2(wa,4e




A WEEK WITH JESUS,
OB
LESSONS LEARNED IN HIS COMPANY.
BY
JOHN MI. LOWRIE, D.D.,
AUrH )R OF "ESTIIER AND IhER TITES," "ADAM AND HIS TIMES," AND
"THIE HEBREW L AWGIVER,"
ANDX PASTOR OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERTAN CHURCH,
FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.
And what if my feet may not tread where IIe stood,
Nor my ears hear the dashing of Galilee's flood,
Nor my eyes see the Cross which he bowed him to bear,
Nor my knees press Gethsemane's garden of prayer,
Yet, loved of the Father, thy Spirit is near
To the meek, and the lowly, and penitent here;
And the voice of thy love is the sanme even now
As at Bethany's tomb or on Olivet's brow.
WHITTIER.
P II I LA D   L P   I A:
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
No. 1334 CHESTNUT  STREET.




Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1S66, by
THE TRUSTEES OF TIIE
PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD OF PUBLICATION,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania.
STEREOTYrED BY WESTCOTT & THOMSON.




PREFACE.
IN the Life of Julius Caesar, recently given to the world
by the Emperor of flrance, occurs the following thoughtful
paragraph':
By what signm are we to recognize the greatness of a
manl?  In the sw ay of iis ideas, when his principles and
his systell trilnilmph in spite of his death or his de-feat.  Is
it not in fact the p(rerogative of genius to outlive destruction and to extend its elmpire over fuLture generations?
(Gesar disappeared, and his influence predominates still
more than during  his lifdtimle.  Cicero, his adversary, is
obliged to exclaim,' All the acts of Coesar, his writings,
his words, his promises, his thoughts, are more powerful
after his death than if he were still alive.'
In this book, one who ranks almong the first of living
monarchs, for remarkable success achieved, for political
sagacity displayed, and for actual power now in his possession, has written of another, whose genius and sagacity and
ambition can scarcely find thei'r parallels.  It matters little
to our present purpose whether the royal writer had sonie
special object in view in this significant quotation, touching
the political aspects of things in our own times: nor yetl
whether, as thus rendered, the words express the exact
meaning of the great orator; or whether Tully is not rather
complaining that words uttered in the name of Coesarpurporting to be his, though falsely ascribed to him-were
used, in the excitement following his violent death, to carry
measures whicl, the living C;msar would not have dared to
propose.  For, apart from the attempted application of it,




4                     PREFACE.
the thought is legitimate and forcible.  It Is the high
prerogative of true greatness to triumph in spite of apparent defeat and to extend its fame and authority to later
generations.
But we are by no imeans ready to agree that this principle properly applies to men like Caesar, or Napoleon I.
1During his lifetime each of these remarkable men rose to
the summilt of greatness among his own people. They
won their power by the splendour of military genius, with
the clash of arms, and in the carnage of a hundred battles;
and the death of the one, and the exile of the other,
served but to increase the enthusiasm that already burned
for them in ten thousand hearts. The highest standard
of true genius must find better examples than these. Indeed there is but ONE NAMIE in all the history of the world
that can successfully abide the test of eminent greatness,
thus shrewdly suggested by the royal writer.
The life of Jesus of Nazareth is, beyond all comparison,
the most remarkable that finds record in the annals of humanity.  No biography has within a hundred fold been so
abundantly re-written; whether by those who humbly follow his footsteps, or by those who have no single tie of
sympathy with him that could enable them to comprehend
or appreciate his character.  No reasonable mind can
question, whether froin the direct teachings of simple history, or the various concessions of his bitter foes, that we
have the true record of this great life; and the facts and
the influences flowing fiomn them are equally remarkable.
We have here brought before us a young man, born in
lowly life, having no advantages of position, or even education, to lift him above the mass of men, and contenting
himself by instructing, with the voice merely, the humbler
classes in society in one of the meaner provinces of the
Roman Empire.  For three or four years he spent his tinme
in these pursuits; he gathered about him a meagre band
of disciples, not above his own state; he awakened only




PREFACE.                    5
persecution and contempt among the influential men of his
own nation; and before he reached the middle age of life
he was condemned as a malefactor, and put to a violent
and shameful death. And now let the test be applied for
truth and true greatness, in the succeeding influence of his
sentiments and character. He was not the idol of his
nation, overborne by force as hostile to them as to himself,
nor did he leave ten thousand wakeful hearts upon the
watch for the earliest moment of a sweet revenge. He had
not caught and promoted the spirit of his age; rather, he
was in all respects out of sympathy with the general mind
of the world; and, most of all, his plans were in direct opposition to the long cherished prejudices of the Jewish
people. We can reckon nothing upon the influence already
gained in his brief lifetime, upon the enthusiasm he had
awakened in the breasts of numerous friends, or upon their
indignation as able to create a re-action because he was
unjustly dealt by. No case can be imagined where the
power and influence of any man seemed more necessarily
to die with him than when Jesus lay in Joseph's rocky
tomb.
And yet, after his death the most remarkable and permanent power belonged to one whose life, up to its latest
moments, had been full of humiliation. Though we have
no record that he ever penned a single word with his own
hand, his teachings did not perish when his voice was
hushed in death. His indeed were thoughts peculiarly his
own. Though the greatest of earthly teachers, he certainly was not a learned teacher. We have proofs in the
writings of Paul that the apostle had read the writings of
other men and of other lands. But we cannot gather from
all the teachings of Jesus, that he ever sat at the feet of
any other instructor, or that he ever read a single book in
all his life; except indeed the inspired writings of the
Church of God, with which he was fully familiar, to which
he often appealed as sustaining his authority, and with all
1 *



6                     PREFACE.
which his entire teachings were in complete consonance.
His were the mighty words of the world. They were living
and life-giving principles, which took hold upon men with
regenerating power. There was nothing in his claims, his
teachings, his promises, to inflame or to gratify the ordinary passions of men; no honours to be won, no ambition
to be gratified, no sensual pleasures to be enjoyed. On the
contrary, he ever proclaimed the cross, and called his disciples to suffer the loss of all things. Only by self-renunciation could they follow this strange leader.
Yet his words were powerful as no other teachings have
been upon the earth. They went forth from the narrow
boundaries of Judea, and attacked the hoary prejudices
and superstitions of the Pagan world; and in a few brief
centuries the gospel of the despised man of Galilee became
the avowed faith of the Roman Empire. And now for
many ages, during which hosts of great men have risen and
been forgotten, his words, wherever received in their simplicity, have had power to cast down superstition, to change
the aspects of human society, to teach men the true principles of freedom, to awaken impulses that refine and
strengthen and elevate humanity, and to support true
morality and true piety, that seems strangely in contrast
with the feeble attainments of his life-work, and with the
apparent triumph of his foes in his death upon the cross.
It is remarkably true of Jesus that all his acts, his words,
his promises, his thoughts, are more powerful after his
death than before. There can be no valid objection to
making this the test at once of truth and of true greatness
in his case, because there were no adventitious aids to give
power to his empire over men; and because to admit his
claims at all, seems logically to demand our acquiescence
in their entire truth and in their supreme authority. A
kingdom purely of moral principles, having only that power
over the minds of men which springs from the proofs of its
truth and its inherent excellency, and tending to results so




PREFACE.                      7
contrary to the usual bias of man's fallen nature, could not
be founded upon any misapprehension of' the great things
then occurring before the eyes of his disciples. Such a
kingdom must be established upon principles of truth and
righteousness. Happily for the world there is a consistency between his words and deeds, his claims and his
avowed purposes, the purity of his personal character and
the tendency of his gospel to purify its disciples, that justifies our most implicit faith, and bids us receive this Jesus
as our Friend and Teacher, our Redeemer and Lord.
Yet not all who speak well of our Jesus are ready to concede the consistent pre-eminence of his claims. It is quite
a remarkable feature of his fame, that men who deserve
the name of infidels, because they set themselves in determined opposition to all that is distinctive in his teachings;
because, touching Christ's mission to the earth, they have
no faith in its necessity, in its true object, or in the exalted
character that must be ascribed to himn in any just understanding of the gospel; and because they are out of all
sympathy with Christ's most loving followers-these men
have yet been, most strikingly, the eulogists of his greatness, of his personal purity, and of the excellence of his
moral teachings. They speak most inconsistently indeed;
they agree not with each other, in their estimates of him,
or in understanding what he says; but it would be easy to
gather from skeptical writings many a decided and eloquent
tribute to the excellence and dignity of Jesus Christ.
With the gospel in our hands we need not wonder at the
folly and blindness of men. Man's proneness to earthly
things, contrasted with the spirituality of our Lord's teachings, is a sufficient solution of these inconsistencies. Only
a regenerated mind receives cordially and fully the truth
as it is in Jesus. Iappy are they who acknowledge the
supreme claims of man's great Mediator; who, understand
his mission to earth; who yield themselves to his service as
cheerful and decided disciples; and who lovingly follow




8                     PREFACE.
his footsteps. To such, flesh and blood reveals him not,
but the Father. Mat. xvi. 17. It is a vital, blessed truth
to us, not only that his words have more power among
men than when he was on the earth; but that we may
know better himself, his truth, his promises, his requirements than did the very friends who were then his associates. And love for Christ has this superiority over the
respect we may entertain for the world's dead heroes, that
our Lord- is living yet; and that our study of his life on
earth, is the study of principles which were designed for
perpetual instruction and which are as interesting and important for us as for any that have ever pondered them.
These pages are the result of a loving effort to draw near
to Jesus, by associating the teachings of the evangelists with
vivid ideas of Christ as a personal and living Lord. One
incident connected with their publication deserves grateful
record here. The entire volume had been prepared in
days of vigorous health and abundant labours; but the
afflicting hand of the lMaster had beckoned his servant
aside from active duty, just as in his providence the proofsheets of the earlier pages were laid before his eyes. They
were written several years before, without a thought of
personal application at least in this form: they seemed now
just as if written for this exact occasion: and hard as the
trial has been to close his lips from uttering the messages
he has ever loved to speak, yet at no period of life has the
calm consciousness of doing just the work assigned by the
Master been so complete and satisfactory, as during these
trying months of inactivity. The book, before leaving the
press, has begun its work upon the writer's own soul. May
this be but an earnest of large blessings to be long scattered
by its agency through the church of Christ. If any learn
here how to walk in th  MIaster's company, this will be a
blessing.




CONTENT S.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
COMPANIONSHIP  WITH  THE  MASTER..................................    13
CHAPTER II.
RETIRING  FROM  THE  WORLD...............................................          22
CHAPTER III.
REASONS FOR  REPOSE......................................................  30
CHAPTER IV.
THE  MIRACLE  OF THE  LOAVES..........................................   44
CHAPTER V.
DIVINE  BENEFICENCE................................................0..... 
CHAPTER VI.L
PROVIDENTIAL  TROUBLES..................................................   7
CHAPTER VII.
THE  REDEEMER'S  PRAYERS...............................................              84
CHAPTER VIII.
DELIVERING  GRACE...........................................................  90
1.                                                                    9




10                         CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
PAGX
THE CRY OF THE PERISHING.......................................... 106
CHAPTER X.
CLEAVING TO CHRIST.....................................       124
CIIAPTER XI.
DIVINE CONCEALMENTS..............................        139
CHAPTER XII.
FAITH  SEEKING FOR THE HEALER......................................  156
CHAPTER XIII.
FAITH SEVERELY TESTED.................................   173
CHAPTER XIV.
FAITH  EARNEST AND PERSEVERING....................................     188
CHAPTER XV.
FAITH TRIUMPHANT AND CO[IMENDED.................................. 203
CHAPTER XVI.
THE GREAT CLAIMS OF CHRIST.................................. 220
CIAPTER XVII.
VARIOUS OPINIONS RESPECTING CHRIST.............................. 229
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE CHURCH FOUNDED ON THE ROCK.......................... 241
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SCRIPTURES FULFILLED IN CHRIST'S DEATH.................. 262
CHAPTER XX.
THE " MUST BE" OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST........2.............. 278




CONTENTS.                             11
CHAPTER XXI.
PAGE
TAKING UP THE CRCSS......................................................   286
CHAPTER XXII.
BEARING THE CROSS.................................................. 296
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE SAVIOUR'S GREAT QUESTION...............................     308
CHAPTER XXIV.
SCENES OF TRANSFIGURATION........................................... 328
CHAPTER XXV.
IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE....................................... 345








A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER 1.
CO-IAPAN IONSHIP WIth TH.E If1.ASTER.
"Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the
way?"
No more important writings can man ever study
than the simple records given us by the four evangelists, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
lowest view we can take of these writings, as giving
us a portraiture of him far more accurate than that
we have of any other eminent character of times
so ancient, and as giving this in terms of so great
simplicity and verisimilitude, they are testimonials
of extraordinary interest.  But these writings are
still more wonderful and interesting in a higher and
better view.  WFie should consider the exalted character he sustained, the wonderful teachings he gave,
the magnificent works he wrought, and the surprising influence he has exerted upon every generation
since his own: we should regard the claims he made
and sustains to Divine dignity, the peculiar position
he holds as the only person who ever professed to
be the Saviour of sinful men, and the warm affec2                                    13




14           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
tions he has gathered to him of holy men in all the
ages: and weighing all these things, and the demands he makes upon us individually, our interest
should be absorbing in the instructions of the GREAT
BIOGRAPHY.
it is true indeed of Jesus Christ, as it is true of
Socrates, one of the purest and greatest of the ancient sages, that not a word of his teachings has
come down to us as penned by his own hand, or
even as caught immediately from his lips. Important as it is to have a full and accurate report of
his life and teachings, what we have, was written
by his disciples after his death; and the whole is
crowded into the narrow limits that might be occupied by a modern tract. Yet as no scholar questions that we have the true sentiments of Socrates,
though the reports of his disciples, Plato and Xenophon, cannot in all things be strictly accurate; far
more evidently is it true that the teachings ascribet
to Christ give internal proof that they are not the
composition of his humble friends, but have an
origin evidently above human wisdom.  "The inventor would be more astonishing than the hero,"
exclaims the voice of worldly wisdom. These disciples of Christ indeed say that they pretend not
to record all he said and did. John xx. 30; xxi.
25. But they declare that they wrote not from
their bare remembrance of what they saw and heard.
The Holy Spirit was upon them. John xiv. 26 seq.
God himself bore witness to their authority. Heb.




COMPANIONSHIP WITH THE MASTER.    15
ii. 4. And converting power still accompanies their
teachings in all the earth, even until the present
day.
When such a life is w~l(tten; when it is comprised
in so brief a compass; when the writers are divinely
inspired, both to reject what they need not write,
and to select what they should record: we may
properly judge that nothing insignificant is here
handed down for the perusal of later generations.
As in the ancient Jewish tabernacle, every pillar
and every pin, every curtain and every tassel, the
altar of God and the meanest vessel used in the
service, must be made according to the pattern
shown to Moses in the mount, though the old law
had but a shadow of future good things, Heb. x. 1;
so, with much more propriety, may we maintain
that the permanent and substantial teachings of
later times are exact in every minor detail. All
things are not of equal importance, but nothing is
insignificant in the life of Christ. We indeed often
pass hastily over the evangelists: we overlook many
of their expressions as of trivial concern.  Here
we are not wise. Men accustomed to work in gold,
gather up every minute particle of the precious
dust. Every grain of gospel truth is better than
gold.  And sometimes a neglected expression is
worth more than itself; and may be less properly
compared to an unproductive grain of gold than to
a priceless seed, that, sinking into the prepared and
softened heart, and quickened into life by the dews




16            A WEEK WITH JESUS.
of the Spirit and the shining of the Sun of Righteousness, may spring up and multiply into a harvest
of eternal joy.
Instead of a single biography of our great Teacher,
the Divine Spirit, speaking through as many servants,
has been pleased to furnish us with four. These bear
sufficiently the characteristics of their writers, and
are sufficiently independent of each other, to give
them greater weight as testimonials, and to impart
greater interest to the details they narrate in cornmon.  They "have been likened to four portraits or
four landscapes, all presenting the same objects, but
in different lights and from different points of view,
and illustrative of one another." "  So we regard
them as equally truthful witnesses of the same great
history.  Speaking of the same person, having the
same great end in view, they often say the same
things; yet they do not copy each other; in minor
respects each has in view a different adaptation of
the truth; and we may expect in them such diversities as are not inconsistent with the truth of their
respective narratives.
It is an advantage to us when we find the same
discourse or deed of our Lord, recorded by the pen
of two or more of the evangelists.  If we find anything only once suggested by the Holy Spirit for
insertion in these permanent records, we may well
consider it worthy of -our thoughts; and when the
same, rather than new teachings are two or three
* Alexander on Mark, Preface.




COMPA0NFIONSHIP 1W1ITII THE MASTER.    17
times repeated, they are certainly not less worthy
of our careful study.  With two distinct views of
any landscape, different but equally truthful, we
should better understand the scene.  We can learn
some things from one writer which another has
omitted; and the whole matter is fully brought before us only when we compare all that is told us.
TWe have an illustration of this in the philosophical
instrument called the stereoscope.  In this instrument we get views of peculiar distinctness and satisfaction and beauty; we have two pictures of the
same view, yet only nearly and not precisely identical, placed so before us that they blend into one.
Whether we can explain the philosophical principle
of the instrument or not, we see the beauty of the
scene presented. But the Scriptures, which are
full of true philosophy, have adopted an analogous
method of presenting before us scenes of historical
interest. Some scenes and some teachings in the
life and ministry of Christ are but singly recorded;
as only John tells us of his interviews with Nicodemus and with the woman of Samaria; and only
Luke records the delightful parable of the Prodigal
Son. But other scenes ire given us by two or more
of the evangelists; each historian speaks with less
or more diversity from the others; the narratives
are manifestly independent and are not always obviously harmonious; yet the differences are no
greater than would be seen in separate views of the
same landscape taken from different points of ob9 *




18           A WEEK WITII JESUS.
servation; and indeed, as in the stereoscope, we see
the scene far better when diverse views are attentively studied till they blend and harmonize in one.
It is an excellency of every meritorious picture
that its beauties grow upon us; and that it affords
us the more pleasure, the more carefully we study
its general effect and the separate parts. A rough,
coarse painting often makes a good impression when
seen from a distance; but it will not bear close examination, nor can we venture to distinguish its
minor details.  In a better specimen of taste and
skill, we can do otherwise. We admire the whole
work, as a whole; and we then use simple means
to confine our gaze to a single spot, excluding all
the rest; and thus we please ourselves with the
minuter beauties. In nature we may carry this
process to the utmost limits possible for us; and
this in either direction, to gain larger or more minute views, which are equally astonishing.  We may
look at God's great works in their vastness; and
how grand appears the empire he has made as we
gaze by the aid of a telescope out into space,
"From world to luminous world, as far
As the universe lifts its blazing wall."
Or we may look downwards, and by the aid of the
microscope we may see some minute fragment of
these works of God. We may take the down on
the wing of a fly, which we could not even see without the help of an instrument; and we may discern




COMPANIONSHIP WITH THE MASTER.    19
skill as marvellous, adaptation as perfect, and beauty
as pleasing in the least as in the greatest of the
works of such a God.
The word of God is like his works; and our study
may wisely be directed to its teachings as a whole,
and to the precious instructions of its minor details,
which, like the things of nature, give more delight
the more profoundly they are known. No book in
existence is at all to be compared with the Bible.
We can form no conception of the blank that would
be left in human thoughts, if the teachings it has
given were completely blotted from the memory of
man. All our clear knowledge of God and of salvation and of eternity, we learn from the sacred
pages. But this great volume is entirely consistent
and harmonious with itself and with its great principles. It is not always obviously so. Nature also
has its apparent jarrings; and wise men are often
confounded that unquestionable truths do not seem
to agree together. But such apparent discrepancies
call for more patient observation and thought, that
our misconceptions may be corrected and the hidden
harmony perceived.  It gives greater interest and
larger profit to our studies of nature that the gold is
not found pure upon the surface; but that we must
often journey far to find its place, dig deep to get it,
and even then must skilfully refine it before it can
be used. It gives us a better appreciation of the
gospel, that it is "hid in a field;" and that we must
search for it as for hidden treasure.




20           A WEEK WITII JESUS.
Sometimes at least we ought to direct our thoughts
to the careful study of brief passages and isolated
expressions in these sacred writings. It is the design of these pages to consider carefully a single
portion of our Lord's life. Let us imagine that we
had now the opportunity afforded us of spending a
week with Jesus. Suppose that we could be transported away to Judea, and far back in time, till we
stood before the incarnate Son of God. Perhaps
it is quite impossible for us to think of him as he
appeared in the eyes of the generation then about
him. Even his favoured disciples did not know him;
the three who stood with him on the mount of transfiguration were still ignorant of the majesty of his
person and claims, as they saw these things after
his ascension, and as they now appear to us. But
if we do not attempt to divest ourselves of our familiar thoughts concerning him; if we look upon
that meek and humble man and know still that he
is the Lord from  heaven; if we keep present with
us the thought that words or deeds like these would
the earth never know again, we will carefully engrave upon our memory every deed we see and
every word we hear. To spend an hour, a day, a
week with Jesus! What disciple would not desire
it! How it would delight and profit all our future
life; and how would the minuter events of days like
these, compared with the greatest occurrences oi
ordinary times, be as jewels of priceless value in
settings of clay.




