to preserve in the New Testament. That E7rL'revov, however, in John vii. 5, is to be taken in the barest sense of the word, or that oa &hesxal aTroD includes all so named, is by no means equally clear. Even if O.c e7rilaorsvo, be understood in a sense in which it could not be applied to an Apostle, we have still two of the &3EXApo), and perhaps more (see Mill), Ewho were not Apostles, and who, with the sisters, might form a party that might reasonnably be grouped under the roughly inclusive expression oW &3EA(pol aTroi. For further information and references, see notes on Gal. i. 20, and especially MIill, Observations, IT. 2. 3, p. 221 sq. 1 It has been pertinently observed by Neander, that for this very reason such men are to be accounted still more trustworthy witnesses. The very fact that they who so long resisted the impression wrought upon them by our Lord, did at last yield, and acknowledge IHim whom they accounted but as an unnoted relative to be the Messiah and the Son of God, makes their testimony all the more valuable. See Leben Jes. Chr. p. 49 (Transl. p. 33). 9* 102 THE EARLY JUDiEAN MINISTRY. LECT. IIT. of their Lord's divinity, against which faith might never have been able to prevail. MIuch again has been said upon the mental and spiritual development of the Holy Child during these The mental and spirituatl develop- silent years, upon which it is equally unprofit-..ent of our Lord. able to enllarge.t Whatever speculations we may in passive and meditative moments indulge in with regard to those silent years, let us hold this as most fixed and irrefragably true, that our heavenly Master received nothing affecting His divine purpose and mission fiorm -tlhe influences of even the purer and more spiritual teaching of those around Him. With what startling temerity has the converse statement been urged and accepted;2 and yet is there not tacit blasphemy in the very thought? What was there for example in Pharisaism which could have had its influence on Him who so spake agrainst every principle that marked it? What was there in the antieudoemonism,3 as it has been termed, - the desire placidly to do good for its own sake, which has been attributed to 1 This subject and the probable " plan " of our Saviour's ministry are topics which most of the modern lives of our Lord discuss with a very unbecoming freedom. See Hase, Leben Jesuts, ~ 31, 40 sq., pp. 56, 69 sq. In reference to the former, and to the true nature of ouri Lord's advance in wisdom, enough has been said above (p. 91, note 1); in reference to the latter it may be sufficient to say, simply and briefly, that the only principle of action by which man may presume to believe the Eternal Son to have been influenced was love toward man, cooperating with obedience to the will of the Father (Heb. x. 9),- of Him with whom He Himself was one (John x. 30). Comp. Ullmann, Unssuendlichkieit Jessu, sect. Iv. p. 25 (Transl. by Park). Further remarks will be found in N'eander, Life of Christ, Book Iv. p. 80 sq. (Bohn). 2 The various sources to which ancient and modern sceptical writers have presumed to refer the peculiar characteristics of our Lord's teaching are specified by Hase, Lebenz Jesse, ~ 31, p. 57. 3 See Neander, Life of Christ, p. 38 (Bohn); and compare Jost, Gesch. des Judlethums, II. 2. 8, Vol. i. p. 215. The sentiment ascribed to the so-called founder of this sect is found in the 3Mishna (Tract, 1" Iirke Aboth," I. 3), and is to this effect: "' Be not as servants who serve their master on the condition of receiving a reward; but be as servants who serve on no such condition, and let the fear of heaven be in you." It must be observed, however, that though the above appears to have been one of the principles of early and even later Sadduceism, the connection of the sect with Sadok, and of its doctrines with perversions of the original teaching of Antigonus Socho, is clearly to be regarded as a very questionable hypothesis. See Wirer, 1? yB. art. " Sadduceier," Vol. ii. p. 3852 sq. LECT. IiI. TIIE EARLY JUDK.EAN MIINISTRY. 103 the original creed of the Sadducee, — that could for one instant be thlought to lhave been assimilated by Him who came to save His own creatures with His sufferings and His blood, and whose ever-operative and redemptive love was the living protest against the coldness and deadness of a merely formal or self-conmplacent morality? What, lastly, was there in the nmuch-vaunted spirit of Essene teaching that we can trace in the Gospel of Jesus Christ?I What was there in the spiritual pride of that secluded sect that sceptical criticism shall think it can discern in the active, practical, all-embracing covenant of Love? No, it cannot be. No finite human influences gave tinge to those eternal purposes. No doctrines and traditions of men added aught to the spiritual development of the Holy Child of Nazareth. From that Father in Johrn i. 18. whose bosom H-Ie had been from all eternity, -fioml the fillless of that Godhead of which Hie hIimself was a copartner, —nnmingled and uncontaminated, came all forms of that wisdonm in which, as man, and as subject to the laws and developments of man's nature, the omniscient Son of God vouchsafed to advance and to make progress. Thus, O mystery of mysteries, in that green basin in the hills of Galilee,2 amid simple circumstances, and perchance 1 The connection of Christianity with Essene teaching has always been the most popular of these theories. Comp. Heubner on Reinhard's PIlan Jestu, Append. v. How little similarity, however, there really is between the two systems, and how fundamental the differences, is clearly enough shown by Neander, L'fe of Christ, p. 38 (1lohn). For contemporary notices of the habits and tenets of this sect. see l'hilo, Quod Omni. Prob. ~ 12, Vol. ii. p. 457, ib. de Vit. Contempl. ~ i. Vol. ii. p. 471 (ed. Mang.), and Joseph. Antiq. xiir. 5. 9, xvI. 1. 5, Bell. Jud. ii. 8. 2 sq, and for a general estimate of the characteristics of Essene teaching and its relations to Pharisaism, Jost, Gesch. des J;ludenth. ii. 2. 8, Vol. i. p. 207 sq. 2 "'The town of Nazareth lies upon the western side of a narrow oblong basin, extending about from S.S.W. to N.N.E., perhaps twenty minutes in length by eight or ten in breadth. The houses stand on the lower part of the slope of the western hill, which rises high and steep above them..... Towards the north the hills are less hligh; on the east and south they are low. In the south-east the basin contracts, and a valley runs out, narrow and winding, apparently to the great plain." —Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 333 (ed. 2). See also Tliomson, The Land and1 te Boo!k, Vol. ii. p. 131. 104 THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. in the exercise of a humble calling, dwelt the everlasting Son of' God, -rthe varied featulres of that The secluded youth of the Sn of nature which IIe Iimself had made so fair, God. the permitted media of the impressions of outward things.1 His oratory the solitary mountains; His purpose the s:alvation of our race; His will the will of God. Thus silently and thus mysteriously pass away those eighteen years, until at length the hour is come, and the voice of the mystic Elias is now heard sounding in the deserts, and preparing the way for IHim that was to come. On the ministry of the Baptist my limits will permit me to say but little. It would seem to have The ministry of the Baptist, n7l its preceded that of our Lord by some months, and not improbably occupied the greater portion of the Sabbatical year, which came to its conclusion three or four months before our Lord had completed His thirtieth year.2 The effects of the Forerunner's ministry seem to have been of a mingled Matt. iii. 7. character. That St. John found some l)artial adherents among the Pharisees and Sadducees3 seems cer1 For a notice of the fair view that must have met the Saviour's eve whenever He ascended the western hill, specified in the preceding note, see Robinson, Palestisee, Vol. ii. p. 336 sq., and comp. the photographic view of Frith, Egyplt, etc., P'art it. 2 We have no data for fixing the time when the ministry of the Baptist commenced, unless we urge Luke iii. 1, which, as we shall see below (p. 106, note 1), is more plausibly referred to another period of his history. We are thus thrown on conjectures; the most probable of which seems that as St. John was born six months before our Lord, so he might have preceded Him in his public mIinistrations by a not much greater space of time. The further chronological fact (see Wieseler, Chlron2. Sysopls. p. 204), that from the autumn of 779 A. U. C(. to the autumn of 780 was a sabbatical year, is certainly significant, and may additionally incline us to the opinion that perhaps in the spring or summer of 780 A. tr. C. St. John's voice was first heard in the wilderness of Judaea. For notices of the outward circumstances under which the Forerunner appeared, the student may be referred to Spanheim, Dueb. Ecvang. xcvrI.-c. Part ii. 654 sq., Huxtable, Aiiuistry qf St. Johsn, p. 8 sq. (Lond. 1848), and the exhaustive dissertation of Patritius, de Evang. XLIII. Book iI. p. 439 sq. 3 Tlhe supposition that the members of these sects came to oppose the baptism of St. John is just grammatically possible (see Meyer in loc.), but wholly contrary to the spirit of the context. They might have come with unworthy motives, from excited feelings, or from curiosity, but certainly not as direct opponents. See Neander, Life (f Cthrist, p. 51 sq. (Bohll). Chrysostol perhaslll LEcT. III. THE EARLY JUDEAN AINISTRY. 105 tain from the express words of St. Matthew; and that two years after his death he, whom his Master had pronounced as among the greatest of the prophets, was "uke vii. 28. to a great degree regarded as such by the fickle multitude at large, seems equally certain fiom the Gospel narrative. Yet that the Pharisees as.]lark xi. 32. a body rejected his teaching, and that the effect on the great mass of the people was but partial and transitory, seems certain fiorn our Lord's own comments on the generation that would not dance to those that piped unto them,l and would not lament with those that mourned. We may with reason, then, 2latt. xi. 17. believe that the harbinger's message might have arrested, aroused, and awakened; but that the general influence of that baptism of water was comparatively limited, and that its memory would have soon died away if He that baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire had not invested it with a new and more vital significance. John struck the first chords, but the sounds would have soon died out into silence if a mightier hand had not swept the yet vibrating strings.2 goes too far the other way when he says, ovSE 7yp a&/aprav'vTas e Ey axx&a EzTa8acAXAo/LEvovs. — Hone. in Miatt. xi. Vol. vii. p. 173 (ed. Bened. 2). 1 This is also shown clearly by the remark of our Lord to the Jews on their general reception of the Baptist's message, 7aE5o'raTEe 6&yaAXrEeYaL 7rp s S p a v Ev, (pwr71 atrroi, John v. 35, where, though the chief emphasis probably rests on the 6&yaXAL3taY5va (as opp. to /te:ravooaat, see Meyer iXn loc.), the 7rp6Y tpav is not without its special force: "It marks," as Chrysostom says. " their light-mindedness, and the quick way in which they fell back from him." Compare too Matt. xxi. 32, though this perhaps more especially applies to those (o &aPXLEPE7s Kal o0 7rpeB36UTEpoL Tor Aaoa, ver. 23) to whom our Lord was immediately speaking. On the effect of the Baptist's preaching compare, though with some reserve, tile well expressed estimate of Milhnan, HIistory of Chrisfianity, I. 3, Vol. i. p. 143 sq. 2 This is the ancient, and, as it would seem, correct view of the relations of the ministry of Christ to that of His forerunner. Though on the one hand we must not rashly dissociate what undoubtedly stood in close relation to one another, we still can scarcely go so far on the other as to say that St. John was " absolutely the counterpart, and merely the forerunner of Christ"' (Greswell, Dissert. xix. Vol. ii. p. 156). The difference between St. John's baptism and Christian, though treated as a needless question by Jackson (Creed, viI. 41, Vol. vi. p. 380), often occupied the attention of the early Church, and has never been 106 TIIE EARLY JUDIEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. It was now probably towards the close of the year of the City 780,1 after more than the time Joutrnc of or Lord to the Bap- allotted to the Levite's preparatioo n for " the tiSoR of Jol/n. service of' the ministry " had already ptassed.Nuhmb. iv. away,2 that tile -Holy Jesus, moved, Nwe nnmay hunbly presume, by that Spirit which afterwlards directed better stated than by Gregory of 1N'azianzus: " John also baptized, not, however, any longer after a Jewish mainner. for lie baptized, not with water only. but unto repentance. Still it was not yet after a spiritual manner, for lie adds not, I with the Spirit.' Jesus baptizes also, but it is with tle Spirit.' - Orat. xxxix. p. 634 (Paris, 1609). See August. contr. Litt. Petil. ii. 32. 75, Vol. ix. p. 284 (ed. Mignti), where the erroneous opinions of that schismatical bishop on this head are very clearly exposed. Comp. also Th'ondike, Laws of the Church, II. 7. 4, Vol. iv. 1, p. 149 sq. (A.-C. Libr.). 1 This date, it need scarcely be said, like all the dates in our Redeemer's history, is open to much discussion. It has been selected after a prololnlged consideration of the various opinions that have been recently adduced, and certainly seems plausible. If, as we have supposed, our Lord was born towards the close of January or beginninlg of February, A. U. c. 750, He would now be thirty years old and some months over, an age well coinciding with the coa ET7l-r& TpidKovra apX4,uEvos of Luke iii. 23. The only difficulty, and it is confessedly a great one, is the date previously specified by Luke, cli. iii. 1, tile fifteenth -ear of the reign of Tiberius. If we take the first and apparently plain sense of' tl:e words. this fifteenth year can only be conceived to date back fiom the reular accession of Tiberius at thle death of Augustus, and will consequently coincide with A.U.C. 781, -a d(late whlich not only involves the awkwardness of positively forcing us to extend the age of our Lord to thirty-one or more, to make His birth precede thle death of Herod (certainly April, A. U. c. 750), but also fobrces us to shorten the duration of His ministry very unduly to bring His death either to the year A. D. 29 or A. D. 30, which seem the only ones that fairly satisfy the astronomical elements which have been introduced into tile question by W\alrm (Astrom. Beitrige) and others. We must choose, then, between two modes of obviating the difficulty; either, (a) with Greswell (Dissert. vii. Vol. i. p. 334 sq.) and others, we must suppose the fifteen years to include t^wo years during which Tiberius appears to have been associated with Augustus, - a mode of dating, however, both unlikely and unprecedented (see Wieseler, Chron. Sy/n. p. 172, Browne, Or(lo Scec. ~ 71, p. 76 sq.); or (b) we must conceive the fifteenth of Tilerius to coincide, not with the first appearance, but the captivity of John the Baptist,-thle epoch, be it observed, from which. in accordanice with ancienit traditionl (Euseb. Iuist. Eccl. III. 24), the satrratire of tihe Syloptical Gows)els appears to (late (MLatt. iv. 12, 17: Mark i. 14). This latter view has been well supported by Wieseler ((Chroi. Syan. p. 172 sq.), and adopted by Tischendorf (Snops. Evarong. p. xiv. sq.), and is, perhaps, slightly the most probable. The opinion of Sanclemente and Browne (~ 85) that the fifteenth of Tiberius was tile year of Passion, has much less in its favor. 2 The meaning of tile words wase erwTv Tpia1'ovTa pX4uEvos (Luke iii. 23) has been much discussed; the doubt being whether the particilple is to be referred (a) to the age specified (" incipiebat esse quasi annorum triginta," BIeza, Greswell). or (b) to the commencement of the ministry. Whichllever position of a&pxo4evos we LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDIEAN MINISTRY. 107 Hi-s feet to the wilderness, leaves the home of IIis childhood, to return to it no more as IIis earthly abode, save for the few days' that preceded the removal to Capernaum in the spring of the following year. It was now winter,2 and the valley of Esdraelon was just green with springing corn,3 as the Redeemer's path lay across it toward the desert valley of the Jordan, either to that ancient ford near Succoth, which recent geographical specuadopt (see Tischendorf, in loc.) it can scarcely be doubted that (b) is the correct interpretation (so Origen and Euthym.), and that our Lord's ministry is to be understood to have commenced when he was more than thirty, but less than thirty-one years of age. For arguments (not very strong) in favor of cOatl implying, not somewhat above, but somewhat under, the time specified, see Greswell, Dissert. xI. Vol. i. p. 368. 1 When our Lord returned to Galilee after the Temptation, it would seem that for the short time that preceded the passover lie did not stay at Nazareth, but at Capernaum. See John ii. 12. On His next return to Galilee (December, A. U. C. 781), I-e appears to have gone to and perhaps stayed at Cana (John iv. 46), a place to which some writers have supposed that the Virgin and her kindred had previously retired. See Ewald, Gesch. Christius, Vol. v. p. 147. Under any circumstances we have only a short period remaining before the final removal to Capernaum, specified Matt. iv. 13, Luke iv. 31. 2 The conclusion at which Wieseler arrives after a careful consideration of all the historical data that tend to fix the time of our Lord's baptism, is as follows: Jesus must have been baptized by John not earlier than February, 780 A. U. c. (the extreme " terminus a quo" supplied by St. Luke), nor later than the winter of the same year (the extreme " terminus ad quel:' supplied by St. John). See Cliron. Synops. ii. B. 2, p. 201. Wieseler himself fixes upon the spring or summer of 780 A. U. c. as the exact date (1). 202); but to this period there are two objections: lF'irst, that if, as seems reasonable, we agree (with Wieseler) to fix the deputation to the Baptist (John i. 19 sq.) about the close of February, 781 A. U. C., we shall have a period of eight months. viz. from the middle of 780 to the end of the second month of 781, wholly unaccounted for (Wieseler, C/cron,. Synops. p. 258); secondly, that it is almost the unanimous tradition of the early church that the baptism of our Lord took place in winter, or in the early part of the year. See the numerous ancient authorities in the useful table of Patritius, Dissert. XIx. Book III. p. 276, ad comp. Dis.s. XLVII. p. 485. The tradition of the Basilideans, mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (,Stront. i. 21, Vol. i. p. 408, ed. Pott), that the baptism of our Lord took place oil the eleventh or fifteenth of Tybi (Jan. 6 or 10), deserves consideration, both fiom the antiquity of the sect, and from the fact that the baptism of our Lord was in their system an epoch of the highest importance. See N'eander, Church Hlist. Vol. ii. p. 102 (Clark). The ordinary objections founded on the season of the year are well and, as it would seem, convincingly answered by Greswell, Dissert. xI. Vol. i. p. 371 (ed. 2). 3 The harvest in i'alestine ripens at different timnes in different localities; but as a general rule the barley harvest may be considered as taking place from the middle to the close of April, and the wheat harvest about a fortnight later. See Robinson, Palestine, Vol. i. p. 431 (ed. 2), and compare Stanley, Palestine, p. 240, note (ed. 2). l08 THE EARLY JUD;EAN MINISTRY. LECT. Ill. lationI has connected withI the Bethabara or rather Bethany of St. John, or more probably to the neighborhood of that more soutlhern ford not far firom Jericho, round whichl traditions yet linger,2 and to which the multitudes that flocked to the Baptist firon 31ar> i. 5. Judma and Jerusalem would have found a speedier and more convenient access. There the great Forerunner was baptizing; there he had been but just uttering those words of stern warning to tlle Luke iii. 7. mingled multitude, to Pharisee and to Sadatt. iii.7. ducee,3 which are recorded by the first and third Evangelists; there stood around him men with musin, hcearts, doubting, whether that bold spleaker were the Christ or no, when suddenly, Lute iii. 15. unknown anld unrecognized, the very 3Messiall minles with those strangely-assorted and expectant multitudes, and with them seeks baptism at the hands of the great Preacher of the desert. It has been doubted whether that lonely Jo0,,,'s,,~,.~o,',,t~o child of the wilderness at once recognized the of our Loi. IIoly One that was now meekly standing before llim. It is, at any rate, certain, firom his own words, 1 See Stanley, Palestine. p. 308, who both pleads for the reading Bethabara, and for the more northern position of' the scene of the baptism. With regard to the reading, at any rate, thlere can be no reasonable doubt. All the ancient authorities and nearly all the MSS. in the time of Origen (aXe6bv 7ravTa'a airTypawpa) adopt the reading Bethally; nlor would Bethabara have ever bound a place in tlhe sacred text, if Origen, moved by geographical considerations, had not given sanction to the change. See Liicke, Con0ment. tiLer Joh. i. 28, and the critical notes of Tischendorf, in loc. 2 The traditional sites adopted by the Latin and Greek churches are not the same, but both not far from Jericho. The bathinlg-place of the Latin pilgrims is not far from the ruined convent of' St. John tl]e IBaptist, that of the Greek pilgrims two or three miles below it. See Robinson, Palestinse, Vol. i. p. 536. The objection to the latter, and possibly to the former place, is the steepness of the banks (see Thomsonl, The Land and the Book-, Vol. ii. p. 445), but thlis cannot be strongly pressed, as at the assumed time of year (whlen, as we learn from Robinson [Vol. i. p. 541], the river has Inot yet been seen by travellers) partial or local overdflows nlight have given greater facilities for tile performance of the ccremolony. See Gres1well, Dissert. xIx. Vol. ii. p. 181. See, however, Thomson, 7The Lande add the Boolk, Vol. ii. p. 452 sq. LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDAEAN MINISTRY. 109 that his knowledge of our Lord as the Messiah was not due to a previous acquaintance,' and it is also quite possible that he might not have known his Redeemer even by outward appearance. But if he knew him not by the seeing of the eye, lie must have known of IHim by the hearing of the ear, and he must have felt within his soul, as the Lord drew nigh, a sudden and mystic intimation that he was gazing on Him of whose wondrous birth his own mother's lips must oft have told him, and on whose future destinies he might often have mused with a profound and all but consciously-prophetic interest.2 With strange memories in his thoughts, and perhaps now still stranger presentimrents in his heart, the Baptist pleads against such an inverted relation as the Son of Mary seek- Matt ii;. 14. ing baptism fiom. the son of Elisabeth. He pleads; but he pleads in vain. Overper- er. 15. snudeodl and awell by the solemin words which he might not 1 This view, which is substantially that taken by the older commentators, has been well defended by Dr. Mill, against the popular sceptical objections. See Obss. 0n Pantheistic Principles, II. 1. 5. p. 79 sq. We certainly seem to gather firom the language of St. Matthew that the Baptist recognized our Lord, if not distinctly as the Messiah, yet in a degree closely aplproaching to it, before the baptism, - for otherwise how are we to understand the language of Matt. iii. 14? See especially Chrysost. in Joann. Hoem. xvi. Whether this was due to a short unrecorded conversation (M3ill), or, as suggested in the text, to special revelation (oK a7r' a&vppw7riv's (plxas v au'T71 [71 jLtaptvptal, aAX' 4 roXtcOKaOXEJ s, Ammonius. ap. Cramer, Caten. inL loc.), cannot be decided. The facts at any rate, as specified by the two Evangelists, are perfectly compatible with each other; on the one hand, St. John did recognize our Lord, just before the baptism (Matt. i. c.); oil the other hand, he himself declares (John 1. c.) that his personal acquaintance, if such existed, was not in any degree concerned in hil sutbsequent complete recognition of II-m as the Christ, the Son of God. So rightly De Wette, on John, I. c., and similarly Huxtable, Ministry of St. John, p. 60. 2 It has been well observed by Mill, that " the designation to which he bore testimony unconsciously in the womb, and which his mother, with entire consciousness of its meaning, expressed reverently to the Virgin Mother of her Lord, cannot have been kept secret from his earliest years; and however the memory of the wonderful facts in question might fade, as would naturally be the case, fiom the minds of many that heard them,.... the tradition of them could not possibly thus pass away firom him. Nor would his solitary life in the desert, apart from his kindred, as from mankind in general, tend to impair the recollection, but to strengthen it." — Observations on Pansth. Prisnciples, ii. 1. 5, p. 80. 10 110 THE EARLY JUD2EAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. have fully understood, the Forerunner descends with his Redeemer into the rapid waters of the now sacred river; when lo, when the inaugural rite is done, the promised sign at length appears, the Baptist beholds the opened heavens, and the embodied form' of the deuke iii. 22. scending Spirit; he sees, perhaps, the kindled fire, apt symbol of the Redeemer's baptism, of which an old writer has made mention;2 he hears the att. iii. 16 Father's voice of blessing and love; he sees John i. 34. and hears, and, as he himself tells us, bears witness that this is verily the Son of God. And now all righteousness has been fulfilled. Borne away, as it would seem at once, by the motions Te temptation of of tile Spirit, either to that lonely and unexour Lord: its true nature and circuni- plored chain of desert mountains of which stances Nebo has been thought to form a part, or to ark i.13. that steep rock on this side of the Jordan which tradition still points out; 3 there, amid the wild beasts of the thickets and the caverns, in hunger 1 The following is the ancient tradition referred to: "And then when Jesus came to the river Jordan, where John was baptizing, and descended to the water, a fire was kindled over the Jordan."-Justin Martyr, Trypho, cap. 88, Vol. ii. p. 302 (ed. Otto). So also, somewhat similarly, Epiphanius, Hcer. xxx. 13, and the writer of a treatise, de Baptismo Hcereticoruesn, prefixed to the works of Cyprian (p. 30, ed. Oxon.), who alludes to the tradition as mentioned in the apocryphal and heretical Pauli Proedicatio. Something like it has been noticed in the Oracula Sibyllce (vII. 83) in Galland. Bibl. Vet. Patr. Vol. i. p. 387 c. 2 The distinct language of St. Luke, owjexaz'tro eY'fEL ca0Ed 7repL.T'epdV (ch. iii. 22), must certainly preclude our accepting any explanatory -loss, referring the holy phenomenon to light shining I' with the rapid and undulating motion of a dove'" (Milman, Hist. of Ch'ristianity, I. 3, Vol. i. p. 151). Tile form was real. For the opinions of antiquity on the manifestation of the Holy Ghost in this peculiar form, see the learned work of the eloquent Jesuit, Barradius, Comment. in Harmoon. i. 15, Vol. ii. p. 48 (Antw. 1617). 3 The place which the most current tradition has fixed on as the site of the Temptation is the mountain Quarantana, which Robinson describes as " an almost perpendicular wall of rock, twelve or fifteen hundred feet above the plain." —Palestine, Vol. i. p. 567 (ed. 2). Compare Thomson, The Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 450. It has been asserted by Robinson that this tradition does not appear to be older than the time of the Crusades, but see Mill, Sermons on the rTemptation, p. 166. The supposition in the text seems better to accord with the probable locality assigned to the baptism, but must be regarded as purely conjectural. LECT. IMi. THE EARLY JUDIEAN MINISTRY. 111 and loneliness, the now inaugurated Messiah confronts in spiritual conflict the fearful adversary of His kingdom and of that race which He came to save. On the deep secrets of those mysterious forty days it is not meet that speculation should dwell. If we had only the narrative of St. Matthew, we might think that Satanic temptation only presumed to assail the Holy One C.i 2. when hunger had weakened the energies of the now exhausted body. If, again, we had only the gospels of St. Mark and St. Luke, we might be led to con- Ch. i.3. elude that the struggle with the powers of Ch iv. 2. darkness extended over the whole period of that lengthened fast. From both, however, combined, we may perhaps venture to conclude that those three concentrated forms of Satanic daring, which two Evangelists have been moved to record, presented themselves only at the close of that season of mysterious trial.' Upon the three forms of temptation, and their attendant circulnstances, my limits will not permit me to enlarge. These three remarks only will I presume to make. -First, I will venture to avow my most solemn conviction that Thetempttin no the events here related belong to no trance or dream-land to which, alas, even some better forms of both ancient and modern speculation have presumed to refbr them,2 but are to be accepted as real and literal 1 So perhaps Origen, who remarks: " Quadraginta diebus tentatur Jesus. et quae fuerint tentamenta nescimus." — Comment. inv Luc. Hom. xxix. Vol. iii. p. 966 (ed. Bened.). MIost of the patristic commentators seem to consider that the hours of hunger and bodily weakness were especially chosen by the Evil One for his most daring and malignant forms of temptation. See Chrysostom on1 Matt. iv. 2, Cyril Alex. on7 Luke iv. 3, aind compare the excellent remarks of Irenrlus, Ilcer. v. 21. 2 The opinion that, if not the whole, yet that the concluding scenes of the tcmptation were of the character of a vision, was apparently entertained by Origen (de Princip. Iv. 16, Vol. i. p. 175, ed. Bened.), Theodore of Mopsuestia (Miluter, iragns. Patrunm, Fasc. I. p. 107), and the author of a treatise, de Jejzunio et Tenftat. Christi, annexed to the works of Cyprian (p. 36, Oxon, 1682). This view in a more extenlded application has been adopted by many modern writers, both English (Farmer, on CLhr'ist's Temnltation, ed. 3, Loud. 1776) and foreign, but it need scarcely be said that all such opinions, - whether the Temptation be supposed a vision especially called up, or a mere significant dream (see Mleyer in Stud. 112 THE EARLY JUDMAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. occurrences,- yea, as real and as literal as that final overthrow of Satan's power on Calvary, when the Lord reft away from him all the' thronging hosts of darkness,' and triumphed over them on HIis very cross of suffering. Secondly, I could as soon doubt my own The temptation an assault from existence as doubt the completely outward without. nature of these forms of temptation,2 and their immediate connection with the personal agency of the personal Prince of Darkness.3 I could as soon accept the worst statements of the most degraded form of Arian creed as believe that this temptation arose fiomn any interul. Krit. for 1831, p. 319 sq.), -clearly come into serious collision with the simple yet circumstantial narrative of the first and third Evangelists; in which, not only is there not the faintest hint that could render such an opinion in any degree plausible, but, on the contrary, expressions almost studiously chosen (& viX:5, Matt. iv. 1; lTYEro, Luke iv. 1. Comp. Malrk i. 12, EKc9dAAfe; 7rpooeAkWotv, Matt. iv. 3; rapacAaASfcveL, ver. 5; avacyaayov, Luke iv. 5; a&7r'rT7T, ver. 13) to mark the complete objective character of the whole. See, thus far, Fritzsche, Fritzschior. Opusc. p. 122 sq., and Meyer, Komment. igber Mlatt. p. 114 sq., though in their general estimate of the whole, the conclusions of both these writers are distinctly to be rejected. For further notices and references on a subject, the literature of which is perplexingly copious, the student may be referred, perhaps, especially to Andrewes, Sermons (vii.) on the Temptation, Vol. v. p. 479 sq. (A.-C. Libr.), Hacket, Sermons (xxi.) on the Temptation, p. 205 sq. (Lond. 1671), Spanhelm, Dub. Evang. LI.-LXV. Part ii. p. 195 sq., Deyling, Obs. Sacr. xvii. Part ii. p. 354, and Huxtable, The Temptation of our Lord (Lond. 1848), and for practical comments on the circumstances and moral intention of the whole, Leo M. Serm. XXXIX.-L. Vol. i. p. 143 (ed. Ballerin.), Jones (of Nayland), Works, Vol. iii. p. 157 sq. 1 For a discussion on the meaning of &7retsKvo',uesos in the difficult text here referred to (Col. ii. 15), and for a further elucidation of the view here taken, see Commentary on Coloss. p. 161 sq. 2 One of the popular modes of evading the supposed difficulties in this holy narrative is to assume that the whole series of temptations were really internal, but represented in the description as external. See, for example, Ulmann, die Un.sundliclhkeit Jesu, Sect. 7, p. 55 (Transl.). Most of such views arise either from erroneous conceptions in respect of the mysterious question of our Lord's capability of temptation, or from tacit denials of the existence or personal agencies of malignant spirits. On the first of these points, see especially Mill, Serm. IH. pp. 26-39, and on the second, Sermn. III. p. 54 sq. Some valuable remarks on these and other questions connected with our Lord's Temptation will be found in the curious and learned work of Meyer, Historia Diaboli, iiI. 6, p. 271 sq. (Tubing. 1780). a The monstrous opinion that the Tempter was human, and either the highpriest or one of the Sanhedrin (comp. Feilmoser, Turbing. Quartalschrift for 1828) is noticed, but not condemned in the terms which so plain a perversion deserves, by Milman, Hist. of Christianity, I. 3, Vol. l. p. 153. LECT. Il. TIIE EARLY JUD.EAN MINISTRY. 118 nal strugglings or solicitations;' I could as soon admit the most repulsive tenet of a dreary Socinianism as deem that it was enhanced by any self-engendered enticements, or hold that it was aught else Jame i 13. than the assault of a desperate and demoniacal malice from without,2 that recognized in the nature of man a possibility of falling, and that thus far consistently, though impiously, dared even in the person of the Son of iMan to make proof of its hitherto resistless energies. k it~ an idl _. * * * The temptation l7tirdly, I cannot think it an idle speculation addressed to the that connects the three forms of temptation thre, part of our with those that brought sin into the world, - the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life; nor can I deem it unnatural to see in them three spiritual assaults directed Joh against the three portions of our composite nature.4 To the body is presented the temptation of satisfying its wants I Such conceptions and suppositions, alas, only too often in this humanitarian age secretly entertained, if not always outwardly expressed, are justly censured by Dr. Mill (Serm. II. p. 38) as degrading and blasphemous. In all speculations on this mysterious subject the student will do well to bear in mind this admirable statement of Augustine: " Non dicimus nos Christurn, felicitate carnis a nostris sensibus sequestratae, cupidtiatem vitiorum sentire non potuisse, sed dicimus, eum perfectione virtutis, et mozn per carnis concupiscentiam procreata carne, cupiditatem non habuisse vitiorum," — Op. Imperf. contr. Jul. xv. 48, Vol. x. p. 1366 (ed. Mign6), -this great writer's last and unfinished work. In estimating the nature of our Lord's tentability let us never forget the holiness of His humanity, and the eternal truth of His miraculous conception. 2 On the question as to the form in which the Adversary appeared, whether human or angelical (comp. Taylor, Life of Christ, I. 9. 7, Lange, Lebesn Jesu, II. 3. 6, Vol. ii. p. 217), all speculation is as unnecessary as it is more or less presumptuous. All that we must firmly adhere to is the belief that the presence of the Evil One "' was real, and that it was external to our Lord."- Huxtable, TeslsptationL of the Lord, p. 78. Compare 3Mill, Serrn. Ii. p. 64. 3 This is touched upon by Augustine (Esarr. in Psalm. viii. 14. Vol. iv. p. 116, ed. Mignu) and others of the earlier writers, but nowhere more clearly and convincingly stated than by Jackson, Creed, vIII. 10, Vol. vii. p. 450 sq. See also Andrewes, Serssa. iI. Vol. v. p. 496 (A.-C. Libr.), Mill, Serm. III. p. 60. 4 For a discussion on the threefold nature of man, and a distinction between the terms soul and spirit, see The Destiny of the Creature. Serm. v. p. 99, and the works there referred to (p. 167). The opinlion of Mill that the seat of the second temptation was "' our higher mental nature" (p. 60), and of the third, the " highest self-conlsciousness, by which man becomes to himself the centre of regard" (ib.), is scarcely so simple or so exact as the reference to soul and spirit adopted in the text. 10* 114 THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. by a display of power which would have tacitly abjured its dependence on the Father, and its perfect submission to His heavenly will. To the soul, the longing, appetitive soull (for I follow the order of St. Luke) was addressed the temptation of Messiauic dominion 2 (mere material dominion would seem by no means so probable) over all the kingdoms of the world, and of accomplishing in a moment of time all for which the incense of the one sacrifice on Calvary is still rising up on the altar of God. To the spirit3 of our Redeemer, with even more frightful presumption, was addressed the temptation of using that power which belonged to Him as God to vindicate His own eternal nature, and to display by one dazzling miracle the true relation in which Jesus of Nazareth stood to men, and to angels, and to God.4 1 This we may roughly define with Olshausen as " vis inferior [in homine] quae agitur, movetur, in imperio tenetur " (Opusc. p. 154), and may in many respects regard as practically identical with Kap&a, —the soul's imaginary seat and abidingplace. See Comment. on Phil. iv. 6, Destiny of Creature, v. p. 117, and Beck, Seelenlehre, IlI. 20, p. 63. On the order of the temptations, compare Greswell, Dissert. xx. Vol. ii. p. 192, Mill, Serm. Iv. p. 82 sq. 2 See Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. 3. 6, Part ii. p. 225. and compare Huxtable, Temptation of the Lord, p. 87 sq. If with Dr. Mill we refer it to worldly dominion generally (Sermn. Iv. p. 105), we must, with the same learned author, suppose that Satan really did not fully know the exact nature of Him whom he impiously dared to tempt (p. 63. Comp. Cyril Alex. on Luke iv. 3); a view, however, which does not seem fully consistent with the opening address of the Tempter. 3 This third and highest part in man we may again roughly define with Olshausen (compare note 1) as " vis superior, agens, imperans in homine "' (Opusc. p. 154), and may rightly regard as in many respects identical with voSs. See Commenlt. on Phil. iv. 6, Destiny of Creature, v. p. 115, and Delitzsch, Bibl. Psychol. Iv. p. 145. 