LECT. IV. His presence that they might testify of Him as the Lord of all. The same Person seen under different aspects. The vision of this Person came out in different forms and measures, to different inspired men. One side of His character and nature presented itself to this man, another to that. It came to them in hours of oppression and sorrow, when their hearts were overwhelmed, and they felt themselves sinking in deep mire where no ground was. The troubles, desolation, captivity of their nation, which mixed with all their individual sorrows, and could not be separated from them, taught them to feel the necessity of such a Person, and to perceive that in Him which answered to their wants. As they compared what they had been taught with thoughts of quite a different kind, sometimes almost of an opposite kind, which had come to other men in other circumstances, they understood that all were pointing to the same Person, that they could only be brought together and fulfilled in Him. As Priest, By degrees it became more and more clear to them that this King, this Prophet, this Priest, this Word of God, this Son of God would one day be fully declared and manifested to men, that by some means or other it would be shown how it was that He was so closely and intimately related to Him whom the Heaven of Heavens could not contain, and yet was also so nearly related to the sufferers and sinners of earth. King, the Divine Son. The seed of Abraham Whenever such a Person appeared, they felt that he and David. must be in some manner that Seed of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed, must be that Son of David who was to rule over the nations. LECT. IV. How this could be they could not tell. Somehow it must be. For as they became more acquainted with The King the other people of the earth, as they understood the of the Jews strange thoughts that had been stirring in them, they more. saw that they too wanted a Friend and Deliverer, that they too needed a Man who should unite them to God. The dreams of such a deliverer had taken various forms. The needs of men's bodies and of men's spirits in different places had created different objects who were to satisfy them. All of these were imperfect, as those who conceived them were imperfect; they were full of evil, for they were made in the likeness of men who had evil in themselves, and who wished to think that the gods could sympathise in their evil. But they all implied a feeling after One The King who was above man, a standard and judge of men's acts, and yet who felt with them and cared for them. They implied that there was One who was not tied down by local circumstances, as they were, and yet who could feel with those who dwelt on particular spots, who could care for a country and for the individual men who dwelt upon it; who could be, in one word, a Brother of man as well as a Lord of man, the Brother of each and the Lord of each, as well as the Brother and Lord of the whole race. This was the desire of Nations. Unless this desire could be satisfied, all the deepest feelings in men's hearts pointed to nothing. and Bro ther. Now you will not understand what the records This belief mean which are contained in the four Gospels, unless E the explana tion of the Evangelists. The Conqueror of the Evil Spirit. LECT. IV. you suppose that those who wrote them believed that Jesus Christ, of whom they speak, was the Person in whom all these anticipations of Jews and of human beings were fulfilled. You will not understand why they record with such emphasis His baptism and the Voice which declared Him to be the Son of God. You will not understand why we are told that He was anointed with the Spirit, with which He was afterwards to baptize those who believed on Him. You will not understand why we are told that He was tempted by the evil spirit, and overcame him. You will not understand why He is said, in the power of the Spirit, to have preached the good news of deliverance to captives, and the opening of sight to the blind; why, in the power of the same Spirit, He is said to Signs and have delivered men from evil spirits, from the diseases which afflicted their bodies, and the madness or uncleanness which possessed their hearts. You will not understand why we are told, that He claimed dominion over the winds and waves, and fed the multitudes with the loaves and fishes. You will not understand why we are told of His raising the dead. You will not understand why He is speaking continually of a kingdom of Heaven or of God. You will not understand why, in all His parables, He is bringing out the mysteries of His kingdom over the hearts and minds of men, in connexion with the planting and growth of seeds and all the mysteries of the kingdom of nature, in connexion with husbandmen and servants, with kings and subjects, with fathers and children, with all the common life of men. You will not understand wonders. The Para bles of the Kingdom. LECT. IV. The Trans figuration. the Sects. The Minis- ters of His why He was transfigured, and His face did shine as the sun. You will understand still less, why He began straightway to tell His disciples that He should suffer many things, and be rejected of the priests and the elders, and be crucified. You will not understand War with the indignation of the Pharisees against Him, or why it was that the different sects that had never agreed before, felt Him to be their common enemy. You will not understand why He told the Pharisees to render to Cæsar that which bore his image, and to God that which had His; or why He told the Sadducees, who denied the Resurrection, that God was not the God of the dead, but of the living. You will not understand why He called out twelve Apostles to be heralds of His kingdom while He was upon earth; why He told them that they would be able to be heralds of it in a more wonderful sense after He had left the earth; why He said that if they would be chief of all, they must be servants of all. You will not understand, why He should have entered into Jerusalem, and the crowd should have hailed Him as the King, the Son of David. You will not understand why He should have desired to eat the Passover with His disciples before He suffered, or why, at that Passover, He should have taken bread and blessed it, The Bread and said, “Take, eat, this is my body; drink, this is my blood." You will not understand why He should have cried, "Father, if this cup may not pass from The Agony. Me except I drink it, Thy will be done." You will not understand why the Sanhedrim should have condemned Him as a blasphemer, for making Himself and Wine. The Pas sion. LECT. IV. the Son of God; or why they should have presented Him to Pilate as a rebel, for making Himself a King. You will not be able to enter into the mystery of the Cross and Passion; into the cry, "Father, forgive them;" or into the cry, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" You will not understand the hour of darkness after the crucifixion. You will not underThe Resur stand the calmness and assurance, and yet the wonder, rection. The final words. sion. Pentecost. with which the Evangelists recal the words, "He is not here, He is risen." You will not understand why they record so carefully, and yet so briefly, His appearances after the Resurrection. You will not understand why He stood among them on the mountain in Galilee, and said, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." You The Ascen- will not understand why the Evangelists seem to think it a natural thing, that He should ascend up on high, out of the sight of His disciples. You will not understand how all these events are connected with that The day of feast of Pentecost at which the Apostles were met, when the sound of the rushing mighty wind was heard, and the Spirit descended in the likeness of cloven tongues, and sat upon each of them. You will not understand, what was signified by their speaking with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance; or how the great message which they had to deliver to the whole body of the Jews was, "This Jesus, whom ye crucified, is both Lord and Christ;" how |