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t 



r • 



3V 



HINTS AND HELPS 



ON THE 



SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSONS, 



BY 



• - • " 



REV. 3 AVID JAMES BURRELL, D, D., 



AND 



REV. JOSEPH DUNN BURRELL. 




AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 



» • • 



COPYRIGHT, 1893. 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



I 

DO 



-/-J3 



CONTENTS. 



■♦- 



FIRST QUARTER. 

^ The First Adam. Gen. 1:26-31; 2:1-3 page 7 

^. Adam's Sin and God's Grace. Gen. 3:1-15 16 

Cain and Abel. Gen. 4:3-13 26 

God's Covenant with Noah. Gen. 9:8-17 35 

Beginning of the Hebrew Nation. Gen. 12:1-9 44 

God's Covenant with Abram. Gen. 17:1-9 54 

God's Judgment on Sodom. Gen. 18:22-33 63 

Trial of Abraham's Faith. Gen. 22:1-13 72 

Selling the Birthright. Gen. 25:27-34 82 

Jacob at Bethel. Gen. 28:10-22 91 

A Blessing to all Nations. Gen. 18:17-21 100 



-•- 



SECOND QUARTER. 

Jacob's Prevailing Prayer. Gen. 32:9-12; 24-30 108 

Discord in Jacob's Family. Gen. 37:1-11 117 

Joseph Sold into Egypt. Gen. 37:23-36 126 



4 CONTENTS. 

Joseph Ruler in Egypt. Gen. 41:38-48 _. 135 

Joseph Forgiving his Brethren. Gen. 45:1-15 144 

Joseph's Last Days. Gen. 50:14-26 152 

Israel in Egypt. Ezod. 1:1-14 i6i 

The Childhood of Moses. Exod. 2:1-10 171 

Moses Sent as a Deliverer. Exod. 3:10-20 180 

The Passover Instituted. Exod. 12:1-14 190 

Passage of the Red Sea. Exod. 14:19-29 199 

The Anointed King. Psa. 2:1-12 209 



THIRD QUARTER. 

The Birth of Jesus. Luke 2:1-16 219 

The Presentation in the Temple. Luke 2:25-38 229 

The Visit of the Wise Men. Matt. 2:1-12 237 

The Flight into Egypt. Matt. 2:13-23 245 

The Youth of Jesus. Luke 2:40-52 253 

Tha Baptism of Jesus. Mark i:i-ii 262 

The Temptation of Jesus. Matt. 4: i-ii ■... 269 

The First Disciples of Jesus. John 1:35-49 277 

The First Miracle of Jesus. John 2: i-ii 285 

Jesus Cleansing the Temple. John 2: 13-25 - 293 

Jesus and Nicodemus. John 3:1-16 301 

Jesus at Jacob's Well. John 4:9-26 310 



CONTENTS. 5 

FOURTH QUARTER. 

Jesus at Nazareth. Luke 4:16-30 316 

The Draught of Fishes. Luke 5:1-11 - 324 

A Sabbath in Capernaum. Mark 1:21-34 332 

The Paralytic Healed. Mark 2:1-12 — 340 

Jesus Lord of the Sabbath. Mark 2:23-28 ; 3: 1-5 349 

The Twelve Chosen. Mark 3:6-19 356 

The Sermon on the Mount. Luke 6:20-31 364 

Opposition to Christ. Mark 3:22-35 371 

Christ Teaching by Parables. Luke 8:4-15 379 

The Twelve Sent Forth. Matt. 10:5-16 — 388 

The Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:2-7 ........ 397 



HINTS AND HELPS. 



THE FIRST ADAM. 

Gen. I : 26-31 ; 2 : 1-3. 

It is impossible for any thoughtful person to take up 
the study of the book of Genesis without profound feeling. ' 
To read these ancient words, simple and majestic beyond 
all others that have been conjoined in the history of 
speech, evokes the same kind of emotion (but raised to a 
higher power) which one has who gazes on Magna Charta 
or the age-darkened skull of Rameses II. Here speaks 
forth antiquity — "thou wondrous charm, which being 
nothing art everything !" Here is a voice which leaps to 
us across the long chasm of ages, in whose depths lie the 
wrecks of untold empires and races. As we read the 
wprds we seem to stand on the line which divides the 
time in which we live from the eternity which went be- 
fore it. We look one way to see the crowded millions of 
earth busied about the successive cares of their brief lives. 
We look the other way into unlimited vastness, silent save 
for the awful voice which speaks from its depths evoking 
life. Such thoughts naturally come to us as we approach 
this solemn and noble story of the origin of things. We 
read it with even a deeper reverence than that which 
steals over our hearts when we go out at night to listen 
to the voice of God as it speaks to us in 

* The silence that is in the starry sky, 
The sleep that is among the lonely hills." 



8 HINTS AND HELPS. 

To the student there is no more fascinating subject 
for study than this creation narrative. In one direction 
he can pursue the investigation of the relation between the 
story of origins as given here and as constructed inde- 
pendently, and more or less tentatively, by scientific archae- 
ologists. At once he is met by a vast controversial 
literature, acute, sometimes heated, always absorbingly 
interesting. In another direction also study may be pur- 
sued : on the subject of creation narratives as they are 
found among various peoples. Assyriology and ethnology 
have their genesis literature too, which one might easily 
spend years upon. Still again the study of the literature 
which has arisen around Genesis, as a literature, might 
be a worthy work for any scholar of bibliographical tastes. 
The character of the commentaries of successive ages, the 
shifting of the points of controversy, the progress of 
thought as assisted by discovery, offer a considerable field 
for an inductive study of the history of the human mind 
during the last fifteen hundred years. 

But the purpose immediately before us is entirely 
practical. For the present this lesson is to be held before 
our thought in order that we may learn of man's origin, 
with the hope that this may tend to the uplifting of our 
moral and spiritual life. 

From this point of view we are tempted to ask the 
preliminary question: "Why was this Genesis record 
written and why has it been providentially preserved ?" 

(a) We see from it the unity of history. There is 
infinite diversity among the races of men, and yet we are 
all one, as we learn from this story of our beginning. 
More than that, we are united also with the natural world 
to which we belong. Man is above nature, and he is also 
of it. These facts are important in connection with //le 



THE FIRST ADAM. 9 

history of redemption which it is the purpose of the Scrip- 
tures to convey to us. Redemption came through a 
chosen race, but it was not for them alone but for all their 
brothers in the family of mankind (Gen. 12:3). Still 
more, redemption in some mysterious way affects the 
whole universe of which we are a part by God's creation 
(Isa. 65 : 17 ; Rom. 8 : 22 ; 2 Pet. 3 : 13). 

{b) We learn that God is one, ruling material and 
spiritual things alike. When men's minds are occupied 
largely with natural science they tend to think of God 
chiefly as the God of nature, the one force which lies back 
of natural law. When their minds are occupied chiefly 
with moral and spiritual studies they tend to think chiefly 
of God as the fountain of obligation and the goal of hu- 
man character. To the narrow scientist God has little to 
do with character. To the narrow spiritualist God has 
little to do with natural law. But from Genesis we learn 
that these partial conceptions of God are supplementary. 
The God of nature and the God of souls are one. 

{c) God is supreme in everything. The natural 
world came from him ; the spiritual world also came from 
him ; and in neither has he abdicated his power. Natural 
law is wholly subordinate to him and he can do whatso- 
ever he will. The spiritual world also is subject to him 
and his grace is omnipotent. It is right to pray for safety 
from the ocean storm, and for safety from sin. In all 
things, outward and inward, we may look to God for help. 

Many a person who takes up the passage before us 
will spend all his time in dealing with the difficulties with 
which it bristles. But our aim is to get beyond these 
difficulties, which are like a fence to be passed, in order 
that we may feed in the spiritual pasture which lies be- 
yond, and to which the fence-mounting is only prelimi- 



10 HINTS AND HELPS. 

nary. Accordingly we may put ourselves at a leap over 
the barrier and ask what the lessons of the section are. 

I. Man is divine in his origin (v. 26). Nothing is 
said here of the way in which man came into being. All 
that we learn is that God purposed to make man and 
carried that purpose into effect. The most thorough- 
going Berkeleyan, refusing to believe in the existence of 
anything except his own thoughts of things, still cannot 
deny " Cogito^ ergo sum,^* " I " (whatever or whoever 
" I " is) " think ; therefore I am." That I know. And 
the existence which I thus cogitate, whatever its charac- 
ter may be, came from God. There is no happening into 
existence. Nor could any boiling down of star mist into 
a material universe filled with the promise and potency of 
life come to a focus in me — who know that I am now 
thinking these thoughts — without the working of God. 
Back of me, both remote and near, I meet with the Eter- 
nal Cause, at work in making me. I am conscious of a 
certain personal isolation. The uniqueness and loneli- 
ness of the human soul must come to all of us at times. 
But we are never away from God, " in whom we live and 
move and have our being." I am conscious also that I 
can do many things as I please, that I have freedom of 
will. But that freedom does not undo the tremendous 
truth that it and the will to which it belongs are both the 
work of God, allegiance to whom can never be renounced. 
If as we lay in our cradle we could have looked up sud- 
denly to actually see God working upon us to give us 
growth, would not our dependence upon him always 
seem vividly actual ? It is just as actual though we have 
not corroborated it with the eyes. Whatever the pro- 
cesses may have been, let us never forget that in the most 
literal sense God made us. 



THE FIRST ADAM. II 

2. Man IS made like God (v. 27). Being made by- 
God confers such distinction upon man as he ought never 
to be able to forget. But beyond that is the distinction 
of being made in the image of God. The former distinc- 
tion man shares with the rest of the universe, but the lat- 
ter is his alone. Animals, trees, rocks are worthy of a 
certain respect as being the handiwork of the Creator. 
But they are not like God. In what does man's God- 
likeness consist ? Two words are used in the Hebrew, 
translated by image and likeness (v. 26). The fathers 
generally held that the former referred to the body, the 
latter to the soul. To-day it is more or less generally 
said that the two words are synonymous and the repeti- 
tion is only a Hebrew method of emphasis, and the likeness 
is restricted to the moral nature. But the Scripture does 
not say that man's likeness to God was only in soul. The 
whole man, body and soul, was made God-like. What 
does that mean ? Not of course that God has a body, or 
looks like a man, but that the inner likeness is adequately 
set forth in the external embodiment. Perhaps we might 
jecture that if God should embody himself for us it 
would be in a glorified resemblance to human lineaments. 
These are fit presentments of a divine character back of 
them, and such an inference is startlingly strengthened 
by remembering what God was like in the theophanies 
and the incarnation. However, the moral part of man's 
God-likeness is the chief thing, and in what did this con- 
sist ? Brushing aside a host of speculations we may feel 
that it is reasonable (with Delitzsch) to say " in his being 
a creature who has mastery over himself (self-conscious 
and self- determining)." Whatever thought is, we know 
that we are conscious of our own existence. Whatever 
the freedom of the will may be, we know that we have 



12 HINTS AND HELPS. 

something which we try to set forth by that term. The 
two, self-consciousness and will, are necessary to moral 
life. A being unconscious of self, therefore unconscious 
of obligation, might be good, but its goodness would not 
have moral quality : the " oughtness " of it would not 
be evident. Such a being would be good without any 
delight in duty done. Again, a being without freedom of 
will might be good, but only because it could not help it, 
not because of choice. Such goodness would not have 
ethical quality. Man was made with the capacity to ap- 
preciate goodness as being what is right, and to love it 
for its rightness. And he was made with the ability to 
follow out that appreciation with an act of the will, choos- 
ing goodness to be his own for the love of it. And in 
these things he was like God, who loves holiness wher- 
ever he sees it, and who eternally chooses it and acts it 
out in invincible freedom. Well might man look down 
on the beasts about him (although God saw that they 
were " good ;" i. e., perfect according to his pattern for 
them). They could not know whether they liked being 
what they were or not ; they could not choose to be other 
than what they were. But man could appreciate good- 
ness and so enjoy being good himself, and could exult in 
the thought that this was what he wanted to be and 
chose to remain. What must be the supreme felicity of 
a pure heart willing actively to keep pure ! Something of 
this kind must have been part of the deep peace of the 
heart of our blessed Saviour. 

3. Man takes his place in the scale of existence (v. 
27). On the one side he takes part in the lot of God. 
On the other side, by being subordinate to the same mys- 
terious laws of life which hold over plants and animak he 
is linked with the world about him. " Male and female 



THE FIRST ADAM. 1 3 

created he them." Dualism teaches that matter is all 
evil, the body inherently sinful, and the soul the only 
good part of man. Out of this comes asceticism, which 
treats the body slightingly, prohibiting food as largely as 
possible, despising marriage, expressing the condemnation 
of this habitation of the soul in wearying fasts and horrible 
flagellations. But the body is God's work, it is holy, it is 
honored by God in the institution of marriage, it is called 
the temple of the Holy Ghost. As often as we think of 
it we may remind ourselves that through it we form a 
part of the great universe about us, so wonderfully testi- 
fying to the creative power of God (Psalm 139 : 14) ; and 
at the same time we may remember that by being more 
than body we are above the world about us, good as it is, 
and have an infinitely lofty spiritual destiny. 

4. Man thus made was blessed of God (v. 28). 
That blessing must have contained a multitude of good 
intentions. The first beings God blessed were the inhab- 
itants of water and air (i : 22). He thus " consecrated 
them to fertility " (Lange) and provided for the filling of 
the earth. And yet the plants had not been so blessed 
(i : 12). Perhaps " this uttered blessing exhibits God's 
greater pleasure in the higher forms of animal life and in 
creatures which can enjoy conscious happiness " (Dods). 
At any rate the thought is that God meant to cause 
them to prosper (Gesenius). The thriving conveyed thus 
to animals was also conveyed to man, and we may also 
believe a higher thriving, in the things of the soul. God 
meant to bestow upon man all good, earthly and heavenly. 
And whereas man's blessing is only a wish, a prayer that 
blessing may come, God's blessing is efficient What he 
wishes for is. Man was blessed, and was to be blessed 
more and more as time went on. 



14 HINTS AND HELPS. 

5. God provided for man's needs (v. 29). Food 
was there for the body and he need never want. With- 
out trouble, without anxious struggle, without wrong, 
man was to have everything needful for himself " The 
painlessness and bloodlessness and peace of the ideal 
world (Isa. 11 :6-9) is viewed as an essential of the prim- 
itive world as it came from the hand of God " [Dods). 
In these days, when we have learned that life is main- 
tained only by a struggle for existence, the lar-away 
Adamic time seems very unreal. Perhaps it is made more 
unreal by our knowledge of the inexorable natural law 
which we have discovered to be in force. Probably, yes, 
undoubtedly, our abandonment to that law is more com- 
plete than is necessary. We think there must be struggle 
and so we struggle the more fiercely. But it is interesting 
to note that Christ's teachings are in sympathy with man's 
earliest state. He tells us to have no anxious care for the 
morrow, and to pray only for bread for one day ahead. 
He urges us to trust in the same love which was over 
Adam, which, if it cares for the sparrow, will care for us. 
And it is interesting to remember that the early Christians 
did accept these sayings of Christ fully, and lived in com- 
plete faith that God would literally supply all their wants 
(Wendt). Sin has made a difference in many ways, and 
we cannot always infer, as we read Genesis, from what 
was to what is. But we are safe in reminding ourselves 
that, under changed conditions, God still provides for our 
— "is, and always will provide. 

6. God approved of man as he looked upon him 
■ hb creation (v. 31). The whole creation, man in- 
ed, was pronounced " very good," man was feultless 
n unrelated individual, and he was faultless also m his 
pment for a splendid career in history. He was like 



THE FIRST ADAM. 1 5 

a fine engine just leaving the shops, which is not only 
complete per se, but completely provided with fuel, water, 
and men to carry it through a successful journey. We 
do not wonder that the Creator uttered this emphatic 
phrase of satisfaction as he beheld man newly made. All 
the works of his hands are wonderful, but man surpasses 
them all. The commonest stone is full of things admira- 
ble. Much above that in interest is the plant, endowed 
with the mystery we call life. Marvellous above this is 
the animal, rich in extraordinary functions and instincts. 
But towering high above all stands man, truly the king of 
creation by virtue of his spiritual being. 

7. To supply his wants spiritually (the wants of 
the body having already been provided for) God gave 
him the Sabbath, which should be a help, all through his- 
tory, to his soul's uplifting (2 : 3). " The divine blessing 
endowed the seventh day with a treasure of grace flowing 
forth from the rest of the Creator, which is opened for 
those who keep it, and the divine hallowing riemoved it 
from among the week days and invested it with a special 
and distinguishing consecration." (Delitzsch). 

As we think of man as he came thus from the hand 
of the Creator, with every want, bodily and spiritual, pro- 
vided for, and think of him as he is now, we are tempted 
to exclaim " Quantum mutatus ab illo r But that will 
come later. For the present let us carry in mind only 
man as he was made by God, splendid with a moral glory 
of which we can only dream. 



l6 HINTS AND HELPS. 



ADAM'S SIN AND GOD'S GRACE. 

GEN. 3:1-15- 

The two most conspicuous elements common to all 
the human race are life and sin. We have studied the 
origin of one : we are now to look at the origin of the 
other. And what a panorama unfolds itself before our 
saddened eyes as we stand beside the shame-faced cul- 
prits of Eden and look out over the ages of history, all 
darkened by sin ! There, near the gates guarded by 
the cherubim, lies the prostrate form of Abel, slain by a 
brother's hand. Yonder are the debased sons of the pa- 
triarchs, there the adulterous and idolatrous children of 
the wandering, the luxurious and immoral rulers of the 
two kingdoms. We turn to Greece to hear the multi- 
tude laughing over the obscenities of Aristophanes ; we 
enter with the Roman multitude into the Coliseum to 
behold brothers cast to the lions; we see the ruthless 
cruelty of Huns, Teutons, Celts and Slavs; we see 
mediaeval Europe amusing itself with Jew-baiting ; there 
is Catharine de* Medici, yonder Henry the Eighth, there 
Catharine of Russia ; we hide our heads in shame as we 
recall " the Virgin tribute of modern England " ; we lay 
down our daily newspaper, sick at heart over its record of 
civilized crime. What a vision is the " Vision of Sin :" 



<( 



Sit thee down, and have no shame, 
Cheek by jowl, and knee by knee; 

What care I for any name ? 
What for order or degree ? 






ADAM'S SIN AND GOD'S GRACE. 1 7 



"Fill the cup, and fill the can : 
Have a rouse before the mom : 
Every moment dies a man, 
Every moment one is bom." 

Looking at the first sin in the light of its consequences we 
do not wonder that Milton fancied that 



** Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat 
Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe 
That all was lost." 

Some special considerations meet us as we address 
ourselves to the Bible narrative of the first sin. 

1. From widely separated sources we are con- 
fronted with parallels more or less exact, more or less 
mythologically elaborated. We see this episode at least 
suggested by Chaldaean traditions, in Zoroastrianism, and 
in the Scandinavian Eddas. Yet the parallels to this are 
not nearly as numerous as those which connect themselves 
with the Edenic felicity, the serpent, and the tree of life. 
These are found in a multitude of forms, but the fall in 
only a few. Why this difference? Lenormant says: 
" Of all primitive traditions concerned with the infancy of 
humanity this one it is which is most quickly forgotten. 
The truth of the Fall and of the original taint is one 
against which human pride is most prone to revolt, that 
which it first attempts to put aside.'' 

2. There are many estimates of the character of the 
narrative. Skeptical minds consider it a myth : verbalists 
hold that every word is to be taken literally. The body 
of Christian commentators hold with Lange that it is " a 
historical fact to be taken in a religious ideal or symboli- 
cal form." " That sin began with the beginning of the 
race, that the first sin had its origin in a forbidden enjoy- 
ment of nature, . . . that the origin of human sin points 

IlintB and Ilelpi. 2 



1 8 HINTS AND HELPS. 

back to the beginning of the human race, . . . that along 
with sin came in the tendency to sin, consciousness of 
guilt, alienation from God, and evil in general — ^all these 
are affirmations of the religious historical consciousness 
which demand the historicalness of our tradition, and 
would point back to some such fact even though it were not 
written in Genesis." We are always to remember then 
that we are here in the presence, not of myth, but of 
history. 

3. The meaning of Christianity is bound up with 
the fall of Adam. " For as in Adam all die, even so in 
Christ shall all be made alive." The one correlate presup- 
poses the other. The uplifting points back to a down- 
fall. " So Genesis makes the book of Revelation possi- 
ble, and lays the foundation for the rapturous vision of * a 
statelier Eden * and a pure humanity" (Maclaren). 

The narrative gives us the history of the first sin, 
from which all other sins come, which all reproduce the 
same process of development. 

4. The source of sin is pointed out. It was not in 
man himself, for he was made with all desires and inclin- 
ations holy, but in an evil element outside him. The 
personality and characteristics of Satan are increasingly 
revealed as we advance through the Scriptures, and we 
can see, what was invisible to our first parents, the ma- 
lignant badness of the great antagonist of souls, who goes 
about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 

The great problem of the origin of evil in general is 
not explained for us in the Scriptures. How Satan came 
to sin we do not know and cannot understand. The first 
entrance of sin into the world of spirits (which we find al- 
ready in existence when the imposing spectacle of creation 
opens) is forever to us a mystery. The universe was cer- 



ADAM'S SIN AND GOD'S GRACE. I9 

tainly once all good (for we cannot for a moment accept 
that dualism which would give to evil an eternal exist- 
ence). Why the omnipotent God allowed sin to rise up 
within it he keeps in his own holy counsel. How evil could 
have started when all was good we can no more imagine 
than we can conceive of a motionless body giving itself a 
push. All we know is that here is evil, and yonder is 
God, and both are real and must be recognized. The 
book of Genesis was written for practical ends, and gives 
us the history but not the philosophy of sin's beginning 
on earth. 

The means used in man's downfall were part of God's 
good creation environing him. The serpent and the apple 
were not sinful in themselves, but by special relations took 
on harmful possibilities. " The object of the temptation 
was found in the vegetable, the tempter came from the 
animal world" (Delitzsch). Even good things have in 
them the power of leading man astray, if he looks at them 
in a wrong way. Food may tempt to intemperance, the 
body made to be the temple of God may be the friend of 
lust, the mind may be full of pride, worship may be 
spectacular frivolity, and even prayer an abomination to 
God. Anything can be misused, and so anything can be- 
come a temptation to sin. And yet man's environment was 
not at fault. He was at fault for the wrong way in which 
he was led to view it and act towards it 

2. The accomplishment of sin. 

The first step is the appearance of temptation within 
the area of the soul's life (v. i). The evil one propounds 
a question to the woman. So far she was not responsible, 
any more than our Lord was responsible for being tempted 
in the wilderness. The course of events always must be 
offering the possibility of sin to man. For temptation is 



20 HINTS AND HELPS. 

the means of moral growth, and so it was permitted to 
come to Eve. If she had resisted it she would have been 
a step farther on in the spiritual life. Man was made good, 
but he was meant to grow, and resistance to evil was to 
be part of the method. Eve therefore was not responsible 
for this question having been put to her. When she heard 
it she had not yet sinned, but the possibility of sin had 
begun. 

In Eve*s answer we are probably warranted in dis- 
covering a beginning of sin already. The evil one's re- 
mark to her was put insidiously in the form of a question. 
There is here no statement against God (that might have 
shocked Eve into flight) but only an insinuation of mis- 
trust. Did not Eve do wrong in parleying about such a 
subject at all ? She must have recognized the doubt of 
God raised ever so slightly in the query put to her. Why 
did she not turn from it in silence; why not turn her 
thoughts towards God, who would have answered any 
slightest puzzled inarticulate wish for help ? She listened 
to the insinuation, and that was the beginning of woe. 
For the moment she attended to it it seemed worthy of 
refutation. She repels the untruth contained in the ques- 
tion (v. 3), and yet even in her denial witnesses to the 
settlement of doubt upon her heart. For she did not re- 
peat God's prohibition as he made it, but added to it 
*' neither shall ye touch it," and proved by this very ex- 
aggeration that it appeared too stringent even to her, and 
therefore that her love and confidence towards God were 
already beginning to waver (Keil). 

The tempter having secured a hearing, and thus won 
his first point, loses no time in taking advantage of his 
opportunity. With the utmost daring he asserts a lie, so 
expressed that it shall precisely contradict the utterance 



ADAM'S SIN AND GOD'S GRACE. 21 

of God (v. 4). But, lest the downright conflict of author- 
ity thus inaugurated should seem unwarranted on his part, 
he alleges a reason (false of course) why God should have 
prohibited the eating of one tree's fruit (v. 5). His attack 
thus gains strength from both possible methods : it is bold 
and downright, and at the same time speciously reason- 
able. In his first utterance there is no pretence of sym- 
pathy with God. The gauntlet is thrown down. It is 
admitted that there is absolute difference between him 
and God. War is apparent, in that God*s veracity is im- 
peached without any mincing of words. Why did this 
not open Eve*s eyes ? Satan had chosen his plan of war- 
fare well, for sometimes it is just the boldness, the unex- 
pected strength of the temptation to sin, which captures us. 
Yet sin, however bold, must follow up its boldness with 
some attempt at self-justification. If Satan was shrewd in 
making a bold assault as soon as he had won the oppor- 
tunity, no less shrewd was he in fortifying his new posi- 
tion argumentatively. Concerning this second and ra- 
tionalistic element in his attack, we may notice (a) that 
there was a basis of truth in this statement brought out to 
fortify the daring lie which had gone before. It was true 
that if Adam and Eve ate of this fruit they should " be as 
gods, knowing good and evil." It was also true that God 
knew this, {d) Yet the truth was most amazingly and 
deftly perverted. For if by eating the fruit Adam and 
Eve came to know good and evil, this knowledge, which 
God meant to give them any way, through their obedience 
to him, and which would be thus a source of blessing to 
them, would by their sinful method of obtaining it be 
changed into a curse. The untruth implied in Satan's 
words was that Adam and Eve would never have this 
knowledge except by eating the fruit, and also that after 



22 HINTS AND HELPS. 

they had it (no matter by what method) they would be 
as gods — in felicity. No more deceitful interweaving of 
truth and falsehood could be imagined, (c) The first lie 
impeached God's truthfulness ; the second lie attempted 
the more difficult feat (prepared for, however, by the ut- 
terance of the first lie) of impeaching God*s love. Satan 
implied that God was withholding from Adam and Eve 
something iknmensely desirable, which showed that he 
did not love them as much as they had thought, (d) An 
appeal is here made for the first time to human vanity. 
How proud Adam and Eve would feel when, instead of 
being conscious of ignorance about nearly everything, 
they could look God in the face and say, however falsely, 
" Now we know as much as you !'* 

The next step in Eve's sin was her assenting to 
what Satan said in so far as to look with longing upon 
the forbidden fruit (v. 6). The things which she dreamed 
she saw in it were undoubtedly there, but they were not 
meant for her in connection with the fruit. It was doubt- 
less good for food, but other fruit-trees had been set 
apart for that purpose ; it was doubtless pleasant to the 
eyes, but the garden was full of legitimate pleasures; 
doubtless it was " to be desired to make one wise," but 
wisdom was meant to come in a better way. But these 
things did not occur to her. She was listening to temp- 
tation, and when one is doing that reason's voice is but 
little heard. " Our great security against sin consists in 
our being shocked at it. Eve gazed and reflected when 
she should have fled" (Newman). 

The preparation for sin is long and involved. One 
fortification after another must be captured before the cit- 
adel is reached. But at last comes the one assault by 
which that falls. Though the preparations for sin may 



ADAM'S SIN AND GOD'S GRACE. 23 

have been long to tediousness, the act of sin itself is 
quickly accomplished. To lose Eden is a briefer matter 
than the getting ready to lose it. " She took of the fruit 
thereof and did eat." It was the slipping of a latch but 
an inch, but it gave over the fortress of human life to the 
tyranny of innumerable wrongs. It was only the eating 
of an apple ; but hell came in the moment the deed was 
done. 

And yet sin is not complete until it has led love to 
wrong its own. " She gave also unto her husband with 
her, and he did eat." As sin spread from Satan to Eve, 
so now it spreads from Eve to Adam, revealing the never- 
demitted tendency to self-propagation. Before it, love 
heavenward or love manward is but a barrier of straw. 
The noblest relationship of earth becomes the apparatus 
of Satan's malignant purposes. 

3. The result of sin. Their eyes were opened (v. 
7), they did know good and evil ; but they knew some- 
thing which Satan had not mentioned : they knew that 
they were naked. 

The consequence was immediate. Sin was prepared 
for deliberately, like the placing of a series of mines with 
the connecting electric wires; but once the circuit is 
made effect follows effect rapidly and convulsively. 

The deceitfulness of sin was apparent now, for this 
forms part of the knowledge of good and evil which had 
been coveted, and promised, and now secured. But this 
insight into sin's deceitfulness came too late to be of use. 
It was a kind of information which could only tend to the 
multiplication of self-accusations. 

The discovery of nakedness suggests many a line of 
subtle questioning. But this much is plain, that it in- 
volves the consciousness of guilt. That is the point 



24 HINTS AND HELPS. 

which stands prominently before us as we contemplate 
that melancholy pair. They knew what sin was, they 
knew what it was to be the author of sin, they knew what 
the defilement of that responsibility was. 

Next they shunned their best friend (v. 8). What 
sort of felicitous communion they may have enjoyed with 
God we do not know, but it was ended now. They did 
not wish to meet him. Conscious of unholiness, they 
knew that they were alienated from him who is infinitely 
holy. 

Next they add sin to sin ; they resort to subterfuge 
to explain their avoidance of God (v. lo). It was true 
that they were naked, it was true that they hid from God. 
But it was untrue that one was the cause of the other. 
Sin was the cause of the avoidance, and nakedness was 
only a pretext. 

Next, in this rapid succession of effects, comes the 
attempt to shirk responsibility (vs. 12, 13). The man 
charged his offence to the woman, and at the same time 
had the audacity to suggest that God himself was partly 
to blame, for he gave the woman to Adam. The woman 
on her part pointed to the serpent. Here again truth 
was at the foundation of the allegations, but the vital point 
was passsed by unmentioned : that even if one is tempted 
by another he is no less responsible for yielding and com- 
mitting sin. 

The concluding disaster speedily ensues, in the pro- 
nunciation of the curse (vv. 14-19). Upon all who took 
part in the transaction God*s solemn words of condemna- 
tion fall. Sin, beginning only in a question, has now 
reached its consummation in the sentence of death. The 
length and breadth and depth of its awfulness are now 
disclosed. 



ADAM'S SIN AND GOD*S GRACE. 25 

Yet, at this moment of man's doom, behold the love 
of God ! Over these heavy storm-clouds that have set- 
tled upon man's fair sky there darts a ray of sunlight 
from the face of the eternal Father, and, like a rainbow, 
we behold God's illumining grace. 

Although man has sinned against God, God loves 
him still, plans to extricate him from his sins, and reveals 
the fact that the escape shall some day be accomplished. 
A promise is made of never-remitted conflict between 
Satan and man (Dillmann). But that would not be very 
encouraging unless the outcome were known. So within 
this promise there is implied the further pledge that the 
conflict shall end in man's triumph (Delitzsch). Sin has 
conquered for the present, but goodness shall have its 
grander day of conquest at last. How this is to be 
brought about is not revealed. But looking back to 
Eden from Calvary we see that this early promise, pur- 
posely made vague, is definitely fulfilled in Christ's tri- 
umph over sin and death. 

We must note the earliness of this first gospel. No 
sooner has man sinned than God comes to his help with 
this cheering message. 

We must note also its graciousness. Man had vio- 
lated his obligations to God ; he had forfeited all privi- 
leges; the only thing he could demand of God as his 
right thenceforth was punishment for his sins. Yet God 
did not treat him according to his deserts, but graciously 
arranged an escape for him, so that sin might be pun- 
ished and man still live in the favor of God. And God was 
doubly gracious — for making such a plan, and for reveal- 
ing it so soon. Oh, the wonderful riches of his love to 
disobedient man ! 



26 HINTS AND HELPS. 



CAIN AND ABEL. 

GEN. 4 : 3-13. 

The story of creation begins with the bursting forth i 

of light. In this primeval glory we see man moving, | 

glad with the joy of Paradise. Too soon a shadow 
creeps over that brightness. Sin enters, and the sky of 
human life is darkened with storm-laden clouds. And 
no sooner has darkness begun than it deepens with terri- 
fying rapidity. The next step away from holiness plunges 
man in the most horrible depth of sin. The meaning of 
the eating of the forbidden fruit becomes plain when we 
see murder as its near consequence. 

The story of this second sin opens, like the narrative 
of the . first and of many another sin, with an exquisite 
scene. Here are two brothers, the first of all the human 
race to know the sweet meaning of the word, going out 
to sacrifice. The romance of this first tableau in the story 
of human brotherhood is most striking. What could be 
more appropriate and beautiful than that, at their first ap- 
pearance before us, these brothers should be engaged in 
the act of worship ? Here we seem to see the promise of 
companionship in everything good. Each had his special 
occupation, one being a keeper of sheep and the other a 
tiller of the ground. It cannot be said that one was supe- 
rior to the other in this respect. Doubtless each had 
been providentially led in choosing his work. Out of 
this difference of occupation grew a natural difference in 
the character of their sacrifices. Cain brought fruits be- 
cause he was engaged with them, Abel brought animal 
sacrifices because he was a herder. Many commentators 



I 

r 



CAIN AND ABEL. 2^ 

have seen a'distinction arising already between the men 
in the character of their offerings, supposing that Abel's 
was better because it was penitential — ^an animal sacrifice, 
belonging to what afterwards was the most important 
class of offerings. This, if true, would well explain the 
occurrence, and show that from the first the need of re- 
pentance and atonement was recognized by the human 
heart. But on the other hand it would seem natural and 
right on the part of Cain to offer what he had. It was not 
sinful to till the ground rather than to keep flocks, for all 
work is good when done in the right spirit. 

By other writers the unacceptability of Cain's offer- 
ing has been charged to its inferior character: Abel 
brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof, 
the best of what he had; but it is not said that Cain 
brought of the first fruits of the ground. But again the 
distinction is doubtful. Cain may have brought the best 
he had for aught we know. The record is not so em- 
phatic on the point as to warrant us in finding the ground 
of God's approval of one brother and disapproval of the 
other in the difference of quality of their respective offer- 
ings. We may suppose that each brought the very best 
he had, and that so far as the offerings themselves were 
concerned both were pleasing to God, and still find more 
than sufficient reason for his acceptance of one and rejec- 
tion of the other. 

That reason lay in the character of the men them- 
selves. It is true some have tried to find it in some ante- 
cedent and undescribed conduct of Cain. They see in 
the statement " if thou doest well, shalt thou not be ac- 
cepted ?" (v. 7) an implication that because Cain was not 
accepted some doing of ill had gone before (Dods, Mac- 
laren). But the word " accepted " here probably means 



28 HINTS AND HELPS. 

something else than what it seems to mean, as we ghall 
see, so this inference falls to the ground. Why then did 
God accept one offering and refuse the other, if not for 
any difference in the character of the things offered or in 
the past character of the offerers ? One had a good heart, 
and the other had a bad heart. "It is not the gifts 
themselves in their externalism, but the inward disposition 
of the persons therein manifested, which determines the 
conduct of God " (Delitzsch.) This is not an inference 
which we make, but it is the authoritative interpretation 
given to us in Heb. 11:4. There we learn that " by faith 
Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice than 
Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was right- 
eous, God testifying of his gifts." There was a great dif- 
ference between the inner character of these two brothers, 
one being righteous of heart and the other unrighteous. 
As a result, one in bringing an offering to God did it with 
that quality of soul called faith, which was wanting in the 
other. By faith we mean not merely a belief in the exist- 
ence of God, for Cain had that, but filial, trustful love 
towards him. Abel was accepted because ** the worship- 
per put his heart, as it were, into the gift " (Oehler). 

Cain thereupon was very wroth (v. 5). With whom 
was he angry ? With his brother and with God. If he 
had any feeling of disapproval to vent, certainly it should 
have been towards himself, for the cause of God^s disap- 
proval was not in God nor in Abel, but in Cain himself 
But sin is not only folly in itself, but, as Proverbs teaches 
us, it makes the sinner a fool in everything. Cain did 
not think wisely in allowing his anger to have a target 
outside his own unrighteous soul. He was unreasonable. 
God was not unjust or unkind ; Abel was not unbroth- 
erly. Yet Cain was wroth with them. 



CAIN AND ABEL. 29 

That he may not sin ignorantly Cain now receives a 
warning (vs. 6-7). God speaks. He points out to Cain 
that he is angry — he might not have thought of it other- 
wise. He puts a question to him calculated to bring to 
view the unreasonableness of the anger. Then he calls 
attention to the difference in consequences between hav- 
ing a good and having an evil heart (v. 7). " If thou 
doest well," he says, " that is, if thou art righteous, and 
hast a good heart, is there not ' uplifting ' ?" By " uplift- 
ing" is meant elatiOy "courage, which is reflected in a 
cheerful, willingly raised countenance " (Delitzsch), or " a 
quiet conscience " (Brown). '* If thou doest well " may 
easily refer to a state of heart It " may be equally said 
of inward good disposition as of external good action. 
That Cain was angry with his brother because of the fa- 
vorable reception of his offering was the point in which 
he did evil, and this secret evil-doing, known only to 
God, predisposed him to an external open act of sin " 
(Delitzsch). This leads on to the second alternative. 
" If thou doest not well [in thy heart] sin lieth at the 
door [like a wild beast waiting for thee to emerge] ; and 
unto thee shall be its desire [to catch and ruin thee] but 
thou shouldst rule over it." God's purpose in thus talk- 
ing to Cain is to say to him, in effect, " Cease from anger, 
and forsake wrath ; fret not thyself in any wise to do evil " 
(Ps. 37 : 8). And to impress this He reveals to him, sub- 
stantially, what Peter wrote to his friends, that " your ad- 
versary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seek- 
ing whom he may devour " (i Pet. 5:8). The alternative 
of consequence between the good heart and the evil heart 
is plainly set forth. To have right desires — not such as 
anger leads to — is to have elation of heart, strength to do 
right, a good conscience. To have evil desires is to be 



1 



30 HINTS AND HELPS. 

like a man at whose door a ravenous wild beast lies, for 
as the evil-hearted man goes out into the world tempta- 
tion waits to attack him, and to lead him to transform his 
evil thought into an open crime. Yet God goes beyond 
this, and warns Cain that even if he is conscious of evil 
desires he need not transform them into crimes, for while 
temptation would lead him on to that result, it is his duty 
" to rule over it.'* A bad thought is bad enough, but he 
who is conscious of having it should struggle to prevent 
its incarnation in a bad deed. Cain was thus doubly 
warned; against having evil thoughts, and against put- 
ting those thoughts into action. 

But the warning was useless. Right in the face of it 
" Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him " 
(v. 8). There is no attempt made to explain the horrid- 
ness of this first crime in the annals of earth's woe. There 
is no heaping up of adjectives here such as we are tempted 
to make in order to paint the heinousness of the deed 
more vividly. Just as the splendor of God's first creative 
act is set forth most magnificently in the severely simple 
words " And God said, Let there be light : and there was 
light," so the infamy of Cain's sin is made the more terri- 
ble by the unadorned record : " And Cain rose up against 
Abel his brother, and slew him." It took little expense of 
time or struggle to bring in tliis great woe, and it takes few 
words to tell of it. 

No sooner is the sin committed than the voice of God 
sounds again — this time not to assist against sin, but to 
condemn for sin. A point has been passed which has al- 
tered God's relation to Cain entirely. No longer can 
Cain meet God frankly ; he must resort to sophistry and 
deceit. First he tells a bare lie, " I know not " (v. 9) ; for 
the second time letting an evil thought escape and em- 



CAIN AND ABEL. 3 1 

body itself in outward sin, attempting (in the universal 
folly of sin) the impossible, i. e., to deceive God. To 
fortify this bold endeavor, and make it seem less audacious 
and shocking, Cain resorts next to sophistry ; he attempts 
to evade responsibility in the circumstances by breaking 
down the eternal law of obligation to brotherly love 
(again foolishly essaying the impossible) : "Am I my 
brother's keeper ?" How is it that man, weak, depend- 
ent, dares thus to utter an insinuation against the justice 
of the relation in which God sets man with respect to his 
fellow ? Sin alone could give man such a brazen face. 

But crime will out. God does not say, as he might 
have said, that by virtue of omniscience he was aware of 
Cain's deed, but he points to the fact (which man over- 
looks) that sin, which disturbs the whole order of exist- 
ence, cannot be hidden, for that reason. The slightest 
vibration of a vessel containing a certain solution causes it 
to crystallize. There may be no witness of the act, but it has 
witness enough in the crystals which result. Man's single 
sin penetrates through the whole body politic, and rela- 
tions of every sort are changed by it. It is futile for him 
to imagine that his committal of it can be concealed. 
Cain had not thought of it, but there was the ground 
stained with his brother's blood. Nature was a dumb 
witness to his crime. 

Penalty soon follows sin. God at once pronounced 
the curse upon Cain. He was to be an exile from that 
place (v. ii) ; he was to be a failure in his chosen occu- 
pation ; and he was as a consequence to be " a fugitive 
and a vagabond," always seeking what he could never 
find (v. 12). 

Too late a semblance of right feeling arises in Cain's 
heart (v. 35). He feels the pressure of ** the idea of the 



32 HINTS AND HELPS. 

sin, the burden of which weighs down and crushes him 
who has committed it with the weight of moral remorse 
and of the material punishment to which it exposes him 
even in this life" (Lenormant) He knows what guilt 
means, he dreads the just retribution which impends over 
it. But he has accepted sin with full knowledge and full 
warning, and the feeling of shrinking which he has now, 
which might have been useful not long before, comes now 
too late. The deed is done, Abel is dead, and the conse- 
quences of sin must be borne. 

Certain general considerations come to us as we medi- 
tate upon the sad spectacle of Abel dead. 

I. We see that sin is bound to grow. 

It grows numerically. In the case of Adam and Eve 
we saw that when once an evil feeling was allowed to re- 
main in the heart it speedily gathered other evil feelings 
unto itself, which at last burst forth in the full-blown sin 
of deed ; and that this in turn gathered other sinful deeds 
unto itself; and, now we see these developing in the next 
generation, first appearing, after the same manner, in evil 
feelings, which collect, develop into evil deeds which again 
collect, and so the series goes on indefinitely. Sin of 
heart, sin of act ; sin of heart, sin of act ; so it goes on and 
on through the years, the centuries, the aeons of hu- 
man life. Once the upas tree is allowed to shoot upward 
from the earth it is only a matter of time when its dark 
branches shall overshadow all mankind. 

Moreover, as we compare the sin of Adam and the 
sin of Cain, we see that evil has grown in intensity. The 
quality of Adam^s sin was bad enough, but that of Cain's 
was worse. Adam's sin had its origin in foolish pride ; 
tlie thought of becoming god-like in obtaining a certain 
kind of mysterious knowledge hitherto withheld appealed 



CAIN AND ABEL. 33 

to man's vanity. Cain's sin had a deadlier root : it arose 
in envy, which grew into hatred. The actual overt sin of 
Adam was also less terrible than that of Cain. Adam 
gratified a harmless bodily appetite in an illegitimate way 
by eating the forbidden fruit ; but Cain let loose a passion, 
never in any form worthy, in a deed of outrageous vio- 
lence. 

Again we see growth as we compare the after-sins of 
Adam and Cain. After eating the fruit Adam tried to 
conceal the fact from God and evaded his question. But 
Cain uttered a downright lie to his Creator. Sin had be- 
come more unscrupulous, brazenly daring, thoughdess of 
consequences. Growth is everywhere and always a law 
of its being. It does not rest undeveloped. It is always 
striving to become larger and more sinful. 

2. Certain things connected with Cain's act impress 
upon us anew the awfulness of sin. 

Under what circumstances did Cain's sinful emotions 
arise ? Was there some powerful stimulus from without 
to some raging appetite within? Were circumstances 
such that, speaking humanly, he could ngt help sinning ? 
Was there an overwhelming onslaught of external forces 
upon him ? No, it was in the peace-bringing act of wor- 
ship that the base emotions of his soul arose. Circum- 
stances were unfavorable to sin. God was near ; it was a 
season appropriate for the outflowing of brotherly love ; 
it was a time for the development of all high and noble 
emotions. Yet that hour, the least likely of all for such a 
result, saw the basest desire, freighted with the potency of 
the basest deed, rising in the evil heart of Cain. 

The sense of brotherhood, given to these two men 
first of all the human race, unweakened by the countless 
assaults made upon it in the ages since, was unable to 

3 



34 HINTS AND HELPS. 

restrain Cain's fierce trend to sin. Emphasis on this 
sense of brotherhood seems to be made in the Scripture 
by the repetition of the hallowed word brother six times 
in four verses (vs. 8-11). Thereby we have impressed 
upon us the headstrong baseness of his crime. 

The power of sin is forcibly revealed in the Lord's 
description of it as a wild beast lurking at the door, wait- 
ing for man's destruction. What figure could be strong- 
er ? And yet Cain did not believe it, or, believing it, did 
not care. So reckless of consequence is the soul deter- 
mined to sin. 

3. With Cain and Abel there began a new phenom- 
enon in human history : the division of men into two 
classes, good and evil. All are alike sinners in the eyes 
of a holy God, but some are vastly greater sinners than 
others, and relatively to one another men are properly 
divided into good and evil. On the one hand stands 
Abel, serving God with a consecrated heart, on the other 
stands Cain, finding in the most holy things means of sin. 
And with one of those two every one of us has his place. 



GOD'S COVENANT WITH NOAH. 35 



GOD'S COVENANT WITH NOAH. 

Gen. 9 : 8-17. 

Sin, which made its entrance into the world in Adam, 
which touched so low a depth in the crime of Cain, reached 
the nadir in the days of Noah. Then the earth, which 
God had made and pronounced very good, was so steeped 
in evil that an all but annihilating catastrophe was sent 
by God to overwhelm it. He might have made the de- 
struction final if he had chosen. He might have made an 
entirely new world. But that would not have been this 
world, in which the promise made to Eve was yet to be 
accomplished. Sinful as the world was, and that too so 
soon after its creation, God did not despair of it ; he did 
not utterly crush out mankind ; for he saw the time com- 
ing when the earth should be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:9). Who but 
a gracious and loving God would have had such faith in 
degenerate man ? Who but he would have withheld his 
hand from complete destruction ? Because of the breadth 
and depth of sin which God saw in man he swept the 
race from the globe — and yet not entirely, because of the 
glory which he saw was still possible for man through 
grace. 

As we behold Adam walking in the new paradise, so 
we see Noah coming out of the ark into what is practi- 
cally a new world. Old things are done away. Civiliza- 
tion is to begin over again. And, kind as God was to man 
newly created, his kindness seems even more striking to 
man starting out again to live. For with Noah God makes 



36 HINTS AND HELPS. 

a covenant. The word occurs for the first time in Gen. 
6 : i8, where it refers to God*s promise to keep Noah, and 
those with him in the ark, safely. That seems an antici- 
pation of the fuller and more far-reaching covenant ol 
Gen. 9 : 9. Both refer to the preservation of life, the former 
by God's keeping the ark in safety, the latter by his re- 
fraining from sending a second deluge. 

The word covenant has a double sense. When 
a covenant is made between equals it means a mutual 
agreement ; when it is made by a superior to an inferior 
it means a promise (sometimes conditional on certain 
things in the inferior) determined in its terms wholly by 
the one party. Covenants when made by God are al- 
ways of the latter sort. He does not discuss their provisions 
with men, he does not ask men's acceptance of the ar- 
rangement. He makes it wholly alone, wholly on his 
own responsibility, by virtue of his position as man's 
Creator. So the covenant made to Noah was simply a 
constitution or arrangement connected with earthly life 
which God promulgated. Noah had not asked for it. It 
came wholly out of the thought of the kind Creator's 
heart. The contents of the covenant were : " Neither shall 
all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood ; 
neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the 
earth" (v. 11). History, so to say, had now started 
twice ; God promises that he will never bring such an in- 
fliction upon it again that a third start shall be necessary. 

Let us notice now 

I. Some characteristics of this covenant. 

I. Its origin and continuance were in God. Noah 
could have had no confidence that there would not soon 
be another flood like the one he had just escaped, except 
by the open promise of God. For all Noah knew, until 



GOD*S COVENANT WITH NOAH. yj 

God spoke, history might be catastrophic ; it might be a 
law of life that sin should grow worse and worse until God 
could endure it no longer, and then a natural overturning 
should come, and history begin again. Noah had no 
reason to think this was not to be a regular process 
through the ages, until God spoke and showed that by 
his own determination the catastrophe just passed was to 
be unique. Even if man were virtuous it was not a na- 
tural necessity that such disasters should not be repeated. 
Only in God and his will could any ground of confidence 
be found. God did positively settle the matter, and in 
kindness to men revealed the fact and the character of the 
settlement. Thenceforth Noah and his descendants need 
not live in the dreadful suspense of ignorance of the fu- 
ture. God had spoken. He had made a solemn coven- 
ant, conceived in his own fatherly heart, announced in 
characteristic kindness, and guaranteed by his own sta- 
bility. 

2. This covenant was to be perpetual. It did not in- 
volve the absence of trouble from men. What are called 
the accidents of nature were to be part of their discipline. 
"This promise doth not hinder, i. But that God may 
bring other wasting judgments upon mankind. 2. Not 
but that he may destroy particular places and countries 
by the inundations of the sea or rivers. 3. Nor will the 
destruction of the world at the last day by fire be any 
breach of his promise" (Matthew Henry). But never again 
should there be an obliteration of all the human race (mi- 
nus a saving remnant) for the beginning of history over 
again. There would be destructive natural convulsions, 
but they should not be universal. Cities and nations 
might be swept out of existence by earthquake, fire and 
pestilence, but history should go on. Sin might increase 



38 HINTS AND HELPS. 

until the whole civilized world was debased and unspeak- 
ably polluted, but the destructive hand of God should not 
fall again. Once that method had been used, but God's 
declared intention was not to do so again. This was 
settled unconditionally, without respect to man's future 
merits or demerits, wholly by the gracious omnipotence 
of God. And this is suggested by the very words with 
which Jehovah began his declaration : " And I, behold, I 
establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after 
you " (v. 9). The repetition of the pronoun emphasizes 
the divinity of the authorship. God seems to say " I, even 
I, the holy God, condescend to man in his sins. I, even I, 
the everlasting God, promise this, and by my everlasting- 
ness shall see that it is fulfilled to your seed ages after you 
are dust." The finality of this stable arrangement, this 
freedom from universal catastrophe, is established in the 
eternity of its Author. 

3. The covenant is symbolized by a natural sign. 
Some have thought that the terms of the Hebrew require 
us to believe that there had never been any rainbows yet, 
or that at least Noah had never seen any, in that com- 
paratively cloudless climate. But it seems more natural 
to suppose that God took an existing and common phe- 
nomenon and gave it a new significance, as he used the 
stars, already existing, for a sign to Abraham of his spe- 
cial covenant. The choice of the rainbow was perhaps in 
a sense arbitrary ; that is to say, nothing in the rainbow 
necessarily suggested the meaning it thenceforth had; 
that meaning was given to it by the act of God. Other 
things in nature, for aught we can see, might have an- 
swered. Still, there was a fitness in the choice. The rain- 
bow always attracts attention ; it would tend the more, 
just for that reason, to suggest the unusual thought thence- 



.J 



god's covenant with NOAH. 39 

forth connected with it. It is regular in its appearance 
under proper conditions, and the certainty of its coming 
would remind man of the certainty of God's promise: 
after the storm, this pledge that all storms should pass 
away. The splendor of the rainbow would also tend to 
impress and elevate the mind, and lead it to dwell upon 
the splendor of the love of God, of which it was the sign. 
In offering to man this intellectual crutch, this external 
helper to internal thoughts and experiences, we see a new 
mark of the condescension of God's love. Doubdess all 
nature is in a sense a symbol of spiritual things ; from the 
visible we learn of the invisible ; we look " through nature 
up to nature's God ;" but God's extraordinary use of the 
rainbow symbolically is an unusual mark of his accommo- 
dation of things to man's weakness of perception. In con- 
nection with it, we cannot but think of the symbol which 
our Saviour left us in the Lord's supper, which no more 
than the rainbow has magical power, but is an adjustment 
of spiritual things to man's wandering and inefficient mind. 

II. Certain revelations were involved in God's choice 
of the rainbow as the sign of his covenant. 

I. It would always tell of the omnipotence of God. 
By saying that there would never be another destroying 
flood, it would recall that there was such a flood once, 
and would suggest that God could bring about another, 
if he had not promised not to. It would forever remind 
man that he is in the hands of Omnipotence, which can do 
with him what it will. That is the veriest platitude, and 
yet how little part it has in our practical thinking. A man 
doubts whether there is any God, not thinking that the very 
power to have that doubt is given by the omnipotence 
which, for reasons of its own, sustains his life. We plan 
all manner of programmes for ourselves, and if they are 



40 HINTS AND HELPS. 

interrupted providentially see an unusual interference 
with the order of things, whereas the unusualness is in 
our being permitted to plan and accomplish anything of 
our own, considering that all things are sustained and di- 
rected by another for his own purposes. If the attenu- 
ated deity of the agnostic," a power not ourselves," were 
but vividly comprehended in human lives, the rainbow 
would not so constantly utter its voiceless message in 
vain. 

2. The rainbow reminds man that God's omnipo- 
tence, which could bring about another flood in an in- 
stant, is held in check by God's own loving will. God is 
more than power. In view of the evil of the world, with 
the vision of sin ever offending his all-seeing eyes, he 
might well have wished again and again to open the 
windows of heaven, and to let loose the fountains of the 
deep. But he has promised. He restrains himself from 
giving to sin its just deserts. He spares the defiled race 
of man. At the same time by his grace he works in hu- 
man hearts so that sin's tendency is thwarted and it is not 
allowed to develop to the utmost. Those who refuse his 
grace and persist in wilful sin are sometimes hindered 
providentially from doing their utmost, sometimes they 
are allowed to run their course, to exhaust their energies, 
to wreck their vitality with debaucheries, and then to re- 
lieve the world by a sudden and unmourned exit. By 
grace, by providence, or by the operation of natural laws, 
God relieves the pressure of evil, ever tending to greater 
strength, and the world is always kept short of that awful 
degree of universal sin which would make a second flood 
necessary, that is, which would make a new historical be- 
ginning the only hope for man. God restrains his just 
wrath, and is long-suffering with sinful men ; and at the 



god's covenant with NOAH. 4I 

same time he is so working among them that the reason 
for the descent of his wrath is ever kept beneath the ne- 
cessity of execution. 

3. As man looks at the bow set in the clouds he may 
discover another truth concerning God^s ways: that he 
rules by natural law. The regularity in the appearance 
of the bow suggests the regularity of God's covenants 
and of all his appointments. By inference we may know 
that the sun will rise and set, the seasons come and go, 
and the natural universe continue in its usual course, be- 
cause God is regular, and not spasmodic, in his ways. 
There is no a priori reason whatever for this. If God 
planned every day irregularly, making the sun rise now 
in the north, to-morrow in the west, next day not at all 
(which is no impossibility for him), we could not say he 
had gone beyond his right. Nature is orderly rather 
than capricious solely because God has seen fit to govern 
by law rather than by irregular plan. When he likes he 
varies from this. He can offer miracles when he will. He 
can send catastrophic floods any day. But he has pledged 
himself against such catastrophes ; he has set the bow in 
the clouds to remind us that we need not dread the unex- 
pected ; God has promised to abide by the laws of nature. 
Man can sow and reap in peace, he can lie down to rest 
without foreboding, for God has, of his own gracious will, 
foregone the right to govern history by annihilating catas- 
trophes. 

II. Certain thoughts follow the study of the meaning 
of this covenant with Noah. 

I. We find ourselves dwelling fancifully upon God's 
exquisite bow to see its rich symbolical meaning. Sym- 
bolism has no law, and we must guard against extrava- 
gance in elaborating symbolical meanings. Yet doubtless 



42 HINTS AND HELPS. 

we are entitled to some range of imagination. Lange and 
Delitzsch both had unusual skill in rational symbolical 
interpretation, and we can follow them to advantage. To 
Lange the rainbow expresses (a) the elevation of men 
above the deification of the creature (since the rainbow is 
not a divinity but only a sign of God), {d) man's intro- 
duction to the symbolic interpretation of natural phenom- 
ena, (c) that God's compassion remembers men in their 
dangers, (d) that the setting up a sign of light and fire, 
while it assures the earth against destruction by water, 
indicates also its future glorification through light and 
fire. Delitzsch says: "Shining upon a dark ground 
which just before broke forth in lightning, it represents 
the victory of the light of love over the fiery darkness of 
wrath. Originating from the effect of the sun upon a 
dark cloud, it typifies the willingness of the heavenly to 
pervade the earthly. Stretched between heaven and 
earth, it is a bond of peace between both ; and spanning 
the horizon, it points to the all-embracing universality of 
the divine mercy." 

2. When we think of God's promise that there shall 
nevermore be any overwhelming physical flood, we can- 
not but remind ourselves of his many promises that there 
shall never again be any overwhelming flood of sin, such 
as made the physical flood necessary. We have noticed 
already some ways in which God forestalls the tendency 
of evil to become overwhelming, but now we are noticing 
particularly that the restriction of evil is a matter of reve- 
lation. Particularly in the Psalms are we reminded of the 
certainty that God will thwart the wicked in their pre- 
sumptuous career, and will prevent the accomplishment 
of their desolating plans, and will thus protect the earth 
firom a deluge of crime. David saw " the floods of un- 



god's covenant with NOAH. 43 

godly men" all about him (Ps. 18:3), but the Lord 
brought him, like Noah, "into a large place" (v. 19). 
Again he tells us, ** fret not thyself because of evil doers " 
(Ps. 37 : i), as though everything were about to be over- 
turned by their power; " for they shall soon be cut down 
like the grass " (v. 2). Again he was envious at the fool- 
ish, when he saw the prosperity of the wicked (Ps. 73 : 3), 
but counselling with God in the sanctuary the truth came 
to him, and he saw their end : " How are they brought 
to desolation as in a moment !" (v. 19.) Again he sees 
all the mighty kings and peoples of the earth conspiring 
together against the Lord, but he dashes them in pieces 
like a potter's vessel (Ps. 2). But the most vivid setting 
forth of this truth is in Ps. 93, which might be called " the 
Psalm of the flood of sin." There we see the mighty 
overwhelming waves of evil rising higher and higher, as 
though to cover the very throne of God ; but the Lord 
still reigneth, his throne is set too high for the flood of 
sin, he is mightier than the noise of many waters. Thanks 
be to God that as we look at his bow we may be sure 
there will be no other catastrophic flood of waters ; thanks 
be to him also, that we may be equally sure there will 
never again be such a flood of sin as made the other flood 
a necessity. 

3. "It is important for us not to sufl*er our relations 
to Adam as our first father, or to Abraham as the father 
of the faithful, to overshadow our part in God's covenant 
with Noah as the ancestor of the existing human race " 
(SchaflT). Does Noah seem to have any relation to us 
really ? Have we overlooked the fact that he does ? 
Henceforth let us be more mindful of God's merciful 
promise made to us in him. The covenants are not so 
many that we should not remember them all. 



44 HINTS AND HELPS. 



BEGINNING OF THE HEBREW NATION. 

Gen. 12 : 1-9. 

The call of Abram is often spoken of as the most 
important event in the Old Testament. It is one of the 
" beginnings of history," one of the mile-posts in the long 
progress of the centuries. Here Judaism begins. Here 
is the fountain-head of the monotheism of the Jew, the 
Mohammedan and the Christian, who together embody 
the chief religious forces of history. Here is a new stage 
in the development of God's Messianic plans, which cover 
all ages and are completed at last only in the land beyond 
the stars. It is no wonder that this ancient migration has 
been the source of many a dreamy legend in the story- 
telling East, has quickened the fancy of many a poet, and 
given to the historians of the ancient church a splendid 
theme for not unwarranted eloquence. And its pointed 
use for us personally is unmistakable. As we read these 
ancient words, taking us away to a world so old as almost 
to seem unreal, we feel .that we too belong to another 
world, that God calls us, and makes pilgrims of us, and 
sets in our hearts the dream of a better country, even a 
heavenly. 

I. The call. It is the voice of God that falls upon 
the ear of the patriarch, the voice which gives life and 
takes it back again unto the giver ; the voice which creates, 
v/hich rules, which accomplishes, but which weak man 
may disregard if he will. It is God's right to speak to us 
wheresoever he will, and to lay upon us whatsoever in- 
junctions he will, without our being justified in feeling that 



BEGINNING OF THE HEBREW NATION. 45 

we are in any wise wronged thereby. For he is God and 
we are his creatures. But we may be assured that, inex- 
plicable as his ways to us may seem sometimes, they are 
never arbitrary or undeserving of our submission, because 
God is not only a God of power but also of wisdom, and 
most of all of love. His call to us is always the call of 
righteousness and grace. 

The call of Abram was to separation from others. He 
was to leave country, and kindred, and his father's house 
(v. i). The narrative of Genesis shows that this call led 
Abram away from Haran (v. 4), but the narrative of 
Stephen (Acts 9 : 2) shows us that the call had come to 
Abram while he lived in Ur of the Chaldees, and had 
been the cause of Terah's removal thence to Haran. 
This makes considerable difference in our estimation of 
Abram *s sacrifice, for it would be much harder to leave 
Ur than to leave Haran. Ur was in the midst of the high- 
est civilization the world knew at that time, and, slight as 
Abram's connection with it may have been, still it meant 
surely much to him as it would to any man. This he was 
to leave behind and with it the personal attachments which 
he had there ; and he must also break those ties of place 
which are always precious to the heart of man. Why 
could not the Lord have left him in Ur of the Chaldees, 
and used him there for his beneficent purposes ? Because 
it is the Lord's way to separate in order to use. He shuts 
up Noah in the ark, he takes Israel off into the forty years' 
wandering, he carries Elijah into the desert, he makes 
John the Baptist a Nazarite, he sends Paul to Arabia, he 
leads the Saviour into the wilderness. "Come ye out 
from among them," he often says to us, and the things we 
must give up are often dear. 

But the separation is not for separation's sake, but 



46 HINTS AND HELPS. 

for a purpose beyond. Just as a young man must go 
away from home, and weaken the attachments of his early 
years, to acquire the education with which he is to enter 
again into life in order to do the more efficient work, so 
God takes Abram out of those social and local relations 
which are most dear, and leads him off alone, but in order 
that he may at last establish such a glorious relation be- 
tween him and others that all mankind may be able to 
call him blessed. It is odd that we know nothing of 
Abram's life at Ur. It may have been honorable and 
good. But if he had stayed there we should never have 
heard from him. He must give up, must make a great sac- 
rifice, must cut himself off from the old life ; then God will 
do great things through him. The result was to be four- 
fold ; (a) Abram was to be the father of a great nation, (d) 
to have material and spiritual prosperity, (c) to have an ex- 
alted name, {d) and to be the dispenser of blessing (vs. 2-3, 
Keil). He was to be a univensal mediator, through whom 
good should come to countless generations ; and the num- 
ber of those blessed through him should exceed those not 
so blessed (for God would bless i^€m [plural] who blessed 
him, and curse ^iw [singular] who cursed him). If Abram 
had stayed in Ur monotheism would have been in peril, 
and history would have lost much of its progress, for " the 
faith in the One Living God, which seemed to require the 
admission of a monotheistic instinct, grafted in every mem- 
ber of the Semitic family is traced back to one man " 
IX Miiller). In Abram we see in a marvellous way the 
:h of the saying that " no man liveth to himself." 

2. 7%e answer. "So Abram departed" (v. +), he 
yed the call of God at once. Whatever country he 
it to could not possess possibly the civilized privileges 
;haldaea. If he were to be the propagator of good he 



BEGINNING OF THE HEBREW NATION. 47 

could not find any place more advantageous than Ur in 
which he could work upon others. If he were meant to 
grow into a great family the conditions of nomadic life in 
an unknown place could not be as favorable to that end 
as in the safe home he knew in the East. How many 
cogent reasons Abram might have found for staying in 
Ur, and after that for staying in Haran. All the consid- 
erations which make it inadvisable for any one to be 
a rolling stone were valid also for him. But as against 
the voice of God, such thoughts (if he had them) had no 
value. His not to reason why. God called him away 
from Ur, away from Haran, and he went. 

To add to the hardship, he " went out, not knowing 
whither he went " (Heb. 11:8). He took up his chattels 
and departed in sheer ignorance of his destination. He 
was as much in the dark as to his ultimate resting-place 
as Columbus pointing his vessel's prow out over the un- 
traversed* sea. His orders were sealed, and he had no 
idea of anything save direction. Westward he turned, 
but all else was obscure. It is to be noted that this 
hardship of ignorance of the end, together with the need 
of separation from what he loved, was a necessary part of 
his doing the work God had for him to do. His self- 
denial, thus made double, was his equipment for the pur- 
poses of God. He loved the old home — he gave it up ; 
he loved to know for what — he gave that up. He illus- 
trates the ever valid truth concerning God's use of men 
for his work, that they get by giving up, win by losing, 
save their life by sacrificing it. God made us with minds 
that want to know; to be willing not to know when he 
asks it makes it the more possible for him to use us. So 
we are tools ready for his hand. 

But Abram believed in God. This is why he was 



48 HINTS AND HELPS. 

willing to sacrifice whatever Ur and Haran meant to him, 
and to suppress the natural longing to be sure of the place 
to which he was going. He was not irrational. He was giv- 
ing up very tangible things, but not for nothing. God was 
more to him than they were. There were compensations 
in the service of the heavenly Friend more than adequate 
to counterbalance all that was given up for its sake. But 
notice that they were known by faith only. There was 
no certainty about them, no vision of them, except such 
as belongs to faith. Abram^s friends might have said 
that he was giving up sure things for what was doubtful, 
but he believed in God. That was the supreme and all- 
absorbing element in his soul. Cost was nothing, tangi- 
bility was nothing, if he only had God. What sublime 
trust ! It is no wonder the Arabs call him by eminence 
" El Khalil," the Friend, because of his confidence in 
God. He is the spiritual ancestor of all who are willing 
to trust God without seeing, to believe in his kindness 
even when it exacts the most costly sacrifices ; he is the 
" father of the faithful." 

III. It is interesting to note the immediate status in 
which Abram found himself after such a noble exercise of 
faith. 

We do not find it full of that comfort which we might 
have expected as a reward of his sacrifices for God. In- 
stead of being a settler enjoying the riches of the land to 
which he was led, we find him a wanderer, moving his 
household encampment from one place to another, driven 
about by famine, compelled more or less to struggle with 
hostile tribes for a foothold, and without that absolutely 
peaceful and easy-going life which we might have hoped 
would come to him after having given up so much. But 
is this not true to life ? Were the other patriarchs and 



BEGINNING OF THE HEBREW NATION. 49 

the prophets free from trouble when they served God ? 
What of Elijah and Jeremiah ? What of Job ? What of 
John the Baptist, and Jesus ? What of James and Peter 
and Paul ? Did not the way of duty lead all of them into 
hardship ? To give up for God, entering into the life of 
faith, means often that then real difficulties will begin. 
The world develops its opposition and we find ourselves 
upon "the thorn-road and none other." Obedience is 
always expensive. 

" If I find him, if I follow, 
What his guerdon here ? — 
Many a sorrow, many a labor, 
Many a tear." 

Obstacles arose in Abram's way as he wandered. 
" And the Canaanite was then in the land." It was prom- 
ised to Abram and his seed, but it would be many a year 
before they enjoyed it in peace, and their title to its pos- 
session had to be written in blood. God does not exempt 
those who have faith in him from the common burdens 
and temptations of life. We see his own Son, whose life 
was ideal, made perfect by suffering. If Abram hoped 
that by leaving Ur and going into an unknown land in 
faith he was to earn freedom from care, temptation and 
struggle, he mu^t have been greatly disappointed. But 
it is a new mark of his trust in God that, after having 
been led by it into sacrifice, he still accepted it and lived 
by it, when a life of wandering and more or less difficulty 
came next. It requires faith to be willing to give up for 
God, but it sometimes requires a still more robust faith 
to endure the unexpected difficulties which multiply about 
us afterwards. 

But Abram was able to endure thus, and keep faith 

Hints and Helps. A 



50 HINTS AND HELPS. 

burning brightly, because he was sustained by God. God 
did not accept his sublime initial faith which led to the 
emigration and set him adrift in the unknown land to 
fight his battles alone. He came to him, he even ap- 
peared unto him, and reassured him by repeating over 
again a part of his former promise (v. 7). If Elijah fled 
into the wilderness, the Lord miraculously sustained him 
(i Kings, 17:6). If Jeremiah found himself in disfavor for 
serving God, and he and his friends were in great danger, 
still " the Lord hid them " (Jer. 36 : 28). If Paul found 
himself in prison because of the testimony of the truth, 
the Lord stood by and comforted him (Acts 23 : 11). The 
picture of our Saviour in the wilderness being tempted 
shows what we may expect if we believe in God and try 
to serve him, but we must never overlook the fact that 
out there in the desert '* angels came and ministered unto 
him" (Matt. 4:11). God does not forget his own. 
" Many are the afflictions of the righteous : but the Lord 
delivereth him out of them all " (Ps. 34 ; 19), 

And to the helpful vision of God Abram gave reply 
in a new act of faith, by building there an altar unto the 
Lord (v. 7), This was to Abram doubtless a high form 
of joy. One of the sweetest delights of the soul is to 
refresh itself in the adoration of God. And it is interest- 
ing to note that in seeking this spiritual comfort we are at 
the same moment offering new service to God. By the 
erection of this altar, Abram was proclaiming Jehovah's 
name, and was a preacher of the true righteousness. 
" Under the branches of that sacred tree, which, after 
looking down on the cruel and impure rites of many 
more generations, was still to stand, a venerable landmark 
in the eyes of his conquering descendants, Abram reared 
his first rude altar to Jehovah on the soil of Canaan " 



BEGINNING OF THE HEBREW NATION. 5 1 

(Dykes). As we think of Abram we see that there is a 
certain rotary motion in the progress of faith : first comes 
the giving up in obedience to God ; then comes the life of 
hardship requiring new faith; to meet this God reveals 
himself; at once the soul goes up to him in new faith, 
erecting its altar, which is a sign that it is ready for new 
deprivations if necessary. And so the movement ever 
goes on through trouble to the vision of God which is a 
means of new faith, which makes us equal to still other 
trials, and so on and on, to greater faith and greater spir- 
itual insight and greater joy. 

IV. The practical lessons of this splendid passage 
are many. 

1. The sublimity of faith is plain as we watch the 
grand old man of God leaving his home at the bidding of 
the Lord. It requires no unusual grace of character to be 
able to enjoy blessings. Any one can do that. But 
what grace does it require to believe in those blessings, 
while wholly hidden, so absolutely that one will leave a 
present and substantial good for them. Somehow, some- 
time, Abram believed God would fulfil all his promises. 
But he saw not where. This was sheer faith, treating the 
non-existent as though it were real, the future as though 
it were present, the invisible as though one had it within 
his grasp. Such faith God hopes also to find in us. He 
himself is unseen, Christ our Saviour is unseen, the Com- 
forter, heaven, the reward of the just, the joy of the saints, 
the meeting with our lost, all these are invisible to us ; 
but God wishes us to rise above the limitations of reason- 
ing founded only on the senses, and believe in that which 
eye hath not yet seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered 
into the heart of man. 

2. And for this faith he asks us to give up many a 



52 HINTS AND HELPS. 

tangible and vivid present experience. Instead of serving 
the self we know, we are to serve God whom our eyes 
havejiot beheld. Instead of the pleasures of sense which 
are within our grasp for a season, we are to seek the rare 
spiritual joys which come to the soul that turns towards 
the invisible Father. We are to let go of things present 
for the expectation of things to come. We are to part 
with things really now in our possession, because of con- 
fidence in what we cannot behold. Ur was no more real 
to Abram than the real things which we must give up for 
the veiled God and the hidden Christ. Blessed are those 
who, true children of Abram, serve God thus, enduring as 
seeing him who is invisible. 

3. This seems forbidding, put in such a bare way. 
But we are not to forget that God is with us. With every 
sacrifice he grants us more of the joy of his presence. 
When we give up other things we reach out our empty 
hands and touch him. He takes away things we have, 
but he comes into their place himself and gives us his 
heavenly peace. Never does God ask us for any endur- 
ance for which he does not supply adequate grace. Never 
do we empty ourselves, never are we deprived of anything 
dear, but God comes to us and gives us more than he 
takes. So that always we are able to give up more for 
him, and always are receiving more of his grace. 

4. And what is it all for ? Abram stands out on the 
canvas of ancient history, a sublime witness to the one 
living God. And by our faith in God we too, in our lesser 
way, proclaim Jehovah. To be lights witnessing by 
reflection to the greater light is our function. By faith we 
fulfil man's chief end, which is, to glorify God. 

5. And this is for far-reaching purposes hid in the 
mind of God. By his simple and instandy obedient 



BEGINNING OF THE HEBREW NATION. 53 

faith Abram did better than he knew. In him mankind 
is brought together again under one blessing. To all 
the human race he is a beneficent helper through his 
faith in God. And God can use us for things of untold 
greatness if we trust in him. They are hidden from us, 
but known to him who uses every obedient soul for the 
achievement of his celestial aims. 



> 



54 HINTS AND HELPS. 



VI. GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAM. 

GEN. 17 : 1-9. 

As the death of Christ is the centre of the economy 
of the New Testament, so the covenant made with Abra- 
ham is the centre of the economy of the Old. If we leave 
out the death of Christ in trying to analyze Christianity 
in order to know its meaning and the secret of its strength, 
we can have no possible satisfactory explanation, but must 
flounder about among externals (like Gibbon in his fa- 
mous chapter xv). If in trying to understand the historic 
preparation for Christianity we fail to use the Abrahamic 
covenant as the clue, we shall find ancient history to be 
only a mass of unrelated details. The understanding of 
this covenant is, therefore, the most important thing in 
the study of the Old Testament. Here especially it be- 
comes evident, as Augustine says, that the New Testa- 
ment is concealed in the Old, and the Old Testament is 
revealed in the New. Certain general considerations help 
us somewhat to understand it. 