4 The third form of temptation, that of spiritual presumption, has been thus well paraphrased by Dr. 3Iill: " Give to the assembled multitudes the surest proof that thou art indeed their expected King, - the Desire of them and of all nations, - at whose coming the Lord shall shake the heavens and the earth, and make this house more glorious than the mysterious Shekinah made the first."?'Serm. p. 118. The exact spot (rb 7rTrepyov reoV is epou, Matt. iv. 5) which was the scene of this temptation is not perfectly certain. The most probable opinion is that it was the topmost ridge of the -Trow& OaaLXLKc on the south side of the temple (observe that in both evangelists it is Tb lrrsTpyLo0 T o v I s p o 0, not 7ro vYaog), the height of which is thus alluded to by Josephus: "If any one looked down from the top of the battlements, or down both those altitudes, he would be giddy, while his sight could snot reach to such an immense depth." LECT. III. THE EARLY JUD2EAN MINISTRY. 115 When every form of temptation was ended, the baffled Tempter departs, but, as St. Luke reminds The ministerintg us, only for a season; and straightway those angels, and the reblessed spirits, whose ministry but a few mo- turnoaee ments before the Devil had tempted Him to command, now tender to their Lord's weakened humanity their loving and unbidden services.' SusVer. 11. tained by these angelical ministries, our Lord would seem at once to have returned backward to the valley of the Jordan in his homeward way to Galilee, and after afew days - for here to assume, with a recent chronologer, a lapse of several months,2 is in the highest degree unnatural -to have had that second and noticeable interview with the Baptist at Bethany, or BethaCh. i. 29. bara, which is recorded to us by St. John. It was but the day before that the Fore- The testimony of runner had borne his testimony to the dep- the Baptist. John i. 19. utation of Priests and Levites that had come to him from Jerusalem;3 and now, absorbed, as he well Antiq. xv. ii. 5 (Whiston). This, however, could scarcely be so clearly in the sight of "the assembled multitudes" (Mill), - if indeed this be a necessary adjunct, - as at other sites that have been proposed. See Middleton, Greek Art. p. 135 (ed. Rose), and Meyer, Komment. iib. Matt. iv. 5, p. 110. 1 The nature of the services of these blessed spirits, owing to the use of the general term 807K6idovp (Matt. iv. 11), cannot be more exactly specified. If we admit conjectures we may venture to believe that they came to supply sustenance (" allato cibo," Beng.; comp. 1 Kings xix.), and possibly also to administer support and comfort (" ad solatium refero," Calv.; comp. Luke xxii. 43). See Hacket, Serm. xxi. p. 406 (Lond. 1675). 2 See Wiescler, ChtronL. Syltops. p. 258, and compare the remarks on the chronology of this period made above, p. 107, note 2. 3 This deputation, we are informed by the Evangelist, was sent by the'Iovkatol, - a general name by which St. John nearly always designates the Jews in their peculiar aspect as a hostile community to our Lord, and as standing in marked contrast to the impressible'xAXos. The more special and direct senders of this deputation of Priests and their attendant Levites (John i. 19) were perhaps the members of the Sanhedrin, by whom these emissaries might have been directed to inquire into and test the Baptist's pretensions as a public teacher (comp. Matt. xxi. 23), and to gain some accurate information about one who was drawing all Jerusalem and Judaea to his baptism (Matt. iii. 5), and in whom some even deemed that they recognized the expected Messiah (Luke iii. 15). On the message generally, see Lange, Leben Jesu, II. 4. 1, Part II. p. 451, Luiicke, Comment. iiber Joh. Vol. i. p. 381; and on the particular questions propounded to the sap 116 THE EARLY JUDIEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. might have been, in the thoughts of Him to whom he had so recently borne witness, he raises his eyes, and lo! he sees coming to him the very subject of his meditations; he sees his Redeemer,' and humbly greets Him "as the Lamb of God that takJohn i. 29. eth away the sin of the world." With the same significant words2 the Baptist parts from Him on the morrow, -words that sank so deep into Ver.,?5. the hearts of two of his disciples, Andrew, and not improbably the Evangelist who gives the account, that they follow the Lord, and abide with Ver. 40. Him, to return back again no more. On the morrow, with Simon Peter and Philip of Bethsaida, and tist, Origen, in loc. Vol. iv. p. 108 (ed. Bened.), Greg. Magn. in Evang. I. 7, Vol. i. p. 1456 (ed. Bened.). 1 The circumstances that led to this meeting are wholly unknown to us. That it took place after our Lord's baptism seems certain; and that the preceding interview with the Priests and Levites also took place after the same event seems to follow from the words " whom ye (6iuers) know not " (ver. 26),- an expression which may be fairly urged as implying by contrast some knowledge on the part of the speaker. Now, as we learn from St. Mark (ch. i. 12) that the Temptation followed immediately after the Baptism, we may perhaps reasonably believe that our Lord was now on His homeward way to Galilee after the Temptation (comp. August. de Consens. Evang. II. 17), and that He either specially went a little out of His way again to see and greet the Baptist, or that the direction of His journey homeward led Him past the scene of the previous baptism, where John was still preaching and baptizing. If we fix the site of the Temptation at Quarantana, the former supposition will seem most probable, if the mountains of Moab (see above, p. 110, note 3), the latter. The deputation from the Sanhedrin and the close of the Temptation would thus appear to have been closely contemporaneous. See Lucke on John i. 19, Vol. i. p. 398, and compare Lampe in loc., and Luthardt, Joh. Evang. Vol. i. p. 329. 2 Into the exact meaning of these words we will not here enter further than to remark, (a) that the reference seems clearly not to the Paschal Lamb (Lampe, Luthardt, al.), a reference sufficiently appropriate afterwards (1 Cor. v. 7), though not now, but to Isaiah liii. 7 (Origen vI. 35), a passage which, to one so earnestly expecting the Messiah as the holy Baptist, must have long been well-known and familiar; (b) that the meaning of ae'ispe; has nowhere been better expressed than by Chrysostom, who in referring to a former part of the same prophecy (Isaiah xxiii. 4) says:'He did not use the expression,'He ransomed' (Iexvuov), but'IHe received and bare' (eraaev Kal EBd/araeEv); which seems to me to have been spoken by the prophet rather in reference to sins, in accordance with the declaration of John,' Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.'" Ilom. in M3att. xvIr. 1, Vol. vii. p. 370 (ed. Bened. 2). For further information on both these points consult the elaborate notes of Lucke, in loc. Vol. i. p. 404 sq. LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDAEAN MINISTRY. 117 Nathanael of Cana added to the small company,L the Lord directs His steps onward towards the hills of Galilee, perchance by the very path which he had traversed in solitude a few eventful weeks before. The immediate destination of that small company was doubtless the Lord's earthly home at Nazareth; 2 but there, as we learn from the Evan- and miracle at, gelist, the Lord could not have found the blessed Virgin, as she was now a few miles off at Cana,3 the guest at a marriage festival. How natural then was it that the Lord, with his five disciples, one of John xxi. 2. whom belonged to Cana, should at once pass onward to that village, to greet her from whom He had been separated several weeks. And how consistent is the narrative that tells us that on the third day ch. ii. 1. after leaving Bethany the Lord and His followers had become the invited and welcome er 2. guests of those with whom the Virgin was now abiding. With the details of the great miracle Remarks on the which on this occasion our Lord was pleased miracle. to perform, we are all, I trust, too faamiliarly acquainted to need any lengthened narrative.4 We may, 1 We can scarcely agree with Greswell (Dissert. xxIII. Vol. p. 284 sq.) in the inference that the two disciples did not now permanently attach themselves to our Lord. The express terms of the call given the next day to Philip, "follow me" (ver. 44), and the certain fact that some disciples were with our Lord the day following (John ii. 2), seem strongly in favor of the opinion that all the five disciples here mentioned did formally attach themselves to our Lord, and went with Him into Galilee. See MIaldonatus on John i. 43 and ii. 2. The miracle that followed had special reference to these newly-attracted followers. See John ii. 11, and compare Luthardt, Johann. Evansg. Vol. i. p. 351. 2 Unless we accept the not very probable supposition alluded to p. 107, note 1. 3 On the position of Cana, which now appears rightly fixed, not at Kefr Kenna (De Saulcy, Voyage, Vol. ii. p. 448), but at Jiana el-Jell], about three hours distant from Nazareth. See Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 346 sq., Vol. iii. p. 108 (ed. 2), and Thomson, Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 121 sq. 4 For details and explanatory remarks the student may be especially referred to the commentaries of' IIa'donatus, Liicke, and MIeyer, to the exquisite contemplation of Bp. Hall, Book Ir. 5, to Trench, Note.s on the Miracles, p. 96 sq., and to the comments of I,ange, Leben Jest, ii. 4. 4, Part ii. p. 475. The supposed typical relations are ailuded to in a somewhat striking sermon of Bp. Copleston, 118 THE EARLY JUDI)EAN MINISTRY. LECT. IlI. however, somewhat profitably pause on one portion of it, the address of the Virgin to our Lord, and the answer He returned, which has been thought to involve some passing difficulties, but which a consideration of the previous circumstances, combined with a due recognition of Jewish customs, tends greatly to elucidate. In the first place let us not forget, - if we may place any reliance upon modern customs as illustrative of ancient,' -that the fact of guests adding contributions to an entertainment which extended over several days is by no means singular or unprecedented. With this let us combine the reniembrance that the Lord and His five disciples had, as it would appear, come unexpectedly,2 a few hours only before the commencement of the marriage feast. In the next place let us reflect how more than natural it would be for these disciples — two of whom, as we are Johsn i. 37. specially told by the Evangelist, had heard the significant announcement of the Baptist, "Behold the Remains, p. 256. Compare with it Augustine, in Joann. Tractat. ix. 5, Vol. iii. p. 146 (ed. MIign6), where very similar views will also be found. 1 The writer of this note was lately informed by a converted Jew on whom reliance could be placed, that it was not at all uncommon for the guests at a wedding-feast to make contributions of wine when there seemed likely to be a deficiency, and that such cases had fallen under his own observation. Be this as it may, it seems at any rate clear that the marriage-feasts usually lasted as long as seven days (Judges xiv. 12, 15; Tobit xi. 10), and it is surely not unreasonable to suppose that in the present case the givers of the feast were of humble fortunes (Lightfoot conjectures it to have been at the house of Mary, the wife of Cleophas. Compare Greswell, Dissert. xvii. Vol. ii. p. 120), and, as Bp. Taylor quaintly says, " had more company than wine." -Life of Christ, Ii. 10. 5. For further notices and references, see Winer, RBIVB. Art. "Hochzeit,"' Vol. i. p. 499 sq. 2 The only statement that might seem indirectly to militate against this is the comment of St. John, eKA~7; oe Kal o'Ireros Keal ox ua7rJal aiiToO l ES ya0o), ch. ii. 2. If, however, we date the "' third day " (ver. 1), as seems most natural, from the dlay last-mentioned (ch. i. 44), and estimate the distance from Bethany on the Jordan to Cana, our Lord could scarcely have arrived at the last-men. tioned place till the very day specified. Compare Wieseler, Chron. Spynops. II. 3, p. 253. The EKVA1,; then must be referred to the time when our Lord and His followers arrived, and its introduction accounted for, as slightly distinguishing the newly-arrived and just-invited giuests firom the Virgin, who had been there perhaps for some little time. Comp. MIcyer in loc., and Lange, Leben Jesu, II. 4. 4, L'art I. p. 476, whose date, however, for the Tr'jippa 7 P Tpirp does not seem tenrable. LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDESAN MINISTRY. 119 Lamb of God," and another of whom had recognized in our Lord the very One whom prophets had foretold —to have already made such com- Ver. 46. munications to the Virgin 1 as minght well lead her to expect some display of our Lord's changed position and relations. IIe who a few weeks before had left Galilee the unnoted son of Joseph tile carpenter, now returns, with five followers, the more than accredited teacher, yea, as one of those followers had not hesitated to avow, as the Son of God2 and the King of Israel. Wrought upon by these strange John i. 49. tidings, and with all the long treasured reLuke it. 19. membrances of her meditative heart brougllt up freshly before her,3 how natural, then, becomes that 1 Though we are not positively constrained by the tenor of the narrative to fix the miracle on the very day that our Lord arrived (comp. Wordsw. and LUcke in loc.), it must be admitted that on the whole such an adjustment seems slightly the most probable. Compare ver. 10, in which the remarks of the PXL-rpiLKALos seem to have reference to a single festal meal, the beginning and end of which it contrasts. Even in this case, however, the disciples could easily have had time to communicate to the Virgin enough of what they had heard, felt, and observed in reference to their venerated Master to arouse hopes and expectations in the mother's heart. Compare Theophyl. and Euthym. in loc., both of whom, however, slightly over-estimate the Virgin's knowledge of what had recently happened. 2 3Iost modern, and some ancient expositors, explain away the title here given by Kathanael to our Lord as implying no more than " the Messiah," or, to use the language of Theophylact, one who "' on account of His virtue was adopted as the Son of God" (Ui0voa77e'T'Va 7' eE Oe). Perhaps the further title assigned by Nathanael, and still more our Lord's reply (ver. 51) may seen partly to favor this view. It will be well, however, not to forget that this assertion was made by Nathanael after our Lord had evinced a knowledge above that of man (ver. 48), which mightv well have awakened in the breast of that guileless Israelite some feeling of the true nature of Him who was now speaking with him. So rightly, Cyril. Alex. ina loc., and Augustine, in Joann. Tract. vii. 20, 21. s Tlough we certainly must not adopt the rash and indeed anti-scriptural view (comp. John ii. 11) spoken approvingly of by Maldonatus, and even partially adopted by Liicke (p. 470), that the Virgin had previously witnessed miracles performed by our Lord in private, we may yet with reason believe that she ever retained a partial consciousness of the real nature of her Divine Son, and that the mysterious past was ever freshly remembered, when the present served in any way to call it up again: 7rdmTa oUvvEr7Tpet,v ri- Kaeplas aurs, Kat e Ic 7I0ThW e2J SD2''D,rs sJU V=+l oW-P=V'dm2. ThCoFdq2aat t~ do. (p. 584, Paris, 1631),-but with too definite a reference to an expected special &bavarovpyia. See below, page 120, note 2. 120 THE EARLY JUDYA.N MINISTRY. LECT. III. significant comment of the Virgin, "they have no wine," -a comment that may have alike implied that the free hand of unexpected guests might supply a want in part occasioned by them 1 (for this the order to the servants may fully justify us attributing to the Virgin), and also may have dimly expressed the hope that the Holy Jesus would use these circumstances of partial publicity for the sake of revealing His true character to the assembled guests.2 Under these assumptions how full of meaning does the Lord's answer now appear. How solemnly yet how tenderly He reminds the mother that earthly relations must now give place to heavenly,3 and that the 1 The comments of Luthardt on this exquisitely natural and strikingly characteristic remark of the Virgin-mother deserve here to be quoted. "It is a delicate trait," says this thoughtful writer, "that she does no more than call her Son's attention to the deficiency. She feels such confidence in -Iim, yea, and such reverence towards Him, that she believes that she neither need nor ought to say anything further. Of His benevolent nature she has already had many an experience; and that Ite is full of wisdom, and can find ways and means, where others mark them not, slie knows full well. More, however, was not necessary, - especially where there was this in addition, that the presence of Jesus and His followers had helped to cause the deficielcy, —tlan with humility to direct His attention to it."-Das. Johaznn. Evang. Vol. i. p. 115. We may here pause for a moment to advert to the number of the waterpots. Lightfoot (Ilor. Hebr. in loc.) simply considers the wants of the " multitude jam prvesens," and probably rightly; it is, however, worth a passing consideration whether it depended in any way on the six newly arrived guests. 2 This would seem to be a correct estimate of the exact state of feeling in the mother's heart. As Bp. Ihall well says, "she had good reason to know the Divine nature and power of her son " (Contenmpl. ii. 5): she felt that He could display a more than mortal power, and she now longed that He would give proof of it. We thus avoid on the one hand the over-statement of the earlier commentators, that this was a definite exhortation to perform a miracle (e's Tb &baiua lrpoTpE7reL, Cyril); and on the other we avoid the serious under-statement of many modern writers (Luthardt even partly included), that it was a request referring merely to assistance to be given in some natural way, -how, the speaker knew not. See, for example, Meyer in loc.. who states this latter view in a very objectionable form. 3 It has been remarked by Luthardt (loc. cit.), and before him by Bp. Hall (Contempl. 1. c.), that in His answer our Lord here addresses the Virgin as yv'vaL (ver. 4), and not CATf7p, -a term which, though marking all respect, and subsequently used by our Lord in a last display of tenderness and love (John xix. 26), still seems to indicate the now changed relation between the Messiah and Mary of Nazareth. That our Lord's words contained a tender reproof is certain, and that it was felt so is probable; but, as the Virgin's direction to the servants clearly shows, it could not repress the longings of the mother, or alter the convictions of the all but conscious Deipara. LECT. III. THE EARLY JUD2EAN MINISTRY. 121 times and seasons in which the Eternal Son is to display His true nature are not to be hastened, even by the longings of maternal love. The Lord's manifestation, however, takes place, the miracle is performed, and its immediate effect is to confirm the faith of the five disciples, who now appear before us as the first fruits of the ingathering of the Church. Immediately after the performance of this first miracle the Lord, with His mother, His brethren, Brief stay at Caand His disciples, go down to Capernaum,l a pernaum,andjourplace, which, as the residence of one of His to Jerusa followers, but still more as a convenient point for joining the pilgrim-companies now forming for the paschal journey to Jerusalem, would at this time be more suitable for a temporary sojourn than the secluded Nazareth.2 After a 1 The exact site of Capernaum has been much contested. See Robinson, Patestine, Vol. iii. p. 348 sq. (ed. 2), where the question is discussed at considerable length, and the site fixed at Khan Minyeh, a place not far from the shore of the lake and at the northern extremity of the plain of Gennesareth. Comp. Vol. ii. p. 403. On the whole, however, the name, ruins, position, and prevailing tradition seem justly to incline us to fix the site at Tell Ham, a ruin-bestrewed and slightly elevated spot on a small projecting curve of the shore, about one hour in distance nearer the head of the lake than Khan Minyeh. See esp. Thomson, Land and the Book, Vol. i. p. 542 sq., Ritter, Erdkunde, Vol. xv. p. 339, Van de Velde, 3Memzoir (accompaning map) p. 302, and Williams in Smith's Diet. of Geogr. s. v. Vol. i. p. 504. 2 This observation seems justified by the fact that the western shores of the lake of Gennesarcth were at that time extremely populous, and scenes of a bustle and activity of life that could be found nowhere else in Palestine, except at Jerusalem (see Stanley, Palestine, chap. x. p. 370); and further by the fact that there were at least three routes of considerable importance that led from the neighborhood of the lake to the south. The traveller of that day might join the great Egypt and Damascus road, where it passes nearest to the lake (near KhaOn 3Minyeh; see Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 405, Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 226), and leaving it two or three miles W. S.W. of Nain proceed south through Samaria; or secondly, he might journey along the lake to Scythopolis (Beisan), and thence by the ancient Egypt and MIidian road to Ginaea (see Winer, R1 YB. Art " Strassen," Vol. ii. p. 539, Van de Velde, MIemoir, p. 238), and so onward by the Jerusalem and Galilee road to Shechem and the south; or thirdly, he might take the then niore frequented but now little known route from the south end of the lake through Perea (comp. Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 233, Ritter, Erdkuwlde (Palastina), ~ 13, Part x\-. p. 1001 sq.), and across the Jordan to Jericho, and so to Jerusalem. For further information on this somewhat important subject, the student may be referred to Reland, Palcestina, HI. 3, Vol. i. p. 404 (Traject. 1714); Winer, R J'B. (loc. cit.); the various itineraries in Ritter, Erdkunde (Palastina), Part xv.; and the useful list of routes in Van de Velde, Menmwir, pp. 183-258. 11 122 THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. stay of but a few days, our Lord and His disciples now bend their steps to Jerusalem, to celebrate Johnii. 12. the passover,'- the first passover of our Lord's public ministry. The first act is one of great significance, the expulsion The expulsion of f the buyers and sellers from the temple, - thetradersfromthe an act repeated two years afterwards with Temple. similar circumstances of holy zeal for the sanctity of His Father's house. How strange it is that the thoughtful Origen should have found any difficulties in this authoritative act of the Messiah, or should have deemed incongruous and unsuited to the dignity of his Master what in the narrative of the Evangelist appears to be so natural and intelligible.3 If we closely consider the words of the original, we have presented to us only the very natural picture of the Redeemer driving out from the court of the Gentiles the sheep and oxen, that base huckstering and traffic had brought within the sacred enclosure. What is there here unseemly, what is there startling, in finding that the Lord of the Temple not only drives forth 1 It is not mentioned positively that the disciples accompanied our Lord, but it is certain that they were present at Jerusalem and witnessed the purgation of the temple. See John ii. 17, where the?/fuva'f7aav is not to be referred to any future time (Olsh.), but to the period in question. See Meyer in loc., and comp. Origen, in Joann. Tom. x. 16, Vol. iv. p. 186 (ed. Bened.). 2 That this is not to be identified with the purgation of the temple mentioned by the Synoptical Evangelists (Matt. xxi. 12 sq., Mark xi. 15 sq., Luke xix. 45 sq.), is the opinion of the patristic writers (see Origen, in Joann. Tom. x. 15, Chrysost. in Matt. Hom. LXVII. init., and August. de Consensu Evang. II. 67), and is rightly maintained by the majority of the best recent expositors. See Meyer in loc., and Ebrard, Ev. Gesch. p. 488. 3 These difficulties are stated very clearly in his Commentary on St. John, Book x. 16, Vol. iv. p. 185 sq. (ed. Bened.), and yet disposed of by no one better than himself, when he indicates how actions which in a mere child of man, however authorized, would have been met with resentment and resistance, were in the case of our Lord viewed with a startled and perhaps reverential awe, - an awe due to that aeloTrpa 7 o v'I 71 oao v CvayLs o'[ov re Ovros, OTe E'o6vAe7ro, Kal 5vlAbV iXPXp~v Va3'arT7 evov o' dTEoal, Kal,vpLct3wv ateol XapriL rIEpL-yE'vEal, Kal AhoywLobvs aopvf3ov'rv 8Lao'KdcOaaK. loc. cit. p. 186. Comp. Jerome, in Matt. xxi. 15, Vol. vii. p. 166 (ed. Vallars.) See some good comments on this impressive act in Milman, Hist. of Christianity, I. 3, Vol. i. p. 164 sq., and a quaint but sound, practical sermon by Bp. Lake, Serm. Part Iv. p. 122 sq. LECT. III. THE EARLY JUD-AN MINISTRY. 123 the animals,' but overthrows the tables of so-called sacred coin, tables of unholy and usurious gains, and, with a voice and attitude of command, sternly addresses even the sellers of the offerings of the poor, - offerings such as His own mother had once presented, - and bids them take them hence, and make not the house of His Father a house of Mammon and merchandise? The half-astonished, halfassenting bystanders ask for a sign that might justify or accredit such an assumption of authority, and a sign is not withheld; a sign which, though not understood at the time, appears from subsequent notices to have made no slight impression on those that heard it,2 and to have been lovingly remembered and verified when the dissolved Temple of their Master's body was reared up again on the predicted day. But not only by this authoritative act, and these words of mystery, but, as St. John has specially recorded, by the display of signs and wonders during the celebration of the 1 It seems not improbable that Meyer (in loc.) is right in referring 7rdv'ras (ver. 15) to Td TE 7rp$o'~acTa Kal T'oS Adlas, and that the translation should not be " and the sheep and the oxen " (Auth. Ver.), but, " both the sheep and the oxen," as in the Revised Transl. of St. John, p. 5. The true force of the se-KaC is thus preserved (comp. Winer, Gr. ~ 53. 4, p. 389), and the sacred narrative freed from one at least of the objections which others beside Origen have felt in the Saviour's use of the epayEAALov against the sellers as well as against the animals they sold. It may be observed that our Lord speaks to the " sellers of doves," not perhaps that he regarded them with greater consideration, (De Wette), — for compare Miatt. xxi. 12, Mark xi. 15,- but simply because the animals could be driven forth, while these latter offerings could only be removed. 2 That these words of our Lord referred to His body, which stood to the Temple in the relation of type to antitype, is the distinct declaration of the inspired Evangelist (John ii. 21), and has justly been regarded by all the older expositors as the only true and possible interpretation of the words. To assert, then, that the reference was simply to the breaking up of the older form of religious worship and the substitution of a purer form in its place (Herder, Liicke, De Wette), is plainly to contradict that Evangelist who was blessed with the deepest insight into the mind of His divine Master, and further to substitute what is illogical and inexact for what is clear, simple, and consistent. See esp. Meyer in loc. (p. 95, ed. 2), who has ably vindicated the authentic interpretation of the words. See also Stier, Disc. of ousr Lord, Vol. i. p. 72 sq.; and on the eternal truth that our Lord did raise Himself, Pearson, Creed, Art. v. Vol. i. p. 302 sq. (ed. Burt.). The futile objection founded on the supposed enigmatical character of the declaration is well disposed of by Chrysostom, in loc. Vol. viii. p. 1;)5 E (ed. Bened. 2). 124 THE EARLY JUDREAN MINISTRY. LUCT. III. festival, the deep heart of the people was stirred. Many believed, and among that many was one of Impression made by this and other the members of the Sanhedrin' whose name acts. is not unhonored in the Gospel history. He Gh. ii. 23. who at this passover sought the Lord under cover of night, and to whom the Lord was pleased to unfold the mystery of the new birth,2 was so blessed by the regenerating power of the Spirit as to be emboldened at a later period to plead for the Lord in the open day, and to do honor to His crucified body. On that John vii. 50. Johntvi.C. mysterious interview, which probably took he discourse of place towards the end of the paschal week, ou Lord with Nic- I cannot here enlarge;3 but I may venture odemus. to make one remark to those who desire to enter more deeply into the meaning of our Lord's words, 1 Of this timid yet faithful man nothing certain is known beyond the notices in St. John's Gospel, here and ch. vii. 50, xix. 39. The title he here bears, &pXw v'rcv'IovUaOwv (iii. 1), seems to show that he was a member of the Sanhedrin (comp. ch. vii. 26, 50, Luke xxiv. 20; Joseph. Antiq. xx. 1. 2); and the further comment of our Lord (5 s6da'KaAos rTOO'IorpaiA, ver. 10) may favor the supposition that he belonged to that portion of the venerable body which was not of Levitical or priestly descent, but is spoken of in the Gospels under the title of 7ypacjiare7s'roi Aaoi. See Knapp, Scripta Var. Argum. Vol. i. p. 200, note; and comp. Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ins Matt. ii. 4, Vol. ii. p. 260 (Roterod. 1686). Tradition says that Nicodemus was afterwards baptized by St. Peter and St. John, and expelled from his office and from the city. See Photius, Biblioth. ~ 171. 2 Whether the word &vwaev (ver. 3) is to be taken (a) in a temporal reference, and translated "anew" with the Vulgate, Pesh.-Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic Versions, and with Chrysostom (who, however, gives the other view) and Euthymius, or (b) to be taken in a local reference, and translated " from above," with the Gothic and Armenian Versions, and with Origen and Cyril, it is very hard to decide. The latter is perhaps most in accordance with the usage (ver. 31) and general teaching of St. John (see Meyer in loc.), the former with the apparent tenor of the dialogue. 3 For a good general exposition of this mysterious discourse of our Lord with the timid ruler, see generally, of the older writers, Chrysostom, in Joannz. Hom. xxsv.-xxvIII., Cyril Alex., in Joann. Vol. iv. p. 145-156, Augustine, in Joann. Tractat. xII. cap. 3, Euthymius alnd Tlheophylact in loc.; and of the modern expositors, Knapp. Script. Var. Arguim. Vol. i. p. 199-254, Meyer, Konmnentar. p. 101 sq., Stier, Disc. of our Lord, Vol. iv. p. 3.59 sq. (Clark), and the excellent work of Luthardt, Johace. Erang. Vol. i. p. 364 sq. Some good remarks on the character of Nicodemus will be found in Evans, Scripture Biography, Vol. ii. p. 233 sq.; and an ingenious but not satisfactory defence of his timidity in Niemeyer, Charalkt. Vol. i. p. 113 sq. LECT. II. THE EARLY JUDMAN MINISTRY. 125 and it is this, that if we remember, as I said in my first lecture,l that in St. John's Gospel our Lord especially appears before us as the reader of the human heart, we shall be prepared to find, as apparently we do find, that He often answers rather the thoughts than the words of the speaker, and alludes to the hidden feeling rather than the expressed sentiment.2 If we bear this in mind, I verily believe that, by the help of God, we shall be enabled to gain some clew to understanding the more difficult parts of this most solemn and profound revelation. With this interview the occurrences of this eventful passover appear to have closed. Our Lord Our Lord leaves perceiving, by that same knowledge of the Jerusalem and rehuman heart to which I have just alluded, parts of Ju. E. that He could no longer trust Himself even John ii 24 0 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~Ch. iii. 22. with those who had heard His teaching and beheld His miracles, now leaves Jerusalem, most probably for the northeastern portion of Judaea, in the vicinity of the Jordan, where we seem to have good grounds for supposing that He was pleased to abide till nearly the end I See p. 44, note 3. 2 Thus, for example, at the very outset, our Lord's first words can scarcely be considered an answer to the words with which Nicodemus first addresses Him, but may very suitably be conceived an answer to the question of his heart, which seems rather to have related to the mode of gaining an entrance into the kingdom of God. Was the lowly but wonder-working Teacher whom he addressed the veritable Way, the Truth, and the Light, or was there some other way still compatible with the old and familiar tenets of Judaism? Chrysostom seems rather to imply that our Lord regards Nicodemus as not yet to have passed even into the outer porch of true knowledge (b'Tr obVtc rw&v rpola~pov TrS rpooa77KOoars -yveoos n~ErsB), and that Ie does not so much address Nicodemus as state generally a mystic truth, which he knew not of, but which might well arrest and engage his thoughts. Comment. in Joann. xxIv. Vol. viii. p. 161 (ed. Bened. 2). The very different views that have been taken of these opening words will be seen in the commentaries above referred to. 3 The Evangelist only says, iAaEsv 6'I7)os Kal ot /aM5ral avbroP eGS Tv'Iovsaiav y'iv (ch. iii. 22); but from the closely-connected mention of the administration of baptism, it does not seem unreasonable to suppose, with Chrysostom, that our Lord retired to the Jordan (brl r7bv'IopdPv7v 7roAXdcKis 1jpXero), and perhaps sought again the place where He Himself had been baptized by John, (see p. 108, note 2), and to which numbers might still be thronging. Lightfoot suggests a place more exactly to the north of Jerusalem, and closer to the direct route to Galilee. See Harmon. Quat. Evang. Vol. i. p. 446 (Roterod. 1686). 11* 126 THE EARLY JUDJEAN MINISTRY. LECT. IlI. of the year. There the sacred narrative tells us He baptized by the hands of His disciples,' and so wrought upon the hearts of the people that He eventually gathered round Him believers and disciples,2 which outnumbered those of John, many as IVer. / there seems reason for supposing them now The final testimony of the Bap- to have become. The Baptist was still free. Jotist. iii. He was now at uEnon,3 near Salim, a place of waters in the northern portion of the valley of the Jordan,4 and fiom which he might afterwards have passed by the fords of Succoth into the territory of the licentious Antipas. At this spot was delivJohn iii. 27-36. ered his final testimony to the Redeemer, a testimony, perhaps, directed against a jealousy on the part of His disciples,5 which might have been recently 1 The reason why our Lord did not Himself baptize has formed a subject of comment since the days of Tertullian. We can, however, scarcely adopt that early writer's view that it was owing to the difficulty of our Lord baptizing in His own name (de Baptism. cap. 11), but may plausibly adopt the opinion hinted at by the poetical paraphrast Nonnus (or yap &sva, /3crri ev Iv {&art, p. 30, ed. Passow), and well expressed by Augustine ("praebebant discipuli ministerlium corporis, praebebat ille adjutorium majestatis," in Joann. Tract. xv. 4. 3), - that baptism was a ministerial act, and thus more suitably performed by disciples than by their Lord. Compare Acts x. 48, 1 Cor. i. 17. 2 We can, of course, form no exact estimate of the actual numbers of disciples which John might have now gathered round him. As, however, the inspired narrative distinctly specifies the multitudes that came to his baptism (Matt. iii. 5; Mark i. 5; Luke iii. 7), and alludes to the difierent classes and callings of which they were composed (Luke iii. 12), we may reasonably infer that the number of his actual disciples and followers could by no means have been inconsiderable. 3 Some plausible but purely contextual arguments for fixing the site of,E]non in the wilderness of Judaea will be found in Wieseler, Chrson. Synops. p. 249 sq. Such arguments, however, cannot safely be urged against the direct statements of early writers. See next note. 4 There seems good reason for identifying the Salim, near to which the Evangelist tells us John was baptizing, with some ruins at the northern base of Tell Ridghah, near to which is a beautiful spring, and a Wely (Saint's tomb), called Sheikh Salim. See Van de Velde, lenmoir, p. 345. Robinson appears to doubt this (Palestine, Vol. iii. p. 333, ed. 2). but without sufficient reason. The mere coincidence of name might perhaps be an unsafe argument, if the position of the place did not accord with the position of Salim as fixed by Jerome in his Onomasticon (Art. "zinon "), where enon and Salim are both noticed as being eight Roman miles from Scythopolis. See Van de Velde, Syria and Palestine, Vol. ii. p 345 sq. 5 The words of the sacred text (John iii. 20) gve us some grounds for supposing LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDIEAN MINISTRY. 127 called out by the Jew 1 with whom they had been contending on the subject of purifying. That testiYer. 25. mony was in one respect mournfully pro- Ver.30. phetic. He had now begun, even as he himself said, to decrease; his ministry was over; the Bridegroom had come, and the friend of the bridegroom had heard his voice, and the joy of that faithful John iii. 29. friend was now completed and full. Thus it was that apparently at the close of this year, or, accordincr to a recent chronologer, two or three months later,2 the fearless rebuker of sin, though it be in kings' palaces, is seized on by the irritated yet superstitions Antipas, and, it possible that feelings of doubt or jealousy might have been shown by some of St. John's disciples,- feelings which perhaps might have remained even to a later period, and might have been one of the causes which led to the mission of the two disciples recorded in Matt. xi. 2 sq., Luke vii. 18 sq. There is an expression of something unlooked for, and perhaps not wholly approved of, in the Ye OUTOS Ba7Trserl fcal cer) m' SpXov7ai 7rpbs aUTdY. So Augustine (" moti sunt discipuli Johannis; concurrebatur ad Christum, veniebatur ad Johannem"'), and still more distinctly Chrysost. in loc. 1 There seems no reasonable doubt that the true reading is'Iovsaiov, and not'Iovsaowv (trec.). The evidence for the former, which includes eleven uncial AISS. in addition to the Alexandrian and Vatican, will be found in the new edition of Tischelldorf's New Test. Vol. i. p. 564. What the exact subject of the contention was we are not told, further than that it was 7repl KsaapnLo.vu (ver. 25); it might well have arisen, as Augustine suggests, from the statement on the part of the Jew [August. adopts the plural],-" majorem esse Christum, et ad ejus baptismum debere concurri." — ~n Joann. Tract. xIII. 3. 8. 