COMPANIONSHIP WITH THE MASTER.    21
The week of our Lord's life to which we refer,
begins with the day upon which he heard the tidings
of the death of John the Baptist, and ends with
the scene of his Transfiguration.  We do not affirm;llat these events all belong with chronological accuracy to the consecutive days of a single week.
It is enough to know that they are placed very
nearly together by these sacred writers; and that
their occurrence within that time is possible.  It is
very evident that the evangelists have taken no special pains to give the order of time in the things
they record of Christ; and thus those who have
carefully attempted to harmonize the various teachings of the four gospels have succeeded in showing
how the writers agree in their teachings, but have
signally failed to determine the exact order of time
in which the events have occurred.*  The main
matter is, to relate the words and works of Christ;
and it is only occasionally that we need to compare
these things with the precise time of their occurrence.  Some of the matters we now consider, owe
their significance and interest to the time of their
occurrence; but the whole took place within a brief
period of time, so that we do no violence to the
narratives if we regard them as occurring during
one week in the life of Jesus.
Alexander on Mark, Introduction vi.




22           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER II1.
RETIRING _FROJI THE WVORLD.
"When Jesus heard of it he departed thence."
IT is very evident that the kindest relations existed between our Lord and John the Baptist.
Though they were descended of different tribes, they
were kinsmen; and their respective mothers were
well acquainted with each other. Luke i. 36-40.
Yet we do not know that John and our Lord ever
met in the early years of their lives; we are rather
led to judge that they did not.  Certainly the first
interview of which we know anything, is when they
met on the banks of the Jordan, and when the
greater claimed baptism at the hands of the less.
Here John knew and yet did not know his Lord.
Perhaps he had never seen him before, so widely
had their lives been apart; and now he did not fully
know him until, after the baptism, the appointed
seal from heaven was upon him. But between John
and Christ there could be no disagreement. The
preacher in the wilderness came as the forerunner
of the Messiah; their ministries were unlike yet
not discordant; and John was willing to proclaim
his own decrease and the increase of his Lord.  We




RETIRING FROM rHE WORLD.           23
do not believe that they were ever much together,
or that the friendship of John and Jesus was maintained by personal intercourse. But they were one
in the service of truth; and John's disciples were
restrained by him from feeling any jealousy of the
new and greater teacher.
Some, at least, and perhaps many, of John's disciples became the disciples of Christ.  Some of
them did so while Christ was yet alive, John i. 35;
and some after his ascension. Acts xviii. 25; xix. 1-5.
The ministry of John was preparatory to that of
our Lord, who therefore did not fully begin his public services till John was cast into prison. How
long John was kept a prisoner we cannot decide.
But at last the second Elijah met a new Jezebel,*
and different from the first, escaped not her power.
The account of his death need not now engage our
thoughts.  We are told that as soon as his disciples
had buried the body of their master, they came with
their griefs and told them to Jesus. This is the
first incident belonging to the period of time which
we propose to spend in his sacred company. Just
then also came the disciples whom Jesus had sent
out to preach the gospel, and gave him an account
of their mission.  When Jesus heard these things,
under the influence of various motives, he departed
to separate himself and his disciples from the multitudes about them; and perhaps even went out of
the country; at least he went to the borders of
- Lange on Mlatthew.




24           A WEEK WITH1 JESUS.
Tyre and Sidon. Just then more than any time in
his history he seems to have shunned public observation. This itself attracts our attention and fills
us with surprise. We wonder that he should ever
wish to be out of the public view; and we share
somewhat the feeling expressed by his unbelieving
brethren, when they said, "Depart hence and go
into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works
that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth
anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be
known openly. If thou do these things show thyself to the world." John vii. 3, 4. We wonder to
hear him charge those whom he healed, "' See thou
tell no man." Matt. viii. 4.  "'See that no man
know it." Matt. ix. 30. Now for urgent reasons he
wished to be away from observation.  If we accompany him, he leads us first into a desert place.
When there the crowds have sought him out, we
must go with him as he steals by night across the
stormy waters of the sea; and when again the multitudes are around him, we retreat with him to the
borders of Tyre, where he enters a house and wishes
that no man may know it.
Perhaps one of the reasons for our Lord's desire
at this time specially to separate himself from public observation had regard to his own safety; and
this regarding his deliverance from persecuting foes
and injudicious friends.  The early preaching of
our Lord was immensely popular. An extraordinary concourse of people attended his preaching;




RETIRING FRO0M THE WORLD.         25
and his fame grew rapidly. Yet he very soon met
with most violent opposition, which was the more
virulent, because he neglected the ceremonial services
of the Pharisees, sought his associates among the
poor, ate with publicans and sinners, claimed the
power of forgiving sins, and disregarded the prevalent views respecting the sanctification of the Sabbath day. At every period, from the time his ministry was fairly understood, he was closely watched
by hostile eyes; and his enemies would have been
glad to find any occasion against his life. Iie must
therefore not only guard his own conduct, but take
care that those who were friendly to him should not
do things in his name that were contrary to the
schemes of his grace.
Herod had now slain John the Baptist. He belonged to a cruel and unscrupulous family. When
a child, the infant Jesus had been carried to Egypt
to escape the sword of this man's father; of the
malice of this IHerod even the Pharisees warned
him, Luke xiii. 31; and surely no scruples of conscience would hinder John's murderer from again
bathing his sword in blood. Yet while he avoided
Herod, the multitude gathered about him, and their
gratitude formed designs that were foreign to his
mind and dangerous to his life. They would have
taken him by force and made him a king, John vi.
15, and he must again retire to defeat their scheme.
Let us not judge, when our Lord thus hides himself from foes and friends, that this gives proof in




26           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
jurious to his claims. We expect in him superior
wisdom as the Son of God: we expect the bold and
manly virtues of the Son of man. But we have,
neither here nor elsewhere in his history, any tokens
of distrusting God's providential care over his life.
We can understand the singular evidences of divine
wisdom and power in him, combined with the convincing proofs of human weakness and dependence;
we can see- how strangely yet how harmoniously
these unite in his life, only by a just recognition of
his mediatorial Person, and of the estate as Mediator, which he held on earth. It was for no insignificant reason, so long as he dwelt upon earth in
humiliation and in the garments of mortality, that
he gave himself a name which no person among all
his friends ever used respecting him. The SON OF
GOD was wont to call himself the SoN OF MAN.
He was a man. Though never a mere man, he
was truly a man.  The Word was made flesh. John
i. 14. He took part of our flesh and blood. Heb.
ii. The entire scope of Scriptural language marks
a vital difference between him and other men; but
expressly this was not as to the reality of his human nature. As to the manner and as to the purpose of his human existence, he differed friom ordinary men. Other men are subject to the law of
God by the necessities that belong to them as creatures, he by voluntary choice; they naturally, he
federally. Yet he was truly a man. As if hethe Son of Mlan-would exemplify in his own per



RETIRING FROM THE WORLD.          27
son, all the essential elements of a true humanity,
he was not only born as other men and lived as
other men; but, all the difference which sin involves
excepted, he was as other men. " Made under the
law," Gal. iv. 4, he was truly subject to its authority, and must comply with its obligations of duty,
and its restraints of dependence. He must eat and
drink and sleep; he must be liable to suffering and
fatigue and death; he must watch and pray and
resist temptation; he must use prudent measures
to ward off evil and to secure good; he must in all
these things " be made like unto his brethren." So
far as concerns all matters pertaining to his personal comfort and personal duty, we see no such
differences between him and other men, as would
seem to belong to his eminent dignity. If we stood
beside him in the wilderness in the hour of his
temptation, we would find him suffering from hunger; and unable consistently, in this his estate of
humiliation, to put forth miraculous power to furnish
himself with bread. This subjection to law marks
the truthfulness and completeness of his human
character; and is needful to make him our brother
and exemplar. So in his obedience to moral and
ceremonial law, in his dependence upon Providence,
in his earnest diligence in pursuing his ends, in his
carefulness to avoid needless offence, yet in his boldness to withstand the proud and to reprove the
hardened, in his kindness to the lowly and the
penitent, he was as his disciples should be; and




28           A WEEIK WITH JESUS.
has left us an example that we should Rollow his
steps.
If now we were standing by our Lord as he was
then upon the earth, we might find it difficult, with
our views of his divine dignity, to conceive of his
+true dependence in his estate of humiliation.  Yet
we may neither overlook the greatness nor the
lowliness of the incomparable Teacher.  Both the
power to do and the capacity to obey and suffer, must
belong to him; dignity and condescension were both
there, the one as truly as the other; and to reconcile
these truths is no more strange than it is encouraging and instructive. It must be for noble purposes
that such an One partakes of our infirmities. And
we need both these assurances, as we look upon our
Incarnate God: that lie is mighty to save,and that,
touched with a feeling of our infirmities, he was in
all points tempted as we are.
Our Lord retired from the public gaze for the
double purpose of avoiding the persecutions of
Herod and the zeal of ill judging friends.  Herod
desired to see him; but we cannot know what the
result might have been. The appetite for blood
grows upon violent men; and though Herod slew
John with professions of great regret, he might
deem it an easier step to take a second life.  Our
Lord indeed knew that his hour was not yet come.
And this, to his justly reflecting mind, would be a
reason for retiring from the tyrant's dominions.
The desert to which he withdrew was "under the




RETIRING FROM THE WORLD.           29
mild sway of Philip, the only one of Herod's sons
who deserved the name of a good prince."* here
he would be out of Herod's reach.  It is neither in
the true spirit of courage nor of martyrdom, that
any man exposes his life to uncalled for peril.  It
was remarked, in the perils of early Christianity,
that the men who recanted in view of death were
those who had made in advance the boldest protestations of firmness. It often demands much wisdom
to judge of our duty.  We may retire from dlangers
we should rather face; and this is cowardice.  Or
we may face dangers from which we should retire;
and this may be rashness or foolhardiness. True
courage is the wise mean between the imprudence
that tempts Providence, and the cowardice that fears
to go forward in the path of duty.  Our Lord retired from HIerod; yet when his time was come, he
steadfastly set his face to go up to Jerusalem; and
he stood calm and meek and fearless to be mocked
by this man, and to be scourged and crucified by
Pilate, on the day of Calvary.
- Lange on Matthew, xiv. 13.
3.




80            A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER 111.
REASONS FOR REPOSE.
"Come ye yourselves apart and rest a while,'
WE have said that just when our Lord heard of
the death of John the Baptist, he also received the
report of the twelve disciples whom he had sent out
to preach the gospel. Not only influenced by the
prudential motives already suggested; but affected
himself with grief for the death of John-with
which feeling many of his disciples, as John's former friends, would deeply sympathize-and desirous
of affording relief to the disciples after a season
of unwonted toil, he said to them, Come ye apart
and rest a while.
It is oftentimes difficult for active and earnest
men, who are really interested in the ordinary affairs of life, and who feel the pressing responsibility
of the duties providentially assigned to them, to
persuade themselves that they need rest; or that
they so need it as to justify their absence from their
place of service.  It is interesting for us, upon this
point, to learn a lesson from  the Master himself.
The disciples had been sent forth for a season of
earnest preaching; and they were wearied out in




REASONS FOR REPOSE.            31
these delightful but exhausting labours. So Whitefield, just before his very last sermon, being told
that he was more fit to go to bed than to preach,
answered, "True, sir."   But turning aside he
clasped his hands, and looked up, and said, " Lord
Jesus, I am weary in thy work; but I am not weary
of it." The disciples had gone forth through the
towns and villages preaching. They had taught the
people; they had wrought many miracles; they had
perhaps awakened an unwonted curiosity through
the land to attend upon the feast of the Passover,
which was now just at hand, John vi. 4; and a very
large multitude of people, who may have been upon
their way to Jerusalem, pressed upon Jesus and his
disciples, so that their labours in teaching were greatly
increased, and " they had no leisure so much as to
eat." Mark vi. 31.  Then the Master says, Come
ye apart and rest a while.  And when he gives the
intimation, when true wisdom bids us rest, we are
still serving the Lord as truly as in the most wearying toils.
These are feeble frames; these minds easily lose
their balance. Neither of them can bear unremitting and exhausting labours. So God has providentially given us seasons of rest that are absolutely needful to the well being of every man. The
earth itself is so ordered as to point out for us our
regularly-recurring seasons of sleep.  We need
daily repose; and our revolving planet casts the
shades of night around us, to mark the time of




32           A WEEK WITII JESUS.
needful rest.  Put at longer intervals we need a
different rest from  our ordinary cares; a. rest involving rather a change of thought than the cessation of thought.  So the Sabbath comes to bid us
throw off the cares of our usual life, and employ
mur buoyant energies in those spiritual engagements,
which, as compared with our worldly avocations, are
the soul's rest.  We can neglect with impunity neither of these Divinely appointed seasons of repose.
Let a man attempt to do without sleep; and after
a few passing days of suffering, even unto agony, his
mortal frame would sink in death.  And though the
process is less rapidly destructive, no man can neglect the Sabbath, as a period of rest in an active
existence, without putting life and reason in peril.
So the records of insane asylums will show; and
truthful verdicts of many an early death would corroborate the proof.  So William Wilberforce remarked that while some of the men who were in
public life with him broke down under excessive and
unremitting toil-so that insanity and suicide resulted from the over-tension of the mind-for himself, he too would have broken down, but for his
habitual observance of the day of sacred rest.  "I
can truly declare," said he, "that to me the Sabbath has been invaluable."  Well may toiling man
bless God for his holy day. He who made us has
provided for us necessary seasons of repose.  "'For
he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we
are dust." Ps. ciii. 14.




REASONS FOR REPOSE.             33
But besides these common times of rest, seasons
of more than usual exertion demand corresponding
relaxation. Many a merchant would sink under his
toils, if his busiest seasons were an exact type of
the entire year.  Men who till the earth could not
possibly sustain, for the whole year, the efforts they
put forth for the brief season of harvest. We may
be justified in the extraordinary labours of any
brief time; but they cannot last. After special
labours through the villages and neighbourhoods of
Judea, Christ said to his disciples, " Come ye apart
and rest a while."
Now the teachings of Providence to bid us secure
these periods of relaxation may come in different
ways. If in our zeal and interest for our usual
duties we pay too little attention to ordinary monitions, they may be more plainly sent; perhaps sorrow, laid in some form or other upon us, may beckon
us to go apart from the busy world. We refuse to
notice the milder warnings of lassitude and flagging
energy; and our overtasked frames give way to an
undue pressure, and disease comes upon us.  The
duties we could not leave, we are obliged to leave;
the care we could not throw off, we must give up;
and other hands must do the work which we thought
belonged to us.  In the chamber of feebleness and
languishing, we find a change of scenes, and learn
the lessons we thought we had no time to learn.
There we secure leisure to look inward, that we may
see the true workings of our own hearts; that we




34           A WEEK WITH JESUS..
may recognize that our earthly duties are to be
done, not for themselves alone, since they and we
may so easily be separated, but as means to higher
ends.
And indeed we are often taught these lessons of
leisure and retirement quite as profitably, when yet,
in our own persons, we are free from disease and
feebleness. We may be called aside from ordinary
cares through afflictions laid upon the persons of
others.  God has bound us to each other in ties of
affection and kindred, so that no man is a solitary
being; and thus Providence can lay hold upon us
and draw us where he will, by simply touching
others. As the spark of the electric battery runs
through the circle of joined hands, no matter how
large; so our afflictions are social, rather than personal. Death enters the circle of our acquaintance;
and when a friend is called away we cannot but feel
the stroke.  When the visitation is upon a near
friend, true affection, and even the simple proprieties of life, call us to withdraw for a time from our
busy avocations, that we may render the last tribute
of respect; and for a longer season we are disinclined to the merely social privileges of society. The
sudden death of a friend especially, awakens serious thoughts in us; and prompts us to seek retirement. Have we not the example of Christ in this?
He who wept at the grave of Lazarus has now just
heard of the death of John the Baptist; and in
the warmth of pious friendship, and for the proper




REASONS FOR REPOSE.               35
indulgence of grief, he and his disciples would leave
the world a while.
Sometimes our seasons of withdrawal are far
from being times of leisure and relaxation. They
are times of burdening cares, yet different from our
usual avocations; but they are times when we are
called to profitable thoughts and spiritual improvement.  We are wise when we judge so of them.
Sickness visits our household.  Should we not consider every affliction that enters the abode as designed for those members of the family who are
kept in health, as well as for those who languish
before our eyes? Are we not often forced to believe that they are sent purely for the benefit of
those that are not sick? A very large proportion
of our anxious days and watchful nights are spent
by the cradles of our babes; and we are far more
frequently called to lay an infant down to its final
rest than an older form.  If the Christian poet
could write, concerning all our earthly afflictions,"Smitten friends
Are angels sent on errands full of love;
For us they languish, and for us they die,"
how much more obviously is this true of the sufferings of infant children, which must have their chief
moral end in the spiritual improvement of the older
friends about them? But when any member of the
family, young or old, and with whatever result,
whether bereavement or restoration, is laid upon a




36           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
bed of languishing, it is the voice of Providence
saying to stricken hearts, Come ye apart a while.
There is no chance in this occurrence, in the person
it affects, in the grief it occasions, in the results it
reaches; and we should not undervalue these times
of sorrow. They are often long enough and changeful enough to teach us a thousand alternating lessons,
from the depths of desponding fear to the heights
of exulting thankfulness; and, taking our whole
lifetime into view, they come often enough to make
us inexcusable in that guilty folly that can be
contented with the mere things of earth. No portion
of our experience is better fitted "to try us and to
prove us and to know what is in our hearts," than
these seasons of grief. A beloved one languishes
before us; we are helpless, all human aid is helpless,
to afford relief; if help comes, it must be from
above. Then there is a God; then we need a God;
then, if never otherwise, our cries are wrung forth
towards God.  We indeed unwisely push  these
thoughts away, and refuse to learn the lessons that
are taught us, even when the final shadows begin to
darken the room.  Yet we have great lessons to
learn in the chamber of affliction.  How little this
world is worth; how slight a hold have we upon our
most valued treasures here; how near is the grave
to our happiest hours; there is but a step between
us and eternity!
God calls us aside again and again; he touches
the tenderest places of our hearts, yet gives us




REASONS FOR REPOSE.                37
many proofs that these visitations are in his mercy
and for our profit. IHe mercifully spares those
whom we feared to lose; he often mercifully prepares those that are called away. In the hour of
affliction time is given for serious thought; wants
are felt, to call forth our prayers: and manifold
mercies mingle in sorrow's cup. The heart that
softens not, under such dealings, must be hard
indeed; the man who prays not in trouble must be
far from  God; he who makes no serious vows in
adversity should be startled at his own perverseness.
Precious are the seasons when God says, Come
apart a while. The griefs of earth are bitter; its
bereavements are often long remembered; sad are
our parting hours, and desolate our darkened homes;
but precious throughout eternity will be the recollection of many a time of anguish, many a silent
sick chamber, many a patient sufferer, many an hour
of earthly separation. "No chastisement is for the
present joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterwards
it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness."
"Not first the glad, and then the sorrowful,
But first the sorrowful, and then the glad;
Tears for a day-for earth of tears is fullThen we forget that ever we were sad."
But let us not think that our times of withdrawing
firom  the world and of serious reflection should be
only those when Providence, as it were, forces us
aside. As intelligent, moral, reasonable beings, we
should make provision for times of solitary medita4




38           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
tion, when we are alone with God, when we commune
with our own hearts in his presence, and when time
and earth are shut out, that the light of eternity
may shine upon us. Every soul of man should
have its direct, filial intercourse with its Maker; we
all need to utter prayers and to make confessions,
which only he should hear; and he invites us to
draw near his throne.  We need these times of
retirement as the balance-wheel of our energetic
age.  It has often been said, in the comparison of
our generation with those that have gone before us,
that our modern life is characterized by restless
activity, rather than by serious and deep thoughtfulness. It is not that we are not a thinking age;
but there are many temptations for Christians to
overlook some important things belonging to the
Christian life. It has been charged upon us that
the deep reflection, so worthy of the great truths of
the gospel, and so promotive of the sterling graces
of Christian character; and that the wrestling prayerfulness which brings the soul so near to God, do not
belong to us, as they were to be seen in the sturdy
piety of a former race; that we can scarcely even
relish the teachings which more contemplative instructors have handed down for us. Let the very
charge awaken us to consider the path of duty and
wisdom in so great a matter: and this without needing to declare that these comparisons are all just,
and without falling into the error which the wise
man of even a remote antiquity so plainly rebukes,




REASONS FOR REPOSE-.            39
of judging that former times were better than our
own. Ecc. vii. 10.
That the type of piety, e. g. in the seventeenth
century, was different from that in our age; that it
had its desirable aspects, we may readily own; and
this without deciding that that was an age of deeper
or more prosperous piety.  Let us learn of them:
but to do this profitably we need not disparage our
times, nor lessen the activities of our age, nor change
the tastes of our reading people. HGow gladly would
Baxter, and Bunyan, and Howe, and Charnock
have scattered their volumes as widely as we scatter
them, or have known with how much delight their
choicest writings are read by us, or have seen in all
the earth as many people able to read as we now
see, or have entered the open doors of access by
which we can approach so many perishing millions!
They lived in times, even after the days of the great
reformation, when men of whom the world was not
worthy were compelled to'steal opportunities of
usefulness, and to preach the gospel in secret," or
not to preach it at all. And many of their hours
of retirement, spent in penning many valuable
teachings, were passed, by constraint of violent
men, in the gloom of imprisonment, or in days of
exile, or Providence had bidden them rest a while
in the chamber of sanctified affliction.
The activities of our age and the success God has
graciously given to these, would have seemed inestimably precious in the eyes of such men. And we,




