53. John xi. 43. 66 66 Matt. xxvi. to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels ?" All this was surely intended to point to the discretionary power which was peculiarly his. To him alone God gave the spirit not by measure. The very words which he used in the exercise of miraculous power have a distinct character; such as, Lazarus, come forth,' Young man, I say unto thee, Arise;" Luke vii. 14. whilst in the miracles themselves, in many of them at least, the marks are more unequivocal. Take the cure of Malchus's ear-who does not see in such an act as this, the unconstrained agency of Divinity, called into exercise by the circumstances themselves, and not connected, as in the case of the Apostles, with any special commission, nor directed to any special purpose, beyond the display of Christ's real character? Who, in short, can peruse the course of his ministry, and not sympathize with the sister of Lazarus, in that John xi. 21, tone of mind which caused her to exclaim, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died ?" 32. His Miracles generally symbolical 66 II. There is another line of distinction, still more discernible, between our Lord's miracles and those of the Apostles, and of all others. They were generally symbolical-the vehicles of instruction, as well as the signs of power. Like the voice from Mount Sinai, they were at once miracles and revelations, a Divine language, conveying a Divine message. And this circumstance, if rightly considered, not a little confirms the view which has been taken of the primary, immediate, and independent agency of Christ, as contrasted with the instrumental character of his Apostles; the former, not only performing acts above human nature, but moulding them at will to serve occasional purposes, as if the power were his own, part of his original nature; the latter humbly, fearfully, and almost passively obeying the dictates of a secretly controlling power, 1 Cor. ix 16. and avowing that they "had nothing to glory of, for necessity was laid on them." His unlimited power of imparting Spiritual gifts. III. Among all the miraculous acts, in which our Lord and his Apostles may be contrasted, the one wherein an equality between them is most likely to be presumed, is the power of imparting the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Of this more particular notice will be taken by and by. At present it deserves attention, merely in the light of a miraculous power, as distinctly superior to all others, as the power of imparting life exceeds the privilege of partaking it. Yet it is obvious, that in their use of this, as of the other powers, the Apostles were restricted, whereas our Lord's conduct exhibits no signs of any limitation. As no one would suppose the Apostles to be the authors of life, because they were occasionally permitted to recall the dead to life; so, the office of imparting the gifts of the Holy Spirit did not imply that these gifts proceeded originally from them, or that they were any but the instruments and agents of communication. A similar character (as has been already pointed out) pervades our Lord's prophecies, as distinguished from all others, whether of Distinction the Old or the New Testament. between their The exercise of the predictive power, proved in all cases alike, Prophecies. that the prophet was commissioned by God. But the constant and unvaried employment of that very prophetic spirit for doctrinal instruction-its use, in short, for purposes not prophetical, could only have been designed to indicate, what it does most plainly, that the prophet wielded that Divine instrument at pleasure, and not as one, "who spake only as the Holy Ghost moved him. In Christ, the prophetic faculty was exercised as his own; in his Apostles and others, it was only exhibited as through agents and instruments. The language of the inspired mortal is, "I cannot go beyond the Num. xxii. commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad of mine own mind;" that of the Author of inspiration, " If I will that he tarry John xxi. 22. till I come, what is that to thee ?" 18; xxiv. 13. It would be easy to pursue this subject further, but it may be sufficient merely to add, that in considering the secondary use to which Christ applied the Divine agency, as an indication that he was a Divine person, it deserves notice that it was of himself, or of his kingdom, or of his work-of himself, in short, either immediately or remotely, that he caused his miracles to speak. So that every miracle, every prophecy, is used by him for some purpose beyond its specific and appropriate one, and that purpose one connected with himself, "The works which the Father hath given me John v. 36. to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me that the Father hath sent me.' 66 character John xiii. 34. His sermons, exhortations, precepts, commandments, all lead us General forcibly to the same conclusion. All are addressed to mankind, no of his less than the law from Mount Sinai, in