2 The exact date of the captivity of the Baptist is a question of great difficulty, and perhaps can never be settled. See Winer, R VYB. Art. " Johannes der Taufer," Vol. i. p. 590. WVieseler, in a very elaborate discussion (Chron. Synops. p. 223 —21), has endeavored to show that it took place about the feast of Purim in the following year (March 19, A. U. C. 782), and that he was beheaded a few days before the Passover (April 17) of the same year. The latter date seems made out (see Ch/rons. Synops. p. 292 sq.), but the former is open to many objections, two of which may be specified: (a) the way in which our Lord speaks of the Baptist (John v. 33); and (b) the brief space of time that is thus necessarily assigned to his captivity,-a time apparently as unduly short as that assigned by Greswell is unnecessarily long. See Dissert. x. (Append.) Vol. iii. p. 425. It seems then, onil the whole, safer to adopt the first view in the text, and to suppose that St. John was put into prison shortly before our Lord's present departure into Galilee, and that the YvaXoCip7l7as into that country specified by the Synoptical EvangeliSts (MIatt. iv. 12; 3Mark i. 14; Luke iv. 14) coincides with that here specified by St. John. For a brief consideration of the difficulties this view has been supposed to involve, see Lect. Iv. p. 148, note 3, and compare the remarks of Tischendorf,,Synopi. Evniang. p. xxv. 128 THE EARLY JUDIEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. after a short imprisonment in the dungeons of Machberus,l fLueills a victim to the arts of the vengeful Luke il. 19, om- rn pared with Mark Herodias. i?. 20. This capture of the Baptist, if we adopt the earlier date, might, perhaps, have soon become known to our Lord, and might have suggested some thoughts of danger to Himself and to His infant Church fiom which now He might have deemed it meet to withdraw. Perhaps with this feeling, but certainly, as St. John specially tells us, with the knowledge that the blessed results and success of this ministry had reached the ears of the malevolent Pharisees, our Lord suspends His first John iv.. ministry in Judcea, a ministry that had now lasted eight months, and prepares to return by the shortest route, through Samaria,2 to the safe retirement of the hills of Galilee. It was now late in December,' four months, as the narrative indirectly reminds us, from the harvest,4 when the Lord 1 See Josephus, A4ntiq. xvIII. 5. 2; and for a description of the place, ib. Bell. Jud. vII. 6. 2. From this latter passage, and especially from the notice of the fine palace built there, we may perhaps suppose it to have been the scene of the festival (Matt. xiv. 6; Mark vi. 21) which preceded the Baptist's murder. See, however, Wieseler, Chron. Sysnops. p. 250 sq., who places the scene at Livias. The site of Iachaerus is supposed by Seetzen to be now occupied by a ruined fortress on thle north end of Jebel Attarais, which is said still to bear the name of Mkauer. See Ritter, Erdkunde, Part xv. 1, p. 577. 2 Our Lord was now probably in the northeastern, or, as the' 8 e t be auTrbp K. Sr. A. (John iv. 4) may be thought to suggest, more northerly portions of Judaea. Thither he might have gradually moved from the more immediate neighborhood of the Jordan, towards which he seems first to have gone. See above, p. 126. Our Lord on one occasion at least (Luke ix. 51 sq.) adopted the route through Samaria, in preference to the route through Peraa. At a later time the journey through Samaria was occasionally rendered unsafe by the open hostility of the Samaritans (see Joseph. Antiq. xx. 6. 2), some traces of which we find even in our Lord's time. Comp. Luke ix. 53; and see Lightfoot, Harm.'art III. Vol. i. p. 460 (Stoterocd. 1686). 3 Stanley (Palestine, ch. v. p. 240, note, ed. 2) fixes it in January or February, but in opposition to Robinson, Harmony, p. 19 (Tract Society), who adopts an earlier date. See above, p. 107, note 3. 4 See John iv. 35, OSX tALE7S AI'Yere'TsL T eis1 T'epd'mrPY s ot tiy Kcal 6 epli.lb epXeTaL, - a passage which, from the distinctness and precision of the language (observe the f Tr and compare it with 1Ir/ which follows), has been rightly pressed by some of the best expositors as affording a note of time. See Meyer in loc., and especially Wieseler. Chrons. Synops. p. 214 sq. The arguments in favor of its LECT. III. TIIE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. 129 crossed the rich plain that skirts the southern and eastern bases of Ebal and Gerizim, and, weary with travel, rested on His way by a well, which neu through Si.naeven now the modern pilgrim can confidently identify.l His disciples had gone forward up the beautiful but narrow valley2 to the ancient neighboring city, to which, as it would seem, Jewish prejudice had long since given the name of Sychar,3 when the grace of God brings one poor sinful woman, either from the city or the fields, to draw water at Jacob's well. We well remember the memnorable converse that followed: how the conviction of sin began to work within, and how the amazed woman became the Lord's first herald in Sychem, - the first-fruits of the great harvest that but a few years afterwards was to be gathered in by Philip the Deacon.4 being merely a proverbial expression (comp. Alford in loc.) are extremely weak, and are well disposed of by Wieseler, loc. cit. A different and very improbable note of time is deduced from the passage by Greswell, Dissert. Ix. (Append.), Vol. iii. p. 408. 1 For a good description of Jacob's well, see Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 286 sq. Compare also Van de Velde, Syria and Palestine, Vol. i. p. 399, and Thomson, The Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 206, where a sketch is given of this profoundly interesting spot. For a possible identification of this well with the'l1 lT'Y of the Talmudical writers, see Lightfoot, Chorogr. Vol. ii. p. 586 sq. (Roterod. 1686), and compare Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 256, note. 2 For a description of this valley, see Van de Velde, Syria and Palestine, Vol. i. p. 386 sq., and compare Stanley, Palestine, ch. v. p. 232. 3 The name of Sychar (not Sichar; see Tischendorf in loc.) does not appear to have arisen from a mere curruption of the ancient name of Shechem (Olsh., al.), but from a studiedly contemptuous change with reference either to'~.~, "falsehood," i. e. idol-worship (compare Ileb. ii. 18, and Reland, Dissert. Misc. Vol. i. p. 241), or to'1?7, "drunkard " (comp. Isaiah xxviii. 1, and Lisghtfoot, Chorogr. Vol. ii. p. 586, Roterod.), and in the time of St. John had become the regular name of the place. Compare, however, Acts vii. 16, where Stephen, perhaps designedly, recurs to the ancient name, and Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 256 sq. (note), where the name is connected, apparently less probably, with';r= —-mj'{, "to hire," in reference to Gen. xxxiii. 19. It is now called Nabulus, by a contraction from the name of Neapolis, afterwards given it by the Romans; but it seems probable that the ancient city was larger and extended nearer to Jacob's well. See Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 292 (ed. 2), where there will be found a full and excellent description of the place and its vicinity. Compare also Thomson, The Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 200 sq., where a sketch will be found of the entrance into the city, Van de Velde, Syria and Palestine, Vol. i. p. 386 sq., and a photographic view by Frith, Egypt and Palestine, Part Iv. 3. 4 See Acts viii. 5 sq., where the thankful reception of the Gospel on the part 130 THE EARLY JUDiEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. The faith of these Samaritans and the effect produced on them, even when contrasted with that The faith of the produced by our Lord during His ministry.Samaritans. in Judaea, deserves more than a passing notice. In Judlea our Lord had abode eight months; in Johnii.23. Sychem He spends but two days. In Judoea He works many miracles; in Samaria He works none.' And yet we read that in Sycheni many believed even the vague tidings of the heartCh. iv. 39. stricken woman, and hastened forth to welcome Him, whom in the fulness of a faith that overstepped all narrow national prejudices they believed and acknowledged as the true Messiah, the Restorer, or perhaps rather Converter, as He was termed in their own dialect,2 the of the Samaritans is especially noticed; and compare Baumgarten in loc. ~ 14, Vol. i. p. 184 sq. (Clark). That the "city of Samaria," to which the Deacon went down from Jerusalem, was the city of Sychem, does not appear certain (Meyer, on Acts viii. 5), though it may reasonably be considered highly probable. 1 See some good remarks of Chrysostom on the faith of these Samaritans, when contrasted with that of the Jews. It seems, however, a little rhetorical to say that the latter " were doing everything to expel Him from their country," while the former were entreating Him to stay. See Hont. in Joann. xxxv. Vol. viii. p. 232. Throughout the Gospel-history the multitudes in Judaea or elsewhere appear almost always to have gladly received our Lord, except when instigated to a contrary course by His true and bitter enemies, the ruling and hierarchical party (the'IovSakao of St. John; see Meyer, on John xi. 19) and their various satellites. Comp. Matt. xvii. 20, Mark xv. 11. 2 3Much has been written about the expectation of a Messiah on the part of the Samaritans. It is not improbable that, as their own letters in modern times assert (see Hengstenberg, Christol. Vol. i. p. 66, Clark), they derived it from such passages in the Pentateuch as Gen. xlix. 10, Numb. xxiv. 17, Deut. xviii. 15; and that, though really foreigners by descent (comp. Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 289), they still maintained this belief in common with their hated neighbors, the Jews. At any rate it seems certain that an expectation of a Restorer or Converter, under the title of'.: or = w, was entertained among them at an earlier period of their history (see Gesenius, Samar. Tlheol. p. 41 sq., and the curious doctrinal hymns published by the same learned editor under the title Carmina Samaritana, p. 75 sq.); and we learn from Robinson that even to this day. under the name of el-.Aluhdy (the Guide), the Messiah is still looked for by this singular people. See Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 278, and p. 297 sq., where an account is given of the celebrated correspondence maintained at intervals between the Samaritans and Joseph Scaliger, Marshall, and other scholars of the West. Compare also WSiner, RTJVB., Art. "Samaritaner," Vol. ii. p. 273. The exact meaning of ~-Ui. is discussed by Gesenius in the Berlin Jahrb. Air fTissensch. Krit. for 1830, p. 651 sq. LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. 131 Saviour, as they indirectly avow, not of Samaria only, but of all the scattered families of the children John iv. 42. of men. But faith astonishing even as that of Samaria might not detain Him who came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. After a stay of two memo-.ne o/four Lord to rable days, which the people of Sychem would Galilee. gladly have had prolonged, the Lord returns to a country that now vouchsafed to receive its prophet only because His miracles at Jerusalem had been such as could not be denied. Signs and wonders Ver. 45. were all that dull-hearted Galilee could appreciate. Signs and wonders they must see, or, as our Lord mournfully says, "they would not beYer. 48. lieve." We may observe, then, how consistent is the narrative which represents our Lord as having chosen the scene of His first miracle as His temporary restingplace.2 He returns to Cana in Galilee, where, John iv. 46. as St. John significantly adds, "He made the iv.46. water wine." There He yet again performs a second miracle in bringing back to life the dying son of the 1 The exact meaning of our Lord's comment record, John iv. 44, avd's y&ap'I:7!oOs K. r. A., is not perfectly clear, owing to the apparent difficulty caused by the argumentative yadp, and the doubtful application of 7rarpfit. That this latter word does not refer to Judaea (Origen, and recently Wieseler, Chroen. Synops. p. 45), but to Galilee, seems almost certain from the mention of raxiAada both in the preceding and succeeding verses. The force of the'yap is, however, less easy to decide upon, but is perhaps to be sought for in the fact that our Lord stayed so short a time with the Samaritans, and avoided rather than courted popularity. It is true that he found it in Galilee (ver. 45), but that was because He brought it, as it were, from another country. The Galilaeans did not honor the Lord as their own prophet, but as One whom they had seen work wonders at Jerusalem. The explanatory force adopted by Liicke and others does not harmonize with the simplicity of the context. 2 See John iv. 46,.Atev o'v [6'Iwroos] irriAv eals 7/v Kava, - where the or' seems to imply that the visit of our Lord was in consequence of this disposition on the part of the Galilaeans. He sees the effect which miracles produced upon the people, and is pleased so far to condescend to their infirmities as to sojourn for a time at the scene of a miracle that must have made a great impression on those who witnessed it, and the memory of which His presence among them might savingly revive and reanimate. See Chrysostom in loc. Hom. xxv. Vol. viii. p. 325. 132 THE EARLY JUDMEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. Capernaite noblemanl,l - a miracle which wrought its blessed effects on the father and his whole Ver. 53. household, and may thus perchance have had some influence in leading our Lord, three months afterLwards, when rejected by the wretched madLuke iv. 29. men of Nazareth, to make Capernaum His earthly home.2 Our present portion of the Evangelical history contains but one more event, -the journey of our Our Lord's re Iurn to Jerusalem Lord to Jerusalem, and his miraculous cure r.thefeastof of the infirm man at the pool of Bethesda. John v. Isq. Here, I need scarcely remind you, we at once find ourselves encountered by a question, on the answer to which our whole system of Gospel-harmony mainly depends, and on which we find, both in ancients and modern times, the most marked diversity of opinions. The question is, what festival does St. John refer to at the beginning of the fifth chapter of his Gospel, when he tells 1 From the instances from Josephus of the use of the term $aarXaLKtsr, that have been collected by Krebs (Obs. in Nov. Test. p. 144), we may perhaps reasonably conclude that the person here specified was not a relative (Chrys. I.), but in the service of Herod Antipas (" in famulitio et ministerio regis." Krebs, I. c.), - in what capacity, however, cannot be determined. The opinion that this miracle was identical with that of the healing of the centurion's servant (Matt. viii. 5 sq., Luke vii. 1 sq.) is mentioned both by Origen (in Joann. Tom. xIII. 60) and Chrysostom (in Joann. IIom. xxxv. 2), but very properly rejected by them. Nothing really is identical in the two miracles, except the locality of the sufferer, and the fact that our Saviour did not see him. See especially Theophylact and Euthlivius in loc. 2 Flor some good comments on the details of this miracle, - one of the characteristics of which is the performance of the cure by our Lord not only without His seeing (as in the case of the centurion's servant), but when at a distance of some miles from the sufferer, - see the commentaries of Origen, Chrysostom, Cyril Alex., Theophylact, and Euthymius; and for a general view of the whole, Hall, Conten7pl. itI. 2, and Trench, Mliracles, p. 117 sq. Compare also Lange, Leben Jesul, ii. 4. 10, Part iI. p. 552 sq. 3T'iD~i'l.>i~i isr Minh i-iib -1sT0 Area'fei-h8 h T1nT1nh i lbahnn -v',I -Pbtm confined to modern writers. Irenxtus says that it was at the Passover (Hcer. iI. 39). but as we cannot ascertain what reading (eoprTs or 77 iopT'i, see next note) was adopted by this ancient writer, his oisinion must be received with some reserve. Chrysostotn, Cyril of Alexandria, and after them Theophylact and Euthymius, with more plausibility, suppose it to have been the feast of Pente. cost. See, however, p. 133, note 2. LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDAEAN MINISTRY. 133 us that "there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem"? The various answers I will Ver. 1. not now pause to discuss, but will say briefly, that, after a prolonged consideration of this difficult subject, I venture to think that as the language of St. John, according to the correct text,1 and when duly considered, does seem distinctly unfavorable to this festival being considered as either the Passover or one of the three greater festivals,2 we may, not without many plausible arguments, adopt the view of the best recent hartmonists and commentators, and regard it as the Feast of Purim,3 - the com1 The true reading appears certainly to be eopr7i (Rec.), without the article. It has, in addition to secondary authorities, the support of three out of the four leading uncial MSS. (the Alex. Vatic., and that of Beza), is specially commented on in the Chronicon Paschale (p. 405 sq., ed. Dindorf.), and is adopted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, and the best recent editors. 2 The principal arguments are as follow, and seem of some weight: (a) the omission of the article, which, though sometimes observed when a verb substant. precedes (Middleton, Greek Art.; comp. Neander, Life of Christ, p. 234, note, Bohn), or when a strictly defining or possessive genitive follows (see exx. in Winler, Gramm. ~ 19. 2. b), cannot possibly be urged in the case of a merely inverted sentence like the present, and where the gen. has no such special and defining force. See winer, Gramrn. 1. c. p. 232, note. IThe answer to this in Robinson, Harmony, p. 199 (Tract. Soc.), has no force, as the cases adduced are not out of St. John, wholly different, and easily to be accounted for.] To this we may add (b) the absence of the name of the festival, whereas St. John seems always to specify it. Compare ch. ii. 13, vii. 2, and even (in the case of the yKtcaLvta) x. 22. Again (c) it seems now generally agreed upon that it was not the Pentecost; that if it be a Passover, our Lord would then have been as long a time as eighteen months absent from Jerusalem (see Wieseler, Chron. Syllops. p. 217); and that if it be the Feast of Tabernacles, we then, according to Ebrard (Krit. der Ev. Gesch. ~ 37, p. 157), mnust adopt the highly improbable view that it was not the aKT1,o7r7~'yia that followed the Passover mentioned ch. ii. 13, but that followed a second Passover, which St. John, usually so accurate on this point see ch. vi. 4), has not specified. Lastly, (d) if the note of time alluded to, p. 128, note 4, be accepted, the difficulties alluded to in (c) will be greatly complicated and enhanced. 3 The arguments in favor of this particular festival, though sufficiently strong to have gained the assent of a decided majority of the best recent expositors, are still of a dependent and negative character. They are as follows: (a) if the note of time derived from John iv. 35 be correct, then the festival here mentioned clearly falls between the end of one year and the Passover of the one following (ch. vi. 4), and consequently can be no other than the Feast of Purim, which was celebrated on the fourteenth and fifteenth of the month Adar (Esth. ix. 21); (b) if, as seems shown in the above note, strong critical as well as exegetical objections can be urged against any and all of the other festivals that have been proposed, then a remaining festival which is only open to objections of a 12 134 THE EARLY JUDhEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. memorative feast of Esther's pleading and Haman's overthrow. This festival, it would appear by backward computation, must have taken place in this present year of our Lord's life (A. v. c. 782), on the nineteenth of Miarch, and, as we may reasonably infer from the narrative, a Sabbath-day, - a day on which, according to the ancient, though not according to the modern calendar of the Jews, this festival could apparently have been celebrated,2 and, singularly enough, the only instance in which a Sabbath could fall upon any one of the festivals of the year in question.3 weaker and more general character (see below, note 2) deserves serious consideration; (c) if this date be fixed upon, the chronology of the period between it and the following Passover not only admits of an easy adjustment, but also, as will be seen in the course of the narrative, involves some striking coincidences and harmonies which reflect great additional plausibility upon the supposition. For additional notices and arguments, see Anger, de Tempt. in Act. Apost. I. p. 24 sq., Wieseler, Chron. Synops. pp. 205-222, Lange, Leben Jesu, Book II. Part i. p. 9; and for perhaps the strongest statement of the counter-arguments, Htengstenberg, Christology, Vol. iii. p. 244 sq. (Clark). 1 For the principles on which this computation rests, see Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 206 sq., compared with p. 219. Compare also the useful table in Tischendorf, Synops. Evang. p. LI.; and for general tables for facilitating such calculations, see Browne, Ordo Scecl. ~ 452-455, p. 499 sq. 2 This seems to be made out by Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 219 sq., but it is so strongly questioned by Hengstenberg (Christology, Vol. iii. p. 248), who refers for proofs to Reland, Antiq. Sacr. Iv. 9, and the special treatise of Shickard, on this festival, reprinted in the Critici Sacri, Vol. ii. p. 1183 (ed. Amstelod. 1698-1732), — that a few comments must be made on the subject. Much seems to turn on the question whether the fourteenth of Adar, or, as Hengstenberg urges, the day on which the roll of Esther was read,-a day, as will be seen from the JIishna, made variable for convenience, - was the true day of the festival. With the opening sections of the Tract "Megillah" before us, we shall probably (with Wieseler) decide for the fbrmer, especially when we compare with the preceding sections the close of sect. 3, where it is said, in answer to the general question, "when the Megillah may be read before its proper time," that an exception is to be made for places where it is customary for [the country people] to assemble on MIondays and Thursdays, but that "where that does not take place it may only be read on its proper day" (1 ('N I T"IrI 1-' r,:T=). Mishna, p. 182 (De Sola and Raphall's Trans].). The question is here noticed as of some interest, but it may be observed that though it is probable from the sacred narrative that the Sabbath on which the miracle was performed coincided with the festival, it is not expressly said so; and that even if the Feast of Purim could not fall on a Sabbath, the main question would remain wholly unaffected by it. See Meyer, on John v. 1, p. 143. 3 See Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 219, and compare the table in Tischendorf, Synops. Ev. p. LI. It may be observed that the year now in question was a leap LECT. III. THE EARLY JUD2EAN MINISTRY. 135 It has, I know, been urged that our Lord would never have gone up to a festival of mere earthly rejoicing and revelry.' In answer to this, tain o7?aection to without pausing to compare this merely negative statement with the positive arguments which have been advanced on the contrary side, let us simply reply, that at this festival, in which the hard lot of the poor and needy received a passing alleviation, the divine presence of Him who came to preach the Gospel to the poor might not seem either strange or inaplopropriate.2 In addition to this let us not forget that, in the year now under consideration, the Passover would take place only a month afterwards, and that our Lord might well have thought it meet to fix His abode at Jerusalem and to commence His preaching before the hurried influx of the multitudes that came up to the solemnities of the great yearly festival.s But let us now return to our narrative, and with sadness observe how the malice and wickedness of man was peryear, and had a second month of Adar; hence the difference between this calendar and that in Browne, Ordo Scecl. ~ 594, p. 647, where this fact is not observed. For exact information on the difficult subject of the Jewish calendar, see Ideler, Handbuch. der Chronol. Vol. i. p. 477 sq., the special work of' Ben-David, Gesch. des Jud. Kalend. (Berl. 1817). Compare also the Excursus of Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 437 sq., and Browne, Ordo Scecl. ~ 403 sq. 1 This objection is urged, though not with much cogency, by Trench, Miracles, p. 245. For a full account of the ceremonies at this festival, see the work of Shickard, de Festo Purim (Tubing. 1634), above alluded to, p. 134, note 2), and compare WViner, WB. Art. "Purim," Vol. ii. p. 589. The objection that has been founded on St. John's omission of the special name of this festival, contrasted with his usual habit in similar cases (ch. vii. 2, x. 22), is fairly met by Anger, who remarks that while the names of other festivals (e. g. (rK7Yo7nrla and Eiytcafi'a) partially explained themselves, that of the Feast of Purim, under its Grecized title (rCiv ppovpal or uovpai, or.ris MapBoXaIKtts 7paEpas), was probably felt by the Evangelist as likely to prove unintelligible to the general readers for whom the Gospel was designed. - De Tempt. in Act. Apost. p. 27 sq. 2 See Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 222; vigorously, though not very convincingly, opposed by Hengstenberg, who seems to take a somewhat extreme view of the revelry and license which prevailed at the festival. See Christology, Vol. iii. p. 247. 3 A partial illustration of this is supplied by John xi. 55, where it is expressly said that " many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves." The i'va a&yviawoLv of course does not apply in the present case; but the general fact that there was such a habit of going up before the festival is not without significance. 136 THE EARLY JUDiEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. mitted to counteract those counsels of mercy, and to shorten that mission of love. On this Sabbath-day, by the waters of that healing pool,' which ancient tradition as well as recent inThe miracle at the pool of Be- vestigation seems to have correctly identified thesda. with the large but now ruined reservoir in the vicinity of St. Stephen's gate,2 the Lold performs a miracle on one poor sufferer, who had long lingered in that House of Mercy,3 unpitied and friendless. That miracle was accompanied with a sign of great signifi1 It may be considered somewhat doubtful whether ver. 4 is really an integral portion of the sacred text, or a later addition. It is omitted by Tischendorf with the Vatican MS., the first hand of the Codex Ephremi, the Codex Bezas, and a few ancient versions, -the valuable Curetonian Syriac (but see Roberts, On Lang. of St. _Matt. Gospel, p. 122) being of the number. This is undoubtedly authority of some weight; but as prejudice or reluctance to accept the fact specified might have something to do with the removal of the verse, we shall perhaps be justified in following the judgment of' Lachmann, and, with one first class and nearly all the second class uncial MSS., in retaining the verse. It must not be disguised, however, that these authorities differ greatly with one another in the separate words, —a further argument of some importance. Compare Meyer, Komment. p. 141 sq. (ed. 2). The attempts, in which, strangely enough, a note of Hammond is to be included, to explain away the miraculous portion of the statement, are very unsatisfactory. If' the verse is a part of the sacred text, then undoubtedly the ultimate agency, however outwardly exhibited, whether by gaseous exhalations or intermittent currents, was angelical. See Wordsworth in loc. and comp. Lange, Leben Jesu, II. 2. 2, Part I. p. 50, and some curious comments and quotations in Sepp, Leben Christi, iv. 5, Vol. ii. p. 315 sq. 2 This, it must be conceded, is a debated point, as there are arguments of some weight in favor of this reservoir being regarded as a portion of the ancient fosse which protected the temple and the fort of Antonia. See Robinson, Palestine, Vol. i. p. 293 sq. (ed. 2). The traditional site, however, and its identification with the pool of Bethesda mentioned in the ancient Jerusalesn Iti~nerary (p. 589), seems fairly maintained by Williams, Holy City, I. 5, Vol. ii. p. 483, though doubted by Winer, R IlTB. Vol. i. p. 170. Under any circumstances the suggestion of Robinson (apparently favored by Trench, Miracles, p. 247), that Bethesda is perhaps to be identified with the Fountain of the Virgin, is pronounced by an unbiased traveller, who has seen that deeply excavated fountain (see vignette in Williams, Vol. ii p. xi.), as plainly incompatible with what we must infer from the details of the sacred narrative as to the nature of the locality where the miracle was performed. For a good view of the traditional site, see Robertson and Beato, Views of Jerusalemn, No. 12. 3 This appears to be the correct meaning: the true etymology not being.n' N,',",, "the house of effusion or washing" (Bochart, Reland, al., followed by Williams, Holy City, Vol. ii. p. 487), but'rnt r'l-,-an etymology strongly confirmed by the Peshito-Syriac, which here resolves the Grecized form back again into its original elements (beth chesdo). See Wolf, Curce Philolog. (in loc.) Vol. ii. p. 835. LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. 137 cance. Not only does our Lord restore the helpless paralytic,' but commands him to rise up and John v. 8. bear his bed, and thus practically evince not only his own completed recovery, but the true lordship of the Son of Man over Sabbatical restrictions and ceremonial rest.2 He that a year before had shown that He was Lord of the temple, now shows that He is Lord also of the Sabbath. But this was what Pharisaical hypocrisy could not brook. This act, merciful and miraculous as it was, involved a violation of what Scribe and Pharisee affected to hold most dear; and it could not and must not be tolerated. The Jews, or - as that term nearly always implies in St. John -the adherents of the Sanhedrin,a who had been informed by the man who it was that had healed him,4 and some of whom 1 For an explanation of the various details of the miracle, the student must be referred to the standard commentaries, especially those of Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria, Theophylact, and Euthymius; and, among more modern writers, those of Maldonatus, LUicke, Meyer, and Alford. See also the fragmentary homily of Cyril of Jerusalem (W orks, p. 336, ed. Bened.), Hall, Contemplations, iv. 11, and Trench, NVotes on the Miracles, p. 243. 2 It would certainly seem, as Lightfoot suggests (Hor. Hebr. in loc. Vol. ii. p. 622), that our Lord desired by this command to show His power over the Sabbath, and to exhibit openly His condemnation of the ceremonial restrictions with which it was then encumbered. For some striking instances of these, see especially the IMishna, Tract, " Sabbath," p. 37 sq. (De Sola and Raphall), where the case of an act of charity (relieving a mendicant) forms the subject of discussion. We may infer what must have been the amount of glosses with which the law respecting the Sabbath was now encumbered, when in the above formal collection of the precepts of the oral law, committed to writing little more than one hundred and fifty years afterwards, we find that " a tailor must not go out with his needle near dusk [on the Sabbath eve], lest he forget and carry it out with him [during the Sabbath]. ll3ishsa, Tract, " Sabbath," I. 3, p. 38 (De Sola and Raphall). 3 See above, p. 115, note 3. The only and indeed obvious exception to this is when the term'IovSaZoL is used with a national reference (John ii. 6, 13, iii. 1, iv. 9, al.); in all other cases the term in St. John's Gospel seems to mark the hostile and hierarchical party that especially opposed our blessed Lord's teaching and ministry. 4 There does not seem suficient reason for supposing that the man made the communication from gratitude, or from a desire to commend our Lord to the rulers (comp. Chrys., Cyril Alex.); still less was it from any evil motive (comp. Lange, p. 769). It probably arose simply from a desire to justify his performance of the command (ver. 9), by specifying the authority under which he had acted. Comp. Meyer in loc., and Luthardt, Jolt. Evang. Part II. pp. 6, 7. 12* 138 THE EARLY JUD EAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. had perhaps witnessed the miracle, at once begin to exhibit a vengrefull hatred, which only deepens John v. 1G.6. in its implacability when in that sublime discourse at the close of the chapter on which we are meditating, the fifth chapter of St. John, the Lord declares not only His unity in working, but His unity Ver. 17. in dignity and honor with the Eternal Yer. 23.. Father.2 This is the turning point in the Gospel history. Up to Distinctive char- this time the preaching of our Lord at Jeruacteristics of this salem and in Judiea has met with a certain epoch. epoch. degree of toleration, and in many cases even of acceptance:s but after this all becomes changed. Henceforth the city of David is no meet or safe abode for the Son of David; the earthly house of His heavenly Father is no longer a secure hall of audience for the preaching of the Eternal Son. Henceforth the Judaean, or, more strictly speaking, the Jerusalem ministry narrows itself into two efforts, the one made seven, the other nine months after1 This perhaps is the strongest term that we are fairly justified in using, as the words Ka! id_'Crovv avrsbv a&iroKcTE7va (ver. 16) are omitted by three out of the four leading uncial MSS. See Tischendorf in loc. Vol. i. p. 577. 2 A very careful investigation into the connection and evolution of thought in this divine discourse —the main subject of which is the Person, Mission, and Offices of the eternal Son of the eternal Father, and the testimony by which they are confirmed —will be found in Luthardt, Johann. Evang. Part II. p. 10 sq. See also Stier, Words of our Lord, Vol. v. p. 83 sq. (Clark), and Lange, Leben Jesu, in. 5. 1, Part II. pp. 770-775. The whole is ably expanded and enlarged upon by Augustine, in Joannern, Tract. xvIII. —xxII. Vol. iii. p. 1355 sq. 3 See John ii. 23, iv. 1. In estimating the degree of reception that our Lord's teaching met with, we must carefully distinguish between the general mass of the people, whether in Judaea or Galilee, which commonly " heard him gladly " (Mark xii. 37), and the Pharisaical and hierarchical party, which both disbelieved themselves, and, commonly acting fromn Jerusalem as a centre (see esp. Matt. xv. 1, Mark iii. 22, vii. 1), readily organized coiperation in other quarters. Compare Luke v. 17. Their present state of feeling deserves particular notice, as preparing us for their future machinations, and as leading us to expect no such prolonged duration of our Lord's ministry as the supposition that this feast was a Passover would force us to assume. The fearful resolve to kill our Lord, though perhaps not officially expressed, had nevertheless now been distinctly formed, and was being acted upon. See John v. 18, and comp. Lange, Leben Jesu, II. 5. 1. Part II. p. 7,;9t sq. LECT. III. THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. 139 wards,' and both marked by a similar vindictive animosity, on the part of the hostile Jewish section, to that which now first comes into such melan- Joh viii. 59; x. 81, 39. choly prominence. Abruptly, as it would seem, perhaps only a day or two after this eventful Sabbath,2 the Lord leaves Jerusalem, to return to His old home in Galilee; there, alas, to meet with a yet sadder rejection, and to withdraw from hands more savage and murderous than those even of the Lukeiv. 16 sq. Luke iv. 28. Pharisees of Jerusalem. With this return to Galilee,- which is implied in the interval between the fifth and sixth chapters Te termination of St. John, and which has been supposed, ofthe earlyJudcean though I cannot think correctly,' by a recent Matt. iv. 2; sacred chronologel,4 as identical with the Mark i. 14; Luke iv. 14. departure or return to Galilee specified by all t the three Synoptical Evangelists,- this portion of our history comes to its conclusion. 1 The first of these was at our Lord's visit to Jerusalem, during the Feast of Tabernacles, towards the middle of October in the present year, A. U. C. 782 (John vii. 1 sq., comp. Luke ix. 51 sq.); the second at His appearance in Jerusalem at the Feast of the Dedication, in the December of the same year (John x. 22 sq.). 2 When our Lord left Jerusalem is not mentioned, or even implied, but after the impious efforts directed against His life we may reasonably conclude that it was immediately, —the very day, perhaps, after the present Sabbath, and thus with fully sufficient time to reach Galilee and Nazareth before the Sabbath which succeeded. Comp. Wieseler, ChIron. Synops. p. 222, 260 sq. 3 See above, p. 127, note 2, and the beginning of the next Lecture, where this question is noticed more at length. 4 See WVieseler, Chiron. Synlops. p. 161 sq., compared with p. 223. This opportunity may properly be taken of especially recommending to the attention of every thoughtful student, who may be acquainted with the language in which it is written, this able treatise on the succession of the events in the Gospel-history. The more recent Synopsis Evangelica of Tischendorf is based nearly entirely upon the researches and deductions of this keen-sighted writer, and the present work owes a very large part of what may be thought plausible or probable in its chronological arrangement to the same intelligent guide. It is just to state that nothing has been accepted without independent and very deliberate investigation, and that many modifications, and, as it would seem, rectifications have been introduced. The clew, however, even where it has been judged to lead off in a different direction, has in most cases, I again most gratefully acknowledge, either been indicated or supplied by this excellent work. A translatioun of it would be a very welcome aid to the general reader. 140 THE EARLY JUDEAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. Thus, then, what has been roughly termed the Judean ministry -a ministry extending continuously from the March to the December of the preceding year (A. U. C. 781), and resumed only to be abruptly broken off in the March of the present year (A. U. C. 782) — may be considered as now practically ended.' This is immediately succeeded by the ministry in Galilee, and in the neighboring districts to the north and east, —a ministry, be it again observed, to which the principal portion of the Synoptical Gospels, especially of the first and second,2 is nearly exclusively confined. If we only steadily bear in mind that the Synoptical Gospels mainly relate to us the events of the ministry in Galilee, the rough starting-point of which is the Baptist's captivity,3 we shall, I venture to feel confident, find but little difficulty in appreciating the true relations to one another of the four Gospels, and in mastering the general outline of the succeeding portions of the Evangelical narrative. And now let me close this lecture with the earnest 1 The short period of two months which intervenes between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of the Dedication was probably spent in Judaea (see Lecture VI.), and thus might properly be considered a portion of the Judaean ministry. The general reader, however, will find it more convenient to regard the main JudTean ministry as now past, the Galilean ministry as about to follow, and to be succeeded by a period of broken and interrupted ministrations, of removals and journeys, which terminate with the last Passover. See above, Lect. ii. p. 51. 