city" where the preachers of the Word have come. The curtain falls upon the company of disciples "returning with great joy," even from the parting with their ascended King, and "continually praising and blessing God." Nay, our evangelist is suffered to unveil to us the hallowed delights of the heavenly sanctuary; and from the rejoicings of angels over repenting sinners, we are taught that "it is meet for us to make merry and be glad." Oh, Christian of the drooping, doubting, spirit, breathe the air which this gospel diffuses, and in its own words, "lift up your head, for your redemption draweth near.”

Luke is still with us" in these imperishable works which the Spirit moved him to accomplish. But as Paul hastens to speak of a greater Friend, who never left him in his worst extremities, we too pass from the servant's representations to the Master's life and person. Whatever becomes of earthly helpers, "the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work," adds the apostle. Through these inspired pages we also reach the presence of the incarnate Redeemer; and as at Jericho, at Bethany, at Emmaus, He" comes in to us, and sups with

us, and we with Him."

THE RECOGNITION.

MALCOLM ANDERSON, at the age of sixteen, left his widowed mother in the highlands of Scotland to seek his fortune as a sailor. After several voyages, the proceeds of which were largely bestowed on his mother, he went to India, and by diligence and shrewdness became wealthy. As his fortunes improved he cared for rupees. his mother, and sent her money He had married one of his enough to secure and repair her countrywomen, the daughter of cottage home, and annually re- a Scotch surgeon; and had two mitted enough to meet her ex- children, a son and a daughter. penses and pay the wages of a faithful servant or companion who abode with her.

he was grey and somewhat bald, with here and there a dash of white to his dark auburn beard; he was thin and a little bent, but his youthful smile remained full of quiet drollery, and his eye had not lost all its old gleeful sparkle by poring over ledgers and counting

He did not write to his good mother that he was coming home, as he wished to surprise her, and Entangled in business cares, Mr. test her memory of her sailor-boy. Anderson never found time and The voyage was made with safety. freedom for the long voyage and One summer afternoon Mr. Malvisit home; till at last, failing colm Anderson arrived with his health, and the necessity of edu- family in his native town. Putting cating his children, compelled him up at the little inn, he proceeded to abruptly wind up his affairs and to dress himself in a suit of sailor return to Scotland. He was then clothes, and then walked out alone. a man somewhat over forty, but By a bypath he well knew, and looking far older than his years, then through a shady lane, dear to showing all the usual ill effects of his young, hazel-nutting days, all the trying climate of India. His strangely unchanged, he approached complexion was a sallow brown; his mother's cottage. He stopped

284 ON THE SUBORDINATE CHARACTERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

peculiar to Luke; a mingled breadth and warmth, which remind us continually of the Christian teaching and temper of the last and greatest of the apostles.

There are traces and traditions which connect Paul with the actual composition of the Gospel of Luke. The intimate friendship in which the two men lived would doubtless lead the apostle to relate to the evangelist much of what he had received from the Lord, and to counsel him in his selection of materials. If the third gospel was written during the imprisonment at Cæsarea, as is reported, the connection becomes the more probable. Too much stress, however, is not to be laid upon this point. Luke certainly gathered his information from a great variety of sources, and was in direct communication with the original apostles. The link which attaches him to Paul is rather in the inward view which he takes of Christian truth, and the spirit in which he labours to present it. Let it suffice to instance two characteristics.

Salvation by grace is confessedly the leading theme of Paul's preaching and of Paul's epistles. He was the apostle of the Gentiles, commissioned to present the gospel in its simplest and freest form, clear of all limitations. Now if we had to choose out of the four gospels the one most suited to the heathen, as distinguished from the Jews, and most adapted for general circulation, should we hesitate to choose the Gospel of Luke? Christ appears in its pages as emphatically the Saviour; as the Saviour of the world, and especially as the Saviour of the lost. The famous fifteenth chapter is really the key to the whole book. Seeking the lost is its burden from beginning to end. The outcasts of society become the objects of Christ's care and cure. The characters we meet are the beggar Lazarus, the poor widow with her two mites, the despised Samaritan, the publican pushed into the outskirts of the temple court, the prodigal son. To the Saviour's feet creeps the fallen woman of the city; the sinner Zaccheus runs to see Him; on the very cross the penitent robber craves His mercy. All own Him, and all are by Him accepted. Let the contrite and troubled heart turn hither! For here we meet the fulness of redeeming mercy which, comprehending the vilest, cannot exclude us; and here we see in exercise that simple principle of humble confidence which justifies the ungodly: "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." It is Paul's great doctrine of justification by faith, illustrated in the action, and impressed in the words, of Christ.