40            A WEEK WNITII JESUS.
who live in the midst of these activities, know well
that the energies of the people of God are not
taxed to the utmost to maintain any of Zion's
schemes of giving or doing. Let not our complaints
be unreasonable.  How rare is the sight of a Christian who labours too hard for Christ! Rather,
have we not all room for far more effort: we scarcely
reach by our missionary efforts, a tythe of those we
could influence; and the ability of the church is far
in advance of her efforts and her contributions.
We do not wish the knowledge or the activity of
the church of God any less than they are: but it
may be true that we do lack the deep and serious
thought and the earnest prayerfulness, that were
eminent in other days.  We may learn from former
brethren to study the truth of God more earnestly,
and to pray more fervently.  It would better fit us
for larger activity and better direct our energies,
if we were more contemplative and devotional. Our
best ideas of piety lead us to regard it as an inner
life; and nothing personal to each of us is more
important than to cultivate the heart.
We have witnessed in our day a special interest
excited in public prayer-meetings. And these have
certainly been of great profit to the cause of religion.
But no public services can wisely be allowed to take
the place of important private duties.  We need
regular seasons of communion with Him.  We shall
see as we accompany Jesus and his disciples apart
from the multitude, that he has given us an example




REASONS FOR REPOSE.             41
of private devotion. And let us learn that THE
CLOSET, which he enjoins upon us by his precepts
and practice, is not simply a place and time of
prayer, where we may tell our wants in the ear of
our Father.  It is this indeed; but it is more.  We
even wrong our souls when our prayers are but
inprompttu.  We should know  far greater wants
than those that rise to the surface, and thus attract
even our careless notice.  The closet is the place
and time of reading, meditation, recollection, anticipation and self-inspection; as well as of prayer for
Divine forgiveness, renewal and assistance; and of
praise for mercies already received. Before our
Father's eye we must strive to free ourselves from
those unhappy influences which intoxicate our pride,
fill us with ambition, and stimulate us to an erratic,
transient, and perhaps Pharisaic activity.  Before
him, we should study to know what we are, and
what is the prevailing temper of our hearts.  Before
him, we should inquire what we are to do, and how
we are to do it; that so we may secure that best
element of a true success, THE DIVINE BLESSING!
There is surely no danger that our energies will
be paralyzed or our activities lessened, to meet the
increasing demands of aggressive duty, when we are
never negligent of the claims the closet has upon us.
Rather, thus we renew our strength.  The fountain
of flowing water that is not fed from secret springs
must soon dry up, and cannot bear continual draughts
upon it. IMen may run zealously, and speak freely
4 ~'




42            A WEEK WITH JESUS.
in the fervour of a new profession; rut they will
soon be hindered, if they neglect the seerot sources
of pious strength.  The grain that fades in the first
sunbeams of tribulation has but feeble roots in the
shallow  soil.  The secret of steadfast energy, of
prolonged and increasing usefulness in the church
must be sought in the strength which the soul gains
in communion with God. A vigorous mind in a
sound- body makes the healthy man; and the best
style of a Christian is found in him who lives with
God apart from the world, that he may walk with
God in the world.  This is the prophet's ancient
solution of pious activity; "Even the youths shall
faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly
fall: but they that wait uponm the Lord shall renew
their strength; they shall mouont  up with wings as
eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall
walk and not faint." Isa. xl. 30, 31.
If we learn of Jesus, there is little danger that
our piety should tend to separate us from society;
lead us to shun the company of men; or bid us
consider earthly and public duties as inconsistent
with serious and contemplative religion. Jesus says
to us, Come ye apart a while.  There is the widest
possible difference between solitude and retirement,
asceticism  and self-denial, a hermit's cell and a
Christian's closet. Private duties may be brief
compared with our social engagements: but a half
hour of morning devotions may spread its precious
influence over the busiest day spent in the world;




REASONS FOR REPOSE.            43
or a day of humble devotion may break us away
from dangerous associations; and a sacred Sabbath
kept apart from the intrusion of worldly thoughts
may sanctify the week. No man ever was more
industrious than Christ Jesus. From an early age
he was about his Father's business.  He taught
sedulously, both in season and out of season, the
waiting people. He did not plead fatigue or hunger
as a reason for neglecting the Samaritan woman of
Jacob's well: and as we accompany him now apart
from busy cares, we may find him allowing his
season of rest to be broken in upon; teaching the
multitude; supplying their necessities; and even
taking the hours of the night for his secret devotions
that had been interrupted by anxieties for others.
It is not to keep us from busy labours that he calls
us to rest and retirement and prayer. But let us
weigh the claims of public and private duties; and
admit and meet them both. Let not the anxieties
and excitements and pressing urgencies of our earthly
cares lead us to neglect the very duties to our own
souls, which fit us for the due discharge of all other
engagements.




44            A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER IV.
THE MIIRA CLE 0' THE L 0A VEoS.
"And they did all eat and were filled."
THE place to which our Lord retired with his
disciples was a desert spot, i. e. not perhaps a
barren, but an uncultivated and unfrequented place.
So we are told that "there was much grass in the
place." Jno. vi. 10. In reaching it he passed in a
vessel over the sea of Galilee, and landed on the
eastern side of the lake, near the city of Bethsaida.
The name is twice given.  First the company went
to Bethsaida, Luke ix. 10: and then, at the close
of the day, he sent away his disciples, "to go to the
other side before unto Bethsaida." Mark vi. 45.
These statements have led Scriptural geographers to
believe that there were two cities of this name;
though the site of neither can now be determined.
Dr. Thomson argues strenuously that one city
explains all the terms of the narrative.*  Yet other
passages of Scripture, not now calling for our
notice, favour the usual view. If his starting-point
was Capernaum, then it would hardly be crossing
the sea to go to either Bethsaida.  Ile would rather
>-The Land and the Book, ii. 29-33.




THE MIRACLE OF TIIE LOAVES.        45
pass out into the lake, and keeping along the same
shore, reach his destination.  So we are told that
the people saw him  go, and went by land, and.
reached the place before he did. They may not
have lost sight of the vessel all the time.
It is likely that these crowds who now followed
Jesus so eagerly, were, in part, composed of persons
going up to the feast of the Passover. (See Jno. vi.
4.) It may seem strange that men upon a journey
should be destitute of food; but it is implied in the
language of the disciples that they were provided
with the means of purchasing it. It would be easier
to carry money upon a pilgrimage than to carry
much provisions.
And now we see the plans of Jesus for retirement
and repose broken in upon. The multitudes are
again around him. And so we learn from him the
duty of sacrificing our personal desires to the larger
profit of others. Though he came there to be free
from public duties, he cannot repress the warm
feelings of compassion, which go forth towards a
needy people. So he ascended the side of a mountain, Jno. vi. 3, and sat down and taught them
concerning the kingdom of God, and healed such of
them as needed it. Luke ix. 11. Rest, and even
private devotion, may be delayed when providential
opportunities are afforded us of doing good. We
have no record of the teachings of our Lord upon
this occasion, or of the miracles of healing he
wrought: but there is a record of one of his most




46           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
remarkable works, so interesting and significant
that all four of the evangelists have mentioned it.
We are almost led to judge that so deeply engaged
was he in the work of teaching the people, that his
disciples became uneasy at the length of his discourse; even perhaps interrupting him with the
suggestions that the time was rapidly passing, that
they had no means of feeding this great multitude,
and that they should be sent away to the surrounding villages to buy food for themselves.
Our Lord had his own plan in view for the whole
matter; but he deals with his disciples for their
profit. To try their faith he asked Philip where
they could procure bread enough for all. Evidently
Philip had no thought of the method now about to
be adopted for their supply. Some suppose that
Philip and Andrew were addressed, because they
belonged to the neighbouring town of Bethsaida,
and knew what opportunity there might be for
buying food. It seems surprising that all the food
of the company is in the hands of a little lad; and
that even the disciples do not seem to have taken
enough to supply their own wants. Yet it may be,
that a limited supply, enough for a smaller company,
had been consumed in the earlier part of the day;
and now towards the close of the day, all were
hungry, and some had been entirely without food
since the morning. That may be said, in general,
of a large company, that strictly applies not to all.
In this emergency, by what simple means is the




THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES.            47
supply secured. Let us not despise feeble persons
or feeble means. A little lad with his scanty store
furnishes that by which the multitude is satisfied.
Yet we must not forget that the Divine finger gives
efficacy to these feeble things.  With his blessing,
the small becomes great. As a little maid secured
healing for Naman the leper; as out of the lips of
babes may come instructions, feeble in themselves,
yet powerful through Divine mercy; so here a little
boy becomes a blessing.
"What time the Saviour spread his feast
For thousands on the mountain's side
One of the last and least
The abundant store supplied."
As the time was towards the middle oi last of
March, and the spring rains had already fallen, the
fields of Palestine were in their. richest dress, and
the grass of the place made it pleasant to seat themselves upon the ground. But if now we stood beside
that wonderful teacher, as he gave command that
the people should arrange themselves by companies,
could our faith comprehend the great miracle which
he was then about to work?  Could we believe that
he would attempt to supply the necessities of more
than five thousand persons with these few loaves in
his hands?  Or that he could accomplish so great a
wonder as this? Even with the supposition that
the number of women and children was comparatively small, since only males were required to attend
the Passover, put five thousand men into the streets




48           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
and dwellings around you, and then try to realize
the usual amount of food they would need for a
single meal, that so you may form some just estimate
of this supernatural miraculous supply. For it is
but doing justice to the wonder, when we realize its
true greatness. We should study the whole matter
here written for our instruction, as we surely would
ponder everything connected with it, if we stood
beside the Lord and saw all this with our own eyes.
We have said already that we do not wish to look
upon Jesus as he appeared in the eyes of the men
of his own day. They saw him as an humble man,
and were gradually lifted up by an acquaintance
with his words and works, to the belief of his
superior dignity. We, on the contrary, have been
trained from our very childhood, in the knowledge,
both of his superiority over the sons of men, and of
the greatness of his mission to our earth.  In these
respects, therefore, they and we may be said to
stand upon different sides of the miracles of Christ.
To them it might seem wonderful that he should or
could do such great things. They saw him as a
man; and it never entered their minds that man
could do a thing like this. Even to arrange the
company, as if to supply their wants, would seem a
strange thing in their eyes: and the disciples, who
knew much already of his power, would do this,
wondering what he would next attempt. Yet the
presumption ought to be the reverse to us. It would
be wonderful in our eyes if the Son of God should




THE MIRACLE OF TIIE LOAVES.        49
not work the most convincing miracles.  Stand
beside that Redeemer and consider for a moment
who he is and what he came to do? and then reflect
and decide, whether the working of miracles on his
part is not just what we should look for at his
hands?
If this man is merely a teacher, who instructs our
race from the depths of a personal wisdom superior
to other sages, and this is all: then let his wisdom
be his testimonial, and it is unreasonable that he
should be expected to work miracles. But if this is
the incarnate Son of God, if his errand to earth is
to do for man that which man could not accomplish,
and to teach that which otherwise man could not
know, then it may reasonably be expected and
demanded, that he should give proofs of his dignity
in works which no other man can do. Indeed the
greatest miracle of all has already been accomplished
when tlhe " Word has become flesh." Let the dignity
and work of Christ be taken into the account, and
the presumption that such a person would work
miracles is reasonable. Let us go forth to stand
with Jesus surrounded by that hungry multitude;
and we would come back disappointed, if he must
send them unsupplied and fainting to seek food in
the villages around.
And surely no objection-can be brought against
the working of such a wonder, because of the power
necessary to accomplish it. For the claim is that
the worker is the Son of God: the power therefore




50           A WEEK WITIH JESUS.
which he could put forth is infinite.  It is just for
us then to say that the miracles wrought by our
Lord Jesus when he was upon the earth, were not
the greatest things which he could do. Such works
as he wrought were displays of power surpassing all
created energy, and therefore sufficient and convincing proofs of his Divine commission and authority: but the works of Christ were still inferior to
the works of God's creative power. To restore the
dead to life; to open blind eyes; to unstop deaf
ears, are not works as great as the original gifts of
life and sight and hearing.  That God should give
good sight and hearing and health to so many
thousands in Judea, was surely a greater thing than
that his incarnate Son should heal the few that
lacked these advantages. And the ordinary supply
of food by which the teeming earth is fed, is surely
incomparably greater than what might meet the
necessities of a few thousands for a single meal.
The power necessary to do that which Christ here
accomplished, is enough to prove his divinity: and
yet, in the comparison, it is not greater but less,
than the energy every day put forth before us by
the finger of Omnipotence.  We cannot discredit
these miracles on the score of their greatness.
Grant that they were wrought by him "by whom
also the worlds were made;" and great -as they are,
they seem then but "the hidings of his power."
But if we were companions of Jesus upon that
occasion, esteemed worthy of record by the pens of




THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES.          51
all the evangelists, the most profound interest taken
in the work of that day would be entirely in keeping
with every just impression we should receive of him.
It is worthy of Jesus that he should be willing to
forego his own plan of leisure and retirement, and
fill his hands with new duty for the sake of these
multitudes. It is worthy of the great Shepherd
that he should pity the sheep scattered without care,
and should lead them in the pastures of truth. It
is worthy of his benevolence that he should supply
their wants and not dismiss them  fainting.  The
very manner of the miracle is worthy of him, when
he reverently invoked the blessing of the Father
upon the food-teaching us that ordinarily we should
recognize gratefully the hand from which come all
our common comforts.  "'He that enjoys anything
without thanksgiving," says the Jewish Talmud, "is
as though he robbed God."* It is appropriate also
that while the liberality of supply stops at nothing
short of satisfying the wants of all, this should be
consistent with the careful gathering up of that
which remained. For it is no design of Providence
to teach men wastefulness, even when the abundance
around us is largest. God's gifts are to be used
and accounted for, not abused or wasted.
Perhaps we cannot fully appreciate the excellence
of the miracles of Christ, their entire fitness to his
character and claims. and their full consistency with
the wonderful workings of God's providence, unless
*. Trench on Miracles 217.




52            A WEEK WITIt JESUS.
we place them in contrast with the pretended miracles of  iEfferent time s.  The more fally such a
contrast is made, the more manifestly are the claims
of the gospel vindicated. We may of course expect,
since the publication of the gospels, that many
imitations of his wonders would appear among the
alleged miracles of later times. But it is remarkably
characteristic of the spurious miracle, that it is
usually a stupid wonder, imposed upon admiring
credulity, unnatural in every aspect, aimless in
purpose, insignificant in its lessons, and of no profitable spirit. What if the moon did divide at
AMohammed's bidding, and pass down the sleeve of
the prophet's robe, and ascend again to the sky?
What if a Romish saint did cross over the sea upon
a millstone; or buoyed up upon his own cloak?
These and such like, would be marvellous occurrences; but they would be unnatural in aspect,
unmeaning in influence, and with no tendency to
bless or instruct beholders.
If we consider this miracle of our Lord, it is just
such a work as becomes the character he bears.  If
this is the Author of creation and the Worker of
providence now dwelling among men, and putting
forth his finger to prove his presence, let his new
works be like those old doings which men have
known from his hand since the world began: or let
every diversity bear that significance in itself which
vindicates its propriety and excellence.  This miracle is, like the usual workings of nature around.us,




THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES.         53
a miracle of multiplication.  He does not bid hands
unseen spread a table before them, and cover it with
abundant food, mysteriously brought from unknown
quarters; nor does he command the stones of the
field to become bread. But a few loaves are multiplied. Does it seem strange that they should be?
Is it not just as strange that the ordinary multiplication of our food should differ from this miracle
only in this, that it is more deliberately accomplished?  What is the produce of the ripening
wheat-field, but the providential multiplication of
one grain into fifty or a hundred? Is it not still
wheat when you sow and wheat when you reap?
So was it then barley-bread in the Saviour's hands
and barley-bread for every man's appetite.  There
is a difference in time. It takes months to change
the seed sown into the harvest gathered; and these
barley loaves were multiplied in the few passing
moments of that declining day: but the work of the
Mediator Incarnate is like his works in providence:
in no wise conflicting with the laws, over which he
exhibits his control. If we wonder how he could
feed five thousand with this small supply, yet must
we admit that he feeds the whole earth, and this
during century after century by causing the seed
sown to multiply, each after its kind.
The spirit of this miracle is equally becoming the
claims of him who wrought it. The miracles of
Moses and Elijah were stupendous: but they were
chiefly miracles of judgment. The works of Christ




54            A WEEK WITH JESUS.
were beneficent. In this case, he had withdrawn to
a solitary place for retirement and devotion: the
multitude were intruders upon his privacy; yet he
gives no indication of displeasure. All is compassion and kindness. Pitying their scattered condition, he patiently taught them: compassionating
their bodily necessities, he supplied their wants.
This benevolence becomes him. This is the same
hand that scatters so many providential blessings at
every man's door every day.
It is not possible for us to secure the full force
of the argument for the miracles of Jesus drawn
from the evidence which proves their actual occurrence as historical events, by the consideration of
any one of these wonders separately.  Christ's life,
character, reputation and influence must be taken
with his preaching and his miracles as one grand
whole: the separate parts may indeed admit of
separate proof and vindication: but their consistent
harmony greatly strengthens the just evidences of
his truthfulness.  It was not possible for such a
teacher to secure such an influence, based professedly
upon his power to work miracles, when yet no such
wonders were really performed.  For what he did,
lie did openly: it required but the use of their senses
9n the part of multitudes to discern the reality of
these things: and it is manifest that the glory of a
hundred apparent successes would have been marred
by the occurrence of a single failure. But no such
failure ever happened. Every miracle has evidence




THE MIRACLE OF TIlE LOAVES.         55
appropriate and sufficient to establish it, while the
testimony taken altogether is peculiar and forcible.
In this miracle we have just the proof we should
expect. The wonder was not expected: but the
parties most interested and most capable of judging
were fully persuaded that it was truly wrought.
Perhaps the multitude began to feel some anxiety
in the desert, as the disciples certainly did. Neither
of them suggested, or even expected, relief from
him by any miracle. And he asked counsel of his
disciples expressly that he might show how feeble
were their resources for such an emergency. And
this very inquiry fully revealed the destitution of
the people. Yet though so small a supply could
be brought forth, the entire multitude was filled.
They at least were fully convinced that his power
had fed them in the wilderness. And who could be
better witnesses than the disciples, who distributed
the multiplied loaves to the companies; and the
people whose wanks were so unexpectedly satisfied?
But after all, the significance of the miracle is the
most important thing to which our thoughts can be
turned.  It is not a great wonder, to call forth our
astonishment merely: it is far more and better than
this. It is a revelation of our Lord himself as the
true bread by which man lives.  What though the
people who ate these barley loaves did not think so
of him: let us learn better as we listen to the
teachings which he gave to them in this very matter.
The next day they followed him to the other side




.56          9 ~IA WEEK WITII JESUS.
Of the sea; and he reproved them for the low views
they had taken of him and of his work. They followed him, because he had fed their bodies; they
should rather have hungered for the life-giving
truth. IHe bade them seek not the food that perisheth, but that which endureth to everlasting life,
and this he also could give.
Scarcely any more natural or expressive figures
can be used to signify spiritual necessities than
those which arise from our well-known natural wants.
Hence hunger and thirst express the desires of the
soul, and food and water are significant of their
supply.  Figurative language like this, is as intelgible as any plain language can be. When Christ
says, "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst
after righteousness," his meaning is as simple as
any expression can make it. In all ages of the
church the like substantial teachings have been
given by like figures. So the manna and water in
the wilderness included a reference to the spiritual
dependence of Israel, and an intimation that they
must receive supplies from heaven for their spiritual
necessities.
That men may fail to understand the true teaching
of these figurative expressions is true: not because
of their obscurity, but because of the depraved
blindness of sinful minds towards spiritual things.
So the multitudes here fed by our Lord did not
understand him, when he spake of himself as the
true bread from heaven, and wondered if this man




TIHE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES.          57
could give them his flesh to eat.  So the monstrous
and impossible doctrine of transubstantiation has
grown out of the literal rendering of our Lord's
words. And yet he himself gives us their interpretation.  IIe declares that it is not as their fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness.  But as bread
nourishes the natural life, so Christ himself nourishes spiritual life. As to natural life, we eat bread
that we may live. As to spiritual life, we believe
on Christ that we may never die.  Eating  in the
one case, is the exact equivalent of believing in the
other.  Christ is the bread from heaven, because he
llho uses this bread, in the appropriate sense in
which it can be used, that is by receiving, appropriating, relying upon Christ as the Redeemer, shall
live by him. Are not these his very words to this
same multitude?  "He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never
thirst."
Let us not pass the day with Jesus as he feeds
the hungry multitude on the side of the lake of
Galilee, without repeating in his ears, and with a
better understanding of them, the words with which
they addressed him, "Lord, evermore give us this
bread."  Christ is the true bread of life.  And
indeed lie invites us to partake of him and of his
benefits that we may live. If he looked with compassion upon that multitude, because they were
scattered as sheep having no shepherd, we surely
cannot make the mistake of supposing that his




58           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
concern for them had respect to anything else than
their spiritual interests. He did indeed heal the
maladies of the body; he esteemed it appropriate
for him to multiply the loaves that their bodies
might be fed: and when he had done this, they
would have made him their king. But when they
eagerly followed him, he reproved in them their low
thoughts of what he was, and of what he could do.
He bade them labour not for the meat that perisheth,
but to labour for the meat that endureth unto
everlasting life. When they asked how they must
thus labour and for such an end, let us seek to
comprehend his answer, even if they did not. " This
is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he
hath sent." Christ comes to heal the malady of
the soul, and to supply those spiritual necessities
which he alone can supply. He still pities these
necessities, even in those who feel them not. We
can easily imagine that while the heart of Jesus felt
compassion so deep for that people, it formed a part
of their misery that they did not recognize the very
things that most affected him. So it is still. How
often must he weep over guilty men, as he wept
over Jerusalem, saying, " Oh, if thou hadst known!"
How must he still declare in the ears of perishing
men, "Ye will not come unto me that ye might
have life."
Yet truly as Christ did not feed that multitude
but because of the necessity thus providentially laid
upon him, he has proposed himself to us as the




THE MIRACLE OF THE LOAVES.          59
living bread only because of our imperative necessities. If we eat not of this bread we must die. Let
us learn the depth of our necessities from the very
fact that infinite wisdom has made this provision for
our need. Christ wrought no miracle of all his
ministry for a vain display. Least of all can we
judge, that his very mission to earth was needless.
The bread of life is given to us in the wilderness,
because without it we faint and die. And there is
enough to feed all the multitude. And why should
we perish with hunger, when there is bread enough
in our Father's house?