2 It seems necessary to make this limitation, as the Gospel of St. Luke from the close of the ninth to the middle of the nineteenth chapter- a very considerable portion of that Gospel -is occupied with notices of that portion of our Lord's ministry which intervened between the Feast of Tabernacles (October, A. u. c. 782) and the triumphal entry into Jerusalem just preceding the last Passover (April, A. U. c. 783). 3 See above, p. 127, note 2. The ancient tradition on which this very reasonable opinion mainly rests is cited below, p. 146, note 1. The reason why the Synoptical Evangelists leave unnoticed the early ministry in Judaea cannot, perhaps, be readily assigned. As, however, it seems certain that nearly every system of chronology must, in a greater or less degree, concede the fact, we may, with all huniility and reverence, perhaps hazard the opinion that these Evangelists were specially directed and guided mainly to confine their narrative to the period of the ministry in Galilee, - a period so marked, not only by the founding of the Church, but by the exhibition of many and mighty miracles, and the communication of varied and manifold forms of heavenly teaching. Compare Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 261. LECT. IlI. THE EARLY JUD2EAN MINISTRY. 141 prayer that these hasty and fleeting sketches 1 may have in some degree served to bring this portion of Concluding rethe history of our Redeemer before our minds marksandexhortawith increased measures of freshness and coherence. Hard it has been, very hard, to adjust the many questions of contested history; harder still to know where to enlarge or where to be brief only in unfolding the connection of events which are still regarded by the wise and meditative as in uncertain dependence, or in more than precarious sequence. Yet I trust all has not been in vain; I trust that in you, my younger brethren, more especially,2 I have awakened some desire to search the Scriptures, and to muse on the events of your Redeemer's life with a fresher and more vital interest. Remember, I beseech you, that though chronologies may seem perplexing and events intermingled, yet still that every earnest effort to bring before your hearts the living picture of your Redeemer's life will be blessed by His Spirit.3 Be not discouraged by the difficulty of the task; though here, 1 This is the term which is most appropriate to these Lectures, and which would have appeared on the very title-page if it had not been deemed unsuitable to place a term so purely belonging to mere human things in connection with the most holy name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 2 Some experience as a public examiner in the New Testament, both in this University and elsewhere, has served to teach me that few points connected with the exposition of the four Gospels are less known or less attended to, by the young, than the study of the probable order of events, and the relations and degrees of interdependence existing between the records of the four inspired writers. 3 It is well and truly observed by Bishop Taylor, in his noble introduction to his greatest work, Tihe Life of C'hrist, that every true and sincere effort to set before our souls the life of our Master both ought to and, with God's blessing, must needs end in imitation. "tie that considers," says the Chrysostom of our Church, in reference to one particular aspect of our Lord's life, "with what effusions of love Jesus prayed, -what fervors and assiduity, what innocency of wish, what modesty of posture, what subordination to His Father, and conformity to the Divine pleasure, were in all His devotions, -is taught and excited to holy and religious prayer. The rare sweetness of His deportment in all temptations and violences of His passion, His charity to His enemies, His sharp reprehension of the Scribes and Pharisees, His ingenuity toward all men, are living and effectual sermons to teach us patience and humility and zeal, and candid simplicity and justice in all our actions."-Life of Christ, Prelim. Exhort. ~ 15, Vol. i. p. 25 (Loud. 1853G). 142 THE EARLY JUDXAAN MINISTRY. LECT. III. perchance, we may wander; there miss the right clew; yet, if with a true and living faith we seek to bring home to our hearts the great features of the Evangelical history, — to journey with our Master over the lonely mountains of Galilee; to sit with Hiim beside the busy waters of the lake of Gennesareth; to follow His footsteps into remote and half-pagan lands,' or to hang on His lips in the courts of His Father's house, -we shall not seek in vain. The history of the Gospels will be more and more to us a living history; one Divine Image ever waxing clearer and brighter, —shedding its light on lonely hours, coming up before us in solitary walks, ever fresher, ever dearer, — until at length all things will seem so close, so near, so true, that our faith in Jesus and Him crucified will be such as no sophistry can weaken, no doubtfulness becloud.2 For that vivid interest in the history of Jesus let us all pray to our heavenly Father; and in the name of Him on whom we have been meditating, let us conLuke xvii. 5. elude with the prayer of His chosen ones, " Lord, increase our faith." 1 This striking and commonly too much overlooked portion of our Lord's ministry will be found noticed especially in Lect. v. 2 For an expansion of these passing comments on the unspeakable blessedness of this form of meditative union with our adorable Saviour, the student may profitably be referred to one of the most eloquent devotional treatises ever written in our language,- the Christ Mystical of Bp. Hall ( Works, Vol. vii. p. 225. Talboys, 1837). LECTURE IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. NOW AFTER THAT JOHN WAS PUT IN PRISON, JESUS CAME INTO GALILEE, PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. - St. Mark- i. 14. IN resuming my course of Lectures upon those events in the life of our Lord and Master which are recorded to us in the Gospels, it will be per- RZ.estmPtion of the haps well for me, both in consideration of the time that has elapsed since my last Lecture,1 and with the remembrance that some may now be present who did not hear the former portion of this course,2 so far to recalpitulate as to remind you briefly of our present position in the Gospel-history, and of the events which appear to havejust preceded our present starting-point. It may perhaps be remembered that our last meditations were devoted to what we agreed to term our Lord's early Judeean ministry,3 - a ministry, ec/pittation of the events of which commenced with the cleansing of the the Judman ministry. Temple at our Lord's first Passover (March A. U. c. 781),4 and extended continuously to the December 1 The first three Lectures of this course were delivered in the month of April, the present and the two following not till the succeeding October. The brief recapitulation in the text could thus hardly be dispensed with, when so long an interval had elapsed between the two portions of the course. In the form in which the Lectures now appear it is not so necessary; as, however, it has seemned probable that, in a subject like the present, a brief recapitulation might be of benefit even to the general reader, the Lecture has been left in the same state in which it was delivered. 2 This refers to the new-comers in the October term. See the remarks in Lecture I. p. 20. 3 See Lecture II. p. 51, and compare p. 140, note 1. 4 If the tables constructed by Wieseler (Chron. Synops. p. 482 sq.; reprinted in Tischendorf, Synops. Evang. p. LI.) on the basis of astronominal data sup 144 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. of that year when our Lord returned to Galilee through Samaria, and performed the second and, as it would seem, isolated miracle of healing the son of the nobleman of Capernaum.1 It may be further remembered that after a brief stay in Galilee, - of which we have no further record than the passing comment of St. Luke, that "lIIe taught Ch. (i. 15. in their synagogues, being glorified of all," 2 Ch. iv. 17. and the similarly brief notices of St. Matthew Ch. i. 15. and St. Mark, that the burden of that teaching was repentance, -our Lord went up to Jerusalem, at the time of a festival, which it was judged highly probable was that of Purim, with the apparent intention of staying over plied by Wurm (Astron. Beitrage) are to be relied on as exact, the first day of this Passover, i. e. according to popular usage, the fourteenth of Nisan took place on the twenty-ninth of March. One day earlier (MIarch 28) is the date specified by Browne (Ordo Sccl. ~ 64), but the Tables from which it appears to have been derived (~ 448) are admitted to involve sufficient error to account for the difference. See the examples on p. 497. 1 See above, Lect. III. p 131. 2 This text appears to illustrate, if not confirm, the opinion previously advanced (see above, p. 127, note 2), that the return of our Lord specified by the three Synoptical Evangelists (Matt. iv. 12, Mark i. 14, Luke iv. 14) does not coincide with the interval between the fifth and sixth chapters of St. John, but with the return specified by that Evangelist in the fourth chapter. The words of St. Luke just seem to give that passing notice of the two-month residence in Galilee, which preceded the Feast of Purim, that we might naturally expect. The chief feature which probably marked that period, preaching and teaching in the synagogues, is briefly specified, while in the words 5otaSoLtevos blrb 7rdcEvv it is just possible that there may be an oblique allusion to the miracle which we know from St. John (ch. iv. 44) was performed during that interval. The force of the main objection, that the Synoptical narrative does not thus, as it would seem to profess to do, commence immediately after that return of our Lord to Galilee, but really two months later, is thus so far weakened, that when we further observe, -(a) that of two returns to Galilee, St. John pauses carefully to specify one, and leaves the other almost unnoticed (comp. ch. vi. 1), and again, (b) that in ch. v. 35 our Lord seems to speak of John's ministry as something now quite belonging to the past, it appears difficult to resist the conviction that the distinctly-mentioned &vaXcop7arts into Galilee of the Synoptical writers, immediately after John's captivity, is identical with the carefully specified journey recorded in the fourth chapter of St. John. See Tischendorf, Synopsis Evangelica, p. xxv., and for the arguments (not very strong) in favor of the identity of the above return with that implied in John vi. 1, Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 161 sq. The attempt of Lange (Lebens Jesu, Part II.) and others to interpolate a considerable portion of the events of the present earlier Galilann ministry between the return through Samaria and the Feast of Purim has been well considered, and been found to involve chronological difficulties wholly insurmountable. LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 1a: the Passover,' but that, owing to the malignity of the more hostile section of the Jews, He appears to have left the city almost immediately, and again to have returned to Galilee. Here our present section begins, and with it what may be termed the Lord's Galilvean or extra-Judman ministry, — a ministry which in itself lasted about six months, but which, combined with the journeys and interrupted ministries which succeeded, occupied as nearly as possible a single yearl,2 - the "acceptable year" of that Isai. lxi. 2. ancient prophecy which our Lord Himself Luke iv. 2 proclaimed in the synagogue at Nazareth as now receiving= its fulfilrnent,-the year to which a most 1 See above, p. 135, note 3. 2 The ministry of our Lord would thus seem to have lasted about two years and three months, i. e. from His baptism at the close of 27 A. D. (780 A. U. C.) or beginning of' 28 A. D. to the last Passover in 30 A. D. The opinions on this subject have been apparently as much divided in ancient as in modern times. Several early writers, among whom may be specified Clement of Alexandria (Strom. I. 21, ~ 145), Origen (de Princip. iv. 5, in Levit. Hom. Ix., in Luc. Iom. xxxII., but see below), Archelaus of Mesopotamia (Routh, Reliq. Sacr. Vol. iv. p. 218), and, according to apparently fair inferences, Julius Africanus (Greswell, Dissert. xiii. Vol. i. p. 46), suppose our Lord's ministry to have lasted little more thawn one year. Others again, of equal or even greater antiquity, such as Melito of Sardis (Routh, Reliq. Sacr. Vol. i. p. 115), Irenaeus (Hoer. ii. 39, but see below), and, according to correct inferences, Tertullian (see Kaye, Eccl. Hist. ch. II. p. 159, and compare Browne, Ordo Scecl. ~ 86. 3), and, later in life, Origen ( Cels. ii. 12, oveh rpIa E&r), have fixed the duration as three years, or, as Ireneus (I. c.) implies, even more. A calm consideration of these and other passages from early writers will showv that they cannot be strongly pressed on either side. Several of them involve references to prophecy, which in some cases evidently swayed the opinion of the writer (comp. Euseb. Dem. Evang. vIIi. 400 B); some (as the passage of Irenveus) are called out by the counter-opinion of heretics, while others again are mere obiter dicta, that cannot fairly be urged as giving a really deliberate opinion. After a review of the whole evidence, the most reasonable opinion, and one which tends in a great degree to harmonize these citations, is this, - that the general feeling of antiquity was that our Lord's entire ministry lasted for a period, speaking roughly, of about three years, but that the more active part, i. e. that with which the synoptical narrative practically commences, lasted one. If this be correct, the statement at the beginning of the note has to a certain extent the united support of all antiquity, and sufficiently nearly accords with the three years of the significant parable (Luke xiii. 6 sq.), which has, perhaps rightly, been pressed into this controversy. See Wieseler, Chron. Syn8ops. p. 202; and for further general information, Greswell, Dissert. xIII. Vol. i. 438 sq., Browne, Ordo,ScI. ~ 85 sq., and the acute comments of' Anger, le T mnp). in Act. Ap4ost. p. 23 sq. 13 146 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. trustworthy tradition preserved by Eusebius confines the narrative of the three Synoptical Gospels.1 Before we enter upon the details of the inspired history, let me pause to make two preliminary obserTwo preimiinary vations, the first in reference to the space of observations. time which it is convenient to consider in the present Lecture; the second in reference to the variations of order in the events as related in this portion of the Synoptical Gospels. With regard to thefirst point, we may observe that we Theact period have now before us the events of a year and of time embraced in a few days,2 distributed, however, very unethepresent Lecture. qually in the Gospel-narrative. Of' the events of the first portion, which, as will be seen, are included in a period of little more than three weeks, we have an ample and almost continuous history; of the events of the whole remaining period (excluding the final week of our Lord's ministry), more isolated and detached notices, and a somewhat altered mode of narration. This being the case, I venture to think that we shall both distribute our incidents more equably, and, what is more important, keep distinct I The valuable tradition above alluded to is as follows: " When the three first written Gospels had now been delivered into the hands of all, and of John too as well, they say that he approved of them and bore witness to their truth, and that thus all that the history lacked was an account of the things done by Christ at first and at the beginning of His preaching. And the account is certainly true. For it is easily seen that the other three Evangelists have only written an account of what was done by our Saviour in the space of one year after the imprisonment of John the Baptist, and that they have intimated the same at the beginning of their history." - Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. iII. 24. Compare Wieseler, Chiron. Synops. p. 163. 2 The first event is the rejection of our Lord on His appearance in the synagogue asr vazaretn (Lukte iv. 16). This we know was on a Sabbath-day, the exact date of which —if Wieseler's Tables (see above, p. 143, note 4) are fully to be relied on, and if the Feast of' Purim fell, as it appears to have done, on the Sabbath when our Lord healed the man at the pool of Bethesda (see Lect. III. p. 134) - would be March 26. The Passover of the succeeding year, we learn firom the same authority, commenced on April 6. We have then exactly a year and eleven days. The calculation by which the week-day answering to any given date is arrived at will be greatly facilitated by Tables iv. and v. in Browne's Ordo Seel. p. 502 sq. In the present case it will be found by independent computation that, as above asserted, March 26 coincided with a Saturday. LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 147 from one another portions of the Gospels which appear to be dissimilar in their general characteristics,' if on the present occasion we confine ourselves solely to the events of the three weeks above alluded to, and reserve for the remaining Lectures the events of the longer portion. The dividing epoch, let it be observed, is that of the feeding of the five thousand, — an epoch by no means arbitrarily chosen, but, as a brief chronological notice John vi. 4. in St. John's Gospel warrants our asserting, an epoch closely coincident with that Passover of the present year,2 which the savage and impious designs of the Jewish party at Jerusalem appear to have prevented our Lord firom celebrating in the Holy City.s Estimating, then, roughly by festivals, our present period extends from the Feast of Purim (March 19, A. u. c. 782) to the Passover-eve (April 14), at which point our present meditations will conveniently come to their close. With regard to the second point, - the order of the events in these three weeks, let me briefly observe that the period we are now engaged order in the three in presents the utmost difficulty to the har- noptica Gospels. monist,4 arising from this simple fact, that though all the I This statement will be substantiated by the succeeding comments upon the variations of order in the first three Evangelists (p. 148), and by the introductory remarks at the commencement of Lecture Iv. The main points to be observed are, that up to tile feeding of the five thousand the order of events in St. Matthew appears intentionally modified, after that period, mainly regular and systematic; and that up to the same point St. Luke is full and explicit, while to the six months between that period and the journey to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles he only devotes about thirty verses. 2 This useful conciliatory date is commented upon by Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 273. To set aside the words d 7rdtraXa as a gloss (Mlann, True Year of our Lo-rd's Birth, p. 161; comp. Browne, Ordo Scecl. ~ 89) is arbitrary, and not justified by any external evidence. 3 See above, p. 138, note 3. 4 These discrepancies perhaps can never be wholly cleared up, especially in those cases where there are partial notes of place which augment the already existing difficulties in regard of time. To take an example: in the case of the healing of the leper recorded in the three Synoptical Gospels, independent of all the difficulties arising from the difference in time, the scene of the miracle as defined by St. _Mattlhe, KTaadVT,'t i a!'c, a3'o o poovs (ch. viii. 1), does not seemn to accord with the'v /ui. rCo 7r4AscE, of St. Luke (ch. v. 12). We can, of 148 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. first three Evangelists record more or less the same facts, St. Matthew relates them in an order so signally and palpably different fiom that adopted by St. Mark and St. Luke, that all efforts to combine the two must be pronounced simply hopeless.l Either for those three -weeks we must accept the order of St. Matthew and adapt that of St. Mark and St. Luke to it, or we must adopt the converse course. The third alternative, that of constructing a harmony of our own out of all three,- an alternative that has only too often been adopted by the ingenious and the speculative, - is in a high degree precarious, and, as far as I am able to judge, has not led to any other than debatable and unsatisfactory results. Without here entering into details, which delivered orally would prove both wearisome and perplexing,2 I will course, imagine several ways in which the two accounts could be harmonized, but we must be satisfied with merely putting them forward as tentative and conjectural. At first sight it mnight be thought judicious, in a case like the present, to consider the special notice of St. Matthew as contrasted with the more general notices of St. Mark and St. Luke as deflnitely fixingy both the time and place (comp. Alford on Alatt. viii. 2), but a remembrance of the principle of grouping, which appears almost evidently to have been followed in this portion of the record of the first Evangelist (comp. Lecture I. p. 35), warns us at once that all such eclectic modes of harmonizing can never be relied on, and that even with St. Matthew's accessory definitions the order of the events he relates must to the last remain a matter of uncertainty. 1 Let the student either make for himself; with the proper notes of time and place, three lists of the events in their order, as related by the first three Evangelists, or refer to those drawn up by others, as, for instance, by Wieseler (Chtron. Synops. pp. 280, 297), Browne (Ordo Saccl. ~ 586), or any of the better harmonizers of' this portion of the inspired narrative, and he will ieel the truth of this remark. For example, if 1.... 26 represent in order the events of this period as collected firom St. Mnark and St. Luke, the order in St. Mlatthew will be found as follows: 1, 2, 3, 5, 12, 6, 13. 4, 19, 20, 7, 8, 21, 23, 15, 9, 10, 18, 17, 22, 25, 26. Such a result speaks for itself: 2 To conduct such an inquiry properly, we must endeavor (a) to form a correct idea of the general object of the Gospel in question, and to observe how far this admits of its being made the basis of a regular and continuous Gospel-1history; (b) to collect all the passages which in any degree indicate the principles, an3ecdotal or historical, on which the Evangelist appears to have drawn up his narrative; (c) to note carefully the nature and amount of the irregularities which can be detected, either from a comparison of different portions of the same Gospel with one another, or with parallel accounts in the other Gospels; (d) to classify the notes of time and place, and to observe where they are precise and definitive, and where merely vague an;nd indefinite; lastly, (e) to investigate the nature of LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 149 simply say, that after long and careful consideration, and with a full sense of the great responsibility of making distinct assertions on such diffi- nae order of St. cult questions before an audience like the followed in these Lectures. present, I have conme to the determination of following the order of events as given by St. Mark and St. Luke, rather than that given by St. Matthew, and that for these general but weighty reasons..First, that in cases of clear discrepancy in the order First reason. of narration between two of the sacred writers, we seem bound to follow the one who himself tells us,' if words mean anything, that it has been his care to draw up his history with general reference to the order of events. Secondly, that the order of St. Second reason. Luke in the first part of our present portion is strikingly confirmed by the order of events in St. Mark, firom which it only differs in two or three instances,2 the formu!ml which link together the successive paragraphs, and to distinguish between those which mark immediate connection and those which indicate mere general sequence. The first of these heads is partially illustrated in Lect. I p. 34; the rest are best left to independent observation. If assistance be needed in reference to (b), see Davidson, Introd. to N. T. Vol. i. p. 56, or Credier, Einlleituszg, ~ 37, p. 63 sq.; in ref. to (c), Greswell, Dissert. xii. Vol. i. p. 195 sq.; in ref. to (d), the table in Wicseler, Chron. Synops. p. 297 sq.; and in rel to (e), Ebrard, Kritik der Ev. Gesch. ~ 23, pp. 88-94. 1 The exact meaning of some of the expressions in this introduction, especially &r' apXqs, xrap7lKOXOUs3r77K 6, vc,wZEv, and most of all KC5,EitS, has been abundantly discussed. The most correct view seems to be as follows: that a&pX refers to the beginning of the 7rpaTy/crwv previously alluded to, scil. cVtv;auucdr'W Kal TIri trpayyuCTe, Etthv-mius in loc.; that 7rapvKoXo v3aouKTr, in accordanee both -with its use and derivation, marks research as evinced in tracing alonlg, and, as it were, mentally accompanying the events in question; that &Wvaev relbrs to a commencement from the very beginning, - from the birth of the Baptist; and, lastly, that KatcetS, like efrt7s, can only imply an adherence to the natural order of the events related, - js W's'icaoaa yCfe'vro, Thucyd. II. 1, v. 26. See 3Ieyer, in loc., and compare Greswell, Dissert. I. Vol. i. p. 9. In a word, in this preface we are assured by the inspired writer that we are to expect in what follows fidelity, accuracy, research, and order; and we find them. Compare Lange, Leben Jesu, I. 6. 3. Introd. p. 220. 2 These are, the calling of the four Apostles (Luke v. 1-11, compared with Mark i. 16-20), the arrival of the mother and brethren of our Lord (Luke viii. 19-21. compared with M[ark iii. 31-35), and apparently the calumnies of the 1'larisees (Mark iii. 20 sq., compared with Luke xi. 17 sq.), and the parable of the Grain of Mustard (Luke xiii. 18 sq., compared with Mark iv. 30 sq.), though 13* 150 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. which have been satisfactorily accounted for and adjusted. Thirdly, that the chronology of St. Luke in Third reason. this portion of the Gospel history can be shown to harmonize with that supplied indirectly by St. John in a very striking manner.l Poturthly, that the seeming want of order in St. Matthew Fourth reason. can be very readily accounted for by observing that, in this portion of his Gospel, the Evangelist appears to have wittingly adopted a peculiar arrangement, viz., a separation into different groups of the discourses of our Lord and the historical events with which they stood in connection, and that such an arrangement almost necessarily precludes strict chronological adjustments. However perplexing we may deem such a phenomenon in a Gospel that in other parts appears mainly to follow a regular and chronological order, - however we may be tempted to speculate on the causes which led to it,2 this much appears both these might well have been repeated on two different occasions. For a good adjustment of the two main differences, see Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 284 sq., and in respect of the first of them, compare also Augustine, de Conasens. Ev. II. 17, and Spanheim, Dub. Evang. LXII. 2, p. 341 sq. 1 For a careful investigation into the confirmatory elucidations of the order of this portion of St. Luke's Gospel, as supplied by that of St. John, see Wieseler, Chron. Synops. III. 2 A, p. 271 sq. 2 Though it is ever both unwise and unbecoming to speculate too freely about the origin and composition of an inspired document, the opinion may perhaps be hazarded that this peculiarity in St. Matthew's Gospel may be due to the incorporation by the Evangelist of an earlier (Hebrew) narrative in this later and more complete (Greek) Gospel. If such a conjecture be received, we can not only explain the present peculiarity, but can also account for, on the one hand, the positive statements of antiquity that the first Evangelist composed his Gospel originally in Hebrew (Papias ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. III. 39, Irenteus, fler. III. 1. al.), and, on the other, the universal reception of the Greek Gospel as the veritable and undoubted work of the Evangelist. See Wieseler, Synops. p. 304. The portion to which we are alluding may thus have been a part of the Xoylia which Papias says were drawn up by St. Matthew, and the meaning of the doubtful word Ao'yia may be so far correctly modified as to point to a predominance in that treatise of the a& b7rb XPLaToO AXeX;s'eya over the i 7rpaxaEv'a which appears also included in the term. See above, Lect. I. p. 28, note 3. That St. Matthew originally wrote in Hebrew can scarcely be doubted, if we are to place any reliance on external testimony, and that the present Greek Gospel came from his hand, and not from that of an editor or compiler, seems almost equally clear, from internal and external testimony combined; how then can we adjust the two apparent facts without assuming an earlier and a later treatise? And if LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. al certain, that such an arrangement does exist and can be easily verified, if we examine the peculiar structure of the portion of the Gospel which begins with the fifth and closes with the thirteenth chapter. WVe see, for example, that on the one hand we have three large portions containing discourses, viz. the Sermon on the MIount, the apparently grouped and collected instructions which our Lord addressed to the Twelve previous to their mission, and the collection of the parables in the thirteenth chapter; 1 and, on the other hand, that we have a large collection of miracles related in the eighth and ninth chapters, which comnprise, with scarcely any exception, the scattered events of the period preceding the sending out of the Twelve; after which the narrative proceeds in strict chronological order. WVhen we add to this the concluding observation, that, singularly enough, we find in several instances careful notices of place exactly where the order of time seems most disarranged,2 it seems almost impossible to resist the conviction that the first Evangelist was by no means unacquainted with the correct order of events, but that he designedly departed from it, and directed his first attention to his Master's preaching during this momentous period, and then grouped together the nearly contemporary events and miracles,3 with such notices of place as should guard against any possibility of misconception. so, is it strange that the first should have been incorporated in the second, and thus so effectually superseded as to have soon passed out of notice? The pretensions of the Curetonian Syriac (as put forward by its laborious editor) to represent more nearly the words of St. Matthew than any other extant document would in some degree affect the present question, if it had not apparently been demonstrated that such pretensions are untenable. See, thus far, the recent investigation of Roberts, Original Lang. of St. Matthew's Gospel, ch. iv. 3, p. 122 sq., and compare Donaldson, New Crat. ~ 15, p. 23, note (ed. 3). 1 For a brief notice of these, see Lect. I. p. 36, note 1, and for a specification of the miracles in the eighth and ninth chapters, ib., note 2. 2 Compare for example ch. viii. 5, esaoAlo' rrs alrrf9 Els Kalrspvaov.; ver. 14, fairX' elIs r'V oZdlav IIFTpOL; ver. 18, EIs Tb 7rEpay; ver. 28, EX'a'VT eLs 7b rsepav es T7hr XpaV TCS' repyesO-vw&; ch. ix. 1, )X2aev EfS 7V soap 7rAxti.v; ch. xii. 9, kraVE E1s 7w o'Vwavyw-yT' CT aiv'; xiii. 1, EiEA5,~v &7r6 TSr o0rbas fKa.l)ro 7rap&a T)v dhaaoav. See also WVieseler, Ch7ron. Synops. p. 307. 3 The want of regularity in St. Matthew's G(ospel, arising from this mode of 152 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. Relying on these sound and apparently convincing reasons for following the order of St. Mark and St. Luke rather than that of St. Matthew, let us now again take up the thread of the inspired narrative. After a hasty departure from Jerusalem our Lord returns to his old home at Nazareth, where some, if Apoupearance of not all of the kindred of the Lord appear to our Lord in the synagogue at Niaza- have been still residing,' and on the Sabbathreth. Luke iv. 16. day which immediately succeeded His return entered into the synagogue, as had now become His custom, to read and to teach. What a vivid picture has the inspired Evangelist St. Luke been moved to present to us of that memorable morning. Prayer and the reading of the law were now over2 and the reading of the prol)hets was to begin, and the reading of the season was fiom the old Evangelist Isaiah. The ReFer. 16. deemer stands up to read, and, with the sanction of the now not improbably expectant ruler of that construction, is acknowledged by nearly all impartial inquirers of recent times. See Greswell, Dissert. III. p. 194-238; Browne, Ordo Soecl. ~ 590, whose theory of a Redactor, however, is neither satisfactory nor plausible. Attention was formerly called to it by Lightfbot (Harmony, Vol. i. p. 503, Roterod. 1686), and also by Whiston (Harmony of Gospels, p. 100 sq., Lond. 1702), but accounted fbr by the latter in a way (misarrangement by a translator of fragmentary scraps) which Browne (p. 644, note) properly designates as palpably absurd. lie was answered by Jones, Vindic. of St. AIatt. Lond. 1719. 1 It has been supposed that the Virgin and her family had retired to Cana (see above, p. 107, note 1), but apparently not on suffcient grounds. That the &6Aqpal of the Lord were now living at Nazareth seems certain firom Matt. xiii. 56, Mark vi. 3, and that the Virgin and the brethren were there also is not improbable. The way, however, in which the residence of the &&eApcal is specified seems rather to imply the contrary, and may lead us to conjecture that the Virgin and her other kindred were now at Capernaum, a place which they might have selected for their abode a year before (John ii. 12): consider'Matt. xii. 46 sq., Mark iii. 31 sq., Luke viii. 19 sq., and John vii. 3. The commonly assumed identity of this visit to Nazareth with that mentioned Matt. xiii. 54 sq., Mark vi. 1 sq., is convincingly disproved by Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 284. 2 The service of the synagogue commenced with praise and prayer; then a portion of the law was read aloud, and after this a portion from the prophets. See Jost, Gesch. des Judenth. ii. 1. 6, Vol. i. p. 173 sq., the special treatise of Vitringa (de Syanag.), the more modern work of Zunz (Gottesdienst. Vortrige der.lulen. p. 329, sq.), and for useful references illustrative of the whole passage, compare Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. Vol. ii. p. 508 sq. (Roterod. 1686). LECT. IV. THE M3INISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 153 house of prayer,1 the roll is delivered to Him by the attendant. He unfolds it, and reads that striking passage which His own divine wisdom and foreknowledge had moved Him to select,2 — that passage which both in its specifications of time and circum- Ver. 19; see stances was now being so exactly fulfilled. Such words might well have aroused the attention of those that heard it, nor can we wonder that The impious seour Lord's explanations1 were looked for with quel. interest, and at first received with a kind of Ver.0. amazed approval. But what a fearful sequel! Ver. 22. When grave yet gracious words of warning 4 were directed against those feelings of distrust and unbelief into which 1 It would appear that our Lord by rising indicated that, as a member of the synagogue of Nazareth, He desired on the present occasion to undertake the office of Maphtir, or reader of the lesson from the prophets. Comp. Vitringa, de Synag. III. 1. 7, Part II. p. 696 sq. Though not called upon by the ruler of the synagogue (comp. Milishnza, Tract " Megillah," IV. 4), assent is at once given, as both the ruler and the congregation appear to have heard of the comparatively recent miracle at Capernaum (Luke iv. 23; compare Wieseler, Citron. Synops. p. 271), and, as the context shows (ver. 20), were full of expectation. See Lightfoot, in loc. Vol. ii. p. 508. 2 It seems probable that the reading of the season was from Isaiah (Lightfoot), and that our Lord received accordingly that portion of Scripture from the attendant keeper of the sacred books (comp. Vitringa, Synagog. III. 2. 2, p. 899), but that, with the privilege which the oral law conceded in the case of the lesson from the prophets (Mllishna, "Megillah," iv. 4), He either passed over from the section of the day to the beginning of the sixty-first chapter, or else, as "; Lord of the Sabbath," specially selected that portion. See Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. Vol. ii. p. 509, and comp. AMeyer in loc. The supposition that on our Lord's opening the roll this passage providentially met His eye (comp. De Wette), is not improbable, but apparently less in accordance with the d&varrvmas, which, as Lightfoot remarks, seems somewhat more than the mere " explicuit or aperuit librum" (I. c. p. 510). 3 After having read such a portion of the passage as by custom was deemed sufficient (" si fuerit Sabbato interpres, legunt in Propheta versiculos tres aut quinque aut septem, et non sunt soliciti de versiculis viginti uno, " Mlassecheth Soph. cap. 12), our Lord took upon Himself the office of interpreter, and, according to customn, sat down to perform it. Comp. Zunz, Gottesd. Vortracge der Judea. p. 337, and Sepp, Leben Christi, II. 10, Part II. p. 122. 4 The objections that have been urged against the general character of this address are most idle and irreverent. Our Lord, who knew the human heart, saw here unbelief, and the ordinary Galilean estimate of his divine mission (Johu iv. 45), in their worst forms, and accordingly adopts the language of merciful warning and reproof. On the whole incident, see some useful comments in Lange, Leben Jesu. II. 4. 