A.D. 30. what was done should in any sense be ascribed to themselves, and not to Jesus Christ. It matters their minds be in and the with Christ's name: 1. In the titles that belong to Him; 2. In the history of the people's conduct; 3. In His relation to God. III. He develops the Christian plan of restitution.c Coveting human praise.-Three clergymen conversing, one said, "Give me praise for my preaching, because I like it." The second said, "Give me praise that I may give it to my Master." The third said, "Give my Master all the praise, and let me not have not whether their any."-Obligation to praise God.-Think not, O man, whosoever ears be offended, thou art, that God will dispense with this tribute of praise from or not, provided thee! Remember, that merely as man, thou art the high priest of prostrated all creation, a little miniature of the universe in thyself, repre- humility before senting the angels in virtue of thy immortal spirit, the lower God, creatures in virtue of thy sensations and appetites, and matter in mighty miracle virtue of thy body. Thus, when thou singest praise, all creation alone."-Abbadie. (in a manner) sings in thee and with thee.d-Dr. Goulburn. 14, 15. Holy One," a title of the Messiah. murderer, Christ was Barabbas [i. 219 366; ií. 201] Prince. . life, author and chief raised up ruler of life, spiritual, and natural.d Christ the Holy One and the Just.-In the full sense-I. As opposed to the murderer Barabbas. II. In the sight of His God and Father. Christ the Holy One, also the Prince of Life.eChrist rejected.-I. How far this charge extends to us. II. What the guilt we have contracted calls for at our hands: 1. Repentance; 2. Conversion.ƒ ascribed to Him c Dr. Thomas. killed and a Ps. xvi. 10; Mk. i. 24; Lu. i. 35; iv. 34; Ac. vii. 52. b Lu. xxiii. 18, 19. c Jo. i. 4; He. ii. 10. d Jo. v. 26; xi. 25. "A terrible ag gravation in this murder was that He whom they deprived of life was Himself the One who gives life to all." Hackett. to ac Inexcusable ignorance.-A Jew, in a letter to one of the same nation, writes:-"One day I overheard your worthy gardener, William, tell another Christian servant that the sermon had been that morning on these words, Ye have killed the Prince of Life.' Fears what would become of me if that were true, so agitated me the whole night, that, after a short and sudden interrupted sleep, I rose early to walk in the garden. There I soon met William, who, with honest and undissembled goodness, asked me, 'What vexes you? Often, when you imagined you was not seen, I have observed you in the garden sighing, wringing your hands, and "There is no lifting up your eyes to heaven. 'I am as Are you unhappy? time, when men wretched as possible!' 'How, sir? you are a man of fortune, and are less likely, being unmarried, have no kind of family distress!' 'Yes, but I without overam a Jew!' 'Well, you are not at all the worse on that account. powering testiThousands of your nation live merrily!' 'But if it be true what mony knowledge a fact, your minister preached yesterday! '—William, leaping back some than when it paces, asked, full of surprise, 'How know you what my minister proves thempreached?' 'I heard you tell it yesterday to John.' Well, but selves guilty."with the same breath, Peter told his countrymen, Now, brethren, I Abp. Sumner. wot that through ignorance ye did it.' 'Be it so, William; but I, "By the counsel who see strong proofs of your religion around me, and even in my it was set down own wandering and depressed nation, am less excusable.' 'Yet and determined, the Prince of Life prayed for His murderers, and commanded that that His glory to them, first, remission of sins should be preached. You are of the nation beloved for the Father's sake.' He would have said more: when, seeing you, he broke off, and whispered in my ear, e Schleiermacher. 'My Jesus loves even His murderers.' Soon after, as I was stepping into a schute, I stumbled, and probably should have been drowned, had not the minister of the village, whom I had the day before, against my conscience, joined you in ridiculing, caught hold of me with his hand. 'Honest man,' said I, 'what virtue is this, to rescue from death one of a nation which killed your Prince of the Godhead should add to His punishment."-P. Leo. f Rev. C. Simeon. A.D. 30. culpable ignorance a Ma. xvii. 19, 20; Ac. xiv. 9, 10; Ma. ix. 22; Ep. ii. 8. b Lu. xxiii. 24; 1 Ti. i. 13; Jo. of Life!' He kindly replied, 'My Master loves even His murderers.' I cannot express what I felt when I heard these words repeated, and what anxiety has filled my mind ever since." 16-18. name, wh. is above every other name. faith.. name, without wh. faith, that name even would be a powerless word. The Apostles' faith is, of course, here meant. strong, who all his life had been a helpless cripple. see.. know, there can, therefore, be no imposition. faith,a again ref. to, lest it should be overlooked. perfect soundness, no half cure. xvi. 3; 1 Co. ii. presence.. all, you know what he was, you see what he is. ignorance, they did not, at the time, know the whole extent of their criminality. Look at other men's sins as charitably as possible. ye.. also. . rulers, you, not the rulers alone. Do not try to shift the responsibility, neither look upon your rulers as the only criminals. Regard them as charitably as I regard you. prophets. . fulfilled, aft. all, this ignorance and sin were overruled for fulfilment of prophecy. 