60            A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER V.
DIFVINE BENEFIGCENCE.
"Give ye them to eat."
"How pleasant to me thy deep blue wave,
0 sea of Galilee;
For the glorious One who came to save
IHath often stood by thee."  MCCHEYNE.
LET US linger a little longer to learn further
lessons from the compassion and bounty of Jesus
towards the multitude, whom he fed by the sea of
Galilee.' Why should we read over these wonderful
pages with less thoughtfulness, than if we saw the
things that are here recorded?  Are there not
reasons additional, in the superior knowledge we
possess of that incomparable Jesus, to make us weigh
with more serious reflection every recorded word
and action; and especially to consider thoughtfully
those significant and symbolical teachings whose
permanent value belongs as much to us as to those
who saw and heard them? Let us eat of the bread
thus broken to so large a multitude.
We have intimated before that the moral argument
in favour of the working of miracles is stronger than
any presumption drawn from the constancy of natu



DIVINE BENEFICENCE.            61
ral laws against them. If the person whose footsteps
we now accompany, is the Son of God, both his
person and his errand justify our expectations, that
he should display his power, and explain his work
by wondrous doings.  Shall the regularity of the
laws of nature stand in the way to prevent the God
of nature from putting forth his finger to prove his
presence, when he would do a work greater than
any he has done in nature?  We do not deny the
usual constancy of natural laws. We recognize and
admire their. constancy. So far from invalidating
the usual uniformity of natural laws when we speak
of miracles, we rather affirm that a miracle would
lose both its intelligence and its significancy, if there
was not a uniformity in natural things that was
invariable, except by miracle. Yet what are these
laws of nature, but the working of Alrnighty God
by rules which his wisdom has established?  Do we
then degrade nature, or dishonour the great Author
of nature, when we deny that any less than himself
can ever work a miracle, or when we affirm that he
can do as nature never does, if sufficient reasons
present themselves to his mind?  Nature is a vast
machine, and God is its maker.  I-e who builds a
house has more honour than the house; God is
greater than the machine God has made; it neither
dishonours him nor his works to confess this.
Suppose a skilful mechanic has built an admirable locomotive.* Every wheel is true; every valve
*The tb ought is from Wardlaw.




62           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
is close; flanges of great strength and accuracy
confine it to the proper track; and it goes forward
on its journey with admirable speed.  The chief end
for which it was made is to draw its train of cars
on to their destination. But as it performs this
purpose, hastening on with lightning speed, the
engineer discerns a little distance before them, a
child upon the track. There is no possibility that
he can spring out of the way. Let the engine keep
right on its course, and the fatal blow will come,
life will be crushed out, and the mangled form will
be left upon the fiery pathway. What is to be done?
Do you tell me that the wise and humane engineer
will put down his brakes, and stop or reverse his
engine?  But what kind of a reply would it be, if
he keeps on his way regardless of consequences,
and tells you that his engine was made to run; that
its law is "straight forward;" and that no allowance
was made, in the perfect machinery he controls, to
stop for anything?  Would you not feel that such
a kind of "perfection" was infinitely undesirable;
that a human life was worth more than the stopping
of a locomotive; not to say worth more than the
best piece of machinery ever set in motion.
God has made the world; has established every
law that works in it; and carries forward all their
Operations.  But let us not deify nature.  If
it was folly for Paganism to worship four-footed
beasts and creeping things, let us not choose a more
dignified god, yet of tile same order. Their ele



DIVINE BENEFICENCE.            63
mental sin was worshipping the created instead of
the Creator; and even if we stoop not quite so lom
in details, we still adopt the same bad principle
when we honour the work above the Workman.
Nature is the mechanism: God has made and controls nature.  But into this universe which God
has made and sustains, disorder has entered. The
noblest of God's creatures in this lower world, has
rebelled against the Divine authority; and man
needs that God should interpose in mercy for his
everlasting salvation.
Beyond dispute sin is here, and man needs Divine
aid. And shall we presume to question the propriety and wisdom of Divine interposition, and the
proof of this, even by such workings as, beyond all
created power, may seem to stay the onward march
of nature's great machinery? The purpose is human
salvation; let the greatness of the object vindicate
the variations from nature which we see in miraculous workings. The engineer, who has received his
orders to go forward, may stop his course to save a
life, if an emergency demands. The object in view
justifies an act, that will not injure his machinery,
nor long delay his trip; and that indeed is itself
worth more than them both. Thus we vindicate
Divine interpositions by miracle to prove indisputably the authority of Divine revelations. These are
teachers sent from heaven, who do works which man
cannot do. The object of this gospel is the salvation of sinful men. This is an object before the




64            A WEEIK WITII JESUS.
Eternal?Mind far superior to the doings of his hand
in physical nature.  Since then no violence is done
to nature when miracles are wrought: no permanent
arrest is made in nature's ordinary workings; no
confession is implied of folly in nature's salutary
laws: no confidence is shaken in nature's constancy,
even in minds that most fully credit the miraculous,
let us not enslave God to nature by presuming to
deny the wisdom and propriety of miracles. We
cannot imagine a more important thing for God to
do, than to satisfy man that he speaks in the gospel.
The grand object of miracles is a sufficient vindication of their credibility.
These are important thoughts respecting the miracles in general, recorded in the Scriptures.  But
there are still other lessons, most important for us
to learn, as we gaze upon Christ's feeding the multitude by the sea of Galilee. Perhaps there is no
other miracle wrought by Jesus that more significalntly reminds us of the great things he would
teach, than this.  He himself seems to hold it in
high estimation by repeating it; and by causing it
to be recorded by all the evangelists.  Christ would
teach his disciples of all time a lesson of true
dependence upon God's wondrous dealings, in all
the times of our weakness and poverty.
We know that this is a fundamental principle of
his gospel, that we must walk by faith and not by
sight.  We may expect him therefore to teach us
lessons in the school of faith.  Taught by him, we




DIVITNE BENEFICENCE.            65
must learn to study less the resources we have in
our own hands, and to study more the power of God
as our efficient aid. We are not to be presumptuous,
but we are to be believing: and the history of the
church will prove that God has answered faith, as
clearly proving his presence as by the working of a
miracle. Our Lord would not have performed this
wonder, if the people had not needed it. If they
had come there provided with abundant food; if
they could have gone to seek it without suffering
and loss, no such interposition had been made. But
there was due occasion for supplying their necessities, and he did not stay because the bread in his
hands seemed inadequate to the purpose.  And is
there no meaning in the fact that the bread more
than held out, to do this appropriate work?  This,
we ju(lge, is one of the most important lessons of
that eventful day.  Selfishness would have said that
there was too little bread for the supply of his own
household: but he would teach faith to act by a
different rule.  We desire, as natural men, to have
full supplies in our own hands, not only for the
present, but for the future.  We wish comforts
not only for the sorrows now pressing upon us, but
for those that threaten, and even for those that are
merely conjectured, and that may never come.  I-Ie
would have us trust the Divine wisdom mAsid power
and imercy for the enlarging of the resources that
seem so small.  Let us think of this lesson of faith
aIs taug;lht by the bread of that wilderness; and learn




66           A WAEEK IWITII JESUS.
that this is one of the most important for our support
and prosperity.
It seems the more proper for us to study this
particular matter, because there are pre-intimations
of the same, in'the former teachings of the Scriptures.
Christ repeats and enforces the lessons taught previously by the prophets of the Old Testament: for
he is their master, and they are our brethren.  God
led the people of Isra el for forty years, in the
wilderness, while all through the journey he gave
them no bread in advance, but only as they needed
it. No other army ever dared go forth into such a
desert without making large preparations for their
support there: but God wished his people to learn
that they lived not by bread only, but by his favour.
Though dependent every day, they had full sup.
plies for forty years.
Of all the miracles wrought during the Old
Testament times, none is more like Christ's feeding
the hungry, than that of Elijah when he blessed the
scanty store of a poor widow in the coasts of Zidon.
The prophet was both a beneficiary and a benefactor.
He asked bread of this poor woman; and found her
at the last morsel that her house contained.  Yet at
the word of the Lord, the end of her scanty supply
did not come,'until plenty reigned again in the land.
Just at the bottom of her barrel of meal, yet for
months she never found it empty.  Her family was
larger than before, yet starvation had fled from her
doors.  How the meal multiplied, as a physical fact




DIVINE BENEFICENCE.             67
we do not know. Yet the moral and spiritual aspect
of the entire transaction is plain enough.  She had
a prophet for a guest: and the faith that would riot
turn away his request in the hour of her poverty,
found its reward in the salvation of her own house,
and has transmitted its lesson of encouragement to
far later days.
But let us return to the side of the mountain, and
read the lesson of the widow of Zarephath, as Christ
teaches us again in the barley loaves. What are
these among so many? we ask as we gaze upon them
through Philip's eyes of sense.  We look again, and
lo! the disciples are busy with the waiting companies: again, and every hungry appetite is satisfied:
again, and twelve baskets full remain at the last.
Astonished and thoughtful we sit down in the
evening hour, and ponder the teachings of a scene
like this.
This is the same lesson of our daily life, that God
teaches us so often by his providence. The widow
of Zarephath is far from being the only widow who
is never left to want: indeed whose supplies are
larger than enough for her own little household,
though the scanty store has often been nearly gone,
for years and years in succession. We do not call
it miracle, when we see the families of the earth fed
year by year firom God's exhaustless stores, though
so many thousands know not one day where they
must find the bread of the next. But the workings
of Providence for the benefit of men are as wonderful




68           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
as ever was a miracle. As we now look back to the
meal of barley bread given to that multitude by the
sea of Galilee, we can easily decide that we would
rather sit to eat with them, than to partake of the
richest feast ever spread in the palace of an emperor.
And the time may come, when we shall decide that
no life spent upon the earth is so enviable, as that
spent most in dependence upon the providence of
God. TIow many families have been ruined by the
wealth that seemed to raise them above dependencetherefore above wholesome exertion.  And how
remarkable is that kind rule that seems to repeat
for so many in all the earth, almost this very miracle.
The stores they hold in their hands are like these
loaves and fishes for the multitude. And yet they
pass through life never destitute, always fed, and at
the end seem to have no less than at the beginning.
Christ's lesson here, is like the lesson in the sermon
on the other mountain side. We need take no
anxious thought for to-morrow. He who feeds the
raven and clothes the lily, counts us of more value
than the flying birds and the springing grass. We
may look up morning after morning with the prayer
upon our lips, "Our Father,.give us
this day our daily bread:" nor need we fear to trust
his providential care.
The teaching of these barley loaves moreover is
quite as plainly a lesson of our usual Christian
experience. Not for one meal only upon a special
occasion, but again: and again does the Master feed




DIVINE BENEFICENCE.             69
his disciples from supplies of grace that seem in our
evtc  totally insufficient.  We are called into his
service to live by faith upon his word. Faith is not
sight, nor possession, nor enjoyment.  We know
not, we have not, we feel not, as our natural impulses
would prompt. Instead of the needed two hundred
penny-worth of bread, a little lad of the company
has a few barley loaves; and yet in his hands there
is more than enough.  We walk by faith. Every
believer, at the outset of his Christian course, is
like Abraham, who went out "not knowing whither
he went."  He knew indeed that God called; and
that God could ever sustain him. But he knew not
the trials he must meet, the patience he must exercise, the duties he must discharge; nor had he
strength for these things in advance.  Doubtless he
feared for many things before him, for this is human;
but the strength for each duty came when the duty
was to be done.  And so God deals with all his
people. As the knowledge and the strength of a
child may be as well proportioned to him as the
knowledge and strength of a man are to him; so is
it usually, in the dealings of the Divine hand with
us. When we discern a duty, though we may feel
weak, let us have faith in the orderings of God's
providence, and attempt to do it.  When we need
strength to do his will, is the very time that we are
warranted to rely upon his aid. Indeed feebleness
is strength, if it calls forth faith in God. Take up
that cross! Heavy as it seems, it shall not weigh




70           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
you down. Address yourself to that duty, so important for yourself and your family. It may prove
the most profitable you have ever done. We gain
strength by expending strength; we increase in faith
by exercising faith; we do more good by trying to
do good. The barley bread grows on our hands, as
we eat it and as we give it to others.  "There is
that scattereth and yet increaseth." A church that
does nothing because it can do but little, is an
unbelieving church; and will still become weaker
by such a sin against the faith that Christ demands.
The lad's loaves not used at all, will mould upon
his hands; selfishly used they may feed a little
company; yet by faith are they enough for five
thousand. The individual who in the plain path of
duty still forecasts evil, counts his forces, and sits
down discouraged, forgetting the promises of God,
is unfaithful to the gospel.  Let us study our
opportunities and our duties; let us rely upon
Divine assistance; let us do what we can; and we
will soon do more than we now imagine.
But the Saviour teaches us a lesson of Christian
benevolence.  Behold him upon the mountain side,
feeding the necessities of the fainting multitude with
a few barley loaves; and see here a picture of those
great and good enterprises that have been undertaken
for the good of man. You can scarcely turn your
mind to a single benevolent institution, or benevolent
enterprise that does not find its type in this miracle.
Jesus is unseen; but the disciples do his bidding.




DIVINE BENEFICENCE.            71
Our benevolence almost always forms low conceptions of the work that is to be done; and comes to
understand it only by grappling with it.  We are
weak to do the work; and our resources are inadequate to the needful outlay; and we often forecast
failure: but how wondrous are those workings of
Providence, which give us strength and means and
faith and the victory, while we do his will.
When the disciples of Christ began to feed the
famishing millions of the world with the bread of
everlasting life, how little did they know of the
great work they then undertook; and how would
they have said of their resources for feeding these
great multitudes, "What are these barley loaves
among so many?"  Yet as they went forth, how
did success follow every believing effort.  Strength
sprang from weakness; plenty from apparent poverty; and company after company in all the lands
were fed with the living food.  And thus has God
ever wrought, so that in the great cause of Christian
effort, believing and zealous men are warranted to
go forward, relying upon the Divine blessing, though
quite unable to calculate every step in advance, or
to see the means of success.
Many illustrations of these teachings may easily
occur to the thoughtful mind.  HIow  feeble the
resources in the hands of Luther for warring against
that gigantic system of ecclesiastical domination
which then ruled the earth! We may either compare him to the stripling David with his sling and




72            A WEEK WITH JESUS.
stone, triumphing over Goliath clothed in armour;
or to the disciples with their barley loaves feeding
the fainting people: in either case, the efficacy was
Divine. For this is the permanent lesson that God's
servants by faith subdue kingdoms, out of weakness
are made strong, and prove their lineage by the
triumphs of feebleness.
Look at our modern missionary enterprises. No
Christian can doubt that the Master calls us to
these. Look at the multitudes, scattered like sheep
without a shepherd, hungry and fainting, no man to
feed them, and divers of them belong afar off.  The
night comes-the long night that knows no morrow.
About the beginning of the present century a feeble
band of disciples-as few and as weak and of as
little fame among men as the fishermen about Jesus
by the sea of Galilee,-heard his voice say to them,
"Give ye them  to eat!"  And they might have
looked with astonishment at the feeble means they
could command, and have asked, "Whence shall we
buy bread for these?"  When Carey and his brethren contemplated the formation of a society for
foreign missions, their first collection was ~13 2s.
and 6d.: they had no experience in such matters;
they had no precedents to guide them; and worldly
wisdom, even in the professed church of Christ,
sneered at theln and their attempts.  Truly it was
a barley loaf for a thousand!  But they looked at
the Lord's command and for the Lord's blessing;
they attempted great tlhings in his service and




DIVINE BENEFICENCE.              73
expected great things from his power.  And never
was faith more justified by its results, or the power
of Christ more manifest.  The miracle by the sea
of Galilee was but a miniature representation of
Christ's working through his servants to feed the
hungry, compared with his feeding the souls of men
through these missionary labours. The work grew
on their hands; but the barley bread grew also, and
the distributing disciples multiplied.  What missionary societies, what missionary labourers, have
joined them in their work; until now all Christ's
true disciples acknowledge its importance.  If the
Divine blessing is manifest upon anything we see, it
is upon the missionary work.  Many a time have
the managers of our societies stood fearful as they
saw the few crumbs they had, wherewith to feed so
many: it is preiminently a work of faith; but
growing means, growing labourers, growing success
have ever proved the Divine favour toward their
efforts to do his will.
It is no fancy thought; no stretch of the imagination merely, to suppose that we accompany the
footsteps of Jesus, and see his wondrous workings.
This great work of feeding earth's fainting millions
with living bread IS GOING( ON NOW.  Not indeed
by the sea of Galilee, but on the shore of the great
ocean of eternity, the immense multitudes are seated.
It is a desert place, the wilderness of this world:
the day will last with us but a little longer: the
multitude is seated in companies, not of hundreds
7




74           A WEEK WITII JESUS.
and fifties, but of nations and continents: China,
India, the islands, yes, Asia, Africa, South America,
are waiting to receive from us the bread of life.
We have not bread enough for so many: but we
must not use our barley-loaves for our own households.  When the Master bids, let us have faith.
The bread has ever multiplied as Christians give it.
God has helped a thousand times, and will still help.
Do much for him, and you can do more.  Give
from poverty, and you shall have abundance.  This
is the very nature of the work.  The bread grows
more as we distribute it.
And one lesson more let us learn as we look upon
these significant workings of Jesus.  If we follow
him, we must be believers, and live upon his power.
Iiow often do men shrink back from engaging in the
service of Christ through the fear that they may not
hereafter walk as becomes his gospel. The expression of such fears may indeed indicate a heart little
disposed to follow where he leads; and glad of even
a miserable excuse for standing back.  Christ Jesus
calls no hesitating and half-hearted followers. Let
those who wish, stand aside for his service. But
he gives every encouragement to those who would
gladly follow at his bidding. He bids them put
away their fears.  It may be true that we are
unworthy to follow such a Lord; that we are feeble
to do the work which he sets before us; seeing how
many have brought reproaches upon his name, we
may shrink back with pain from the fear that we




DIVINE BENEFICENCE.             75
too may decline.  Such thoughts may make the
soul humble and prayerful; but they should not
hinder our faith or our duty. In an humble and
sincere effort to glorify Christ, we may look for his
blessing.  If we wait until we can see our path clear
all through the journey of discipleship, we will never
start at all. If we must have now all the grace we
need, for days to come, we make presumptuous
demands to which he will never respond. The rule
of his working is, "As thy day is so shall thy
strength be." Morning by morning the manna lay
around the hosts of Israel; and the camp never had
enough for to-morrow.  So was it by the sea of
Galilee; so he deals with us. As the bread in the
hands of the disciples was never at any one time
large enough to supply the multitude, and yet more
than sufficed to feed them all, so the grace of Christ
for his people, which is never sufficient to supply
them for a day in advance, yet never fails through
life, and is larger at the close than at the beginning
of the Christian course.
The table of his bounty is spread still, to supply
the wants of the hungry.  Christ even sends forth
his servants to compel men, with all urgency to
draw near and eat. Better food than barley loaves;
better life than this mere mortal existence; larger
increase than five loaves for five thousand, he now
offers us. Come, buy and eat; without money and
without price. Believe on him and live for ever.