9, Part II. p. 541 sq. 154 THlE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. even now these dull-hearted men of Nazareth were fast falling back again, we remember with horror what followed, -how these wretched men dared to do what even the gainsayers at Jerusalem a week before had only begun to think of doing, how they thrust Him forth not only fionm their synagogue and their town, but led Him Ver. 29. to a neighboring declivity, which modern travellers have not doubtfully identified,' to cast Him down headlong, and how by an exercise of His divine power2 He escaped their impious and vengeful hands. Henceforth that quiet home in the bosom of the green hills of Galilee was no longer to be the Lord's Departure to and abode at Ctaper- earthly resting place. His divine steps were nauah. s now tulned to more busy scenes, and, in Isaiah~ fix. 1 sq. accordance with the voice of ancient prophecy, to the people that sat in the darkness the Light came; and in Capernaum, at but little distance from that fair and populous plain of " Gennesar," which a nearly contemporary visitor has so eloquently described,4 the rejected 1 The exact place to which these wretched and infatuated people endeavored to lead our Lord was certainly not the traditional Mount of Precipitation overlooking the vale of Esdraelon and two miles distant, but apparently one of the precipices of the western hill which flanks the town, -perhaps that by the present Maror.ite church. See Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 335 (ed. 2); and compare Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 363 (ed. 2), Thomson, The Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 135. In the photograph of Frith (Syria and Palestine, Part IH.) this portion of the western hill is not included. See Roberts, Holy Land, Vol. ii. Plate 29. 2 There does not seem sufficient reason for assuming, with Robinson and others, that in this there was no exercise of that miraculous power which most of the ancient writers (Ambrose, Euthymius, al.) recognize in our Lord's thus passing through the infuriated throng. So also, and rightly, Alford in loc. In all these things He manifested alike the exercise of His divine wisdom and His divine power; of the former in defining the time in which He vouchsafed to suffer, and of the latter in preventing that time being hurried by the impiety and violence of men. As Cyril of Alexandria well says, "it depended on Him to suffer, or not to suffer; for He is the Lord of times as well as of things.' - Comment. on St. Luke, Part I. p. 64, where, however, it is just to observe that there is no distinct reference to an exercise of miraculous power, but rather of overawing majesty. So also Lange, Leben Jesu, II. 4. 9, Part ii. p. 548. 3 As to the supposed position of Capernaum, see Lect. III. p. 121, note 1. 4 See Josephus, Bell. Jud. II. 10. 8,- according to Robinson (Palestine, Vol. ii. LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 165 One of Nazareth found a more thankful and believing home. MIore thankful, and more believing; for, not perhaps without a fresh recollection of pecialcall to the four disciples. the miracle performed on one who had lain sick among them a few weeks before, the peo- John iv. 46. ple, we are told by St. Luke, "pressed upon e. v.1. Him to hear the word of God;" and we may well conceive that it was not without the deep consciousness and foreknowledge of the active ministry that was now to be vouchsafed amid the populous towns of Gennesareth,l that He called the four disciples, who had already been with Him for above a year, to leave on this occasion for ever their earthly occupations, and to become the "fishers of men." And we know how readily that call Luke v. 10. was obeyed; we know how St. Peter and his brother, and the two sons of Thunder, wrought upon by that miracle that showed how the creatures that the hand of the Lord had made Luke. 6 Ver. 9. could gather together at His will, - that miracle that brought the impressible Peter on his knees,2 and p. 402) an overdrawn picture. Thomson, with more judgment, draws a distinction between what the land then was and what it has become now. Comp. The Land and the Book, Vol. i. p. 536. 1 A very good description of what was probably the state of this populous district in the time of our Lord is given by Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 371 sq. (ed. 2). The remark that " it was to the Roman Palestine almost what the manufacturing districts are to England," is apparently borne out by the indirect allusions in the inspired narrative to the populous nature of the district, and by what we can infer from the ruins which are still found scattered about on the western shores of the lake. Compare Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 403. The traces of buildings which appear to have been used in the operations of trade, and may be the remains of ancient potteries, tanneries, etc., have been observed by Dr. Thomson at Tabiga, whichli he terms " the grand manufacturing suburb of Capernaum."'- The Land and the Book, Vol. i. p. 547. 2 The effect which the miracle produced on St. Peter is well commented upon by Olshausen (in loc. Vol. i. p. 299, Clark), and by Ewald, Gesch. Christus', p. 252. The contrast between his own conscious unholiness and the holy majesty and power of Him who had just wrought the mighty miracle made the fervid disciple both on the one hand offer his spontaneous adoration, and on the other to beseech his pure, sinless Lord to depart from one who felt and knew in his own bosom what sin was. On the whole miracle, see O!shausen, Commentary, Vol. i. p. 292 sq. (Clark); Trench,.Miracles. p. 126; and compare Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. 4. 11, Part ii. p. 562 sq. 156 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. filled all with amazement, - obeyed the heavenly voice, and left father and earthly callings, nets and vessels, forsook all, and followed Him.' This prompt adhesion of men so well known in Capernaum as two at least of the four must have Healing qf a de- 2 this mo1ialithesyna- been, this ready giving up of everything to aguet caper- follow Jesus of Nazareth, could not have been without its effect on the people of Capernaum and its neighborhood. The report, too, of the miracle, though, perhaps, as yet not fully understood or appreciated, had probably soon passed from mouth to mouth among the fishers and boatmen on the lake, and might well have added to the prevailing expectation and excitement. We may readily imagine, then, the eagerness and gladness with which on the following SabJ1ark i. 21. bath the Redeemer's preaching was listened to in the synagogue, and we know the mighty effect that was produced by it, enhanced as it was by the subsequent healing of the demoniac within its walls.3 How startling must have been that scene when the spirits of darkness, driven by the wild antagonisms of their Lute iu. 34. fears and malignities, broke out amid that mingledl concourse into cries alike of reprobation and of 1 There seems no reason for doubting that the call of the four disciples mentioned by St. Matthew (ch. iv. 18 sq.) and St. Mark (ch. i. 16 sq.) was contemporaneous with the above call mentioned by St. Luke. The only difficulty is, that St. Luke makes it subsequent to the healing of the demoniac and of St. Peter's mother-in-law, while St. 1Mark places it before. The order of the latter is confirmed by St. Matthew, and distinctly to be preferred, especially as the change of order in St. Luke can be partly accounted for by the desire of the Evangelist to place in immediate contrast the reception in the synagogue at Cana with the rejection a week before at Nazareth. See Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 285 sq. 2 From the notice of the hired servants (Mark i. 20), the two vessels employed (Luke v. 7), and the subsequent mention of St. John's acquaintance with one in so high a position as the high-priest (John xviii. 15), it has been reasonably inferred that Zebedee, if not a wealthy man (Jerome, in 2Iatt. iv. 12, opp. to Chrys. in Joann. Hom. II. 1), was at any rate of some position in Capernaum. 3 See especially Mark i. 27 (Tisch.), in which this amazement both at the teaching and the miracle is expressed in the strongest terms: —TI E'OTIv rToOTO; 8taaXi KaIv1 KaT' 4aouTLav' Kal Toe s rTv'uaovte T0oS aKCrdopTOlS TLTaraTrlE, Kal v7raKouovatrv aeTr,. LECT. IV. TIIE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 157 confession,l "Let us alone, - I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God." What amazement was there then when those firightful voices Larki 24 n3~~~ L~~Luke itv. 34. were silenced, and the wretched sufferer, whose frail body had been the tenement of those hellish occupants, though rent and convulsed by the final paroxysm, yet a moment afterwards stood both frieed Marki. 26. and unharmed before them.' There were ae Luke iv. 36. Luke vi. 7. yet none among those simple-hearted men to object to healings on the Sabbath. There were as yet none to make the blasphemous assertion that such power, after all, was only due to some leagcue with the prince of those spirits that had been coInmanded with such authority, and had obeyed with Such att. xii. 24. JMark iii. 32. terror. These men of Capernaurn had no such doubts; they saw and believed, yea, and, as two Evangelists record, soon spread the fame of the great Healer not only through all the neighboring villages and towns, but in all the regions round about Galilee. Luke iv. 37. But the wonders of this first Sabbath at Mk- i. 28: see Capernaum, this day of vwhich the events Moycr..td peforare so specially and so minutely told us by.a..ce of miacles on the same day. two Evangelists, had not yet come to their close. Immediately after that amazing scene in the syna1 In the circumstances connected with this and other miracles performed on demoniacs, three things are worthy of notice: (1) the lost consciousness of personality on the part of the sufferer, the man becoming, as it were, identified with, and at times the mouthpiece of; the devil within him (Mark v. 7, Luke viii. 28); (2) the terror-stricken recognition on the part of the devils of Jesus as the Son of God and their future Judge (Matt. viii. 29, Mark iii. 11, v. 7, Luke viii. 28), enhanced in the present narrative by the awful ea! (Luke iv. 34) of the recoiling demon; (3) the prohibition from speaking on the part of our Lord (Mark i. 34, iii. 12, Luke iv. 41), possibly that the multitude might not believe in their Redeemer on the testimony of devils. Compare Cyril Alex. oan Luke iv. 41, Part I. p. 71 (Transl.). Hence, perhaps, the omission of the prohibition in the case of the demoniacs of Gadara or Gergesa, when only those were present whose faith was already firm and convictions true and settled. 2 For further comments on this miracle, see Trench, Miracles, p. 230, and for some thoughtful observations on the case of demoniacal possessions generally, Oishausen, Cozmnmentary, p.305. Compare also Deyling, Obs. Sacr. xxvIII. Part pi. p3. 83 sq. 14 1"8 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. gogue, probably about mid-day,' our Lord, with His four freshly-called disciples round Him, enters at.. 2. into the common dwelling of two of the number, and graciously vouchsafes to that small home-circle, on the person of the mother-in-law of St. Peter, another merciful display of those healing powers, of which a whole synagogue had but lately been witness. There, perhaps in the low and crowded suburb,2 the mother-in-law of the Apostle Peter was laid, and sick, as the physician-Evangelist characteristically notices, of a great fever.3 But the Healer was now nigh at hand. Anxiously they tell Him of her state; anxiously they beseech His help; and with power and majesty that help is bestowed. With His voice the Lord rebukes4 Luke iv. 39. Matt. viiis. &. the evil influence of the disease, with His hand.tark i. 31. He touches the sufferel;,- and she, who a moment before lay subdued and powerless, now rises, supported 1 It would seem, from a passage in Josephus, that on the Sabbath-day the usual hour for the meal of which our Lord appears afterwards to have partaken in the house of the two brothers was mid-day: EICT71 &pa Ka,'' v roS a ol3Ba'lv apLaroTrorLse aL verUtI.ov E'OT(V,j~lV. De Vita Sua, cap. 54. The service in the synagogue, the forms and hours of which appear to have been studiously conformed to those in the temple-worship (Vitringa, de Synag. p. 42, Jost, Gesch. des Judlenth. Vol. i. p. 170), would in all probability have commenced about nine o'clock, and ended somne time before mid-day. 2 The conjecture of Dr. Thomson above alluded to (p. 155, note 1), that Tabiga is the site of what was the manufacturing suburb of Capernaum, derives some support from the above incident, there being marshy land in the vicinity which might account for the "great fever" under which St. Peter's mother-in-law was suffering. See The Land and the Book, Vol. i. p. 547. There may be also a slight hint at the season of the year, as we learn from modern travellers that in the East fevers prevail in spring and autumn, dysentery in the summer. Comp. Winer, R WYB. Art.'"Krankheiten,'? Vol. i. p. 673. 3 This passage has been often referred to as illustrating not only the accuracy. but the profession of St. Luke. We learn from the Greek medical writers that there was a recognized distinction between " great " and " small " fevers. See Galen. de Different Febr. I. cited by Wetstein in loc. 4 The exact expression in the original should not be overlooked, dyrErT/Ar70sv TrW3,rvpeTco (Luke iv. 39), according to which the disease, like the boisterous wind and stirred-up sea in the miracle on the lake (Matt. viii. 27, Mark iv. sq., Luke viii. 24), is treated as a hostile potency. Deductions as to the presence of spiritual agencies in similar cases must be made with caution; but the expression is remarkable, and has not been left unnoticed by the early expositors. See especially Cyril Alex. in ioc. P'art I. p. 69 (Transl.). LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 159 by the Divine hand, and, as all the three Synoptical Evangelists especially notice, ministers unto them,' and with wonted strength and health prepares for our Lord and His followers the Sabbath mid-day meal. And yet the record of that eventful day is not concluded. A few hours later, at sun-set,2 the whole city, with all its sick, gathers at the door of the house, and ancient Mark i.3. Isai. liii. 4. prophecy again finds its fulfilment in that exercise of Divine power that raised the sick and healed demoniacs, and yet chained in silence the driven-forth spirits,3 who, with the recognition of terror, both knew Him and would hlave proclaimed IIim as man's Redeemer and their own Judge. What an insight does the account of this day, so marked by deeds of love and mercy, give us into the nature of our Lord's ministry in Galilee! Tie iatulre of our Lord's minisWVhat holy activities, what ceaseless acts of terial labors, as indicated by this one mercies! Such a picture does it give us of day. their actual nature and amount, that we may well conceive that the single day, with all its quickly succeeding events, hlas been thus minutely portrayed to show us what our Redeemer's ministerial life really was,4 and to 1 " Not only doth HIe cure her firom her disease," says Theophylact, "but also infuses in her full strength and power, enabling her to minister."'-In Luc. iv. 39, p. 334 (Paris, 1631). Compare also Chrysost. in loc. For some very good remarks on the manner in which this miracle was performed, see Cyril Alex. in loc. Part I. p. 70 sq. (Transl.). Compare also Trench, Miracles, p. 234. 2 This note of time, supplied both by St. MIark (i. 32) and St. Luke (iv. 40), serves to mark that the Satbbath was over, after which the sick and suffering could leally be brought to our Lord. See Lightfoot, 11or. Hebr. Vol. i. p. 306 (Roterod. 168~). So rightly Theophylact (itL,Marc. i. 32), and the Scholiast in Cramer, Caten?. Vol. i. p. 278. 3 The comment of Cyril Alex. (referred to above, p. 157, note 1) seems correct and pertinent: " lIe would not permit the unclean demons to coinfess lHim, for it was not fitting for them to usurp the glory of the Apostolic office, nor with impure tongue to talk of the mystery of Christ." - Part I. p. 71 (Transl.). See also Theophy l. its Lssc. iv. 41 (first interpretation), who subjoins the good practical remark, - obX &pazos aiLcos ev orTo,uaTL a/.ap7wAchv. 4 The incidents of this first Sabbath at Capernaum are well noticed by Ewald (Gesch. Christts', p. 254 sq.), as showing what the nature of our Lord's holy labors really was. Comp. Lange, Lebest Jessu. iI. 4. 11, p. 559 sq. The occurrence of' so many evel;ts on a single day makes the short duration of the present ministry in Galilee less improbable. 160 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. justify, if need be, the noble hyperbole of the beloved Apostle, that if the things which Jesus did should be written every one, "the world itself could not John xxi. 25. contain the books that should be written." What a day too had this been for Capernaum! What manifestations of Divine power had been vouchsafed to them in their synagogue! what mercies had Mark i. 33. been showered down upon them in their streets! Could they, and did they, remain insensible to such displays of omnipotence? It would have been indeed impossible; and it is not with surprise that we find that in the dawn' of the following morning the multitudes, conducted as it would seem by Peter and Mark iM 5 the newly-called disciples, tracked out the Luke iv. 42. great Healer to the lonely place whither He had withdrawn to commune with His Father, broke in upon His very prayers, and strove to prevent His leaving those whom He had now so preeminently blessed. But it might not be. That request could not be granted in the exclusive manner in which it had been urged. Though the faith of these men of Capernauni was subsequently rewarded by our Lord's vouchsafing soon to return again, and by His gracious choice of Capernauml as His principal place of abode, yet now, as He alike tells both them and His disciples, IHe must fulfill His heavenly mission by preaching to others as well as unto them. The blessings of the Gospel were to be extended to the other towns and villages by those peopled shores,2 and thither, with His 1 We learn from St. Mark that our Lord retired before day broke to some lonely spot, apparently at no great distance from Capernaum (comp. Stanley, Sinai and ]Palestine, ch. x. p. 374), and was there praying. See ch. i. 32. From the tenses used and the special note of time, iEvvvXca Atav (Lachrn., Tiscl.), it would seem that ite had been there some little time before He was discovered by St. Peter and those with him, who appear to have thus eagerly followed our Lord (KaT'e3ia'av abe'bO) at the instigation of the multitude. See Luke iv. 42, and compare Lange, Leben Jlest, II. 4. 11, Part Ii. p. 561. 2 The expression used by St. Mark (ch. i. 38) is ras dXOhLva CS KWC/L07o(AEL (St. Luke adopts the more general term, Ta'rs ErTpaLs r6XuEaoLv), which seems to mark LECT. IV. TIIE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 161 small company of followers, the Lord departed, "healing,' as St. Matthew tells us, " all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease, among the Lukeiv.23. people." How long this circuit lasted we are not specially informed, but as one incident only, the healing of the earnest and adoring leper,' appears tiProbalec.urato belong to this journey, we may perhaps, not without some probability, believe that the present circuit lasted but a few days, and that the return to Capernaum took place on the day before the Sab- Mark ii. 1. bath of that week, - a Sabbath of which we have some special notices.2 the sort of " village-towns" (compare Strabo, Geogr. xII. pp. 537, 557) with which the whole adjacent plain of Gennesareth was closely studded. Compare Stanley, Sinai and Palest. ch. x. p. 370. 1 It seems right to speak guardedly, as St. Matthew (ch. viii. 1) here appears to add a note of time, Ka'radyvTL Be abiT, &ar6 roe 5pouvs (Rec., Tisch.). As, however, there is nothing very definitely connective in the Kal 15O3V Aerpbs 7rpouesAa&' Kt... A., as St. Mark and St. Luke both agree in their position of the miracle, and as the place it occupies in St. Matthew's Gospel can be reasonably accounted for (see Lightfoot, Harmony, Vol. i. p. 512), we seem justified in adhering to the order of St. Mark and St. Luke. Compare WVieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 306 sq. On the miracle itself, one of the most remarkable characteristics of which was, that, as the three Evangelists all specify (Matt. viii. 13, Mark i. 41, Luke v. 13), our Lord touched the sufferer (eLEKybs IT1 j &?la arToe aapt ayiaeo/..eTeL18ou, Thcoph. in AIatt. 1. c.), see Trench, 3Miracles, p. 210; and for some good notices on tile nature of the disease, Von Ammon, Leben Jesu, Vol. i. p. 111, and the frightful account in Thomson, Land and Book, Vol. ii. p. 516. Tile subject is treated very fully and completely in Winer, 1? TVB. Art. "Aussatz,"' Vol. i. p. 114 sq. 2 As the circuit was probably confined to the "village-towns " on the western shores of the lake and in the vicinity of Capernaum (see above, p. 160, note 2), we have an additional reason for thinking that it did not last more than four or five days. and that thus our Lord might easily and naturally be found at Capernaum on the followving Sabbath, which, as we shall see below, has a definite and distilcticve date. No objection against this chronological arrangement can be founded on the fact that our Lord " preached in their synagogues" (Mark i. 39, Luke iv. 4i), as it appears certain, setting aside extraordinary days (of which there wvould seem to have been one in this very week, - the New Moon of Nisain), there were services on the Mooldays and Thursdays (compare 3lishna, Tract IMegilalh." I. 2), in which the law was read and probably expounded, and to which the Ta mudists (on " Baba, I3thrar,' 4) assigned as great an antiquity as the days of Ezra. See Lightfoot, Harmony, Vol. i. p. 476 (Roterod. 1686). Vitringa, de Synag. I. 2. 2, p. 287, and compare Jost, Gesch. des Judenth. Vol. i. p. 163 sq. Some valuable observations on the subject of our Lord and His Apostles preaching in synagogues will be found in Vitringa, de Synag. in. 1. 7, p. 696 sq. 14' 162 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. Meanwhile Capernaum had not forgotten its Healer and Redeemer, though evil men from other parts The return to Capernaurn, and hecal- of Galilee, and, as it is significantly added, ing aralf the faitful of Judaea and Jerusalem, had now come in Luke v. 17. among them, l-men, as it would seem, specially sent to collect charges against our Lord, and to mature the savage counsels which, we have already seen,2 had been taken by the party of the Sanhedrin. No sooner was it noised abroad that He had returned, than we find the whole city flocking to the house, so that, as St. AMark with one of his graphic notices tells us, " there was no room to receive thern, C7. ii. 2. no not so much as about the door." But there were some without who would not be sent away. One sinful3 but heart-touched paralytic there was, whose body and soul alike needed healing, and whose faith was such that, when entry in the usual way was found to be 1 We owe the important notice of the precise quarter from which these evil men came solely to St. Luke. From the other two Synoptical Evangelists we only learn that the objectors were Scribes (Matt. ix. 3, Mark ii. 6), and that they appear to have come there with a sinister intent. The allusion, however, to Judaea and Jerusalem (especially when compared with Mark iii. 22,?ypaUgla're7s o0 &drb'IEpooAtuol.wv Karaa3errEs), throws a light upon the whole, and gives some plausibility to the supposition that the " Scribes and Pharisees " we here meet with for the first time in Galilee were emissaries fiom the hostile party at Jerusalem. These men, promptly uniting themselves with others that they found to be like-minded in Galilee, form a settled plan of collecting charges against our Lord, and the sequel shows with what feelings and in what spirit they were acting. For a while they wear the mask; they reason (Luke v. 21), they murmur (ver. 30), they insidiously watch (ch. vi. 7). Soon, however, all disguise is thrown aside; a deed of mercy on the Sabbath, in spite of their tacit protest, hurries them on to their ruthless decision. That decision is at Capernaum what it had already been at Jerusalem (John v. 18), - death. See Matt. xii. 14, Mlark iii. 6. 2 See above, Lect. tIi. p. 138. 3 We may infer this from the declaration of our Lord recorded by all the three Synoptical Evangelists,- a&cweTa[ erov as a,uapTriaL, Matt. ix. 2, Mark ii. 5; comp. Luke v. 20. The disease of the man, as Neander observes, may have been due to sinful excesses; and the consciousness, if lnot of this connection, yet of the guilt within hint, was such that spirit and body re'acted on each other, and an assurance of forgiveness was first needed, before the sensible pledge of it extended to him by his c're could be fully and properly appreciated. See Life of' Christ, p. 272 (Bohni), and compare Olshausen, Conmmentary, Vol. i. p. 300 sq. (Clatk). LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 163 impracticable, he prevailed on fiiends to bear him up the outside staircase, and let him down through the roof into the upper chamber, where, as it would seem from the narrative, our Lord was preaching to the mingled multitude both around Himn and in the courtyard below.' And we remember well how that faith prevailed, and Luke v. 20. how the soul was healed first and then the e 24. palsied body, and how the last act was made use of, as it were, to justify the first in the eyes of those Scribes and Pharisees who had stolen in among the simplehearted men of Capernaum, and were finding blasphemy in the exercise of the Divine power and prerogatives of the Son of God. But this time at least those intruders were silenced, for when the sufferer obeyed His Lord's command, and. showed the completeness of his restored powers 2 by bearing his bed and walking through that now yielding throng, not only amazement, but, as Ch. ix. 2. (See St. Matthew and St. Luke both notice, fear Tisch.) Ch. v. 26. found its way into their hearts, and made the lips confess "that they had seen strange things that day." But another opportunity soon offered itself to these 1 The course adopted was as follows: As the bearers could not enter the house, on account of the press (Mark ii. 4), they ascend by the outside staircase that led from the street to the roof (Winer, RVB. Art. " Dach," Vol. i. p. 242), proceeding thereon till they come to the spot over which they judged our Lord to be. They then remove the tiles, or thin stone slabs, which are sometimes used even at this day (see Thomson, cited below), and make an opening (Mark ii. 4, Luke v. 19; comp. Joseph. Antiq. xiv. 15. 12), through which, perhaps assisted by those below, they let the man down into the,u'repWov, or large and commonly lowo chamber beneath, in which, or perhaps rather under the verandah of which, the Lord then was. See Thomson, The Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 7 sq., Meyer, Konsmnent. iiber Mlark. p. 24 sq., and compare the good article in Kitto, Bibl. Cyclop. Vol. i. p. 874 sq., especially p. 877. 2 " He saith to the paralytic, Rise, and take up thy bed, to add a greater confirmation to the miracle, as not being in appearance only; and, at the same time, to show that He not only healed him, but infused power into him." —Theophyl. on Mlark ii. 11. The command on the former occasion that it was given (John v. 8) probably also involved a reference to Christ's lordship over the Sabbath. Comp. Lect. III. p. 137. For further comments on this miracle, see Olshausen, Commeneltary, Tol. i. p. 326 sq., Lange, Leben Jesu, II. 4. 14, Part ii. p. 666 sq., Trench, Notes on the Miracles, p. 199 sq.; and for some curious allegorical applications, Theophylact, loc. cit. p. 199 (Paris, 1631). 164 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. captious and malignant emissaries. Every prejudice was to be rudely shocked, when, as it would The call of St. seem, on the very same day, our Lord called.Matthew, and the t feast at hishouse. from his very toll-booth, by the side of the Matt. ix. 9. Mar ii. 14. lake, a publican, Matthew,' - a publican, to be one of His followers and disciples. IIere was an infraction of all that Pharisaical prejudice held to be most clear and recognized, an infraction, too, against which they were soon able to inveigh openly, when, at the feast which the grateful publican made in honor of His Lord, and to which, perhaps by way of farewell, many of his old associates were summoned,2 the great Teacher openly sat down to meat "with publicans and sinners." This was an opportunity that could not be neglected. The disciples are taxed with their own and their Master's 1 There seems no reason for calling in question the opinion of most of the more ancient writers (see Const. Apost. vIII. 22, and Coteler, in loc.; contrast, however, Heracleon, ap. Clem. Alex. Strom. Iv. 11), that Levi (Mark ii. 14, Luke v. 27) and Matthew (Matt. ix. 9) are names of one and the same person. In favor of this identity, we have (1) the perfect agreement, both as to place and all attendant circumstances, of the narrative of the calling of M[atthcw (M3att. ix. 10) with that of the calling of Levi (Mark ii. 15, Luke v. 29); (2) the absence on the lists of the Apostles of any trace of the name Levi (the attempted identification with Lebbius is in the highest degree improbable), while the name of Matthew occurs in all, and is specified by the first Evangelist (ch. x. 3) as of that earthly calling which is here definitelys ascribed by the second Evangelist to Levi. It is far from improbable that, after and in memory of his call, the grateful publican changed his name to one more appropriate and significant. Ile was now no longer e:. but.',M., not Levi but Theodore, one who might well deem both himself and all his future life a veritable " gift of God." See Winer, R WB. s. v. "Name," Vol. ii. p. 135. 2 This supposition, which is due to Neander (Life of Christ, p. 230, Bohn), is not without some probability; at the same time the specially inserted dative aTr, (Luke v. 29) seems clearly to imply that St. IMatthew's filst object in giving the entertainment was to do honor to our Lord, and thereby to commemorate his own now highly-favored lot. Compare Hall, Contemlpl. iv. 4. The attempt to show that the feast mentioned by St. Matthew is not that mentioned by St. Mark and St. Luke (Greswell, Dissert. xxv. Vol. ii. p. 397) is by no means successful; still less the attempt of Meyer (Komment. iib. AIatt. p. 195) to establish a discrepancy between the first and the other two Synoptical Evangelists as to the locality of the feast. That E' r, odz, (Matt. ix. 10) refers to the house of St. 3Iatthew (Ev'Tr olKma r, f'KEIvoU, Chrys.) is not only grammatically possible, but in a high degree natural and probable; the general expression is studiedly used by the Apostle as keeping in the background the fact of his own grateful hospitality. See Blunt, Veracity of Evangelists, ~ 5, p. 30 sq. LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 165 laxity, to which the Lord vouchsafes an answer, turning against these gainsayers the very term in which their prejudice had expressed itself. The Redeemer, He tells them, had " not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." If the publicans were sinners, then to them must He vouchsafe His presence, then with them was it meet that He should be found. It was in vain that they shifted their ground, and brought forward the stern practices of John's disciples, some of whom it is noticed were present, and some of whom seem to have been speakers. They ark ii. 18. Matt. ix. 14. were not worldly, they fasted; the prophet of Nazareth feasted. Yea, but the very garments worn by those around, and the very wine they were drinking, suggested a simile that conveyed the true answer,the New and the Old could not be brought together;1 the spirit of the new dispensation was incompatible with the dead formalities of a dispensation that now, with all that marked it, was gone and passed away for ever. The day that followed was apparently a Sabbath,2 the second-first Sabbath as it is especially defined'urther charges: by St. Luke, - the first Sabbath, as it is now the pluckiing of tle most plausibly explained, of a year that stood ars f second in a sabbatical cycle,3 - when again the same bit1 Some good comments on this text, of which the above is a summary, will be found in Cyril Alex. Comnment. on St. Lu.kie, Part Ir. p. 89 (Oxf. 1859). 2 This assertion rests, not on the iev dEclvT' Tt Katp't (cll. xii. 1) of St. 3atthew, which is only a general note of time, but on the apparent close connection in point of time between the different charges of the Pharisees and their adherents. The Passover was nigh at hand, and time was pressing. I There are four explanations of this difficult word that deserve consideration: (a) that of Theophylact (in loc.), that it was a Sabbath that immediately succeeded a festival, which, from falling on the 7rapaaKeoui, was observed as a regu. lar Sabbath L (b that of Sealitrder (dl e. Ve0,nr TrL_ <~,tbttkbhka tbk that succeeded the second day of the Passover; (c) that of'Hitzig (Ost. u. Pfiagst. p. 19), that it was the fifteenth of Nisan, the fourteenth being, it is asserted, always coincident lwith a Sabbath; (d) that of Wieseler (Chlron. Synops. p. 231 sq.), as stated in the text. Of these (a) is open to the decisive objection that such concurrences must have been frequent, and that if such was the custom, and such the designation, lwe nmust have found some trace of it elsewhere; (c) involves an assunlption;I lot hlstorically demonstrable (see Wieseler, Chron. 166 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. ter spirit of Pharisaical malice finds opportunity for displaying itself. Yesterday the social privacy of the publican's feast, to-day the peace and rest of the year's first Sabbath,' is broken in upon by the malignity of that same gathered company of Pharisees whom Judaea and Jerusalem, and alas too Galilee, had sent forth to Deut.xxiii. 25:see forejudge and to condemn. With the full. Ts)hina ('Peak," sanction of the Mosaic law the disciples were ch. 2). plucking the ears of ripening corn, and rubbing them in their hands. The act was permissible, but the day was holy,2 and the charge, partly in the way of rebuke to the disciples, partly in the way of complaint to our Lord, who was tacitly sanctioning their act, is promptly made with every assumption of offended piety,- "Why do ye do that which it is not lawful to do on Luke vi. 2. the Sabbath?" Why indeed! The reason was obvious; the justification immediate. Did not the history of the man after God's own heart justify such an Syntops. p. 353 sq.), and, equally with (b), labors under the formidable objection that as the event here specified is thus at, and not, as every reasonable system of chronology appears to suggest, before a Passover, the Passover at the feeding of the five thousand (John vi. 4) must be referred to a succeeding year, and an interval of more than a year assumed to exist between the fifth and sixth chapters of St. John. We adopt, then, (d), as open to no serious objections, as involving no chronological difficulties, and as apparently having some slight historical basis to rest upon, viz. that at this period years appear to have been reckoned by their place in a Sabbatical cycle. Comp. Joseph. Azntiq. xIv. 10. 6. The word is omitted in the important 3ISS. B and L, and a few ancient versions (see Tischendorf in loc.), but seems certainly genuine, there being an obvious reason for its omission, and none for its insertion. 1 The exact date of this Sabbath, according to our present calendar, if we can rely on the tables of Wurm and Wieseler, would seem to be April 9, —a date when the corn would be forward enough in many localities to be rubbed in the hands. See Wieseler, Chron. Syneols. p. 225 sq., and compare Lect. InI. p. 107, note 3. 2 The act was regarded as a kind of petty harvesting, and as such was regarded by the ceremonial Pharisee as forbidden, if not by the written, yet by the oral law: "I etens sabbato vel tantillum reus est. Et vellere spicas est species messionis." Mainionides, Tit. " Sllabbatll," cl. Ix. cited by Lightfoot (Hor. HIebr. in l1aft. xii. 2, Vol. ii. p. 320), who further reminds us that, according to the traditio!al law, the punishment for the offence was capital, the action being one of those:: per quve reus fit homo lapidationis atque excisionis." —Mainmon. ib. ch. vii. It is not probable that at this period such a penalty would ever have been pressed; still it is not unreasonable to suppose that the legally grave nature of the LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 167 act? Did not the unblamed acts of the great type of Him who stood before them supply the substance, as did ancient prophecy the exact terms of 1S. Vi.6. the answer that was vouchsafed, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice"? ]MIercy, and not sacrifice, — words uttered already the day before, but Matt. ix. 13. now accompanied with a striking declaration, which some of those standing by mright have remembered had been practically illustrated three weeks before in Jerusalem by a deed of mercy and power,l even "that the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath," Luke ti. 5. and of all its alleged restrictions. And now hostility deepens. On the next, or apparently next day but one,2 which, in the case of the The healing of a year we are considering (A. U. c. 782), corn- manwlti a withputation would seem to fix as the seventh,e bah, o. a day of the first month, and which we may infer firom a passage in Ezekiel was specially regarded as a holy day,' we almost detect traces of a regular stratagem. A man in the synagogue afflicted with a withVi(Cht'd. ~~~~~~Luke vi. 6. ered riglit hanld,placed perchance in a prominent position, forms the subject of a question which these wretched spies not only entertain in their Luke vi. 7, 8. hearts, but even pressume openly to propound latt. Xt. 10. to our Lord, — " was it lawfiul to heal on the Sabbath-day?" The answer was prompt and practisupposed offence may have tended to call forth from our Lord that full and explicit vindication of His disciples which the Evangelists have recorded. 1 See Lect. III. p. 137. 2 See below, p. 182, note 1, from which it would seem that there is an error of a day in the tables of Wurm and Wieseler. 3 After speaking of the first month, and the sacrifices to be observed therein, the prophet adds Ich. xlv. 20): " And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye reconcile the house." From these words, when coupled with the similar notice of the solemn first day of Nisan in the verses that precede, and the notice of the still more solemn fourteenth day in the verses that follow, it has been apparently rightly inferred that the seventh of Nisan was regarded as holy, and might appropriately be designated by St. Luke (ch. vi. 6) as's-epos o'd33aTos'. Comp. Wieseler, Chlron. Synops. p. 237. 168 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. cal: first the command to the sufferer to rise from his place and stand forth in the midst; then the all-embracing gaze of grief and anger, and, lastly, Lue vi. 8. after a few reproving words, the immediate 31ark iii. a. performance of the miracle.2 But such an answer nmalice and infidelity could neither receive nor endure. The flame of savage vengeance at once breaks out. "They were filled with nmadness" are the remarkable Oc. l.11. words of St. Luke; they go forth fiom the Matt. xii.l1. synagogue, they hold a hasty council, yea, Ch. iWf. 6. they join with their very political opponents, the followers of IHerod Antipas,3 as St. MIark has been moved to record, and now deliberately lay plans to slay the great Healer. The cup, in their eyes, is full. Two days since blasphemy, as they deemed it, had been spoken; this, however, they might have borne with; but publicans have been received, the 1 Not only St. Mark, but St. Luke notices this act of our Lord's, both using the same expressive wvord, 7repA/3Xe4/,/LEVOS. On the use of this term by St. Mark, comp. p. 39, note 1. 