I. There is a development in the revelation made by 
God of his saving purpose. Notice that the change is not 
in his purpose ; there is no development or evolution in 
him who is unchangeable, and needeth not to repent, and 
seeth the end from the beginning. The development is 
in man*s knowledge of God's saving purpose, and this is 
not a natural but a supernatural development. Men do 
not find out more and more of God's plan by study (as 
we find out natural truth), but by having more informa- 
tion given to them direcdy by God. So that we should 



GOD S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM. 55 

say there is progress in God's revelation, rather than an 
evolution of man's knowledge. This increase in plain- 
ness in God's impartation of his saving plans is due to 
the fact that the salvation must be accepted by men vol- 
untarily one by one, and therefore must be understood in 
some degree by them. God therefore condescends to 
tell them gradually (as the time for the accomplishing of 
the saving work upon the arena of history approaches), 
more and more plainly, the method of salvation, that it 
may not seem strange to them, and that they may be led 
to accept it the more readily. No purpose could have 
been accomplished by God's revealing fully the plan of 
salvation at first. The progress of his disclosure of his 
salvation may be represented by a concentric series of 
circles. The outermost is the first definition of salvation, 
the first dim prophecy of its accomplishment ; this is the 
protevangeliumy the primitive gospel, the first promise to 
Eve that her seed should conquer the Evil One (Gen. 
3 : 14-15). The second and smaller circle, defining the 
origin of salvation more restrictedly, is the blessing of 
Shem (Gen. 9 : 26-27). Here it is seen that God is to 
take a part of the human race for special blessing. This 
is narrowed still more in the third circle, which is the 
blessing of Abraham (Gen. 12: 1-3). Of all the descend- 
ants of Shem only the limited number who descend from 
Abraham are to receive the special blessing of God, 
which they are to be instrumental in giving to all the na- 
tions of the earth. The circle narrows a fourth time to 
the descendants of Judah among the Abrahamic family 
(Gen. 49 : 8-12). Narrowing again, the fifth circle makes 
David and his descendants the channel of God's blessing 
(2 Sam. II : 16). The circle at last is narrowed, at the 
sixth step, to a point where Isaiah announces that salva- 



56 HINTS AND HELPS. 

tion IS not to come through a family, but through a single 
person, the *' suffering servant ** of Jehovah (Isa. 52 : 13 — 
53: 12). Here God*s revelations of the means of salva- 
tion before the event culminate in the most sublime, the 
most ** evangelical " passage of the Old Testament. Jesus 
was the personal Messiah, the suffering servant of Jeho- 
vah, the centre of the house of David, the tribe of Judah, 
the family of Abraham, the family of Shem, the family ol 
Adam. Abraham thus takes his place in God's plan. 
But he has a special importance — his circle ought to be 
drawn with a heavier line than any of the others, so that 
abridged the series would have three steps : Adam, Abra- 
ham, Christ. 

2. The emphatic place of the covenant with Abra- 
ham is evident from the number of times it was empha- 
sized by God to him, with new details added each time. 
There is progress in the Messianic revelations of the Old 
Testament (of which the Abrahamic covenant is one), as 
we have seen, and there is progress within the Abrahamic 
covenant itself, in that it has stages of announcement. It 
is first proclaimed in Gen. 12 : 1-3, at " the beginning of 
the Hebrew nation." Its substance is separation for the 
blessing of human kind. Gen. 13:14-18 gives a second 
declaration of it, when the largeness of the promise is 
made emphatic by the comparison to the dust of the num- 
ber of those who are to be blessed. The third step is Gen. 
15, where the accomplishment of the end only after trouble 
is revealed. The fourth step is our lesson (Gen. 17 : 1-9), 
whose prominent element is the designation of the land of 
Canaan as the means of accomplishing the promise, fol- 
lowed by the naming of the sign of the covenant. The 
fifth and last step is the confirmation by an oath of all that 
i went before (Gen. 22 : 15-18). 



god's covenant with ABRAHAM. 5/ 

3. The name of God, El Shaddai, which is connected 
with the stage of revelation reached in our lesson, is im- 
portant, and evidently meant to be important by God*s 
own use of it. In the three covenants, or divine constitu- 
tions given to man for his government, which stand out 
in the old economy, three divine names are used. In the 
covenant given to Noah God is called Elohim (the most 
common name of deity) which comes from a root mean- 
ing to fear, and designates God as the highest object of 
reverence. In the covenant given to Abraham (our les- 
son) God calls \ivctisAi El Shaddaiy the A/mzghfy One, In 
the covenant given to the children of Israel through Mo- 
ses, God is called Jehovah (or more accurately, according 
to the Hebrew, JahveK)^ which has been interpreted as 
meaning either the eternally self-existent One, or perhaps 
better (as the idea of activity seems to be prominent in 
the Hebrew form) the seM-revealing One, " the ever-living 
personal God of revelation." Although Abram and Sarai 
were aged people, God meant still to give them a son 
who should be the ancestor of a people numerous as the 
stars. This is why God calls himself El Shaddai, the Al- 
mighty, in this connection. He is going to use his om- 
nipotence to overcome nature. " Elohim is the God who 
so made nature that it exists, and so preserves it that it 
consists. El Shaddai is the God who so constrains na- 
ture that it does his will, and so subdues it that it bows 
to and subserves grace. Jahveh is the God who carries 
out the purposes of grace in the midst of nature, and at 
last puts a new creation of grace in the place of nature. 
Hence the covenant with Noah was made in the name 
Elohim, for this covenant is by its very nature a renewal 
and guarantee of the order of creation, which had been 
broken through by the Flood; the covenant with the 



58 HINTS AND HELPS. 

patriarchs in the name El Shaddai, for it is by its na- 
ture the subdual of corrupted and perishable nature and 
the foundation of the marvellous work of grace ; and the 
covenant with Israel in the name Jahveh, for it is in its 
nature the completion of this work of grace and its carry- 
ing on to the climax of its perfection " (Delitzsch). 

4. The contents of the covenant with Abraham, in its 
fourth stage (our lesson). As contrasted with the three 
steps of its announcement preceding this, and the one 
following, the peculiarity of this one is the designation 
of the land of Canaan by name as the means territori- 
ially, the location, of God*s accomplishment of the promise 
(which is followed by the naming of circumcision as the 
sign of the covenant). But aside from this special point 
in this revelation of the covenant other elements (not pe- 
culiar to this) are contained in it. The whole contents of 
the covenant as here given are (a) a large progeny (v. 2), 
(d) reaching even to the magnitude of nations (v. 4), (e) 
with all of whom Abraham is to have immediate connec- 
tion personally as father (v. 5), {d) which connection is to 
have all earthly glory connected with it through kingly 
descendants (v. 6), (e) and is to be everlasting (v. 7), (/) 
and to have, as its most distinguishing element and splen- 
dor, God*s gift of himself to them as their God (v. 7), (g) 
all of which is to be accomplished here on this tangible 
earth in a definite place (v. 8.) Or, to sum these many 
details up in briefer form, this utterance of the covenant 
embraces three promises: " i. People and kings, even 
rich kings, should come from him ; 2, the covenant of 
blessing from God with him and his seed should be eier- 
nal ; 3, the whole land of Canaan should belong to his 
seed for an eternal possession " (Lange). 

5. The pledge of the fulfillment of all these splendid 



god's covenant with ABRAHAM. 5g 

promises God gives to Abram in a special reminder, to 
wit, his own name, which is now changed from Abram, 
" exalted father," to Abraham, " father of a multitude." 
Abraham could never think upon his own name without 
remembering who gave it him, and recalling its meaning : 
that he, by the power of El Shaddai, the omnipotent One, 
in spite of natural obstacles, should become the father of a 
multitude to whom God was to be peculiarly God, and 
through whom, because of this, all the nations of the earth 
were to be blessed. Dods says this change of Abram*s 
name was sacramental. " The sacramental character of a 
name consists in its divine appointment to represent and 
commemorate and testify some special grace and blessing, 
and so to be a permanent pledge of its bestowal " (Wil- 
kinson). What the rainbow was to Noah the new name 
was to Abraham — except that the latter had a more in- 
tense personal application. 

This lesson, thus analyzed into its special relations, 
has the broadest and at the same time the most narrowly 
personal applications. 

I. We see something here of God's vast general work 
in history. 

He has plans. Looked at near by history seems a 
strange melange. Things appear thrown together in a 
heap without order or thought. Out of this conception 
have sprung the words happen and chance. But when 
God permits us for a moment to stand afar off and see 
things, as far as we are able, with his eyes, we see that 
there is a design in everything. There is no historic 
waste. All things work together. Chance and happen 
are but mementoes of human blundering; there is no 
reality corresponding to them. 

In working out his great redemption plans God uses 



6o HINTS AND HELPS. 

men. Abraham was only an Arab sheik of an age long 
gone. How insignificant his life seems when we set be- 
side it a vision of our modern life of steam and electricity, 
of huge libraries and ponderous philosophy. Was that 
living at all ? Yes, Abraham lived one of the noblest of 
lives, and occupies one of the most conspicuous places in 
history, because God used him. And God wants to 
use us. 

God's purpose, in working out which Abraham took 
so splendid a place, is gracious. Its consequence is meant 
to be blessed for the souls of men. When we think of 
God as the ruler of all we are so impressed with the 
thought of his omnipotence and his omniscience that we 
may overlook that (even more than these) God is love. 
The increasing purpose which runs through the ages is 
the bringing of joy to men. 

2. In studying the covenant with Abraham we see 
something of the details of God's manner of working out 
his plan. 

He has a method in carrying it out, which is often 
submerged, but is always reappearing to testify to the 
consistency of God in his own workings. This method 
is, that through a part God will bless the whole. Leaven 
is the symbol of God's way. This is not a necessary 
method for him so far as we can see, but it is his choice, 
and he abides by it. A part of Adam's seed (Shem) is to 
bless the rest, a part of Shem's seed (Abraham) is to bless 
the rest, a part of Abraham's seed (Judah) is to bless the 
rest, a part of Judah's seed (David) is to bless the rest, a 
part of David's seed (Jesus Christ) is to bless the rest. 
So from the smallest centre, from the life of one man, all 
the myriads of the human race are to receive the fulfill- 
ment of the promise graciously made in Eden. And what 



GOD*S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM. 6l 

IS true in this large way is true in a lesser way, for God 
uses each one of us for the blessing of many others. An- 
drew sees Christ, and tells Simon, and the circle widens. 

In accomplishing his great purpose according to this 
special method, God uses means. His working is not in 
the air, it is here in palpable things. The land of Canaan 
was taken by God, the Creator, from those whom he had 
allowed to use it for a little time, in order that he might 
use it for himself There he nurtured his peculiar people, 
making them strong numerically, disciplining them, and 
using them for the preservation and propagation of his 
saving truth. And not only Canaan but all lands and all 
ages have their place in the consummation of God's eter- 
nal plan. India with her mysticism, Greece with her 
language, Rome with her laws, the Teutons with their 
sense of personal liberty, all put their hands to the wheel 
of God's chariot. 

It is no obstacle or hindrance to God's plan that it is 
age-long in its accomplishment. We may murmur at the 
lapse of centuries with maybe only one very simple idea 
added to God's revelation of his grace. But what are 
centuries to him who abides in eternity ? His thoughts 
are not as our thoughts. 

3. Abraham's relation to God and God's plans has 
more than a homiletical relation to us. Abraham in many 
things is an example to us. But he is infinitely more : he 
is the channel of divine grace to us. 

For God's covenant made with him is everlasting. 
Moses did not supplant it. David did not abolish it. 
Isaiah did not reveal a better way. Christ did not make 
It obsolete. On the contrary, he fulfilled it. The promise 
made to Abraham is binding (by reason of God's own 
act) upon God for ever. As long as there are men 



62 HINTS AND HELPS. 

to be blessed, Abraham will be an important person to 
them. 

Our connection with him is not that of blood, how- 
ever. Canaan served its purpose and is no longer the 
only theatre of God's gracious working. The Jew had 
his place and time in God's plan, but the plan has advanced 
beyond the need of him any more. That plan has been 
spiritualized, and relationship with Abraham and his 
covenant is secured now not through bodily but through 
spiritual descent — through faith, the same sort of faith 
which Abraham had and which was counted to him for 
righteousness. " Know ye therefore that they which are 
of faith, the same are the children of Abraham " (Gal. 

3:7). 

Yet the point of contact between us and Abraham is 

not our faith, but the person upon whom faith (Abraham's 
no less than ours) centres : Jesus Christ. Abraham's faith 
" was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not 
written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him; 
but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe 
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead ; who 
was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for 
our justification '* (Rom. 4 : 22-25). Abraham rejoiced to 
see the day of Christ (John 8 : 56). And the Christ to 
whom he looked as the fulfiUer of the covenant of God 
with him is the Christ in whom we find our personal sal- 
vation; which is the fulfillment of that everlasting cove- 
nant. 



god's judgment on SODOM. 63 



GOD'S JUDGMENT ON SODOM. 

Gen. 18:22-33. 

The story of Abraham pleading for Sodom is one of 
the noblest in the whole Old Testament. The glorious 
freedom and breadth of view possible to us under the 
reign of God's Son induce in us sometimes the thought 
that the men of olden time were narrow. It is true that 
for a time there was a narrowing brought about immedi- 
ately by God for the purpose of conserving special his- 
torical elements which would have been lost otherwise. 
The temporary narrowness was in order to an ultimate 
broadening, just as a temporary war is sometimes a step 
towards final peace. But Abraham does not come within 
that period of restriction. The promise to him was meant 
for the blessing of all mankind, and not the Jew only. 
And so Abraham's outlook is over all men, over those 
who are alien to him in race and habits. It is not a Jew 
but a citizen of the world who prays for heathen Sodom. 

A point of interest, which has caught the attention of 
numberless commentators, is the relation of God to the 
three men, or angels, whom Abraham entertained. We 
are told that " the Lord," i. e., Jehovah, " appeared unto 
him" (18:1). "Three men stood by him" (v. 2), 
whom he addressed as " my Lord " (v. 3), a name of 
God in the Pentateuch (Oehler) — although the Revisers 
write it "my lord," understanding it as a simple title of 
address. Sometimes " they said " (v. 9), sometimes " he 
said" (v. 10), i. e., one of the three. Again, "the Lord 
said" (i. e., Jehovah , (v. 13), while "the men rose up 



64 HINTS AND HELPS. 

from thence," (v. i6). Twice more the expression occurs 
" the Lord said " (vs. 17, 20), while again we are told that 
" the men turned their faces from thence . . . but Abraham 
stood yet before the Lord!^ Comparing this last expres- 
sion with 19: 1, we see that two of the three men-angels 
went to Sodom, while the third remained and listened to 
the pleading of Abraham. All this is sufficiently per- 
plexing. The most reasonable explanation is given by 
Delitzsch : " It is not the case that one of the three angels 
is the appearance of Jahveh [Dillmann], but that there are 
three heavenly messengers, in whom Jahveh manifests him- 
self, three by reason of the nature of their vocation, which 
is not to promise only, but also to punish and to deliver. 
Because, however, the message of grace to Abraham is a 
higher one than the messages of judgment and mercy to 
Lot, the two are subordinate to the one, and Jahveh is 
specially present to Abraham in the one, whom he recog- 
nizes as above the other two and addresses as Adonai, 
Lord of all, because he has made upon him the impression 
of a being in whom God is, and whom he is to receive as 
God himself" 

One other thing it is necessary to understand in ap- 
proaching the episode of Abraham's intercessory prayer, 
and that is, that Sodom was at the lowest stage of wicked- 
ness. It is not necessary to show to ourselves that this 
was so or why it was so. It is only required that we 
should assume it in order to appreciate what follows. We 
may say without danger of contradiction that Sodom was 
as bad as bad could be. It deserved to be wiped off the 
face of the earth. 

Sodom, however. Is not one of the subjects for our 
study at this moment. It is a presupposition, but it stands 
in the background. Two persons are the figures for our 



GOD'S JUDGMENT ON SODOM. 65 

Study: Abraham and God (as represented and incarnated 
in the angel whom Abraham addresses). 

I. We see Abraham acting as an offerer of prayer. 
Sometimes he appears to us as the pilgrim, or the friend 
of God, or the loyal relative, or the man of tried faith. 
His character has many interesting sides. Here he is the 
offerer of prayer. 

1. Confidence in the character of God marks him in 
this aspect. " Shall not the Judge of all the earth do 
right?" is the foundation of his reasoning about God. 
Partly by revelation, partly by experience, partly doubt- 
less by his own thinking, Abraham had reached a certain 
lofty conception of God. He was confident that this con- 
ception was not too noble. His question is not a query 
as to whether he could be mistaken in his estimate of 
God, for about that he had no doubt. It is a mere rhe- 
torical question, which assumes an indisputably certain 
answer. Certainly the Judge of all the earth could do 
nothing but the right. Abraham's creed began with the 
downright assertion, " I believe in God." All prayer 
rests upon this supposition. How hard it would be for 
one who did not believe in a God, or for one who believed 
(like the old Greeks) that the character of God is fickle, 
to justify prayer. We know that we should pray, how to 
pray, and what to pray for, because God has revealed to 
us that he is and what he is. It would not be a bad cus- 
tom for us sometimes, when we pray, to ask ourselves 
what kind of a God it is we are approaching. 

2. Belief in man also characterized Abraham's 
prayer. He was an optimist even in sight of Sodom. 
The wickedness of that wicked place he did not dispute 
(v. 23). Indeed, that would have been very difficult to 
do. But Abraham believed that in spite of this black 

Hints and Helps. C. 



66 HINTS AND HELPS. 

degradation there might be perhaps in Sodom as many 
as fifty righteous (v. 24), " by which we understand not 
merely sinless or holy men, but men who through the fear 
of God and conscientiousness had kept themselves free 
from the prevailing sin and iniquity of these cities " (Keil). 
He tried to put the best estimate possible on the wicked 
city, and to hope as much as he dared concerning it. 
Perhaps he also had a dim thought that if the cities were 
spared the fifty righteous men might lead to their recla- 
mation (which God knew to be impracticable). There is 
a lesson for us in Abraham's optimism. God only knows 
how bad actually any place or any man may be. But we 
should hope that there may be something of good every- 
where, and act as though we believed in its existence. 

3. Unselfishness distinguishes this prayer of Abra- 
ham. He had nothing to gain by its being answered. 
He was safe, body and soul. But he was not so narrow 
as to think that his interests were all satisfied thereby. 
He remembered Lot, who had treated him somewhat 
shabbily in the partition of lands. Abraham bears him 
no grudge for his selfish greed at that time. On the 
contrary, he is solicitous and prayerful for his safety. 
And yet his interest in Sodom is not wholly that of a man 
in his relatives. He does not mention Lot by name in his 
prayers. He is interested in all who live in the place. 
He stands before us as a grand humanitarian, whose sym- 
pathies go out to all mankind. It was eminently fitting 
that the man through whom the whole human race was to 
be blessed should show such broad feeling for the welfare 
of all men. There was great enthusiasm in the ancient 
Roman theatre when one of the actors uttered for the first 
time the noble sentiment : ** I am a man, and nothing 
which concerns man do I think to be without interest to 



god's judgment on SODOM. 67 

xn3rself." That seemed a new discovery in those Roman 
days. But it was old as Abraham. He too felt a love for 
man as man. Sodom was bad as it could be, but he 
hoped as hard as he could that there was good in it, and 
prayed for it correspondingly. 

4. The earnestness with which Abraham contended 
for the aid of Sodom is apparent. Strenuousness appears 
in the persistence of his appeals. Corrected in his first 
over-estimate of the number of righteous men in Sodom, 
he makes a second and a third estimate, and still others 
after that, hesitating to give up his optimism until it is 
made absolutely impossible. He tries as hard as he can to 
find some basis on which the city might be exempted from 
destruction. He presses the point of God's justice. He 
holds out in his sympathetic enterprise to the latest mo- 
ment. One might imagine from this that he had some 
vast personal interest in the preservation of Sodom. Men 
are not often so earnest in preferring requests to God 
unless there be something of personal gain at stake. We 
are reminded of PauPs disinterested prayers for his breth- 
ren after the flesh, and Christ's weeping over Jerusalem. 
It is easy enough to be earnest in our prayers for our- 
selves or our friends, but the high mark to which we must 
aspire is to have a like earnestness in our prayers for 
others, for strangers, for all mankind. 

5. Abraham showed great boldness in the way in 
which he addressed his requests to God. There was 
boldness in praying for desperately wicked Sodom at all. 
Convicted of error in his estimate of the number of right- 
eous men in it, there was boldness in his repeated return 
to a new estimate and a new request. The truth was, he 
wanted with all his heart to have miserable Sodom saved 
if it were possible, and he dared to ask for what he want- 



68 HINTS AND HELPS. 

ed. There is a certain amount of daring involved in any 
prayer. We can understand the feeling which some 
have experienced that it is better not to make any requests 
to God at all, but to offer him simply prayers of adoration 
and submission. But God does not limit us so, and it is 
not natural for us to pray so. We would like to ask for 
what we want, and God wishes us above all to be sincere. 
There is no harm in asking for anything so long as it is 
in " thQ name of Christ," i. e., so long as it is asked in 
accordance with his principles of life and obedience to 
God, and in the consciousness of dependence upon him as 
our mediator. God surely wants us to be ourselves in our 
prayers if anywhere. We are not in half as much danger 
of asking unwise things as of not asking fervently and 
boldly for what we really need. 

6. Yet humility went with boldness in Abraham's 
pleadings for Sodom. He recognizes the majesty of 
Jehovah, and remembers that before him he is but dust 
and ashes (v. 27). He feels that perhaps his boldness 
might justly anger the holy God (v. 30). Repeatedly he 
uses deprecatory expressions (vs. 31, 32). He does not 
forget for a moment who it was he is addressing. And 
when little by little his hopes for the righteousness in 
Sodom are diminished and the grounds for his request 
are lessened, and at last even his minimum of ten right- 
eous men is shown to be too great, he ceases to press the 
matter disputatiously. He leaves the outcome in the 
hands of the just God. He knows when to stop. " There 
is a distinction between the mere begging, which knows 
no limit, and the prayer ^ which is conscious that it is lim- 
ited through the moral nature or spirit, and indeed by the 
Holy Spirit ** (Lange). If Abraham exhibited what has 
been called " the shamelessness of faith '* (see Luke 11:8) 



GOD*S JUDGMENT ON SODOM. 69 

in his pressing importunity, if it were true, as Luther 
thought, that ** tears ran down his face and his words 
passed into unspeakable sighs," yet he did not think that 
he was wiser than God. At last he humbly leaves his 
desire with the All- wise, knowing that his disposal of it 
will be right 

II. God as the receiver of prayer is also offered here 
to our thought. 

^ I. We see that he does listen to our cry. " He that 
planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the 
eye, shall he not see ?*' (Psa. 94 : 9.) There is more in 
that question than is guessed sometimes. Can a Creator 
give greater powers to his creatures than he possesses 
himself? Can an effect be greater than its cause ? Grant- 
ed a God, must he not have in his own being all the 
powers which he is able to bestow upon his creatures, and 
in far larger extent ? Can I hear and see ? Then God, 
who gave me such powers, must have had them in pos- 
session before he could bestow them, and must be char- 
acterized by them himself Can I answer those who 
speak to me and give to them things they ask ? So then 
can God also, who gave me this power. If we, being 
inferior, have such ability, how much more must the 
Father have it from whom our ability comes (Matt. 7:11). 
The philosophical difficulties of prayer arise from the 
limitations of the human reason. The trouble is not in 
prayer itself but in our understanding of it, which is a 
different matter. God has no trouble in hearing us when 
we call upon him, nor in answering when he will. The 
prayers which precede events are as much a part of his 
plan as the events themselves. But even if we did not 
have that relieving thought, to hear and answer prayer 
would be quite as possible to the Omnipotent 



^0 HINTS AND HELPS. 

2. With Abraham as with us God s\\o^s forbearance. 
There is something not altogether pleasant to us in the 
spectacle of Abraham's " beating down " God from fifty to 
ten (Dods). This Jewish " trading spirit " is said to have 
excited laughter in Voltaire. But the more childlike or 
even childish Abraham's prayer is made to seem the more 
is God's patience with him revealed. If all the prayers of 
the Bible were ideal prayers we should be discouraged. 
For we often feel that our petitions are very inadequate for 
the presence of the holy God. There is no splendor in 
our broken words such as could please him ; there is not 
much of that sane thoughtfulness in our requests which 
we are sure he desires. What can we do? Shall we 
stop praying? Oh, no! Let us keep on, unworthily, 
foolishly, if it be. God is a God of forbearance and will 
hear us still. 

3. God accepts as valid the estitriate which Abraham 
puts upon his character. The patriarch appeals to the 
divine justice, and God allows the plea to stand. He does 
not correct the error which Abraham makes in supposing 
that God always lets earthly calamities come according to 
moral deserts, and that God would do wrong if he took 
innocent lives away from earth. The truth on these 
points was not yet made plain. The time for that had 
not yet come. Abraham's inference as to what God could 
do and still be just was incorrect, but his premise that 
God is just was valid. God accepts what was right in 
Abraham's thoughts ; he even adjusts himself to the limi- 
tations of Abraham's moral apprehension. He comes 
down and reasons with him on his own grounds. What 
infinite condescension ! We sometimes fancy that God 
cannot do much for us until we are thoroughly enlight- 
ened, until we have a very plain idea of him and his truth. 



god's judgment on SODOM. 7 1 

But the thief on the cross knew very little and yet was 
saved. A child's salvation is as valid as a man's. 

4. Did God answer Abraham's prayer ? Sodom was 
destroyed doubtless. But what was the feeling which 
prompted the prayer ? A broad sympathy with human- 
ity. Abraham desired and asked the good of men. But 
if Sodom had been spared humanity would have been 
harmed. The destruction of the cities of the plain was 
really beneficent. Literally Abraham's prayer seems to 
have been refused, but really the spirit which prompted it 
was satisfied and the prayer was answered. "Though 
the particular object of his petitions was not accorded to 
him, yet the avowed conditions on which it would have 
been granted show that no Hmits, but such as a concern 
for his own honor induced God to fix, can be assigned to 
the exercise of his grace in answer to his people's pray- 
ers " (Bush). 

Of what does the grand figure of Abraham's pleading- 
for Sodom remind us ? Of the nobler figure of our great 
Intercessor. And he not only pleads for us, but shows 
us how to plead for others. "I exhort therefore, that, 
first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving 
of thanks, be made for all men " (i Tim. 2:1). 



72 HINTS AND HELPS. 



TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH. 

GEN. 22 : I-I3. 

In the Old Testament we have the record of many 
special revelations of divine truth, and we have also the 
record of the way in which these revelations bore upon 
the life of God*s people. The climax of truth revealed is 
the 53d chapter of Isaiah ; the climax of truth appropri- 
ated is the 2 2d chapter of Genesis. These are two 
mountain peaks, illuminated alike by the shining of the 
Sun of righteousness. Isaiah tells of the suffering Servant 
of Jehovah, and Abraham portrays unwittingly the great 
substitutionary idea of sacrifice which interprets to us the 
cross of Christ. 

In Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac we see the full exhi- 
bition of that which characterized all his life, faith in God. 
" The obedience of faith drew Abraham into a strange 
land; by the humility of faith he gave way to his nephew 
Lot ; strong in faith, he fought four kings of the heathen 
with three hundred and eighteen men ; firm in faith, he 
rested in the word of promise, notwithstanding all the 
opposition of reason and nature; bold in faith, he en- 
treated the preservation of Sodom under increasingly low- 
ered conditions ; joyful in faith, he received, named and 
circumcised the son of promise ; with the loyalty of faith 
he submitted at the bidding of God to the will of Sarah 
and expelled Hagar and Ishmael ; and with the gratitude 
of faith he planted a tamarisk to the ever-faithful God in 
the place where Abimelech had sued for his friendship 
and accepted his present ; now his faith was to be put to 



TRIAL OF Abraham's faith. 73 

the severest test to prove itself victorious, and to be re- 
warded accordingly " (Delitzsch). We are to notice 

I. The trial, 

I. Its origin, (a) It was from God. "God did 
tempt Abraham." Here we meet the same problem 
which troubled Job: how can God permit trouble to 
come to the righteous? And the answer here is the 
same' as in the case of Job : it is for their strengthening. 
It startles us, however, to se"^ the word " tempt " applied 
to God, inasmuch as we recall the injunction of James 
(i : 13-14), ** Let no man say when he is tempted, I am 
tempted of God ; for God cannot be tempted with evil, 
neither tempteth he any man ; but every man is tempted 
when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." 
But the difficulty is not as great as it seems. The He- 
brew word for " tempt " we discover has also the mean- 
ing " prove," which is evidendy a more correct word for 
this place (see the Revised Version). It is no doubt true 
that temptations are used by God to try and to prove 
our souls, but " the proving is from God, the temptation 
is from sin " (Lange). (J)) Abraham's trial quite possi- 
bly arose out of circumstances about him. He was de- 
sirous of offering to God the most complete service pos- 
sible, and it may be that the human sacrifices which he 
saw made by the peoples around him to their gods made 
him wonder if he would be willing to perform such an 
act of sublime self-renunciation (as it might seem) to his 
God. Certainly he would not want to be inferior to the 
heathen in his obedience to Jehovah. The idea of hu- 
man sacrifices has had a wide sweep through history. We 
learn of it among the Canaanites, among the Moabites 
and Ammonites later, among the Phoenicians (descend- 
ants of the Canaanites) and Carthaginians, the Egyptians 



74 HINTS AND HELPS. 

and, in isolated examples, the Greeks. The horror and 
terribleness of it have only added to its seductiveness. 
Men have been led into it by the same degraded super- 
stition which made fanatical Hindoos cast themselves be- 
neath the crushing wheels of the car of Juggernaut. The 
principle of self-sacrifice is at the very heart of religion, 
but the slaughter of children upon the altar of the gods 
illustrates the truth that the perversion of the noblest 
things is always the worst. However, it is not inconceiv- 
able that the desire which lay back of the terrible mistake 
of the Canaanites may have been most noble in some 
cases. It may very easily have been, then, that " the 
sight of the Canaanite sacrifices of children must have led 
Abraham to self-examination, whether he would be strong 
enough in renunciation and self-denial to do what those 
heathen did, if his God desired it from him " (Oehler). If 
this be so it is an illustration of the truth that God uses 
circumstances about us for the trying of our souls, and 
that he employs them all in his far-reaching plans. When 
God*s voice called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac it was 
along the line of thoughts which had already doubtless 
often arisen in the grand old patriarch's self-sacrificing 
heart. 

2. The severity of the trial. Abraham had been 
tried in many ways. His whole career had been one of 
faith. But now the moment had come for the supreme 
test. We cannot think of anything more severe than 
that to which he was now exposed. The prospect of his 
own death would have been mild compared to the 
thought of slaying Isaac with his own hand. In Abra- 
ham self-love was not the strongest emotion, so he must 
be tried in some other direction. What did he love most ? 
The child of his olcf age. Along the line of dearest love 



TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH. 75 

the supreme trial always lies. Christ indicates this 
when he says we must be willing to give up even father 
and mother for him. The preciousness of the relation 
between Abraham and Isaac is specially marked through- 
out. " The command dwells with emphasis on it : * Thy 
son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest' He takes 
with him * Isaac his son ;' lays the wood on * Isaac his 
son ;* Isaac spake unto * Abraham his father :' Abraham 
answers, * Here am I, my son ;' and again, * My son, God 
will provide.* He bound * Isaac his son ;* he * took the 
knife to slay his son ;' and, lastly, in the glad surprise at 
the end, he offers the ram * in the stead of his son ' " 
(McLaren). 

The line of love along which he was tried was also 
the line of his hopes. Isaac was the son who was to per- 
petuate Abraham's family and name. Through many 
years the old patriarch had hoped for the heir, who means 
so much in the East, and at last to him, hoping against 
hope, the precious gift was granted. And now these 
hopes were to be jeopardized. Not only that, but the 
hopes of the whole human race were trembling in the bal- 
ance; for it had been promised that through Abraham 
and his seed all the nations of the earth were to be 
blessed, and now God was commanding Abraham, as it 
might have seemed, to make the fulfillment of these earth- 
wide hopes impossible. Still more, the truthfulness of 
God was at stake. He had made a promise in connection 
with Isaac, and now he was commanding something 
which, if carried out in full, would make the promise im- 
possible of completion. Truly, as we analyze the special 
position of Isaac and his special significance to his father 
(far beyond that of other dearly loved children to their 
fathers) it appears to be a colossal thing which God asked 



76 HINTS AND HELPS. 

of Abraham. How hard it is to give up our children to 
God, even when he would take them in the gentleness oi 
death ! But what would it be if we were asked to brand- 
ish the knife of a slayer over them ? 

3. The meaning of the trial, (a) The chief point was 
not to have Abraham sacrifice his son, but to have him 
sacrifice his son and keep his faith in God. Suppose at 
the supreme moment Abraham had looked up to heaven 
and cried, " Behold, O God, what I am about to do ; in 
obedience to thy will I slay my son, but at the same mo- 
ment I abjure thee as a God of cruelty in whom I can no 
more have faith." In that case Abraham would have 
obeyed God so far as the external act was concerned, but 
it is evident that the whole virtue of his act would have 
been destroyed. The obedience which God was seeking 
was the obedience of faith. It is true that this was re- 
quired to show itself in an external act ; but the external 
act, great as it would have been, if severed from the inter- 
nal state, would have had no value in the eyes of God. 
No external sacrifice ever has any value to him except as 
it exhibits a really existing faith back of it. Not merely 
to sacrifice his son, but to sacrifice his son and keep his 
faith in God was what God sought. When God asks 
great things of us do we discern what it is behind them 
that he asks still more ? " To subdue the father in the 
heart, ^kat sl Roman has done, and calmly signed his son's 
death-warrant; but to subdue it not with Roman hard- 
ness, but with deep trust in God and faith in his provi- 
dence, saying, It is not hate, but love, that requires this — 
this was the nobleness, this the fierce difficulty of Abra- 
ham's sacrifice " (Robertson). (^) Abraham was asked to 
sacrifice understanding as well as love to faith. He could 
not possibly see how the requirement of God to slay Isaac 



TRIAL OF ABRAHAM S FAITH. ^^ 

could be answered and God still satisfy his promises to be 
a friend to Abraham and to bless all the world through 
Isaac. The elements to be met in the problem seemed 
absolutely irreconcilable. There was no possibility of 
understanding the matter. " Human reason might have 
concluded simply either that the promise was a falsehood 
or that the command was not from God but from the 
devil ; for the contradiction is evident. If he ought to slay 
Isaac the promise is of none effect ; but if the promise is 
valid, it is impossible that this should be the command of 
God" (Luther). The dilemma was complete. But al- 
though Abraham could not solve it, he believed God. 
He trusted more to God's ability to untangle difficulties 
than to his own ability to foresee the method of disentan- 
glement. What an everlasting lesson on the relations of 
faith and reason ! Faith is believing without understand- 
ing. If we understood, it would be no longer faith. 
Would that when the trial of our faith comes we could 
see that virtue for us is in acquiescence without insight. 
{c) Abraham bowed his will to God*s — this is the heart of 
his sacrifice. As a matter of fact, Isaac was not slain, but 
Abraham's sacrifice was no less valid, because he had 
shown himself willing to slay Isaac if it were necessary, 
and that willingness, and not the slaying, was what God 
required. When Origen offered himself to the persecu- 
tors, entreating them to slay him, and was refused, who 
shall say his service in testimony of Christ was not as fully 
acceptable to God as though he had been put to death ? 
" For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted accord- 
ing to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath 
not " (2 Cor 8:12). Sometimes we are puzzled by being 
thwarted providentially in giving or doing something for 
God, and we are not always satisfied with God's interfer- 



78 HINTS AND HELPS. 

ence. And on the other hand, he sometimes surprises us 
by letting us go on and do things which we had hoped, in 
our half-hearted devotion, that he would interrupt. It is 
not every time that Isaac is saved. But when he is, when 
the accomplishment of some noble desire is thwarted, we 
are to remember that after all the chief thing, that which 
gives excellence to every offering, is the sacrifice of the 
will to God. 

II. The results of the ti'ial. It was not for itself, but 
for something beyond, that God gave the patriarch this 
tremendous test. Our trials are never for their own sake. 
Trouble is not meant to end in itself. 

I. Abraham's faith was ''manifested, confirmed, exer- 
cised, and deepened" (Dods). We are taught (Heb. 
11:19) that the special content of Abraham's faith was 
that he accounted " that God was able to raise him [Isaac] 
up, even from the dead," Such a thing had never been 
thought of before in history, so far as we can see. It was 
an original conception with Abraham. He expected to 
have the slain Isaac restored again to life. Such seemed 
to him the only possible solution of the dilemma of the 
situation. But to believe in (what must have seemed to 
him) so nearly impossible a solution required quite as 
much faith as to believe blindly, without even a guess as 
to the way out, Abraham's faith was complete ; as high 
as we can conceive faith to be. He believed in God's 
wisdom and love, even when such a terrible sacrifice was 
asked. He believed still in the fulfillment of God's prom- 
ises, although it might require such a miracle as could 
hardly be imagined. And he came out of this trial with 
a better faith than ever. It was better because it was 
strengthened by having had strain put upon it, because it 
was now a demonstrated rather than a latent faith, because 



TRIAL OF ABRAHAM S FAITH. 79 

it had accomplished the willing of a supreme sacrifice, 
which willingness before could only have been surmised. 
Abraham's faith had always been justified to him, but no 
such mighty justification as this had ever been given it 
before. Now he could do anything, for faith could not 
go beyond this. 

2. God was vindicated as Abraham's friend and the 
keeper of promises. As Abraham went up the mountain 
with Isaac God's friendship with him was severely tested, 
but it stood the strain, and it was shown to be genuine. 
God did not ask of him anything unreasonable or unkind ; 
having set a duty before him he did not fail to give Abra- 
ham strength to perform it, having brought him into a 
most difficult and harrowing situation he did not abandon 
him and leave him helpless. He supplied all he asked, 
he opened ways out of all difficulties he permitted to 
come. Abraham was justified now more than ever in be- 
lieving in the friendship of God. Sometimes we do not 
know what a friend we have in our Father until our road 
leads us to some mountain-top of severe sacrifice. 

3. All of this wonderful story must have had mean- 
ing to Isaac. He was not a child, but a young man, able 
to carry the heavy wood for the altar up the mountain- 
side. What his feelings must have been as he saw the 
father's knife raised above him we do not know. But 
throughout the whole episode his conduct was character- 
ized by the spirit of quiet endurance. He submitted to 
be bound, he submitted to lie upon the altar. He believed 
in his father, and in his father's God, and by his submis- 
sion showed himself a not unworthy heir of "the friend of 
God," and not unfit to transmit his influence to ages fol- 
lowing. 

4. An incidental lesson from God's interruption of the 



80 HINTS AND HELPS. 

sacrifice of Isaac must not be overlooked. If it had been 
true that the custom of offering human sacrifices to the 
gods had suggested to Abraham the question whether he 
was willing to do as much for Jehovah, and God followed 
up the line of this thought in testing Abraham's faith, 
then his forbidding Abraham at last to slay his son 
showed that He did not wish to have human sacrifices of- 
fered to Him. These horrid rites were barbaric, super- 
stitious, not truly religious. And by the remembrance of 
Abraham's stayed hand his descendants were to know 
that God wanted the sacrifice of the heart, and not those 
of precious children's lives. " Nothing is so remarkable 
a proof of a divine and watchful interposition as the de- 
liverance from the infirmity, the exaggeration, the excess, 
whatever it is, to which the noblest minds and the noblest 
forms of religion are subject . . Abraham reached the very 
verge of an act which, even if prompted by noble motives 
and by a divine call, has by all subsequent revelation and 
experience been pronounced accursed. At that moment 
his hand is stayed; and the Patriarchal religion is res- 
cued from this conflict with the justice of the law or the 
mercy of the gospel " (Stanley). 

5. It has always been remarked that there is some- 
thing suggestive of Christ in this Abrahamic episode. 
Who could mistake the thought that the ram caught in 
the bushes was the substitute for Isaac ? All the subse- 
quent system of sacrifices received interpretation from this 
scene. The sheep and goats were not slain for their own 
sake, but were sacrificed in lieu of men. And at last all 
sacrifices are summed up in that on the cross. To this 
all others point. And in this respect, as in others, Abra- 
ham and Christ are connected. 

The great lesson for all of us in the sublime story of 



TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH. 8 1 

the sacrifice of Isaac is the ultimate blessedness of thq 
trying of our faith. The test may be severe, but "Jehovah 
jireh." " God sets some strong trial upon a strong Chris- 
tian, made strong by his own grace ; and by his victory 
makes it appear to the world that the invincible grace, 
the very Spirit of God, dwells in the hearts of true be- 
lievers" (Leighton). 



Hlnto and Helps. 



82 HINTS AND HELPS. 



SELLING THE BIRTHRIGHT. 

Gen. 25 : 27-34. 

The position which Esau took with respect to his 
birthright was a continuing of the line of cleavage be- 
tween those who were to carry out God*s special aim in 
history and those who were to have only a passive rela- 
tion to it. Separation for a purpose — this was the law 
governing the religious development of the ancient world. 
"The patriarchal history began with the separation of 
Abraham the Shemite from the mass of the nations ; it 
continued with the separation of the son of promise from 
Abraham's other progeny ; it closes with a fresh separa- 
tion made between the twin sons of Isaac " (Delitzsch). 
The separation of Abraham was brought about through a 
supernatural revelation and command. The separation of 
Jacob was secured through the use of natural means: 
through the operation indeed of human weaknesses, even 
through the sins of men. The study of how God worked 
through Jacob and Esau, allowing their special traits, de- 
veloping into characteristic acts, to accomplish his far- 
reaching designs, is most striking to us, for it is in the 
same unobserved way that God works through us, sep- 
arating us by allowing us to separate ourselves, that we 
may at last serve his ends. 

I. The characters of Jacob and Esau are vividly set 
before us. We cannot mistake what manner of men they 
were. Esau was a sportsman, fond of life in the open 
air, impulsive and generous, thinking only of the moment, 
quick to satisfy immediate desires without much thought 



SELLING THE BIRTHRIGHT. 83 

of the final cost of so doing, affectionate and unsuspect- 
ing. Jacob was an "amiable** man (a "plain" man, as 
the authorized version has it), who preferred the quiet 
humdrum of tent life rather than the exciting and danger- 
ous exposure of the chase; a thoughtful, cautious, far- 
sighted man, looking to the issue of things rather than to 
their present and temporary aspect, caring little for the 
wants of the body and the gratification of chance desires, 
shrewd, and capable of a business-like success. 

Doubdess natural temperament had much to do with 
this difference between the two men. But we cannot help 
suspecting that the training which they had received from 
their parents, and the conscious or unconscious influence 
of the parents upon them, were also potent causes at 
work to make these sons what they were. It has often 
been pointed out that there is a singular coincidence be- 
tween Isaac's love of venison and Esau*s craving the mess 
of pottage. Father and son set more than usual store, it 
would seem, by the kind of food which pleased them. 
Isaac had a special fondness for Esau ; why ? Because of 
unusual excellences of character ? Because of some praise- 
worthy act which Esau had done ? Not this alone. *' Isaac 
loved Esau because he did eat of his venison " (v. 28). 
Of course there was no harm in Isaac's liking one kind of 
food rather than another. And it was certainly an act of 
lovely filial thoughtfulness for Esau to gratify his father's 
taste. Yet does it not strike one as strange that the grat- 
ification of a special appetite, of no great consequence one 
way or the other, should have been the ground of a fa- 
ther's special liking for a son? Ought not a father's 
approbation to rest upon something deeper than a son's 
gratification of the father's trivial and fleshly tastes? 
Ought the father to set so high an estimate as this upon 



84 HINTS AND HELPS. 

his own likes and dislikes with respect to food? It is 
not surprising after asking such questions to see that 
Esau on his part went a step farther than Isaac and made 
his peculiar taste for food the dominating thing in his 
whole life. The father's more or less excusable weakness 
(if weakness it were) has developed to a passion in his 
child. In Jacob, on the other hand, we are able to see 
the mother's influence. For that " watchful cunning " 
which is the least admirable of his traits had its fullest 
exercise under the immediate instigation of Rebekah 
(chap. 27 : 6, etc.) If she was capable of so great a deceit, 
and Jacob was capable of such immediate acquiescence 
in it, we cannot but think that lesser deceits and similar 
experiences had gone before. The partiality of these pa- 
rents, never justifiable, never wise, was much to blame for 
the kind of men their boys turned out to be. 

2. Good and evil combined were found in the char- 
acter of each of these brothers. Esau was not the heir of 
the promise, and yet he was not wholly a bad man ; he 
had many admirable traits. Jacob was the heir of the 
promise, and yet he was not the lofty-minded and spot- 
less person we might have expected and hoped him to 
be. Esau was a lover of the things of this life. If he 
was hungry it seemed that he would die if he did not in- 
stantly have something to eat (v. 32). And to satisfy his 
longing for a dish of red lentils he would sacrifice all large 
hopes for the future. Yet with this sordid love of the 
things of sense Esau combined surprisingly something of 
the highest of the virtues — love. He was touchingly 
thoughtful for his father's weaknesses, he was forgiving 
even towards the brother who by means of a trick had 
snatched away the father's blessing from him. In spite 
of his shortcomings there is somethfng lovable in Esau. 



SELLING THE BIRTHRIGHT. 85 

And admirable as Jacob is in some of the great scenes of 
his life, much as we are impressed with his aspiration 
after the things that are eternal, still we cannot but feel it 
necessary to deduct something from the sum of his excel- 
lences when we remember his impatience with conditions 
as he found them, his lovelessness towards his own bro- 
ther, his scheming to get surely for himself what he ought 
to have believed would become his in due time providen- 
tially, his trading upon another's folly, his insisting upon 
an oath in order that there might be no loop-hole of es- 
cape; in short, his bargaining spirit, where we might 
have expected something of magnanimity. "In these 
two the good and evil are so mingled that at first we 
might be at a loss which to follow, which to condemn " 
(Stanley). Herein we see the truthfulness of this history 
to human nature. The worst criminal we know is not 
without some spark of good within the heart. Some of 
the most dramatic and touching episodes of literature are 
the exhibitions of unexpected affection or courage in 
those whose lives have been stained with the blackest 
sins. And the holiest saint never thinks himself to be 
beyond the need of daily repentance. Even in the serene 
and lofty character of Abraham we can find unworthy 
elements, and in Paul, the great advocate of the necessity 
of faith in new covenant times, we see a constant humilia- 
tion for sins. In the combination of evil in Jacob and 
Esau we ought to find both encouragement and warning. 
3. Character is developed and revealed by passing 
events. The two brothers appear before us each pos- 
sessed of mingled traits of good and evil. They are 
placed in certain special situations. And these brought 
into combination with the pre-established traits produce 
certain results, which in turn react upon those traits. Ac- 



86 HINTS AND HELPS. 

cording as men are inclined to fatalism or to a belief in 
the unrestrained freedom of the human will they take one 
of two positions concerning the relation of events to char- 
acter. The fatalist thinks that men are helpless before 
events, that character is inevitably shaped by them in 
certain unavoidable ways, that men can no more help 
making the choices they do than they can prevent the sun 
from rising. The man who thinks the only truth we 
know is that the will is free holds that we can impose our 
choice upon events and make of them what we will, that we 
are not at their mercy but that they are at ours, that we 
can be precisely what we want to be and nothing can 
hinder us. 

Although these two positions are irreconcilable so far 
as our understanding is concerned, yet no doubt the truth 
is found in the seemingly impossible combination of both. 
Both Jacob and Esau were creatures of circumstance, 
having their lives shaped by very slight events, and yet 
they had characters which they brought to circumstances, 
and under the influence of their own dispositions they 
freely made choices which had unlimited consequences. 
For all of us there is this constant interplay bel ween char- 
acter and circumstance, the solution of which is most 
baffling. But there is a solution, which is to trust in God. 
He can control events, and he also can work in us to will 
and to do. He is the third term in which we find an es- 
cape from the ever perplexing problem of the relations of 
character and events, of tendency and circumstance, of 
will and fate. It was a comparatively insignificant matter 
that Esau being hungry should receive food from Jacob. 
But in the event we have a full revelation of the weak- 
nesses of the two — Esau's love of the things of this life, 
and Jacob's cunning. The combination of circumstances 



SELLING THE BIRTHRIGHT. 8/ 

did not make them what they were, and yet it developed 
what was in them and gave it opportunity, and so con- 
firmed* it. So we are always going out into life, giving 
and at the same moment getting. Character is always 
bestowing of itself, and always receiving somewhat. If 
Esau and Jacob had been thinking of God at that mo- 
ment, and asking him for guidance, they might have 
directed the event for their mutual happiness, and have 
each taken from it progress in character. 

4. The ulHmate distinction between these men comes 
out in the course of time. There was good in Esau as 
well as evil, there was evil in Jacob as well as good, but 
in Jacob the good more and more preponderated, and we 
can see at last that he was not an unworthy heir of the 
promises. Jacob was truly, and all the time, the better 
man of the two. For the right principle had the better 
hold on Jacob and his tendency was upward, whereas 
Esau was hopelessly committed to the choice of what was 
selfish and unworthy, and his tendency was therefore away 
from the good. 

If we were judging of these brothers at the moment 
of this episode we would be very apt to make a mistake. 
There is something so frank, spontaneous and impulsive 
about Esau that criticism is almost disarmed. Whereas 
the calculating eagerness of Jacob to make the most of 
his brother's distress hardly strikes us favorably. But if 
we looked only at these superficial traits how far we 
should be from estimating these men aright ; for after all 
Esau was undeserving and Jacob was one of God's noble- 
men. Surely we ought not to judge our fellow men, but 
rather leave judgment to Him to whom alone it belongs, 
who is the sole searcher of hearts. We should be too 
lenient toward Esau if we did not see that he was a self- 



f ■■ t 



88 HINTS AND HELPS. 

ish man, of anything^ but high desires. As the eldest son 
of the family, in the line of a great blessing, living in the 
atmosphere of a saintly lineage, he might have been ex- 
pected to have high hopes and holy desires. The blood 
that coursed through his veins was the blood of that family 
through which Jehovah had promised to bless all the na- 
tions of the earth. What a glory to be connected with 
such a sublime historic enterprise, the greatest of all 
earthly history ! But Esau cared nothing for this. He 
liked hunting and he liked eating, and with these he was 
content. For the sake of a dish of food he did not hesi- 
tate to sacrifice his birthright. The enormity of this self- 
ish and unworthy deed can be understood only when we 
remind ourselves of what the birthright was ; namely, a 
double portion of the father's inheritance, the chieftainship 
of the family, and the title to the blessing of promise, which 
included possession of Canaan and a peculiarly intimate 
fellowship with Jehovah (see Keil). Esau cared nothing 
for these things. He thought only of the present, and 
even of that not in a noble way. He liked food, and for 
food he would sell the best and holiest hopes. No won- 
^ der he is called *' profane" (Heb. 12: i6). Jacob on the 
contrary, with all his failings, had a high appreciation of 
his position as the son of one of God's chosen servants, 
and he looked with longing hope to the accomplishment 
of all those glorious promises which Jehovah had granted 
to his chosen ones. Esau was a man of the sordid pres- 
ent. Jacob lived under an ampler sky, his tendency was 
upward, he had an ear for the voice of God, he believed 
in the future, he was an idealist. Even his cunning was 
exerted in the interest of worthy aims. He made the mis- 
take, so often made still, of fancying that the end justifies 
the means. He wanted good to come, but for this he 



SELLING THE BIRTHRIGHT. 89 

thought it necessary that he should stoop to do evil. He 
was helping Jehovah along in his plans, but he forgot that 
God does not need our sins in order to accomplish his 
purposes. Jacob himself must have seen the futility of his 
scheming at last. " He got no benefit by it. It did not 
alter his position for the better in the least. It was not 
upon Esau's having voluntarily bartered away the birth- 
right that his deprival of it by Isaac rested ; nor did Jacob 
himself ever venture to make that barter the basis of his 
claim " (Hanna). It was not necessary that Jacob should 
assume the burden of bringing about the accomplishment 
of Jehovah's promises — that was not his work. And un- 
der no circumstances was it right for him to sin against 
his brother. He was over-anxious for the right. But 
notice that it was the right after all. The things which 
Jacob loved were infinitely above those which attracted 
Esau, and the longer Jacob lived the better he became, 
doubtless just through the influence of these purifying 
hopes. " While one recoils from this craftiness and man- 
agement, one cannot but admire the quiet force of char- 
acter, the indomitable tenacity, and, above all, the capac- 
ity for warm affection and lasting attachments, that he 
showed throughout " (Dods). " This is no character to 
be contemned or scoffed at ; if it was encompassed with 
much infirmity, yet its very complexity demands our rev- 
erent attention ; in it are bound up, as his double name 
expresses, not one man but two; by toil and struggle 
Jacob, the Supplanter, is gradually transformed into Is- 
rael, the Prince of God ; the harsher and baser features 
are softened and purified away ; he looks back over his 
long career with the fulness of experience and humility " 
(Stanley). 

5. The rewards were according to the deserts in the 



90 HINTS AND HELPS. 

case of these men. We must not judge of any man's life 
by one act. If all we considered of Peter's career was the 
moment of his denial of Christ we should not know the 
true Peter at all. A man's life has excellence according 
to its tendency (for no life has perfect excellence or perfect 
badness). Esau's selling of his birthright was along the 
line of his selfish downward tendency, and Jacob's long- 
ing for the blessing of God (in spite of his mistaken idea 
of how best to secure it) was along the line of his noble 
tendency upward. Because of this divergence of tendency 
in the heart Esau justly lost the inheritance which Jacob 
justly obtained. 

6. God^s purpose was accomplished in spite of Jacob's 
sinful interference with it. In any case God would have 
secured his design. He would have brought it about in 
some unknown way if Jacob had not interfered. And al- 
though he did interfere God secured it just the same. 
Even our sins do not prevent him, but somehow help on 
what they might seem to thwart. 



JACOB AT BETHEL. 9I 



JACOB AT BETHEL. 

GEN. 28 : 10-22. 

It was necessary for Abraham to be separated from 
his fellowships at Ur of the Chaldees in order that he 
might develop according to the wish of God, and be used 
for the purposes of God. The life of the quiet, easy-going 
Isaac was like a time of restful growth rather than a pe- 
riod of advance through turmoil and struggle. But with 
Jacob God resumes the method which was used in the 
case of Abraham. There must be a new separation, and 
a new line of battling against difficulties. Life in the in- 
dividual and in the whole people of God seems to be an 
oscillation between seasons of peace and seasons of war- 
fare against troubles. The household of Isaac was plainly 
not the best scene for Jacob's preparation for his share of 
the patriarchal scheme. Jacob's own error is the means of 
accomplishing the design of God. By his folly with re - 
spect to Esau home is no longer possible to him, and he 
is forced out into the wilderness. But God is there, and 
the separation is for blessing. 

I. The man and his circumstances must be under- 
stood in order to an adequate comprehension of the deep 
meaning of the scene at Bethel. 

He was undeserving of any such exalted blessing. It 
is true he had (what Esau lacked) some appreciation of 
the splendor of the future blessings God had promised 
should come in the line of the patriarchs. But he lacked 
faith in God's ability to accomplish the fulfilment of those 
promises unaided by human interference. He had not 



92 HINTS AND HELPS. 

learned the sublime lesson of his grandfather's life — to 
hope against hope, to trust God without seeing, to obey 
simply and fully, letting God take care of the rest. Con- 
sequently he had been led into sin against his father, his 
brother, and his God. The exile in which he found him- 
seif was well earned. It was hard for him to be away 
from the mother who had loved him well, but not wisely, 
and whose face he was never to see again ; to be at en- 
mity with his brother ; to be poor, friendless, ignorant of 
what the future was to bring him in an unknown land. 
But these things were not an excessive retribution for 
what he had done. The stone was not a whit too hard 
for that sinning head. He had made his own bed by his 
folly, and must now sleep in it. Yet to this undeserving 
man God gives the sweetest comfort. To him, who had 
followed the most selfishly earthly ways of getting what 
he wished, the heavens were opened and the rarest visions 
were granted. To him, who had been a very loveless 
brother, the love of God was granted. He was alone, 
but companions were found for him above. He was de- 
fenceless, but the power of the Almighty was round about 
him. He who had failed to be gracious found grace. Not 
according to his conduct was the unusual blessing which 
came to him in the lonely night. God had compassion 
upon him and dealt with him not according to his sins. 

The unfavorableness of the situation was God's op- 
portunity. His omnipotence is shown in his accomplish- 
ing his plans in the absence of adequate environment and 
preparation. Jacob's heart had not been in such a state 
that a revelation from heaven to him might have been 
expected reasonably. He had not been spending time in 
meditation on his sins, in penitence, in appeals to the 
mercy of God, in communion with the Almighty, in hum- 



JACOB AT BETHEL. 93 

ble acts of faith. It is one of the signs of God's power 
tKat he is able to come into human hearts and reveal 
truth to them even when they have made no preparation 
for it. He can use the most refractory medium for the 
conveyance of his truth. Nor was the absence of Jacob 
from a specially sacred place any ground of difficulty to 
God in the conveying of a heavenly vision to the patri- 
arch. Back in the land of Canaan were many sacred 
places where God had appeared in times past, where he 
was still specially worshipped, and where it might be ex- 
pected not unreasonably that he would give glimpses of 
his presence. But the lone spot where Jacob lay was not 
consecrated ground. He had no thought that God could 
there speak directly to him. He doubtless knew that 
God was everywhere, but he did not expect God to ap- 
pear except at some holy place. But God is not bound 
by laws of time and space. A prison cell may be the 
scene of his blessing as easily as a church. The desert 
may reveal him as splendidly as the quiet home with its 
altar of worship. 

2. The vision attracts our attention as one of the 
most remarkable ever granted to man. 

Its message to Jacob was that of t/ie fellowship of 
God and man. The ladder or staircase (perhaps a wind- 
ing structure, such as we see represented in pictures of 
the tower of Babel) spanned the whole long stretch from 
heaven to earth. Its foot came to that very spot where 
Jacob lay. Its top reached to the stars, to the habitation 
of the Almighty. Spatially Jehovah may have seemed 
a far-off being to Jacob, morally and spiritually he must 
have seemed so too. But the separation was imaginary. 
God himself henceforth forbade the idea by this special 
revelation of its contradiction. Here is one of God's 



94 HINTS AND HELPS. 

great historic attempts to impress on the human heart 
the truth that he is not far from us, but near. Often and 
often the attempt was repeated, reaching its culmination 
in the visible appearance here on earth of the incarnate 
Son of God, who is Immanuel, God with us. But men 
find it hard still to think of God as actually in fel- 
lowship with men. The ladder seems to be taken away, 
heaven appears far off, God is like an alien to the human 
heart. We can come into close communion with men, 
but can we draw as near to God ? The ladder with the 
angels was meant to impress the affirmative upon the 
mind of the undeserving Jacob, and through him upon 
the heart of the whole undeserving human race forever. 
God is always in the closest association with us. 

The omnipresence of God is also emphasized by this 
vision. This is like the thought of his fellowship with us, 
but it is not quite the same. Jacob knew that God could 
come into fellowship with certain men at certain times and 
in certain places. But he did not think of this as being 
possible everywhere and always. The omnipresence of 
God, per se, he could not have been ignorant of, but he 
needed to know what he did not suspect, that God's fel- 
lowship with man is omnipresent. The ladder between 
heaven and earth rests not only upon the shrines, the 
sacred pillars, the places of prayer, but it rests upon every 
spot of earth — upon the desert as well as the populous 
land. We can never get away from God, even though 
we should take the wings of the morning and fly to the 
uttermost parts of the sea. But what we must remember 
most of all is that we can never get away from the fellow- 
ship of God. He is with us always, but always as a friend. 
We may not accept his friendship. Indeed we may harden 
our hearts against it and repudiate it utterly, and wander 



JACOB AT BETHEL. 9$ 

wilfully away in spite of it into sin. But God yearns over 
us just the same, longs to have us turn from our evil do- 
ings, is waiting to give himself to us graciously as a com- 
panion and helper. In our ingratitude and stupidity we 
may not enjoy the love of God, but nothing can separate 
us from it, for God is everywhere, and God is everywhere 
love. 

3. The promise given to Jacob is an essential sup- 
plement to the vision. 

The land was not strange to God^ if it was strange to 
Jacob : " The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give 
it, and to thy seed " (v. 13). Sometime perhaps we have 
been wandering away from a locality well known to us, 
and have lost our way. We have stopped and scanned 
the place where we have found ourselves and have seen 
nothing to guide us. Yet as we have waited in hesitation 
something has convinced us that it was not an altogether 
unknown place to us, and gradually it has looked more 
familiar, until at last we have been able to think where we 
were, and have found ourselves near our home when we 
least thought it. It seems as though some such feeling 
must have come over Jacob as he listened to the voice of 
God. He had lain down to sleep there alone, in a strange 
place. He had been awakened to find himself on his own 
domain, within the territory which belonged to him and 
his seed forever. Life is full of strange experiences. Every 
day brings something new and unexpected to us. Often 
we feel lost. But God is never lost, nor are these events 
strange or new or unexpected to him. He is everywhere 
in time and place. No land is foreign to him. No event 
is novel to him. All things are ours, whether things pres- 
ent or things to come, for all are God's ; and God gives 
himself to us. God's promise to Jacob made the strangest 



96 HINTS AND HELPS. 

place a home. God's promise to us gives us the mas- 
tery of every experience and makes it ours for our blessing. 

The accomplishment of God*s promise is not affected 
by circumstances. At the moment when Jacob received 
these words he seemed in the most unlikely position to 
ever witness their fulfillment. He was going away from 
the promised land, he saw no indications of his being the 
patriarchal father of nations. There is a striking simi- 
larity between his situation at receiving the promise and 
Abraham's at receiving the same promise two generations 
before. Natural indications were all against the verifica- 
tion of God's pledge to Abraham. The same was true 
of Jacob. It seems as though the Lord chose just such 
moments to reveal his most far-reaching purposes. He 
vindicates in this way his omnipotence, his independence 
of events, while at the same time he tries the faith of his 
servants. Many a time we are unable to see how God 
can help us. It seems almost useless to remind him of 
his promises when insuperable obstacles appear to estop 
him from doing anything. Yet always the event comes 
out according to his word, his supremacy is at last assert- 
ed, our hopes are shown not to have been unreasonable, our 
faith is amply justified. God's promise to Jacob at this most 
unpropitious time is of a piece with his dealings with his 
people always. The darkest hour, the very hour of failure, 
is the time God selects for making the most stupendous 
promises. Blessed is he who can believe Him, who can 
have faith when the sight of the eyes is utterly against it. 

God gives his blessing to the world often through 
narrow souls, Jacob was no such man as Abraham. The 
sublime, unquestioning, unwavering trust of the "Friend 
of God " was hardly reproduced in the crafty Supplanter. 
Faith was in him, to be sure, but not in such unqualified 



JACOB AT BETHEL. 97 

purity. He does not charm, and subdue, and exalt us, as 
we contemplate him, in the way in which we are moved 
at the remembrance of Abraham. Yet God worked 
through Jacob in spite of his failings. He used him in the 
lime of the promise. He was not hampered by his limita- 
tions. God might do all of his work, as he does part of 
it, through the angels of light. But no, he will show his 
glory more extraordinarily by employing what seem to 
be refractory implements. He will take men, weak and 
sinning, will purify them more and more, and even while 
they are but indifferent objects of admiration, morally or 
spiritually, will employ them to the glory of his name. 
His grace loves to find in unlikeliest spots a home. He 
takes of the things that are despised, that are naught, to 
do wonders. To show us that the sufficiency is all of 
God, he will choose even the lowest sinner as the object 
of his grace, and through him (a wonderful paradox) 
will turn many to righteousness. If only the Abrahams 
were used by the Lord, and the Jacobs were left at one 
side unemployed, few would there be who could hope to 
be channels of God's blessings to the world. 

To Jacob there was given a special promise for this 
special time. The promise to Abraham, the continuous 
everlasting promise, is supplemented graciously by a new 
one, meant for just this hour of need. "And, behold, I am 
with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou 
goest, and will bring thee again into this land ; for I will 
not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken 
to thee of" (v. 15). The fugitive Jacob, not equal to such 
unsupported faith as Abraham's, might have found it hard 
in his loneliness to feel the sureness of God's promise to 
and through him. He must have been completely reas- 
sured by this special promise. He was not alone, as he 

Hints and Helps. n 



98 HINTS AND HELPS. 

thought, for God said he was with him. He was not in 
any danger in the unknown future, for God would keep 
him. He need not fear to go into exile, for God would 
go with him and bring him back, and accomplish at last 
everything that was promised. To Jacob's trembling faith 
God accommodated himself most touchingly by this new 
promise, with its many explicit specifications. And to us, 
who feel the lack of the exalted faith of Abraham, God 
also accommodates himself. We cannot be just like any 
one else, but God can be to us just a little different from 
what he is to any one else. He is gracious to all, but he 
is also gracious to each. He is our God, but he is also 
my God. 

4. The effect upon the fnan of the disclosure of this 
vision and the utterance of these promises is to be noted. 

He recognizes God as never before. The conscious- 
ness that God had been with him there all the time, while 
he had been unaware of it, humbled him with a profound 
feeling of reverential awe. The place was to him thence- 
forth holy, and to mark it he set up in it a consecrated 
pillar, after the fashion of the time. The reaction of the 
heart of Jacob in view of this experience shows after all 
that underneath his weakness he was a true man of God. 
It is not by the revelations of divine truth which a man has 
had that you can estimate him, but by the way in which 
he has been affected by them. Some men receive much 
and are little moved ; others receive little with the great- 
est consequences. 

Jacob answers God's goodness by setting his trust 
upon Him. It is true there is an "if" in his response to Je- 
hovah. Yet " to find anything mercenary in this vow is 
to misunderstand it. It is his response to God's promise " 
(Dods). As well as he knows how, and with the fullest 



JACOB AT BETHEL. 99 

offering of soul which he can command, he accepts the 
promise of God and pledges his faith to it. What more 
could any man ? Do we as much ? 

Some return Jacob justly feels is due to Jehovah from 
him for this gracious experience. In what form shall it 
be ? He will do three things : he will have Jehovah for 
his God, will worship him there at Bethel, and will serve 
him with his substance (v. 22). 'Jacob was not one to 
take, and give nothing. In the things he designates and 
in the order in which he names them he shows insight 
into what is proper religiously from man to God. Wor- 
ship, true worship, befits him first of all. But the offering 
of gifts is not thereby made unnecessary. 

If we look to Jesus Christ we shall see in him the ful- 
filment of Jacob's vision (John i : 15). He is the media- 
tor between God and man. He is thus the response to 
our every need, our comfort in every hour. Doubtless 
we are unworthy of knowing him. But God has chosen 
us to receive this revelation. Let us receive it in joy, and 
honor God in view of it with our worship and our gifts. 



n >J J ■< 
-» J J " 



lOO HINTS AND HELPS. 






A BLESSING TO ALL NATIONS. 

Gen. 18:17-21. 

God indicated Abraham's mission to him many 
times. The substance of all these communications is the 
same. Yet each has special lessons from the circum- 
stances under which Abraham received it, and each has 
slight variations from the others which give it individual 
value as a subject of study. We never rise from the con- 
sideration of any one of the various indications to Abra- 
ham that he was to be the father of many peoples and a 
source of blessing to the whole world without carrying 
away some peculiar lesson, which does not come to us 
through the consideration of any one or all of the parallel 
passages. If it occurs to us that substantially the same 
revelation was made to the patriarch a surprising number 
• of times, close investigation will convince us that not one 
of these was or is superfluous. 

The passage. Gen. 18 : 16 -33, is part of the story of 
Sodom. The purpose of this particular part is to show 
Abraham's relation to Sodom, or rather Sodom's relation 
to Abraham. As soon as we are told that the angels 
whom Abraham had entertained departed from him to- 
ward Sodom we are permitted to hear Jehovah solilo- 
quizing, and reminding himself of the noble destiny which 
he had arranged for Abraham. Why should this appa- 
rently extraneous matter be introduced here into the story 
of Sodom ? Because it is most immediately relevant, in- 
; *. stead of being, as it looks, irrelevant. Abraham is cho- 
-• sen of God to be the means of blessing the world by lead- 



A BLESSING TO ALL NATIONS. lOI 

ing it to righteousness. To impress upon him and his 
descendants the fact that righteousness is the end for 
which he has been called, God's unchanging attitude to- 
wards unrighteousness is exhibited in the story of Sodom. 
The narrative of the destruction of this city, which brings 
out with intense brilliancy the fact that God is just and 
deals with men according to their deserts, and will in no 
wise spare the wicked, this narrative is a sort of foot-note 
to the covenant with Abraham, showing unmistakably the 
end for which it was made. 

But it is more than this : it serves to show one way 
in which the covenant that Abraham and his children 
were to be a blessing to all the world was to be fulfilled. 
For the story of Sodom exhibits Abraham as an interces- 
sor for others in their sins, and this intercessorship is a 
perpetual element in the method by which his descendants 
are forever to be a means of uplifting to the world. It is 
evident, therefore, that the episode about Sodom comes in 
at this point not extraneously, but as a remarkably telling 
comment upon the covenant with Abraham. 

The interest of that covenant to us is not chiefly his- 
toric (although that kind of interest is included), but di- 
rectly personal. We do not care for that divine arrange- 
ment so much in its bearings on Abraham as in its bear- 
ings upon us. For we are, as Paul tells us repeatedly, 
Abraham's children by reason of our faith, which joins us 
to him. The covenant made with him is, then, as valid 
to us as though we had heard Jehovah speaking the 
words with our own ears. We ought, therefore, to apply 
the terms of that covenant to ourselves, to try our lives 
by its conditions, tp rejoice in the outlook which it gives, 
and to depend as completely upon God's fulfilling it as 
did Abraham. 



102 HINTS AND HELPS. 

1. A knowledge of God's plans was in some degree 
involved in that covenant. " And the Lord said, Shall I 
hide from Abraham that which I do ?" (V. 17.) " Abra- 
ham is the friend of God, an appellation which has be- 
come among Moslems a surname to his name ; and from 
a friend we keep nothing secret " (Delitzsch). The world 
as a whole knew not God's purposes for it. Only infer- 
entially could it rest upon the thought of his beneficence. 
But Abraham knew, and was commissioned to tell it, that 
God meant to bless the world ; that his purposes were 
those of kindness. 

In Christ we are adopted into the family of God, and 
are let into the family secrets. We learn that, following 
out the promise made to Abraham, God is still planning 
great blessings for men, and that the plan has come 
nearer to completion than ever before in Jesus Christ. It 
is God's gracious design that all men shall hear the good 
news of salvation by the cross of the dying Son of God. 
It is his intention that the news of this, the gospel, shall 
spread throughout the whole earth, winning souls to it- 
self, until, by faith in the Redeemer, righteousness and 
peace shall abide everywhere, and the knowledge of the 
Lord fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. 

2. Assurance that God himself had chosen him to 
this end was given to Abraham. " For I have known 
him " (v. 19). The word know is used here in the sense 
in which it occurs in Amos 3:2: " You only have I 
known of all the families of the earth ;" where it refers 
plainly not to mere cognition, but to choice. It is easily 
seen that Abraham did not choose his mission for himself. 
He did not think it out, elaborate it, construct it out of 
his own wants, impulses and imaginings. God called 
him. The inception of the matter was in the mind and 



A BLESSING TO ALL NATIONS. IO3 

will of Jehovah. God wanted an instrument for the ac- 
complishment of a specific historical intention which he 
had in thought, and he chose Abraham as that instru- 
ment. It may be said truthfully, no doubt, that Abraham 
was a man of natural religiousness. But if he had raised 
his natural religiousness to the highest power conceivable 
it would not have been the same as that direct call of God 
which marked him for a definite divine purpose by its su- 
pernatural character. 

The idea that Abraham*s spiritual successors are also 
called of God runs all through the New Testament. That 
word which we so unwisely and wrongly neglect to-day, 
"elect," was one of the commonest names in the early 
church for those who belonged to Christ. They loved to 
think that they had not chosen him, but he had chosen 
them, and called them out of darkness, out of their Ur of 
the Chaldees, into his marvellous light. And the same 
thing may and ought to be said of Abraham's spiritual 
successors always. If we are Abraham's children, by 
reason of our faith in Christ, then we are the called of 
God. 

3. The purpose of his being called was not obscure 
to Abraham. It was that he might become the progeni- 
tor of a mighty nation, and through himself and them be 
a means of blessing to all the nations of the earth, by 
teaching all " to keep the way of the Lord," that is, by 
teaching true religion (vs. 18, 19). Abraham was not 
called arbitrarily for the purpose of being called, but for 
a purpose definite, far-reaching, beneficent, glorious. He 
was chosen as an instrument to serve a certain purpose 
in the mind of another. God picked him up for a certain 
work, as a carpenter might pick up a tool. 

Those forever who are Abraham's seed are also cho- 



104 HINTS AND HELPS. 

sen for a purpose, the same purpose indeed, the propaga- 
tion of true religion ; " the keeping of the way of Jeho- 
vah," in the world. We are good tools only as we serve 
the end of Him who has taken us up in his hand for work. 
To spread God's good news all around the world is the 
reason why he called us and made us specially his own. 

4. Along natural lines Abraham was taught this 
work was to be done. The family was to be the medium 
through which true religion was to be propagated. He 
was to " command his children and his household after 
him " to keep the way of the Lord (v. 19). It is true, 
Judaism always had an eye to those who were outside its 
pale. The doors were always open to them if they de- 
sired to become incorporated among God's people. But 
the strength of Judaism lay in the family and national 
ties. Along the natural line of blood relationship the 
true religion spread. 

Christianity, which is the heir of the Abrahamic cov- 
enant, has its eye also towards all the nations of the 
world. It tells them all of the love of God in Christ, and 
urges them with all the power at its command to accept 
that gracious love. Yet, glorious as the achievements of 
the missionary field are, the strength of Christianity is in 
the home. To-day, more than ever before, we need to 
emphasize this, because to-day the old home-life seems 
to be departing. The pressure of a thousand interests so 
absorbs the time, thought, and energy of father and mother, 
and children too as they grow in years, that home be- 
comes little more than a boarding-house, whose nurture 
is only the indirect influence of one character upon an- 
other. Abraham learned that the family was a place for 
direct and definite teaching. It was a school. Is it so 
now ? The law of the propagation of the true religion 



A BLESSING TO ALL NATIONS. 105 

laid down bjr^God still holds good. The purpose for 
which we were chosen is largely that we should lead our 
children to God in Christ. 

5. Righteousness was to be the practical result in 
conduct of the working out of the covenant by Abraham 
and his children. "To do justice and judgment" (v. 19) 
explains in large part what is meant by keeping the way 
of the Lord, i. e., true religion. In time, by the direct 
suggestion of God, ritualism came into Jewish life. It had 
its dangers and its degenerative influence upon vital re- 
ligion. But there never failed to be prophets to warn 
Israel, to remind them that ritualism was not a substitute 
for conduct, to call them back to Abraham's understand- 
ing of religion. 