the person of God himself. Discourses. As to the language, it is, "A new commandment I give unto you.' It was said to them3 of old time, Thou shalt not kill; but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment." Still more may the matter of his discourses be appealed to, for marks of a difference occasioned by the same cause. Our Lord did not, indeed could not, preach the whole of Christianity to his disciples and to the world; because the subject was incomplete, until he had suffered on the cross, risen from the dead, and ascended into heaven. The most essential points of Christian instruction were precisely those which could not yet be given, for the simple reason, that the events out of which they arose had not yet taken place. Hence his assertion, "It is John xvi. 7. expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto Christianity then, strictly speaking, commenced with the preaching 3 Matt. v. 21, 22, and Whitby on the passage. begun by the Christianity of the apostles. It is the dispensation of the Spirit, and by the Apostles. Spirit only has it been conducted. Our Lord is the subject, the 4 foundation stone, not the founder of it. It holds up to us as the 1 Tim. iii. 16. object of our faith, "God manifested in the flesh;" but the world is directed to this truth, and assisted in embracing it, and acting on it, by God manifested by the Spirit. The apostles accordingly were expressly forbidden to begin their ministry, until the formal sign was given, that the Comforter had descended amongst them. Until that event, the world was no more under the Christian dispensation than Israel was under the Mosaic before the Law was actually given,-whatever anticipation, either Moses on the one hand or the apostles on the other, might be supposed to have had of the revelation which was preparing. That the apostles were imperfectly acquainted with the leading principles of Christianity, is evident beyond a doubt. Why else, indeed, should it be necessary to send John xiv. 26. one, not only "to bring all things to their remembrance," but "to teach them all things?" Why that expression of disappointment and despondency, We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel," if indeed they knew aught of the doctrine of redemption by his death? None, surely, who understood the nature of Christ and of Christ's kingdom can be supposed to have put such a question to him as, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" a question which goes the farther to prove that our Lord was not fully qualifying his disciples to instruct the world; that manifestly as it arose from ignorance and error, he did not attempt to correct them; but only referred them to the coming of Him, whose proper office it was to do so, and reminded them of the only part which he had qualified them to assume, to be his Acts i. 7, 8. witnesses. "He said unto them, It is not for you," (or as it may be rendered,) you cannot be expected, "to know the times or seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses. Luke xxiv. 21. Acts i. 6. Three periods of Apostolic History. Even after that first descent of the Holy Ghost, Christianity was in its infancy. The illumination of the Spirit was gradual, and as more light was required, then, and then only, was the supply given. It is easy to trace three distinct periods in the Apostolic History, in the first of which the Church was kept in ignorance of the second, and had advanced far upon the second before the third was declared to them, and each by a special revelation.5 Their ministry commenced with the Jews alone. It appears certain, that the apostles themselves did not then understand that it was ever to be extended beyond their countrymen. Their ancient national error was not yet 4 Thus St. Paul, in his use of this very metaphor, addresses the Ephesian Church, as a building whose "chief corner-stone was Jesus Christ, in whom," adds he, "ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."-Eph. ii. 22. 5 See Lord Barrington's Miscellanea Sacra. removed, that through Judaism the world must be admitted to the The Gospel benefits of the Messiah's advent-must be saved, not as the sons of preached to fallen Adam, but as the children of righteous Abraham. Under A.D. 33-41. this impression they taught through Judæa, Samaria, and at last Acts xi. 19. at Antioch. 