2 The present miracle forms one of the seven which are particularly noticed as having been performed on the Sabbath (see John v. 9, Mark i. 21, Mark i. 29, John ix. 14, Luke xiii. 14, Luke xiv. 1, and comp. Crit. Sacr. Thesaur. Nov. Vol. ii. p. 196), and is specially the one before the performance of which the Lord vouchsafes to vindicate the lawfulness (MIatt. xii. 12) of such acts of mercy, by an appeal to recognized principles of justice and mercy which even the Pharisees could not reject or deny. For some comments on the miracle, the nature of which was the immediate restoration of the nutritive powers of nature to a part where they had perhaps by degrees but now permanently ceased to act (Winer, BRTWB. Art. "Krankheiten," Vol. i. p. 674), compare Hook, ISern. on the 3Miracles, Vol. i. p. 135 sq., and especially see Trench, Notes on the liracles, p. 312 eq. 3 There seems to be no reason to dissent from the conjecturally expressed opinion of Origen (Comm. in Miatt. Tom. xvii. 26) that the Herodians were a political sect who, as their name implies, were partisans of Herod Antipas (oa'rT'Hpc~dou qOpOVOuVTES, Joseph. Antiq. xIV. 15. 10), and, by consequence, of the Roman government, so far as it tended to maintain his influence. Compare Ewald, Gesch. Christins' (Vol. v.), p. 43 sq. Thus they were really, as Meyer (Komnment. isb. iratt. xxii. 16) defines them, royalists as opposed to maintainers of theocratic principles; still, being members of a political and not a religious sect, they might easily be found in coalitions with one of the latter sects for temporary objects which might affect, or be thought to affect, the interests of both. Comp. Matt. xxii. 16, Mark xii. 13, where they again appear in temporary union with the Pharisees. For further comments, see Winer, R Y1B. s. v. Vol. i. p. 486, Herzog, Real-Encycl. s. v. Vol. vii. p. 14, and compare Lightfoot, liDrm7. Eva7Yg. ~ 16, Vol. i. p. 470. LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 169 rest of a weekly Sabbath infiinged upon, and now, worst of all, a legal Sabbath has been profaned by -beneficence; that profanity must be washed out by blood. As but a short time before in Jerusalem, so now in Galilee the fearful determination is distinctly formed of compassing the death of One whose life-giving words their own ears had heard, and whose deeds of mercy their own eyes had been permnitted to behold. This is a very important turning-point in the Gospelhistory, and it prepares us for the event Choice of the which followed, perhaps only a day or two t,,elve Apostles, afterwards,1 -- and which now the deepening andSermon on the animosities against the sacred person of our Redeemer rendered in a high degree natural and appropriate, - a retirement into the lonely hills on the western side of the lake, and the choice of twelve pillars for the not yet consolidated, yet already endangered Church. There, on that horned hill of Hattin, which a late tradition does not in this case appear to have erroneously selected,2 was the scene of the formal compacting and fiaming together of the spiritual temple of God; there too was heard that heavenly summary of the life and practice of Christianity which age after age has regarded as the most sacred heritage that God has vouchsafed unto His Church.3 1 The only note of time is E'v -raes 111E'paLs ra6'aLs (Luke vi. 12), which, though far too general to be quoted in support of the above supposition, does not in any way seem opposed to it. There appears much in favor of a close connection in point of time between the formal choice of the Apostles and these murderous determinations of the hierarchical party and their adherents. Compare Ewald, Gesch. Christus' (Vol. v.) p. 270 sq. 2 See Robinson, Palestinle, Vol. ii. p. 370 sq. (ed. 2), who admits that, though this appears to be only a late tradition of the Latin Church, " there is nothing in the form or circumstances of the hill itself to contradict the supposition." So far, indeed, it may be added, is this from being the case, that Dr. Stanley finds the conformation of the hill so strikingly in accordance with what we read in the Gospel narrative, "a as almost to force the inference that in this instance the eye of those who selected the spot was for once rightly guided." - Sinai and Palestine, p. 364 (ed. 2). Thomson (The Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 118) speaks far more slightingly than is usual with that agreeable and observant writer. 3 Of the many expository works on this divine discourse the following may be 15 170 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. I must here be tempted into no digressions, for there are several events yet before us for consideraProbableform of the Sermon onthe tion; still, at such an important point in Mount. our history, it does seem almost wrong to suppress the humble statement of an opinion on a most serious and yet most contested question in reference to this divine discourse. Let me say, then, with that brevity that our limits demand, - First, that there seem greatly preponderant reasons for believing the sermon recorded by St. Luke to be substantially the same with that recited by St. Matthew;l Secondly, that the divine unity which pervades the whole totally precludes our believing that St. Matthew is here presenting us only with a general collection of discourses, uttered at different times, and leads us distinctly to maintain the more natural and reasonable opinion, that this holy and blessed Sermon was uttered as it is here delivered to us2; Thirdly, that of the modes selected as appearing, perhaps more particularly, to deserve the attention of the student: the exposition of Chrysostomn in his Commentary on St. M.atthew; Augustine, de Sermone Domini, Vol. iii. p. 1229 sq. (MIign6), and with it Trench, Serm. on the M'ount (ed. 2); Pott, de Indole Orat. _Mont. (Helmst. 1788), whose general conclusion, however, as to the nature of the Sermon, does not appear plausible; the exegetical comments of Stier (Disc. of our Lord, Vol. i. p. 90, Clark) and Maldonatus (Conmment. p. 95); the special work of Tholuck, Bergpredigt (translated in Edinb. Cabinet Libr.); and, lastly, the more directly practical comments and discourses of Bp. Blackall (Lond. 1717) and James Blair (Lond. 1740, with a commendatory preface by Waterland); to which may be added the comments in Taylor, Life of Christ, iI. 12, Vol. i. p. 190 (Lond. 1836), and in Lange, Leben,esu, nI. 4.12, Part II. p. 566 sq. 1 The main arguments are, -that the beginning and end of the Sermon are nearly identical in both Gospels; that the precepts, as recited by St. Luke, are in the same general order as those in St. Matthew, and that they are often expressed in nearly the same words; and, lastly, that each Evangelist specifies the same miracle. viz. the healing of the centurion's servant, as having taken place shortly after the Sermon, on our Lord's entry into Capernaum. Compare Mlatt. viii. 5, Luke vii. 2 sq., and see Tholuck, Sermon on the Alount, Vol. i. p. 5 sq. (Clark). 2 This opinion, improbable as it is now commonly felt to be, was adopted by as good an interpreter as Calvin (Harm. E'vang. Vol. i. p. 135, ed. Tholuck), and has been lately advanced in a slightly changed form by Neander, who attributes to the Greek editor (?) of St. NMatthew the insertion of those expressions of our Lord which are found in other collocations ill St. Luke's Gospel. See Life cf Christ, p. 241 (Bohn). There is nothing, however, unnatural in the supposition that our blessed Lord vouchsafed to use the same precepts on more occasions than LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 171 of reconciliation proposed between the two forms of this Sermon vouchsafed to us by the Holy Ghost, two deserve consideration, - (a) that which represents St. Luke's as a condensed recital of what St. Matthew has related more at length, and (b) that which attributes the condensation to our Lord Himself, who on the summit of the hill delivered the longer, but, as it has been doubtfully termed, esoteric sermon to His Apostles, and perhaps disciples, and on the level piece of ground, a little distance below, delivered the shortened and more popular form to the mixed amultitude.' But let us now pass onward. On the Lord's return to Capernaum, which it does not seem unreasonable to suppose took place on the entuaion's servant, evening of the same day, the elders of the andlraising of the A)3~~~~~~~ tV1(~~~~widow's 60n. synagogue of Capernauln meet our Lord with a petition from one who shared in the faith, though he was not of the lineage, of Abraham. This petition, and the way in which it was made, deserve a passing notice. We see, on the one hand, the different feelings with which as yet the leading party at Capernaum were animated, when contrasted with the emissaries from Jerusalem; and on the other we recognize the profound humility of the God-fearone. Compare Matt. v. 18 and Luke xii. 58, Matt. vi. 19-21 and Luke xii. 33, Matt. vi. 24 and Luke xvi. 13, 2Matt. vii. 13 and Luke xiii. 24, Matt. vii. 22 and Luke xiii. 25-27. 1 Of these two opinions, the second, though noticed with some approval by Augustine (de Consensu Evang. ii. 19), and convenient for reconciling the slight differences as to locality and audience which appear in the records of the two Evangelists (see Lange. Leben Jesut, II. 4.12, Part In. p. 568 sq.), has so much the appearance of having been formed simply to reconcile these differences, and involves so much that is unlikely, and indeed unnatural, that we can hardly hesitate to adopt the first; so too, as it would seem, Augustine, loc. cit. ad fin. Comp. Trench, Expos. of Serm. on 3Iount, p. 160 (ed. 2). A fair comparison of the two inspired records seems to confirm this judgment, and satisfactorily to show that St. Luke's record is here a compendium, or rather selection, of the leading precepts which appear in that of St. Matthew. No extract, it may be observed, is made from ch. vi. (Matt.), as the duties there specified (almsgiving, prayer, fasting, etc.) are mainly considered in reference to their due performance in the sight of God, while St. Luke appears to have been moved to specify those which! relate more directly to our neighbor. For further notices and comments, see Tholuck, Serm. on Mlount, Vol. i. p. 1 sq. (Clark). 172 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. ing soldier who, it would seem from St. Luke's account, twice preferred his petition by the mouths Ch. vii. 3, 6. of others, before he presumed himself to speak in behalf of his suffering servant. Then followed, probably from his own lips, words of faith that moved the wonder of our Lord Himself, and forthwith came the reward of that faith, - the healing of apparently the first Gentile sufferer.' But the morrow was to see yet greater things; for, as St. Luke tells us, on the folCh. vii. 11 sq. lowing day, during the course of a short excursion into the vale of Esdraelon, the Lord of life comes into first conflict with the powers of death. At the brow of that steep ascent, up which the modern traveller to the hamlet of Nain has still to pass,2 the Saviour, begirt with a numerous company of His disciples and a large attendant multitude, beholds a sad and pity-moving Lue vii. 11. sight. The only son of a widow was being borne out to his last resting-place, followed by the poor, weeping mother, and a large and, as it would seem, sympathizing crowd. But there was one now Ver. 12. nigh at hand who no sooner beheld than IIe Ver.13. pitied, and with whom to pity was to bless. The words of power were uttered, the dead at once rose up Ver.r14. to life and speech, and was given to the Ver. 15. widow's arims, while the amazed multitude Ver. 16. glorified God, and welcomed as a mighty prophet Him who had done before their eyes what their memories might have connected with the greatest of the I For comments on this miracle, one of the characteristics of which is, that, as in the case of the nobleman's son, our Lord vouchsafed the cure without seeing or visiting the sufferer, see Bp. tHal], Contempl. II. 6, Trench, Miracles, p. 222, and compare Lange, Leben Jesuz, ii. 4. 13, Part ii. p. 645 sq. 2 See Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, clh. Ix. 352 (ed. 2). The Dutch traveller Van de Velde remarks that the rock on the west side of N'ain is fill of sepulchral caves, and infers from this that our Lord approached Nain on the western side.,Syria and Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 382. A sketch of the wretched-looking but finely situated hamlet that still bears the name of Nain or Nein (Robinson, Palest. Vol. ii. p. 361) will be found in Thomson, The Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 159. LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 173 prophets of the past.' It is here perAcaps, or at one of the towns in the neighborhood, that we are to fix the memorable and affecting scene at the house of Ver. 36. Simon the Pharisee, when the poor sinful woman pressed unbidden among the guests to anoint, not the head, like the pure Mary of Bethany, but the feet of the Virgin's Son, and whose passionate repentance and special and preeminent faith were blessed with acceptance and pardon.2 Ver. 50. It is about the same time, too, and, as e eBaptist's,,leappears by no means improbable, but a very sag, of inqiry. few days before the trag,ical end of their Master's life,3that the two disciples of John the Baptist come to our Lord with the formal question which the, so to say, dying man conimissioned them to ask, - whether the great Healer, the fame of whose deeds had penetrated into the dungeons of Machaerus, were truly He MRat. xi. 3. Luke vii. 19. that was to come, or whether another were yet to be expected. The exact purpose of this mission 1 For some further comments on this miracle, see Cyril Alex. on St. Luke, Serm. xxxVI. Part I. p. 132 sq. (Transl.), Bp. Hall, Contentpl. II. 1, and Trench, Notes on the MJiracles, p. 239. Compare also Augustine, Serm. xcviiI. Vol. v. p 591 sq. (ed. Mign6), and Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. 4. 16, Part II. p. 740 sq. 2 With regard to this anointing of our Lord, we may briefly remark, (a) that it certainly is not identical with that which is specified by the other three Evangelists (Matt. xxvi. 6 sq., Mark xiv. 3 sq., John xii. 1 sq.). Everything is different, — the time, the place, the chief actor, and the circumstances. See Meyer, on hIatt. xxvi. 6, p. 483, and Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. 4. 16, Part It. p. 736. We may further remark (b) that there seems no just ground for identifying the repentant sinner here mentioned with Mary Magdalene, who, though a victim to Satanic influence, and that too in a fearful and aggravated form (Luke viii. 2), is not necessarily to be considered guilty of sins of impurity. Nay, more, the very description of the affliction of Mary Magdalene seems in itself sufficient to distinguish her from one whom no hint of the Evangelist leads us to suppose was then or formerly had been a demoniac. The contrary opinion has been firmly maintained by Sepp (Leben Christi, iii. 23, Vol. ii. p. 285), but on the authority of Rabbinical traditions, which are curious rather than convincing. On the incident generally, see Greg. M.lIom. in Evang. xxxiII., Augustine, Serm. xcix., and especially Bp. Hall, Contempt. Iv. 17. 3 The most probable period to which the murder of the Baptist is to be assigned would seem to be the week preceding the Passover of the second year of our Lord's ministry, April 10-17, A. U. c. 782. For the arguments on which this rests, consult Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 292 sq., and see below, p. 183, note 3. 15* 174 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. will perhaps remain to the end of time a subject of controversy,1 but it has ever been fairly, and, as it would seem, convincingly urged, that He whose eyes, scarce sixteen months before, had beheld the descending Spirit, whose ears had heard the voice of paternal love and benediction, and who now again had but recently been told of acts of omnipotent power, could himself have never really doubted the truth of his own declaration,2 that this was indeed "the Lamb of God that taketh away the John i. 20. sin of the world." Almost immediately after the marvellous scene at Nain, our Lord, accompanied not only by His twelve Short circuit; fresh charges ofhe Apostles, but, as it is specially recorded, by Pharisees. pious and grateful women, chief among whom stands the miraculously healed Mary of 3Magdala, passed onward from city to city and village to village, preaching the kingdom of God. That circuit could not have lasted much above a day or two after the miracle at Nain,3 and, as the words of the second Evangelist seem 1 The three different states of feeling (doubt, impatience, desire to convince his disciples) which have been attributed to the Baptist, as having given rise to this mission, are noticed and commented on by Ebrard, Kritik der Evang. Gesch. ~ 73, p. 367 sq. For a full discussion of the subject, however, see the calm and learned comments of Jackson, 07o the Creed, Vol. vi. p. 310 sq. Comp. also, but with caution, Lange, Leben Jesus, ii. 4. 17, Part II. p. 745 sq. 2 The utmost that can be said is, that the Baptist required the comfort of accumulated conviction (see Jackson, Creed, Vol. vi. p. 314); that he entertained distrust, or wavered in faith in these last days of his life, seems wholly incredible. To convince his disciples (Cyril Alex. in loc.) fully and completely before his death, was the primary object of the mission; to derive some incidental comforts from the answer he foresaw they would return with, may possibly have been the secondary object. 3 It has been already observed (p. 160, note 2), that the villages, and even towns, were so numerous in some parts of Galilee, that the words of the Evangelist (a&sEeV KaT& 7rAtv Kai Kalc &7 KrlpoacUwY, Luke viii. 1) need not be pressed as necessarily implying a lengthened circuit. It may be indeed doubted whether these notices of circuits, which it is confessedly very difficult to reconcile with other notes of time, may not be general descriptions of our Lord's ministry at the time rather than special notices of special journeys. That the circuit had a homeward direction and terminated at Capernaum, we gather from Matt. xiii. 1, which, in specifying the place (7rapa&?rv aa'Aaarav), marks the day as the same with that on which the visit of our Lord's mother and brethren took place, and so connects us with Mark iii. 19 sq., which seems to refer to the return from the circuit (Luke viii. 1 sq.) which we are now considering. LECT. IV. TIE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 175 to imply, terminated at Capernaum, which, as we already know, had now become our Lord's temporary home. On their return two parties anxiously awaited themr; on the one hand the multitude, which, St. Mark tells us, gathered so hastily round the yet unrested company, that either the disciples, or, as seems more probable from the sequel, the mother and brethren See ch. iii. 31 sq. of our Lord, deemed themselves called upon to interpose,l and to plead against what they could not but deem an almost inconsiderate enthusiasm. On Mark iii. 21. the other hand, we still find there the hostile party of Scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, whom we have already noticed, and who yet lingered, though the Passover was so nigh, ill hopes that they might find further and more definite grounds of accusation. An opportunity, if not for preferring a charge, yet for attempting to check the growing belief of the amazed multitude, and lMatt. xii. 23. for enlisting the worst feelings against the very acts of mercy which our Lord vouchsafed to perform, soon presented itself at the miraculous cure of a blind and dumb demoniac, which appears to belong to this portion of the sacred narrative.2 Then was it that the embittered hatred of these prejudiced and hardened men showed 1 A little difficulty has been felt (a) in the exact reference of the words oi irap' atitov (MSark iii. 21), and (b) in the fact that St. Luke places the visit of our Lord's mother and brethren after the delivery of the parables rather than before them. With regard to the first point, or 7rap' abtoO seems clearly to imply, not the Apostles, but our Lord's relatives (" propinqui ejus," —Syr.), who are noticed here as going forth (probably from some temporary abode at Capernaum; see p. 152, note 1), and a few verses later (Mark iii. 31) as having now arrived at the house where our Lord then was. With regard to (b), it seems enough to say that St. Luke clearly agrees with St. Matthew in placing the event in question on the same day, but from having here omitted the discourse which preceded the arrival (Mlark iii. 22 sq.), he mentions it a little out of its true chronological order, to prevent its being referred to sonie one of the towns on the circuit, and to connect it with the right place and time, —Capernaum, and the day of the return. 2 There seems reason for placing the narrative of the healing of the demoniac, recorded in Matt. xii. 22 sq., between Mark iii. 21 and Mark iii. 22, as the substance of the words which follow in both Gospels are so clearly alike, and as the narrative of the miracle in St. MIatthew follows that of other miracles which certainly appear to belong to a period shortly preceding the one now under consideration. 176 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. itself in the frightful blasphemy - repeated, it would seem, more than once'- that attributed the wonder-working power of the eternal Son of God to the.Matt. xi. 2~4. Malarkni. 23. energy of Satan; and then too was it that our Lord called them to Him, and mercifully revealed to them the appalling nature of their sin, which was now fast approaching the fearful climax of sin against the Holy Ghost, - that sin for which there was no forgiveMatt. ii 2. ness,2 "neither in this world, neither in that The teaching y which is to come." The afternoon or early parables. evening of that day was spent by the shores of the lake. The eager multitude, augmented by others e whO had come in from the neighboring towns, had now become so large, that, as it would seem, for the sake of more conveniently addressing them, our Lord was pleased to go on board one of the fishing vessels, and thence, with the multitude before Him, and with His divinle eyes per'chance resting on some one of those patches of varied and undulating corn-field which modern travellers have noticed as in some cases on the very margin of the lake,3 —with the earthly and the heavenly harvest-field thus alike before Hirn,-H-le deliv1 Compare Luke xi. 17 sq., where we meet with, in what seems clearly a later portion of the history, the same impious declaration on the part of the Pharisees which St. Mark (ch. iii. 22 sq.) and apparently St. Matthew (ch. xii. 24) refer to the present place. That such statements should have been made more than once, when suggested by similar miracles, is every way natural and probable. Comp. Matt. ix. 34 and xii. 22 sq., and see Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 287 sq. 2 On this highest and most fiightful enhancement of sin in the individual, of which the essential characteristic appears to be an outward expression (see Waterland) of an inward hatred of that which is recognized and felt to be divine, and the irremissible nature of which depends, not on the refusal of grace, but on the now lost ability of' fulfilling the conditions required for forgiveness, see the able remarks of Miiller, Doctrine of Sin, Book v. Vol. ii. p. 475 (Clark), and the good sermon of Waterland, Serm. xxviii. Vol. v. p. 707. For further comments on this profound subject, see Augustine, Sermi. LXXI. Vol. v. p. 445 sq. (ed. Mlilln6), the special work on the subject by Schaff (IIalle, 1841), and the article by Tholuck, in the Studient u. Kritiken fobr 1826, compared with the earlier articles in the same periodical by Grashoff (1833) and Gurlitt (1834). 3 See the interesting and illustrative remarks of Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, ch. xiii. p. 421 sq.; and, in reference to the parable, compare the elucidations, from local observation, of Thomson, The Land and the Book, Vol. i. p. 115 sq. LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 177 ered to that listening concourse the wondrous series of parables beginning with that appropriately chosen subject, specified alike by all the three Synoptical Evangelists,the Sower and the seed.' And now, as St. Mark specifies, the evening had come, and after that long and exhausting day the Holy One needed retirement and repose, and across and storm nowhere could it be more readily obtained on the lake Mark iv. 35. than in the solitudes of the eastern shore. The multitudes still linger; but the Apostles bear away their wearied Master, "as HIe was," says the graphic St. Mark, in the vessel from which He had been Ver. 36. preaching. As they sail the Lord slumbers; when from one of the deep clefts of the surrounding hills 2 a storm of wind bursts upon the lake, and Luke viii. 23. the stirred-up waters beat in upon the boat. lark iv. 37. Terror-stricken, the disciples awake their sleeping Master, and He, who only a few Jlar xii. 39. hours before had driven forth devils, now quells by His word the lesser potencies of wind and storm.3 When they reached the opposite side, which might have 1 On the connection of the parables, of which this forms the first, see Lect. I. p. 35, note 3. 2 "To understand," says Dr. Thomson, who himself witnessed on the very spot a storm of similar violence, and that lasted as long as three days, " the causes of these sudden and violent tempets, we must remember that the lake lies low [hence KaTrE'fs A.aAai, Luke viii. 23], -six hundred feet lower than the ocean; that the vast and naked plateaus of Jaulan rise to a great height, spreading backward to the wilds of the Hauran, and upward to snowy Hermon; that the watercourses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges, converging to the head of this lake, and that these act like gigantic funnels to draw down the winds from the mountains." - The Land asnd the Book, Vol. iii. pp. 32, 33. See also Ritter, Erdkusnde, Part xv. 1, p. 308 sq., where the peculiar nature of these storm-winds is briefly noticed. 3 For further comments on this miracle, one of the more striking features of which is the Saviour's rebuke to the warring elements, the very words of which, as addressed to the storm-tost waters (cKal eJre iT;aAcrap, Etad ra, 7re.tgWeo, Mark iv. 39), have been specially recorded by the second Evangelist, —see the expository remarks of Chrysostom, in Mlatt. Hom. xxvIII., the typical and practical application of Augustine, Sernz. LXIII. (ed. Mignh), Trench, Notes oil the Miracles, p. 143, sq., and compare Hook, Serma. osn the Miracles, Vol. i. p. 207 sq. 178 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. been late that evening, or more probably studiously delayed till the dawn of the following day, our The Gergesene Lord hadl no sooner gone out of the vessel demoniacs. than He was met by the hapless Gergesenel demoniac or demoniacs,2 whose home was in the tombs, that can still be traced in more than one of 2cark t. 3. the ravines that open out upon the lake on its eastern side.3 There, and in the solitudes of the desert mountains behind, dwelt the wretched and, as it Luke. 39 ould seem, sinful man, who by his Lord's own Lute viii. 39, divine command was hereafter to be Christ's ar. first l)reacher in his own household, and who 2fark A. 20. told abroad the blessings he had received through the surrounding land of Decapolis. How he 1 Whether the true reading in Matt. viii. 28 be repyeao-7vc7v, ra~ap7v&iv, or rfpaayt.c, is a question which cannot easily be answered. On the whole, however, if we assign due weight not only to the evidence of manuscripts but also to recent geographical discovery, we shall, perhaps, be led to adopt the first reading in St. Matthew and the second in St. MLark and St. Luke. The grounds on which this decision rests are as follows: (1) The amount of external evidence in favor of rFEpyEovJv& in Matt. viii. 28 (see Tischendorf in loc.) is much too great to be due solely to the correction of Origen; (2) Origen plainly tells us that there was a place in his time so named, and that the exact site of the miracle was pointed out to that day; (3) ruins have been recently discovered by Dr. Thomson in Wady Semak, still bearing the name of Kerza or Gerza, which are pronounced to fulfil every requirement of the narrative. See, especially, The Land and the Boolk, Vol. ii. p. 33 sq., and compare Van de Velde, Memoir to MIap, p. 311. The probable reading in St. Mark and St. Luke (raSap7lvwCv) may be accounted for by supposing that they were content with indicating generally the scene of the miracle, while St. Matthew, whose knowledge of the shores of the lake whereon he was collector of dues would naturally be precise, specifies the exact spot. 2 Of the current explanations of the seeming difficulty that St. Matthew names twco and St. Mark and St. Luke one demoniac, that of Chrysostom (in loc.) and Augustine (de Consensu Evang. iI. 24) seems most satisfactory, viz. that one of the demoniacs took so entirely the prominent part as to cause two of the narrators to omit all mention of his companion. We have no reason for inferring fiom St. Matthew that the second of the sufferers did more than join in the opening cry of deprecation. See Matt. viii. 29. 3 See Thomson, The Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 35. Tombs have also been observed inl V adv Fik on the side of the road leading up from the lake (Stanlei, Palestine, ch. x. p. 376), the position of which has perhaps led to that ravine being usually selected as the scene of the miracle; if, however, the above identification of rFepyera and Gerza be accepted, the scene of the miracle must be transferred to the more northern Wady Semak. LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 179 was healed, the astonishing and most convincing way in which every line of the narrative sets before us the awful kind of double or rather manifold personality, the kneeling man of the one moment and the Ver 6 shouting demoniac of the next, the startling yet all-wise permission given to the devils,' and the overpowered instinct of self-preservation in the possessed swine, — all this our present limits preclude me firom pausing fully to delineate; but this one comment I will venture to make, that with this miracle before us, with expressions so unqualified, and terms so distinct, a denial of the reality of demoniacal possession on the part of any one who believes the Gospel narrative to be true and inspired, may justly be regarded as simply and plainly inconceivable.2 On the Lord's return to the western side, Tie raising of Jairus' daughter. which took place immediately in consequence of the request of the terror-stricken inhabitants of the neighboring city, He found the multitude 1 On this much debated subject we may briefly observe, (a) that the permission to enter into the herd of swine may have been deemed necessary by our Lord ({roAhA& TEirFv oebcovojutvc, Chrys.) to convince the sufferer of his cure (Chrys. i.); (b) that it may also stand in connection with some unknown laws of demoniacal possession generally, and more particularly with that which the demons dreaded, deprecated, and perhaps foresaw, —a return to the abyss (Luke viii. 31). It may be that to defer that return they ask to be suffered to enter into fresh objects in that district to which they mysteriously clung (Mark v. 10), and it may be too that the very permitted entry, by destroying the instinct of selfpreservation in the swine, brought about, even in a more ruinous way, the issue they so much dreaded. That this was (c) fulrther designed to punish the people for keeping swine is not perfectly clear, as the inhabitants of those parts were mainly Gentile. Compare Joseph. Antiq. xvII. 11. 4. The supposition that the swine were driven down the precipice by the demoniacs (Kuinoel, followed by Milman, Jtist. of Christianity, Vol. i. p. 238) is not only in the highest degree improbable, but wholly at variance with the express statements of the inspired writers. 2 For some good remarks on this subject, see Olshausen, Commentary, Vol. i. p. 305 sq. (Clark), Trench, Notes own the 3Miracles, p. 151 sq., Alford on 3Iatt. viii. 32, and compare Kitto, Journal of Sacr. Lit. No. vii. p. 1 sq., No. xiv. p. 394 sq. In addition to these, on the miracle generally, see Chrysostom on iMctt. Hom. xxvII., the good comments of 3Maldonatus on 3latt. 1. c., Bp. Hall, Conbtemll. ini. 5, and compare Jones of Nayland, }Works, Vol. v. p. 72 sq., and Bp. Wilberforce. Serm. p. 107. 180 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. eagerly waiting to receive Him, and among them one anxious and heart-stricken man, Jairus, whose Luke viii. 40. daughter lay dying, and who besought our Lord with all the passion of a father's love to save his child. But the crowd hung round the Lord,,Fer. 42. and the case of the suffering woman, who touched her Saviour's garments with the touch of faith,l added to the delay, and the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue had breathed her last before the Lord could reach the father's house;2 so ~arks v. 35. Lake vii. 49. they tell Him that all was over. But now was the glory of God to be revealed. Yet again a second time -as once on the bier, so now on the bed - did the Lord loose the bands of death; with however this very striking and peculiar difference, that what a few days before was done in the sight of Ch. vii. 11. all ZNain, was here done in strict privacy, with three chosen Apostles and the father and mother alone present, and with the special and urgent 3Iar k v. 43. command to those present not to raise the veil of the solemn scene they had been permitted to witness.3 1 On this miracle, the characteristics of which are the great faith of the sufferer, and the indirect though not unconscious performance of the cure, see Hall, Contempl. iv. 7, Trench, Notes on the Mfiracles, p. 189 sq., Hook, Serm. on the MIiracles, Vol. i. p. 242 sq.; and compare Lange, Leben Jesu, Iv. 4. 14, Part iI. p. 681. 2 The s!ight difference between the narrative of St. Matthew, in which the father speaks of his daughter as now dead (ch. ix. 18), and that of St. Mark, where he speaks of her as being at the last gasp (ch. v. 23), has been accounted for most reasonably by Augustine (de Concens. Evang. II. 2), Theophylact (1st alternative), and others, by the supposition that Jairus spoke from what his fears suggested, and that lie regarded the death of his daughter as by that time having actually taken place. Comp. Greswell, Dissert. III. Vol. i. p. 217. 3 This command, which Meyer (on llark v. 43) most rashly considers a mere unauthorized addition of later tradition, is perfectly in harmony with the private manner in which the miracle was performed. The reason wthy it was given can, however, only be conjectured. It can scarcely have been on account of the Jews (8&h TbV -Pae'OV Ta'Xa'r&V'Iovuai wv, Theophyl. on Luke viii. 56), but may very probably have been suggested by a desire to avoid undue publicity, and perhaps also by merciful considerations of what the Lord knew to be best for the maiden and her relatives. Compare Olshausen, Commentary on Gospels, LECT. IV. TIHE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 181 Soon after this, perhaqps on the samle clay, our Lord, accompanied by IHis disciples, leaves CaperThe second visit naum, and on the Sabbath which immediately to tIe synagogue at followed again appeared in the synagogue at His own town of Nazareth.L The feeling there is now in some degree better than it was three Luke iv. 16 sq. weeks before. The fame that spread all through Galilee had produced some eftect even at Nazareth, and had disposed them to give ear a second time to Him whose wisdom and evenl miraculous Mlark vi. 2. powers they were forced to recognize and to confess. But the inward heart of the men of Nazareth was unchanged as ever. Though there was now no longer thnt oapen inufgnt&an &nl rdaeous agre Ver. 28. that was so frightfully maniifested at the former visit, there was a similar vexed spirit of amazement and incredulity, and a similar and even more scornfully worded appeal to fLmily connections of low estate, and to kindred that had long lived humbly among them: " Is not this the carpenter, the son of tMary, and the brother of Jamles and Joses and Judlcs and Simon?" JMark vi. 3. It is now, however, offence rather than positive rejection, - yet offence that sprang from a deep heart of unbelief, which stayed the Saviour's healJlatt. ziii. 35. ing hands, and made HIim, who knew full well what it was to meet with rejection and want of faith, to marvel at the exceeding measures of Nazl)Mark. vi. 6. arene unbelief. On the eve of' that day, or more probably early on the morrow, our Lord appears to Vol. i. p. 276 (Clark). On; the miracle itself see the good comments of Chrysost. in Al'ntt. Hlom. xsxx., Ep. I-Iall, Contemspl. iv. 8, Lardner's vindication, ITWorks, Vol. xi. p. 1 sq., Trench, Notes on the Mliracles, p. 179, and Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. 4. 14, Part ii. p. 683 sq. 1 That this visit to Nazareth is not identical with that recorded by St. Luke (ch. iv. 16) is rightly maintained by Meyer, on Ilatt. xiii. 54. The only argument for the identity is our Lord's use of the same proverb on both occasions; but is there anything strange in such a repetition, especially when the conduct of the people of Nazarcth on each occasion rendered such a proverb most mournfully pertinent? See Wieseler, Ch(rosn. oSynops. p. 284 sq. 16 182 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. have commenced a short circuit of Galilee, but, as we must conclude friom our general notes of Tfie sending forth ofthe Twelve time,1 in the direction of Capernaurn; and at Apostles. this same time also it would certainly appear that HIe sent forth the twelve Apostles (who we know accompanied Him to Nazareth), by two and Mark vi. 6. two, probably in different directions, and perhaps with an order, after having made a brief trial of the powers with which they had been intrusted, to join their iMaster at Capernaum. Thither they must have returned, it would seem, not more than two days afterwards.2 Such a statement may at first seem startling. It may be urged that so short an absence on the )alrt of the Apostles is hardly compatible with the instructions given to them by our Lord, as recorded by the first Evangelist, wherein M3att. x. 5 sq. distant and continued journeyings would seem rather to be contemplated than the limited circuit which our present chronology suggests.3 The objection is 1 The Sabbath on which our Lord preached at Nazareth would certainly seem to be the Sabbath which succeeded the crcdi3aTov 8vT'pG'7rpwrov (Luke vi. 1), and consequently, according to our explanation of the latter term, the second Sabbath of Nisan. Now if we turn to our tables (Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 484), we find that our present Sabbath answers to Nisan 13, and therefore must conclude that both our Lord and His Apostles returned to Capernaum fiom their respective missionary journeys on the following day, there being good reason for fixing the feeding of the five thousand on the IPassover-eve, N'isan 14. See below, and compare John vi. 4. Such a result can hardly be conceived natural. The difliculty, however, may be in some degree removed by taking into consideration the fact that the first day of the Jewish month was fixed by observation, and that the day of the Julian calendar with which it agrees can hardly be determined with perfect certainty. In the case of Nisan 1 in the present year, the correct time of new moon was about seven o'clock in the evening of April 2; the new moon would then probably be observed on the evening of April 4 (see'Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 446). But the Jewish day begins after six o'clock; Nisan 1 would then begin on April 4, but really coincide with April 5, and not with April 4. as Wieseler and Wurm suppose. The date of our present Sabbath would then be Nisan 12. and not Nisan 11. and we should have two whole days for the absence of the Apostles, a time not improbably short. See below. Such niceties and difficulties may well teach us caution, and may justly make us very diffident as to our ability to assign each event in this portion of the sacred narrative to the true day on which it occurred. 