The ethical side of Christianity must never be forgot- 
ten. This is not all there is to Christianity. We cannot 
agree, for instance, that Christ's only relation to his 
Father was ethical (as Wendt supposes). Jesus was the 
Son of God in another sense than by moral resemblance. 
And if we are God's children we are so mystically, being 
adopted by him soul-wise as we adopt earthly children 
body- wise, without respect to character. And yet char- 
acter is involved, and necessarily. " By their fruits ye 
shall know them." Abraham's children are to be recog- 
nized by their doing the deeds of righteousness. Every- 
where and always we are to tell of faith in Christ as the 
sole means of salvation, adoption into God's family ; and 
everywhere and always we are to accompany this with the 
truth that those who are God's children must show it in 
godlike lives. We believe unto righteousness. 

6. The ethical end of the covenant was emphasized 
to Abraham by the episode of the burning of Sodom. 
"The destruction of Sodom and the surrounding cities 



I06 HINTS AND HELPS. - 

was to be a permanent memorial of the punitive right- 
eousness of God and to keep the fate of the ungodly con- 
stantly before the mind of Israel. To this end Jehovah 
explained to Abraham the cause of their destruction in 
the clearest manner possible" (Keil). The covenant in 
its moral bearings was in this way given a solid historical 
verification. The memory of the terrible destruction of 
Sodom could never die out of Israelitish thought. Its 
meaning was that the only way to escape the just wrath 
of God is to flee from sin. 

This awful object-lesson is not obsolete for us. Sin 
is as tempting to-day as ever. Many a man could be 
named who, like some of Abraham's superficial children, 
has tried to belong to God and still live a selfish, even 
a sinful, life. The history of the Christian as well as 
the Jewish church is full of wretched examples of the folly 
of this attempt. " Ye cannot serve God and mammon." 
To point to the covenant while hugging our darling sins 
does no good. The covenant is unto righteousness. 
Without righteousness in view our relation to the cove- 
nant is completely nullified. Being saved unto sin is a 
contradiction in terms. 

7. Abraham's intercessory office is also brought into 
prominence by the introduction of the story of Sodom. 
His persistent pleading for the wicked city exhibits the 
patriarch as a noble-minded humanitarian. He was to be 
the source of blessing to the world by teaching his chil- 
dren the way of Jehovah, but meantime he was to seek 
the blessing of his cotemporaries ; he was to bear them on 
his heart and to pray earnestly for them to God. 

Here we see an anticipation of the duty of Christians 
to pray for all men. In our homes Christianity will have 
its stronghold. There will be its most vigorous propa- 



A BLESSING TO ALL NATIONS. 10/ 

ganda. Yet while we are to attend to this first indicated 
way of continuing the blessings of the covenant with 
Abraham, we must not forget the other method, outside 
the family, outside of natural lines, of warning all men to 
fly unto the love of God for salvation, and of interceding 
with God earnestiy for them as Abraham interceded for 
guilty Sodom. 

It is a privilege to live in any age of the world, for of 
every one of them it may be said, " to be living is sub- 
lime/* But surely there is special privilege in living in a 
time when the world -wideness of the covenant of God is 
so fully appreciated by his people. There have been 
times in the history of the church when the close-corpo- 
ration idea seemed to dominate its methods. One has 
only to read some of the captious reviews of Sargeant*s 
"^Life of Henry Martyn " to see how far more fully we 
appreciate to-day than our grandfathers did early in this 
century the wide reach which God meant his covenant 
should have. We know that the whole world is destined 
for the captivity of Christ. 

And yet, if we believe this, if we catch truly with our 
eye this sublime consummation, what zeal for all mission- 
ary work we ought to have ; what immense circulation 
should be credited to all missionary magazines, what 
large membership there should be in all missionary soci- 
eties, what colossal offerings ought to go up to the mis- 
sionary boards, what fervent and unceasing prayers should 
rise to the throne of the covenant-making God! May 
Abraham's God give us Abraham's world-feeling in view 
of the covenant. 



I08 HINTS AND HELPS. 



JACOB'S PREVAILING PRAYER. 

Gen. 32 : 9-12, 24-30. 

There are moments in life, which come upon us un- 
announced, which try the soul to the utmost and determine 
the final trend of character. Such a moment came to our 
first parents in Eden when the ^lemptation to sin was pre- 
sented to them ; it came to Noah when, under a stormless 
sky, he was bidden to make ready for a flood ; it came to 
Abraham when he raised the knife over the child of his 
old age, the heir of the promises of God ; and it came to 
Jacob at Peniel. There he met the great test of character. 
He answered it admirably. He came away a new man. 
Thenceforth he was not the Supplanter, but the Prince of 
God. 

The character of the midnight contest between Jacob 
and his unknown antagonist has been debated much by 
commentators. Some have thought it a vision so intense 
as to be capable of leaving as its reminder the withered 
thigh. Some have held that the contest was partly vision- 
ary and partly real. The unskeptical reader naturally 
rests in the literal external character of the event all 
through. It is a matter that needs not to be settled. Cer- 
tain it is that there was an evident bodily effect from the 
wrestling. Certain also is it that the meaning of the episode 
was spiritual. It was not the first not the last time that 
the spiritual was set forth in the material, and there is no 
difficulty in supposing that the struggle was a literal bod- 
ily wrestling, intended to convey a spiritual truth. 

The statement that the stranger " saw that He pre- 



JACOB'S PREVAILING PRAYER. IO9 

vailed not against him " (v. 25) must be understood as an 
anthropomorphic form of expression. The almighty God 
permitted this wrestling to go on wholly for Jacob's bene- 
fit. It was never for a moment a contest to see who was 
victor, although Jacob looked at it in that way. God's 
purpose was secured best by not conquering at once, let- 
ting Jacob exert himself to the utmost, and then, when 
the right moment had come, by producing an instantan- 
eous effect which would give Jacob some idea of who he 
was. 

I. JacoVs request must be remembered before we can 
understand the episode. With some just forebodings as to 
how Esau would act when he heard of his return, Jacob 
sent messengers ahead to propitiate him. They had come 
back without any answer and with the news that Esau was 
advancing with four hundred men. "Then Jacob was 
greatly afraid and was distressed." And well he may have 
been. With his family and his rich possessions he was 
about to enter into Canaan to enjoy that birthright which 
he had won from Esau by disreputable means. It was 
hardly to be expected that Esau would permit this with- 
out some generous concessions. These Jacob had offered, 
but the cold return might well make him suspect, that 
Esau intended to thwart him completely and prevent his 
having what God had promised. To God therefore he 
fearfully turns, "distressed" doubtless by conscience as 
well as by dread, reminding God of his patriarchal line of 
descent, of the explicit promise which God had made when 
he commanded this very return, confessing his unworthi- 
ness of all the mercies God had granted him, and then 
pointedly asking to be delivered from the hand of Esau. 
His past shrewdness could avail him nothing at this crit- 
ical time, and indeed if it could come into play he would 



no HINTS AND HELPS. 

hesitate to use it at the cost of a still greater burden laid 
upon a guilty conscience. He is driven into a corner, 
physically and morally, where there is no way out save 
by the help of the covenanting God. To God therefore 
he prays. The birthright, won, to be sure, by fraud, but 
promised afterwards by God himself, is in peril. God 
hears the prayer, and answers it by leading Jacob through 
a unique trial, in which Jacob fortifies his possession of 
the birthright, Hot by fraud, but by faith. What he had 
taken by sin he thus secures anew by virtue. Indeed 
God never rested Jacob*s right to the promise upon the 
deceit practised upon Isaac. That was wholly superfluous 
so far as the foundation of the inheritance was concerned, 
and God ignored it. But in spite of that he had made a 
promise to Jacob, the answer to which seemed about to 
be undone. Jacob calls (and rightly) for the fulfillment. 
It will be given, but only after a spiritual revolution in 
himself has been accomplished. 

2. God must be met, and his claims answered, and 
his relation to Jacob settled, before the matter of Esau is 
concluded. A man who sins against his fellow sins much 
more against God (Ps. 51 14). Back of the creature stands 
the Creator, and the injuries we do the one reach through 
to the other. Jacob in cheating Esau had sinned against 
Jehovah, and for that he must do what every sinful soul 
must : humble himself in the sight of Heaven. He was look- 
ing with dread to the morrow, when the injured brother 
must be confronted. But before that time, another, more 
seriously injured than Esau, must be met and the issue 
tried out with him. It seems impossible not to see, in 
the wrestling with the Angel, Jacob's being led to a true 
repentance for his sin. For the wrestling certainly must 
be looked at in its spiritual consequences, and one of 



JACOB'S PREVAILING PRAYER. Ill 

these was unquestionably a remarkable purification of the 
heart of Jacob. Such a change involves a deep and hearty 
turning from his sin. Before this he seems to have been 
sorry for it, but largely because of the danger of his situa- 
tion. That sorrow needed to be amplified into a sincere 
turning from his act, not as having caused certain un- 
pleasant results, but because of its wickedness. The change 
brought about by his wrestling with God shows that after 
that Jacob could never have been inclined to such a 
wretched interference in the accomplishment of God's 
plans as before. 

3. Jacob's self-sufficiency had stood him in good 
place all along until this time. Now it is shown to be 
utterly inadequate ; it is broken down, and he is led to 
look elsewhere than to himself and his own craftiness. 
In his attempt to secure the birthright he had shown 
great skill in deceiving. In his dealings with Laban he 
had never been at a loss for a method to get even with 
Laban in his skillful manipulation of his son-in-law for his 
interest. When he sent ahead to Esau to propitiate him 
he felt that he was pursuing a very sharp-sighted course 
in offering him part of his flocks. The first rebuff came 
when Esau failed to answer, but instead approached with 
four hundred men. At once Jacob turns to God for pro- 
tection, but only because for the moment his skill is not 
equal to the situation. But he is not yet the man he 
ought to be. He must be forever emancipated from de- 
pendence upon this craft and self-sufficiency as a princi- 
ple of life. He must learn that, in spite of his successes 
through this method in the past, it is not equal to the 
strain which life would put upon it. He must be taught 
that the right way for him to live before Jehovah is not to 
take things into his own cunning hands until he finds he 



112 HINTS AND HELPS. 

is unequal to them, and then call upon God for help ; but 
to depend always upon God and live in faith and obe- 
dience towards him. He has been living on the principle 
of self-dependence supplemented by divine help once in a 
while ; he must learn to depend on God alone and all the 
time. As often as he was conscious thereafter of the 
lameness in his thigh he would be reminded that man 
cannot live in his own strength. 

4. The change brought about in Jacob through this 
wrestling with God was his glorious consciousness of the 
higher life, the life of faith. He had begun his contest 
with this strange unknown antagonist trusting in his own 
ability to extricate himself from the unexpected difficulty. 
Until the breaking of the day there was no change. Then 
the touch on his thigh revealing his weakness revealed 
the supernatural character of his Antagonist. No wonder 
he could not overcome Him. But instantly awaking to 
the possibilities of the situation he demands a blessing 
(v. 26). The desire for a bodily triumph is suddenly sup- 
planted by a longing for a spiritual gift. Awakening into 
a still deeper understanding of this episode, he desires to 
know the visitor's name (v. 29) ; that is, to have a fuller 
revelation of the character of God. His self-assertiveness, 
his belief that he was equal to anything, his dependence 
on his own sharp wits and his own abilities, these had 
been destroyed. That sudden touch on the thigh had 
shown him his folly and his helplessness. But at the 
same moment his longing for spiritual blessing had de- 
veloped, his insight into the high life of the soul had 
become clearer, his casting of himself upon God in a 
supreme act of faith had been accomplished. Thence- 
forth he was no longer Jacob, the supplanter, the sharp 
self-dependent man, but Israel, the striver with God, who 



JACOB'S PREVAILING PRAYER. II 3 

by the hard road of disciplinary experience has been led 
into a just fellowship with the worthies of God's people 
through all the ages. The change in name stood for a 
genuine change in the man himself. 

5. His prevailing in what is right was already an 
indication that a new personality had awakened within 
him. Before this he had persisted in self-confidence. 
Now he pressed hard his demand for a blessing — for 
a revelation of God. This was precisely what God 
wanted him to crave and to ask for, and what God want- 
ed to give. He had splendid things in store for Jacob, 
when his want for them had been aroused. But Jacob 
had not felt that want in the years when he had been 
planning his career for himself, and accomplishing it in 
his own strength. But at last he felt it growing within 
him, and at once it developed so as to form the main ele- 
ment in his heart. He is thirsty now for God. He wants 
spiritual blessing. He will struggle for it in repeated and 
persistent prayer until he receives it. Surely, surely this 
is a new man. He is not asking now to be protected 
from Esau. He wants God. 

6. The change in himself reveals God, At the mo- 
ment that the stranger who had wrestled with him gave 
him his new name (the indication of the new character) 
he also revealed indirectly the fact that he was God (v. 28). 
Jacob had asked to know the stranger's name. When 
Jacob finds himself he also finds the answer to the ques- 
tion. It is but another setting forth of the great truth 
that God reveals himself to us more and more as our 
character becomes transformed through our faith in him. 
The man does not find God who starts out to do so with 
an inflated notion of his own intellectual acuteness : but he 
does find him who starts out in humble penitence and 

Hints and Uflos. 3 



I 



I 



114 HINTS AND HELPS. 

faith, seeking God -likeness of character. The pure in 
heart shall see God. We rightly suspect that there is 
some connection between their character and their vision. 
Heaven is a place where we see God as he is, because 
there we shall be like him. And in as far as we bring 
heaven into earth, that is, in as far as we live by faith in 
God and let God renew us in more worthy lives, so far 
we are able increasingly to know him and to understand 
what he is like. Jacob's blessing at the hand of God was 
measured by his capability of receiving. To us God 
looks and waits all the time to give things which eye hath 
not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart 
of man. But we do not receive them, because we do not 
let God work in us our spiritual transformation. 

7. Jacob secured the blessing. In his eagerness for 
something grand and glorious in this new realm into 
which he has found himself advancing as the new day 
dawned, Jacob asks for one thing and then another. Four 
times he makes his demands, and his persistence is re- 
war/ied. For as the Divine One was about to leave " he 
blessed him there" (v. 30). This persistence, we are 
taught over and over again in the Bible, is the condition 
of the answering of prayer. Not as though God was re- 
luctant, for, on the contrary, he is ready to give before we 
ask. But, on the one hand, only those prayers (and few 
there be) which persist and survive in undiminished 
strength amid the apathy and relapse of our ordinary pe- 
titions represent truly what we want ; and on the other 
hand this very survival is caused by God, whose Holy 
Spirit is at work in our hearts suggesting such prayers, 
for they are those which God intends to grant. Jacob's 
persistence was not an artificial enthusiasm. He did not 
deliberate and decide that he would persist. His eyes 



JABOB'S PREVAILING PRAYER. II 5 

had been opened to recognize God, he had been led up to 
a new level of spiritual experience, and with complete 
spontaneity and abandon the intense petitions rushed to 
his lips. He could not help making them, and God an- 
swered them. The prayers that we really mean, that come 
out of hearts roused and ennobled by the uplifting (though 
hard) experiences which God gives us, these bear on them 
the sign of heavenly origin and the promise of heavenly 
reply. 

8. The character of the birthright was made apparent 
by this hard but blessed experience. Jacob had thought 
of it as a matter of lands and progeny and possessions. 
His earthly conception of it had led him to very earthly 
methods in his attempts to guarantee it to himself. But 
he learns that it is a spiritual blessing which God intends 
to give him, that the land and the progeny and the pos- 
sessions are but the external symbol and embodiment of 
something which far transcends them. Abraham from the 
first seems to have had a strange insight into God's mean- 
ing. But he was the friend oi God par excellence, Jacob 
had to be educated up to this knowledge, he had to come 
at it by stern experience. He had no clear and unmis- 
takable understanding of heavenly things. That came 
to him as it comes to us, through years of work and sin 
and mistake. But he rejoiced to find it at last neverthe- 
less. 

9. yacob justified himself as an heir of the promises ^ 
in a certain sense, in this experience. Before this we may 
have had our doubts, but now we know that at heart he 
is of the same character as Abraham and Isaac ; that he is 
a man of faith. It was not very apparent at the moment 
when his anxiety led him to the fraud against Isaac. He 
seemed then to be wholly unworthy of the birthright after 



Il6 HINTS AND HELPS. 

which he grasped. But God knew what of good was in 
him. God had chosen him. In due time it would be 
seen that Jacob was not undeserving of the birthright. 
God*s choice was vindicated. Jacob, mercenary, self-de- 
pendent, crafty, comes forth at last penitent, spiritual- 
minded and full of faith in God. His thigh is withered, 
his body for ever bears the rebuke of God. But his eyes 
have seen Jehovah, and the memory of Peniel is compen- 
sation for all hardship. May God so purify us of our 
selfishness, even though it be by hardship, that we may 
not be unworthy to be heirs of the promise with Abra- 
ham, Isaac and Jacob. 



DISCORD IN JACOB'S FAMILY. II7 



DISCORD IN JACOB'S FAMILY. 

GEN. n : I-II. 

The family is a little world by itself. As we study the 
group of parents and children we can see the operation 
of those moral laws which hold over all humanity. Hu- 
man history is the chronicle of the results brought about 
by exposing men, endowed each with a special disposi- 
tion, to special events. Each member of the house- 
hold possesses a special disposition. Events occur, of one 
sort or another, which affect each person peculiarly, and 
each accordingly contributes a special element to the to- 
tal effect. 

Nowhere can we find a more interesting picture of 
this aspect of family life than in the household of Jacob. 
Here are widely different dispositions. Events occur. 
These dispositions are variously affected by them. And 
all contribute something to the final result in the house- 
hold group. 

I. Jacob, the head of the house, stands before us still, 
consistently with the idea which we have formed of him 
before, as a man of good and evil traits combined, work- 
ing always towards a higher level of life. 

His partiality is brought prominently before us as 
one of the elements which he contributed to the family 
life, and to the family trials also. " Now Israel loved 
Joseph more than all his children, because he was the 
son of his old age " (v. 3). It would not be fair to say 
that if Jacob had been impartial the family would have had 
no ill-feeling within it, for other causes were at work. 



Il8 HINTS AND HELPS. 

But certainly Jacob's partiality stimulated these other 
causes, and helped them to their unhappy end. For such 
parental partiality there is absolutely no excuse. Let any 
one imagine himself in the place of a slighted child for a 
moment, and he will s^e how a just indictment against the 
parent could be found. To show favor according to 
moral desert is one thing. But Jacob's partiality for 
Joseph rested on the fact that he was the child of his old 
age. And even in treating children according to their 
deeds care must be taken. For no more in earthly than 
in heavenly parentage will strict justice win the love of 
weak or erring hearts. We are to remember that God 
sends his rain on the unjust no less than on the just. 
One should never say even to the naughtiest child, " I do 
not love you now," for it is not true. It is possible to 
show moral disapproval affectionately. 

This partiality Jacob did not hesitate to exhibit out- 
wardly, which only served to increase it and to enlarge 
its evil effects. He made for Joseph "a long garment 
with sleeves " (v. 3, Rev. Vers.). This long tunic " was 
worn, as a rule, only by the most noble and opulent 
classes, by kings' sons and daughters, by priests and 
scribes, by those who were exempt from manual labor " 
(Cox). It would have been bad enough if Jacob, looking 
carefully over his own feelings, had had to confess to him- 
self that (for other than a moral reason) he loved one son 
better than the rest. But for him to allow that feeling to 
come to expression, and in such a form as would be cer- 
tain to cause jealous feelings, was an imprudence incalcu- 
lably unwise. Father and mother should try to hold all 
their children equally in their love ; certainly they should 
never give the children any ground for suspecting that 
they are loved differently by their parents. 



DISCORD IN JACOB'S FAMILY. II9 

Difficulties already existing were made greater by 
this imprudence. Polygamy had come into the world in 
spite of God's paradisaic object-lesson that a man should 
have but one wife. Polygamy always carried curses with 
it. One of the difSficulties arising from it was the adjust- 
ment of relations between the children of different wives. 
Here there was a paramount opportunity for the suspicion 
of favoritism. If Jacob had been perfectly impartial there 
would have been trouble between the different branches 
of his household, most likely. This probability was crys- 
tallized into a certainty by his partiality for Joseph. Fa- 
thers and mothers may well remember that the natural 
diffictilties of a household are sufficiently great without 
their increasing them by a thoughtless favoritism. 

Too late Jacob discovered the mistake that was being 
made, and rebuked Joseph (v. 10) for telling that which 
increased the ill-feeling of the brothers. But if there was 
any wrong feeling of selfish exultation in Joseph's heart 
(which is entirely doubtful) Jacob might better have re- 
buked himself for it. And even in administering the 
rebuke he does not seem to feel certain of his ground. 
He treats the dream somewhat contemptuously, and ap- 
pears to have felt a touch of personal resentment at the 
place which he himself occupied in it ; and yet he " kept 
the saying in mind" (v. 11). He knew that there was 
something wrong somewhere, and yet his moral judgment 
was confused, for he saw something of the divine hand in 
the dreams. What a pity that he could not have felt the 
unhappy condition of his household earlier, when lie 
might have discovered his own share in causing it. 

2. Joseph appears before us actively for the first 
time here. We are won by his open, boyish frankness ; 
and yet we cannot help seeing that the years have some- 



I20 HINTS AND HELPS. 

what to teach him. That wisdom which led him through 
such appalling difficulties in the years which followed 
needed yet to be found. " Knowledge comes, but wis- 
dom lingers." 

His moral sensitiveness attracts us first. He was a 
noble-minded boy, sent out with his brothers to tend the 
flocks. Ordinarily a youth in similar circumstances would 
be all ears and eyes to catch ideas from those about him 
who had seen more of life. He would begin at once to 
reflect in himself their influence. Joseph's brethren were 
not men of unselfishness, purity and godliness. Their 
lives had been stained with crime. By the law of influ- 
ence Joseph should have become like them. But he did 
not. He was shocked by their feelings and their deeds, 
and reported them in horror to his father. We cannot 
but feel profound admiration for the staunch purity of 
soul exhibited here. Would that sin might always seem 
shocking to us ! 

Joseph's moral sensitiveness, admirable as it was, ex- 
pressed itself in such a way as to cause trouble. He went 
to his father and related the misdeeds of the brethren, 
thoughtlessly overlooking the fact that no good could 
come from it, but that the consequence must be an in- 
crease of the strain already put by his father's partiality 
upon the relations between his brothers and himself. 
Some hold (with Dods) that Joseph was not necessarily 
involved in the guilt of tale-bearing ; that " the unspeci- 
fied iniquity of these men may have been of a kind re- 
quiring him to speak." But as no good, but only harm, 
came of his repeating the "scandal" (Delitzsch) what 
Smith says (Old Testament History) seems more just : 
" Though the character of Joseph is one of the purest 
that we meet in Scripture, his father's preference tempted 



DISCORD IN JACOB'S FAMILY. 121 

him to assume towards his brethren the part of a censor 
and informer — a course of which the modesty was ques- 
tionable, and the prudence not at all so, in a youth of 
seventeen." 

His thoughtless telling of the truth served to aggravate 
the unhappy situation still more. There is no doubt that 
he really had these startling dreams, nor is it unlikely 
that the Lord directed his mind towards them, and cer- 
tainly they were just predictions of the future relations be- 
tween Joseph and his brethren. Nevertheless, if Joseph 
had been trying to love and conciliate his brethren, to 
win them to righteousness, and to undo the harm his 
father's partiality had done, it is inconceivable that he 
should have told them these dreams, when the telling 
could serve no good purpose. There are some times 
when the truth must be told at any cost. This was not 
one of such. For there are other times when telling 
everything we know is unnecessary, puts us in a false 
light, and hurts those feelings in others of which we 
should be as tender as though they were our own. "Jo- 
seph was more of a prophet than a politician, else he 
would have kept this to himself, when he could not but 
know that his brethren did already hate him, and that 
this would but the more exasperate them " (Henry). 

Joseph's unsusceptibility to the lessons of experience 
appears in the fact that although his brethren hated him 
after hearing the first dream (v. 8) he went right on to 
tell them the second dream and make their hatred still 
deeper. Unwittingly he was himself preparing the mate- 
rials of the great catastrophe which was about to fall upon 
him. And the fact that God overruled it must not blind 
us to the truth that it was a catastrophe, and that Joseph 
was more or less to blame for his thoughtlessness which 



122 HINTS AND HELPS. 



helped to bring it on. The evident ill-feeling which was 
evoked by the narration of the first dream ought to have 
been a warning to him. But he seems to have been so 
impressed with the revelation of the future given to him 
that he forgot the duties of the present. The know- 
ledge that he was to rise above the rest of his family ob- 
scured for the moment the loving consideration which 
nevertheless he was under obligation to render them. We 
cannot very heavily blame Joseph for his boyish unwis- 
dom, but we must not neglect to characterize it aright. 

3. The BRETHREN contribute their elem'ent in the 
family difficulty. Jacob was to blame, Joseph was 
somewhat to blame also, but most of all were these 
hateful brethren to blame for the wretched state of things 
set before us, and the more wretched consequences en- 
suing. 

Jealousy marked their relations to Joseph all along. 
From the moment they and he appear before us we dis- 
cover that they had unkind feelings towards their brother. 
But then Jacob was partial to him. True, but another's 
wrong-doing was no defence of theirs. Moreover, Jacob 
was an old man, and they might have pardoned some- 
thing to the foibles of age. But then Joseph was so exas- 
perating. True, but he was only a boy, and they were 
men. He had all of life before him in which to learn that 
wisdom which they should have learned from the years 
which were behind them. If Joseph showed lack of con- 
sideration for them, much worse was it for them, with 
their older years, to make capital of that fault and use it 
for cultivating a like one in themselves. Others' weak- 
nesses are never a just excuse for our own. Every man 
must bear his own burden of personal responsibility. 



DISCORD IN JACOB'S FAMILY. 1 23 

This jealousy was grounded on their own sinfulness* 
They were bad men and Joseph was good. He had been 
sent out to associate with them as toilers and as brethren, 
but his noble soul had held aloof from their evil doings 
and sayings. His attitude towards them had been such 
as to offer standing reproof to their badness. They knew 
he wa3 better than they, that he was right and they were 
wrong, and they disliked him for it. They remind us of 
the man who, voting to send Aristides into exile, on being 
asked why he did so, replied that he was tired of always 
hearing him called " the just." The bad feelings which 
men have towards others are not seldom the unconscious 
outgrowth of their own siiis. 

The envy of the brethren was shown pettishly. They 
" could not speak peaceably unto him " (v. 4), literally 
"they could not say 'peace* to him ;" i. e., "could not 
address him with the wish * peace to thee " (Delitzsch), 
the ordinary form of salutation. What a true picture of 
human folly this is ! Here are men, thousands of years 
ago, doing just what we have seen men do often to-day : 
refusing to speak to those of whom they are jealous. The 
human heart is pretty much the same always. Every- 
where we see the same envyings, petty coldness, refusal 
to speak. The scornful sons of Jacob remind us of some 
proud woman who, in order to obtain advantage of an- 
other whom she suspects of a feeling of superiority, treats 
her with chilling coldness to show that she is equal to the 
situation. These trivial ventings of ill-temper would be 
ridiculous were they not (as in Joseph's case) so fraught 
with terrible consequence. 

Others^ misjudgments strengthened the jealousy that 
had begun in the hearts of the brethren. Jacob and Jo- 
seph did not act altogether with such discretion as might 



I 



124 HINTS AND HELPS. 

have been wished. But they were men, full of weak- 
nesses like others, and the brethren, talking things over 
together (instead of planning murder), should have made 
themselves equal to pardoning these misjudgments, espe- 
cially to a father and brother. But they, on the contrary, 
fed their jealousy upon them. Where we ought to over- 
look others* mistakes we not rarely utilize them for the 
establishment of sinful feelings of our own. 

We are not surprised to find these brethren- hard- 
ened to inith as a result of their selfishness. They were 
prejudiced against Joseph, and so did not discover the 
hand of God in the marvellous dreams related to them: 
While Joseph told these in naive simplicity, they suspect- 
ed that he told them out of pride, in order to enjoy a 
passing superiority to them. And if we are right in think- 
ing that they suspected there might be some truth in these 
dreams (because they treated them so seriously), they 
showed their wilfulness in not heeding that truth, even 
when it -came in startling form to them a second time. 
Are we not always blinded by our selfish feelings to the 
truth which God is trying to convey to us through others ? 
Our prejudices often hide the hand of our Father. 

The general lessons of the internal life of the Jacobean 
family cannot be mistaken. 

1. Parents are taught the duty of impartiality towards 
their children. How many a child^s heart may be aching 
at this moment because of a withholding of aifection, a 
lack of sympathetic understanding, a cold neglect by fa- 
ther or mother, while a brother or sister is fondled and 
petted and appreciated to the utmost. Every child de- 
serves of every parent all the love of the heart. 

2. Truth should be held by us in kindness. Some- 



DISCORD IN JACOB'S FAMILY. 12$ 

times It must be told, but it should be told in love always. 
Sometimes it need not be told. Then in kindness we 
must keep silence. Our Lord was sometimes severe in 
his utterances, but his severity was always prompted by 
love, and we may believe his gentle words exceeded these 
in volume. And sometimes he maintained a dignified 
silence. Whatever we do, or refrain from doing, should 
be prompted by love. 

3. Our imperfections are no ground for envy of better 
men. It is often said that there is always some one ready 
to cry down a good man. But we gain nothing by the 
lowering of the good fame of others. To bring down the 
stars would not raise us to the skies. The Christian spirit 
prompts us on the contrary to rejoice in the moral and 
spiritual achievements of every good man, and to bless 
God for giving him to the world and us. And the same 
spirit prompts us always to humility, to esteem others 
better than ourselves. Joseph's brethren show the spirit 
of the world, which is the exact opposite in every particu- 
lar of the spirit of Christ. 

4. God used this quarrel in the family of Jacob for 
good. That did not exculpate the members of it for their 
weaknesses, misjudgments, and sins. But it shows us 
how out of the i^npromising and refractory material 
of our lives God can bring the accomplishment of his 
holy purposes, so that even the wrath of man can be 
made to praise him. We are to blame for our mistakes, 
but God's purposes are not thwarted but rather assisted 
by them. 



126 HINTS AND HELPS. 



JOSEPH SOLD INTO EGYPT. 

GEN. 37:23-36. 

• 

The frankness of the Scriptures in giving us full 
knowledge of the weaknesses and sins of those who were, 
in spite of them, servants of God, has often been remarked. 
Why have these revelations of moral imperfection been 
preserved to us, when they are at times so appalling ? 
Surely, to remind us of our own weakness that we may be 
on the look-out against our own sins, and to remind us 
also of the power of God's blessed grace, which can use 
even the feeblest and most unworthy implements for his 
glorious purposes. But we must never think that our 
sins are any the less sinful because God is able to over- 
rule them (Isa. 10:7; Acts 2: 23). 

The story of the sons of Jacob selling one of their 
number into captivity is not pleasant for us to study, but 
it is wholesome, if it warns us against doing wrong our- 
selves, by serving as a shocking " vision of sin." We see 
in it different aspects of evil. 

I. The growth of sin is exhibited to us here. " Envy 
passes over to animosity, animosity to fixed hatred, and 
hatred to a scheme of murder, just as in the history of 
Cain, and in that of Christ " (Lange). The original seed 
of sin was already planted in the soil of the patriarchal 
family life when Jacob showed unwise partiality for one 
of his sons. Evil feelings between the brothers had 
already developed. As Joseph goes up to Dothan to se- 
cure tidings of the brethren, sin is already in existence in 
their evil hearts. In what follows we see, not its incep- 



JOSEPH SOLD INTO EGYPT. \2^ 

tion, but its increase. If we were to study the growth of 
any sin of our own we should find its origin much farther 
back than we suppose. 

The first new stimulation of the evil passions of the 
brethren was given by the appearance of Joseph upon 
the horizon. " They saw him afar off." Why was he 
coming to them ? Was it in kindness or in rebuke ? That 
made no difference. The very sight of him, in his long 
coat — the always exasperating reminder of their father's 
preference of him — roused their enmity to the height of 
passionateness, and " they conspired against him to slay 
him " (v. 1 8). " And it came to pass, when Joseph was 
come unto his brethren " (y. 23), the matter was settled, 
and their determination took on the form of action. Be- 
tween the time when Joseph first appeared and the time 
when he reached them there was ample opportunity for 
them to repent of their evil feelings and plans. Con- 
science, the ties of brotherhood, the reverence of children 
for a father, all holy and preservative emotions were given 
to them naturally by God, and there was time for these to 
have saved them from crime if they had but yielded to 
them. It is seldom that sin attacks us so completely un- 
awares that an instantaneous decision must be made. 
Usually there are some moments between the suggestion 
of it and the instant of action — an interval long enough 
for the full word of conscience to be heard, and for all 
God's voices within and without to speak loudly. A 
dreadfully important crisis is that when the lusts of the 
heart are calling us one way and the voice of God calls 
us another. If we will but listen to the voice of God sin 
is powerless. What makes sin so guilty is that it is com- 
mitted in resistance to this prevenient opportunity to 
say No. 



128 HINTS AND HE;LPS. 

The first step of active sin on the part of Joseph*s 
brethren was to strip the favored son of his coat (v. 23). 
There is something almost ludicrous in this. The coat 
certainly was no moral agent, and was not to blame for 
anything which had occurred. But it was the outward 
sign of that favoritism which was so hateful to them, and 
there was a sort of childish gratification in their getting 
hold of it at last. Besides, it would add to the suffering of 
Joseph's heart to be deprived of this mark of his father's 
love. Hatred is an ugly wickedness. Its fiendish delight 
in another's agony makes it one of the most despicable 
feelings of the heart. 

Next they cast Joseph into an empty water pit (v. 
24). They had planned to slay him first and throw his 
dead body into the cistern (v. 20), but they had changed 
their mind. They were not going to slay him ; they were 
only throwing him into a pit. If he starved to death, still 
they could not blame themselves for literal shedding of 
blood. This looks as though they had not been able alto- 
gether to silence the voice of conscience. But what a 
futile subterfuge was this ! It reminds us of Aaron's de- 
fence against the charge of having made the golden calf: 
" And I said unto them, whosoever hath any gold, let 
them break it off. So they gave it me ; then I cast it into 
the fire, and there came out this calf" (Ex. 32 : 24). A 
pure accident, for which he was not to blame ! But the 
sins which we commit indirectly are as much ours as those 
we commit with our own hands. 

The sin these men were committing had its cruelty 
emphasized by the piteous cries of their brother which 
arose from the pit, as we learn from their own words 
(Gen. 42 : 21). Those cries sank more deeply into their 
hearts than they knew. Thefy haunted them through the 



JOSEPH SOLD INTO EGYPT. 1 29 

years. They never forgot them. Long afterwards, when 
misfortune came upon them, they ascribed it to this crime, 
and particularly to this element in it : that they resisted 
the pleading of a brother's voice. When Shakespeare 
makes King Richard imagine that the spirits of those 
whom he had infamously killed visited him at night, he 
teaches in poetical form the fact set forth in the story of 
Joseph's brethren, that we cannot hush the memory of the 
voices that have entreated us against sin. 

Conscience did not abandon these men, determined 
to sin. Their purpose was settled, and yet the fluctuation 
in its form showed their uneasiness. And the question of 
Judah showed that they were not so set in their willing- 
ness to incur the deepest guilt as they had supposed: 
" What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his 
blood ?" Judah here admitted that they were slaying him 
constructively by letting him perish of starvation. Con- 
science had made that much clear. But what need was 
there for them to bear the guilt of murder when there 
were other ways of getting rid of Joseph, which was the 
only thing desired after all ? Besides, if they killed him, 
and concealed his blood, they would not have that feeling 
of advantage over him which they would have if he were 
still alive somewhere and conscious that he was bearing 
the brunt of their displeasure by being in slavery. More- 
over, they could make some money out of the business, 
and this made the change in plan by no means to be 
despised. Thus did feelings of diverse character move 
these sinful men one way and another. Conscience was 
at work still, but it had great odds to contend against. 

hying was the next step in their wicked career. Here 
again we see their endeavor to sin in such a way that they 
could not be accused directly of it. They did not say 

Hints and Helpn Q 



I30 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Joseph had been killed. As they handed the bloody coat 
to Jacob they did not relate to him some horrible story 
of how they had found Joseph in the last gasp of a long 
struggle with some wild beast, or how they had found 
the coat and seen nothing at all of Joseph. They brought 
out the coat saying, " This have we found : know now 
whether it be thy son's coat or no " (v. 32). There might 
be some question about that word "found." Did they 
find the coat ? Probably in their versatile ingenuity in 
sinning they might have been able to show that in some 
sense they had found the coat. Nevertheless they lied. 
They intended to deceive and they did deceive. Their 
words were meant to convey an idea which they knew to 
be false. Jacob accepted that idea and they were respon- 
sible for it. The most of the lying that is done is some- 
thing short of downright, but it is no less lying. 

Worse than their lying, possibly, was their hypocrisy. 
This was especially shown in their comforting their griev- 
ing father. But it was shown also throughout, in their 
pretended solicitude for their brother. Everything they 
did was something of the part which they had set out to 
act, which did not represent their true selves. One of the 
elements of damage in any sin is not only that it leads on 
to other sins, such as lying, which are necessary in order 
to cover it up, but that it changes our whole disposition, 
method of life, way of feeling and acting. It makes us do 
as we would not do naturally, in a thousand different mat- 
ters. It colors our whole life. It makes us hypocrites ; 
makes us seem altogether what we are not 

The extent of the sin in which the brothers had in- 
volved themselves becomes apparent now. It was a five- 
fold sin. They had sinned against Joseph, a younger 
brother, entrusted to their society and influence in the 



JOSEPH SOLD INTO EGYPT. 131 

providence of God. They had meditated murder against 
him, but by the crossing of diverse sentiments within 
them they had spared his life, but deprived him of every- 
thing else. They had sinned also against their father, 
causing him unnecessary suffering of heart, and mocking 
him with their condolences. They had sinned against the 
whole household, who were led into mourning by their 
lie (v. 35). They had sinned against themselves, their 
better feelings, their conscience. They had sinned against 
God, to whom all sins reach ultimately, against whomso- 
ever they may be committed immediately, whether our- 
selves or others. From a feeling of petty jealousy their 
sin had grown to be a disorganization of every relation of 
life in which they stood. Everybody they could sin 
against they had sinned against, and that heinously, and 
all for the gratification of an insignificant, unworthy 
sense of jealousy directed toward an old man and a boy, 
who were (to make matters worse) their own father and 
brother. 

2. The heartlessness of sin is shown in this episode 
most strikingly. Here we see plainly how the evil feel- 
ings of the heart can conquer all that is lovely and sweet 
in the disposition, and can lead to acts of unimaginable 
brutality. 

Joseph had come to them for their own good. Their 
father loved them and was interested in their safety, and 
out of this kindly solicitude he had sent Joseph, his well- 
beloved, to dare the dangers of the journey and find out 
how the brethren were prospering. It is more than likely 
that Joseph bore to them some dainties to eat. In any 
case he was the sign to them of their father's love, sent 
to them because their father wanted them to be happy. 
To kill him was like a convict's killing the messenger 



132 HINTS AND HELPS. 

who brings the governor's pardon. Always, sin, by rea- 
son of its hardening of the heart, makes men unable to 
understand what things are for their own good. The 
wicked stone the prophets sent for their blessing. The 
world nails to the cross the Son of God, who is incarnate 
because of his love for the world. 

The heartlessness which made Joseph's brethren 
capable of slaying their own brother, even when he came 
to them as the messenger of love, led them on to a new 
act of depravity. They threw the helpless lad into the 
pit, and then, as though gloating in their brutal triumph, 
listening to the pitiful pleadings of their victim, " they sat 
down to eat bread " (v. 25). This is the finishing touch. 
The dramatic effect of this simple element in the elabora- 
tion of their wickedness is overwhelming. Well might 
Thomas Fuller exclaim, " With what heart could they say 
grace, either before or after meat !" Surely there was no 
blessing upon such a godless meal. Such heartlessness 
is more common than we may imagine. It is shown by 
whoever goes on contentedly eating and drinking and en- 
joying himself, careless of the need of the people of God 
for his sympathy and help ; " that drink wine in bowls, 
and anoint themselves with the chief ointments ; but they 
are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph " (Amos 6 : 6). 

The heartlessness of these brethren appears again in 
their insensibility to the barbarity of their recognition and 
at the same time their ill-treatment of the brotherly rela- 
tion. There is something touching in Judah's plea for 
Joseph on the ground that he was their brother, their own 
flesh (v. 27), but it touches us with indignation because it 
was made a reason for selling Joseph into slavery. True, 
this was a mitigation of the crime contemplated. But Ju- 
dah proved too much. If Joseph was their brother, their 



JOSEPH SOLD INTO EGYPT. 1 33 

flesh, they ought to have fought for him against every 
threatening evil, even at the cost of their own lives, lest 
even a hair of his head should be injured. There is some- 
thing supremely absurd in Judah's brotherliness. It was 
his shame, if he had only been able to appreciate it. The 
world has too much of the brotherliness that is willing to 
consign to slavery. 

But the climax of the flagrant heartlessness of Jacob's 
sons was shown when they actually went, in the supreme 
and shameless audacity of sin, to look upon their aged 
father s tears, to gloat over them, to revel in the thought 
that they had caused them, and to offer to him their 
hypocritical sympathy. Nothing in history compares 
with this except the kiss of Judas. Certainly these base 
men hated Jacob as well as Joseph. Their natural affec- 
tion had been absorbed by envy. They were hardly 
human any longer. Such is the blighting power of the 
evil feelings that lurk in the soul of man. 

3. The futility of sin is clearly exhibited here. 

The brethren were defeated in all their purposes. 
They intended to murder Joseph, but there were cross- 
purposes acting in their own hearts which led them to 
modify their intention ; then they cast Joseph into the pit ; 
they changed this to a selling into slavery. The object 
they had was to get Joseph out of their way for ever. 
But he came into their way again. The tables were 
turned. They were in his power. . Many a man who 
walks deliberately towards evil finds that he thwarts him- 
self unconsciously over and over again. The way of the 
transgressor is hard, partly because of its disappointments. 

The brothers unconsciously did the one thing neces- 
sary to make the fulfilment of Joseph's dreams possible : 
they sold him into Egypt. It was not the only time a 



134 HINTS AND HELPS. 

man did the exact opposite of what he thought he was 
doing. If we depart from God wilfully we are so blind 
that we are very apt to bring about what we are strenu- 
ously trying to avert. The only way to accomplish our 
purposes is to walk in the light. 

The sin of the brethren had its return for them. They 
thought they had washed their hands of Joseph and all 
concerning him when they saw him pass westward on the 
caravan road and saw the father weeping over the bloody 
coat. But " whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also 
reap." They reaped at last their own sowing. And we 
cannot help noting that Jacob was reaping his now. He 
had not ruled over his household with wisdom. As he 
wept over the garment of his beloved son he was paying 
the penalty of his own thoughtlessness. 

These sins were all, under God's overruling provi- 
dence, serving the divine purpose. " The narrative has 
now reached the point when it seems as if the direct con- 
trary of Joseph's former prophetic dreams would take 
place. He whose superiority his parents and brothers 
were to acknowledge now lives as a slave in a foreign 
land" (Kurtz). But those dreams were never so near 
accomplishment as now. And this* has been brought 
about in spite of, yes, by means of, the sins of men. 



JOSEPH RULER IN EGYPT. I3S 



JOSEPH RULER IN EGYPT. 

Gen. 41:38-48. 

Every portion of the story of Joseph seems to have 

universal interest and unusual point. The study of the 

origin of the bad feeling of his brothers towards him 

throws much light on weaknesses in family life. The visit 

to his brethren, with its ensuing sale into slavery, shows 

us how sin grows when once it has found a welcome in 

the heart. The dramatic elevation of Joseph from the 

prison to the throne teaches us how God directs all things 

by his providence and brings what seems impossible to 

pass. 

The figure of Joseph invested with the insignia of the 

highest rank is very imposing to the imagination. We 
see upon his hand the monarch's signet ring, the symbol 
of authority ; he is clothed from head to foot in the long 
byssus robe, the dress of the priestly rank, the highest of 
all, to which the king belongs ; about his neck is the 
golden chain, a special mark of distinction, like the " gold- 
en collar " of some European orders. And as his splen- 
did chariot passes through the streets we can see the 
crowds of people prostrating themselves before him, and 
hear them shouting, " Abrech ! Abrech !" " Bow the 
knee ! Bow the knee !'* As though we were there, we 
exult in fancying this elevation of a good man to the 
highest position of authority. We have seen Joseph in 
trouble, now we can see him in honor ; and it is well 
worth while to think of the meaning of his new place in 
relation to himself. 



136 HINTS AND HELPS. 

I. The way to honor is shown to us here. If we want 
to find out how to succeed we should study the methods 
of successful men, of whom Joseph was one. 

Uprightness marked all his conduct in Egypt, and 
this formed no small portion of the influences which 
helped him upward. It is true, his resistance of evil was 
the immediate cause of his imprisonment, but his impri- 
sonment was the means of his being led from slavery to 
power. Moreover, his straightforward honorable conduct 
towards his fellow-prisoners, although it was forgotten for 
the time, had its share also in bringing about the great re- 
sult. If Joseph had been a political wire-puller, a schemer 
willing to sell his principles to gain a place of power, he 
would have failed hopelessly. But he was an honest man, 
and " honesty is the best policy," it pays best even from 
the selfish, worldly point of view. But some one may 
say, do not wicked men prosper all about us ? Yes, and. 
the righteous are often afflicted. But these exceptions 
are distinctly acknowledged and emphasized in the Scrip- 
tures. Yet the Bible tells us that in the long run the men 
who are righteous shall prosper, even in earthly things, 
more than the wicked. It is God's world still, and he has 
not lost any of his control over it, and he desires that 
righteousness, taken the world over, shall be blessed, and 
he means to see that it is. 

Patient submission to his lot was another element in 
Joseph's elevation. Cast into prison unjustly, we do not 
find him fuming and cursing against the evil fortune which 
brought him there ; we do not hear him wishing that he had 
sinned and escaped this trouble, as weak men have done 
at times when they have had to pay the cost of having 
done right. No ; Joseph accepted his lot without com- 
plaint, and made the best of it. If he had been a pas- 



JOSEPH RULER IN EGYPT. 1 37 

sionate prisoner, making his durance disagreeable to those 
whose office it was to keep in safety those committed to 
their charge, Joseph might have made himself a small 
notoriety., not great enough perhaps to reach Pharaoh's 
ears, but great enough to prevent his advancement into 
favor. It was not with any thought that he was paving 
his way to power thus that Joseph quietly submitted to 
his fate, but solely because he was a servant of God, and 
submissive to the divine will in all things. Who can tell 
how much more God would be able to do through us if 
we would accept our lot in patience. The road to honor 
lies often through the valley of humiliation, and yet while 
we are in that valley we cannot help feeling that things 
are somehow wrong, and that this cannot be the will of 
God. Whereas he tells us that if. we are abased it is in 
order that he may exalt us, and he points us to Christ, our 
pattern, who was lowly and submissive to the conditions 
of his lot, and so was enabled to be the most sublime in- 
strument of the purposes of God. 

The filling of a humble place well also helped to bring 
Joseph to his noble height in the realm. Fortune made a 
prisoner of him. He accepted the situation, and was the 
best sort of a prisoner he knew how to be. There in the 
dungeon with him were two other unfortunates. He made 
himself friendly towards them, and used the gift which 
God gave him, of interpreting dreams, for their benefit : in 
one case bringing joy, in the other giving a frank warning 
of approaching death. Not a bit more faithfully did Jo- 
seph afterward use this supernatural gift for the help of 
Pharaoh than he used it in the service of the inmates of 
the prison. His conduct was consistent throughout ; in 
each place he did the best he could. Most men would 
utterly despise the life of an inmate of jail as a field of 



138 HINTS AND HELPS. 

work. To them it would be a place where there is noth- 
ing to do. Joseph teaches us that there is no such place 
on earth. The humblest artizan, the' most insignificant 
office - boy, the lowliest servant - girl is better off than 
Joseph. To be faithful in those things which are least is 
not easy, but it is God's highway to broader service. 

The bold use of the powers God gave him was a 
prominent part of the preparation for Joseph's advance to 
honor. In some way he knew that he was able to inter- 
pret dreams. If, in his consciousness of the possession of 
this marvellous supernatural gift, he had scorned to use 
it in so despicable a place as a prison, one link would 
have been lost necessary to the chain which led from 
slavery to princedom. If he had bragged to his fellow 
prisoners of what he could do, but had refused haughtily 
to use his powers in such a place, the Pharaoh would 
never have heard of his abiUty to interpret dreams. Con- 
fidently and obligingly he practised his divine art for the 
benefit of the lowly ; and in the same spirit he did the 
same thing for Pharaoh. In jail he was not proud, in the 
palace he was not afraid. God had giyen him a certain 
gift, and wherever he found himself was a place for its 
exercise. How often we fancy our abilities are wasted 
upon those about us, or, going to the other extreme, are 
so overawed that we are afraid to do what we can. 

2. The use of honor is exemplified in Joseph's con- 
duct when brought into a noble position. 

He accepted the place quietiy. We do not see that he 
lost his self-possession when overwhelmed with the most 
stately honors any more than when overwhelmed with 
the most bitter degradation. A foreign slave in prison, 
he moved with the air of a self-respecting man. The 
Grand Vizier of the greatest empire of the world, he acted 



JOSEPH RULER IN EGYPT. 1 39 

with the simplicity of the humblest servant. He had nis 
feelings like other men. We heard his cries of anguish 
from the pit ; we shall see him later weeping like a child. 
But his depth of feeling never broke down his manly in- 
dependence. If he appreciated — and how could he help 
it ? — the exalted rank of his new office, yet he did not hold 
himself to be anything else than a servant of God, elevated 
or humbled according to the almighty will, having as his 
duty to accept the place in which he found himself, whe- 
ther high or low, and make the best of it. Such is not 
the way in which we are apt to conduct ourselves when 
circumstances change. If misfortune comes upon us we 
are disturbed, if large good fortune comes we are dis- 
turbed perhaps even more in another way. It is a great 
accomplishment to be able to take whatever God sends 
to us quietly, and to keep our thoughts about him, our- 
selves and others right. Joseph reminds us of the Quiet- 
ists, people like Fenelon and Madame Guy on, who, with 
Paul, knew how to be abased, and how to be exalted, with 
their equanimity undisturbed. 

Joseph accommodated himself to the conditions of 
the place of honor in which he found himself. He did 
not refuse the signet ring, the white robe, the royal chariot, 
the popular acclamations. He submitted to a change of 
name into the Egyptian fashion, and he married a daugh- 
ter of the priest of On, which connected him more or less 
with the religious life of the nation. How much did these 
concessions to Egyptian usage mean ? In becoming " an 
Egyptian of the Egyptians" (Delitzsch) did he wink at 
their idolatry, and perhaps himself act as a priest ? In 
that case it may very plausibly be supposed ** that the 
inherent fondness of the Ephraimites for idolatry is attri- 
butable to this origin "(I^ods). But there is nothing to 



I40 HINTS AND HELPS. 

lead us to think that Joseph departed from his loyalty ta 
Jehovah. Rather we are led to believe that " the same 
hand of God, by which he had been so highly exalted 
after deep degradation, preserved him in his lofty post of 
honor from sinking into the heathenism of Egypt "(KciO* 
Daniel refusing the meat of the Babylonian king, and 
Joseph wearing the robe of an Egyptian priest, seem very 
far apart ethically. Yet we are to remember that both 
were guided by God, and under that guidance were led 
to different methods under somewhat similar circum- 
stances. Resistance was required to the uttermost in 
Babylon ; accommodation, as far as it was innocent, was 
required in Memphis. We remember that Jesus de- 
nounced the Pharisees with burning words sometimes, 
and at other times sat at meat with them. He told his 
disciples to shake the dust of their feet off against some 
places, and again he prayed not that they might be taken 
out of the world, but that they might be kept from the 
evil. The wisdom of God, if we will ask it, will always 
lead us not only into what is right, but also into what is 
best for others. Joseph "teaches us the lesson of willing 
co-operation, so far as may be, in the charities and duties 
of life, with those who do not share our faith, and shows 
us that the firmer our hold of the truth and the promise 
of God, the more safe and obligatory is it to become * all 
things to all men,' that we may be all means help and 
*save some.* No doubt that principle is often abused, 
and made an excuse for unhallowed mingling with the 
world ; but it is a true principle for all that ; and as long 
as Christian people seek to assimilate themselves to 
others, and to establish friendly relations for unselfish 
ends, and not from cowardice or a sneaking wish to be of 
the world, after all no harm will come of it" (McLaren). 



JOSEPH RULER IN EGYPT. I4I 

Joseph used the honor which was put upon him as a 
service. He did not revel in the opportunities of his 
exahed station as a selfish man might have done. He 
did not use it to promote his personal interest still more. 
The office in which he found himself in the providence of 
God seemed to him to be a sacred trust. As his im- 
prisonment offered to him an opportunity of blessing 
others, so his ennoblement only served to widen the area 
of his service. He set to work preparing granaries for 
the storing of a supply of food adequate for the approach- 
ing years of famine. The principle of his life was the 
service of others, from the time when he went out to 
Dothan to bring Jacob's greetings to the unworthy breth- 
ren to the time when, in dying, he gave his comforting 
blessing to those same men. If God has given to us any- 
thing of health, strength of mind, education, social in- 
fluence, wealth, it is that we may use it for the service of 
man and thus to the honor of God. Our endowment of 
honor, whatever it may be, is an endowment for service. 

3. The origin of honor must be noticed in order 
that we may interpret Joseph's exaltation aright, and get 
from it its true lesson for life. 

God planned it for far-reaching reasons of his own. 
We can see these as Joseph could not. By reason of 
Joseph's position of authority, especially in connection 
with the control of the food supply during the famine, the 
way was prepared for Jacob and his family to go to Egypt, 
where they were to grow into a great multitude, were to 
learn the arts of Egyptian civilization, and were to be dis- 
ciplined by trial for the place in history which God had 
for them. Joseph saw nothing of this. He accepted his 
place as a means of service to the Egyptians. But back 
of the Egyptians were the people of God, a race of vastly 



142 HINTS AND HELPS. 

more importance. God raised Joseph up for their sake. 
Whoever finds himself in any position of influence and 
honor may be sure that God had purposes in placing 
him there which reach much farther than he can imagine. 

Joseph's exaltation was brought about providentially 
by the combination of events. If God had not shaped 
matters in a special way the exercise of Joseph's virtues 
which we have noticed could not have led to such a re- 
sult. If Potiphar's wife had not fallen in love with him, 
if he had not been cast into prison, if the chief butler had 
not been imprisoned at the same time, if on being released 
he had not remembered Joseph at a critical moment, if 
Pharaoh had not dreamed, history would have been dif- 
ferent. One circumstance altered would have broken the 
chain. What a wonderful group of coincidences, say you ? 
Not so. What wonderful power in the providence of God 
to be able to weave the fleeting purposes and acts of men 
into so completely patterned a web. " With the sudden- 
ness of despotic countries, the slave of the moment before 
found himself raised to be Grand Vizier of the whole 
land " (Geikie). Even the fickle disposition of Oriental 
princes was an element in God's plan for the raising up 
a nation unto Himself. Let us never despair because 
events seem against us, or because we cannot see our 
way out of difficulties. The combinations of circum- 
stance are infinite, and God is in them all. 

Without the directly empowering grace of God, how- 
ever, Joseph would not have been exalted. The power to 
interpret dreams was not of his own procurement or de- 
riving; it came directly from God. Without this the 
remarkable combination of circumstances would have 
availed nothing, for Joseph would have had no power to 
take advantage of it. As often as he thought of his won- 



*.i 



JOSEPH RULER IN EGYPT. 1 43 

derful career he would remind himself that it was all 
God's doing, for it all came about through God*s gift. 
Whenever we find that we are succeeding in anything, 
commercial, intellectual, religious, whatever it may be, we 
should say to ourselves, " What hast thou which thou 
didst not receive ?'* and give God the glory due to his gifts. 
What, in a word, is the universal lesson to be learned 
from Joseph's exaltation ? That wherever we are we are 
in the hands of God, to do his will. Joseph on the throne 
was no different from Joseph in chains. In each place he 
accepted the situation, and used it as a service towards 
God. God can honor himself in us anywhere if we will 
only submit to do him obedient service. If God puts 
us in a humble place, even there we shall find more and 
holier work than we shall be able to do. Does he put us 
into a position of unusual publicity ? Then he has some 
work for us there which we must find and accomplish. To 
high and low, to rich and poor, there should be the same 
purpose in life : to serve God with a quiet mind. 



-=33Hl 



144 HINTS AND HELPS. 



JOSEPH FORGIVING HIS BRETHREN. 

Gen. 45:1-15. 

Of all the pictures of olden time preserved to us in 
the Bible there is none that seems more like an event of 
to-day than Joseph's announcement of himself to his 
brethren. The romantic element in the episode removes 
it from the level of ordinary life ; it is doubtful if any of us 
ever knew in our own experience anything approaching 
in its unusualness the story of Joseph. Nevertheless as 
we look upon him, full of brotherly yearning, longing to 
give expression to the feelings of his heart, yet repressing 
them until just the proper moment had arrived, and then 
giving way to them in a burst of weeping, we discover in 
him that touch of nature which makes the whole world 
kin. He is no longer a man of strange tongue and man- 
ner ; he is one of us, and we understand him. Yet in 
some respects we may learn much from this meeting with 
his brethren. 

I. The character of Joseph' s feelings is shown to us. 

They were natural. He asks as soon as he has dis- 
closed himself: "Doth my father yet live?" There is 
the fond heart of the favorite son turning to the love of 
the indulgent father. Joseph had before this asked the 
same question. His reiteration shows his profound affec- 
tion for Jacob. And ** he fell upon his brother Benjamin's 
neck and wept" (v. 14), for they were children of the 
same mother and joined by double ties. It seems to be 
gratuitous to suggest that man has certain natural feel- 
ings, given to him by God, which are right, and worthy 



JOSEPH FORGIVING HIS BRETHREN. I45 

to be active. But when men become highly civilized 
and self-restrained these natural feelings fall almost into 
disrepute, and those who set a high value upon them are 
looked upon as silly sentimentalists. A society that can 
generate ennui will smile pityingly at the normal emo- 
tions of the soul. May it not be that we to-day need to 
stimulate rather than repress feeling ? Devoted as we are 
to the cultivation of the brain, the body, and the proprie- 
ties of social life, restrained at every point by iron -strong 
conventionalities, we may easily neglect the education of 
the feelings, which are more representative of the man 
than anything else. For the feelings are the indicators of 
our moral attitudes and the source of our action. Pro- 
pose a certain course of conduct to a man, and the way 
he feels will tell you what he is. There are ages when 
feeling is over-luxuriant ; ours is a time when it is more 
nearly dead. The love of parents, of home, of friends, of 
truth and purity and generosity, and everything which 
ought to be loved, needs cultivation among us. 

These natural feelings in Joseph were strong, " He 
wept aloud ; and the Egyptians heard, and the house of 
Pharaoh heard " (v. 2). Men do not usually weep except 
under the most extreme agitation, and then tears are the 
witness either of great passion or of great sensitiveness to 
something to which it is an honor to be sensitive. The 
maudlin sentimentalist is not very attractive to us ; but we 
cannot help admiring the man who can be stirred deeply 
when it is right. If the love of parents for children to-day 
were more profoundtliere ^votild te fewer divorces. If 
the love of country were more genuine there would be 
less civic corruption. If reverence for God were stronger 
there would be less profanity. If personal bravery were 
more admired there would be fewer suicides. The weak- 
Hints and Helpa. \Q 



146 HINTS AND HELPS. 

ness morally of any age may be traced back to its lack of 
strong feeling on some fundamental element of life. God 
made us to have certain feelings and we ought to have 
and cultivate them. 

Joseph's feelings were broad. Whatever feeling we 
have is apt to confine itself within a rather small selfish 
circle. Joseph, pardoning the crime his brethren had 
committed against him, was able to love them, to love 
them deeply, even to weep over them (v. 15). Ordinarily 
feeling increases in intensity according as the area over 
which it is spread diminishes. But when feeling was 
roused in the heart of Joseph it expanded and reached 
out generously to include even those who had hated him 
and tried to put him out of their way. It is not often, 
when a man has his personal affection raised to the high- 
est pitch, that he feels that he must be generous in it, and 
not only do good to those whom he loves most but re- 
turn good for evil to those who have injured him. It is 
possible to be supremely selfish in the exercise of the 
noblest feelings. We can love our own dear ones so well 
as to overlook our duty to our neighbor. We can love 
our own country so well that we may forget to think for 
the well-being of the rest of the world. 

Profoundly moved as Joseph was, he would not 
flaunt his feelings before the curious or the unsympa- 
thetic ; he held them to be holy, "And he cried, Cause 
every man to go out from me. And there stood no man 
with him while Joseph made himself known unto his 
brethren" (v. i), "because that pouring out of the affec- 
tions and of natural tenderness towards his brethren and 
his parent was so great that he could not bear the pres- 
ence and the looks of strangers " (Luther). If Joseph 
had delighted in having feeling stirred for the sake of the 



JOSEPH FORGIVING HIS BRETHREN. 147 

pleasure of it he would have somewhat enjoyed the pres- 
ence of spectators. Sentimentalists like to be gaped at, 
whether they be in joy or in grief. " There are some 
persons who rather love to have witnesses of their various 
feelings, and feel no sense of shame when they have given 
utterance to anything emotional before others. By these 
means feelings become vulgarized, weak, and frittered 
away" (Robertson). Joseph was not such a man. He 
felt deeply, and was willing to feel so, but not to make a 
show of himself to others. His emotions seemed to him 
sacred. 

2. Joseph's wisdom in directing his feelings is quite 
as evident as their existence. He did not abandon him- 
self to the luxury of selfish indulgence in giving way to 
his emotions. 

He restrained them, until it was right and proper 
that they should be revealed. The man of feeling is apt 
to be unwise. The man of wisdom is in danger of being 
unfeeling. Joseph was emotional and at the same time 
wise. What was it that determined the time when he' 
should gratify his heart and speak his love ? For what 
did he wait ? For the time when he could be assured 
that his brethren had repented of their old sin, and were 
changed into new men. He did not tell his brethren that 
he loved them until he knew that they were worthy of it. 
Joseph ** has convinced himself that Benjamin is still alive, 
and has not become, like himself, a victim of his brothers* 
envy. He has taken a deep look into his brothers' hearts 
and has found them changed for the better. He has 
heard them, and above all Reuben, . . . repent and bewail 
the crime committed against himself, which is now visited 
upon them. Their tender affection for their aged father 
and their loyalty towards the only remaining son of 



148 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Rachel have been made manifest by Judah*s speech . . . 
Their conduct under this last test is the clear reflection of 
their wakeful conscience, of their converted heart " (De- 
litzsch). There was no caprice in the bursting forth of 
Joseph's affection. He knew first that it was right. 

Although feeling was so passionate Joseph did not 
lose control of his thoughts ; he showed tact even in a 
time of intense excitement. "A less delicate mind would 
have talked of forgiving them ; but he entreats them to 
forgive themselves, as though his forgiveness was not in 
question '* (Bush). That is surely remarkable. Would we 
not expect to hear Joseph say magnanimously: " I forgive 
you everything "? How much more magnanimous was it 
to assume this forgiveness as a matter of course (although 
it was so great) and pass it by unmentioned. Many an 
act of kindness is made to hurt the recipient by an indel- 
icate insistence that he shall recognize that it is kindness. 
Joseph used the utmost caution not to increase the cha- 
grin the brethren felt at their situation. They repented ; 
that was enough for him. He would say nothing about 
it. What superb refinement of unselfishness ! 

True kind7iess is visible in Joseph's laying emphasis 
on the impersonal element in that unbrotherly act which 
could hardly go unmentioned, and yet must be passed by 
quickly and delicately. Joseph said " be not grieved, nor 
angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither : for God 
did send me before you to preserve life" (v. 5). The 
personal responsibility for the deed is here recognized, 
and yet a deeper aspect of it is seen : that the providence 
of God was at work in that selling into slavery. It was 
thus made plain to the brethren that Joseph bore no re- 
sentment because of the wrong they had done. And he 
could take this position justly inasmuch as he recognized 



JOSEPH FORGIVING HIS BRETHREN. I49 

that they had repented of their crime and were changed 
men. The personal element became inconsiderable in 
view of the providential aspect of the matter. That Joseph 
saw this, and laid emphasis on it, shows what a genuinely- 
kind heart was his and how truly he still loved his breth- 
ren. To see how much this meant, let each one of us sup- 
pose himself (granting it to be supposable for the mo- 
ment) sold into slavery by his own brothers, afterwards 
having them completely in his power, and then saying to 
them : ** No matter ; no matter if you did sell me into sla - 
very ; it is all right now." To forgive would be difficult 
for the best of us ; to make light of the deed out of con- 
sideration for the feelings of those who had wronged us 
would be almost inconceivable. Such was the grand 
magnanimity of Joseph. 

The moral effect of what he was saying, upon the 
minds of the brethren, was nevertheless in Joseph^s mind. 
He was magnanimous and forgiving, yet he would not tell 
a falsehood, he would not say that they had not sinned. 
In view of their repentance he turns their thoughts to the 
blessed result which God has brought about through their 
deed, but he does not say they are not responsible for it. 
He does not obliterate moral distinctions and call wrong 
right. They ought to have repented of their crime, and 
Joseph said nothing to make it appear that their repent- 
ance was unnecessary. When a child does wrong, and 
you forgive the wrong, does not the child begin to think 
that it was no wrong after all ? It is a difficult thing to 
forgive others so kindly for their ill deeds that they shall 
not fancy that their repentance was possibly unnecessary. 
Joseph's words (v. 5) " might have been an injudicious 
speech to impenitent men ; but no further view of sin can 
lighten its heinousness to a really penitent sinner. Prove 



I50 HINTS AND HELPS. 

to him that his sin has become the means of untold good 
and you only humble him the more, and more deeply 
convince him that while he was recklessly gratifying him- 
self, and sacrificing others for his own pleasure, God has 
been mindful of others, and, pardoning him, has blessed 
them " (Dods). " It is a comforting thought that, while 
we cannot undo the sin, God has kept it from undoing us, 
and has overruled it for greater good to ourselves and 
greater blessing to others than, perhaps, might otherwise 
have been obtained " (W. M. Taylor). 

3. yoseph used his feelings for the highest ends. 
They were not only held in hand and directed wisely, but 
they were allowed to assert themselves in such a way, 
when the proper moment for assertion came, that wide 
blessing was secured. 

The love of the brethren was secured permanently for 
Joseph by the thoughtful way in which he held himself, 
even when moved to the depth of his being. If the breth- 
ren had not been renewed men Joseph's magnanimity 
might have made them jealous of him. But his bearing 
was such that they could not have any ill-feeling towards 
him, and they must love him. How noble an achieve- 
ment would it have been for him to secure their love 
under any circumstances ! How supreme an achievement 
was it for him to do this when his superior position might 
naturally have tended to renew in them all their old bitter 
feelings, which now they would not have dared to express ! 
To win the love of those who dislike us is a grand accom- 
plishment, especially when fortune brings them to such a 
situation that they are under new obligations to us. 

Joseph's love at once went out in aid to his father. 
He would have his brethren haste back to Canaan and 
bring Jacob down within reach of Egypt*s supplies against 



JOSEPH FORGIVING HIS BRETHREN. 151 

• 
famine. After all these years of absence the love of the 
son for the father remained unabated. Absence and 
changed conditions had no effect upon it. What vast 
and touching affection was this. Is it not worth while to 
cultivate our God-given emotions when they are capable 
of so enriching life? 

Joseph*s eager love reached further still : it led to the 
preservation of the people of God, He recognized that 
God had raised him up, preserved him, endued him with 
those unconquerable emotions, that He might preserve *' a 
remnant in the earth " (v. 7). By this expression Joseph 
places himself alongside the great prophets ; he reveals 
an insight into the far-reaching plans of God for the bless- 
ing of the world. He shows himself conscious that his 
love for his father and his brethren did not terminate in 
itself; it was an instrument under the direction of God for 
the blessing of all human life. Who can tell what vast ends 
may be accomplished through our individual fidelity to 
the natural affections God has given us ? The man who 
loves his home is helping the world. But always, like 
Joseph, we must remember to love those who are dearest 
to us not unwisely, but so that it shall bless the world. 

Joseph never seems so exalted to us as when we study 
his wise love. And it cannot but remind us of that greater 
Life spent here on this earth in a most passionate affection, 
which was so thoughtful that we see it to have been the 
wisdom of God. No one ever loved so profoundly as our 
blessed Lord, and no one as wisely. The example of 
Joseph is emphasized to us preeminently in Him. 



152 HINTS AND HELPS. 



JOSEPH'S LAST DAYS. 

Gen. 50:14-26. 

The book of Genesis, so crowded with matter of 
profound interest, closes with a simple stateliness worthy 
of its character. It opens with the imposing process of 
creation. We sit as witnesses at a sublime spectacle, and 
watch the slow magnificence of the seven days passing 
before us. The book closes in the midst of earthly his- 
tory. The long centuries of complex life have been inau- 
gurated, and the succession of peoples and nations has 
begun. It has continued many thousands of years already. 
Who can tell how many thousand more are to be passed ? 
The closing of Genesis seems to be an epitome of them 
all. We see Joseph returning from the burial of his father. 
Another patriarchal generation has passed off the stage of 
life. Joseph now has no one between him and death. He 
does not stand long in that position. God calls him to 
come out of the generations of the present and be reck- 
oned among those of the past. With full consciousness 
of the meaning of what he is doing he steps across the 
line which divides what is from what was, and the patri- 
archal age is closed. So one generation comes and is 
succeeded by another, and as we stand by the bedside of 
the last of the patriarchs we seem to look out upon the 
whole procession of the ages. The "passage of generations 
is the chief characteristic of history. Indeed it makes 
history. To keep it in mind, and act as we should in 
view of it, is one of the first duties of man. The close of 
Genesis shows us several aspects of thought concerning 



JOSEPH'S LAST DAYS. 1 53 

this historically formative fact. In Joseph*s brethren we 
see: 

I . The dread of change in the passage of generations. 
They were not alone in having such a fear, for it is con- 
stantly recurring as the old men pass away, upon whom 
the younger have reUed for wisdom and guidance and 
strength. " What shall we do now ?" is a question that is 
always asked as men return from the burial of the fathers. 
When we have always had somebody else to lean upon it 
is appalling to think that now others must lean on us. 

The dominant influence of facob had been a guaran- 
tee to the brethren that Joseph would do them no harm. 
Although they had not shown such respect to their father 
as they ought, they counted upon such respect in their 
brother. They knew that naturally he would abide by 
Jacob's will ; indeed, because of special affection for his 
father, to do Jacob's will would have been a peculiar de- 
light to him. While Jacob lived they felt safe in the pro- 
tection which he would throw about them. But when he 
was gone, and there was no one to guide and control 
Joseph, might their lives not be endangered ? Like men 
at other times in similar circumstances, in considering the 
stability which has come from the generation past, they 
forgot the possibility of its being inherited by the genera- 
tion present. 

Conscience was awakened in them by the change of 
circumstances. If naturally, under any conditions, they 
would have felt more foreboding at seeing the generation 
preceding them pass out of history, how must this fore- 
boding have been magnified by the thought that they had 
committed crime against the generation now become the 
chief. When they sold Joseph into slavery they fancied 
they were getting rid of him and the memory of him for- 



154 HINTS AND HELPS. 

ever. Little did they imagine that the thought of him 
was to haunt them always ; to fill their hearts one day with 
terror, and even after the terror was past to keep them in 
dread. They were new men morally, but the memory of 
their great sin did not forsake them. Even in the regen- 
erate soul conscience needs often to be reasoned into 
peace, when the recollection of past wrongs comes over it 

It was hard for them io believe that they were forgiv- 
en. For years now they had lived in peace with their 
brother. The ancient wrong which they had done him 
had been pardoned, and a happy reconciliation had char- 
acterized the brotherly relation. Joseph had not changed 
since he had opened his forgiving arms to them, and had 
wept tears of love over them. But conscience, which 
would never be wholly quiet as long as they lived, antici- 
pated trouble even groundlessly. To be forgiven for so 
great a sin seemed too good to be true. They could be- 
lieve in the forgiveness of Jacob, whom they had wronged 
almost as much as they had Joseph, but their faith in 
the generation dead they were not able to carry over to 
the generation living. Our sins tend to make us skeptical 
of great virtues in others. Seventeen years of happy 
reconciliation could not make the brethren certain that 
Joseph had really forgiven them. They prayed for his 
pardon as earnestly as though he had never shown them 
kindness. 

They did not appreciate Joseph now nor ever. They 
misunderstood him, imagined feelings and motives in 
him which he did not have, and attributed their own ways 
of thinking to him, from the time when he was sent, for 
their good, to meet them at Dothan, until the present. 
They believed in the greatness of character of the genera- 
tion past, but they could not transfer this faith to the 



JOSEPH'S LAST DAYS. 1 35 

generation following. Our own contemporaries are apt to 
look smaller to ws in every way than those who have gone 
before us. We cannot believe that those whom we have 
grown up with and known familiarly are great men, with 
the same kind of greatness which marked our ancestors. 
It is hard to trust the possibility of the best things at our 
own level. We are always imagining that some unusual 
circumstance must come in to make life noble. We can- 
not believe in the grandeur of life as we know it. Joseph 
had done everything possible to make the brethren be- 
lieve in his forgiveness, and yet they suspected its gen- 
uineness. When we are conscious of desiring to do right 
it is sometimes one of our trials to be doubted. 

The plea upon which the brethren relied^ to secure 
that forgiveness which they feared they might not have, 
was that Joseph and they were servants of the same God, 
whom their father had also served (v. 17). The transi- 
tions of history made them uneasy, but they turned away 
from them to the everlasting God, with whom there is no 
changeableness, neither shadow of turning, and trusted to 
find in him that control over human hearts which they 
had found heretofore in the generation above them, but 
which they knew now must be sought for in its perma- 
nent form elsewhere. Jacob was gone, but the God of 
Jacob remained, the connecting element between the gen- 
erations, the bridge spanning all the ages of history. It 
may not be altogether a calamity to lose our fathers if 
thereby we are driven to trust in our fathers' God. 

. 2. The inheritance of character^ which prevents such 
violent change as Joseph's brethren dreaded from the 
passage of generations, is exhibited in Joseph. Jacob 
they knew and depended upon. But Joseph was to be 
depended upon also, for he took up the good elements 



156 HINTS AND HELPS. 

of Jacob's life and transmitted them in his turn. How- 
ever much we have trusted in the streagth of the past 
we need not distrust the present, for God's law of moral 
inheritance guarantees the succession of goodness in the 
families of his people. His aged servants die, but he has 
led them to train others to take their place. What wor- 
thy traits do we see in Joseph ? We see : 

Humility, " Fear not ; for am I in the place of God ?" 
(V. 19.) He was the prime minister of the empire, having 
full control of the fortunes of the brethren. Yet he dis- 
claims any desire to be a judge over them — he leaves that 
to God. " God has forgiven them ; and, therefore, he 
himself can no longer retain their sins; nor would he, 
, since that would be to put himself judicially in the place 
of the forgiving God " (Lange). Joseph's head was not 
turned by his unusual position. He never forgot who 
he was. He never assumed functions that did not belong 
to him. There are many, far less exalted than he, who 
do not hesitate to sit in judgment upon others. 

