^ . fo .o^ 



'^ PRINCETON, N. J. *jjf 



Presented byVV(£,S\CA(Sr\\- V?A\\or^. 



Division ■■ 



Section 



STXJDIEXS 



IN 



MARK'S GOSPEL 



BY 



nEV. CIIART^KS S. ROBINSON, D. D. 







AMERICyiN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 



COPYRIGHT, 1888, 
BY AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. 



CONTENTS. 



I. BEGINNINGS OF THE GOSPEL 7 

II. THE FORERUNNER OF JESUS iS 

III. A DAY'S WORK IN CAPERNAUM 27 

IV. HEALING A PARABLE OF PARDON 40 

V. REASONS IN RESERVE 51 

VI. HEEDFUL HEARING S9 

VII. THE HOME MISSION 72 

VIIL "WHO TOUCHED ME?" 82 

IX. HOW TO MAKE MEN REPENT 95 

X. TAKING UP ONE'S CROSS 104 

XI. A CHILD FOR A TEXT ^— _ in 

XII. STUMBLING-STONES AND MILL-STONES .— 124 

XIII. CHILDREN IN HEAVEN 134 

XIV. A DEFECTIVE CHARACTER 143 

XV. STIFLED CONVICTIONS 154 

XVI. THE SIGHTLESS SINNER, BARTIMEUS 1C7 

XVII. CHRIST ENTERING JERUSALEM 176 

XVIII. "THE HEAD OF THE CORNER" 1S7 

XIX. THE GREAT COMMANDMENT 2or 



4 CONTENTS. 

XX. TROUBLE JUST AHEAD 212 

XXI. OUR ABSENT LORD 21S 

XXIL A WOMAN'S MEMORL\L 230 

XXIIL SACRAMENTS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 2^0 

XXIV. A TRAITOR'S KISS IN GETHSEMANE 250 

XXV. MISUNDERSTOOD TO THE END 258 

XXVI. CHRIST'S KINGSHIP AND KINGDOM 269 

XXVII. THE SCENE AT CALVARY 2S1 

XXVIII. LESSONS AT THE SEPULCHRE 2S9 



PREFACE 



These Studies had their place in the regular 
utterances of pulpit duty from Sabbath to Sabbath. 
They follow the gospel history and doctrine in 
orderly progress through the narrative of the evan- 
gelist Mark, taking up consecutive passages with 
the harmony of the others. 

In character they are meant to be plain exposi- 
tory sermons, with illustrations and enforcements 
joined easily together. It is in this one particular 
that my hopes of their usefulness are centred. 

Two dear friends have aided me in the drudgery 
of mechanical preparation. I hope the little vol- 
ume will serve to us all as a memorial of the sum- 
mer their help has enlivened. 

CHARLES SEYMOUR ROBINSON. 



New York, 57 East Fifty-fourth Street, 
September 15, 1S88. 



STUDIES IN 

MARK'S GOSPEL. 



BEGINNINGS OF THE GOSPEIy. 

" The beginning of the gospkl of Jesus Christ, the Son op 
God." — Mark i:i. 

It lias been remarked that, over and above all 
the others, Mark is the evangelist of rapidity in 
action. He gives us fewer of the great incidents 
in our Lord's career which w^e meet elsewhere; 
but he furnishes more of the minor and pictu- 
resque particulars of such as he does introduce. 
Two expressions there are which he uses again 
and again until they may be recognized as signs of 
his style. 

One of these is the word "immediately,'* some- 
times in our version rendered '* straightway," and 
sometimes "forthwith." This appears in Mark's 
short sixteen chapters over forty times; about as 
many times as it can be found in all the rest of the 
New Testament. 

How swiftly this evangelist advances may be 
seen in the opening of his story. In the first 
twenty verses we have the account of Malachi's 
prediction of the IMcssiah's advent and Isaiah's 



8 

prophecy of liis forerunner John the Baptist's 
preaching, Jesus' baptism in the Jordan, and his 
forty days' temptation in the wilderness by the 
devil. Before we are really aware of it, the per- 
sons of the grand drama of the gospel narrative 
are sweeping along before us: John is making the 
nation shake under his denunciations; Immanuel 
and Satan are in the thick of the conflict which 
is to end only at the final judgment. We grow 
breathless with the haste of the history. 

The other characteristic form of expression in 
Mark's gospel is offered us in the text. The first 
sentence in this book is the title to the whole of it: 
"The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the 
Son of God," This evangelist uses the word 
'' began" over and over again, a score of times at 
least, where no one else would think of employing 
it. When Jesus was gathering multitudes at the 
seaside, Mark says "he began to teach." When 
he had permitted the devils to enter the herd of 
swine, Mark says the terrified inhabitants "began 
to pray him to depart." When the leper was 
healed he "began to publish" the miracle. Our 
Lord "began to send out" the disciples. When 
Jesus was before the council the servants ** began 
to" mock him; when he came forth on the way to 
the cross the soldiers "began to" spit upon him. 
Thus the tale is just full of beginnings from the 
first sentence to the close. 

Let us fasten our attention for a little while 
upon the earliest and chief of all these beginnings, 
"the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the 



BEGINNINGS OF THE GOSrEI.. 9 

Son of God." It does not seem right to pass over 
this expression lightly, as if all that Mark meant 
by it was to get a start somehow in llis composition. 
The gospel has had at least three beginnings, and 
we feel that the evangelist must have designed to 
make some sort of reference to them all when he 
chose such a title. 

I. It began first in the purpose of the Almighty 
Father. There was certainly a plan of redemption 
before any man was redeemed. The Omniscient 
One foresaw what he was going to do. ' ' Known 
unto God are all his works from the beginning of 
the world." There was an *' eternal purpose which 
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Ivord." 

There is need that we go further back than sim- 
ple prophecy in the Old Testament. Observe here 
how pertinently Mark quotes two of the seers who 
foretold these grand events: "As it is written in 
the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before 
thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee; 
the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare 
ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." 

We cannot help believing that this evangelist 
knew in the outset what wonderful matters he had 
to record. For here, all driven up compactly 
together, is found the finest group of "first things" 
in the New Testament: the first sermon on repent- 
ance, the first baptism of a convert, the first sensi- 
ble manifestation of the Holy Ghost, the first voice 
from heaven in recognition of Jesus* office and 
glory, the first fight with Beelzebub, and the first 
victory over temptation. This did not hapj^en so; 



lO 

it must have been ordered so. This would be 
taught from the prophets. 

Still there is need of our going back beyond 
the prophets. The Jewish rabbis have fabled that 
when Bve left Paradise she concealed just one 
flower upon her person, the sign of a promise of 
divine grace in the pardon of the human race. But 
this was not the earliest beginning of the gospel. 

We read in the opening verses of the last chap- 
ter in the Bible this: "And he showed me a pure 
river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding 
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the 
midst of the street of it, and on either side of the 
river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve 
manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month ; 
and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of 
the nations. '^ Most interpreters agree that this 
"water of life" signifies the gospel of Jesus, the 
Son of God. The most suggestive matter of notice 
in the description is what is here said concerning 
the origin of the stream. Our springs are in God. 
This river may be traced all along, among the fruit- 
ful trees and the singing angels upon its margin; 
and in the end it will be found to issue from be- 
neath ' ' the throne of God and the Lamb. " 

We are reminded at once of that passage in 
Bzekiel's prophecy, which every expositor pro- 
nounces at once the most brilliant and perhaps the 
most obscure in the Bible. This verse in the book 
of Revelation explains it; and we learn that when 
the angel conducted Ezekiel to the top of the 
mountain, it was that he might see far away in his 



BEGINNINGS OF TIIK GOSPEL. II 

beautiful visions the glory of the latter day. It 
was a familiar figure the prophet employed. A 
fountain opened in Israel for the cleansing away of 
sin is what he saw. *' Afterward he brought me 
again unto the door of the house ; and behold, 
waters issued out from under the threshold of the 
house eastward; for the forefront of the house stood 
toward the east, and the waters came down from 
under from the right side of the house, at the south 
side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the 
way of the gate northward, and led me about the 
way without unto the utter gate by the way that 
looketh eastward ; and behold, there ran out waters 
on the right side. ' ' 

Here, then, we begin: the gospel has Its origin 
in the very palace of God; the river starts from 
under the altar of sacrifice, where atonement is 
made. Next, the rapid growth of the gospel is 
figured in the rising of the stream: "And when 
the man that had the line in his hand went forth 
eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he 
brought me through the waters; and the waters were 
to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and 
brought me through the waters; the waters were to 
the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and 
brought me through; the waters were to the loins. 
Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a 
river that I could not pass over: for the waters were 
risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be 
passed over." 

Thus the gospel river rolls along, growing volu- 
minous and irresistible as the aires succeed each 



12 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPKL. 

Other. And all its aims are beneficial; it flows to 
beautify, to refresh, never to destroy: "And he said 
unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then 
he brought me, and caused me to return to the 
brink of the river. Now, when I had returned, 
behold, at the bank of the river were very many 
trees on the one side and on the other. Then said 
he unto me. These waters issue out toward the 
east country, and go down into the desert, and go 
into the sea: which being brought forth into the 
sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come 
to pass that everything that liveth, which moveth, 
whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and 
there shall be a very great multitude of fish, be- 
cause these waters shall come thither: for they 
shall be healed; and everything shall live whither 
the river cometh. And by the river upon the bank 
thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all 
trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither 
shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring 
forth new fruit according to his months, because 
their w^aters they issued out of the sanctuary: and 
the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf 
thereof for medicine." 

II. The gospel had a second beginning in the 
advent of our Saviour Jesus Christ. This w^as to 
the first beginning as the flower is to the seed. We 
see how this' evangelist Mark teaches such a truth 
by his account of the obedience Jesus rendered, and 
the testimony John gave to him as the I^amb of 
God, taking away the sins of the world. 

All of the modern commentators call attention 



BEGINNINGS OF TlIi; GOSPEL. I3 

to the fact that Mark gives us glimpses of our 
Lord's person more often than any one of the other 
writers. He describes Jesus' looks and gestures. 
He repeats the vernacular words he used in those 
moments of supreme emotion when he fell back 
upon his mother tongue. It is IMark who quotes 
the Talitha-cuiiii in the miracle, the Corban in the 
discourse, the EpJipJiatha in the sigh to heaven, and 
the Eloi^ Eloi on the cross. Thus he makes us see 
the Master as he moves around in his labors and is 
worried with his cares. So as the original purpose 
v/as lodged in the bosom of the Father for one 
beginning, here in the actual embodiment of the 
gospel in Jesus' life is another. 

It is very striking, and often pathetic, to notice 
how the views of the common people seize upon 
and really enjoy the forms of speech in which this 
personal Saviour of ours preached the gospel. The 
English critic, Ruskin, tells us in the "Modern 
Painters" that once, when he was coming down 
from the rocks in the neighborhood of Montreux 
in Switzerland, both weary and thirsty, he found 
at the turn of the path a spring, conducted as usual 
by the herdsmen into a hollowed pine-trunk. He 
stooped to it, and drank deeply; and then as he 
raised his head, drawing in his breath heavily with 
a sigh of full satisfaction, some one behind him, 
unseen hitherto, spoke in the words of the beautiful 
French version of John's gospel, ^'' Cehd qui boira 
de cette eau-ci^ aura eficore soif:''^ — ''Whosoever 
drinketh of this water, shall thirst again." He 
says that at first he did not comprehend the mean- 



14 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

iiig of the singular sentence; he looked up, and saw 
the friendly countenance of a plain, frank moun- 
taineer, who without the least embarrassment went 
on with the verse, ''''Mais celui qui boira de V eau 
qiieje lui donnerai^ iC aiLva jamais soif^ — *' But who- 
soever drinketh of the water that I shall give him 
shall never thirst. ' ' 

Oh, how little we think concerning the wonder- 
ful privileges we enjoy in this age of ours, and in 
this land of light! Christ has come! The gospel 
has had its fresh beginning in him. Those must 
have been sad days when God's plan for human 
redemption was known only through signs and 
symbols. It seems affecting to an imaginative and 
generous mind to think even of those unreckoned 
ages of primeval history, before the discovery of 
such a vision of landscape beauty as the Yosemite 
Valley, for example, or the Falls of Niagara. We 
fancy the sweet sunshine for years falling over 
Cathedral Mountain, the majestic music of the sol- 
emn cataract echoing through the forests before the 
ship of Columbus set sail; and we feel that the gen- 
erations of men lost much who never set eyes upon 
such beauty, who never heard such voices of God 
in the waters. Those old years seem melancholy 
under the waste of earth's best beauty. 

III. In the third place, the gospel had a begin- 
ning in the work of the Holy Ghost upon the hearts 
of men. Even Mark shows this clearly in the story 
he gives of the descent of the dove upon the head 
of Christ as he comes up from the Jordan, and by 
the use of the enertjetic word "drive'' when de- 



BEGINNINGS OF THE GOSPEL. 15 

scribing the urgency with which our pattern Lord 
was constrained to endure the temptation. The 
good news of perfected salvation began to be told in 
the moment when Satan received his defeat. It 
was the Spirit of God which here brought on the 
conflict, and crowned the victor with success. 

Now it is at this special point in all the sacred 
story that the admonition reaches us. The question 
above all others for us to ask and to answer is, 
How does the work of the Holy Ghost effect "the 
beginning the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of 
God," in the soul of an unregenerate man ? 

The reply to it is not difficult. "There are 
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit: and there 
are diversities of operations, but it is the same God 
which worketh all in all." 

Sometimes by a strange disturbance, he sover- 
eignly works uneasiness and discontent in the con- 
science. The sinner does not know, perhaps, the 
cause of his restlessness, but he becomes sure that 
his peace is not made, and that it ought to be made 
with an offended God. We ought to recognize the 
working of our Helper, and be grateful that he stirs 
us up into dissatisfaction with our present self. It 
is a fact that religious convictions, which lead to 
penitence and set us to ask for pardon, are among 
the best gifts of heaven. There is wisdom in the 
words, and force in the figure, of devout Gurnall : 
" It is a greater mercy," says he, " to give the first 
grace of conversion than to crown that with glor}-. 
It is more condescension in a prince to marry a 
poor damsel, than having married her to clothe her 



l6 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

like a princess. He was free to do tlie first, or not; 
but his relation to her afterward pleads strongly 
for the other.** 

Sometimes, also, the Holy Spirit begins the gos- 
pel work in the heart by the quiet and persistent 
communication of truth. By the slower processes 
of a patient education a child is led on up into the 
knowledge of God. Then the Spirit of God moves 
that awakened life on to a farther step, and unites 
it almost without its own startled consciousness sav- 
ingly to Jesus Christ as the Redeemer. And all 
the new heait can say is, "One thing I know; 
whereas I once was blind, now I see." From this 
beginning the advance is sure to every believing 
soul. For we are "confident of this very thing, 
that he which hath begun a good work" in us 
*' will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." 

Sometimes this same divine A^rent of reo^enera- 
lion employs for our awakening the dispensations 
of providence, prosperous or adverse. Some extra- 
ordinary benediction of love and peace comes to us 
in the midst of our toiling and our hurry. Or a 
sharp bereavement makes a careless man thought- 
ful; the sudden defection of a friend breaks the 
power of the world over him. Then at last even 
the old miser in "Pilgrim's Progress" must look 
up from his muck-rake, and now at once he catches 
a glimpse of the crown in the air. Thus the gospel 
begins: now if the work be followed, the soul has 
its fair chance to be saved. 

Thus I reach the conclusion to which we have 
all along been working our way. In the copy- 



BEGINNINGS Ol" TllE GOSPEL. 1 7 

books of the Latin schools we were long ago 
taught to write the motto, ^^ Quodcunqiic agis^ respice 
finem ;'^^ whatever you do, respect the end. 

" Beginnings are alike — 't is ends that difTer ; 
One drop falls, lasts, and dries up — but a drop; 
Another begirs a river." 

Cherish your religious convictions. Let them 
bear you steadily forward in the service of God's 
truth. Keep committing yourself more and more. 
It will matter very little to you, a hundred years 
hence, what your earthly lot has been. " Only let 
your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of 
Christ." 

For remember: when once this "gospel of Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God," has had its true beginning 
in any genuine experience, and has been sustained 
and nurtured in an energetic life, no violence can 
avail to take away its priceless privilege, no humil- 
iation of outward degradation can make it ashamed. 
Christian manhood begins as knighthood does, with 
a sovereign's sword-stroke while the subject is on 
his knees. After that, the soul is noble, and re- 
mains out of reach of hatred. 

"Jerome Savonarola, I separate thee from the 
church militant and the church triumphant," said 
the papal legate to the Italian reformer, while lie 
stood upon the scaffold awaiting martyrdom. Sol- 
emn and slow came the answer, " From the church 
militant you may divide me; but from the church 
triumphant — no! that is above your power!" 



l8 STUDIl^S IN mark's GOSPaI.. 

II. 

THE FORERUNNER OP JESUS. 

" Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall 

PREPARE THY WAY BEFORE THEE." — 3Iark I : 2. 

When John the Baptist came upon the stage of 
human life as an acknowledged forerunner of the 
Jewish Messiah, his career began to challenge the 
usual estimate and criticism of those who hurried 
down to the Jordan to hear him preach. People 
formed very characteristic, but very widely differing 
opinions of him. On one occasion an opportunity 
occurred for a declaration to be made by no less a 
person than our Lord Jesus Christ. 

He commented for a little upon the mistakes of 
some who asserted they had been disappointed in 
this strange creature's looks, his speech, and gen- 
eral presentation of himself. At the same moment, 
he pressed them with the folly of the preconceived 
notions they had of him. 

"And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto 
the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out 
into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the 
wind? But what went ye out for to see? A man 
clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear 
soft clothing are in kings' houses. But what went 
ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto 
you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of 
whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger 



TIIIC FORKRUNNKR OF JKSUS. 19 

before thy face, wliicli shall prepare thy way before 
thee." 

I. It will be well for us, in the outset of our 
study, to inquire concerning the exact significance 
of the figure here employed. 

1. "A reed shaken by the wind " can easily be 
seen anywhere in Palestine without the trouble of 
going out into the wilderness. What are called 
rccds are not the same in species as the plants in our 
southern country that we call canes ; and yet they 
resemble them somewhat. The reeds in the Jordan 
valley are woody and arundinaceous shrubs, grow- 
ing generally a little higher than a man's head. 
There are two kinds of tliese among the com.mon 
thickets; from one of them the better reed-pens are 
usually made for the native scribes, though pens 
fashioned from the other can be found. It would 
not be accurate to say reeds grow wherever water is 
found; they the rather seem to establish themselves 
in permanent patches, commonly in moist places, 
however, where they are able to endure the chances 
of a dry winter with safety. 

2. The ordinary interpretation of this expression, 
*'a reed shaken with the wind," has been this: 
** Did you suppose that John was a mere courtier, 
one of the weaklings of this trimming world ? Did 
you expect to fi.nd him in sumptuous attire, his soft 
robes floating in the cool breezes by the stream? 
Were you thinking of a forerunner of the ^Messiah 
who would come into this age of ours tremulously 
seeking popular approval with delicate words, turn- 
ing and twisting his doctrines so as to secure favor 



20 

from all parties, now one thing, now another, bend- 
ing and bowing and qnivering like a mere rush 
when the wind blows it ? You would better have 
irone into kinoes' houses for facile favorites than have 
led your steps down here in search of a preacher." 

That exposition is excellent; and there is no 
reason why it should not be considered satisfactory. 

3. But lately, a new suggestion has been made 
by one who was born in Palestine, and who has 
been thoroughly educated in the Greek language. 
He calls attention to the fact that shepherd-boys 
often shelter themselves among the tall grass during 
the tedious hours of the middle of the day, when 
the sunshine is hottest upon man and beast, and 
while away the time with playing upon a rude flute 
or whistle which they themselves fashion out of the 
reeds that shade them. Hence, one frequently 
stumbles upon such a musician anywhere by the 
Jordan all along its course. It is but a poor little 
apology for a tune that he will play ; for the tone of 
the instrument is feeble and effeminate. It might 
well become the symbol of a gentle sweetness of 
entertainment, altogether without either vigor or 
force. 

Now, if we should accept this as the meaning cf 
our Lord's allusion, the paraphrase would probably 
read thus: "Did you, looking for a forerunner of 
the Messiah, come down here beside the river to 
hear a small shepherd-boy playing upon a flute, a 
mere reed blown with one's breath?" Such a sug- 
gestion is at least worth looking up for the com- 
mentaries; it may be the true one. 



TIIK KORERUNNER OF JESUS. 21 

II. But however we interpret the figure, let us 
now, in the second place, consider the picture of the 
man who was thrown into such an amazing con- 
trast by it. 

1. Naturally, this stern preacher, just coming 
forth from the wilderness solitudes and stirring the 
whole nation at once, must have been an individual 
of almost phenomenal endowments. Every age has 
what may be called its men of mark. Society is 
always trying to create such; and if they will only 
be peaceable on vexed questions of casuistry, and 
perhaps be immoral or of easy virtue themselves, 
the world at large will generally greet them with 
welcome. The race makes a peculiarly sharp de- 
mand upon every reformer within its reach. 
Thrusting him up to the extreme limit of his abil- 
ity, it holds him accountable for furnishing all he 
can accomplish. Off upon a watched hill-top he 
must remain, until the actual amount of his work- 
ing-power is known and put on record. Then he 
is suffered to come down quietly to the level of 
other men, and is ever afterward registered for pre- 
cisely what he is worth. That is to say, the ques- 
tion now shifts, and becomes one of availability. 
How can he be most used ? 

2. Spiritually, therefore, this forerunner of Jesus 
Clirist was necessarily, and from the beginning, a 
failure. He would not be used at all. The priests 
tried him; and he called them vipers, and told them 
he wondered how such hypocrites could escape the 
damnation of hell. Herod tried him ; and had 
eventually to cut off his head. John had immense 



22 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

power, but lie was impracticable. There was some- 
thing very remarkable in his personal career. A 
lonely hermit, fed on locusts and wild honey, girded 
with a leathern skirt about his loins, he came in out 
of mystery and silence, and began preaching about 
labor and wages, about honesty and purity, about 
military service and usurious rates of interest. He 
seemed to know everything that was going on. 
And he struck right and left wherever his eyes saw 
wrong, no matter wdio committed it. A stroke of 
deeper irony could hardly be imagined than the 
comparison of this man with a reed shaken, or a 
flute blown with the wind. 

3. But rhetorically, John the Baptist was a pro- 
digious success. From every city and every hamlet 
flocked the convicted multitudes to be baptized in 
the Jordan for the remission of confessed sin. Of 
course, his reputation was towering, his influence 
was paramount, his fame was peerless. The disci- 
ples of Christ, as a body, felt all this. They bowed 
to the popular estimate, even after they had known 
Jesus in person. Our Lord did not seek to change 
their views, but the rather admitted the correctness 
of them. He uttered, in his own right, terms of 
eminent praise concerning his cousin's gifts. Ab- 
solutely first he put him in the foremost rank of 
men — the greatest man ever born of woman. 

in. But now what did John really do to merit 
all this? That leads us forward a step. Let us in- 
quire, next, concerning his mission. 

I. John was the forerunner of Jesus: what he 
did was to prepare the way for Jesus. The Old 



THE FORERUNNER OE JESUS. 23 

Testament prophecies are full of this. The close 
of the book of Malachi predicted this man's advent 
and told what was to be his office. In oriental 
countries it was the custom, whenever the king was 
going to make a progress through a certain prov- 
ince or district of his realm, that a herald should 
precede him along the route making announcement 
of his purpose, caring for the roads, and seeing that 
the people should be ready to receive their sover- 
eign fitly. John was to go forward to preach the 
law before Jesus was to come to preach the gospel. 
Men would never want a Saviour till they felt the 
peril of sin. 

2. Thus we see instantly that the secret of John's 
power did not lie in his gifts alone. Plutarch, wdien 
giving account of the great commander Phocion, 
says that his speeches are to be estimated like 
coins — not for their size, but for their value. De- 
mosthenes, afraid of his utterances, sharp and con- 
densed, used to exclaim, when he rose to take part 
in the debate: ''Here comes the ender of my ha- 
rangues!" And Phocion himself once told Leos- 
thenes that his orations resembled cypress-trees — ■ 
they w^ere large and lofty, but they bore no fruit. 
No; not even John the Baptist could have drawn 
Jerusalem and Judaea down to the Jordan merely by 
eloquence. 

3. The power of this man lay in the message he 
bore. He said to those supercilious Pharisees: 
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 
lie introduced his hearers abruptly into the pres- 
ence of the Kino- of kincrs, without a vail before his 



24 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

great white throne. "Herod feared John, and did 
many things," says pious old Gurnall; "but if he 
had feared God, he would have done everything." 
Surely it was not for want of plain dealing with 
him from this intrepid teacher. He told the whole 
Jewish world of the judgment close at hand, the 
wrath of God, the unquenchable fire. "Oh, I love 
those who thunder out the Word!" exclaimed 
George Whitefield; "the Christian world is in a 
deep sleep: nothing but a loud voice can wake 
souls out of it." So that Juda^an world was asleep 
when John came forth from his silence cf years, 
and the "voice of one crying in the wilderness" 
was what stirred the whole people into penitence 
and prayer for pardon. 

4. And then, to crown all, after John, Jesus came 
in person. John kept telling his anxious hearers 
about the One whose shoe's latchet he was un- 
worthy to unloose. And his entire message cul- 
minated suddenly one day when Immanuel was 
seen walking along by the riverside. Then he 
cried out: "Behold! the Lamb of God!" In the 
paintings of the masters, the world over, this is 
John's best moment. The emblems are chosen to 
show the siQ:nificance of the attitude. There is 
added the lamb, and with it a scrolled flag the staff 
cf which looks like a rude cross; and on this is 
written the final proclamation of his ministry as 
the forerunner of Christ: "Behold, the Lamb of 
God, which takelh away the sin of the world." 

5. Herein is the type of all Christian life and 
duty. John must come earliest, then Jesus. A 



THE FORERUNNER OF JESUS. 25 

broken law must be heeded. Some practical dis- 
posal must be made of liumau guilt before any soul 
can come forth into the peace of the gospel. *' First 
pure, then peaceable:" that is the order. Then all 
experience fashions itself easily to the rule of happy 
and holy living. The lamb and the flag are the 
two emblems which each knight-templar kept for 
his own, when the spirit of chivalry in the middle 
ages rose to its highest. He said that one must be 
gentle as the lamb; but that there had also been 
given him a banner to be displayed, because of the 
truth, before the infidel; and thus the flag would 
always have to be cherished as the sign of courage 
for a grieved, militant church; innocence itself 
must at times become martial, yet even military 
zeal must be innocent; the Lamb of God is the 
lyion of Judah. 

IV. Finally, we are taught our lesson as to the 
great common need of this forerunner of the Christ. 
He had his limits like the rest of us. Jesus said 
that, great as John was, even the least in the king- 
dom of heaven was greater. 

I. The fact is, John the Baptist was only a sin- 
ner, needing like all the rest to repent, believe, and 
be saved. For he belonged to the fallen race of 
humankind. Not even the austerities of his fasting 
and raiment could redeem his soul. He who is 
condemned to die, and who is liable to be sum- 
moned to execution at any moment, may be con- 
sidered as dead to all intents and purposes now. 
** Death passed upon all men, for that all have 
sinned." That is what the apostle means when he 

2 



26 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

declares that all men are *'clead in trespasses and 
sins." John, the Na^arite preacher, must enter the 
kingdom of heaven by Jesus Christ, who is the door, 
just as anybody else by faith in the atonement. 

2. And this is our conclusion now. This is pre- 
cisely where our present study brings its lesson to 
bear upon our consciences and hearts. Better is it 
to have the calm repose of a renewed and rational 
mind sitting at the feet of Jesus, than to do the 
daring and brilliant exploits of a madman. Better 
that the world shall never hear of us as famous in 
history, if eternity may welcome us as saved and 
safe at the right hand of God. Better any way, 
better every way, to be alive than dead. Better to 
be the least one of those believing and penitent 
ones, surely and securely redeemed by the blood of 
Jesus Christ, than to be the greatest of those whose 
fame will vanish into nothing. *'For this is he of 
whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger 
before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before 
thee.'^ *' Verily I say unto you, Among them that 
are born of women, there hath not risen a greater 
than John the Baptist: notwithstanding, he that is 
least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than 
he.'» 



A day's work in CAPERNAUM. 2/ 

III. 

A DAY'S WORK IN CAPERNAUM. 

"And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and 
cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils 

TO SPEAK, BECAUSE THEY KNEW HIM." — Mark 1:34. 

The text forms the culmination and the close of 
a most remarkable passage, in which is described, 
with that fullness of detail for which the evangelist 
Mark is so distinguished, just one day's work of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. It was a Sabbath-day; and 
from morning to even when "the sun did set," he 
was preaching and working miracles for his occu- 
pation. 

The preaching was such that the people were 
** astonished," and the miracles were such that they 
were "amazed." We cannot fail to see that these 
two, the wonders and the doctrine, go together in 
producing the impression by which his "fame'* 
was spread abroad through all the region of Galilee. 
He taught "as one that had authority, and not as 
the scribes," because with "authority" he com- 
manded the unclean spirits also. The vast powers 
of his evangelical commission from heaven covered 
the signs and the sermons, and made them help 
each other. 

It seems worth our while, now once for all in 
this course of study, that an hour should be spent 
in the patient and exclusive examination of the 



28 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI,. 

miracles wliicli our Saviour wrought in attestation 
of his teaching. 

I. There were some few outward circumstances 
in which they differed from all others. 

1. For one thing, you cannot fail, in reading 
the gospel history, to have been struck with the 
almost endless variety of these miracles of Jesus. 
He hardly moved, without some splendid sign fail- 
ing by the way to show he had passed. 

Everything yielded to his power. Sickness and 
disease of every kind were rebuked. The powers of 
nature were checked, and urged forward, at his 
will. The sea was calmed; the loaves were multi- 
plied; biers on the way to the grave were stopped 
till their lifeless burdens were quickened ; sepul- 
chres opened that the dead might come forth; fishes 
were made to disclose coin to pay tribute-money, 
or enter a net in myriad shoals out in deep water, 
and late after noon ; billows of the sea were forced 
to harden into solidity under human feet; streams 
from a fountain were made to flash into wine. 
Thus everything, through a sphere of existence 
wide as the world, was fain to forget its nature, and 
remember only its Master in him. 

2. Then again, we have all observed that our 
Lord's miracles were wrought in his oivn name, 
Jesus always revered the Father ; he sighed and 
looked up to heaven. But he told his disciples 
plainly, *'My Father worketh hitherto, and I 
work. ' * 

Hence his language is peculiar. *'Thou deaf 
and dumb spirit, I charge thee come out of him." 



A day's work in CAPERNAUM. 29 

So to Jairus' daughter: *' Damsel, I say unto thee, 
Arise. ' ' 

Compare in this particular Simon Peter with his 
divine Master. When that disciple would heal a 
man of the palsy, he must say, '* Eneas, Jesus 
Christ maketh thee whole!'* All that the com- 
bined faith of Peter and John both could do with a 
lame man at the Beautiful Gate was to take him by 
the hand, and utter over him the invocation, "In 
the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk !" 
But our Lord, to a poor cripple who for thirty-eight 
years had not stood on his feet, had only to say, 
^'Rise up and walk," and immediately he was 
made whole. 

In like manner, contrast the forms of work- 
inof miracles recorded for us in the Old Testa- 
ment. Moses must needs pray for his leprous 
sister Miriam: *'PIeal her now, O God, I be- 
seech thee!" And this was the man whose rod 
divided the Red Sea! But Jesus lifted no prayer 
for external reinforcement even when he healed 
ten lepers at a time. There was a resident power 
in our Lord which sufficed for all the wonders 
he wrought. When the disciples failed in cast- 
ins: out the difficult devil from the demoniac boy, 
he calmly said, *' Bring him unto me!'* Even 
his bitterest opposers recognised this superiority; 
for they exclaimed, ''When Christ cometh, will he 
do more miracles than these which this man hath 
done?" 

3. Once more ; we all have noticed that the 
miracles of our Lord were much more extensive than 



any other person ever wrought. They were more 
in number, and they excelled in majesty. 

It is perhaps a solecism to say that one miracle, 
is greater than another. But then we speak accu- 
rately enough when we declare that, in every in- 
stance in which Jesus and the other miracle-work- 
ers who went before him or came after him in the 
Scripture record happen to meet on the same plane, 
Christ's miracles always in some particulars trans- 
scend theirs. Elijah raised a child to life; but we 
see him stretching himself upon it three times and 
praying mightily, with every appearance of intense 
effort to secure the divine intervention. Contrast 
this with the serene majesty with which Jesus stood 
at the door of a sepulchre in Bethany, and said, 
" La^jarus, come forth," to one who had lain four 
days in corruption. Blisha made his twenty loaves 
feed a hundred men; Jesus made his five loaves and 
two fishes satisfy five thousand men, besides the 
women and the children who came with them. 

Then, too, there was the use of a sensuous sign, 
or a conspicuous instrument, in most instances; this 
always betokened the employment of some other 
person's power. Jesus used not even the artifice of 
displaying a divine rod. Blisha could turn bitter 
waters into sweet with a cruse of salt at Jericho: 
Jesus turned water into wine with only a word. 
*^ The conscious water saw its God, and blushed." 
Elijah divided the waves with his mantle, and Mo- 
ses the billows with his staff; but Jesus in silence 
smoothed the waters under Peter's footsteps, and 
hushed them with a word of command, when they 



A day's work in CAPERNAUM. 3 1 

were rushing in the madness of a storm. Here as 
ever our Lord stood peerless and alone. There 
are always added in the history just circumstances 
enough to show a difference and a superiority on 
his part. 

4. Again: we have found in our studies, as the 
chief of all the peculiarities of contrast, that the 
miracles of Jesus were in every instance beneficent. 
Nowhere in the Sacred Records do we discover that 
he wrought even so much as one as a destructive 
judgment of wrath. 

If anybody suggests that the withering of the 
fig tree must be made an exception, we have only 
to remember that the tree was never smitten for its 
own sake at all, but to teach a gracious lesson. 
Inanimate and painless, it was merely constituted 
an instrument of admonition. Our Lord destroyed 
fishes to feed the multitudes on the shore of Gen- 
nesaret; but the miracle lay in the feeding, not in 
the destroying. His wonders never brought curses, 
but blessings. He lamed no one, but made the 
lame man leap as a hart. He rendered no man 
speechless; he caused the tongue of the dumb to 
sing. He struck no one blind ; he only opened 
eyes, and then forgave sins. 

That this peculiarity attracted notice very early 
and was considered of vast importance, is evident 
from an old legend told of Constantine the Great. 
It appears that at first his mother, Helena, was seri- 
ously offended because her imperial son was con- 
verted to Christianity. He replied by inviting her 
to become a Christian too. And he proposed a test 



33 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

by wlilcli lier pagan religion could be compared 
with Christ's. Two of the chief Greek philoso- 
phers, Zeno and Cato, were selected to be judges. 
Helena had one chosen magician, so runs the an- 
cient story; his name was Zambri. He said, "I 
know the name of the Omnipotent. Let them 
bring me the fiercest wild bull that can be found. 
When I have uttered that name in his ear he will 
fall dead. The experiment was tried; the bull was 
brought, the word was spoken, the animal fell as if 
struck by a stone. But Sylvester, who now stood 
forth upon Constantine's side, exclaimed, "The 
name he has pronounced cannot be that of God, but 
of Satan, for Christ does not smite the living dead, 
but restores the dead to life." Then he made the 
demand that Zambri should raise up the dead crea- 
ture and set him on his feet again. So the emperor 
commanded; but this the man could not do. Then 
Sylvester made the sign of the cross; the bull rose 
up alive; and not only that, it was ever afterwards 
tame and gentle, and was led away in peace. 

It is not necessary to indorse or contradict the 
legend ; the teaching is clean Christ came to 
exhibit grace and love, and all the narrative of his 
life shows he was in earnest. He did not destroy 
Jerusalem that killed the prophets; he sat up over 
against the city and wept at the ruin he foresaw 
was com in Of. 

Now, for example, contrast this with the mis- 
sion of Moses. Sternly and relentlessly it was the 
Lawgiver's office to bring on those awful curses 
which filled Pharaoh with suffering. One after 



A DAY'S WORK IN CAPERNAUM. 33 

another they fell, growing in their violence, till all 
Egypt wailed over the firstborn lying dead in the 
households. So Elisha could turn on the mockine 
children of Bethel, who said, "Go up, thou bald 
head," and give them for prey to the wild beasts of 
the field. And so Elijah, haggard and worn, could 
lift his hand to heaven for fire to come and sweep 
away division after division of Ahab's soldiery w^ith 
its 'liail of flame. These men were not personally 
harsh, vindictive, or severe. It was the spirit of 
that dispensation which compelled them to revere 
the very letter of the law. Jesus came to establish 
a dispensation of love. So when he had a chance 
he explained to his disciples the difference: "And 
so it came to pass, when the time was come that he 
should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to 
go up to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before his 
face; and they went and entered into a village of 
the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they 
did not receive him, because his face was as though 
he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples 
James and John saw this, they said, lyord, wilt thou 
that we command fire to come down from heaven 
and consume them, even as Elias did? But he 
turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not 
what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of 
man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save 
them. And they went to another village." 

In these respects, then, the miracles of our Lord 
transcended all the others recorded in the Bible: 
they were more numerous and varied, they were 
independently announced and wrought, they were 

Stu.lics lu Murk's Goniiel. ^k 



34 STUDIES IN mark's gospel. 

more extensive and splendid, and they were always 
beneficial rather than destrnctive. Thus our divine 
Redeemer stood unequalled and unparalleled. If 
Moses' wonders rose above the plane of common 
life loftil}^, as rugged and ye.t as grand as Mount 
Ararat, Jesus' wonders surely rose above them as 
the early rainbow rose above even Ararat's summit, 
loftier and yet more lovely, reaching more widely 
and yet more graciously, and bearing even in their 
wonderful mystery of display the token of a better 
covenant — a purpose of good which should stand 
unchallenged while the world endures, and be com- 
pletely fulfilled when it vanishes. 

II. Thus now we reach, in the second place, the 
consideration of what this purpose is. What was 
the use of the miracles of Christ ? 

I. IvCt us admit in the outset, in order to guard 
against misconception, that the one grand service 
of all miracles was meant to be performed in those 
which Jesus wrought: they were evidential proof s of 
the gospel. 

God was making a fresh revelation of his will 
from heaven to men. The ' ' Law, ' ' with Moses as 
its representative, had been issued; the "Proph- 
ets," with Elijah as one of their chiefs, had been 
given to the world; now the "Gospel" was to be 
announced and confirmed "with sii^ns followiuQ:." 
That those who were with our Lord Jesus Christ 
while he was [doing his matchless day's work in 
Capernaum on this occasion perfectly understood 
the relation of his wonders to his word, is plain 
from the excited exclamation they made. This the 



A day's work in CAPERNAUM. 35 

New Version records with more accuracy of transla- 
tion than the Common Version: ''What is this? a 
new teaching! With authority he commandeth 
even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." 
Three dispensations have been vouchsafed to men; 
so three periods or epochs of miracles have been 
noted in human history; and these have ranged in 
cycles of about seventy years each around the lives 
of those personages who appeared together on the 
mount of Transfiguration— Moses, Elijah, and Jesus 
Christ 

2. Again, our Lord's miracles were designed to 
lift the world out of the destructive ruin of sin. 

The truth is, the race is all now under the 
crushing weight of the fall of our first parents from 
holiness. Oh, how mysterious, and yet how bale- 
fully prevalent, is sin! It runs in the river, it falls 
in the rain, it lurks in the flower, it roars in the 
storm, it sighs in the wind; it is everywhere, all- 
pervading, all-diffusive. It causes every sickness, 
it racks every nerve that twinges with pain, it 
bends the bone of every deformity, it shrivels the 
tendon of every weakness, it lifts the eyelid for 
every tear that falls, it rings each funeral bell, it 
digs all the graves; it marshals every army that 
goes forth to slaughter men, it whirls every mael- 
strom, stirs up every tornado, kindles every mount- 
ain that burns, and rocks every earthquake. All 
that we dread comes, in this sin-cursed world to the 
sin-cursed race, from the devil, who is the author of 
confusion. There is a famine: we feel it is because 
the earth is under the wrath of God. There is a 



36 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

pestilence: we feel it is because the air is under the 
pressure of retribution. There is anguish and in- 
justice, lying- and murder, suffering and wrong 
everywhere, because law has been broken and pen- 
alty has been let loose upon the transgressors. The 
devil laughs, the grave cries, "Give," damnation 
slumbers not, and the world is rushing forward to 
meet its doom. 

Into this state of things came Jesus of Nazareth, 
the son of Mary, the Son of God. Against the 
whole array of wickedness and wailing and woe he 
set himself on the instant of his arrival. One blast 
of a trumpet was heard on the field. All the world 
looked up and saw the Prince had come! With 
the entire power of the celestial universe behind 
him he entered the conflict. "It pleased the Fa- 
ther that in him all fulness should dwell — the ful- 
ness of the Godhead bodily." So he came as the 
commander of the Lord's hosts. His voice was 
heard now; not a noisy voice, but a voice still and 
small, for it was not his business to "cry in the 
streets." The tones of it, however, had unwonted 
power, for the orders it issued were unusual, the 
combinations of attack were fresh, and Satan soon 
began to experience the almost unendurable pres- 
sure. 

3. Just here we perceive another direction of 
purpose in these miracles of Jesus. They were 
designed to exhibit his entire stiprcmacy in the gov- 
ern in Qf of the world. 

No illustration of this can be found more vivid 
than that which is offered by the cure of the jDoor 



A day's work in CAPKRNAUM. 37 

creature jDOSsessed by tlie devil. The story is told 
ill the chapter we are now studying. A perfect 
blaze of splendid miracles shone before the dazzled 
eyes of the crowd in Capernaum all that day. But 
it was not the cure of Peter's wife's mother, nor the 
healing of such as were afflicted with ordinary dis- 
eases, that most arrested attention. It was the dis- 
closure of the fact that the two highest antagonists 
in the realms of light and darkness, good and evil, 
heaven and hell, were now openly matched against 
each other in the streets of their town, and Jesus 
was triumphant. 

First there came the parley, and the abject cry 
of the devil for an armistice in the fiq-ht: "And 
there was in their synagogue a man with an un- 
clean spirit; and he cried out, saying, I^et us alone! 
wdiat have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Naza- 
reth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee 
wdio thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus re- 
buked him, saying. Hold thy peace, and come out 
of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn 
him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of 
him." 

Satan admits supremacy, and supplicates a favor 
of Immanuel. He says he knows the being who is 
now overmastering him, and he publicly calls Jesus 
" the Holy One of God." And yet our Lord will 
have no words with him; he says, *'Be still, and 
get out of this man! Have no more talk about it! 
Out with you!" 

Then came the full admission, and the report 
spread concerning a new revelation, and a new 



38 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPKl.. 

prophet: **Aiid they were all amazed, insomuch 
that they questioned among themselves, What 
thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with 
authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, 
and they obey him. And immediately his fame 
spread abroad throughout all the region round 
about Galilee.'* From this time onward, there was 
only one story to be told. The holy war goes on. 
The kingdom of darkness is not yet overthrown, 
but it soon will be. With his earliest miracle, 
Christ showed with what sort of weapons he meant 
now to oppose sin and all the results of sin. He 
went to the house of a village maiden, and 
wrought his first wonder at a wedding. Thus he 
set his seal on lawful marriage, put his stigma on 
divorce, and proclaimed an end to lawlessness, li- 
cense, and lust. Thus every miracle struck at 
some sin and proclaimed some new law of love and 
truth. 

Every sick man healed was redeemed from one 
of the consequences of sin. The sea was calmed as 
a rebuke to the wild powers of nature which had 
grown turbulent in this world cursed by sin. The 
feeding of the hungry thousands told of gospel 
plenty, and said want would be banished when men 
ceased to sin. Satan withered hands: Christ healed 
them. Satan palsied feet and ankles: Christ loos- 
ened them into strength. Satan put out eyes, 
stopped ears, silenced tongues; Jesus came to set all 
free again. Ah, what a close that day at Caperna- 
um had! What rejoicings there must have been in 
many a dwelling! How swiftly the I^ord's hand 



A day's work in CArKRNAUM. 39 

went forth scattering- generous benedictions where- 
ever it touched! How still the demons were before 
their Master! 

**And at even, when the sun did set, they 
brought unto him all that were diseased, and them 
that were possessed with devils. And all the city 
was gathered together at the door. And he healed 
many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out 
many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, 
because they knew him." 

A single message remains to be suggested as we 
close our study. It is not enough for us simply to 
admit the divinity or even the godhead of our Lord, 
at the conclusion of our day at Capernaum. This 
will not satisfy any soul's deepest need. Miracles 
are more than evidences when they have parables in 
them. A supercilious spirit of patronage will 
sometimes attempt to compliment Christianity, as 
the best religion ever offered to human reason. But 
this is nothing but self-conceit blinding itself with 
the brilliance of its own flattery. Canon lyiddon 
said shrewdly, long ago: *'When one drops down 
from the exalted notion of the true God, to the lower 
plane of Deism, he is on the fair way to simple 
hero-worship of which himself is the hero." The 
wonders which Jesus wrought in those hours were 
disclosures of divine grace as well as of divine 
power. The study of them will be lost if it does not 
lead each heart to penitence for sin, and prayer for 
a new life. 



40 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPli;i.. 

IV. 

HEALING A PARABLE 01^ PARDON. 

" And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneel- 
ing DOWN TO him, and SAYING UNTO HIM, If THOU WILT, THOU 

canst make me CLEAN." — Mark \:\o. 

One of the principles of God's government in 
this world, frequently exhibited in the Scriptures, is 
to involve a greater thing in a less. Hence, we 
often find in the quietest narratives of the New 
Testament a deep spiritual significance. When 
once this is disclosed to us, the mere commonplace 
story of the event passes out of notice into compara- 
tive insignificance. It makes us think of the East- 
ern fable of a vessel fished out of the sea, forth from 
which appeared a genie^ whose rising figure became 
a cloud so large that it seemed as if it never could 
be closed back into its prison. This is a type of 
much of the inspired history. For when even an 
ordinary event is fairly opened, there comes to view 
an unexpected and extraordinary mystery of intelli- 
gent meaning which cannot afterwards be con- 
cealed from our admiration, but really remains the 
chief object of our notice. 

I. For an illustration, take this story of the man 
cured of his leprosy by our Lord Jesus Christ. We 
might have deemed such an incident a mere proof 
of the prevalence of this awful disease. And we 
should have said that his relatives and townsmen 



HEALING A PARABI^K OF PARDON. 41 

were to be conp^ratulated heartily upon the generous 
opportuneness of the Saviour's presence and power. 
But, a moment after, we discover that the leper has 
been more than cured; he has been converted, and 
now becomes an heir of heaven through divine 
grace. 