2 See the preceding note. 3 Another objection may perhaps be founded on the declaration of St. Mark LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 183 certainly not without force, and is useful in warning us not to be too confident either on the construction of our chronological tables, or in the correctness of our collocation of individual events. Still, when we consider,- - irst, that it is far firom improbable that St. MIattllew has incorporated in this address to the Apostles instructions given to them by our Lord at other periods of His ministry; Secondly, that thle address, whether in its longer or its shorter form, may reasonably be supposed to extend far beyond the present time, and to refer to periods of missionary labor as yet still distant; Thirdly, that it does not seem probable that our Lord would have long dispensed with the attendance of those to whom IIis blessed presence was so vital and so essential,2 - when we consider all these points, it will perhaps seenm less improbable that this first missionary journey was but short, and that the Apostles returned to Capernaum as early as the evening of the second day. The return was nearly, it would seeln, contemporaneous with the arrival of the tidings of the Baptist's murder; 3 and it was, perhaps, partly that our Lord " went round about the villages, teaching " (ch. vi. 6; comp. Matt. ix 35). This is also of some weight, but as Nwe find no special note of time servinr to define it as subsequent to the visit to Nazareth, and prior to the sending forth of the Twelve, we may perhaps justly and correctly regard it either (a) as serving only to mark that our Lord's ministry was continuous, that lie did not remain at Nazareth, but was extending His blessings to other places; or, still more simply, (b) as merely specifying the work in which our Lord was then ellgaged, and as preparing the reader for a transition to other subjects (ver. 7-29). See above, p. 174, note 3. 1 When we renmember that St. 3Matthew does not notice the sending forth of the Seventy, and, firther, when we compare the instructions delivered to them, as recorded by St. Luke (cli. x. ii), with those which are here recorded by St. Mattllew, as delivered to the Twelve (ch. x. 2 sq.), it seems hard to resist the conviction that as the first Evangelist was moved in the preceding chapters to group miracles together, so in the present case he is presenting in a collected form all our Lord's instructions on the subject of missionary duties and labors generally. See a comparison of the parallel passafes inl Wieseler, Chiron. Synops. p. 303. 2 It is right to remember that the ibomal alppointment of the Tvwelve can scarcely be placed further back than a week or tel days friom the present time. Some of the number, wve know, had been already long enough with our Lord as disciples for us to conceive tihat they might have been enabled to teach and preach for some timec without being sustained by His presence, but this can hardly be felt in reference to all the Apostles. 3 It seems probable that the death of the Baptist took place somewhere about 184 THIE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. [V. on this account, and partly for the sake of communing in stillness with His chosen ones after their first Comp. MJatt. xiv. 13. missionary efforts, that our Lord thought it Mark vi 1. meet to avoid the many comers and goers which a time so close to the Passover would Ver., 31. be sure to set in motion, and to seek rest and privacy by retiring with His Apostles to the solitudes of the further side of the lake. But rest and privacy were not to be obtained. A very short time, especially when we remember the The five thoeding d. f prolbable vicinity of the city of lBethsaidaJulias,' and the numbers that might now have been moving about the country, would have served to have brought the five thousand round our Lord; and there, on the green table-lands on the northeastern corner of the ark vi. 39. lake, or amid the "green grass" of the rich plain near the mouth of the Jordan,2 must we place the memorable scene of the miraculous feeding of that vast multitude. Memorable indeed,Matt. xiv. 21. memorable for the display of the creative power of the eternal Son that was then made before more a week before the time now under consideration. See Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 292 sq. Much, however, turns on the meaning assigned to the term y7ve'ota (Matt. xiv. 6, Mark vi. 21). If it refers to the festival in honor of the birthday of Herod Antipas (Meyer), no precise date for the murder of the Baptist can be obtained from this portion of the narrative; if, however, as seems not unlikely, it refers to the festival in honor of the conmnenlcement of Herod's reign, then an approximately close date can easily be arrived at, as Herod the Great, whom Herod Antipas succeeded in the government of Galilee (Joseph. Antiq. xvII. 8. 1), is known to have died a few days before the Passover, A. U. c. 750. See Lect. II. p. 81, note 1. 1 This appears to have been a place of some size and importance. It was transformed by Philip fiom a mere village into a populous and handsome town (see Joseph. Antiq. xviiI. 2. 1), of which some traces are thought to have been found on some rising ground on the east side of the Jordan and not far from the head of the lake. See Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 413, Thomson, The Land and the 1300ook, Vol. ii. p. 9, and compare Winer, Ri, B. Vol. ii. p. 174. 2 See Stanley, Palestine, ch. x. p. 377, and especially Thomson, The Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 29, where it is stated that the exact site of the miracle may almost confidently be identified. For a confutation of the rashly advanced opinion that St. Luke places the scene of the miracle on the western shore (De Wette, comp). Winer, R JVB. Vol. i. p. 175), see Meyer on Luke ix. 10. LECT. IV. THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. 185 than five thousand witnesses; memorable too for the strange coincidence that on the very eve that the Paschal lambs were being offered up in the temple-courts of Jerusalem, the eternal Lamb of God was feeding His people in the wilderness with the bread which His own divine hands had multiplied! And now I must draw these words and this portion of our Master's life at once to a close, yet not without the prayer that this effort to set Concluding reforth the narrative of a most solemn and eventfil period — the period of the Lord's founding His Church - may be blessed by His Spirit. To be confident of the accuracy of details, either of time or place, where not only the connection of individual events, but the arrangerment of the whole period, is a matter of the utmost doubt and difficulty, would indeed argue a rash and selfsatisfied spirit; yet this I will presume to say, that if certain chronological data and reasonings be approximately correct, -and after manifold testings correct in the main I do verily believe them to be, — then the general picture can hardly be much otherwise than as it has been here sketched out. Be this however as it may, I count all as nought if only I have succeeded in the great object which these Lectures are intended to promote, if only, by presenting some sketches of the continued life of the Saviour, I may have been enabled to bring that Saviour nearer to one heart in this church. On that holy life, on all its divine harmonies, on all its holy mysteries, may we be moved more and more to dwell. By meditating on the inspired records may we daily acquire increasing measures of that fulness of conviction, to have which in its most 1 On this miracle, which, as has been often observed, is the only one found in all the four Gospels, and which, when compared with the miracle of turning the water into wine (John ii. 1 sq.), shows our Lord's creative powers in reference to qulantity, as the latter does his transforming powers as to quality, see Origen, in Mltt. xi. 1, Vol. iii. p. 476 sq. (ed Bened.), Augustine, in Joann. Tract. xxiv. Vol. iii. p. 1592 sq. (ed. MIign6), Bp. Hall, Contemnpl. Iv. 5, Trench, Notes on the Miracles, p. 261, and a good sermon by Mill, Usniv. Serna. xvi. p. 301. 16* 186 THE MINISTRY IN EASTERN GALILEE. LECT. IV. complete proportions is to enjoy the greatest earthly blessing which the Lord has reserved for those that love Him. This is indeed to dwell with the Lord on earth; this is indeed to feel His spiritual presence around us and about us, and yet to feel, with no ascetic severity, but in sober truth, that we have here no abiding city, but that there, where He is, is our true and everlasting home; there, by the shores of that crystal sea, our Rev. iv. 6. Rev. 23. 6. heavenly Gennesareth; there that new Jeru1eb.c.10. salein, whose light is the light of the Lamb, - the "city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." 1 "' Do not then," says the wise and eloquent Bp. Hall, " conceive of this union as some imaginary thing that hath no existence but in the brain, or as if it were merely an accidental or metaphorical union by way of figurative resemblance; but know that this is a real and substantial union, whereby the believer is indissolubly united to the glorious person of the Son of God. Know that this union is not more mystical than certain, that in natural unions there may be more evidence but cannot be more truth. Neither is there so firm and close a union betwixt the soul and body as there is betwixt Christ and the believing soul; forasmuch as that may be severed by death, but this cannot." —Christ Mlystical, ch. ii. See above, Lect. III. p. 142, note 2. LECTURE V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, I MUST PREACH THE KINGDOM OF GOD TO OTHER CITIES ALSO: FOR THEREFORE AM I SENT. - St Luke iv. 43. I HAVE chosen these words, brethren, which really belong to a slightly earlier period than that which we are now about to consider, as nevertheless a very suitable text for that part of our iMaster's history which will occupy our attention this afternoon. In the portion of the inspired narrative now before us, we have the brief yet deeply interesting Genr features notices of more widely extended journeys of this part of our and more prolonged circuits. WYe find the clear traces of missionary travel to the west and to the east and to the north, and we read the holy record of deeds of mercy performed in remote regions, both of Galilee and the lands across the Jordan,2 which the Lord had not, as it 1 The exact time when these words were uttered by our Lord was the morning following the first Sabbath at Capernaum, when the amazed but grateful multitudes were pressing Him not to leave the place Ile had so greatly blessed. See Lect. iv. p. 160. 2 It has not been easy to select a single term which should correctly describe the principal scene of the ministerial labors of our Lord which come before us in this Lecture. The known geographical divisions of Upper and Lower Galilee (Joseph. Bell. Ju(l. III. 3. 1) would naturally have suggested the adoption of the former term in reference to the present, and the latter in reference to the preceding portion of the sacred narrative, if it were not apparently an established fact that Capernaum belonged, not, as it might be thought, to Lower (Kitto, Bibl. Cycl. Art. " Galilee," Vol. i. p. 727), but to Upper Galilee. Comp. Euseb. Osnonwast. Art. " Capharnaum,"' and Smith, Dict. of Bible, Art. " Galilee," Vol. i p. 646. The title above has thus been chosen, though it is confessedly not exact, as failing to include the districts across the Jordan, which, as will be seen fiom the narrative, were the scenes of some part of the ministry that we are now considering. 188 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. V. would appear, yet blessed with his divine presence. IIitherto the plain of Gennesareth and the nearer portions of Galilee, "att the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim," had been almost exclusively blest with the glory of the great Light; now Phcenice and Decapolis were to behold its rays. Hitherto the lake of the east, " the way of the sea beyond Jordan," had been the chief theatre of the Redeerner's teaching and miracles; now even the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and the great sea of the west, were to hear the tidings of salvation, yea, and to bear their witness to victories over the powers of that kingdom of darkness which had so long been seated on those heathen and idolatrous shores. Such is the general character of the very remarkable portion of the sacred narrative on which we Special contrasts are now about to dwell. Remarkable is it and characteristics. for the glimpses it vouchsafes to us of the unwearied activities of our Lord's ministerial life; remlarkable for the notices it supplies to us of the extended spheres to which those holy energies were directed;' remarkable too for the contrasted relations in which it stands to that portion of the Gospel history which claimed so much of our attention last Sunday. To these contrasts and characteristics let us devote a few preliminary thoughts. First, however, let us specify the limits of the section to which we are about to confine our attention. Chronological limits ofthe present These seem, almost at once, to suggest themportion. selves to the meditative realder, and serve to separate the evangelical narrative into simple and natural 1 The peculiar character of these distant missionary journeys of our Lord, and the considerable portion of time which they appear to have occupied, have been too much overlooked by modern writers of the Life of our Lord. Compare, for example, Hase, Leben Jesu, ~ 85, and even to some extent Lange, Leben Jesus, iI. 5. 10, Part ii. p. 864, neither of whom seems properly to recognize the important place which these journeys really occupy in our Lord's ministry. See below, p. 189. Ewald, on the contrary, has correctly devoted a separate section to this portion of the Gospel history. See Gesch. Christus', p. 331 sq. LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTRIERN GALILEE. 189 divisions. Our section, it will be remembered, commences with the events which immediately succeeded the feeding of the five thousand on the Passover eve,' and naturally and appropriately concludes with tile return of our Lord to Capernaumr a very short time previous to his journey to Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles, towards the middle of October. We have thus as nearly as possible a period of six months;2 a period bounded by two great festivals, and, as I have already said, marked off from the preceding portion of our Lord's history by some striking contrasts and characteristics. On these let us briefly pause to make a fiew observations which the nature of the subject appears to demand. One of the most striking features of the present section is the glimpse it affords us of the progressive LProgressive nanature, if I may venture to use such an ex- tare of our Lords pression, of our Lord's ministerial labors, and try the prophetic indications, as it were, which it supplies of the future universal diffusion of the Gospel. At first we have seen that our blessed Master was mercifllly pleased to confine His teaching and I-is deeds of love and mercy mainly to that province which could now alone be reckoned as the land of the old theocracy. In Judvea He was pleased to dwell continuously more than eight John iv. 1. months; 3 in Judaea He gathered round IIim disciples more numerous than those of John, and from Ju1 See above, Lect. Iv. p. 185. The opinion there advanced, of the exact coincidence of the day on which the multitudes were fed with that on which the paschal-lamb was slain, derives some slight support from the subject of our Lord's discourse (the bread of life, John vi. 22 sq.) at Capernaum on the following day, which, it does not appear at all unlikely, was suggested by the festal season. See below, p. 197. 2 If we are correct in our general chlronology, the present year would be 782 A. u. c., and in this year the l'as:over Awould begin April 17 or 18 (see above, p. 182, note 1), and the feast of Tabernacles October 19. See the tables in Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 483. 3 This ministry began writh the Pl'.ssover of the year 781 A. U. C. (M3arch 29), and concluded *with our.oiid's departure to G;alilee through Samaria, which, as we have seen above. may be fixed approximately as late in December. See Lect. III. p. 128, nole 3. 190 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. VY. dvea He departed only when the malignity of Scribe and Pharisee rendered that favored land no longer a safe resting-place for its Redeemer and its God. Then, and not till then, followed the ministry in the eastern and, as it would seem, more Judaized' portion of Galilee. In due and mysterious order succeeded those missionary labors in frontier lands where the Gentile element was mainly, if not in some cases exclusively, prevalent. This gradual enlargement of the field of holy labor does indeed seem both striking and suggestive; this we may perhaps venture to regard as a result from our present system of harmonizing the Gospel narrative, which reflects on that system no small degree of plausibility. But there are contrasts too between the narrative of this present portion of our Lord's history and Contracts between this and the peced- that which has preceded, which seem to ilnarrt of the lustrate the foregoing remarks, and are in themselves both interesting and instructive. Though the portion of time vouchsafed to the ministry in Capernaunm and its vicinity was so short, yet with what minute accuracy is it detailed to us by the three Synoptical Evangelists! Hlow numerous the miracles, how varied and impressive the teaching! Three continuous weeks only,2 1 This last epithet may perhaps be questioned, but is apparently borne out by the essentially Jewish chatacter of the district which the sacred narrative seems to reveal. The population of the great city of the district, Tiberias, though mixed (Joseph. Antiq. xVIII. 2. 3), appears to have included a considerable and probably preponderant number of Jews, as we find it mentioned as in revolt against the Rlomans (Joseph. Fit. 9), while the other large city of Calilee, Sepphoris, did not swerve from its allegiance. Capernaum too, if we agree to identify it with Tell 1lim (p. 121, note 1), must have had a large population of Jews at a time not very distant from the Christian era, otherwise we can hardly account for the extensive ruins, apparently of a synagogue of unusual magnificence, whlich have been observed at that place by modern travellers. See Robilson, Palestisne, Vol. III. p. 346 (edl. 2), Tl!omson, The La(zd ald the Boolk, Vol. i. p. 540. As to the supposed early date of the building, compare the remarks of lobhiisol, I'alest. Vol. iii. p. 74. - Assuming our general dates to be right, our Lord's first appearance in the sFllnaorue at Nazareth wound be on a Sabbath corresponding with the twentyfirst day of the illircalated ronth IBeadar, or, according to the Julian Calendar, MIarchll26 or 27. The Passover, as we have already secn, commenced on April 17 or 18. We hIave thus for the portion of our Lord's ministry on which we LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. 191 yet in that short time one signal instance of the Lord's controlling power over the elements,' two records of triumphs over the power of death, three notable accounts of a stern sovereignty exercised over the spirits of perdition,2 the formal founding of the Church, and the promulgation of all its deepest teaching. But in our present section, when we follow our Lord's steps into half-heathen lands, though the time spent was so much greater, how few the recorded miracles, how isolated and detached the notices of them! Nay, more, our very inspired authorities Teaching and seem to change their relations, and yet sug- preachino rather than mtiracles chargest by the very change that local teaching acteristic of this.opertiod. and preaching,' rather than display of miraculous power, was the chief characteristic of these six have commented in the preceding Lecture only a period of about twenty-two days. It may be urged that this is far shorter than we could have inferred from the narrative; but it may be answered, that if the feast mentioned by St. John (chl. v. 1) be Purim, and if we consider, as we seem fairly justified in doing, the feeding of the five thousand coincident with the Passover-eve of the same year (see p. 147, note 2), then our Lord's ministry in Eastern Galilee cannot readily be shown to have lasted longer than has been here supposed. It is by no means dlis.,'led t2.at there are in tbis, as in every other system of chronology that has yet been proposed, many difficulties, and much that may make us very doubtful of our power of fixing the exact epochs of many events (see above, p. 182, note 1); still, if the extremne chronological limits appear rightly fixed, we seem bound to accept the fair results of such an arrangement, if not as certainly true, yet at least as consistent with what has been judged to be so, and thus far as claiming our assent. For some remarks tending in some measure to dilute the force of a priori arguments founded on the apparent shortness of the time, see Wieseler, Cironl. Synops. p. 288. 1 We might have almost said two, as the miracle of walking on the water (31att; xiv. 22, MIark vi. 48, John vi. 19), though placed in the portion on which we are now commenting, obviously belongs to the ministry in Eastern Galilee. 2 These are, (1) the striking instance in the synagogue at Capernaum (Mark i. 23 sq., Luke iv. 33 sq.), which so greatly amazed those who witnessed it; (2) the instance of healing the blind and deaf demoniac (Matt. xii. 22), which provoked the impious declarations of the Jerusalem scribes and Plharisees; and (3) the Gergesene demoniacs (MIatt. viii. 28 sq., Mark v. i. sq., Luke viii. 26 sq.). 3 The statement of Chrysostom (in 3latt. Hom. LII. Vol. vii. p. 596, ed. Bened. 2), that our Lord did not journey to the borders of Tyre and Sidon for the purpose of preaching there (obj &'s KUS77 pwV &7rAajrE,), seems doubtful. From St. Mark, as Chrysostom urges, we learn that our Lord sought privacy " and would have no man know" (ch. vii. 24), but this, from the immediate context, and, as it were, contrasted miracle, would seem to indicate a desire for partial rather than absolute concealment; a temporary laying aside of His merciful displays of divine power, rather than a suspension of His ministry. 192 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. V. months of the Lord's ministerial life. I ground this opinion on the easily verified fact that the professed historian of his Master's life, he who made it his duty to set in order the narrative which eye-witnesses had delivered, and who records to us events rather than Luke i. 2. discourses,1 has assigned to this six mnonths' period only some thirty or more verses,2 while to the brief but eventful period that preceded he has devoted at least seven times as much of his inspired record. Our principal authority, as we might almost expect, is St. Matthew; yet not exclusively, as about one hundred and fifty verses of St. 3Mark's Gospel relate to the same period.3 The events however recorded by both Evangelists taken together are so very few, that again the inference would seem reasonable, that if two of those who were eye-witnesses - for in St. [Mark we have the testimony of St. Peter - have related so little, our Lord's miracles during this time could scarcely have been numerous. MIiracles, as we know, wtere performed, but it was probably less by their influence than by the calm but persuasive influence of teaching and preaching that the Lord was pleased to touch and test the rude yet apparently receptive hearts of the dwellers in the remote uplands of Galilee, or in the borders of Hellenic Decapolis.4 1 On the nature and characteristics of this Gospel, see Lect. I. p. 41 sq. 2 The only portion of St. Luke's Gospel which appears to relate to this period of our Lord's ministry, if we except a very few verses which may perhaps belong to discourses during this period (ch. xv. 3-7, xvii. 1, 3), begins ch. ix. 18, and concludes with the fiftieth verse of' the same chapter. Comp. Wieseler, Chron. Synols. p. 314. 3 The portion of St. 3Iark's Gospel that refers to this period of our Lord's ministry begins ch. vi. 45, and seems to conclude with the last verse of ch. ix. The next chapter describes our Lord as journeying into Judsea by way of Perea, and, consequently, is describing the last journey to Jerusalem. See Lect. vI. 4 The district, or, more strictly speaking, confederation bearing this name, seems to have been made up of cities and villages round them (Joseph. Vit. i 65), of which the population was nearly entirely Gentile; two of the cities, Hippos and Gadara, are distinctly termed by Josephus (Antiq. xII. 11. 4)'EXXirvtes 7rMAsis. The geographical limits of Decapolis can scarcely be defined; we seem, however, justified in considering that nearly all the cities included in the confederation were across the Jordan, and on the eastern side of the lake of Gennesareth. Compare Eusebius, Ononast. s. v. "Decapolis," and see Winer, 1 IFWI. Art. " Decapolis," Vol. i. p. 263. LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. 193 This is exactly what we might have presumed to expect from the circumstances of the case, and from SuchL a dlifference what has been incidentally revealed to us of probable fron the nature of the case. the conditions on which the performance of the Lord's miracles in a great measure depended. From the comment which both St. Matthew and St. Mark have made upon the repressing vi. 5. influence of the unbelief of the people of Nazareth, we seem justified in asserting that our Redeemer's miracles were ill a great degree contingent upon the faith of those to whom the message of the Gospel was offered.1 I-How persuasively true then does that narrative appear which on the one hand represents the appeal to miracles most frequent and continuous in Eastern Galilee, where the receptivity was great and the contravening influences mainly due to alien emissaries,2 — and, on the other, leaves us to infer, by its few and isolated notices, that amid the darkness and necessarily imperfect belief of the fiontier lands that appeal was comparatively limited and exceptional. But it is now time for us to resume the thread of the inspired history. On that Passover-eve with The return across which our narrative commences, our Lord, the lake. Our Lord walkson the waters. after having fed the five thousand, remains Himself behind on the eastern shore to dismiss the yet lingering multitudes, but directs Xatt x. 22 2lark vi. 45. the disciples to cross over the lake to Bethsaida. From some supposed discordant notices in the 1 The following comment of Oligen is clear and pertinent: " From these words (Matt. xiii. 58) we are taught that miracles were performed among the believing, since'to every one that hath it shall be given and shall be made to abound,' but among unbelievers miracles not only were not, but, as St. Mark has recorded, even could not be performed. For attend to that'He could not perform any miracle there;' he did not say'He woucld not,' but'He could not,' implying that there is an accessory cooperation with the miraculous power supplied by the faith of Him towards whom the miracle is being performed, but that there is a positive hinderance caused by unbelief." —ln M att. x. 18, Vol. iii. p. 466 (ed. Bened.). See also Euthym. Mlatt. xiii. 58. 2 See above, Lect. iv. p. 162, note 1. 17 194 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. V. accounts given of the circumstances which followed, it has been urged that this Bethsaida was the town of that name, known also by the name of Julias, not fiar fiom the head of the lake,' and with this supposition it mnay be conceded that there are some statements in the sacred narrative that at first sight seem to be fairly accordant: as, however, the supposed discordances and difficulties are really only imaginary, there seems no sufficient reason for departing fiom the ordinarily received opinion that this was the village on the western side. Nay, more, the scarcely doubtful direction of the gale from the south-west,2 which would brina as we are afterwards told, yesJohn vi. 23. sels from Tiberias to the north-eastern coast, but would greatly delay a passage in the contrary direction, seems to make against such a supposition, and to lead us decidedly to believe that Bethsaida on the western coast was the point which the Apostles were trying to reach, 1 This view, which is perhaps originally due to Lightfoot (Clhron. Temp. ~ 47, Vol. ii. p. 30, Roterod. 1686), is very elaborately maintained by Wieseler (Chron. Synops. p. 274, note), and has also found a recent advocate in Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 30 sq.), who conceives that there was really only one Bethsaida, viz. the town at the northeastern corner of the lake. In opposition to Lightfoot and Wieseler, we may justly urge, first, the distinct words of St. Matthew, describing the position of the vessel on its return, rb Se 7rAo7ov 1 3, a o v a rV s aaAcLoa7s?V (ch. xiv. 24; comp. Mark vi. 47); and, secondly, the words of St. Mark, 7rpotdyEr E s T b 7r p a v 7rpbs 13Ol9aai'3dv (ch. vi. 45), which, when coupled with the above notice of the position of the vessel, it does seem impossible to explain otherwise than as specifting a direct course across the lake. Compare also John vi. 17. With regard to Dr. Thomson's opinion, it may be observed that all modern writers seem rightly to acquiesce in the opinion of Reland that there weas a place of that name on the western coast, very near Capernaum. Robinson fixes its site as at the modern et-Tabighah (Palestine, Vol. III. p. 359, ed. 2), but there seems good reason for agreeing with Ritter in placing it at Kllan Minyeh, and in fully admitting the statement of Seetzen, that this last-mentioned place was also known by the local name of Bat-Szaida. See Erdkunde, Part xv. p. 333 sq. That there should be two places called Bethsaida (" House of Fish ") on or near a lake so well known, not only for the peculiar varieties (Joseph. Bell. Jud. III. 10. 8), but the great abundance of its fish, as that of Gennesareth, cannot justly be considered at all improbable. 2 See Blunt, Veracity of Evangelists, No. xx. p. 82, who appears rightly to connect with the mention of the gale the incidental notice of the passage of boats from Tiberias to the N. E. corner of the lake. For a description of these sudden and often lasting gales, see Thomson, Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 32, and comp. p. 177, note 2. LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. 195 and trying to reach in vain. Though they had started in the eveninrg,l they had not crossed the lake by the time of the fourth watch; still were they toiling agoainst the stirred-up waters and tempestu- la..25. n M3 dl~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~2ark vi. 48. ous wind, when to their bewilderment they see the Lord walking on those storm-tossed waves, and, as it were, leading the way2 to the haven they had so long been striving to reach. We well remember the incident of the striking but, alas, soon failing faith of St. Peter, the ceasing of the wind, and the at."' iv. 28sq.'! John vi. 21. speedy arrival of the vessel at the land whither they were going; and we have, perhaps, not forgotten that this miracle produced a greater impression on the Apostles than any they had yet witnessed. The miracle of the multiplied loaves they could not fully appreciate. 1 Some little difficulty has been found in the specifications of time in the nar-. rative, owing to the inclusive nature of the term 0'*L'a. The following remarks will perhaps adjust the seeming discrepancies. From St. Matthew (ch. xiv. 15) we learn that it was oikra before the men sat down. This we may reasonably suppose roughly specifies some time in the first evening (3 P.M. —6 P..), which again the &pa 7roAAX of St. Mark (ch. vi. 35) would seem more nearly to define as rather towards the close than the commencement of that 0'iLa. At the beginning of the second evening, probably soon after six o'clock, the disciples embark (John vi. 16), and ere this 4lda, which extended from sunset to darkness, had quite concluded, the disciples had reached the middle of the lake (Mark vi. 47; comp. Matt. xiv. 24), and were now experiencing the full force of a gale, which, probably commencing soon after sunset (compare Thomson, Land and the Book, Vol. ii. p. 32), was now becoming hourly more wild. For some hours they contend against it, but without making more than a few stadia (comp. John vi. 19; the lake was about forty stadia broad; Joseph. Bell. Jud. InT. 10. 7), when, in the fourth watch (iatt. xiv. 25), they beheld our Lord walking on the waters, and approaching the vessel. On the first and second evenings see Gesenius, Lex. s. v -'., p. DCLII. (Bagster), Jahn, Archceol. Bibl. ~ 101. 2 See Mark vi. 48, Kal 3eSXeV 7rapEcXaE7 acbrois; and compare Lange, Leben Jesiu, nI. 5. 3, P'art ii. p. 788. 3 On this miracle, which is one of the seven selected by St. John (comp. Ewaid, Gesch. Christus', p. 359, note), and which, as the Greek commentators rightly observe (see Chrysost. and Euthymius ins Matt. xiv. 33), evinces even more distinctly than the stilling of the tempest our Lord's power over the laws that govern the material world,-see some novel, though too allegorically applied comments in Origen, in aMatt. vi. 5, Vol. iii. p. 484 sq. (ed. Bened.), and in Augustinie, Serm. LXXV. LXXVI. Vol. v. p. 474 sq. Store general comments will be found in flall, Cozte7mpl. Iv. 6, Trencrh, Airacles, p. 274 sq.; and notices of difficulties in this andl the accompanying narrative, in Ebrard, AKritik der Evang. (CGeschfcflle, 6 7., p. 301. 196 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. V. Though, as we well know, it had produced a profound effect upon those for whose sake it had been John vi. 15. Yer. 14. performed, and had caused them to confess that this was "of a truth that prophet that should come into the world," and though we cannot doubt that in such a confession the Apostles had also silently Ch. i. 52. shared, yet we are plainly told by the second Evangelist that their hearts were too hard and too dull to understand fully the mighty miracle at which they themselves had been permitted to minister. Here, however, was soniething that produced on them a far deeper impression; here was something that appealed to those hardy boatmen as nought else could have appealed, and made them, both with their lips and by their outward and unforbidden posture of worship, avow, for the first time collectively, that their Mlaster was what one of them had long since separately declared Him to be, not only "the king of JoIsrael," but "the Son of Godl." Retrn to Caper- The morning brings back to the western naumn; our Lord's discourse in the side many2 of those who had been miraculously fed the evening before, and to them, in the synagogue at Capernaum (for it was the fifteenth of Nisan and a day of solemn serviceS), the Lord utters 1 On the full signification of the title " Son of God," as applied to our Lord in the New Testament, see the valuable remarks of Wilson, Illusfr. of the vewo Test. ch. II. p. 10 sq. In the present case it is imnpossible to doubt that it was aught else than a full and complete recognition, not merely of our Saviour's Messiahship (Mieyer), which would here be wholly out of place, but of His divine nature and prerogatives. 2 Unnecessary difficulties have been made about the transit of the multitude. Without unduly pressing 6 eaTrlKcs (Stier), as specially implying those who remained, in contrast with those that went away, it still seems obvious from the tenor of the narrative that those who followed our Lord were only the more earnest and deeply impressed portion of the multitude. Boats they would find in abundance, as the traffic on the lake was great, and the gale would have driven boats in a direction frons Tiberias, and obliged them to seek shelter on the northeastern shore. See above, p. 194, note 2, and compare Sepp, Leben. Christi, v. 7, Vol. iii. 16. 3 See Lev. xxiii. 7, Dent. xxviii. 18, from both of which passages we learn that there was to be a holy convocation on the day, and no servile work done thereon. LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. 197 that sublime discourse recorded by St. John, so strikingly in accordance not only with the past miracle but with the present Passover-season, wherein Hie declares Himself to be the Bread of Life. The whole discourse is worthy of our attention,' as serving to confirm, perhaps in a somewhat striking way, some of the views which we were led to adopt last Sunday in regard to the spiritual state of the people of Capernaum and its neighborhood. It seemed almost clear, you may remember, that the hostility and unbelief which the Lord met with at Capernaum were in a great degree to be traced to malignant eminissaries from Jerusalem, subsequently joined by some Galilvean Pharisees.2 We may reasona- kheiv.,7; om. bly conceive that these evil men had now left Galilee to celebrate the Passover, and we may in consequence be led to expect far fewer exhibitions of' hatred and hostility when our Lord vouchsafes to preach in the synagogue from which they were temporarily absent. And this is exactly what we do find recorded by the fourth Evangelist.'We detect traces of doubt and suspended belief in some of the assembled John vi. 30. hearers, nay, we are told of murmurings firom the more hostile section then present,3 when our Lord declares that He Himself er 1 Ver. 52. was "the bread which came down from heaven;" we observe, too, strivings among themselves as 1 For good and copious comments on this discourse, the subject of which is the mysterious relation of our Lord to His people as the Bread of Life, and as the spiritual sustenance of believers, see Chrysostom, in Joann. 