Magnayiimity. He was pained at the distrust of him 
shown by his brethren, after all the assurances of his favor 
which he had given. This (together with his love for 
them, which they did not recognize) moved him to tears. 
But when he replies to their petition there is not a word 
of upbraiding for their unbrotherly suspicion. He for- 
gave them for selling him into slavery, he forgives them 
now for doubting the genuineness of that forgiveness. 
Joseph had not the least element of pettishness or spite- 
fulness in him. He was of large mind, like Abraham. 

Love. There was much that was unlovely in the un- 
believing brethren, but Joseph had sincere affection for 
them nevertheless. There are some people one cannot 
help loving. Joseph himself might be reckoned as one 



JOSEPH'S LAST DAYS. 1 57 

of these. There are others whom we love in the face of 
obstacles. We have to make allowances for them, offering 
excuse for their eccentricities, and finding natural causes 
for their bad temper and other failings. Such love has 
more moral benefit to ourselves, and doubtless brings 
more of blessing to others, than any other. " Love your 
enemies," said Christ, who loved as man never did. 

Justice is revealed in Joseph's manner of quieting the 
fears of his brethren. He does not say that they had not 
sinned against him. On the contrary, he reminds them 
specially of their sin, showing that he recognizes, as well 
as they, its sinfulness : " As for you, ye meant evil against 
me" (v. 20). In forgiving them he does not say that 
there was nothing to forgive. His generosity was not so 
thoughtless as to persuade them that wrong was right. 
Indeed, if they had not sinned there was no virtue in his 
forgiving them. The grandeur of his love required the 
presupposition of their crime. There is nothing ever 
gained in blurring the distinction between right and 
wrong, even when we are in our kindest moods. 

Wisdom is shown in Joseph's turning from the hu- 
man and sinful aspect of the brothers' deed to its divine 
and blessed side : " God meant it for good, to bring to 
pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive " (v. 20). 
It was of not much importance to him that he had been 
injured, if only the plans of God had been carried out 
thereby. He merged the personal in the eternal. This 
way of looking out widely over events, and studying 
them in their super-individualistic bearings, is part of 
what the Bible calls wisdom. It is selfish not only to be 
greedy of good things, but also to see events only from 
the personal point of view. Our own comfort and happi- 
ness are not of as much importance as that we should 



IS8 HINTS AND HELPS. 

take our due place in God's plan for blessing the genera- 
tions of men. 

Sympathy appears in Joseph's quieting of the fears of 
the brothers : " And he comforted them, and spake kindly 
unto them" (v. 21). They were unreasonable and un- 
generous in their attitude towards him. Their continued 
uncertainty of him was not a very handsome way of 
meeting his endeavors after their happiness. But he 
overlooked all that, tried to see the matter from their 
point of view, entered into their fears, and comforted 
them, who had once deprived him of all comfort. Often 
the tables are turned about in such a way that he who 
needs kindness is seen to be the one who gives it. We 
shall be most Christ- like not by begging but by giving 
sympathy. 

3. The passing on of the heritage is set before us. 
The dread of change in the passage of the generations is 
met by God's law of the inheritance of character. Joseph 
exemplified the working of this law by showing himself a 
worthy descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But 
his time to retire from among the living came, and then 
what ? Then he passed on, as far as he could, the heri- 
tage which he had received, to those who came after. 

He met death calmly ^ showing that those who serve 
God by transmitting the blessings and the characteristics 
of his people must not repine or be cowardly when God 
calls them to make way for their successors. He called 
his brethren about him and calmly told them he was 
about to die. Life was sw'eet to him as to every living 
soul, but sweeter was the will of God. He was ready to 
go because his work was done and God's time had ar- 
rived. He rounded out a noble life with a noble death. 
How lovely, how quieting, how comforting to those who 



JOSEPH'S LAST DAYS. 1 59 

remain, is such a serene passage to the realms of the 
blessed ! Precious in the sight of those who follow, as 
well as in the sight of the Lord, is the death of his saints. 

Joseph^s insight into the future gave especial signifi- 
cance to his death, for his posterity. The -sadness of 
leaving the charge God had committed to him, and the 
scenes of earth that were dear to his eyes, and the faces 
he loved, was eclipsed by the glory of God's people which 
spread out before his closing eyes. He saw them visited 
of God and brought up " unto the land which he sware 
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob " (v. 24). If he had 
been thinking only of himself and of the personal mean- 
ing of death to him, this glimpse of the future might have 
escaped him. But in death as in life he looked at himself 
as a servant of God, and his existence as having value 
only as it held its due place in the plan of God. Taking 
such a broad outlook, God gave him this insight into the 
future. And not the least part of Joseph's life work were 
his dying words, which confirmed the belief of God's 
people in their own destiny and in the patriarchal covenant. 

National sentiment arose within his heart. He had 
been a man without a country. His first work had been 
for an alien nation. But he never thought of himself as 
an Egyptian. The Hebrew spirit within him was never 
quenched. The inheritance which he perpetuated was not 
that of the Pharaohs, but that of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob. He handed on to his successor the spirit of godly 
patriotism. 

Faith in the immediate earthly destiny of the people 
of God was marked by his charge concerning his burial. 
Not many centuries after, but in the comparatively near 
future, he saw the Israelites emerging from Egypt to fulfil 
their destiny. So firm was his belief in this that he di- 



l6o HINTS AND HELPS. 

rected them not to bury him until it should be accom- 
plished. ** Through all the terrible bondage they were 
destined to suffer, the embalmed body of Joseph stood as 
the most eloquent advocate of God's faithfulness, cease- 
lessly reminding the despondent generations of the oath 
which God would yet enable them to fulfil" (Dods). 
Joseph's dying request is a grand example of faith, indeed 
in the passage on faith in the Epistle to the Hebrews this 
is singled out of all the events of his life as especially in- 
dicating his faith : " By faith Joseph, when he died, made 
mention of the departing of the children of Israel ; and 
gave commandment concerning his bones" (ii : 22). 

The vision of God was the source of this sublime 
faith in the covenant which was Joseph's bequest to the 
generations following. ** I die ; but God will surely visit 
you" (v. 24). What difference does it make if the gen- 
erations change ? God abides, and all history is one to 
him, and his purposes shall be accomplished at last. If 
we can hold to this ourselves and perpetuate it in our 
descendants we shall not have lived in vain. 

Joseph seems most real to us because we are let into 
his heart so completely. Yet Joseph has been dead these 
three thousands of years. And we too shall soon be 
gone, and the hurrying generations will crowd us into an- 
tiquity. And what shall remain of us ? Nothing earthly, 
however splendid. But there may remain the heritage of 
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the heritage of Joseph : faith 
in God and in his blessed providence in history. May we 
get all good out of this for ourselves, and hand it on 
safely to the centuries waiting to follow. 



ISRAEL IN EGYPT. l6l 



ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 

Exodus i : 1-14. 

** Egypt ! from whose all dateless tombs arose 
Forgo tton Pharaohs from their long repose." 

What wonderful messages the graves along the Nile 
have been whispering to us after these long ages of silence I 
Who could have believed that upon the page of an Ameri- 
can magazine we should look at the photograph of the 
face of Rameses II., the Pharaoh of the oppression ? Who 
could have dreamed that one of the store-cities of Egypt 
would be uncovered, to give up into our hands bricks 
made without straw ? These things are almost incredible, 
so overwhelmingly literal an answer are they to our long- 
ing to have something material to witness to the history 
of that ancient land. It seems as though archaeology 
could give us no 'greater surprises than these, and yet we 
do not know what to expect, and we can only hold our 
minds in suspense while the slow work of pick and shovel 
goes on. Such discoveries make all books antiquated. 
The commentaries, the Bible dictionaries, the encyclo- 
paedias are out of date almost before they are dry from 
the press. The sceptic trembles to make his old flings 
at the Bible, for he may be interrupted in the midst of a 
sentence with the report of a new find which renders his 
criticisms ridiculous. Renan in his " History of Israel " 
ridiculed the idea of writing being known in Palestine in 
Abraham's day. But on the Tel-cl-Amarna tablets we 
look upon writing made just then and there. Well may 

Hints and Helps. I I 



l62 HINTS AND HELPS. 

an American archaeologist exclaim: **What a pity that 
M. Renan's criticism of the Mosaic annals had not been 
delayed for a few months!'* The discoveries of Naville 
and Flinders Petrie have vivified Egyptian history for us. 
The text books and the cyclopaedic articles must all be 
rewritten. But there is one book that needs no change : 
the Bible had these things right all the time. Its trust- 
worthiness is being established triumphantly. 

And yet to establish the trustworthiness of any book 
is only a preliminary step to getting at the meaning of it, 
in order that it may be applied practically. Fascinating 
as the archaeological side of the study of Exodus is, we 
must turn from it to get the lessons of the book. For 
" all these things happened unto them for ensamples : and 
they are written for our admonition." 

Genesis gives us the story of the forming of a world ; 
Exodus of the forming of a nation. The men who appear 
in the narrative of Genesis appear as individuals ; in Ex- 
odus the individual passes into obscurity as the people 
emerges. In Genesis special revelations are given .by 
God to specially favored persons ; in Exodus a multitude 
receive these revelations, and Sinai thunders not for Moses 
alone but for all Israel. So we learn that human history 
is not meant to be individualistic but social, organized. 
Exodus gives us the history of the nationalization of Is- 
rael — at the beginning they are a family, at the end they 
are a people holding an independent life among the na- 
tions of the world. This nationalization is described to 
us in two steps : deliverance (chapters 1-14), and conse- 
cration (chapters 15-40) (Macgregor). The first seven 
verses of the first chapter are the introduction to the 
whole book. They begin with the word " now," indicat- 
ing the continuity of history, and at the same time the 



ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 163 

beginning of a new era. The first fourteen verses may 
be analyzed as to substance into two parts : the sojourn 
(vs. 1-7), and the oppression (vs. 8-14). 

I. THE SOJOURN. 

The silence of Scripture concerning it cannot fail to 
be marked. Four hundred and thirty years are covered 
by a single verse (v. 7) which reveals but a single fact. 
The whole book of Exodus covers practically only the 
events of two years. The contrast between the place of 
the centuries of sojourn, and of these two years, in the 
Bible record, is starding. Why should there be such a 
difference in the fulness of treatment ? 

God gave no new revelations of himself during those 
centuries. The work of his people there was to grow. 
But mere growth is only a means to an end. The end is 
the receiving and propagating the truth of God. Bible 
history is related from the point of view of revelation. 
When there is no revelation there is nothing to relate. 
*' Israel has no history generally except so far as it is 
the organ of revelation ... It is the peculiarity of Israel to 
possess history and historical literature in the full sense of 
the words only in proportion as it realizes its vocation in 
the history of the world " (Oehler). 

God is more than man. Our knowledge of man is 
only relatively important. It is valuable only as it leads 
us to know God, which is the chief thing. The Bible his- 
tory is in a sense more a history of God (that is, as he 
has come into connection with earthly life), than a history 
of man. The object of it is not to inform us for the sake 
of being informed concerning everything belonging to 
the life of man, but to show us what God has done for 
men, how he has done it, how they have received it and 
with what consequences, that we may learn from their 



1 64 HINTS AND HELPS. 

" ensample " and be led to receive God's truth and God 
himself. 

The external schooling of God's people was going on 
in those unrecorded years. As men cannot come into 
contact without being influenced the one by the other, 
so nations do not meet without consequences in national 
character. The external results of Israel's stay in Egypt 
are not recorded, because they were not immediately re- 
lated to the reception of divine truth. Yet they were in- 
directly important even to that end, because through them 
Israel was given a true national life, which made the re- 
tention of the divine revelation possible. 

Stability of life was taught to them. Over four hun- 
dred years they lived in one place, and so learned the 
habit of definite residence. Immediately, to be sure, they 
were plunged into a renewal of their old nomadic life, for 
forty years. But these forty years did not overcome the 
influence of the four hundred and thirty. The stay in 
Egypt substituted once for all for the Israelites the set- 
tled life of a nation instead of the roving life of a tribe. 

They gained some elements of civilization in Egypt 
which helped to make permanently local life possible. Peo- 
ple who live in towns must know how to build houses ; 
Israel learned architecture in Egypt. Dwellers in houses 
dress, eat, sleep differently from dwellers in tents ; cloth- 
ing, food, the implements and furniture of the house were 
civilized by the Egyptian sojourn. The " arts and let- 
ters" of that ancient civilization were teachers of the 
Hebrews. 

Political organization in a genealogical way devel- 
oped itself in Egypt (Oehler). The tribal division of the 
nation was originated and made permanent there. No 
man among the descendants of these tribes was ever so 



ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 165 

great that his children were able to give their names to a 
new tribal division. The arrangements made in Egypt 
governed Israelitish history thenceforth always. 

It is also possible that bad elements entered into Is- 
raelitish life in Egypt, as well as good. The golden calf 
set up by Aaron was undoubtedly a reminiscence of the 
worship of Apis. The pantheon of Egypt was well filled 
with deities, and it is not strange that Israel inferred that 
idolatry was a corollary of civilization. Afterwards, when- 
ever periods of culture-worship came over the Jews, they 
immediately felt drawn to idolatry. In this direction the 
bad influence of Egypt was permanent with them. 

The growth of the people during the sojourn in 
Egypt was the most important fact concerning them, that 
which was absolutely necessary to their success as pre- 
servers of the oracles of God ; and it is the only fact men- 
tioned in Scripture (v. 7). God wanted a nation ; only a 
nation could accomplish his work. The growth into a 
nation becomes therefore the supremely important matter. 
This growth was extremely rapid: seventy souls went 
down to Egypt, we are told, and about two millions came 
back, after the expiration of four hundred and thirty 
years. 

Certain things help to explain this large increase. 
Seventy souls were not all in the company who went 
down ; the servants must be added, the retainers of all 
kinds. These are numerous in an oriental household, 
and it has been estimated that the entire retinue of Jacob 
and his sons may have numbered as many as two thou- 
sand, perhaps three thousand (Norris). It has been 
pointed out that many Egyptians must have been drawn 
to the Israelites and, so to say, been " naturalized." " We 
do not know how far Israel's increase may have been oc- 



1 66 HINTS AND HELPS. 

casioned by accessions from without of men attracted by 
what they saw or heard of in this people " (Macgregor). 
It is also said that Egypt has extraordinary fruitfulness 
in both men and cattle (Aristotle, Columella, Pliny, Ro- 
senmiiller — cited by Keil). These circumstances help to 
show that an extraordinary increase in the Israelitish pop- 
ulation would not be impossible. 

Yet the increase described in Exodus cannot be ex- 
plained altogether on natural grounds. A supernatural 
cause was at work, so that the Egyptians were surprised, 
as they would not have been at a natural though unusual 
increase. The Lord God Almighty chose his own way of 
making his people. He might have allowed their growth 
to be completely conditioned by natural law, or he might 
have made it wholly miraculous. In this case he used 
the natural supernaturally. In the darkness of that age 
without revelation there was this sign to the Israelites that 
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had not forgotten 
them. 

2. THE OPPRESSION. 

The ingratitude of kings is exhibited here among 
the causes leading to Israel's trouble. A new king, per- 
haps a new dynasty, as is thought, arose, " which knew 
not Joseph." To the Egyptian people forever, one might 
have thought, Joseph's memory would be grateful. As 
long as the nation lasted it should have cherished the 
nam? of him who saved it from extermination. But the 
time came when the children might ask " Who was Jo- 
seph ?" and no one could tell. A little story of like in- 
gratitude is imbedded in the book of Ecclesiastes : 
"There was a little city, and few men within it; and 
there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and 
built great bulwarks against it. Now there was found in 



ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 1 6/ 

it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the 
city ; yet no man remembered that same poor man" (Eccl. 
id: 14, 15). But the ingratitude of the Egyptian kings 
worked out certain glorious results unknown to them, but 
plain in the foresight of God. 

The shrewd statecraft of the Egyptians was another 
hostile element in the Israelitish life through which at last 
the blessing of God was to be secured to them. The 
growth of the Hebrews was manifest ; if it went on they 
might join with the foes of the empire and secure their 
liberty — and the Egyptians did not want to lose so peace- 
able and prosperous a colony ; therefore life must be 
made hard for the Israelites. We see here an example of 
selfish nationalism, "jingoism " they would call it in Eng- 
land, which is as much of a mistake in nations as in men. 
The selfish man is always defeating himself, and the same 
is true of the selfish nation. " High policy, therefore, 
which, in Old Egypt, and in other lands and ages nearer 
home, has too often meant undisguised selfishness and 
cynical cruelty, required that the peaceful happiness of a 
whole nation should be sacrificed ; and the calm Pharaoh, 
whose unimpassioned callous face we can. still see on the 
monuments, laid his plans as unmoved as if he had been 
arranging for the diminution of the vermin in the palace 
walls. What would he have thought if any of his coun- 
sellors had suggested, * Try kindness !' " (McLaren). 

The prosperity of the Israelites increased under these 
repressive measures (v. 12). As the Spartans thinned out 
their slaves by assassination, the Egyptians tried to kill off 
the Hebrews by laying upon them impossible tasks. But 
Israel was an arch whose strength was increased by the 
weight put upon it. The Egyptians tried to crush the 
spirit of liberty which they feared might rise among the 



l68 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Hebrews, and they succeeded in confirming it. To those 
oppressed brick-makers all things must work together 
for good, and the curses pronounced upon them by their 
enemies were transformed into blessings. 

The reason of failure in this scheme of repression 
was that God intended that it should fail. He had let 
man's wrath vent itself against innocent Joseph, because 
he had plans for the world in Joseph ; and he let Pharaoh 
pile up the burdens on the back of patient Israel, only to 
Israel's benefit, because he was planning great things for 
history through Israel. We have often seen a child push- 
ing against a door which was held by some one on the 
other side. Every inch of yielding seemed to promise 
success, and courage rose ; but it was certain to end in 
failure because the door was controlled by a force, unseen 
to the child, greater than his own. Egypt looks to us 
like such a child. The door cannot open except by God's 
desire. Israel is safe ; it cannot be overwhelmed by any 
amount of hardship, for God Almighty is sustaining it. 
Everything must fail that is against the will of God, for 
he means that it shall fail, and he has power to make it 
fail. 

The secondary result for the Israelites was an increase 
in the rigor of their servitude (vs. 13-14), Heavier aod 
heavier were the burdens that were laid upon them. But 
this very rigor was necessary in order to confirm in Israel 
the desire for freedom, and to exasperate it to the point of 
escaping. All along the Egyptians only caused what 
they were trying to prevent. They planned for them- 
selves and secured the success of the plans of God. 

3. GENERAL LESSONS. 

We learn here how to estimate 7iational success. Ex- 
ternals are no more a criterion for the judgment of races 



ISRAEL IN EGYPT. 169 

than of men. Prosperity is not the end of a people's ex- 
istence. We must ask how that prosperity is employed. 
The periods of Israelitish history have value according as 
they are related to the spread of the truth of God. The 
age of religious darkness, even if it be an age of ease and 
development, is not a glorious age. Under the influence 
of politico-economical studies we are apt to estimate 
national life by commercial prosperity. But we should 
judge it rather by its success in advancing righteousness 
and godliness. 

God directs the ways of the natio7is, Egypt throws 
itself upon Israel only to exalt Israel to the skies, because 
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. We can see in a 
dim way how God has used special nations for special 
purposes in connection with his plans for the kingdom of 
God. The Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Teutons, 
have each contributed a special element to the interna- 
tional success of God's work in the world. Doubtless the 
same thing will be seen to be true of us, by those who shall 
follow, ages hence. We cannot tell altogether what we 
are doing, but God is at work in us and will bend all 
things to his holy will. 

God s fulfilment of his promises is exemplified in the 
Egyptian experience of Israel. He told Abraham that his 
seed should dwell in a strange land, and be afflicted four 
hundred years, and afterwards come out prosperously 
(Gen. 15 : 13, 14). He told Jacob not to fear to go down 
to Egypt, for he should be brought back (Gen. 46 : 4). 
These were special indications of precisely what the Isra- 
elites were now experiencing. And underneath these 
particular promises lay the great charter promise given 
to Abraham: that through him all the families of the 
earth should be blessed. Ages may pass before God 



I/O HINTS AND HELPS. 

accomplishes his word, but not a jot or tittle of it fails at 
last. '^ 

The blessedness of trouble is set before us in these 
persecuted Hebrews. The best qualities could not be 
established in them by the easy life they had had for four 
centuries. Patience, hope, faith in God, refinement of 
soul could come to them only under the taskmaster's 
lash. So long as there shall be human hearts capable of 
advance in what is good there shall be a beneficent place 
for trial. 

The Israelites are a type* " In the servitude of Israel 
we behold a lively image of man's natural bondage to sin 
and Satan. In the deliverance from Egypt is foreshown 
redemption from this thraldom ; and the journey through 
the wilderness is a graphic programme of a Christian's 
journey through life to his final inheritance in the heaven- 
ly Canaan" (Bush). 



THE CHILDHOOD OF MOSES. 171 



THE CHILDHOOD OF MOSES. 



EXODUS 2 : I-IO. 



The story of the child Moses, one of the most ro- 
mantic of the Bible, if not of all history, has special inter- 
est, aside from that which it excites in the antiquarian and 
the lover of tales. It has a profound lesson for us con- 
cerning the relation of God to history. Sometimes we 
are impressed by the largeness of God's dealings with 
men, his martialing of the .nations into his service, his 
overruling of the centuries for the accomplishing of his 
designs. In the story of the infant Moses we see, by con- 
trast, how God stoops to the smallest details of life, con- 
trols them unobserved, and makes them take their place 
In his purpose. The Almighty is an artificer whose 
power reaches up to the construction of a myriad suns in 
the firmament, and down to the tapering of a grass blade. 
The narrative of the infancy of Moses shows God work- 
ing in litties, taking many things and using them, even 
when they seem without consequence, as valuable mate- 
rials for his design. 

" It is remarkable that all the persons in this narra- 
tive are anonymous " (McLaren). We know the names 
of some of them from other sources, but here their indi- 
viduality is kept in the background. Perhaps this is in 
order that the reader's thought may be turned to God. 
For, while God is not named either, God's presence and 
directing power are suggested at every turn of the story. 
No such chapter of incidents as those which united to 
lead to the saving of Moses' life could be credited to 



172 HINTS AND HELPS. 

happy accident. There is no word here about God, and 
yet he is revealed in every word. Many diverse forces 
have come into play (as in every event), but we see God 
using them every one. 

I. A defiled race is marked as his chosen instrument. 
Levi had been the coadjutor of Simeon in the treacherous 
and brutal slaying of Hamor the Hivite and his people 
(Gen. 34 : 25). When Jacob on his death-bed called his 
sons together to bless and warn them, Levi and Simeon 
were reminded of their cruelty by their father's words : 

*' Simeon and Levi are brethren : 
Weapons of violence are their swords. 

my soul, come not thou into their council ; 
Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united ; 
For in their anger they slew a man. 

And in their self-will they houghed an ox. 
Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, 
And their wrath, for it was cruel : 

1 will divide them in Jacob, 

And scatter them in Israel." 

Gen. 49 : 5-7 (R. V.) 

About the least promising branch of the patriarchal 
stock was chosen by God to bear the child who should 
become in due time the deliverer of the people of God. 
By selecting the least favorable material in the construc- 
tion of his work he showed that he was not limited by its 
imperfections, but was able to overcome them by his wis- 
dom and his power. It is not always those who seem 
best adapted to be implements in the hands of God whom 
God chooses to employ. He is ever reminding us that 
everything comes from him, that all is of grace, by the 
way in which he selects his agents. ** Not many mighty 
are called." "But God hath chosen the foolish things ol 



THE CHILDHOOD 6f MOSES. 1/3 

the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen 
the weak things of the world to confound the things 
which are mighty; and base things of the world, and 
things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and 
things which are not, to bring to naught things that 
are: that no flesh should glory in his presence ^^ (i. Cor. 
1 : 27-29). 

2. A child is selected from this un propitious branch 
of the patriarchal family to be used by God according to 
his will. This child, by his race, was brought into danger 
from the moment of his birth. Might not God have cho- 
sen a Hebrew already grown to deliver his people, so that 
this special risk to his plans might have been avoided ? 
Surely. But God intended to have the leader of his peo- 
ple educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, so that 
he should carry away the elements of civilization into the 
new country. But no Hebrew man could have found en- 
trance to the palace, so as to receive the best elements of 
Egyptian culture. Where a man could not have gone a 
child could go, we learn from the sequel. So this little 
babe is set apart of God for his purpose. Perhaps his 
being in appearance "a goodly child" (Heb. 11:23), 
" fair unto God " (Acts 7 : 20, R. V. margin) may have 
been a mark of God's setting apart. "God sometimes 
gives early earnests of his gifts, and manifests himself be- 
times in those for whom and by whom he designs to do 
great things. Thus he put an early strength into Sam- 
son, Judges 13 : 24 ; an early forwardness into Samuel, i 
Sam. 2:18; wrought an early deliverance for David, i 
Sam. 17:37; and began betimes with Timothy, 2 Tim. 
3:15" (M. Henry). But the point for us to remark is 
that God chose not a giant but a crying infant as the de- 
liverer of his people. 



174 HINTS AND HELPS. 

3. Maternal daring had its place in the accomplish- 
ment of God*s design. The mother concealed her child 
as long as possible, and then did what seems to be the 
most reckless thing possible — she exposed him on the 
river Nile, a place fraught with every danger. Here, one 
might well ^ay, was the despair of love. What could the 
anxious mother hope would happen to her boy? Was 
there any plan in her mind ? No : this was sheer aban- 
donment of her treasure to chance. And yet not quite. 
That same feeling in the heart which had led her to defy 
the king*s command thus far led her to this daring act. 
" By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months 
by his parents " (Heb. 1 1 : 23), and by faith he was placed 
in the litde ark of papyrus and bitumen and consigned, 
not so much to the doubtful mercies of the Nile, as to the 
protection of God. The mother's faith caused the mo- 
ther's daring, which led to the exposure, which was neces- 
sary to the plan of God. 

4. Nature itself we see here obeying the Almighty's 
will. The child might have been swept away by the river 
current. The crocodiles that infested the river might 
have made this little life their prey. But nature was 
kinder than man, for nature is more obedient than man 
to God, " who layeth the beams of his chambers in the 
waters ; who maketh the clouds his chariot ; who walketh 
upon the wings of the wind : who maketh his angels spir- 
its ; his ministers a flaming fire " (Psa. 104 : 3-4). It is 
strange that we should think man more easily bent to 
God's will than natural law, when the exact reverse is 
true. As the lions could not hurt Daniel so the destruct- 
ive natural elements which surrounded the infant Moses 
were powerless to harm him, for God was watching him and 
planning for him, and nature is God's willing handmaid. 



THE CHILDHOOD OF MOSES. I75 

5. Sisterly affection had its part in the plan of God. 
Those watchful eyes were watching out of love, but they 
were watching for God. The waiting sister was a link 
between Moses' birth and his Egyptian adoption. Through 
her it was known what had become of him, through her 
his own mother became his nurse, and in this way the 
secret of his origin (however unknown it may have been 
to him for years possibly) was. not altogether lost. The 
knowledge of the brotherhood of Aaron, so necessary to 
him later, was in this way made possible. Moses in the 
palace of the princess seemed an unknown waif. But in 
truth he was never unknown. Always the Hebrews knew 
that over within those palace walls which they could not ' 
enter there was a certain boy who belonged to them. 
The watching of the sister was thus the means of preserv- 
ing the identity of Moses, which became a matter of im- 
portance later in his history. 

6. The princess was an instrument in the hands of 
God. That paradoxical element in events which the 
Greeks often marked, and which has been called the 
"irony of history", is conspicuously suggested here. 
Here was Pharaoh dreading the uprising of the Jews and 
their escape from his control. And here was Pharaoh's 
own daughter sheltering and fitting for leadership the 
very man who was to accomplish all that Pharaoh dreaded. 
How futile are the attempts of man to thwart the plans of 
the Almighty, when they can be utilized literally as means 
of accomplishing them ! We are reminded of the perse- 
cution against the early church, which, by scattering the 
Christians through various provinces, only propagated 
the gospel it was intended to destroy. 

7. The natural feelings of the human heart we see 
here to be used by God. "And she had compassion on 



1 



176 HINTS AND HELPS. 

him " (v. 6). Was there a conflict between the feeling of 
duty toward the expressed command of the Pharaoh, and 
the natural feeling of pity which God had implanted in 
the heart of this princess ? In any case the right feeling 
triumphed and Moses was saved. His life depended upon 
the impulse of a stranger. But the heart of man is one of 
the ministers of God. " The king's heart is in the hand 
of the Lord, as the rivers gf water : he turneth it whither- 
soever he will" (Prov. 21 : i). This was far from being 
the only time when the safety of the people of God has 
seemed to hang upon royal caprice. But the same power 
that subdues nature controls the fickle feelings of the 
human soul, and when God so wills it, even his enemies 
freely choose such things as make for the blessing of the 
people of God. 

8. The cry of the child was a not unimportant link in 
this chain of events. By it that sweet impulse of com- 
passion was evoked which led to the sparing of Moses' 
life (v. 6). How pitiful a wail was this that rose from the 
little basket among the reeds ! How trifling a sound there 
on the edge of the most imposing civilization of the world ! 
But on that little voice there hung the fate of God's people, 
in which was involved the religious destiny of the whole 
world. How many " ifs " rise in our minds as we think 
about it. Yet there was no " if" in it at all. The far see- 
ing, infinitely loving eyes of Jehovah were looking down 
upon that scene beside the Nile, and the thought which 
rules the ages rose to expression in the weeping of that 
helpless child. Could there be any more sublime exhibi- 
tion of the truth that God employs the most insignificant 
things to accomplish his will ? 

9. The court of Egypt comes next into view as a 
factor in the scheme of the Almighty. We see Moses 



THE CHILDHOOD OF MOSES. 177 

adopted as the son of the Egyptian princess (v. lo) and 
so having opened to him that opportunity of education in 
*' the wisdom of the Egyptians," in that statecraft and so- 
cial culture which were an essential part of his equipment 
as the founder of a nation. At one moment we see God 
depending, so to say, on an infant's wail for the success 
of his plans ; the next, we see nothing less than an empire 
taking its place as a like instrument. And it was no harder 
for God to bend Egypt to his use than to make the child 
Moses cry piteously at the right moment. Great things 
or small are alike to Him, whose knowledge reaches be- 
yond the stars and condescends to the slightest insect that 
skims through the air on the breath of summer. 

In all these various elements which must enter in to 
secure the Egyptian destiny of Moses we see the hand of 
God at work. The materials he employs may be noble 
or ignoble, natural or supernatural, willing or unwilling, 
insignificant or mighty. All come into their proper place 
and serve their purpose for the master hand. The broad 
lessons of the story of the infancy of Moses are now appa- 
rent : 

I. We see the persistence of God's purpose. If one 
link in the chain of circumstances which led Moses from 
his mother's arms into the Egyptian palace had been 
lacking, we might say, the whole plan would have fallen 
through. But no link was lacking ; no link ever is lack- 
ing in the completion of God's work. His will is always, 
beyond any possibility of defeat, exactly accomplished. 
This seems a very commonplace of religious thought, and 
yet it plays no great part practically in the thinking of 
men. They believe that men succeed, but they do not 
observe that God succeeds. Even Saul of Tarsus, a de- 
voutly religious man, kicked against the pricks. The 

Hiuts and Helps. I 2 



178 HINTS AND HELPS. 

common thought about the best way to live is that we 
should plan as well as we can and work out our plan with 
all our might, whereas, in view of the supremacy of 
God, it would be much more reasonable for us to ask 
what God's plans are, and accommodate ourselves to 
them. They are the only plans that never fail, and along 
their line alone is success inevitable. 

2. MarCs attitude to God's plan is open to himself to 
choose. He may oppose, as Pharaoh did, or he may ac- 
quiesce, as Pharaoh's daughter (unwittingly) did. It 
would not be right to say that the princess' conduct 
was chosen in conscious obedience to God. Yet her com- 
passion was a kind of obedience, inasmuch as it was 
yielding to a God-given impulse. She was doing right, 
while the Pharaoh was doing wrong. In either case the 
will of God was accomplished. By our help God suc- 
ceeds, if help we give ; if not, he succeeds by our antag- 
onism. So far as his plans are concerned the result is the 
same either way. Man is absolutely impotent to alter 
that. 

3. The result to many however, differs according to his 
attitude toward God. Pharaoh opposed God, and the 
opposition resulted in the drowning of the Egyptian host 
in the Red Sea. Moses' parents obeyed God (although 
the perilous situation of God's people might have tended 
to create doubt), and their child was saved, and the peo- 
ple of God too, as a sequel. Men are apathetic toward 
the purposes of God. Look out over those whom we 
know and the mass of them care not a straw for the will 
of God. Yet that will is the determining element in their 
destiny, both for this -life and that which is to come. 
Obedience to it means that the success which always 
comes to the will of God will be shared by man ; rebellion 



THE CHILDHOOD OF MOSES. 1 79 

against it means that in the success of the will of God the 
ruin of the hostile individual will be involved. The point 
of special application is found in Jesus Christ. In him all 
the historic purposes of God are focussed. He is bound 
to come to supremacy everywhere and in everything. 
But Simeon foresaw of the infant Christ that he should be 
set " for the falling and rising up of many in Israel " 
(Luke 2:34. R- V-)- Christ is possibly a stumbHng- 
block, but on the other hand he may be the power and 
wisdom of God to us, if we will have it so (i Cor. i : 22-24). 
To some his gospel is " the savor of death unto death " ; 
but to whosoever will accept it, it is " the savor of life unto 
life " (2 Cor. 2:16). The will of God is the determining 
element in history, and that is expressed to us in Jesus 
Christ, who, accordingly, is the determining element in our 
individual destiny according to our attitude toward him. 

4. GocTs instruments are safe until his use of them is 
over. Moses could not have perished while God had a 
work for him to do. The little boat which contained the 
Saviour could not be overwhelmed by the waves of Gen- 
nesaret. We cannot die while God has work awaiting us. 
When that work is done, we should be willing to go, 
whether it be soon or late. 

5. God is in all things for us, great or small. 
" God was as truly in the removal of the little ones that 
were taken away as he was in the saving of Amram^s 
son ; and there were lessons of love and warning from the 
one no less than of love and encouragement from the 
other " (Wm. M. Taylor). Our trouble is in God's plans 
as well as our peace. Everything works for him, and, by 
the same token, everything works for us while we are 
living in his love. 



l8o HINTS AND HELPS. 



MOSES SENT AS A DELIVERER; 

ExOD. 3 : I0-20. 

Moses had received his education in the wisdom of 
Egypt ; by an impulsive but well - meant act he had 
brought upon himself the disfavor of Pharaoh and had 
fled for his life ; in a strange land he had settled and mar- 
ried and lived to a ripe age; and after these many 
years of vicissitude, all of which were making him ready 
for his life-work, the voice of Jehovah called him from 
being an obscure shepherd on the fields of Midian to en- 
ter actively and conspicuously into the history of the 
world, by leading the people of God from slavery into 
freedom. The Moses who replies to the voice of God 
seems different from what we might have expected. We 
see in him no promptitude, no exultation in his mission, 
but rather feelings of the opposite sort. We are im- 
pressed with (a) his self- consciousness. God has revealed 
to him the chief end of his life ; the sublime mission, given 
to him alone of all men in history, stands disclosed. One 
might think that all the imagination, enthusiasm and 
courage of the man's heart would have been roused by 
this splendid vision. We look to see Moses swept up to 
the seventh heaven of moral and spiritual exaltation by 
the call of God. Not so. He thinks only of himself: 
" Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh ?" Who was 
he indeed, that the thought of self should so intrude upon 
the thought of God's work ? (d • //is self -distrust ap- 
pears. When last we saw him he was taking upon 
himself without hesitation the part of an avenger of liis 



MOSES SENT AS A DELIVERER. l8l 

people. Then he did not fear to thrust himself into mat- 
ters other than his own. Now he is reluctant to take up 
that which God declares to belong to him. " He had 
learned humility in the school of Midian, and was filled in 
consequence with distrust of his own power and fitness " 
(Keil). (jc) The weakness of faith made him hesitate. 
Even more in the chapter which follows is this made plain. 
There his reluctance to do God's work becomes almost 
painful. This "languor of faith, amounting to lack of 
confidence in God " (Macgregor), is hardly what we might 
have looked for in one who was to be the commander of 
a nation. The same truth impresses itself upon us here 
which we learn from the story of the infancy of Moses, 
that God chooses weak instruments for mighty ends, in 
order that we may learn that man is nothing and God is 
everything. 

Accepting the fact of Moses* weakness, we are to 
learn now of God's overcoming of it by a special prepara- 
tion of Moses' heart ancl mind. Moses at the bush on 
Horeb, and Moses demanding of Pharaoh the release of 
God's people, seem like two different persons. And in- 
deed they are different, for God had come specially into 
Moses' life and had prepared him for his mission. Vari- 
ous elements in this proposition are set before us. 

I. God discloses the fact that he had chosen Moses 
for this mission. " I will send thee unto Pharaoh '* (v. lo). 
The mission sought the man, not the man the mission. 
Forty years before Moses had tried the role of deliverer 
and had found himself unfitted for it. Since then he had 
modestly confined himself to a very humble career. He 
was not ambitious to be a great man. He had no desire 
to attack the problem of Israelitish deliverance. The 
designation of himself as the person for this work came 



182 HINTS AND HELPS. 

wholly from God, If ever, during the time when Moses 
was breaking down the power of Pharaoh, the thought of 
the exceeding daring of his position crossed his mind, he 
could reassure himself by remembering that he had not 
brought himself there, but had been sent by God. If a 
man should plan ambitiously to bring some vast responsi- 
bility upon himself, and by means of skilful scheming 
should succeed, his very success might strike terror into 
his soul. He might find himself filled with such 
dread as comes over some barbarian when he finds that 
he is desecrating by his presence some temple, whose 
wails he had long been storming. Where God does the 
choosing for us, there we need not feel timid. When we 
are upon the King's business we need not hesitate. It 
was a very essential part of Moses' preparation that he 
should know that his work was chosen by God. 

2. The planning was done by God : " that thou 

mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of 

Egypt," This was an incredible, almost impossible, task. 

No man in liis own strength would dare to make such a 

proposal. To attempt to carry out such a design with 

such resources only as Moses had in himself, and the 

Israelites had in themselves, would have been only to 

court destruction, Moses of his own thought would 

neither have set himself to do such a work nor would he 

have advised any other man to attempt it, however much 

more capable than himself. The project in its boldness 

was more than human. No human thought would have 

darpd anything so colossal. The inefficiency of the Israel- 

br such an undertaking becomes evident when we re- 

ber that they contributed absolutely nothing to its 

nplishment. It succeeded by their acquiescence but 

ly their help. To know that the conception of the 



MOSES SENT AS A DELIVERER. 1 83 

movement was wholly in the mind of God, as well as that 
his own position in the movement was designated by 
God, was an important, yes, necessary part of Moses* 
preparation. He was chosen, and the work was chosen, 
by God. When we are working on God's plans we can 
be sure we are not mistaken. 

3. God gave himself as a special equipment to Mo- 
ses: "Certainly I will be with thee" (v. 12). This sup- 
plied an element which Moses might easily have won- 
dered about, unless it had been mentioned specifically : 
the power by means of which the plan for which he had 
been designated was to be carried out. This power was 
to be furnished by the immediate activity of the Al- 
mighty. To be appointed, to have the plan outiined, 
would have been a mockery, unless besides these Moses 
had been made equal to the work. Moses hesitated be- 
cause of the vast work he was expected to do ; but it 
turns out that God himself is to do it, and Moses is to be 
only the instrument or vehicle of the divine energy. Such 
empowerment was not necessary to Moses alone. Of the 
cares of daily life, the moral achievements necessary to 
us, the burdens and temptations and sorrows we must 
meet, it may well be asked, " Who is sufficient for these 
things ?" The answer for us, as for Moses, is, " Imman- 
uel " — God with us. 

4. Encouragement was given to Moses by a sign : 
"and this shall be a token unto thee" (v. 12). To our 
minds such a sign as this would be no sign at all ; for by 
a sign we understand a present demonstration, whereas 
this was future, so that Moses was to accept one future 
thing as the token of another. However, we must not 
project our modern conceptions into ancient minds. Mo- 
ses did not understand God's sign in this case to be the 



1 84 HINTS AND HELPS. 

same sort of sign as the making his hand leprous. " This 
sign, which was to be a pledge to Moses of the success of 
his mission, was one indeed that required faith itself; but, 
at the same time, it was a sign adapted to inspire both 
courage and confidence. God pointed out to him the 
success of his mission, the certain result of his leading the 
people out : Israel should serve him upon the very same 
mountain in which he had appeared to Moses. The 
reality of the appearance of God formed the pledge of 
his announcement " (Keil). The sign was, then, a prom- 
ise, whose verification was future, but whose guarantee 
was in the reality of the voice which uttered it. In the 
explicitness of this sign, and the obligation which God 
thereby assumed, Moses could not fail to receive encour- 
agement during the time that the sign was awaiting ful- 
filment. 

5. Credentials were given to Moses by which he was 
to impress himself and the genuineness of his mission 
upon Israel, and also (if it might be so) upon Pharaoh. 
These credentials were the name of God, specially given 
(v. 14). If those who wanted to be sure before they 
sanctioned the enterprise should ask Moses by whose 
authority he had taken up this seemingly impossible 
work, he was to say, " I am hath sent me unto you." In 
our days names mean little compared to all they meant 
in ancient times. To the Jews the name and the man 
himself were almost identical. The special name of God 
which Moses was to give to the Israelites, which he would 
never have dared to invent, as they very well knew, was 
to make such an impression upon their devout minds 
that they would see it to be a token of Moses* supernatu- 
ral calling. Perhaps the use of this name may have been 
accompanied by an unusual dignity and fervor in Moses' 



MOSES SENT AS A DELIVERER. 1 85 

presence. But it is not necessary for us to seek for cre- 
dentials to the credentials, for the IsraeUtes sought none. 
The name of God was recognized by them as authorita- 
tive. It is a splendid example of the truth witnessing to 
itself, and being accepted for its own sake and not for the 
sake of something outside itself We know the sun in its 
own shining, and the name of God testified to itself and 
to Moses. 

6. A revelation of the being of GodvfdiS contained in 
this name, as well as a new nominal designation of God. 
Moses was equipped not only with a new word, but also 
with a new truth. The name was not arbitrary (like our 
names). It could not have been anything else than what 
it was, for there was an idea concerning the divine nature 
coming to expression in it. The interpretation of the 
name Jehovah (v. 16) is contained in the expression / 
am, and more fully in the other, lam that I am (v. 14). 
This is a bewildering form of statement to us, and sounds 
much like " I am what I am, and that cannot be known." 
But a Jew would not so misinterpret the meaning, which 
is, " I am that which is." Many theologians have ex- 
plained this to mean " the self-existent one," and perhaps 
this is still the commonest explanation. But that is a 
Greek philosophical idea ; true, no doubt, but to read it 
into this verse is to commit an anachronism. It is doubt- 
ful if a Jew would have understood what was meant by 
such an expression. To a Jew mere existence was un- 
thinkable. Existence to him was always activity. Hence 
the meaning of " I am that I am " would seem to be " I 
am that which acts," " I am he that accomplishes," or ** I 
am he that bringeth to pass." " Jehovah denotes he that 
is — is implying not one who barely exists, but one who 
asserts his being, and (unlike the false gods) enters into 



1 86 HINTS AND HELPS. 

personal relations with his worshippers " (Driver). " As 
it is not the idea of a continuous existence which lies in the 
verb / am^ but that of existence in motion^ of becoming 
and occurring, so also the form of the name, as derived 
from the imperfect, leads us to understand in it the exist- 
ence of God, not as an existence at rest, but as one always 
becoming, always making itself known in a process of be- 
coming. God is Jehovah in as far as he has entered into 
an historical relation to mankind, and in particular to the 
chosen people, Israel" (Oehler). The name Jehovah des- 
ignates God as one "who is perpetually positing and 
manifesting himself, whose being, coming into appear- 
ance, is the supporting foundation and essential content 
of the universe and its history, and especially of the his- 
tory of redemption" (Delitzsch). The name Jehovah 
was intended to be the proper name of the only God (as 
Elohim was the generic name). But it was more than a 
name (as we understand names), it was a definite revela- 
tion of the character of God ; in this respect it shows him 
to be the ever active one^ particularly with respect to his 
covenant people. To them he is ever giving revelations 
of himself, for them he is ever exerting his omnipotence. 
Jehovah is not the serene, impassive being who, to some 
minds, sits far away from the realms of men, careless of 
their happiness or woe ; he is the friend of man ; always 
glorifying their life by telling them of himself, always 
entering into their experiences ; a very present help in 
trouble. When we remember the early age in history to 
which this sublime conception of the deity was given, and 
when we compare it with the ideas of the gods prevalent 
in civilized Egypt, we can see that it can have originated 
only in an immediate supernatural revelation. And what 
an equipment this was for Moses for his special mission ! 



MOSES SENT AS A DELIVERER. 1 87 

God had been revealed to him as the one who accom- 
plishes. Would he not accomplish the end for which he 
had called Moses ? Would he not accomplish the libera- 
tion which he had promised to his people ? When Moses 
gave to the Israelites this new truth about God, it roused 
their faith, kindled their hope, and made them believe 
anew in their divine destiny. 

7. God reminded Moses of his covenant as another 
help to him in his mission (v. 15). The things God had 
done for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob seemed to have come 
to an end. There had been no revelation for four hundred 
years, no miracle, no sign of God's interest in his people. 
But the dark age was passed. The covenant God still 
lived. The help given to the patriarchs was still avail- 
able. He who had done wonders could do wonders still. 
W^en we are perplexed as to the genuineness of God*s 
helping of men, we have only to open the page of history 
to be reassured. 

8. The details of action are all prescribed for Moses 
(vs. 16, 17). This timid soul Hke a child must have every 
step pointed out for him. And God condescends to his 
weakness and self-distrust " Go, and gather." 

9. Even the very words are put upon his lips, which 
he is to say (vs. 16, 17). He is to tell Israel of the vision 
at the bush : that it was the covenant-making and keeping 
God ; that He knew all about the bondage ; that He would 
rescue them, and transplant them to a rich country. Moses 
would hardly have shaped his thoughts into such an op- 
timistic message ; it was too daring for him. But he could 
repeat God's words and throw the responsibility of them 
upon God. Those who would do God's work find the 
words of God best for their lips. The breadth of the 
promises of God is too great for us to express otherwise 



1 88 HINTS AND HELPS. 

than in the very utterance of the Almighty. Then and 
then only can men be led to believe them. 

10. Hardships were foretold to Moses, lest by not 
anticipating them he should be discouraged at the first 
show of opposition (v. 19). He knew in advance that 
Pharaoh would refuse to let Israel go. If he might have 
suspected this naturally, his knowing it positively by the 
word of God made him all the more prepared for it. And 
there was reassurance for him while confronting Pharaoh 
by remembering that Jehovah had promised success with 
Pharaoh's opposition distinctly in mind. We cannot but 
be reminded of Christ's frank words to his disciples tel- 
ling them of all the troubles which awaited them as his 
followers. 

11. The distinct promise of liberty crowns God's pre- 
paration of Israel's leader : "and after that he will let you 
go " (v. 20). God himself will put forth his hand and do 
wonders against Egypt and the liberation shall be achieved. 
At the beginning of Jehovah's preparation of Moses the 
purpose of the call was made plain, then details were filled 
in at length, and now at the close the purpose of it all is 
again declared. This intervention of detail may have 
served to inform Moses that the liberation would not 
come in the twinkling of an eye, but only after a long 
struggle. Yet it would come at last. The intervening 
details having been enumerated, the conclusion at last is 
reached. There might be trials, but after them would 
surely come the triumph. If a man could know that there 
was absolute certainty of success in any large enterprise 
intervening difficulties would seem trivial, however great 
actually. In God's work we have such an assurance. 
Therefore all things can be endured. The suffering^will 
be eclipsed by the far more exceeding weight of glory. 



MOSES SENT AS A DELIVERER. l8g 

All the steps of God's preparation of Moses have 
their lessons for us, but some are especially significant. 
We learn here that : 

1. The only right mission for us is that in which we 
are called of God. To go up without the direction of 
God is to go up to failure. Plainly God points out to us 
the way in which we should walk. Duty is in no wise 
obscure in its large elements. Special work God lays 
upon us for the blessing of men. The gospel command 
rests upon us all. Along these lines we should spend our 
lives. There lies success. 

2. God reveals himself as our helper. His name is 
Jehovah — the God who accomplishes. Difficulties con- 
front us constantly, not as large perhaps as those of Moses, 
but quite as adequate to disturb our hearts. But we need 
not worry. Jehovah is our friend, and while we trust him 
will make all things work together for our good. 

3. To those who live in God there can be no ultimate 
failure. There may be obstacles, misfortunes of every sort, 
but the crown of victory is already laid up for them, await- 
ing God's time. The certainty of Moses' triumph is in 
no wise different from the certainty of ours, for both go 
back to that eternal Jehovah who doeth that which he 
pleaseth and is the same forever. 



I go HINTS AND HELPS. 



THE PASSOVER INSTITUTED. 

Exodus 12 : 1-14 

There are times in history when, ritualism having 
been caried to an excess, there is a reaction, and all rites 
and ceremonies are abhorred. At one extreme we see 
one class making every elaboration possible of the ser- 
vices of the sanctuary ; at the other extreme those who 
hold such an attenuated spirituality that all outward acts 
are held as meaningless, and only the acts of the soul 
profitable. But men are not wholly bodily, so that ex- 
ternal ceremonies are in themselves worthy and sufficient, 
nor are they wholly spiritual, so that external acts mean 
nothing. We are both body and spirit, and the institution 
of sacraments in both the old economy and the new is 
God's recognition of man's dual nature, and his accommo- 
dation of truth to it. There could not have well been a 
more elaborate ceremonial system than that given to the 
Jews. They were living in the infancy of history, and 
spiritual truths had to be dressed up in material facts in 
order that their minds might be impressed. Spiritual 
truth spiritually expressed would have been beyond them. 
Yet always they were led to see that every ceremonial act 
had a meaning beyond itself, its chief import was spiritual. 
On the other hand, no religious system could be more 
absolutely bare of external adornment than that which 
Christ gave to the world. The elaborate ceremonialism 
of the Old Testament (having served its temporary pur- 
pose and been fulfilled) was supplanted by the simplest 
and most spiritual form of religious service* And yet, 



THE PASSOVER INSTITUTED. I91 

while emphasizing the spirituality of worship, and protest- 
ing against the elaborate ritualism of his day, Christ en- 
joined upon his followers to observe two sacraments. 
What is this but a thoughtful concession to our bodily 
existence ? However spiritually minded we may be, none 
of us is beyond being influenced through the senses in 
some degree. Our blessed Lord seems to have been 
mindful of this fact, and to have condescended to our 
weakness. So he has left us two simple ceremonies, not 
splendid and distracting, and yet adequate to answer 
whatever need any enlightened soul may feel for some 
external symbol of spiritual things. If we are ever in- 
clined to underestimate the Jewish system of rites, and to 
think slightingly of such a thing as the passover, let us 
remember that the same wisdom established that which 
gave us baptism and the Lord's supper. The intellectual, 
spiritual, and historical value of the divinely instituted me- 
morials of both covenants is very great. 

As it is necessary for us to understand the intention 
and meaning of the Lord's supper in order to avoid mis- 
take concerning it and to secure the accomplishment of 
its end in us, so, in order to understand the ceremonial 
life of God's ancient people, we niust know what the pass- 
over meant. 

I. The Passover or Paschal lamb was a sacrifice. 
This is emphasized especially by the Roman Catholic 
church in order to sustain their theory that the mass, the 
celebration of the Lord's supper, is a sacrifice. To them 
the Lord's supper is not a memorial of a sacrifice once 
made for all, but a true sacrifice repeated constantly. 
To correct this misapprehension, this over- exaltation of 
Christ's simple memorial feast, the Reformers felt bound 
to deny that the passover was in any sense a sacrifice. 



192 HINTS AND HELPS. 

The heat of the controversy being past, and the need of 
discovering many arguments for the correct historical 
view of the Lord's supper having disappeared, we are 
prepared to see what the Reformers hesitated to see, that 
the passover was a sacrifice. We do not endanger any 
truth whatever by this admission, for there were many 
other sacrifices, true sacrifices, under the old economy, 
but they all (the passover included) pointed to the one 
great sacrifice made on Calvary, which did away with the 
further need of any of them, of whatsoever sort. 

The passover was a siJi-offering, The sprinkling 
of the blood upon the lintel and the door-posts was a 
sign of the purification of that house for God. It sepa- 
rated it from the houses of the Egyptians and the houses 
of such Israelites as preferred to cast in their lot with 
idolatrous Egypt. It marked the habitations of such as 
had their faith reckoned unto them for righteousness. It 
is true that this idea is not conveyed in the passage which 
describes for us the institution of the passover. But we 
are entitled to interpret the passover at its origin by its 
later meaning, and the meaning of the whole ritualistic 
system which grew up about it, and also by the light 
which is thrown back upon it from the New Testament. 
We are not mistaken, then, in thinking that " the passover 
presupposes an act of expiation effected by the applica- 
tion of the blood of the paschal lamb " (Oehler). We see 
emerging here, at the very beginning of the Israelitish 
national life, the thought which always dominated its wor- 
ship, and to-day controls the worship of the Christian 
world, that sin needs to be " covered " with blood. The 
blood on the Hntel marked the house where provision 
had been made against sin. 

Obedience was also signified in the passover. Here 



THE PASSOVER INSTITUTED. 1 93 

was a sacrifice not only of an animal, but also of that ser- 
vice to God which is even more pleasing to him. Where 
the blood was not found it was known that there was no 
faith in Jehovah and no intention of serving him. Where 
the blood was found it was evidence of hearts loyal to 
him. The external mark pointed to an internal obedience. 
We are apt to overlook this. That the destroying angel • 
should distinguish between houses marked with blood 
and those not so marked seems trivial. But the blood 
was a vivid evidence of respect for the law of the Lord. 
It was a just sign of belonging, not by blood alone, but 
also by condition of heart, to the people of God. There 
are some who think they can be just as good Christians 
without uniting with the church and partaking of the 
Lord's supper. Yet Christ laid upon us, not as a request 
but as a command, the injunction, " This do in remem- 
brance of me." Can one be a good Christian and at the 
same time defiberately neglect the command of Christ? 
No matter if the thing commanded seems unessential. 
The blood on the lintel in itself may have seemed unes- 
sential to the Israelites, but it was necessary as a part of 
their obedience to God. 

The priest was the father, the head of the household. 
He slew the lamb and sprinkled the doorposts. After- 
ward the sacrificial function was differentiated and special 
priests were appointed. But as yet the father was the only 
priest known, and his service represented that of the 
whole household. So that really Israel is here pictured to 
us as " a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation " (Exod. 
19:7). This thought was perpetuated even when the 
Levitical priesthood had been established. The head of 
the family (and not the official priest) always slew the 
passover lamb. The thought that every Israelite was a 

Hints and Helps. I \ 



« 



194 HINTS AND HELPS. 

priest unto God was thus made permanent — a thought 
which is not to be forgotten by those who are the Israel 
of God according to the Spirit (i Peter 2 : 5, 9). We are 
too incHned to depute our priestly functions to others. 
But spiritual sacrifices should go up from the heart of 
every one of us as genuine to us and to God as the lamb 
offered by the head of the Jewish home, acting for all, on 
the passover night. 

2. The Passover was a consecration. It really 
comprised two sorts of sacrifice which were afterward 
separated in special offerings: the sin-offering and the 
peace-offering. The sin-offering took away the obstacle 
which interfered with man's relation to God. The peace- 
offering was a "eucharistic offering," a sign of thanks- 
giving to God, and, by being partaken of by the offerer, 
betokened his fellowship with God. This implied that 
right relations had been established with God, and that 
one was Hving in full enjoyment of them and their privi- 
leges. The Lord's supper, which represents the pass- 
over to us, is not only a symbol of an atonement made for 
sin, but a " communnion," a uniting of ourselves to God 
in Christ in spiritual fellowship. 

Completeness of consecration to God was designated 
by two characteristics of the passover : the faultlessness of 
the sacrifice (** without blemish *') and the burning of all 
that remained after the feast. The best thing possible 
must be brought to God in this service, and it must be 
used for this service and nothing else. The burning of 
the remainder was afterwards separated into a special sacri- 
ficial act — the whole burnt offering — when the wholo^animal 
was consumed by fire as a symbol of the consecration of 
the whole man to God. How could the Israelites on the 
passover night fail to think of themselves as belonging 



THE PASSOVER INSTITUTED. I95 

specially to God ? The thought of his ownership of them 
was the most vivid of all suggestions arising fronl their 
situation. But his ownership of them had as its correlate 
their ownership of him ; they accepted him as their God 
and gave themselves to his service. Naturally nothing 
but a complete sacrifice of self could be acceptable to him. 
And is it not so- still ? 

Severance inwardly from the seductions of Egypt was 
indicated by the passover. The sacrificial meal, shared 
only by those who belonged to Jehovah, the mark on the 
door, designating only such as had resolved to obey him, 
were signs of separation from the people about them. 
And the separation was not only from the people but from 
what the people stood for — the idolatry, the worldliness, of 
the nations who knew not God. Israel was cutting loose 
not only from the people but also from the life of Egypt. 
They were called to be a separate people ; separate from 
others physically in order to that moral and spiritual 
separation which was far more important. As often as 
this rite was celebrated they might be reminded that they 
were called to be a peculiar people, cut off from the rest 
of the world that they might be preserved unto God. 

Commu7iion with God was secured in this ceremony. 
The purifying sign was set over the door which seemed to 
mark the house not only for the exemption of the destroy- 
er but also for the visitation of Jehovah. God had prom- 
ised Moses, when he called him as leader of the people, 
that he himself would be with them. Was it not certain, 
at this hour of preparation, when the Israelites were mark- 
ing themselves as belonging to God, and were dedicating 
themselves to him and his service, that God would fulfil 
the promise made to Moses ? When did they need God 
more than at this evening time when they were preparing 



196 HINTS AND HELPS. 

themselves for escape ? They ate the meal not only with 
one another, but, if we may say so, with God as well. 
And in the Lord's supper we have communion with God. 

'Wi^ family was especially recognized in all this pro- 
cedure. Its limits defined the area of the group who 
conducted the celebration. Its head, one acting for all, 
made the sacrifice and marked the home for God. All 
Israelitish life is founded on the thought that man is a 
social being. Pure individualism is unknown to it. Man 
succeeds, fails, sins, serves God, not for himself alone but 
for others who are members with him in one body. Indi- 
vidualism has ruled men's thinking about themselves for 
a long time, but now in our sociological studies we are 
coming to a new appreciation of the old Jewish idea, 
which, indeed, was less Jewish than divine. To the Jew 
the family was the centre of life. When we return to this 
idea will it not be to gain new strength and blessing? 
Think how little a part of men's thoughts is given to the 
concerns of home. Home is often nothing more than an 
abode ; it is not an institution, not the chief situation in 
living. To plan deliberately to make home the pleasant- 
est, most interesting, most helpful, most necessary place 
to one's healthy moral and spiritual existence is to take 
up a method devised of God, which is certain to result in 
blessing. The home as the centre of life, and religion as 
the centre of the home — this is God's way of training and 
strengthening us for his service. 

3. The Passover was a memorial. This was its 
most patent object, the one which cannot escape our ob- 
servation. The other meanings of it have been named 
first because we are apt to overlook them. 

As a commemoration the passover looked specifically 
to one event. It was not a general institutional testimo- 



THE PASSOVER INSTITUTED. I97 

nial to the goodness of God ; it referred to one occur- 
rence — the escape from destruction when the visitation 
fell upon the first-born of Egypt. There was no vague- 
ness or indefiniteness about this celebration. It pointed 
back to one thing as directly as Pepys* yearly celebration 
of his escape from death through a surgical operation, or 
our celebration on Independence Day of our escape into 
national existence. Such a unique meaning in the pass- 
over made it different entirely from a general thanksgiv- 
ing. Its historical meaning was more vivid, and its 
personal application was more acute. We remind our- 
selves also that the Lord's supper commemorates a special 
event which occurred on a definite day in a definite year. 
We stand upon history and look up to God in thanks- 
giving. 

National life began with the passover. In general 
its celebration called to mind the escape from Egypt (of 
which the passing-by of the death angel was a part). It 
was a birthday keeping among the Jews. " But now thus 
saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that 
formed thee, O Israel . . . thus saith the Lord, which maketh 
a way in the sea " (Isa. 43 : i, 16). The time when the 
creating was done was when the way was made through 
the sea. Israel was educated gradually for God, but it 
was born in a day. As we on our birthdays may perhaps 
remember to thank God for existence, so Israel in celebra- 
ting the passover might thank God for having given them 
national being then. And in the Lord's supper we cele- 
brate our second birth. 

The beginning of tJie year was designated by the 
passover (v. 2). Time was consecrated to God. The 
years came from him, belonged to him, and were meant 
to be used for him. The beginning of the Jewish year 



198 HINTS AND HELPS. 

was at the season when the hope of harvest was occupy- 
ing the mind. The connection of the passover with it 
seemed to remind the people that not only the escape 
from Egypt but the prosperity of every passing year was 
due to Jehovah. Whatever they had, whatever time was 
bestowed upon them, came from him who was their ever- 
lasting guardian. 

This memorial was perpetual. It was a celebration 
not only for the exodus time but for all the long ages of 
Jewish history (v. 14). The value of such a memorial is 
very great. It gives an external support to faith, it is a 
testimonial to the truth of religion, it is a sign of duty, a 
pledge of help, a bond of national unity, a perpetuator of 
national existence. The stability of the Jews has been 
due in no slight degree to their peculiar customs — inclu- 
ding the passover. And the persistence of the Christian 
church has been aided largely by its sacraments, which 
are historical memorials as well as spiritual helps. 

In studying the passover upon its many sides, as a 
sacrifice, a consecration, and a memorial, we cannot fail to 
have impressed more deeply upon us the meaning of our 
Passover. We have our sacrifice too, not made yearly, 
but made once for all and commemorated in our feast ; 
there we too consecrate ourselves to God ; there we per- 
petuate, until he comes, the memory of him who is God's 
Passover sacrifice for us. All our studies of Jewish life 
and habits have value only as they throw light upon our 
own relation to Christ. Everything precious conveyed to 
the Jew in the passover should be conveyed to us in the 
Lord's supper. " Therefore let us keep the feast." 



PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 1 99 



PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 

Exodus 14 : 19-29. 

The Exodus was the most dramatic and imposing 
occurrence in the history of the Hebrews. We do not forget 
God*s solemn calling of Abraham, nor the giving of the 
law in the days when the lightning-riven clouds rested 
on Sinai, nor the crossing of Jordan, nor the day of bless- 
ing and cursing upon Ebal and Gerizim, nor the dedica- 
tion of the temple, nor any other of the stirring events 
which marked the unusual history of God's unusual people. 
But among them all there is none so capable of rousing 
the imagination and kindling a thrilling enthusiasm as 
the story of the escape from Egypt, when the Lord 
triumphed gloriously and cast the horse and his rider 
into the sea. That the effect upon our minds is a repro- 
duction of that made upon the Israelites themselves is 
evident from the way in which the song of Moses is echoed 
and reechoed all through the Old Testament. 

One might spend much time in studying questions 
about the Exodus. Where was the Red Sea crossed ? 
There are many theories, but " the amount of discussion 
shows that there is no one place which has established for 
itself a claim to be regarded as the veritable place of pas- 
sage beyond all reasonable doubt" (Macgregor). The 
shifting of the sands about the Red Sea has made its out- 
line different from what it once was. But even if it had 
remained unaltered, it is unlikely that we should be able 
to determine the place of crossing. The way in which 
the waters were divided and held back by the wind has 



20O HINTS AND HELPS. 

exercised the ingenuity of many minds (as " the direction 
of the wind when Jesus walked on the Sea of Galilee " 
has exercised other minds — see the Expository Times, 
April, 1893). Some have puzzled their brains over the 
difficulty of carrying two millions of people (including 
women and children) with their flocks and herds and all 
their belongings over a difficult road-bed in so short a 
time. Laborde guessed that the number of fighting men 
had been written 600,000 for 600 by mistake. Some have 
found relief by calling attention to the recorded flight of 
400,000 Tartars in a single night from Russia into China, 
at the end of the last century. These preliminary mat- 
ters might be treated at great length, but it is not so im- 
portant to study about the Exodus as to study the Ex- 
odus itself 

1. The event. 

It was a time of needy a most critical moment in the 
history of the people of God, when this escape was opened 
up to them. Moses had carried out the directions of God 
and the plagues had fallen on Egypt. Toward the Israel- 
ites the Egyptians could have henceforth feelings of only 
the bitterest hatred. If Israel had had to remain, the 
bondage would have been a hundred-fold more full of 
anguish for them. Before them lay the sea, which they 
had no visible means of crossing. The permission to de- 
part had been extorted from Pharaoh in such a way that 
a change of mind was inevitable; already his chariots 
were behind them in hot pursuit, and the Israelites had 
no weapons of defence. " They were like a mouse in a 
trap or a partridge in a snare" (Luther). They seemed 
to be driven into a corner where extermination would be 
inevitable. At no time had they ever been in so desper- 
ate a situation. 



PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 201 

An answer to their need was given just at this critical 
moment. The angel of God who had been their guide 
now changed his function and became their rearward, 
using as his implement that pillar of cloud which now be- 
came a covering to bewilder the pursuers and conceal the 
pursued. The Israelites were obeying the command of 
God in leaving Egypt, and they were depending on the 
promise of God that he would bring them forth in safety 
(chap. 6 : 6). They had not brought themselves into this 
difficulty, neither were they responsible for finding a way 
out of it. But they need not worry. For every time of 
want there is an adequate answer to him who is engaged 
in serving God. Abraham needed to find a way out of 
his dilemma when he was raising the knife over Isaac, 
and his need was answered. 

Miracles were wrought here in abundance. The 
angel's presence was supernatural, so was the pillar of 
cloud and fire. Miraculously this miraculous pillar 
changed its office, the sea divided, the passage was made, 
the Egyptians were thrown into tumult, their chariot 
wheels were impeded, the water returned overwhelm- 
ingly. All was miraculous. The extraordinary character 
of the event was marked by this unusual accumulation of 
supernatural incidents. These remarkable experiences 
must have been no less impressive to the minds of the Is- 
raelites than to the Egyptians. Four hundred years there 
had been no revelation of God, no work of supernatural 
power. Now everything was miraculous, and no sooner 
had one step of advance been secured in this marvellous 
way than a new step succeeded similarly. The effect of 
this sequence of miracles must have been overpowering. 

God was the author evidently of this mighty work of 
rescue. No credit thereafter for it could be given to the 



202 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Statesmanship of the leader, or the heroism of the people. 
Whatever glory belonged to the Exodus was God*s, and 
his alone. His right hand had gotten them the victory. 
The scene we know was terribly impressive to the Israel- 
ites from the memory of it preserved to us in Psalm 77 : 
" The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee, they 
were afraid : the depths also were troubled. The clouds 
poured out water : the skies sent out a sound : thine ar- 
rows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was in 
the heaven : the lightnings lightened the world : the earth 
trembled and shook." In the midst of this terrific storm 
how must the trembling Israelites have been humbled 
with a sense of their weakness ; how must they have been 
impressed with the awful power and glory of Jehovah ! 

Means were used in the accomplishment of the deliv- 
erance, and yet not to the belittlement of the miraculous 
element. The cloud, the fire, the wind, the sea, the out- 
stretched hand of Moses, all figured in the event. And 
yet who could think for a moment that these things were 
its cause ? Did a wind ever make the sea stand up like a 
wall naturally ? Nature was a participant in the scene of 
the Exodus, but in a supernatural aspect. God's use of 
means does not lessen the degree of his authorship of 
miracles. We always bring ourselves into difficulty by 
trying fo analyze the proportion of natural and super- 
natural in any miracle. Even if we knew, we should have 
to say anyway, "All is of God." 

The enemy was overthrown. That was the crowning 
element in the episode of the crossing of the Red Sea. It 
was not a necessity of topography so much as a necessity 
of war which made the crushing of the Egyptians neces- 
sary. If Pharaoh had not pursued possibly Israel might 
have emigrated in some circuitous and perfectly natural 



PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 203 

way. But the Egyptians had set themselves up as the 
enemies of God, so that the Exodus must needs have a 
double aspect: that of favor to the friends of God, and 
that of punishment to God*s foes. The revelation of God 
made in the plagues was adequate to have turned Egypt 
to the true religion if its heart had not been hardened. 
But it ki^ew not the day of its visitation. It sinned away 
its hour of grace, and the just judgment of God fell 
upon it. 

2. The MEANING of the occurrence. In the lives of 
nations, as in the lives of men, all things have a bearing 
on the whole trend of existence and character. Espe- 
cially did the Exodus have significance in Jewish his- 
tory. 

Safety for the people of God was thereby secured. 
If Israel had been left in Egypt, unhelped by God, we 
can hardly imagine that it would have had any great fu- 
ture. Without God, the national increase would have 
been smaller, national peculiarities and the national isola- 
tion because of them would have slowly disappeared, 
and in time probably Israel would have been absorbed 
into the peasantry of the empire. But God kept them 
separate and prospered them. When their prosperity 
became so great as to endanger their existence he took 
them out of the hands of the tyrant who threatened to 
suppress them and secured their future. Nations, like 
men, must live before they can do. Life was secured to 
Israel in the Exodus. Afterwards other things might 
come. 

Freedom was secured in the Exodus. A nation may 
have life, but little more. Yet the more is precisely what 
every nation wants, and the first advance into it is made 
when freedom is secured. If Pharaoh had only been 



204 HINTS AND HELPS. 

• 

rebuked so severely that he would have left Israel alone, 
but they had still remained in a mollified bondage, the 
end of their existence would have been thwarted. They 
needed to get away from the mastery of any king, how- 
ever beneficent. That individualism among nations which 
God meant to secure for them could emerge only in the 
air of liberty. Kind-hearted kings and their supporters 
have often argued that a mild monarchy is the best form 
of government. And yet history shows that national in- 
dividuality develops only as monarchy is discarded or 
reduced to emptiness. The Jews needed to have their 
own way with themselves entirely as a nation in order to 
serve God's purpose. Freedom was indispensable. 

National life with its special characteristics was be- 
gun at the Exodus. "They had passed in that night 
from Africa to Asia ; they had crossed one of the great 
boundaries which divide the quarters of the world; a 
thought always thrilling, how much more when we re- 
flect what a transition it involved to them. Behind the 
African hills, which rose beyond the Red Sea, lay the 
strange land of their exile and bondage, the land of 
Egypt, with its mighty river, its immense buildings, its 
monster-worship, its grinding tyranny, its overgrown civ- 
ilization " (Stanley). Israel had been brought to Eg>'pt 
for a special tuition, and there were some necessary ele- 
ments of civilized life which were learned there ; but no 
one would say that the type of national life which ap- 
peared in the Jews was in any of its chief elements in the 
least like those of Egypt. Israel was to be a nation serving 
Jehovah as its real, nominal, though unseen king. The 
tendencies, of the nation in this direction had been here- 
tofore repressed ; now they were released to full activity. 
Now Jehovah could be served freely. The Exodus was 



PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 20$ 

the opening of the possibility of Israers being that which 
it was meant to be. 

Growth numerically was made possible in the new 
life. The extraordinary increase of the people during 
the bondage was secured miraculously and only as a 
preparation for a vigorous exodus. It was abnormal. 
God desired to set his people in a fair land, among fields 
and vineyards and pastures, where at last they might be- 
come mighty and make an international impression. The 
testimony which Israel was destined to offer to history 
required something more than a feeble folk. . National 
impressiveness must be secured. Leaving Egypt was 
preliminary to the possession of Canaan. Release was 
not for the sake of release, but for the sake of progress. 

As a revelation of Jehovah the Exodus had special 
significance. An impression of him was made on Egypt 
(v. 25) but too late for its blessing. The impression which 
had historic value was that made on the Israelites. This 
being connected always with the origin of their national 
existence, and being perpetually brought to mind in the 
recurring celebration of the passover, never disappeared 
from the national consciousness. God wanted Israel to 
know that they were his chosen people, and he impressed 
that on them in the Exodus in such a vivid way that they 
could not forget it. Nor could they forget that the God 
who had made them was a God of power, dwelling amid 
thundering clouds, and controlling the course of nature 
by his omnipotence. So their hearts were inclined to 
that reverential fear which becomes the hearts of men, but 
which God finds in few. " And Israel saw the great 
work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the 
people feared the Lord ; and they believed in the Lord, 
and in his servant Moses " (14 : 31). 



206 HINTS AND HELPS. 

The lessons to us of the Exodus. 

Providence waits for the right time before helping us 
in our difficulties. When every avenue of escape seems 
closed, and our own resources are exhausted, the Lord 
our helper appears upon the scene. This is not to deny- 
that God is always with us and always helping us, as he 
was with the Israelites all the time before the Exodus. 
But sometimes we are in critical situations where we need 
more special, peculiar and powerful aid than we require in 
our ordinarily quiet and uneventful days. In such trying 
hours, when our souls are exceeding heavy, God never 
fails us if we look to him for help. This is one of the 
most precious truths of religious experience, which is 
verified in the life of every heart of faith. 

God^s ways are vjysterious. The Israelites never 
knew how God held back the waves of the sea, how he 
made the pillar of cloud and fire so serviceable, how he 
discomfitted Pharaoh and his host. Everything was mi- 
raculous, which it could not have been without mystery. 
For that out of which the mystery is taken is no longer mi- 
raculous. God's " footsteps were not known " to them, 
nor are they to us. " He knows the way he takes," but 
we do not know. This is but to say that we are living by 
faith and not by sight. We say that to ourselves con- 
stantly, and yet we are all the time acting as though the 
converse were true. When strange things happen to us, 
experiences which do not fit into our ideas of cause 
and effect, and of moral desert, we are puzzled, and some- 
times perhaps feel shaken in faith. But we ought al- 
ways to expect strange things from God. Why should 
not the wisdom of omnipotent love often seem strange 
to us? 