We find ourselves constrained to believe that 
this miracle of healing has been wrought in order to 
the greater miracle of pardoning his sin and regen- 
erating his heart. The white and mutilated limbs 
of the man's whole nature have, all on a sudden, 
thrown off their death and corruption, and he is 
now spiritually free and clean. So there is here 
what might be called a parable in the miracle. 

This principle has an almost limitless illustra- 
tion in the gospel narratives. Something greater 
than what appears may be expected to come out of 
what appears. We may well stand waiting and re- 
main watching; for there is. much of that of which 
BzekiePs vision of a '*wdieel in the middle of a 
wheel " was designed to be a type. We need to un- 
fold what the inner wheel has to reveal before we 
can say we fully appreciate any event. It is all in- 
telligently planned; for "the spirit of the living 
creature was in the wheels, '^ and *' their wings 
were full of eyes round about." 

It is very easy to say this happens so. Let us 
look at another instance then. A poor blind man is 
seen groping about the streets of Jerusalem. This 
was a frequent sight in that city, and we should 
make no special comment upon it. But now we 
read on in the story: "And his disciples asked him, 



42 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his pa- 
rents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered. 
Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents: but 
that the works of God should be made manifest in 
him." 

After this, we learn that the Lord opens his 
eyes. That old man's life becomes transfigured. 
In the end, he is pronounced a believer, and all his 
sins are pardoned. He had been born blind in order 
that God might be glorified in his salvation. A 
nameless Jew thereafter ranks with Cyrus, who was 
named before his birth, and with Jeremiah, who 
was sanctified before he was created. His history, 
as if ^t a divine touch, springs clear up out of 
everyday life: he has been assigned a part and a 
place in the infinite purpose of the Almighty. He 
suffered that he might be crowned. 

All this is seen more clearly still when we 
choose some familiar narrative, and dwell upon 
even its minor details. Bartimeus' blindness helps 
us somewhat; but the dullness of the disciples who 
hindered him makes us see more evidently than 
ever the hindrances which over-fastidious profes- 
sors of religion put in the way of anxious sinners; 
the casting away of his garment when he ran to 
Jesus pictures the sacrifice any earnest seeker will 
make in order to be sure of salvation. 

Just so, dwell for a moment upon the account of 
the man cured of the palsy, as repeated by Luke. 
What a parable it makes ! There is the helpless- 
ness of the sinner in the paralysis of sin: there is 
the zeal of friends in hurrying a hopeless case to 



HEALING A PARABLE OF TARDON, 43 

Christ : there is the faith of one in dead earnest 
breaking his way through all obstacles: there is 
the quick obedience of a soul that stands and walks 
at the first divine command: there is the applause 
of sympathetic believers who glorify God when a 
lost soul is saved. 

Now what needs to be noted is that this is true 
of all of the miracles wrought by Jesus himself. 
To each of them there was an external appearance, 
so that to the natural sense it was a wonder; and 
then there wasjust as truly to each of them an in- 
ternal meaning, none the less wonderful, but when 
fitly interpreted all the more glorious. The mir- 
acles were parables. 

This gives us the reason why the accounts of 
these signs when expounded in detail and (as some 
term it) "spiritualized," become such vivid illus- 
trations of what is experimental and evangelical. 
The outer or temporal benefit includes what is in- 
ternal and religious. Bach of these miracles of per- 
sonal healing resembles the man who is the subject 
of it, in that it has a soul and a body, and the soul 
has infinitely the greater value of the two. The 
gospel student is apt to be surprised when he earli- 
est discovers this; but it always proves edifying to 
a devout Christian to discover, upon patient exam- 
ination of almost au}^ one of these stories of cure, 
how fit a figure of conversion from sin it becomes, 
and how felicitously all' its circumstances range 
themselves in to show the processes of renewal by 
grace. 

For instance, the restoration of a cripple's with- 



44 STUDIES IN MARK S GOSPEL. 

ered hand makes us think of a sinner's inability 
supplemented by the sovereignty of divine grace. 

The raising of a dead Lazarus to new life re- 
minds us of the tearing away of the cerements of 
old sin and death, a grave of corruption broken, 
and the fresh blood of spiritual vitality sent joy- 
ously coursing through the veins of an existence, 
nobler and more welcome now than ever. 

It would be foolish to assert that all this is the 
fruit of an ingenious knack at preaching, and illus- 
tration-finding, and to frame an objection out of a 
compliment to ministers who can force a few verses 
to teach almost anything they please. A remark- 
able instance is directly within our reach, to show 
that our Lord blamed his disciples for not seeing 
and not remembering the parable of the leaven he 
had put in his miracle of feeding the five thousand 
with the loaves. It is enough to reply to this cavil 
by reminding those who suggest it that it will cer- 
tainly not hold elsewhere. No matter how shrewd 
the man of the pulpit may be, he will test his pow- 
ers in vain upon the miracles which any one other 
than Christ himself ever wrought. Let the plagues 
of Moses, for example, be forced to preach the gos- 
pel; let the destruction of Ahab's fifties by Elijah 
be compelled to teach faith and repentance; see 
what can be made of Blisha's causing the iron to 
swim! Then turn to the poor woman creeping up 
in the press to touch the hem of Jesus' garment, 
and mark what a difference ! 

11. It is likely that with these illustrations the 
principle is now made perfectly clear. Let us move 



HEALING A PARABLE OF TARDON. 45 

on at once to seek for the suggestions wliicli come 
from it for practical use. 

1. First of all, we may learn to congratulate 
ourselves upon tJic voluminous increase given foi' our 
service of fresh illu,strations of gospel trutJi. 

Let parents remember this in their instruction 
of the children. We recognise the eminent help 
we receive from our Lord's parables in exhibiting 
to human understanding man's ruin and Christ's 
salvation. Now here are more parables, and all of 
them are brilliantly evangelical. Hence when our 
familiar stories become feeble for the moment, 
through men's familiarity with them, right along- 
side we find miracles almost numberless which are 
parables also, fresh and beautiful. 

2. Again : we learn that oiLr Lord^'s actions arc to 
be studied as well as his speech. 

It was said of him that he spake as never man 
spake before. It is just as true, and in like manner 
instructive, that he wrought miracles as never man 
wrouijht them before. So in his action there was 
speech. He once told his disciples, " The words 
that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are 
life." And he might have added of his deeds also 
which he performed in their presence something 
quite as suggestive in explanation; because he him- 
self was "the Word," they were word, and "the 
Word was God." 

We see a lame man healed: so we instantly dis- 
cover that the warm love of God for the cripple's 
soul is kindled in the regard he feels for his body. 
He who says, " Arise, take up thy bed and walk," 



46 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

is the same who lias power to forgive sins. Thus 
the danger and the death of one's spiritual being 
are always hinted at in the plain efforts to check 
infirmity or remove disease. 

The inner meaning of our Lord's action is like 
the fire in the burning bush at Horeb; it shines 
through it, while it does not consume it. It is not 
at all inferior because it is interior. The flame of 
new significance does not hide, but only illumines 
the wonderful work; and then the fair light falls on 
everything at once all around. 

3. Then, next to this, we may learn that there 
is a pe7'sonal adveisary of otir Lord yesiLS Christ in 
this worlds against whose power the work and speech 
alike of his life are arrayed. 

Most of us have seen a great many paintings 
and engravings of these striking and dramatic 
scenes of the New Testament. The figure of our 
divine Master performing his wonderful works has 
always been a favorite theme in Christian art. But 
one of the parties, who in every instance was pres- 
ent, we have rarely if ever seen drawn in any repre- 
sentation upon the canvas. Just out of sight, yet 
beholding the whole miracle, must have stood 
Satan, the recognized prince of the powers of the 
air. So we may well bear in mind that the great 
"signs" Jesus wrought were more than his mere 
credentials as an ambassador from heaven ; they 
were more than personal benefits bestowed upon hu- 
man recipients; they were each in turn tremendous 
onslaughts upon the kingdom of darkness, direct 
attacks upon BeeUebub, king in the realm of Belial. 



HEALING A PARABLE OB^ PARDON. 47 

There is no one thing, which comes to light in 
the New Testament more jDlainly, than the explicit 
acknowledgment of a personal antagonist of God in 
this world, every energy of whose wily intelligence 
is constantly in exercise to thwart the purposes of 
grace in the gospel. Mysterious as it may seem to 
be, it is surely revealed that there is a devil here 
loose among men, and always contending for their 
bodies and souls. Why the Almighty permits this 
conflict, even for a season, we may not be able to 
understand; he might most assuredly sweep away 
Apollyon and all his legions with the same breath 
with which he created them. But he prefers 
rather to meet him as a foe for a recognized 
while, and even sometimes to suffer him to win a 
victory. 

The very phraseology of the gospels proves and 
illustrates this. Satan is mentioned by name over 
and over again. Simon was told he desired to 
" sift " him. He put the betrayal into the heart of 
Judas. He gave Ananias his lie, and Peter his de- 
nial. And nowhere does this conflict come into 
more conspicuous exhibition than in the stories of 
the miracles. The picture of our Lord's earthly 
ministry is like that which the ancient prophet saw 
in his vision: "And he showed me Joshua the high 
priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and 
Satan standing at his right hand to resist him." 
Jesus was the acknowledged adversary of the devil 
from the beginning. All the wonderful works he 
wrought were meant to shake the hold of the prince 
of evil upon the fallen world. 



48 

4- This will open the way for a fourth lesson: 
we now begin to understand why ycsiLs speaks in 
such a direct and personal manner when he works J lis 
miracles of relief. 

Of course, this comes to view most plainly 
whenever he is curing demoniacs. If ne says, 
*'Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit," we 
all understand that he is talking to a demon. But 
do we remember he once said, "Peace, be still," 
when he seemed to be rebuking the waves on the 
Sea of Galilee, and does it not help us somewhat to 
think that he was not talking to mere water, but 
to the devil beneath it? So with sickness and pain 
and want. Jesus evidently considered every sick 
man or blind man or crippled man as being in sin 
and under Satan's power. He needed pardon as 
well as cure. Satan had bound him, Christ came 
to loose him from his bonds. We have a positive 
statement of this m the story which is recorded by 
Luke: 

"And behold, there was a woman which had a 
spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed 
together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And 
when Jesus saw her, he called her to him and said 
unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine in- 
firmity. And he laid his hands on her: and im- 
mediately she was made straight, and glorified 
God." They found fault with him for this mir- 
acle, and he defended himself by saying he had 
been fiorhtins: his usual foe: 

o o 

"And ought not this woman, being a daughter 
of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these 



HEALING A PARABLK OF PARDON. 49 

eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the 
Sabbath-day? And when he had said these 
things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and 
all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things 
that were done by him." 

5. Finally, we learn from this discussion, what 
is the superlative excellence of the miracles of our Lord 
yestis as studies: they are redemptive and evangel- 
ical, and all tell the story of the cross on which the 
Saviour died. 

This must have been what Christ meant when, 
in the account of miracles he directed to be sent 
back to John the Baptist, he put this remarkable 
sentence: *'and the poor have the gospel preached 
to them." The truth is, the miracles preached the 
gospel quite as much as anything else. To redeem 
from sin was the simple but sublime purpose of 
them all. 

Hence the extreme guilt of that generation for 
rejecting him. Not because he was a mere healer 
of diseases, but because he was a physician of souls, 
was he of so much importance. So he said, ''If I 
had not done among them the works which none 
other man did, they had not had sin; but now have 
they both seen and hated both me and my Father." 
He could not have meant to call notice to the mere 
showiness of the wonders he had wrought; he was 
reproaching them because they turned away from 
the inner teaching of the parables within his mir- 
acles. 

So now; men's guilt in refusing Christ does not 
lie in the mere rejection of miracles as evidences, 

studies in Mai k'HOospel, . 



^O STUDIES IN MARK S GOSPEIv. 

but of miracles as gospel sermons. It is not just 
because tliey will not accept the offer of a Saviour 
who heals a withered hand, that men are con- 
demned; but because they will not receive him 
who restores a soul from the withering influence 
of sin. This is counting the blood of the covenant 
an unholy thing. 

Hence, the value of Jesus' intercession still. 
Everything conspires to lift the cross before the 
eyes of men. The centre of the created universe 
is at Calvary. To redeem you and me from the 
otherwise incurable leprosy of sin, Jesus died and 
rose again; and that resurrection was the grandest 
miracle of all, and contains in it the image for the 
finest parable of all. 

The day of showy w^onder-working is ended long 
ago, for God has now no new dispensation to send 
to men. But the day of wonder-teaching still con- 
tinues. He that can cure leprosy can also forgive 
sin. And our prayer is only that here put on 
record: "If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean!" 
And to any sincere soul that lifts it, he will certain- 
ly put forth his hand and will say, *'I will; be 
thou clean!" 



REASONS IN RESI^RVK. 5 1 



REASONS IN RESERVE. 

" But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, 

AND reasoning IN THEIR HEARTS." — Ma7k 2:6. 

Our study to-day is designed to cover the entire 
account of the miracle of healing wrought for the 
cure of the man who was ^'sick of a palsy." But 
our practical aim will be to dwell particularly on 
one feature in the behavior of some of the by-stan- 
ders. 

It is said, that when, in Queen Elizabeth's time, 
a statute was announced commanding all people to 
come to church, the papists sent to Rome to know 
the Pope's pleasure. He returned to them this an- 
swer: " Bid the Catholics in England give me their 
hearts, and the Queen may have all the rest of 
them." 

All true religion is located in the heart. Where 
the human heart goes, the human life will go. 
The New Testament is a revelation addressed to 
the heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ was "set for the 
fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a 
sign to be spoken against, that the thoughts of 
many hearts maybe revealed." A most interest- 
ing illustration of this is found in that chapter of 
Mark's Gospel which comes under our study to-day. 
The crowd was so great that those in Capernaum 
who wished to have their friends healed of disease 



52 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEIv. 

could not get tlirongh the press. Four persons 
there were who ingeniously clambered up on the 
roof, bearing a helpless paralytic, whom they let 
down by ropes into the area of the courtyard where 
Jesus was. Our Lord not only healed the man of 
his palsy, but forgave him his sins. This seems to 
have especially provoked certain of the bystanders, 
who, not choosing to express their animosities pub- 
licly, contented themselves with ^'reasoning in 
their hearts.'* 

**And when he entered again into Capernaum 
after some days, it was noised that he was in the 
house. And many w^ere gathered together, so that 
there was no longer room for them, no, not even 
about the door: and he spake the word unto them. 
And they come, bringing unto him a man sick of 
the palsy, borne of four. And when they could 
not come nigh unto him for the crowd, they un- 
covered the roof where he was: and when they had 
broken it up, they let down the bed whereon the 
sick of the palsy lay. And Jesus seeing their faith 
saith unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins are 
forofiven." 

This story is remarkable for the exhibition it 
makes: (i) Of enterprise in bringing a helpless soul 
to the Saviour: how many ingenuities there are for 
reaching men when only the friends around them 
are in earnest; (2) of the intimate connection exist- 
ing between sin and suffering: our Lord's action in 
bestowing pardon with the cure was strictly logical ; 
(3) of the great advantage it is to any man to have 
Christians for companions, to become friends in his 



RKASONS IN RESERVE. 53 

need : this palsied creature was healed because of 
the faith other people had; (4) of the force of mean 
motives in driving men to reject Christ : these 
scribes were moved by arguments which they cher- 
ished, but concealed from sight. 

Upon this last point it seems worth while to 
dwell for a little while just by itself. Let us group 
the illustrations of the narrative around two simple 
propositions in turn. 

I. The worst opposition which Christians have 
to meet in offering the gospel to men is found in 
the mental reservations of its rejectors, and the sul- 
len silence of their hearts. 

I. To begin with, there are unspoken objections 
which influence, if, they do not control, one's intel- 
lectual views. Men insist that there are discrepan- 
cies in the records of the Old and New Testaments 
which vitiate their truth, and, if generally known, 
would mock their claim to exact inspiration. Other 
men make great parade in private over difficulties 
in doctrine, and challenge attention to the fact that 
theologians differ in relation to almost all the car- 
dinal points of what is called the evangelical sys- 
tem. Still others cavil at the inconsistencies of 
church-members, and rail out against them for 
hypocrisy, if only they can manage to secure a 
safe and credulous audience that dares not con- 
tradict them. Hints and inuuendoes are the usual 
signs of this disturbed and unwholesome state of 
mind. 

Where do the young men of the present day ob- 
tain so much skeptical information? It is thrust 



54 STUDIES IN mark's gospei.. 

in upon them by the public press. Doubts drop 
down like loose feathers wherever croaking ravens 
are wont to fly. Evil is lodged upon mind and soul 
from every source. I^ectures are reported which 
would never have had an audience but for the 
penny-a-liner's necessities. And sometimes re- 
views of public speeches insult readers with blas- 
phemy. 

But why is it that these reasons are so often 
held in reserve ? Why does the man preserve his 
sullen demeanor without a w^ord? (i) Because 
he is not exactly certain he can state them: it is 
not everybody who can say clearly what he does 
not believe; (2) because he feels a misgiving that 
they may not stand when some one a little more 
scholarly gets hold of them; (3) and because he 
suspects that, if he goes so far in his small infi- 
delity, he really will have to go farther or else give 
it up. 

2. There are unconscious prejudices which 
arouse one's temper. Some persons conceive a 
violent spite at what they assert is a continuous 
rebuke whenever Christian life is praised or com' 
mended. This is not a new thing in history. 
Classic annals tell us that an unlettered country- 
man gave his vote against Aristides at the ostra-' 
cism, because, as he frankly said, he was tired of 
hearing him called "The Just." Other persons 
burn with imj)lacable memories of indiscreet zeal 
practised upon them by those who supposed they 
were dutifully obeying the command, "Go, speak 
to that young man." They recite the grievance of 



REASONS IX RESERVE. 55 

revival extravagances, wliicli tliey deemed ofTeii- 
sive and never to be forgotten. They rehearse 
the biographies of preachers who bullied the patient 
congregations, and then ran into immorality and 
deptorable scandal. They plead rashness as an ex- 
cuse for reserve. 

3. There are unacknowledged sins which sway 
one's career. Come back to the story here in 
Mark's narrative. " But there were certain of the 
scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 
Why doth this man thus speak ? he blasphemeth : 
who can forgive sins but one, even God?" 

Hear the comments of these scribes accusing Je- 
sus of blasphemy ! Violent clamors for moral and 
theological perfectness are raised by many whose 
sole aim is to divert attention from some secret in- 
dulo-ences of their own. These people reason in 
their hearts. 

Sometimes in modern life a very showy conflict 
with Satan is kept up before the public, in order 
to conceal the fact of one's friendship with him. 
It reminds us of plays in which the actors person- 
ate the devil fencing with some good antagonist 
behind the footlights, a knight, perhaps, the pink 
of virtue, battling fiercely with the demon clad 
in robe of fire. No one engaged for his soul could 
appear more bravely in earnest. But we are struck 
with a certain kind of wariness, which they both 
show in their hitting. Sparks fly from the weap- 
pons, but blood does not seem to be drawn. And 
if afterwards we were to go behind the scenes, 
there we should find those high-tempered combat- 



56 

ants in a most surprising state of reconciliation; 
honorable knight and fiery devil seated in a friendly 
way at the table. 

4. There results an unsubdued will sullenly 
closing one's lips. Many men live a double life ; 
they mean to be courteous, but on religious mat- 
ters they cultivate a cool, proud reserve. It often 
surprises us to find our Christian endeavors so in- 
effective with apparently kind, open, intelligent 
people. 

What is the real reason ? Because the heart is 
what governs, and logic is not addressed to the 
heart. Arguments are made and meant for the in- 
tellect, and lose weight in the tenuous atmosphere 
of the feelings. It shows no difference whether we 
drop down feathers or dollars through the vacuum 
of an air-pump. 

II. Thus we reach our second proposition: All 
these reasons in reserve avail nothing to men, the 
moment the contest is seen to be, as it always is, a 
contest with God, and not man. 

I. Look at the facts here; let us read over the 
remaining verses together: 

** And straightway Jesus, perceiving in his spirit 
that they so reasoned within themselves, saith unto 
them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts ? 
Whether is easier, to say to the sick of the palsy. 
Thy sins are forgiven; or to say, Arise, and take 
up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know 
that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive 
sin (he saith to the sick of the palsy), I say unto 
thee, Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy 



REASONS IN RKSKRVK. 57 

house. And he arose, and straightway took np 
the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch 
that they were all amazed, and glorified God, say- 
ing, We never saw it on this fashion." 

Jesus understood those scribes (i) divinely: he 
*' perceived in his spirit." He understood them (2) 
thoroughly: he saw what was '* within themselves." 
He understood them (3) at once; note that old word 
^'immediately." God knows all our surmises and 
suspicions. 

Jesus peremptorily challenged those scribes in 
their logic. (i.) He announced his discovery. 
They were '"amasjed;" literally, thunderstruck. 
(2.) He accepted their condition. They looked on 
while he healed the man by miracle. (3.) He de- 
feated them utterly. We read that ''they all glori- 
fied God." 

2. Now let us draw a few final inferences from 
the whole story. This scene is repeated every day 
in the full sight of a patient God. Human nature 
is always the same along the ages. 

(i.) There cannot possibly be any reasoning in 
one's heart which our omniscient Judge is not able 
instantly to perceive and to answer. Once a French 
soldier fell asleep on his post, and was brought up 
for trial by court-martial. The first witness called 
was the Emperor Napoleon. " I was visiting the 
sentinels' outposts," he said; "I saw this soldier 
myself." 

(2.) True prudence consists in outspoken can- 
dor. "Come, let us reason together." Some- 
times objections vanish with the statement; for 

3* 



58 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

they seem so insignificant when expressed. Mere 
articulation of difficulties often clears them of con- 
fusion. 

(3.) Sullen reserve surely runs to swift ruin. 
The diflference between an ignorant prejudice and a 
willful conceit is shown in this: ignorance stands 
with its back to the sun, and so, if it advances, 
moves on in the line of its own shadow only a step 
deeper; but churlish conceit walks straight away 
into a forest of doubts, till its own shadow is dark- 
ened with other shadows gloomier still. Hence, 
a confessed ignorance is altogether more hopeful for 
good, because all it has to do is to turn to the light. 
Sullen obstinacy has to retrace its path, and so jour- 
ney clear back to where it started. It was consid- 
erations of this sort which forced the bright remark 
that "an ingenuous intellect is often better than an 
ingenious one." 

(4.) Reasons in reserve have really nothing to 
do with actual life or eternal prospects. When was 
it discovered that one man is relieved from the obli- 
gation of being honest, because another man lies ? 
Just how does " foreordination " or the *' Trinity," 
if the doctrines are true, hinder repentance or faith? 



HEEDFUI. HEARING. 59 



VL 

HEEDFUL HEARING. 

"If any man have ears to hear, let him hear." — Mark 4:23. 

At the end of the familiar parable of the sower 
our Lord seems to have summed up all its meaning 
into a single counsel. '' Take heed what ye hear " 
is the form in which it appears in Mark's Gospel; 
*' Take heed how ye hear " is the record of Luke. 

I. Let us seek in the beginning to discriminate 
and classify the ordinary hearers of the word as 
they show themselves in the sight of the preacher. 

You have possibly looked down from a hillside 
upon a forest-grove in the country and seen the 
wind of summer stealing over the tops of the trees. 
You may have marked how each one of them pre- 
serves its own individuality. The elm bends, the 
aspen trembles, the willow waves, the evergreen 
moans; but the light-hearted poplar stands up 
straight and stiff, while the obstinate oak only set- 
tles its roots the deeper and erects its branches for a 
vigorous resistance. In this would be found a fair 
similitude by which to describe an ordinary Chris- 
tian congregation in these modern times, and by 
which to discriminate the listeners with a view to 
their appropriate classification. 

It may never have occurred to some, who are in 
the habit of attendance upon divine service and 
gazing unhindered upon the conspicuous speaker iu 



6o STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEU 

the pulpit, that he sees from his outlook quite as 
clearly as they do from theirs. If one who can 
read human countenances well were only for one 
Sabbath to have a seat in the desk, he would be 
struck with surprise perhaps; certainly he would 
gain some positively new ideas: for he would see 
all conditions of men represented. He would be- 
hold moral characteristics, personal peculiarities, 
and professional habits most evidently displayed. 
Under the presentation of close-fitting" truth he 
would discover that exceedingly diverse impres- 
sions are produced upon different hearers. 

I. For one class, he would be sure to see the 
listless hearers. He might discover in various parts 
of the audience-room those whose countenances 
would defy all study. They are perfect blanks. 
No more life appears than there would be discov- 
ered in a gallery of statuary. Some will be asleep. 
Some there will be who hear the sound of the 
words, but so inattentively and unintelligently that 
nothing is regarded as it passes their ears. The 
sentences fall on their organs like the ordinary tick- 
ing of a clock; they disturb no sensibility whatso- 
ever. We should judge that they attracted no atten- 
tion of any sort, if it were not that the eyes flash 
up suddenly with an eager curiosity, if for some 
reason the sound happens to stop. 

It is by no means needful that one should be in. 
a slumber in order to be a listless hearer. He may 
keep his look full on the speaker, and yet not heed-, 
fully receive a single syllable from his lips. Now 
it would be trifling to pause here and rebuke this 



HEEDFUI. HEARING. 6l 

kind of inattention. But one might be suffered to 
say that it is not fair play to meet any preacher in 
such a manner, and then dispose of him with a 
hard criticism as having been unusually dull. Who 
has been the duller of the two? If the sermon be 
a good one, then all the people ought to attend to it 
that nothing be lost. If it be a poor one, they cer- 
tainly ought to attend to it the more closely, or they 
will not catch even its excellent, and perhaps re- 
deeming, quotations from somebody else. 

2. Next, this visitor in the pulpit would notice 
the criticising hearers. It is not worth while just 
now to seem to refer to those who cavil at the ideas 
presented, or find fault in turn with the preacher's 
gestures, his voice, his use or disuse of a manu- 
script, his reading of the hymns, his management 
of the large Bible, or the mechanical forms of his 
prayers. These are all minor matters, and it is 
generally understood now that ministers are willing 
that people shall do about as they please in dealing 
with them. But the more dangerous habit of some 
is to lose all matter in mere manner. For instance, 
a strong and eloquent appeal, or an exhibition of 
brilliant imagination, is apt to excite them. List- 
ening intently, they go away pleased with what 
they term the excellence of the discourse. Or per- 
haps a logical man with a theological turn plods 
through his half- hour in search of a doctrine. 
They listen after a fashion; they believe all he 
says; they did before; but still they are not happy; 
he is pronounced dull and uninteresting. So it is 
always the man and not the truth which is taken 



6z STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

in. The message he has brought falls to the 
ground dead, pierced in a hundred places by the 
small shot of a mere sporting criticism. 

3. Yet a third class might be singled out, the 
stispicioiis hearers. These are continually on the 
lookout, not exactly in our times for heterodoxy, 
but for eccentricities. They are afraid the preacher 
will say something inconsistent with the established 
views they cherish. At the present day people love 
beyond everything else to have their ministers pro- 
claim authoritatively from the pulpit what they 
believe in the pews. And sometimes they are anx- 
ious for fear he is on the verge of offering some- 
thing else. He is in danger of touching political 
issues, or he will oppose evangelical tent-work, or 
he will not come out strongly enough on the subject 
of total abstinence. 

Perhaps this is natural; but it strikes one some- 
times that there is very little use in preaching to 
those whose minds are made up. It is apparent 
that there are men and women who settle before- 
hand two decisions every time they go to church: 
one is, that certain theoretic or practical views 
ought not to be presented from the pulpit; the other 
is, that they are going to be now. Time never 
wears away their solicitude nor diminishes their 
feeling of prejudice or doubt. They sit in painful 
uncertainty and uneasiness through sermon after 
sermon. 

A single remark is all that is necessary to make 
here: it is better generally to listen to what is said 
rather than to what is not; and it is always safer to 



HEEDFUL HEARING. 6;^ 

remember that "It will be time enough for a man 
to decide whether he will bow down to Nebuchad- 
nezzar's image when he sees the servants splitting 
the wood to heat the fiery furnace." 

4. Then there is a fourth class, the distribiUing 
hearers. Some most devout people always listen 
for the sake of the rest of the congregation. They 
imagine that the burden of applying the sermon to 
those at whom they judge it is directed by their 
minister rests wholly upon them. They would be 
perfectly willing to walk right up after service to 
the exact individual, and say, as Nathan did to 
David, "Thou art the man!" Or perhaps a duty 
is pressed and an appeal made. These persons will 
specify instantly w^hat somebody else ought to give 
or to do. That w^as Sydney Smith's experience 
when he was a preacher. He said, " If I were to 
declare that A is in trouble, B would instantly 
reply, ' C ought to go and help him.' " 

Just let every hearer think to himself as he 
plants his family in the pew, "This discourse is 
primarily meant for me. If the hopes of which it 
speaks may be legitimately applied to my comfort, 
I will receive them gratefully and joyfully at the 
hand of the Lord; if the dangers of which it speaks 
are around me, I, who now am thinking I stand, will 
take heed lest I fall; if the duties which it incul- 
cates are ^uch as I can perform, I will try to set 
about them; if the sins it represents are -such as I 
commit, I will pray for pardon; and so may God 
help me to-day to take heed how and what I hear!" 

II. Let us seek now, in the second jilace, to dis- 



64 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEIv. 

criminate and classify the ordinary hearers of the 
^vord as they appear in the sight of the world at 
large. 

Here comes in the question as to results rather 
than mere behavior. We fall back upon the para- 
ble of the sower; it was given as our Saviour's 
illustration of the effect of the truth as it is thrown 
upon human hearts like seed upon difierent soils. 

I. To begin with, there are the wayside hearers. 
Let us read over the old story and lay alongside of 
the description at once our Lord's interpretation: 

*' And he taught them many things by parables, 
and said unto them in his doctrine. Hearken: Be- 
hold, there went out a sower to sow. And it came 
to pass as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and 
the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 
Know ye not this parable ? and how then will ye 
know all parables ? The sower soweth the word. 
And these are they by the wayside, where the word 
is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh 
immediately and taketh away the word that was 
sown in their hearts." 

The preacher who sows successfully is accus- 
tomed to choose that kind of seed which he wisely 
judges is best adapted to the soil where he is to 
scatter it. Then he spreads it with an open hand. 
But the hearts of some of his hearers have been so 
run over and trampled upon by evil passions, de- 
sires, and prejudices, that they have beome hard as 
a beaten highway which stretches along by the side 
of the ploughed land. Truth falls at the first only 
on the surface. Perhaps, if it were allowed to lie 



IIKEDFUI. HEARING. C5 

there even for a brief while, it might fiud its way 
ill, for there is a very vigorous vitality in God's 
utterances to men. But the devil is on the watch ; 
he comes and snatches it away, and then the path 
is blank and barren as before, and the labor of sow- 
ing is lost. 

King Agrippa is instanced to us as an example. 
He went with great pomp to hear the apostle Paul 
preach. That earnest and powerful pleader laid the 
truth on his heart as if he would plough and har- 
row it into his life. But the devil's birds were near 
to pick up the seed. Pride came with her glitter- 
ing pinions and chirped in his ear, "Thou art a 
kinof, but who is this tent-maker?" lyust croaked 
behind pride and had something to say about giv- 
ing up Berenice. So they came one after another, 
picked up the grain, and flew away. 

2. Then our Lord mentions the stony-ground 
hearers, and afterwards tells his disciples what he 
means: 

*'And some fell on stony ground, where it had 
not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, 
because it had no depth of earth ; but when the sun 
was up it was scorched; and because it had no root 
it withered away. And these are they likewise 
which are sown on stony ground, who, when they 
have heard the word, immediately receive it with 
gladness, and have no root in themselves, and so 
endure but for a time; afterward, when affliction or 
persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immedi- 
ately they are offended." 

From the very fact of the soil's meagreness, in 

StuaifS ill Miuk'8Corti>cI. 



66 

sucli cases tlie growth of grain seems always aston- 
ishingly rapid, for the earth is all mould, and the 
rock beneath it keeps the heat of the noontide 
longer. Shallow hearts are generally warm and 
full of impulse. Let the wind now blow and the 
rains fall and the hot sun shine, and if the ground 
were only deep and solid the very blast would settle 
the roots more firmly, the showers would stay to 
give permanent nourishment, and the strong light 
would develop the thrifty life faster. But this stony 
ground has only a deceitful surface-soil ; so the wind 
loosens, the rain washes, the sun withers. Thus it 
comes about that sometimes the best helps hinder. 

Paul had some of these hearers among his aud- 
iences in Galatia: " Ye did run well; what did hin- 
der you?'* Christ had some among his followers in 
Galilee; he gave them deeper doctrines than they 
could shelter or support in their merely superficial 
experience: " From that time many of his disciples 
went back, and walked no more with him." 

3. Next, our Lord classifies the thorn-cJiokcd 
hearers, A peculiar kind of thorn in that country 
grows suddenly and rankly, and seems to love the 
borders of wheat-fields. The farmers cut away the 
too prolific stalks, but the roots put forth fresh 
shoots at once with a strangling and tangling vio- 
lence that crowds everything else down. 

**And some fell among thorns, and the thorns 
grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 
And these are they which are sown among thorns; 
such as hear the word, and the cares of this world, 
and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other 



HEEDFUI. IIKARING. 6/ 

things, entering in, choke the word, and it becom- 
eth unfruitful. And he said unto them, he that 
hath ears to hear, let him hear." 

Perhaps this class of hearers is more widely 
represented in our times than any one of the others. 
A sort of religious impression is very readily pro- 
duced in ordinary promiscuous assemblies. Some 
men and more women are exceedingly sympathetic 
and emotional creatures. It is a sight often to be 
seen, that of a listener weeping and agitated under 
the faithful presentation of the truth. Men become 
alarmed for their future safety. Generous souls 
sometimes feel the baseness of their ingratitude to 
God. These go away from the sanctuary full of 
solemn resolutions. Thoughts of sober life, of prac- 
tical duty, of pious endeavor, of heavenly love, 
settle upon their souls. But the morning of the 
busy week of worldly work dawns, and before the 
noon comes they are just as hard and just as per- 
verse as ever. Oh, how many Sundays have ac- 
tually been slain by the wicked Mondays that fol- 
lowed them! 

Demas' history has been offered us for an illus- 
tration of this short-lived sort of emotion, in one 
melancholy sentence of Paul's Second Epistle to 
Timothy: " Demas hath forsaken me, having loved 
this present world, and has departed unto Thes- 
salonica." Perhaps the saddest of all experi- 
ences we have to meet is found in this watchine 
of people who promise so much, but who come to so 
little. 

4. Then our Saviour speaks of the good-groimd 



68 STUDIES IN mark's gospel. 

hearers in the parable. But for such, seed-sowhig 
would be a failure. 

** And other fell on good ground, and did yield 
fruit that did spring up, and increased, and brought 
forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some a hun- 
dred. And these are they which are sown on good 
ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and 
bring forth fruit, some thirty-fold, some sixty, and 
some a hundred. ' ' 

The great source of comfort to a preacher of the 
gospel is found here; the principal field of his labor 
is good ground. He is sustained by two promises, 
given him in the Bible long ago. 

One is about the seed he sows: *' For as the rain 
Cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and re- 
turneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and 
inaketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give 
seed to the sower and bread to the eater: so shall 
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it 
shall not return unto me void, but it shall accom- 
plish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the 
//////^whereto I sent it.'* 

The other is about the sower: *' They that sow 
in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and 
weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless 
come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves 
^uiih Jiim,'^'^ 

HI. Let us, now in the third place, look upon 
those who hear the word, as they appear in the 
sight of God. 

Men are very much mistaken, if they suppose 
that these Sunday services are mere entertainments 



IIEEDFUI. IIKARING. 69 

Avitli wliicli to wlillc away an unoccupied hour. 
Very vivid and very graphic are the words in the 
Fourteenth Psahn: "The Lord looked down from 
heaven upon the children of men, to see if there 
were any tliat did understand, and seek God.'^ He 
looks down now upon every gathered audience of 
men; and he pronounces upon their forms of listen- 
ing to the truth. 

Suffer me, in closing this exposition, to restate a 
few of the simple principles which lie at the basis 
of all duty in listening to the truth, and which will 
show how God himself considers an assemblage 
gathered for his worship, and what he thinks of 
the relations between the pulpit and the pews in a 
modern comjrecration. 

I. The first of these is this: a preacher of the gos- 
pel is ail atcthorized messenger froi7t Jieaven to vien. 

He is not, therefore, to be reckoned as a mere 
platform-man, delivering his own solitary views, 
and whose utterances are to be registered and 
weighed according to his eloquence or ability alone. 
"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as 
though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in 
Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." It is 
neither intelligent nor apt for us to say of a min- 
ister in the pulpit (if he be really about his busi- 
ness) "He thinks so and so." For it is not his 
thoughts he is offering for general approval or con- 
sideration, but God's thoughts to men. The same 
mistake was made more than two thousand years 
ago, and then the Lord in person took occasion to 
speak out; this is what he said to Bzekiel: 



70 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEIv. 

"Also, thou son of man, the children of Ihy 
people still are talking against thee by the walls 
and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to an- 
other, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I 
pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh 
forth from the Lord. And they come unto thee as 
the people cometh, and they sit beside thee as my 
people, and they hear thy words, but they will not 
do them ; for with their mouth they show much 
love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. 
And lo, thou art unto them as 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. And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it 
wall come,) then shall they know that a prophet 
hath been among them." 

2. Another principle, just as simple as this, 
needs to be put alongside of it: tJie ministci''^ s mes- 
sage is to be received fj'om the Old and New Testament 
precisely as if God spoke to men now. 

The Bible is cosmopolitan and perennial. It 
never grows antiquated or obsolete. '* Though we, 
or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel, 
let him be accursed:" an inspired apostle said that! 
God's revelation to men admits and counsels that 
all intelligent listeners are to try the doctrine to see 
that it comes from above; but nowhere does it say 
that any one is to try the preachers beyond this one 
line — are they men of God ? 

3. Yet a third principle is to be mentioned with 
the others: the constituted method tinder the gospel for 
conimnnication hctiveen earth and heaven is preaching. 



HEEDFUL HEARING. 71 

Then, ill heaven's name, let Christian men and 
women pray more for the preachers! In early ages, 
the Almighty spoke by visions and dreams; we do 
not understand that he ever does this now ; he 
speaks by his word. He has chosen living men to 
go to men; he has given them a book; he has or- 
ganized around them a church, which is Christ's 
body, the fulness of him who filleth all in alL 
*^ Faith cometli by hearing, and hearing by the 
Word of God." If we use the press, then the press 
must preach. If we use music, then the singers 
must preach. Eleven times in succession does 
Jeremiah repeat the one declaration from God him- 
self: "I have even sent unto you all my servants 
the prophets, daily rising up early and sending 
them." 

"Take heed, therefore, how ye hear." "Keep 
thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and 
be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of 
fools; for they consider not that they do evil. Be 
not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be 
hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in 
heaven and thou upon earth, therefore let thy words 
be few. " 



73 STUDIES IN mark's gospe;!.. 

VII. 
THE HOME MISSION. 

" HowBEiT Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go 

HOME TO THV FRIENDS, AND TELL THEM HOW GREAT THINGS 

THE Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion 
ON thee," — Mark 5 : 19. 

The first preacher of the gospel in the town of 
Sychar, we remember, was a suddenly converted 
woman, concerning whom very hard stories had 
formerly been told. She had been fortunate 
enough to meet Jesus out near Jacob's well, and 
had received his command instantly upon her 
conversion, *'Go, call thy husband, and come 
hither." She obeyed; and the record informs us 
that she became the instrument of spiritual renewal 
to more people than any one else clear down to the 
day of Pentecost. 

This woman may be considered the earliest 
home missionary in history; for she went with the 
gospel to her own nation, to her own city, to her 
own family, to her own husband. 

In the same way it might be said that the apos- 
tle Andrew took his first lesson in foreign-mission 
work from a single experience in the home field; 
for the moment he was himself converted to Christ, 
he started off on the errand of finding his own bro- 
ther Simon. His relationship to this man gave him 
a peculiar hold upon him for good influence. The 
family organization has been constructed for special 



THE HOME MISSION. 73 

duty, and so stands forever charged with its per- 
formance. It is designed to supplement and inten- 
sify the energies of the visible church. To win 
towards that which is better, and to warn away 
from that which is worse, is one of the sweetest and 
tenderest offices. 

This reaches farther than just to the relations of 
children and parents. Pilate's wife was impelled 
by her suffering and solicitude to go with advice to 
him, even when he was on the judgment-seat, that 
he have nothing to do with the just man he was 
going to crucify; she would have saved her hus- 
band, if he had only listened to her on the very 
verge of his crime. Our home influences are' often 
the most powerful forces in the moulding and fixing 
of our lives for this world and that to come. 

In one sense, surely, the home field is better than 
the foreign; it is nearer, to begin with, and then 
everybody knows the language at once. Men and 
women are needed everywhere, but their own fam- 
ilies around them sometimes afford opportunities 
of usefulness equal to any offered in Ooroomiah or 
Japan. 

Now this line of remark is started by a single 
verse put on record at the end of the story of the 
demoniac, who was cured by Jesus and restored to 
his right mind. This man wanted to link his lot 
at once with Jesus' work, and go around with him. 
''Howbeit Jesus suffered him. not, but saith unto 
him. Go home to thy friends, and tell them how 
great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath 
had compassion on thee." This direction is made 

4 



74 STUDIES IN mark's gospel. 

even more specific in Luke's narrative, where the 
word "house" is employed. The man's services 
of affectionate gratitude are acknowledged and ac- 
cepted; but he is instantly assigned to the home 
field, and cheerfully departs to his work. 

In the story of Christ's healing of the leper we 
have observed that he gave to that unfortunate 
creature, now fortunate indeed in that he was 
cured, precisely the opposite advice. He went 
even further than this, and laid upon him a posi- 
tive prohibition: "And he straitly charged him, 
and forthwith sent him away; and saith unto him, 
See thou say nothing to any man; but go thy way, 
show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleans- 
ing those things which Moses commanded, for a 
testimony imto them. But he went out, and began 
to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the matter, 
insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter 
into the city, but was without in desert places: and 
they came to him from every quarter." 

The commentaries are full of attempts to render 
the actions of the Saviour consistent; some of the 
efforts are very laborious; really, the most common- 
place is the best. 

"Our Lord took different methods of dealing 
with different patients whom he healed. On some 
he laid the injunction of silence; others he allowed 
to spread the news of their cures as being witnesses 
of his power and goodness. He took, we cannot 
doubt, the circumstances of the country where the 
miracle was wrought into account; as well as what 
was expedient for the kingdom of God, and for the 



THE HOME MISSION. 75 

person licaled. It was not enough for the man to 
tell his friends at home what great things the Lord, 
or God, had wrought for him through Jesus, but 
how Jesus had mercy on him. By dwelling on the 
first he might become self-important, but would be 
kept liumbled by speaking of the compassion of 
Jesus. We seem to perceive that our Lord was 
willing to trust him as a messenger to go before his 
face, and there was probably a germ of spiritual 
life implanted in him." 

It is set down among eastern proverbs that 
whenever a person gets in a hurry he is sure to 
take a roundabout way. Certainly, so much as 
this is true, "he that believeth shall not be con- 
founded," because he "shall not make haste." 
Whoever expects to attain to a height of showy 
endeavor will have to begin with souls which are 
close beside him and within his reach. If he finds 
success there, perhaps he will be satisfied to work 
on, and just leave his ambition for showy fields to 
others. 

It is pitiful to see a grown-up man sighing for 
the unattainable and the dim, flattening his anx- 
ious forehead against the window-pane in senti- 
mental sadness, half visionary and half peevish, 
because the churches will not start a fresh sta- 
tion for him among the tropical islands, so far, 
oh! so far away, where his wistful eyes seem to 
see the waving palms, while, close beside him at 
the moment, waits a soul hungry for the gospel, a 
soul whose sensibilities would be stirred to their 
very depths just to hear him speak for Christ. An 



76 

aged father, sitting in his chair there, thoroughly 
accessible; a godless sister, confessedly absorbed 
in frivolity and fashion, yet herself worthy of 
better things; a worldly brother, immersed in 
business and distracted with care; a prayerless 
mother, an unconverted servant, a willful and un- 
disciplined child; are not these as welcome for an 
enterprise of faith and supplication as Bulgarians 
or Zulus? Think of a conversion occurring under 
our own roof ! 

There may not be so much conspicuousness, 
and there never is likely to be so much romance, 
in the work of teaching one's young brother or sis- 
ter as in takino^ a tract-district or manao:inQf a de- 
partment in a reform school; but often more good 
can be done thus. At any rate, a more melancholy 
spectacle cannot be found than that presented by a 
living Christian wasting his time and energy in 
looking up work far away in this world when so 
much is to be discovered lying directly under his 
eyes. 

Why do not all perceive this and learn the les- 
son which our Lord taught that demoniac out of 
whom he cast the legion of devils ? Most of us 
have read in the "Pilgrim's Progress" about the 
man with the muckrake, who at last had reached 
such a pass, with searching for straws and sticks 
and dust, that, as Bunyan tells us, he could look no 
way but downwards. Might there not be a profita- 
ble picture drawn of those in our day whose eyes, 
with long indulgence of dreamy gating into the 
clouds, have become unable to look any way but 



TIIK HOME MISSION. ^-J 

upwards, quite across over the heads of all their 
proper duties standing directly before them ? 

The family organization is designed to afford 
manifest assistance in the conversion of souls. First 
obligation lies for us all just here. No apology of 
zeal exhausted elsewhere will be accepted for de- 
liberate rejection of this. That will be a .sor- 
rowful wail to be lifted by-and-by, no matter even 
if outside toil has in some measure hindered vigi- 
lance of the household: ^' They made me the keeper 
of the vineyards ; mine own vineyard have I not 
kept." 

But now arises the practical question: What can 
one do in bringing the home ones into a religious 
life? This man here in the story of the miracle was 
commanded to go home and tell what the Lord had 
done for him. "7>// them how great things the Lord 
hath done for theey That was what David did: 
*'Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will 
declare what he hath done for my soul." That 
was what Hezekiah did: "The Lord was ready to 
save me; therefore we will sing my songs to the 
stringed instruments all the days of our life in the 
house of the Lord." That was what Nebuchad- 
nezzar did: "I thought it good to show the signs 
and wonders that the high God hath wrought to- 
ward me." This was exactly what the Samar- 
itan woman did. If we read the story of Simon 
Peter's conversion carefully, we shall find that 
Andrew did two things that morning after his 
own interview with the Messiah : sroinQf immedi- 
ately to find his brother, he first taught him, and 



78 STUDIES IN mark's gospel. 

tlieu lie "brought" lilm. Instruction first, then 
persuasion. 