7, 8. c Lu. xxii. 44: Ps. xxii. i. 6-8; 22, 23. "The language of Peter con C cedes to them such a palliation Miraculous faith.-"A miracle is the dearest child of faith," of the deed as says the poet. I. Faith performs the miracle. II. Faith expericonsisted, at the ences the miracle (the lame man who, although not before the of their miracle, yet after it, appears as a believer). III. Faith comprecommitting it, in the absence of hends the miracle.d time a distinct convic but it does not the evidence that this was His character, wh. had been furnished life, doctrine, and Faith, the connecting link.-Look at that locomotive as it snorts tion that He like a giant war-horse to its place in the station at the head of whom they cruthe train. You have in that engine power of amplest capacity cifled was the Lord of Life and to drag at swiftest pace the far-stretching carriages. Boilers, Glory (see xii. 27 tubes, pistons, fire, steam-all are in perfect order; and that and I Cor. ii. 8); broad-browed man gives assurance of tried ability to guide the exonerate them charge committed to him. You look: carriage after carriage is from the guilt of filled, the hour has struck, the bell rung; and yet there is no having resisted departure, no movement, nor would be till" crack of doom," if one thing remained as it now is. Aha! the lack is discovered: the uniting hooks that bind engine and train together were wanting. They have been supplied. Like two great hands, they have clasped; and a screw has so riveted engine and carriage, that they form, as it were, one thing, one whole; and away through the dark sweeps the heavy-laden train with its freight of immortals. Mark! no one ever supposes that it is the uniting hook or link or coupling that draws the train. A child knows that it is the engine that draws it. Nevertheless, without that hook or link or coupling, all the power of the engine were of no avail: the train would stand still for ever. Exactly so, my brethren, is it in the relation of faith to Christ. It is not our faith that saves us, but Christ that saves us.e by His miracles. resurrection." Prof. Hackett. d Gerok. e Dr. Grosart. repent and be converted a Ac. ix. 35; xi. 21; xiv. 15; XV. 19. b Col. ii. 14; Is. xliii. 25. d Ma. xvii. 11; e "Such a period 19-21. repent, for your ignorance does not absolve you fr. guilt. therefore, bec. you both need and may find mercy. converted, a turned round in heart and life to Christ. sins.. out, past guilt obliterated. times.. come, future blessings prepared for. from.. Lord, fr. the place where He is. His throne of grace. He.. send, at the end of the world. must, acc. to Divine plan. receive, permanently. restitution, restoration.d all.. began, fr. the earliest times of prophetic revelation.e Repentance and conversion.-I. The miseries of the unconof restoration to verted. II. The blessings of the converted. III. Hindrances to A.D. 30. Hackett. of pro the "When we think of an universal the world, how conflagration of can we but fear? But when we think of a happy restitution of all conversion. The Christian plan for effecting the moral restitution of the world.-The Christian plan of restitution :-I. Aims holiness and hapat a thorough spiritual reformation as the necessary condition: piness is the ex1. Repentance; 2. Absolution; 3. Invigoration. II. Is ever plicit or implied under God's direction. III. Will completely realise its glorious theme fr. phecy end before Christ's final advent.g-Conversion of Cupido.-Cupido, begins to the end a Hottentot, was remarkable for swearing, lying, fighting, and of the O. T."drunkenness. His vices often laid him on a sick bed. He was sometimes afraid of God, though ignorant of Him; and expected that his conduct would prove the destruction of his soul. He begged all he met to point out some mode of deliverance from the sin of drunkenness, supposing that to abandon his other vices would be easy. Some directed him to witches and wizards, whom he found miserable comforters; for they told him that when persons began to make such inquiries it was a sure sign of speedy death, and that his life was not worth a farthing. Others prescribed various medicines, which he found as unavailing as the counsels of the witches. He was providentially led to Graaf Reinet, where he heard, in a discourse from the Missionary Vanderlingen, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, could save sinners from their sins. He said within himself, "That is what I want! That is what I want!" He repaired to the Missionaries, expressing his wish to become acquainted with this Jesus. And he told all he met, that he had at last found one who could save sinners from their sins. Upon finding that the preaching of the Missionaries fitted his own case, and laid open the secrets of his heart, he said, "This is not of Man, but of God." After he had rejoiced in the hope of Divine forgiveness, it was his practice to recommend Christ to others, as the only remedy for sin, who could destroy it, as he himself could. witness, both root and branch." h 66 things on that day, how can we not but rejoice with trembling." -Bp. Hall. f W. Stevens. g Homilist. "The minister's heart must be right with God.' The state of the heart causes one ferred to another, equally esteemed among good man to be pre men."