unwearying labors, the intense sufferings to which the Son submitted, to make God glorious and man happy, and the complete success which crowned these sacrifices, and labors, and sufferings. : The manner in which this satisfaction has been displayed, will be best described in the words of the prophetic and apostolic testimony. When, in prosecuting his great work, he descended into the state of the dead, God "did not leave his soul in hell"--the separate state-nor did he allow even the body of his Holy One to see corruption. He showed him the path of life; he introduced him into his immediate presence, where there is "fulness of joy ;" he set him "at his right hand, where are pleasures for evermore. And there He who is the King and the King's Son "joys in his Father's strength, and in his salvation he greatly rejoices. He has given him the desire of his heart; he has not withholden the desire of his lips. He has prevented him with the blessings of goodness; He has set a crown of pure gold on his head he asked life and He gave it him, even length of days for ever and ever: His glory is great in his salvation; honor and majesty have been laid on him. For He has made him him most blessed for ever; He has made him exceeding glad with His countenance." "The Son loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even his God, has anointed him with the oil of gladness above his fellows." He has "set him on his own right hand, and said, Sit on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool;" and the decree has gone forth, "Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." He has "given to him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and that kingdom shall not be destroyed." "All kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him." (6 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun; and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed." And, while the Father brings Him, as his first-begotten, into the world-puts him in possession of his inheritance of the nations-He gives forth the mandate, "Let all the angels of God worship him." Jehovah has been "well pleased for his righteousness' sake:" and "when he had made his soul an offering for sin, he saw his seed, he prolonged his days, and the pleasure of the Lord prospered in his hand. He saw of the trav ail of his soul, and was satisfied." Jehovah has assigned him "the great for his portion, and the strong for his spoil; because he poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."" Such is the prophetic testimony respecting Jehovah's satisfaction in the work of his Son and Servant, and respecting the manner in which this satisfaction is expressed. : 24 Psal. xvi. 10, 11; xxi. 1-6; xlv. 7; cx. 1; ii. 8. Dan. vii. 14. Psal. lxxii. 11, 17; xcvii. 7. Heb. i. 6. Isa. liii. 10-12. Yet us now shortly attend to the apostolic testimony on the same subjects. In answer to his supplication, as the God of peace, the Father "brought him again from the dead, through the blood of the everlasting covenant," received him up into heaven, and hath "glorified him with the glory which he had with him before the world was. He hath "made him both Lord and Christ"-" Lord of all." "He hath raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand, in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and hath given him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” He "hath committed all judgment to him"-given him power over all flesh-all power in heaven and earth-and commanded that all should "honor the Son, even as they honor" himself. cause he, who was in the form of God, and reckoned not equality with God a prey-emptied himself took on him the form of a servant—was made in the fashion of man-and being found in that fashion, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; therefore God has highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." He "is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God, angels, and authorities, and powers, being made subject to him." "Be And when the end comes, then, in a still more illustrious manner, will the Father manifest, before the assembled universe, how he loves the Son, because "he laid down his life, that he might take it again." He shall then "appear in his own glory, and in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels. Then shall he sit on the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations;" and his righteous sentence, as the supreme Judge, shall fix the eternal destinies of men and angels." Then will it be made apparent to all intelligent beings, that this is the God-man whom Jehovah delights to honor, and indelibly will it be engraved on every mind in the universe, "The Father loveth the Son"-" Behold how he loveth him." Thus have I endeavored, with all the brevity and distinctness in my power, to lay before your minds the various parts of that magnificent thought which the text expresses-Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten of God, satisfactorily accomplishing the great work of human salvation committed to him, in the exercise powers every way adequate to it, is the object of his Father's entire approbation and most tender love.' I have turned your attention to the great work of the Son-showed you that this work was committed to him by his Father-unfolded the qualifications which fitted him for such a trust-described the manner 25 Heb. xiii. 20. 23. Phil. ii. 9-11. John xvii. 5. Acts ii. 36; x. 36. Eph. i. 20-23. John v. 22, in which, in the exercise of these qualifications, he performed the work entrusted to him—and, finally, pointing out the manner in which the Father has manifested, is manifesting, and will manifest, his entire approbation of the work, and his infinite complacency in its author. You And now, my brethren, "What think ye of Christ?" have heard of his qualifications as a Saviour; you have heard how he has manifested these qualifications in procuring and bestowing salvation; you have heard of his all-perfect atonement; you have heard of his prevalent intercession; you have heard of his boundless dominiom; you have heard of his resistless power; you have heard of his infinite grace; you have heard what the Father thinks of him and his work; you have heard how He loves him, why He loves him, and how He manifests his love to him; and shall all this appear to you a matter of slight interest, of