That Christian worker will mistake the position 
seriously who supposes that all w^hich his fellow- 
men need is mere information of a Saviour oppor- 
tunely arrived from heaven and now proffering 
pardon for their sins. Wilfulness is too firmly 
entrenched in the city of Mansoul to yield to a sim- 
ple herald's blowing of his trumpet on the outside 
of the wall. Very many are "hearers only" of 
the word, who are not ready to become "doers" 
also, till after something like a siege has begun to 
be felt and the regular approaches and the heavy 
guns are seen. 

The human soul needs truth more than argu- 
ment, personal sympathy more than exegesis, a 
Redeemer more than a IMessiah, a radical right- 
eousness more than a mere pattern for conduct. So 
on its own part, what it has to render is penitence 
before adhesion, confession rather than consecra- 
tion, admission of guilt and imploring of forgive- 
ness as the concomitant of faith. 

Hence there will be found as much necessity for 
strenuous energy of personal influence in some cases 
as for clear utterances of truth. Many a young 
man has gone home from a public service in such a 
mood of mind as that, helped, he might have been 
converted the same hour; and hindered, might have 
gone down into the utter night. 

No; what we have called "the home mission'* 
includes mothers' prayers and fathers' counsels, as 
well as a sister's winninq: and a brother's brino^inof 



TIIK HOME MISSION. 79 

to Jesus. Religious training is of inestimable 
worth. Home influences for the right are one of 
our most priceless of privileges. We cannot help 
hoping, as we leave this most pathetic story, that 
this poor demoniac, now sitting at Jesus' feet, 
brought his whole family to the Master. 

Simon Peter told Cornelius and those who were 
with him that one of the chief characteristics of 
Jesus Christ's career was found in the fact that he 
*' went about doing good; for God was with him." 
Out of that expression has come one of our stock 
exhortations in conference meetings and public 
addresses. 

Once, when our old pastor in Vermont gave out 
this verse in the Acts for his text, I listened with 
much care, being a young man then and looking 
forward to the ministry. Across these forty years 
now I can recall only the first head of his sermon. 
"To begin with," said he, *'a Christian, in order 
to go about and do good, must go abotit and do no 
harmy That is certainly a prime condition of all 
religious serviceableness at the present day. To 
keep going around without hurting anybody is as 
essential to piety as it is to an electric motor or a 
buzz-saw. The word " usefulness " does not occur 
in the Bible; but mention is often made of "tem- 
perance" and of "moderation." An incessant 
activity, which comes to no safe or profitable end, 
only reminds one of Carlyle's quaint description of 
a balky horse: "all move and no go." 

My greatest discouragement has always been 
with those busy creatures who use up most of their 



8o STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

time and force in seeking out spheres of effort for 
which they are under profoundest conviction they 
have no calling. Sunday-school classes? "Oh, 
no; never could get on with children." Tract- 
distribution? "No; the embarrassment of a natu- 
rally timid constitution would forbid that." Pub- 
lic prayer and social exhortation? "No; want of 
fluency in utterance would hinder, and perhaps 
experience would prove rather thin for edifica- 
tion." Charity work? "No; too much sensibil- 
ity; poverty, pain, wretchedness make one sick, 
you know." Thus they dispose of the entire round 
of duty, and feel a solemn sense of satisfaction in 
having shown that they have no gift for anything 
whatever. 

Job, if he had happened to run across a few 
of these modern believers in his day, would have 
had no difficulty surely in filling his "mouth with 
arguments" by merely picking up the crumbs of 
objection which would roll off from the edges of 
unnecessary discussion. Of all spiritual exercises 
known to man, this ceaseless reiteration of reasons 
for going about and doing nothing is certainly the 
poorest. 

We may not all be called to go on a foreign 
mission to China nor on a domestic mission to 
Dakota; we might as well let the consideration of 
"divine calls" alone till the calls come. What 
we can do now, every one, is to seek to comfort 
and to lift, to convert and to save, the soul that 
stands next to us. Christ did that, and so "God 
was with him." 



THD home: mission. 8i' 

In all effective Christian effort what is wanted 
is some small measure of the same enthusiasm that 
we have in our mystic dreams to be put into our 
prosaic duties. Once, when a company of tourists 
were on board of a BunQ:ao:uno:a Indiaman, straig^ht 
out at sea, not far from Ceylon, the conversation 
commenced concerning the familiar missionary 
hymn ; this soon ran into dispute as to whether 
the poetic odor — " the spicy breesjes" — of the lyric 
could be recognized miles off the island. One old 
traveller slipped quietly up to the deck and rubbed 
a little gracious anointing of cinnamon oil over the 
hammock nettings on the weather side. And not 
long afterward, when the romantic landsmen came 
up for their rest from heat and dispute, there arose 
cries of deepest satisfaction from those who had 
been contending, with their arguments, for what 
was now evidenced by the smell. 

It is not necessary to go to Ceylon in order to 
find souls to save. Prayerful ingenuity can furnish 
cinnamon perfume this side of the Mediterranean, 
if one has the grand love of Christ in his heart 
which makes all labor lovely. 

Our study is ended and our instruction closes 
where it began: "Go to thy house unto thy friends, 
and tell them how great things the Lord hath done 
for thee, and how he had mercy on thee. And he 
went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis 
how great things Jesus had done for him: and all 
men did marvel.'* 



studies in Mark's Gospel. A* 



82 



VIII. 
*'WHO TOUCHED ME?^ 

" For she said, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be 
WHOLE." — Mark 5:28. 

It would seem fair to say that whatever belongs 
to a life is appropriate to put into a biography. 
Especially true would such a statement be, when 
made concerning a man like Simon Peter. For, 
at forty years old, this fisherman had to be recon- 
structed from a Galilean peasant into a Christian 
apostle; and the transitions needed were so rapid that 
our imagination is fairly arrested with the details 
of the educational process. The influences which 
moulded an uncouth disposition like his, the occa- 
sions which disciplined that temper of his, the in- 
cidents which instructed his mind, are all of singu- 
lar and abiding interest, and may be studied at 
length. 

Now this story of the woman healed in answer 
to her touch upon the hem of Jesus' garment, as a 
mere matter of fact, is a chapter in Christ's life. 
But Simon Peter w^as present, and took a not very 
creditable part in the conversation ; he also ob- 
served all the details of the miraculous transaction ; 
and there is reason to conclude, from a cautious 
study of his active life in some subsequent years, 
,that he received at this time certain impressions 
which powerfully swayed his entire public career. 



*'WIIO TOUCHED ME?" 83 

So we may as well note a few lessons that lie would 
be sure to catch, and put them on record. 

I. First of all, he learned that a close follower of 
Christ Jesus must in doing good be no respecter of 
persojts. 

An unfortunate female is introduced suddenly 
into the inspired history, of whom we never hear 
anything afterwards, and of whom we have never 
learned anything before. Eusebius casually men- 
tions that in his day, somewhere near the begin- 
ning of the fourth century, there was pointed out a 
monument, commemorating her miraculous cure; 
but he gives no information concerning her resi- 
dence, or antecedents, or family connection. An- 
other historian tells us that the statue was of bronze, 
and represented her as in the act of touching the 
fringe of the Saviour's garment. And then another 
says that a memorial so convincing of the truth of 
the miracle waked the anger of Julian the Apostate, 
and that he tore it down and destroyed it. 

We know nothing authentic about the woman 
herself Legends, of no value however, assert that 
her name was Veronica, and that a house of abode 
was assigned to her in Csesarea Philippi. She 
passes away from the Scripture record just as she 
enters it, without an introduction to us. For all 
time to come, she was to take her own place with 
the Samaritan at the well, and with the Syropheni- 
cian who had great faith, among that mysterious but 
attractive group of unnamed and nameless women in 
the New Testament, unhistoric forever elsewhere, 
and honored iu our recollection only because the 



84 STUDIES IN mark's gospel. 

crenerous love of the Redeemer lifted their brief 
biographies into the sacred and conspicuous record 
of his companionship. 

So this was one of the instances in which Simon 
Peter learned that Christian charity and pitiful 
help knows no distinction between strangers and 
home-born. Any one who is in trouble may come 
and touch the hem of the Saviour's garment, just 
as this woman did. 

II. He learned a second lesson: that the kingdom 
of divine providence works harmoniously into the king- 
dom of divine grace. 

For observe the apparently accidental, but 
wonderfully opportune, presence of Jesus Christ in 
that neighborhood where this burdened woman met 
him. He was at that moment on another errand; 
indeed, he was in pursuit of another miracle. This 
cure was only an additional effort — a mere side- 
stroke of grace, a by-play of help, a sort of paren- 
thesis of pitifulness for one in trouble. 

He had started for the house of Jairus, where 
he was engaged by his promise to raise his dead 
daughter to life. This interruption occurred in the 
public highway casually, we should say, and with- 
out premeditation. But here Peter saw clearly that 
there could be no such things as accidents in the 
government of a wise God. 

One gracious purpose always includes others, if 
they are necessary to it. And providence waits on 
grace in the shaping of the events. Most of us 
remember an ancient prophet who saw in his vision 
by the river a wheel within a wheel; the symbol of 



*'WHO TOUCHED ME?" 85 

a celestial superintendence inscrutably working out 
minute details within even the most intricate and 
exalted sweeps of vast counsels of wisdom. 

So here: we find a miracle within a miracle; 
and that it did not come about by any happening, 
or any inadvertence, we can prove from just one 
slight turn of expression in the literal record; for 
we are told that, when this woman learned of Jesus* 
presence, near and available, she went forth ap- 
parently of her own prompting in order that she 
might find him and make her experiment of touch- 
ing his garment. The entire gospel is found in 
the one sentence which describes her endeavor: 
*'When she heard, she came." Nobody was ever 
converted, or helped, or cured, by accident. There 
are fixed means of grace. Those who hear of them 
must come to them. And when the heart has a 
purpose of surrender in it, providence will open the 
way. 

III. Yet another lesson did Simon Peter learn 
that day : the help of yesus CJmst comes i7t at the mo- 
ment of human hopelessness. 

Let us trace out the particulars which show the 
pitiable condition of this woman. It would be 
difficult to gather upon any individual a greater 
aggregate of terrible inflictions. She was evidently 
frightfully diseased: *' twelve years" of unrelieved 
endurance had proved her distemper to be chronic. 
She was poor: in the vain conflict she had "spent 
all she had " upon physicians. Moreover, she was 
discouraged because they did her no good: ''noth- 
ing bettered, she the rather. grew worse." She had 



86 

become enfeebled with pain: the surgeons had done 
their worst as well as their best; she had "suffered 
many things of them." She was always ceremo- 
nially unclean: by edict of Levitical law she was 
exposed to penalty simply for going out into the 
street. And then she was only a woman anyway: 
everybody turned impatiently against a woman in 
those days. 

All these particulars stood in the way of such 
an invalid as she was, coming to a Rabbi for help. 
But who does not see that every one of them proved 
an argument with Jesus Christ, rather than a bar? 
No one need ever consider that distresses of any 
sort keep a sufferer away from a Saviour like ours. 
The path which Jesus took that day was purposely 
laid in the direction, where this afflicted woman 
would be surest to meet him, if she went forth in 
faith. 

IV. This leads to a new lesson: Peter learned 
that even feeble faith^ if only real^ will be graciously 
accepted by God. 

Observe the simplicity of the logic through 
which this troubled creature urged up her timid 
confidence to so bold an undertaking. She did not 
pause to argue concerning anything except the 
exact w^ay of getting to Jesus. The philosophy 
of dealing with an incurable malady she knew 
nothing about. She only said this, *^If I may 
but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be 
whole. ' ' 

Matthew and Mark alone record this remark of 
the woman. The cure was what I^uke, being a 



*^WHO TOUCHED MK?" 87 

physician, would dwell more upon; thus he thinks 
less of the mental process which went before it. 

But how do we suppose anybody knew she had 
communed with her own heart in this way before 
her action had made her known ? Most likely, she 
rehearsed her experiences afterwards to all the dis- 
ciples, and talked to the people around, who heard 
of the cure. It may be she told them with tears in 
her eyes what a conflict she had had before it was 
possible to persuade herself to come out into the 
presence and exposure of all that crowd. Her in- 
tention was to mingle quietly among the throng 
with the rest, creep in behind Jesus, touch his 
outer garment lightly, unperceived, and then retire 
again without giving any trouble or attracting any 
notice. She imagined that would be all whjch 
was necessary to cure her, and she would be for- 



gotten. 



We perceive here, in one act, both the strength 
and the weakness of this woman's faith. She was 
confident that she would find herself whole, if she 
could only touch him ; and that was no mean 
amount of true belief. But she does not seem to 
have gone so far above that mere conjecture (as it 
were) as even to hope that her exigency could be 
known by Christ without her touching him. Con- 
versation, however, she had no thought of. Per- 
haps her delicacy forbade her to indicate the infir- 
mity which distressed her life. Perhaps she feared 
his displeasure when he should learn she was cere- 
monially defiled, and would make him also unclean 
if she came into contact with his person. Perhaps 



88 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

she was timid in the midst of an uncontrollable 
crowd in the tumultuous street. At all events, her 
argument seems to have amounted merely to this 
general surmise: 

*'I am in a terribly hard strait; if I could only 
reach this Nazarene teacher, it is certain I could be 
relieved; my chances do not promise much, but 
they promise something; I will go to him." 

V. Simon then had a fresh lesson to learn: that 
all the work of yesiis Christ is thorough^ whether for 
body or soul. 

This woman's faith was selnsh and superstitious; 
but it was accepted for her perfect cure. She man- 
aged to touch Christ's garment, no one perceiving 
her inconspicuous approach, and no one hindering 
her unobtrusive departure; yet she was healed, and 
Jesus answered: "Be of good comfort; thy faith 
hath made thee whole." 

When the Saviour's words fall on our ears, we 
are certain of an abrupt change passing over the 
entire narrative. Our notion of it may have been 
up to this point only as of an interesting physical 
recovery. But here we suddenly discern there was 
lying underneath the recital a new and spiritual 
meaning. The faith seems to reach her religious 
state as a pardoned sinner before God. 

We hasten back for an explanation of the mys- 
tery; and at the beginning of the story we find one 
little circumstance, almost insignificant and often 
unnoticed in the thought of any rapid reader, yet 
at this point full of the profoundest meaning. The 
woman here tells how she planned to lay her finger 



''WHO TOUCHED ME?" 89 

Upon the hem of Jesus' garment. According to 
Levitical law, each Israelite was bidden to attach 
to his external mantle a fringe or tassel, bordered 
with blue ribbon, to remind him that he was sepa- 
rate or holy unto God. Upon most robes there 
were two of these; one of which came up in the 
ordinary folding of the cloth around the person 
somewhere near one's shoulder. This was what 
the woman touched. And here was the evidence 
that her thought was in good measure religious. 
She seems to have had some feeble apprehension of 
Christ's sacerdotal character as a true priest unto 
God, which she makes known by this quick and 
delicate recognition of one of its sublimest preroga- 
tives. 

Here, then, is the gospel logic, and its fine result. 
Out of infinite peril and need the distressed soul 
looks up to Christ as an authoritative High-priest, 
and exclaims, "I must just find my way to him, 
and touch his garment's hem." If it does not thus 
reason, it is because it has not yet felt its primal 
danger. And so it is left to suffer on and suffer on, 
and no one will pity its distress, for its distress does 
not deserve to be pitied. If a soul has not learned 
by this time what a poor, miserable, painful, hope- 
less, incurable thing sin is, and must forever be, 
then God will sovereignly leave it to journey around 
like this pitiable woman among earthly helps and 
betrayals, nothing bettered and rather growing 
worse, until it will at last find out that awful fact, 
and be ready to be saved by him. 

How affecting it seems, to think that not only 



90 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEI.. 

the great sorrow of that rich ruler was known to 
Jesus, but even this concealed malady of a poor 
nameless woman; the secret trial and the open be- 
reavement alike! We are not forced to inform him 
concerning these experiences under which we are 
harassed; he understands our affliction the instant 
we ask relief. Our Lord never called any one be- 
fore by the name he gave this woman; nor ever 
after did he address any one as "daughter." New 
relationships are constituted in every case, however, 
when one comes penitently in faith to him. 

VI. Still another lesson must Simon Peter have 
learned here : a keen discrimiiiation is observed be- 
tween showy and genuifie piety. 

A most singular arrest was made upon this wo- 
man, as she went hurrying away out of sight. It 
is no difficult thing to imagine a joy deep as hers, 
though it would be impossible to picture it with 
mere forms of words. A sense of serene gladness 
must have pervaded her whole being, when she be- 
came conscious that the burden of a half score of 
years was rolled off in an hour. Just as she, there- 
fore, was stealing away modestly into her own 
retirement, that she might rejoice in seclusion, 
there was heard behind her a startling inquiry. 
Jesus said abruptly: "Who touched me?" 

To this at first no one gave reply, for a mute 
wonder lay upon the minds of those nearest to 
him — wonder, not that any one of those Capernaum 
people had come into contact with him however 
violently, but that he should put so preposterous a 
question in a company so dense in the street. In 



**WHO TOUCHED ME?" 91 

one of the gospels, the word used means stifled; the 
multitudes stifled or suffocated him. Simon Peter 
it was who at last broke this embarrassinc- silence. 
He seemed to imagine that he ought to administer 
impliedly a rebuke for such hasty flash of impa- 
tience. So, denying for himself, he exclaimed, 

*' Master, the multitude throng thee, and press 
thee; and sayest thou. Who touched me? Thou 
seest the multitude thronging thee !" 

It is interesting to notice that our Lord passes 
no censure on Peter in this instance, though the 
answer he made was very much like impertinence; 
but he still insists on his question, 

*' Somebody hath touched me, for I perceive 
that virtue hath gone out of me!" 

Here is disclosed the intimation that it is possi- 
ble for human beings to throng Christ, even so 
closely as to jostle him, and yet not one fairly 
touch the hem of his garment without his notice. 
''The Lord knoweth them that are his." He was 
well acquainted at the moment with that nameless 
woman; for the one striking thing of all which she 
did was this touching him in faith to ask a favor. 
" We might just as well make this short question 
a motto of untold meaning for all time in churches. 
It would serve searchingly for each Communion 
occasion. Through and through the assemblies 
Christ might almost seem to be passing, as he asks, 
"Who of all these people, that throng me in such 
ordinances, have actually touched me with the 
finger of their faith on the hem of my garment?" 
The great respectable world follow on after Christ 



93 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

even now; large congregations jostle him, and each 
other, in high strivings of conspicuous charities 
and forms and outward observances, under the ur- 
gency of education, under the press of curiosity, 
under the attraction of sensibility, under the excite- 
ment of example; but who lays his life down in 
surrender? Who rests his soul upon the atonement 
for deliverance from the chronic distemper of sin ? 

To answer this inquiry, there is found one here, 
and another there; a son, a daughter, in one house- 
hold, a father, or a mother, in another. Whole 
families, in these nominally Christian communities, 
crowd the house of prayer; but when the broken 
bread and the cup of wine go around asking close 
questions, the discrimination among them is very 
sharp, and not rarely the decision is painful. 

VII. There is at least one more lesson which 
Peter learned : the impossibility of serving yesiis 
Christ fully out of sight. 

This woman worked her way through the crowd 
quietly, and quietly she expected to withdraw from 
danger of notice. Just there it was determined to 
stop her progress, and bring her forward to be re- 
cognized. There must have been some great reason 
for this; for every instant of delay was of intense 
importance to Jairus, whose maiden daughter was 
at the point of death. That reason now transpires. 
This invalid came for her blessing in secret; she 
must here consent to be rewarded openly. When 
the question was asked, she perceived that she wa^ 
discovered. She came forward kneeling at Jesus' 
feet, and owned everything she had attempted. 



93 

He gently compelled her openly to confess in the 
hearing of the people her full surrender. 

It would seem as if the Lord Jesus wanted to 
make the personal acquaintance of this stranger. 
She came behind him; he invited her to stand be- 
fore. He called this nameless creature into con- 
spicuous notice. Evidently he meant to direct her 
heart, and confirm her experience. By forcing her 
to explain her conduct, he fastened her attention 
upon two facts: that she had come to him in abso- 
lute hopelessness, in the high venture of a tremu- 
lous faith: that she was going away in the joy of a 
complete and permanent relief. 

She would have lost more than half her bless- 
ing, if she had just retreated out of sight with only 
her bodily ailment cured. The immeasurable ad- 
vantage of such a bold committal of herself to 
Christ must be apparent at a glance. There is even 
a noticeable delicacy in our Lord's action; he chose 
the exact moment for his call, when she had al- 
ready received his favor. She would have been 
frightened, if he had challenged her so when she 
was creeping up behind in timid experiment. He 
waited till she was healed; then she was confident 
and would feel bolder. Grace always goes before 
duty. God never calls any one to profess his name 
in public, until he has bestowed the gift of his re- 
cognition. Then he asks a return. It is a weak 
Christian indeed who hopes to serve Christ out of 
sight. A grateful heart will hear him inquiring, 
"Who touched me?" and in turn will wish to fall 
at his feet, and tell him "all the truth." 



94 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPElv. 

These are some of the lessons which Simon Pe- 
ter must have learned while he was waiting in the 
street for this woman's cure. His story has been 
introduced merely because it would be likely to 
seem vivid and clear to us to imagine what so ob- 
serving a bystander as he was always, might gain 
from what was passing so swiftly before him. The 
same lessons are ours to learn also, however. The 
miracle is a parable, as are all the others which 
Jesus Christ WTought. For the cure of Satan's worst 
disease in the human heart — sin against God's law, 
with all its pollution and its peril — there is posi- 
tively no relief but that which is given when the 
touch of an unwavering faith is laid on his gar- 
ment, and his priestly atonement is received. 

" We may not climb the heavenly steeps, to bring 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. 
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 

again." 



HOW TO MAKt: UHN RKP£;nT. q- 

IX. 

HOW TO MAKE MEN REPENT. 

"And they went out, and preached that men should re- 
pent."— ^T/arX: 6: 12. 

Two things in the record made of the disciples' 
tour into Galilee will attract attention: one is, the 
purpose of their preaching; the other is, the instru- 
ment furnished for rendering it efficacious. "And 
they went out, and preached that men should re- 
pent." Then they enforced the doctrine by work- 
ing miracles. "And they cast out many devils, 
and anointed with oil many that were sick, and 
healed them." 

It does not seem easy, at first sight, to trace the 
exact connection between great signs and wonders 
and the peculiar inner experience of mind and 
heart which we call penitence for sin. Some have 
been satisfied to say that these followers of Jesus 
evidenced their whole mission as from him by the 
power they exhibited, and then drove their hearers 
towards the particular duty of repentance by ex- 
hortation and appeal. 

But is there no closer link in the logic than 
that? Let us take up a veritable case of conviction 
of sin and see what it was which induced the feel- 
ing. It has been recorded of no less a person than 
Simon Peter, one of these very disciples now going 
forth at the Lord's command, that he fell into the 



96 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

most violent prostration of spirit in view of his 
personal unworthiness on a remembered occasion, 
when Jesus wrought the miracle of an extraordinary 
draught of fishes: "When Simon Peter saw it, he 
fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; 
for I am a sinful man, O Lord." All the explana- 
tion we have to offer of this sinsfular conclusion 
from such premises is found in the fact that God 
was evidently disclosed before the eyes of his crea- 
ture, and at once Simon saw his wickedness in the 
full light of the display. 

Put with this the experience of Job: we all re- 
call how he was pestered and argued with by his 
unwise friends, until his whole being was exas- 
perated and sore ; then the Lord in person an- 
swered him out of the whirlwind, and, to our 
amazement. Job replies under deepest conviction of 
sin: "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the 
ear ; but now mine eye seeth thee ; wherefore I 
abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." Plere 
again we see plainly that it is the disclosure of 
God's majesty, as before it was of God's power, 
which has constrained a sinful mortal to discover 
and acknowledge his transgressions. 

A like incident in the career of the prophet 
Isaiah will add a new illustration. Pie saw in the 
temple a great vision of the Lord of hosts; the sera- 
phim were singing, but he could not join in their 
song; he tells us his experience: "Then said I, 
Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man 
of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people 
of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, 



HOW TO MAKE MEN REPENT. 97 

the Lord of hosts." He discovered his own secret 
sins in the light of God's countenance. The divine 
holiness was too much for him. It pierced through 
to his conscience with the sharp arrow of convic- 
tion, so that he flung himself down in a tremor of 
fright, remorse, and apprehension. He rushed at 
once into a frank admission of his hopeless expos- 
ure to the wrath of God. 

It would seem, therefore, that we might be ready 
for the distinct enunciation of a proposition which 
would be of greatest help just now when teachers 
and pastors are asking how the communities, far 
and wide, may be made to feel their need of a Sa- 
viour, by being made to see their sins. If Scripture 
is to be trusted, then this is true: real conviction of 
sin is best produced by an exhibition of the divine 
character and attributes. 

Lest there should be any misapprehension, per- 
haps it will be prudent at this point to say that 
there are sometimes intermediate steps leading up 
to this experience. Real conviction of sin as mani- 
fested by others is often of value, for it makes us 
think of God. We are creatures of sympathy as 
well as of imitation. A woman, looking straight 
upwards on the street, will stop an anxious crowd, 
and set them looking upwards too. So a man, 
thoroughly frightened, will force a hundred men 
into an inexplicable alarm around him. A small 
child, bitterly crying in a railroad station over the 
departure of his mother's coffin to be buried, will 
fill scores of eyes with tears, all the more if the sobs 
are quiet and the grief is dull and desolate. It 

iituclk-8 III MllU-:> Uosp.-). S 



98 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

is not to be denied at all that religions life and 
sensibility communicate themselves along the line 
from one human being to another. 

One of the most celebrated metropolitan preach- 
ers of England has published a sermon with seven 
texts, which, after all, are but one sentence with 
three words in it: "I have sinned." He takes up 
the story of Pharaoh: "And Pharaoh sent and 
called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I 
have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I 
and my people are wicked." Then he analyzes the 
character of Balaam: "And Balaam said unto the 
angel of the Loid, I have sinned; for I knew not 
that thou stoodest in the way against me: now, 
therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back 
ao^ain." After this he examines the confession of 
Saul: "And Saul said imto Samuel, I have sinned; 
for I have transgressed the commandment of the 
Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people 
and obeyed their voice." Then he exhibits the 
meaning of Achan, searching the acknowledgment 
carefully: " And Achan answered Joshua, and said, 
Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of 
Israel, and thus and thus have I done." Over in 
the New Testament he finds the admission made of 
his folly by Judas: "Then Judas, which had be- 
trayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, 
repented himself, and brought again the thirty 
pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, say- 
ing, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the inno- 
cent blood. And they said. What is that to us? see 
thou to that." He ^lludes to Job; "I haye sinned; 



HOW TO MAKE MEN REPENT. 99 

what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of 
men ? Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, 
so that I am a burden to myself?" And he ends 
with the penitence of the prodigal son: ^'I will 
arise and go to my father, and will say unto him. 
Father, I have sinned against heaven and before 
thee." Out of all this he constructs a discourse 
as odd as it must have been powerful when he de- 
livered it. 

In one of the bright books of modern literature 
I have met the tale of a clergyman who, as a me- 
mento or symbol of some committed sin, known 
only to himself, wore constantly a black serge veil. 
Never was he seen, at home or abroad, without this 
solemn sign of acknowledgment and penitence over 
his face. It was related further that the effect of 
such a sable reminder of guilt as well as of common 
exposure was very impressive upon the people 
among whom he ministered. Every one who ap- 
proached him felt summoned to institute an inquiry 
whether he himself was not wearing a like mask to 
cover some personal wickedness; or whether, at all 
events, he had not yet some undiscovered wrong, 
over which he was trying to stretch the folds of a 
cautious concealment. It never proved a welcome 
sight for any one; for it set the entire congregation 
upon a grave search for secret transgressions, indi- 
vidual or social, which, behind one veil or another, 
they were covering from the eyes of their fellow- 
men deep in their hearts. It was a strange way of 
influencing men; but it owed its power, we cannot 
doubt, to the silent suggestion it made of a judg- 



lOO STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

nient by God wlilcli tlie conscience recognized as 
right and irrevocable. 

The connection, therefore, between the miracles 
these disciples were commissioned to work and the 
specific doctrine they were commissioned to preach, 
was closer than a mere evidential proof. When 
they showed God's holiness, or his power, the 
people felt and admitted their wickedness. 

We might be perfectly willing to leave these 
teachings of the Scripture to work their way, and 
ask the teachers in the classes, and the preachers 
in the pulpits, always to hold up Christ in objec- 
tive exhibition, if they would hope to work evan- 
gelical repentance, if it were not for one unfortun- 
ate perversity of human minds in considering plain 
truth. Men throw back the counsels of the Bible 
with the assertion that circumstances are different 
now, and so will need different dealings. When we 
start to teach inquirers, it appears almost irresistible 
for us to attempt to show them their guilt by a 
series of expostulations or reproaches. We pelt 
them with indiscriminate accusations. We press 
them most vigorously with enumerations of their 
personal crimes; we exhort them to remember the 
Sabbaths they have broken, the mockeries in prayer 
they have lifted, the duties they have shunned, the 
lusts they have indulged; and then we assure them 
that God is angry at wicked people every day, and 
will send them down into the lowest hell, if they do 
not speedily repent. This may be all true; but the 
likelihood is, it will stir up bad temper and start ar- 
gument. None of us relish being arraigned by our 



HOW TO MAKK MIi:N REPKNT. IOI 

equals; it certainly exasperates most people to be 
told such things by one of their fellow-men. If 
what we really desire is the sad sincerity of a 
penitent surrender to a Saviour, willing to take 
the worst malefactors, we shall reach it better by 
holding that Saviour's holy life and character di- 
rectly up before one's open eyes. 

So all that remains needful for me now is to 
show, by a few familiar instances in modern life, 
that the principle holds just as true in our times as 
ever it did in days long ago. 

Of course, it becomes necessary to note, that 
God manifests himself to men now not in visiofis, 
trances, or dreams, but with providential and spirit- 
ual disclosures of his purpose concerning them. 
We must take everything into account; the one ob- 
ject of a divine interposition being to force uncon- 
cerned people to notice the infinite perfections of 
their Maker, we must leave to his inexhaustible re- 
sources the methods of his approach. His multi- 
tudinous instruments will have to be watched; — 
sometimes a person, sometimes a book, sometimes 
an accident, sometimes an inexplicable impression, 
sometimes a sermon ; whatever it may be, let a 
thoughtful mind observe just the one end God is 
aiming at. 

Take, for one example, the remembered instance 
of the conversion of Elizabeth Wallbridge, the 
*' Dairyman's Daughter," related by herself in the 
tract. She gives her artless account in one of her 
later letters to her pastor. A strange clergyman 
happened to preach in the village pulpit. She was 



I03 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

foolishly arrayed that day, and went with a vain, 
proud heart to the service. 

*'At length the clergyman gave out his text: 
'Be ye clothed with humility.' He drew a com- 
parison between the clothing of the body and that 
of the soul. At a very early part of his discourse, I 
began to feel ashamed of my passion for fine dress- 
ing and apparel; but when he came to describe the 
garment of salvation with which a Christian is 
clothed, I felt a powerful discovery of the naked- 
ness of my own soul. I saw that I had neither the 
humility mentioned in the text, nor any one part of 
iht true Christian character. I looked at my gay 
dress, and blushed for shame on account of my 
pride. I looked at the minister, and he seemed to 
be as a messenger sent from heaven to open my 
eyes. I looked at the congregation, and wondered 
whether any one else felt as I did. I looked at my 
heart, and it appeared full of iniquity. I trembled 
as he spoke, and yet I felt a great drawing of heart 
to the words he uttered. 

'' He opened the riches of divine grace in God's 
method of saving the sinner. I was astonished at 
what I had been doing all the days of my life. He 
described the meek, lowly, and humble example of 
Christ; I felt proud, lofty, vain, and self-consequen- 
tial. He represented Christ as ' Wisdom;' I felt my 
ignorance. He held him forth as 'Righteousness;' 
I was convinced of my own guilt. He proved him 
to be ' Sanctification ;' I saw my corruption. He 
proclaimed him as ' Redemption;' I felt my slavery 
to sin, and my captivity to Satan. He concluded 



HOW TO MAKE MEN REPENT. 103 

with an animated address to sinners, in wliicli he 
exhorted them to flee from the wrath to come, to 
cast off the love of outward orname-nts, to put on 
Christ, and be clothed with true humility." 

Here is exactly the illustration we want. This 
preacher held up Jesus Christ; and this sinner saw 
herself the moment he made her see the purity and 
perfectness of the Saviour. His divine holiness 
forced her to recognize her utter defilement. So 
each attribute disclosed brought with its discovery 
the sense and sting of deepest conviction of sin. 
We must hold up Christ, and then comes the prom- 
ise: " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
draw all men unto me." 

For it is the strange property of this spectacle, as 
seen by the guilty soul of man, that it heals with 
the same force as that with which it wounds. It 
beckons with the same hand that bruises. The 
holiness of God humiliates one who is penitent, and 
yet at the same instant it brings him purity by par- 
don. Nowhere is this one attribute so illustriously 
presented as in the crucifixion of God's only-begot- 
ten Son. For the sake of providing an atonement 
which should avail to banish sin from the human 
race, infinite holiness came to the cross: and by the 
cross we are redeemed. Jesus Christ's death shames 
us and saves us by the same wonderful disclosure. 

" Thus, while his death my sin displays in all its blackest hue, 
Such is the mystery of grace, it seals my pardon too." 



I04 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

X. 

TAKING UP ONE'S CROSS. 

"Whosoever will come after me, let hlm peny himself, 
and take up his cross, and follow me." — mar/: s:;^^. 

One expression there is in this verse which, 
when carefully analyzed, will be found to furnish 
an intelligible and authoritative answer to the ques- 
tion how one can become a Christian. The appli- 
cation is universal, for it says, ^'Whosoever." If, 
therefore, one is clear that a true religious life 
claims separation from the world, and that it in- 
cludes a radical and extensive change of purpose 
and behavior, and if, having fully counted the cost, 
he yet desires to take a permanent stand for Christ, 
then here is a disclosure to him of the precise way 
in which to accomplish it. 

Think the entire verse over, pausing upon the 
particulars, and you will perceive that it embraces 
three simple counsels in a single sentence: "And 
when he had called the people unto him with his 
disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will 
come after me, let him deny himself — let him take 
up his cross — let him follqw me." The direction 
is for every one alike: "And this he said to them 
all." There is no royal road to salvation other, 
than this; the common path is really the king's 
highway. 

I. The first counsel to an inquirer then is, " Let 



TAKING UP one's CROSS. I05 

him deny himself. '^ A general form of expression, 
but not difficult to explain. The precept is meant 
to rebuke self-will, self-indulgence, and self-right- 
eousness. 

1. Earliest of all, self-will. When our Saviour 
taught his disciples to pray, "Thy will be done in 
earth as it is in heaven," he knew he struck at the 
root of all wrong in this world. Sin is nothing but 
the setting of a will against a will — placing the will 
of the creature in antagonism and opposition to the 
will of the Creator. Break human will, and the 
unfallen Eden returns again. 

The old shepherd out on the hillside, talking 
with his son, was asked, "Father, what is a cross?" 
He chose two spears out of the rank grass near by; 
one was very long, so long that he was hardly able 
to touch the two ends of it with his hands stretched 
out; the other was short, a mere bit of stalk between 
his fingers. Putting the one against the other, he 
bade the boy tell where it was; and indeed he could 
not reply, for he could not see it at all. It lay so 
along upon the other that his eyes missed it alto- 
gether. Then the man placed it lengthwise over 
the long one. "Ah, I see it now," said the lad, 
"for it goes right the other w^ay, and it makes a 
cross." Then the shepherd told him wisely that 
a human will was very short, and with God's will 
behind it made a right line of life; but forced into 
variance and rebellion, it formed what men call a 
cross. So a great many people make their own 
crosses. 

2. Next to self-will, self-indulgence stands in 

5* 



I06 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

the way of one's coming after Christ; and this like- 
wise must be denied. Men must smite down their 
pride, their passions, their appetites, and their 
ambitions, whenever and wherever they interfere 
with genuine obedience. There are no flowery 
beds of ease upon which Christians can hope to be 
carried softly to glory. The kingdom of heaven is 
one that suffereth violence, and it is the violent 
alone who take it by force. *' Give what thou com- 
mandest," prayed the penitent Augustine, "and 
then command what thou wilt." 

In the time of the crusades, every broken down 
cavalier who found his fortunes wrecked, or who felt 
that his fame was tarnished, started on a pilgrimage 
to the Holy Land. Of course he had no heart in 
the journey; but it was profitable to wear the white 
emblem of the crucifixion on the shoulder, and thus 
to seem like a true devotee going to the sepulchre 
of Jesus. Then all along the way across the conti- 
nent the good pious people were accustomed to give 
a pilgrim food and shelter. So it served the pur- 
pose of these lazy hypocrites to go slowly, and not 
go very far at a time; and they fairly swarmed in 
the villages and towns where there were most Chris- 
tians to entertain them. Now in the old Norman 
French language the name of the Holy Land is 
Sahite Terre; and as these wretched idlers were 
ostensibly going to Jerusalem, they were called 
saunterers. Thus came into use our new word 
"saunter," which means to loiter or to linger. 
Oh, how many foolish persons there are now-a-days 
who think they can go sauntering along to the 



TAKING UP one's cross. IO/ 

heavenly Jerusalem ! Our Saviour says, ''Let him 
deny himself." 

3. Self-righteousness comes next to this, and 
must certainly be denied, for it is more fatally inju- 
rious than all the rest. It is not possible that any 
man should be saved by his own works, for he can- 
not atone for his own sins. If we are saved at all, 
it must be through the abounding grace of Jesus 
Christ, God's crucified Son. 

Poor Martin Luther, creeping painfully for pen- 
ance along the stone steps of Pilate's staircase in 
Rome, upon his bare knees, awakes our sympathy; 
and yet we ourselves try, in ways only a little less 
gross, though none the less agonizing and none the 
less futile, to make peace with our Maker. Mean- 
time the heralds of the gospel are proclaiming, "By 
erace are ye saved throusrh faith." Tell the world 
that infant-drowning in the Ganges will earn ad- 
mission into heaven, and awful as may be the agony 
of a mother's broken heart, the river will swim 
with perishing children. And still Christ keeps 
saying, "Look unto me and be saved." Madam 
Guyon puts peas in her shoes and mingles colquin- 
tida with her drink, and the picture of the heroic 
woman is inexpressibly sad, for she certainly ought 
to have known that salvation was always perfectly 
free. God declares that "all our righteousnesses 
are as filthy rags-" When the missionaries read 
that verse from Isaiah, to the Nestorian heathen, 
two priests turned around abruptly, asking, " Is that 
in the Bible ?" Reading it for themselves, they hung 
their heads and went away thoughtful and silent. 



I08 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

II. We must came back lo the verse: the next 
thing to be told to an inquirer is that he must take 
up the cross. Perhaps it will be easier to under- 
stand this if we look at the symbol for a moment, 
and then afterwards we can develop the doctrine 
taught. 

I. Most of us have seen in the window that 
beautiful figure cut in cardboard, representing a 
cross so twined with a vine running around it that 
the light shone in through the interstices and drew 
the outlines as of a shaded picture against the glass. 
Underneath was the Latin motto, ''^Teneo et Teneor.^'^ 
In this there was indicated the twofold use of this 
sacred emblem : " I bear, and I am borne. ' ' As for 
a Christian being borne on the cross, that is, being 
crucified actually, no one needs to make any mis- 
take in this day of gospel grace: Christ was cruci- 
fied in our behalf, once for all. It is the holding 
up of one's cross which is suggested here in the 
verse; and a vivid illustration of what is meant 
might be found in the story of Simon the Cyrenian, 
whom the Jews or the soldiers compelled to come 
up behind Jesus, at the moment when his strength 
gave way, and to help carry the heavy timber upon 
which our Saviour was about to be nailed. (See 
Luke 23:26.) 

It was the custom in those cruel times to make 
a condemned criminal, on the way to execution, 
transport the cross to the place outside the city wall 
where it was to be planted. To bear such a burden 
with the malefactor was to share in his shame. 
And the direction we are studying can signify no 



TAKING UP ONE'S CROSS. IO9 

less than that every Christian is expected to fare 
^vith his Lord, even at the lowest of His fortunes in 
this wicked world. We must be willing to meet 
the absolutely last extreme of self-sacrifice, no mat- 
ter how humiliating it may be, in order to show we 
love and obey our blessed Master. 

2. The doctrine, therefore, which the use of this 
symbol inculcates is very far-reaching and peremp- 
tory. Generally there is to be found in the path of 
every follow^er of the Lord Jesus great, and often 
disagreeable, duty to be done. This it is easy to 
call his *' cross," to be taken up and borne faith- 
fully to the end. 

A father is perplexed because he feels that he 
must begin family prayer the moment he becomes 
a Christian. A student knows that if he gets an 
education he will have to be a preacher. A mother 
understands that she must dress her children more 
modestly, and in some cases change their compan- 
ionships and alter their amusements, the moment 
she joins the church. A business man sees that he 
will be compelled to break up his partnership, and 
possibly relinquish a profitable business, if he de- 
clares for Christ. A young girl is afraid of the 
anger of her ungodly father if she says she means to 
lead a religious life. In the bright book, *' School- 
days at Rugby," little Arthur is dreadfully troubled 
to know what he will do when he goes to bed be- 
fore all the other boys, for he supposes they will 
laugh when they see him kneel down to say his 
prayers. 

These are what is meant here by 



no STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEI.. 

And the verse says plainly that they are not to be 
dreaded, nor shirked, nor denied; they are to be 
taken up and borne bravely and cheerfully. 

III. So we find a final lesson in the verse: each 
inquirer must be told that when he has denied him- 
self and taken up his daily cross, he is to go on and 
*' follow" Jesus wherever he leads. Hence there 
are two things involved: study of him, and imita- 
tion. 

1. For help in our careful study of Jesus Christ, 
four pictures of his life have been furnished us. 
Now each person must examine for himself. We 
want to see how tenderly he wept with those sor- 
rowing sisters at Bethany, and how brave and tear- 
less he was in his own troubles. We need to watch 
how often he prayed and how patiently he taught 
the multitudes. We are to learn of him, for he was 
meek and lowly of heart. See how he controlled 
his temper under provocation, how gentle and kind 
he was to the poor, how forgiving he showed him- 
self to his enemies, how true to his friends. 

2. But mere knowledo-e of his sweetness and 
beauty of character would not be enough; we must 
become like him ourselves. Every Christian has 
to be patient and assiduous in removing all the hin- 
drances, so that the Sun of Righteousness may 
shine upon him with its clear and luminous bright- 
ness. He must pray for help, and try to grow more 
like his Model. And then perhaps some day he 
will be surprised to discover that his life shines as 
Moses' face did when he came down from the 
mountain where he had seen God. 



A CHILD FOR A TKXT. Ill 

XI. 

A CHILD FOR A TEXT. 

" Whosoever shall receive oxeok such children in my name, 
receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth 

NOT ME, BUT HIM THAT SENT ME." — Mark 9:37. 

The passage upon the study of wliicli we now 
enter is certainly severe in its warnings and intri- 
cate in its terms of speech. It seems to say that the 
Ahnighty God, who created the human race and set 
the solitary in families, holds every adult person re- 
sponsible for the present well-being and the future 
salvation of even the youngest creatures that can 
enter the church now, or that in his grace can be 
redeemed by Christ. 

It is best to be clear and orderly from the start; 
so we may just as well confine our exposition for a 
single discourse to these three particulars, all of 
which are announced to us in the course of three cr 
four verses in the closest connection: 

I. The property-value of virtuous and whole- 
some offspring in Christian households: 

II. The organic relation of all Christian infants 
to what is called here '' the kingdom of heaven:" 

III. The principle on which children should be 
received by Christian parents to the full glory of 
God. 

There is little more needed than simple explana- 
tion and illustration as we take up these in turn. 
I. By the property-value of virtuous and whole- 



112 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

some offspring, I mean the real worth and welcome 
of children in any well-ordered household. *'Lo, 
children are the heritage of the Lord. Happy is the 
man that hath his quiver full of them." 

Hanging on the wall of my study, in full view as 
I write, is a fine photograph, the title of which it 
may be interesting to some of my young readers to 
translate for themselves, *' Covjielie Montrant ses Bi- 
joux, ' * 

It represents a courtly and beautiful woman 
seated at a slender table. She is most gorgeously 
dressed, and positively resplendent with rings, 
bracelets, and circlets of pearls. Before her stands 
another female, plainly adorned, holding two noble 
boys by the hand. Anybody's attention would be 
arrested by the singular contrast in the apparel of 
these two elderly persons, but more especially by 
the manly mien and attitude of the two lads. 
There is that in their countenances which rivets 
notice. Each seems the embodiment of a hope and 
the realization of a promise. There is apparent at a 
glance the fact that they have been admirably 
trained in the past, and are going to make their 
mark in the future. Silently enough does that 
exquisite group stand, but a swift imagination in- 
stantly reads its meaning. 

But not the picture, the story is what I want for 
my purpose now. Cornelia, who is here "showing 
her jewels," was the daughter of Scipio Africanus, 
left at the death of her husband in care of twelve 
children, of whom she sadly lost all but three. One 
married eventually, and two sons alone remained to 



A CHILD FOR A TEXT. II3 

her widowhood. The world claimed her in its 
proudest circles ; wealth lay at her feet ; kings 
sought her in a new marriage. She relinquished 
all for her children. And so carefully did she rear 
them, that even when all admitted they were of the 
loftiest blood and of the happiest dispositions, it 
still remained confessed among the Roman histori- 
ans that they owed more of their excellence to edu- 
cation than to nature. Of course they bore their 
father's name, and according to the custom of those 
times were called "The Gracchi." 

Now the story runs that one time a proud lady 
from Campania came to make her a visit. It ap- 
pears that the two women fell to talking about 
ornaments and rich robes and costly stones. The 
guest must have led the way in such a conversa- 
tion, for people generally love most to speak of what 
they possess ; and Cornelia dressed exceedingly 
plainly, without knot, fillet, or necklace. By-and- 
by the Campania lady abruptly asked her where 
her jewels were. The Roman mother replied she 
would show them soon, and listlessly kept up the 
foolish gossip to gain time and not get quite off the 
subject. 

She was waiting for the boys to come home from 
school. When she heard their rapid step, she with- 
drew a moment, then returned with her sons, one 
on each side, as in my picture, and tranquilly said, 
"These are ;;?/ jewels!" 

Years passed on. The after life of Tiberius and 
Cains, these w^ere their names, met every expecta- 
tion. They grew up among the best men of the 



114 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

nation. Tliey died early, but she had the extreme 
satisfaction of knowing that the tears of a mourning 
people fell in the grave with her own. And when 
she too reached the end of her life, the Roman sena- 
tors raised a magnificent statue in her honor, and 
placed on it the inscription, "To Cornelia, mother 
of the Gracchi." Thus it came about as a some- 
what curious fact that a parent received the name 
of her offspring as being even worthier than her 
own. 