A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER Vi.
Pi 0 FIDENTIAL TRO  UBLES,
"Jesus constrained his disciples to get into. ship."
TIIE next scene that occurs in our brief sojournings with Jesus, reminds us of the rapid and wide
changes of life.  We have just seen our Lord instructing the people and feeding their necessities
with abundant food. In that same night his disciples are sent out upon the stormy deep, in darkness
and peril.  So is it in the experience of human life.
Days of prosperity and enjoyment are often immediately succeeded by storm and danger; and the
table of our Lord's bounty has perhaps been spread,
only to give us strength for trials that hasten on.
So Israel ate the Passover, and girded up their loins
to go forth that very night upon their long journey;
and the disciples were fed by the sea of Galilee,
that they might toil that night rowing over its
stormy surface.
It is quite undesirable for us to reflect upon the
scene thus brought before us, without turning'our
thoughts towards the spiritual significance which its
teachings afford.  Everything said and done by our
Lord Jesus Christ-everything here recorded by




PROVIDENTIAL TROUBLES.           77
the pen of inspiration, is full of precious meaning
beyond the letter of the record.  The bread broken
at the sea-side may feed us yet; the consolation
given on the sea, may yet sustain us in our times
of necessity.  Figurative actions are as natural to
Scriptural teachings, as figurative words are to any
other. And so commonly (lo men use this kind of
language, that darkness and a storm need hardly
any explanation, when we use them as significant
of sorrow and danger. And a storm at sea is,
beyond any other tropical expression, appropriate
to set forth the helplessness of man in trouble.
From  the violence of the waves the sailor has no
refuge. Whether he rises or sinks with their tumultuous swellings, he is equally helpless.  He
knows not at what moment he may strike a hidden
rock; or be overwhelmed by a higher wave; or be
overturned by a fiercer gust.  " They mount up to
the heavens; they go down again to the depths;
their soul is melted because of trouble; they reel to
and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are
at their wits' end." Ps. cvii. 26, 27. Thus is it in
the experience of life. When troubles come, we
are in darkness, we are dejected, we know not the
way of relief.
It is a matter of great interest to inquire how the
disciples came to be in this storm?
There are many storms and troubles which men
can avoid; and which they ought to avoid.  It is
not true courage, much less is it prudence or piety,
7.:r




78           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
to choose our own way and to go through with our
own plans and purposes, in defiance of all threatening appearances. He may be a headstrong and
bold sailor, but surely he is neither a good nor a
safe one, who needlessly leaves a quiet harbour to
battle with a rising tempest; or who rushes forward
with all possible speed though quicksands or hidden
rocks lie across his exact track.  Yet there may be
times when duty plainly bids us go in the very face
of danger; and when our troubles spring up in the
pathway of a wise obedience. It makes a great
difference when our troubles are not the results of
our own rashness or wickedness.
The disciples were exposed to this storm upon the
lake in obedience to their Lord's express command;
and it would "appear, against their own wishes.
Let us notice the evangelists' words: "Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship." Matt. xiv.
22.  Why he must constrain them, we do not
fully understand.  But we know that believers now
are backward to take up many a service to which
their Lord calls them: and often are obedient only
through the constraint of his express command.
Perhaps these disciples were unwilling to embark,
because they were experienced boatmen, accustomed
to launch their fishing vessels upon these very
waters: and they may have discerned in the horizon the signs of the gathering storm.  Only the
authority of Jesus could have led them to venture
forth at nightfall: and with the prospect of a tem



PROVIDENTIAL TROUBLES.          7 )
pest. We are timid to engage in duties when we
see beforehand that they are to be toilsome and
afflictive. It should have been enough that he had
bidden them go; even overruled their objections;
and constrained them to embark.  So we are often
forced to take our place by constraining providences
that shut us up, as if by Divine direction, even to a
path that threatens early troubles.
Or, it may be, the unwillingness of the disciples
arose from their desire to keep in his company. HIe
wished to send them away, while he remained alone
upon the shore.  With him, they would have gone
cheerfully. They had already known his power to
rebuke the raging waters; and with him on the
vessel, they would not fear to face the storm. They
are now to learn that Christ's bidding is equal to
Christ's presence.
Or perhaps they were sent away from more threatening evils to themselves and to their Lord's cause,
than the rising storm  on the lake.  There is a
danger on the shore greater than the trouble on the
deep: and in this we may find the "needs be" of
their present mission.  The people were desirous
of taking Jesus by force to make him a king. The
disciples had ideas so crude of their Lord's mission,
and thoughts so ambitious of the things to be
accomplished by him, that perhaps they sympathized
with the wishes of the multitude; and the Saviour
sends them upon the sea to keep them out of the
way of temptation. Better embark on these agitated




s0           A WEEK WITIH JESUS.
waters than on the more stormy and treacherous
sea of politics. It would have been indeed disastrous, to have his immediate disciples involved in
these ambitious schemes, so far inferior to his real
purposes.
Our Lord may have given no reasons for his
command, when he constrained them  to embark.
Whether reluctantly or readily, they obeyed his
word: and it was clearly on their part, a providential exposure to the storm.  They were there by the
Master's bidding. And though we are very far
from saying that we put ourselves away from the
protection of Providence, even when we have slighted
divine commands and gone wilfully into ways of
temptation, still it makes an important difference to
reflect, in a time of trouble, how it has come upon
us. If we have neglected the plain dictates of
prudence; if, worse than this, we have turned aside
from the path of duty, and thus gone into danger,
we have an occasion of self-reproach more insupportable than any trouble from without.  Who does
not see the difference between these disciples, tossed
on the sea where the command of Jesus had sent
them, and the prophet Jonah as he meets the tempest fleeing from the face of the Lord?  Our deepest
fears and our most anxious perplexities frequently
regard the settlement of this very question. We
ask in the time of our trouble, "How far are these
sorrows the direct or the indirect result of our
transgressions?"  We know indeed in all our griefs




PROVIDENTIAL TROUBLES.          81
that not a sorrow is laid upon us, not a pang rends
our hearts, but in infinite righteousness. We, sinful
men, therefore, in every season of affliction may
humble ourselves in the presence of God. Yet we
cannot always see why he is pleased to lay his hand
upon us, now and there. The day of abundance
and enjoyment when the Lord opens his hand libererally for our good, is succeeded by the night when
he constrains us to go forth, leaving him behind,
while we meet the darkness and the storm.
There is a "needs be," we are assured, for these
manifold tribulations.  Sometimes they need no
external interpreter: but the voice of the storm,
like the words of the shipmaster to the slumbering
Jonah, comes to arouse that sleeping prophet of our
hearts, that has been lulled to repose by our seasons
of prosperity, and to say to the unfaithful conscience,
"Awake, 0 sleeper! Arise and call upon thy God!"
Sometimes, like David, we have given occasion of
reproach against religion and against God; and
worse than he, if not in the flagrancy of our
offences, yet in the obduracy that refuses to hear
the voice of the reprover, the stroke of chastisement
is laid in faithfulness upon us. Surely then we
should bow, if with a late, yet with a genuine
repentance; should meekly bear the indignation of
the Lord, because we have sinned against him;
should be thankful that he reproves rather than
forsakes. Or, it may be, that our griefs are kindly
preventive of evil. We may be upon the borders




82           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
of temptation, like these disciples in danger of being
carried away with the fervor of the multitude, who
would make their Lord an earthly and revolutionary
king; and God breaks. us loose from cherished plans
which his wisdom will not permit us to carry out.
And besides all these vindications of his dealings,
there are often designs of mercy lying through
trouble and beyond its dark clouds, which we cannot
discern till the storm is past.  A storm at sea is the
best emblem of the afflictions of life.  The Divine
hand alone can protect us in either, or calm their
troubled waves to peace. If now we could imagine
ourselves to be in the company of these disciples;
if we could share their toilings while the wind is
contrary to them; if three or four miles is the
measure of painful progress in more than as many
hours; if we could look out on the wildly tossing
billows and fear with them that the storm will not
allay, we might find perhaps that our thoughts were
strangely kindred to the troubled and agitated feelings of our times of affliction.  Could we help but
wonder why one of his wisdom should send us forth
just at nightfall to meet a coming storm; or indulge
the regret-perhaps the murmur-that he himself
had remained behind, and that we must buffet the
-waves alone, without the recognized presence of
Jesus in the vessel; or feel almost like turning
backward, that we may more quickly escape the
fury of the tempest!
And yet it is a support in any time of anxiety,




PROVIDENTIAL TROUBLES.           83
that our troubles arise in the pathway of duty.
The disciples might properly reflect that their Lord
had sent them forth upon the sea; that his authority
and not their own inclination, had constrained them
to embark; and thus they might less fear the swelling of the billows. So the hand that sends us into
danger will protect us in it; he who brings the
storm upon us, will carry us through, and make the
trial a blessing.  And if even we have not the consoling reflection that he has sent us forth; if like
Jonah we meet the storm fleeing from the Lord, we
need not still sink into despondency. A gracious
God put away the sin of repenting David; he heard
the cry of Jonah from the depths of the sea; and
we also, though filled with self-reproach in our times
of sorrow, may cry unto the Lord in our troubles;
and he will deliver us out of our distresses.




84            A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER VII.
TUHE R EDEEMER'S PRAY'ERS.
"He went up into a mountain apart to pray."
BUT let us leave the disciples in their time of
peril, and return to the shore to seek the Master.
Lie has separated himself from the people, and gone
apart into the mountain to pray.  The thronging
multitudes had interrupted his season of retirement;
but though he calmly turns to bless their necessities,
he allows the hindrance to be but temporary. He
secures still his devotional privilege, though at the
sacrifice of his personal comfort. And who of us
could not always secure his seasons of private prayer,
if we were willing to use the hours of sleep rather
than forego them?
But how can we accompany the footsteps of Jesus,
as he retires for solitary prayer; how can we know
what we now know of him, without strange thoughts
of his times of devotion.  We are led to ask ourselves, "Why did Jesus pray? and what were the
petitions which he would offer?"  And we may understand at least this much, that the prayers of
Jesus both separate him from us and bind him
closely to us; both prove his dependent and his




THE REDEEMER'S PRAYERS.           85
exalted natures.  IHe had his necessities, as we have
ours, and therefore his prayers are our example;
but his were prayers in which we could not join;
and thus while he teaches us to pray, he prays not
with us.  He could never ask, as we must always
ask, for the fbrgiveness of sins.  But in his estate
of humiliation, lie asked for many things for himself,
as we learn from  his recorded prayers: he held
sweet communion with his Father; and he offered
his intercessions in behalf of his disciples. And if
we feel surprised at the thought that the spotless
Jesus would spend whole nights in devotion, let us
learn these two lessons from  the prayers of our
Lord. First, That our necessities in prayer are far
more obvious than his, and that therefore the duty
seems more imperatively incumbent upon us: and,
second, that the true spirit of piety leads him in
whom it dwells to prize the privilege of intercourse
with God, so that the holiest will most love the
throne of grace.  Thus from two opposite motives
should we learn to pray. If our sins abound, we
need forgiving grace; if our hearts are filled with
the love of God, they will overflow with our expressions of thanksgiving. Usually our prayers are like
the mourning psalms of David, they include both
supplications and thanksgiving; perhaps they begin
with grief and end with gratitude.
But though no record is made of the petitions of
that solitary hour on the mountain, we know enough
of the Saviour's prayers to believe that they were
8




86           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
not offered for himself alone.  Some, at least, of his
night-wrestlings had special reference to their interests; as the night before he chose his band of apostles was spent in prayer to his Father. Luke vi. 12.
He was then as he is now, the intercessor: and his
prayers doubtless had regard to their present trouble.
How different the reality from their conception of
it. Perhaps they thought they were forgotten of
him; at least that he did not realize their peril; and
when the wind arose, they earnestly wished for his
presence. Once before he was with them, and was
asleep in the storm; and when they awaked him, he
calmed the lake to peace. But he was not in the
vessel now.  Why had he been so urgent for their
going? Could he not foresee; and foreseeing, could
he not prevent the tempest?
The path of duty may be the path of difficulty.
But the rising storm is neither a proof that we were
wrong in going forth, nor an indication that now we
should turn aside from our course. The disciples
are obedient to Jesus. They did not turn back on
account of the storm; but taking down their sails,
they toiled in rowing against the wind to reach the
appointed haven. Perhaps indeed they would have
been no safer if they had turned back; for it was
storm one way as well as another, backward as well
as forward.  But it might have been easier to drive
with the wind, rather than to toil against it: and
they were right in pressing on where the Master bade.
This should be our permanent lesson.  It is some



THE REDEEMER'S PRAYERS.           87
times easier when difficulties press upon us, and we
must toil through them, to yield to their pressure:
but it is never safer in the end.  Difficulties and
afflictions will come wherever we live, and try to
avoid them as we may: let it be our wisdom to
obey our Lord's constraining authority, though
against contrary winds.
For whatever are the appearances about us:
however long he leaves us apparently to meet the
tempest alone, he has not forgotten us. What an
example is this to encourage our faith.  The storm
continued all the night: and so far as they could
see, their Lord took no interest in the struggles
of his friends. I-Iour after hour passed away; they
were weary with their toiling; the last watch of the
night came; morning was about to dawn; and still
they knew not that their Lord cared for them.
Did he not care?  Let us connect together the
lake below and the mountain above. The same
hours which they passed in sorrow, he passed in
prayer: they were contending with the billows, and
he was pleading with the Father. If this reminds
us of Israel's first battle-of Joshua's fighting in
the valley and the praying of Moses on the hilltop-of alternating strength in Israel and Amalek,
behold a greater than Moses is here! Nor can we
doubt that the praying on the dark mountain was
stronger than the rowing on the lake. We may
justly judge that our times of sorrow are times
of strength, chiefly because then our fervent prayers




88           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
are called forth.  If it is reasonable to judge that
we are never stronger than when God is our strength,
then prayer is our mightiest instrumentality: for by
prayer we enlist on our behalf the arm of Omnipotence. And how would these disciples, who had
heard their Lord's prayers, prize them now in their
perils. If they had but been assured of their Lord's
sympathy; if they had known that upon the neighbouring mountain he was spending the wakeful
hours in prayer for them, they would have been
believing, perhaps calm, in the midst of the storm.
But this is the assurance which we have in all our
times of trial.  We are below, cloud-covered, tempest-tossed; but on the distant hills of ever glorious
light, the sleepless care of our Intercessor offers
his pleadings for our necessities. He bears still the
sympathies he bore while he was here; and his
disciples are as much his care now as then. Not a
pang is felt by a believing heart, that is not known
to him; he knows all our tossings, when the waves
of temptation rise high; he sees all our strugglings
forward against the driving storm. And now he
ever liveth to make intercession for us.  We can
see in the case of these disciples that their anxious
fears arose from  their ignorance.  If they had
known that he cared for them and would soon
appear for their help, they would have put away
their fears.  He saw them toiling in rowing, when
he started to relieve them, he knew just where to
find them; and he chose his time of deliverance.




TIIE REDEEMER S PRAYERS.         89
But why should we not believe that our anxious
perplexities spring from  a like ignorance: why
should we not cast our care upon him who has
graciously assured us that he careth for us?
8*




,~, 4~iA WEEK WITH JESUS
CHAPTER V11.
DELIVERTING GRACE.
"It is I: be not afraid."
DOUBTLESS we should gather thoughts of great
consolation for our own hours of trial, from considering the methods of his kindness towards his disciples upon these occasions. Jesus our Lord is the
same now as then; the necessities that belong to us,
his disciples, are similar; and the principles of his
gracious dealings are now as they have been.  We
often mourn after our absent Lord. This is the
chief source of grief in our times of severest temptation, that he is not with us. Yet we are not to
judge of his concern for us and his care over us, by
our lively sense of his presence. God may be where
we lie down to lonely slumbers, and ministering
angels may ascend and descend around us, when we
know it not. Gen. xxviii. 16.  Jesus may walk with
us by the way, and even cause our hearts to burn
within us, when we discern not that it is Jesus.
Luke xxiv. 16.  The Master may have sent us forth
alone into the storm, or have sent the storm after
us; yet his absence is no proof that he is unconcerned for us, or that he will not aid us in due time.




DELIVERING GRACE.              91
The absence of our Lord has its meaning: but it
may not mean that we are forsaken.  We may long
and pray for his appearance; yet should not suppose
that he will suffer his faithfulness to fail. When we
walk in darkness, let us trust in the name of the
Lord, and stay ourselves upon our God. Isa. 1. 10.
The disciples were alone, but not uncared for.
Their Lord was absent in person, but his thoughts
were towards them.  When he withdraws from us,
he has his reasons for it, to be vindicated in due
time: and as we strive to do the duties that are
more difficult because he is not with us, he will
surely appear for our relief. Yet let us wait for
him. His appearance to the disciples was delayed;
and, as to the manner of it, nothing could be more
unlooked for.  He left them to contend with the
storm  during the entire night; and not until the
morning dawned did he come to them.  Yet not a
moment of this long delay was lost to them; for the
MIaster's prayers for them upon the mountain were
as precious as the Master's presence in the ship.
They were safe, though they may not have thought
so. Doubtless apprehended danger not only led to
greater exertions, but called forth wishes and prayers
for relief. But when he appeared they were afraid
of their deliverer. There was indeed a beautiful
propriety in their Lord's coming; it was just like
him as we often see him. From the sea their trouble
sprang; of the sea they were afraid: and deliverance
comes from  the raging deep.  He came walking




92            A WEEK WITH JESUS.
upon the stormy waves, to show them his perfect
control over all the sources of their fears.  This is
wonderfully and delightfully according to the experience of far later times. As every seed brings
forth its own kind, so trouble is our seed time; and
the consolations that spring up after affliction take
their form from the troubles that give them their
origin.  Christ still walks upon the sea, in this, that
he shows his power over our griefs, and from our
griefs evokes his mercies.  Our anticipations of
deliverance are seldom realized. If we do not dictate, we at least imagine how he will appear to
deliver. Yet he always chooses his way; perhaps
always disappoints our thoughts; strange ways, yet
ever blessed ways, are his: and it may be he will
awaken new fears by his wise means of granting
aid.  When he came to the disciples, trampling
their fears under his feet, they were afraid at his
approach.
But even these apprehensions were not without
their value.  We ought not to be stupid and insensible in a time of affliction. There is such a thing
as fearing too much; and we may indulge unbelief,
or sink into despondency. But the opposite extreme
of not fearing at all is unnatural, and betrays spiritual deadness, not life.  It is the design of Providence that we should feel the trials that are sent
upon us; and the exercise of faith is only possible,
when we are neither desponding nor insensible.
Faith realizes the darkness, while it looks for light;




DELIVERING GRACE.              93
mourns our Lord's absence, while it looks for his
coming; cannot see through the gloom, but believes
in spite of it. Faith and fear may dwell in the
same heart; though strong faith may put down fear.
To be without fear is usually to be too indifferent.
Fear leads to prayer; prayer hastens deliverance.
But for the fears of the disciples, the Lord would
have passed by them, and left them still to struggle
with the storm. But when they cried out, he came
to them.
When they cried out for fear he spoke to them
from the waters, "Be of good cheer; it is I; be not
afraid." Notice particularly, that these words did
not stay the storm.  The wind still blew, and the
waves heaved tumultuously around them. But his
voice inspired confidence. And though we see not
Jesus with our bodily eyes, nor hear his audible
voice, he still speaks to us in his word, by his providence, and through his Spirit, to give confidence in
trouble and to bid us put away our fears.
If we have any proper ideas of true discipleship,
we must recognize that Christ is a Lord to whose
directions we must be implicitly obedient: and we
may be fully confident of his authority to command,
of his wisdom to control, of his power to save and
of his love to bless. What though our experience
is different from  that of others?  We may not
inquire "what shall this man do?" but we must
hear his voice saying to us, "Follow ye me!"  We
may be sent where we are unwilling to go; we may




94           A WEEK WITII JESUS.
meet with difficulties hard to overcome; we may not
understand why changes so sudden succeed our
happy hours: but we should not doubt that the
same hand that has sent us forward in this way of
duty can still protect and deliver us.
When we see Jesus so delivering these disciples,
should we distrust his power to help us? His walking upon the stormy waters of the sea of Galilee for
the relief of the labouring disciples, is emblematic
of his power to help us in every possible time of
need. The sea is the fittest emblem of instability.
It therefore aptly represents the changes of life.
Temptations within and without; seasons of persecution and affliction; hopes and disappointments;
anxieties and cares; poverty, feebleness, dejection,
doubts, and despondencies come upon us, like the
sea's troubled waters, till we adopt the psalmist's
lamentation, "All thy waves and thy billows have
gone over me." Yet what need we more than the
voice of Jesus, to calm all these agitations, and give
our souls true peace? But we must not expect to
find relief by any underestimating of our troubles.
And these two things are both hard to do: to put a
just estimation upon trouble when we are out of
trouble: and to receive comforts readily when we
are in trouble. Yet what a feeling of helplessness
belongs to our times of deepest affliction-especially
of spiritual distress! We struggle against contending billows; or we sink in deep waters where there
is no standing.  What need we then so much as




DELIVERING GRACE.              95
the strong hand of a deliverer, stretched out to
save?
Yet it is not only confidence in the power of
Christ to save that is needful for our times of
trouble. TTi1ll he deliver us? Are not our sorrows
from his hand, and laid upon us in his displeasure?
When we consider, we are afraid of him; and our
complaint is, "Surely against us he is turned."
Surely we, who know so much of the character and
dealings and word of Christ, should still lift up our
hopes to the Compassionate and Sympathizing; and,
even in the darkest storm implore and look for his
mercy and love. Before they saw him they doubtless wished for him; but they had as yet never seen
any such display of his power as to lead them thus
to expect delivering mercy. But we know him
better than they. We know that it is just like
Jesus to grant his blessing to his suffering disciples.
It is just like his dealings, to suffer his people to
fall into divers temptations, and to seem to have no
succour. If we take the history of his church for
our guide, we may know that no strange thing has
happened in our experience. It does indeed often
perplex us that we are exposed to trials, so
many, so hard, so long continued; and yet our own
calm judgment often decides that the wisdom of
Christ plans our dark way.  He knows that these
trials are needful for us.  We find great dangers in
our prosperity; we become indifferent to duty; we
fix our thoughts toe much on the earth; we stand