-Bengelt. Dr. Cheever. 22. Moses.. said,a etc., quoted chiefly fr. the LXX. With a prophet the same object, Stephen also cites this passage. fathers, the like Moses representatives of the patriarchs. prophet, whom the Jews ref. to a De. xviii. 15, the Messiah. like.. me, chiefly as mediator,d also teacher, legis- 18, 19. lator. shall.. hear, not simply a prediction, but a command. b Ac. vii. 37. He. ix. 15. 19; "So particular is this prophecy, that it is twice Christ and Moses related to each other.-I. As prophecy and c Jo. iv. 25; see fulfilment. II. As Law and Gospel. III. As servant and son.e-Hengstenberg, Peter's testimony concerning Christ.-I. He is the substance of all Chrisol, i. 95. miracles. II. The Redeemer of all souls. III. The accomplisherd Ga. iii. of all prophecies.-The Prophet of the New Covenant.-I. Who is He? II. What is His vocation? III. What is our duty to Him? IV. All the promises of God are yea and amen in Him.8 The sources of truth.-The Bible is like a great river. springs are hidden in the mountain of God's eternal love. a drop, there a trickling brook, there a rushing flood, it has forth from those unseen depths, till at length all its streams have the Acts."-W. met in one mighty river, whose waters go far and wide to slake Jones. All its Here come given in the book of Deuteronomy, and twice reasoned from in g Laubein. a thirsty world. There is a wonderful pleasure to explorers in e Spiegelhauer, tracing a great river to its source, in discovering the tiny beginf Lisko. ning of so grand a power. Not long ago a pair of noble English travellers spent years among the fever swamps, the waste wilder- "Christ nesses, and the fierce savages of Central Africa, that they might not into the solve the problem which had baffled all other ages of the world- world merely to whence came the river-god of ancient Egypt, the mighty, fertilis-cast ing monster Nile. The sun fought against them, and smote over us, and hide came а mantle all A.D. 30. ness; but He sician of souls, them with sunstroke; the natives fought against them, for they were treacherous and cruel as serpents; plague fought against our filthy sores from God's them, and their camels, and oxen, and horses died. Health, comavenging eye fort, friends, means, everything failed them but the strong hope with His merit and purpose with which they set out; but these carried them and righteous- through, and at last, with a thrill of unutterable delight, their came especially eyes beheld the blue waves of a great inland lake, from the bosom to be a chirur- of which came forth the infant Nile. They launched their boats geon and phyon its unfurrowed surface, and an English cheer rang across the to free us from still waters which had kept their mighty secret since the world the fifth and began. Our hearts glow when we read of such dauntless achievecorruption of ments, and we are ready to raise three cheers for Sir Samuel and them; which is grievous Lady Baker. But after all, when they had accomplished their and burthen- purpose, what was gained? One precious grain of long-sought some, more noi- knowledge, and that soon to be again called in question; some some to a true fresh details of savage barbarism, and hints about commerce that the guilt of sin may be useful to traders; but no new fountain of life was opened itself." Cud- in that wilderness, and, perhaps, almost all but the explorers themselves may be ready to say in their hearts, that the way was nobler than the end." more Christian than worth. the sin of re- a Lu. x. 10-12, 23, 24. and, etc., this is Peter's comment on Moses's words. not hear, shall, therefore, disobey the command. (Predicted, that the prophet should be raised up; commanded that He should be heard, i.e., obeyed.) destroyed people, excluded fr. kingdom of God." yea.. days, foretelling the coming One; and commanding that He be received as the Messiah. Christ a prophet, and yet more than a prophet.-I. He teaches the way of God rightly, and is Himself that Way. II. He prophesies, and is the aim and end of all prophecies. III. He is "Since God es- anointed with, and is the dispenser of, the Holy Spirit.a c 1 S. iii. 1, 20. teems His word. above all things, to death; and 'He shall be cut Christ as a teacher.-We notice the perfect originality and indeit must needs be, pendence of His teaching. We have a great many men who are that He punishes original, in the sense of being originators, within a certain bounthe contempt of it. Therefore, if dary of educated thought. But the originality of Christ is unany man rejected educated. That He draws nothing from the stores of learning can the Law of Moses, be seen at a glance. The impression we have in reading His he was sentenced instructions justifies to the letter the language of His contemMoses himself poraries, when they say, "This man hath never learned." There testified of this, is nothing in any of His allusions or forms of speech that indicates when he said, learning. Indeed, there is nothing in Him that belongs to His off from the peo-age or country-no one opinion, or task, or prejudice. The ple.'"