Just now we happen to hear much about the 
troublesomeness of children. Some of us think we 
would rather pledge ourselves, if a new picture 
were to be outlined, to produce three or four Cam- 
panian ladies to sit for the model, than one Cor- 
nelia. 

In my early life, I remember I used to think 
there was something weird and strange in a book I 
never looked into then, called " Prideaux's Connex- 
ions." They told me it contained the history of 
those solemn centuries between the Old and the 
New Testament. There was a kind of hush in my 
mind when I thought of the slow fall of the pro- 
phetic curtain on the awful words of Malachi! 
For four hundred years, now, men were not going 
to hear another word from God! When should 
the stillness ever be broken again by a new rev- 
elation? 

Perhaps this is what even to this day makes the 
final verse of the Old Testament so unspeakably 
suggestive: "And he shall turn the hearts of the fa- 
thers to the children, and the hearts of the children 



A CHII^D FOR A TEXT. II5 

to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth 
with a curse. ' ' 

We must lose no time in laying alongside of this 
passage in Llark that which is parallel to it in Mat- 
thew's story. We wish especially to notice the ex- 
quisite parable used by our Lord: 

''Take heed that ye despise not one of these 
little ones: for I say unto you, That in heaven their 
angels do always behold the face of my Father 
which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come 
to save that which was lost. How think ye ? If a 
man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be 
gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, 
and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that 
which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, 
verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that 
sheep than of the ninety and nine which went not 
astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father 
which is in heaven that one of these little ones 
should perish." 

Here was Jesus Christ, holding a little boy by 
the hand, and saying. He is certainly "lost," but I 
came to "save" him; saved he shall be, and all 
that are like him; who shall hinder? "Even so it 
is not the will of your Father which is in heaven 
that one of these little ones should perish." 

So then we have the full suggestion. In addi- 
tion to the worth of a child in its promise and pros- 
pect of a fine and fruitful manhood, of itself so 
valuable that a nation has a thousand times in his- 
tory honored a faithful mother for her splendid gift 
to the race — over and above all that is the fact 



ii6 studie;s in mark's gospel. 

that, even if a baby dies before it has reached ma- 
turity in years, it is sure to be saved by Immanuel's 
blood. 

11. Such a statement leads us on at once, of ne- 
cessity, to inquire. What are the organic relations of 
infants to the ' ' kingdom of God "? What did Jesus 
Christ mean when he said, "Of such is the king- 
dom of heaven"? 

Once in the course of my ministry I asked a 
large Bible-class of adult men and women this 
question, as we were studying the tenth verse of the 
eighteenth chapter of Matthew's gospel with the 
connection: 

Did Jesus, when he mentioned *' little ones" in 
this, as well as in the sixth verse, mean children in 
years, or children in religious experience — boys and 
girls, like the one whose hand he held, or only 
those persons who had just become proselytes, 
Christians who had only lately confessed him, and 
were as 3'et immature ? 

There was quite a serious silence at this mo- 
ment, but I paused quietly for a reply. Some said 
one thing; some another. One told a little story 
about a pupil in an institution for the deaf and 
dumb who wrote on the blackboard, in answer to 
the hard puzzle of a visitor, " Short of information 
on that point!" But one quiet man, reading over 
the sixth verse, found the words, "these little ones 
which believe in me;" and he said, "Of course 
those could not be mere children in years." 

To this some one replied suddenly, " But what 
he had there before them was truly a little boy; and 



A CHILD FOR A TEXT. II7 

lie declared, Whosoever shall humble himself as tJiis 
little child, and he said, Whoso shall receive ow^sitch 
little child ; he must have meant real young boys 
and girls. It seems to me Jesus could not have 
meant that Christians were children, but that chil- 
dren were Christians, in the sense that Christ 
came to save every one of them, they were all his; 
anybody that received a little child, received 
him:' 

It became necessary for me to call attention to 
one of the most interesting usages of language at 
the time when the New Testament was written. 
Little children, too young to put forth any intellect- 
ual act of faith, were yet called believers. It was 
quite in keeping with the custom that our Saviour 
spoke of "such as" that little boy, when he added, 
"which believe in me." Illustrations could be 
found everywhere in early Christian literature. But 
the best to hand just now I thought I could bring 
them from the inscriptions upon tombs. 

I had then a book on my table which I had been 
reading with great interest. I had returned from a 
journey over the sea only a few weeks before, and 
I had studied the old slabs which had been brought 
up from the galleries of the catacombs and arranged 
in one of the rooms of the Vatican IMuseum. 

It was very easy to select these epitaphs and 
others: 

"Here lies Sosimus, a believing child of be- 
lieving parents [fidelis ex fidelibus) ; he lived two 
years, one month, and twenty-five days." 

"Here is buried Achilla, a neophyte (newly 



Il8 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

planted; see Romans 6: 5), dying aged one year and 
five months." 

*'Here rests in peace Urcia 'Florintma^ ^deli's 
(a believer or a faithful); she lived five years, eight 
months, and eight days." 

**To Pisentus, an innocent {innocens)^ living 
one year, eight months, and thirteen days; a neo- 
phyte." 

That is to say, children of Christians were called 
often Christian children. Our Saviour seems merely 
to have accepted the current methods of speech as 
to the name he applied; he certainly was talking of 
boys and girls. What he had there before his dis- 
ciples (a sort of object-teaching, as usual with him) 
was not a feeble believer, or a late and immature 
convert, but a little live child. An interesting, 
though not altogether reliable, tradition of ecclesi- 
astical history declares that this lad, when he grew 
up, became the martyr Ignatius, and was, in the 
dreadful persecution, thrown to the wild beasts, 
and perished at the Coliseum at Rome. 

Almost all the creeds of Christendom unite in 
this one article, and record it as the fixed belief of 
the churches of every name, that all little c/iildren^ 
dying before they have reached the years of wilful sin^ 
are redeemed by tJie precious blood of yesiis Christ. 

Here some one interrupted me to suggest that 
this would not make it so; the world might be mis- 
taken. 

To which I answered that nothing was more 
settled than that God had promised to be with his 
people in all ages by the presence of his Spirit; 



A CHII.D FOR A TEXT. II9 

he would guide them into "all truth," and he 
would show them " things to come." If, therefore, 
all the Christians in the world, and everywhere, 
and always, believed that the Scriptures taught a 
certain doctrine, we might consider it as a revealed 
truth of God. (I did not choose to quote the Latin 
rule — ab omnibus^ tibiqiie^ semper.^ 

One formula is as good as another for illustra- 
tion. Take the words of that one which has been 
most misquoted and most misunderstood: 

"Elect infants, dying in infancy, are saved by 
Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when and 
where and how he pleaseth." 

When I quoted this, I perceived, by a slight stir 
of feeling, that more than curiosity was awakened. 
I went on to say in comment that infants were 
included in the primal condemnation of our race by 
110 intelligent act or consent of their own. They 
never heard of Adam. There was no antecedent 
improbability in the way of their being cleansed 
from it, by no intelligent act or consent of their 
own, should they never have heard of Christ. No- 
body could be saved without the atonement. As to 
the method of its application to unconscious babes, 
no information has been given. But Jesus said 
two things: that "little ones" were "lost," and 
he came to "save" them. This is precisely what 
some creeds say, this one in particular. 

Again came that calm, respectful, but persistent 
voice from the class, "Yes; but it says elect in- 
fants." 

If it had said "young children," as Jesus did, I 



I20 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEI.. 

replied, would we have to say some cliildren are 
not young? If it had said beloved infants, would 
we be compelled to infer some were unbeloved? 
Are we driven to suppose that the framers of the 
Westminster Confession considered some children 
to be non-elect ? 

Historically, that is not the fact. They meant 
no such implication. The curious habit of those 
excellent men seems to have been just to state a 
thing, and draw no inferences and forestall no infer- 
ences from it. And in their anxiety to assert that 
all infants were saved, and to give the reason for it 
in the same compact formula, they did leave room 
for this ingenuity of cavil. Still, all they said was 
that every infant needs to be saved, no infant can 
be saved except through the atonement, and each 
infant who is saved is a proof and an illustration of 
the sovereign, undeserved, and unconstrained grace 
of God. 

So let us understand that Jesus was speaking at 
that moment of actual children, such as was the 
boy he used for his text; "little ones that believe 
in me^^ were X\VCi^ faitJifuls of those in tJie faith as 
children of believers, under training and prayer and 
home influences for good. It was concerning these 
that he said those strange words: "Of such is the 
kingdom of heaven." It is almost impossible to 
find an expression elastic enough to cover the sig- 
nificance of a score of passages in which the Mftg- 
dom of heaven and the kingdom of God appear as 
forms of familiar speech. Sometimes the term 
means the church; sometimes it means the spiritual 



A CHILD FOR A TEXT. 121 

government of God within a single heart; some- 
times it means the celestial city. 

It certainly refers to a dominion of religious 
quality, reaching on, from original rebelliousness 
and corruption, to conversion and measurable sanc- 
tification, and then reaching along in mysterious 
splendor far away towards the presence of the re- 
deemed on hi2:h. It must be considered as a real 
kingdom set up in the heart, organized into the 
church, and perfected in heaven, where the King 
already resides. Thus its sway extends over nature, 
grace, and glory. Children, therefore, are its infant 
subjects and have the right of citizenship in it, and 
dying in infancy, they die true members of God's 
great invisible church on the earth. 

III. Many questions yet remain, but we cannot 
delay to consider them now. We must come to the 
third particular mentioned in the outset: the prin- 
ciple on which Christian infants are to be received 
by believers. "And he took a child and set him 
in the midst of them; and when he had taken him 
in his arms he said unto them. Whosoever shall 
receive one of such children in my name, receiveth 
me; and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not 
me, but him that sent me." 

It would seem from this that our whole piety is- 
at stake. Our children represent Jesus Christ in 
person, and not him alone, but his Father likewise. 
If we do not receive these little ones as they ought 
to be received, then we do not receive Christ him- 
self aright; and the peril appears very alarming: 

"Whoso shall receive one such little child in my 

6 



122 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

name, receiveth ine. But whoso shall offend one 
of these little ones which believe in me, it were 
better for him that a millstone were hanged about 
his neck and that he were drowned in the depths 
of the sea.'* 

The main inquiry, therefore, is as to what we 
shall do with the children committed to us. The 
Scripture word is '^receiveth." What does it im- 

ply? 

Some receive children in the name of necessity. 
They must be endured as needful nuisances until 
they are grown up. Most of their training is to be 
paid for or shirked. Oftentimes children are the 
least to be noticed and the last, of all classes of 
human beings possessed of souls and destined for 
eternity. 

Some receive them in the name of the world. 
A father is suddenly elate with the thought that 
now he has a boy, the firm shall never lose a part- 
nei-, the family stock shall still have a scion to keep 
up the homestead. A mother rejoices, as she clasps 
her daughter to her bosom, that there will be an 
entrance made into society by-and-by, over which 
she eiven now yearns with mingled tenderness and 
pride. So the infant begins its career of gayety 
and greed. 

Some receive children in the name of them- 
selves. Men and women take a selfish pleasure in 
their own offspring. They love to accept their 
caresses. God have mercy on such as feel nothing 
of this sensibility I But if the feeling goes no higher 
than this, they cherish living beings only as toys. 



A CHILD FOR A TEXT. 123 

The true principle is found in the statement that 
children are to be received into protection from the 
devil and into consecration unto Christ. Let every 
young Christian child be borne at once beneath the 
dawn of the Sun of Righteousness, so that the day- 
spring from on high may visit it early. God seems 
to say to every Christian parent as Pharaoh's daugh- 
ter said to the mother of Moses, *'Take this child 
away and nurse \\.for me T^ 

There is something wonderfully impressive in 
this thought of our joint ownership with the Al- 
mighty in the care of our little ones when we have 
received them in his name. Our families would be 
better nurseries for truth and holiness if we only 
kept such a purpose in view as this, and we should 
grow nobler ourselves. There is nothing higher in 
human nature than fatherhood and motherhood. 
The head of a Christian household is royaller than 
the ruler of a kingdom. Never was England's 
King George more princely than when he was 
speaking of his children to the friends whom he 
trusted. Once a fine lady was talking jocosely to 
him about her native country Scotland. Suddenly 
the king grew serious and became silent. She, sup- 
posing that he was impressed by her remarks con- 
cerning that part of his kingdom, said, "Your maj- 
esty, I presume, is thinking of the Land of the 
North.'* He paused for a few moments, then said 
gently, with his eyes moist with tears, "The prin- 
ces are abroad just now, and I was entreating God 
to protect and bless my dear boys !'* 



124 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 



XII. 



STUMBLING-STONES AND MII.Iv-STONES. 

"And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones 

THAT believe IN ME, IT IS BETTER FOR HIM THAT A MILL-STONE 
AVERE HANGED ABOUT HIS NECK AND HE WERE CAST INTO THE 

SEA." — Mark 9:42. 

Enough has been said 111 a previous discourse 
to make it quite clear that our Lord was talking 
about infant children at the time in which he spoke 
these words to his disciples. We have seen also 
that an indescribable advantage is given to those of 
such tender years; the Saviour loves a child be- 
cause it belongs to him and is a subject of the 
kingdom of heaven. But an interesting note has 
come to me just now, which calls for a reopening 
of the study so soon closed, and perhaps so abruptly: 

*'My Dear Pastor: I am always afraid of ap- 
pearing in any degree captious; but I am frank to 
say that, after the discussion was over some weeks 
ago, concerning the salvation of children, I did not 
feel fully satisfied. Is there no definite Scripture 
argument on this point? Are we left to mere con- 
jecture, in the absence of all texts? I have studied 
the standards of our church, and they give me little 
comfort. The phraseology there awakes cavils in- 
stead of hopes. Do tell me something in the Bible 
to read and remember." 

Nobody has any right to find fault with this 
continued eao^erness and uneasiness in the mind of a 



STUMBUNG-STONES AND MUX-STONES. 1 25 

parent bereaved. Death in a household! How 
awful the thought, and yet how frequent is the 
sight! A lightning-stroke in the forest were less 
devastating — a wild beast's incursions in a garden, 
the raid of an enemy into a hamlet of peace. 

But suppose death takes a child instead of an old 
man full of years — what then? Worse and worse, 
you answer. What has the poor babe done to de- 
'Serve it? See it now, in imagination, as yesterday 
it sat on its mother's knee, every quivering muscle 
playing with wild excitement under the rare and 
rollicking sport of leaping and crowing with you; 
eyes flashing, dimples twinkling, hands flying, all 
alive with reckless overflow of infant fun. Now go 
and see how still it is, under the white cloth, chill 
and silent, and withal so little too, so harmless, so 
inoffensive. In the very candor of common sense, 
does it not seem as if a mistake had been made 
somewhere? If it had to die, did it have to live? 
Why was it born? Half the human family die 
under five years old. What a waste! 

Now, it must be admitted, though these inqui- 
ries put in such a murmuring way are very hetero- 
dox, they are also very human. But let us not be in 
haste. This morning I saw a poor brute-mother 
driven through the street, lowing piteously for her 
offspring, which was led away to the block. On 
my walk here to-night I passed a willow-tree 
which seemed very sad with the plaintive chirp of a 
sparrow over its mate. 

" The air is full of farewells to the dying 
And mourninirs for the dead." 



126 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

But we are neither birds nor cattle. God loves 
his own image in man, respects it better than we 
think. There is that which our friend inquires for 
in the revealed Word, and when it is brought before 
our understanding we shall rest. 

We might as well take up the story of this same 
chapter again. There remain several considera- 
tions to which not much thought could be given 
before. And above everything else we must use 
some parallel passages, specially that in Matthew's 
gospel; for we need to comprehend what Jesus said 
about stumbling-stones and guardian angels and a 
few other thing^s besides. 

I. Let us begin with that startling declaration 
about the mill-stone. I have chosen the text from 
the ordinary version; but we must observe that 
the new Revision has suggested some interesting 
changes in the rendering. For example, the famil- 
iar word "offends" and the other like it, "offen- 
ces," quite disappear. Thus the verse reads, as 
changed, in the gospel of Mark: "And whosoever 
shall cause one of these little ones that believe on 
me to stumble, it were better for him if a great 
mill-stone were hanged about his neck and he were 
cast into the sea." And thus the same reads in 
Matthew also: "And whoso shall receive one such 
little child in my name receiveth me: but whoso 
shall cause one of these little ones which believe on 
me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great 
mill-stone should be hanged, about his neck and 
that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea." ' 

Of course, we have been told a hundred times 



STUMBLING-STONES AND MILL-STONES. 127 

that to offend here means to do what would cause to 
stumble, what would create a scandal; and a scandal 
is a stumbling-block or a stumbling-stone. And 
most persons will be glad when the time comes 
for these alterations to appear in the Bibles with the 
accurate translation. To offend a child, in the 
sense noted, means to cause one of God's little ones 
to stumble on the road to heaven so as to fail of en- 
tering; no possible reference can be intended as to 
merely crossing a child's will, or disappointing its 
wishes, in the course of parental government. 
While human nature is what it is, children, like 
everybody else, will have to be fretted, and perhaps 
irritated or even affronted, for their own improve- 
ment and best good. The warning put forward 
here does not touch that at all. 

The real force of the teaching that our Lord 
offers is found in the fact that God loves these little 
ones, and purposes to cleanse them from all taint of 
sin received in their nature at the Fall, to arouse 
their ambition for a true, pure life of loyal love to 
himself, to keep them in the ways of pleasantness 
and the paths of peace, and ultimately to lead them 
safe into heaven by his persistent grace. And nei- 
ther men nor devils are permitted to hinder him in 
this determined plan. Two effective processes of 
protection he openly discloses in this chapter. One 
he is now describing, the other he touches after- 
wards. 

To '' cause one of these little ones to stumble" 
is to lay some obstacle, some small stone or the like, 
in the path they are following, so as they shall trip 



128 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEU 

over it and fall into wrong-doing or wrong associa- 
tions. Such an act is perilous, and Jesus Christ 
says it shall be punished in each case: " it must be 
that the occasions of stumbling come," for charac- 
ter must be tested, and discipline will be needed for 
every soul, young or old; "but woe to that man 
through whom the occasion cometh!" 

Then follows a figure of speech by which is in- 
dicated the severity of divine retribution; and I do 
not hesitate to say that it seems to me one of the 
most weird and awful metaphors in the whole Bible 
as a picture of hopeless destruction. It is likely 
that a sort of antithesis is meant to be hinted in the 
contrast between such a small stone as would be ne- 
cessary to overthrow a child and such a large one 
as w^ould be used in executing a criminal. A 
"mill-stone" corresponds to a "stumbling-stone" 
in the rhetorical use of the words. "A gfreat mill- 
stone" is the expression in the Revision, and the 
margin reads "mill-stone turned by an ass:" the 
reference is to the donkey-mill as opposed to the 
hand-mill, which of course w^as much smaller in 
weight and size. Drowning was a singular form of 
capital punishment not used among the Jews, but so 
familiar among the other nations around that the 
practice gave origin to a proverb signifying utter 
ruin. 

We are told that, in order to put a test to any 
metaphor, we must make a picture of it. We seem 
to see a culprit already condemned, standing on a 
precipice, just before he is cast off the rocky edge 
into the ocean beneath. His neck is held fast in 



STUMBLING-STONKS AND MII.I.-STONES. 1 29 

the hole at the centre; he is not bearing the mill- 
stone, it is bearing him instead. It is fastened 
around him; this word "hung" is the one em- 
ployed when descriptions are given of a criminal 
actually bound or nailed to the cross of crucifixion; 
he cannot get away from the tree. We witness the 
dreadful plunge, and shudder as we notice how the 
tremendous stone strikes the water. Imagination 
adds what is unseen to complete the horror. For 
we think of the long journey down through an un- 
told waste of waves to the bottom, until the end is 
reached in silence and mysterious darkness. The 
word is "depth" — the depths of the sea. The 
water closes over the man. No one ever hears of 
him again. 

Now understand: after all, this awful punish- 
ment is not what God threatens; that is something 
worse. For we read only a step farther, and w^e 
find that God's wrath is so heavy upon one who 
stumbles a little child, and so makes him lose 
heaven, that it would be " better for him " only to 
be "sunk in the depth of the sea" instead. 

Now we begin to comprehend why this chapter 
moves on so solemnly to its close with a series of 
warnings about "plucking out eyes" and "cutting 
off arms," so far as is needful to keep away from 
hell-fire and to cease from driving others into it. 

Here was Jesus Christ holding a little boy by 
the hand and talking about " hell-fire"! 

He says. Any one who receiveth such a child as 

this, receiveth me. I tell you it is a tremendous 

thing to keep out of hell and get to heaven. If 

6* 



130 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

your hand hinders, cut .the hand off; if your eye 
hinders, pluck it out; if your foot hinders, cast it 
away from you. And I tell you it is a tremendous 
thing to get a child out of hell and into heaven; 
and whoever hinders one of these little ones, it were 
better for him to be flung into the sea with a mill- 
stone around his neck; for I came to save them; 
God loves them; the Son of Man is come to save 
that which was lost. 

II. Concerning such children, then, our Lord 
speaks when he says, "Take heed that ye despise 
not one of these little ones; for I say unto you that 
in heaven their angels do always behold the face of 
my Father which is in heaven." 

"Their angels" does not mean their souls, the 
glorified or redeemed spirits. The Word of God 
never calls a man's soul his angel. Even in that 
one verse where it seems to occur the name does 
not mean this. When Rhoda told the disciples that 
Peter stood at the door, and they replied, " It is his 
angel," they did not intend to intimate that Peter 
was dead and this was his ghost; they thought it 
was his guardian angel. This belief was fixed 
among the Jews; and they in their vast surprise 
explosively uttered it. 

It is heterodox enough to teach a child to sing, 
"I want to be an angel." Angels are different in 
many respects from human beings. They neither 
marry nor are given in marriage. They were all 
created at the same time. No angel was ever a 
child; no child will ever be an angel — to say that 
he will is folly. 



STUMBUNG-STONES AND MILL-STOXES. I3I 

Our most careful expositors agree that Jesus 
refers directly in this verse to the prevalent popular 
conception concerning guardian angels. Elsewhere 
we are told in the Bible that angels are ''minister- 
ing spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall 
be heirs of salvation." And the promise is as old 
as the Old Testament almost, "He shall give his 
angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
ways; they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest 
thou dash thy foot against a stone." 

This is the other process of efficient protection 
afforded by God himself to which allusion was made 
before. With a full understanding of the exposures 
of little ones, the Almighty seems also here to have 
anticipated the New Testament in the figure em- 
ployed in the Old. He uses a similar form of 
speech as to the peril of dashing their feet "against 
a stone." 

In that grand moment of announcing that chil- 
dren are heirs of salvation, our Lord asserts that 
they are put under watch from on high. 

And to this there is added a thought of exquisite 
significance to those who feel ever anxious about 
their little ones. The angels which have them in 
special charge are those who enjoy the nearest favor 
of God. They "do always behold " his face. This 
is an Eastern figure. To behold a king's face de- 
notes exceeding advancement in grades of honor 
near his person. And here Jesus says, God sends 
his very Presence Angels to take care of children. 
As one of our profoundest commentators says, 
"The fundamental idea is that the hisrhest ancrels 



132 STUDIES IN mark's gospel. 

of God in heaven represent the smallest subjects of 
his kingdom on earth. Who is like unto the Lord 
our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth 
himself to behold the things that are in heaven and 
in the earth !'* 

Matchless comfort there is in all these reflections 
for a troubled parent of a child ! If he lives, God's 
angels have him in charge. If he dies, God takes 
him to himself, for it is not his will that even one 
of them all should perish. 

III. For this is our third and final considera- 
tion now: the positive salvation of infant children 
according to a triumphant declaration of our Lord 
Jesus Christ himself as he closes this passage on 
which we have been dwelling so long. 

We have to go out of the gospel of Mark to find 
it, but it follows the parable we have already quoted 
from Matthew: 

*' Even so it is not the will of your Father which 
is in heaven that one of these little ones should 
perish." 

How different, in the case of children, is the 
confidence we feel, and have a right to feel, at a 
funeral ! When a mature man dies, we can only 
say, we hope; when an infant dies, we can say, we 
know. For our Lord Jesus Christ has solemnly 
declared, '^It is not the will of your Father which 
is in heaven that one of these little ones should per- 
ish." No man can read the heart of another man. 
We can hardly read our own. One may possibly 
say, **Lord, Lord," all his life, and yet be among 
those to whom the Lord will say, "I never knew 



STUMBUNG-STONES AND MILL-STONES. I33 

you." Some unrepented, unforglven sin, like the 
old transgression of Moses, may be enough to keep 
one out of the land of promise. That is why we 
are exhorted to make our calling and election sttre. 
The Bible speaks of an assurance of hope and an 
assurance of faith, but never of an assurance of 
knowledge. One can have, by God's grace, so 
much faith as to feel pretty certain. Some can go 
a great ways in that and enjoy deservedly a mighty 
comfort in it. But for most of us the same stum- 
bling story will have to be told. Through much 
tribulation we enter the kingdom of heaven. Chil- 
dren are otherwise. The kingdom of heaven is 
** of such." 

And so when w^e gaze up through the clouds 
after our lost child, we can say, as did David, *M 
shall go to him, but he shall not return to me !" 



134 STUDIES IN mark's gospeu 

XIII. 
CHIIvDREN IN HEAVEN. 

"Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid 

THEM not: for OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD." — Mark \0:\\, 

Visiting one day among my congregation, I fell 
in upon one of our families in whose order, intelli- 
gence, and grace I very much rejoiced. Years 
seemed to make no difference with those people. 
Always with the same sparkle of gladness they 
bade their pastor welcome. The word went all 
over the house in five minutes, and down two stairs 
at a time came little flying feet from the nursery, 
and soon afterwards the slower, life-weary feet of the 
aged grandmother. None of them would ever suffer 
me to go away without my greeting and my prayer. 

One day as I sat there with a dear young girl in 
my lap, there arose a conversation so peculiar in 
some respects that I went home and wrote it down. 

The mother observed that her little daughter 
was somewhat less exuberant than usual, and re- 
marked that she had been trying to comfort her 
under the burden of a great sorrow that day. Her 
favorite bird had suddenly died, and the child's 
heart was almost broken. 

*' And would you believe," said this most faith- 
ful and gifted woman, *' I have been actually at my 
wits' end to know what to say! When the baby 
died" — alas for the shadow that flew and flitted 



CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. I35 

unconsciously across tliat dear face at the mere rem- 
iniscence! — " I told her that Jesus had taken our 
infant boy; she must be a good girl, and she would 
certainly have her brother again, for he was safe 
now all this time in heaven. I made her try to 
think of him as we do ourselves, as if he was only 
away for a while. But when it comes to talking to 
her about this bird, I really do not know what to 
say. For what she wants is to have it back again^ 
and I cannot get beyond that!'^ 

I can hardly say now, at this distance of time, 
why this should have moved me so. I put the 
child down and went to the window to compose 
myself. Then, as I faced the mother again, I could 
only exclaim, "Oh, how terrible it would be to us, 
who must have our dead back again ^ if there were 
nothing better than a poetic birds'^ heaven to think 
of!'' 

That Christian woman looked up into my face 
and said quietly, "When I strained my eyes over 
the edge of the grave, that awful October afternoon, 
I thought for a moment I should go crazy. But I 
seemed suddenly to see, as I peered through my 
veil, an opening on the other side. I suppose there 
must have been a vague remembrance of those 
Scripture words about Jesus breaking the bars asun- 
der. I knew he did not break the bars on this 
side ever; but a rift appeared to be plain beyond it. 
And so I have imagined ever since. When we 
closed up the grave there was not anybody there. 
Our little boy went quietly out through the rough 
door, as Jesus did. I have only now to return to 



136 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

my work bravely, labor on my few days, get these 
other children on as best I can. Then I shall get 
my boy back again. ' ' 

^' But,'' I asked, " does your curiosity never at- 
tempt to follow him ? Do you never find yourself 
wondering what he is about all these years?" 

*' Oh, yes, I know what you mean," she replied 
cheerfully. ^' I guess I do! 

* Day after day I think what he is doing 
In those bright reahns of air.' 

I admit I would be glad to know more if I might. 
But it gives me unspeakable comfort just to know 
he is safe. Funeral addresses do not go for much 
generally, I suppose, for one's grief is so bewilder- 
ing. But I have often thought over what you said 
here then." 

What I had said was simple enough. I remem- 
ber I was standing where I could see the sweet face 
of the dead child, and I called attention to its 
placidness. It seemed to wear an expression of 
solid comfort, as if the boy knew he was the only 
being in the house out of danger. No more likeli- 
hood of trouble now! No more possibility of loss; 
no more danger of pain, weariness, or woe; no more 
temptation; no more sorrow; no more sin! 

The quotation of those two lines from Longfel- 
low's noble poem entitled "Resignation" made the 
mother go on with the other verses: 

" She is not dead, the child of our affection, 
But gone unto that school 
Where she no longer needs our poor protection, 
And Christ himself doth rule. 



ClilLDRKN IN HKAVKN. 137 

" In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, 
By guardian angels led, 
Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, 
She lives whom we call dead. 

" Not as a child shall we again behold her ; 
For when, with raptures wild, 
In our embraces we again enfold her, 
She will not be a child, 

" But a fair maiden in her Father's mansion. 
Clothed with celestial grace ; 
And beautiful with all the soul's expansion 
Shall we behold her face." 

Then she suddenly put to me the question: 

*'Now what I want to know is, do you accept 
the philosophy, or theology, or what not, of this 
statement? Are our children growing away from 
us all the time? If their school is so much better 
than ours, will they not be quite ahead of us when 
we meet them?" 

My first comment on this inquiry w^as concern- 
ing its exceeding naturalness. How utterly unap- 
peased is the feeling of a mother for her child 
which she has lost! 

I once removed the bodies of two infant sisters 
of mine to a new burial plot we had purchased. 
When at the evening I returned from the work, and 
told our mother what I found among the fragments 
of the coffins, deposited nineteen years before, she 
quietly inquired, "Did you see any signs of hair? 
they say that lasts the longest; Martha Louisa had 
beautiful hair." And in the twilight there we sat, 
I a grown man, and my beloved and honored mo- 
ther, aged in years but not in feeling, looking out 



138 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

across tlie summer fields and far on across other 
fields, clear across till eyes fai-led, and faith saw 
"sweet fields beyond the swelling flood." Then 
did she run simply and garrulously on, in the dear 
egotism of her reminiscences, telling how the chil- 
dren behaved and how they differed. She had for- 
gotten nothing, nothing, never could forget. And 
out of this I gained the grandest lesson I ever 
learned. I never read the verses at monthly con- 
cert without thinking of it: "But Zion said, The 
Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten 
me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that 
she should not have compassion on the son of her 
womb? Yea, ^/ley may forget^ yet will I not for- 
get thee! Behold, I have graven thee upon the 
palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before 
me." 

From this we passed to discuss the inquiry pre- 
sented by the poem: Do children die and remain 
children; or are they "at school," as the verse says? 
Do they grow in stature when they are out of the 
body? When the resurrection body comes up from 
the tomb will it be a child's form and figure, as it 
was when it was deposited there? All these things 
we talked over. 

Some points were beyond our reach. But if I 
remember rightly, we agreed in our belief that the 
main notion of the poem must be quite correct. 
"The child" would be "a fair maiden " when its 
face should be seen again. 

To one present who remarked that the feeling 
was disappointing somewhat, and not altogether 



CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. I39 

welcome, I could only answer that many a parent 
in this life wished he could keep his infant children 
from growing half as fast as they did. Why, our 
three-year-old pet becomes a wilful young woman 
before we get through with her. We wish she 
might stop a while just as she is. 

I remember once in the studio of Hiram Powers, 
in Florence, he introduced me to his mature daugh- 
ter, a matronly woman. *' Oh, how they do grow!" 
said he. Then he beckoned me to a desk in the 
corner, and took out from enveloping wool in a box 
one of the most exquisitely sculptured hands I ever 
saw — a mere hand up to the wrist, cut in purest 
marble — an infant's hand, with dimpled fingers — 
matchlessly beautiful. "There," said he; "they 
get away so fast that I stopped that one," nodding 
his head towards her, "when she was three years 
old!" 

That seems to be the only way to stop them. 
Now all this is a mere matter of personal feeling; 
and sentiments will differ as people differ. I think, 
for one, I should love better in heaven to sit by the 
side of a grown child rather than an infant; indeed, 
by a mature companion rather than a helpless child. 
We do not feel dismayed or frightened when our 
boys or girls come home to us after long education 
at school or college. We rejoice to discover that all 
these graces of mind and person belong to us. 
They disclose themselves with a sweet surprise 
more and more every day. 

Oh, I long to see one face, inexpressibly dear to 
me once, mourned for many a year since! 



140 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

" Ob, for the touch of a vanished hand, 
And the sound of a voice that is still !" 

And what I want most is to hear what he will 
be able to tell me of these days that have passed. 
His mind has been enlarging, his soul has been 
growing ; every weakness will have passed away. 
I want to see Jesus of Nazareth first of all, *'my 
blessed, blessed Master." Then next to that I am 
going to find one I know of. I hope he has ad- 
vanced peerlessly. I am not afraid of that. 

" There, in love's unclouded reign, 
Parted hands shall meet again !" 

Our lesson from all this is to push on as fast and 
as far as we can here. I know a widow with an 
only son, whom she sent to the university. Pri- 
vately, during his absence in term-time, she pro- 
cured a tutor and began sturdy study herselfi She 
said she knew "he would be far ahead of her, but 
she believed he would love her the more, the more 
she tried to keep up with him." He that would en- 
ter the kinirdom of heaven must do it as a little 
child. It is grace and graces, not scholarship and 
learning, that are found on the pages of celestial 
text-books. These we may in our measure learn. 
Let a bereaved believer say courageously, " I have 
one child at court; I have given a maid of honor for 
the royal presence-chamber. Let me w^ait a little 
while, and I shall find her a princess, and together 
we may serve the King!" 

Furthermore, we may think of little children as 
happy in the presence of God. Wild, dreamy no- 
tions some people get, under the half-maddening in- 



CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. I4I 

fluencc of bereavement. Said a mother to me once, 
^' What sort of work do you imagine my little girl 
will have walking around among the patriarchs? 
She was always a timid child; she will cry for me 
half the time. Oh, what a terrible business this is 
all around!" 

We cannot transfer our notions of this life over 
into that. We must not materialiije everything so, 
God will see to it that our children are in proper 
company and under proper care. I sincerely hope 
they are all as ignorant of us as we are of them; 
for I confess I often fear that, if they know how we 
behave here, after we lose them, they will be un- 
happy even in heaven, if that can be so. I some- 
times prefer to think that the redeemed, mature and 
young both, are graciously precluded from seeing 
much of what transpires here on the earth. They 
remember us, watch for us, love us, and will know 
us when we come. But I ahnost hope the knowl- 
edge ends there; for they will have lost feeling 
for our suffering if they continue happy while they 
see our unchecked tears. 

I once said to a widow that she was mourn- 
ing too deeply and too long. She replied that 
she could not, of herself, right up at once, she had 
so leaned upon her husband. "What did he use 
to do?" I asked. "Well, what you would call a 
mere nothing," she answered; "he used to say that 
it made him very unhappy to see me in tears." 
"So you think he has forgotten all that nov/," I 
suggested, "or else you are unkind to him." 

I cannot now recall at length half that was said 



142 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPKL. 

on this theme that evening in our interview. I 
only mention a little story that was repeated and 
touched me much. 

A mother lost a precious little girl; grieved ter- 
ribly ; could not sleep ; one night had a dream. 
She saw heaven. There seemed to be a procession 
before the throne. A great throng of children were 
marching, each crowned, clad in white, singing. 
All bore lamps, lit and shining. Among them at 
last came her own little girl. But she looked trou- 
bled when she saw her mother, though she loved 
her, and kissed her as she used to at good-night 
prayers. Then the w^atchful woman observed also 
that her lamp was very dim compared with the 
others. She asked her why. Then the dear child 
replied, *'They tell me that you put the light out 
with your tears!'' 



A DEFKCTIVi: CHARACTER. 143 

XIV. 

A DEFECTIVE CHARACTER. 

"Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, 
One thing thou lackkst."— Mark 10:21. 

In the community at large there are plainly two 
classes of persons concerning whose moral charac- 
ter we cannot easily make a mistake. The one is 
made up of those who are practically wicked, grossly 
vicious in daily life. The other class is made up of 
Christians. Devout in demeanor, they are aiming, 
with sometimes a poor success perhaps, but with 
unceasing constancy, to know the right and do it. 

But between these two classes lies a third, made 
up of such as appear to flit in manifest fickleness 
from one extreme to the other. We can hardly 
venture to pronounce upon their moral posture in 
the sight of a holy God. 

Why do we need to pronounce ? What business 
is it of ours ? Because we feel it to be our duty to 
exhort all men to obedience and bid them come to 
love and peace in the gospel; and, just in the mo- 
ment of approach, these persons turn suddenly upon 
us with the startling question, "What have we been 
doing now?" 

It requires a careful discrimination to avoid 
being staggered by such a challenge. One needs 
to keep calm and clear while he says, **God judges 
people for 7wt doing as well as for doing." Much 



144 STUDIES IN mark's gospel. 

there may be in any given young man to admire, 
much to praise, much to commend, while at the 
same moment he may be (in his character before 
God) faulty and wrong. He may be fatally losing 
all his vantage-ground of virtue just through lack 
of decision to become religious. 

I. Now in the narrative before us, of which our 
text forms the centre and the key, we are presented 
with the picture of one of this medium class of char- 
acters. The incident is dramatic and striking. It 
will aid much in our analysis if we carefully read it 
over together. 

*'And when he was gene forth into the way, 
there came one running, and kneeled to him, and 
asked him. Good Master, what shall I do that I may 
inherit eternal life?" Matthew says this was *'a 
young man," and Luke adds that he was "a ruler." 
Not unlikely he was an arc /ion in some synagogue, 
or perhaps a peer in the Sanhedrin. "And Jesus 
said unto him. Why callest thou me good? There 
is none good but one, that is God." Jesus notices, 
first, the form of his address, then takes up his ques- 
tion. Here is an incidental argument for our Lord's 
divinity. Jesus was either "God" or not "good." 
"Thou knowest the commandments, Do not com- 
mit adultery. Do not kill. Do not steal, Do not bear 
false witness, Defraud not. Honor thy father and 
mother." The Jews train their children carefully 
in all the moralities prescribed by the Decalogue. 
Our Lord quotes only the second table of the law in 
this instance. "And he answered and said unto 
him, Master, all these have I observed from my 



A DEFECTIVE CHARACTER. 1 45 

youth." Th3 young man could answer all this 
easily. He had most likely lived with the strictest 
justice as between man and man. Matthew adds, 
*' What lack I yet?" which expression Mark omits. 
*'Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him, and said 
unto him. One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell 
whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and 
thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, take 
up the cross, and follow me." The new Revision 
omits the expression *'take up the cross" as not 
in the Greek. Our Lord kindly puts in one encour- 
agement: the ruler should have his money again, 
to be paid in the coin of the kingdom of heaven. 
*'And he was sad at that saying, and went away 
grieved, for he had great possessions." This is the 
end of the story. This young ruler is never men- 
tioned again. From this time he drops out of his- 
tory and we know him no more. 

II. We are now ready to take up the study of 
the practical lessons suggested, one after another, 
by the wdiole incident. 

I. In all God's dealing with men there is one 
cletnent of religions character for zvJiich he invariably 
looks. Men are influenced by a showy exterior; 
God sees the heart. "The Lord seeth not as man 
seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, 
but the Lord looketh on the heart." 

What is this element? A comparison of the dif- 
ferent parts of this story will answer the question. 
We must also connect the incident closely with the 
previous instruction which the disciples had just 
been receiving on the subject of a childlike surren- 



146 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

derof one's self completely to Christ as the Master 
(see Mark 10: 15). Immediately after this the stri- 
king and dramatic scene is presented by all three 
evangelists. It offers therefore an exceedingly per- 
tinent illustration of the exact doctrine our Lord 
had pressed. ^' A little child " has a single peculi- 
arity as its controlling characteristic: it loves, trusts, 
and obeys its parent. Its motive of life is sincere 
affection for him above anything else. This is what 
God demands of his children: a full, filial regard 
for his honor, his commandments, and his affection- 
ate approval. "A son honoreth his father and a 
servant his master: if then I be a father, where is 
mine honor? and if I be a master, where is my 
fear? saith the Lord of hosts imto you.'' How 
do we know the young ruler did not possess this? 
He certainly seems like a thoughtful, amiable, vir- 
tuous person. But he owned that he still lacked 
something. Christ told him he lacked ' ' one thing. ' ' 
And the fact was, he went away from the interview 
indiofuantlv settinof his stubborn heart more on the 
•world and less on Jesus than when he came. The 
expression here is, "his countenance fell." The 
word "sad" is the same as that rendered "lower- 
ing" when the Saviour was talking about the sky. 
The signs of a storm were on his face, the gloom 
of a heavy wrath and disappointment was in his 
heart. 

2. Let us take up a second lesson: no other qual- 
ity of mind or hearty no other characteristic^ no other 
grouping of elements of character^ can atone for the laclz 
cf just this one. 



A DEFECTIVE CHARACTER. 147 

Piety is the significant disposition which regis- 
ters the value of everything else. Take any 
amount of ciphers and arrange them carefully in a 
line; they will represent nothing till you place a 
numeral figure at their head. We call that a "sig- 
nificant" figure; it gives reckoning of value to all 
the others. Now, with it at the head, each one of 
the ciphers increases it tenfold, while without it ten 
times as many ciphers would go for naught. The 
wiser a man is, the more distinguished a man is, 
the more wealthy a man is, the more lovely a man 
is — provided the consecration of his entire heart is 
rendered — the more helpful and useful he is as a 
Christian. But the moment this consecration dis- 
appears, all these advantages are turned suddenly 
into dangers, for they work on the adverse side. 
Satan's gifts helped him to be a worse devil. 

We recognize the same principle in ordinary 
life. Suppose a journeyman, wilful and self-satis- 
fied, comes to one of us and asks for employment. 
We go to a master-mechanic seeking work for him 
in his poverty. Each one in turn says he is well 
acquainted with the man, but will have nothing to 
do with him. Now w^e begin to expostulate: "Is 
he not skilful? is he not industrious? is he not 
honest? is he not a kind neighbor? is he not so- 
ber?" All this is true, comes the reply; "but the 
man will not obey orders." The prime quality of 
a workman is gone; that lack vitiates all the rest; 
he breeds insubordination wherever he goes. His 
excellences simply render him dangerous. 

The worst is that God himself gives all these 



148 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

characteristics on which moral men pride them- 
selves, and they wickedly turn them against him. 
It has happened that one man has interfered some- 
times to reconcile another man with his disinher- 
ited son. For many years under the home roof he 
was unfilial, abusive, alienated from all who loved 
him there. The father admits that he has rejected 
him at last. The neighbor inquires, *'Is he not 
educated so as to be an honor to you ? is he not a 
most agreeable companion ? are not his manners 
gentlemanly ? is he not the very likeness of your- 
self in form and mien? how can you keep him 
away from your heart?" And the father answers 
in sad sincerity of pity and love, ''AH that you say 
is true; and it was myself who gave him these 
accomplishments: I educated my boys all alike, but 
this one turned against me. I love him, but he 
hates me; no matter how courteous he is to stran- 
gers, he villifies me here before the others: till he 
changes from a prodigal to a son, he is only a peril 
and a disturbance in the house: he is all the worse 
in that he knows so well how to be better." 

We actually stand ready to go a step farther 
than this in our judgment. We demand a severer 
measure of retribution upon the man who insists on 
our forbearance with him in crime on the ground 
of his ordinary virtues in behavior. Here is a sol- 
dier fighting against his country; the community 
shuts its doors on him while he is under arms; it 
rejects the traitor most promptly from all citizen- 
ship. "Why is this?" you ask. "Is he not 
brave? is he not educated in the highest academy 



A DEFECTIVE CHARACTER. 149 

of the land? is he not persevering? is he not gen- 
tlemanly in demeanor? is he not chivalrous, the 
very soul of honor with his comrades?' Certainly 
he is all this. But he fights under the wrong ban- 
ner. He is only a polished rebel, a cultivated vil- 
lain, a talented renegade. All the worse that he 
has so many good qualities ; they ought to have 
held him steadfast to principle ; they only now 
make him a more dancrerous man. One thine he 
lacks, and that wanting, the rest are ruined, and he 
merits greater shame. 

3. So we reach, as our third lesson, this: sucJl a 
defective c/iaracter as is here pictured lias to be reck- 
oned according to its defect^ to the exclusion of its excel- 
lences. 

There may be a very sJiozvy morality without any 
true religion. Here was a young man of great 
prominence and promise. He said he had kept the 
law. Let us see. 

''Master, which is the great commandment in 
the law ? Jesus said unto him. Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy 
soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and 
great commandment. And the second is like unto 
it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself On 
these two commandments hang all the law and the 
prophets." 

We see on the instant that, at his own showino-, 
he had obeyed only the second table. He had 
never kept the first commandment; he had another 
God than Jehovah; his covetousness was idolatry. 
The intensely legal spirit he exhibited would have 



150 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

been pitiable at the best; but what shall we say of 
it when we find it was hollow from the beginning? 
He was not moral: '^ For whosoever shall keep the 
whole law, and yet ofiend in one point, he is guilty 
of all.' ^ 

Grant him now the best estimate w^e can give. 
Admit that this ruler of the Jews was unimpeacha- 
ble before his fellow-men as to any of the dealings, 
amenities, or courtesies of every-day life. Correct 
in deportment and gentle in demeanor, let us accept 
his account of himself: over his entire history he 
can look and find no blot on the record to bring a 
blush to his cheek. Frank in speech, graceful in 
behavior, unbroken in integrity, ingenuous and 
open-hearted, he wins every companion to become 
a cordial brother and makes every acquaintance a 
friend. • And yet with all this morality we know he 
was not a Christian man. 

There may be a very spleitdid manhood without 
any true religion. We have reason to think this 
person had hardly entered his prime. Ardent and 
light-hearted, he had much in the future to hope 
for, much in the present to enjoy. He stood high 
in society. He was opulent; his notorious wealth 
rendered him conspicuous. The community looked 
up to him as a very respectable man, and doubtless 
flattered so distinguished a citizen with every mark 
of consideration. 

But in some way he had privately come to the 
consciousness that there was one thing he lacked. 
He heard of this Galilean rabbi. He went forth to 
inquire of him the path to eternal life. By this 



A DEFECTIVE CHARACTER. I5I 

very act he acknowledged himself yet an uncon- 
verted man. He wa« a notable person in men's 
eyes, but not a Christian. 

There may be an tmqtiestionable orthodoxy with- 
out any true religion. This young ruler lived in 
an exceedingly confused period. That generation 
was historically volatile and frivolous. He moved 
in the world of fashion; he might easily have fallen 
into the prevalent mood of unbelief. All the refined 
and cultivated people of that time were either cold 
formalists or philosophic materialists. The most 
popular disbelief was represented in the creed of the 
Sadducees; these were brilliant, witty, and specu- 
lative; but they rejected the doctrine of the immor- 
tality of the human soul. They denied the '* eter- 
nal life" which this man came to inquire about. 