The double aspect of God's entrance into human life 



i 



PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 20/ 

is pointedly marked in the Exodus. The pillar of cloud 
and fire was a blessing to Israel but a curse to Egypt. 
" It was a guide and light to the believing, but a darkness 
and terror to the unbelieving *' (Cheever). " Our God is 
a consuming fire." To the gold this is a beneficent puri- 
fier, but to the dross it is destruction. " So every revela- 
tion is either light or darkness to men, according to the 
use they make of it. The ark, which slew Philistines, and 
flung Dagon prone on his own threshold, brought bless- 
ing to the house of Obed-edom. The child who was * set 
for the fall,' was also for * the rising of many.' The stone 
laid in Zion is * a sure foundation,' and * a stone of stumb- 
ling.' The gospel is the savor of life unto life, or of death 
unto death " (McLaren). 

I/e/p was given for an end beyond itself, Israel was 
saved that it might serve the Lord. God gives man ex- 
istence, yet not for mere existence* sake. God blesses 
us with countless gifts, which we are to use for purposes 
other than the using. God saves us by his Son, not that 
we may quietly rest in idleness in the knowledge that we 
are saved, but that we may lead holy lives and do the will 
of God. Israel is brought out of Egypt because God has 
a work for it to do. And every blessing we receive from 
God, every offer of hjs help in our hours of need, is to the 
end that we may be made equal to his service. The end 
of our lives is not the accomplishment of our will, but 
of his. 

Israel was baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in 
the sea (i Cor. lo : 2), that is, " to follow Moses as a lead- 
er " (Thayer). And yet Paul plainly has a deeper mean- 
ing in mind than this. To him " Moses represented 
Christ " (J. C. Edwards). So that passage of the Red 
Sea was a sort of anticipation of Christian baptism, the 



20S HINTS AND HELPS. 

sign of our passage out of the old life of bondage to sin 
into the new life of liberty in Christ. The ancient and the 
new Israel are one spiritually. And God leads both into 
freedom of holy service towards him. Have we let God 
give us our spiritual Exodus ? Have we escaped the 
slavery of evil and are we enjoying the gladness of the 
Christian life ? Then we can join now, as we may join in 
the heavenly realm, in the song of Moses and the Lamb 
(Rev. 15 : 3). 

" I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously ; 
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 
The Lord is my strength and my song, 
And he is become my salvation. 
This is my God, and I will praise him ; 
My father's God, and I will exalt him. 
The Lord is a man of war : 
The Lord is his name. . . . 
Thy right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power, 
Thy right hand, O Lord, dasheth in pieces the enemy. . . . 
Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ? 
Who is like unto thee, glorious in holiness, 
Fearful in praises, doing wonders ?'* 



THE ANOINTED KING. 209 



THE ANOINTED KING. 

PSA. 2:1-12. 

There are psalms of peace and there are also psalms 
of war. The Second Psalm belongs among the latter. It 
resounds with the clangor of arms. Whole nations march 
out to the battlefield and struggle against God's King. 
But they forget God, and yet he it is who decides all war- 
fare, including this. So that there can be but one end to 
the strife — the triumph of the Lord's Anointed. 

It is possible that the Psalm may have been suggest- 
ed by some incident in the history of the Israelitish king- 
dom. Two points seem to be settled : that the war was 
an uprising of vassal and not independent kings : it was a 
rebellion (v. 3) ; also that the gathering was made at Je- 
rusalem (V. 6). Such an uprising has been sought for in 
the wars of David, with the Philistines at his ascension 
(too small), or the Ammonites and Syrians (2 Sam. 10: 6) 
(no assembling at Jerusalem), or his rebellious son and his 
friends (not a vassal nation). Solomon might perhaps 
satisfy the imposing description given of the king, but 
there were no sych wars in his reign. The episode has 
been sought in the reigns of Uzziah, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, 
but no war known to us satisfies the conditions. It is very 
likely that there was some historical basis for this Psalm, 
but we cannot determine what it was. What is certain is 
that the Psalm is prophetic and ideal, either with or with- 
out (Cheyne) a historical basis. Even the Jewish com- 
mentators (who, in the interest of antagonism to Christian- 
ity, reduce all definite Messianic references in the Old 

Uints and Helps. J A 



2IO HINTS AND HELPS. 

Testament to a minimum) consider this a Messianic Psalm. 
The prophetic side is certainly illustrated in the agree- 
ment made between Pontius Pilate and Herod against 
Jesus Christ ; it has also evidently a progressive fulfilment 
in the enmity of the world to the church ; and it ;nay 
point to some sort of a supreme culminating revolt which 
may make the final triumph of Christ more evident and 
glorious. 

The Psalm is strikingly dramatic in arrangement. 
There are four strophes: i, the description of the con- 
spiracy and the Psalmist's expression of astonishment (vs. 
1-3) ; 2, the attitude of Jehovah (vs. 4-6) ; 3, the king 
speaks and justifies his kingship (vs. 7-9) ; 4, the Psalm- 
ist counsels the rebels to submit (vs. 10-12). 

Verses 1-6 have been noticed as " a specimen of the 
utmost art of Hebrew poetry " (Cheyne). The splendid 
force of the Psalm cannot escape our recognition. We 
do not wonder that of all the Psalms it is most frequently 
quoted in the New Testament. 

I. The conspiracy against Jehovah's king and the 
astonishment of the poet (vs. 1-3). Here is a strong pic- 
ture of an uprising (in sheer self-will, not for cause) of the 
nations (not the " heathen ") against the kingdom of God. 
They rage like a hurrying turbulent crowd. Yet of 
course their plot is vain^ because it is against Jehovah. 
"*In this word' {vain), says Luther, *is comprised the 
argument of nearly the whole Psalm ' " (Perowne). When 
Peter and John, after having been released from that 
prison into which they had been thrown for healing the 
lame man, " went to their own company " and told of the 
attempt of the chief priests and elders to frighten them 
into silence concerning Christ, the whole company recog- 
nized this opposition as an indication of the fulfilment of 



THE ANOINTED KING. 211 

the prediction in the Second Psalm of antagonism against 
God and his Messiah (Acts 4 : 24-28). In this vain 
attempt the kings of the earth set themselves ^ i. e., take a 
determined defiant attitude (see i Sam. 17 : 16 ; Num. 
22 : 22), against the Lord and against his Anointed^ for 
whoever is an enemy of God's king is also an enemy of 
God himself. The security of Christ's kingdom is assured 
because it stands in the security of God. This passage is 
of unusual interest as furnishing the chief source of the 
title Messiah (the Anointed /ar excellence^ as a designa- 
tion of the Saviour-king, who was promised as a redeemer 
for God's people. The adjective anointed is used often in 
the Old Testament, but never as a proper name, such as 
we see it to be in the New Testament (Gesenius, Cremer, 
Thayer, Westcott, etc.). Between the Old and New Tes- 
taments it had come to have this special meaning, and the 
passages in the Old Testament which were relied upon to 
warrant it were Daniel 9 : 26 and Psalm 2 : 2. We think 
of Jesus rather as the Saviour than as the Messiah, be- 
cause our minds dwell little on the old Jewish hopes (in 
evidence of which we may note the little attention which 
is given to ancient prophecy). Yet we are to remem- 
ber that the Messiah is one of the noblest of the names 
and attributes of Jesus, and we may keep in mind the 
Second Psalm as one of the two Scriptural passages out 
of which that idea was developed. The Psalmist graphi- 
cally describes the self-confident words of the conspirators 
against God and his anointed king. " Let us break asun- 
der the ties of government which bind us to God and his 
king." They sought a freedom that was hostile to God 

(v. 3). 

2. The attitude of Jehovah (vs. 4-6). From the tur- 
moil of the rebellious earth the Psalmist turns to heaven 



212 HINTS AND HELPS. 

to see what God will do. Here is an awful picture of 
God. We can hardly conceive of the laughter of the 
deity. No one but an inspired writer would have ven- 
tured on so daring a figure. An immensely important 
thought is hidden in this picture of God : that it is ridic- 
ulous for the creature to exalt himself against the Creator. 
God sees the infinite contrast between Him and these re- 
bellious kings, and therefore the absurdity of their sin 
against him. If man could only see how contemptible 
any attempt upon his part against God really is, he would 
see why sin so often in God's Word is called folly. The 
sinner is not only guilty, but he is a fool, he is ridiculous. 
God holds those in derision who rise up against him, while 
he lets them go on in their futile course. But God's time 
of waiting ends. The hour of doom strikes. After long 
patience Jehovah speaks, and in wrath, and his displea- 
sure falls upon them, causing vast trouble. It has been 
remarked that the rhythm of the poetry changes here and 
rolls like thunder, to express the dreadfulness of God's 
coming in anger. The first strophe ended with the defi- 
ant words of the rebels ; the second ends with the an- 
swering words of God. Supplying the ellipsis, we may 
make the meaning something like this : " Plot all ye will 
against me " (Perowne), or, "Ye think ye have right to 
throw off my government" (Cheyne), "yet have I estab- 
lished my King upon my holy hill of Zion " (and no power 
shall overthrow him). "/ God Almighty, am the one 
against whom you are rebelling, and this is my King 
whom you are fighting against." The emphasis is strong 
on the pronoun, indicating the deep meaning of the inter- 
vention of the Godhead. 

3. The King speaks and justifies his kingship (vs. 
7-9). Being attacked he must defend his title to reign. 



THE ANOINTED KING. 213 

He shows that it is doubly strong : by reason of the im- 
plied (and unmentioned) right of inheritance, and (lest 
there should be any question) by reason of a special im- 
perial decree issued by God for the direct purpose of 
making the occupancy of the throne unquestionable. The 
decree spoken of here is pictorial ; there is no reference 
to the theological doctrine of the divine decree (though 
of course God decreed, in that sense, the kingship of 
Jesus as he decrees " whatsoever cometh to pass "). The 
direct application of this passage to the kingship of Jesus 
is made in Heb. 5 : 5. The imperial decree of God (like 
the rescript of a Roman emperor or the ukase of a Czar) 
which proclaimed God's will concerning the kingship, 
named the anointed one his Son, He was thus placed in 
the high relation in which all the Davidic kings stood to 
God (see 2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 89:26, 27). This sonship 
means that the right and power of his kingship come 
from God. This day, God said to him, i. e., this day of 
coronation, of anointing, I have begotten thee. The word 
begotten refers (as it might have referred in the case of 
any Davidic king of whom the same expression might 
have been used) to the manifestation of sonship by the 
investiture with the government. In the case of Jesus this 
was fulfilled, we are told, by his resurrection (Rom. 1:4; 
Acts 13:33). "The original passage (Ps. 2:7) refers, 
not to the incarnation of the Messiah, but to his inaugura- 
tion, or public acknowledgement on the part of God as 
the rightful Sovereign of men. To no moment in the 
history of Christ would such a prediction apply with such 
significance as to that of his triumphant resurrection from 
the dead " (Hackett). We are not warranted in finding 
the theological doctrine of the eternal generation of the 
second person of the Trinity in this passage (Shedd), 



214 HINTS AND HELPS. 

which may be worked out rather on philosophical 
grounds. " This passage, I am aware, has been explained 
by many as referring to the eternal generation of Christ ; 
and from the words this day they have reasoned ingeni- 
ously as if they denoted an eternal act without any rela- 
tion to time. But Paul, who is a more faithful and a bet- 
ter qualified interpreter of this prophecy, in Acts 13 : 33 
calls our attention to the manifestation of the heavenly 
glory of Christ of which I have spoken. This expression, 
to he begotten^ does not therefore imply that he then be- 
gan to be the Son of God, but that his being so was then 
made manifest to the world'* (Calvin). Nevertheless, 
while the word begotten here is used figuratively, we are 
* not to forget that this Psalm reaches its fulfilment in one 
who is not only begotten of God in the sense of being 
publicly recognized as his chosen king, but is also the 
Son of God in a sense in which no other king who ever 
lived could be called a son of God, by reason of a real 
personal relation of sonship which has existed from all 
eternity, a real " community of nature " (T. W. Chambers). 
On the day when God issued the proclamation establishing 
the kingship of his Anointed, and declaring it to be author- 
ized by him by calling the anointed his Son, he said to him 
also that all the nations, even to the uttermost parts of tlie 
earthy were to be his possession, and that, in their rebel- 
liousness, he should crush them into submission as though 
with a rod of iron. " Not to be explained as a description 
of the habitually severe rule of the Messiah, but as a 
prophecy of what must happen if the nations persist in re- 
volting from the appointed King " (Cheyne). " It is true, 
the beauty and glory of the kingdom of which David 
speaks are more illustriously displayed when a willing 
people run to Christ in the day of his power, to show 



THE ANOINTED KING. 215 

themselves his obedient subjects ; but as the greater part 
of men rise up against him with a violence which spurns 
all restraint, it was necessary to add the truth, that this 
king would prove himself superior to all such opposition ^* 
(Calvin). Christ is called " the prince of peace " and his 
mission is to bring joy to the world. Yet, because of 
men's hostility, he comes bringing the sword (Matt. lo : 
34). War is sometimes necessary to peace. The offer of 
submissive citizenship is made so that every man may ac- 
cept it. But if it be spurned, or treated with contemptuous 
neglect, then there remains the terrible experience of " the 
wrath of the Lamb." In holding forth before men the 
picture of the pleading Christ with one hand, we must 
warn them faithfully by holding forth the picture of the 
judging Christ with the other. Rev. 2 : 26, 27 ; 12 : 1-5 ; 
19 : 11-15 ; Matt. 21 : 44 ; 24 : 50-51 ; Luke 19 : 29. 

4. The Psalmist counsels the rebels to submit (vs. 10- 
12). Now^ therefore^ in view of what has been said, the 
kings should be wise and instructed^ both religiously and 
politically ; for the two went together in the ancient Jew- 
ish mind : to rebel against the king was to rebel against 
God. Serve the Lord (by obedience to his Anointed) 
with fear ^ and rejoice with trembling, A strong combi- 
nation of feelings, yet not impossible to be understood. 
"What is meant is horror honoris^ mixed with tremor 
amoris " (Delitzsch). The rejoicing is to be over being 
God's subjects. They are also to render sincere homage 
(" worship in purity," margin R. V., " kiss the son," A. V.), 
\est Jehovah be angry and they perish on their way. The 
passage is difficult. If the writer meant to say " kiss (or 
render homage to) the son^' why did he not use the He- 
brew word for son which he had just used in v. 7, instead 
of a very late Aramaic word ? This Aramaic word fof 



2l6 HINTS AND HELPS. 

son is, however, a legitimate old Hebrew word meaning 
purely or sincerely, so that the natural meaning is, render 
sincere homage. Lest they might be tempted to trifle in 
so serious a matter, they are warned that Jehovah's wraih 
might be kindled easily. On the other hand they are told 
that blessed are all they that put their trust in him, i. e., 
that obey him and his anointed. 

The practical lessons of this grand Psalm are histor- 
ical and personal. 

Historical lessons, 

1. There is apt to be antagonism between the powers 
of this world and the kingdom of God. " As often as 
the world rages, in order to disturb and put an end to 
the prosperity of Christ's kingdom, we have only to re- 
member that, in all this, there is just a fulfilment of what 
was long ago predicted, and no changes that can happen 
will greatly disquiet us " (Calvin). At various times in 
history, as in the days of Nero and Philip II. and Catha- 
rine de' Medici, the powers of the world have been set 
against the kingdom of God. We do not see this 
so now, except in heathen lands. Yet the forces which 
are at work in society are often set against the progress 
of the cause of God. At this we should not be sur- 
prised. 

2, Christ's kingdom is divine. It is he of whom the 
Second Psalm particularly speaks. The kingdoms of this 
world are powerless against God's King of kings, and all 
the hostile forces of social life are incapable of preventing 
the spread of his glorious dominion. The power of Om-. 
nipotence is back of him ; yes, it is in him, for he. is God, 
The divine kingdom among men represents God's age- 
long purpose for humanity. It is the end for which his-, 
tory is. The promise of God to the patriarchs is in it 



THE ANOINTED KING. 2\^ 

consummated. It is the focus of all onward movements. 
It is God's wish for us. 

3. The certainty of its triumph is plain. It is not a 
matter of doubt. God wants his kingdom to succeed, 
and that want is history. The failure of the divine pur- 
pose is inconceivable. With this we should comfort and 
sustain ourselves when time seems long and the spread 
of religion seems slow. The man who casts in his lot 
with the people of God, and spends time, energy, money, 
prayers, for the growth of the heavenly kingdom, is en- 
gaged in a sure enterprise. The law of success in it is 
more inevitable than that which brings the sun to chase 
the night away. Seed-time and harvest are fickleness it- 
self compared to the sureness of return from work done 
for God. 

4. All enmity shall be overthrown at last. Men*s work 
may antagonize God's work, it is true, but their endeavor 
can only react upon them to their own destruction. The 
mightiest foe goes under, while the kingdom goes on. 
** A medal was struck by Diocletian, which still remains, 
bearing the inscription, * The name of Christians being 
extinguished.' And in Spain two monumental pillars 
were raised on which were written : I. * Diocletian ... for 
having extinguished the name of Christians.' II. * Diocle- 
tian ... for having everywhere abolished the superstition 
of Christ.' We have here a monument raised by pagan- 
ism over the grave of its vanquished foe. But in this the 
people imagined a vain thing ; so far from being deceased, 
Christianity was on the eve of its final and permanent tri- 
umph" (Spurgeon). 

Personal lessons. 

I. Christ's cause and God's cause are one, and if we 
would obey God we must yield to his Anointed. ** For 



2l8 HINTS AND HELPS. 

the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg- 
ment unto the Son : that all men should honor the Son, 
even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not 
the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him " 
(John 5 : 22, 23). There is no such thing as separating 
the service of God from the service of Christ. 

I. The rejection of Christ is antagonism to God. 
God says : " This is my beloved Son ; hear ye him." 
Jesus says: "Believe me that I am in the Father, and 
the Father in me." "Whosoever denieth the Son, the 
same hath not the Father." " Let this, therefore, be held 
as a settled point, that all who do not submit themselves 
to the authority of Christ make war against God " (Cal- 
vin). 

3. The absurdity of sin. Antagonism against the 
purposes of God cannot succeed. To do wrong in view 
of all God has revealed about it is, intellectually, folly of 
the most abject sort, and yet — these foolish wills of ours ! 

4. The blessedness of accepting Christ. This brings 
us under the benign rule of him who is the destined heir 
of all the ages, God's chosen, God's only-begotten Son. 
Thus we satisfy the conditions of the highest personal 
blessing, we take our share in the accomplishment of 
God's purposes, and we receive eternal life. May the 
King subdue us to himself, and not us only but the 
whole world. In us and in all things may his name be 
glorified. Amen. 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 219 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 

Luke 2. 1-16. 

In the early morning a group of gossiping orientals 
stood about the doorway of the village khan. It was in 
Bethlehem, the ancient city of David, which was at this 
time crowded with strangers come thither in pursuance of 
an edict of Quirinius requiring all of the Davidic line to 
enroll themselves there. The khan was a low, large 
building with an open court and fountain in the center. 
No provision was made for guests other than to shelter 
them and their beasts of burden. As for food, it was ex- 
pected that each would bring his own rude fare of dates 
and parched com. It was a motley company now gathered 
in the court and about the door: Arab traders, gray- 
bearded sheiks, camel-drivers, women with their hoods 
drawn over their faces, children tugging at their mothers' 
skirts. Deep interest was depicted on their faces while 
they conversed in low tones. Now and then a glance was 
directed or a finger pointed toward the stable connected 
with the inn. The previous evening two travellers, a car- 
penter and his betrothed wife, had arrived from the north 
and desired entertainment ; but the khan was already full 
and they were obliged to put up with such shelter as the 
stable could afford. In such humble surroundings, dur- 
ing the early twilight, the great mystery of life had begun. 
The feeble cry of a new-born infant broke the stillness of 
the morning. 

At that moment the sound of footsteps betokened the 
arrival of other guests. A company of shepherds drew 



220 HINTS AND HELPS. 

near, clad in red tunics, with white turbans, and poniards 
at their girdles. The company gathered about them and 
listened with wonder to their strange tale: "We were 
abiding in the fields on yonder mountain-slope, last night, 
keeping watch over our flocks, when suddenly the angel 
of the Lord came down and glory shone around us. At 
the first we were sore afraid : but the angel said, * Fear 
not ; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. 
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a 
Saviour which is Christ the Lord ! And this shall be a 
sign unto you : Ye shall find him wrapped in swaddling 
bands and lying in a manger.* And then a multitude of 
angels came about us and sang, * Glory to God in the 
highest, peace on earth, good will to men !' After which 
they vanished ; and we said one to another, * Let us go 
unto Bethlehem and see this great thing.* Have ye seen 
aught of the wonderful child ?'* Then the company told 
them of the birth in the stable. Thither the shepherds at 
once betook themselves: On entering the low- browed 
cave which was used as a stable, so soon as their eyes 
were accustomed to the darkness this was what they saw : 
in one of the rude stalls a mother, pale and feeble, re- 
clining on the straw, and near by an Infant lying in a 
manger. The sign was true ! They had found the long 
looked-for, long prayed-for Christ. 

Madonna and Child! This is the picture that for 
centuries has engaged the attention of poets and artists, 
of irreverent dreamers and devout theologians. You may 
find it rudely carven at wayside shrines, depicted on can- 
vas in the great galleries and set forth in golden glory 
over the high altars of cathedrals. We all stand wonder- 
ing before it like the rustics who peered in through the 
stable door. Here is something that we cannot fathom. 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 221 

The mystery of birth is happening all the while about us ; 
but around this wondrous birth of Jesus all history re- 
volves. At this manger a new era begins. The chronicles 
will henceforth be dated Anno Domini. The world can 
never be the same again. The hand of this Infant is des- 
tined to shake the false gods from their pedestals. As he 
walks through the years kingdoms and principalities will 
totter and fall, until all the glory of the earth shall center 
in the kingdom of God. 

A large portion of the Christian Church, the world 
over, renders a peculiar homage to the virgin mother of 
Jesus. To many of us it seems but little short of idolatry 
to give her any part whatsoever of the devotion which 
belongs to her divine Child. It may be, however, that 
in our revolt from Mariolatry we have withheld from her 
the honor which is her just due. As we stand here with 
the shepherds at the doorway of the stable, beholding 
both mother and Child, let us consider their relative claims 
upon us. 

I. The Madonna, It had been predicted, over and 
over again, from the time of the protevangel, that the 
Messiah should be born of a woman. As by the weak- 
ness of one woman sin had entered into the world, so to 
another was granted the distinguished honor of bringing 
forth out of her travail the hope of eternal life. This was 
not by reason of any peculiar merit of her own. She was 
not divine, not even akin with angels. We have no rea- 
son to suppose that she was even gifted with unusual per- 
sonal charms. Monks in reverie and poets in rhapsody 
have vied with each other in extolling her beauty. One 
of them describes her as "leaning out among the jessa- 
mines in the window of her home and watching the white 
clouds floating in the azure sky ; young and beautiful, not 



222 HINTS AND HELPS. 

only with the voluptuous attractions of Oriental grace, 
but with those superior charms which come from riches 
of the soul, of thought and fancy and emotion, which lav- 
ish themselves in a perfect symmetry of mental and phy- 
sical development ; beautiful after the manner of the He- 
brew daughters, in raven locks and lustrous eyes and the 
deep glowing complexion of the East, and beautiful be- 
sides with that radiance which is enkindled by the in- 
dwelling of a peace that the world knoweth not of." All 
this is unsubstantial as the stuff that dreams are made of. 
Let it suffice that she had common part with us in human 
nature, for in this lies the clew of the Incarnation. When 
the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made 
of a woman. He took not on him the nature of angels, 
but of men. The Word was made flesh and dwelt 
among us. 

'* God rest ye all, good Christians ! 

Upon this blessed morn 
The Lord of all good Christians 

Was of a woman born." 

Let it be observed, furthermore, that Mary was a 
sinful woman ; she was " one among women," and not 
above them; being in all points such as we are, not 
merely in the constitution of her being, but in its defile- 
ment also. She had both inherited sin and committed it. 
The so-called Immaculate Conception of the virgin has 
not the slightest warrant in reason or holy writ. It reads 
thus : " That the most blessed Virgin Mary, in the first 
moment of her conception, by a special grace and privi- 
lege of Almighty God, in virtue of the merits of Christ, 
was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin." 
Not so have we understood her own words, " My spirit 
hath rejoiced in God my Saviour y That was a sinner's cry. 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 223 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning represents the virgin 
mother as thus addressing her unconscious Child : 

** Sleep, sleep, my Holy One ! 
My flesh, my Lord ! What name ? I do not know 
A name that seemeth not too high or low : 
Too far from me or heaven. 
My Jesus ! that is best ! that word being given 
By the majestic angel whose command 
Was softly as a man's beseeching said, 
When I and all the earth appeared to stand 
In the great overflow 

Of light celestial from his wings and head. 
Sleep ! sleep ! Mv Saving One !" 

The doctrine of the sinlessness of Mary was invented 
by the schoolmen in the Middle Ages. After a debate of 
six hundred years, in which popes, cardinals, holy fathers 
and philosophers took part, it was at last made an article 
of faith by a formal decree of Pius IX. on the 8th of De- 
cember, 1854. This tenet is the corner-stone of Mariola- 
try. Its germ can be traced as far back as the fourth 
century ; at that time a new word was coined, Theotokos, 
meaning " mother of God." It was not intended to as- 
sert that Mary was in any sense mother of the Uncreated 
Essence, but the word was liable to this interpretation. 
The right of Mary to the title Theotokos was denied by 
Nestorius, who was thereupon condemned for heresy in 
the Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431. His condemners 
marched through the city with torches and swinging cen- 
sers. From that moment we may regard Mariolatry as 
fairly under way. The troubadours celebrated the praises 
of Mary in sacred song, arid painters represented her as 
crowned with a diadem of stars. The church began to 
sing: 



224 HINTS AND HELPS. 

" Hail, virginal mother ! Hail, temple divine ! 
The glory of angels and purity's shrine ! 
Thee from eternity 
God did ordain 
Over his household 
As mistress to reign 1" 

This was at the beginning of the Dark Ages. As 
the inner life of religion was quenched its outer forms 
were multiplied. The walls of churches were covered 
with pictures of the Madonna. Five hundred years have 
dimmed but not obliterated the colors of those splendid 
masterpieces. On panel and ceiling and vaulted chancel 
the virgin and her Child are still pointed out. The 
Christ-child is thrown into the background ; the mother 
is made conspicuous and surpassingly beautiful. So by 
progressive steps she came to be looked on as a co- 
redeemer with Christ. Then from Rome was sent forth 
an invitation, not yet called a mandate, that all should 
kiss the hand before the " Queen of Heaven." This was 
in the black night before the Reformation. It was in 15 17 
that Luther nailed his theses to the door of the town-hall 
at Wittenberg and made his protest against the worship 
of any but the living God. All hail the protest ! 

For a while Mary-worship was repressed, but only 
to revive again in recent years as a formal dogma or pro- 
nunciamento of the Catholic Church. At this hour there 
are multitudes all over the world bowing at the shrine of 
this woman of Nazareth and crying, " Holy Mary, mother 
of God, pray for us !" If she herself could appear in the 
midst of these devotees, of a certainty she would cry 
out, as the angel did in the vision of St. John, " See 
thou do it not; for I am thy fellow- servant. Worship 
Gcd !" 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 22$ 

" Say of me as the Heavenly said, *Thou art 
The blessedest of women " — blessedest, 
Not holiest nor ncblest — no high name 
Whose height misplaced may pierce me like a shame 
When I sit meek in heaven." 

But while the virgin mother is stripped of these 
false honors, which she herself would be the first to repu- 
diate, she still challenges our highest admiration. Why 
should we hesitate to speak of her as *' blessed Mary," or 
" the blessed virgin," when the angel thus addressed her? 
It is no slight honor that her name should be found in 
the most venerable of our creeds and mingled with the 
soul's confession of a Saviour : " I believe in Jesus Christ, 
who was born of the Virgin Mary." If we decline to 
worship we do not therefore disesteem her. The most 
beautiful traits of womanhood are associated with her 
character. We revere her as a most estimable ideal of 
feminine purity and devotion. When Gabriel told her 
that she was to be overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and 
bring forth a Son, she knew that her fair name was in 
danger, that the world would point its finger at her. She 
foresaw that she must wear the scarlet letter on her breast. 
But she bowed her head without a murmur, saying, " Be- 
hold the servant of the Lord." There was heroism ! It 
would doubtless have been easier to die ; yet her faithful 

* 

heart asked no question, interposed no argument, but 
"set itself at once to quiet expectation." Bishop Hall 
says : " There is no more noble proof of faith than thus 
to captivate all our powers unto God and, without scisci- 
. tation, go blindfold whither he will." It was enough for 
her that God required it : " Be it unto me according to 
thy word !" 

When all is said, however, in just praise of the virgin 

Hints and Helps. j ^ 



226 HINTS AND HELPS. 

mother, it still remains that she was human and her Child 
divine. A gulf lies between these two as wide as that be- 
tween the finite and the infinite. Her we revere for her 
pure womanhood, but him we worship as very God of 
very God. 

2. The Christ-child, It is not easy to think of 
Mary's nursling as the great / am. How could God — 
that " circle whose centre is everywhere and whose cir- 
cumference is nowhere" — be held in a mother's arms 
or laid in a manger? Our reason is dazzled by the 
thought : faith only can receive it. " Great is the mystery 
of godliness : God manifest in flesh ; the angels desire to 
look into it." 

This sleeping Child is the preexistent Word by 
whom were called into being the things that were not. 
He who shares this stable with the lowing herd is the 
same that sat upon the great white throne, worshipped by 
angels and archangels as with the voice of many waters 
and of mighty thunderings. All the previous ages of the 
world's history were but a preparation for his birth and 
all its subsequent ages were but to serve for the diflfusion 
of his spirit in the lives of men. This is he of whom it 
was written, " A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and 
his name shall be called Immanuel, God with us." And 
again, " For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is 
given ; the government shall be upon his shoulder, and 
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the 
mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince ol 
peace." On Mary's bosom sleeps " the Desire of all na- 
tions." With a murmured lullaby she soothes the slumber 
of her divine offspring ! 

The relation which this wonderful Child was to sus- 
tain towards our race was indicated by the angels in the 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 22/ 

words, ** A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." This 
was further emphasized in the name Jesus ; " and they 
shall call his name Jesus, because he shall save his people 
from their sins." The race groaneth and travaileth in the 
bondage of sin. Deep down in every heart there is a 
longing, " What shall I do to be saved ? What shall I do 
that I might inherit eternal life ?*' To answer this longing 
the only-begotten Son of God humbled himself to be born 
of a woman, that so he might be able to take our place 
before the offended law and bear the penalty of our sin. 
His birth means salvation. The old priest Simeon held 
the divine Child in his arms and cried, with the joy of a 
long-deferred hope fulfilled at last, * * Now lettest thou thy 
servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salva- 
tion !" Nor is there salvation in any other. His life is 
the golden ladder of Jacobus dream, resting on the 
earth and losing itself in heaven, a mystic highway of 
mediatorial grace ; as Jesus himself said, " What and if ye 
shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending 
and descending upon the §on of man ?" The works 
which he wrought were manifestations of divine love and 
mercy towards the children of men. The sermons which 
he preached had reference to the great problems which 
reach out into eternity and concern us most vitally as im- 
mortal beings made in the image of God. His death was 
an answer to the query, " How shall God be just and yet 
the justifier of the ungodly ?" And faith in the atoning 
power of his death is an answer to the eager cry, " How 
shall a man be just before his God ?" His resurrection is 
our deliverance from death ; and his intercession at the 
right hand of the majesty on high is our assurance of an 
abundant entrance into life. 

Thus the Child in the manger is everything to us. 



228 HINTS AND HELPS. 

The humble conditions of his birth give no token of the 
mighty place which he is to fill in the destiny of men and 
nations. On March 20, 181 1, all France was gladdened 
by the birth of a son to the great Napoleon. Bells rang, 
processions marched with waving banners, great guns 
boomed forth the imperial joy. But what a pall of sorrow 
would have fallen upon the nation had it been foreseen 
that the prince was to linger but a few short and sorrowful 
years and then sink into a soon- to-be- forgotten grave I 
The Child of Bethlehem was greeted only by the angels* 
song ; the world that was dying for his kindly offices had 
no welcome for him. But every passing year has bright- 
ened his glory. To-day millions on millions bow rever- 
ently Before him. The unbelieving world has joined the 
rustic group who look in at the stable door inquiring, 
*' Who is he ?" It is beginning to be seen that he hath 
even upon his swaddling bands a name written, *' King of 
kings and Lord of lords." 

Sleep on, O Christ-child, in thy humble cradle, and 
rest thee for thy life of toil and sorrow and triumph on 
the cross. We bow, with the shepherds, before thee, and 
render adoration for thy glorious purpose of redemption. 
Thine is the great heart that shall yet break by reason of 
sympathy for the world's sin. Thine is the mighty arm 
that shall break every chain and bid the oppressed go 
free. Welcome to earth, O Prince of glory ! Welcome 
to our hearts, O Prince of peace ! 



THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 229 



THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 

Luke 2. 25-38. 

The famous Hillel, revered by the Jews as head- 
master of one of their great schools of philosophy, had a 
son Simeon who was chosen president of the Sanhedrin, 
A. D. 13. It is a curious fact that this Simeon is passed 
by in the Mishna, which records the wise words and do- 
ings of other rabbis in wearisome detail. Why this si- 
lence ? Was it, perhaps, because the man had brought 
himself into contempt by espousing the cause of the Naza- 
rene Carpenter ? We have no means of knowing whether 
or no he was this same Simeon who served in the temple 
and " waited for the consolation of Israel ;" the date of 
his service as well as the contemptuous oversight of the 
Mishna would seem to favor it. In any case, he probably 
belonged to the same class of patient watchers who de- 
tected in current events many signs and tokens of the near 
approach of that Messiah, 

"Whom kings and prophets longed to see 
And died without the sight." 

At this time there were many such eager, hopeful ones. 
They had read the prophecies of Holy Writ respecting 
the coming of One who should bruise the serpent's head, 
restore the glory to Israel, and deliver the groaning world 
from shame and bondage. The time was propitious. For 
a period of four hundred years there had been no open 
vision ; the lights had gone out in the sanctuary and the 
oracles were dumb. Since the darkest hour is just before 



230 HINTS AND HELPS. 

the dawn it seemed as if the morning must be nigh. 
There was a universal feeling of expectancy. Something 
must happen. Things could not go on much longer as 
they were. The magi of the East were watching the 
stars ; the faithful in Israel were looking forth from the 
windows and saying, " How long will the wheels of his 
chariot tarry ?" 

This Simeon was one of the faithful. A few things 
are said which give us a clear insight into his character. 
First, " he was just and devout ;" that is, he revered God 
and lived uprighdy. That statement takes in the sum 
total of duty ; it describes the attitude of Simeon toward 
God and his fellow men. Second^ he "waited for the con- 
solation of Israel." By " the consolation of Israel " is 
meant Messiah. The children of Israel were in sore need 
of consolation. Their glory had departed. The sceptre 
had been surrendered to Rome. The national religion 
had degenerated into an empty ritual. Pride of Abra- 
hamic birth had taken the place of humble joy in filial 
devotion to God. A common formula of prayer among 
the faithful was, " May I live to see the consolation of Is- 
rael !" Thirds ** the Holy Ghost was upon him." This 
means that he was in close and constant communion 
with God. It is further explained in the statement that a 
special revelation had been given him respecting the com- 
ing of Messiah : " It^was revealed unto him by the Holy 
Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen 
the Lord's Christ." The just and devout in all ages have 
an insight into the divine plans and purposes which is 
not accorded to others. Such as do the Lord's will are 
enabled to know the doctrine. He takes into his confi- 
dence those who love him. 

Anna the prophetess was also one of the waiting 



THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 23 1 

ones. We have here a brief monograph of her character. 
First, she was of the tribe of Asher, a member of one of 
the lingering famiUes of the secession. Second, she was 
"of great age," above fourscore years. Her eyes were 
dim toward earth but clear toward heavenly things. 
Third, she was a widow. A glimpse of her sorrow and 
loneliness is given in the statement that she had lived 
with her husband only seven years. How long a period 
of waiting had been hers. To her " the consolation of 
Israel " meant everything. It meant not merely the res- 
toration of Israel's glory but the fulfilment of her hope 
of the blessed reunion in heaven ; for this is involved in 
the truth of Messianic prophecy and gospel story. Fourth, 
she was in constant attendance upon the temple: "She 
departed not from it ; but served God with fastings and 
prayers night and day." Perhaps, as in the case of 
Huldah, a chamber was assigned to her within the sacred 
enclosure ; and she may have busied herself devoutly in 
the trimming of the lamps or other ministry. Fifth, she 
was the first to declare Christ in the Holy City. " She 
gave thanks to the Lord, and spake of him to all that 
looked for redemption in Jerusalem." In this she was the 
forerunner of a noble company of saintly women who 
have sounded forth his praises. " God gave the word : 
great was the multitude of the women who published it " 
(Psalm 68:11). 

Now as to the strange thing that happened in the 
temple at this time. Simeon was there. " He came by the 
Spirit into the temple ;" that is, he had received a divine 
intimation that he would better be there.* And while 
he was worshipping, two peasants entered bringing with 

* The church bell is the voice of the Spirit to believers in 
our time. We grieve Him when we do not heed it. 



232 HINTS AND HELPS. 

them a child, " to do for him after the custom of the law." 
It was Joseph and Mary and the infant Christ. He was 
their first-born. It was the custom in Israel, forty days 
after circumcision, to dedicate the first-born to the Lord. 
The time had come. It is written that '* Christ was made 
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law." 
It was on this account that, forty days before, he had been 
subjected to the rite of circumcision. Now, as Mary^s first- 
born, he must be separated. It was customary to offer in 
connection with this ceremony a lamb and a pigeon, the 
former for a sin-offering, the latter for a burnt-offering ; 
one expressing a sense of sin, the other a spirit of conse- 
cration. Joseph and Mary, being sinful as others, felt the 
need of both. It is, however, a striking and pathetic com- 
mentary on their low estate that, taking advantage of the 
special provision made for persons of moderate means, 
they brought, instead of a lamb and a pigeon, two pigeons. 
He who was rich did, indeed, for our sakes become poor, 
that we through his poverty might inherit the riches of 
eternal life. 

On seeing these humble worshippers enter the tem- 
ple the heart of Simeon beat fast. His eyes were fixed 
upon the holy Child. A voice within him whispered, 
"This is he, the Lord's Christ!" .A great joy filled his 
breast and suffused his sight. The consummation of his 
hopes had come ; the vision for which he had prayed and 
waited in patient expectation. What more was there to 
live for? Earth with its pains and sorrows and disap- 
pointments lost its hold upon him : heaven like a bright 
morning seemed to dawn. " Now lettest thou thy servant 
depart in peace !" was the most natural expression of his 

joy." 

This nunc dimittis is a familiar hymn in the liturgies 



THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 233 

of the Church. It is brief, but full of testimony to the 
character and work of Jesus. Observe, firsts it sets forth 
Christ as the Saviour : *' For mine eyes have seen thy 
salvation.'* In the face of this holy Child Simeon beheld 
the finished work — a world delivered from its shame and 
sorrow. Second^ he is "a light to lighten the nations." 
The heart of Simeon had been so broadened in his study 
of Messianic promise that he was able to perceive the 
universal scope of the gospel. It was not intended merely 
to restoi^ the glory to Israel, though that was included ; 
but the world was to be illumined by it. In Jesus those 
who were afar off were to be brought nigh : the waste 
places were to be made glad through him, and the wilder- 
ness was to rejoice and blossom as the rose. As the sun 
shines for all — visiting the round earth in its diurnal 
course, melting the snows upon the mountains and ripen- 
ing the harvests in the meadows, gladdening the verdant 
oak and the modest violet at its foot — so Christ is the 
light of the world, lightening every man that cometh into 
the world, and bringing the possibility of life to Jew and 
Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond and free. Thirds he is 
the touchstone of character : "he is set for the fall and 
rising again of many in Israel, that the thoughts of many 
hearts may be revealed." All who would be children of 
the light hear his voice; the children of darkness turn 
from him as shadows flee before the rising sun. To re- 
ceive him is»to live ; to reject him is worse than never to 
have heard of him at all. His name is a savor of life 
unto life or else of death unto death. The same may be 
said of all truth and goodness : the sight of it helps or 
hardens us ; but of Christ, the incarnation of truth and 
goodness, this is preeminently true; we cannot touch 
him, see him, hear of him, without being either the better 



234 HINTS AND HELPS. 

or worse for it. Fourth^ he is " a sign spoken against." 
He is the living sign of Heaven's good-will to men ; yet 
what dreadful things are said of him ! On one of the 
stones taken from the basement of Caesar's palace in 
Rome is a rude picture of an ass stretched on a cross, 
and under it this inscription : 

"alexamenos theon phobei." 
It is not difficult to fill out the story. In Caesar's kitchen, 
perhaps, there was a humble follower of Christ. He bore 
patiendy the revilings of his fellow-servants. One of them 
with a nail scratched this caricature of the Crucifixion 
upon the wall and its accompanying taunt, " Alexamenos 
worships this as his God !" Thus Christ has ever been 
spoken against. His cross is foolishness to the Greek 
who seeks after wisdom, and a stumbling-block to the 
Jew clamoring for a sign. Fifth, the love of Mary for 
this Christ-child was to pierce through her like a sword. 
She, whose soul had gone out to her Son with more than 
a common mother's love by reason of the secret which 
she shared with him, was to be known throughout the 
centuries as mater dolorosa. It would not be possible 
to imagine the depth of her sorrow when she stood be- 
side the cross whereon her first-bom hung in shame and 
agony. Other mothers have known pain, but was ever 
mother's pain like hers? Yet there is a sense in which 
the death-anguish of Jesus drives the sword through 
every Christian heart. If we love him we suffer with 
him. And the more we love him the more really and 
deeply do we enter with him into the fellowship of his 
death. 

While Simeon was singing this nunc dimittis, "at 
that instant" entered the prophetess Anna. She, too, 
had been waiting for the consolation of Israel, and she. 



THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE. 235 

beholding the Christ, "gave thanks likewise unto the 
Lord." It was a melting, rapturous scene. Let us pic- 
ture it: Joseph and Mary standing as silent, rapt wor- 
shippers in the holy place; Simeon with the Child in his 
arms, his eyes uplifted, and pouring out his soul before 
the Lord ; the aged Anna adding her gaudeamus with 
trembling voice. Blessed watchers for the dawn ! The 
dayspring from on high had at length risen upon them. 

All over the world there are souls waiting for the 
consolation of Israel. They feel their spiritual need and 
the inadequacy of earthly things to satisfy it. Their 
hearts cry out after God, even the living God. They 
grope after him as blind men feeling their way along the 
wall. And God is not far from any one of them. He has 
revealed himself in the person of the Christ and he is ever 
going forth in quest of those who desire him. " A seek- 
ing sinner finds a seeking Saviour." No heart ever really 
wanted Christ without having him. The supreme mo- 
ment of life is when we first look upon the face of our 
Beloved and cry, '* Mine eyes have seen thy salvation !" 

And when we have found him we are ever eager to 
know more of him. Salvation is but the first step in the 
long journey of sanctification which leads to God. And 
our progress in sanctification is measured by the intimacy 
of our relation with Christ as guide and travelling com- 
panion. If we will, he is nearer than our nearest friend, 
nearer than touching or seeing. The vision of spiritual 
beauty that came to Simeon and Anna when they looked 
upon the face of the Christ-child was with them until they 
saw him robed in light and glory unapproachable. An 
ever present sense of a living Saviour is the assurance of 
an abundant entrance into the city of God. 

And there are those, too, who watch for the harvest. 



236 HINTS AND HELPS. 

In the name of the Master they toil and pray for the 
salvation of souls ; and hope deferred maketh them heart- 
sick. Yet let them watch and wait and believe. God 
honors patient waiting. Simeon and Anna kept vigil 
till they were old and gray, but the vision came at last. 
" He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, 
shall doubtless — doubtless — come again with rejoicing, 
bringing his sheaves with him." 

And are we not all waiting for the appearing of our 
Lord ? Do we not watch the heavens to see them rend 
asunder and the angel host come trooping forth with 
Jesus at their head ? If he tarry, let us still with patience 
wait and watch. For his promise is yea and amen. 
Maranatha ! the Lord cometh. One of these bright days, 
as we go about our common tasks, the blast of a trumpet, 
clear and loud, will rend the air : and gazing upward we 
shall see the King in his glory and the white- winged 
multitude following after. Then with joy lik^ that of the 
watchers in the temple we shall look into each others* 
faces saying, " He is come at last ! The consolation of 
Israel is at hand !" Meanwhile let us be faithful in our 
places ; faithful in the heat and burden of the day. And 
when increasing years shall bid us tarry at home while 
the reapers pass by to the harvest, still, like Simeon and 
Anna, let us be praying and waiting for the consolation of 
Israel. 

"They also serve who only stand and wait." 



THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN. 237 



THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN. 

MATT. 2 : 1-I2. 

The stars are our oldest friends. We watched them 
in our childhood, tracing the outlines of grotesque con- 
stellations and reaching out with vain questionings to- 
wards the sparkling wonder-land. The same orbs are in 
the heavens now ; the planets still march faithfully up and 
down the ramparts, the never-closing eyes of the fixed 
stars still gaze coldly from the far distance upon us. Not 
one of them faileth. It is not strange that some have 
fancied it possible to trace the destiny of men and nations 
in the intermingling yet ever orderly paths of the great 
lights. Thus the magi watched the heavens for signs 
and tokens of the advent of Christ. The hope of his 
coming was as old as the sorrow of sin. At this time 
there was reason to believe, in passing events set over 
against prophecy, that he might appear at any moment. 
These astrologers of the East shared in the universal 
expectancy. It was natural that, when they saw the por- 
tent in the heavens, they should ** rejoice with exceeding 
joy." 

IVas it a comets Milton speaks of it as a comet 
** dangling in the air." It is inferred from certain Chinese 
astronomical tables that in the Year of Rome 750 a comet 
in fact appeared and was visible for a period of seventy 
days. If this was indeed the Star of Bethlehem, it is fair 
to say that no other comet ever left so glorious a trail of 
light behind it. 



238 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Or was it a conjunction 0/ planets f On October 10, 
1604, Kepler observed a peculiar conjunction of Jupiter, 
Mars and Saturn. By careful calculation he determined 
that a similar event had taken place on May 7, B. C. 7 ; 
whereupon Ideler exclaims : " The star of astrology has 
become the torch of chronology," and proceeds to dis- 
place the Star of Bethlehem from the category of the 
supernatural. It should be added that this phenomenon 
occurred in the constellation of Pisces, which was associa- 
ted in ancient astrology with the destinies of Judea. It 
must be observed, however, that the date assigned to this 
conjunction is three years before the birth of Jesus. 
Moreover it must have appeared as a brilliant ball of light, 
at an altitude of fifty -seven degrees, while the Star of 
Bethlehem was vertical, " standing over the place where 
the young child was." 

Or was it a meteor f Was it a shining messenger 
sent upon this particular errand and then extinguished for 
ever ; as the drinking-cups of kings, once used, were bro- 
ken as too sacred to be touched by common lips ? Why 
not ? The whole earthly life of Jesus, as the most stu- 
pendous of historical events, was environed with prodigies. 
There was, indeed, almost an antecedent probability that 
the starry heavens would be put under contribution .to 
herald his birth and light the pathway of those who sought 
him. 

In any case, it would appear to have been a super- 
natural portent ; as much out of the ordinary — that is, as 
miraculous — as the cloudy pillar, the dove that descended 
upon Jesus at his baptism, the light that shone upon his 
face in the Transfiguration, or the noon-day darkness that 
gathered about his cross. 

Now as to its moral significance. 



THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN. 239 

1. It was a royal harbinger. The ancient astrologers 
believed that new stars had to do peculiarly with the 
destinies of kings. More than a thousand years before 
this time a trance had fallen on Balaam, as he gazed from 
the summit of Peor upon the tents of Israel whitening the 
plain below ; and under its influence he, urged to curse, 
was forced to pronounce a Messianic blessing ; " I shall 
see him, but not now ; I shall behold him, but* not nigh ; 
there shall come a Star out of Jacob and a Sceptre out of 
Israel, and the corners of Moab shall be smitten !'* On 
that prophecy had been kindled an inextinguishable hope 
of Messiah's glorious reign. The shining of this star in 
the East was the expected token of his advent. It glowed 
like a diamond on the index -finger of the night, pointing 
to the birthplace of the King. It ** went before" these 
magi — over the mountains of Chaldea, over the valley of 
Euphrates, around by Damascus and the green slopes of 
Lebanon; southward along the vale of Jordan, westward 
by the ascent to Jerusalem, down again toward Bethle- 
hem — and there stood still. It bowed low and stood still 
over a stable ! ** Surely there must be some mistake," 
the magi were saying, when suddenly an infant's wail fell 
upon their ears. They had found the King. 

2. The star which went before these wise men was 
the bright and morning star. It betokened the coming of 
One whose light lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world. The incidental blessings of the incarnation fall 
not upon Christians alone but upon all the children of 
men. It is like the shining of the sun, which even the 
blind must be grateful for. 

A new day broke upon the earth when Jesus was 
born. 

Firsty Politically. At that time government was tyr- 



240 HINTS AND HELPS. 

anny: kings flourished on the poverty and sorrow ol 
their people. The publican sat at every gate exacting 
taxes for the royal establishment. A few fortunate ones 
basked in the king's favor ; but the masses were as little 
thought of as sheep and oxen. In the whole Roman em- 
pire there were less than two thousand proprietors and 
more than sixty millions of slaves. These slaves were 
herded together like cattle in stalls. Where was " the 
thrifty middle class " ? There was pone. Labor was dis- 
reputable. The plebeians lived in indolence, crying per- 
petually for "bread and games;" and to keep them in 
submission bread and games were provided at the public 
expense. Beggars swarmed along the streets and tho- 
roughfares. As for women — well might they veil their 
faces. They were treated as either toys or drudges. 
Plato's definition of disorder is " when slaves and wives 
are disobedient." Divorces were frequent. Seneca says, 
"Many women counted their years by the number of 
their husbands." Juvenal says, " Many are divorced be- 
fore their nuptial garlands are faded." Children were 
litde thought of. Unwelcome infants were exposed to 
death in out of the way places. All this was in Rome ; 
the proudest and most highly civilized of nations. Verily 
the time had come for a new order of things. The advent 
of Christ meant the exaltation of man as man. It meant 
the enfranchisement of the people. It meant liberty, 
equality, fraternity. 

Second^ Commercially. The lines of commerce are 
bonds that hold together the corners of the earth and 
realize the solidarity of the race. At the time of the ad- 
vent of Jesus there was little of the sort. Processions of 
camels winding over the mountains, a few cockle-shells 
cruising near shore between neighboring ports, these were 



THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN. 24I 

all. But what trains and fleets have come after the wise 
men who followed the star ! And with them have come 
new laws and customs of intercommunication. " Every 
one for himself" was the formula of the ante-Christian 
world. To this day there is an utter lack of mutual con- 
fidence among peoples that lie outside the charmed circle 
of the Gospel. " The unspeakable Turk " and " the ly- 
ing Arab " await the light. In Christian communities we 
trust one another. There is no more eloquent tribute to 
the illuminating power of the Christian religion than our 
banking system. Men used to bury their money in the 
ground because it was safe nowhere else. But under the 
influence of Gospel light there has come to be confidence 
between man and man. 

Thirds Industrially. The laborer is no longer a slave. 
Handicraft is no longer dishonorable. Nero executed at 
one time four thousand plebeians to vindicate the murder 
of a knight. To-day the queen of Great Britain can not 
strike a scullery- maid with impunity. The daystar of 
Christianity is shining with a most helpful light in all 
earth's work-shops. Jesus the Carpenter has vindicated 
the toiler's manhood. The shame of calloused hands has 
passed by. The humblest may earn his own food, dwell 
in his own cottage, strike hands with his fellow-craftsmen 
in a labor guild, and demand his rights in open court. 

*• What though on homely fare we dine, 
Wear hoddin grey an* a that ; 
Gie fools their silks and knaves their wine, 
A man 's a man for a' that ! 
For a* that, an* a* that, 
It 's coming yet for a' that, 
When man to man the whole world o'er 
Shall brothers be an* a* that !'* 

Hints and TlelpB. j A 



242 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Fourth, Socially. The centre of our modem social 
life is the Christian home. The father there exercises a 
just authority; the mother rules in love; and sons and 
daughters, yielding to them a sweet filial reverence, are 
bound together in warm, prayerful affection. The arche- 
type and original of this delightful picture is the home at 
Nazareth, where the boy Jesus grew in wisdom and stat- 
ure and was in subjection unto his parents. The home 
as here portrayed is peculiar to such nations as have felt 
the illuminating influence of the gospels. And out of this 
institution, the Christian home, flow streams of influence 
which are destined ultimately to fertilize and gladden the 
whole earth. There is a German legend which says that 
once a year, when the full moon casts its radiance like a 
silver bridge acrosss the Rhine, the spirit of Charlemagne 
comes forth and, standing midway on the bridge, lifts its 
hands and pronounces a blessing on the homes and fields 
and rivers of the fatherland. For Charlemagne read 
Christ, for Germany the world, for "once a year" un- 
ceasingly, and the legend is true. 

3. This star of Bethlehem was also the star of empire. 
It was the foregleam of the golden age. The Persians 
are right in saying that a mortal conflict is going on be- 
tween the powers of light and darkness; but in their 
Zoroastrian faith they find no prophecy of the outcome. 
We know that the light must triumph. Jesus, the bright 
and morning star, shall reign in effulgent goodness from 
the river unto the ends of the earth. The " Star out of 
Jacob " is destined to " smite the corners of Moab." 

" For, lo ! the days are hastening on 
By prophet bards foretold. 
When with the ever-circling years 
Comes round the age of gold ; 



THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN. 243 

When peace shall over all the earth 

Its ancient splendors fling, 
And the whole world send back the song 

Which now the angels sing.'* 

There has never been hopeless darkness since Jesus was 
born. Every day the world catches a little more of the 
heavenly light. A medal was struck off by the Emperor 
Diocletian bearing the figure of a strangled hydra and 
over it the word " Deleta Christianitas." Christianity 
strangled ! As well try to strangle the sun, the fountain, 
the breath of the morning. Marvellously has God glori- 
fied the name of his well-beloved Son during these nine- 
teen hundred years. The royal ensigns onward go. The 
star that " flamed on the forehead of the sky " when Jesus 
was born shall glow with ever increasing brightness until 
the whole world is illumed by it. 

4. This was a guiding star, and therein' it became to 
these wise men a star of destiny. Had they refused to 
follow it they would, in all likelihood, never have found 
the Christ. Excuses were at hand, had they desired 
them. The journey was long — ten times as long as a 
journey across our continent to-day. But these men 
were in earnest ; they wanted to find Jesus, and when the 
star, like an angel, beckoned and led the way they fol- 
lowed until they found him. 

" Every man," said Napoleon, " has his star." It is 
true that influences are brought to bear upon every man 
which, if he yield, will lead him to the realization of all 
his grandest hopes. "There are so many voices, and 
none of them is without signification." God is ever guid- 
ing us to Bethlehem, to the noblest and best. When we 
wander he calls us back. What we name impulses are, 
doubtless, oftentimes but the drawings of his Spirit. A 



244 HINTS AND HELPS. 

mother's voice, a strain of music, the memory of a face 
returning through the mist of years, may be our star of 
destiny. 

The Russian priests tell of a woman who greeted the 
wise men on their way to Bethlehem. And they said to 
her, ** Come thou with us ; we have seen Christ*s star and 
go to worship him." But she would not. ** My house must 
be set in order," she said. "I have garments to make and 
food to prepare for the good-man*s coming." Afterwards, 
when she knew her mistake, the magi had passed on and 
the star shone no more. And now, old and gray, the 
Baboushka wanders about gazing into all the children's 
faces in vain search for the Christ-child. Oh, let us follow 
the star while it shines above us ! Let us yield to all 
gracious influences that call us to Bethlehem. The wise 
men are on their way. 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 245 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 

Matt. 2:13-23. 

God reigns. However his plans may seem to be 
thwarted he has his way in the long run. As a farmer 
walking through his field on a dewy morning makes 
havoc with the cobwebs strung across his path, so does the 
Omnipotent stride through the schemes of the adversary. 
In vain do kings of the earth set themselves and rulers 
take counsel against him. " He that sitteth in the hea- 
vens shall laugh ; the Lord shall have them in derision." 
He bringeth all their purposes to naught. He maketh 
the wrath of men to praise him and the remainder of 
Wrath shall he restrain. To run upon the bosses of his 
shield is the height of fatuity. The king's heart is in his 
hand as the rivers of water : he turneth it whithersoever 
he will. 

All this should have occurred to Herod before he 
planned the slaughter of the innocents. He was alarmed 
when the wise men spoke of one " born King of the Jews." 
Like many another oriental ruler he thought to avert the 
danger by extirpating the seed royal. But he reckoned 
without God. It is a foolish and dangerous thing to 
wrestle with Omnipotence ; not less preposterous than for 
a beetle to set itself before the wheels of the king^s chariot. 
The breath of such men as Herod is in their nostrils : they 
die, but God rides on. 

It was known to the Lord from the beginning what 
Herod would do, and provision had been made against it. 
A dream was used as the instrument of his confusion. 






'246 HINTS AND HELPS. 

God can use anything — a budded rod, the jawbone of an 
ass, furnace fire, a brooding dove, spittle, the rustling of 
leaves — anything can be made to answer his purpose for 
the defence of his friends or the confounding of his foes. 
He has over and over again revealed himself in dreams 
and visions of the night, but far more frequently in an- 
cient times than since the giving of the Scriptures. It is 
now the part of superstition to trust to dreams ; wise people 
turn to the Law and the Testimony. It is related of 
Rowland Hill that, on hearing a young candidate for the 
ministry lay stress upon a dream, he said, " Dreams are 
well enough in their way, but we would much rather know 
how you go on when wide awake." 

In Joseph's dream an angel spoke to him. It is 
worth noting that Joseph, and not Mary, was the recipient 
of this angel's visit. We must not be unmindful of the 
part taken by this modest and retiring man in the gospel 
story. As Mary's husband he was partaker of the oblo- 
quy which fell upon her by reason of the strange birth of 
Jesus. His faithful acquiescence in the divine plan is here 
rewarded. He receives a special commission from the 
Lord : " Arise, and take the young Child and his mother 
and flee into Egypt." It speaks well for him that there 
was no delay : at once " he arose and took the young 
Child and his mother by. night and departed." His faith 
in God made him a usable man. God has little use for 
the man who answers with an if or a but. The true ser- 
vant waits upon his master's nod and beck, ever answer- 
ing, *' I delight to do thy will." 

I. The Flight into Egypt, Why into Egypt? 
First, because it was near by. Secondy because the way 
was familiar. There was a constant stream of commerce 
between the two countries. They were bound together 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 247 

by a trodden path. Thirds they were sure of a welcome 
there. The semi-barbarous tribes to the east of Jordan 
might not have been willing to receive them ; but the 
Egyptians were a hospitable people. And, besides, there 
were multitudes of Jews dwelling among them. Fourthy 
Egypt, though a Roman province, was outside the juris- 
diction of Herod. He could not reach the fugitives 
there. Fifths Egypt was the place indicated by the 
angel. ' This was sufficient reason of itself. God was 
managing this affair and Joseph was quite willing to have 
it so. 

A further reason, of which Joseph could scarcely have 
been cognizant, is given in the words, ** That it might be 
fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, 
saying, Out of Egypt have I called my Son." We find 
the prophecy here referred to in Hosea 1 1 : i : " When 
Israel was a child then I loved him and called my son out 
of Egypt." In the application of the prediction to the 
matter in hand we are led to certain conclusions : Firsty 
In New Testament references to the Old Testament's 
prophecy less attention is paid to quotation word for 
word than to the real and accurate meaning of the text. 
This is always the important thing. In our own use of 
Scripture we should make more of the spirit than of the 
letter. Second^ In many of the Old Testament prophecies 
there was a double meaning. The obvious and immedi- 
ate reference in Hosea*s was to the going forth of the 
children of Israel from Egypt by night ; but God knew 
their hidden sense. He designed that, while they should 
touch the earlier event, they should also in due time be 
fulfilled in the story of the infant Christ. The secondary 
pipplication was no more accidental than the primary, but 
was fully intended of God. Thirds We must not be led, 



248 HINTS AND HELPS. 

by such divinely authorized adaptations, to be ever on the 
lookout for hidden meanings or to take fanciful and un- 
warranted liberties with the plain meaning of Holy Writ. 
Our part is to take God precisely at his word ; when he 
interprets it is safe to follow him. 

The flight into Egypt finds a curious parallel in the 
vision of the woman and her child in the twelfth chapter 
of Revelation. This woman " clothed with the sun, with 
the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 
twelve stars," is represented as fleeing with her divine 
child " into the wilderness, where she hath a place pre- 
pared of God." A great dragon "having seven heads and 
ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads " pursues her, 
determined " to devour her child." An angel host comes 
forth to their defence. There is "war in heaven;" the 
great dragon is cast down, while voices are heard, "Now 
is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our 
God and the power of his Christ !" Then the dragon, be- 
ing defeated in his purpose to devour the child, goeth 
forth " to make war with the remnant of her seed, even 
such as keep God's commandments and have the testi- 
mony of Jesus Christ." Here is a remarkable outline of 
the persecutions of the church. For centuries she fled 
before the violence of kings. But the hosts of heaven 
were her defence and "the earth helped the woman." 
Again and again — as with the refugees of the Catacombs, 
the dwellers among the mountains of Asia, the Waldenses, 
the Huguenots, the- Beggars of Holland, the Scotch Cov- 
enanters — " the wings of a great eagle were given unto 
her that she might fly into the wilderness, where she 
should be nourished for a time." Wonderful have been 
her deliverances. As Israel of old was brought out of 
bondage with a mighty arm, as the Christ-child himself 



o 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 249 

found shelter under the shadow of the Egyptian throne, so 
has God put his great arms about his church and kept her 
3afe amidst her foes. And the thing that hath been shall 
be. God is the defence of his people. The gates of hell 
shall not prevail against them. 

** Hammer away, ye rebel bands; 
Your hammers break, God*s anvil stands.*' 

2. The Slaughter of the Innocents, " Then Herod 
was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the 
children that were in Bethlehem and in the coasts thereof 
from two years old and under." The record is brief but 
dark as midnight. Every word is freighted with an in- 
fant's helpless wail and a mother's unavailing sorrow. If 
it seem strange that God in his providence should allow 
such things, let us be sure that in the final outcome even 
this monstrous murder will be seen to have been overruled 
for good. 

There are cavillers who question the accuracy of this 
narrative on the general ground that such cruelty is in- 
credible : but consider, First, that crimes of this character 
Were not uncommon among the oriental rulers of those 
days. Second, Herod was just the sort of man to do this 
thing. He was a monster of iniquity. His hands were 
red witTi the blood of many, including his own sons. 
Third, the number of victims in this matter was probably 
not so great as is generally supposed. Allowing the pop- 
ulation of Bethlehem to have been two thousand the 
children " of two years and under " could scarcely have 
exceeded one hundred. To a man like Herod the slaugh- 
ter of a hundred children, in a matter endangering the 
succession to his throne, would have seemed a paltry 
thing. Fourth^ the record is verified by other writers; 



250 HINTS AND HELPS. 

among them the heathen Macrobius, who says, "When 
Augustus had heard that among the children under two 
years old whom Herod had ordered to be slain was his 
own son, he said ' It is better to be Herod*s swine than 
his son.'" Origen, in his controversy with Celsus the 
pagan satirist, says without contradiction, " Herod put to 
death all the little children in Bethlehem and its borders, 
with the purpose of destroying the King of Israel who 
had been born there." 

At this point we come upon another adaptation of 
ancient prophecy : " Then was fulfilled that which was 
spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was 
there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping and great 
mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to 
be comforted, because they were not. " This is found in 
Jeremiah 31:15. In Rama — the site of which is uncertain 
but probably not far from Bethlehem — the king of Baby- 
lon assembled his captives before leading them away from 
their beloved land. This was doubtless the immediate 
reference of the prophecy. The poetic beauty of its ac- 
commodation to the present instance is heightened by 
the fact that Rachel's tomb was " on the way to Bethle- 
hem." It was as if this ancient mother in Israel were 
lamenting the death of these children as, of old, she was 
represented as coming from her grave to weep* for the 
captivity of her people. There is a pathetic fitness, also, 
in the fact that the children of Bethlehem were brought 
thus into a martyr-fellowship with the sufferings of Jesus, 
who loved them so well. 

3. The coming to Nazareth, The news of Herod's 
death was brought to Joseph by an angel, who said : 
*'Arise, and take the young Child and his mother and go 
into the land of Israel." Again observe the unquestion- 



THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 25 1 

ing readiness with which Joseph obeys the voice. " He 
arose and went." But on the way another message came : 
though Herod was dead, his son Archelaus, no less 
wicked and cruel, reigned in his room. Wherefore Jo- 
seph was counselled **to turn aside into the parts of 
Galilee." So it was that he " came and dwelt in Naza- 
reth." All this was providential. If the parents of Jesus 
had been left to choose for themselves it is probable that 
they would have gone almost anywhere else. Nazareth 
was a notorious place. But there were reasons for its se- 
lection. Firsty it was secluded, being in a remote part of Pal- 
estine, far from danger and from the world's clamor; "set 
in the midst of gently sloping hills which rise about it like 
the edge of a shell to guard it from intrusion." Second^ . 
it was surrounded on every side by natural beauty which 
must have gladdened the heart of Jesus during his grow- 
ing years. An old writer says, *' Nazareth is a rose, hav- 
ing the same rounded form and enclosed by mountains 
as the flower by its leaves." Thirdy the very wickedness 
of its inhabitants would make it a proper home for Jesus, 
whose purpose was to save the world from sin. Let us 
learn from his example that a man need not be the crea- 
ture of circumstances, but may rise above his environ- 
ment and keep himself pure in the midst of impurity as a 
lily growing in the mire. " Can any good thing come 
out of Nazareth?" was a proverb. Jesus answered it. 
The most perfect character the world ever saw was devel- 
oped amid the most adverse surroundings. Here is en- 
couragement for all such as find themselves struggling 
under burdens of shame, poverty and hereditary hin- 
drance. One can make a man of himself anywhere, and 
work out his destiny against the world, the flesh and the 
devil, if only God be with him. 



252 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Once more a prophecy accomplished: "that it 
might be fulfilled that was spoken by the prophets, He 
shall be called a Nazarene." The reference is not to a 
specific prediction uttered by a single seer, but to the 
general tenor of what was said "by the prophets" re- 
specting Jesus as the despised one. Thus it was written 
by Isaiah, ** He shall grow up before him as a tender 
plant and as a root* out of a dry ground. He hath no 
form nor comeliness ; and when we shall see him there is 
no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised 
and we esteemed him not." 

Here we leave the divine Boy, in the home at Naza- 
reth. Under the care of his loving parents he, despite 
his surroundings, will be growing in wisdom and in stat- 
ure and in favor with God and man. The shadow of the 
cross is over him even now ; but these years of prepara- 
tion are needed before he may enter upon his great work. 
He can be content to wait. Nothing can hinder his great 
purpose. The blue skies above him are the assurance of 
his Father's love; and as the verdant hills enclose his 
village home so is the protecting care of his Father 
round about him. 

* The word is nelsir^ which is said to be cognate with 
Nazareth ; in any case there is a curious correspondence. 



THE YOUTH OF JESUS. 253 



THE YOUTH OF JESUS. 

LUKE 2 : 40-52. 

The early years of Jesus were passed in retirement. 
A single verse tells all: "The child grew and waxed 
strong — filled with wisdom : and the grace of God was 
upon him." What more could be said ? " He grew." 
His physical and mental development was like that of 
other lads. There was no visible peculiarity in his con- 
stitution save in the matter of sinlessnesg. He had " a 
true body and a reasonable soul." He attended to the 
simple tasks of the home-life, learned his lesson at school, 
with flushed cheeks climbed the hills about Nazareth, 
laughed and played and generally behaved like other 
healthy boys. Thus "he grew." His sinews knit, his 
mind was disciplined, and his soul took on the graces 
that constitute character and challenge the favor of both 
God and man. 

No part of human life is more important than this. 
It is the formative period, the time for girding the loins. 
The serious business of the work-a-day world must be 
prepared for. Silence and solitude are most helpful now. 
There will be enough of drum beat and trumpet*s blare 
presently. A wise soldier — like Moses in Midian and 
Paul in the deserts of Arabia — will buckle on his harness 
before he issues from his tent. The Scriptures, therefore, 
have nothing to say of the doings and sayings of Jesus 
during these early years. It is only the Apocryphal gos- 



254 HINTS AND HELPS. 

pels that intrude, and they make a grotesque show of 
themselves in doing so.* 

One glimpse only is given. There were certain crit- 
ical periods in the life of a Jewish youth. At three years 
of age he was given a tasselled garment, as directed by 
the law (Numbers 15:38-41). At five he learned the 
shetna or creed, and began to commit to memory the 
Hallel psalms. At ten he commenced the study of the 
Mishnay a compendium of Scriptural exposition. At 
twelve he became ben-hattorah^ " a son of the Law," as- 
suming responsibility for his own conduct. At thirteen he 
put on the phylacteries, which Jews were accustomed to 
wear at their daily devotions. At eighteen he was per- 
mitted to take up the study of the GemarUy a collection 
of rabbinical traditions and interpretations. 

It was at the age of twelve that Jesus made his first 
visit to Jerusalem with his parents. As this is the only 
occasion between his birth and ministry on which the vail 
is lifted we may be sure the incident was recorded for our 
profit. What shall we learn ? There are lessons here of 
peculiar importance to the young. 

I. Here is something about going to school. It is not 
said — indeed there was no occasion for mentioning the 
fact in connection with this incident — that Jesus attended 
the rabbinical schools, but the Jewish law respecting the 
education of youth makes it quite certain that he did so. 
It would be interesting to imagine him, sitting at the feet 
of the sopheriniy conning the well-thumbed scrolls of Jew- 

* It is recorded in the Apocryphal books that Jesus wrought 
many miracles during his boyhood. He commanded the trees 
and they made obeisance before him ; moulded sparrows out 
of clay and animated them by clapping his hands ; changed un- 
pleasant playmates into goats, and dried up useful fountains 
with a word ! 



THE YOUTH OF JESUS. 255 

ish history, learning "by heart" the prayers of David 
and the battle-hymns of ancient worthies. Did he work 
"examples" in arithmetic, after the method of that time, 
with sliding balls or a frame ? In any case, " he grew in 
wisdom." 

The youth of our time should be counselled to make 
their attendance on school something more than a per- 
functory task. It is a necessary part of preparation for a 
useful life. The sword must be ground before it can do 
execution in the high places of the field. The diamond 
must be cut and polished before it can ghtter in the 
king's crown. Knowledge is power: Every lesson well 
learned is a substantial addition to the possibilities of life. 
It is estimated that if a bar of iron, worth $5 or there- 
about, be worked over into horseshoes, it will assume a 
value of $10 50; into needles, $350; into knife-blades 
or razors, $3,285 ; into balance-wheels for watches, $250, 
000. Education — from educerCy to draw out — develops 
the natural force into capability and influence. It ena- 
bles us to make the most of ourselves, to make our lives 
tell. 

2. Here is something about learning a trade, Mark 
tells us that Jesus was a carpenter, as well as " the carpen- 
ter's son ;" and, inasmuch as the Jewish law required that 
every boy should learn a trade* and custom obliged him 
to keep in the rank of his father, we may regard it as quite 
certain that Jesus served his apprenticeship in the shop at 
Nazareth. Justin Martyr, who lived a century and a half 
later, speaks of the ploughs and yokes which Jesus had 
made. In Holman Hunt's well known picture of Jesus, 
he is represented as standing in the workshop, lifting his 

* It was a proverb among the Jews, *'The father who fails to 
teach his son a trade teaches him to be a thief.** 



2S6 HINTS AND HELPS. 

hands in weariness, chips and shavings about his feet, the 
implements of his trade on the bench before him. This 
is as it should be ; for our Lord and Master came into the 
world to assume our nature and to enter into the experi- 
ences of our common life, to be " not a dreamer among the 
shadows but a man among men." If he would sympa- 
thize with the wants and sorrows of the great company of 
toilers he must fall in with the multitude who leave their 
homes at morning, dinner-pail in hand, and return at night 
weary with an honest day's work. 

There are two kinds of people, producers and consu- 
mers ; just as every hive has its drones and honey-makers. 
The mere consumers, though they clothe themselves in 
fine linen and fare sumptuously every day, are a burden 
on the earth. The youth who expects to live by the 
sweat of his father's brow is no better than a tramp. 
Bees sting the superfluous drones to death. Athens ex- 
iled or executed its incorrigible idlers. Paul said, " If a 
man will not work, neither let him eat." It behooves 
every man to find his place somewhere in the great fellow- 
ship of brain- craft and handicraft. " The Village Black- 
smith " gives us a picture of true nobility : 

"His brow is wet with honest sweat. 
He earns whatever he can ; 
He looks the whole world in the face, 
For he owes not any man." 

Nor is it the boys alone who should be taught to earn 
an honest livelihood. There is a measure of truth in what 
some one has said, " In these times we send our boys out 
into the world to earn their living and the girls to beg 
their living of the boys." Any system of training which 
does not take into account the fact that our daughters — 
however independent now — may possibly be thrown upon 



THE YOUTH OF JESUS. 25/ 

their own resources, is wrong. Henry Lawrence of South 
Carolina, imprisoned in London Tower during the Revo- 
lution, wrote thus to his daughter : " My dear, I greatly 
regret that I have never taught thee how to earn a liveli- 
hood ; for now the wheel of fortune hath turned, and what 
wilt thou do ?* Alas, the wheel of fortune is ever turning ! 
Tnose who are up to-day may be down to-morrow ; and 
what will they do ? In the attics and basements of all our 
great cities there are women, brought up in affluence but 
now reduced to poverty, who are toiling hopelessly to 
keep soul and body together. They were never taught 
to provide for themselves, never forearmed against the 
turning of fortune's wheel ; and what can they do ? 

3. Here is something about obedience to parents. It is 
written of Jesus that during these formative years at 
Nazareth " he was subject unto his parents.*' This means, 
in simple phrase, that he ran his mother's errands without 
murmuring, that in the workshop he received his orders 
from Joseph without complaint, and that even in early 
manhood he did not think obedience beneath him. 