C06          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
in danger of being led aside from the straight path.
Or our faith, though not declining, should be tested
and strengthened by exposure to trial.  The infinite
wisdom of Divine Providence has chosen that his
people shall be tried by many griefs: and we who
know that this is the usual method of Divine deal
ings, should be neither surprised nor discouraged.
Indeed we should vindicate these methods of Providence, for we have known how often they yield the
peaceable fruits of righteousness.
It is a great support to us in times of trial that
we know so well the love and sympathy of Christ.
Though he is absent from us, we can approach his
throne, and tell him our troubles, and ask his sustaining grace.  Even though we may have brought
our troubles upon ourselves by folly or by sin, yet
who has ever shown towards the guilty, a love to be
compared with his? Or who ever sought his mercy,
in humility and penitence, and yet was rejected?
And when we come to him it is to one who
"Knows what sore temptations mean,
For he has felt the same."
This is a wonderful thing to know of our Lord, that
he was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin.  What wonderful varieties of sorrow
met -together in him; how wide was the range of his
experience; how thoroughly he knew this whole
circle of temptation.  So the trials of his life
embrace all we feel or suffer. No storm breaks




DELIVERING GRACE.              97
more loudly over us than broke upon him; no railings are more unjust against us than the provocations he bore; no stroke falls more heavily upon us;
is there any sorrow like unto his sorrow that was
done to him? And all these things the better fit
him to be a suitable Redeemer.
We know what a difference there is between the
mere kindness of our earthly friends and their sympathy. We want more than kind intentions and
friendly offices in times of affliction. We want
those around us to enter into our feelings; this is
more than to relieve us, or to pity us: it is to
sympathize with us. Two friends may be equally
sincere and kind; while one may possess, far beyond
the other, the faculty of touching our hearts. We
give this name of sympathy to a certain delicate
discernment of the feelings, and a quiet, tender,
loving, effectual way of reaching them, which is
itself the result of a similar experience.  Neither
wisdom, nor love, nor zeal, without experience, can
reach the kindly offices of sympathy. Love may
temper it; wisdom may guide it; zeal may put it
in exercise: but these all are not sympathy.  The
power of sympathy to support and comfort is beyond
the mere promptings of pity or of love.
We know Jesus as loving and powerful and
sympathizing.  The Scriptures set it forth as one
of the reasons for his unparalleled humility that he
might become like unto his brethren-a merciful
and faithful Itigh Priest, and capable of being
9~




98           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. What a
wonderful declaration is that, touching our incarnate
Lord, " In that he himself hath suffered being
tempted, he is able also to succour them that are
tempted." Our Lord too was once a sufferer; he
complained in an hour of darkness; he poured out
his supplications with strong crying and tears.
And the Scriptural inference, directly drawn from
these truths for our support in trials, is plain and
strong: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the
throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need." Heb. iv. 16.
It is by no forced analogy, but by a transition as
striking, and natural and beautiful as it is instructive, that the disciples of Christ in all ages since this
record was made, have learned to guide their experience from this history.  Many a time since have
believers felt that their Lord's hand has constrained
them to meet the storm, that his footsteps were
upon the tossing billows, that his voice calmed the
seas to peace, as truly for them as upon the lake
of Galilee.  When Summerfield once addressed the
friends of the Bible-cause in New York city, he
encouraged them by a beautiful allusion to this
scene on Lake Gennesaret, as compared with the
experience of the British and Foreign Bible Society,
on whose behalf his address was made.  "When we
first launched our untried vessel upon the deep, the
storms of opposition roared and the waves dashed
angrily around us, and we had hard work to keep




DELIVERING GRACE.              (99
her head to the wind.  We were faint with rowing
and our strength would soon have been gone: but
we cried,'Lord save us, or we perish!' Then a
light shone upon the waters, and we saw a form
walking upon the troubled sea, like unto the Son
of God. And he drew near to the ship, and we
knew that it was Jesus! And he stepped upon the
deck, and laid his hand upon the helm. And he
said to the winds and the waves,'Peace, be still!'
And there was a great calm."
Indeed this storm upon the lake of Galilee is a
grand allegorical picture of experimental religion:
and as we fix our eyes upon its shifting scenes and
watch its different persons, all we have to do is to
interpret. It is the same lesson always; but of
different times and characters. The dark night and
the sea are the same, though the clouds may sometimes break away, the stars sometimes shine, or the
waves seem less boisterous.  The disciples still toil
in rowing against contrary winds, though Peter or
John may neither of them be there. The chief
personage is ever the same; only the majestic footsteps of Jesus can walk the tossing billows and calm
their rage to quiet. You remember the history of
Jacob's aged days! God had blessed his basket and
his household; and with his twelve sons around him,
he feasted upon the bounties of his providence, as our
Lord fed the people on the shore of Galilee. But the
shadows of night closed around this day of peace, and
his Lord constrained the venerable patriarch to em



100          A WEEK WITHI JESUS.
hark upon a stormy, troubled sea. His favourite son
disappeared from his sight; and the waves and
billows began to come over him. His long mourning for the absent Joseph, the days of wasting
famine, the severity of the lord of Egypt, the
imprisonment of Simeon, the demand that Benjamin
also must go down; what were all these things to
Jacob and his household but the rising storm, the
contrary winds, the dark and unknown dangers:
yet just when all things seem to be against him,
when Simeon and Joseph and Benjamin are taken
from him; in the last watch of this long, dark night
a light shined upon the troubled waters; the Angel
which redeemed Jacob from all evil-Gen. xlviii.
16-walked amidst the storm; the waves were at
peace; and the vessel in which the church of God
was embarked passed quietly into her protecting
haven. As the disciples knew not Jesus and cried
out for fear, so the complaint of Jacob was the
language of ignorance and mistake: these things
were not all against him: but when he could say,
" Joseph, my son, is yet alive," the thankful
patriarch only anticipated the experience of the
disciples, who saw the footsteps and heard the voice
of Jesus on the sea of Galilee.
And scarcely any great thing has ever been
wrought for Zion or her sons in all the ages, but
that Jesus constrains his disciples to meet the darkness and the storm.  So Israel's song is, "Many a
time have they afflicted me from my youth up:"




DELIVERING GRACE.             101
and the chorus of the song is, "But they have not
prevailed against me." Not to meet the storm, is
not to obey the commands of Jesus: it is not to follow in the pathway which he trod for himself, and
which he ever marks out for his disciples. Real,
the scene was on Galilee: it is none the less significant. Let us mark these methods of Providence,
that the knowledge may not only sustain us in our
trials, but prove more plainly the Divine favour
upon the plans which he blesses through trouble.
It is almost impossible for us in these days to understand that the beginnings of modern missionary
enterprises, half a century ago, met with so much
and with such strenuous opposition; and from those
of whom better things were expected. Who would
have thought that from Christian nations, indeed
from the Christian church, even from Christian
ministers, would spring the chief resistance to the
attempts of the early missionaries. Though eighteen
hundred years had passed since the great Head of
the church had commanded his disciples to preach
his gospel to every creature, many who bore his
name would neither do this work themselves, nor
suffer others to do it. And it has renewed the
marvels of the apostolic age that men, as humble as
Christ's original disciples, should go forth at the
bidding of Jesus, to toil laboriously through a
gloomy night and through swelling billows; to
believe his word with so enduring faith; and to see
such light spread over the dark waters as their
9*




102          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
Saviour walked upon them. Picture this scene on
Galilee: see again the stormy waters and the tossing
vessel: see again obedient disciples pressing forward
where the winds are contrary: and though we do
not see John and Andrew and Peter, but Carey and
the Judsons and Martyn, they are called and sent
by the same Lord; they met the same wild dashing
storm; he prayed for them upon the mountain; he
walked for them upon the billows; he calmed the
storm to peace; he brought them to their desired
haven. And if the night has again descended, if
the Messenger of Peace still encounters storms, it is
never without his bidding, and ever with good hopes
of his due deliverance.
As Christ deals with his church so deals he with
the individual believer. The storms on the sea of
life, like the storms on the ocean, may not spread
far. A vessel here may be in troubled waters;
while yonder another speeds on her prosperous
voyage: a ship may lie becalmed, while the sails of
another just in sight are spread to a favourable
breeze. Troubled hearts and happy hearts may
beat side by side beneath the same roof, or in the
same pew. All the significancy of the scene on the
lake of Galilee may belong to our individual experience. And indeed memory can call up the vivid
picture of the past to many a disciple, where the
Master sent us out and went not himself along;
and soon the shadows of night gathered over the
waters, the waves began to swell, our fears were




DELIVERING GRACE.             103
awvakened, and it all came to pass just as it is here
written. Just before the morning, One walked upon
the waves whom we knew not; but he bade us be
of good cheer, he came in with us, and the storm
was gone. And these memories strengthen our
faith for new trials; and help us to look for new
deliverances. So we often sing songs of thanksgiving for his kindly dealings with our souls. The
experience of our brethren, and that we ourselves
have had, may alike assist our faith as we recognize
the hand of Jesus in every trial.
But we ought not to forget this other lesson of
these impressive scenes: that our Jesus only, is able
to walk upon the seas, and that his voice alone can
calm the troubled waves to peace. We do not mean
by this that Christ's disciples alone are exposed to
troubles; that he sends them only forth. For trials,
temptations, afflictions are the earthly lot of all
men: and darkness and grief fall upon the evil and
the good. Nor do we mean that the storm will last
always, with no breaking morning and no quiet
waters, unless we receive him with us into the ship.
For troubles rise and pass away and are forgotten, for
many who do not hear his voice, saying, "Be of
good cheer!" We may not discern between them
that fear God and them that fear him not, either by
the mere endurance of affliction, or by the brief time
it may rest upon them.
But the voice of Jesus in the storm implies two
tlhin crs -




104           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
1Ist. That the only true consolation that can be
found on earth is found in Christ our Lord. In the
troubles which men must bear, many expedients are
adopted and called by the name of comforts. Men
strive to forget their troubles; they affect a stoical
indifference; they argue an iron necessity. Consolation belongs nowhere in the darkness, till the
radiant form of Jesus steps forward and his voice
says, "IT IS I. I sent thee forth into the deep; I
sent the storm; I delayed my appearance; I prayed
for thee though I was absent from thee. Be not
afraid. The storm shall rise no higher and rage no
longer than I bid; the vessel is still safe in my
hand; the power to deliver is in me; and the time
of my appearance is nigh." All is right, if all is in
the power of Jesus. Infinite wisdom and power and
love are the sure guarantee that all these things
shall work together for our good. Peace, be still.
Let fears subside; for all are safe whom Christ protects. Let passion cease to swell, for love belongs
to all our disquieting fears.  What else than the
voice of Jesus can bid the troubled soul glory even
in tribulation that the grace of his Lord may rest
upon him!
2d. There are sorrows that must abide, if we find
not their sole relief in the voice of Jesus.  The
conscience of man may indeed find a brief peace,
even when it hears not the whispers of his love:
but such a peace shall surely be broken. By no
possible means can the agitations of a guilty con



DELIVERING GRACE.             105
science be truly calmed, but at his word.  And
when at the last day, that great and terrible storm
shall burst; when the false hopes and false refuges
of men can no longer avail them; when men's hearts
shall fail for fear, then shall be the great and final
appearance of Jesus for the deliverance of his disciples. None that trust in him shall be put to shame
in that day.  HIe will speak peace to the sonl. But
that storm  shall wreck, in eternal disaster all that
look not for his coming.




106          A WEEK WITHI JESUS.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CRY OF THE PE.RISHING.
"Lord, save me!"
WE have seen that when our Lord's disciples saw
him, through the dim light of dawning day, walking
upon the water, they did not know him. This was
such a miracle as had never before been wrought:
they had formed no anticipations of such a method
of dleliverance; doubtless they could not distinctly
see him; and our apprehensions rather than our
hopes, are usually awakened by mysterious things.
It was quite natural that they should not know him.
But it was also significant. The Divine Painter,
who depicted these scenes for our profit, means
something by every stroke of the pencil. And if
we still attempt to follow the footsteps of Jesus hs
he walks upon the lake, let us, who know more of
his grace and power, and who have a larger acquaintance with his methods of mercy, desire to exercise
a stronger faith in the mysteries by which we are
often surrounded. For as it was here, so is it often
in the experience of our life.  Christ comes to us
as we do not expect him, alarms us by his very
methods of relief, and is near us when we know him




THE CRY OF THE PEAISIHINf.        107
not. So we cry out for fear just at the moment
when we should be filled with thanksgiving. Here
are lessons to correct vain thoughts. Let us not
indulge the false views of religious experience
which bid us judge by our feelings of the Lord's
favours. We are not only ignorant often of our
greatest mercies, when they are very near; but even
we are afraid of them. Mary stood by the sepulchre
weeping for her missing Lord, and she asked, as she
supposed, the gardener; yet a well-known voice
dispelled her fears.  It seemed a stranger who
talked with the two disciples on their way to Emmaus;
their hearts burned within them at his discourse:
but in the breaking of bread they knew their Lord.
It seemed only a spirit that could walk upon these
wiTdly tossing waves; and the disciples feared; but
their Lord's voice said, "It is I."
The disciples were glad to welcome their Master
into the ship. When they knew who it was, they
felt safe. Doubtless a new confidence in his power
would be felt, as he made this exhibition of it. They
could hardly but recall the scene in the former
storm, when he had been asleep in the vessel, and
had spoken the waters to peace. As yet he has not
bidden the waves subside; when he calmed their
fears, he was not even, as yet, in the ship: but to
know that it was Jesus fills the disciples with joy. It
is hard to say whether our hopes of safety are not
sometimes as joyful and happy as deliverance itself.
Liberty, to the prisoner long sunk in despair, can




1 08         A WEEK WV.,IH JESUS.
scarcely itself be sweeter than the tidings of deliverance before his prison doors are opened.  The
disciples were filled with joy at the voice of their
Lord, before he entered the ship and before he stayed
the storm.
But here Peter starts forward to teach us other
lessons.  Could we see this new scene,-the apostle
walking on the water-and not judge that here was
something well worthy of our thoughts?  We are
not so much surprised that the Son of God can control the elements; but we ask ourselves in amazement, "Can he impart this power to his disciples?"
Let Peter teach us some things that may be profitable for our own religious experience. And when
we think of him we can scarcely overlook the reflection that our earthly experience is always greatly
affected by our personal peculiarities. How much
this is so; how many blemishes may be introduced
into a Christian character; how far we may vindicate these modifications of piety; are matters by no
means easy to settle.  We must admit that the
great, essential principles of religion, every believer
should adopt. The foundation principles of the law
of God and of the gospel of Christ cannot change to
suit man's wishes; but man must change to embrace
and love them. Yet these principles when fully
adopted do not suppress what is human in the believer; they do not destroy the disposition that is
natural to any individual; they renew and sanctify
the mind.  When the soul is renewed, there are




THE CRY OF TIlE PERISHING.        109
important senses in which the man remains the same.
It is the same intellect, and not another one; it is
the same temperament, and not a different one; no
new faculties are added; no old powers are removed;
though indeed the quickening and sanctifying power
of new thoughts and affections, may develope valuable capacities quite unknown before.  Yet every
change retains the characteristics of the individual.
The power of God's Holy Spirit in its largest influences upon the believer's heart, still gives free exercise to all the natural faculties; and the greatest
changes of regenerating grace are consistent with
leaving the man intellectually much as he was before. The great change is a moral change: and we
see as many diversities in God's workings of grace
as we do in his works of nature.  The normal, natural powers of a man are not exchanged, or subverted.  The child does not become a man; nor the
wise man a fool: and though to enter the kingdom
of heaven a man must become as a little child, this
is to be in temper and spirit, not in intellectual attainments.  When a man is born again the change
is from above; and though it is supernatural, it is
yet not unnatural.
Men may believe and adopt substantially the same
religious principles, yet retain their individual peculiarities. Some men are constitutionally timid;
and though such men, through the force of religious
principles, may be bold enough to face the martyr's
stake, yet every step of their way would be through
10




110          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
fightings against their natural feelings. Such men
may do the bravest things, yet would they never be
forward.  So the indolent may learn industry, but
would never become energetic; the sluggish would
not become active, nor the phlegmatic sanguine. A
man's religious feelings, impulses and engagements
are still, through all his life, more or less influenced
by what he is by nature; and this is the same as to
say that a man is renewed by the grace of God: he
is changed in himself, not exchanged for another:
he still remains himself in an important sense, while
he is truly made a new creature in Christ Jesus.
We can easily see that the apostles of Christ,
though truly his disciples, differ among themselves;
and are not like precious vessels cast all in the same
mould. Thomas was slow to believe; John was
amiable and loving; Nathanael simple and guileless.
But no character of them all is more strikingly
marked than that of Peter: and we think we can
easily see just what kind of a man he was, before he
knew Christ. Ardent, zealous and forward, he
pushes himself into the front rank upon all occasions, ready to speak or do; his character has just
the blemishes that usually belong to such a man;
and his failures are just where he has been most
confident.  Peter was a true disciple.  Though
Paul, whose calling was after Christ's earthly ministry was ended, laboured more abundantly than
any other apostle, yet none of those whom Jesus
called to himself, showed more attachment than




TIIE CRY OF THE PERISIING.         ll
Peter, was more zealous in his service, or was more
energetic to spread the truth.  The faults of this
disciple were open and plain; like his character
itself, easily read. Ile boldly engaged to go with
his Lord to prison and to death; yet that very night
he basely denied him. He drew his sword to defend
him against superior numbers; yet was afraid at a
maid-servant's voice. I-e first admitted the Gentiles to the Christian church; yet attempted to conciliate Jewish prejudices by withdrawing from the
Gentiles. Yet the faults of such a man often spring
from impulse: and we cannot question the piety that
looks upon such delinquencies to confess them candidly, to mourn over them  bitterly, and to draw
from them new motives for a more ready and a more
careful obedience.  Let those who would point censoriously at Peter's sins, note carefully and copy
Peter's repentance.
It may be that every disciple in the ship was glad
to hear the Master's voice speaking to them from
the sea; but Peter's ardent zeal hurries him to a
warmer expression of his joy. HIe waits not till his
Lord has passed to the vessel; but desires to go
forth and meet him. This seems a strange and daring impulse indeed; and the request is one we would
hardly expect.  It may chiefly be through that impulsive rebounding of the feelings which often makes
such men pass from one extreme to the other.  We
are unwilling to say that his words, "If it be thou,"
are indicative of any distrust on the part of Peter




ha11         A A'WEE:7.1A WIT I Hi JESU  S.
that it really was the Lord. Nor are we willing to
attribute his desire to any improper motive; since
nothing of this kind is here charged against him.
Yet Peter is unacquainted with his own strength;
and his Lord readily bade him come; for he would
teach him a wholesome lesson, and through him to
us all. Altogether, in this impulsive movement of
this warm-hearted disciple, we see far more to admire than to censure.  If he had not loved that
Lord, who came thus walking upon the sea, he would
not have sprung forth so eagerly to meet him.
Peter's warmest affections had already been given
to Jesus; and though such a man as he might be
betrayed into inconsistencies that more cautious men
would avoid, we have no reason to judge that Peter's
heart was ever really anywhere else, till the day:when he yielded up his life as his Lord predicted.
And Peter's confidence was in Jesus. It is obvious
to the most casual reflection that he would never
have dreamed of preferring such a request as this,
that he might go forth upon the water, except at
the prompting of a strong faith in Christ. It was a
great thing to see the Master treading the waves
beneath his unyielding step. It was a greater thing to
believe that he could or would enable him to do the
same. If we stood now upon the deck of that vessel,
and looked upon them both; if we recognized the One
as the Son of God, and the other as a mere man
like ourselves; we would stand in awe at the One;
we would be deeply surprised at the other.