But he was not as yet a converted man. In this 
day, when there is so much of the same sort of 
unbelief as well as qf reckless free- thinking, one 
certainly is to be congratulated who holds steadily 
to the ancient faith of the fathers and firmly believes 
the Bible. Still, with this story before his eyes, we 
may ask him to remember that more is needed to 
become a Christian. 

There may be deep conviction of need in the soul 
without any true religion. Never forget the errand 
of this young man nor the manner in which he dis- 
charged it (Mark 10: 17). See his zeal; he came 
to yesus. See his haste; he came running. See 
his courage ; he was out in the highway^ conspicuous 
to all. See his humility ; he kneeled 2X Jesus' feet. 
See his anxiety ; he waited for no circumlocution, 



153 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

but pushed his question straight towards the ** eter- 
nal life" he longed for. - 

Such nobleness as this rebukes the timid trim- 
ming of many a young man who is afraid to be 
deemed an inquirer. When it is the tremendous 
interests of the soul which are at stake, it is as 
absurd as it is cowardly to be ashamed. But do 
not let us forget that although this ruler was deeply 
excited about his eternal welfare, that did not secure 
his salvation: he was not yet a Christian man; one 
thing he lacked. 

There may be even a measure of favor zvith God 
and yet no personal religion. Strange words are 
these that we meet in this story: "Then Jesus, be- 
holding him, loved him." It was a love of benev- 
olence, but not of complacency. Our Lord desired 
to do him good. His human heart was yearning 
over him as once it yearned over Jerusalem when 
he wept at the prospect of its,doom. 

God is on the side of virtue as opposed to vice 
always. He welcomes even imperfect morality. 
He is pleased with gentle manners and kindness of 
heart rather than with coarseness and malicious 
spite. Honesty is the best policy, to say nothing of 
principle. The general providence of God favors it 
more than wickedness or deceit. But beyond this 
external regard our Lord could have had no favor 
for this young man. He saw he was a legalist, a 
moralist, and self-deceived at that. He pitied him 
quite as much as he loved him. Old Thomas Bos- 
ton says, commenting on this passage, " Many are 
the devil's lious, filling the place where they live 



A DEFECTIVE CHARACTER. 153 

with the noise of their revels and riotings; but this 
young man was one of the devil's lambs, going to 
hell without letting the world hear the sound of his 
feet." 

Our study of this story must, for the present, be 
arrested here. I shall have gained a great point if 
I have shown any young man or woman, any one 
of maturer age, any one of white hairs and furrowed 
forehead, that it is possible to be completely de- 
ceived in reference to one^s own state before God. 
To some it may seem severe that we need to say to 
those who are lovely in life and amiable in all their 
associations that they are not necessarily nearer 
heaven for all their loveliness. "One thino- thou 
lackest." That one thing is an entire surrender of 
self to Jesus Christ. 



7* 



154 STUDIES IN mark's gospel. 



XV. 



STIFLED CONVICTIONS. 

"And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved; 

FOR HE HAD GREAT POSSESSIONS." — Mark IO:22. 

This story of the young ruler ought to be read 
as it now appears in the new Revision ; for there 
have been necessitated in the phraseology some ren- 
derings which the great scholars say are quite im- 
portant. 

"And behold, one came to him and said, Mas- 
ter, what good thing shall I do that I may have 
eternal life? And he said unto him. Why askest 
thou me concerning that which is good ? One there 
is who is good: but if thou wouldest enter into life, 
keep the commandments. He saith unto him. 
Which? And Jesus said. Thou shalt not kill. 
Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not 
steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy 
father and thy mother; and. Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto 
him. All these things have I observed: what lack I 
yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wouldest be per- 
fect, go, sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, 
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, 
follow me. But when the young man heard the 
saying he went away sorrowful; for he was one that 
had great possessions. ' ' 

Notice that the "good" is left off from the Mas- 



STIFI.ED CONVICTIONS. I^j 

ter's name. There is a complete alteration of the 
sense in the next clause: "Why callest thou me 
good?" Then also the whole phrase ''from ray 
youth up " is suffered to disappear. All these vari- 
ations will be found to give aid in the exposition as 
we proceed in the study of the particulars. 

This man evidently started out with an anxious 
determination and an eager purpose to put the 
claims of Jesus Christ under investigation for the 
sake of deepening his own spiritual life, Mark 
tells us, as he relates the incident, that "Jesus, be- 
holding him, loved him;" that is, so amiable was 
his demeanor that our Lord was moved with a real 
regard in all his further conversation. And we 
shall not miss the point of vSuch a story if we take it 
to be instructive as to religious convictions. 

I. First, we must look at the picture for the 
illustration which it furnishes as to THE way in 

WHICH men's convictions ARE TESTED. The 

test here proposed was meant to include at least 
these three elements: 

I. The young ruler was told to sell all he had. 
Our notion of a lot in life like his naturally sug- 
gests that he was living in Oriental luxury and 
surrounded by all the privileges of a patrician in 
Jerusalem of that day, a member of the Sanhedrin 
of the highest social position. It is possible that 
he had beautified for himself a palace with every- 
thing in it that opulence could buy; that he had 
adorned the various rooms with wealth of art and 
curiously wrought the floor with an affluence of 
mosaic designs; that he had hung the windows with 



156 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

fringed curtains and covered the couches with pur- 
ple. Outside of this dwelling he may have owned 
his parks and his gardens, chariots and slaves. 
Whatever form his possessions had assumed, the 
command was imperiously laid upon him demand- 
ing swift obedience: he must turn them instantly 
back into money again. The mansion must be 
sold; the flowers, the groves, the paintings, the 
jewels must pass out of his hands. 

2. Then he was to give all his wealth to the poor. 
The store of his acquisitions would have to go, not 
to his old friends, not even to his relatives or heirs, 
nor to his peers in social life, but to common peo- 
ple, to those upon whom he doubtless had been 
educated to look with feelings of deepest repug- 
nance and supercilious disdain. All his precious 
treasure must go to please and comfort new owners 
whom he disliked. 

Our Saviour did liere interpose one measure of 
relief; he gave to him a thought, a sentiment, a 
hope, a promise. He assured this astonished inqui- 
rer that in the end he should be no loser by the gen- 
erosity which impoverished him and disinherited 
his family; he should have for his reward " treasure 
in heaven." But to appreciate this in those days 
required great confidence and a much clearer view 
of the gospel covenant than this legal-minded man 
could easily be supposed to possess in circumstan- 
ces like those which surrounded him. Houses and 
lands get a good name everywhere; they are called 
*'real estate" even by us, and it is difficult to let 
go of them even when one dies; but celestial riches 



STIFLED CONVICTIONS. 1 57 

are vague and distant, intangible quite to the faith 
of some men. 

3. Then this ruler was told that he must join his 
life to that of Jesus, whatever its fortunes might be. 
''Come, follow me!" These words in the Greek 
are very sharp and strong; they constitute a start- 
ling challenge, a sort of double cry, a gesture of 
peremptory beckoning: " Hither, behind me!" He 
must become a pauper by his own deliberate act, 
and trust this wandering rabbi not only for his eter- 
nal salvation, but for his daily bread. That in- 
volved an entire change of life and purpose. 

For all the time Jesus Christ kept professing 
himself to be an absolutely homeless man. '' Mas- 
ter, where dwellest thou?" was the question ad- 
dressed to him once, to which he answered, "The 
Son of Man hath not where to lay his head." This 
rich and comfortable young Jew could do nothing 
but leave his friends, home, and ease, turn his back 
for ever upon all his previous haunts and habits, 
associations and opinions, commit his career blindly 
to the leadership of a teacher disowned and cast 
out by his own relatives as well as by all the chiefs 
of the nation. 

Now, putting all three of these requisitions 
together and making the case our own, we shall 
see the extreme forcefulness of such a test as this. 
How would we, who think ourselves so brave in 
surrendering a portion of our wealth or energy or 
comfort to Christ, like to have our consecration 
made literal and exhaustive at once? How would 
we bear a proposition to sell our houses and our 



158 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

stores, our stocks and our jewels, our lands and our 
securities, part with the home our children and per- 
haps our parents were born in, the homestead where 
one's father had lived and one's mother had prayed, 
then become a wanderer on the earth for Christ's 
sake, taking up our cross willingly just to follow 
him? 

II. Such a question leads us onward a step. In 
the second place, the history of this young ruler 
gives us an illustration of THE way in which 
men's religious convictions are disclosed as 
well as tested. 

It needed but a moment of consideration to show 
him he was self-deceived. He saddened at the say- 
ing of Christ; he lowered as the sky does before 
rain. Doubtless he paused an instant, pondered 
the words, made definite decision, and then, with a 
troubled look in his eyes, began to withdraw from 
the circle of disciples, utterly unable to abide the 
test. 

I. But observe, // had at all events enlightened his 
mind. When he came to Jesus he appeared willing 
to know his duty; now he knew it. He grew per- 
fectly clear as to what was meant by becoming a 
follower of such a teacher, and he perceived his 
grand mistake in supposing he had had any real 
desire to do so. He saw the hollowness of his own 
moralities, the meagreness of his attainments, the 
insincerity of his questions. He was not a candi- 
date for eternal life. The law he had boldly de- 
clared he had kept all his life now simply slew his 
claims. All these things he had not kept from his 



STIFLED CONVICTIONS. I59 

youth up, for the obedience that was involved 
reached to the innermost heart; just there he failed. 

You may possibly ask just here, Would our Lord 
have suffered the ruler to go on and complete an 
actual sale, if he had displayed a willingness to do 
so? And if the man had done it. Would that have 
secured for him "eternal life"? Could he have 
bought his way into heaven ? 

There is no answer for such a question, but I 
am sure you are on the instant reminded of the 
extraordinary test once brought to Abraham to try 
his faith. The call came for him to sacrifice his 
only son Isaac as a burnt-offering. He raised the 
knife to kill him, as he had been commanded. But 
at the moment the acquiescence showed complete- 
ness a voice from the sky forbade the act; a ram 
became the victim. The will was accepted for the 
deed. When one surrenders himself as a disciple 
to the IrOrd Jesus Christ, he must do it with all that 
it involves. The gift of zeal, strength, life, and 
fortune must be absolute. But the Almighty Will 
may not call for the expenditure of every farthing 
on the instant; indeed, he often leaves his children 
in happy charge of the bulk of their wealth for 
da3^s and years; but he certainly demands the spirit 
of entire surrender at once. For sometimes what 
is offered him he takes without the least reserve. 
This young man had no such wish or purpose in 
his heart. Without any apology, without even an 
explanation, he abruptly left the spot. He saw in 
his own disposition what he never saw before: his 
desires were selfish and base. 



l6o STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

2. Another result of this test on that ruler's life 
was this: Jie became tJiorotigJily satisfied that yesits 
desired to save Ids soul. This he must have seen in 
the kindness with which he was received, and cer- 
tainly in the regretful affection there was exhibited 
towards him. Not a sign of rebuke for his insin- 
cerity is administered; he is constituted his own 
instructor, and so he becomes his own judge. Our 
Lord even tries to help him up to the point of gra- 
cious surrender. Really Jesus did in this case more 
than he did for Peter or Matthew, for James, An- 
drew, or John. To these disciples he only said as 
he called them into his service, "Follow me," and 
they gave up all. When this man turned away 
from the test he must have felt in his innermost 
soul that he was now disappointing the real desire 
of that group of friends in his behalf. 

It is likely that some of you are making inquiry 
here as to what bearing this story has upon young 
men of modern times. You know it is customary 
for the monastic orders to find one of their stock 
arguments here in defence of their poverty and 
seclusion. Must men be hopelessly poor in order 
to live Christians? Let it be borne in mind with 
all luminousness that the one thing which our Lord 
told this young man was lacking in him was not 
poverty but piety. Renunciation of wealth must 
not be called his virtue but his test. It was not his 
possessions or his office that kept him out of eternal 
life; it was his love of them. You will lose the 
entire force of this narrative if you discharge its 
meaning on the money. Anything else would have 



STIFLED CONVICTIONS. l6l 

answered as well, if a disclosure of liis real mind 
had been wrought by it. What Christ wanted was 
the young man himself, and not the mere wealth 
he owned. ' 

3. Yet a third result of the test was io fling tJie 
yotitJiful rtdcr on his ozvn responsibility. There was 
for him no evading of the issue after this. Look- 
ing down into his own soul, there he saw himself. 
He discovered that avarice or greed of gold sat 
upon the throne of his whole being. Moral cour- 
age, amiability, prudence, consistency, wakened 
conscience, all pined in dungeon confinement under 
its sway. And a worse fact than this became also 
suddenly apparent: he accepted intelligently the 
pitiable state of things he had hitherto uncon- 
sciously avoided or endured. Then he had de- 
ceived himself, sinning in ignorance and in secret; 
now he was perfectly informed, and yet he sinned 
with a deliberate understandinof of the wickedness. 
Once he had been unwarily entangled by the Deli- 
lah of covetousness, but there was some hope that 
he would burst the green withes with which she 
had caused his limbs to be cunningly bound. Now 
he voluntarily laid his head in her lap where she 
might cut off the sacred lock of his strength, and so 
cripple for ever his manhood, put out his eyes, and 
consign him to dreadful shame. 

Thus the full responsibility of his action is seen 
to be his own in all its reach. Base as he knew his 
real master to be, this man was content to bend in 
obeisance to him. He had kneeled to Christ; he 
now of^ovels in the dust to Greed. He ofTered to be 



l6z STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

a servant to God; liere lie ends by becoming a slave 
to Mammon. There is reason to conclude, more- 
over, that he actually wished or hoped that his folly 
could ever after be concealed; that he seriously 
repented that moment of weak solicitude in which 
he had gone forth so publicly to consult Christ upon 
the open roadway. He came courageous ; he de- 
parted a coward. Still with all this, recollect, no 
fresh quality had been instilled into his character; 
only an old one was disclosed that had been there 
before. 

4. A final result remains to be noticed: the con- 
victions he came with we7'e confirmed. One might 
imagine, perhaps, that this young man, having had 
his spiritual eyes opened to see the mistake he had 
committed in seeking eternal life through this great 
Teacher, when he was so miserably heartless in his 
request for it, would now go away positively glad 
to have escaped the- trap which he conjectured had 
been suddenly sprung upon him to render him poor 
in an instant, and would volubly congratulate him- 
self on not having yielded to so radical a demand. 

But such is not the usual action of conscience in 
these cases of religious anxiety. Convictions of sin 
are always deepened by stifling their poignancy. 
A duty rejected is a duty doubled; for another obli- 
gation comes now, that of repentance over the 
denial and the delay. A shallow sense of resent- 
ment, when one has been counselled against inner 
prejudices and traditions, may quiet some of the 
first longings; but a sense of the old pain follows 
closely on; and then self-condemnations and bitter- 



STIFLED CONVICTIONS. 1 63 

ncsses of regret become established in liis soul. It 
might generally be assumed as settled that it is 
only a question of time with such an inquirer how 
soon he will see his just condemnation face to face. 
*'Some men's sins are open beforehand, going be- 
fore to judgment; and some men they follow after." 
Useless experience of pain must be gone over. 

III. We close our study of the story just here; 
but there is an important series of reflec- 
tions SUGGESTED by such a theme. Some of so 
appropriate a group for this age of ours ought to be 
mentioned surely. 

I. We see, for one thing, Jiow solemn and yet how 
valuable a benediction it is to any man to be thrown 
tinder conviction of sijt. Whenever the Spirit of the 
living God is really striving with the mind and 
conscience of a human being bound to the judg- 
ment-seat of Christ, illumining his heart and con- 
straining him to inquire what he must do in order 
to inherit eternal life, he has his open chance for 
salvation by the atonement which that God has 
proclaimed he will accept. It changes from the 
mere fitful emotion of fear or sensibility into a pro- 
found business transaction, in the midst of which 
one settles for ever what a soul like his is worth, 
and what he proposes to give in exchange for a 
future fitting its immortality. No matter then if 
his whole existence is arrested, his spirit tossed 
tumultuously with anguish until slumber forsakes 
his bed, and terrible wrath glooms out upon him 
like thunder-clouds from an offended heaven; bet- 
ter is it for him to be awakened by a gracious con- 



164 studip:s in mark's gospei.. 

sternatlon that almost tears him to pieces than for 
him to sleep on in the frozen insensibility of a false 
security of peace. 

2. Then again we discover here to what an ama^ 
zmg extent siLch an experience of self-deception can go. 
How little of his own heart this young ruler knew! 
He supposed all the time that he was very good, 
very pious, very satisfactory every way, even when 
he was so surprisingly dissatisfied. His pitiable 
correctness of a mere external demeanor he had 
been bold enough to offer to God, as if it were worth 
counting ! He was as startled now to find out its 
worthlessness as was Nicodemus, a fellow-member 
of the same Sanhedrin, to learn, "Except a man 
be born acrain he cannot see the kin2:doni of God.'* 
There must be a radical alteration in one's whole 
being before he can be sure of eternal life on any 
terms. That change he cannot work for himself; 
he must accept it and seek for it as a gift entirely 
of God's grace. It is astonishing to think that 
some very amiable persons now imagine that if 
they offer generous alms to poor people, and keep 
courteous to the rich and just to everybody, they 
are all right in the sight of their ]\Iaker. They 
openly live, as this young ruler openly said, in the 
full profession of a stupendous self-righteousness, as 
silly as it is finally fatal. 

3. So we have a third lesson. What a mercy it 
is that the Spirit of God is wise enough to find for each 
man his true test ! That has power to show him 
just what he is. You will mistake this story if you 
conclude that wealth is always proposed as the 



STIFLED CONVICTIONS. 165 

touclistonc. Not by any manner of means. Here 
is, for example, one person in society whose ingra- 
tiating manners or bland converse render him the 
charm of every assembly he enters; the voice comes 
to him with no reference to luxurious surroundings 
of silver or gold; it says, " Love not the w^orld, but 
relinquish its gayeties, forsake its amusements, 
forego its companionships." Usually the tests are 
so commonplace that they elude observation unless 
one is on the alert for their disclosure. A man in 
ordinary business life is bidden to refuse a bargain 
which will be profitable, to cease from the practice 
of using false trade-marks, to give up the customs 
of a lucrative but iniquitous traffic. It is not the 
obedience to these demands of principle that makes 
the man a Christian; it is the application of them 
that brings out to light the fact that such a man is 
not, and never has been, a Christian, and that it is 
certainly time he should admit it and set about 
becoming a child of God. 

4. lycarn here also that every mere moralist has 
some weak side upon which he may he approached by the 
adversary. When that is reached the man suc- 
cumbs. Generally a person's weakest point is that 
one on which he particularly j)rides himself he is 
the most secure: "Wherefore, let him that think- 
eth he standeth take heed lest he fall." 

5. Reflect, once more, upon the impressiveness of 
that moment in wJiicJi a convicted man first sees his 
ozun heart. Look upon that agitated ruler as he 
stands pondering the question which the Lord has 
given him! ]\Ien are often caught so in these mod- 



i66 STUDIES IN mark's gospei.. 

ern times. The whole future of their souls turns 
upon a decision made in ten seconds by the clock. 
The providence of God is always working up to- 
wards such crises. It is possible some souls have 
the decision upon their hands this very hour. 

6. Finally, we learn that the supreme question in 
all these cases is^ Will the man go on or go back ? 
That young ruler went back; so he lost his chance. 
How will it be with ourselves here to-nifjlit? 

Oh, it is always so easy to find a way to do the 
right thing, if only one has the will ! God helps. 
Decisions on which life and eternity turn have 
been made on the simplest form of speech. Dean 
Stanley tells the tale of a woman who found her 
way from the distant wilds of Asia to her husband's 
home in England by constantly repeating the only 
two words she knew in our language, "Gilbert" 
and "London." He uses this pathetic incident to 
illustrate how much a seeker after God might do 
for himself if he would only put into practice again 
and again the very simplest and shortest notions he 
has of Christ and Christ's goodness. Let every one 
here try to frame a prayer in which he can end his 
indecision with one word of irrevocable surrender. 
Say, "I am a sinner and I have sinned; take me 
as I am, penitent and believing; take me with my 
heart and soul and life, and pardon me, and save 
me for ever! Amen." 



tii:e: sigiiti^ess sinnkr, bartimeus. 167 



XVI. 
THE SIGHTI.ESS SINNER, BARTIMEUS. 

"Blind Bartimeus, the son of Timeus, sat ey the highway 

SIDE BEGGING." — Mark 10:46. 

That the cure of Bartimeus was a veritable 
miracle no one can reasonably doubt. The man 
was a well-known beggar. His father's name as 
well as his own is given. He had doubtless been 
blind for a long time, and many a person in the 
crowd had seen him there by the gate day after day. 
The vast multitude could have borne immediate 
and uproarious testimony to the deception if either 
the disability or the relief of it had been feigned. 

In our study of the story we might as well take 
into consideration the facts first, and then learn the 
lesson afterwards. That is to say, let us in the out- 
set attend to the miracle as a wonder^ and so we 
shall appreciate it better ^jt a parable. 

I. We look closely at Bartimeus on this occa- 
sion. It is true that Jesus is the centre of the pic- 
ture, as he always is. But this miracle is peculiar 
in that the details of it are more than usually bril- 
liant as an illustration of simple human nature in 
the one who receives the advantage of it. 

I. The state oi \\\\?, poor creature is given at a 
stroke of the pen. It would be difficult to crowd 
more biography into one verse than we find in 
Mark's narrative: "And they came to Jericho: and 



1 68 STUDIES IN mark's gospel. 

as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a 
great number of people, blind Bartimeus, the son of 
Timeus, sat by the highway side begging." 

He was sightless. He had come to be called by 
that name: " blind Bartimeus." He was 2. pauper, 
*' Begging" was his business. He was a profes- 
sional mendicant. We do not look upon him as 
one who had got behindhand a little, and so was 
out on the streets for a day or two, until he could 
get into employment. He *^sat by the highway 
side begging." 

He was helpless. There is no evidence that he 
had any friends who cared for him; they would 
have made themselves conspicuous after his cure, 
if there had been many of them. It is likely this 
man went to his regular stand every morning; be- 
side him lay his staff, and in his lap lay the pouch 
into which was thrown the pittance he managed to 
live upon. 

He was hopeless. It was impossible for him to 
do anything; he could not see to learn a trade. 

He was unpoptdar. Anybody had a right to 
snub him the moment he said a word: "And they 
which went before rebuked him, that he should 
hold his peace." 

He was uneasv and fiercely on the alert to better 
his condition. What arrested his attention was the 
unusual crowd: "And hearing the multitude pass 
by, he asked what it meant." He did not hear 
Jesus, but he heard those who followed Jesus. His 
whole soul was alive and anxious for some relief. 

2. Now notice his action. Here we need the 



bartime:us. 169 

verse which has just been quoted from Liike*s gos- 
pel for a link between the two apparently disjointed 
verses of Mark's: "And when he heard that it was 
Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, 
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on 'me." 
How this man *' heard that it was Jesus of Naza- 
reth " is shown there; the multitude told him so. 

Bartimeus sought informatio7i. He was not too 
proud to acknowledge he did not know. Two 
things there were which it would be impossible for 
him ever to find out by himself: he would have to 
be instructed concerning the wonderful and beauti- 
ful and valuable gift of seeing by those who under- 
stood it; and he would have to be informed that 
this Nazarene rabbi could remove the disability, 
and that just at the moment he was " nigh" Jeri- 
cho. Does any one suppose this poor beggar got 
offended because some one insisted that he was 
sightless? If a neighbor had showed himself a lit- 
tle friendly and proposed to lead him up for a cure, 
would Bartimeus simply spite him for being imper- 
tinent about other people's concerns? 

Then, next, this blind man began \.o ask for help : 
"And many charged him that he should hold his 
peace; but he cried the more a great deal. Thou son 
of David, have mercy on me." 

His request was singularly comprehensive and 
intelligent. Whether he fully understood its reach 
or not, the language he employed took in the hu- 
man nature and the divine nature of our Lord at 
once. "Jesus" was a man; the "Son of David" 

was God's Messiah, 

8 



170 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

His cry was personal and direct: **Have mercy 
on me." He wastes no time in graceful opening 
or becoming close; what he wanted he tells. 

His prayer was courageous and importunate. 
What these people could in such a case mean passes 
comprehension; one would think everybody might 
rejoice at a chance of getting that old blind beggar 
away from begging at* the gates of Jericho. But 
they only made the poor fellow think he had done 
the right thing after all. 

Bartimeus then ^''rose and came to yesiisy It 
would have been the height of foUy^ for him to say 
to himself, "If it is the will of this rabbi to open 
my eyes, he can do it from a distance just as well as 
if I were there." For the wonderful fact was that 
Jesus had checked his steps and was now waiting 
for him, and had even commanded him to be called: 
"And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be 
called. And they call the blind man, saying unto 
him. Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee." 

Then also this blind man put away the hindrance 
which it was likely would delay him in going for 
his cure: "And he, casting away his garment, rose 
and came to Jesus." This was his loose outside 
robe, such as is customarily worn even by the low- 
est class of people in that country, their protection 
from the sunshine in the daytime and their cover- 
ing from the chill dews of the night — a simple gar- 
ment, no doubt, but almost indispensable to him. 
Still, if it interfered with the restoration of his eye- 
sight, it could well be spared. 

3. Notice, in the next place, Bartimeus' full 



Till- SIGHTLESS SINNF.R, BARTIMEUS. 171 

surrender: "And Jesus answered and said unto him, 
What wilt thou that I should do unto thee ? The 
blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive 
my sight. '^ 

Two things are to be noted in this remarkable 
speech. We shall not understand either of them 
unless we keep in mind the most singular question 
which Jesus puts to the man the moment he comes 
within hearing. It was not because he did not 
know this beggar's condition that our Lord asked 
him so abruptly what he would have him to do. It 
must have been because he desired to fasten his faith 
upon one chief object of supreme desire. There 
was no end to the wants of Bartimeus: he wanted 
food, friends, clothing, home, everything that any- 
body demands in order to make a mendicant a man. 
But, more than all besides, he wanted eyesight; 
and he found that out when he went in upon his 
own soul to make inquiry. This explains his reply. 

He speaks with a declaration: "Lord.'' This 
address, most inadequately rendered here in Mark's 
gospel, means far more than mere respect. The 
term in Luke is different from this; here it is actu- 
ally the same as that Mary Magdalene uses when 
she discovers that one she thought was the gardener 
is Jesus: "Rabboni!" There is concentrated in 
just a single word a whole burst of generous and 
affectionate feeling: "My Master!" Faith, rever- 
ence, love unspeakable, adoring wonder were in 
that word. 

He speaks with an ellipsis. As before we found 
more in his utterance than we expected, so now we 



173 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

find less. Bartimens does not reply directly to our 
Lord's question. He cannot: how could he know 
what a miracle-w^orker should do? All he knew 
was what he himself w^anted to be done. So his 
answer would read in full, ' ' I do not understand 
what thou wilt do, nor even what I would have 
thee to do — oh, do anything, anything — that I 
might receive my sight!" 

4. Once more, notice Bartimens' aire: ''And 
Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath 
made thee whole. And immediately he received 
his sight and followed Jesus in the way." It was 
instantaneous: "immediately." It was perfect: 
"whole." It was sovereign: "Go thy way." It 
was complete, including salvation : ' ' Thy faith 
hath saved thee." 

5. Lastly, notice the man's experience, Luke 
adds a few particulars more: "And immediately he 
received his sight and followed him, glorifying 
God; and all the people, when they saw it, gave 
praise unto God." He was full of joy; a new 
world had been suddenly opened upon him. He 
was obedient; he followed Jesus as a disciple. He 
was grateful; he glorified God. He was zealous. 
In Matthew's gospel we are told that there w^ere 
"two" men sitting there that day in their blind- 
ness and begging. Then there was, as there always 
is, "another man" close at hand for Bartimeus to 
work upon immediately. We may be sure he left 
not so much as one blind man in all Jericho with- 
out the knowledge of Jesus of Nazareth. "Oh, 
that all the blind but knew him and would be 



THE SIGHTLESS SINNER, BARTIMEUS. 1/3 

advised by me! Surely would they hasten to him; 
he would cause them all to see!'^ That comrade of 
his was cured and converted the same hour.^ We 
cannot help thinking Bartimeus had something to 
do with it. And what a work those two persons 
could do now in the old sad city ! 

II. So much then concerning this miracle as a 
wonder; let us now study its lessons as a parable. 
It very beautifully pictures the steps of a sinner 
coming for spiritual relief to Jesus— the state, the 
action, the surrender, the cure, the experience. In- 
deed, this was a real part of the story that day. 

I. Sightlessness is the symbol of shi. Not dark- 
ness now, for Christ has come. "Then spake 
Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of 
the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in 
darkness, but shall have the light of life." The 
trouble is in the heart. The world is not dark- 
ened, but the race of sinners has been blinded. 
The calamity is not in the sky, but in the eyes of 
men's souls. Who did this? "If our gospel be 
hid, it is hid to them that are lost; in whom the 
god of this world hath blinded the minds of them 
which believe not, lest the light of the glorious 
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should 
shine unto them." 

2. Sin destroys the whole nature. We do not say 
Bartimeus was injured in any of his senses except 
his eyes. But his blindness made him a beggar. 
His touch, hearing, and taste may have been per- 
fect; indeed, they may have been rendered sensi- 
tive, sharp, and alert more than usual. But he 



174 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPHL. 

walked as a blind man, he reasoned as a blind 
man, he thought as a blind man, and he went to 
his regular stand as a blind man, and then begged. 

3. Awake7ting of siimers is often due to Christian 
fidelity. When this poor blind world hears the rush 
of faithful footsteps following on after the Master it 
will be sure to ask anxiously what it means. 

4. In the salvation of his soul the sinfier has a work 
to do. It is of no use to fall back on one's blind- 
ness; the first step is to confess blindness and go to 
Christ for help. 

5. Prayer is indispensable i7i every case. No one 
can be saved who will not ask for salvation. The 
petition might well become a *^cry." And what- 
ever hinders, let the man continue to pray, and 
pray ''the more a great deal.'^ 

6. All Jiindrances mnst be put away if one is in 
earnest to be saved. Many a man has seemed to 
start well, but has been tangled in the running by 
his garments of respectability, fame, fortune, social 
standing, literary eminence, or pleasant companion- 
ship. One may obtain the ''whole world '^ .and 
lose "his own soul.'* 

7. yesiis is always ready to save any one who 
cries to him. Oh, most impressive moment is that 
when the Lord of glory pauses in the way and com- 
mands a soul " to be called " ! 

8. Unqiialified acceptance of Christ in all his offices 
is the essential condition of acceptance by him. 
The sinner must say, "Lord," "Jesus of Naza- 
reth," "Son of David," and "Rabboni." 

9. Experience of salvation is the instrument to use 



THE SIGHTLESS SINNER, BARTIMEUS. 1 75 

in our efforts to save others. ''Once I was blind, 
now I see;'' the best argument in the world for 
blind men is in that word. And the best word for 
sinners is, " Christ hath saved me." 

*' Blind Bartimeus at the gates 
Of Jericho in darkness waits; 
He hears the crowd— he hears a breath 
Say, "It is Christ of Nazareth !" 
And calls in tones of agony, 
'Ijyaou, ilE-nabv fie !^ 

" The thronging multitudes increase ; 
Blind Bartimeus, hold thy peace ! 
But still above the noisy crowd 
The beggar's cry is shrill and loud, 
Until they say, " He calleth thee!" 
Oapaeij iyeipai, (puvei aeif 

" Then saith the Christ, as silent stands 
The crowd, 'What wilt thou at my hands?* 
And he replies, * Oh, give me light ! 
Rabbi, restore the blind man's sight !' 
And Jesus answers, ' TTzaye ; 
*H ■nioTijQ aov oeauKC oe l^ 

" Ye that have eyes, yet cannot see, 
In darkness and in misery, 
Recall those mighty Voices Three, 
'Itjaov, ITiCTjaov fie ! 
Oupaeu, tyeipat, virayt ! 
'H iriaTu: aov aeauKE ae !"* 

* "Jesus, have mercy on me!" 

+ " Be comforted ; rise, He calletli thee !" 

X " Go thy way ; thy faith hath made thee whole." 



176 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 



XVIL 
CHRIST ENTERING JERUSAI^EM. 

"Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that Com- 
eth IN the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest." — • 
Ma,rk ii:io. 

We have now in the progress of our study 
reached the most picturesque event of our Saviour's 
life. Indeed, there is no other instance in which he 
deliberately prepared a spectacle to touch the imag- 
ination or to attract popular applause. Hitherto he 
had come into the sacred city and gone out of it 
again at his will, without any seeking of conspicu- 
ousness or any recognition of his Messiahship by 
the throngs of the people. 

On the contrary, it would appear to have been 
his endeavor to force even his disciples to keep 
secret the few grand displays he had arranged for 
their confirmation. Over and over again he bade 
the invalids he healed to tell no man of his miracu- 
lous work. The three favored followers who wit- 
nessed the transfiguration were commanded to keep 
the story concealed. 

But now Jesus shows a sudden reversal of his 
policy. He makes a direct and public defiance of 
the chief priests in the presence of their bigoted 
adherents; he advances his claims to be the succes- 
sor of David on the throne of Israel, the long-pre- 
dicted Messiah for the nation. After this there is 



CHRIST ENTKRING JERUSALEM. 1 77 

no retreat, no rescue, no hesitation. At last his 
"hour" has come. 

The Scriptural record of this triumphal entry 
into Jerusalem is not without difficulties in details, 
but it is an incidental proof of the ease of reconcil- 
iation to an honest mind. 

It is noticeable that all four of the evangelists 
give accounts of the incident, but that John omits 
many of the details, and dwells more particularly 
upon its being a confirmation of prophecy, and as 
caused especially by the recent raising of Lazarus 
from the grave. He mentions, also, the despair of 
the Pharisees, who exclaimed, *' Behold, how ye 
prevail nothing; lo, the world is gone out after 
him." Matthew quotes with him the passage from 
Zechariah. Luke states that the owners of the colt 
asked the question anticipated by the Saviour. He 
affirms, too, that the multitudes were moved to their 
enthusiasm by the mighty works they had seen; 
and he records the remonstrance of the Pharisees, 
*' Master, rebuke thy disciples," and the Master's 
reply, " I tell you, if these should hold their peace, 
the stones would immediately cry out." 

We can confine ourselves just now to the enu- 
meration of some lessons about which we shall be 
all acrreed. 

L This story exhibits Christ's foreknowledge of 
all ordinary events. He tells his disciples as they set 
forth to do this errand just what will happen. 
*'And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto 
Bethphage, and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he 
seudeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto 

8* 



178 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

tlicm, Go your way Into the village over against 
you: and as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall 
find a colt tied, whereon never man sat ; loose 
him and bring him. And if any man say unto 
you. Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath 
need of him, and straightway he will send him 
hither. '» 

From the plain of Jericho, distant nearly eight- 
een miles from the Holy City, a long ascent brings 
the traveller to the eastern slope of the Mount of 
Olives, or Olivet, as it is also called; that is, olive 
ground. The most eastern village, probably here 
named first in accordance with the time of ar- 
rival, is Bethphage, *' house or place of unripe 
figs," near to which was Bethany, or the ** house 
of dates," the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. 
Bethany lay on the eastern slope of Mt. Olivet, 
distant about a mile and three-quarters from the 
city. The pilgrims had thus travelled about six- 
teen miles. 

It is the w^onderful particularity with which our 
Lord relates the incidents of this errand that at- 
tracts attention now. The disciples were to go 
on till they reached a cross-road; it was to be found 
this side of the village, and not beyond it; there 
they should see an ass, wdiich should be tied, and by 
the side of which a colt should be standing. Fur- 
thermore, the conversation of the owners was 
given word for word, and the disciples were in- 
structed what to reply so as to secure assent. Here 
is a marvellous illustration of our Lord's knowledge 
of comino: events as well as of human nature. An- 



CHRIST ENTERING JERUSALEM. 179 

Other instance of the same sort is found in the 
narrative of his obtaining a guest-chamber for the 
Last Supper. 

Now if any one asserts that this is trifling, it is 
needful only to answer that just because these 
matters are so simple and apparently trivial, it be- 
comes impossible to predict their occurrence except 
under the supernatural spirit of prophecy. And we 
urgently insist that this artless story helps us to un- 
derstand what the apostle meant when, speak- 
ing some years after this of Jesus Christ, he de- 
clared that i^ him ''are hid all the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge: for in him dwelleth all the 
fulness of the Godhead bodily." 

II. The story presents to view Chris f s sover- 
eignty over all men, ' ' And they went their way, and 
found the colt tied by the door without, in a place 
where two ways met: and they loose him. And 
certain of them that stood there said unto them, 
What do ye, loosing the colt? And they said unto 
them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let 
them go." 

No conjecture has ever been hazarded concern- 
ing these people who seem to have owned the 
animal the disciples borrowed. But the striking 
thing to be noticed is found in their instantaneous 
acquiescence in the act, the moment the simple 
words are spoken which our Lord told the disciples 
to use. It made no difference that they were perfect 
strangers to the messengers or their Master ; it 
seems to have been enough for them to be informed 
that the ''Lord hath need." 



l8o STUDIKS IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

Matthew Henry calls attention to the fact that 
*' Christ went upon the water in a borrowed boat, 
ate the Passover in a borrowed chamber, was buried 
in a borrowed sepulchre, and here rode upon a bor- 
rowed ass." There is a sense in which it may be 
said that the great God never needs anything. *' I 
will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats 
out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is 
mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know 
all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts 
of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would 
not tell thee: for the world is mine and the fulness 
thereof." But he loves to give those who love him 
a chance to think themselves serviceable. And 
this might well be the motto of every true Chris- 
tian life: Surrender always when '' the Lord hath 
need." 

III. Then again, this story discloses Christ's 
power over all the brute creatiott. *' And they brought 
the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; 
and he sat upon him. And many spread their 
garments in the way: and others cut down branches 
oif the trees and strewed them in the way." 

No other instance of Jesus' riding on an animal 
of any sort has been recorded in his history; and of 
all, this must have been a beast most difficult to em- 
ploy in a confused pageant. Mark and Luke both 
mention that the colt had never been broken in nor 
even ridden before. Matthew adds that it was so 
young as still to be running with its mother; and 
Zechariah had called it a *'foal." 

Now it cannot be deemed a straining of the 



CHRIST ENTKRING JERUSALEM. l8l 

proper sense here if we call attention to the mani- 
fest miracle wrought upon such a creature. For 
the uproarious shouts of the multitude, and the 
shrill singing of the children, and the palms and 
the showy garments and the wild excitement all 
around, render it one of the most wonderful of all 
considerations that this ass's colt, the very type of 
uncontroUableness and caprice, should become, as if 
in an instant, tame and steady for the Master's 
service. It is because this part of the narrative is so 
minute and unexpected that it has always attracted 
the surprised attention of simple rural readers of the 
Bible, who are aware what it is to manage so iras- 
cible a creature and one so generally malicious. 
They perceive quickly why such an incident, unap- 
preciated at the time, afterwards is found to have 
made an impression so deep as to be mentioned 
alongside of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. 
*' These things understood not his disciples at the 
first; but when Jesus was glorified, then remem- 
bered they that these things were written of him, 
and that they had done these things unto him. The 
people therefore that was with him when he called 
Lazarus out of the grave, and raised him from the 
dead, bare record. ' ' 

IV. Once more, this story illustrates Christ's 
majesty as the Messiah of God. Two of the evange- 
lists quote at this point the Old Testament prophecy 
concerning this triumphal entry into Jerusalem: 
"And they that went before and they that fol- 
lowed cried, saying, Hosanna: Blessed is he that 
comctli in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the 



l82 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the 
name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.'* 

We recall the similar instances of Jesus' careful- 
ness in gathering up the various passages of Scrip- 
ture which still remained waiting to be fulfilled, 
when, hanging upon the cross, he exclaimed, "I 
thirst." It was not his habit thus to speak of his 
lowest bodily wants; and we should be surprised, 
and even remain at a loss for explanation of this 
cry, if we were not explicitly told that he uttered it 
in order that " the Scriptures might be fulfilled." 

So here: our Lord remembered one prediction 
which needed to be noticed at this exact crisis of 
his history. He rides into the city, not for any vain 
bravado, but because "it is written. ' ' It would not 
be fair to argue strongly for the truth of Jesus' 
claims just from this pageant of entering Jerusalem 
upon an animal such as kings used; for any impos- 
tor could have read Zechariah's prediction and then 
laid himself out to fulfil it. It is simply just, how- 
ever, to assert that in this singular blending of the 
lofty with the lowly our Lord shows the kingliness 
of his nature and the royalty of his office. He rides 
upon a monarch's beast of burden, but he is accom- 
panied by the most unroyal of retinues. We must 
look beneath the surface if we hope fully to under- 
stand this demonstration. He is a king, but he 
apes no show of a triumph. Still, there is a majesty 
in the apparent meanness, easy to be discovered 
through the humility of demeanor which tempers 
the display. 

And we may just pause a moment to catch our 



CHRIST ENTERING JERUSALEM.' ^ . 183 

best lesson: *' Have this mind in you, wliicli was 
also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, 
counted it not a prize to be on an equality with 
God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a ser- 
vant, being made in the likeness of men; and being 
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, be- 
coming obedient even unto death, 3^ea, the death of 
the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, 
and gave unto him the name which is above every 
name; that in the name of Jesus every knee should 
bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and 
things under the earth, and that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Christ is I^ord, to the 
glory of God the Father." 

V. This story likewise shows Jesus'/^;r^ to reveal 
human character. It was predicted of our Lord that 
by him should '' the thoughts of many hearts be re- 
vealed.'^ In the experience of three classes of peo- 
ple here recorded this is evidently fulfilled: "And 
when he was come into Jerusalem all the city was 
•moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude 
said, This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Gali- 
lee." *' And when the chief priests and scribes saw 
the wonderful things that he did, and the children 
crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the 
Son of David! they were sore displeased." 

One group cried "Hosanna!" another group 
coldly questioned, "Who is this?" and a third 
group became malignant and "were sore dis- 
pleased." We can have no doubt that Jesus Christ 
anticipated all this division of sentiment. It was 
what usually happened whenever he appeared pub- 



184 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. ; 

licly. "Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the 
Passover, in the feast-day, many believed in his 
name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 
But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, he- 
cause he knew all men, and needed not that any 
should testify of man: for he knew what was in 
man. ' ' 

It is likely that these three classes of persons 
will always be disclosed the moment the name of 
Jesus Christ is preached. What is in the human 
heart will come out into an unconscious display. 
"Hosanna" means, "Save, we beseech." Only 
those who are of the truth will hear the Lord's 
voice and be saved. 

VI. Still further: this story proves Christ's fit- 
ness to evoke religiotis enthusiasm. All the four 
evangelists record the words of the people on this 
excited occasion; so that we know they quoted the 
ancient ascription of praise to the Messiah, and un- 
doubtedly intended to ascribe their highest honors 
to Jesus as the Christ of God: " Blessed be he that 
Cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed 
you out of the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, 
which hath showed us light: bind the sacrifice with 
cords, even unto the horns of the altar. Thou art 
my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I 
will exalt thee. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord: 
for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." 

The scene which rises on our imaginations is full 
of the loftiest exhilaration. Those hosts of Passover 
pilgrims sang and shouted, cast their garments in 
the dust, and made the air tremulous with the wa- 



CHRIST ENTERING JERUSALEM. 185 

ving of their triumphal palms. Their adoring ac- 
ceptance of this Nazarene rabbi drove the chief 
priests into unreasoning anger. They even tried to 
force Jesus to stop the mouths of the populace; but 
he told them that if this natural and proper enthu- 
siasm should be repressed, when redemption had 
come, the "very stones would cry out." 

It is a frightful mistake to suppose, and a wilful 
perversion to assert, that Christianity as a scheme of 
faith is tame, insipid, and lifeless. It cannot be 
considered even witty to quote in such a connection 
Job's petulant words: "Can that which is unsavory 
be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the 
white of an egg?" For the fact is, the religion of 
Jesus Christ lifts the heart and satisfies the soul bet- 
ter than anything else ever known to fallen and 
saddened men. The gospel restores the race and 
purifies the world. There is nothing lacking in the 
prophet's description of its welcome results: "And 
the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to 
Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their 
heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sor- 
row and sighing shall flee away." 

VII. Finally, this story suggests Christ's silent 
inquisition for wrong-doing. We get the expression 
from the Old Testament: "When he maketh in- 
quisition for blood he remembereth them : he for- 
getteth not the cry of the humble." 

Among all the striking pictures which this entry 
of Jesus into Jerusalem presents, not one can be 
found more impressive than that which is the quiet- 
est and the last. " And Jesus entered into Jerusa- 



l86 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

lem and into the temple: and when he had looked 
round about upon all things, and now the even-tide 
was come, he went out unto Bethany with the 
twelve." 

He came into the temple, looked around, said 
nothings and departed. He had a way of looking 
thus: at his disciples once with anger and with 
orief; at Simon Peter once: "he turned and looked 
upon Peter;" so here he looked on the merchandise, 
the stalls, the tables, in his Father's house! Retri- 
bution was coming on the morrow. 



^'thk head of the corner.", 187 



XVIII. 
*'THE HEAD OF THE CORNER.'^ 

"And have yk not read this Scripture: The stone which 
the builders rejected is become the head of the cor- 
NER?" — Mark 12:10. 

The wife of Thomas Carlyle — a personality and 
a character of as much force in her way as her hus- 
band — writes in her journal that on a certain occa- 
sion she had been to hear a scientific lecture in 
Exeter Hall in London; it seems to have been 
delivered by one of the nobility of the realm, who 
gave a somewhat unexpectedly religious turn to it 
in the development or application of his subject. 
This is what the brisk lady wrote: "The crowd 
was immense and the applause terrific ; but one 
thing rather puzzled me: at every mention of the 
name of ' Christ ' (and there was far too much of 
that), the clapping and the stamping rose to such a 
pitch that one expected always it must end in hip^ 
hip^ Jmrrah ! Did the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation take his lordship's recognition of 'Christ' 
as a personal compliment? Or did it strike them 
with admiration that a British lord should know 
about Christ?" 

There is a painful amount of this kind of toady- 
ism to be discovered at the present day in the 
applause granted to men of conspicuousness, either 
social or scientific, because they patronizingly admit 



l88 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

the general claims of the gospel to a recognition 
among so-called thinkers on the public platform. 
The old question is asked with the same sniff of 
superciliousness it had years ago, "Have any of 
the rulers believed on Him?" As if men's belief 
settled the fact of our Lord's supremacy! 