66 the Jews. ,, Devout Then it was, that, by a special vision sent to Peter, his scruples Acts x. 10. were first removed, and he was made to understand, by the conversion of Cornelius and his household, that a door was opened to the Gentiles. But to what Gentiles? Not to all indiscriminately, but to To Jews and "devout Gentiles,' such as, like Cornelius, were fearing God, Gentiles. otherwise known as "proselytes of the gate." Gentiles who, without becoming altogether Jews, had adopted their belief in the one true God, and sought acceptance with him by alms, by fasting, and by prayer. Yet of the baptism even of these, St. Peter's report a.d. 41–45. to the Church of Jerusalem is but an apology. "Forasmuch then Acts xi. 17. as God gave them the like gift, as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I could withstand God?" Devout Acts. xiii. 2. Lastly, a further light broke forth on the Church, when, by To Jews, another express revelation, Paul and Barnabas were separated for Gentiles,and the conversion of the idolatrous Gentiles. Of all the wonderful Idolaters. counsel of the Lord, this was considered the most wonderful. This it is which is especially styled "the mystery of godliness," the revealing of which produced a sensation, both within and without the Church, to which no one who would understand the writings and the history of the great apostle of the Gentiles, should be inattentive. These three classes of converts-the Jewish, the devout Gentile, and the idolatrous Gentile-continued to be addressed and treated as in certain respects distinct, until "the end of all things," the grand consummation which took place in the destruction of Jerusa- A.D. 70. lem, and the downfal of the nation. By this act of Divine visitation, the Jewish society was dissolved, and the Jews were no longer entitled to be treated as a distinct civil body. With this event, accordingly, ceased that scrupulous regard which previously the Christian preachers had paid to them as such. The converted Jew was henceforth under no civil obligation to retain the customs of his fathers, and the proselyte of the gate was released from obedience to a society which was extinct, and was henceforth no more bound to abstain from things strangled and from blood, than was the idolater who had never entered into a compact with the worshippers of the temple. Christ's kingdom was come." 6 Lardner argues from this slow and gradual illumination of the inspired Church, that neither St. Matthew nor St. Luke's Gospel could have been composed very early; inasmuch as both display an insight into that mystery, which was reserved for the last stage of revelation. But his reasoning is scarcely ad missible. For, the apostles, as witnesses, Luke ix. 1, 2; x. 1, 9. WHAT PREPARATION CHRIST HAD MADE BEFORE HIS DEPARTURE FOR Notwithstanding the assertion, that the establishment of Christianity was the province of the Comforter-of God the Holy Ghost -that assertion by no means implies that our Saviour's ministry contributed nothing towards the forming of that institution, of which he was properly the subject. During his abode on earth, he had sent forth twelve of his followers, and again seventy, with a comMatt. x. 5, 7; mission to baptize, and to proclaim "the kingdom of heaven is at Mark vi.7,12; hand." He had instituted the sacraments, and had appointed a form of prayer. All which may be considered as preparatory to that which was peculiarly the work of the Holy Spirit, and analogous to that preparation which had been made for his appearance on earth as our Redeemer, by the previous manifestations of God. Accordingly, although his teaching, it may be, embraces all the essential doctrines of Christianity, yet from the very form adopted, that of parables, symbolical miracles, and didactic prophecies, the truths so deposited with his followers were plainly not designed to be understood, until the Holy Spirit should not only have brought all Christ's ministry to their remembrance, but taught them also all things implied and intended by it. Until such assistance was given, they were in possession of a revelation which they did not understand; and without this assistance there can be no question that the Christian doctrines could never have been understood, explained, and preached. So, likewise, the Mosaic establishment had continued in its most important features inexpressive, ineffectual, and useless, until our Saviour's fulfilment of the law displayed it in its true character, and explained its chief meaning. In short, from Adam until Christ, the scheme of man's redemption was prefigured; in Christ's ministry it was accomplished; by the Spirit it was explained. From Adam until Christ, the religious knowledge of the world was like the gradual dawning of light which precedes the sunrise, and from which we infer the existence and anticipate the approach of the sun itself. Christ came; but his coming was as when the sun has risen in mist and cloud, and can scarcely be discerned. And then came the Holy Spirit, like the breath of heaven which blows aside the cloud, and enables us to look upon the source of all the day-light with which we have been gradually blessed. So, also, our present condition as a Church may have some latent connexion with futurity, which we shall then only be qualified to perceive, when God shall again manifest himself, and we even as he is.' 66 see him What is now to be considered is, how far the ministry of the Holy Prophetic Spirit had been anticipated by our Saviour. character of I. His promulgation of the Christian doctrines has already been noticed, as conveyed in a form not designed to be understood until His teaching. |