TIHE CRY OF TIIE PERISHING.      113
HIis Lord bade him come. Well knowing how
and why the faith of the disciple would fail, he knew
also that even this failure would be valuable to him
and to others. And Peter was able to walk upon
the water! Behold the power of Jesus. He could
not only do this great thing, but he could enable a
believer to do the like. And indeed before our own
eyes do the disciples of Jesus do greater things than
this, that the world may marvel.  It is still to the
great honour of Christ that believers in him can
make sacrifices and bear trials and "do exploits,"
Dan. xi. 32, by his supporting grace, far beyond
the ability or the endurance of merely mortal energy.  Follow  the extraordinary career of that
Christian woman —Mrs. Ann Judson-whose piety
and zeal would give lustre to any age of the church:
compare her with any other female whose history
the world has: and decide whether such a character
could be formed upon any other than a Christian
model, or such things done except through Christ's
grace. Not only trials like hers but many others,
incident to our more ordinary experience, are described in the Scriptures, as passing through the
deep waters, and even through the kindling flames.
And it oftentimes demands as firm a faith in Jesus
to meet these trials of life, as for Peter to walk
upon the sea. If we go forth to meet them without
faith in him, or if as we meet them, we permit the
distressing power of temptation to turn our thoughts
away from Christ, we will as surely fail, as would
10 o



114          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
any man who should attempt to walk upon the
stormy deep; or as did Peter when he suffered the
boisterous winds to awaken his fears.
So far as all spiritual profit is concerned, we are
as unable in our own strength to meet the trials of
life, as we are to walk upon the stormy lake. And
just because of our weakness, we should stand here
by our Lord, and know that his dealings with Peter
are far more profitable for us than for him. This
thing is written for our instruction. And this same
apostle, who saw the wonders of Christ, yet intimr, tes
that the written page is the more sure word of
prophecy. Blessed are our eyes, for they see more
and better things than the ancient prophets: more
even than these apostles, who looked upon the
"Word of Life" and believed his gracious teachings.
There are several points of our superiority as we
gaze upon Jesus and his disciple walking on the
sea. lFirst, as we have repeatedly said, we recognize more fully than his disciples then did, the supreme dignity of our Lord; and should be better
prepared to believe that no days of trial can come,
when he is not both present to know our need and
able to relieve us. If Peter trusted One then only
but half known; One who yet wore the garments
of his humiliation; One who himself, in this form
of a servant, was subject to so many laws: how
should we trust our well-known Lord, now exalted
at the right hand of the Father, now the controller
of providence, now possessing all power in heaven




THE CRY OF THE PERISHING.         115
and in earth?  Secondly, it is our' superior ground
for expecting the Saviour's aid, that the favours we
ask at his hands are more consonant with the spirit
of his kingdom; and such therefore as he will more
readily grant. There is extraordinary encouragement in the miraculous records of the Scriptures;
if we did not perversely persist in reading them
backwards. We too often argue, Christ did miracles for these men of wondrous faith; and we cannot
look for interventions like those he made for them?
So the Scriptural writers do not reason. When they
tell us that Elijah was a man of like passions with
us, and yet that he opened and shut the heavens by
his prayers, the argument is, "If God at man's feeble cry did extraordinary natural things in judgment,
much more may we be encouraged to ask blessings
of a spiritual nature, in mercy, according to the
very purposes of his grace." And when we see
Peter's request granted, contrary to all example, we
may much more expect that Christ will grant us
spiritual favours which accord with the very design
of his kingdom. And, thirdly, our superiority to
Peter, as we compare the grace we need with the request he made, pertains to the reasons which bring
us forth into the waves of trouble. Peter was safe
in the ship, and volunteered to meet his Lord on the
sea. Even if we say that his was a stronger faith
than that we exercise; if we class him among the
eminent worthies who through faith " obtained promises," Iheb. xi. 33; if in this we may sometimes




116          A MWEEK WITII JESUS.
imitate him; it remains true that ordinarily ours is
a simpler faith, has more encouragements to put it
in exercise, and may more reasonably be expected
of us.  If Peter went out uncalled, surely we should
not be timid to go where Christ bids.  If Peter
wished to go in advance of the promise, it is an en,
couragement to our faith that we have the promises
in advance.  If Peter expected Christ to do a thing
for him he had never before done for any man, may
we not expect him to sustain us in trials similar to
those which our brethren have often borne? If
Peter volunteers and Christ says, "Come," should
we not be fearless when he himself has put us in
trials whither we should not have ventured but for
his constraining providence?  These contrasts may
give Peter's faith the superiority as to strength; but
they surely give ours the superiority as to encouragement; and we should cheerfully and calmly go
where Christ bids, though it is on the sea, or
through it.
But faith enough to undertake a duty is not always faith enough to go through with it. Faith
enough to rejoice in a promise is not always faith
enough to hold firmly by it, and to rest calmly upon
it in the time of trial. Like Job, our words may
instruct many and we may strengthen the weak
hands; but when trouble touches us we faint. Job
iv. 4, 5. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus.
Perhaps for a little time, the disciples in the vessel
envied their brother this rare power; and it may be




THE CRY OF TIIE PERISIING.         117
that Peter's heart swelled with exultation at the
privilege thus given. Our perils often spring from
our privileges.
"We should suspect some danger nigh,
When we possess delight."
Scarcely anything is harder than to receive our mercies meekly; but we lose our humility, and then lose
sight of him by whom we stand.
Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus. The
winds were no fiercer and the waves no higher than
when he ventured out; but he saw the wind was
boisterous; and he began to fear. Upon principles
merely natural he might well fear the storm: but
upon the principles of the faith that had sent him
forth, he had no just reason to fear the boisterous
wind. His Lord was as able now to save as ever:
and his faith ought to have been in spite of the
storm. True faith is through no undervaluing of
the dangers about the believer, or of his weakness
to withstand them; but it is such a confidence in
Christ as overmasters the mightiest fears.  If a
seaman is exposed to a storm in a crazy vessel, he
may well fear the violence of the waves; but he
may be calm and fearless just in proportion as. he
has confidence in the sea-worthiness of the ship.  A
just confidence neither denies the strength of the
storm, nor the strength of the vessel; but forms a
proper estimate of both.
Peter looked in the wrong direction. I[e thought




118          A WEEIK WrIT  JESUS.
more of the storm, than he did of him who ruled the
storm: and no sooner did he this, than he began to
sink. We may be reminded in him of that very
common mistake of Christian experience touching
the nature and grounds of our faith, which leads
many to judge that the faith of a Christian is a personal persuasion of his own good estate before God.
This serious error leads many to live upon their
feelings and not by faith; upon their reading of
their own experience, and not upon the promises of
God: it makes their safety seemingly dependent
upon their comforts.  We are all prone to these
changes; especially so perhaps are persons of warm
impulses, like this disciple. VW\e do not question
that peace may fill the heart when a firm faith abides
there; that there is no better persuasion of our reconciliation to. God than that which faith gives; or
that the permanent exercise of such a faith should
be the object of desire and effort.  But it is important for us to know that feeling and faith are by no
means the same; that our fears, instead of hindering, may call forth our faith; and that not our imaginations or our apprehensions, but our principles
are the guide of faith. Whatever influence our faith
may exert upon the heart, the Scriptures ever teach
us that the true object of faith is, not internal, but
external; not anything in ourselves, but Christ to
whom we look. The true object of faith is Christ.
When we lose sight of him; when we watch our
own hearts so closely as to lose sight of Christ



THE CRY OF THE PERISHING.         119
whether we grow proud of privileges possessed, or
fearful of perils seen-we begin to sink. We may
look at other things; we may see the storm; we
may feel our weakness; but Christ must be the chief
object, and he gives us strength. Peter looked
away from Christ.
But he reminds us that the very loss of our
comforts may recall us to the actings of faith.
Thus feeling and faith stand in contrast. Happy
for us that they do: for what could we do in the
dark, if there was not some light to look to; how
rise above our despondency without a helping hand
from without; how utter our prayers if the deep
necessities of grief that can find no comfort within,
must close our lips from pleading? Faith's most
excellent actings are often in spite of fears and feelings. We are driven from self-confidence to feel
our dependence on the Lord; and faith is looking
to him for help when without him we must perish.
The fears of Peter drove him from his self-complacent satisfaction, and made him renew the direct
actings of faith towards Jesus.  "Beginning to sink
he cried, Lord, save me."
Let Peter teach us how to believe.  We are often
perplexed to know just what relation our fears
should bear to our faith.  We cannot help but feel
these troubles that beset us. It would be unnatural,
unreasonable, and impossible to feel indifferent in
our times of trial. Yes, and it is just as undesirable
and unchristian as it is unattainable.  When God




120          A WEEK WITII JESUS.
lays his hand upon us in affliction, he means that
we should feel it; when he takes away our comforts
he gives us no lesson of apathy; when he brings us
out on the stormy sea, he knows that the boisterous
winds will frighten us.  When by the strivings of
his convincing Spirit he sets our sins in array before
us, brings his terrors to bear upon our hearts, and
bids us remember our solemn accountability to him,
these things are designed to awaken our fears, so as
only the voice of the Almighty can arouse them.
Nor are they unreasonable fears.  Rather they are
just; and, except for the mightier power of Christ,
they would be overwhelming. Let us feel these
fears so far as to learn our own weakness; let us
know that only the grace of Christ can deliver us;
let us recognize that these very fears are wholesome
just in proportion as they drive us from every feeling of indifference and complacency, and force us
to apply to Christ. Faith is not the denial of our
reasons to fear; it implies our fears; and it consists
in our betaking ourselves to Christ as our refuge.
Let Peter teach us how to pray. Prayer is the
earnest, timely utterance of the sinking heart.  His
need was pressing, immediate; his words were brief;
but he knew that none else could help. We too
should know that without him we must sink; that
no other arm can save; and that he is able, and
willing, and near. Perhaps as we gaze upon this
scene some of us can recall the memory of his former
mercy.  We had passed through a stormy and toil



THE CRY OF THE PERISIING.         121
some night: and after many griefs, heavier sorrows
settled down upon us.  We seemed to sink in the
deep waters; but our cry went up to him.  We had
no other hope; and this did not fail us.  We could
not pray; we could only cry, "Lord, save us, we
perish;" and the words seemed more like the utterances of despair than the breathing of faith. And
it was despair of all else than Jesus; and our faith
in him was feeble. But he heard our cry and saved.
I-le stretched forth his hand, and caught us that we
did not sink; and we sang with the psalmist, "I-He
sent from  above; he took me; he drew me out of
many waters." 2 Sam. xxii. 17; Ps. xviii. 16.
This short prayer, Jesus yet will hear. If the
storms of trouble rise; if, worst of all, our sins remind us of our fearful exposure to the Divine displeasure, we are encouraged to cry to him. No
time of trouble is so important, in no storm are
we so helpless in ourselves, as when we form a just
estimate of our estate as sinful men. But even
from the troubles which sin gathers around the soul,
Christ is able to save.
And now let us not decide that Peter's going
forth upon the water to meet Jesus seems a most
desperate adventure.  Let us not think that the
faith we need for the saving of the soul is too large
a demand upon us.  The just judgment we should
form upon these things, may teach us that no man
makes a more desperate venture in spiritual things,
than he does who attempts to live and die without
11




122          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
the supporting grace of Christ.  This life is a
troubled sea, to meet whose storms we must all go
forth; and he is happiest who is best prepared to
meet them. But especially in view of our immortal
life, he only can be happy who is truly prepared to
pass behind the dark clouds that separate us from
the unseen world; to step down from the ship at
the Lord's bidding, and to walk upon the ocean of
eternity. Can we as sinners look forward to that
boundless sea, and not fear that the storms of Divine
wrath may heave its billows to fury? There are
two ways of going forth upon these dark waters.
One is going forth to meet Jesus; with an humble
cry for his help; with a firm reliance upon his arm;
and he will save those who put their trust in him.
The man who goes forth thus, relies upon a promise
that; shall never fail; and though dark clouds for a
little time may be around him, the voice of Jesus
shall for ever calm the storm to peace.
But he takes another way of going forth, who
has no hope in Jesus. If ever there can be a desperate venture the sinner makes it, when he passes
into eternity without faith in Jesus. Stepping forth
from a ship into the wildest tempest that ever blew,
is nothing to it. Forewarned of the soul's exposure
to the just displeasure of God, why will not men
learn that they need this Saviour?  And why
should we, who know his infinite power, his boundless grace and his past willingness to bless; we who
know our sinfulness, our liabilities to earthly trou



THE CRY OF THE PERISHING.        123
bles and our exposure to eternal wrath; we who
know his law in its demands and threatenings, his
gospel in its gracious promises, and his providence
in its wondrous workings; why should not we judge
that the faith he demands of us is as reasonable as
it is necessary?




124           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER X.
CLEIA -ING TO CHRIST.
"Will ye also go away?"
THUS far, in our companionship with the Master,
we have sought to learn the teachings of his significant actions: and the words spoken by him have
been few in number. But if now we should consider
the words of the next day, we might find as much
as heretofore to engage our continued attention.
Without designing this, we may devote a single
chapter to some brief thoughts upon the instructions
given by our Lord at this time of the narrative.
The disciples received their Lord into the ship;
and wondered that he was able to walk upon the
sea. Let it be instructive for us to read the inspired
commentary upon their wonder, that "their hearts
were hardened." Let us apply the words practically
to our own case; and reflect that after we have
known so much of our Lord's dignity, seen so much
of his power, and experienced so much of his grace,
nothing but the hardness of our heart can prevent
our unbounded confidence in him, or allow us to be
surprised at any thing he does.  Let us seriously
consider that even a true love to Christ, and a cer



CLEAVING TO CHRIST.            125
tain intimacy with him, and a true faith in his power
such as Peter had, does not entirely prevent the
hardening of the heart against higher and more
truthful conceptions of him and his doings. If it
seems strange, it is profitable to read that those near
friends of Jesus, with hardened hearts, did not consider the miracle of the loaves, as giving just reason
to anticipate that of the lake. In the usual language
of the Scriptures, the heart is said to be hardened
when divine truth does not make upon it its proper
impressions. As melted wax receives and retains
the impression of a seal, though the same substance,
when hard, receives no impression: so our hearts
will answer back exactly to the truth of God when
they are exactly right.  We have no better illustration of the readiness and fidelity with which a heart
like God would receive and retain and reflect back
the truth, than the sensitive plate which photography
places for a few moments exposed to the sun's re
flected rays; which seizes and holds for us an exact
copy of any scene, to its most minute particulars.
Or to change somewhat the illustration, the hearts
of fallen men, like an untrue surface, never give
back an impression entirely faithful and without
distortion. A measure of hardness may affect the
hearts of true disciples: and where indifference to
the just influence of divine truth is most depraved
and entire, the estate of sinful man is most lamentable.
But while generally the expression, a hardened
11 E"




126          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
heart, has special reference to the grovelling and
depravity of the affections, it includes also, and here
perhaps specially refers to that sluggishness of perception and understanding, which prevents the just
discernment of the truth. Why should we not judge
that but for the darkness of our understandings, and
the alienation of our tastes and affections that springs
from sin, our moral perceptions would be acute and
accurate to catch and comprehend, almost without
any conscious reasoning, the valuable teachings of
moral and spiritual truth?  We know very well
that the mind of man becomes wonderfully skilled
in matters of knowledge, upon subjects where the
interest has been aroused, where intelligence has
been acquired, and where long habit has made the
phenomena familiar. The perceptions of true skill
are quick-witted and almost instinctive. Why do we
trust the judgment of a jeweller in deciding that this
is a false diamond; of a banker that this is a counterfeit note; of a general in military affairs, or of a
physician in medicine? These men may have no
better eyes than others who look on; they may not
even be as intelligent in matters not relating to their
own chosen sphere; and in this sphere, perhaps,
they cannot always explain the exact reasons for
the decisions to which they come. But we placeo
confidence in them because the human mind, by
studying and understanding special subjects, is
capable of acquiring a skill and wisdom which
enables men to see things not seen at all by




CLEAVING TO CHRIST.            127
eyes unskilled. There is as great a difference between the eyes of a skilful and an unskilful man, in
looking upon anything, as there is between the eyes
of two men who look upon a printed page which one
cannot read and the other can. Both see the book,
the lines, the letters: to the one, all is blank, stupid,
and meaningless: to the other, intelligence, perhaps
the most important information, flashes its life-like
thoughts through the eye to the brain and the heart.
The same things, externally, may differ to different
observers, as life differs from death!
We may see here why it is that the preaching of
the gospel affects the hearts of men so differently.
From the sound of the same sermon, some go away
with indifference; and some are deeply affected.
Meaningless words, for all spiritual profit to some
ears, are full of thought-are freighted indeed with
the tidings of life everlasting-to others. The difference is in the hearts of the hearers.  It cannot be
in the words, for they are the same to every ear.
So in the Lord's parable of the sower: the seed was
fruitful or fruitless as the ground on which it fell
was prepared or unprepared. And the heart of man
may grow in hardness or grow in tenderness. There
was a time perhaps within our remembrance when
divine truth affected us more than now it does.
Happy are they whose hearts are more and more
interested in Scriptural teachings, and who are better able to comprehend them because they have become skilful in the Word. For there is a tact and




128          A WEEK WITII JESUS.
skill in discerning moral and spiritual truths as truly
as in learning any others: and a soul enlightened
and interested in the truth acquires more this invaluable skill. These disciples of Christ show the
hardness of their hearts-their inability to read the
lessons their Lord had already taught-by the very
fact that they marvel at his walking upon the sea.
AMen who had witnessed the power of Jesus to multiply a few loaves to supply the necessities of five
thousand people, should not have wondered to see
him attempt and accomplish anything. He who had
power beyond nature would have power also over
nature; he who could save five thousand on the
shore, could relieve a handful on the deep. But
they considered not the miracle of the loaves.  Alas
that a like hardness of heart keeps us too from
reasoning as we should respecting the power and
grace of Christ.  Considering what he has done for
us, why are we not hopeful for the aid we still need
at his hands?  Hardness of heart is the deep source
of our wonder, our unbelief, and our discomfort.
When our Lord was received into the ship, the
voyage was soon ended.  They were immediately
at the land.  This may imply a miraculous advance,
after he was with them. How little can we do
without him; how much with him.  In the meantime the people, whom he had left upon the shore,
were perplexed to know what had become of him.
They knew that the disciples had gone away alone;
and there was no other vessel for his conveyance;




CLEAVING TO CHRIST.            129
but they knew not where he was.  Other vessels
coming by the place, some of them  embarked and
crossed over to the land of Gennesaret.  When they
found him there, they were rebuked by him because
their seeking for him was with inferior motives,
when they should have sought that enduring bread
by which the soul lives. Then occurred the conversation recorded for us in the sixth chapter of
John's gospel: and of which we have already taken
brief notice. Christ gives us to understand that the
manna of the wilderness and the bread which he
distributed were but typical of himself. For he
says expressly, "I am the bread of life: he that
cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth upon me shall never thirst."
This is one of the most elaborate discourses recorded from the lips of our Lord.  It is figurative
in its language, and yet the interpretation seems
the more easily made because it takes the form of a
dialogue where the misconceptions of the hearers are
recognized and corrected.  But for the perverse
misinterpretation put upon it by the church of Rome,
which we know is the offspring of corruptions that
entered the church at a far later date, the chapter
would be easily comprehended.  In itself it is no
more difficult than many other passages of the sacred
writings.  This much ought to be plain: that our
Lord here cannot design to teach that any external
form can be regarded as the essence of religion.
This would be at war with the entire spirit of his




130          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
ministry. About this same time, as recorded in
Matthew xv., he held a dispute with the Scribes and
Pharisees on the subject of piety; and we take thG
sentiments urged by him upon that occasion as confirming his meaning in arguing of the bread of life.
True religion must have its seat in the heart. External things neither sanctify nor defile the man.
It was the great error of the Pharisees to lay the
chief stress on external cleansings; it is the main
characteristic of Christ's teachings to fix our thoughts
upon the heart. Eating or drinking-no matter what
is eaten-may be no proof or means of spiritual life;
eating and drinking may be significant actions, but
as our Lord says, for the very purpose of preventing
misconception, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth;
the flesh profiteth nothing.  The words that I speak
unto you they are spirit and they are life."
What then is the life and spirit of these teachings,
clothed by our Lord in the drapery of these figurative words?  He was seated as he uttered them  in
the synagogue at Capernaum, and to such instructions as these doubtless he referred when he spoke
of that city as one exalted to heaven. Let us too
form a part of his congregation, and sit at the Master's feet to hear his words. If we would esteem it
a great privilege to partake of that wonderful bread,
broken by his hands on the mountain side, let us
regard it one, not lcss, but greater, that we may
feed upon the living bread; indeed we must eat this
bread if we would live for ever.