The rulers never did believe on Jesus: so much 
the worse for the rulers ! Here is a passage of 
Mark's gospel coming regularly under our study 
this morning, and giving an account of the way in 
which the Saviour boldly challenged such insuffer- 
able conceit. Two things come before us ; with 
helpful texts from other sources they will claim 
special attention: a New Testament parable and an 
Old Testament Psalm. The one is what an old 
divine used to call any quotation from the Bible he 
made as a proof- text, ' ' the clincher ' ' of the other. 
Let us look at the details of the story first; then we 
shall be ready to consider the admonition our Lord 
intends by it. *' And he began to speak unto them 
by parables." 

I. The picture suggested by the scene which 
Christ calls up into imagination would be likely to 
cause surprise, or be termed an exaggeration, if it 
were laid anywhere outside of Palestine. Down 
even to the present time customs remain very 
much the same as in Christ's day in that oppressed 
country. 

I. The insecurity of property and person is pro- 
verbial. The Scripture record might be incorpo- 
rated into the ordinary guide-books. Thieves and 
murderers throng the tourist's path all the way 



*'the head of the corner." 1S9 

down " from Jerusalem to Jericho," across the plain 
of Esdraelon to Mt. Carniel, and along the entire 
declivities beside the Sea of Galilee. No man, 
stranger or home-born, can know himself to be 
safe. An attack may always be expected, provided 
a surprise is possible or a treachery promises ade- 
quate success in the pilfering of a purse. 

2. There has been in all ages a special confu- 
sion of iniquitous dealing in respect to real estate. 
Thievery and violence seem to be the rule in the 
East, peace and possession the exception. Some- 
thing is to be charged to the Government; the laws 
are indefinite and bribery is rife; indeed, the Gov- 
ernment sets the example of systematized crime. 
In all history of the Holy Land, from Christ's time 
to ours, the rulers have been organized for official 
robbery and outrage. No titles are secure, even 
when one has paid for his vineyard or his building- 
plot. 

3. Then, too, the custom of committing all 
oversight and control of farms and orchards to 
underlings makes the matter a great deal worse. 
Absenteeism is a fruitful reason for crime. ^*A 
certain man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge 
about it and digged a place for the winefat and 
built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen and 
went into a far country." The parable of the 
vineyard, which appears in the three synoptical 
gospels, was the more readily understood because 
"the song of my beloved touching his vineyard," 
in Isaiah, must have been familiar to Christ's 
hearers. As there *'the vineyard of the Lord of 



190 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah 
his pleasant plant," so here the vineyard stands for 
the theocratic nation, for God's peculiar people; 
and as there the genuine grapes are displaced by 
wild grapes, so here there is no return to the owner. 

*^ And at the season he sent to the husbandmen 
a servant, that he might receive from the husband- 
men of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught 
him and beat him and sent him away empty. And 
again he sent unto them another servant; and at 
him they cast stones and wounded him in the head, 
and sent him away shamefully handled. And 
again he sent another; and him they killed, and 
many others, beating some and killing some. Hav- 
ing yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent 
him also last unto them, saying, They will rever- 
ence my son. But those husbandmen said among 
themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, 
and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took 
him and killed him and cast him out of the vine- 
yard. What shall therefore the lord of the vine- 
yard do? He will come and destroy the husband- 
men and will give the vineyard unto others." 

Those men in charge of the vineyard, to whom 
messenger after messenger had been sent, and who 
now were peremptorily addressed by the owner with 
a final demand in the august person of his son, are 
represented as communing with each other, and 
saying, as they laid the wiles of their conspiracy, 
what might be construed into an utterance of their 
belief that, if this one inheritor were only dead, all 
heirship would be extinguished. More than one 



*'the head of the corner." 191 

parable of our Lord assumes precisely this exposure 
to pluuder and murder from one's own employes. 
To this there could be no barrier, and for it there 
could be neither remedy i!or redress before the law. 

4. Still, so far as we can learn, there was no 
ground for hope of success in this plot. No enact- 
ment has come down to us which would sustain 
such an entailment or division or heirship as those 
infamous creatures assumed. Luke's language 
(20:14) agrees with Mark's; but Matthew (21:38) 
says, ''Let us seize on his inheritance." This 
suggests the true interpretation. The husbandmen 
had no countenance in the common law; they in- 
tended to say that they would make the vineyard 
theirs by violence, and hold it by any extremities 
of force. It was a singularly stupid plan; it could 
not have even a plausible look anywhere but in 
that wretched region. It assumed an absence of 
justice, an insecurity of possession, an immunity 
for the worst crime, positively Oriental in its tol- 
eration of rapine and murder. 

5. Add to this the fact that in those early days, 
when invention had not yet brought firearms into 
use, the measures taken for homicide were brutal 
and hard beyond description. Not even spears or 
daofeers or knives are used there for assassination 
now any more than they used to be. The coarse, 
rude weapon for murder is a club or bludgeon of 
the roughest sort. The Bedouins will have a gun 
on their shoulders, but will knock their victim on 
the head with a knotted stick all the same. The 
description left on record by the Psalmist is true to 



192 

this day: *'He sittetli in the lurking-places of the 
villages; in the secret places doth he murder the 
innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor. 
He lieth in wait secretly' as a lion in his den; he 
lieth in wait to catch the poor; he doth catch the 
poor, when he draweth him into his net. He 
croucheth and humbleth himself that the poor may 
fall by his strong ones. He hath said in his heart, 
God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will 
never see if 

6. Hence this frightful picture was a tremend- 
ous invective as well as a vivid illustration when 
employed by our Lord. He used it for a similitude 
in one of his most direct and forcible arraignments 
of the Jewish nation for their blind, dull, coarse, 
criminal rejection of God's only-begotten Son, de- 
spatched them from high heaven to secure his 
Father's rights from those who had grasped after 
heirship by murder. It would seem as if the very 
least he would or could do would be to thrust a 
gang so execrable out of the vineyard and give it to 
others. 

11. We turn now to the second branch of the 
story. Our Lord suddenly drops his figure and 
leaves the parable altogether, finishing his applica- 
tion with a quotation from one of the most familiar 
of the Psalms: "And have ye not read this Scrip- 
ture, The stone which the builders rejected is be- 
come the head of the corner? This was the Lord's 
doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. And they 
sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people, 
for they knew that he had spoken the parable 



'^TIIK IIICAD OF THE CORNER. ' I93 

against tliem; and they left liim and went their 
way. ' ' 

1. Thus he ilhistrates his position. He claims 
a Messianic Psalm for himself. Matthew tells us 
he said to those hearers of his in plain words that 
he was speaking this parable concerning them. 
And he chooses to show them that for himself there 
was no fear of the future: "Therefore I say unto 
you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you 
and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits 
thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone 
shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it 
Vili grind him to powder." The "son" of the 
story who got murder instead of ' ' reverence ' ' is 
heard of no more. But the Son of God, though 
"rejected" now, should one day come to his place 
of honor. They imderstood him very well, for in 
an alarmed sort of murmur they said, "God for- 
bid!" 

2. Thus he predicts his eventful triumph. 
There is a tradition of the Jewish rabbis which 
relates the history of a wonderful stone, prepared, 
as they say, for use in the building of Solomon's 
temple. Each block for that matchless edifice was 
shaped and fitted for its particular place, and came 
away from the distant quarry marked for the ma- 
sons. But this one was so different from any other 
that no one knew what to do with it. Beautiful 
indeed it was, carved with figures of exquisite love- 
liness and grace; but it had no fellow; it fitted no- 
where ; and at last the impatient and perplexed 
workmen flung it aside as only a splendid piece of 

Stu.I'.cs 111 Mftik'H OoHpcI. Q 



194 STUDIES IN mark's gospel. 

folly. Years passed while the proud structure was 
going up without the sound of axe or hammer. 
During all the time this despised fragment of rock 
was lying in the valley of Jehoshaphat covered with 
dirt and moss. Then came the day of dedication; 
the vast throng arrived to see what the Israelites 
were wont to call ^'the noblest fabric under the 
sun." There it stood crowning the mountain's 
ridge and shining with whiteness of silver and yel- 
lowness of gold. The wondering multitude gazed 
admiringly upon its magnificent proportions, grand 
in their splendor of marble. But when one said 
that the east tower was unfinished, or at least looked 
so, the chief architect grew impatient again, and 
replied that Solomon was wise, but a builder must 
admit there was a gap in his plans. By-and-by the 
king drew near in person; with his retinue he rode 
directly to the incomplete spot, as if he there ex- 
pected most to be pleased. ''Why is this neglect?" 
he asked in tones of indignant surprise: "where is 
the piece I sent for the head of this corner?" 
Then suddenly the frightened workmen bethought 
themselves of that rejected stone which they had 
been spurning as worthless. They sought it again, 
cleared it from its defilement, swung it fairly up 
into its place, and found it was indeed the top-stone, 
fitted so as to e:ive the last orrace to the whole. 

3. Thus Jesus also clinches his argument. He 
made his audience see that he was fulfilling every 
necessity of the Messiah's office and answering to 
every prediction made of him, even do\vn to the 
receiving of the "rejection " at their hands as tliey 



(( 



THE HEAD OF THE CORNER." I95 



were now giving it to him. They were educated 
in the ancient oracles of God, and were wont to 
admit the bearing of every sentence and verse of 
propliecy. And when this strange, intrepid Gali- 
lean asked them, "Did ye never read in the Scrip- 
ture?" they saw that he knew his vantage with 
the people, and would be strong enough to hold it 
against their violence or treachery. There was 
force in argument when one brought up a text 
inspired. 

What filled those hearers with wrath was the 
implication that an unknown Israelite had turned 
against his own nation and was claiming a Messi- 
ahship which would utterly destroy all the selfish 
hopes they had been reared to cherish. What the 
Jews wanted was not the glory of God in the estab- 
lishment of a new kingdom of grace; they wished 
for the identical kingdom which their fathers had 
had when David shone in royal splendor and Solo- 
mon covered Jerusalem with glory. They had 
schooled themselves to believe that they owned 
this entire sovereignty already. They had no no- 
tion of surrendering the preeminence even to God's 
Son. 

And this is the old story of debased human 
nature. The moment a man begins to consider 
himself master and owner of the mercies which a 
beneficent God is bidding him occupy till he come; 
the moment he gives loose rein to his pride because 
of his spiritual or temporal advantage over others; 
the moment he claims that the silver and the eold 
gathered into his coffers, the acres of land and the 



196 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

piles of houses that he controls, the love of his wife 
and the tenderness of his children, are only the 
proper blessings that belong to his merit; that mo- 
ment he has need to listen to that ancient cry out 
of heaven: "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have 
robbed me." For the tremendous question to be 
answered as men lift up their proud foreheads in 
wealth and power is this: "What hast thou that 
thou hast not received ? Who owns this that thou 
hast?" They are like the wicked husbandmen 
who said openly, "This is the heir; come, let us 
kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance." And 
then the Lord will simply change his stewards: 
"He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and 
will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, 
which shall render him the fruits in their seasons." 

4. Thus likewise our Lord enlightened their 
consciences. There is something more than logi- 
cal defeat in their manner after this conversation; 
there is spiritual dismay and consternation. " They 
knew that he had spoken this parable against 
them." It was necessary to silence this terrible 
voice of denunciation. But like all time-servers, 
they were afraid of the popular cry. So they stood 
convicted and stubborn and dared his wrath. 

It is useless for us to waste any more time in the 
contemplation of these Pharisees who now deliber- 
ately set themselves to complete the picture Jesus 
had drawn of them in his parable, and murder the 
messenger God had sent them as the last he should 
ever send, saying, "Surely they will reverence my 
Son." To us they appear like the picture which 



^'TIIK HEAD OF THE CORNER." 197 

the mystic St. Theresa said she saw *'with the 
eyes of her soul" the moment she faced a certain 
priest whom she was accustomed to meet daily; he 
was fair and in his morality even stern, sanctimoni- 
ous in devotion; but she declared she always saw 
two devils encompassing his neck, with their horns 
interlocked irresistibly above his beautiful head. 

Our concern is no longer with them; we have a 
lesson for our own souls to learn. God says to us in 
these latter days, and with all the more force now 
that the claims of Jesus Christ to be the true Mes- 
siah are acknowledged, "Surely they will rever- 
ence my Son." Will we listen to the voice from 
heaven, or will we first fall on the stone which the 
builders rejected, and then invite it to fall upon us 
and "grind us to powder"? We have the author- 
ity of Lord Bacon for asserting that in no instance 
to be found in the range of classical literature, not 
even in the poetical works of the ancients where 
the heroes are mentioned by name, do we discover 
that any of them besides Diomedes ever offered an 
act of violence to any one of their deities, bad as 
they were; and Diomedes suffered punishments the 
most cruel afterwards for his impiety, being at last 
put to death by his soldiers. Thus the heathen 
showed a most salutary and exemplary caution as 
to revering with a becoming awe the gods they 
worshipped. Alas for the daring of a mortal's con- 
tempt when Jesus, God's only -begotten Son, is 
spurned, reviled, rejected! 

There is another lesson for us to learn : see what 
pains a wicked man will take to spite the Saviour 



198 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

who came to save him. Look at this zealous crowd 
of conspirators who are planning to betray Jesus 
Christ: "And they watched him, and sent forth 
spies, which should feign themselves just men, that 
they might take hold of his words, that so they 
might deliver him unto the power and authority of 
the governor." It was a wise comment made by 
old Kenelm Digby years and years ago as he looked 
around upon the souls wasting their energies in 
•disputing an undoubted message of mercy from 
heaven: "Men take more pains," said he sadly, 
"to lose themselves than would be requisite to keep 
them in the right road !" We see the same perver- 
sity in our day. Oh, how hard men will work — 
men who might be saved, who might be saved ! — 
oh, how hard they will work and conspire and plan 
and toil just to be danmed! 

Cannot we be convinced also, as we study this 
story, that we do not need to cringe and beseech for 
a little notice for " Christ" from a skeptic, a phi- 
losopher, or a duke ? Jesus has already become 
the "Head of the corner." This entire world 
measures its dates by the year when he was born. 
The whole race is divided into Christians and 
heathen, a division as sharp in intelligence as it is 
in worth or manhood. We do not bend to earthly 
grandeur nor blush for our Lord's shame any more. 
Godfrey de Bouillon, the first king of Christian 
Jerusalem, never wore any crown; he suffered no 
one to put a diadem on his head, for he said he 
could not wear gold on the spot where his Lord 
wore only thorns. A like loyalty of true chivalric 



199 

devotion characterized his successor on the same 
throne, Baldwin ; for, when under pressure of the 
patriarch he felt it was necessary to assume his 
place among sovereigns by a public coronation, he 
went down from the capital to modest Bethlehem, 
that the pageant might be performed where his 
King, the King of kings, was born. The nations 
are becoming Christian; the day is near for the 
seventh of God's angels to shout and for the great 
voices in heaven to say, "The kingdoms of this 
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of 
his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." 

Finally, we learn the infinite peril of any fur- 
ther delay. This question of accepting Christ as 
our Saviour and Surety or of rejecting him presses 
for a swift and permanent decision. It is hard and 
dreadful to fall upon a stone; what if the stone 
becomes active and of itself falls upon us ? It 
hurts, it bruises, it maims, it cripples just to be 
*' broken;" what must it be for one to be "ground 
into powder ' ' ? 

One of the best of modern preachers of England 
tells us that, away up in a lonely Highland valley, 
beneath a tall black cliff, weather-worn and cracked 
and seamed, he once saw lying at the foot, resting 
on the greensward that crept round its base, a huge 
rock which had apparently fallen with terrible vio- 
lence from the face of the precipice. He learned 
that a shepherd had been passing exactly there at 
the awful moment; and suddenly, when the finger 
of God's will touched it, rending it from its ancient 
bed in the everlasting rock, it came down, leaping 



2CX) STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

and bounding from pinnacle to pinnacle; it struck 
the unfortunate man and literally ground him to 
powder. The fragments lie underjteath it now ! 

That is the figure: like that is the fate of those 
on whose final impenitence falls the wrath of God 
for the rejection of his Son. A wuld and weird 
image it is for even rhetoric to use; but it is not 
our human simile by choice, it is Christ's. He 
will be a bruised brother at the best who falls on 
the stone that the builders rejected; but he will be 
ground to powder on whom the *' head stone of the 
corner ' ' falls ! 



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 201 

XIX. 
THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 

"Which is the first commandment of ALL7"—Mark 12:28. 

There often arises an outcry when settled opin- 
ions are questioned, and when decisions made by 
those old in power are deliberately subjected to in- 
vestigation as if they were no better than any other 
man's and no more sacred. Archbishop Leigh ton, 
speaking of the times before the appearance of the 
Wesleys and their coadjutors, says: ''The church 
was a fair carcass without a spirit.'* This state- 
ment the annalist Burnet confirms: "The clergy 
had less authority, and were under more contempt, 
than those of any other church in Europe; for they 
were much the more remiss in their labors and the 
least severe in their lives." Into the midst of this 
apathy and worldliness came those preachers, with 
torches in their hands which both lighted and 
burned the people in the depths of their souls. 
There was a tempest of wrath in England. 

It seems sometimes like a thankless task to at- 
tempt to arouse a whole community or generation 
of people from the gathered apathy and traditions of 
unspiritual ages. Indeed, for a while it seems as if 
we were making matters worse. 

But no modern picture can fittingly represent 
the alarm and consternation of those scribes and 

9* 



202 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPKU 

Pharisees into the midst of whose fine-spun theories 
and absurd practices came the teaching of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Think of the explosiveness of a state- 
ment of doctrine and duty like that in the chapter 
before us to-day. No wonder it threw those hearers 
into sullen silence so deep that they could ask no 
more questions. Let us take it up for examination, 
point by point. 

L What was the scheme of religious life which 
our Lord proposed to put in the place of the whole 
system of Judaism as it now confronted him ? 
This must come up as our earliest question for an 
answer. 

I. He reduced the prolixity and confusion of 
enactments at once. Those lawyers, that is to say, 
the scribes of the law, had gone far away already 
from the Ten Commandments of Moses; they had 
enough matter in their hands for five hundred more 
Decalogues. The air around them was fairly thick 
and dusty with smoke from their hair-splitting de- 
bate and denunciation. Jesus made short work 
with their glosses, giving only two laws in place of 
a thousand: love to God, love to one's neighbor. 
*'And one of the scribes came, and having heard 
them reasoning together, and perceiving that he 
had answered them well, asked him. Which is the 
first commandment of all? And Jesus answered 
him, The first of all the commandments is. Hear, O 
Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and 
with all thy soul and with all thy mind and, with 
all thy strength; this is the first commandment. 



TIIK GREAT COMMANDMENT. 203 

And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love 
thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other com- 
mandment greater than these." 

Martin Luther once wrote: *'The words of the 
apostle Paul are not dead w^ords; they are living 
creatures, they have hands and feet." Who can 
measure the power of the words Jesus Christ spoke, 
accordinof to an estimate like this? For they were 
more than living creatures; he said himself, "It is 
the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth noth- 
ing ; the words that I speak unto you, they are 
spirit and they are life." In this is found the 
reason of his popularity outside of the aristocratic 
circles in Judaea; "the common people heard him 
gladly." Dean Stanley noticed when he was trav- 
elling in the Orient one constant gesture used in 
the Mussulman devotions; it was to place the hands 
near the ears, as if to listen for some possible mes- 
sengers or messages from the other world. That is 
the natural and instinctive attitude for a sincere 
soul to assume. The moment we can secure a fit 
standing-spot above and beyond the stir and the 
noise, the confusions and the dissipations, of this 
mortal world, we put our hand to our ear; for we 
long to receive truth and love from on high. In 
Jesus' preaching the populace knew they had what 
was trustworthy. He came within a common 
man's reach, and fought out his spiritual battles 
with him. 

2. Then, besides reducing the number of the 
enactments, our Lord carefully exhibited the spirit 
which was underlying the principle that was pecu- 



204 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

liar to both. Love was shown to be the fulfilling of 
the law. ^'And the scribe said unto him, Well, 
Master, thou hast said the truth, for there is one 
God: and there is none other but he; and to love 
him with all the heart and with all the under- 
standing and with all the soul and with all the 
strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is 
more than all whole burnt offerings and sacri- 
fices." 

Love, then, nothing more, nothing less, is the 
basis of obedience and the foundation of all our 
hope of salvation; not duty, not liberality, not self- 
sacrifice, but love — honest affection into which we 
put at least these four elements, the most important 
in our entire being: heart, soul, mind, and strength. 
The love God requires must be perfect in each par- 
ticular; otherwise it is no better than what the 
scribes in Christ's time had. They claimed that 
their legalism grew out of love. 

IL Now, in the second place, we need to ask 
how one having this masterful love can keep it 
from being rendered useless by his own act. 

I. It may lose the '' heart " out of it. It was fa- 
bled that Mohammed's coffin was suspended in the 
air halfway between heaven and earth; that is no 
place for a Christian surely while he is alive. 
Christ said, '* Ye cannot serve God and mammon." 
Look at the account given of the military people 
who wanted to make David king: "All these men 
of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect 
heart to Hebron to make David king over all 
Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one 



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 205 

heart to make David king." They kept rank, 
shoulder to shoulder. That was the way to march 
up to the coronation of a monarch. ^'They were 
not of double heart:" alongside of that expression in 
the margin you will find this, "without a heart 
and a heart." No man can love God with a heart 
for him and another heart for somebody or some- 
thing else. See how fine seems the zeal of Naa- 
man when he scoops up some loads of earth from 
the soil of Israel, that he may bear it over into Syria 
for an altar to Jehovah; and now see how he takes 
the whole worth out of it by the absurd proposition 
that, when his royal master walks in procession to 
the temple of Rimmon, he may be permitted to go 
as he always went, kneeling down to the idol with 
the rest of the heathen worshippers! 

2. This love may likewise lose the "soul" out 
of it. We always expect to see some generous sen- 
sibility in the behavior of true men and women. If 
the world is commonplace, it is refreshing to see 
now and then some little measure of sentiment and 
imagination and feeling. We like to read that upon 
Jenny Lind's cofhn wa5 silently laid at her funeral, 
by Otto Goldschmidt, her husband, a wreath of 
myrtle made from a tree planted years ago by the 
great singer herself in the shape of a tiny twig 
plucked from her wedding wreath. It seems beau- 
tiful and pathetic to know that such things in our 
day can be found as genuine affection reaching 
across from the bridal to the tomb, faithful to re- 
member youth and brightness even after they have 
faded and vanished for ever. True aflfection always 



206 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

has a purpose in it too, unfaltering, unwavering, 
persistent to the end. A carrier pigeon was picked 
up in New Jersey the other day. An investigation 
showed that it had been released with nine others 
from a town in the southern part of the State and 
had become lost from the rest. These birds never 
give up their search for the point they are seeking 
to reach. It had flow^n on and on till it became ex- 
hausted, when it fell and evidently died of starva- 
tion. Ought not a human being to have as much 
principle and direct grit of determination as a bird 
going home to a nest? When the heart is gone, 
and so there is no interest in loving, and the soul is 
gone, and there is no purpose in loving, where is 
love? 

3. Then this love may be injured by losing the 
*'mind" out of it. All true affection is intelligent. 
We say ''love is blind," but what we mean is that 
it is blind to faults; love is wise and alert, and con- 
stant in perceiving excellences. Defections from 
the true doctrines of the Scriptures are inevitably 
followed by a low state of piety. A man becomes a 
backslider the moment he drops into insecurity of 
conviction. In some quarters at the present day it 
is deemed an evidence of growth in Christian life to 
speak lightly of confessions and catechisms ; will 
men be thouo:htful enouo:h to remember that the 
great work of this world has been accomplished by 
those who really had something to believe and con- 
sistently believed it? A creed gives courage. 
Every genuine worker for Jesus Christ takes what 
Jesus said to be truth, and he turns to it for guid- 



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 207 

aiice and inspiration. At the basis of even a 
prayer-meeting there needs to be an intellectual 
conception of the gospel methods and plans of 
grace. This is what gives consistency to character 
in any child of God. What vitiates so mncli of our 
modern devotion is mere emotion as opposed to 
steady principle in the performance of drudgery. 
*'I ministered once," said Bishop Huntington, "in 
a church where a pew stood for a million of dollars. 
There were generous men and saintly women 
among them not a few. But it only happened once 
in nine years that, after I had announced an offer- 
ing for a following Sunday, a person stopped after 
the service to say, * I must be absent next Sunday 
and wish you to take my gift now.' She was not a 
Samaritan, but a cook, and she was to be absent to 
cook a rich man's dinner, and I had some reason to 
suspect that her gift was larger than his." 

III. Now comes our third question: How should 
this love be exercised? This brings us straight to 
the eleventh commandment, which our Lord de- 
clares is new in some respects, but in its spirit is 
like the rest of the Decalogue: "A new command- 
ment I give unto you. That ye love one another; as 
I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By 
this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if 
ye have love one to another." We are bidden to 
love our neisrhbor as ourselves. 

I. Who is our neighbor? The answer to this if 
found in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 
10:29-37). Our neighbors, primarily and etymo- 
logically speaking, are the men, women, or children 



208 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPElv. 

who stand nearest to us in the ordinary relations 
of life. But, judging from the particulars of our 
Lord's story, we ought to give more pertinence to 
the thought of need on their part and of fitness and 
ability on our part to bring help. Those who are a 
step lower in good fortune or happy lot than ours 
would seem to claim special interposition. The one 
grand question God is asking of this world at the 
present moment is this: What shall the strong do 
for the weak ? 

2. What are we to do for our neighbor? The 
answer to all such questions is found in the Golden 
Rule: "And as ye would that men should do to 
you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love 
them which love you, what thank have ye? for sin- 
ners also love those that love them. And if ye do 
good to them which do good to you, what thank 
have ye ? for sinners also do even the same. And if 
ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what 
thank have ye ? for sinners also lend to sinners, to 
receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, 
and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; 
and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the 
children of the Highest; for he is kind unto the un- 
thankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful 
as your Father also is merciful." 

There is certainly something more intended in 
this extensive deliverance than a recommendation 
to Christians to be liberal in the contributions 
needed by ordinary charitable institutions or meth- 
ods of supply. Underlying the facts are supposed to 
be feelings. The Bible statement is, " Blessed is he 



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 209 

that considcrcth the poor." Surely that refers to 
more than money. We must do to our neighbor the 
thing we should wish him to do to us if positions 
were exactly reversed in each case: we are to com- 
fort his body, aid his estate, enlighten his mind, 
advance his interests, and save his soul. There is a 
story that a priest stood upon the scaffold with Joan 
of Arc till his very garments took fire with the 
flames which were consuming her, so zealous was 
he for her conversion. 

IV. Only one more question remains to be an- 
swered : Does the possession of this love as a princi- 
ple of life make a man a Christian? 

I. Let us observe thoughtfully what the Saviour 
says to the Jewish scribe with whom he had been 
talking: *'And when Jesus saw that he answered 
discreetly, he said unto him. Thou art not far from 
the kingdom of God." This language is pictorial; 
it represents the man, like Hopeful in the "Pil- 
grim's Progress," as walking on towards the Celes- 
tial City ; and thus conceived, he was probably 
making conscientious search after truth and right- 
eousness. In his intellectual belief he made a very 
excellent confession. He told the Lord that to do 
what he had announced was beyond anything his 
religion so far had had to offer; it was worth more 
than all sacrifices and ceremonial performances. If 
he went forth, on that memorable occasion, deter- 
mined to live what he had just now openly ac- 
knowledged, and if he followed out the purpose 
with prayer and repentant confession, then he cer- 
tainly became a true believer in Jesus. 



210 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

2. But we must go farther for ourselves before 
we decide; for we have had more light than that 
scribe of Israel's law. Jesus said unto him, "This 
do, and thou shalt live." And yet all the time we 
must remember that the love to one's neighbor 
grows out of the love to God as its first condition; 
we must love our neighbor because we love God, for 
his own sake; we must love our neighbor because 
the neighbor has relations to God just as sacred as 
ours; we must love him for God's sake. 

3. Again: it is not what we do for any one that 
saves our souls. Faith and repentance, not works 
of benevolence or charity, are the established condi- 
tions of our receiving the atonement Jesus made for 
sin on the cross; and that is what makes a man a 
genuine Christian. We open our hearts to God's 
love for us, and then out of the fulness of a new 
divine love in ourselves we begin to love others; 
that is the love which counts, not to make us Chris- 
tians, but to show we are such. The order of expe- 
rience is unalterable. "None know how to prize 
the Saviour," wrote the good Lady Huntingdon, 
"but such as are zealous in pious works for 
others." 

4. So, finally, our greatest danger is disclosed at 
once in this exercise of doing good to those around 
us. It comes from the tendency of our nature to 
thrust self forward into every religious experience. 
It is so easy to grow complacent over our attain- 
ments or exploits, when really they rise up out of 
our pity or our pride of patronage. In the most in- 
dustrious moments we have there will sometimes 



THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. 211 

come a sense of sweet self-congratulation as we 
think how good and amiable we are. 

It is related of the great sculptor Michael 
Angelo that when at work he wore over his fore- 
head, fastened to his artist's cap, a lighted candle, in 
order that no shadow of himself might fall on his 
work! It was a beautiful custom and spoke a more 
eloquent lesson than he knew! For the shadows 
that fall on our work — how often they fall from our- 
selves! It is the quiet work we do because we love 
the Master that tells on an unconverted soul stand- 
ing close by; he sees that we love him when each 
feature of his face constitutes a provocation; for he 
sees we love God. 

" There is no end to the sky, and the stars are everywhere, 
And time is eternity and the here is over there ; 
For the common deeds of the common day 
Are ringing bells in the far-away." 



213 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 



XX. 



TROUBLE JUST AHEAD. 

" Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be 
the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?" — 
Mark 13:4. 

The chapter before us is not easy of interpreta- 
tion in many of its particulars, because the sugges- 
tions Ox^ doctrine glide so imperceptibly and fitfully 
between the predictions of Jerusalem's downfall and 
the prophecies of the w^orld's end that we cannot 
always fix their exact application. It appears as if 
it might be as well on the present occasion to oc- 
cupy ourselves with what is plain and practical, 
and not lose our time in speculation upon what is 
not certainly revealed. 

I. We learn, in the beginning, that Jerusalem 
was openly announced as doomed to fall before it 
fell. Some specific incidents were related before- 
hand which would test the prophetic power of Jesus 
Christ there at once, and put within reach of his 
disciples a confutation or a confirmation of his 
claims. "And as he went out of the temple one of 
his disciples saith unto him. Master, see what man- 
ner of stones and what buildings are here ! And 
Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these 
great buildings? There shall not be left one stone 
upon another that shall not be thrown down." 

It hardly needs to be stated, for the whole mat- 



TROUBLE JUST AHEAD. 213 

tcr is SO familiar, that the predictions of this city's 
overthrow showed that our Lord spoke with a per- 
fect knowledge of the events he mentioned as corn- 
in e on the earth. The site of that old town is a 
well-known fact; no one thinks of disputing the 
locality. The historic books of the Jews tell how 
Jerusalem was overthrown by the Romans. Any 
one can ask and answer whether the stones arc 
large, whether they are in position or not. The 
city lies "on heaps." Mt. Zion is "ploughed." 
The temple is gone. Those vast walls are scat- 
tered. Some few stones of prodigious size yet 
remain in what were the foundations of the edifices 
and in the cavernous substructions underground. 
No one can pass out of the modern Jaffa gate and 
push on around along the declivity of Zion till he 
enters again the gate of Stephen without uncon- 
sciously saying to himself, "See what manner of 
stones !" 

II. We learn next, as we continue to read the 
verses, that it is lawful to inquire for the time of 
fulfilment of Scriptural prophecy. It is not right 
to attempt to set it, but if it can be ascertained, so 
much the better for our understanding, and in that 
direction our duty lies. "And as he sat upon the 
]\Iount of Olives, over against the temple, Peter and 
James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 
Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall 
be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?" 

No one can look upon that most interesting 
picture suggested here, of Jesus sitting tranquilly 
among his eager disciples and answering their ques- 



214 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

tions concerning the future, and draw any other 
inference than that of the Master's full consent to 
their curiosity. On the contrary, he tells them 
most important facts concerning the great times 
coming. 

It is absurd to say, just because some persons 
have uttered wild things and confounded the fright- 
ened people with a storm of words without knowl- 
edge, that no one is permitted to study prophecy. 
What does the apostle John say? ^'Blessed is he 
that readeth and they that hear the words of this 
prophecy, and that keep those things which are 
written therein, for the time is at hand.'' 

III. We learn also just here that there will be 
one special token of the world's end which will -not 
fail: " the gospel must first be published among all 
nations." Very carefully chosen is this phraseol- 
ogy. We are not told here that all nations are to 
be converted by the gospel before the true Christ 
shall come again, but that they are all to hear it. 
It would seem as if it could not be a difficult thing 
to decide so evident a fact as this assumes whenever 
it should occur. Most of us would no doubt be sur- 
prised to learn how many of the nations on the face 
of the earth have really already heard the tidings of 
salvation, and it is not impossible that the joyous 
moment is very nigh. It is time certainly to be 
thoughtful. 

It is within the memory of almost all of us that 
the fixed, and with some good old men the stereo- 
typed, prayer for monthly concert for many a year 
was that God would open China to the gospel and 



TROUBLE JUST AHEAD. 215 

break down the barriers in Japan. Now there is 
in most of the world nothin<r in the way except 
the hardness of men's hearts. Growth has been 
made in evangelizing effort that startles us when 
we think of it. Lately, the conversion of a nation 
in a day, as once seemed to be the case in Mada- 
gascar, has come to appear less and less strange. 
Spiritual uprisings of whole peoples at a time have 
been recorded in our generation. 

IV. We learn also that when the end of the 
world draws nigh it will be heralded and accom- 
panied with most dire convulsions and troubles; 
''For in those days shall be affliction such as was 
not from the beginning of the creation which God 
created unto this time, neither shall be. And ex- 
cept that the Lord had shortened those days, no 
flesh should be saved; but for the elect's sake, 
whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.'* 

It cannot be stated precisely what is intended in 
these awful sentences of prediction. Families are 
to be broken up by treachery among the members: 
nations are to be disrupted by wars and insurrec- 
tions; the solid earth will shake, and the mountains 
and islands will be moved out of their places; the 
world will stagger like a drunken man; there will 
be distress and wrath, and the sea and the waves 
will be roaring; and men's hearts will be failing 
them with fear and for looking after those things 
which are coming on the earth. (Luke 21:25.) 
The descriptions of the great day of the Lord are 
the strangest and the strongest in the Bible: the 
sun will be black and the stars will fall out of the 



2l6 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

sky; the heavens will depart as a scroll (Isa. 34:4); 
then there shall be nothing between us and the face 
of God. (Rev. 6:12-17.) 

How much of all this is figurative and how 
much is literal no one can tell. It is enough for us 
to know that the day of judgment will afford no 
proper time for tranquil thinking, for believing in a 
Saviour, for saving repentance of one's sins. 

V. So w^e are ready for our final lesson from 
the passage: Men need to prepare for such a day as 
this before it shall prove to be too late. It is easy 
for us to see now the relevancy of what has been 
said by the royal preacher (Prov. 22:3), **A pru- 
dent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself." 
There is but one refuge for any human soul: Christ 
is our hiding-place; he will preserve us from trou- 
ble. (Psa. 32:7.) If we believe in him we are safe. 

It is revealed in the Scriptures that the coming 
of our Lord to judge the world will find some men 
in a condition of apathy and listlessness. They 
will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving 
in marriage. (Matt. 24:37-39.) They will be buy- 
ing and selling, planting and building, as they were 
in Lot's time. (Luke 17:28-30.) Better for us, 
who are studying to know God's will this impres- 
sive hour, to call on the Lord at once and be secure 
in him. For it is also revealed in the Scriptures 
that those who are the true children of God will 
be glad when they see all these awful wonders 
begin to arrive. So Jesus says, "And when these 
things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift 
up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh." 



TROUBI^K JUST AHEAD. 21; 

"We picture death as coming to destroy; let us 
rather picture Christ as coming to save. We think 
of death as ending; let us rather think of life as 
beginning, and that more abundantly. We think 
of losing; let us think of gaining. We think of 
parting; let us think of meeting. We think of 
going away; let us think of arriving. And as the 
voice of death whispers, ' You must go from earth,' 
let us hear the voice of Christ saying, * You are but 
coming to me.' " These were the bright words of 
Norman McLeod; and those of Richard Baxter 
were like them, only more full of longing still: 
*' Haste, O my Saviour, the time of thy return! 
Delay not, lest the living give up hope. Oh, 
hasten that great resurrection-day when the seed 
thou sowedst corruptible shall come forth incor- 
ruptible, and the graves that retain but dust shall 
return their glorious ones, thy destined Bride!" 



lO 



2l8 



XXL 
OUR ABSENT LORD. 

*' For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who 
left his house and gave authority to his servants, and 
to every man his work, and commanded the porter to 
WATCH." — Mark 13:34. 

No one can read the New Testament without 
perceiving that the calls of divine grace are persist- 
ent and unceremonious, as if there might be danger 
in the delay of acceptance. Sinners are urged to 
immediate repentance of their sins before it is too 
late to avail for their salvation. Haste is becoming 
necessary with each passing moment; the crisis is at 
hand. 

What crisis? When the texts are grouped to- 
gether it ought to be apparent to every one that 
there are three motives addressed by three formulas 
of warning, and not just one alone. The ungodly 
man is told that his time of spiritual probation may he 
short — he may die: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth 
to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work 
nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the 
grave, whither thou goest;'* that his chalice of divine 
help may he forfeited — the Holy Ghost may withdraw: 
"And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always 
strive with man;'' that his career may he C2it short by 
the abrupt end of the world — Christ may come to judg- 
ment: "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the 



OUR ABSENT LORD. 219 

day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.'^ 
Tiiese three — death, reprobation, and the second ad- 
vent — are often confounded in pulpit appeals and 
parental admonitions which it is hoped will incite 
to obedience and lead perishing souls into new life. 
But many of the verses are not by any possibility of 
fair interpretation to be discharged of meaning by 
referring them to the mere risk of one's dying at an 
unforeseen date, and so losing his opportunity. 
Some men are lost before they die: ''Kphraim is 
joined to idols: let him alone." And some women 
too: " She that livetli in pleasure is dead while she 
liveth." Some persons are not going to die at 
all: *' Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not 
all sleep, but we shall all be changed." Some will 
go to heaven without ever having been buried: 
"Then we which are alive and remain shall be 
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet 
the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with 
the Lord." 

The parable, which pictures our divine Re- 
deemer as planning to revisit this world of ours, 
cannot be discharged of its meaning by a reference 
to the ordinary risks of human mortality. Its theme 
is not man's dying, but Christ's coming. 

Doubtless we shall be able to reach the whole 
significance of its teaching to us better by an orderly 
rehearsal of the lessons to be learned from it under 
careful exposition. 

I. To begin with, Christ is represented as a 
householder on a journey with the evident purpose 
of returning: *' For the Son of man is as a man 



220 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

taking a far journey, who left his house and gave 
authority to his servants, and to every man his 
work, and commanded the porter to watch." 

1. It is not fair to look petulantly upon Jesus as 
a mere ** absentee" lord of the soil. We must not 
say jealous things about his *' reaping where he has 
not sown." For he made this world; he has ran- 
somed the race; he has suffered wonderfully to save 
souls; and he rightly owns what he has purchased. 

2. It must be remembered that Christ went 
away for a most gracious purpose in behalf of his 
people: *' Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is 
expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not 
away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if 
I depart, I will send him unto you." He makes the 
point explicitly in order to lift the depressed spirits 
of his followers. The presence and official work of 
the Third Person of the Trinity would at this mo- 
ment be more to their advantage than that of the 
Second. The Comforter would do more for them 
than he could. Moreover, he was personally needed 
elsewhere in their behalf. He was going away to 
* ' prepare a place ' ' for them ; he would ' ' come again. ' ' 

3. It is better to wait and pray for his return 
than to cavil at his departure. 

"Coming! coming! Oh.isitso? 

Do we hear the sound of thy chariot wheels ? 
Saviour, all else that we long to know 
We will leave till thy wiser love reveals. 

" The hours pass slowly ; the morning chime 
Is long in sounding. But let us wait ; 
Soon we shall come to the end of time 
And see the Lord at the golden gate." 



OUR ABSENT LORD. 221 

II. To every one " our absent Lord'' has given 
his own work to do: "Watch ye therefore: for ye 
know not when the master of the house cometh, at 
even or at midnio^ht or at the cock-crowinQf or in 
the morning: lest coming suddenly he find you 
sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, 
Watch." 

1. There is a work to be WTought on ourselves. 
Our bodies are to be exercised and skilled for ser- 
vice: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the 
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a 
living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is 
your reasonable service." Our minds are to be de- 
veloped and embellished for God's praise. One of 
our Lord's parables spoken on this very occasion 
has actually added to our language the new word 
"talents" as signifying intellectual gifts. Our 
souls are to be sanctified wholly: "And the very 
God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God 
your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved 
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." 

2. There is also a work to be wrought upon 
others and for others. The poor are to be succored, 
the weak to be strengthened, the ignorant to be 
taught, the sorrowful to be comforted. This is the 
significance of that other parable our Lord spoke on 
this same occasion. He declares that not doing is 
to be reckoned as well as doing, and that everything 
is to be reckoned as " unto me " or "not unto me." 

3. There is another work to be wrought for 
God's glory. "Man's chief end is to glorify God 



223 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

and to enjoy him for ever.'^ Our whole life is to be 
consecrated to this, even down to the particulars of 
eating and drinking. *' Whether therefore ye eat or 
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of 
God.^' We cannot increase God's *' inherent" 
glory, but we can augment his "declarative'' 
glory. That is to say, we cannot bring him more 
glory, but we can show the glory he has. That is 
what the third parable our Lord gave must mean: 
*'Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened 
unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went 
forth to meet the bridegroom." The virgins were 
expected to swell the brilliant train of the bride- 
groom and make the night shine with their torches 
as the procession drew near. They did not make 
his marriage splendid, but they lit up the splendor 
it had. 

III. Our *' absent Lord" is surely coming back 
again to this world. This is the subject of the 
whole parable. Every sentence in it is meant to 
teach and impress that fact. 

I. He predicted his second advent only a few 
days before in the plainest words : ' ^ Ye have heard 
how I said unto you, I go away and come again 
unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice be- 
cause I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is 
greater than I." 

The language Jesus used in this remembered 
declaration is not at all figurative; it all goes to- 
gether as a statement of fact. He said, literally, he 
would send the Comforter, and the Holy Spirit 
came in person on the Day of Pentecost. And just 



OUR ABSENT LORD. 223 

as literally did lie say lie would himself return at 
the appointed time. 

2. He asseverated the certainty and solemnity of 
his own promise, as if he foresaw some would deny 
or doubt it: "Heaven and earth shall pass away; 
but my words shall not pass away." This was in- 
dorsing the covenant engagement by a new oath; 
*' because he could swear by no greater, he sware by 
himself." Christ was the '' Word," and so what he 
said would stand for ever, when the grass should 
wither and the flower should fade. 

3. He left behind him vivid descriptions of the 
momentous day on which he should arrive: '^ But 
in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be 
darkened and the moon shall not give her light, 
and the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers 
that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall 
they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with 
great power and glor3%" In these words, however, 
he does little more than repeat the vigorous lan- 
guage of the Old Testament prophet: " I beheld till 
the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days 
did sit, wdiose garment was white as snow and the 
hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was 
l^ke the fiery flame and his wheels as burning fire. 
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before 
him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and 
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: 
the judgment was set and the books were opened." 
Our Lord makes a reference to this ancient predic- 
tion and accompanies it with vivid details. 

4. He even sent back word from heaven by an 



ZZ^ STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

angel to say this. While the disciples wistfully 
stood gazing after the ascending Redeemer, there 
suddenly appeared two messengers from Jesus him- 
self with a gracious rebuke for their forgetfulness of 
his promise and a quick renewal of it: *^ And while 
they looked steadfastly towards heaven as he went 
up, behold, two men stood by them in white ap- 
parel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why 
stand ye gaining up into heaven? This same Jesus, 
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so 
come in like manner as ye have seen him go into 
heaven." It should be ''this same Jesus" who 
should come back, and he should come "in like 
manner" as they had seen him depart. Is it possi- 
ble that any Christian now, after all this, should 
doubt that our Saviour will be on earth again by- 
and-by ? 

IV. The exact hour in which "our absent 
Lord" will arrive is not announced: "But of that 
day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the 
angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the 
Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye 
know not when the time is." 

I. Jesus asserted that he did not know it himself. 
The disciples once asked him about this: " And as 
he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came 
unto him privately, saying. Tell us, when shall 
these things be ? and what shall be the sign of thy 
coming and of the end of the world ? And Jesus 
answered and said unto them. Take heed that no 
man deceive you. For many shall come in my 
name, saying, I am Christ: and shall deceive many. 



OUR ABSENT LORD. 225 

And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see 
that ye be not troubled: for all these things must 
come to pass, but the end is not yet. ' ' Luke records 
the impression made by this conversation more 
fully, as he commences the book of the Acts: 
"V/hen they therefore were come together, they 
asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time 
restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said 
unto them. It is not for you to know the times or 
the seasons which the Father hath put in his own 
power. ' ' 

Thus Jesus taught plainly that God the Father 
had kept this one secret in his own solemn reserve. 
He may have meant that in his subordinate office 
as the anointed Christ he had not been made ac- 
quainted with this specific date; or that he was 
not commissioned to declare it as part of his gospel 
message, it being unknown to the plan; or that, in 
assuming human nature as the Son of man, his di- 
vine omniscience was limited in this and like par- 
ticulars. It is enough for us to understand that 
here is a decided rebuff for the modern curiosity 
which assumes to fix times and seasons that Jesus 
himself said had not been revealed to him. 

2. But our Saviour declares that his coming 
might be looked for at any moment, morning or 
midnight, evening or cock-crowing. It would as- 
suredly be sudden. The figure is employed more 
than once in the Scriptures of "a thief in the 
night." Peter in his Epistle only quotes our 
Lord's own language: "But the day of the Lord 
will come as a thief in the night; in the which the 

lO* 



226 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the 
elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also 
and the works that are therein shall be burned up." 

3. Moreover, Christ told his disciples that there 
would be tokens of the nearness of this great day 
by which it might be recognized when it should be 
close at hand; " Now learn a parable of the fig-tree. 
When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth 
leaves, ye know that summer is near: so ye, in like 
manner, when ye shall see these things come to 
pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors." 
These signs would be as clearly discerned as shoots 
on fig-trees in the opening summer. He mentioned 
some of them explicitly: "And there shall be signs 
in the sun and in the moon and in the stars; and 
upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; 
the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing 
them for fear and for lookinof after those thino^s 
which are coming on the earth: for the powers of 
heaven shall be shaken. And then they shall see 
the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and 
great glory." We may admit that "wars and ru- 
mors of wars," earthquakes, famines, falling stars, 
and pestilences, together with "great signs in 
heaven and earth," are alarming disclosures; but 
will any one doubt that such phenomena are con- 
spicuous at least ? 