Our modern boys too soon grow restive under the 

restraint of mother's apron-strings. They are scarcely 

out of " roundabouts " before they feel themselves too big 

to obey. Let them heed the example of this blessed Boy 

of Nazareth. There is nothing better in the wide world 

than a father's authority, a mother's love. Do we think 

the less of Washington because he kept himself loyal to 

these sweet restraints long after he had come to the full 

stature of a man ? There is no period of life whereat the 

precept "Honor thy father and thy mother" loses its 

binding force. • The name of Absalom is a hissing and a 

by-word among the Jews to this day because of his filial 

ingratitude. He was the ^* black sheep " of the household 
17 



258 HINTS AND HELPS. 

of David. He scorned obedience. He drove his father 
to bitter tears and unspeakable sorrow by his profligacy 
and rebellion. And even now no Jew will pass the spot 
which is pointed out as Absalom's tomb without mutter- 
ing an imprecation and casting a stone at it. It was 
another and a wiser Hebrew who wrote : " The eye 
that mocketh at his father and despiseth his mother, the 
ravens of the valley shall pick it out and the young eagles 
shall eat it." . 

The record of the perfect life of Jesus would not be 
complete without this word respecting his filial love and 
obedience. It is noted that the name of Joseph is men- 
tioned in this incident for the last time. The probability 
is that he died while Jesus was still at Nazareth. If so, it 
may be assumed that the support of the widow and her 
household devolved upon her eldest son. To him it was 
surely a labor of love. And there are widows the world 
over who are leaning hard upon such sons ; finding in this 
loyal devotion the reward of their travail and surcease of 
sorrow. The blessing of Heaven is upon those who honor 
their parents ; the one " commandment with promise " is 
theirs : " that their days may be long in the land which the 
Lord their God giveth them." 

4. Here is something about going to church. The 
boy Jesus had been used, as was the universal custom, to 
attend regularly the services of the village synagogue. It 
was an event in his life when, at twelve, he was permitted 
to go up with his parents to the Passover at Jerusalem. 
There was much in the place and the occasion to interest 
this devout youth, (i) Among the rabbis who ministered 
at this time were many of the most illustrious : Hillel and 
his 'famous opponent Shammai, heads of rival schools ; 
Gamaliel, called ** the flower of the Law," afterwards the 



THE YOUTH OF JESUS. 259 

instructor of Saul of Tarsus ; Simeon, who subsequently- 
occupied the seat of Hillel ; Jonathan, the compiler of the 
Hebrew paraphrase ; and Nicodemus, who " came to Je- 
sus by night." (2) The minds of rabbis and people alike 
were occupied at this time by the institution of the Pass- 
over. The account of that awful night when the destroy- 
ing angel hovered over the homes of Egypt and the 
Israelites marched out was recited over and over; the 
prescribed sacrifices were offered; and the temple rang 
with thanksgivings for the great deliverance. No other 
of the annual festivals was kept with so much solemnity 
as this. The Holy City was crowded, the surrounding 
hillsides covered with the tents of those who had come to 
participate in it. (3) To the boy Jesus all this had a 
deeper significance than it could possibly have had for any- 
one else. There is every reason for believing that he 
knew, himself, and while keeping his own counsel was 
conscious of his holy mission. The Spirit of God was 
always upon him ; the shadow of the cross was always 
over him. The Passover was an object-lesson of the de- 
liverance which was presently to be wrought in his own 
redemptive death. What lofty meditations must have 
taken possession of his mind and heart during the cele- 
bration of this feast ! He himself was the antitype of the 
paschal lamb ; this sprinkled blood was a prophecy of the 
shedding of his own. (4) We may thus surmise the pur- 
port of the questions he asked and the answers given 
while he " sat in the midst of the doctors." We may be 
quite sure there was no unseemly display of precocity or 
forwardness. He knew, however, more than the wisest 
rabbi there respecting the great truths that centred in the 
Passover. Little wonder if they were " astonished at his 
understanding." 



26o HINTS AND HELPS. 

For the devout attendant there is always a blessing 
in the house of God. Let us learn from our Lord's ex- 
ample to honor its stated services. The Jews were a 
church-going people. One of their favorite hymns be- 
gan, " I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go 
into the house of the Lord." It is greatly to be feared 
that Christian people are over lax in this matter. The 
ringing of the church bell is our call to an appointment 
with the King. Let our hearts join in Israel's response : 

" How pleased and blest was I, 
To hear the people cry, 
* Come, let us seek our God to-day.' " 

5. Here is something about duty. When the parents 
of Jesus found him sitting among the doctors in the tem- 
ple, and remonstrated with him, he answered, " Wist ye 
not that I must be about my Father's business ?"* Thus 
the first recorded words of Jesus have to do with duty, 
(i) He speaks of his Father as having the supreme claim 
upon him. The turning point of any man's life is come 
when he can thus name the name of his Father. (2) He 
further signifies that the great truths which he has been 
discussing with the rabbis are important above all. No 
man has begun to live, certainly none has become " a son 
of the law," until he has confronted the great verities and 
mighty problems which reach out into the eternal ages. 
(3) Still further, he points out his life-work. The " Fa- 
ther's business " must henceforth be the business of his 
life. Afterwards he said, " I must work the works of Him 
that sent me." There is a great lesson in those words, " I 
must." The spirit of a useful and successful life is in 

* In the New Version it is, "Wist ye not that I must be in my 
Father's house?" The meaning is substantially the same. 



THE YOUTH OF JESUS. 26l 

them. No man is making the best of himself who does 
not feel the constant constraint of a divine needs -be. This 
is the meaning of the mighty word " ought," which, taken 
asunder, means, " I owe it." Duty is the expression of 
our indebtedness to God. To say in the face of duty, *' I 
must," is to be following after Christ. To say this habit- 
ually is to find in duty a delight and our highest manhood 
in the performance of it. 

" So nigh is glory to the dust, 
So near is God to man, 
When Duty whispers low, * Thou must,' 
The youth replies, * I can !' " 

After the Passover our Lord returned with his pa- 
rents to Nazareth and resumed the former manner of his 
life. But, whether mingling with his former townsmen in 
social converse or toiling alone in the carpenter-shop, he 
was never unmindful of his great duty. Though in the 
world, he was not of it; though, cheerfully attending to 
secular matters, his heart was above them. The mend- 
ing of ploughs and harrows, the gossip of the neighbor- 
hood, the microcosmic affairs of the domestic circle were 
of infinitesimal importance as related to the mighty things 
of the kingdom of God. And this kingdom was all about 
him ; it folded him in, it held him fast with a tremendous, 
yet blessed, " Thou must !" So may we all be living in 
this present world, attending with a good conscience to 
all common tasks, yet ever hearkening to the call oi 
heavenly voices and with clear eyes beholding the hands 
that beckon us to service in the kingdom of God. 



262 HINTS AND HELPS. 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 

Mark i : i-ii. 

" In those days " — the days of the world's despair. 
The lights were gone out in the sanctuary. There was 
no more open vision. The oracles were dumb. The gods, 
exposed and derided, had fallen from their pedestals and 
lay with their faces in the dust. The philosophers were 
put to an open shame. The rabbis of Israel were chatter- 
ing about mint and anise and cummin. The people had 
settled down into confessed and hopeless apathy. 

The spirit of the age found expression in such ques- 
tions as, '' Is there a God ?" " What is truth ?" " If a man 
die, will he live again ?'* *' Is there anything better than 
to eat, drink, and be merry ?" 

" On that hard pagan world disgust 

And sated loathing fell ; 
Deep weariness and sated lust 

Made human life a hell. 
In his cool hall with haggard eyes 

The Roman noble lay ; 
He drove abroad in furious guise 

Along the Appian Way ; 
He made a feast, drank fierce and fast, 

And crowned his hair with flowers — 
No easier nor no quicker passed 

The impracticable hours." 

In those days there was a carpenter in the town of 
Nazareth who was destined to wield the sceptre of the 
world. He was waiting for the fulness of time, and mean- 
while he wrought steadily at his lower tasks. The farmer 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 263 

came with his wooden plough, the village dame with her 
decrepit furniture, and he mended them. The children 
of the village passed by his door ; he smiled upon them, 
spoke a cheery word, and they went their way. As he 
stood among the shavings, plying the implements of his 
trade, he must oftentimes have murmured, "I have a 
baptism to be baptized with, and how is my soul strait- 
ened until it shall be accomplished !" 

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching and 
saying, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
hand." Out of the wilderness, clad in a prophet's garb, 
with a hempen cord about his loins, a gaunt, stern man, 
he came. He announced the coming of the Christ. " The 
woodman cometh," he cried, " with an axe in his hand, 
and he will lay it at the root of the tree, and every barren 
tree shall be cut down and cast into the fire." " The 
winnower cometh," he cried, " with fan in hand, and he 
shall thoroughly purge the floor and the chaff shall be 
cast into unquenchable fire." A strange gospel this, a 
strange heralding of the Prince of Peace — the axe, the 
fan, and always the unquenchable fire ! " Repent ye ! re- 
pent ye ! for He cometh whose shoe's latchet I am not 
worthy to loose." 

The air is close and heavy before the storm ; the 
skies are yellow ; we struggle for breath. Then comes 
the tempest ; the clouds sweep overhead, the winds roar 
through the forest like voices of fury. The trees are 
twisted and torn, the windows above are opened. The 
skies are seamed with lurid lightnings, like knotted and 
swollen veins upon an angry face. Then comes the lull 
of the tempest, calm and silence, sunshine and the sing- 
ing of birds, and you throw your shoulders back and 
breathe ; the whole world is brighter and better for the 



264 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Storm. So came John the Baptist, preaching of the axe 
and the winnowing-fan and preparing the way for the 
coming of the Prince of Peace. 

One day he was baptizing at the water's edge at Beth- 
abara. The bank of the swift Jordan was lined with the 
eager mukitudes who had come thronging from Jerusalem 
and Judaea, the regions round about. " Repent ye ! re- 
pent ye !" rang his voice above the roar of the swift-roll- 
ing, tumultuous river. " Cast up a highway for the coming 
of the King !" One and another of his hearers came down 
to the water's edge, saying, ** I repent ; baptize me." The 
day waned; it was towards eventide. Then one de- 
tached himself from the crowd and came down towards 
the river — a man of the people, in homespun garb, before 
whom the prophet of the wilderness quailed, and trembling 
cried, " Behold ! behold the Lamb of God !" 

And as Jesus came near he said, '* Not thou, O Mas- 
ter. I am the unworthy one ! I have need to be baptized 
of thee." And Jesus answered, " Suffer it to be so now, 
for thus it becometh me to fulfil all righteousness." Then 
the heavens were opened above and a blessed commerce 
began — prayers ascending and blessings returning — which 
never has ceased to this day. And down from above 
came the Spirit of God in form hke a brooding dove, 
symbolizing the descent of peace to the sin-troubled world, 
and bringing to earth the peace of God that passeth all 
understanding. And a voice was heard, "This is my 
beloved Son." It was heard afterwards, again and again. 
Some said, " It thundereth," and they spake well, for it was 
indeed a tremendous truth that was uttered. " This is my 
beloved Son." O friend, have you ever heard it uttered 
in reverberating tones from heaven ? " This is my be- 
loved Son ; hear ye him." 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 265 

What was the significance of all this ? What is the 
meaning of this baptism of Jesus? It was the formal 
induction into the active duties of his mediatorial office. 
He would return to the carpenter's shop no more. In 
vain shall the farmer bring his plough. Little children will 
look wonderingly at the closed door. The saw will hang 
against the wall, the dust lie thick upon the bench, the 
shavings be undisturbed on the floor. The carpenter 
of Nazareth has left his lower tasks and entered upon his 
ministry. The hour has come ; his soul shall be straitened 
no more. 

What does this mean for us ? 

I. To-day he enters with us into the fellowship of 
duty. " Thus it becometh us," he said, " to fulfil all right- 
eousness." He was a loyal Jew, and the new economy 
had not begun as yet. If a son of Levi must be washed 
at the brazen laver on assuming his ministerial functions, 
so shall Jesus ; but instead of the temple we have the deep 
valley and the overarching skies ; instead of the laver, the 
swift-flowing Jordan ; instead of the anointing, the descent 
of the dove, the Spirit of God. 

This Jesus is the source and centre of all right pre- 
cepts and injunctions ; his heart is the throne of law ; the 
writings of Sinai are the flashings of his eye ; yet under 
the Law he bows and passes into servitude. Though 
equal with God, he took upon him the form of a servant 
and became obedient. The inaugural rite is his bounden 
duty ; to obey is better than sacrifice. " Thus it becometh 
me, as the ideal man, the Son of man, to fulfil all right- 
eousness." If he thus respected the humblest duty, then 
surely, beloved, the same is becoming in' us. 

There is no nobler word in ail our vocabulary than 
" duty." Our mere apprehension of moral obligation is 



266 HINTS AND HELPS. 

the token of our divine lineage. An infant grasps at the 
stars. No offspring of the lower orders does it. Time 
passes, and the infant, grown to manhood, still reaches 
for the stars. But they are far away ; and the interstellar 
spaces are infinite. The province of duty is our vast uni- 
verse. When we have done our best we must still con- 
fess, " I count not myself to have apprehended." The 
stars are still far away. But this is God-like, to reach 
forth, to strive after character, to obey, to fulfil all right- 
eousness to the utmost of our power. Jesus revered his 
duty ; so let us bow to ours. 

2. In this ordinance our blessed Lord comes with us 
into the fellowship of penitence. We mourn sometimes 
that at the tenderest point of human life and experience 
he cannot feel with us, for he was human in all points, yet 
without sin. He could not indeed mourn over personal 
sin. Of all the multitude that heard John's call to repent- 
ance, he alone could say, " I need it not." 

And yet there is a sense in which Jesus can sympa- 
thize with our sorrow for sin. He took upon himself the 
burden of our transgressions ; he identified himself with 
us in our attitude of guilt before the offended law. He 
was no sinner, and yet in our behalf he became the very 
chief of sinners, for the world's sin was laid upon him. 

A strange thing happened recently in one of our 
courts of justice. A young man was asked if he had 
aught to say why the extreme penalty should not be 
passed upon him. At that moment a gray-haired man, 
his face furrowed with sorrow, stepped into the prisoner's 
box unhindered, placed his hand affectionately upon the 
culprit's shoulder, and said, " Your honor, we have noth- 
ing to say. The verdict which has been found against us 
is just. We have only to ask for mercy." " We ?" — 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 26/ 

there was nothing against this old father ; yet in that mo- 
ment he lost himself; he identified his very being with 
that of his wayward boy. 

So Christ in this baptism pushes his way to a place 
beside us, lays his hand upon the sinner's shoulder, and 
bears the shame and sorrow with him. Oh, presently, up 
yonder, he will stand beside us again ; we shall be silent 
and shamefaced, but he will speak : " Thou Judge of all 
the earth, true and righteous altogether, the sentence has 
gone forth justly against this man ; but I have borne his 
penalty ; my heart broke on Calvary under the burden of 
his sin ; for my sake let him go free." So it is written, 
" He was numbered with the transgressors ; he bare the 
sins of many ; the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of 
us all." 

3. He enters also in this inaugural ordinance into the 
fellowship of divine filiation with us. "Thou," said the 
voice from above, "art my beloved Son." We were 
alienated from the Heavenly Father ; but in the sonship 
of Jesus the way of restoration is opened unto us. He 
becomes the first-born among many brethren ; in him we 
receive the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry " Abba ! 
Father !" 

Thanks be to God for this voice of thunder, " Thou 
art my Son." We have heard it reverberating along the 
corridors of truth. The Scriptures are full of the sonship 
of Jesus. He walks amid the oracles, his face like the sun 
shining in his strength. We have heard it in the story of 
personal experience : the sorrowing Magdalens, the peni- 
tent thieves, the weeping Peters of all the centuries, have 
certified to the grace of the Elder Brother as the only- 
begotten of God. We have heard it in history. There is 
a mingled sound of falling thrones and dynasties, of ham- 



268 HINTS AND HELPS. 

mers and trowels among the stones of rising temples, of 
the rustling wings of the angels of the morning, of the 
singing of the nations that were once in darkness and the 
shadow of death, like the sound of many waters, like the 
reverberance of the heavens, " This is my beloved Son." 
Oh, sweet and blessed fellowship ! We are his humble 
brethren, and there is something more in Christ Jesus 
still before us : " Now are we sons of God, and it doth 
not yet appear what we shall be." 

The grace of the infinite God came down to earth as 
Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river side, and 
found us helpless, motherless, famishing. It has taken us 
up to the King's house, brought us to the King's table, 
clothed us in purple, and given us the assurance of a royal 
inheritance. We are also the sons and daughters of the 
living God. Not like Jesus indeed. Oh ! there is a 
bridgeless gulf between his affiliation with God and ours ; 
he is the " Only- Begotten ;" and yet we are acknowledged 
in the Beloved as children of God. The time will come 
when the full significance of this will be revealed to us. 
Meanwhile we pass here our years of apprenticeship ; 
doing faithful work in the province of duty; earnest, 
steadfast, hopeful ; mending ploughs and harrows in the 
shop, until one bright day we too shall be called away to 
hear the voice, " Thou art my beloved son !" Let us bow 
our backs cheerfully to the burden ; let us acquiesce in 
salutary discipline ; let us with lowly hearts receive the full 
blessing of our divine adoption ; and oh ! let us love with 
pure hearts, fervently, this Brother of ours, by whose me- 
diation we have the great inheritance, whose hand will 
presently lead us through the door of the Father's house, 
where we shall abide as members of the iamily of God I 



THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS. 26g 



THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS. 

MATT. 4 : I-II, 

The common opinion is that no episode in the life of 
Jesus is more difficult to understand than his temptation 
in the wilderness. Nevertheless it is just here that he 
makes his nearest approach to us. There is nothing in 
the world more human than temptation. Possibly, in- 
deed, here is the secret of the difficulty. It is easier to 
view a mountain from a mile away than when standing at 
its foot. The mind grasps the divine and marvellous in 
Jesus' life the more readily because of its great remove ; 
but this temptation is so near, so human, so almost com- 
monplace. We want to set Jesus off by himself, but here 
he pushes his way into our every-day affairs and makes 
himself distinctly one among us. Our two eyes have 
their point of vision fixed towards the gates of glory ; but 
this thing that happens in the wilderness of Quarantania 
is just beside our doors. The focus is too near. We 
were looking for the extraordinary, but this is quite com- 
mon, quite like the experience of the average man. 

We shall be helped in our study of this event if we 
settle a few things at the outset. First, this narrative is 
not a poem nor a parable, nor anything of that sort, but 
an account of an actual occurrence. Second, the tempta- 
tion to which Jesus was subjected was a real temptation. 
He was brought into contact with the hour and power of 
darkness ; otherwise it would not be correct to say he 
*' was tempted in all points like as we are." The ques- 
tion raised by the schoolmen, whether the resisting 



2/0 HINTS AND HELPS. 

power of Jesus lay m posse non peccare or 7ton posse pec- 
care — that is, in his being unable to sin or able not to sin 
— has nothing to do with the matter. The fact that there 
was no inherent depravity in Jesus on which the tempta- 
tion could lay hold has no bearing on the case. There 
is no sin in being tempted, only in yielding to it. The 
shield of a true knight may bear the dint of a thousand 
arrows ; he is slain only by the one arrow that pierces it. 
It has been wisely said : " If we shrink from believing 
that our Lord actually felt the force of temptation, we 
make that divine life a mere mimic representation of 
griefs that were not real, and surprises that were feigned, 
and sorrows that were theatrical." And so doing we lose 
the helpfulness of his example. Third, the Spirit of God 
himself was mightily present in this episode. Matthew 
says : " Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness 
to be tempted of the devil." Mark says : " The Spirit 
driveth him into the wilderness." The temptation itself 
was wholly the work of the devil, but it was God who 
placed Jesus in the way of it. There is nothing sur- 
prising in this if it be true that trial is necessary to 
character. A wise parent frequently exposes his children 
to trial which he knows to be an essential part of disci- 
pline. At the batde of Cressy word was brought to the 
king that his son, the Black Prince, was in sore need of 
reinforcements, being exposed to danger in a distant part 
of the field. " Is he wounded unto death ?" asked the 
king. "No, your majesty." "Is he made captive?" 
" No, your majesty." " Then go tell the prince that he 
hath the chance to win his spurs this day." Fourth, this 
temptation of Jesus occurred at the very beginning of his 
ministry. It followed close upon his baptism — the formal 
rite of induction into his mediatorial office — when the 



J 



THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS. 2/1 

voice from above said, "This is my beloved Son." He 
is now about to enter upon a campaign of three years of 
toil, controversy, and conflict for souls. These forty days 
in the wilderness are for the buckling on of his armor 
and the girding of his loins. Here he confronts the ad- 
versary and makes himself at once familiar with his ma- 
lignant face and abominable devices. After this trying 
experience he can never be taken by surprise. He knows 
his enemy, he has confronted him in the solitudes, he 
has turned his weapons at every point. Thus, both fore- 
warned and forearmed, he goes forth to meet him. 

In the study of this occurrence we shall perceive that 
the three temptations to which Jesus was here exposed 
were of such a character as to embrace in substance all 
the temptations whatsoever to which his people are liable. 
Wherefore it is written : " He was tempted in all points 
like as we are, yet without sin." 

The first temptation was toward the sordidness of 
life. It was after his forty days of fasting that the adver- 
sary came saying : ** Command that these stones be made 
bread." The most of mankind are living a mere bread- 
and-butter life. To many this is a matter of preference : 
they make the pleasures of self-gratification \\\€\x summum 
bonum. To pamper the body, to cultivate the mind, to 
win applause, these are far above such considerations as 
take hold on the unseen and eternal. But to multitudes 
of others the sordid pursuits of a mere worldly life are in 
the nature of an apparent necessity. The earning of a 
livelihood absorbs their time and energies. What shall 
we eat? and. Wherewithal shall we be clothed? are the 
burden of their life. The workshop and the office hem 
them in from morning till night. God and Eternity are 
crowded aside. These things can wait ; but the chill of 



2/2 HINTS AND HELPS. 

winter and the gnawings of hunger will brook no post- 
ponement. Thus it is that the church laments her inabil- 
ity to win the working classes. No doubt the fault is 
largely hers ; but the fact itself is old as human nature; 
The multitudes have always been " lapsed." The question 
of work and wages has always jostled hard the larger 
question, " How shall a man be just with God ?" Food 
and shelter are nearer needs than truth and everlasting 
life. After his long fasting in the wilderness Jesus " was 
an hungered." His famished body was crying out for 
bread. Under just such conditions shipwrecked mariners 
have been known in utter desperation to make for them- 
selves a cannibal feast. " Now," said the adversary, " is 
my time. Cause that these stones should be made bread !" 
And why not ? A word of Jesus* would have done it. But 
in yielding to the temptation he would have fallen in with 
the great multitude who make bread the chief matter of 
life. To him the kingdom of God must be everything. 
To die of hunger would be a thousand-fold better than to 
fall short of the true nobleness of life. " Nay," he an- 
swered, ** it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, 
but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of 
God." This was but anticipating the precept which was 
to run through all his after teaching : " Why take ye 
thought for food and raiment ? Seek ye first the kingdom 
of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be 
added unto you." 

The second temptation was toward presumption. Our 
Lord was conscious of his divine character and mission ; 
but how few there were who believed on him. It would be 
a stupendous task to convince the world of his Messiah- 
ship. Even the Jews, who were looking for Shiloh to 
come arrayed in regal splendor, would reject him. " The 



THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS. 273 

light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended 
it not." The people would be asking on every side, " Is 
not this the carpenter^s son ?" Appearances were against 
him. And Jesus knew this. Imagine, then, with what 
tremendous power the words of the tempter must have 
appealed to him : " Thou knowest thyself; thou know- 
est the unbelief of the people ; thou knowest they will not 
receive a Messiah in homespun and with callous hands. 
Why not give public proof of thy divinity at once ? The 
Jews are looking for Messiah to descend from the clouds : 
Cast thyself from this lofty pinnacle, in the presence of the 
worshipping assembly, and let them behold thee upheld by 
angel hands and alighting in godlike majesty ! So bril- 
liant a miracle as this would be a fit beginning for thy 
ministry. Thou believest in thy Godhood — try it, prove 
it, let the multitude behold it ! If thou art really divine 
the Father will protect thee ; is it not written, He shall 
give his angels charge over thee ?" 

To know the full power of this temptation we must 
be mindful of Christ's all-consuming desire to commend 
himself as the chosen of God. His supreme wish was 
that men should believe on him, for thus to believe was 
to enter into life. And the suggestion of Satan was so 
plausible ! Why should the multitudes be left in doubt 
when it would be so easy to convince them? Yet he 
could not yield to it. The plan of his ministry had been 
marked out; he could not swerve from it. The people 
must be drawn with " the cords of a man." By gracious 
words, by kindly deeds, by the glory of an immaculate 
walk and conversation, by bearing and forbearing, by 
manifesting forth the wisdom of the Father in respect to 
the endless hereafter, so must he commend himself as the 
only begotten and well-beloved Son. He could afford to 

UiutB and Helps. 1 8 



274 HINTS AND HELPS. 

wait, and be patient, because he saw down the centuries 
and knew the end from the beginning.' In any case he 
could not thwart the eternal plans. He could not for the 
sake of a splendid but temporary gain set himself against 
the Father's purpose. Thus he answered : " I cannot ! 
For it is written. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy 
God." 

How often we are placed just there. How often our 
own wisdom — which then is the suggestion of the adver- 
sary — sets itself against what we know to be God's plans 
and purposes concerning us. In our work as ministers of 
the gospel we are constantly drawn towards methods 
against which conscience revolts. All forms of Christian 
work are liable to the same danger. Things go so slow- 
ly : why not hurry them ? Wait ! " Bide a wee, and 
dinna weary." It is only children who dig up seeds to 
hasten their growth. If we are God's, our work is his 
work as really as was the work of Jesus. To push aside 
his plans for our own is to tempt him. To wait upon the 
Lord and not lose heart is the sign of a good servant. 
*' He that believeth shall not make haste." Therefore 
Jesus answered, " It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the 
Lord thy God." 

T/ie third temptation was towards the avoidance of 
hard duty. The purpose of Jesus Christ in coming into 
the world was to save it by dying for it. It was an awful 
thing that was required of him. He must endure the 
scorn and buffetings of men, drink the cup of Gethsemane, 
and end his earthly career in the anguish of the cross. 
There was indeed no other way. But Satan proposed 
another way: From the summit of the mountain he 
waved his hand towards the kingdoms of the world and 
said, '' All these are mine. Whether by right or not, thou 



THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS. 2/5 

knowest I am the prince of this world. I am aware of 
thy purpose, to win the world by dying for it. But why 
shouldst thou bear the long shame and anguish ? Let me 
show thee an easier and better way. The kingdoms of 
this world are at my disposal : if thou wilt bow down and 
worship me, they shall be thine. Abandon thy scheme of 
making all men pure and holy ; be content with gaining 
dominion over them. To this end thy plan of patient 
suffering is not necessary. One act of homage and I will 
abdicate !*' 

To one so really and intensely human as Jesus, 
shrinking from pain and dreading death, this was a most 
specious appeal. But he knew that redemption for the 
race could only be accomplished in the way which had 
been divinely marked out. It had been ordained that he 
should die; he must die, because it was not possible 
otherwise that sinners should be reconciled with God. 
He must uplift the sins of the world, like a mighty Atlas, 
and bear them on the tree. It had been written, *' Blood 
maketh an atonement for the soul ;'* it remained to be 
written, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all 
sin," and he must write it. This was duty. Duty is to 
follow out the divine purpose respecting us. Jesus could 
not turn aside. And surely he could not turn aside in a 
manner that would sever him from the Father and ally 
him with the prince of darkness. Wherefore he answered, 
" I cannot ; for it is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord 
thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." 

" Then the devil leaveth him, and angels came and 
ministered unto him." He had come unscathed out of his 
great trial. The prince of darkness had tried all the joints 
of his harness and found no weakness anywhere. So, 
vindicated and strengthened, the Son of God went forth 



2/6 HINTS AND HELPS. 

from the wilderness to accomplish the redemption of the 
world. 

Let us learn from this incident, firsts that we have to 
do with a real adversary. In what form he appeared to 
Jesus it is not possible to say,* but there is no room to 
question his real personality. Though finite, and of lim- 
ited power, he is super humanly crafty and malignant. 
We have constant need to pray, " Deliver us from the 
evil one." 

Our second lesson is that, when tempted, we have an 
almighty Friend. " We have not a high -priest that cannot 
be touched with a feeling of our infirmities " (Heb. 4 : 15). 
*' For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is 
able to succor them that are tempted " (Heb. 2 : 18). If 
we ever yield it is because we will not allow him to help 
us. 

And our third lesson is that the Scriptures are a sure 
defense in the hour of trial. The three answers of Jesus 
were from the book of Deuteronomy, the maxims and 
precepts of which were used in the instruction of Jewish 
youth from their earliest years. It was not in vain that 
Jesus had learned the Scriptures in the rabbinical schools 
and at his mother's knee. Alas, for the man who, in the 
stress of temptation, has no reliance on the heavenly ora- 
cles ! Let us be true to the Bible. A man who has lost 
his Bible is like a hard-bestead knight with a broken 
sword. The sword of the Spirit is our only trustworthy 
weapon of defense : and " the sword of the Spirit is the 
word of God." 

* Some of the fathers held that he appeared as an angel of 
light ; others, as a wayfaring man ; others^as a venerable priest 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES OF JESUS. 2// 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES OF JESUS. 

John i. 35-49. 

Our Lord came into the world to set up a kingdom. 
His baptism was the initiatory rite by which he was pub- 
licly set apart. His temptation in the wilderness was the 
formal girding on of his harness preparatory to his con- 
flict with the prince of this world. Then came the calling 
of his disciples, who were to be at once his body-guard 
and cabinet. These men were such as no earthly ruler, 
probably, would have chosen. 

First, They belonged to the working class. Our Lord 
foresaw and intended that his church should be chiefly 
recruited not from the ranks of the indolent aristocracy 
on the one hand, nor from the multitude of shifdess ne'er- 
do-weels on the other, but from that admirable and ever- 
increasing body of producers whose braincraft and handi- 
craft are the mainstay of society and government the world 
over. To understand the full significance of this fact it 
must be remembered that at the beginning of the Chris- 
tian era labor was held in disrepute. Work was regarded 
as the business of slaves. The vast majority of the Roman 
people were mere hangers on, fed by civil charity and 
dividing their time between the baths and the forum. 
The appeal of this Nazarene Carpenter was neither to ar- 
rogant patricians nor to lounging plebeians, but to such 
as were ranked, like himself, with bondmen. 

Second. They were unlearned men. The best among 
them had probably no education beyond what could be 
gotten in the rabbinical schools. The wisdom of such se- 



2/8 HINTS AND HELPS. 

lection would be difficult to understand did we not know 
that the saving truths of the Gospel, the mighty truths 
which were to furnish the foundation of Christ's kingdom, 
are all within the grasp of simple folk. It does indeed 
involve great mysteries, beyond the ken of the wisest; but 
its fundamentals are as plain as the inscriptions on the 
ancient guide-boards pointing to the cities of refuge. 
" The river is so deep that a philosopher may drown in 
it, yet so shallow that a lamb may wade through." The 
moment we begin to resolve the plan of salvation into a 
profound system of theology we lose the power of it. Thus 
Jesus said : " Except ye be converted, and become as little 
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.** 
Third, The disciples were chosen from among those 
who were waiting and watching for the coming of Messiah. 
There were many such in Israel and, doubtless, also among 
the other nations. There was a general impression just 
then that the appointed time was near, that the predic- 
tions of a coming Deliverer — abounding in the Hebrew 
Scriptures and finding an echo in the expectant longings 
of the pagan world — were about to be fulfilled. Old 
Simeon in the temple was not alone in his vigils; the 
astrologers who followed the star of Bethlehem were not 
the only wise men who watched for heavenly harbingers. 
God ever honors the truth-seeker. His richest revela- 
tions come to watchers for the dawn. The gift is for the 
asker, the treasure is for the seeker, the door is opened to 
him that knocketh. On the back of that wonderful picture 
" The Light of the World" — representing a kingly form 
standing, lantern in hand, before a fast-closed door — 
painted by Holman Hunt as a memorial of his own con- 
version, are the words, ** Lord, pass me not by !" The 
King passes none by who sincerely desire to receive him. 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES OF JESUS. 2/9 

Fourth, Those who were chosen to be Christ's dis- 
ciples were instant in their desire to confess him. There 
was no hesitation when once they were satisfied that he 
was the very Christ. They could not have kept silence if 
they would. The Spirit within constrained them. Their 
new-found joy was like a burning fire in their bones. 
They must tell of it, they must bring others to share it. 

Fifth, They were not called without reference to their 
natural fitness for the work of the kingdom. Observe the 
various elements of power in this vanguard of five who 
were chosen at the banks of the Jordan: {i) John, the 
disciple of love; modest, never mentioning his own name 
nor parading his achievements; always ready, earnest, 
energetic, insomuch that he was called "a son of thunder;" 
fearless, abiding at the Cross when his comrades fled in 
panic ; persistent, never faltering in loyalty to Jesus dur- 
ing his lifetime of a hundred years ; first of the disciples 
to be chosen, he outlived them all. (2) Andrew, known 
chiefly as the brother of Peter; keeping himself in the 
background of the Gospel narrative; eager to know the 
truth (Mark 13:3), ready to serve in every humble way 
(John 6 : 8), constantly on the alert to increase the glory 
of his Master (John 12: 22), faithful in the ranks (Acts i : 
13), and crowning his life with a glorious martyrdom. 
(3) Simon Peter, brave, with occasional lapses of coward- 
ice ; impulsive and headstrong, but with his heart always 
in the right place ; called Cephas, " a stone," on account 
of his loyal adherence to Jesus. It was he who made the 
good confession, " Thou art Christ, the Son of the living 
God," and because of his devotion to this fundamental 
truth of the gospel — making him, as it were, a stone 
hewn from the Rock of Ages — he was made a leader 
of the aposdes. On his confession of Christ's godhood 



280 . HINTS AND HELPS. 

the church was founded, " and the gates of hell shall not 
prevail against it." (4) Philips an eager inquirer ; desir- 
ing above all things to know God and satisfied to find 
him revealed in Jesus (John 14:8), known in the early- 
history of the church as " one of the great lights of Asia." 
(5) Nathanaely called also Bartholomew; "an Israelite 
without guile," that is, free from self-deception or hypoc- 
risy ; frank, ingenuous ; an honest doubter, glad to have 
his doubts resolved, and quick to embrace the truth when 
convinced of it. 

From the manner of the calling of these disciples we 
gather certain truths respecting the great propaganda, 
the winning of the world to the knowledge of Christ. 

First The great Lodestone is Christ himself. John 
the Baptist set forth the gist and marrow of the whole 
gospel when he " stood and said, Behold the Lamb of 
God !" There is no true preaching other than this. In 
vain are all the arts of Sunday-school teaching if Christ 
be left out. The truths of science and philosophy, of 
theology and ethics, are helpful as far as they go, but 
without the doctrines of Christ they have no power to 
save. They are like the briny ocean to a wrecked mari- 
ner dying of thirst : 

"Water, water everywhere. 

And all the boards did shrink ; 
Water, water everywhere, 
And not a drop to drink." 

The power of the endless life is in those words, " Be- 
hold the Lamb of God !" (i.) They announce the divine- 
ness of Christ. The children of Israel had, from the time 
of Abel's sacrifice, been offering lambs upon the altar, 
but they were only types of another, " a sacrifice of no- 
bler name and richer blood than they." Now comes the 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES OF JESUS. 28l 

divine One, the consummation of all the prophetic sym- 
bols of the old economy, the Lamb of God. (2.) Still 
further, they declare the need of sacrifice. The mere sug- 
gestion of the Lamb has in it the outlines of the cross. 
All the sin-offerings of the ceremonial law pointed for- 
ward to the vicarious death of the Only begotten Son 
of God. To reject the vital necessity of the death of 
Jesus as the central, life-giving fact of the gospel, is to 
make a mere dumb-show of the whole Levitical econ- 
omy. All things in the tabernacle were sprinkled with 
blood — blood on the brazen altar, blood on the posts, 
the curtains, the table of shew-bread, the golden candle- 
stick, the laver, the veil of the Holiest, the golden cover 
of the ark — blood everywhere. What did it mean ? Noth- 
ing, nothing in the world, unless it meant that One was 
coming who should fulfill in himself the pardoning virtue 
which was symbolically ascribed to all the lambs that 
were evfer slain to make atonement for sin. (3.) The 
word " behold " suggests the need of looking to Jesus for 
salvation. His death opens up the possibility of life ; but 
that possibility is realized only when faith appropriates 
it. Water in the fountain does not satisfy thirst ; we must 
dip it up and drink it. The manna that lay upon the 
ground like hoarfrost was free and plenteous, but it satis- 
fied the hunger of only such as partook of it, Christ 
died to save all, but only those are saved who accept him. 
" As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so 
must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth 
in him should not perish but have everlasting life." The 
command is, Look and live ! Behold the Lamb of God ! 
Second, Our Lord himself set the pattern of true 
preaching and teaching for all time when he said to John 
and Andrew, " Come and see." 



282 ' HINTS AND HELPS. 

He had been pointed out to them by John the Bap- 
tist. Overwhelmed by the thought that at last they be- 
held the Messiah of their hopes and dreams they rose 
and followed after him. Then Jesus turned and saw them 
following, and saith, ** What seek ye ?" 

" Master," they asked, " where dwellest thou ?" 

He saith unto them, " Come and see." 

This conversation occurred " about the tenth hour 
of the day ;" or, according to the Roman mode of reck- 
oning, at ten in the morning. They went with Jesus and 
abode with him all that day. 

It is vain to conjecture as to their converse during 
those blessed hours ; but we are safe in saying that, after 
his custom, he opened unto them the Scriptures touching 
himself. No doubt he explained the types and symbols 
and cleared up many of the Messianic prophecies. They 
betrayed their prejudices against a Messiah of obscure 
birth and station, and he reasoned these away. And 
when they left his humble dwelling it was with a joyful 
assurance that he was the very Son of God. 

To " come and see " is all that Jesus asks of any- 
honest seeker after truth. He makes no overtures to 
mere curiosity, but his heart goes out to those who 
earnestly seek to know him. And there are many such. 

*' We walk at high noon, and the bells 
Call to a thousand oracles : 
And the sound deafens, and the light 
Is stronger than our dazzled sight. 
Still struggles in the age's breast, 
With deepening agony of quest. 
The old inquiry, * Arl ihou he, 
Or look we for the Christ to be r " 

It is a legitimate inquiry ; and the business of every 



t 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES OF JESUS. 283 

earnest man should be to solve it. But the only honest 
and effective way to solve it is not to consult our own 
prejudgments, nor to seek the opinions of others as bewil- 
dered as ourselves, but to go straight to Christ himself. 
Sit down with him in the trysting-place and bend over 
the prophecies ; hear him present his divine credentials 
and declare his own redemptive grace. This is the fair and 
manly thing to do. And no man ever yet pursued this 
method, sincerely, earnestly, without discovering in Jesus 
an answer to all the deepest longings of his soul. 

Third. Philip and Andrew set the example of true 
service when they found their friends and brought them 
to Christ. " Andrew findeth his own brother Simon," 
'* Philip findeth Nathanael," and brings him to Jesus. 
Finding and bringing will yet save the world. One of 
the themes of discussion at a recent ministerial conference 
was, " The secret of winning the masses." There is no 
secret about it. We will win the masses whenever we 
rightly go after them. Jesus himself seems not to have 
been able to save the world by standing at the threshold 
of heaven and beckoning. He went out after it. And 
in marking out the campaign of the gospel he said to 
his disciples, ** Go ye." Paul won Macedonia when he 
went out after it. Adoniram Judson won the Karens when 
he went out after them. The Salvation Army is winning 
'* the unchurched multitudes " because it is going after 
them. " City Missions " means to " go into the streets 
and lanes :" down into the slums and up into the attics. 
" Home Missions " means to " go out into the highways 
and hedges." " Foreign Missions " means to " go into all 
the world and preach the gospel." But it is always " go," 
and always " constrain them to come in." 

Our message is : " We have found Him of whom 



284 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Moses and the prophets did write." Blessed eureka! 
We longed, we searched, we found ! 

The world's unvarying answer is, "Can any good 
thing come out of Nazareth ?'* Nathanael was a guileless 
'. man but he had serious doubts at this point. Nor could 
J those doubts be waved aside without argument. No 
' man can believe in the Messiahship of the Nazarene Car- 
, penter until sound reasoning shall convince him of it. 
/ And the effective argument is found only in personal 
' converse with Christ. Our work, therefore, is to bring 
'\ the people face to face with him. Philip echoed the 
*• Come and see " of the Master himself, and so brought 
Nathanael to Jesus. Once there, his conversion was 
sure. Nathanael, convinced of the superhuman char- 
acter of Jesus, was moved to say, " Rabbi, thou art the 
Son of God ; thou art the King of Israel." 

Thus the church grows, soul by soul. " One lighted 
torch lights another." The converts come as rapidly as 
we go out and bring them in. And in the good work 
Philip and Andrew are happiest of all. Theirs is " the 
generous pleasure of the kindly deed." There is no de- 
light in heaven or on earth beyond that of plucking a 
brand from the burning. Rutherford longed unspeakably 
to see the fruit of his labors. He wrote : 

" Oh, if one soul from Anworth 
Meet me at God's right hand, 
My heaven will be two heavens 
In Emmanuel's land !" 

He lived to see the desire of his heart. No one ever yet 
went out after the wandering without, soon or later, 
bringing some in. The Lord make us faithful. 



FIRST MIRACLE OF JESUS. 285 



FIRST MIRACLE OF JESUS. 

John 2: i-ii. 

We are standing on the border between the prepara- 
tory period in our Saviour's life and the active work of 
his ministry. He is bidding farewell to the past. In his 
home-life he had been subject to his parents, but his 
mother was henceforth to be so separated from him in 
his great mission as that he would be moved to say, 
" Woman, what have I to do with thee ?" He had been 
a carpenter, but he now hung up the implements of his 
trade, crossed the threshold of his shop and closed the 
door behind him. His work began. From this time on- 
ward he must be about his Father's business. He must 
journey for a period of three toilsome and eventful years 
along the path leading to the cross. 

His first sermon was preached three days ago in the 
presence of a little group by the side of the Jordan. One 
of his hearers was Nathanael, who was so amazed as to 
cry, " Thou art the Son of God !" To which Jesus an- 
swered, " Marvel not at this ; thou shalt see and hear yet 
more wonderful things. Thou shalt see heaven opened 
and angels ascending and descending upon the Son of 
man." Observe the turn of expression : Nathanael had 
called him " Son of God ;" he added the complementary 
title, " Son of man." He must indeed show himself to be 
both in order to be the world's Saviour. 

This Nathanael lived in the little town of Cana, in the 
hill country, a few miles north of Nazareth. It was 
probably through him that Jesus and his mother were 



286 HINTS AND HELPS. 

invited to this marriage. A wedding was a great affair 
in those days. The ceremony was attended with the 
most elaborate solemnities, and was followed by days, 
sometimes weeks, of feasting and merry-making. It is 
pleasant to see how easily and naturally our Lord, at the 
very outset of his ministry, took his place in the common 
affairs of life. In this he showed himself the veritable 
Son of man. He was no anchorite, like John the Baptist, 
but came "eating and drinking." He entered into the 
enjoyments of social and domestic life. He was in cor- 
dial sympathy with friendship, companionship, laughter, 
and innocent delight. He did not deport himself like a 
wall-flower at the wedding ; he did not throw cold water 
upon the festivities. He made himself a part of the occa- 
sion. We love to think of him thus ; it brings him nearer 
and makes him more thoroughly our kinsman. The 
mother of Jesus knew somewhat of his nature and work. 
In her strange motherhood she had entered into the mys- 
tery of the Incarnation : there were many things pertain- 
ing to her divine Son which " she kept in her heart." And 
now that he had cut loose from his village life at Naza- 
reth she must have been aware that he was entering upon 
the work of the kingdom. This was her ** mother's se- 
cret." She doubtless thought he would presently give 
some startling token of his superhuman glory. It was 
thus that in the emergency she spoke to him : " They 
have no wine." Perhaps the hosts on this occasion were 
poor. It seems to have been a peasant's wedding. At 
any rate the supply of wine had given out. She could 
not have divined just how her Son would relieve their 
embarrassment, but possibly " his hour " was come. The 
rebuke which he uttered was respectful but emphatic: 
*' Woman, what have I to do with thee ?" The old life 



FIRST MIRACLE OF jESUS. 287 

was behind him, he had crossed the Rubicon, thence- 
forth he must be his own counsellor. His hour would 
not come until he should glorify himself upon the cross. 
But the old relationships were gone ; his feet were in the 
pathway leading to the wine-press which he must tread 
alone. Not even a mother's love must dictate or intrude. 
Nevertheless she knew him, his divineness, the greatness 
and goodness of his heart. So to the servants she quietly 
said, " Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." Then came 
the wonderful thing. 

I. This is spoken of as a miracle. What is a mira- 
cle ? Not a violation of law, but rather a divine work 
wrought in accordance with an unknown or unfamiliar 
law. Are we to suppose that God has revealed all his 
resources ? Kings and cabinets have their State secrets, 
why not the Infinite One ? It has pleased him to unveil 
some of his ways of working ; but how many he holds in 
reserve we know not. In i860 the standing army of the 
United States consisted of about twenty thousand men. 
The roar of the cannon at Sumter was the signal for call- 
ing out "the reserves;" they came from everywhere, 
singing as they marched, " We are coming. Father Abra- 
ham, a hundred thousand strong !" Presently there were 
a million men engaged. God also has reserves which he 
may summon at will. Now and then we mark the opera- 
tion of an unknown law, and catch glimpses of the divine 
power previously unknown to us, and we cry " Wonder- 
ful !" It may be that such wonders will be forever burst- 
ing upon us; as to one gazing on the natural heavens 
new stars come ever wheeling into view. 

2. This was " the beginning of miracles." All mira- 
cles which are alleged to have been done during the 
earlier life of Jesus are purely apocryphal, and had their 



288 HINTS AND HELPS. 

origfin in the imaginative brain of early monks and 
dreamers. But we shall see them henceforth crowding 
thick and fast along the whole period of our Lord's min- 
istry, and all intended to furnish credentials for his great 
redemptive work, showing him to be the very Son of 
God. Alexander the Great reared monuments along the 
way while pursuing his oriental campaign, on which was 
inscribed : " Alexander, the divine, bow down and wor- 
ship !" The miracles of Jesus were testimonials to his 
divine glory, and one by one they furnished cumulative 
evidence, until when he reached Calvary the argument 
was complete. By that time all should have been con- 
vinced that Jesus was the Christ, mightiest of the mighty, 
able to save unto the uttermost all who would come unto 
him. The final consummation of his miracles, the last of 
the long progression, was reached in the resurrection, 
whereof it is written : " He thus proved himself with 
power to be the Son of God." 

3. This turning of the water into wine was a miracle 
of simplicity. In an ancient fresco in one of the great 
cathedrals, our Lord is represented as waving his wand 
over the water pots, his lips parted as if to utter some 
charm or cabalistic phrase. But there was nothing of the 
sort. It is for wizards to cry " Presto, change !" Jesus 
strove at no spectacular effects. He uttered not a word. 

•'The modest water, touched by grace divine. 
Confessed its Lord and blushed itself to wine.*' 

This was godlike ; it was after the analogy of God's 
work in nature. We never hear the springing of a shoot 
or the bursting of a flower. While the harvests grow and 
ripen to feed the hunger of the world they give no token. 
If a boulder is to be gotten out of the way on Harlem 



FIRST MIRACLE OF JESUS. 28g 

heights, the neighborhood is startled by the blast; but 
God levels the mountains and fills the chasms by the im- 
perceptible power of the atmosphere and silent distillation 
of the dews. If a man journeys in haste from Union 
Square to Castle Garden his carriage rattles so that every- 
body turns to see ; but the stars of heaven roll round in 
their orbits a thousand times more rapidly than our fast- 
est conveyance, so noiselessly that the singing birds are 
undisturbed. 

" What though in solemn silence all 
Move round this dark, terrestrial ball, 
What though no real voice nor sound 
Amid their radiant orbs be found, 
In reason^s ear they all rejoice 
And utter forth a glorious voice, 
Forever singing as they shine : 
The hand that made us Divine." 

As it is in nature, so in grace ; " the kingdom of God 
cometh not with observation." The beginnings of the 
spiritual life are in silence and solitude, most frequently in 
the trysting place. The temple of the Lord is rising upon 
the earth without the sound of ax or hammer ; no blast of 
trumpet, no waving of banners. The tears of Jesus are 
quietly but surely being transformed into the sacramental 
wine of the millennium. The influence of his grace cometh 
down like rain upon the mown grass. 

The great power is in the doctrine of the Atonement, 
which is indeed the simplest of doctrines. When we at- 
tempt to philosophize about it we are in wondering mazes 
lost. Yonder is the cross; and God's Son paying the 
penalty of sin is dying upon it. Here is the sinner under 
sentence of spiritual and eternal death. The uplifted eye 

and the outreached hand of faith, beholding, grasping — 
19 



290 HINTS AND HELPS. 

this is salvation. And that is all ! This is the glorious 
truth which is doing its transforming work among the 
nations and in the hearts of men. It is like leaven which 
a woman took and put in three measures of meal, which 
leavened the whole lump. 

4. This was a miracle of kindness. The fact is worth 
noting that kind and kin are cognate words. The phrase 
of the great dramatist : "A little more than kin and less 
than kind " is more than a mere play upon words. It sets 
forth a glorious truth : kindness is born of the sense of 
kinship. We love one another and enter into the sweet 
uses of sympathy when we learn that we are brethren, in 
that there is one God and Father of us all. The Son of 
God took not upon himself the nature of angels but of 
men, and became flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, 
that he might be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, 
that so he might sympathize with us. Does it seem a 
trivial thing for Jesus to have relieved the embarrassment 
of the bridegroom at this feast ? In view of the demands 
of oriental hospitality we may readily understand the 
man's chagrin by reason of the failing of the wine. It 
would be a stigma on the nuptials. It was therefore a 
most gracious thing in Jesus to be willing to help. It is 
trifles that most annoy us. More men are stung to death 
by insects than eaten by lions, in this world of ours. A 
few days ago a man worth a million committed suicide 
because he had been defrauded of three hundred dollars. 
Trifles tell, and Jesus knew it. Oh, would that we were 
better acquainted with him, his loving heart, his willing- 
ness to hear and help in the small trials and embarrass- 
ments of our daily life ! Let us give him our confiSence, 
let us tell him all. 

5. This was a miracle of condescension. He could 



FIRST MIRx\CLE OF JESUS. 29 1 

have wrought alone but preferred to enlist the services of 
those about him. "Fill the waterpots," said he. And 
they filled them to the brim. 

Thus the farmer permits his little son to hold the 
plow-handles, and the lad imagines himself a tiller of the 
fields. Had these servants looked into the water pots, 
after filling them, what would they have seen ? Water 
still. 

The disciples of Jesus wrought with him in his minis- 
try and went with him at last across the Kedron, up the 
slopes of Olivet, to the very shadow of the olive-trees ; but 
there he said, " Tarry ye here while I go yonder.'* Then 
passing into the deep darkness all alone he put the cup 
to his lips. The wine-press was for himself; " and there 
was none with him." 

We busy ourselves in the Master's work, running to 
and fro, sending and fetching in the great propaganda ; 
and this must needs be, for, as our individual salvation is 
conditioned on the exercise of faith, so does the world's 
redemption wait upon our zeal. Nevertheless, God does 
it all. The children of Israel made great preparations for 
their departure from the land of bondage : got their effects 
together, laid in provisions, sprinkled the blood upon their 
door-posts, girded their loins, took staff in hand, and jour- 
neyed forth. It was not long, however, before they reached 
the end of their tether and were " shut up in the wilder- 
ness." Behind them were the six hundred chariots of 
Pharaoh, before them was the sea, and the mountains tow- 
ered up on either side. As yet they had wrought noth- 
ing ; they were in bondage still. Then came the voice : 
" Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." At that 
word the Shekinah arose and like a meteor moved to the 
rear, to be darkness toward the Egyptians and light unto 



292 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Israel. At that word the east wind arose and swept back 
the water on either side in crystal walls. So they marched 
through, over the wet sands, over coral beds and stones 
covered with sea-weed, until they stood upon the other 
side. Then the song arose, " Who is like unto our God, 
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ?" 
It was God's doing. " Not by might, nor by power, but 
by my Spirit, saith the Lord." 

Yet must we meet the conditions. " Fill up the water- 
pots." If we would be saved, if we would make our influ- 
ence tell for the world's deliverance, we must do our part 
as God requires it " Fill up the waterpots." Here is 
the waterpot of penitence : fill it with tears and He will 
transmute them into wine. Here is the waterpot of praise : 
fill it with tears of gratitude to the Mighty One who loves 
us, and He will change them into wine. Here is the wa- 
terpot of holy zeal : fill it with tears for the sorrows of a 
dying race, and God will presendy bid thee draw forth 
the wine of the kingdom. Then, when our work is done, 
we ourselves delivered and others with us, we shall sit 
together at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and shall 
know then the full meaning of the words of the Master of 
the feast, " Thou hast kept the good wine until now." 



JESUS CLEANSING THE TEMPLE. 293 



JESUS CLEANSING THE TEMPLE. 

JOHN 2 : 13-25. 

We wonder at the deliberation with which Christ ap- 
proached his ministry. He had only thirty-three years in 
which to accomplish all that had been appointed unto him ; 
yet thirty of these years were spent in the retirement of 
Nazareth. There was no haste. The world was dying for 
want of his redemptive grace, yet all must be done in 
fulness of time. There is everything in being well pre- 
pared. The fleeing knight, who, in sound of the foot-beat 
of his pursuers, dismounted to tighten his saddle-girth, 
lost nothing by the delay. It is a true proverb, " Well 
begun is half done." Hurry is a great hinderer. 

And when, at length, Jesus stood at the very thresh- 
old of his ministry there was still no impatience, no pre- 
cipitation. "Mine hour," he said, "is not yet come." 
There were important preliminaries that must be attended 
to. His baptism was the solemn rite of initiation into his 
sacerdotal office. His forty days in the wilderness were 
for the buckling on of his armor against the prince of 
darkness. The calling of the five at Jordan was the 
forming of the nucleus of his militant church. The " be- 
ginning of miracles " at Cana was his first showing of 
divine credentials. The cleansing of the temple marked 
his formal entrance upon his authoritative work as the 
Messiah. From this time onward he was to demonstrate 
his Godhood by the argument of progressive approach, 
in marvellous works and profound discourses on heaven- 
ly themes, one upon another following thick and fast^ 



294 HINTS AND HELPS. 

until the consummation should be reached at Calvary, 
where in the sublimest of discourses and most wonderful 
of miracles he would prove himself forevermore to be the 
divine Lord and Saviour of men. 

The temple was the centre of the old economy of 
rites and ceremonies, all of which were significant only as 
they pointed forward to the Christ. The temple itself was, 
indeed, significant of Christ, who is the living centre of 
religion. " Its stately decoration and ceremonial derived 
all their true meaning from the fact that it was the gor- 
geous crystallization of a divine idea embodied in his life." 
It was intended to set forth the possible approach of a 
sinful soul to a holy God ; a thought which found its 
highest expression in Christ himself, the antitype of the 
temple, who said : " No man cometh unto the Father but 
by me." As the divine Presence was manifested in the 
Shechinah or " most excellent glory " which hovered over 
the Ark of the Covenant, so in Christ himself dwelt the 
fulness of the Godhead bodily; wherefore he spoke of 
himself as " One greater than the temple." The death of 
Jesus, as the beginning of a new economy, was to mark 
the end of the temple service, all its significance being 
fulfilled in him. At the instant when he yielded up the 
ghost the veil of the Holy of Holies was rent asunder : 
there was to be no more Shechinah, no more Ark of the 
Covenant, no more priesthood, no more sacrifice. Christ 
was thenceforward to be " his Father's house," its altar, 
high-priest, sacrifice, all in all. 

In this light we can readily account for our Lord's 
interest in the holy edifice. It is easy to see why he twice 
entered and purged it, once at the beginning and again at 
the very close of his ministry. God had intended it to be 
a shrine of pure devotion, but it had been changed into 



JESUS CLEANSING THE TEMPLE. 295 

a foul nest of superstition. The things which Ezekiel 
saw when he looked " northward at the gate of the 
altar " were realized here : " Son of man, hast thou beheld 
what the ancients of Israel do, every man in the chambers 
of his imagery ? for they say, The Lord seeth us not. 
He said also, Turn thee yet again and thou shalt see 
greater abominations that they do " (Ezekiel 8 : 12, 13). 

This visit of Jesus to the temple, like the later one, 
was made at the time of the Passover. Just when priests 
and people should have been wholly and humbly absorbed 
in contemplation of the great prophecy of redemption 
through the sprinkled blood, the holy place, transformed 
into a bazaar, was filled with the confusion of trade and 
barter. The Court of the Gentiles, which should have 
been thronged with aliens seeking the way of life, was 
given up to traffickers and money-changers. It was, in- 
deed, more convenient for worshippers to buy their cattle 
and doves on the premises than to bring them from afar ; 
and, as no coin bearing the image of Caesar could be 
allowed in the sacred treasury, it was a further conveni- 
ence to procure the Jewish half-shekel on the spot. But 
convenience at the cost of devotion was a dear purchase. 
God's house was in this manner made a house of mer- 
chandise. 

This was the scene which met the Master's gaze. 
Should he. Lord and antitype of the temple, not be moved 
with holy indignation ? " And when he had made a 
scourge of small cords — literally, of rushes from the scat- 
tered fodder of the cattle — he drove them all out." This 
scourge was obviously less a weapon than a symbol of 
authority. Why did they not resist it? Why did they 
not assail the presumptuous zealot and cast him headlong 
out of their midst ? Ah, his seeming feebleness was rein- 



296 ' HINTS AND HELPS. 

forced by the tremendous power of their guilty con- 
sciences. This was the real scourge that whipped them 
out. " They writhed under its lashes ; corruption slunk 
away before the majesty of burning holiness, and the un- 
righteous practice fled before the heat of embodied justice 
on fire." Then it was that the few disciples who were 
with Jesus, standing by in dumb amazement, remembered 
how it had been written of him, " The zeal of thy house 
hath eaten me up." 

For the right understanding of this incident there are 
certain things to be remembered : (i) It was a divine act. 
Jesus spoke of the temple not as " your Father's house," 
but as " My Father*s house." In this he claimed to be 
peculiarly the Son of God. And might he not do what 
he would with his own? (i) The prophets had spoken 
of his solicitude for the temple. Malachi wrote : " The 
Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple ; 
he shall purify the sons of Levi" (Mai. 3: 1-3). John 
the Baptist had said : " One cometh after me whose fan is 
in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor;" 
(Matt. 3: 12.) David had predicted that Jesus would be 
consumed by his zeal for the sacred place (Psa. 69 : 9.) 
And Christ himself, eighteen years before this occurrence, 
had said, " Wist ye not that I must be in my Father*s 
house?" (Luke 2; 49. R. V.) (3) Our Lord in thus 
purging the temple displayed more than the courage 
of a reformer. His enemies were present in multitudes 
and might have crushed him in an instant. They must 
have been restrained by the same supernatural influence 
that so often afterwards prevented them from laying 
hands on him. The flaming eye, the majestic counte- 
nance, the commanding voice are scarcely enough to ac- 
count for it. (4) The symbolical import of the temple 



JESUS CLEANSING THE TEMPLE. 297 

and Its relation to Christ as its complete antitype and 
fulfillment must not be lost sight of. There is no need of 
borrowing fanciful parallels or strained correspondences. 
It is enough to say that the temple with all its elaborate 
cultus was an object-lesson and prophecy of Christ. He 
could not set up the new order without a due deference 
to the old. He honored the temple in his life and in his 
death abolished it. 

Two lessons of great importance are to be learned 
from this incident. Firsts the zeal of Jesus for the purity 
of religion. His fan is ever in his hand and he is contin- 
ually purging his floor. The traffickers and money- 
changers are in the church to-day. Self-interest is the 
mortal enemy of true devotion. God's house should be 
wholly free from all consideration of social or commercial 
advantage. There is no room here for " Diotrephes, who 
loveth to have the preeminence." The church is a co- 
operative guild of Christians, bound together by a com- 
mon faith in the Saviour, and pledged on the one hand to 
mutual helpfulness and on the other to the propagation of 
the gospel. Any one who does not accept the truth as it 
is in Jesus and acknowledge him as Lord and Master is 
out of place in this sacred fellowship. And the life must 
correspond with the motive. The inconsistencies of be- 
lievers are like the uncleanness that littered the temple 
floor. A true Christian is as a light kindled at the sun ; 
he must let his light so shine that others shall see his 
good works and glorify God. His influence is like salt, 
preserving and sweetening; but if the salt has lost its 
savor, what then ? It is good for nothing but to be cast 
out and trodden under foot of men. The way to purify 
the church is for each church member to purge out his 
own impurities. ** Bring up the bottom of thy life," said 



298 HINTS AND HELPS. 

the Nonesuch Professor, " to the top of thy light." All 
such as have truly entered into fellowship with Christ are 
" a peculiar people ;" peculiar in this : that they should 
show forth in a blameless walk and conversation "the 
praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into 
his marvellous light." 

Our second lesson has reference to the catholicity of 
our faith. It was never God's purpose that the Gentiles 
should be excluded from the benefits of the true religion. 
The Jews were " chosen " not to the possession of an ex- 
clusive salvation, but to be the trustees of the Oracles, 
preserving them through the vicissitudes of history and 
handing them down along the generations for the ultimate 
deliverance of all people. The Gentiles were never for a 
moment cut off from the divine mercy or excluded from 
the promises of grace. The call to repentance and assu- 
rance of pardon were unto all men. It had been predict- 
ed that Messiah was to come, not for the sole benefit of 
Israel, but to be a light also unto the Gentiles. ** In that 
day," saith the Lord, "there shall be a root of Jesse which 
shall stand for an ensign of the people ; and he shall re- 
cover the remnant from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from 
Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, 
and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea." But 
Israel was not in sympathy with this catholicity of grace. 
As children of Abraham they arrogated to themselves the 
blessings of the Covenant and spoke of the Gentiles as 
dogs, aliens, and outcasts. Thus the Court of the Gen- 
tiles passed into disuse. Its original design was forgot- 
ten. In this court the hucksters and money-changers 
found room to set up their stalls and booths. We may 
believe that our Lord's design in driving them out was 
not merely to rid the temple of defilement, but to clear the 



JESUS CLEANSING THE TEMPLE. 299 

Court of the Gentiles that there might be still room and a 
welcome in the sanctuary for all sorts and conditions of 
men. It was indeed a divine reminder of the duty of uni- 
versal evangelization. There are Christian churches which 
may well take the lesson to heart, churches that work in 
upon themselves, giving little or no thought to evangeli- 
zation on the frontiers or in distant lands. They "do not 
believe in Foreign Missions.** They have no " Court of 
the Gentiles," or else have blocked it up with narrow 
views of God*s goodness and converted it to a wholly sor- 
did use. Here is occasion for the reproach of the Master, 
who declared that his church should be " a house of prayer 
for all nations ;" and here is room for his scourge of small 
cords. The man whose heart is not enlarged to love the 
remotest aliens and outcasts has not caught the spirit of 
Christ ; and the church that does not extend a welcome 
to the stranger at its gates can only by a great stretch of 
the imagination be called a true church of God. 

This cleansing of the temple was intended by our 
Lord to set forth and emphasize his authority as Messiah ; 
yet no sooner was it done than the Jews were clamoring 
for a sign. He had already, in this very incident, given 
them two notable signs : his regard for purity and his 
zeal for the Father's work. " I will give you one more," 
said he : " destroy this temple, and in three days I will 
raise it up." This he spake concerning his resurrection 
from the dead. On another occasion he said, " There 
shall no sign be given you but the sign of the prophet 
Jonas" (Matt. 12: 39): three days and nights in dark- 
ness, then new light and life. Thus he adventured his 
whole work, his credentials and success, upon the one 
great miracle of his resurrection. That stands forever 
as the sign of his Godhood and of his triumph over 



300 HINTS AND HELPS. 

the powers of darkness in behalf of all who believe in 
him. 

Two signs the Lord is giving all the while. One is 
his own character ; for of whom, of all who ever lived on 
earth, is it written, " he was without sin " ? The other is 
his holy zeal as a living Christ in history. The hands 
that were folded, pierced and helpless, over his silent 
heart when they bore him away to his sepulchre have 
ever since been tearing down strongholds of evil and up- 
building the kingdom of truth and righteousness. One 
sign more is yet to be given, when at his voice, sitting on 
the throne of Judgment, all that are in their graves shall 
come forth. In that day the truth will be manifest; and 
all men, saved or unsaved, shall know beyond a perad- 
venture that this Jesus is the very Christ of God. 



JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 30 1 



JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 

John 3:14, 15. 

One night in Easter week a man sat in an upper 
chamber in the city of Jerusalem. It was late and he was 
alone. The lamp on his wall burned dimly. He was 
plainly clad and his hands were calloused with toil. It 
was plain to be seen that he was a man of the people. An 
open scroll lay before him, but he was not reading it. 
There was a far-away look in his eyes. He was commun- 
ing with heaven, hearing distant voices — the hallelujahs 
or the kingdom. There was a step on the outer stairway, 
and a moment later a visitor entered. He wore a garment 
falling to his feet, a broad phylactery on his forearm, and 
a frontlet between his eyes whereon was written, " Hear, 
O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord !" He was an 
old Sanhedrist, one of the inner circle of Jewish wise men. 
What was he doing here ? He closed the door quickly, 
glanced backward to assure himself that he was not fol- 
lowed, advanced, and made the customary salutation. 
The other arose, and bowing low, answered, " Peace be 
unto you." 

It was a notable meeting. And in the interview that 
followed there were wonders upon wonders. Our first 
surprise is at the very threshold. For it is passing strange 
that Nicodemus should have been received at all. There- 



302 HINTS AND HELPS. 

by we know that our Lord is willing to welcome the hum- 
blest and worst of us. This man was a moral coward, else 
he would not have come to Jesus under cover of the night. 
He feared the pointed finger, dreaded to have it known 
that he had visited the Nazarene teacher. Thrice only in 
the Scriptures is Nicodemus named, and always with this 
qualification, " The same came to Jesus by night." We 
may meet him some time in the kingdom : but if we do, 
the angel who introduces us will be likely to say, " This is 
Rabbi Nicodemus, the same who came to Jesus by night." 
Despite his cowardice, however, the Lord graciously re- 
ceived him. His motive was of the lowest ; he was prob- 
ably scourged thither by an uneasy conscience, by his fear 
of the torments which follow sin. All this was sufficiently 
selfish, yet the Lord did not reject him. Wherefore we 
conclude that there is a welcome for all, even unto the 
uttermost. The promise is, " Him that cometh unto me 
I will in no wise cast out." Let no one hesitate to fling 
himself upon the heart of this Jesus ; his hands beckon, 
his mercy is for all. 

Not only was Nicodemus admitted to an audience that 
night, but to him were revealed some of the deepest and 
sublimest of truths. One of these was Regeneration, On 
entering he saluted the Nazarene prophet with a graceful 
compliment, "Master, we know that thou art a teacher 
come from God;" but under this formal greeting, deep 
down in his heart was a throbbing desire to know the way 
ot everlasting life. Skilled in the art of forensic dissimu- 
lation, he gave no outward token of this longing ; but the 
Lord saw it. At a glance he saw the case of Nicodemus 
through and through. And giving no heed to his cour- 
tesy, he proceeded straightway to the matter in hand : " I 
know the purpose of thy heart ; I know thine aspiration 
after a nobler and a better life. Verily, verily I say unto 



JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 303 

thee, except a man be born again he shall not see the 
kingdom of God." The Rabbi was bewildered. He was 
familiar with the learning of the rabbinical schools and the 
speculations of philosophy, but this being born again was 
all mystery to him. Thus to-day there are multitudes of 
learned men, professional men of broad culture and liberal 
education, who can scan their Virgils and quote from 
Aristotle, but know next to nothing about spiritual things. 
They are blind as bats with reference to those great prob- 
lems which reach out unto the eternal world. Thus it is 
written, " The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of God, because they are spiritually discerned." 
There was hope for Nicodemus, however, inasmuch as he 
frankly confessed his ignorance. " How can these things 
be ?" he exclaimed. The Lord must teach him as if he 
were a lad in a kindergarten. It was a gusty night ; the 
wind whistling through the narrow streets furnishes the 
object-lesson. " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it 
cometh or whither it goeth ; so is every one that is born 
of the Spirit." The blowing of the wind is an undeniable 
fact despite the mystery attendant upon it ; so also is the 
" ^gain-birth." We mark its tokens in the transformation 
of character as distinctly as we hear and feel the blowing 
of the wind. We may not understand, but as frank and 
sensible people we must needs acknowledge it. 

The other truth revealed to Nicodemus in this inter- 
view was that of Redemption, The Lord having pierced 
this Rabbits soul with the sharp dogma of regeneration, 
now brings the balm of redemption to mollify his wound : 
" For God so loved the world that he gave his only-be- 
gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not 
perish, but have everlasting life." Yet here again Nicode- 
mus was amazed. All this was so contrary to his accus- 



304 HINTS AND HELPS. 

tomed way of thinking, so opposed to rabbinical notions 
and the tradition of the elders. He had been wont to rea- 
son along the lines of retribution; sowing and reaping 
made up his philosophy of justice :' " The soul that sinneth 
it shall die." It was not strange that he stumbled now at 
the thought of the sinner*s going scot free, at the innocent 
suffering for the guilty, at the saving virtue of faith. The 
Lord again found his object-lesson at hand. " Do you 
remember," said he, " how Moses lifted up the serpent in 
the wilderness ?" It was an old story ; the Hebrew peo- 
ple were all familiar with it. 

The thing happened towards the close of the wilder- 
ness journey. For thirty-eight years and more the chil- 
dren of Israel had been going round about on their way 
to the Promised Land. It was a short journey in fact, 
and a few months should have accomplished it. But sins 
are clogs and fetters to a pilgrim in the heavenward way. 
God must needs discipline these people and rid them of 
their infirmities before they can enter in and possess the 
goodly land. So round and round they went, " compass- 
ing Edom," over the scorching sands and under the bla- 
zing suns. They were not able to enter in because of their 
unbelief Their murmurings and idolatries kept them out. 
Mow here they were again upon the border. They could 
climb the mountain and look over upon their inheritance. 
Behind them were the broad, barren stretches of the wil- 
derness; before them, sweet fields all dressed in living 
green and rivers of delight. " To-morrow," they said, 
" we will cross the river." But that night King Arad with 
his barbaric hordes came out against them. They called 
upon God in their extremity and he made bare his arm 
in their behalf Then burying their dead they set forth. 
But the roads were steep and rugged, and "they were 
discouraged because of the way." Their women and 



JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 3^5 

children were worn out, and wearily trudging along the 
difficult paths they fell again into their besetting sin and 
began to murmur, " Why have ye brought us up hither ?" 
They loathed their blessings and reproached God. What 
could be done with this stiff-necked people? This was 
their twelfth murmuring ; it must be punished. The fiery 
serpents came, crawling from the coppices, hissing along 
the paths, stinging witji their venomous fangs. Cries of 
anguish were heard everywhere. Multitudes were sick 
unto death. Then Moses in answer to his intercessory 
supplication was bidden to raise the brazen effigy upon a 
pole in the midst of the encampment ; and the proclama- 
tion was issued, " Look and live." 

Do you believe the story ? Our Lord evidently be- 
lieved it and wished Nicodemus to believe it. But then 
it must be remembered that He was not as familiar with 
the facts of Scripture as some of our modern wise men. 
We have been recently told that we must not be surprised 
to find limitations put upon the knowledge of Christ. 
This is going a step farther than to deny the inerrancy of 
the Scriptures. But whatever our learned critics may 
think, it is plain that Jesus accepted the truth of the old 
narrative, and the Church universal, despite the caveat of 
irreverent criticism, yields a cordial assent to it. " These 
things," says Paul, " happened unto our fathersTor types." 
(i Cor. id: II, margin.) There must, therefore, be help- 
ful suggestions here for us. 

L Our first lesson is about sin. Sin is virus. The 
tempter is " that old serpent." In his first approach to the 
human race he came in serpentine form. And his influ- 
ence was deadly as a serpent's fang. Sin coui*ses through 
our blood like venom — from heart to brain, to feet, to fin- 
ger-tips. The sinner is poisoned through and through. 

The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. Isa. i : 5. 
20 



306 HINTS AND HELPS. 

There is no cure in our materia medica for the ser- 
pent's bite. In vain did the Israelites search for an anti- 
dote. Their herbs and nostrums and incantations were in 
vain. The world has been groping through the ages for 
some remedy for sin. Mythology and philosophy are but 
tokens of the vain quest. Here is the problem : What 
shall I do to be saved ? How shall God be just and yet 
the justifier of the ungodly ? Or how shall a man be just 
with God ? 

Sin is mortal. The deadliest thing in the world is a 
cobra's bite. The eye of the victim grows dull and glassy, 
his flesh cold and blue to his fingers ; in an hour his body 
is laid out for its burial. We cannot separate sin from its 
penalty. Sin is death. The soul that sinneth it shall die. 

II. Our second lesson is of the Saviour, Here is a 
striking similitude. 

(i.) The brazen effigy for the healing of the Israelites 
was in the likeness of their malady. A tablet might have 
been raised upon the pole with the name "Adonai " upon 
it. Would not that have answered just as well ? No, it 
must be a brazen serpent, for it is intended to prefigure 
that Christ who must assume the form of sinful flesh in 
order to deliver the world from sin. As it is written, " He 
who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be- 
come the righteousness of God in him." And again, " He 
hath redeemed us from the curse, being made a curse for 
us ; as it is written. Cursed is every one that hangeth on 
a tree." And again, " What the law could not do in that 
it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son 
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in 
the flesh ; that the righteousness of the law might be ful- 
filled in us, who walk not aiSier the flesh, but after the 
Spirit." 

(2.) But while this effigy was made in the similitude of 



JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 307 

a serpent, there was no venom in it. Of all the vipers that 
crept and hissed throughout the camp, there was not one 
that did not have poison under its tongue. This serpent 
alone was harmless. In like manner Christ, who assumed 
a sinful form and came for our deliverance, was " holy, 
harmless, and undefiled," the only sinless man on earth. 
*' There was no guile in his lips." Who shall lay anything 
to his charge ? "I find no fault in him at all." 