1iom. XLIv. -XLVII., Cyril Alex. in Joann. Vol. iv. pp. 295-372 (ed. Aubert), Augustine, in Joann. Tractat. xxv. xxvI., and among modern writers in Luthardt, das Johann. Evalng. Part II. pp. 49-64, and Stier, Disc. of our Lord, Vol. v. pp. 149-205 (Clalrk). 2 See above. p. 162, note 1. 3 It deserves notice that the speakers are now not, as above, some of the multitude who had followed our Lord, and whose questions had received the solemn answers recorded in the earlier portion of the discourse, but are specially noticed as'Iova oL'; i. e., according to what seems St. John's regular use of the term, adherents of the party that was specially hostile to our Lord. See above, p. 137, note 3. 17* 198 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. V. to the true meaning of His weighty words;' but we are shocked by none of those outbursts of maddened hatred which on an earlier occasion marked the uke vi.U;comp. presence of the intruders from Jerusalem. ver. 7. It is clear, however, that evil seed had been sown and was springing up; it is plain that our Lord's words caused offence, and that not merely to the general multitude, but, alas, to some unspiritual disciples, who, St. John tells us shortly but sadly, "went back, and walked with Him no more." But the holy Twelve were true and firm: they who a few hours before, on the dark waters of the solitary lake, had confessed their Master's divinity, now again,!afttv.1 X33. in the face of all men, declare by the mouth John vi. 69. of St. Peter2 that they believed and were sure that " He was Christ, the Son of the living God." 1 These strivings, though in a different and better spirit, have continued to this very day. Without entering deeply into the contested question of the reference of the words Kal t &pTos, K. T. A. (ver. 51), we may remark generally (1) that the allusion in ver. 50 is clearly to the Incarnation, which at the commencement of ver. 51 is more fully unfolded, and in the conclusion of that verse seems also further (K a 1 6 &pros &f, K. r. A.) followed out to its last most gracious purpose, -the giving up of the human flesh thus assumed to atone for the sins of mankind: &arovc70Kco p77arov, 6Trep ardVcOv, Iva 7racvras Worovoo.a 8wt' fUavToO, Cyril Alex. in loc. Vol. iv. p. 353. This supposition, thus derived from the context, is strongly confirmed by the word adp~, which, especially in its present connection, seems intended still more definitely to point to our Lord's atoning death. Compare Eph. ii. 15, Col. i. 22, 1 Pet. iii. 18. To which we may add (2) that the idea pervading the whole verse, - Christ the bread of the world, and the further explanations which our Lord Himself vouchsafes (ver. 53), fully warrant a reference, not directly and exclusively, but indirectly and inclusively, to the Holy Communion of our Lord's body and blood. For an account of the various conflicting views, see Liicke, Comment. fiber Joh. Vol. ii. p. 152 sq. (ed. 3), Meyer, ib. p. 209 (ed. 3); but to ascertain the exact opinion of the patristic writers there referred to, the student will be wise to consult the original writers. 2 This confession of St. Peter, which, as Chrysostom rightly remarks, was said in behalf of all (oi -y&p eiret, " eyvcwKa," &AX' "'yvccKapLev "), is certainly not to be regarded as identical with that recorded in Matt. xvi. 16: contrast Wieseler, Chron. Synops. p. 277. Time, place, and circumstances seem so clearly different that we can hardly fail to admit, what is in itself highly natural, that the fervid apostle twice made a similar confession. Such seems distinctly the opinion of Chrysostom (in loc.), who alludes to the other confession as &AXaXoo. The exact words of the confession are not perfectly certain. We have followed above the Received Text, but as there seems some probability of alteration from Matt. xvi. 16 (see Meyer and Alford in loc.) it may be fairly questioned whether the reading of BCIDL, 6 aOi os roi ~eoB, is not to be preferred. LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. 199 Of the miraculous events that immediately followed we can only speak in general terms. Both St. Matthew and St. Mark here expressly Ilealings in Gennesareth, and remention numerous healings which were turn ofthe Jewish ZD emissaries. performed in the plain of Gennesareth. Both speak of the great confluence of the sick and the suffering; both specify the mightiness att 35 of the power with which they were healed. Mark vi.55. To the performance of these deeds of mercy Matt. xiv. 6. *Mark t'i. 56. a short time -a few days perhaps — may reasonably be assigned;l but it was a short time only. Those healing hands were, alas, soon to be stayed. Old enemies were by this time on their way back again to bring charges and to condemn; the human agents of the kingdom of darkness were again arraying themselves against the Lord of the kingdom of light. St. Matthew and St. Mark both relate the CM. v.1. CAl. vii. 1. arrival of Scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem,2 —beyond all doubt those whose machinations we noticed in our last lecture, and who now, with the true spirit of the sect to which they belonged, had formally observed their Passover at Jerusalem, and had hastened back, as it were finom the presence of the God of justice 1 In the narrative of St. Iatthew there is nothing to guide us. The remark, how-ever, of St. Mark, srou y &M eErope6Vso dps Kal5as ESs IrdAEs X eSv &ypovs (ch. vi. 56), seems to indicate a continued ministry in the neighborhood of Capernaum, of at least a few days' duration. Wieseler (Citron. Synops. p. 311, note) seems to refer not only all these events, but also the reply of our Lord to the Pharisees on the subject of eating with unwashen hands (Matt. xv. 1 sq., Mark vii. 1 sq.), to the same day as that on which the discourse on the Bread of Life was delivered, i. e. on Nisan 15. This, however, is by no means probable. The Pharisees and Scribes, who are specified both by the first and second Evangelists as having comefrom Jerusalem, would hardly have left the city till the festival of the Passover was fully concluded. Origen (in Mlatt. Tom. xi. 8) comments on the Th7E (Matt. xv. 1) as marking a general coincidence in point of time with the healings in Gennesareth, but gives no precise opinion as to the exact time when the emissaries reappeared. 2 Chrysostom (in M.att. xv. 1) has noticed the special mention of the place whence they had come, remarking that the Scribes and Pharisees from the capital were both actuated by a worse spirit and held more in repute than those from other parts of Judiea. Hornm. LI. Vol. vii. p. 535 (ed. Bened. 2). See Euthymius, iin loc. Vol. i. p. 605. 200 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. V. and truth, to take counsel against innocent blood. Ground of accusation is soon found out. These base men had perhaps insidiously crept into the social meetings of the disciples, and marked with malignant eyes the freedom of early evangelical life, and the charge is soon made: "Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?" Matt. xv. 2. aark ii. 5. Stern and crushing indeed is the answer which is returned, startling the application of prophecy, plain the principle, declared openly and plainly to the throng of bystanders,' that defilement is not from without, but firom within. Jlatt. xv. 11. Complete indeed was the vindication, but dangerous in its very completeness. The Pharisees, as we learn incidentally, were now still more deeply offended; their malevolence was assuming hourly a more imnplacable form, and, not improbably, hourly becoming more and more contagious. Doubts, suspicion, and perhaps aversion,2 were now not improbably fast springing up in the minds even of those Luke iv. 42. who once would fain have prevented the Lord from ever leaving their highly-favored land. Nor was this all. Other evil influences were at work, not only among the people, but among their rulers; for we may 1 Both St. Mfatthew and St. Mark notice the fact that our Lord called the mixed multitude round Him (Miatt. xvi. 10, Ka} 7rpotKaKXEa',EYvos Tbr OXXov. Comp. Miark vii. 14) and declared more especially to them (rpe'rE T b AXhyov 7rpbs'rby 0XXov ws &3toXoyc6irepov, Euthym.) the principle, which the Pharisees would have been slow to admit, that defilement was from within, and not from without. It would seem, however, that this was uttered in the hearing of the Pharisees, and that, as Euthymius rightly suggests, this was the UAyos (3att. xv. 12) at which, both from its sentiment and the publicity given to it, the Pharisees were so much offended. Comp. Meyer, in loc. p. 306 (ed. 4). 2 This seems in some measure to transpire in St. John's account of our Lord's recent preaching at Caperniaum. especially in those expressions of thorough Nazarene unbelief (Luke iv. 22, 3Mark vi. 3) which followed our Lord's declaration that lie was the " Bread which came down from heaven " (John vi. 41 sq.). Though it is right to remember that these expressions came from a hostile section (see above, p. 197, note 3), yet the very presence of such a section in a synagogue where a very short time before the only feeling was amazement (MIark i. 22, Luke iv. 32), seems to show that some change of feeling was beginning decidedli to show itself LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. 201 remember that it was but a short time before that the evil and superstitious Herod Antipas' had Luke ix. 9. evinced a strong desire to see One of whom he had heard tidings that filled him with uneasiness and perplexity. And such a desire on the part of the murderer of the Baptist, we may well infer, could bode nothing but ill against One whom his fears had made him believe was his victim come back again from the grave.2 All the Lord's secret or avowed enemies thus seenled unconsciously working together; dcan:ger was on every side, and eastern Galilee was probably fast becoming as unsafe an abode for the Redeemer and His Apostles as Judlea had been a few months before. However this may be, the blessing of the Lord's presence was now to be vouchsafed to other Journey to Tyre lands. In the remote west and in the con- and Sidon, and the miracle performed fines3 of Tyre the Lord was now pleased th ere. to seek, if not for a security that was denied Mfark vii. 24. at Capernaum, vet for a seclusion that might have been needed for a yet further instruction of the 1 What little we know of the character of this Tetrarch is chiefly derived from what is recorded of him in the Gospels, especially in that of St. Luke. Josephus notices chiefly his love of ease and expense (Antiq. xVIII. 7. 1 sq.), but in the sacred writers, beside the mention of his adultery and murder of the Baptist, we also find allusions that prove him to have been a thoroughly bad man. Compare Luke iii. 19, and Nolde, Historia Ideunz. p. 251 sq. 2 In the account given by the three Synoptical Evangelists (M1att. xiv. 1 sq., Mark vi. 14 sq., Luke ix. 7 sq.) we have the workings of a bad conscience plainly set before us. Observe the emphatic i-yc (Luke ix. 9), and the desire expressed to see our Lord so as to satisfy himself that the general opinion (Luke ix. 7), in which he himself seems to have shared (Matt. xiv. 2, Mark vi. 16; comp. Chrys. in Matt. 1. c.), was not true after all. There seems no reason for ascribing to the Tetrarch a belief in any form of transmigration of souls (comp. Grotius in loc.); his words were merely the natural accents of guilty fear. 3 This seems the correct inference from the words of St. Mark (Tr& ecopla TVpov, ch. vii. 24) coupled with the incidental comment of St. Matthew (&7rbo eV, 6pwv fE'KELcLooY tE, 4X]aoia, ch. xv. 22). At present, it would seem, our Lord had not actually crossed into the territory of Tyre, but was in the district closely contiguous to it. Origen (in Aleatt. Tom. xi. 16) rightly connects this journey with the offence given to the Pharisees by our Lord's declaration to the multitudes on the subject of inward and outward pollution (1Matt. xv. 11, Mark vii. 15). Compare also Greswell, Dissert. xxiii. Vol. ii. p. 354. That it was also for quiet and repose (Euthym.) is to be inferred from Mark vii. 24. 202 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. V. Apostles in the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. But, as St. AMark records, "He could not be hid." There was faith even in those darkened and heathen lands, and a faith that in one instance at least was proved and was blessed. No sooner was it known that the Lord was there than one poor woman at once crossed the firontier, which as yet the D3att. xv. 22. Redeem er had not passed, and with those strange words on heathen lips, "Have mercy on me, Lord, thou Son of David," called upon the Lord Ver. 22. with importunate energy to heal her demoniac daughter. The whole tenor of the narrative of both the Evangelists who relate the incidents seems clearly to show that this passionate call and these wildly-uttered words at first met with no response.' Our Lord was silent. When, however, that suppliant drew nigh, when she fell at her Redeemer's feet, and uttered those pity-moving att. 2. words of truest faith, "Lord, help me," then was it that the all-merciful One beheld and vouchsafed to accept a faith that was permitted to extend the verly sphere of His own mission. The Canaanite was heard; the descendant of ancient idolaters2 was practically accounted as one of the lost sheep of the house of Israel; the devil was cast out, and the child was healed.3 1 See Matthew xv. 23. That this silence on the part of our Lord was designed to prove the faith of the woman is the opinion of the ancient commentators (see Chrys. isn Matt. Hom. LII. 2), and seems certainly borne out by the trying answer of our Lord (MIatt. xv. 26, 1Mark vii. 27) which was vouchsafed to her second entreaty. To suppose that our Lord was here condescending to the prejudices of the apostles (HSilman, Hist. of Christianity, Vol. i. p. 253) is not probable or satisfactory; still less so is the supposition that He was simply overcome by her faithful importunity (De Wette, Meyer); as Chrysostom properly says, El /zj Uo/vaL IueAAsv, o03' &V ALE& H rarva iEw&icev. Vol. vii. p. 598 (ed. B3ened. 2). 2 The term Xavavaia, used by St. Matthew (ch. xv. 22), seems fully to justify this statement. She is termed'EAN7Xvis (i. e. a heathen, not of Jewish descent), vUpopotLKbcLro'a (Lachlm.) or mlSpa 4otbiKaoa (Tisch.) -'r?ieeL by St. Mlark (ch. vii. 26), a definition perfectly accordant with that of St. Matthew, as these SyroPhcenicians probably derived their origin from the remains of old Canaanite nations which had withdrawn on the conquest of Palestine to the extreme northern coasts. Comp. Winer, 1R VB. Art. " Cnnaniter," Vol. i. p. 210. 3 On this miracle, the characteristics of which are that it was performed on LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. 203 How long our Lord abode in these regions we know not; but as this touching miracle is the only inciReturn towards dent recorded by the Evangelists, and as the Decapolis and the privacy which our Lord sought for was now a-terns/zore oft/se still less likely to be maintained, we may, perhaps, not unreasonably conclude that after a short stay, yet probably long enough for His enemies to have returned back to Jerusalem, our Lord again turned His steps backward, passing through the midst of the semi-pagan Decapolis,l and ultimately approaching the sea of Galilee, as it would seem, from the further side of the Jordan. Equally, or nearly equally, ignorant Comp. Mark vii. are we of the extent of this northernjourney; if, however, we adopt a reading which now finds a place in most critical editions,2 we are certainly led to extend this journey beyond the Tyrian fiontier, and further to draw the interesting inference, that our Lord, moved probably by the great faith of the Syro-Phenician woman, actually passed into the heathen territory, visited ancient and idolatrous Sidon,3 and from the neighborhood of that city one of heathen descent, at a distance from the sufferer (comp. p. 132, note 2), and in consequence of the great faith of the petitioner (' vox humilis sed celsa fides," Sedulius), see Chrysost. itn 3att. omrn. LII., Augustine, Serm. LxXVII. Vol. v. p. 483 (ed. Mign6), Bp. Hall, Conternpl. iv. 1, Trench, 3iracles, p. 339 sq., and Lange, Leben Jesu, II. 5. 10, Part II. p. 865 sq. The allegorical reference tLccording to which the woman represents the Gentile Church, and her daughter rtv IrpaLv Kvpievopevor& Ur'b rarzAio'Ywv, is briefly but perspicuously noticed by Euthymius in Mfatt. xv. 28. 1 See above, p. 192, note 4, where the character of this confederation is briefly noticed. 2 The reading in question is xA.jevy 3La& tS1LYOS (Mark vii. 31), which is found in the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Beze, in the valuable MIS. marked L, in A (Codex Sangallensis), and in several ancient versions of considerable critical value, e. g. the Old Latin, Vulgate, Coptic, and Ethiopic. It has been adopted by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Fritzsche, Meyer, Alford, and Tregelles, and appears certainly to deserve the preference which these critics and commentators have thus unanimously given to it. See Meyer, Kommeint. iib. Mlark. p. 80 (ed. 3). 3 It is not safe to enlarge upon a point which rests only on a probable reading; but if we accept this reading, it must be acknowledged as a fact of the greatest significance in reference to the subsequent diffusion of the Gospel, that the city of Baal and of Astarte was visited by the Redeemer of mankind. See above, p. 2W1. This question is worthy of further consideration. 204 TIIE MINISTRY IN NORTIIERN GALILEE. LECT. V. commenced I-Iis south-easterly circuit towards Decapolis and the further shore of the sea of Gennesareth. On that shore I-He was not now to be a strange and unwelcome visitor. There, in that region of Return to Decap- Decapolis, lips by which devils once had olis; healing of a deafand.ddu.b mani. spoken had already proclaimed the power Contrast Matt. ix. 34. and majesty of Him that had now vouchsafed IMark v. 20. Luke viit. 9. to journey through that darkened land; and there too those lips had not spoken in vain. No sooner had the Lord appeared among them, than, as St. 3Mark relates to us, His healing powers are Cl.vii.32. besought for a deaf and all but dumb man who is brought to Him, and brought only to be healed.1 It is worthy of a moment's notice that both this and a miracle performed shortly afterwards on a blind man at Bethsaida-Julias were accompanied with a withdrawal of the sufferer from the throng of bystanders, special outward signs, and, in the case of the latter miracle, a more gradual process of restoration. All these differences it is undoubtedly right to connect with something peculiar in the individual cases of those on whom the miracle was performed;2 yet still it does not seem improper to take into consideration the general fact that these were miracles performed in lands which the Lord had before traversed, — lands where the nature of His healing powers might have been wholly misunderstood, and to which, for the spiritual benefit of the sufferers, it was judged meet that their earnest and deliberate attentions 1 On this miracle, the characteristics of which are alluded to in the text, see the comments of MAlaldonatus and Olshausen, Hook, Serm. on the AMiracles, Vol. ii. p. 49 sq., Trench, qnotes on the Mliracles, p. 348 sq., and Hare (Jul.), Serm. xiv. Vol. i. p. 245. 2 See Olshausen on the Gospels, Vol. ii. p. 206 (Clark), who comments at some length on the peculiarities in the performance of this miracle, and in that of the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida. Some good comments will also be found in Maldonatus, Comment. in Maarc. vii. 33. The withdrawal from the crowd is ascribed by the scholiast in Cramer's Catence (Vol. i. p. 338) to a desire on the part of our Lord to avoid display (iva Ozn 5`,p e7rLaelKTKcjs s'ItL'eX~Esi TaS &sE0o-71L;as); but this, in the present case, seems very doubtful. 3 So in effect 3laldonatus: " Quia ergo qui surdi sunt, videntur re aliqua obtu LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTIIERN GALILEE. 205 should be especially directed. Both these miracles, we may also observe, were accompanied with a command to preserve silence,' but in the case of the present miracle it was signally disobeyed. So widely, indeed, was the fame of it spread abroad that great multitudes, as we are told by St. Matthew, broughlt their sick unto the Lord; and He, who as He HIim- Ver. 24. self had but recently declared, was not come "save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," nevertheless sought His Father's glory even amidst half-Gentile Decapolis; so that it is not, perhlps, without deep meaning that the first Evangelist tells us that "they glorified v.3 the God of Israel."2 And they wele yet to Thefeedingofthe glorify Him Inore, and to be the witnesses of four thousand. the creative as well as of the healing powers of HIis beloved Son. Those eagner-hearted men had now so swelled in numbers that four thousand, without counting women and children, were gathered round the Lord and His Apostles, and He who had so pitied and relieved their afflictions now pitied and relieved their wants. They had come fiom far; they were fiint Mlark viii. 3. and weary, and were to be miraculously refieshed. Seven loaves feed the four thousand, just as, a few weeks before, and perhaps not far froml the same spot,3 ratas habere aures, mittit digitum in aures surdi, quasi clausas et obturatas terebraturus, aut impedimentum, quod in illis erat, ablaturus digito. Et quia qui muti sunt, videntur ligatam nimil siccitate habere linguam (?), palatoque adhxerentem, ideoque loqui non posse... mittit salivam in os muti, quasi ejus linguam humectaturus." - Vol. i. p. 762 ()iogunt. 1611). 1 See above, p. 180, note 3. 2 This did not escape the notice of Origren (in Alatt. Tom. xI. 18), who remarks as follows: "Yea, they glorify [Him, being persuaded that the Father of Him who healed the man above-mentioned is one and the same God with the God of Israel; for God is not the God of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." - Vol. iii. p. 508 (ed. Bened.). Theophylact (in slMatt. xv. 29) places the scene in Galilee, but, as the parallel passage in St. Mark (ch. vii. 31 sq.) seems clearly to prove, not correctly. Comp. Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 397, note 2. 3 The locality is not very clearly defined. That it was an uninhabited place appears from Matt. xv. 33, and that it was on the high ground east of the lake may be inferred from ver. 31. As the spot to which our Lord crosses over is situated about the middle of the western coast, we may perhaps consider the 18 206 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. V. five loaves had fed a greater number; "they did all eat," says the first Evangelist, "and were filled, dMatt. xv. 37; and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full." We may here pause, yet for a moment only, to make our decided protest against that shallow criticism Not identical with the feeding of the which would persuade us that this distinctive fve thousa..d. five thousad. miracle is merely an ill-remembered reproduction of the feeding of the five thousand a few weeks before.l Few opinions can be met more easily; few of the many misstatements that have been made in reference to the miracles of our Redeemer can be disposed of more readily and more satisflactorily. Let it be observed only that everything that might seem most clearly to specify and to characterize is different in the two Inilacles. The number of loaves in the latter miracle is greater; the number of fish greater; the remnants collected less; the people fewer; the time they had tarried longer; their behavior in the sequel noticeably different. The more excitable inhabitants of the coast-villages of the north and the west,2 we are distinctly told, would John.vi. have borne away our Lord and made Him a king, if He had not withdrawn into the mountains; the men of Decapolis and the eastern shores permit the Lord high ground in the neighborhood of the ravine nearly opposite to Magdala, which is now called Wady Semak, as not very improbably the site of the present miracle. I See, for example, De Wette, on Miatt. xv. 29, and Neander, Life of Christ, p. 287, note (Bohn). The remarks in the text seem sufficiently to demonstrate that such a view is wholly untenable. See more in Olshausen, Comment. Vol. ii. p. 209 sq. (Clark), Ebrard, Kritik der Evaqng. Gesch. ~ 86, p. 433; and compare Origen, in Matt. xi. 19, Vol. iii. p. 509 (ed. Bened.), Alford, Commentary, Vol. i. p. 157 (ed. 4). 2 The recipients in the case of the former miracle appear to have come mainly from the western side. Compare Mark vi. 33. They followed our Lord, we are told, on foot (Matt. xiv. 13), and would consequently have passed round the northern extremity of the lake, receiving probably, as they went, additions firom Bethsaida-Julias and the places in its vicinity. Chrysostom (in M.att. Hom. LIII. 2) seems to imply that the effect produced by this miracle was as great as that produced by the former miracle; this may have been so, but it certainly cannot be inferred from the words of the sacred narrative. LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE, 207 to leave them without any recorded excitement or demonstration. Let all these things be failly and temperately considered, and there will, I firmly believe, be found but few indeed who will feel doubt or difficulty as to the separate and distinct nature of this second manifestation of the Lord's creative beneficence.1 Immrediately after this miracle our Lord leaves a land which se reZothe lawe.seems to have displayed somewhat striking faith, and on which HIis divine visit could hardly have failed to have exercised a permlnnent spiritual influence, for the familiar shores on the opposite side of the lake. HIe crosses over to MIagdala,2 or perhaps to some village close to the high ground in its vicinity, which seems alluded to in the desination Dalmanrutha,3 as specified by the 1 On the miracle itself, which Origen (int Mlatt. Tom. xi. 19), though on somewhat insufficient reasons, considers as even greater than that of the feeding of the five thousand, see Origen, 1. c., Hilary, il Mlatt. Can. xv. p. 542 (Paris, 1631), Augustine, Serm. LXXXI. Append. (but apparently rightly regarded by Trench as genuine), Vol. v. p. 1902 (ed. Migni), Hook, Serm. on the Miracles, Vol. ii. p. 66, Trench, Notes on0 the.Mliracles, p. 355. The idea of Hilary (loc. cit.) that the former miracle has reference mainly to the Jews, the present miracle to the Gentiles, is perhaps not wholly fanciful; the multitude in the present case we may reasonably conceive to have been collected nearly entirely from Decapolis, and so mainly Gentile; the multitude in the former case, as we have observed, was apparently fiom Capernaum and its vicinity, and probably mainly Jewish. Compare p. 190, note 1. 2 This place is now unanimously regarded by recent travellers as situated, not on the eastern side of the lake (Lightfoot, Decas ('horographica iMarco proemissa, cap. v. 1). but on the western side, and at the miserable collection of huts now known by the name of "el-Medjel." See Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 397 (ed. 2), Thomson, Land andl the Book, Vol. ii. p. 108, where there is a sketch of this forlorn village, and Van de Velde, Ml3emoir, p. 334. It is proper to observe that some MISS. and versions of importance (BD; Vulg., Old Lat., al.) read Ma~yacsv, and that this reading has been adopted by some recent editors. Of this latter place nothing seems to be known; the identification with MIegiddo (Ewald, Drei Erst. Evv. p. 268, Gesch. Christnts', p. 333) does not seem very probable. 3 The exact locality of Dalmanutha is difficult to trace. It must clearly have been near to Magdala, as St. Mark (ch. viii. 10) specifies it as the place into the neighborhood of which our Lord arrived in the transit across the lake which we are now considering. If we accept the not improbable derivation of -'1, " was pointed " (Wieseler, (Chro;1'. S!/qnops. p. 312), we may fix the locality as close to or among the cliffs (see Thornson's sketch) which rise at a short distance from MAagdala. Porter indentifies Daimanutha with'" Ain el-Barideh " (Smith, Dict. of Bible, Vol. i. p. 381), situated at the mouth of a narrow glen a mile south of Magdala, but this appears only to rest on the fact that ruins are found there. 208 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. V. second Evangelist. But there His abode was short. The evil wrought by the emissaries fiom JerusaCh. viii. 10. lem was now only too mournfully apparent. No sooner was the Lord arrived than Pharisees, now for the first time leagued with Sadducees, as once before they had combined with Herodians, come to Him Mark iii. 6. with the sceptical demand of a sign from heaven. Amid such faithless and probably malevolent hearts the Lord vouchsafes not to tarry, but, as it would seem immediately, enters the vessel in which He had come,1 and with warning words to them, and a special att. v. 2 sq. caution to His disciples against the leaven of.Matt. xv. 2 sq. ch. xvi. 6; their teaching, crosses over to Bethsaida-Ju1ark viii. 1. lias, and there performs the progressively developed miracle of healing the blind man to which we have recently alluded.2 From thence we trace the Lord's steps northward to the towns and villages in the neighborhood of Journey northwtard to Ccesarea the remote city of Caesarea Philippi,3 near P"ilippi. which it is just possible that He might have passed in His circuit from Sidon a very few weeks before. 1 The words of St. SMark are here so very distinct (T7rdAv E'p,&s &7rsAXrv, ch. viii. 12) that the supposition of Fritzsche, that our Lord crossed over alone to the place where he was questioned by the Pharisees, and that he was afterwards joined by His disciples (Matt. xvi. 6), must be pronounced wholly untenable. The disciples are mentioned specially and by themselves (Matt. xvi. 5) simply because they alone form the subject of the e7reAdcovro, and because this act indirectly gave rise to the warning instructions which follow. 2 On this miracle, the chief characteristic of which is the very gradual and progressive nature of the cure, see the comments of Olshausen above alluded to (Comment. Vol. ii. p. 206, Clark), Trench, Notes on the MIiracles, p. 359, Hook, Serte. on the Miracles, Vol. ii. p. 20. The Bethsaida here mentioned is clearly not the village on the western side (comp. Theophylact in loc.), but BethsaidaJulias, by which the Lord would naturally have passed in his northward journey to Caesarea Philippi. 3 This picturesquely placed city, formerly called Panium (Joseph. Antiq. xv. 10. 3) or Paneas, from a cavern sacred to Pan in its vicinity (see Winer, 11 WB. Vol. i. p. 207, Stanley, Palest. p. 394), received its subsequent name from the Tetrarch Philip, by whom it was enlarged and beautified (Joseph. Antiq. xvIII. 2. 1, Bell. Judl. ii. 9. 1). For a description of its site see Robinson, Palestigne, Vol. iii. p. 408 sq. (ed. 2), and compare Thomson, Land and the Book, Vol. i. p. 314 sq., where there is a sketch of the singular cavern above alluded to. LECT. V. TIlE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. 209 Of the exact purpose of this journey, or of the special events connected with it, we have no certain knowledge, though we may reasonably infer, from the incidental mention of a formal address to the multitude as well as to the disciples, that public teaching Zark.ii. 34. and preaching rather than seclusion was the object of this extended circuit. However this may be, with those regions we connect three circumstances of considerable moment: _First, the remarkable profession of faith in Christ as the Son of the living God uttered by St. Peter as the ready spokesman of the rest of the Apostles, accompanied by the remarkable charge on the part of the Lord that they should tell it to no man 1 Secondly, and as it would seem almost immediately afterwards, the Lord's first formal prediction of IHis own sufferings and death, - a prediction which jarred strangely on the ears of men who now seem to have begun to realize more fully the divine nature and Messiahship of their beloved iaster; 2 Thirdly, the Transfiguration, which a precise note of time supplied by two Evangelists fixes as six days from, some epoch not Matt. xvii. 1. defined, but which the more general comment Miar ix. 2. of St. Luke seems to imply was that of the Ch. ix. 28. above-mentioned confession, and of the discourses associated with it.3 1 The true reason for this strict command (8slea~erat o, Matt. xvi. 20), at which Origen (in Matt. Tom. xii. 15) appears to have felt some difficulty, would seem to be one which almost naturally suggests itself; viz. that our Lord's time was not yet come, and that expectations were not to be roused among those who would have soughlt to realize them in tumults and popular excitement. As Cyril of Alexandria well says, "He commanded them to guard the mystery by a seasonable silence, until the whole plan of the dispensation should arrive at a suitable conclusion." — Conmmtent. on St. Luke, Part I. p. 220. 2 On this prediction see a good sermon by Horsley, Serm. xIX. Vol. ii. p. 121 (Dundee, 1810). 3 The six days are regarded by Lightfoot (Chtron. Temp. LIII.) as dating from the words last spoken by our Lord. This view differs but little firom that adopted in the text, as the confession of St. Peter seems to stand in close connection with the Lord's announcement of His own sufferings (see Luke ix. 21, 22), and this last announcement to have suggested what follows. A more inclusive reference, however, as well to the important confession as to what followed, appears, on the whole, more simple and more probable. The W&ol1 of St. Luke (oh. ix. 28) 18* 210 THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. LECT. V. On the mysteries connected with this third event, - the The locality and glorified aspect of Him whose very garments significance of the shone blight as the snows of the mountain Transfiguration. on which He was standing; the personal presence of Moses and Elias; the divine voice, not only of paternal love, but of exhortation and comiatt. xvii. 5; mand, "Hear ye Him," and the injunction contrast k iii 17 of the Saviour to seal all in silence till the Son of Man be risen from the dead, —on all this our present limits will not permit me to enlarge. Let me only remark, first, as to locality, that there seems every reason for fixing the scene of the Transfiguration, not on the more southern Tabor, but on one of the lofty spurs of the snow-capped Hermonll; secondly, as to its meaning and significance, that we may, not without reason, regard the whole as in mysterious connection both with St. Peter's profession of faith and with that saddening prediction which followed it, and which, it has been specially revealed, formed the subject of the mystic converse between the Lord and his two attendant saints. That the Luke i. 31. Transfiguration appearls generally to have had, what may be termed, a theological aspect, and was designed to show that the Law and the Prophets had now become a part of the Gospel, cannot reasonably be doubted; but that it was also designed to confirm the Apostles who witnessed it in their faith, and to supply them with spiritual strength against those hours of suffering and trial shows that there is no necessity to attempt a formal reconciliation (see Chrysost. in loc.) of his note of time with that supplied by St. Matthew and St. Mark. 1 So rightly Lightfoot (Ilor. Ilebr. in ~Marc. ix. 2), Iteland (PI'alcest. p. 334 sq.), and apparently the majority of the best recent commentators. The objections of Lightfoot to the traditional site, founded on the high improbability of so sudden a change of place, are nearly conclusive; and when we add to this that the summit of Tabor was then occupied by a fortified town (see Robinson, Palestine, Vol. ii. p. 359), we seem certainly warranted in rejecting a tradition though as old as the sixth century. The incidental simile,'Ws XL~,, of the graphic St. 3Iark (ch. ix. 3) might well have been supplied to him by one to whom the snowcapped mountain suggested it; the reading, however, though fairly probable (see lieyer, Komm. iib. 1Icark. p. 97), is not certain, ts XLcrv not being found in two of the four leading manuscripts. LECT. V. THE MINISTRY IN NORTHERN GALILEE. 211 which our Lord had recently predicted, seems pressed upon us by the position it occupies in the sacred narrative.' And the practical faith of the Apostles was verily still weak, for, on the very day that followed, their The healing of a want of spiritual strength to heal a deaf and demoniac boy..Mark ix. 25. dumb demoniac afforded an opportunity, only too readily seized, to some Scribes who were present, of making it fully known to the gathering multitudes. They were in the very act, St. Mark tells us, of questioning with the disciples, when the Lord, with His face perchance still reflecting the glories of the ark x. 14. past night,2 comes among the disputing and amazed throng. After a general rebuke for the want of faith shown by all around,3 the Lord commands the hapless lad to be brought 1 This view seems certainly to have been considered probable by Chrysostom, who states as a fifth reason why Moses and Elias appeared in attendance on the Lord, that it was "to comfort Peter and those who regarded with fear the (Lord's) suffering, and to raise up their thoughts," —in Matt. Horn. LI. 2, Vol. vii. p. 638 (ed. Bened. 2). Comp. Cyril Alex. on St. Luke, Serm. LI. Part II. p. 227 (Transl.). The last-mentioned writer, it is proper to be observed, also clearly states the reason alluded to in the text for the appearance of Moses and Elias (ib. p. 228), and so, as we might imagine, does Origen, who briefly but pertinently says, " Moses the Law and Elias the Prophets are become one, and united with Jesus the Gospel,"-in Matt. Tom. xII. 43, Vol. iii. p. 565 (ed. Belied.). On the subject generally, besides the writers above referred to, see August. Serm. LXXWIII. Vol. v. p. 490 (ed. Mign6), Hall, Contempl. iv. 12. Racket, vII. Serm. p. 441 sq. (Lond. 1675), Frank, Serrn. XLVII. Vol. ii. p. 318 (A.-C.L.), Lange, Leben Jesu, II. 512, Part II. p. 902, and Olshausen, Commentary, Vol. ii. p. 228 sq. (Clark). The opinion that this holy mystery was a sleeping or waking vision (comp. Milman, Hist. of Christianity, Vol. i. p. 258), though as old as the days of Tertullian (contr. larc. Iv. 22), is at once to be rejected, as plainly at variance with the clear, distinct, objective statements of the three inspired narrators. 2 This. as Euthymius (second altern.) suggests, may perhaps be inferred from, and be the natural explanation of, the strong word 4ecS-suIrod'/av (ai al yp iakbes ip~fKiEai3at lrva XPLptv'eJ v1is tuesravop