4. So Jesus insisted that men were bound to be 
wise in noting these signs and be ready. People 
who could shrewdly and correctly predict changes in 
the weather just by observing the color of the sky, 
so as to say that one day would be fair and another 



OUR ABSENT LORD. 22/ 

would be foul, our Saviour called "hypocrites" if 
they could not with equal alertness of skill "discern 
the signs of the times. ' ' 

V. The greatest peril is that, when "our absent 
Lord" comes, men will be taken unawares: "But 
and if that evil servant shall say in his heart. My 
Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite 
his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with the 
drunken, the lord of that servant shall come in 
a day when he looketh not for him, and in an 
hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asun- 
der and appoint him his portion with the hypo- 
crites ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of 
teeth." 

1. The instinctive tendency of the human heart 
is to procrastinate in the performance of religious 
work. So, when the reckoning is demanded, souls 
are surprised. If all the good resolutions that have 
been made by members of the church of God had 
been executed in their due time, the millennial glory 
would long ago have gleamed on every hill and 
shone in every valley. 

2. Time glides mysteriously on with no refer- 
ence to daring delay. The grave, like the horse- 
leech's daughter, cries, Give, give! and damnation 
slumbereth not; but men^leep clear up to the edge 
of divine judgment. They did in Noah's time, and 
in Lot's, when a less catastrophe Was at hand; and 
so it will be when the Son of man is revealed. 

3. Christians ought to hold in memory the re- 
peated admonitions they have received. Walter 
Scott wrote on his dial-plate the two Greek words 



228 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

which mean " the night cometh," so that he might 
keep eternity in mind whenever he saw the hours 
of time flitting by. Evidently the apostle Paul 
feels that he has the right to press peculiarly perti- 
nent and solemn appeals upon those who had en- 
joyed the advantage of such long instruction. 

4. There is no second chance offered after the 
first is lost. When Christ comes foolish virgins will 
have no time to run for oil to pour into their light- 
less lamps. A forfeited life cannot be allowed any 
opportunity for retrieval. Where the tree falls, 
north or south, there it must lie, whether the full 
fruit has been ripened on its branches or not. 

VI. The final counsel left behind him by '*our 
absent Lord" is for all to watch: "Watch there- 
fore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour 
wherein the Son of man cometh." 

1. Christ's coming would seem to be the highest 
anticipation for true believers. When he appears, 
saints will appear with him in glory. This is the 
"blessed hope" of the church along the ages: " For 
the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath ap- 
peared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungod- 
liness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, 
righteously, and godly in this present world, look- 
ing for that blessed hope and the glorious appear- 
ing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." 

2. It might clear an inquirer's experience to 
think of this coming of Jesus. Does one love to 
" watch " for him ? In the autobiography of Fran- 
ces Ridley Havergal we are told of the years during 
which she sought sadly for peace at the cross. At 



OUR ABSENT LORD. 229 

last one of lier teachers put this question to her: 
" Why cannot you trust yourself to your Saviour at 
once? Supposing that now, at this moment, Christ 
were to come in the clouds of heaven and take up 
his redeemed, could you not trust him ? Would not 
his call, his promise, be enough for you? Could 
you not commit your soul to him, to your Saviour, 
Jesus?" This lifted the cloud; she tells the story 
herself: *'Then came a flash of hope across me 
which made me feel literally breathless. I remem- 
ber how my heart beat. 'I could surely,' was my 
response; and I left her suddenly and ran away up 
stairs to think it out. I flung myself on my knees 
in my room and strove to realize the sudden hope. 
I was very happy at last. I could commit my soul 
to Jesus. I did not, and need not, fear his coming. 
I could trust him with my all for eternity. It was 
so utterly new to have any bright thoughts about 
religion that I could hardly believe it could be so, 
that I had really gained such a step. Then and 
there I committed my soul to the Saviour, I do not 
mean to say without any trembling or fear, but I 
did — and earth and heaven seemed bright from that 
moment — / did tnist the Lord yesus^ 



22P STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 



XXII. 
A WOMAN'S MEMORIAI.. 

"She hath done what she could."— iMzr>fe 14:8. 

While Jesus was at Bethany, the guest of a 
wealthy man named Simon, and was one day sit- 
ting at meat, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, came 
behind him and suddenly poured costly ointment 
upon his head. 

Concerning this action a difference of opinion 
instantly arose among the disciples. Complaint 
was made as to the pecuniary extravagance of her 
offering. The perfume was known to be unusually 
expensive, and "some" of those who commented 
seemed to think the price of it would better have 
been devoted to helping the poor in that forlorn 
village. 

Jesus, however, at once took up the defence of 
the woman. He applauded her behavior as grow- 
ing out of her exceeding love. He even went so 
far as to declare that her name would be handed 
down with honorable commendation to all ages just 
for this affectionate devotion. 

So suggestive a discussion, ending with so ex- 
traordinary an encomium, cannot fail to have in it 
some excellent lessons for us all. It well exhibits 
in a single illustration the appropriateness, the 
motive, the measure, and the reward of Christian 
zeal. 



A woman's memorial. 231 

I. We start out with a recognition, on our part, 
of a settled rule of activity. All of Christ's friends 
are expected to do something for him. 

1. Work and sacrifice are not inconsistent with 
even the highest spirituality. For this is the same 
Mary whose other story is so familiar to us all. 
She was the one who used to sit at Jesus' feet in all 
the serene quiet of communion with her Lord; yet 
now who would say that Mary at the Master's head 
might not be as fine a theme for the artist's pencil? 
Piety is practical, and practical piety is not the less 
picturesque and attractive because it has in such an 
instance become demonstrative. 

2. Our Lord always needed help while he was 
on the earth. There were rich women among those 
whom he had aided, at whose generous hands he 
received money. And his cause needs help now. 
It may seem very sw^eet to sit still and sing and 
pray, *'Thy kingdom come. Thy w411 be done." 
But how long is it going to be before the kingdom 
will come unless more of the Lord's will is done on 
the earth than some of his people are doing? 

3. It is a mere temptation of the devil to assert 
that one's work for Jesus Christ is vitiated by the 
full gladness a loving soul feels in it. Some timid 
and self-distrustful believers are stumbled by the 
fear that their sacrifices for our blessed Master are 
meritless because they enjoy making them. There 
used to be rehearsed an old legend of an aged proph- 
etess passing through a crowd with a censer of fire 
in one hand and a pitcher of water in the other. 
Being asked why she carried so singular a burden, 



233 

she replied, "This fire is to burn heaven with, and 
this water is to quench hell with; so that men may 
hereafter serve God without desire for reward or 
fear of retribution." Such a speech may appear 
becoming for a mere devotee's utterance, but there 
is no warrant for anything like it in the Bible. 
Heaven is oflfered for our encouragement in zeal. 
Hell is often exhibited that it might be feared. 

IL Next to this the story of the alabaster-box 
suggests a lesson concerning the motive which un- 
derlies all true Christian activity. 

1. In the case of this woman, we are told that 
her action grew out of her grateful affection for her 
lyord. Kvery gesture shows her tenderness; she 
wiped his very feet with her own hair. This was 
what gave her offering its supreme value. A box 
of expensive perfume is worth no more in coin 
because one of God's poverty-stricken creatures 
furnishes it for the Redeemer's head. Indeed, 
Christ was never in the habit of estimating and 
registering conduct in that way. Simon's banquet 
on this occasion, we cannot doubt, cost more than 
Mary's ointment; but we might never have heard 
of the feast if the alabaster-box had not been bro- 
ken. 

2. Herein lies the principle wdiich has for all 
ages the widest application. It is not so much 
what we do for our Saviour, nor the way in which 
we do it, as it is the feeling which prompts us in 
the doing of anything, that receives his welcome. 
It is the affection pervading the zeal which renders 
the ^eal precious. There will be found a fresh 



A woman's memorial. 



^Z2> 



illustration in the other instance recorded of a 
woman who did for Jesns an act quite similar to 
this, and in her turn received extraordinary ap- 
proval. "Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, 
which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: 
but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth 
little. '» 

3. It may as well be expected that the kindness 
which proceeds from pure love will sometimes meet 
with misconstruction. Those who look upon a zeal 
far beyond their own in disinterested affection will 
frequently be overheard to pass uncharitable mis- 
judgments upon it. "And there were some that 
had indignation within themselves, and said. Why 
was this waste of the ointment made ? For it might 
have been sold for more than three hundred pence 
and have been given to the poor. And they mur- 
mured against her.'* Now in this is found a very 
interesting comment upon what is called "the 
speech of people." For on comparing one gospel 
with another we discover that the "some" were 
but one person, and that it was only Judas Iscariot 
after all, on this occasion, who took the lead in 
assigning wrong motives to the woman, and he did 
not so much care for the poor as he did for his own 
bag of treasure. This churlishness and jealousy 
furnishes a new illustration of weak human nature. 
We ought not to regard it. No matter how much 
our humble endeavors to honor our Lord Jesus may 
be derided, it will be helpful to remember they are 
fully appreciated by him. 

4. This is the principle which uplifts and enno- 



234 

bles even commonplace zeal. When true, honest 
love is the motive, do we not all agree that it is 
slight ministrations more than great conspicuous 
efforts which touch the heart of one who receives 
them ? The more' unnoticed to every eye except 
ours, the more dear are the glances of tenderness we 
receive. It is the delicacy, not the bulk, of the 
kindness which constitutes its charm. Just to sur- 
prise one of our devoted friends in an unobtrusive 
act of generosity gives us more heartfelt gratifica- 
tion than to get from his hand in public an expected 
gift of even a hundred-fold cost. 

5. Moreover, it is just this motive which, above 
all others, can render a soul alert in discovering the 
delicate and right thing to do. Some persons seem 
to have an instinct in choosing gifts, in speaking a 
word of welcome or of praise; they always appear 
graceful in their attentions and wonderfully alert in 
finding out the precise act to evidence their affec- 
tionate feeling. Some kind of strange spiritual 
penetration led this woman to come in at the op- 
portune instant and do an act which would have 
been pronounced bold by any one else. Our divine 
Lord caught the significance of her peculiar gift: 
*^ She hath done what she could: she is come afore- 
hand to anoint my body for the burying.'' Her 
heart had interpreted to her his present crisis. It 
was this foresight of his coming death that consti- 
tuted the unction a sacrament, so that Jesus could 
accept it without suspicion or shame. Alford on 
this passage says, "I can hardly think that our 
Lord would have said this unless there had been in 



A woman's memorial. 235 

Mary's mind a distinct reference to his burial in 
doing the act; all the company surely knew well 
that his death by crucifixion was near at hand. Can 
we suppose one who so closely observed his words 
as Mary not to have been possessed with the thought 
of that which was about to happen ?" This may be 
true; but we cannot help thinking that the woman 
knew, out of her great love, what was appropriate 
under the circumstances. Genuine affection is edu- 
cating and refining; and many a Christian, who a 
little while before wondered how he might be use- 
ful ever at all, finds himself suddenly leading the 
rest- in his sweet, gentle achievements. 

III. In the next place, there is a lesson in this 
story concerning the measure of Christian zeal. It 
is contained in the simple text chosen for our pres- 
ent comment: " She hath done what she could." 

I. It would not be fair to underrate what this 
woman did do under the circumstances. There was 
something that seemed a little like extravagance in 
her lavish expenditure. For the money value of 
her offering was, according to the estimate pro- 
nounced upon it there on the spot by those who 
knew, not far from fifty dollars. We are to take 
into account her previous history and characteris- 
tics. Of this alabaster-box it needs to be remarked 
that it might more properly have been called a 
phial or a jar. It was one of those small vessels, 
rare, luxurious, and costly, wont in such days to be 
sought and cherished by silly and vain girls, con- 
taining curiously perfumed cosmetics used by Ori- 
entals for meretricious toilets. She showed not 



236 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

only lier regard for Jesus, who had given her a new 
heart, by bringing to him the adornment she had 
once coveted for herself, but she also evidenced her 
willingness and zeal in surrendering what was sim- 
ply worldly for her own use, and perhaps wicked 
in its employment as an allurement to wrong. 

2. The main suggestion, however, is full of com- 
fort, for it affords us the opportunity of settling for 
once and for ever the principle that it is the willing 
heart which Christ accepts. The language em- 
ployed in the approval is more significant than at 
first one would think. In the original word and 
idiom there is the implication of a far-reaching- ex- 
haustiveness in her generosity; literally rendered it 
would read, ' ' She hath done what she hath. ' * 
That is to say, she did as much as her entire abil- 
ity permitted; she used all she possessed — all the 
wealth she had, all the education she had, all the 
ingenuity she had, all the opportunity she had, all 
the penetration she had, all the courage she had — 
all the possibilities she had of any sort. This wo- 
man was commended because she did everything 
within her power to do in order to manifest her 
loyal affection for Jesus her Master. The comfort 
in such an announcement is easy to attain. Not 
every one is gifted with the talents of all those we 
long to imitate. But we ought to be satisfied when 
we feel that Jesus is saying of us that we are doing 
what we can. Most pathetic are those quiet com- 
ments often made at one of our frequent funerals: 
"She was not a genius, but she kept up a noble 
i^eal of thoughtful sagacity; she was not wealthy, 



A WOMAN'S MEMORIAI,. 2V] 

but she gave always what cost her some sacrifice; 
she was not cons23icuous, but there are poor people 
who will miss her much when the winter comes: 
she did what she could." There is great help in 
remembering that this was in substance what the 
Saviour said concerning this forlorn woman. 

^ 3. Still it would not be fair to dismiss the record 
without one caution. This whole incident will be 
most shamefully abused and ruinously perverted if 
it be turned away from its legitimate employment, 
and in that way forced to favor sinful ease or listless 
indulgence. It relaxes nothing; really, it bids us 
do more and more. Shifting the claim from mere 
obligation of duty, and passing it over to afFection- 
ateness of inexhaustible love for God and man, only 
makes the demand sharper. Before any modern 
Christian can solace his soul with saying, "I have 
actually done what I could," he must make him- 
self sure that all has been done that could be done. 
The legend upon the sepulchre of Adam Clarke is 
a burning candle with the motto, ''I am consumed 
away for another," 

4. Hence the counsel leads us straight to self- 
examination. It is possible there may be as much 
in a widow's mite as in a millionaire's fortune; that 
comes out in the end of the twelfth chapter, which 
we do well to recall. Before either the widow or 
the rich man is permitted to cry out, ''I have done 
what I could," the widow must put in her mite and 
the rich man must put in the proper proportion of 
his fortune. It is high time that believers began 
to measure their benefactions by the benefits they 



238 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

receive. It might be a salutary exercise always to 
drop our benevolent contributions in the plate with 
the same hand which we use when we take the 
bread and wine at the sacrament of Communion. 

IV. The final lesson of this story is concerning 
the reward of Christian zeal. Higher encomium 
was never pronounced than that which this woman 
received from the Master: "Verily I say unto you, 
Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached through- 
out the whole world, this also that she hath done 
shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.'* 

1. It was Jesus that gave the approval. Set 
that over against the fault-finding of Judas ! If we 
do our duty, we have a right to appeal away from 
anybody who carps. When Christ justifies, who is 
he that condemns? Some of us have read of the 
ancient classic orator who, having no favor in the 
theatre, went into the temple and gestured before 
the statues of the gods; he said they better under- 
stood him. Thus may maligned believers retire 
from the world that misjudges them and comfort 
themselves with Jesus' recognition. 

2. Jesus said this woman should be remembered 
very widely — wherever the gospel should go. Men 
know what is good and fine when they see it, and 
they stand ready to commend it. Even I^ord Byron 
had wit enough to see that 

"The drying up a single tear has more 
Of honest fame than shedding seas of gore." 

Some of the grandest lives in history have had only 
little show to make. Care-burdened women, inva- 



A WOMAN'S MEMORIAI.. 239 

lids on couches, ill-clad and ill-fed sons of toil, 
maid-servauts, man-servants, apprentices, and hire- 
lings with few unoccupied hours, timid hearts, 
uneducated minds, sailors kept on ships, soldiers 
held in garrison — these, with only a poor chance, 
have done such service that the world remembers 
them with its widest renown. 

3. It was just this parable of Jesus' which be- 
came Mary's memorial. A word sometimes lasts 
longer than a marble slab. We must learn to be 
content with the approval of God and our own con- 
sciences. Nothing will ever be forgotten that is 
worth a record in God's book. Those who die in 
the Lord will find their works follow them, and the 
worthy fame remains behind: " The memory of the 
just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall 
rot." Only we are to recollect that love alone gives 
character and value to all zeal. That was a most 
suggestive remark of old Thomas h. Kempis: "He 
doeth much who loveth much, and he also doeth 
much who doeth well." 



240 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

XXIIL 
SACRAMENTS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

"And as they did eat Jesus took bread, and blessed and 
brake it, and gave it to them, and said, take, eat: this 
IS MY BODY." — Mark 14:22. 

In order that there should be no occasion for the 
reproach to be raised against him, our Lord chose 
the time, occasion, and general ceremonies of the 
Passover for the basis of the new institution of a fes- 
tival for use in the New Testament church. This 
is the reason why the date is affixed as "the first 
day of unleavened bread." And this is the expla- 
nation of the apostle's announcement, " Christ, our 
Passover, is sacrificed for us." The Saviour chose 
this form of procedure that he might show the 
identity of the two dispensations at once. 

The next step in the story of Mark, as he pic- 
tures the preparation made, relates the incident of 
the disciples' application to a Jerusalem stranger for 
hospitality. The feast itself had to be observed in 
the city; but Jesus found his entertainment during 
most of this final week among the poor friends he 
had in a neighboring village. Bethany and Betli- 
phage are mentioned in the Talmud with emphatic 
honor, because in their deepest poverty they were 
celebrated for the hospitality they showed to the 
homeless pilgrims. But our Lord seems to have 
wished to be with his disciples only, on this occa- 



SACRAMENTS IN THE; NEW TESTAMENT. 241 

sion, rather than with generous friends outside of 
the walls. Who this " goodnmn of the house" was, 
from whom he had now to ask the somewhat exten- 
sive accommodations for his company of thirteen 
persons, we are not informed. 

But here we may learn how surely the Lord 
Jesus knows who loves him and foresees who will 
receive him. The disciples could not be of any 
help in finding a place by themselves; but they had 
lately learned that their divine Master had a way of 
recognising those with whom he understood he 
would be welcome to make his abode. 

We may notice also the quaint form of instruc- 
tion employed here ; for it well illustrates two 
things at once: the foreknowledge of Jesus in some 
things, and the willingness of his perhaps secret fol- 
lowers. Suppose it had happened that in all this 
afternoon no man "bearing a pitcher of water" 
had appeared, what would the disciples have con- 
cluded? Or suppose they had found such a man, 
bat that he had replied he had no guest-chamber? 
They must have noted the risk, and yet we see no 
sign of any hesitation in their obedience. They 
had already been put to a somewhat similar test 
once before, when he was going to ride in tri- 
umph into Jerusalem on a beast they were sent to 
procure. 

A choice lesson for all Christians might be 
learned from the unquestioning acquiescence of 
these men. They could not know just where to go 
in their search for a room; but they did know 
enough to start in their search for the man with a 

SI 111. lea In MaiU's OoBi.el. J J 



242 

pitcher. They obeyed as far as they understood, 
and so were taught step by step. This was always 
the rule of Christ: obey first, and find out after- 
wards: "Take my yoke upon you and learn of 
me." The taking of the yoke was put before the 
learning about the duty; then a willing spirit would 
speedily find the path opening just ahead. No mat- 
ter how mysterious divine providences are to human 
eyes, revelations of divine purpose always come in 
the line of a filial obedience. If a man will only 
begin to do God's will as far on as he perceives 
what it is, he will soon know all he needs to know 
of the different doctrines that lie before him, al- 
though yet undisclosed. 

But we leave all this now; for our better con- 
cern is with the institution which was at that time 
given to believers for all the ages. 

The old wojd "sacrament" is not a felicitous 
one at the best; it comes almost directly from the 
Latin language, and was employed by the Roman 
soldiers to describe their martial oath ; that is to 
say, the engagement in which they swore to be 
faithful to their leader and loyal to their Govern- 
ment. As now used by the churches it has much 
the same meaning, although it has passed from a 
secular to a spiritual application. It is deemed to be 
the symbolic act by which is shown our allegiance 
to an unseen commander, Jesus, the Captain of our 
salvation. 

I. Let us seek a few suggestions concerning 
sacraments in general ; then we can notice that 
which is specially under our present study in thQ 



SACRAMKNTS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 243 

chapter. Only two are recognized now, Baptism 
and Communion. 

I. Concerning these I remark, first, that they do 
not receive any authority nor derive any efficacy 
nor confer any benefits whatever from their inhe- 
rent or intrinsic force as religious ceremonies. 

In Baptism the element is water, and it is noth- 
ing more nor less than water. It would be no 
better for having come from the Jordan, no holier 
for having been prayed over by a -priest in a dead 
lauQ^uao^e. 

In the Communion the elements are bread and 
wine. The bread our Lord took and brake was 
just the common bread set before him at the usual 
Passover feast. Our bread is no worse because it 
has been raised or leavened, nor would it be any 
more sacred if it had been fashioned in the form of 
a thin wafer. The wine which our Lord poured 
out, giving thanks, was what he found on the table. 
Ours is no more strengthening because it may be 
stronger, nor would it be spoiled by being absolutely 
fresh from the grapes. What we want is plain 
bread and wine. 

Nor are the effects mystic or miraculous. Bap- 
tism does not wash away sin really, though it signi- 
fies washing. The Lord's Supper never makes us 
actually feed upon Christ, though it symbolizes the 
satisfaction of a hungry soul. In themselves the 
ordinances are simply signs. 

Does any one ask how we know this? The an- 
swer is easily brought from the history. Simon 
Magus was surely baptized; yet the apostle in so 



244 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

many words told him he was still *'in the gall of 
bitterness and the bonds of iniquity." There is 
every reason to believe that those apostates, Her- 
mogenes, Philetus, and Hymenseus, were often at 
"the breaking of bread," and yet Paul tells us he 
had "delivered them to Satan, that they might 
learn not to blaspheme." Ordinances did them no 
good. 

In truth, these are only forms. They do not 
cause or effect regeneration; they are only the 
symbols of it. They are to believers in the New 
Testament what the rainbow is in the Old. That 
beautiful arch in the heavens reminds of the past 
and brings promise for the future; but in itself it is 
nothing more than the refraction and reflection of 
light in the raindrops. It never had any power to 
prevent a deluge in these centuries long gone, al- 
though it is set to show that God intends to prevent 
one from coming again; it does not make the Al- 
mighty merciful, but it shows he is so. In like 
manner the ordinances do not effectually make us 
friends of Jesus Christ nor make him ours ; but 
they shine out as signs to show we are reconciled 
and are at one with each other. Rightly used, such 
symbols give comfort, but not inherently. 

2. So I remark again that these sacraments do 
not take their authority or efflcacy from any con- 
nection with the administrator. 

As they are now employed in all branches of the 
church, no truly educated believer desires to receive 
them at the hands of any one save those who are set 
apart in an orderly way to the ministry. But if the 



SACRAMENTS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 245 

ordained officer of the congregation should after- 
wards prove to be only a hypocrite and a sinner, 
such ordinances themselves would not thereby be 
invalidated. His baptism would not have to be re- 
peated, nor would private Christians be obnoxious 
to censure for having partaken of wine poured by 
his hand, or bread broken, at the celebration of the 
Supper. 

The reasoning which leads to this conclusion is 
all the more cogent because it is so simple. If the 
minister's moral qualities come into our estimate of 
the validity of his official work, where shall an 
anxious scrutiny be permitted to rest? How can 
we ever know certainly that we are safe? Who 
knows the real character of any human being? A 
man must have some measure of error in him as 
long as he is mortal and unsanctified; and where is 
toleration of imperfection to end? We must re- 
member that these ordinances are seals; and if the 
great seal of the realm be applied to any parchment 
of our rights by a commissioned representative of 
the crown, it w^ill stand, no matter if the wicked 
creature shall afterwards be thrown into a dungeon 
for his crimes, 

3. For, let me remark again, these sacraments 
derive all the efficacy and authority they possess 
from their institution by Christ. 

"For I have received of the Lord that which 
also I delivered unto you;" these are the words of 
the inspired apostle on this head. No more proof 
needs to be adduced. Tradition has handed them 
down to us, that is true; but all the tradition we 



246 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

acknowledge took them from only one hand, that of 
our divine Lord. It is well known that the so- 
called Catholic Church numbers five more sacra- 
ments than the Protestant to which we belong. 
But Jesus Christ gave to believers only two; any 
beyond these have a very short and low pedigree. 
He instituted Baptism, and he turned the Passover 
into the Supper which bears his own name. 

Furthermore, in order to give value to these 
ordinances he sanctioned them by the gift of the 
Holy Ghost to pervade and enliven them. Through 
the presence of this Comforter, the Third Person of 
this Adorable Trinity, *'the benefits of the new 
covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to be- 
lievers." By this Spirit they are made efficacious. 

II. We come now, leaving such general con- 
siderations, to examine more particularly the second 
one of the sacraments, the institution of which 
forms the theme to be taught and studied to-day. 
The Communion ordinance, like the Passover, was 
meant to be "a memorial for all generations." It 
is an emblematic festival, the object of which is to 
awake emotion, to stimulate hope and love, by re- 
minding us of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
by which he made atonement for our sins. It ad- 
dresses the imagination, the intellect, and the heart, 
all at once. 

I. As addressed to the imagination, it is an 
exhibition and furnishes a picture. We see before 
us bread and wine; the one is broken and the other 
poured out; the one is eaten and the other is drank. 
We thus "show the Lord's death till he come." 



SACRAMENTS IN TIIK NKW TESTAMENT. 247 

And we partake of these elements to prove we 
appropriate the benefits of what the Saviour did 
in our behalf. 

Hence we understand at once what is the projDer 
meditation for an earnest Christian at the table. 
Vividly conceiving the events of this Redeemer's 
suffering, we try to keep saying to ourselves, ''All 
this is for me; bread for me, wine for me; so the 
life is for me and the covenant is for me; and I 
take it now with a reverent and joyous faith." 

2. As addressed to the intellect next, this festival 
is an argument and offers a powerful proof. Few 
men are there who can honestly say they have al- 
ways been equally undisturbed by doubts. It is 
difficult to walk by faith without sight. Sometimes 
the temptations of Satan are so severe that the 
mind becomes dull and half bewildered. The 
whole fabric of Christianity seems to be shaking 
and trembling, as the temple did in Isaiah's vision, 
when even " the posts of the door moved, and the 
house was filled with smoke.'* What if everything 
should prove to have been a fable? What if Jesus 
Christ never lived after all ? 

Just there this feast comes in as a commonplace 
fact. For these hundreds of years it has been cele- 
brated in the same way and with the same purpose. 
Following it up along the lines of history, we come 
directly to the story of our Lord's crucifixion. If 
Jesus lived, labored, preached, wrought miracles, 
died on the cross, as this ceremony is sure to declare 
wherever one finds it, then Christianity is true. 
The entire feast is traced to the apostles, and they 



243 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

tell us tliey received it from the Lord Jesus Christ 
as they delivered it unto us. If now we grow con- 
fused, we at once ask the question, What started 
this ceremony all over the world through the ages? 
Where did the Lord's Supper come from? Thus 
the argument becomes cogent all the more because 
of its availableness with plain people. If there 
never was any Declaration of Independence, where 
did the celebration of the Fourth of July have its 
beginning? If there never was a Guy Fawkes con- 
spiracy, how did children first learn to talk about 
the **guys" of the "fifth of November"? Just so 
we reason, if Jesus was never crucified, who in- 
vented Communion? 

3. Finally, as addressed to the heart, this ordi- 
nance is a stimulus and incites us to zeal. It 
arouses the Christian's affectionate nature, it kin- 
dles his fervors, it inflames his emotion. This it 
does in two ways: by the experience it offers and 
the prospect it shows. 

The experience it offers is supremely spiritual. 
We come into a Prince's banqueting-house, and his 
banner over us is love» We think a great deal; we 
say nothing. Our covenant is like that of a bride 
made at the marriage altar; it does not need the 
words of a pledge; the vow is to be found more in 
the hand that holds a hand and is still. 

The prospect this feast shows is spiritual also. 
For the Supper is a type as well as a memorial ; it 
looks forward as well as backward. It seems to 
open the gates of pearl and permit us to gain 
glimpses of the radiant light shining at the mar- 



SACRAMENTS IxN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 249 

riage supper of the I^amb. We find ourselves in 
the companionship of the redeemed in heaven as 
well as on earth. The good and the great of all 
ages are around us even now. And Ave think of the 
day coming soon when we shall reach our rest above. 
It is in the light of such considerations as these 
that we estimate the guilt of some who wilfully 
neglect this ordinance even at the moment when 
they claim covenant mercies as the children of God. 
It is like a soldier's refusal to stand by his colors 
while the entire army is taking the sacramental 
oath on the eve of a critical battle. 

It is in this light also that we estimate the mis- 
take of some of God's dear children who think they 
can be perfectly safe without openly confessing their 
Lord. Jesus Christ once said, ''Ye are my friends 
if ye do whatsoever I command you." If one's 
soul is wholly committed on the Lord's side, why 
does he not put his life there also? Who will be 
content as a bride without the ceremony of mar- 
riage giving the name and honor? 



250 STUDIIiS IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

XXIV. 

A TRAITOR'S KIvSS IN GETHSBMANB. 

"And he that betrayed Him had given them a token, saying, 
Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and 
lead him away safely." — Mark 14:44. 

Immediately after Jesus had concluded the ad- 
ministration of what we now call the Lord's Sup- 
i:)er, and had offered his intercessory prayer for the 
disciples and the church at large, he led the little 
band that followed him across the gully of the 
brook Kidron. Almost at once, at the rounding 
up of the hill, he entered the small inclosure which 
they knew had become familiar to him as a place 
of meditation and prayer to his Father. He soon 
lapsed into silence and waited for the scenes of his 
betrayal to be moved on at the will that was higher 
than his own. *' And they came to a place which 
was named Gethsemane: and he saith to' his dis- 
ciples, Sit ye here while I shall pray." 

It is a striking fact that so many of the localities 
in which the incidents of our Saviour's life are 
commemorated had names of such deep significance, 
by which they are known even now. There was 
Bethlehem, for the earliest example; it means 
*' house of bread;" and there he was born who 
said, I am "the true bread from heaven." Then 
there was Nazareth, the word meaning the "town 
of branches;" and in this village he was reared of 



A traitor's kiss in gethsemane. 251 

whom the prophet had declared: *' And there shall 
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a 
branch shall (^vow out of his roots." The name 
Gethsemane means "an oil press;" and here it was 
that Jesus found the "press" he was to tread 
alone in his conflict at last. 

I. Very mute is the witness that this old world 
bears of its interest in the gospel of redemption. 
"For we know that the whole creation groaneth 
and travaileth in pain together until now." 

Not many years ago, on the occasion of our first 
visit to Jerusalem, a company of us — American 
tourists all — planned to spend a few hours of the 
Ivord's day in a very familiar religious service 
inside of the traditional place which the Latins 
have fenced about as being upon the exact site of 
the Garden of Gethsemane. It is perhaps sixty 
steps square, as one would pace it, surrounded by 
a high wdiite wall on every side, pierced for an iron 
door. An old monk keeps it, and generally a 
stranger finds no difficulty in obtaining access to it 
at any time. 

At four o'clock we quietly took our way out as 
usual by St. Stephen's Gate, following the steep 
path down across the stone bridge, over the dry 
gully where perhaps once was the little Kidron. 
We entered the inclosure and filed alonof throueh 
some straight paths separated by slender picket 
fences, imtil quite in the back part w^e came to 
some long benches of stone under the shadow of 
the wall nearest the city. 

Upon and before these we sat, a goodly gath- 



253 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

ering of twenty souls. In simple-hearted respect 
for each other, we preserved a decorous silence 
while we read for ourselves the story of Jesus' 
agony. 

Before a great while the aged guide came 
towards us, calling attention to the fact that a 
stone pavement, made of large rough slabs, had 
been laid upon the exact track which the traitor 
Judas took as he advanced to salute his Master 
with his hypocritical kiss. This flagged way was 
upon the outside of the garden wall, crossing one 
end of it nearly the entire distance. It was dis- 
tinguished in its infamy, not only by this exclusion 
from the sacred precinct, but by the name the 
monks had given it — the teira damitata^ or the 
** accursed spot" of the betrayal. 

2. It is always a fine compliment to any man's 
likeness to Jesus when his enemies admit that the 
surest place in which to find him, even for his ar- 
rest, is that where he is habituated to go for his 
prayers. ''And Judas also, which betrayed him, 
knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither 
with his disciples. Judas then, having received a 
band of men and officers from the chief priests and 
Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches 
and weapons." 

It grew very vivid to our imagination now. We 
could easily seem to see the procession of torches 
and lanterns as the priests and Pharisees and sol- 
diers must have moved along beneath the olive- 
trees under the full Passbver moon. They perhaps 
thought that he would hide himself somewhere in 



A traitor's kiss in gethsemane. 253 

a rock-crevice or a tomb, and they would have to 
institute a search. We found there now eight ven- 
erable olives of unusual siice, rough, hollowed out, 
gnarled, very old indeed, no doubt; but all they 
. suggested to us was the fine grouping such trees 
Avould always have made for a retreat in which to 
pray; and we imagined our Lord advancing from 
among them as he confronted the array, Judas in 
the lead: ''And he that betrayed him had given 
them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, 
that same is he; take him and lead him away 
safely. And as soon as he was come, he goeth 
straightway to him, and saith, Master, Master; and 
kissed him." 

One swift moment there was in which he stood 
calmly looking. "Jesus therefore, knowing all 
things that should come upon him, went forth, 
and said unto them. Whom seek ye? They an- 
swered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto 
them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed 
him, stood with them." In an instant after, his 
enemies fell backward, cowed and prostrated under 
the simple weight of his voice. "As soon then as 
he had said unto them, I am he, they went back- 
ward and fell to the ground." 

There was doubtless, in this revelation of him- 
self on the part of Jesus, a disclosure of his moral 
majesty as a man, his conscious innocence, his 
dauntless courage, his boldness in an immediate 
surrender for trial. But beyond that we are not 
ready to deny that there was also a manifestation 
of his divine resources of power. He appears to 



254 

have meant that they should know beyond a per- 
adventure that his suflfering was voluntary, and 
that he was acting without any constraint in laying 
down his life, now that his hour had conle. Had 
he willed to resist the rufEans that attacked him, 
he could have summoned twelve legions of angels 
for his defence. Nay, he could have openly with- 
stood them with the same omnipotence with which 
he healed an ugly wound in Malchus' ear, which 
Simon's rashness had inflicted. 

3. And we might as well pause to put the ques- 
tion: If but a look of the Saviour could sweep big- 
ots and soldiers to the dust in headlong confusion, 
how will wicked men be able to endure the sight 
of the same face when they shall be compelled to 
see him whom they have pierced ? 

It was while we were thinking and talking 
quite gently there together about the wrestle and 
the bloody sweat that the question arose whether 
it could be likely that these very trees, standing in 
the garden at present, were among those which 
stood on the spot at that time. The first impulse 
would be to answer, No. For several of us remem- 
bered that Josephus had recorded that Titus, after 
he conquered the city, issued orders to his soldiers 
to set the whole suburbs of Jerusalem on fire. This 
was scarcely forty years after the ascension of 
Christ; by the same historian the thoroughness of 
the devastation is announced in language which 
cannot be misunderstood. He says: *' All the trees 
that grew about the city within a distance of a hun- 
dred furlongs had their branches hewn off; the 



A traitor's kiss in gethsemane. 255 

trees being- cut down, the suburbs were stripped 
naked." Still, these eight monarchs of the garden 
might have sprouted from the same roots. Even 
melancholy Job had good notions about trees: *'For 
there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will 
sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof 
will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old 
in the earth and the stock thereof die in the 
ground, yet through the scent of water it will bud 
and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man 
dieth and wasteth away; yea, man giveth up the 
ghost, and where is he?" It certainly is in evidence 
that these olives, surely the oldest-looking that any 
man ever saw, wdth their dark green foliage silvered 
only where the slight wind turned up the leaves, 
have given taxes for their fruit more than twelve 
hundred years, since the Saracens took the city. 

But "man giveth up the ghost, and where is 
lie?" Such a question sent us back thinking of 
Judas. Now there are in the gospel narrative some 
very singular forms of expression concerning the 
ignorance of the other disciples as to this man's 
treachery. They seem never to understand Jesus 
when he gives warning about the expected be- 
trayal. It has to be explained afterwards, when 
they come to think of what he said so clearly, and 
yet they did not have a suspicion. When Judas 
arose from the table and went out, John says they 
concluded Jesus had whispered a word to him about 
something needed for the feast, and the man had 
gone after it. And it is likely that not until these 
disciples saw the ruined creature standing there did 



256 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

they suspect his awful sin. ^' And Judas . . . stood 
with them." This was the announcement of his 
desperate crime. When that man, standing there 
now in the white moonlight, should go away, out 
of the circle of his old associations into his new, 
they felt that he was for ever lost and doomed, even 
before he was dead. Perhaps no one of them ever 
saw a real reprobate before; they all saw one now. 
So when inspiration raises the question, ^'Man 
giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" inspiration 
also answers concerning this one, "Judas by trans- 
gression fell, that he might go to his own place." 

4. Alas! how awful must the future *' place" of 
any one be when a pitiful Saviour has to say of 
him it were better not to be than to be where he 
is! — '^ It had been good for that man if he had not 
been born." 

I am sure no one of us who were present that 
day is ever to forget the hour we spent in Geth- 
semane. We soon started the precious old hymn 
"Alas! and did my Saviour bleed?" to the tune 
"Avon," and sang the verses through to the end, 
though many a voice faltered in some notes. It 
seemed just like a Communion season, without 
bread or wine. Then we closed the meeting with 
the hymn " Did Christ o'er sinners weep?'* 

5. That Christian who would live closest to 
Christ must earliest enter into the sufferings of 
Christ, before he can hope to receive his share in 
the glory that shall follow. Gethsemane is the 
garden to come on in order immediately next to 
Eden; the garden of the burial is third, and then 



A TRAITOR'S KISS IN GKTHSEMANE. 257 

Paradise opens its gates as the garden of the 
Lord. 

The old monk leaned over the fence, attentively 
regarding us the while. I fancied there was some- 
thing gentler than usual in his manner towards us 
as he gave us some flowers on the way out. He 
permitted us to pick with our own hands some few 
leaves from the aged trees; and he gave me a fra- 
grant bunch of mignonette to press in my Bible. 

Such experiences as this cannot fail to mould 
the future of any child of God. Along the years 
we have met each other since then. I believe each 
one of that small company recognizes as the chief 
question for admonition in all time to come — a 
question prompting him evermore to renewed de- 
votion, a question crowded with significant memory 
of both comfort and warning — "Did not I see thee 
ill the garden with him?'* 



258 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 



XXV. 

MISUNDERSTOOD TO THE END. 

"Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art 
THOU THE Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" — Mark 14:61. 

It seems natural to expect, now that Jesus has 
come before the highest and most dignified court of 
his nation, that he will secure some consideration 
and be treated with a measure of regard for his 
rights. His enemies will be there, but his friends 
likewise will be there to stand by him; and in the 
end he will receive a patient and fair hearing, such 
as he never has had yet. 

But now we look in upon the chamber in the 
high priest's palace, and Jesus seems to be entirely 
alone. No picture of him can be found elsewhere 
in the Bible so indescribably pathetic. He has 
not one friend in that room. The court which is 
to examine him has prejudged his case already. 
These members of the council have assembled sud- 
denly, not to consider, but to condemn. The whole 
transaction is only a miserable farce and a travesty 
of justice. 

Why ? The answer is easy : Jesus Christ was 
above the comprehension of his generation. He 
was misunderstood in the beginning; here now we 
discover that he was misunderstood to the end. 
Ten verses of this chapter contain a description of 



MISUNDERSTOOD TO THE END. 259 

five misconceptions, every one of which was in pol- 
icy a bhinder and in nature a crime. 

I. We may find profit in tracing these out, each 
in its turn; then we shall be able to draw for our- 
selves the lessons of instruction which are conveyed 
by an incident so suggestive. 

I. To begin w4th, these bigoted rulers misun- 
derstood the entire life of Jesus Christ. The facts 
which came to their ears were distorted and confu- 
sing. These people longed to entrap so dangerous 
a preacher in the midst of some political disturb- 
ance, some social misdemeanor, so that they could 
make him obnoxious to the Roman law. Hence 
they sought help from the bystanders and the popu- 
lace at large. They wished some one to accuse him 
of a capital crime, and then he could be put to 
death by the governor. 

Witnesses enough they were able to secure; but 
the trouble with them was they differed so in their 
testimony; *' their witness agreed not together." 
Each man had his own story to tell. Popular 
imagination was wild over this Nazarene rabbi. 
Nobody ever had thoroughly understood the mys- 
tery of his career. His life had run on since the 
day when he had earliest made himself manifest to 
John the Baptist down by the Jordan, and always 
he was talking of some crisis in the near future 
which he called his "hour." He intimated that 
he was in secret and deadly conflict with a being of 
whom he spoke as " the prince of this world," and 
sometimes as the head of an unseen host, "the 
powers of the air." Little by little this strange 



26o STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

teacher continued to sunder himself from all around 
him. By-and-by his work, as it drew near its 
completeness, began to cut him loose from one 
association after another; he never married, he had 
no earthly home. He became a pilgrim and a 
sojourner, with nowhere to lay his head. As we 
read the inspired story we' notice how inexplicably 
the minor characters in the drama pass away with- 
out apology or explanation. John the Baptist is 
abruptly beheaded. Joseph, his reputed father, 
dies quietly out of history. Simon Peter denies 
him, Judas betrays him, and the rest of the disci- 
ples forsake him. And here at last he stands be- 
fore the Sanhedrin without an adherent. He could 
have said in the words of the evangelic prophet : ^'I 
have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the peo- 
ple there was none with me." Nobody understood 
his life. 

2. Then add to this, in the second place, the 
fact that these sagacious-looking councillors totally 
misunderstood the doctrines which Jesus had been 
preaching. They brought in at last a company of 
ill-disposed people who were willing to character- 
ize, or rather to caricature, our Lord's public dec- 
larations and give them their worst meaning: "And 
there stood up certain and bare false witness against 
him, saying. We heard him say, I will destroy this 
temple that is made with hands, and in three days 
I will build another made without hands. And not 
even so did their witness agree together." 

Of course these malicious creatures could not 
agree with each other, for no one of them had any 



MISUNDERSTOOD TO THE END. 26 1 

intelligent notion of what these words signified. 
One of the evangelists tells ns afterwards that Jesus 
was speaking of the temple of his body, wdiicli was 
to lie in the grave for three days and then be raised 
into a new and glorious body. Our Lord foresaw 
plainly all the sad, painful, and humiliating circum- 
stances of his crucifixion and burial. This indeed 
was what made his experience so solitary. 

The anticipation of evil which is sure to come 
upon ourselves is frequently more severe and diffi- 
cult to bear than the evil itself. The imagination 
dwells upon the horror and clothes it with a ten- 
fold pain. A gloomy dread creeps over and into 
the whole soul. There is just this difference be- 
tween the actual sufferings of a sentient man and 
an unintelligent brute. The one knows what is at 
hand ; the other suspects nothing till it comes. 
Abraham going with his son into the mountain for 
the commanded sacrifice of his first-born doubtless 
had far more exquisite torture than did the ram in 
the thicket which at last proved to be the selected 
victim. The Saviour was omniscient concerning 
his work of atonement. He knew every pang of 
body, mind, and soul he was before long to bear. 

In this his secret was unshared. It is of no use 
to say that more than once he vividly pictured to 
those around him the woes he was to meet. Even 
the disciples did not appreciate his meaning in the 
descriptions he gave of his coming death. If they 
accepted the fact that he would be betrayed and 
then killed through the instigation of the priests, 
their minds fell far short of comprehending his 



262 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEIv. 

depth of foreseen sorrow. We should be ready to 
say they considered much of his language as the 
outflow of a sensitive and foreboding spirit. On 
one occasion Simon Peter thought he was unusu- 
ally depressed ; he took him aside and began to 
chide him for his unnecessary melancholy: ^'Be it 
far from thee, Lord; this shall not be unto thee!" 

So there he stood before the council, a solemn 
and burdened man. Back into himself he was com- 
pelled to go, thinking perhaps without any expecta- 
tion of ever being pitied or understood: " I have a 
baptism to be baptized with, and how am I strait- 
ened till it be accomplished." Unable to make 
himself understood, he fell into the silence of his 
own reserve. 

3. And then, we notice next, even his silence 
was misunderstood: "And the high priest stood up 
in the midst and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest 
thou nothing? What is it which these witness 
against thee ? But he held his peace and answered 
nothing." From our knowledge of ordinary hu- 
man nature, we should surmise that this ecclesiastic 
deemed Jesus surly and morose-tempered. He may 
have imagined that this dangerous rabbi, now sud- 
denly interrupted in his popularity with the com- 
mon people who heard him gladly, had become 
petulant or sullen. But the fact is, they all misun- 
derstood the errand the Saviour came upon. What 
good would it do for him now to talk? Suppose it 
had been possible for the Son of man, thus already 
in the very grip of his enemies and feeling their 
violence, to set himself free from them by force of 



MISUNDERSTOOD TO THE END. 263 

argument or by witchery of eloquent speech, what 
good would it do? Jesus Christ came to this world 
to die; he must die. 

All these sufferings he was now enduring, all 
he was going to meet at the Place of a Skull, were 
penal and expiatory. He was a substitute for oth- 
ers. For himself he had no penalty to pay; he had 
no ill-desert whatever. With an infinite exaltation 
of character, and with a perfect purity of life which 
no one of our fallen race could imitate or even ap- 
preciate, and within his heart cherishing an infinite 
abhorrence of evil which no one could either share 
or understand, he yet stood voluntarily in the place 
of an entire world already condemned ; he was 
therefore logically a culprit before the broken law 
of God. 

This it was now quite unnecessary to talk about 
in the presence of the Sanhedrin; conversation only 
availed to hinder the inevitable and to prolong an 
undignified scuffle in a court without jurisdiction. 
He must have felt a kind of relief as he noticed 
that events were hastening. But it saddens us to 
imagine the weight of unshared grief this silence 
imposed on one so placed at the moment. John 
had not yet grown courageous enough to come in; 
Simon Peter was out in the quadrangle swearing he 
never knew him. 

Now there is a difference that we all compre- 
hend between being alone and being lonely. A 
traveller upon his journey is alone, but not neces- 
sarily lonely, for he may have dear memories of 
the home he has left as well as bright anticipations 



264 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

of the rest he is nearing; and so the Inner world 
of his imagination is peopled anew with welcome 
companionship. So a fisherman, out in his little 
l)oat upon the solemn ocean, even though he may 
be like a mere speck on the waves, is not lonely, no 
matter how distantly alone he is, for he knows that 
the spark he sees far away, as the night creeps on, 
is a light in the window of his hut, set for his wel- 
come when his nets bring in the evening meal. 
There is a separation which after all is not solitude; 
and any man of sensibility can be reserved without 
being lonesome, for a true heart recreates the circle 
from which it is sundered. 