(3.) But that harmless effigy had power, like a mad- 
stone, to draw, the virus from every wound. Our Lord 
upon his cross has a like power to save. Our sin is laid 
by imputation upon him, that he in turn may cast about 
us, by the imputation of his righteousness, a garment of 
fine linen, clean and white. He is the sinless One; and yet, 
hanging yonder as our substitute before the offended law, 
he becomes in our behalf the very chief of sinners. The 
world's burden is laid upon him. He assumes the curse 
of the race. The blood upon his brow seems like a front- 
let bearing this word, "Accursed !" The priests and Phar- 
isees passing by wagged their heads and cried, " Cursed 
is every one that hangeth on a tree !" The earth, rum- 
bling in the deep darkness, utters forth his doom, " Ac- 
cursed !" His own anguished cry, ''Eloiy Eloi^ lama sa- 
bachthanir betrays his conviction that the curse of the 
perishing multitude is rolled upon him. It is by virtue of 
this imputation that he, being made in the likeness of sin, 
can draw the venom from the world's mortal wound. " He 
bare our sins — ^bare them and bare them away — in his own 
body on the tree." 

III. The Great Salvation. " I, if I be lifted up, will 
draw all men unto me." 

This " lifting up " meant death. So the Jews always 
understood it. Only by the death of Jesus could he give 
us entrance into life. His blood cleanseth. In an assem- 



308 HINTS AND HELPS. 

bly of so-called " Liberal Christians " the question arose, 
** Why is it that all the evangelical bodies of believers are 
making rapid and manifest progress while we alone go 
backwards ?" Various answers were given. At length 
one of the delegates was moved to say, '* Brethren, we 
must not expect to receive great accessions from among 
the people so long as we reject the doctrine of the blood. 
We have no blood in our religion." A most notable and 
significant confession. No blood in their religion ! God 
help them then, and God pity their followers ; for without 
the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. 

It is because our Lord was thus " lifted up " on his 
cross, tasting death for every man, that salvation can be 
offered to all. Christ's life, death, and resurrection are 
for all. He is the light that lighteth every man that Com- 
eth into the world. By his atoning work every sinner is 
brought within the charmed circle of a possible salvation. 
Not that all are saved. Would to God they were ! But 
all are made salvable. The responsibility of life or death is 
thrown upon them. There is none that cannot be saved. 
" Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters !" 
"The Spirit and the Bride say. Come; and let him that 
heareth say, Come ; and let him that is athirst come ; and 
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." 

The sole condition affixed to eternal life is belief in 
Christ. " He that believeth shall be saved." Only be- 
lieve ! Look and live ! No doubt there were many in 
Israel who, notwithstanding the proffer of life, perished 
and were buried in the desert sand. There were some 
who put their dependence upon such human help as was 
at their command ; and they died. There were some who 
said, " We are likely to recover in any case ; there is no 
need of alarm ;" and they died. There were some who 
could not understand how there was healing power in a 



JESUS AND NICODEMUS. 309 

brazen serpent on a pole : ** It is mere superstition, and we 
decline to have anything to do with it;" and they died. 
There were some who had passed the stage of anguish 
and were in torpor when bidden to look ; they were com- 
fortable and did not wish to be disturbed ; and they died. 
But others, multitudes of others, hearing the invitation, 
looked towards the brazen effigy and lived. There are 
hundreds on hundreds of excuses that may be offered by 
the unbeliever for refusing to believe in Christ ; but they 
all mean rejection ; and his is the only name given under 
heaven whereby we must be saved. " He that believeth in 
the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved ; he that believeth not 
shall be damned." He shall die in his sins as certainly as 
the serpent- bitten in the wilderness who would not look 
and live. 

Faith is a simple thing, but it is " the couphng of des- 
tiny ;*' it links the soul with the mercy of God. There is 
a legend of Bishop Forannau that, fleeing from his ene- 
mies, he with twelve companions came to the seashore. 
There, being at their wits' end, they found two flotsam 
logs. These they pushed out upon the waves and cast 
themselves upon them, 'f he logs formed themselves into 
the shape of a cross and were borne away by favorable 
winds to the Flemish shore. Thus Forannau and his 
twelve were saved. The fable teaches that no man ever 
yet trusted himself to the cross and was not saved. No 
man ever looked to Jesus and died in his sins. 

" Look ! look ! look and live ! 
There is life for a look at the Crucified One, 
There is life at this moment for thee." 



3IO HINTS AND HELPS. 



JESUS AT JACOB'S WELL. 

John 4 : 9-26. 

Not far from the ruins of Shechem is pointed out 
an ancient well which the natives call Bir Jacoub, The 
water from its depths is clear as crystal. There is scarcely 
a doubt as to its identity with that *' Jacob's well" where- 
at our Redeemer slaked his thirst. Few places are so 
fraught with sacred memories. It was here that Jacob 
" vanquished the Amorite with sword and bow." It was 
here that the bones of Joseph were laid to rest after their 
long wanderings. It was over this " parcel of ground " 
that the curses of Ebal and the blessings of Gerizim rang 
back and forth. Yonder still are the enduring mountains, 
and here the desolate ruins among the drifting sands, to 
attest the unchangeableness of God's word. It was here 
that Rehoboam gave his people the churlish answer that 
tore asunder his kingdom and called the Assyrian hosts 
like eagles to their prey. And here, on this crumbling 
curb, sat Jesus, " wearied with his journey," it being about 
the sixth hour of the day. "That weariness," says 
Trench, " so soon to be the refreshment of one, should in 
due time be the refreshment of all." 

The word "thus" is significant. We have not a 
High-priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our 
infirmities. For the Word was made flesh and dwelt 
among us. He was no ascetic Christ, living apart from 
his fellows. He was no docetic Christ, walking like a spec- 
tre among them. Thirst and hunger, pain, sorrow, and 
disappointment, he knew them all. How grateful is his 
friendship when we are weary with the heat and burden 



JESUS AT JACOBS WELL. 3II 

of toilsome days ! How comforting to find him here at 
Sychar, a wayfaring man, with dust of travel on his gar- 
ments, weary as we grow weary, thirsty as we are often- 
times athirst, sitting " thus " on the well ! 

But, with him, to rest was not to be idle. His leisure 
hours, among the groves of Olivet or by the lake-shore, 
or wherever he might be, were filled with labor of love. 
He had come from heaven to seek the lost 

" Out in the desert he heard their cry. 
Feeble and helpless and ready to die ;" 

and how was his soul straitened until he should find them 
and restore them to the Father's love ! Not an hour of 
his precious life was wasted. " He spared not himself." 
He was ever about his Father's business. Sitting on this 
well-curb, worn out and athirst, he was still seeking the lost. 

" Then cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water ; 
and Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink." She came, 
balancing her pitcher on her head, as unconcerned as mor- 
tals often are in the momentous hours, not dreaming that 
this dusty traveller, who rose to proffer his humble re- 
quest, was laying a beneficent snare for her soul. 

How fortunate the chance, the seeming chance, that 
brought her there just then! An hour earlier or later 
she might have filled her pitcher as usual and gone. On 
such mere happenings and coincidences hang the eternal 
issues of our lives. Accidents they seem. Ah, no ! 
" The accidents of men are the agents of God." The lot 
is indeed cast into the lap, but the whole disposing there- 
of is of the Lord. Trifles are frequentiy the turning- 
points of destiny. " The finger of Providence was on me," 
wrote Wellington in one of his brief despatches from 
Waterloo. The finger of Providence is always upon us. 



312 HINTS AND HELPS. 

For aught I know the next lifting of my hand may set in 
motion influences reaching through all the ages. All 
lives and all the events of life are important. It would be 
as undivine for God to ignore an infantas cry as to sleep 
through the travail pangs of a nation. All things are in- 
cluded in his eternal and far-reaching plan. Christ fore- 
saw the coming of this woman to Jacob's well at the 
sixth hour of that particular day, and " he must needs go 
through Samaria " to meet her. 

In the conversation of Jesus with this woman we 
have a noteworthy instance of his mode of procedure in 
winning souls. Observe how wisely he approaches his 
task, how skillfully and cautiously he led this woman 
from the contemplation of lower things into the province 
of spiritual truth. He knew she was a sinner, as the 
sequel shows, being familiar with " all that ever she did ;" 
yet for a while how carefully he avoided all reference to 
it ! He was master of " the art of putting things." 

1. He "saith unto her, Give me to drink." When 
John Knox had a similar case in hand at Holyrood, he 
began, " O Mary, full of blood and lewdness !" But Je- 
sus had use for the snare rather than the bludgeon. Lest 
he should alarm this precious, guilty, timid soul, he made 
his approach by a circuitous route. His first word was a 
request, wherein his use of the aspirate betrayed his Jew- 
ish origin. "Teni lishekoth" were his words. A Sa- 
maritan would have said, *' Teni lisikoth." 

2. The woman's attention was at once engaged : 
" How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, 
who am a Samaritan ?" Her countrymen were regarded 
as aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. They wor- 
shipped on Mount Gerizim. The Jews regarded them as 
apostates and had no dealings with them. 



JESUS AT JACOB'S WELL. 313 

3. Jesus, waiving her inquiry, draws nearer the mat- 
ter in hand. He provokes her curiosity as to himself: 
" If thou knewest who it is that asketh thee," and speaks 
enigmatically of " the gift of God," and again, of " living 
water." She was equally ignorant of both. ** The gift of 
God is eternal Hfe through Jesus Christ ;" and the living 
water is indeed the same. But these were mysteries to 
her. 

4. Her interest is now thoroughly engaged. "Sir, 
thou hast nothing to draw with and the well is deep. 
Whence then hast thou that * living water ?* " Her 
thoughts are still moving in the region of her material 
needs. 

5. Nearer still the Master comes to his great purpose : 
" Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him 
shall never thirst ; but the water that I shall give him 
shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlast- 
ing life." 

6. A suspicion of his meaning breaks dimly on the 
woman's mind. She answers half seriously, half lightly, 
" Sir, give me of this water, that I thirst not, neither come 
hither to draw." 

7. Having thus touched her spiritual apprehension 
the Master shoots an arrow straight at the mark : " Go, 
call thy husband." Her attempts at evasion were vain. 
He was acquainted with her sin and shame. He lifted the 
veil and laid bare the dark secret oi her life. 

8. She endeavors to parry the thrust by changing 
the subject. " Our fathers worshipped God in Mount 
Gerizim ; the Jews say that Jerusalem is the place of wor- » 
ship: what sayest thou ?" Many another soul, under con- 
viction of conscience, has sought escape in theological 
speculation. 



314 HINTS AND HELPS. 

9. With a brief but deft reference to her question 
Jesus leads on to a practical consideration of religion : the 
true worship of the living God. For " he is a Spirit, and, 
whether in Gerizim or at Jerusalem, they that worship him 
must draw near in true devotion and holy life." 

10. The woman at length betrays her spiritual 
longing. The words of Jesus have touched her heart and 
conscience. She finds relief in the hope that Messiah 
will come and clear up all spiritual doubts, and answer the 
deep longings of the soul. 

11. Then the supreme word is uttered, " I that speak 
unto thee am he !" It was a blessed revelation. There is 
reason to believe that this woman of Samaria found in the 
personal unveiling of Jesus the satisfying of her spiritual 
need. In drinking of the fountain of his love she pos- 
sessed herself of that eternal life which is the gift of God. 

" If thou knewest the gift of God !" What discoveries 
of untold joy and peace are suggested in those words. 
As the sands of the seashore for multitude so are God*s 
gifts ; but here is one that is exalted above all and called, 
by eminence, " the Gift of God." What is it ? Christ 
himself " God so loved the world that he gave his only- 
begotten Son." The benefits of his beneficent life and 
vicarious death are the richest of heaven's bounties. His 
friendship is the fountain that makes glad all the waste 
places of our life. Thanks be unto God for his unspeak- 
able gift ! 

The soul that drinks but once from the wells in the 
King's garden must evermore come thither to renew its 
strength. Nothing else can satisfy. Christ holds an 
undivided sway or none. He stands beside our forgiven 
sins and slain passions, like Jehu by the piled-up heads of 
the seventy princes, saying, " Hencefortli I do reign and 



JESUS AT JACOBS WELL. 3x5 

there is none beside me." In the prayer " Thy kingdom 
come " we ask our Lord to dethrone all selfishness and 
hold an undisputed power within us. The love that sat- 
isfies expels all other loves. Goodness has a vast expul- 
sive power. Sunshine deadens the fire on the hearth. 
To earthly wells the multitude will come and come again 
until they have found the living water. Does the drunkard 
forsake his wine because it biteth like a serpent ? Does 
the libertine forsake his mistress because he is reminded 
that her feet take hold on hell? Or does the miser 
throw away his wealth because he knows it is mere dust 
and filthy dross ? No, never ; never until they learn of 
something better than wine and sensuality and gold. 
Men go on drinking of the waters of Sychar until Messiah 
comes their way and points out the life-giving river that 
flows from beneath the throne of God. 

This rolling flood, murmuring ever, " Drink and 
live ! Drink and live !" follows us through all our wan- 
derings, like the stream that burst from the rock and 
accompanied Israel, which the blazing suns could not dry 
nor the hot sands bury. God's grace in Jesus Christ 
flows on for ever, broadening and deepening like that 
river of prophecy whose " waters go out from Jerusalem, 
half toward the former sea and half toward the hinder 
sea, abiding in summer and in winter." Thus does the 
saving stream of heavenly mercy pursue its course from 
the Paradise below to the Paradise above, gladdening the 
parched lips of the redeemed multitude all along the way. 



31(3 HINTS AND HELPS. 



JESUS AT NAZARETH. 

Luke 4. 16-30. 

The return of Jesus to " Nazareth, where he had been 
brought up," was doubtless an event of extraordinary 
interest to the village gossips. His former life among 
them had commanded their respect, yet it must have been 
a constant reproach to their ungodly ways. He was prob- 
ably at no time popular among his fellow townsmen. 
There is no love lost between light and darkness. It is 
an old story how an enemy of Aristides the Just on being 
asked, " Is he not just ?" answered, "Aye, and for that I 
hate him." No doubt there were those in Nazareth who 
derided the virtue of the young Carpenter as mere sancti- 
moniousness. His return at this time, however, must have 
created a sensation among them. 

A few months previously he had closed his shop and 
left the village. Since then strange things had happened. 
He had been baptized by John the Baptist, and gathering 
a group of devoted followers had gone about preaching 
and performing wonderful works. He had made his ap- 
pearance in the temple at the time of the Passover, and, 
assuming a divine authority, single-handed, and without 
resistance, had driven out the traffickers and money- 
changers. Up in Samaria they were greatly excited about 
him. All sorts of rumors as to his superhuman works 
and discourses were in the air. He had gone away from 
Nazareth an unknown artisan ; he returned with the name 
and applause of a prophet. The people of the town must 
therefore have been moved with curiosity respecting him. 



JESUS AT NAZARETH. 317 

On the morning of the Sabbath after his return he 
went into the Synagogue " as his custom was." There are 
those who belittle tlie need of attendance on the sanctuary, 
holding it possible to live devoudy without it. To abide 
at home on the Sabbath or to saunter in the fields is wor- 
ship enough for them. But Jesus was an habitual church- 
goer. He anticipated the injunction ** Neglect not the 
assembling of yourselves together," believing that in so 
doing he honored both God and the goodly fellowship. 

The synagogue was a plain structure with a pulpit or 
platform at the further end. Near by was a wooden chest 
in which were kept the sacred scrolls, a memorial of the 
last Ark of the Covenant. The men sat on one side of 
the room and the women on the other. In worshipping 
all turned their faces toward Jerusalem (Daniel 6 : 10). 
The proceedings were conducted by the " Master of the 
Synagogue " who was waited upon by a " minister ;" the 
priests and Levites having no part in the synagogue ser- 
vice. In the reading and exposition of the set lessons 
from Scripture, one from the Law and the other from the 
Prophets, it was customary to call upon any who were 
present, particularly strangers, to take part. The speaker 
stood while reading from the Scripture and sat while com- 
menting upon it. 

The interest, on this occasion, reached its height 
when Jesus, in answer to the customary invitation, " stood 
up for to read." The first lesson of the day had already 
been recited ; the second was in the sixty- first chapter of 
Isaiah. The roll being placed by the minister in the hands 
of Jesus he unfolded it to the proper place and read : 
" The Spirit of the Lord is upon me^ because he hath 
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor ; he hath 
sent me to heal the broken hearted^ to "preach deliverance 



31 8 HINTS AND HELPS. 

to the captives^ and recovering of sight to the blind, to set 
at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable 
year of the Lord^ Having read thus far he sat down to 
comment upon the truth, "and the eyes of all that were 
in the synagogue were fastened upon him." 

The sum and substance of his discourse is given in 
the words, ** This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your 
ears." That is, he presented himself as the fulfillment of 
that Messianic prediction. This was, indeed, the first 
formal and public announcement of his Messiahship ; and 
it was meet and proper that it should be made^at Nazareth 
among his own townsmen. The place of our upbringing 
has a special claim upon us. It is indeed easier to deal 
with strangers. For some reason we are exceedingly re- 
luctant to speak with those of our own households re- 
specting the great things that most vitally concern us. It 
must have been a severe trial to Jesus to unfold his stu- 
pendous claims and ambitious purposes to those who had 
known him from his childhood up. But he loved them, 
notwithstanding their notorious fame, and would give 
them the first opportunity of espousing his cause and 
rallying around him. 

We could wish, if only for its homiletical value as an 
example of expository preaching, that this discourse might 
have been given in full. As it is, some things are clear : 

I. It was a Bible sermon. Our Lord honored the 
Scriptures. They were the guide of his youth. He doubt- 
less committed them to memory in the rabbinical school. 
He received them in good faith as the infallible rule of 
faith and practice. To him they were true. Had he sup- 
posed that they were not to be depended upon, from be- 
ginning to end, in all honesty he must have told us so. 
Those portions of the early history of Israel which are 



JESUS AT NAZARETH. , 319 

called in question sometimes nowadays were never doubt- 
ed by this biblical Expert. Let others speak slightingly 
and jocosely of such narratives as the destruction of So- 
dom and Gomorrah by heavenly fire, the turning of Lot*s 
wife into a pillar of salt, and Jonah swallowed by the great 
fish ; this Teacher of truth and righteousness referred to 
them in reverent terms. If they are " fables " he did not 
know it, else surely he would not have left us to believe 
a lie. In no single word or syllable does he encourage 
us to turn aside from the absolute faithfulness of holy 
writ. He loved the Bible, believed it, made it his weapon 
of defense in the temptation of the wilderness, found his 
credentials within its pages, adventured his cause and suc- 
cess upon the accuracy of its prophecies, preached from 
it, lived by it, and commended it to his followers as the 
great fountain of authority in spiritual matters, saying, 
" Search the Scriptures : lor in them ye think ye have 
eternal life, and these are they which testify of me." 

2. This discourse of Jesus was about himself He is 
indeed the subject, center and objective point of all true 
preaching. There are three things which all need to 
know. The Jirsf is God. There is no full revelation of 
God anywhere save in Jesus Christ. Nature gives us in- 
complete and unsatisfying glimpses of him. Conscience 
speaks of him as a consuming fire. But in Christ all his 
attributes are unveiled ; his justice, love, wisdom, power, 
holiness, truth, infinitude. He is the fulness of the God- 
head bodily. No man has ever formed a true conception 
of God except in beholding his only-begotten and well- 
beloved Son. The second thing we need to understand 
is man : his noble birth, the possibilities of his being, his 
sublime destiny. Christ was the ideal Man, called by 
eminence " the Son of man." In him we mark the fulfil- 



320 HINTS AND HELPS. 

ment of all human capabilities. His work was duty ; his 
life was character. In observing him we are convinced 
of our own sins and shortcomings ; for in him we behold 
what a man ought to be. And the third and most vital 
matter of universal interest is touching the reconciliation 
of sinful man and an offended God. In Christ the great 
reconciliation is made known. His death delivers us from 
the shame and remorse of a mislived past ; his life is the 
pattern of all holy living. Faith in Christ crucified is the 
secret of salvation ; imitation of Christ is the secret of sanc- 
tification ; that is, growth in character unto the full stature 
of a man. 

To preach Christ, therefore, is to answer all spiritual 
inquiry and supply all human need. In him ye are com- 
plete. He preached himself because the people of Naz- 
areth and all the world were dying for want of him. We 
can preach nothing else. The Jews require a sign and 
the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ — 
Christ crucified — the power of God and the wisdom of 
God (i Cor. 1 : 20-24). 

3. In this discourse at Nazareth our Lord proclaimed 
good tidings to all sorts and conditions of men. (i) "I 
am come," he said, " to preach the gospel to the poor." 
Uhlhorn says : " The world before Christ was a world 
without love." The poor of those times were abjectiy 
poor ; and there were few to befriend them. Hunger and 
nakedness were their portion. But the heart of Jesus 
went out towards them. If he might not endow them 
with earthly comforts he could — which was better — ^glad- 
den them with the hope of a spiritual inheritance and 
open to them the promise of an endless life. (2) " I am 
come," he continued, "to heal the broken-hearted." 
Hearts are breaking everywhere: the world is full of 



JESUS AT NAZARETH. 32 1 

death and sorrow. Alas for those who cannot look to 
Jesus when home is draped in the trappings of grief! 
His sympathy is as grateful as balm in the gloomy hour. 
He giveth beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, 
and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. 
(3) " I preach deliverance to the captives." Sin is bond- 
age ; vice is an iron chain ; habit is a prison door. An 
evil-doer is " holden with the cords of his sins." All at- 
tempt at self-release is vain, as vain as the beating of the 
wings of the captive dove. But the help of Christ is 
Omnipotence : " I can do all things through him which 
strengtheneth me." He breaketh the gates of brass and cut- 
teth the bars of iron in sunder (Psalm 107 : 10-16). (4) " I 
am come," said the Preacher, still in pursuance of Isaiah's 
prophecy, " to restore the sight of the blind." Physical 
blindness is a sore misfortune ; to see no beauty in the 
world, to grope one's way in darkness. But moral blind- 
ness is worse ; to see no beauty in truth and goodness, in 
love and duty and character. The great Physician who 
heard the cry of Bartimeus, " Oh, that I might receive my 
sight !" is able and ever ready to enlighten the darkness 
of the soul. (5) "I am come to set at liberty them that 
are bruised." Their name is legion — chafed with the fret 
and worry of life, torn by malice and misrepresentation, 
crushed under the harrow of adversity, bruised by con- 
flicts and persecutions. Christ is the good Samaritan 
who comes to pour in wine and oil and bind up their 
wounds. (6) Once more, and best of all : " I am come to 
preach the acceptable year of the Lord." The fullness of 
time was at hand for the blossoming of all the hopes and 
promises which Israel had been watching through the 
centuries. The golden age of all history was now to 

begin, and continue in ever-increasing splendor until all 
21 



322 HINTS AND HELPS. 

the poor should be enriched, all the broken-hearted 
healed, all the captives delivered, all the bruised set free, 
and until the glory of Messiah as the Lord should cover 
the earth as the waters cover the sea. 

It would seem as if all Nazareth should have rejoiced 
in a message so full of promise and helpfulness. But 
what happened? (i) They "wondered at his gracious 
words." (2) They began to say, " Is not this Joseph's 
son ?" Thus wonder and admiration soon gave place to 
incredulity. Evil suggestions, like fowls of the air, de- 
voured the good seed. (3) They questioned among 
themselves, " Why does he not perform some of his 
boasted miracles ? Let him, if indeed he is the Messiah, 
show his credentials." It was in reply to this unspoken 
challenge that Jesus, having quoted the proverb, " Physi- 
cian, heal thyself," met it with another : " A prophet is 
not without honor save in his own country." He would 
perform no miracle among them. He would reserve his 
sovereign right to work whenever and wheresoever he 
pleased; even as Elias wrought in Sarepta and Eliseus 
in Syria. (4) This reference to God's sovereign good- 
ness among the Gentiles enraged the Nazarenes beyond 
measure. Their Jewish pride was touched. With one 
voice the congregation cried out against him. (5) They 
rushed upon him and dragged him out of the synagogue 
and through the streets of the town towards a precipice 
near by, intending to hurl him from it. Then a strange 
thing happened. There are those who think Jesus escaped 
by rendering himself invisible, or by smiting them with 
blindness. This, however, is unnecessary. It is proba- 
ble that, as on other occasions, he overawed his enemies 
by his calm majesty, and so, " passing through the midst of 
ihem, went his way." With his going the hour of Naza- 



JESUS AT NAZARETH. 323 

reth's opportunity ceased. " Over the hills he passed in 
judicial separation from the misguided city." 

The rejection of Christ when offered to the soul by 
the influence of the Holy Spirit is the unpardonable sin. 
The only door of escape is shut. " There remaineth no 
more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of 
judgment and fiery indignation." The root of this mortal 
offence is unbelief; and such as are most familiar with 
gospel privileges are especially prone to it. " Anear the 
kirk, afar frae God," is a true proverb. The Nazarenes 
had known Jesiis from his earliest years, had seen his 
blameless life and spotless character; yet by this they 
were prejudiced against him. It is persons of noble gifts 
and broad culture who, through the workings of spiritual 
pride, are most liable to unbelief. And far better had 
they never heard of Jesus than, hearing, to reject him. 
" I would rather dwell," says Richter, " in the dim fog of 
superstition than in air rarefied to nothing by the air- 
pump of unbelief; in which the panting breast expires, 
vainly and convulsively gasping for breath." The gospel 
is presented at our very doors. The gift of everlasting 
life is to be had for the taking. " How shall we escape if 
we neglect so great salvation ?" 



324 HINTS AND HELPS. 



THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 

Luke 5:1-11. 

Our Lord, driven out of Nazareth, went about 
among the villages of Galilee, preaching and working mir- 
acles, until he came to Capernaum, on the northern shore 
of Lake Gennesaret This now became the centre of his 
missionary work. All that remains of Capernaum to-day 
is a heap of desolate ruins known as Tel- Hum. At the 
time of our narrative it was famed for its fisheries. It 
was specially adapted to thf needs of Jesus, being at once 
remote from opposition and within reach of multitudes of 
people. Wherefore it became known as " his own city." 

The fame of the great Teacher had grown so rapidly 
that, being crowded out of the synagogues, he resorted to 
the open street, the market-places, the grassy hillsides, 
and the lake-shore. Few believed on him, the great ma- 
jority cavilled, and still in vast numbers they thronged to 
hear him. This was probably due to the fact that, with 
great simplicity and an impressive air of authority, he 
" preached the word of God." 

His purpose was to save the lost. Little he cared 
for, the arts of rhetoric and oratory. Let others win re- 
nown as dialecticians or philosophers ; with him all else 
was subordinated to a great passion for souls. He held 
himself to the preaching of God's word, because nothing 
else has saving power. Among the fishermen of Caper- 
naum, busy with their nets and boats, he would be known 
as the Fisher of men. Thus the early fathers knew him. 
Clement, of Alexandria, in one of the oldest hymns ex- 
tant, sings : 



THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES. .S^S 

** Fisher of men, the blest, 
Out of the world's unrest. 
Out of sin's troubled sea. 
Taking us, Lord, to thee : 
Out of the waves of strife 
With bait of blissful life ; 
Drawing thy nets to shore 
With choicest fish, good store." 

In the story of the miraculous draught of fishes there 
are practical far-reaching lessons for all who sincerely de- 
sire to follow the Lord aright. 

I. The business of Christ is the business of his disci- 
ples, " As the Father hath sent me into the world," he 
said, " so send I you." For what ? To win souls. " Fol- 
low me," were his words, "and from henceforth thou 
shalt catch men." 

One of the favorite monograms of the early Christians 
was the Greek word «;t:Ovf, meaning a fish. Its letters form 
the initials of 'l^ffoyf Xptorof Gew "XuK loTTjp, that is, "Jesus 
Christ, Son of God, Saviour." The rudely carven fish 
found on many of the tombs of the catacombs is a pa- 
thetic reminder of those times of persecution when the 
sepulchre of a Christian would not have been secure from 
profanation had his faith been more openly inscribed 
upon it. 

Julian the Apostate wrote contemptuously: "The 
Galilean did indeed most aptly term His apostles 'fish- 
ers,* for, as the fisherman draweth his victims from the 
waters, where they were free and happy, into an element 
in which they cannot breathe, so do they who make men 
Christians." It is observed, on the other hand, that the 
word selected by our Lord with a singular felicity ex- 
cludes this idea. The word auypeveiv, to catch, means to 
take alivet being used especially with reference to prison- 



326 HINTS AND HELPS. 

ers of war. Men taken in the gospel net are not destined 
to death, but to fullness of life. They are captured as 
"prisoners of hope" (Zech. 9 : 12). 

2. The power which ensures success in our vocation 
is wholly from God, Had it not been for the personal 
interposition of Jesus the fishermen of Capernaum would 
have taken nothing. He knew where the spoil could be 
found; he knew how it could be taken. The miracle 
lay in Christ's superhuman knowledge rather than in the 
use of superhuman power. No doubt he, the creator and 
sustainer of every living thing, could have driven at will 
all the fish of Gennesaret to this single spot; but there 
were shoals in the neighborhood, and he knew just where. 
He does not interrupt the course of nature without a rea- 
son. He sits supreme amid " the hierarchy of laws," and 
can to a nicety accommodate all things to their operation. 
A miracle, indeed, is not a violation of law, but rather its 
adjustment to unusual needs. Did we but know it, God 
is controlling nature in his people's behalf all the while. 
Special providences are his work, and so are special helps 
in duty. Our work without them would be as vain as 
water poured upon the ground. Without him we can do 
nothing. All things are possible when we are compassed 
about by his strength. And he has promised those who 
go about his business never to leave them to themselves. 
*' Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every 
creature. And lo, I am with you alway." While spirit- 
ual fishermen are casting their nets he always stands upon 
the shore near by. 

3. All true servants of Christ are fishers of men. 
Not one is exempt. To win souls is the work of the 
kingdom ; and the work of the kingdom must be above 
all (Matt. 6 : 33). If the Lord had chosen he might doubt- 



THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES. l^J 

less have saved the world without us ; but he has chosen 
otherwise. " Go ye," is his injunction, " and constrain ' 
them to come in." He holds himself responsible for re- 
sults, but calls for human hands to cast the net. In this 
we are greatly exalted ; for what honor could be beyond 
that of cooperation with God*s only-begotten Son ? Yet 
how many seemingly ignore or disregard it ! How many 
seem to be exclusively occupied with their own salvation, 
as if that were all ! Such may indeed be saved " so as by 
fire," but they fall short of the great honor and of the su- 
preme joy. A lonely heaven awaits the believer who has 
lived for himself: the full inheritance, the freedom of the 
city, the milk and honey are for those who come saying, 
" Here, Lord, am I, and those whom thou hast given 
me. 

4. A true servant of Jesus must leave all to follow 
him. That is, he must subordinate all worldly pursuits to 
the Lord's matters. " No man that warreth," said Paul to 
Timothy, " entangleth himself with the affairs of this life." 
The sons of Zebedee and Andrew and Peter left all to 
follow Christ. They had indeed but little to leave, a few 
boats and nets, but this little was their all. Nor had they 
ever reason to regret their choice. Long afterwards Peter 
was on a certain occasion moved to say, " Lo, we have 
left all and followed thee ;" to which the Master answered, 
*' There is none that hath left home or brethren or parents 
or wife or children for my sake and the gospel's who 
shall riot receive manifold more in the present time and in 
the time to come life everlasting." The sense of right 
doing, the approval of a good conscience, is itself mani- 
fold more than all this world can give ; and as to the life 
everlasting, ah ! who shall paint its joys ? " Eye hath not 
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of 



328 HINTS AND HELPS 

man, the things which God hath prepared for them that 
love him." 

5. The first rule of the service is obedience, " At thy 
word we will let down the net." Our wisdom goes for 
nothing when the Master speaks. The first breath of the 
Christian life is in the question, " Lord, what wilt thou 
have me to do?" And thenceforth his nod and beck 
must be our supreme law. The moment our will crosses 
that of the Master we are in trouble.' Saul, being com- 
manded to destroy the Amalekites, root and branch, 
thought to please God by sparing the choicest of the 
sheep and oxen for his altar, but the reproof was quick 
and sharp: **To obey is better than sacrifice, and to 
hearken than the fat of rams" (i Sam. 15 : 22). Nothing 
can compensate for wilful disobedience. God is Master ; 
we are mere underlings. He knows best, and he is ever 
ready to make known his will. The mercy-seat is his 
oracle. " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, 
that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not ; and 
it shall be given him " (J as. i : 5). Then to obey is all. 
" Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." 

6. It is an art to catch men. There were three ways 
of fishing: firsts with a hook ; second^ with a hand-net let 
down wherever the keen eye detected the prey ; and third, 
with a drag-net, requiring a company to manage it. But 
skill was necessary in any case. All day the fisherman 
used artifice ; the cover of the night was sought to con- 
ceal his purpose. By as much as souls are of more value 
than fish by so much should the servants of Jesus be wiser 
and more eager than fishermen to take the spoil. The 
Master himself set the pattern in dealing with Nico- 
demus, the woman of Samaria, the young ruler, the wo- 
man taken in adultery, the Pharisees, the hungry multi- 



THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 329 

tude. He adjusted his methods to individual needs ; now 
startling the soul by sudden revelations and again draw- 
ing near by careful and circuitous paths, now uttering 
woes that rang like thunderbolts and, anon, entreaties as 
sweet and alluring as a mother's lullaby. This is the art 
of the soul winner. "I am made all things to all men " 
wrote the apostle Paul, " that I might by all means save 
some " (i Cor. 9 : 22). 

7. One secret of success is in cooperation. At a criti- 
cal point in their work Andrew and Simon found it neces- 
sary to " call their partners" in the other ship. The church 
is divided into many denominations, set off from one an- 
other by differences of creed and polity, but all one in 
fundamental matters of belief and in the supreme purpose. 
Each of these denominations is a boat-load of fishermen. 
It may be that the time will never come when their marks 
of diff*erence will be wholly obliterated; but surely the 
time cometh, and now is, when they should work together 
in concord, as " partners " in a common work. ** Ye be 
brethren," said the patriarch ; " see that ye fall not out by 
the way." However we may be at odds in other matters, 
in the propagation of our common religion at home and 
abroad we should heartily cooperate. Friendliness is not 
enough ; sympathy is not enough ; cooperation is what we 
want. Let us call our partners, that we lose no precious 
souls in the drawing of the net. 

8. God! s fishermen must never lose heart These 
boats had been cruising about all night on Gennesaret 
with nothing to show for it. Where is the faithful Chris- 
tian who has not passed through periods of fruitless toil ? 
For years the missionary Judson preached among the 
Karens with not a single soul for his hire. All seasons 
are not for harvest-home. Christ himself saw little of the 



330 HINTS AND HELPS. 

fruit of his labors. " He that believeth shall not make 
haste." Time tells. If God's glory is our sole desire 
what matters it whether the seed we sow ripens now or 
on our graves ? Indeed, if there were no results, the work 
itself would be its compensation. " Toil on, and in thy toil 
rejoice." 

9. A change of plan is sometimes necessary to success. 
These fishermen had been keeping too near shore. 

" Cast after cast, by force or guile, 
All waters must be tried." 

It is not an uncommon thing for a minister, failing in one 
parish, to succeed in another. The most skillful angler 
sometimes comes home with an empty basket because he 
used brown hackle when the trout would have risen to 
another sort of fly. A still fisher shifts his place as occa- 
sion requires. But in Christ's service whether we go or 
stay it must ever be at his word. " Launch out into the 
deep," said he. They had passed their years on Genne- 
saret : and what was he, bred to the trade of a carpenter, 
that he should advise them ? " Nevertheless," they said, 
" at thy word we will let down the net." And out in the 
deep water they found the shoal. We are all too much 
given to inshore fishing. God honors great faith and 
large endeavor. Launch out — out farther into the deep ! 
" Let us undertake great things for him and expect great 
things from him." 

ID. Success is sure. These toilers of Gennesaret 
were "astonished at the draught of fishes which they 
took." But why were they astonished ? They should 
have expected it. The faithful fisherman, obedient and 
persistent, always fills his net. The faithful husbandman, 
going forth with weeping, bearing precious seed, always 
comes again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him. 



THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 33 1 

The faithful soldier, armed cap-a-pie in God's whole armor 
and facing the foe without flinching, always returns laden 
with spoil. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. 
There is no possibility of failure. Nets full, garners full, 
treasuries full, these are the sure reward. 

Of all in the little boat Peter was most impressed by 
this miracle. It gave him a momentary glimpse of the 
omniscience and omnipotence of Jesus. In the sudden 
light he saw himself revealed, a sinner at an infinite remove 
from this divine One. He was horrified, fear-stricken. 
If God and truth and heaven were suddenly to burst 
upon us we should all be stupefied. " Woe is me," cried 
Isaiah, to whom the Lord had unveiled himself, " for I 
am a man of unclean lips, and mine eyes have seen the 
King !" He saw the mighty gulf of separation. " Depart 
from me," cried Peter, *'for I am a sinful man!" But 
the Lord did not depart. He drew this faithful servant 
nearer and nearer to himself. And the time came when 
Peter's all-consuming prayer was not " Depart !" but 
" Abide with me." The time came when, in faithful and 
devoted service, he knew the full meaning of this mighty 
draught of fishes. A multitude were assembled at Pente- 
cost in a certain place when the Spirit of God descended 
upon them in power ; and they began with one consent to 
cry, " Men and brethren, what shall we do ?" Then Peter 
stood forth and declared among them the unsearchable 
riches of Christ. He and his fellow-apostles launched out 
into the deep and let down their nets. '* And, lo ! the 
same day there were added unto them about three thou- 
sand souls." Were they astonished again ? Why should 
they be ? The Lord's promise is the complement of his 
plan. Launch out, launch out, O faithful fishermen, and 
let down your nets ! 



332 PINTS AND HELPS. 



A SABBATH IN CAPERNAUM. 

Mark 1:21-34. 

A SINGLE day in the story of Jesus will furnish the 
key of his entire life. The Sabbath in Capernaum to 
which our thought turns was a perfect day. In the morn- 
ing he attended the synagogue, thence he betook himself 
to the home of Simon, and at eventide he healed the sick 
who were laid before him in the open street. All through 
the day his gracious power shone forth ; it was meet that 
it should be rounded out with labor of love. Worship, 
home-life and sweet service of charity ; in these the Lord 
of the Sabbath set forth how the Sabbath was made for 
man. 

The lesson of that day in brief was authority. The 
work of the Master could avail but little until his creden- 
tials were verified. It was not enough that he claimed 
authority ; he must show himself with power to be the 
very Son of God. This he did with threefold emphasis: 
by his doctrine, his conquest of the evil one, and his com- 
passion for the children of men. 

I. His " doctrine ;" that is, the subject-matter and 
manner of his teaching. It is written that those who 
heard him in the synagogue " were astonished at his doc- 
trine ; for he taught as one having authority, and not as 
the scribes." The scribes were masters in Israel. It was 
their special business to know and teach the oracles. 
They were biblical experts; their years of preparation 
were passed in the study of theology and dialectics. Yet, 
by common consent, they were outdone by this Nazarene 



A SABBATH IN CAPERNAUM. 333 

Carpenter, unlettered and untrained. In every particular 
he surpassed them. 

I. In the nature of the truths which he proclaimed. 
The scribes were great in their mastery of small things. 
They discoursed on mint, anise and cummin to the neglect 
of weightier matters. They could advise precisely as to 
the length of a Sabbath-day's journey or the amount of 
water to be used in ceremonial ablutions, but as to "judg- 
ment, mercy and faith" they were quite at sea (Matt. 
23 : 23). Jesus, on the contrary, dwelt upon those sub- 
lime verities which have to do with spiritual life. He 
boldly confronted the great problems which concern eter- 
nal destiny and solved them all. God, duty, sin and 
retribution, pardon, heaven and hell, such were the 
themes of his discourse. And this was why the people 
thronged to hear him. They were weary of trivial gener- 
alities. They knew themselves to be sinners and were 
troubled with a certain fearful looking for of judgment. 
Deep down in their hearts was a longing for salvation. 
To entertain them, under such conditions, with elaborate 
disquisitions on almond knops and the just proportions of 
frankincense was sacred trifling. These scribes were as 
false to their responsibility as the Emperor Nero was 
when, during a sore famine, he busied himself in bringing 
sand from the seashore for the gladiatorial games. The 
multitudes were in earnest, but their, religious teachers 
were not. The people wanted bread ; the scribes gave 
them a stone. Then came Jesus ; he came to bear wit- 
ness of the truth. Great was the contrast. Out of his 
mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword, the sword of 
the Spirit. By it the people's hearts were pierced ; in the 
light of its flashing they saw both hell and heaven opened ; 
on the hand that wielded it they saw the signet- ring of 



] 



334 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Jehovah. Never had they heard such teaching; never 
had they been so cast down, so lifted up, by the power of 
truth. Verily here was a teacher who had been in the 
trysting place with God. 

2. He surpassed the scribes, moreover, in his 
method of imparting tnith. They were adepts in the art 
of hair-splitting. Fine-spun theories were their forte; 
he proceeded along the broad lines of principle. They 
could " divide betwixt the north and northwest side ;" he 
led his hearers along the verge of the abyss that sepa- 
rates death from life. The key to his doctrine is " the 
kingdom of God ;" a kingdom of truth and righteousness 
to be set up on earth; a kingdom above us, about us, 
within us. To reach that kingdom and take others with 
us is the chief end of man. The highway is as old as the 
heavenly grace, as plain as the sun at noonday. The 
scribes who should have led the people over it with their 
eyes uplifted were employed in gathering crystals and 
botanizing along the way. Jesus cried : " Come ! Sin is 
death and righteousness is life. To believe in God's grace 
and serve him with an undivided heart is best of all. The 
things of this present world are shadows ; God and truth 
are real and eternal. Heaven is just yonder. Follow me 
and reach it !" 

3. The teaching of Christ was also characterized by 
simplicity. He led his hearers by a plain path through 
the realm of mystery. Our books on theology are pro- 
verbially of little interest to the average reader, because 
of their interminable prolixity and oppressive profundity. 
The opinion seems to prevail that a didactic theologian 
must needs express himself in a dull, vague, learned way. 
So thought the scribes, and they taught accordingly. 
But the method of Jesus was simplicity itself. In schools 



A SABBATH IN CAPERNAUM. • 335 

of theology the nature of God is set forth in arguments 
known as " ontological/' " cosmological," " teleological ;'* 
but Jesus was hampered in no such way. He made his 
meaning clear with illustrations borrowed from the air, 
the fields, the mountains. He spoke in earnest, plead- 
ing, hopeful words which all could understand ; not " as 
a dying man to dying men," but rather as a living man to 
living men. He affected no superior learning, coveted no 
fame as a philosopher. His sole purpose was to set up 
the kingdom and allure people into it. Wherefore his 
vocabulary was that of the masses and his logic was 
within the reach of all. " Whosoever," said he, " shall 
not receive the kingdom of God as a litde child shall in » 
no wise enter therein." 

4. An important feature of Christ's teaching was its ■ 
appeal to personal acceptance. He did not present truth 
for the truth's sake only, but for its value as a possession 
in fee simple. He pressed it home upon the individual 
hearer as having the power of life. He was ever saying, 
" Eat, drink, receive, believe, enter in, possess, be rich to- 
wards God." It is one thing to accept a doctrine as an 
objective truth, and quite another to appropriate it and 
make it a living part of our daily life. Luther, who said 
that the essence of the Christian religion was in its posses- 
sive pronouns, was once found bowed in tears under a 
crucifix, murmuring, " For me ! For me !" We can- 
not know the gospel until we thus apprehend our personal 
relation to it. This was our Lord's meaning when he 
said, " Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the 
Son of man, ye have no life in you." The truth must be 
eaten, digested, assimilated, made to enter into our very 
veins and marrow, before we can get the real good of it. 

5. It was, however, the air of authority in the teach- 



336 HINTS AND HELPS. 

ing of Jesus that most impressed the people of Caperna- 
um. The scribes made little of their own opinions, laying 
much stress on precedent, the sentences of old-time rabbis, 
and the interpretations of the schools. But Jesus arroga- 
ted to himself an infallible knowledge of truth. The rab- 
bis and the philosophic schools were nothing to him. His 
word was, " Verily, verily, I say unto you." If he referred 
to the traditions of the elders it was to denounce them : 
" Ye have heard how it was said by them of old time, so 
and so ; but I say unto you." Thus he set himself against 
all schools and authorities as sole arbiter of truth. Nay, 
he did not hesitate to speak of himself as truth*s source 
and fountain : " I am the truth ;" " I am the light of the 
world;" "heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words 
shall not pass away," All this would be in the last ex- 
treme absurd and preposterous had he not intended to 
claim supreme dignity and authority as the veritable Son 
of God. 

II. We turn now to our Lord's conquest of the evil 
one. Here also we shall find convincing tokens of his 
authority as the only-begotten of the Father and the 
Saviour of men. 

1. It is not possible to believe the Scriptures and 
disbelieve the personality of Satan. He is represented 
everywhere in Holy Writ as a spirit of evil, " going to 
and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it." 

2. Satan was moved to special activity at the time of 
Christ's advent. It was known, doubtless, in the regions 
of darkness that Jesus was come " to destroy the works of 
the devil." The prince of this world was not disposed to 
let his kingdom slip from him without a desperate effort 
to retain it. For this reason it is represented that among 
the lost spirits there was unusual commotion at this time : 



A SABBA.TH IN CAPERNAUM. ^^^^ 

" Hasten, hasten, 
From its station drag the ponderous 
Cross of iron that to mock us 
Is suspended high iii air!" 

3. Demoniacal possession, so called, was one of the 
results of this extraordinary activity. Wherever the door 
of a human heart was left open an evil spirit entered. 
This phenomenon cannot be explained away as lunacy, or 
any form of physical disease. The dual personality of 
the demoniac shows that it was a real possession. The 
afflicted man of Gadara came running to Jesus, but the 
demon within him cried out, " Depart from me !" The 
demoniac of Capernaum would seem to have been a 
decorous worshipper until Jesus entered the synagogue. 
Then at once the evil spirit in the man began to make an 
outcry. He betrayed his acquaintance with the divine 
nature of Jesus, saying, ** I know thee who thou art, the 
Holy One of God." For him the coming of this Holy 
One meant only shame and torture and utter discomfiture. 
Thus the demons were ever crying out against him, in 
frenzied words entreating him to depart and torment them 
not. 

4. Over these spirits of evil our Lord had absolute 
power. Never once did he fail to cast them out. They 
might rage, and torture their victims in the going, but go 
they must. It was this power over the legions of the 
infernal world that most astonished the people. The ill- 
disposed charged him with " casting out devils by Beelze- 
bub the prince of devils.*' The better - minded said: 
" What manner of man is this ? For with power he com- 
mandeth the unclean spirits and they come out !" 

III. Our Lord supported his divine authority still 
further by the healing of the sick. In Peter's home a 

Hints ami Hclpn. 22 



338 HINTS AND HELPS. 

dear one lay sick of a fever ; " he took her by the hand 

and lifted her up and the fever left her." How brief the 

record ! but between the lines are long chapters of pain 

and delirium and sleepless nights and prayerful solicitude. 

" And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto 

him all that were diseased ; and all the city was gathered 

together at his door." What a modey multitude was 

there: the blind, palsied, crippled, consumptive; some 

limping on crutches, others borne on pallets, little children 

wailing in their mothers* arms. Never was such a free 

dispensary as that. And never before, or since, in all the 

world was another such physician. Two blessed things 

are said of him. First, he had compassion. The word 

compassion suggests a partnership in pain. He suffered 

with them ; as it is written, " Himself took our infirmities 

and bare our sicknesses." And, second^ he had power to \ 

heal. He knew no desperate nor incurable cases. No y 

doubt among those who presented themselves were some • 

whom other physicians had given up. The cold hand of 

the King of Terrors was upon them. A word, and they 

were healed. To the blind he said, " Receive thy sight," 

to the paralytic, " Be whole." Pale-faced children ceased 

their wailing when he touched them. And all Capernaum 

was glad that eventide because the spectres of pain and 

sorrow had been driven out. 

The Good Physician walks among us still, the same 
compassionate Healer and Comforter yesterday, to-day 
and for ever. i 

" The healing of the seamless dress 
Is by our beds of pain ; 
We touch him in life's throng and press, 
And we are whole agam." 

Wherefore let us sing with heart and understanding. 



A SABBATH IN CAPERNAUM. 339 

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgiveth all thine 
iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth 
thy life from destruction, who crownelh thee with loving 
kindness and tender mercies." 

It would appear that the people of Capernaum — 
among whom Jesus showed his divine authority by his 
doctrine, his mastery of Satan, and his power to heal dis- 
eases — should have been grateful and godly above all 
their neighbors. Alas ! the human heart is not only des- 
perately wicked but strangely stubborn in its unbelief. 
These people, among whom Jesus exemplified all truth 
and righteousness, rejected his Messianic claims and con- 
tinued in their sins ; insomuch that he was moved to cry, 
" Woe unto thee, Capernaum ; exalted unto heaven, thou 
shalt be brought down unto hell !" A shapeless ruin, the 
hiding-place of owls and bitterns, attests the truth of that 
solemn admonition. Privilege and responsibility go hand 
in hand. Those who have known the gospel and seen its 
power will live or die according to their treatment of it 
But, whatever our attitude may be, the multitudes are 
more and more receiving Christ. The world is being 
convinced of his authority. The time draws near when 
the nations shall come flowing to him, as the throng gath- 
ered about his door in Capernaum at eventide. And he 
will heal their diseases, bind up their broken hearts and 
wipe away all tears. Then shall he reign, in goodness 
and mercy, from the river even unto the ends of the earth. 



340 HINTS AND HELPS. 



THE PARALYTIC HEALED. 

Mark 2 : 1-12. 

The story is a simple one ; its parts and persons are 
quite commonplace. A sick man, helpless, hopeless, all 
day wishing for the night, all night praying for the morn- 
ing — you may meet with him anywhere. And sympathiz- 
ing friends, watching the sad progress of his malady, at 
their wits' end to devise relief — bless God ! they too are 
everywhere ; the world is full of kind hearts. And physi- 
cians, coming to the bedside to count the patient's pulse, 
consulting, shaking their wise heads because they know 
that the King of Terrors is feeling his way towards the 
centers of life — there are throngs of them, earnest and 
skillful to alleviate pain and restore the languishing, but 
oh, so feeble to contend with that grim presence ! And 
the Great Physician, mightier than Death, knowing no 
" desperate cases," with life in his glance and health in 
his gentle touch — he too is abroad in the earth, his quick 
ear catching every groan and prayer, his strong hand 
snatching the spoil from the oppressor; lo ! he is with us 
alway. And the cavillers, sitting by and reasoning in 
their hearts, doubting the power of man's faith and God's 
love and all things between — there is never, alas ! a lack 
of such kill-joys. And the people about the door, inad- 
vertently blocking the way of life and pardon, wondering, 
wanting to help, eager to see, amazed — we are the people. 
And, old as the story of Christ's mercy is, we ever deem 
it a miracle. "And they said, * We never saw it on this 
fashion !' " Yet it was the old, old fashion. The thing is 



THE PARALYTIC HEALED. 341 

ialways happening. Up and down the world, along the 
ways of pain and suffering and death, walks this Jesus of 
Nazareth : 

** We may not climb the heavenly steeps 

To bring the the Lord Christ down ; 
In vain we search the lowest deeps. 

For him no depths can drown ; 
But warm, sweet, tender, even yet 

A present help is he ; 
And faith has yet its Olivet, 

And love its Galilee." 

And the healed one — sins and palsy gone together — 
not an hour passes but that, somewhere on earth, he rises, 
takes up his bed and walks. A great multitude, thus 
healed and saved with a glorious salvation, are passing 
through the crowd, singing and making melody in their 
hearts on the way to the Father's house. 

We turn now to a more particular study of this heal- 
ing at Capernaum, its details and dramatis per sonce, 

I. The paralytic. In oriental countries palsy often 
assumes an aggravated form which adds to utter prostra- 
tion an intolerable pain. In this instance it would appear 
that the disease was probably due to pernicious habits. 
Whatever the pangs of this sufferer, sharper than all was 
the memory of a mislived past. The museum of any 
medical school will bear witness that " the bones of the 
wicked are full of the sins of their youth.'* All disease is 
more or less remotely the result of ill doing. Every vio- 
lation of law, physical or moral, leaves its mark on body 
as well as soul. Sin persistently indulged in reddens the 
eyes, plows furrows in the brow, ruins the complexion, 
weakens the nerves, racks the joints, disturbs digestion, 
pollutes the blood, confuses the brain, thickens the speech, 



342 HINTS AND HELPS. 

and sows throughout the entire system the seeds of swift 
decay and dissolution. Vice is a bad venture even if 
eternity be left out of the reckoning. But eternity can 
not be left out. Some sins go with daggers in their gir- 
dles, to kill at sight ; others lie in ambush for the future. 
This paralytic, bound in the afflictions of his physical 
malady and the dread of approaching death, was fretted 
and tortured most of all by an apprehension of what 
comes after death. "After death, the Judgment!" His 
sins sat heavy on his soul. Who was there that could 
minister to a mind diseased ? Remorse is more incurable 
than palsy. He should have thought of this before. But 
self-indulgence is the most exacting of all businesses. 
Pleasure is a jealous mistress. One love is all that life 
allows. Therefore the wisest of men, who had drained 
earth's cups of joy and thirsted still, was moved to utter 
this grave admonition : " Rejoice, O young man, in thy 
youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy 
youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight 
of thine eyes : but know thou that for all these things God 
will bring thee into judgment *^ This paralytic of Caper- 
naum had come at length to realize, in body and soul, the 
folly of wrong Hving. His case seemed a desperate one. 

2. His friend^ affliction. The philosophy of this 
case centers in the ministry of pain. If our surmise as to 
his former manner of life is true, then it was a most gra- 
cious providence which laid the man upon his back and 
forced him to look up. It may have come in some ca- 
rousal : into the midst of the merry-making stalked this 
grim-visaged friend and smote him, smote him as with a 
bludgeon, and left him prone and helpless. Comrades 
gathered about him, loosened his tunic, felt above his 
heart, whispered their dread, and carried him home to be 



THE PARALYTIC HEALED. 343 

thenceforth a bedridden sufferer. But this was, indeed, 
the most fortunate thing that ever befell him. It forced 
him into the solitude and made him think. It obliged 
him to confront his sin and danger. Thus it is written : 
" No affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous but 
grievous ; but in the end it worketh the peaceable fruits 
of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby." 

" Pain's furnace heat within me quivers, 

God*s breath upon the fire doth blow, 
And all my heart within me shivers 

And trembles in the fiery glow ; 
He comes and lays my heart, all heated, 

On the bare anvil, minded so 
Into his own fair shape to beat it. 

With his great hammer, blow on blow ; 
And yet I whisper *As God will,' 

And at his heaviest blows hold still." 

It is an old saying : " He who would have friends 

must show himself friendly." How are we treating our 

afflictions ; as foes or friends ? Let us not be angry with 

our pains and sorrows, but rather suffer them to work 

their perfect work in us. John Milton, delighting himself 

in the pleasures of court life and the composition of light 

verse, might never have written his great epic but for the 

visitation of blindness. Not until his outward eyes were 

closed did his great soul mount aloft to gaze undazzled 

on the glories of heaven. " Paradise Lost " is a tribute 

to the beneficence of affliction. Paul's thorn in the flesh 

made him partaker of God's grace. This paralytic would 

in all likelihood have passed bis life in obliviousness of 

spiritual things had not this friendly palsy brought him to 

the great Healer. 

** Blest be the sorrow, kind the storm, 
Which drives us nearer home. " 



344 HINTS AND HELPS. 

3. Enter^ four neighbors. They came to help the 
sufferer. They had heard how Jesus of Nazareth, going 
about among the villages of Galilee, had wrought many 
wonderful cures. He had now returned to Capernaum 
and was preaching in a certain house near by. They said 
to one another, " Here is a forlorn hope : the man is sink- 
ing from day to day : everything else has failed, why not 
carry him to Jesus ? Something might come of it ; surely 
it would do no harm to try." They consulted the patient ; 
poor fellow, he could only answer with his eyes, but his 
eyes said, " Yes ; it 's the last hope ; he *s a great healer ; 
take me !" They lifted his mattress, carried him out 
and along the street. As they passed on they encoun- 
tered the crowd; progress was difficult; should they 
turn back ? The eyes of the sufferer said, " Push on !" 
They reached the house; it was thronged; the doors 
were blocked ; what now ? " It 's a matter of life or 
death," said the pleading eyes ; ** push on !" They carried 
him up the outer stairway ; to their dismay they found 
the court roofed over ; the voice of the Preacher could be 
heard below; they could not give up now. They tore 
away the tiling, and let the sufferer down like a dead man 
being lowered into a grave ; but this man, lowered to the 
feet of Jesus, was coming nearer and nearer to life. Four 
good friends were these at the ropes, neighbors of a 
Christ-like sort (Luke 10:26). Alas for the man who 
has no friends to serve him in the time of need, none to 
pray for him, none to exercise faith in his behalf, none to 
take him to Jesus ! One friend is good, two are better, 
four are better still. A twisted cord of many strands is 
not easily broken. And the test of all friendship is ad- 
versity. " How shall I test affection ?" asked a youth of 
Namertes. " Lose thy purse," was the answer. The 



THE PARALYTIC HEALED. 345 

friend worth having is one to stand by us in trouble, like 
these four ; to weep with us in Baca, lift an end of our 
burden, encourage us to noble endeavor, visit us when 
the fever- card is on the door, and abide with us when 
heart and flesh are failing. 

"The friends thou hast and their adoption tried. 
Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel." 

4. The sufferer at Jesus^ feet Here he lies, helpless, 
eager, turning his pathetic eyes upon the Master. The 
best of prayers is in that look. The four friends look 
down from the open roof expectant ; their expectancy is 
the true " prayer of faith.** Will Jesus honor it ? 

He began by making a diagnosis of the case. He 
knew the malady at sight. Other physicians had said 
" palsy ;" he probed deeper and pronounced it sin. They 
had discovered a mere symptom ; he touched the seat of 
the trouble. It was heart-disease; a spiritual ailment. 
The man had passed sleepless nights, moaning and crying 
out. His attendants ascribed all this to physical pain. It 
was worse than that ; it was the remorse that follows sin. 
Sin is the worst thing in the world. All the plagues and 
pestilences are nothing to it. " The whole head is sick 
and the whole heart faint ; from the sole of the foot even 
unto the head there is no soundness in it." Back of 
palsy, back of leprosy, back of every painful and loath- 
some malady is this dreadful blood- poison, sin. This is 
the living germ, the diabolical bacillus that fills all hos- 
pitals and peoples all graveyards. The paralyticus soul 
and conscience and flesh and bones were full of it. 

Then Jesus proceeded to treatment. Having diag- 
nosed the case at a glance he hea]^d it with a word : 
"Son, be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee.** 



34^ HINTS AND HELPS. 

This was genuine " absolution." But to the onlookers it 

must have seemed a strange non sequiiur. In their eyes 

this was a clear case of palsy ; and what the man wanted 

was to be healed of the palsy. Wherefore the cavillers 

entered a twofold objection on the spot : Firsts to forgive 

sin is the prerogative of God. In this they were quite i 

right. ^^ Absolvo te " is blasphemy on any but divine lips. 

The Protestant Reformation started just there. Tetzel 

was going about selling absolutions, indulgences and 

purgatorial releases, with a litde chest whereon was 

written : 

" Soon as the coin within the chest doth ring 
The sinner's soul shall into heaven spring." 

Luther knew that neither Tetzel nor any other man whose 
breath is in his nostrils hath power on earth to forgive 
sins. Everybody knows it. The satisfactory answer of 
Jesus at this point was in his claim of godhood. It was 
only because of this that he presumed to say, " Thy sins 
be forgiven thee." Second^ it was objected that his abso- 
lution was a mere pretense. " Oho !" they said ; " any one 
can mumble the words, * Thy sins be forgiven,* but to 
make them effective is quite another thing. Had Jesus 
healed this man*s palsy we should have seen the manifest 
tokens of his power ; as it is we have heard merely a 
charlatan's charm. Let him give us something that we 
can see." Then Jesus, perceiving what they reasoned in 
their hearts, said, " Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins 
be forgiven thee, or to say. Arise, take up thy bed, and 
walk ?" It was indeed all one to him with whom nothing 
is impossible ; wherefore he turned to the paralytic, say- 
ing, " Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house." 
His prerogative to forgive sin was thus adventured upon 
his power to heal the palsy. The proof was complete, his 



THE PARALYTIC HEALED. 347 

Vindication triumphant ; for on the instant the man arose, 
lifted his mattress and walked through their midst. 

In this we observe the rationale of our Lord's mira- 
cles. They were designed to prepare the way for and 
substantiate his salvatorial work. His opening blind eyes 
meant that he could give sight to the darkened soul. His 
wiping away of leprosy meant that he could cleanse from 
spiritual pollution. His loosing the bonds of palsy meant 
that he could break a sinner's fetters and place him on 
his feet for ever. His power to forgive is the great fun- 
damental fact. The cross is the centre of the moral uni- 
verse. All history converges in it ; the very stars of 
heaven revolve around it. 

' So the paralytic goes his way healed and forgiven. 
Doubtless his four faithful friends went with him. Of 
him and them alike we hear no more ; but of their future 
we may rest assured, for they believed in Jesus. He 
spoke distinctiy of their faith. It is written that when 
the four were letting down the sick man from above into 
the midst " he saw their faith." The blessing that fol- 
lowed was a blessing on their faith. All things are 
possible unto us if we believe. Faith wins deliverance for 
ourselves. Faith brings the unsaved to the feet of Jesus 
and loosens their bonds. Faith on the part of the militant 
church will yet subdue the nations to the gospel and, in 
realization of the poet's dream, bind the whole world 
" as with gold chains about the feet of God." 



34* HINTS AND HELPS. 



JESUS LORD OF THE SABBATH. 

Mask x:S3-2&; 3:1-5. 

Of current controversies respecting the conduct of 
life none is more important than the Sabbath question. 
It touches the deepest springs of character and welfare. 
As a man spends his Sabbaths so is he. Wherefore it is 
of the utmost moment that be should know the meaning 
of the Sabbath law. 

Our Lord, driven out of Jerusalem, had come to Ca- 
pernaum, and was henceforth to make his headquarters 
there. His enemies pursued him. On this occasion 
while he preaciied in the synagogue there were spies 
present watching him. They saw the man with the with- 
ered hand and knew that Jesus would probably heal him ; 
and If he did so it would be a technical violation of the 
Sabbath law. He knew what was in their hearts, and he 
said unto them, " Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath 
day or to do evil ? to save life or to kill ?" But they held 
their peace. " What man among you," he continued, " if 
he hath a sheep fallen into a pit on the Sabbath day, will 
not lay hold upon it and lift it out? But how much bet- 
ter is a man than a sheep !" His logic was good, but the 
traditions were against him. When he healed the with' 
ered hand he gave his enemies a distinct ground for accu- 
sation, and the shadow of the cross grew darker over him. 

Christ is our exemplar in everything. We can t 
no mistake in following him. Imitation of Christ is the se- 
cret of right living. Let us also, therefore, watch him, not 
'eslikethoseofhis Jewish pursuers, but with 



JESUS LORD OF THE SABBATH. 349 

the reverent purpose of shaping our conduct after his. His 
manner of Sabbath observance will furnish us with a safe 
rule for the keeping of the holy day. 

I. Observe, to begin with, he rested from secular tasks. 
His carpenter-shop was closed. It is safe to say that 
money would not have tempted him to take down his saw 
or plane unless for a work of absolute necessity. The 
most rudimental precept as to the Sabbath has reference 
to the duty of physical rest. " Six days shalt thou labor 
and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sab- 
bath of the Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any 
work." And the sanction of the Sabbath, as here given, 
is manifestly permanent, inasmuch as it rests upon the 
divine example : " For in six days the Lord made heaven 
and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the 
seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath 
day and hallowed it." When that "for " and that " where- 
fore " shall lose their logical significance, or when it shall 
cease to be an historical fact that God rested after his six 
days of creative work, it will be time to speak about the 
abrogation of the Sabbath law. 

The necessity of devoting one-seventh of our time to 
physical rest is written not only in Holy Scripture, but in 
the human constitution. During the Reign of Terror in 
France it was ordained that every tenth day should be set 
apart for this purpose. A fine was imposed for the keep- 
ing of the Sabbath, the object being to utterly eradicate 
this with every other religious observance. It was found, 
however, that the divine law would tolerate no such in- 
fringement. One-tenth was not the right proportion. The 
nation broke down under it and was obliged to restore the 
sanctions of the Lord's day. 

It is stated that three million one hundred and forty- 
five thousand of our American people are at work every 



3 so HINTS AND HELPS. 

Sabbath; one in ten of our wage- earners ; a representa- 
tive of every sixth family in the land. A portion of this 
labor is no doubt necessary. It is safe to say, however, 
that two million of these workmen might, without percep- 
tible inconvenience in any quarter, be released from their 
unnatural bondage. Our Government is the chief sinner. 
In New York city the postal service goes on about as 
usual during the Lord's day. Hundreds of clerks and 
carriers are kept on duty. So also at Philadelphia and in 
every important city. If this be urged as a business ne- 
cessity, it is enough to answer that London, the great cen- 
tre of universal commerce, with its five millions of peo- 
ple, manages to get along without a Sunday delivery 
or collection of mails. In this matter we are needlessly 
defying God. In 1828 petitions from twenty-one States ol 
the Union were sent to the Postmaster General calling for 
a cessation of the Sunday postal service. His reply was 
a complex illustration of impiety and demagogical imper- 
tinence. " So long," said he, " as the silver river flows 
and the green grass grows and the oceanic tides rise and 
fall on the first day of the week, so long shall the mails of 
this republic be circulated on that day." It is to be hoped 
that he spoke for himself alone, for no nation could de- 
liver itself in that manner without provoking the wrath of 
a jealous God. 

The Sunday newspaper is also a great sinner. It is at 
this moment the head and front of our off*ending with re- 
spect to the holy day. Observe some of the points in the 
indictment. 

(i.) It is the worst paper of the week. No pretence 
is made that its columns are adjusted to the needs of 
the holy day. On the other hand, all items peculiarly 
abominable or salacious are tossed upon the desk of the 
Sunday editor. If tl^is issue were made up of material 



JESUS LORD OF THE SABBATH. 35 1 

proper to be read on the Sabbath not a hundred copies . 
could be disposed of. 

(2.) Its preparation involves a vast amount of Sabbath 
work. To throw this blame upon the Monday issue is to 
resort to a very diaphanous subterfuge, for if there were 
no Sunday newspaper the Monday's issue could and 
would be prepared as formerly, without the necessity of 
working on the Lord's day. 

(3.) It is training up an army of lads for Sunday work. 
To buy a paper of a newsboy seems a small matter to you. 
The average business man — not to say Christian — would 
hesitate to sell a corner lot on the Sabbath ; but he for- 
gets that to a newsboy the selling of papers is a matter 
of as much importance as the larger transaction would be 
to him. And this boy, remember, is being encouraged to 
believe that business may be properly transacted on the 
Sabbath. There are thousands of these boys in New 
York who are certain to carry that impression through life. 
And the people who patronize them are responsible for it. 

(4.) It drags the world into our Sabbath life. You 
say you must have the news. Yet the news is the very 
thing that we should most desire to escape from on the 
Lord's day. " The world is too much with us." We are 
like the starling in the " Sentimental Journey," 'that, beat- 
ing against its cage, cried, " I can't get out ! I can't get 
out !" God's purpose in instituting the Sabbath was to 
give our souls an opportunity of quitting the world for a 
season and resting from the worry of it. 

(5.) It keeps up traffic on the sacred day. The Sun- 
day newspaper is sustained most largely by the income 
from its advertising columns. The merchant who patron- 
izes them may delude himself with the idea that he has 
arrested his business for the Sabbath; but he has done 
nothing of the sort. He may have turned the key in 



352 HINTS AND HELPS. 

the lock on Saturday night, but he has taken effective 
means of continuing his traffic another way. If he were 
to send a bell-man up and down Broadway to cry, " Hear 
ye ! hear ye ! my place of business is closed for the Sab- 
bath as becomes a Christian man, but it will be open to- 
morrow morning with such bargains as never were heard 
of!" it would be obvious that he was making a pretty 
fair thing of his Sabbath rest in a financial way. But 
this is the very thing you are doing through your ad- 
vertisements in the Sunday press. The fact is that so far 
from resting, you are doing a very vigorous and profitable 
business on the Lord's day. 

II. To return now to Christ's manner of keeping the 
Sabbath, observe that he desisted from secular amuse- 
ments. If proof be called for, we reply that it goes with- 
out proving. To suggest that he might possibly have 
gone to an amphitheatre to witness a gladiatorial show 
on the Sabbath would be in the nature of gross impiety. 
We know him too well to entertain the thought. 

The drift in our time is towards the opening of places 
of Sabbath amusement. The French people tried that 
experiment under the most favorable circumstances and 
are to-day groaning under it. The German people have 
also tried this experiment; and their Sunday beer-gar- 
dens are a weariness and an abomination. It is a poor 
time for Americans to institute the custom. The propo- 
sition is made as if in behalf of the workingmen, but this 
is mere pretence. In 1883 when a vigorous and persist- 
ent effort was made in England to open the museums and 
other places of amusement on the Sabbath, a canvass was 
made of the various labor guilds and associations with the 
following result : For Sunday opening, sixty-two organi- 
zations with a membership of 45,482. Against Sunday 
opening, two thousand four hundred and twelve organiza- 



I 



JESUS LORD OF THE SABBATH. 353 

tions with a membership of 501,705. This ought to be 
conclusive as to one point, nan^ely, that if we are to open 
our places of secular amusement on the Sabbath it is not 
for the benefit of the workingmen. Our wage-earners are 
well aware that Sunday amusements are the entering 
wedge for Sunday work, and that Sunday work means 
six days' wages for seven days* toil. Every place oi 
amusement thrown open to the public means a relay of 
workmen to carry it on. The encroachment is gradual 
but the result is sure. Our wage-earners are familiar with 
the logic of the situation ; if the holy day is to be made 
a holiday it is not because they desire it. 

III. Our Lord attended church on the Sabbath. It 
was his custom to worship in the synagogue. The Sab- 
bath is preeminently a time for the cultivation of the spir- 
itual graces. Six days in the week we are in the midst oi 
the world's work and worry. Brain and sinew are under 
the utmost tension. Matters of eternal moment go large- 
ly by default. This is preeminently true of the American 
people. Our ordinary business man is moderately sure 
of breaking down under the continuous strain. Our most 
common ailment is nervous debility. Possibly our disre- 
gard of Sabbath rest has something to do with it. God 
means that we shall quit the world one day in seven, lay 
off its cares and burdens and come up out of its mists and 
miasms to breathe the mountain air with him. Why is it 
that a sea voyage is so frequently prescribed for worn-out 
business men ? The moment the ship hoists anchor the 
world recedes. Then follows a week of substantial exile. 
No more news now. Stocks may go up or go down, 
kingdoms may rise and fall, but the voyager knows it 
not. Oh blessed rest! The horizons of our life are 
pushed back. Our hearts are enlarged. There are 
depths above and deeps beneath. We are out of the 

23 



354 HINTS AND HELPS. 

world ! Ever}" Sabbath ought to be like a sea voyage. 
It should carry us away from the hum and roar of traffic, 
from the distracting pursuits of the madding crowd, away 
from the world into the spiritual realms. This is the day 
of devotion, the day for spiritual growth and enjoyment 
in communion with God. 

IV. Our Lord devoted himself on the Sabbath to 
charitable work. Many of his most helpful miracles were 
wrought upon that day. And why not ? This is the day 
of days for mercy — to lift up the fallen, comfort the be- 
reaved, feed the hungry, visit the sick, and impart instruc- 
tion to such as are ignorant of spiritual things. If it can- 
not be said that philanthropy is worship it is certainly 
true that our Lord is pleased with kindness rendered to 
the least of his little ones. The Legend Beautiful has a 
lesson for us. To the monk kneeling in his chamber alone 

came 

" the Blessed Vision 

Of our Lord, with light Elysian 

Like a vesture wrapped about him." 

Never had the monk known such transport. He knelt in 
rapt adoration. Then, on a sudden, the convent bell 
tolled the hour of charity. The poor were waiting at the 
monastery door for their accustomed dole; and to-day 
this monk was almoner. 

" Deep distress and hesitation 
Mingled with his adoration ; 
Should he go or should he stay ? 
Should he leave the poor to wait 
Hungry at the convent gate 
Till the Vision passed away ? 
Should he slight his radiant Guest, 
Slight this Visitant celestial. 
For a crowd of ragged, bestial 
Beggars at the convent gate ?" 



JESUS LORD OF THE SABBATH. 355 

But a voice within reminded him that God required mercy 
and not sacrifice. Reluctantly he arose from his knees 
and with a last look at the Vision went forth to duty. 
He dispensed the daily alms, received the thanks of the 
poor and suffering, and then in haste returned. On en- 
tering his cell he paused with unspeakable delight, 

**For the Vision still was standing 
•As he left it there before, 
When the convent bell appalling, 
From its belfry calling, calling. 
Summoned him to feed the poor. 
Through the long hour intervening 
It had waited his return, 
And he felt his bosom bum. 
Comprehending all the meaning. 
When the Blessed Vision said, 
* Hadst thou stayed, I must have fled !* " 

Two words, in closing. Firsts "The Sabbath was 
made for man ;" not, surely, that he might abuse it, but 
that he might apply it to his spiritual and eternal good. 
The day is a holy trust and we shall be held responsible 
for the right use of it. 

Secondy " The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sab- 
bath." He has a property right in it. Time is his, for 
he made it. By a special and explicit designation thq 
Sabbath is set apart as "the Lord's Day." The man 
who appropriates it to his own selfish uses is guilty ot 
grand larceny indeed ; for he is guilty of robbing God. 
Let us therefoi:e use the day as not abusing it. 

** Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. ... In 
it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy 
daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy 
cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates." 

" If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath. 



35^ HINTS AND HELPS. 



THE TWELVE CHOSEN. 

Mark 3: 6-19. 

The Scribes and Pharisees had long been concerned 
as to their proper attitude towards Jesus. There were 
reasons not a few why they would have been glad to 
espouse his cause ; but there were grave difficulties in the 
way. Firsty he was a man of the people. They had 
been looking for a Messiah who should come in regal 
splendor and restore the glory to Israel ; but this Jesus, 
himself of humble birth and station, made his friends 
among the lowly. He *' ate with publicans and sinners." 
Secondy he was at odds with them respecting the ceremo- 
nial law. They were particular to the last degree as to 
tithes, ablutions, Sabbath scrupulosities, with other Leviti- 
cal and traditional rites, while he, contemning these, 
insisted on such " weightier matters " as judgment, mercy, 
and faith. In general terms, they regarded religion as a 
veneering, he as an organic principle originating in the 
heart and sending out gracious influences through the life. 
Third, his treatment of them was not what they 
were accustomed to. He seemed to care nothing what- 
ever for their good will. He constantly disparaged their 
judgment in spiritual things, denounced their inconsist- 
encies, and warned the people against them as blind lead- 
ers of the blind. Under such circumstances it was scarcely 
to be expected that they would feel kindly towards him. 
Of late, however, matters had been reaching a crisis. His 
persistent activity and rapidly increasing popularity forced 
them to a clear pronouncement. Neutral ground was no 



THE TWELVE CHOSEN. 357 

longer to be thought of. For or against ; which should it 
be ? Driven to that point, their way was clear. Once 
arrayed against him, they must go the full length. Thus 
we find them taking counsel with their old-time foes, the 
Herodians,* " how they might destroy him." 