little moment? and shall we, who speak to you of these things, seem to you as those who mock? can you make light of it? You may do so now, but you will not be able to do so alwayslikely not on a death-bed-certainly not at the judgment-seat; and how soon may you be laid on the one-placed before the other! I scarcely think one of you would dare to speak derogatorily of the person and work of the Son of God; but if you think, if you feel, if you act, derogatorily of them, it is the same thing in the estimation of Him with whom you have to dowho, while men look at the outward appearance, looks on the heart. His question is, "What think ye of Christ ?" and he asks it, not that He may obtain information, but that you may be led to reflection. Oh, remember that, as you judge of Him, you shall be judged by Him: "By what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." Can your judgment be right, if it is not in accordance with that of God, whose judgment is always according to truth? God loves Christ; ought not you to love him? God loves him, because he died to save you, and will you not love him for this reason? Will you not love him who so loved you, as not to love his life to the death for your salvation? God is well pleased with his work; why should not you? God rewards him; why should not you seek to avail yourself of the high honor put within your reach, of being workers together with God in this highest and holiest of his works, rewarding his Son? You do not rightly estimate him and his work, if you do not, on account of that work, devote yourselves entirely to him, who devoted himself entirely for you-if you do not henceforth live, not to yourselves, but to him who died for you, and rose again; and, taught by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, learn to deny ungodliness, and worldy lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us แ from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.' NOTE A, p. 524. “V. 17-19. "Iva λáßo may be connected with the latter member, Tíðŋμi T. 4. μov, or with the former, ayanṛ. In the last case the sense would be Therefore, because I give my life, dia Touro ori, the Father loveth me so much, that I shall recover my life again.' This construction, however, is somewhat forced. It is more natural to connect Iva with the latter member,-'because I lay down my life that I may take it again;' for the final end of all the agency of Christ was the resurrection with which his glorification commenced. "Iva is not necessarily ecbatic merely, exßarixos. [See an able essay on the use of Iva in the New Testament, by Tittmann, translated by Prof. Stuart for the Bib. Repos. Jan. 1835.] Theod. Mopsuest.: o3× åпоðrýσ×εi ïva ἵνα ἀναστῇ, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ ἰδίωμα τὸ γραφικόν, ὡς αἰτίαν τὸ ἑπόμενον ἔφη. He did not die for the purpose of rising again; but, conformably to a scriptural idiom, he calls that a cause which was merely a consequence. Calvin: dicit non hac lege se moriturum, ut absorbeatur a morte, sed ut victor mox resurgat.' 'He says that he is not about to die in such a way as to be swallowed up of death, but to the end that he might rise again victorious from the grave.'-It would seem that the only ground on which the Father could love Christ for his entrance into death, was the fact that he devoted himself to it freely from a personal impulse of love. He therefore adds, that he of his own accord had come to accomplish those designs of salvation which God had for the human race, through his death. This expression of necessity leads to the assumption, that in the man Christ there was a full personality, human and free, while, at the same time, we cannot suppose that this was separated from the Being of God in him; for it was only by its unity with God that it had power, ¿§ohola, to re-assume life. As he correctly marked in the edition of Knapp, this verse is parenthetic, and taúrηy refers either directly to verse 17, or, as Grotius thinks, to the whole section concerning Christ's solicitude for his flock."-THOLUCK. 26 Tit. ii. 12-14. EXPOSITION XV. CONVERSATION WITH THE JEWS AT THE FEAST OF DEDICATION. JOHN X. 22-42. THE extreme circumstantiality of the gospel narratives is a strong presumptive proof of their truth. Nobody can read them without being struck by this characteristic. There is often a very minute detail of circumstances, a variety of little occurrences are mentioned which could never have entered into the mind of an inventor, but which naturally suggested themselves to the mind of an eye-witness, when about to record the event with which they were connected. The time, the place, the witnesses, are very generally noticed. Now, this was what no impostor would have ventured to do. Is it conceivable, that in a book published in the place where, and soon after the period when, the supposed events are said to have taken place, such a person should state, that at such a time, in such a place, in the presence of such individuals, such transactions took place, while there were many who, from their own experience, could contradict his testimony, and declare that no such transactions happened? Imposture has generally found it necessary to deal in general undefined statements; or, if it descends to particulars, the scene and the period are placed at such a distance as to make confutation difficult. The more of circumstance we introduce into a story, it has been justly remarked,' the more do we multiply the chances of detection if it be false, and the means, of confirmation if it be true; and, therefore, where a great deal of circumstance is naturally introduced, it proves that the narrator feels the confidence of truth, and labors under no apprehension for the fate of his narrative. Even though we have it not in our power to verify a single circumstance, yet the mere fact of a story being minutely, yet naturally, circumstantial, is always felt to be a strong presumption of its truth. No narratives possess this character in a superior, perhaps in an equal, degree, to the gospel histories. And when it is considered that, at the time of their publication, there were multitudes of highly-influential persons who would have eagerly embraced every method of proving their falsehood, the corroborative evidence thus suggested of their truth will be felt, by all honest minds, to be powerful indeed. 1 Paley. |