But Jesus Christ at this crisis-moment knew 
that the circle which once trusted him was broken 
and scattered. He had said some time before that 
this would be so: '' Behold, the hour cometh, yea, 
is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man 
to his own, and shall leave me alone; and yet I am 
not alone, because the Father is with me." There 
was not one human being on this entire planet w^ith 
any kind of genuine association with him in accom- 
plishing his "decease at Jerusalem." What then 
w^as the use of talking any more? He was simply 
fulfilling a fragment of old prophecy, spoken more 
than seven hundred years before: " He is brought 
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before 
her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his 
mouth." (Isa. 53:7.) 

4. We must connect with this, in the fourth 
place, the fact that this council misunderstood the 
entire purpose of our I^ord: "Again the high priest 



MISUNDERSTOOD TO THE END. 265 

asked lilm, and saitli unto him, Art thou the Christ, 
the Son of the Blessed ? And Jesus said, I am: and 
ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right 
hand of power and coming with the clouds of 
heaven.'* This time, now that the questions had 
ceased to be merely personal and had become offi- 
cial, Jesus cordially and candidly made answer. 
And nothing in all this story shows the blindness 
and igrnorance of those masters in Israel so evi- 
dently as their awful rage at w^hat he said: "And 
the high priest rent his clothes, and saith. What 
further need have we of witnesses ? Ye have heard 
the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all con- 
demned him to be worthy of death." 

They sought to know whether Jesus claimed to 
be the nation's Messiah ; and the instant he bore 
his testimony faithfully and acknowledged his di- 
vine lineage and commission as the Son of God and 
Judge of the world, they raised the cry of blas- 
phemy. From this time there was no hope of 
deliverance for him. 

So the grand purpose of redemption proceeded. 
The ancient scape-goat, after the hands of the 
priest had put the sins of the congregation on its 
head, was driven away, solitary, into the wilder- 
ness. That doomed creature was meant to be in 
this particular a precise type of the Christ. Our 
Saviour bore the sins of the w^hole world in his 
own person. Simon the Cyrenian helped him to 
carry the cross, but no one helped him to carry the 
curse. This one victim was the only victim pn 
the altar. He stood between our fallen race and 

12 



266 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

the majesty of the law they had broken. Moses 
once tried to endure a burden like this fifteen cen- 
turies before, and he tried bravely too ; but he 
broke down under it, and cried out unto a merciful 
God, ^'I am not able to bear all this people alone, 
because it is too heavy for me.'' But Jesus could 
not be allowed to break; a divine purpose upheld 
him and urged him on; he was obliged to bear it to 
the end, to suffer and be strong. 

Those rulers in the Sanhedrin were too bigoted 
and dull to understand that. There was no one 
among them to appreciate his purpose any more 
than to share it. Nor anywhere else: the wicked 
world mocked the Immanuel who was dying to 
save it. Never had a deliverer such trouble to 
find captives to free; never had a teacher such diffi- 
culty to gather pupils to teach; never had prince 
such hindrance in seeking paupers to enrich ; 
never had any giver such infinite trials in discov- 
ering receivers for the inestimable gifts he longed 
to bestow. No wonder he was silent; no wonder 
he lived apart; it was natural for him to say, "The 
prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in 
me." He felt he had no part nor lot in the admin- 
istration of such a kingdom of misrule as the earth 
seemed now to be under. He was "separate from 
sinners '' and yet he was suffering for sinners' 
sakes, and still those sinners went on sinning and 
misjudging him. 

5. And thus we reach the fifth and worst of 
thpse misconceptions intimated to us in the passage 
we are studying. The chief priests and the people 



MISUNDERSTOOD TO THE) END. 267 

tlicy influenced misunderstood the temper of tlieir 
illustrious captive. They thought he was a man 
of like passions with themselves. At once they 
commenced a series of small insults and petty acts 
of violence totally unworthy of the occasion and 
the court. *'And some began to spit on him and 
to cover his face and to buffet him, and to say imto 
him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him 
with the palms of their hands." Think of this as 
a form of treatment for the real Redeemer of the 
world! They had not discovered the actual issue; 
they had not grasped the position. Such feeble 
wounds for a spirit like his were more insignificant 
than the stinging of an insect. 

He was too far above that wretched crowd to 
feel provoked. Great thinkers are always solitary. 
Great thoughts lift men out of the region of little 
contumelies. We see this even in common history. 
The complaint most frequently uttered by Napo- 
leon Bonaparte at St. Helena was, **Men do not 
understand me." So said Kepler when he put forth 
his volume at which his contemporaries laughed: 
"Whether it will be read by the future or the pres- 
ent age I have no care; if God has waited so long 
for an observer, I can afford to wait for one who 
knows what I mean." 

Jesus had no heart to resent these contemptible 
wrongs. One answer he made is recorded by the 
evangelist John, but does not appear here. When 
a blow fell upon him at the higl; priest's direct 
order, he replied calmly, *'If I have spoken evil, 
bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest 



268 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

thou me?" For the rest he had no harshness, no 
rejoinder, no resistance. ^'When he was reviled, 
he reviled not again; when he suffered, he threat- 
ened not; but committed himself to him that judg- 
eth righteously." So he went on with his work: 
went from this council-room to Pilate's judgment- 
hall; went on to Calvary and the cross. 

II. Hence, good Christian friends, now that our 
patient exposition is ended, we have only to receive 
a few lessons of practical bearing for ourselves. 

1. We can understand at last that the type of 
religious separateness for each believer is found in 
this experience of Jesus Christ. He was solitary, 
not because of his superciliousness, but because of 
his sanctity. It was not because he was odd or 
singular that these people misunderstood him to 
the end, but because he was so good, so generous, 
so gentle, and so pure. 

2. We see likewise that it is gentleness always 
which makes men genuinely great. We need not 
hesitate to declare that there never has been so 
much as one other force which swayed the world as 
this closing scene of Jesus' career has swayed it. 
There now his life stands, out in the twilight of that 
council-chamber. It was a sad life, but it was a 
noble one. *' Let this mind be in you which was 
also in Christ." Keep a scene like this before your 
eyes; gazQ on that Saviour till you begin at last to 
understand ' ' the Son of the Blessed. ' ^ 



CHRIST'S KINGSHIP AND KINGDOM, 269 

XXVI. 

CHRIST'S KINGSHIP AND KINGDOM. 

"And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? 
And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it." — Mark 
15:2. 

In the first commentary that I opened for stndy 
of this passage I found a full-paged illustration. 
It represented the Roman judgment-hall. The 
governor was upon the raised platform ; the Saviour 
was just below him, standing on the floor. No 
guards were in the room; no disciples were beside 
Jesus; no courtiers were around Pilate. Only these 
two figures confronted each other. Pilate leans 
forward anxious, his hands on his knees. Jesus is 
intrepidly facing him, his arms pinioned with 
thongs behind his back. The title is "Jesus before 
Pilate." 

It is a scene full of meaning. I marvel that the 
artists do not attempt it oftener. But we turn from 
the picture abruptly, for it has more to teach by its 
suggestion than by its mere lines of drawing. It is 
plain that this whole story centres on the question 
which the Roman governor put to our Lord con- 
cerning his being the King of the Jews; to which 
question Jesus returned answer that he was a king. 
And out of a statement so astonishing grows the 
subsequent conversation. Pilate in sarcasm calls 
Jesus by the name twice in his public address to 
the infuriated people; this seems to inflame their 



270 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

wrath more than anything else he did. They catch 
up the nickname and begin to make sport savagely 
with the notion; they crown his forehead with a 
prickly wreath; they put a walking-staff in his 
hand for a mock sceptre; they contrive somehow to 
get a gown of royal purple to put on him instead of 
his own seamless robe; and then with many a 
ribald shout of laughter they awake the echoes of 
the streets with their cry, *'Hail, King of the 
Jews!" It is evident that this name forms the in- 
cident of the occasion. 

I. lyCt us fix our attention, first, upon the royal 
proclamation which our Saviour made in his answer 
to the interrogation of Pilate. 

I. He gave as the description of his kingdom 
that it was not of this world. Pilate said, "Art 
thou a king?" Jesus gave him the reply that in- 
dicated the strongest kind of asseveration, "Thou 
sayest that I am a king." But he added, "My 
kingdom is not from hence." Now we are aware 
that every monarch must have some sort of "divine 
right" to rule on a throne; what was the right 
that Jesus here asserted as his own? 

It might have been the right of possession. He 
might have shown this Roman governor that he 
owned these people, for with him were "the oracles 
of God," which they revered as supreme. He 
could have said to him, "I am that Messiah who 
was predicted by their prophets to reign." But 
then Pilate, the ignorant unbeliever, could have 
answered to this, " I do not recognize the right of 
even the Jews' Messiah to be a king." 



CHRIST'S KINGSHIP AND KINGDOM. 271 

It might have been the right of conquest. Jesus 
might have told him that he had subjected these 
people by his miracles, that he proved divine au- 
thority by wielding divine power. But to this 
Pilate had for a ready reply the woful fact that it 
was the Jews who had already delivered this so- 
called Messiah into his hands. They had declared 
they would not have him to reign over them, and 
were now seeking his death. 

It might have been the right of acceptance; for 
Christ in sober earnest could have appealed away 
from priests to populace, and reminded Pilate that 
once on the shore of Gennesaret the people's en- 
thusiasm had reached such a height that he had 
been obliged to withdraw himself miraculously from 
the multitudes lest they should make him a king 
**by force;" and just now, only yesterday, as it 
were, right here out near the brook Kidron, men, 
women, and children had strewn his path through 
the valley of Jehoshaphat with olive-branches and 
palms, and had spread their garments under the 
feet of the borrowed beast he rode in a royal triumph 
even into the gate of Jerusalem. But here, again, 
Pilate was at liberty to interrupt him with a fine 
sarcasm in the suggestion that he had better settle 
such matters with Herod, the regular heir; for 
there seemed for thrones now rather too many kings 
of the Jews to go round. 

What Jesus did assert in his own behalf was the 
right of personal genuineness as a man, and hence 
as the king of men. He explained a confusion in 
appearances by showing that his kingdom was not 



272 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

material nor temporal, not even hereditary or bellig- 
erent. It was "not of this world," not "from 
hence." It was a sovereignty in the hearts of 
human beings; it was, in one word, the kingdom 
of truth among men. The heathen governor, of 
course, did not dare dispute this; indeed, he hardly 
knew what it meant. He swiftly closed that inter- 
view by asking the memorable question, "What is 
truth?" 

2. Understanding, therefore, precisely what 
Jesus in this definite proclamation of his sovereignty 
claimed as the basis of his divine right, we are pre- 
pared to ask. What was the nature of his kingdom ? 

It was spiritual in every particular. It did not 
need any fleet or flag; it would not want either 
army or arsenal; it did not propose to collect cus- 
toms or make treaties. This imperial officer saw 
clearly that Jesus offered no menace to Caesar. His 
errand was not political, but personal and religious. 
The kingdom he was establishing over Judaea and 
the world was exactly that which Satan had prom- 
ised him when tempted in the wilderness, that 
which he had then contemptuously repudiated be- 
cause he would take no authority or office from the 
tempter's hands nor accept any of the devil's con- 
ditions annexed to the tender. 

And yet this kingdom was to be organic to the 
last degree of institution. It w^ould have its laws, 
its orders, and its rulers. It openly announced that 
it would lay its hand on men and money, lands and 
seas, in order that it might use them as means of 
advancement in raisinor the race to the image of 



CHRIST'S KINGSHIP AND KINGDOM. 273 

God in purity and holiness and strength. The one 
purpose of the organisation should be moral and re- 
ligious; it would be an agency and instrument for 
the propagation of the highest ends among men; it 
would labor to secure the true, the good, and the 
beautiful in all the world till the race of fallen hu- 
manity should be redeemed. So ran the whole 
tenor of Christ's proclamation; and we now see 
that this kingdom of truth was simply what we call 
the invisible church. 

II. Let us then study the process by which this 
kingdom, of which Jesus was the king, was estab- 
lished on the earth. 

1. In the beginning Christ united a few true 
men to himself for the sake of the work they could 
do and the help they could bring him. It was not 
the coming together of a people, who, as soon as 
they began to feel the need of government, elected 
a king. Christ was the earliest and the only king 
this kingdom ever had; the king lived before the 
kingdom had any subjects. But when Jesus came 
forward to redeem souls from sin, and so make men 
true and pure, he selected a band of workers as his 
associates in propagating the truth which should 
make men free. 

2. Then, second, he joined these to each- other 
by rendering them efficient in the instant conversion 
of souls. He chose Andrew, and at once managed 
it so that Andrew "found" Simon. He chose 
Philip, and in twenty-four hours Philip "found" 
Nathanael. And right here, in order to show every- 
body the principle ou which this extension of his 

SluJIcB lu Maik'8 Gospel, 1 2'' 



274 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

spiritual sway must proceed, he took pains to say 
why Nathanael was accepted in particular — he was 
an Israelite without guile; that is, he was an un- 
reproached, genuine, just, true man, precisely what 
every one needed to be in a kingdom of truth, 
whose subjects must be simply true. 

3. So by slow accretions the slender community 
was collected; an inconspicuous realm was growing 
around a crownless Monarch. Now there must be 
begun a process of disentanglement from the world. 
It is necessary that we should recollect that these 
disciples and converts were not at all united to each 
other before they were united to Christ. It was by 
being united to him that they became united to 
each other. Jesus taught them; but it was not his 
doctrine that organized them. Jesus lived blame- 
lessly in their sight; but it was not his example 
that organized them. It was his personal kingship 
in the truth that organized them; for that made 
them one with him, and so with each other one 
and with all that came after. It challenged an 
immediate and intelligent separation of each one by 
himself from all the word and works the great 
antagonist of good was using for the soul's destruc- 
tion. Christ struck at those mixed multitudes of 
hypocrites with terrible violence: *' Why do ye not 
understand my speech? even because ye cannot 
hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, 
and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a 
murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the 
truth, because there is no truth in him. When he 
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a 



CHRIST'S KINGSHIP AND KINGDOM. 275 

liar and the father of it. And because I tell you 
the truth, ye believe me not.'^ 

It was thus that our lyord kept winning acces- 
sions to his kingdom by an exalted purity and 
strength of truth in himself; he united his followers 
to him by incorporating his own life in them, and 
in the same form of mysterious union he bound 
them to each other. This point is insisted upon in 
Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians. He was rebuking 
some that were insincere and encouraging others 
who were growing in genuineness: ^'But ye have 
not so learned Christ, if so be that ye have heard 
him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is 
in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former con- 
versation the old man, which is corrupt according 
to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit 
of your mind; and that ye p'^t on the new man, 
which after God is created in righteousness and true 
holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak 
every man truth wi-th his neighbor: for we are 
members one of another.'' All believers were to 
be true because Christ was true. They were mem- 
bers of each other, as limbs of the same body; 
branches of each other, because all of them were 
branches of Christ the one true vine. 

4. Then, in the fourth place, a tremendous sift- 
ing of the entire community ensued. Suddenly 
this great Teacher, on one or two historic occa- 
sions, put forth the most revolutionary doctrines in 
his preaching publicly — all true and orthodox and 
right, but extreme and radical and calculated to 
test their obedience and love to the last degree. 



2/6 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

For example, tins: ''The Jews therefore strove 
among themselves, saying. How can this man give 
us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, 
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the 
flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye 
have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and 
drinketh my blood hath eternal life ; and I will 
raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat 
indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that 
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth 
in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath 
sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth 
me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread 
which came down from heaven; not as your fathers 
did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this 
bread shall live for ever." 

The result of such strong doctrine was to stumble 
many of his friends. "Many therefore of his disci- 
ples, when they had heard this, said. This is a hard 
saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in 
himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said 
unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye 
shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was 
before? It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh 
profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, 
they are spirit and they are life. But there are 
some of you that believe not." The point which 
our Lord pressed was that of a supreme and vital 
imion to himself. Those who took their chances in 
the kingdom of truth must be "in Christ Jesus;" 
for he was the king, and the king was truth. It 
was impossible that all of this crowd should have 



277 

wit enough to understand liim. And some went 
away; and some stayed and grew mystic in love for 
him personally, so as to lose truth in mere attach- 
ment to Jesus. "From that time many of his dis- 
ciples went back and walked no more with him. 
Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go 
away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to 
whom shall we go ! thou hast the words of eternal 
life. And we believe and are sure that thou art 
that Christ, the Son of the living God." 

5. Then the next step, now become essential, 
was for our Lord to disappear from their sympathy 
and sight. There was springing up, naturally 
enough, a human regard, a manly friendship, a 
fraternal tenderness, which was diverting his ad- 
herents from truth alone — truth, solitary, grand, 
and simple, as the gift of God to men. So Jesus 
told the company one day as they sat together that 
he should leave them soon. We have all read the 
tale, and we remember how this almost broke their 
hearts; it appeared to them as if the light and 
warmth of the sun had gone out of the sky at once. 
Why was this departure "expedient"? The verse 
so often quoted from one of the later epistles shows 
how these early believers understood it afterwards: 
"Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the 
flesh : yea, though we have known Christ after the 
flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." 
It was essential that every real Christian should be 
satisfied with the truth — pure truth. Souls must 
learn to know and love Jesus as the king of the 
kingdom ; not as a historic head or a personal friend. 



278 

but as tlie embodiment of the truth as it ever should 
be and remain in the thoughts and lives of men. 

Then there remained very little more for the 
Saviour to do before he left his disciples; one prom- 
ise and one prayer, however, he gave to them. 
The promise was that the Spirit of God, the Third 
Person in the Trinity, should come in his place and 
be loyally subject to himself: "But when the Com- 
forter is come, whom I will send unto you from the 
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth 
from the Father, he shall testify of me. . . Howbeit, 
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide 
you into all truth: for he shall not speak of him- 
self; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he 
speak: and he will show you things to come. He 
shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine and 
shall show it unto you. All things that the Father 
hath are mine: therefore said I that he shall take 
of mine and shall show it unto you." The prayer 
was that grand intercession found in the seventeenth 
chapter of the gospel of John; recall its phraseology 
just for one moment: "Holy Father, keep through 
thine own name those whom thou hast given me, 
that they may be one, as w^e are. While I was 
with them in the world I kept them in thy name: 
those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of 
them is lost, but the son of" perdition; that the 
Scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to 
thee, and these things I speak in the world, that 
they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I 
have given them thy word, and the world hath 
hated them, because they are not of the world, even 



CHRIST'S KINGSHIP AND KINGDOM. 279 

as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou 
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou 
shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not 
of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanc- 
tify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." 

6. Finally, Jesus went away as he said and the 
promised Comforter came. The kingdom of truth, 
so far as its earthly management historically was 
concerned, was passed over to the Third Person of 
the adorable Godhead in the place of the Second. 
On the great day of Pentecost the Holy Ghost de- 
scended. He remains here still, the Vicegerent in 
the kingdom of truth, of which our sovereign Lord 
Jesus Christ ever abides the only adorable King. 
Now, with a passionate love and loyalty and long- 
ing, true believers lose not one moment more in 
any wistful gazing up into heaven. Christ is 
formed in them, the hope of glory, a present help 
and joy in their hearts. He is the truth, and they 
are a true generation, and so he is w^ith them still. 
And for Christ's sake, for Christ's dear sake, be- 
cause he said so, they gather now and then around 
a table with bread and wine on it, and they meet 
and greet each other like the nobles of an absent 
monarch whom they expect to be with them again 
before long, coming back to his own. They are all 
one in Christ Jesus, and he is going to be evermore 
one with them. 

So we see, once for all, what it is that we ask 
when we pray, as we do daily, "Thy kingdom 
come." We want the conversion of souls to a 
standard of truth; more subjects in this realm of 



28o STUDIES IN mark's GOSPElv. 

Christ's truth; more pure women and more honest 
men; maidens fair-foreheaded in honor, and lads 
that will scorn to lie; more genuineness through and 
through, the world seeing us walking in the light; 
more glory for Christ's covenant, more graces for 
Christ's people, and more jewels for Christ's crown. 
So likewise we see what it is that becomes the 
overmastering motive of Christian experience to 
which the last and tenderest appeal of the pulpit is 
to be made: it is love and loyalty at its highest in 
the heart of any true man, love of and loyalty to 
the truth. If this does not avail to stir a Christian 
to liberality, to fidelity, to self-sacrifice, then there 
is no hope for him. History makes record that 
Avhen Ccesar's legion mutinied, no argument from 
interest or reason could persuade the malcontents to 
lay down the arms of their rebellion; but the mo- 
ment he addressed them as "Quirites," the tumult 
was hushed. The human heart is mysterious in its 
emotions, but it answers to one name at least if it 
be genuine in its devotion. It may not avail to 
plead for the sake of mere commercial or common- 
place benefits; but whenever that call comes forth, 
"Ye that are Christ's, now serve him!" there will 
be heard a deep response in every loyal soul. Say 
to each one, "Christian! what hath thy Lord of 
truth done for thee?" Back on his fealty he falls, 
his heart full of longing, his eyes moist with tears. 
For a man is in the truth and of the truth when he 
belongs to the kingdom of truth of which Jesus 
Christ is the King, and never before. "Every one 
that is of the truth heareth his voice." 



THK SCENE AT CAI.VARY. 281 

XXVII. 
THE SCENE AT CALVARY. 

"And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, 

BEING interpreted, ThE PLACE OF A SKULL."— iT/ar^ 15:22. 

The Mohammedans believe that Jesus Christ 
did not die, but that he mysteriously ascended un- 
hurt into heaven; and then, it is said, Judas Iscariot 
was suddenly changed into his likeness and cruci- 
fied in his place. This seems a very silly fable, in- 
tended to give relief from what they deemed too 
shameful to bear. 

There is no way of escaping the humiliation of 
the cross except by glorying in it. The crucifixion 
of Jesus is everything to us or it is nothing. The 
moment one decides to rest his eternal salvation 
upon the promises and provisions of the gospel, he 
accepts all that this deed of shame involves. He 
need have no care as to what others around him 
think of it; to him Christ crucified is "the power 
of God and the wisdom of God." 

I. What was crucifixion ? To the devout Chris- 
tian every item of information he can gain concern- 
ing that dread scene at Calvary is of the utmost 
value. 

I. It was foreign in every sense in its infliction 
upon our Lord. This kind of capital punishment 
was Roman and not Jewish. The ancient Latin 
writers have employed the strongest of all their 



282 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

terms of opprobrium in speaking of it; they call it 
*'the worst punishment in the world." Moreover, 
it was not intended for citizens of creditable condi- 
tion, but for bondmen of the very lowest classes. 
There was ignominy in it as well as pain. In- 
deed, except in rarest instances, it was not inflicted 
for political misdemeanors, but only for the mean- 
est and most heinous of crimes. Jesus was not one 
who should have been considered exposed to it. 

2. It was excessively cruel in its details. The 
word which it has given to our English language 
indicates its severity. To be *' excruciated " sim- 
ply means to be in suffering like that of crucifixion ; 
it signifies the extreme anguish to which human 
sensibility can go. The criminal was usually vio- 
lently scourged, to begin with, then stretched on 
his back along the perpendicular beam. Both of 
his hands, being extended upon the bar which ran 
transversely over this, were spiked through to its 
extremities. And in like manner the feet wxre 
nailed below. "They pierced my hands and my 
feet.'» 

3. It was long and lingering in its operation. 
Severe as these wounds were, they could never be 
very dangerous. Hardly more than a few drops of 
blood fell from them. It would have been too 
much of a merciful indulgence for this mode of ex- 
ecution to make any of its agonizing strokes imme- 
diately fatal. Death did not ensue sometimes until 
after several days of torture. Even then it was 
brought on by weakness and starvation, coupled 
with the low fever which the inflammation from 



THK SCENE AT CALVARY. ^3 

the wounds sooner or later produced. The great 
suffering was caused by the constrained posture on 
the cross, the soreness of the members from tlie 
nails, and of the back from the welts raised by the 
whips in the scourging. Every motion brought 
with it only anguish without relief. Thus the poor 
body was permitted to hang, with no respite and no 
hope, through the night and through the day, in 
the chilliness of the evening, in the heat of the 
noon, until death put an end to consciousness and 
to life. 

4. Such a punishment powerfully arrested the 
popular imagination as a spectacle. Sometimes 
the military men put on guard w^ere compelled to 
accelerate the final agony by brutally beating the 
legs of the victims with bludgeons till the bones 
were crushed and the sudden shocks produced col- 
lapse. No w^onder people called this "the most 
cruel, the worst possible fate." It is on record that 
a soldier once said that, of all the awful sounds hu- 
man ears could be forced to listen to, the most ter- 
rible out of hell were those pitiable cries, in the 
solemn silence of the midnight, from the lonely hill 
where crucified men were hanging in agonies out 
of which they could not even die while a breath to 
suffer with remained. 

5. So we see whence came the suggestion of a 
crucifix as a symbol of faith and patience. It is not 
likely that the physical pains of our Lord were the 
severest he had to bear; but they certainly have 
availed from the earliest time to move the hearts of 
the simple-minded common people. Nor is this 



284 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI.. 

all: there are moments of deep spiritual feeling 
when even the most cultivated penitent will find an 
argument in the ''agony and the bloody sweat" as 
well as in the "cross and passion" of the divine 
Redeemer. The Scriptures leave us often in the 
greatest doubt and mystery as to Jesus' mental state 
when he was dying; but many passages dwell with 
much particularity of detail upon his bodily dis- 
tress. The very appearance of hideous emaciation 
that would follow from the strained position of the 
person was predicted a thousand years before Jesus 
was born: (Psa. 22:14-17). The popular mind is 
moved by such a picture; but the mistake might 
easily be made of trusting a crucifix in an impulse 
of superstition, instead of Christ on a principle of 
faith. 

11. So much, then, as to the manner of our 
Lord's crucifixion; now comes up for our study a 
far more interesting question concerning its meaning. 

I. Considered merely as a matter of historic in- 
cident, the death of Jesus Christ is of little, if any, 
spiritual value. Doubtless there were other execu- 
tions at Golgotha, before and after this one, equally 
painful and equally iniquitous — for the Roman Gov- 
ernment in Palestine was never free from chars^es 
of injustice. We do not care, however, to remem^ 
ber the sufferers' names. As a part of the world's 
annals Pilate's behavior is nothing but one of the 
ten thousand instances of judicial indecision and 
popular fury which have disgraced our race. And 
Christ's crucifixion is but one more wail of abused 
humanity, if we contemplate it alone. 



the: scene; at calvary. 2S5 

2. We must consider this event as a matter of 
theological doctrine. When history is so moment- 
ous and so mysterious as this, we are compelled to 
read below the surface and between the lines. The 
death of our Lord does not stand by itself. He was 
not crucified to meet any necessities of Pilate's pro- 
consulship or of the Roman Empire or the Jewish 
monarchy. He was ''delivered by the determinate 
counsel and foreknowledge of God" in order that 
he should suffer precisely as he did: (Acts 2:23). 
Men wreaked their violent passions upon him, and 
it was by wicked and responsible hands he was cru- 
cified and slain. Messiah was "cut off, but not for 
himself:" (Dan. 9:26). The wisdom of God over- 
ruled the wrath of his murderers to the divine glory 
and the salvation of men. One of the ancient com- 
mentators springs up almost out of sober exposition 
into the realm of song as he exclaims: ''In their 
frantic anger they pluck to pieces the Rose of 
Sharon; but by so doing they only display the 
brilliance of every petal. In their fury they break 
a diamond into fragments; by which they only 
cause it to show its genuineness by its sparkling 
splinters. They are anxious to tear from Imman- 
uel's head the last remnant of a crown; but they 
only lift the veil from the forehead of his majesty!" 
3. More than anything else we must also con- 
sider the crucifixion of Jesus as a matter of vica- 
rious atonement. There is something very fine in 
the quiet simplicity with which one of the apostles 
explained this entire scene at Calvary: "All have 
sinned." Christ died to be "a propitiation through 



286 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPKL. 

faith in his blood:" (Rom. 3:23-26.) Pilate wrote 
an inscription to put over the head of the Saviour; 
according to a Roman custom, this was designed to 
explain the transaction to all who stood by. But 
though he printed it broadly in three languages, he 
did not reach the real meaning in so much as one 
of them. The true inscription on the cross would 
be, "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sin- 
ners." These are the words which would give the 
scene at Calvary its eternal interpretation before 
the church and the ages. The very voice of Im- 
manuel himself, as he seems to speak out of the 
midst of his suffering, is: "See! I have taken 
away the handwriting that was against you and 
have nailed it to my cross." (Col. 2:13, 14). The 
one word which describes the w^hole gospel plan of 
salvation is substitution. Christ was sinless, yet he 
suffered: we are sinful, yet we go free. 

4. This will lead at last to our consideration of 
the crucifixion as a matter of personal experience. 
Believers all glory in the cross. Many a deathbed 
has been illumined by its light. Many a sorrowful 
and lonely heart has been encouraged by the remem- 
brance of it. There have been old men, just trem- 
bling on the verge of the tomb, whose eyes filled 
with the tears of grateful gladness as they died 
thinking of it. There have arisen voices from 
around the stake in the midst of the martyr's 
flames, singing praises to Him who hung upon it. 
Many a bowed sinner has come forth into freedom 
as he laid his burden at the foot of the cross. 

This personal experience begins with self-renun- 



the: scene at CAI.VARY. 287 

elation. Every other reliance must absolutely be 
surrendered and each soul must become content to 
owe its salvation to Jesus Christ's merits, not to its 
own. Such humility as this requires is not always 
reached. Missionaries tell us there is a ceremony 
in Japan, even at this day, in which the cross of 
the Christian faith is annually brought out before 
the people and thrown on the pavement in the pub- 
lic road, so that their feet in passing must necessa- 
rily trample upon it. Surely this seems a senseless 
blasphemy. But it is hardly beyond the spiteful- 
ness of many who reject the offer of a vicarious 
atonement. To those who accept Jesus for salva- 
tion the "offence of the cross is ceased." 

Then this personal experience proceeds with the 
penitent surrender and confession of guilt. Every 
soul recognizes the Saviour as the substitute for 
itself. 

" 'Twas for my sins my dearest Lord hung on the cursed tree, 
And groaned away a dying Hfe for thee, my soul, for thee !" 

We feel intelligently sure that faith may lay its 
hand on the head of this one Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sins of the world. Away with all 
useless bullocks and goats and turtle-doves! Away 
with feasts and fasts and penances, with hired 
masses and votive candles for prayers! Away with 
priestly intercession and drone of ritual! Jesus 
Christ on the cross is the Way, the Truth, and the 
Life! All down the ages the testimony comes that 
men in every station in society and in all conceiva- 
ble circumstances have found at the foot of the 



288 STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEIv. 

cross what they have found nowhere else — -joy and 
pardon and peace. Types and symbols find their 
meaning and their explanation in Christ alone. 

So this personal experience continues to the end 
with a deep solicitude against lapsing into sin 
again. When we picture the scene at Calvary we 
grow indignant at those who were concerned in the 
cruelty. But what if there had been one there so 
malignant as to wish for a re-arrest of Jesus after 
the resurrection, and then for a new crucifixion on 
the same cross ! The Scripture gives warning 
against apostates; it is impossible, *'if they shall 
fall away, to renew them again unto repentance, 
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God 
afresh and put him to an open shame. '^ 



LESSONS AT THE SEPULCHRE. 289 



XXVIII. 
I.ESSONS AT THE SEPULCHRE. 

"Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is 
risen; he is not here. Behold the place where they 
LAID him." — Mark 16:6. 

There is in the city of Jerusalem an ancient 
edifice called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 
Beneath its dome, so the garrulous guardians will 
tell you, is the exact site of that tomb in which our 
Saviour was laid. Indeed, they will show you a 
structure of stone which they assert is the hewn 
rock prepared by Joseph of Arimathaea for his own 
burial, but given on the eventful evening of the 
crucifixion day as a receptacle for the body of Jesus. 

For fifteen hundred years the tradition has been 
preserved. The great body of Eastern Christians 
even now accept it as trustworthy. Many, how- 
ever, of cooler judgment, have been led to question 
the accuracy of very much of Oriental topography, 
and entertain small respect for pretty nearly all the 
Palestine shrines. There is suspicion that this spot 
has fixed itself in the popular mind quite as effectu-' 
ally through mere assertion, which is all the bolder 
because of the lucrative income, as through any 
logic of argument or record of history. The discus- 
sions have grown intricate and sometimes waxed 
even violent. In proportion to the want of any 
real information have so-called scholars seemed 

Stiulie* III M irU-.» Gohii.I. j -i 



290 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

willing to press to unwarrantable extremes the con- 
jectures they at first only hazarded. Pride of indi- 
vidual opinions has acted in some cases disastrously. 
And perhaps there is no spectacle more humiliating 
to be seen in all Christendom than the actual hand- 
and-foot conflicts between the rival sects on each 
Easter day as they fight fi^r precedence in ceremo- 
nial within those old walls, while outside, all over 
the world, with equal animosity and bitterness, dis- 
putants who rule the schools contend as to whether 
the sepulchre was ever in that neighborhood at all. 
One cannot help being grateful over the mystery; 
for if such profane folly is wrought because of an 
imaginary locality, what might be feared in case 
there should be a discovery of the true! 

Thus much seems credible: there was once a 
structure in this part of the city, of what sort does 
not appear, afterwards destroyed. The Roman em- 
peror Hadrian erected upon its ruins a temple for 
the worship, of the heathen goddess Venus. That 
in turn crumbled away, and upon its foundations 
the Emperor Constantine built a Christian church. 
As to the one question, however, whether the sep- 
ulchre of Jesus was in the rock underneath each of 
these edifices all the while, nobody can furnish or 
find any positive proof. Most of the prelatical wri- 
ters, high in ecclesiastical reverence, think they may 
implicitly trust the statement of Mother Church. 
Many of the evangelical and Protestant writers sim- 
ply reject the tradition as being unimportant and 
unauthentic, and declare that the exact place where 
Christ was laid cannot now, and will never, be 



I^ESSONS AT THE SEPULCHRE. 291 

known. In repeating the invitation of the text, 
*' Behold the place where they laid him," I have 
no purpose in mind, therefore, to lead you into. curi- 
ous inquiries concerning the mere form, locality, or 
history of Joseph's garden or the stone chamber 
generously opened for the deposit of Jesus' remains. 
The lines of that inclosure are certainly obliterated 
now and the grave is no more. 

But the imagination will do all needed service 
in reproducing, as far as is necessary for any legiti- 
mate end, the august spectacle which alone illu- 
mines the spot. That tomb was the local link 
between the humiliation and the exaltation of our 
divine Lord. The turning moment of his history 
was passed in the dark inclosure of what we call a 
grave. No human grave, however, was ever like 
that before, but every Christian grave has been like 
that since. And he who will come now and see 
where the Lord lay, may see with hopeful and 
happy eyes the place where each one is going to 
lie who sleeps in Jesus. 

For the Scriptural narrative labors to be clear 
upon two points, not one only. It is interesting to 
notice how the inspired writers reverse our usual 
conceptions of the close of human life. We are 
wont to expatiate little upon a man's future as he 
draws his final breath. We dwell almost morbidly 
upon his failing powers and lonesome departure. 
But we are sure to hurry into conspicuousness and 
show almost at once thereafter. We hush up dec- 
orously the details of death, and reserve our parade 
for funerals. 



292 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPKU 

But the sacred record concerning the Lord Jesus 
is found to glance briefly upon the circumstances 
of his burial; it continues its wonderful minute- 
ness of description up to the last word, and then 
resumes the particulars the moment he rises again. 
That is to say, the stress of the history rests upon 
proving, first, that he truly died, and next, that he 
really rose again upon the third day. So that 
when xDne comes to see the place where the I^ord 
lay, he looks upon a grave with two openings — one 
through which a human being entered; the other 
which he broke as he left, and which remains un- 
closed, lience we learn at such a spot the lesson 
which entirely revolutionizes the ordinary processes 
of thought. No event in the history of our race is 
so fraught with meaning to upset traditions, imagi- 
nations, customs, as this of the resurrection of our 
IvOrd Jesus Christ. 

We find in the Word of God two representations 
of this period of human existence that seem to be 
in many respects contradictory. The pne declares 
life to be a mere delusion, a valueless vanity and 
vexation. The other says life is an infinitely pre- 
cious possession to us all. There was nothing for 
which the ancient people of God were taught to 
pray more earnestly than for length of days. In- 
deed, the pledge of this was what made welcome 
" the first commandment with promise." And yet 
Moses, the great Hebrew lawgiver, expressed the 
utter contempt of a disgusted heart when he sang 
in his Psalm, "We spend our years as a tale that is 
told." No reward offered under the gospel is so 



LKSSONS AT THE SEPULCHRE. 293 

princely and so priceless as the promise of life. 
Yet the soberest of all the apostles warns us that 
our life is ''only as a vapor that appeareth for a lit- 
tle time and then vanlsheth away. ' ' If there be any 
confusion or antagonism in these estimates It must 
be grounded just here. We judge of our life ac- 
cording to the point from which we view it. We 
prize it when we remember we are to part with it 
so soon. We despise it when we remember we must 
part with it so cci'tainly. And there will always be 
this contradictlveness of sentiment in the mind of 
any person who does not tone it with the grand 
conviction of an intelligent hereafter. 

It is true none of us are wlllinor to submit to the 
inevitable necessity of dying either timidly or 
tamely. We call our tremendous foe by bad names, 
and then we confront him as bravely as we can. In 
one notable instance, at least, has even the father of 
lies told the truth: "Skin for skin, yea, all that a 
man hath will he give for his life." It would al- 
most seem true that Death has in some instances 
been thwarted for a season by human courage and 
will. It is possible to ward off fatal disease for a 
time, and so redeem a few years more from the 
power of the grave. But such an effort never ends 
in any permanent triumph. All the world learned 
that long ago. Even the ancient my thologlst erected 
no temple to Death. No sacrifices were ever to be 
brought to Mors. He was understood as gathering 
his own victims at his own will. They considered 
him "a grim monster," inexorable to all entreaty 
and deaf to all prayers. 



294 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

And so far the heathen were right. Neither 
force nor propitiation can deliver ns from the shadow 
Death sends creeping on towards our feet. But 
surely we do not need to keep thinking of it! Any- 
body will be public benefactor enough to stop tolling 
the bell! We shrink back with a kind of violent 
instinct from that horrible iteration which, as we 
read, a certain monarch commanded; a herald was 
to enter his apartment each morning, saying, *' Re- 
member, O king, thou art mortal!" We know this 
is true; but we can refuse to be told of it. Two 
feeble little ingenuities of our own invention we are 
wont to practice, just to cover up the sight we 
mean not to see. 

One of them is a mere effort to render death less 
displeasing in its external forms. We choose the 
most exquisite spots for our places of burial. We 
plant them with rarest and fairest flowers. We 
adorn them with statuary, shining white among the 
trees, and with fountains playing in the willowy 
vistas. We chase coffins with silver and crown 
hearses with plumes. But this ends only in folly. 
Nobody grows any more willing to die for thinking 
of the fine funeral. Nor indeed are the footfalls of 
Death any softer for all the richness of the carpet 
along which he comes. His knock at the portal is 
no gentler for all that he covers his skeleton hand 
with the folds of black velvet. 

So we try again. We cannot ward off, but we 
can cover up. We cunningly insist that we can 
thwart the malice, if not the power, of that advan- 
cing doom which warns us as it nears us. We 



LESSONS AT THE SEPULCHRE. 295 

cannot stop the nearing; we can stop the warning. 
We cannot stay the nightfall ; but we can silence 
the clock. If Death comes, he shall be made to 
come stealthily. So we announce it ungenteel and 
against good-breeding to speak of any one's grow- 
ing old. With all passionateness of attachment we 
will cling to every shred of our lives. There was 
terrible irony, whether he intended it or not, in 
those words of our Lord, *'Let the dead bury their 
dead." That is what we are all doing. It has been 
the prominent occupation of the busy generations 
one by one. Yet we wise, shifty people propose 
definitely that we will keep in ignorance of what 
the whole world around us is at! 

Now it is well to question at this point with 
careful analysis such a feeling of repugnance and 
recoil. Why are we so subject to bondage through 
fear of death? It cannot be the apprehension of 
mere physical pain at the moment of departure. 
We are assured by those of widest observation and 
wisest skill that the pangs of dying are rarely 
severe. Nature makes kind provision for these 
final hours, and frequently they are the most posi- 
tively painless the sufferer has known for days and 
years. Not unlikely many of us here have endured 
already more than yet remains for us to meet when 
we come to die. Rather do our agitations seem to 
rise from a vague, undefined anxiety concerning 
what lies beyond death. And if that could just be 
relieved, most of us would listen to the summons 
heroically, and some would bid it cheerful welcome. 

Hence one of the most hopeful, helpful verses in 



296 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEL. 

the Bible is tliat in wlilcli we are told that our 
Lord Jesus Christ came to this world in human, 
mortal form, that he might become the avowed and 
eternal antagonist of the destroyer: " Forasmuch 
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he 
also himself likewise took part of the same; that 
through death he might destroy him that had the 
power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them 
who through fear of death were all their lifetime 
subject to bondage." 

When Jesus died upon the cross all nature 
shuddered. An exultant earthquake held revel 
among the rending rocks. Hell was jubilant with 
victory. . Satan had delight in seeing the heavens 
darkened. For the three predicted days his realm 
was in the ecstasy of triumph. His enemy slept 
heavily in the hewn rock of the Arimathaean. And 
we are ready to admit, if there had been no first 
Baster morning to come, the wail of the race could 
never have been hushed. 

But that stone was eventually rolled away in the 
dawn of the new Sabbath. Forth came the living 
Saviour from the abode of the dead. And he did 
not come alone. Some other people rose with him, 
came out of their graves, went up into the city. It 
matters not who they were. It was not the fact 
that a few nameless old persons had escaped which 
took the alarm to hell. A stupendous announce- 
ment preceded that: TiiE lyORD had risen in- 
deed! He broke the bars of that awful prison- 
house. Nay, more; he rent them away with him; 
he bore the gates off from the hinges; he left the 



LESSONS AT THE SKPUl^CHRE. 297 

grave wltli the wall all prostrate on tlie farther 
side! 

And since then there has been no death such as 
it used to be. "What seems so is iransitio7ty The 
Nazarene's last wonder on the earth was his great- 
est. Come, then, "see the place where the Lord 
lay." It is not so frightful a place after all. Peni- 
tence at the cross, a true hope of pardon, faith in 
the atonement, these can calm every human heart 
and remove all its wild alarms. Death is at last 
swallowed up in victory! 

The practical reach and profit of this fresh reve- 
lation concerning another world is almost beyond 
estimate. It relieves our intolerable dread, when 
any little distemper arouses a pain, when some 
muscle or nerve seems reluctant in its function and 
gives us premonition of infirmity. It soothes our 
hearts in bereavement; for the parted and the pure 
shall meet again. Them that sleep in Jesus he will 
bring with him when he comes. Immortality seems 
so real, earth seems so little and so low, trials seem 
so insignificant, for heaven is at hand. 

There are thoughtful moments which come to 
most men and women who have arrived at middle 
life or gone beyond it, when serious counsel presses 
them. The restless ambitions of their earlier years 
have pretty much run their course and ceased to be 
motive powers. Slowly and pensively they have 
watched the companions of their youth dropping 
away. Their views of men, manners, measures 
have become modified much. They live now in 
their children. That moment in which they re- 



298 STUDIES IN mark's GOSPEI*. 

hearse the past with some dear old lingering friend 
is full of sweetness and charity. On the whole, 
however, they look forward. There yet seems room 
for generous purpose; a few noble ends remain to 
be served; there is hope of a measure of modest 
usefulness; there can be counsels offered, prayers 
lifted — by God's blessing, souls saved. 

But in the distance the trees which line our 
ordinary pathways in the journey appear more 
beautiful with autumn leaves than with spring blos- 
soms. Nor are the landscapes any the less lovely 
because they happen to be russet and brown, for 
the fruits are coming in. Such people ought al- 
ways to be Christian believers. When we see the 
events and the years flitting by us there is noth- 
ing for any one to say but this, and fine it is to 
say it, *'For we know that if our earthly house of 
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building 
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in 
the heavens." 

There is no alarm in fading graces or failing 
strength, nor even any night in the grave, provided 
we can see the luminous dawn of the resurrection 
beyond it. Let the index-finger of our faith point 
forward. There is left us this: we can do good a 
little while longer; w^e can grow better and purer; 
then,^when God will, w^e can go home. 

And when that solemn hush of dissolution 
comes there is a beloved Presence near by and a 
helping hand to lay hold of ours. Then a Christian 
quotes the wonderful engagements of a covenant- 
keeping God. He murmurs to himself as his pulses 



LESSONS AT THE SEPULCHRE. 299 

beat low, "As for me, I will behold tliy face in 
righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake 
with thy likeness." And so he sings: 

When my last hour is close at hand, 

My last sad journey taken, 
Do thou, Lord Jesus ! by me stand ; 

Let me not be forsaken. 

Lord ! my spirit I resign 
Into thy loving hands divine ; 

'Tis safe within thy keeping. 

1 shall not in the grave remain, 

Since thou death's bonds hast severed : 
By hope -with thee to rise again 

From fear of death delivered, 
I '11 come to thee, where'er thou art, 
Live with thee, from thee never part ; 

Therefore I die in rapture. 

And so to Jesus Christ I 'II go. 

My longing arms extending ; 
So fall asleep, in slumber deep. 

Slumber that knows no ending, 
Till Jesus Christ, God's only Son, 
Opens the gates of bliss, leads on 

To heaven, to life eternal. 



STUDIES IN MARK'S GOSPEL. 

BY REV. as. BOBIKSON, D. B. 

The author does not follow the beaten track of commenta- 
tors, but presents in his own happy manner new phases and 
fresh illustrations of the sacred narrative, by which the reader 
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These " Studies " follow the course from week to week of 
the Sunday-school lessons for the first half of 1889, and will be 
found useful to teachers. 

i2mo. 300 pp. Cloth, $1 25. Paper, 50 cts. 



OTHER WORKS 

BY REV. C. S. ROBINSON, D. D. 

STUDIES OP NEGIvKCTED TEXTS. 

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STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. 

Homiletic expositions, with illustrations of consecutive 
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i2mo. 316 pp. Cloth, ^i 25. 

CHURCH WORK. 

A half year's practical sermons in the Memorial Church, 
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i2mo. 319 pp. Cloth, $1 25. 

BETHEL AND PENUEL. 

srmons founded on incidents ( 

\. 

i2mo. 317 pp. Cloth, $1 25. 



Sermons founded on incidents of Jacob's life in Bethel and 
Penuel. 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 





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