Meanwhile the popularity of Jesus increased from day 
to day. The common people heard him gladly. Wher- 
ever he went they followed him. They had never heard 
such teaching ; they had never seen such wonderful 
works. Crowds thronged about him in the streets, fol- 
lowed him into the open fields, stood upon the lakeshore 
while he discoursed to them from his little boat. This 
was the very congregation that he wanted. The multi- 
tudes, the multitudes of sinning, suflfering, dying men, 
these were more precious in his sight than all the retinues 
of kings. 

The time had come when, with this numerous follow- 
ing, his ministry must take more definite form. He must 
organize his forces. Wherefore he proceeds to call the 
Twelve, in whom we perceive the nucleus of the church : 
that mighty labor-guild which from this small beginning 
has covered the earth with its power, increasing from year 
to year and from century to century, as the outward form 
of that divine and indestructible fellowship which Jesus 
entitled " The kingdom of God." 

The call of the Twelve was really threefold. Firsts 
they were called informally, as when the Lord found 
them by the seashore, at the receipt of customs, or else- 
where, engaged in common tasks, and said, " Follow me." 
This was a general call, such as all receive to the Christian 
life. Second^ they were " ordained " to special and ex- 

* The Herodians were Sadducees in theology and in poli- 
tics supporteis of the Roman Government. 



358 HINTS AND HELPS. 

elusive service. This meant that they were to leave all 
and follow him. It was the " ministerial call." Thence- 
forth, forsaking secular tasks, they were to devote them- 
selves wholly to the Master's work. He ordained them 
(i) to "be with him," (2) to preach, and (3) to work mir- 
acles in his name. The third call of the Twelve was after 
the resurrection of Jesus, when he breathed on them, say- 
ing, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and sent them forth, 
endued with power, under the great commission of uni- 
versal conquest. This was their final and distinct call to 
the apostolate. 

I. Observe, these twelve apostles were all men. Why 
was no woman chosen to this office ? Surely it was not 
because Jesus regarded woman as in any wise inferior to 
man. That was indeed the spirit of the age and land in 
which he lived, but the whole genius of his teaching was 
against it. If wife, mother and sister are dearer terms 
to-day than in the olden time, if womanhood is more 
respected the world over, it is most largely due to the 
gospel of Christ. Nevertheless there is a difference — not 
of relative importance but of gifts and fitness — which to 
ignore would be to go against nature. The duties which 
were laid upon the apostolate were of a peculiar sort. It 
is no reflection upon the dignity of womanhood to say 
that men were best fitted to discharge them. It would 
appear that, in the early church, the offices most nearly 
corresponding to that of the Twelve were held exclusively 
by men. There has always, however, been a large and 
blessed place for " ministering women," many of whom 
have reached the very highest point of usefulness. There 
are, indeed, diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit ; and 
there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God 
which worketh all in all (i Cor. 12 : 4-21). 



THE TWELVE CHOSEN. 359 

2. There has been much conjecture as to our Lord's 
reason for choosing just twelve, no more and no less. We 
are reminded that " the number twelve symbolizes perfec- 
tion and universality." Three was the symbol of Deity ; 
four of the visible creation, as in the apocalyptic vision of 
the four beasts. " Three multiplied by four gives twelve, 
the number of those who were to go forth in the name of 
the blessed Trinity into the four quarters of the world." 
All this is interesting as speculation. It would appear, 
however, that, if there were any special reason for this 
particular choice, apart from mere convenience, it might 
be found in the number of the tribes of Israel in connec- 
tion with the fact that the Christian church is set forth as 
the whole Israel of God. 

3. The original apostles were all men of the people. 
There was not a rabbi, not an ascetic, not a philosopher, 
not a rich man, not a poHtical dignitary among them. 
They were simply average men ; such as would be likely 
to sympathize with the needs and longings of the masses. 
The most of them were Galileans ; the single Judean 
among them was the unworthiest of all. Three of them 
were, possibly, in comfortable circumstances: Matthew, 
the publican, and the two sons of Zebedee, who carried 
on a fishing industry on the shores of Gennesaret ; but 
Matthew's craft was despised, and that of the others a 
most humble one. All of them were industrious men, 
like the Master himself; who now, as then, has Httle use 
for the indolent and unthrifty. As to education, they had 
probably all learned the fundamentals in attendance on 
the rabbinical schools, but nothing more. John seems 
to have known somewhat of the Platonic philosophy ; but 
this was probably picked up in the course of his long 
ministry; his clear, transcendental mind was disposed 



360 HINTS AND HELPS. 

that way. A " liberal education," as it was then under- 
stood, would have disqualified the Twelve for their work. 
The Lord had no need at this juncture for philosophers, 
certainly not for doctrinaires. The time would come for 
dogmatics and apologetics ; and the man would be forth- 
coming. A place would presently be made for Paul, but 
not now (i Cor. 9:1; Acts 9:15; 2 Cor. 12:12; 2 Tim. 
1 : 11). 

4. It will be well to observe that some of these apos- 
tles were married men. Curiously enough, Peter, the 
original primate, to whom the papacy is proudly traced, 
is referred to as '* leading about a wife" (i* Cor. 9:5; 
compare with Mark i : 30). The doctrine of the celibacy 
of the clergy is an invention of the devil. Jesus sanctioned 
marriage ; and in the early church it was regarded as 
" honorable in all" (Heb. 13 : 4). The contrary view has 
resulted in abuses innumerable. It touches the sanctity 
of home and the family relation, in which are fostered all 
things pure and true. It is God himself who "setteth 
the solitary in families," and who shall presume to pre- 
vent it ? 

5. The Twelve were of diverse temperaments and 
qualifications. No two were alike. All sorts of mate- 
rials are usable in the building up of the kingdom of 
Christ. It is customary to arrange these aposties in 
groups. The first consists of Peter, James and John, a 
glorious triumvirate, often called " the chosen three." 
They were all men of marked ability and distinct indi- 
viduality. They were admitted into our Lord's inner 
confidence, as witnesses of his transfiguration and else- 
where. Peter, " the man of rock," was headstrong and 
impetuous, but a born leader. James and John were 
called boanergeSy or "sons of thunder," on account of 



i 



THE TWELVE CHOSEN. 361 

their vehemence and fearlessness. James, who longed to 
be " baptized with the baptism of Jesus " (Matt. 20 : 22), 
had his wish strangely fulfilled, in that he became the 
protomartyr, being " slain by Herod with the sword " (Acts 
12:2). John, "the beloved," outlived his fellow-disci-, 
pies and, at the age of a hundred years, according to 
tradition, was dragged through the streets of Ephesus to 
be " ground as God's fine wheat by the teeth of lions.*' 
In the second group are Andrew, his name meaning 
"manly;" Philip the seeker (John 14:8); Bartholomew, 
also called Nathanael, " the guileless " (John i : 47), and 
Matthew, " the publican." Of these four Matthew is most 
influential and familiar to us as the author of the gospel 
bearing his name. The third group embraces the re- 
mainder of the Twelve : Thomas, " the doubter ;" James 
the little, a cousin of Jesus, pastor of the church at Jerusa- 
lem, writer of " the Epistle of James ;" Thaddeus, known 
also as Lebbeus and Jude, wherefore Jerome calls him 
7>7'^«y;«z^^, the thrice-named ; Simon, "the zealot;" and 
Judas Iscariot, always bearing the stigma, "which be- 
trayed him." This recital and classification of the Twelve 
sufficiently indicates their diverse characteristics. Each 
had his own place to fill and was qualified to fill it. 

6. A majority of the Twelve have left little or no 
record. So far as we know they were nobodies. Yet 
eternity may show that these were as important in their 
places as the others. God keeps the chronicles. Few 
are the leaders in a great war; the fighting is done by 
the rank and file. The little maid in Naaman's palace is 
mentioned only once, and that in passing, but who can 
estimate the far-reaching lines of influence that flowed 
from her modest life ? The little lad who had the basket 
of loaves and fishes is not named, but he was an impor- 



,362 HINTS AND HELPS. 

tant factor in the great miracle of feeding the multitude. 
If it is the Lord's will that we should serve in obscurity, 
so be it : only let us serve faithfully ; and " he that seeth 
in secret shall reward us openly." 

7. They formed an harmonious body. There was no 
jostling nor quarreling among them. It is significant that, 
in so small a company, there were three pairs of brothers : 
Andrew and Peter, James and John, James the Less and 
Jude; a lesson on brotherly love. Let it be observed, 
also, that the apostles were sent forth two by two ; a les- 
son on sanctified friendship and cooperation. " Two are 
better than one ; for if one fall the other will Hft him up ; 
but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath 
not another to lift him up." 

8. Every man of the Twelve was a sinner. Some of 
them had glaring faults. One was a doubter, several were 
rash and impetuous, all were more or less tinctured with 
cowardice ; one was a hypocrite and traitor. If perfection 
were required in Christ's service we should all be left out. 
It is said that Minerva sprang full-armed from the fore- 
head of Jove ; but Christian character is a growth. Our 
graces are developed in the service, as grain matures in 
the field : " first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn 
in the ear." 

9. The Twelve were alike in having " seen the Lord." 
This was the prime requirement. When the vacancy 
caused by the defection of Judas was to be filled, search 
was made in prayer for one who might suitably serve as 
"a witness of the resurrection of Jesus " (Acts i : 15-26). 
So Paul in justifying his claim to the apostolic office re- 
ferred to those occasions on which Jesus had personally 
appeared to him, saying, "Am I not an apostle ? Have 
I not seen Jesus Christ, our Lord ?" There is a sense, 



THE TWELVE CHOSEN. 363 

therefore, in which the Twelve are without successors; 
and there is another sense in which *' the apostoHc suc- 
cession " is a glorious fact. If we may not know Jesus 
after the flesh, nor yet behold him in visions, we may so 
dwell with him, serve with him, sit at his feet and obey 
his voice as that no earthly friend shall be so near or real 
to us. 

10. The meaning of the word apostle is "sent." The 
apostles were sent ones; commissioned in the Master's 
name to go everywhere and bear witness to his glorious 
gospel. In this sense all who love Jesus and give heed 
to the great commission, " Go ye," are aposdes. All whom 
he calls are called to be witnesses of the truth. All whom 
he ** ordains " are ordained to take part in the great prop- 
aganda. Remember the word of the Lord Jesus, how he 
said: "As the Father hath sent me into the world so 
send I you." 

Had the Twelve, chosen as we have seen, announced 
in the presence of the Sanhedrin that their purpose was 
the conquest of the world, a general shout of laughter 
would have greeted them. But that was the truth, and 
these nineteen centuries have vindicated it. One by one 
the Twelve were led away to ax or fagot ; but the blood 
of the martyrs is ever the seed of the church. The six- 
fcore Christians of Ascension Day have become many 
millions ; and still the royal standards onward go. The 
Kingdom of God is leaven which a woman took and put 
in three measures of meal; and it leavened the whole 
lump. The Church of Jesus Christ has in it the power of 
an indestructible life and the promise of eternal growth 
" The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 



364 HINTS AND HELPS. 



THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 

Luke 6:20-31. 

The time for the setting up of Christ's kingdom had 
fully come. The Twelve had been called and ordained 
as the King's Cabinet. They must now be instructed as 
to the underlying principles of the new society. All night 
had they been in the mountain with the Master ; all night 
in prayer. Great crises draw the soul towards the Infi- 
nite. The gift of the knees is the gift of power. A night 
at the throne of grace assures a day of blessing. So Jesus 
came down in the morning and stood with his disciples in 
the plain, and a great multitude awaited them — a greater 
multitude, indeed, than fleshly eyes could see; for the 
King's inaugural was to be delivered and the whole world 
must hear. As he spoke the hills receded, the amphithe- 
atre enlarged, all the nations and all the centuries came 
crowding into view. Forums and parliaments, royal au- 
diences and Runnymedes were nothing to this. The 
Prince Emanuel was to set forth principles of govern- 
ment which, in his kingdom of truth and righteousness, 
were destined to outlast the foundations of the everlasting 
hills. 

The Sermon on the Mount reaches its climax in the 
Golden Rule. The beatitudes, the parables, the exposi- 
tions of Mosaic maxims, the wise counsels and admoni- 
tions all lead up to it. This is the aureum milleareumy 
the end of the journey, where all truth-seekers put off 
"their pilgrim shoon." This is the heart of religion, 
whither all its life currents, coursing to and fro, ever re- 



THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 365 



•: 



turn : As ye would that men should do to you ^ do ye also 
to theTfi likewise, 

1. At the outset a rule of some sort was necessary. 
Every government must have its constitution, a system of 
principles cohering about a central truth. Every labor- 
guild must have its covenant, binding each to the other 
and all to a common interest. The church is at once 
government and labor-guild, wherefore its ruling princi- 
ple must recognize both king and commonwealth. The 
Golden Rule echoes both tables of the Decalogue. It 
derives the brotherhood of man from the fatherhood of 
God. 

2. The rule must be a perfect one. Souls on their 
»- way to judgment must have an accurate standard of 
^ measurement. The law of the kingdom must be like the 

sun, which regulates all other chronometers. To a boy 
on his way to school or a man going to market the num- 
ber of inches in a linear foot is not a matter of supreme 
importance, but the thing assumes a different color when 
one sets out to traverse the circumference of the earth. 
It is the business of the government to keep and furnish 
correct standards of weight and measure. God*s king- 
dom rests on absolute truth. There must be no flaws in 
its prescription as to the conduct of life. There are none 
in the Golden Rule. The man never lived who was bold 
enough to find fault with it. 

Nevertheless, there is danger of making too much of 
the Golden Rule. Everything has its just value. The 
cross itself may be made a fetich. Water in sufficient 
quantities is as fatal as rum. Wherefore it may be well, 
at this point, to qualify our eulogium of the Golden 
Rule. 

First. It is not wholly original in the teaching of 



365 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Christ. Isocrates had said, " Do nothing to others which 
would offend you if they should retaliate in kind." Con- 
fucius wrote, " Do not to your neighbors that which is 
odious to you." The rabbis relate that when one went to 
Hillel, saying, " Tell me the whole law quickly, while I 
stand on one foot," he answered, " What is displeasing to 
thee do not to another ; this is the whole law." But ob- 
serve, in all these cases the injunction is given in the 
negative. This makes a great difference. It is one thing 
to say, Thou shah not hate God, and another to say, 
Love him with all thy heart. Rob not thy neighbor is a 
large precept, but Give alms is a larger. A brazen image 
can keep the command. Do not, but it takes a man to do. 
And further, observe, it is nothing against a Scriptural 
precept to say it is not original, but rather in its favor. 
All true ethics have their ground in a constitutional and 
universal sense of right. The conscience " accusing or 
excusing " comes before the Scriptures ; and when they 
speak it must needs answer, " I knew that all along." 
The glory of the Word is in its bringing man to himself; 
in reminding him of things which he knew but had for- 
gotten. It gathers together the best intuitions of the 
race, all its faint memories of lost greatness, all that is true 
in the false religions, the sum and substance of all divine 
visions and revelations, and binds them into one bundle 
of truth. Its proof of divineness is not in its novelty, but 
in its blessed loyalty to the things which are as ancient as 
the heart and conscience of the race. 

Second, The Golden Rule is not an all-embracing 
statute. It does not exhaust ethics. It stands not as a 
solitary and dislocated maxim. Some things go before 
it, some come after. In Matthew it is introduced by the 
word "therefore" (Matt. 7: 12), which refers backward 



THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 367 

to certain injunctions touching prayer. The just relations 
of man are only to be understood as they rest upon his 
relations with God. There are two tables of the Law, 
one respecting piety, the other philanthropy; and they 
stand in logical order. Jesus said, " The first and great- 
est commandment is this : Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
God with all thy heart and soul and mind ; and the sec- 
ond is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self: on these two hang all the Law and the Prophets." 
Thus God is at top and bottom of all. To leave him out 
of the account is to make the Golden Rule as vain as " a 
painted ship upon a painted ocean." To say, " I want 
nothing but the Golden Rule to live and die by," is to 
speak without thinking. As if a man were to say, ** What 
care I for fountains ? the brook is enough ;" or, " What 
care I for roots ? give me apples ;" or, " What care I for 
wheels and mainsprings ? I want the time of day." 

Third. The Golden Rule has no power to save. It 
was not intended to save. Salvation involves the blotting 
out of sin. There is here no adaptation of the means to 
the end. A grocer must have his business code, but he 
would not offer to pay his debts with it. Ever^'thing to 
its use. Sinai was for the building up of character ; the 
altar at its foot was for the expiation of guilt. In the Ser- 
mon on the Mount we observe a startling omission : there 
is not a word about the atonement. But there is enough 
about it elsewhere. Christ was dealing just then with 
conduct. The cross would come in due season. This 
Sermon was, indeed, a prelude to it. Men who say the 
Sermon on the Mount is gospel enough for them would 
scarcely, on sober thought, be willing to go to judgment 
that way. Have they lived by it ? Nay, its requirements 
are more exacting than those of Sinai. It stands as a 



368 HINTS AND HELPS. 

universal indictment, for not a living man has kept it. 
Retributive justice flashes through the Golden Rule like 
lightning on a summer's day. 

3. For all the uses of common life this is aptly called 
*' The Golden Rule." Here are mines that would enrich 
the world ; inexhaustible veins of treasure. 

(i) The practice of this rule between man and man 
would glorify life in all its relations. How like antecham- 
bers of heaven our homes would be ! No envies or jeal- 
ousies, no wranglings or selfish contentions, but " each in 
honor preferring one another." What changes would be 
wrought in social life ! Evil speaking and uncharitable 
judgment w©uld be ruled out ; all would go singing : 



" The mercy I to others show, 
That mercy show to me.*' 



Social distinctions might remain, but Caste, with its 
supercilious air and sidelong glance, would die the death. 
Virtue would outshine diamonds and character would 
crowd noble birth to the wall. In the places of industry 
master and man would vex each other no more. Strikes 
and boycotts would cease. There would be fair dealing 
all around. Pale-faced women would no longer sew 
their lives into gusset and seam. Shylock would move 
out of Chatham Street. Bargains on the Stock Exchange 
would change their complexion. And everywhere, in 
shops and markets, that pagan maxim, " Honesty is the 
best policy " — which keeps a man trusty only so long as 
he is watched — would give place to a wiser and better : 
" Each for the other and all for God." 

(2) And what if this Golden Rule were applied in 
politics ? What problems would be solved, what wrongs 
righted ! The *' Geary " law, laying an intolerable burden 



THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. 369 

on a few friendless Mongolians, would straightway become 
a memory of the past. The miserable remnant of our 
Indian tribes would no longer be robbed and debauched 
and driven to desperation. We have been a long while 
finding out the wisdom of that Leyden pastor who wrote 
to Miles Standish, " To my thinking, Captain, it were bet- 
ter to convert those Indians than to slay them." That 
surely would be in the spirit of the Golden Rule. And 
our Freedmen, too, would be helped upon their feet. 
The story of their wrongs makes the darkest page in our 
American history. They were transported by our fathers 
in the suffocating holds of slave ships. For two hundred 
years they suffered in chains, their minds benighted, their 
virtue a plaything, their very humanity an open question. 
Then came freedom, and now they are struggling hard 
for life and manhood. What says the Golden Rule? 
Help them to their feet ! Give them the benefit of courts 
and public schools and the ballot. This is the Christlike 
way of solving the vexatious difficulty. To pursue any 
other would be but to heal the hurt slighdy and tempt 
the danger of a festering sore. " Nothing is settled until 
it is setded right.** This is the sword that cuts all Gordian 
knots in politics : Do as you would be done by. 

(3) And if an international application of this Rule 
were made it would usher in the Golden Age. To-day there 
are three great monarchies which hover like vultures over 
the more or less mutilated bodies of other governments 
beyond the sea. Nothing apparently prevents their gorg- 
ing themselves except their mutual dread of each other. 
Yet, experience being our teacher, it is only a question of 
time when all will lose their pre-eminence. The time 
approaches when the Golden Rule — whose other name is 
peaceful arbitration — will take the place of fleets and 

Hints and Help«. 24 



370 HINTS AND HELPS. 

Standing armies ; when swords shall be beaten into plow- 
shares and spears into pruning hooks. It is said that 
when Ruskin was furnishing his country home a friend 
suggested damask curtains. " Damask curtains, indeed !" 
he replied. "All very fine, but I can 't afford them just 
now." " I thought," said his friend, " you had a splendid 
income." " So I have, but I am spending it all on steel 
traps." " Steel traps ?" " Yes, for protection against yon 
fellow on the other side of the wall." "But aren't you 
friends ?" "Aye, rarely ; but I am taking lessons of our 
government, that spends millions on materials of war to 
keep the peace." It was a rude way of deriding a great 
folly. For why should not the Golden Rule prevail 
among nations as among men ? Let us hope and pray 
for that blessed dawn of peace when the wolf and the 
lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like 
the bullock, and dust shall be the serpent's meat (Is. 
65 : 25). Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time, and bring 
the welcome day ! 

But while we thus dream dreams and see visions of a 
glorious future let us be mindful that the nations are but 
coteries of men and that the world is all the while what 
you and I are making it. The Golden Rule is for per- 
sonal use. One day filled with it would be like a bit 
of heaven. A life spent thus would be a wholly Christ- 
like life. But to attain this end we must, like Christ, begin 
with God. The first Commandment is the ground and 
inspiration of the second. No man can be my own bro- 
ther until God is my own Father. And God's father- 
hood will never be known until Christ, in whom he reveals 
himself, is believed in as Brother of all. In giving him 
God gave the Golden Rule ; in receiving him we keep it. 



OPPOSITION TO CHRIST. 37I 



OPPOSITION TO CHRIST. 

Mark 3:22-35. 

The leaders of Israel had parted company with Jesus 
finally and irrevocably. What else could they do ? He 
had brought their teaching into contempt and their lives 
into the light. He had made them a gazing*stock to the 
people who had previously hearkened to them as to 
divine oracles. Had he wished he might easily have won 
their patronage, but he had chosen otherwise and must 
take the consequences. A price was thenceforth upon 
his head. Secret conclaves were held and plots laid for 
his destruction. He was at this time teaching in Caper- 
naum. Thither a company of Scribes were sent to spy 
upon him. They dogged his steps, they whispered in- 
nuendoes, they sought to ensnare him with hard questions, 
and all else failing they charged him with being in collu- 
sion with the prince of darkness. This desperate charge 
was (i) a tribute to his popularity. The multitudes were 
indeed bewitched by his preaching and miracles. (2) It 
was, moreover, a distinct admission of his wonder-work- 
ing power. There was no questioning the facts. The 
healed, the cleansed, the dispossessed demoniacs stood 
^y* (3) It was, still further, a betrayal of their own ma- 
levolent purpose. The fire of diabolical hatred shone in 
their eyes. 

We can but wonder at the patience of Jesus. He 
could have slain them by the lifting of his finger. With 
a glance he might have pierced them as with a flash of 
lightning. But instead, he graciously admonished them. 



37^ HINTS AND HELPS. 

He stooped to argument. They had charged him with 
" casting out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils." 
Observe his fourfold confutation. J^trs^y on the ground of 
common sense : " How can Satan cast out Satan ?" Shall 
the prince of darkness turn his enmity against himself? 
This would be plain suicide. Second, a reductio ad ah- 
surdum. If Satan could not rise up against himself, no 
more would he combine with Jesus to accomplish his own 
defeat. It was preposterous that his house should thus 
be divided against itself. Satan was no fool. Third, 
the Scribes were made to testify to their own confusion. 
In Matthew*s account this word is added : "If I by Beelze- 
bub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out ? 
let them be your judges " (Matt, ii : 19). For there were 
some of themselves, like the seven sons of the priest 
Sceva, who claimed the power of exorcism. Our Lord by 
no means admitted the genuineness of that claim, but de- 
sired to know whether those of their own household were 
in league with Satan. This drove the argument straight 
home. Fourth, an appeal was made to their experience. 
Did they ever know a case wherein a strong man's house 
was spoiled unless it was done by one mightier ? Must 
not the strong man himself be bound before his house 
could be looted ? Was it not plain, therefore, that in 
making this charge against Jesus they admitted his supe- 
riority to Satan? Allies do not plunder each others' 
castles. Foe fights foe and the stronger plunders the 
weaker. And for this very cause had he come into the 
world, that he might destroy the works of the devil. He 
had thwarted him in the wilderness, had worsted him in 
many a hand to hand conflict for the deliverance of his 
victims, was binding him and spoiling his house from day 
to day; and the time was coming when he would lay 



OPPOSITION TO CHRIST. 373 

hold of the dragon, bind him with eternal chains and cast 
him into the bottomless pit (Rev. 20 : 3). 

At this point our Lord, leaving his controversy with 
the scribes and taking their fatuous opposition as his text, 
discoursed to the assembled multitude on the awful sin of 
rejecting his Messianic claims and overtures of mercy. 
As this is the crowning sin of sins it behooves us to give 
heed. 

I. How is Christ presented for 6ur acceptance? 
Here is the special function of the Holy Ghost. The 
Lord himself has passed from fleshly sight. He no longer 
walks through the village streets or stands upon the hill- 
sides stretching forth his hands and saying, " Come unto 
me." But the Holy Ghost is with us. " It is expedient," 
said Jesus, " that I go away ; but I will send the Com- 
forter, and he will guide you into all truth. He shall 
glorify me ; for he shall take of mine and shall show it 
unto you." 

(i) His power is manifest in the effective preaching 
of the truth. It is the hand of the Spirit that touches the 
lips of the messenger with fire ; it is the influence of the 
Spirit that opens the doors of the hearer*s heart. " Take 
heed how ye hear " is a wise admonition ; for the gospel 
as set forth in the sanctuary is a savor of life unto life or 
else of death unto death. The moment we cross the 
threshold of the church we are in the atmosphere of the 
Spirit. To be heedless now is to grieve him. To hear 
aright is to enter into life. For whoso looketh into the 
perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not 
a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this man shall 
be blessed indeed. The word preached is a presentation 
of the Word incarnate. To reject it is to reject Christ; 
" O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye 



374 HINTS AND HELPS. 

should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ 
hath been evidently set forth, crucified ampng you ?" 

(2) The power of the Spirit in the presentation of 
Christ is manifest also in the reading of the Scriptures. 
" Search the Scriptures," the Master said, " for in them 
ye think ye have eternal life ; and these are they which 
testify of me." It is possible to assume such an attitude 
towards the Bible that its truths shall repel and injure us ; 
like those flowers in ** Faust " which, dropped from an 
angel's hand, were changed to burning coals. It is much 
to be feared that, in these days, the prevailing spirit ol 
irreverent criticism bars our way to blessing. It is one 
thing to scrutinize the Scriptures with curious eyes as no 
more to us than other books, like experts deciphering old 
inscriptions, and quite another to search them, under all 
possible lights and with all possible implements, as for hid 
treasure. A sincere and serious student of the Bible, 
reading it under the clear light of the Spirit, must see the 
marred but beautiful face of Jesus looking forth from 
every page, and discern between its lines everywhere the 
story of redeeming love. To read it otherwise is to 
grieve the Spirit. He cannot lead us into truth if heart 
and intellect are averse to it. 

" Within this awful volume lies 
The mystery of mysteries. 
Happiest they of human race 
To whom our God has granted grace 
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray. 
To lift the latch and force the way." 

(3) The influence of the Spirit is still further put 
forth in numberless allurements by which we are contin- 
ually drawn towards Christ. " There are so many voices, 
and none of them is without signification ;" voices of na- 



OPPOSITION TO CHRIST. 375 

ture, history, special providence, personal observation, 
reason, memory, and conscience speaking in the inner 
man. The word of God is not bound ; he worketh 
whensoever and wheresoever he will. If angels come no 
more, the winds shall bring his message. If the open 
vision has ceased and the lamps of the sanctuary are 
gone out, the stars of heaven shall find a voice and the 
flowers of the field whisper " Come." The gracious One 
will never leave himself without a witness. Many a man 
deeming himself forsaken has been drawn of the Spirit as 
veritably as was Jacob when he " put the stones for his 
pillow and lay down to sleep;" but, alas, too often he 
must confess, " I knew it not." A sailor lad who, fleeing 
from the restraints of home, wandered far away, was 
haunted by a voice like a cooing dove. At night when 
he lay sleepless in his hammock it reminded him of home 
and mother, of the village church, the " old ha* Bible " 
and the good- night prayer; and at last it brought him 
back a penitent. Voices, voices everywhere. The Spirit 
is abroad in the earth calling men to truth and goodness. 
He is not willing that any man should die, but that all 
should turn and live. 

2. How, now, are these influences opposed, and how 
is Christ rejected when thus offered as Saviour and 
Friend ? 

First, by continuance in known sin. Sin and Christ 
are sworn foes. No man can serve both ; for either he 
will hate the one and love the other, or else he will cling 
to the one and despise the other. To persist in an evij 
habit is to reject the proffered kindness of him who cam^ 
to break every chain and bid the oppressed go Iree, 

Second y by delay. It is much to be doubted if any 
intend to be lost. All would be saved, but not now. 



376 HINTS AND HELPS. 

" To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow ; 
Creeps in this petty space from day to day 
Till the last syllable of recorded time. 
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dusty death." 

Opportunity is like a silken thread let down from heaven ; 
a breath may thrust it aside, but to grasp it is to feel the 
electric thrill of divine love through and through. The 
Saviour walks beside us along our journey from the cra- 
dle to the grave, speaking with us, reasoning, remonstra- 
ting, pleading ; and from day to day we heed him not. 

Third, by downright and explicit abandonment. 
When a man finally concludes that he will have no more 
of Jesus and arrays himself against him, that ends it. This 
was the case with the scribes. They not only refused the 
personal appeals of Jesus, not only resented his admoni- 
tions, not only denied his Messianic claims and opposed 
his work, but went so far as to blasphemously charge 
that he was in collusion with the prince of devils. In 
doing this they sinned against the Holy Ghost, who 
worked in them, as in all, to bring them to a saving 
knowledge of Christ. 

And this is the unpardonable sin. The reason for 
calling it " the sin against the Holy Ghost " is obvious. 
To be heedless of the influence that ever works within us 
for our advancement in right thinking and holy living is 
to " grieve the Spirit." To set ourselves against that in- 
fluence is to " resist the Spirit." To violently reject it is 
to " quench the Spirit." And these three steps are the 
descent to death. The last is fatal ; wherefore it is called 
" the sin unto death." 

This sin is (i) in the nature of Ihe majesie, and is 
immeasurably heinous. (2) It is a sin against nature, 



OPPOSITION TO CHRIST. 377 

involving the violation of both reason and conscience. 
(3) It is wilful and deliberate, being committed in the face 
of admonitions and entreaties, with a full knowledge of 
the consequences. Augustine says, " That man sins 
against the Holy Ghost who, despairing, or deriding and 
despising the preaching of grace by which sins are washed 
away, and of peace by which we are reconciled to God, 
refuses to repent of his sins, and resolves that he must go 
on hardening himself in a certain impious and fatal sweet- 
ness of them, and persists therein to the end." (4) This 
leaves the spiritual nature practically dead and helpless. 
The presence of fear or self-accusation is proof presump- 
tive that the unpardonable sin has not been committed. 
Men upon whom the death-sentence has been executed 
are not sensitive to fear. (5) This sin is unpardonable 
not because of any unwillingness on God's part, but in the 
nature of the case. It is itself a final refusal of pardon 
offered in Christ. God is able and willing to save unto 
the uttermost, but there must be personal consent. In 
this case personal consent is impossible. The door of 
escape is closed. (6) The doom of the one thus guilty is, 
to be left to himself for ever. Our Lord says, " He is 
in danger of eternal damnation ;" which would be better 
rendered, " is guilty of an eternal sin." This means that 
he is bound in a chain that can never be broken. His 
exclusion from heaven is not God's doing but wholly his 
own. He prefers sin, and his doom is to go on sinning 
for ever. This is spiritual death, exclusion from the com- 
pany of the redeemed and the presence of God. 

" There is a death whose pang 
Outlasts this fleeting breath ; 
Oh, what eternal horrors hang 
Around the second death !" 



3/8 HINTS AND HELPS. 

3, It remains to consider how Christ may be ac- 
cepted. The Holy Spirit is ever " receiving of the things 
of Jesus and showing them unto us." It is possible for us 
at any moment to close in with his overtures of grace. If 
one would take a journey he must needs begin with one 
step. The first step of the Christian life is in the manly 
words ** I will." The turning-point in the story of the 
prodigal was when, brought to himself by a contemplation 
of his poverty, he said, " I will arise and go." To thus 
accept of eternal life in Jesus Christ is to honor the Father 
who sent and the Spirit who commends him. Thus in 
an instant the soul is reconciled to the triune God ; and 
this is to enter into life. 

The privileges that follow are beyond all reckoning, 
but chiefest of all is the mystical union of the believer 
with his Lord. It is closer than friendship, nearer and 
dearer than the dearest kinship. And Jesus, looking 
round about on his disciples, said, " Behold my mother 
and my brethren ; for whosoever shall do the will of God, 
the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother." The 
mystic bond of union is so close that it must needs be 
characterized as oneness, finding its best illustration in 
the incomprehensible union of the persons of the ineffable 
Godhead: **As thou. Father, art in me and I in thee, 
that they also may be one in us." We are lost in won- 
der, bewildered in view of the possibilities that open be- 
fore us. Oh, the depth of the riches of grace! "Beloved, 
now are we sons of God : and it doth not yet appear what 
we shall be ; but we know that when he shall appear we 
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 



OPPOSITION TO CHRIST. 379 



CHRIST TEACHING BY PARABLES. 

Luke 8. 4-15. 

The time had come for a radical change in our 
Lord's method of teaching. His popularity was on the 
wane. The crowds that had followed him from place to 
place, attracted by his eloquence and miracles, were now 
beginning to take offence. His divine claims bewildered 
them. His doctrine of sin shone into their guilty hearts 
like a candle in a dark place. His call to exclusive ser- 
vice seemed like a mailed hand smiting the pleasures of 
life. Thus it is written, " From that time many of them 
went back and walked no more with him." 

It was at this juncture that he " began to speak in 
parables," * His purpose in so doing was threefold. 
Firsts to impart truth to his disciples in picturesque form. 
It was not strange that they were puzzled at the first, for 
the method was quite new ; but he gave them the key ; 
and thereafter his parabolic teaching was like the Shechi- 
nah, dark to the Egyptians but light to God's people. 
Teaching by object-lessons is indeed the simplest as well 
as the most effective. It is the kindergarten plan, and 
therefore specially adapted to the uses of Christ's king- 
dom, which none can enter save those of a childlike spirit 
(Mark 10:15). Second, it was designed to attract the 
masses. It would enlist their curiosity. There is nothing 
like the charm of a hidden meaning. At the same time 

* The difference between a fable and a parable is that, 
while the former pays no regard to probability, the latter takes 
its imagery from nature and is true to life. 



38o HINTS AND HELPS. 

there was much of truth upon the surface of the parables 
for all ; surface gold everywhere but inexhaustible mines 
beneath. The words and phrases were of the simplest 
sort, and the metaphors were from common scenes and 
occupations. There was no affectation of learning; no 
attempt at profundity. Had Jesus expressed^ himself in 
such terminology as some of our modern philosophers 
employ he might have won the cultured few but not the 
people. Herbert Spencer defines life in this way : " It is 
a definite combination of heterogeneous changes both 
simultaneous and successive in correspondence with cer- 
tain external coexistences and sequences." The use of 
the parable was the very opposite of this method ; where- 
fore " the common people heard him gladly." Third. It 
perplexed and mystified those who were averse to the 
truth. The Scribes and Pharisees who listened only to 
criticise were unable to make anything of it. The veil 
which was transparent to the humble and attentive was 
impenetrable to the wise in their own conceits. Thus 
Jesus said " Unto you — my disciples — it is given to know 
the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others in 
parables ; that seeing they might not see and hearing they 
might not understand." This was in the nature of what 
Godet calls " intermediate judgment." Blindness is pun- 
ished by blindness. " Unto everyone that hath shall be 
given, and he shall have abundance : but from him that 
hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath." 
It was the deliberate wish of Jesus, merciful as well as 
judicial and retributive, that those who desired to see only 
to their own hurt should not see at all. 

The first of the many parables of our Lord was that 
of the Sower and the Seed. Dean Stanley says : " Is 
there anything on the spot to suggest the imagery ? So 



CHRIST TEACHING BY PARABLES. 38 1 

I asked as I rode along the tract under the hillside by 
which the plain of Gennesaret is approached. I saw 
nothing but the steep sides of the hill, alternately of rock 
and grass. But the thought had hardly occurred to me 
when a slight recess, close upon the plain, disclosed at 
once, in detail and with a conjunction which I remember 
nowhere else in Palestine, every feature of the great par- 
able. There was the undulating cornfield descending to 
the water's edge ; there was the trodden pathway running 
through the midst of it, with no fence or hedge to prevent 
the seed from falling here and there on either side or upon 
it ; itself hard with the tramp of horse and mule and 
human foot." Such was the scene, doubdess, toward 
which the Master with a wave of his hand directed the 
attention of the multitude as he began to say, "A sower 
went forth to sow." 

The Sower was primarily Christ himself, who came 
to declare the truth of the kingdom ; and with him the 
Twelve and all others in the goodly fellowship of Chris- 
tian service. It is a glorious thing to be a minister of the 
unsearchable riches of Christ. Many there are who sigh, 
like good Nicholas Breton, 

" I would I were an excellent divine 

That had the Bible at my fingers' ends, 
That men might hear out of this mouth of mine 
How God doth make his enemies his friends." 

But, indeed, all disciples of Christ are " excellent di- 
vines " if continually they scatter the seed of the kingdom 
by seasonable words and holy living. The humblest may 
have " the Bible at his fingers* ends," and from its glori- 
ous messages of truth and righteousness may show " how 
God doth make his enemies his friends." 

" The seed of the kingdom is the word of God." The 



382 HINTS AND HELPS. 

figure is aptly chosen ; for the word has in it the germ of 
an endless life and perpetual growth, and from it ripen 
the harvests that feed the deepest craving of the children 
of men. 

And the soil is the human heart. Here is great di- 
versity. Hearts, like fields, are of an individual sort ; yet, 
for fruitfulness, all must be alike in welcoming the seed 
and lying open to the sun. It is in spiritual as in worldly 
husbandry : in vain does the sower go forth to sow if the 
soil refuse the seed. 

I. The wayside. Here the earth is beaten hard by 
constant passing to and fro. This trodden path refuses 
to be tilled ; it sheds the falling dews and rains ; the sun- 
shine that should quicken merely bakes it. The seed that 
by chance falls upon it is to be devoured by the fowls of 
the air. And when the reaper comes, he swings his sickle 
on either side but not there. It yields no harvest ; it feeds 
no hunger. 

So are the gospel-hardened, " Those by the wayside 
are they that hear." To them the gospel is an oft-told 
tale. They heard it long ago at their mothers' knees, 
they heard it from the lips of the village preacher, they 
have read it from their Bibles, studied it in their cate- 
chisms. They sit in their pews and are pleased to hear it 
eloquently set forth with each returning Sabbath. To 
them the preacher is, like Ezekiel of old, " a very lovely 
song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well 
on an instrument, for they hear thy words but they do them 
not." The gospel goes in at Eargate and out again at 
Eargate, making but a formal call en passant. It has lost 
all charm of novelty. Familiarity with it has bred in 
them an unwitting contempt. If the eloquence of the 
preacher flags for a moment their wits go wool-gathering. 



CHRIST TEACHING BY PARABLES. 383 

Wandering thoughts swoop down like crows to gather up 
whatever seed may have fallen on the dry, hard surface of 
their hearts. It is for such as these that " sensational 
preaching " is in perpetual demand. The appetite, grown 
weary of eating plain food and . not digesting it, craves 
constantly new spices and condiments. Nor do these 
avail. The honest, sedulous, mistaken and vain efforts 
which we ministers make to get and hold the attention of 
such spiritual epicures reminds one of what Thevenot says 
in his " Oriental Travels" : " I observed one day a pleasant 
thing which is practiced in all that country as far as Abas- 
si : I saw several peasants running about the cornfield, 
raising their voices and cracking their whips with all pos- 
sible force to drive away the birds. When they see flocks 
coming from a distance they redouble their cries to make 
them fly farther. The truth is there are so many birds in 
this country that they destroy all things. Even the scare- 
crows are so far from frightening them that they will come 
and perch upon them." 

There were many among the hearers of Jesus, as he 
went about among the villages of Galilee, whose hearts 
were like the beaten path. The Scribes and Pharisees 
were devoted to continual study of the Scriptures, yet its 
Messianic psalms and prophecies were no more to them 
than the droning of bees. In the immediate company of 
the disciples there was one who followed Jesus day by 
day, saw his miracles and heard him speak as never man 
spake, yet to so little purpose that a matter of thirty 
pieces of silver was sufficient to devour all good impres- 
sions. Everything has its compensations. Let us thank 
God that we live in the midst of gospel privileges ; yet 
danger lies that way, the danger of callousness. Peas- 
ants who dwell in the vale of Chamounix are seldom 



384 HINTS AND HELPS. 

moved by its beauty as was Coleridge, who merely passed 
that way, 

2. The stony ground. A little soil covering the 
surface of a great boulder will take the seed and cherish 
it for a while. AH 's well so long as nothing hinders; 
but a hot sun will scorch the Hfe out of it. 

So IS the impressionable^ unreflecting^ impulsive 
hearer, " He heareth the word and anon with joy re- 
ceiveth it; yet hath he not root in himself but dureth for 
a while." His impressions of truth are real but transient. 
He cannot stand trial. He journeys well along a level 
road, but the sight of an alpenstock appals him. James 
says he is " like unto a man beholding his natural face in 
a glass : for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and 
straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." 

Our Lord called for thoughtful disciples. " If any 
will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his 
cross and follow me." On one occasion he called atten- 
tion to a heap of stones lying along the way, representing 
the ill-considered dream of some ambitious landlord, and 
said, *' Which of you intending to build a tower sitteth not 
down first and counteth the cost, lest haply after he hath 
laid the foundation all that behold it begin to mock him, 
saying. This man began to build and was not able to 
finish." Thus the Master was ever exhorting to thought- 
fulness. Think; think for yourself, was his constant 
word. A man once came to him saying, " Lord, I will 
follow thee, whithersoever thou goest." A strange answer 
was that which he received : " The foxes have holes, the 
birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not 
where to lay his head." It was a hard saying, but kindly 
meant. It was better that the truth should be known at 
the outset. Other armies are mustered with drum-beat 



CHRIST TEACHING BY PARABLES. 385 

and vivas, but not the army of the cross. It is serious 
business to follow Christ. It means weary marching and 
hard fighting, and " there is no discharge in that war." 

The historian Froude thus describes the volunteers 
who gathered about Catiline : ** Smooth-faced, with curled 
hair and redolent of perfume, as yet beardless or with the 
first down upon their cheeks, wearing scarves and veils 
and sleeved tunics reaching to their ankles, industrious 
only with the dice-box, night-watchers but in supper- 
rooms, immodest, dissolute boys, whose education had 
been in learning to love and be loved, to sing and dance 
at midnight orgies." Was it a wonder, then, that Cati- 
line failed in his great conspiracy ? A war of mere enthu- 
siasm is ever a fiasco. Earnestness is always the earnest 
of success. Jesus wants an army of resolute men, whose 
enlistment is in the line of duty, whose impulses are 
grounded in conviction, and whose feet are shod with the 
preparation of the gospel that they may be able to with- 
stand in the evil day and, having done all, to stand. 

3. The thorny ground. There are twenty-two words 
in the Hebrew Scriptures referring to brambles and other 
prickly weeds. Palestine was infested with them. If once 
they got the better of a farmer's industry his crops were 
strangled and his field was good for naught. 

So is the preoccupied heart ; the heart that welcomes 
truth only to a conflict with worldly cares and the deceit- 
fulness of riches. The religious life that shares its domi- 
cile )vith such rank and noxious neighbors is sure to be 
crowded out. How many a soul, setting out with bright 
hope and earnest resolution, has thus degenerated into 
mere formalism, which is spiritual death. " Choked " is 
the word upon the tombstone. This was the case with 
the man who, when our Lord was discoursing on the sol- 

BtntB and Ilelpt. 26 



386 HINTS AND HELPS. 

emn things of eternity, interrupted him to say, " Master, 
speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with 
me." This was the case also with the young ruler who 
prostrated himself before Jesus crying, "Good Master, 
what shall I do that I might inherit eternal life?" but 
when the answer came, " Go, sell all that thou hast and 
come and follow me," went away sorrowful, for he was 
very rich. Alas, that was the great refusal ; and it was 
due to a preemption of the heart. 

" Care, when it once hath entered in the breast, 
Will have the whole possession ere it rest." 

But Jesus demands the whole heart. Truth is as jealous 
of rivals as the corn is of thistles. To one or the other the 
heart like the field must be wholly given up. 

4. The good ground. This is the honest heart and 
true, that having heard the word " keepeth it, and bring- 
eth forth fruit with patience." x 

This fruit is character and usefulness. Truth is the 
seed of all that is needful and hopeful in human life. 
** As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." The word 
" belief" is traced to the Saxon by-lifian^ the thing we 
live by. If a man believe in Jesus he will copy his graces 
and busy himself in the things of his kingdom. The fruit 
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
goodness, faith. These, when bound together in one 
bundle, make character and, when put out at usury, make 
usefulness. It is the Lord's desire that his people should 
make their lives tell. Fruit is what he asks; "much 
fruit," " more fruit," (John 15 : 1-5.) And fruitfulness is 
the evidence of life. Irenaeus quotes from one of the tra- 
ditions of the early churches as follows : " The Lord 
taught, saying, * The days will come in which vines shall 



CHRIST TEACHING BY PARABLES. 387 

spring up each having ten thousand stocks, and on each 
stock ten thousand branches, and on each branch ten 
thousand grapes ; and each grape when it is pressed shall 
yield five -and -twenty measures of wine. And when any 
saint shall have seized one bunch, another shall cry, I am 
a better bunch; take me, and through me bless the 
Lord !' " 

Thus Jesus taught the importance of receiving the 
truth aright. The lesson is old yet ever pertinent, " Take 
heed how ye hear." Let the fallow ground of the heart 
be always in the mood of tillage. Cut down the briers, 
cast out the stones, turn over the beaten path. Suns and 
showers are God's to give, but ours are the hearts that, 
fostering the truth must ever lie, like a field upon the 
hillside, open to all gracious influences from above. We 
are wont to plead earnestly in behalf of sacred teachers 
for the gift of tongues. Might it not be well also to covet 
for ourselves the gift of ears ? There are some creatures 
among the lower orders whose auricular organs are so 
constructed that they can only hear the smallest sounds. 
They can detect the hum of insects, the murmur ot 
brooks, the whisper of zephyrs ; but they are deaf to the 
roar of the earthquake and the rumble of heaven's artil- 
lery. In like manner there are some among us who are 
attentive to all that occurs along the sensual levels, the 
call to wealth and pleasure and perishable honors, but 
cannot hear the voice of God inviting to duty and right 
conduct, to life and immortality. When the Omnipotent 
speaks let us hearken. When truth demands an audience 
let us throw wide the door. Oh, for the hearing ear and 
the understanding heart, that the truth may have free 
course and be glorified in us ! 



388 HINTS AND HELPS 



THE TWELVE SENT FORTH. 

Matt, io 15-16. 

The original call of the Twelve was not so much to 
the active work of the apostolate as to preparation. It is 
written that Jesus called them " to be with him." This was 
their theological seminary ; to live with him, see his man- 
ner of life, behold his miracles and hear his exposition of 
the great verities that belong to the kingdom of God. 
In like manner Moses was trained for his work by com- 
munion with Jehovah in the solitudes of Midian and face 
to face converse with him in " the mountain that burned 
with fire." So Isaiah was made fit and ready for his 
prophetic office by seeing the Lord sitting upon a throne, 
high and lifted up, with the heavenly retinue about 
him : as he relates, " I heard his voice saying * Whom 
shall I send, and who will go for me ?* Then said I, 
* Here am I ; send me.* " This is ever the best training 
for the ministry. No amount of dogmatics and homiletics 
can take the place of it. 

But the disciples had been with Jesus now for more 
than a year. They had been his inseparable companions, 
following him about from place to place. The time had 
come to send them forth. They had been long enough 
with Jesus to learn his purpose, to catch the genius of 
his ministry. They knew now what " the kingdom " 
meant, the kingdom of truth and righteousness which was 
ultimately to be established in all the earth, taking its 
rise in the hearts and consciences of men. It was not 
wise that they should continue in this close companion- 



^1 

I 

I 

/ 



THE TWELVE SENT FORTH. 389 

ship of the Master. They must be taught independence. 
Otherwise what would become of them when he should 
be taken away ? Even the mother-bird knows that a 
fledgeling must be dropped from the nest. So, as Mark 
says, " Jesus called unto him the Twelve and began to 
send them forth." 

They were about to make their first missionary jour- 
ney. Twice had they made the circuit of the Galilean 
villages in company with Jesus. Now they were to go by 
themselves. But before sending them he gave them 
specific instructions and endowed them with special gifts. 

I. His first word was " GoP This was the keynote 
of the great commission for all ages. At the first they 
were to confine themselves to a ministry among the Jews : 
" Go not into the way of the Gentiles, but go rather to 
the lost sheep of the house of Israel." For this there was 
a special reason. " Let the children first be filled." It 
was meet that the gospel should at the outset be fairly pre- 
sented to those who had received the oracles and entered 
into covenant with God. " To the Jew first and also to 
the Gentile," was the predetermined order. But it was 
merely an order of time. The Jews were to have no ad- 
Vantage of others in the acceptance of grace. 

It had been prophesied from the beginning that sal- 
vation, once offered to Israel and rejected, was to be car- 
ried to all nations. Wherefore the last command of Jesus, 
addressed to the disciples on the day of his ascension, 
was, ** Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature, beginning at Jerusalem." " Charity begins 
at home " but it does not stay there. The empire of 
Christ was to be universal. Jerusalem was the starting 
point and centre of operations, from which were to go 
forth lines of influence to the uttermost parts of the earth. 



390 HINTS AND HELPS. 

There is a peculiar significance in Mark's words : " He 
began to send them forth." This was indeed but the be- 
ginning of the great propaganda, the first of an endless 
series of missionary journeys. There have been times 
when the church has almost forgotten that " going forth " 
is the necessary prerequisite to "bringing in." The 
sower must go forth bearing the precious seed if he would 
come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. 
The followers of Christ must go out into the highways 
and hedges or else they will never constrain the wander- 
ers to come in. Whenever this fact has been overlooked 
the church has suffered from drought and barrenness. 
The " dark ages " were the sad result of a long-continued 
stay-at-home policy. The immense increase of the 
church during the present century is due to the fact that 
a hundred years ago William Carey — " the consecrated 
cobbler " — and kindred spirits revived the missionary 
idea. In our common vernacular the word " go " stands 
for energy, enterprise, far-reaching endeavor. More 
"go" is still needed in the church. We congratulate 
ourselves because we have missionary ** boards " and 
" societies " and " circles ;" but the best results will never 
be reached until the church shall herself become a great 
missionary organization, not working centripetally in a 
mere struggle for local existence, but going, going always 
and everywhere, to carry the gospel to the " lapsed " and 
the " unchurched," out into the highways, to our national 
frontiers, to all such as lie in darkness and the shadow of 
death. 

2. "6^^, preach!^ In the economy of the kingdom 
it has pleased God to ordain that men should be saved 
by "the foolishness of preaching." Other things are 
helpful, but this is the sine qua non. The service of song, 



THE TWELVE SENT FORTH. 391 

the administration of the sacraments, with all litanies and 
other less essential parts of devotion, are mere adjuncts. 
The power that saves is the word of God, and the word 
is set forth in preaching. This is the flashing of that 
sword of the Spirit by which the world is ultimately to be 
subjugated to Christ. 

The word " preach " is in the original Eu-angellein^ 
meaning to bring glad tidings. The word "gospel" is 
from the Saxon god'spel^ meaning good news. To 
" preach the gospel " is therefore, by tautological empha- 
sis, to carry the best message that ever fell upon the 
ears of the children of men ; to wit, " God so loved the 
world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life." 

The substance of preaching is set forth variously, 
(i) Preach the gospel (Rev. 14 : 6). This is to come like 
a herald to a beleaguered city with news of deliverance, 
(2) Preach the kingdom (Luke 9 : 60). This is to declare 
the downfall of Satan's empire and the beginning of Mes- 
siah's reign, the consummation of which is to be "the 
restitution of all things " in the golden age of truth and 
goodness. (3) Preach the word (2 Tim. 4 : 2). The 
word of God covers the whole province of (a) sin 
(J)) grace, {c) justification by faith, (^ conduct, {e) holy 
service, and (/) the endless life. " The word " furnishes 
the preacher a boundless realm. It touches human life at 
every point in its circumference. It is like the air, which 
rests upon us with a pressure equal to fifteen pounds to 
the square inch. The word touches a man's home life, 
his business, his politics, and all his relations with the 
world around him. (4) Preach Christ (i Cor. i : 22-24). 
Christ is the starting-point and terminus of all. Ten 



392 HINTS AND HELPS. 

thousand themes are proper in the pulpit, but all must 
centre in him, as all the tents of Israel looked towards 
the sanctuary and the pillar of cloud above it. ** Christ 
first, Christ last, Christ midst, Christ all in all. 

3. "6^<?, heal the sick^ The original twelve were 
endowed with special gifts or charismata for miracles of 
healing. In many of these miracles they anointed with 
oil (Mark 6:13; also Jas. 5 : 14). This practice still sur- 
vives in the "extreme unction" of the Roman-catholic 
Church, which, strangely enough, is administered not for 
healing but as a preparation for death. The peculiar gifts 
which were bestowed upon the twelve were for the special 
needs of the infant Church, and they ceased with the 
necessity for them. 

No doubt diseases are still cured in answer to prayer. 
The prayer which is offered in a filial spirit is always an- 
swered. " Ask, and ye shall receive, seek, and ye shall 
find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you." The word 
is not may, but " shall." Let it be remembered, however, 
that a filial prayer is always made with due regard to the 
Father's superior wisdom, its corollary being, " Not as I 
will, but as thou wilt." If sickness is better for a man 
than health, as is oftentimes the case (Heb. 12: 11), then 
his prayer, if it be the true prayer of faith, must needs be 
adjusted to it. 

But if ministers and other Christians are no longer 
able to work miracles they have still the blessed power 
of healing diseases which go deeper "than the flesh : of 
opening the eyes of the spiritually blind, of casting out 
veritable demons of lust and avarice, and raising such as 
are dead in trespasses and sins. And this, indeed, was 
the supreme purpose of all those apostolic gifts. Is there 
anything better under the sun than to lift the burdens of 



THE TWELVE SENT FORTH. 393 

the sorrowing, to sweeten the lives of the lonely and 
friendless, and to open heaven's gate to such as are with- 
out God and without hope in the world ? 

In the impartation of these charismata the Master, 
with reference to their proper use, added the injunction, 
" Freely ye have received, freely give." They were not 
to be employed for the fostering of spiritual pride, but to 
be dispensed for the common good. The grace of giving 
is everywhere in Scripture as it pervaded the Master's 
life. He gave himself for us. The way to catch his spirit 
is to begin, as did the Christians of the Macedonian 
church (2 Cor. 8 : 5), by first of all giving our own selves 
unto the Lord. Then will follow the communication of 
our spiritual gifts to others, whatever they may be. Our 
time, treasure, faculties of soul and body, joys and tri- 
umphs, will all be shared with those about us. And in 
giving we shall grow rich, as athletes grow strong by 
exercise. Bunyan says : 

" A man there was, and people called him mad, 
The more he gave away the more he had." 

This is preeminently true of our moral endowments. The 
power to heal, to exorcise, to quicken the dead is enlarged 
as we use it. As the windlass turns above, the waters of 
the well beneath grow cool and clear. 

4. Goy trust The Lord was sending these disciples 
out into a wicked and gainsaying world — as sheep into 
the midst of wolves — in which their sole reliance would be 
faith in God. They were enjoined to take neither gold 
nor scrip for their journey, to provide nothing beyond 
what the day required, not even two pairs of shoes, nor a 
change of tunics, nor a staff beyond that already in hand. 
The Lord would provide; let them depend upon that. 



394 HINTS AND HELPS. 

In those days the wants of the disciples were few and 
simple, and the hospitable customs of the Orient made it 
an easy matter to find food and shelter. There are occa- 
sions even now when it devolves upon an evangelist or 
missionary to go forth light-shod and unburdened, like a 
soldier on the march, trusting wholly in Providence from 
day to day. But the conditions of life are so changed 
that, as a rule, to proceed in such a manner would be to 
break the spirit of Christ^s injunction while keeping the 
letter of it. 

At the same time, there is reason to doubt whether 
the church with her vast increase of wealth and patronage 
has not lost some of the power which goes with the neces- 
sity of an utter dependence on the divine care. The father- 
superior of a monastery, famed for its rich endow- 
ment, was heard to remark : ** The time has gone by 
when the church has need to say with Peter, * Silver and 
gold have I none.' " " Aye," responded a humble monk 
at his side, " and the time has also gone by when the 
church can say to the cripple : * Arise, and stand upon 
thy feet !' " 

Faith is the measure of spiritual power. To feel one's 
dependence upon God is to be clothed with might. " I 
will glory in my infirmities," said Paul, " that the power 
of Christ may rest upon me ;" and again, " I take pleas- 
ure in infirmities; for when I am weak, then am I strong." 

On entering a village these primitive disciples were 
not to go about from house to house, accepting entertain- 
ment at random : but rather to inquire for " one who was 
worthy," for one of those who were " waiting for the con- 
solation of Israel," and to abide there. Out of this wise 
provision grew up " the church in the house," which was 
the nucleus of the local church and congregation. Thus 



THE TWELVE SENT FORTH. 395 

the very poverty of these itinerants was their strength, 
and their necessity was the seed of the church's future. 
They went forth trusting and obeying, and God honored 
their faith. 

5. Go upon an errand of life or death. The gospel 
has in it both savors. It falls like the rain from above, a 
boon to the thirsty but a vehicle for the lightning as well. 

" And when ye come into a house," said the Lord, 
" salute it." The greeting of the time was " Shalom," 
" Peace be unto you." The house is truly blessed that 
has the benediction of the gospel upon it. 

"And whosoever shall not receive you, when ye 
depart shake off the dust of your feet." This was a testi- 
mony against the unbelieving and impenitent, but it was 
in no sense a malediction. It was intended to set forth 
symbolically the loosing of the disciples from all responsi- 
bility for the doom of those who stubbornly refused to 
receive the truth ; as if they said, " We came with the 
message of life, and ye closed your doors against it. We 
leave you to yourselves. Our skirts are free from your 
blood. Farewell." What more could they do ? 

Thus the disciples went forth on their first missionary 
journey ; twelve humble men, unlettered and unbefriended, 
setting out to the conquest of the world ! They were 
" hated of all men " and " persecuted from city to city," 
but the Lord was with them. One by one they were 
called to face the axe or fagot ; but their dust, scattered 
by the winds of heaven, became a militant host. At the 
end of the first century there were 500,000 Christians ; at 
the end of the second, a million ; at the end of the fifth , 
ten millions ; at the end of the tenth, fifty millions ; at 
the end of the fifteenth, a hundred millions ; at the end 
of the eighteenth, two hundred millions ; and now, with 



396 HINTS AND HELPS. 

the last decade of the nineteenth century still before us, 
there are upwards of four hundred millions of people 
on earth who acknowledge the sovereignty of Christ. 
What hath God wrought! And still the work goes 
on. To- morrow shall be better than to - day. In 
humble faith the missionaries of the cross go forth, bear- 
ing the banner of Immanuel, conquering and to conquer. 
From his high place in heaven he who marshalled the 
nucleus of the army and planned their campaign is super- 
intending and directing all. Reverses there may be, but 
defeat never. In the beginning it was said, " Ask of me 
and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and 
the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." 
Christ "asked" with his hands outstretched upon the 
cross. Never was a prayer like that; never an answer 
such as we behold in tlie ingathering of the nations from 
day to day. 



THE PRINCE OF PEACE. 397 



THE PRINCE OP PEACE. 

IsA. 9 : 2-7. 

It was a time of trouble. Israel was hastening on 
toward the captivity. In vain had been all counsels and 
admonitions. With nations as with men, to sow the wind 
is to reap the whirlwind. Over and over again the Lord 
had lit the beacon, " If ye seek me I will be found of you, 
but if ye forsake me I will cast you off." Still the high 
places smoked with the sacrifices of Baal, and the people 
kissed their hands to the winged horses of the sun. God 
is not mocked. His mills grind slow, but they grind 
sure. Yet would he leave nothing undone to avert the 
impending woe. Isaiah the son of Amoz was commis- 
sioned to cry aloud and spare not. He stood in the temple 
porch and denounced the sins of rulers and people. In 
burning words he urged them to repentance: "Why 
should ye be stricken any more ? The whole head is sick 
and the whole heart faint ; the daughter of Zion is left as 
a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucum- 
bers." In successive visions he portrayed the horrors of 
the approaching doom. 

(i) He affixed to one of the great pillars of the tem- 
ple a tablet on which was inscribed " Maher-shalal-hash- 
baz ;" that is, " Hasting to the spoil and speeding to the 
prey" (Is. 8, 1-4). 

(2) He spoke of a river, strong and great, overflow- 
ing its banks and sweeping all before it. They had re- 
fused " the waters of Shiloah that go softly :" and now, 



398 HINTS AND HELPS. 

behold, the glory of Assyria should fill the breadth of the 
land (Is. 8 : 5-8). 

(3) " I see," he cried, "a vision of battle ! Gird 
yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces ; 
take counsel and it shall be brought to nought." Amid 
the strife is heard the muttering of such as seek unto 
wizards and familiar spirits. There are cries of the 
wounded and garments rolled in blood; the multitudes 
fleeing, stumbling, hard bestead and hungry, cursing their 
king and their God (Is. 8 : 9-22). 

(4) Then darkness, dimness of anguish; the stars 
fading into an unbroken night, in which are heard the 
clanking of chains and sorrow " by the way of the sea be- 
yond Jordan" (Is. 9 : i). 

(5) In the darkness a star shines forth. Those that 
dwell in the shadow of death behold it. Hope revives ; 
songs are heard " according to the joy of harvest and as 
men rejoice when they divide the spoil." The rod of the 
oppressor is broken, and deliverance is wrought as with 
" burning and fuel of fire." Messiah has come ! (Is. 9 : 2-8.) 

Louder and louder since then has swelled the song 
of welcome. The glimmer of the morning star has bright- 
ened to a noontide splendor. The rejoicing of those who 
touched their harps by the rivers of Babylon is drowned 
in the Christmas chimes. The Lord hath turned again 
and again the captivity of Zion. Old and young, the 
world over, in ever increasing multitudes unite in the ad- 
vent joy. 

" Ring out, O bells, to the wild sky. 
The flying cloud, the frosty light ! 
Ring out, wild bells ! 
Ring out the old, ring in the new, 
Ring out the false, ring in the true ; 



THE PRINCE OF PEACE. 399 

" Ring in the valiant men and free, 

The larger heart, the kindlier hand ; 
Ring out the darkness of the land, 
Ring in the Christ that is to be !** 

The star out of Jacob, the herald of the Christ-child, 
has awakened the race to newness of life. Our " Merry 
Christmas " with its songs, and twinkling lights, and sanc- 
tuary praises, gives token that " the people have seen the 
great light." Let us, in the midst of our festivities, hearken 
to the bells that Isaiah hieard aforetime, the sweetest Christ- 
mas chimes that ever rang ; five clear notes of the advent, 
pealing through the deep darkness before the dawn and 
seeming to say, 

**To us a Child of hope is born, 
To us a Son is given ; 
Him shall the sons of earth adore, 
Him all the hosts of heaven !" 

First bell: " His name shall be called Wonderful." 
Here, at the very threshold of the gospel, we come upon 
mystery. Ours is a religion of mysteries, of which Christ 
himself is greatest of all. Whoever refuses to accept the 
supernatural or to believe in the supernatural must pause 
at the manger. He can go no further. For great is the 
mystery of godliness, God manifest in flesh ; the angels 
desire to look into it. 

In Lerolles* famous picture of the nativity a group 
of rustics are gathered about the stable-door, all a-tiptoe 
and agape, gazing through the dim shadows at the mother 
and her child. And, indeed, in presence of this birth - 
miracle we are all rustics. Philosophers know no more 
than " daft Jamie " about the incarnation. Wisdom cries, 
" Injpossible !" Faith marvels and believes. 

How Godhood and manhood could be knit together 



400 HINTS AND HELPS. 

in the person of the Christ is beyond us. But things 
which are incomprehensible are not on that account in- 
credible. There are marvels enough in a drop of water 
or a grass-blade to bewilder the wisest. All divine works 
are wonderful. '*It is the glory of God to conceal a 
thing.'* Daniel Webster said : " If I might comprehend 
Christ I could not believe in him. He would then be no 
greater than myself Such is my consciousness of sin 
and inability that I must have a superhuman Saviour, a 
Saviour far beyond me." 

But the wonder does not cease at Christ's manger. 
He was no more mysterious in his person than in his 
character. He was the unique, perfect, unapproachable 
man. Of all that ever lived on earth he alone was with- 
out sin. Who could lay anything to his charge ? Judas 
paid tribute to his sinlessness, saying, " I have betrayed 
innocent blood." Herod said, " Behold the man ! I find 
no fault in him at all." The centurion who had charge of 
the crucifixion was forced to confess, " Certainly this was 
a righteous man." In him alone we behold the ideal of 
character. The best of living men is the one who most 
nearly copies his graces and reproduces his manner of 
life. 

His life was spent in labors of love ; as it is written, 
" He went about doing good." 

" Where'er he went affliction fled 
And sickness raised her drooping head." 

In pursuance of his mission he set his face steadfastly 
towards the cross. Here the wonder culminates. Never 
was birth like his, never life like his, never death like his. 
He had come forth as a knight- errant to deliver the race. 
He met Maher-shalal-hash-baz on Calvary and despoiled 



THE PRINCE OF PEACE. 40I, 

him there. In his death-travail he conquered death and 
brought life and immortality to light. The earth trem- 
bled, the heavens were shrouded in gloom ; the very an- 
gels leaned upon their harps in silence waiting for the cry 
of the victor, " It is finished !" Then the chains of Israel's 
captivity were broken, and ever since the gates of heaven 
have been thronged with such as return to Zion with 
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. Well might 
the infidel Rousseau exclaim while gazing at the cross : 
" Socrates died like a man, but Jesus like a god !" 

Second bell: " His name shall be called Counsellor." 
The world needs guidance, not more in the dark night of 
Isaiah's vision than to-day and always. " What is truth ?" 
we all inquire. Jesus answers, " I am the truth." We 
are all the while confronting great problems which we 
cannot solve. We need a teacher, one who shall teach 
not as the scribes — with hair-splitting finesse and unfath- 
omable profundity — but with authority. At the baptism 
of Jesus a voice from heaven was heard saying, ** This is 
my beloved Son, hear ye him." We want to know about 
sin and its attendant penalty. " Hear ye him !" We 
want to know about the possibility of pardon ; is there an 
eye to pity or an arm to save? ** Hear ye him." We 
want to know the precepts of right living, for we are ever 
bewildered at the cross roads. " Hear ye him." Our 
eyes are Winded with tears and our hearts are nigh to 
breaking with sorrow ; oh ! is there balm in Gilead ? 
" Hear ye him." We are troubled with a certain looking 
for of judgment and would fain be told how a man can be 
just and stand untrembling before God. " Hear ye him." 
There is no problem of the spiritual life which he does 
not touch with a resolving hand, no question of the soul 

which he does not answer in words of peace like the soft 
27 



402 HINTS AND HELPS. 

waters of Siloa's brook. Wonderful teacher ! Even his 
foes confessed the strange power of his doctrine. A Ro- 
man guard was sent to seize him as he was preaching in 
the temple porch; they listened, were amazed, and re- 
turned empty-handed, saying, " Never man spake like 
this man !*' 

Third bell : " His name shall be called The Mighty 
God." Hear the chimes ring forth a deep, majestic 
stroke. This was the sign which the Lord himself had 
given : " Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son 
and shall call his name Immanuel," that is, God with us 
(Isa. 7 : 14). 

To enter upon an argument as to Christ's divinity 
would ill become our purpose here and now. The truth 
is interwoven with all Scripture and shines forth every- 
where between its lines. The merry-making of the Christ- 
mas tide, which overspreads the world like sunshine, is 
the token of an ever-growing conviction that Jesus of 
Nazareth is ** very God of very God." Was he not called 
by a divine name ? Did he not arrogate to himself all 
the divine attributes ? Did he not permit his disciples to 
render him divine homage ? as when Thomas cried, " My 
Lord and my God !" But at this joyous season, when the 
air is full of hosannas, we have litde patience with the 
threshing of old logic. We feel that Christ is God. The 
night has flown with sable wings before the rising of his 
glory. Why frame an argument as to the power of light 
when the sun " flames in the forehead of the morning 
sky," when all the forests are resonant with song, and all 
the meadows glistening with dew ? 

It is indeed difficult to realize that the feet of Jesus, 
so often weary in earthly journeyings, were the same that 
of old had " walked in the circuit of heaven ;" that his 



THE PRIN'CE OF PEACE. 403 

hands, pierced on the cross, were the same that framed 
the worlds and spun them out upon their orbits ; that his 
face, ofttimes covered with the sweat of honest toil, was 
the same that John saw in his vision, glorious " as the sun 
shineth in his strength." But so the bell chimes forth, 
and our hearts respond, " This is he, the mighty to save !" 
Wonderful ? Aye, but glorious beyond all words to tell. 
This Jesus is the God that thundereth and the God of our 
salvation. 

Fourth bell: " His name shall be called The Ever- 
lasting Father ;" literally, the Father of Eternity. Our 
Lord Jesus came to reveal the Father. To know him 
was the desire of all devout minds. But it was impossi- 
ble to behold him. An old-time philosopher who gazed 
at the sun was long blinded to everything else. The 
blazing orb had so fixed itself upon the retina of the eyes 
that whenever he looked upward or downward, with eyes 
open or shut, he saw nothing but the sun. Still more 
disastrous would it be for a finite man to gaze at Deity. 
" No man can see God and live." But in Jesus Christ the 
divine glory is tempered to our weakness. We see God 
through the medium of flesh. Philip saith unto Jesus, 
"Show us the Father and it sufiiceth us." And Jesus 
answered, " Have I been so long time with you, and yet 
hast thou not known me, Philip ?" He that hath seen me 
hath seen the Father. How sayest thou, then. Show us 
the Father ? Believest thou not that I am in the Father 
and the Father in me ?" 

Here is mystery, doubtless ; the mystery of the triune 
God; but however it may be beyond the possibility of 
critical analysis it contravenes no law of thought, and 
there is inexpressible comfort in believing it. When 
President Lincoln was busied with the affairs of state, so 



404 HINTS AND HELPS. 

occupied that prime-ministers and secretaries were kept 
waiting at his door, there was one voice, that of his Httle 
son, which could remove all barriers and win a hearing 
always. Thus Jesus, the well-beloved Son of the Father, 
has access to the throne in our behalf; and by reason of 
his strange filial relation we also are received in the spirit 
of adoption, whereby we say "Abba, Father." 

Fifth belL " His name shall be called The Prince of 
Peace." Names name him not ; yet is there none sweeter 
than Shiloh. It is cognate with the greeting " Shalom," 
that is. Peace be unto you. It characterizes Christ as the 
great reconciler, (i) He makes peace between man and 
God. With one hand in that of the Infinite and the other 
grasping that of the sinner he brings them together in a 
blessed at-one-ment; as it written, "And you that were 
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked 
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh, 
through death, to present you holy and unblameable and 
unreproveable in the sight of God " (Col. i : 21, 22). (2) 
He makes peace also between man and his own conscience. 
For we are ever at conflict with ourselves, our higher and 
lower natures struggling like wrestlers for the mastery. 
The evil that we would not, that we do, and the good we 
would we do not ; and conscience is kept busy accusing 
or else excusing; and seldom does a man lie down at 
night without the feeling that he has been his own enemy. 
It is Jesus alone who can draw the sting of a guilty con- 
science and replace the inward unrest with a blessed sense 
of right doing. " Peace I leave with you," he said, " my 
peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth give I 
unto you ; let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid." (3) He finally makes peace between man and 
his fellow man. The evil spirits of envy and jealousy flee 



THE PRINCE OF PEACE. 405 

at his presence. The Golden Rule breaks down the bar- 
riers of caste and enables men to see each other face to 
face and eye to eye as children of the same Father. The 
gates of the temple of Janus were shut when Jesus was 
born. It was a prophecy of the time when the swords of 
the nations shall be beaten into ploughshares and their 
spears into pruning-hooks, and when the great angel 
shall fly through heaven proclaiming, "All the earth is 
at rest !" Then the kingdom shall be given to Shiloh, 
Prince of Peace, and he shall reign forever and ever. 

It is recorded that when Agamemnon sailed against 
Troy he arranged that, in case the city was taken, intelli- 
gence should be brought to his wife Clytemnestra by a 
chain of signal-fires. Time passed and no news came. 
Ten years were gone and still her guards kept watch 
upon the palace-roof. But at last they saw the flashing of 
the distant beacons, leaping from mountain to mountain, 
nearer and nearer, telling of the fall of Troy. Thus do 
we wait for Shiloh's triumph. The lights are kindled far 
away. The joy of each returning Chrismas-tide is like 
the firing of a beacon on a nearer hill. One bright day 
we shall hear again the song that awoke the echoes among 
the Judean hills : " Glory to God in the highest, and on 
earth peace, good will toward men !" Then all the bells 
of heaven and all earth's chimes will ring together. 

" Ring out the old, ring in the new. 
Ring out the false, ring in the true ! 
Ring out old shapes of foul disease, 
Ring in the thousand years of peace ! 
Ring out the darkness of the land, 
Ring in the Christ that is to be I" 



NEV^ BOOKS 



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MR. CROSVENOR'S DAUGHTER. 

A story of city life. By Julia MacNair Wright 
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ON A SNOW-BOUND TRAIN. 

By Julia MacNair Wright. i2mo. $i 25. 

A train on the Pacific Railway is snowed in and makes but 
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CLEWS TO HOLY WRIT; or, The Chronological 

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THE BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORY. 

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By the same author, 

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