No less prominent in Luke is that other leading element in Paul's teaching which he calls "joy in the Lord." The third gospel is, above all, the gospel of gladness. The angels' song is echoed from one page to another: "Behold, we bring you good tidings of great joy." A happy Christian heart, one feels, has been concerned in the choice and composition of its materials. For the people "rejoice at all the wonderful works" of Christ; and the seventy "return with joy" from their missionary travels; and the sinner, whose house the Lord enters," receives him joyfully:” and “there is great joy in the

city" where the preachers of the Word have come. The curtain falls upon the company of disciples "returning with great joy," even from the parting with their ascended King, and "continually praising and blessing God." Nay, our evangelist is suffered to unveil to us the hallowed delights of the heavenly sanctuary; and from the rejoicings of angels over repenting sinners, we are taught that "it is meet for us to make merry and be glad." Oh, Christian of the drooping, doubting, spirit, breathe the air which this gospel diffuses, and in its own words, "lift up your head, for your redemption draweth near."

Luke is still with us" in these imperishable works which the Spirit moved him to accomplish. But as Paul hastens to speak of a greater Friend, who never left him in his worst extremities, we too pass from the servant's representations to the Master's life and person. Whatever becomes of earthly helpers, "the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work," adds the apostle. Through these inspired pages we also reach the presence of the incarnate Redeemer; and as at Jericho, at Bethany, at Emmaus, He " comes in to us, and sups with us, and we with Him."

THE RECOGNITION.

MALCOLM ANDERSON, at the age he was grey and somewhat bald, of sixteen, left his widowed mother with here and there a dash of in the highlands of Scotland to seek white to his dark auburn beard; his fortune as a sailor. After several he was thin and a little bent, but voyages, the proceeds of which were his youthful smile remained full of largely bestowed on his mother, he quiet drollery, and his eye had not went to India, and by diligence and lost all its old gleeful sparkle by shrewdness became wealthy. As poring over ledgers and counting his fortunes improved he cared for rupees. his mother, and sent her money He had married one of his enough to secure and repair her countrywomen, the daughter of cottage home, and annually re- a Scotch surgeon; and had two mitted enough to meet her ex- children, a son and a daughter. penses and pay the wages of a He did not write to his good faithful servant or companion who mother that he was coming home, abode with her. as he wished to surprise her, and Entangled in business cares, Mr. test her memory of her sailor-boy. Anderson never found time and The voyage was made with safety. freedom for the long voyage and One summer afternoon Mr. Malvisit home; till at last, failing colm Anderson arrived with his health, and the necessity of edu- family in his native town. Putting cating his children, compelled him up at the little inn, he proceeded to abruptly wind up his affairs and to dress himself in a suit of sailor return to Scotland. He was then clothes, and then walked out alone. a man somewhat over forty, but By a bypath he well knew, and looking far older than his years, then through a shady lane, dear to showing all the usual ill effects of his young, hazel-nutting days, all the trying climate of India. His strangely unchanged, he approached complexion was a sallow brown; his mother's cottage. He stopped

284 ON THE SUBORDINATE CHARACTERS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

peculiar to Luke; a mingled breadth and warmth, which remind us continually of the Christian teaching and temper of the last and greatest of the apostles.

There are traces and traditions which connect Paul with the actual composition of the Gospel of Luke. The intimate friendship in which the two men lived would doubtless lead the apostle to relate to the evangelist much of what he had received from the Lord, and to counsel him in his selection of materials. If the third gospel was written during the imprisonment at Cæsarea, as is reported, the connection becomes the more probable. Too much stress, however, is not to be laid upon this point. Luke certainly gathered his information from a great variety of sources, and was in direct communication with the original apostles. The link which attaches him to Paul is rather in the inward view which he takes of Christian truth, and the spirit in which he labours to present it. Let it suffice to instance two characteristics.