-Calvin. attempts that have been made, in a way of establishing His mere natural manhood, to show that He borrowed His sentiments from the Persians and the Eastern forms of religion, or that He had which follows been intimate with the Essenes, and borrowed from them, or the sun, doth so that He must have been acquainted with the schools and religions even in cloudy of Egypt, deriving His doctrine from them-all attempts of the doth not shine kind having so palpably failed as not even to require a deliberate forth, yet it fol- answer. If He is simply a man, as we hear, then He is most cerlows the hidden tainly a new and singular kind of man, never before heard of; one course and mo- who visibly is quite as great a miracle in the world as if He were the soul that not a man. We can see for ourselves, in the simple directness moves after God, and freedom of His teachings, that whatever He advances is for keeps that course Himself. Shakespeare, for instance, whom we name as being His face; is con- probably the most creative and original spirit the world has ever tent, yea, is glad produced-one of the class, too, that are called self-made men-is d Gerok. "That flower days when it tion of it. So, when He hides estates, or con ton. yet tinged in all his works with human learning. His glory is, A.D. 30. indeed, that so much of what is great in history and historic character lives and appears in his dramatic creations. He is the at His will in all high priest, we sometimes hear, of human nature. But Christ, ditions, or understanding human nature so as to address it more skilfully events."Leighthan he, never draws from its historic treasures. He is the High Priest, rather, of the Divine nature, speaking as one that has a Dr. Bushnell. come out from God, and has nothing to borrow from the world. It is not to be detected by any sign that the human sphere in which He moved imparted anything to Him. His teachings are just as full of Divine nature as Shakespeare's of human. ham a 25, 26. children,a sons, inheritors. prophets, the predic- covenant tions ab. the Messiah addressed esp. to you. covenant, the with Abramercies of wh. first offered to you. Abraham," the father of the faithful. The great progenitor of the Jews. you.. him, special message by a special messenger. bless, a message of mercy, not of condemnation. turning.. iniquities, object of the message: condition of the blessing. e Ac. ii. 39; Ro. ix. 4; xv. 8; Ga. iii. 8, 26. b Ge.xxii. 18; Ga. iii. 16, 29. c Ma. x. 5, 6; xv. 24; Lu. xxiv. 47; Ac. i. 8. d 1 Pe. i. 3, 4, 15, of their enormous guilt, they were now cast off from The blessings Christ bestows.-I. The parties concerned. II. The benefit offered. III. The kind of blessing we have by the Mediator"in turning away," etc.-1. Negatively; 2. Positively. IV. In what way does Christ turn us from our iniquities? Converted Jews.-A. Jewish convert says: "It is a well-known 16; Ep. i. 3, 4. fact, that men celebrated as theologians, as lawyers, as teachers e Tit. ii. 11-14. of the young, as professors at the various universities of Europe, "They might have been or are converts from Judaism. The late M. Fould, the well have great French finance-minister, was a Jewish convert. The late thought, that, in Dr. Neander, the author of one of the most erudite works on the consequence Church of Christ, and professor of theology at the University of Berlin, was a converted Jew. Dr. Crippadorn, of Holland, physician to his Majesty the King of Holland, is a converted Jew. The late Dr. Duffosty, one of the greatest poets which Holland has that He whom ever produced, and the author of Israel and the Gentiles, A they had cruciHarmony of the Gospels, and several other works, was a Jewish fied should any longer regard convert. The late Dr. Alexander, the first bishop of Jerusalem, them as His was a converted Jew; whilst not less than a hundred and thirty people. Peter clergymen of the Church of England are converted Jews." He therefore raises their spirits."states further, that in London there are between two and three Clarius. thousand Jewish converts, whose conduct, whether as heads of families, as citizens, or as men, is an honour and credit to the Churches with which they are connected. God's favour; nor was it reasonable f Dr. Manton. b CHAPTER THE FOURTH. 2 Ch. viii. 4; also 1, 2. priests, the course officiating at that timea [ii. 9]. persecution captain, commander of the Levites who preserved order.c by the priests Sadducees [i. 14, 161], materialists. Did not believe in the a1 Ch.xxiv. 3, ff.; resurrection, etc. grieved, vexed, angry, indignant. through Jos. Ant. vii. 14. 7. Jesus, acc. to the pattern or model of His resurr. They esp. declared the fact of His resurr. as the proof and pledge of theirs. Church education.-I. The adversary of Church education. In the text: 1. The causes, and 2. The authors of this first outbreak c Jahn. Ant. 365. are expressly recorded. II. The public moral education of our b Jos. Wars, vi. 5. 3; 2 Macc. iii. 4; Lu. xxii. 52. |