Salvation by grace is confessedly the leading theme of Paul's preaching and of Paul's epistles. He was the apostle of the Gentiles, commissioned to present the gospel in its simplest and freest form, clear of all limitations. Now if we had to choose out of the four gospels the one most suited to the heathen, as distinguished from the Jews, and most adapted for general circulation, should we hesitate to choose the Gospel of Luke? Christ appears in its pages as emphatically the Saviour; as the Saviour of the world, and especially as the Saviour of the lost. The famous fifteenth chapter is really the key to the whole book. Seeking the lost is its burden from beginning to end. The outcasts of society become the objects of Christ's care and cure. The characters we meet are the beggar Lazarus, the poor widow with her two mites, the despised Samaritan, the publican pushed into the outskirts of the temple court, the prodigal son. To the Saviour's feet creeps the fallen woman of the city; the sinner Zaccheus runs to see Him; on the very cross the penitent robber craves His mercy. All own Him, and all are by Him accepted. Let the contrite and troubled heart turn hither! For here we meet the fulness of redeeming mercy which, comprehending the vilest, cannot exclude us; and here we see in exercise that simple principle of humble confidence which justifies the ungodly: "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." It is Paul's great doctrine of justification by faith, illustrated in the action, and impressed in the words, of Christ.

No less prominent in Luke is that other leading element in Paul's teaching which he calls "joy in the Lord." The third gospel is, above all, the gospel of gladness. The angels' song is echoed from one page to another: "Behold, we bring you good tidings of great joy." A happy Christian heart, one feels, has been concerned in the choice and composition of its materials. For the people "rejoice at all the wonderful works" of Christ; and the seventy "return with joy" from their missionary travels; and the sinner, whose house the Lord enters, "receives him joyfully:" and "there is great joy in the

city" where the preachers of the Word have come. The curtain falls upon the company of disciples "returning with great joy," even from the parting with their ascended King, and "continually praising and blessing God." Nay, our evangelist is suffered to unveil to us the hallowed delights of the heavenly sanctuary; and from the rejoicings of angels over repenting sinners, we are taught that "it is meet for us to make merry and be glad." Oh, Christian of the drooping, doubting, spirit, breathe the air which this gospel diffuses, and in its own words, "lift up your head, for your redemption draweth near."

Luke is still with us" in these imperishable works which the Spirit moved him to accomplish. But as Paul hastens to speak of a greater Friend, who never left him in his worst extremities, we too pass from the servant's representations to the Master's life and person. Whatever becomes of earthly helpers, "the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work," adds the apostle. Through these inspired pages we also reach the presence of the incarnate Redeemer; and as at Jericho, at Bethany, at Emmaus, He "comes in to us, and sups with us, and we with Him.'

THE RECOGNITION.

he was grey and somewhat bald, with here and there a dash of white to his dark auburn beard; he was thin and a little bent, but his youthful smile remained full of quiet drollery, and his eye had not lost all its old gleeful sparkle by poring over ledgers and counting rupees.

MALCOLM ANDERSON, at the age of sixteen, left his widowed mother in the highlands of Scotland to seek his fortune as a sailor. After several voyages, the proceeds of which were largely bestowed on his mother, he went to India, and by diligence and shrewdness became wealthy. As his fortunes improved he cared for his mother, and sent her money He had married one of his enough to secure and repair her countrywomen, the daughter of cottage home, and annually re- a Scotch surgeon; and had two mitted enough to meet her ex- children, a son and a daughter. penses and pay the wages of a He did not write to his good faithful servant or companion who mother that he was coming home, abode with her. as he wished to surprise her, and test her memory of her sailor-boy. The voyage was made with safety.

Entangled in business cares, Mr. Anderson never found time and freedom for the long voyage and One summer afternoon Mr. Malvisit home; till at last, failing colm Anderson arrived with his health, and the necessity of edu- family in his native town. Putting cating his children, compelled him up at the little inn, he proceeded to abruptly wind up his affairs and to dress himself in a suit of sailor return to Scotland. He was then clothes, and then walked out alone. a man somewhat over forty, but By a bypath he well knew, and looking far older than his years, then through a shady lane, dear to showing all the usual ill effects of his young, hazel-nutting days, all the trying climate of India. His strangely unchanged, he approached complexion was a sallow brown; his mother's cottage. He stopped

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