CLEAVING TO CHRIST.            131
There are many reasons that forbid us to believe
that our Lord in this discourse had any reference
whatever to the ordinance of the sacred supper,
which was afterwards to be established. The advocates of the doctrine of transubstantiation consider
the language of the chapter as expressly teaching
their absurd dogma. Yet not only was this literal
interpretation entirely unknown to the apostolic
church, but its own advocates cannot consistently
carry it out. Exceptions must be made; and figurative interpretations must be admitted: and the most
consistent is that which compares our Lord's own
words with each other.  He refers not to the Lord's
supper, with which his hearers had no possible acquaintance; but to the bread with which he had fed
this people only the day before.
But we learn from the evangelist that these teachings of our Lord were not acceptable to his hearers.
Some of them declared that these were hard sayings,
which they could not receive; and some of those
who had actually professed discipleship, turned back
from him and walked no more with him. And if we
inquire why they thus forsook him, we may find the
reasons are just those which still most frequently
lead men to backsliding and apostasy, both secret
and open. Men are willing to adopt the mysteries
of religion, to accept its hard services and to pay it
a costly tribute; and every system of error and
falsehood in the world gives us examples of zeal and
earnestness, which often put to shame the devotion




132          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
of those who hold a purer faith.  Self-denials of a
certain class are the pride of man: he makes no objection to a religion of externals: penance suits him,
penitence offends him.  "It is a hard saying, who
can hear it?" So the world over, just in proportion
as religion is made formal and external, the larger
is the proportion in any community of those professing to be religious.  The grace and the spirituality
of the gospel are its chief excellencies: yet indeed
chiefly at these do men take offence.  It is not at all
unlikely that the very men who now forsook Jesus,
were among the foremost of those who would have
taken him by force to make him a king: and had
he taken their way to establish a kingdom and given
them a part to act in it, they would still have remained with him.  How  does self constitute the
sum and substance of a human religion; how is the
religion of Jesus proved to be divine by the very
care he shows to empty men of self: and how
many in every age walk no more with him, because
they must deny themselves if they would cling to
Christ.
We need not wonder in our times to find men departing from the Christian profession, since we find
backsliders and apostates from the teachings of the
most eminent prophets and apostles; and even, as
here, from the teachings of Christ himself. The
apparent reasons are infinitely various which seem
to influence men to decline from a profession of religion: and the manner in which the decline is




CLEAVING TO CHRIST,           133
exhibited is different in different individuals. We
sometimes see men suddenly drop off from the church
of Christ, for some special offence they have taken:
and sometimes they gradually give up the practices,
opinions, and professions of other days. The snares
and deceits of sin are manifold; and men easily
learn to vindicate or excuse the altered conduct
which is of so much importance as a test of their
true standing before God. Doubtless there is no
more dangerous form of departing from Christ than
that which is prone to be the most common in lands
where religion is held in respect by the community.
Men still bear the name of Christ, keep up some of
the forms of religion, and maintain their standing in
the church, when, on the one hand, they are not
truly interested in the principles or progress of the
gospel; and, on the other, they share in the engagements and follies and sympathies of the ungodly
world; and by their words and doings bring reproach
upon religion, quite as dangerous in its influence
upon the souls of men as anything they could do
as the open and well-known enemies of Christ
Jesus.
It is a great thing to know concerning these men,
who thus went back and walked no more with Jesus,
that they were not his true disciples. It is not a
difficult thing for us to imagine that many of those
who saw the miracles and heard the words of our
Lord, could find reasons for a partial attachment to
him, yet without understanding his entire claims, and
12




134          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
without feeling for him a true-hearted devotion.
Such a preacher they might wish to hear; such
wondrous sights they might desire to see; and they
might be willing to eat of his bread. Yet such a
following of Christ would be far short of a true discipleship. And in our times, even more abundant
reasons of a worldly nature may lead men to embrace
and profess a religion that has taught our earliest
thoughts and has forced the respect of the world for
its teachings.  But there are other things which a
mind truly interested in Christ and his teachings
could not forget; and these are far more important
than any such motives. That any man could forsake
a teacher who gave such irrefragable proofs of divine
authority was itself proof that the discipleship of
such an one was no just attachment. So we are
expressly told here that their departure was no disappointment to our Lord.  He charged them with
a want of faith, John vi. 64; and knew before their
defection that they would depart. And this should
be the encouragement of the church always, that
though men will forsake religion, yet we really lose
none that are truly attached to the cause of Christ.
They go out from us in every case, because they
are not of us. 1 John ii. 19.
Yet let us not come to any such conclusion, nor
take up with any such encouragement, through any
indifference of the reproach thrown upon religion,
or of mischief done to themselves by those who walk
no more with Christ.  The calm vindication of the




CLEAVING 10 CHRIST.           135
Divine righteousness and of the carrying out of the
Divine purposes, is quite consistent with the most
lively concern for religion and for the souls of men.
We mourn over all defections from the true spirit
of piety. We mourn over the inconsistencies of
men in whom we hope yet exists the root of the
matter.  We lament the fall of those in whom we
had placed high hopes.  We enter into serious selfexaminations, as we seem to hear the Saviour ask in
view of these departures, "Will ye also go away?"
And sometimes we fear for ourselves, because those
who have fallen have seemed as intelligent, as zealous, as devotional as ever we have been; and seemed
to stand as firmly as we. In all the thoughts
awakened by these things we may be like the Saviour.  There was a sense in which he stood unmoved
by all the various murmurings of men against his
teachings. Ile expresses no special anxiety to gain
special disciples: he would not lower the tone of his
teachings to secure any new follower: he would not
decline from his supreme claims to suit any man's
temper. He stood in that simple dignity of truth
which could allow any man to separate from him as
he pleased: he knew that the favour and the blessing
came not upon the Master, but upon the disciple:
and his words might be slighted by any, but at their
peril. Yet he who called men so earnestly to come
to him, who wept over Jerusalem, who died upon
Calvary, was not indifferent to the conduct of those
who would not come to him for life.  And we also




136          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
should be deeply concerned at the inconsistencies
of those who bring reproach upon piety, or who
depart to walk no more with Jesus, even when we
are satisfied that our Lord never loses a true disciple.
The defections of others may grieve the true
friends of Jesus; but their faith rests not upon man
that it should be overthrown by anything that man
does.  Doubtless to test the spirit of his nearer followers, our Lord asked them if they also would go
away.  To their answer how many faithful hearts
have a thousand times since responded! The reply
is twofold.  First, that without Christ the sinful
soul is undone.  When we know most of ourselves
and most of God, we may well decide that we have
nowhere else to go.  If Christianity is false the
world has no substitute.  Secondly, that our Lord
is a Saviour every way suitable and efficacious.
This faith is expressed with the firmest confidence.
"We believe and are sure that thou art Christ, the
Son of the living. God."  The defection of others
can have no influence to drive true disciples from
Jesus.  If his cause is reproached for others' sake,
we should strive to adorn it the more. If others are
drawn away to the world, we cannot afford to do
without him.  If they see not his excellency, yet in
our eyes he is the chief among ten thousand and
altogether lovely.
And should we not judge that any man who saw
these wonderful works of Jesus Should have received




CLEAVING TO CHRIST.            137
all his teachings without gainsaying or doubt. With
Nicodemus, should not every one decide, that no man
could do these miracles except God was with him?
And shall we dispute with a divine teacher respecting either the truth or the tendency of his doctrines?
Or can any man be safe in departing from one who
has such claims upon our obedience? If we could
now see Jesus as they saw him: if we had walked
with him upon the water, as Peter did, we would
be inexcusable for any unbelief or disobedience
to such a teacher as this.  No possible reason can
be strong enough to justify these professed disciples
in walking no more with  Christ.  Yet this is
quite as true of every one that now hears the
gospel.
And every man in our own times who neglects
his salvation through Christ, is guilty of inexcusable
folly and wickedness.  If there be any man who
does not recognize his guilt before God, his need of
a Saviour and the excellency of Christ, as these
things are described in the Scriptures: yet the topics
are of such infinite importance, and the array of
evidences in favour of these teachings so great, that
he cannot without folly and sin neglect to make a
careful and earnest investigation of the whole matter. Indifference must be a crime. And they who
recognize, indolently, the value of the soul, the
greatness of their sins and the necessity of salvation
in Christ, should be self-convicted of the greatest
folly and sin.  How can the great importance of
12 *




138          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
these things be recognized, and then Christ be neglected, or put to reproach, or forsaken, for any
possible reason? A just view of Christ and a true
attachment to him will lead us to cleave to him, in
every thing and for ever.




DIVINE CONCEALMENTS.            139
CHAPTER Xl.
DI VIN-JE CCONCEALMTENTS.
"He entered into an house and would have no man know it: but
he could not be hid."
WHEN we began our meditations upon this portion of our Lord's life, we found him ready to retire
for a season from active duties; and we suggested
various reasons, not inconsistent with each other, for
his withdrawal from  public engagements.  These
same reasons still remained in force after the scenes
which have passed under our notice. The single
day and night spent on the shore and on the bosom
of the lake, would not change any of the circumstances to which we have alluded. If there was
danger from Herod's persecutions before, there still
is: if he and his friends were affected at the tidings
of John's death, the wound is still fresh: if his disciples needed repose, they did not secure it upon
that busy day, which was succeeded by a night so
toilsome; if he sought a season of devotion, yet that
single night of prayer upon the mountain would but
partially gratify his desires. For these, perhaps
also for additional reasons, we find him still seeking
retirement.  We cannot decide how long he tarried




140          A WEEK WIT.H JESUS.
in the land of Gennesaret, where he landed after the
storm upon the lake.  We know that immediately
upon his landing he was recognized by the people.
By this time his person was familiar to many individuals, especially in these parts of Galilee.  This,
of course, would be quite unfavourable to his present
wish to seek retirement: yet he did not withhold his
aid from those who sought it.  As the news spread
widely of his presence, the sick were brought to him
from all quarters. Wonderful power was manifested
in these healings.  The mere touch of the hem of
his robe sufficed to give soundness to the diseased.
Pursuing his original intention of seeking a retired
spot, he seems to have tarried but briefly in any
place: yet he took time enough to teach the people
upon several occasions: and his route was thronged
with the helpless forms of the suffering, carried by
friendly care and laid in his pathway.
We will not delay to consider further these teachings or miracles; but will pass along with the retreating footsteps of the Master to the north-west,
until perhaps he had gone entirely beyond the borders of the Holy Land.  The declaration that he
went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon does not
render it certain that he went out of the country.
But as in his childhood his parents had carried him
to Egypt to escape the persecution of one Herod, so
now to avoid the hands of that Herod's son, he may
have paid his next and only other visit to a foreign
land. It strengthens this supposition to be told




DIVINE CONCEALMENTS.           141
that about this same time, he kept out of the land
of Judea proper, walking only in Galilee, because
the Jews sought to kill him. John vii. 1. It was
safe, as well as quiet, to retire to the coasts of Tyre
and Sidon.
The purposes of privacy and retirement were still
sought; for we are told that he entered into a house
and would have no man know it. But it is time now
to say that it was not only for the reasons already
suggested, that our Lord did not openly proclaim
himself there. Indeed it was not only now but al-;nost always, that our Lord sought rather to be
searched for, than to thrust himself forward.  It
seems quite proper to say that a certain concealment
was a characteristic of the great Teacher.  It could
not be said that he shunned the public notice at
proper times; but he never courted notoriety. As
we have before remarked, his brethren complained
of this, and thought he should more plainly show
himself to the world. We know that there is a
modesty that ever belongs to truth, in wide contrast
with the impudence of imposture; there is a calm
composure in strength, compared with the bravado
of conscious weakness; there is a quietness in true
virtue, unlike the boisterous publicity of rowdyism.
But even these things are not enough to account for
this great characteristic of Christ. He himself said,
" The kingdom of God cometh not with observation."
Long before his appearance, prophet said of him,
"lie shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man




142          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
hear his voice in the streets."  This characteristic
of Christ belongs to the gospels.  Let every intelligent reader notice how remarkably free from all
display are these evangelical narratives.  There is
almost an entire absence of expressed emotions or
exclamatory words. Miracles are recorded without
surprise, and in just words enough to bring them
fairly to our notice.  Malicious crimes against the
meekest sufferer the world ever saw, are recorded
almost without grief or even sympathy for the sufferer, or indignation against the criminals.  The
narratives are made up of truth told without passion or adornment; and the unbiassed reader is
allowed to form his own judgment of the person and
character and work of him, who is chiefly presented
in these scenes.
This withdrawal of himself from the open gaze of
the people may be variously noticed. There is no
trace of vain-glorious display when working the
most stupendous miracles.  There is no room  to
charge an interested concealment, such as would
cover up any wveakness of hlis claims. But marvellous works of which every witness was a competent
judge; wrought before firiends and foes; and officially attested by his avowed enemies; works so
numerous, so different, and of such influence that
imposture before his contemporaries was impossible,
were still never thrust forward in any boastful spirit.
How jubilant would the advocates of falsehood be,
if any of the various systems of professed revelation




DIVINE CONCEALMENTS.          143
could point to the support of one single wonder,
such as those that abound in the history of Christ!
But though our Lord abounds in miracles he is never
wasteful of them.  He carefully refrained from the
exercise of his supernatural powers, when human
curiosity craved indulgence, or personal fame might
appear the ruling motive.  It can be said of him,
"He went about doing good."  It cannot be said
that he did these things to be seen of men. HIis
repeated charge to those whom he healed gave token
of his unobtrusiveness, "See that no man know it."
Matt. ix. 30. And his teachings gave evidence of
this same characteristic.  He chiefly taught in parables.  While this form of instruction is exceedingly
interesting and easily remembered, yet the meaning
does not always lie upon the surface; and indeed he
avows that his teachings were at times purposely
mysterious.  His disciples did not understand his
teachings; he knew they did not; he did not expect
them to; yet did he not withhold the words they
comprehended so imperfectly.
There are several interesting reasons which we
may assign for this reserve of our Lord, and for this
peculiar mysteriousness of his communications. We
may first notice that all valuable teachings must
necessarily possess something of this character. In
its highest form, teaching is the communication of
knowledge. There is indeed great profit in being
reminded in due season of truths that are not new;
we acknowledge great excellence in timely and




144          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
appropriate, though familiar, thoughts; and we are
often delighted to see old truths set before us in new
connections and aspects.  But usually truths have
become old and familiar before they are thoroughly
learned; and that teaching which consist, in the
communication of new truths is rarely mastered at
our first learning. We make a great mistake in
supposing that teaching is unprofitable unless it is
fairly understood. The more thoroughly we understand anything the better; but knowledge may be
gained in imperfect measures.  How did any one
of us learn the language we now speak? We caught
its familiar tones in our tenderest years; we had no
laboured explanations of the words, but learned them
from hearing them used, without ourselves knowing
how we accomplished so much; and from a very imperfect state of knowledge, and with very feeble
capacities, we gradually and imperceptibly advanced
to maturer thoughts.  And we can look back with
surprise to notice how crude were our thoughts upon
many subjects which yet we considered mastered.
How little thoroughness there ever is in the first
perusal of a school-book, the first memorizing of its
rules, the first boast that we are "through!" We
learned the alphabet years ago. Few men know its
power yet. The mastering of knowledge is no single
step: profit and perfection may stand far apart; the
words we hear may instruct us, and yet mean far
more than we get out of them. Many a man may
not appreciate the logical argument of an eloquent




DIVINE CONCEALMENTS.           145
discourse, and yet its main lessons may be well impressed upon him, You may perhaps have heard
the reply of a poor woman, when it was thought she
had not profited by a sermon she could not remember. She compared it to a web of cloth which she
was bleaching upon the grass. It seemed useless to
keep wetting it, since it so soon became dry; but
this she noticed, the more she wet it the whiter it
got.  There are effects of teaching more evident
than those that consist in verbal remembrance. It is a
great mistake to judge that even the younger children
of our households need not attend upon the public
sanctuary, because they do not understand the sermon. The children of a family ought to be in the
sanctuary as regularly as a father should gather
them around the family altar; and they should learn
these religious teachings, in the house and in the
church, just as they learn the language they use;
by the constant and familiar inculcation of things
that are insensibly and gradually acquired. How
we acquire knowledge is a strange inquiry. Teaching is the communication of truth; but the capacities and advancement of the pupils differ so much,
that the same discourse is variously profitable to a
thousand hearers.
We may say still further that this partial mysteriousness of teaching is one of the great stimulants to
the acquisition of knowledge.  We set great store
upon the perspicuity and simplicity which characterizes the instructions of certain teachers. Everything
]13




146          A WEEK WITH JESI S.
is made plain to the simplest comprehension. And
the power to do this, is exceedingly desirable; so
inspired wisdom prefers to speak five words that are
understood, rather than ten thousand in an unknown
tongue. Yet this aiming at simplicity may go too
far. The object of the teacher is to lead the pupil
forward; and he must ever keep in advance of him.
The least thing we can ask of a teacher is that, upon
the present topic of instruction, he should be better
informed than those he addresses. But he must not
master for them the difficulties of knowledge; let
him rather show them how to do it themselves. He
may stand up the steep hill of science and invite
them to stand where he does; but they must do the
climbing. Teaching trains babes for men; education
is the drawing out of the faculties; if the process
does not lead the mind to think, it leaves us babes
even when we are grown. And no man knows the
pleasure of true knowledge, if he has not felt this
stimulus of trying to find out.  So our Lord's parables are the elements of thought; and the busy mind
delights to combine them into profitable forms.  So
all true teaching is not matured fruit to be had for
the gathering; but rather, to use his figure, it is the
seed cast into the fertile heart: but it must sink
there beneath the surface, and die, before it brings
forth the blade and the ear and the grain.  " Take
heed therefore how ye hear:" for all our lessons of
wisdom, though pleasant now, should be still more
profitable hereafter




DIVINE CONCEALMENTS.            147
Now if these thoughts have their measure of truth
for every teacher, they should be peculiarly true of
Christ. For he is the most eminent and original of
all teachers.  If every teacher stands in advance of
those he teaches, how far do the wisest lag behind
him! Besides, he is the great Teacher for all ages;
and he must be found still in advance, even when
earth's most profound sages sit at his feet.  How
could Ave expect these simple fishermen, rude and
uneducated and prejudiced, to fathom the depths of
wisdom, at which the learned and wise of far more
polished times have been amazed!  What an audience did Christ address, when he sent these inimitable lessons down the stream of time, to be copied in
the manuscripts of fifteen centuries, multiplied by
the manifold printing of steam-presses in later times,
published in so many pulpits, read in so many
closets; yet among all his scholars what one has
ever risen at all near the level of the teacher?
Learn we never so much, we do not still master these
incomparable teachings; the more we learn, the more
we see there is in them still to learn. Whatever our
attainments are, our teacher and the same teachings
which we have studied over and over again, are always a little in advance of us: not so much before
llS apparently as to discourage our attempts to understand at all; but still before; and we never quite
catch up.  It is like ascending a mountain; a little
way up we are enraptured with the extensive view;
yet it is wider the higher we ascend, and if the hori



148          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
zon bounds us on every side, the view is still capable
of indefinite expansion; and the limitation really
belongs to our powers of sight.  The mysteries of
truth are necessary results of our ignorance and
feebleness.
There are two reasons pertaining to our Lord's
earthly ministry and to his special position at this
time, which may further explain why his teachings
were less clear to his disciples.  The first is, that
during his life the full scheme of his ministry could
not be explained to them.  Only after his suffering
and resurrection did it seem proper that the mystery
so long hidden should be made known. Accordingly
the disciples were ignorant of many things concerning the dignity and office of their Lord, the spirituality and universality of his kingdom, and the
nature of his service which are plain to all the church
in our times.  Thus our Lord declares the excellent
dignity of John the Baptist, and yet emphatically
adds, that the least in the kingdom of heaven is
greater than he.
But there was another special reason just at this
time why our Lord should keep himself in seclusion.
"He entered into a house and would have no man
know it." IIe had gone beyond the sphere of his
appointed ministry.  For the first and last time
during his public life, he was outside of Judea and
in a Gentile land. But he says of himself that he
was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Whether we have or have not rightly judged




DIVINE CONCEALMENTS.            149
of his reasons for retiring to the coasts of Tyre and
Sidon, he did not go there to preach publicly.  He
retired quietly to a house and would have no man
know it. Yet we are quite unwilling to believe that
any chance dictated the place or time of his movements; or that, in the highest sense, the most interesting incident of that visit was not in his view as he
came into these coasts.  Indeed the instruction and
encouragement we may receive from this simple narrative are peculiar. The footsteps of Jesus press a
heathen soil, even before the time has come for
preaching salvation to the Gentiles. Is it not a token
of his eagerness to bless the heathen; and may we
not expect his large favour to them in these days
when he sends his gospel to them? Though he was
not sent to them, yet we find him here giving a
special blessing to a heathen woman. Is he not more
ready to grant such blessings now that he is preached
among them?  Though he hides himself, he can be
persuaded by the pleadings of earnest faith. Will he
not ever answer faith in these times, when his own
public promises are pledged for the penitent's acceptance?  When we see Christ thus visiting a heathen
land, and surpassing his ordinary mission to bless a
Gentile woman, may we not argue for more than
usual encouragement, whether we would seek for
ourselves the favours he offers in the gospel, or would
desire the success of his truth in those lands of Gentile darkness where he commands us to send it?
But there is one other reason for the peculiarity,
13




150          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
Of our Lord's character and teachings of which we
have been speaking. He hides himself, as it were;
he teaches us in parables; he does not always make
his words as plain as they can be made, for in this
very thing lies a test of the dispositions of those who
hear the gospel. Christ's teachings are so set before
men, the whole scheme of preaching the gospel is so
arranged, that the men who truly desire to learn
wisdom from him, can easily do so; and men who
do not wish these instructions, can easily avoid
them. We shall take further occasion to show how
remarkably a mind truly awakened to any subject
seizes by a ready tact upon all the available advantages
for securing its end; for the narrative before us gives
us one of the most interesting and instructive examples in all the Bible. But we see illustrations of
the same thing all around us. It is not the manner
of the great Teacher; it is not the method of God's
providence to force the evidences and truths and
motives of religion upon the minds of unwilling men.
God leaves not himself without witness; but men
may readily, if they so choose, turn away from the
testimony. The world gives evidence that there is
a God: yet the fool may say in his heart that there
is none, and man may boast of his Atheism. The
Scriptures manifest themselves to be his word, by
various evidences both internal and external; yet
may men turn to infidelity. The church of God
may try to do her appropriate work of preaching
the gospel to the perishing; her servants may go




DIVINE CONCEALMENTS.           151
out into the highway and hedges and use urgent
importunities to lead men to salvation; faithful public and private efforts may be made to win souls to
God. But it must be acknowledged that the grand
reason why multitudes all around our churches are
not reached by the gospel, is because they themselves have no interest in these things.  We may be
bound to make efforts to awaken the careless: judicious efforts may ever have their measure of success;
but men will still prove naturally averse to the gospel
of Christ: and their carelessness and apathy will remain the grand reason why they do not receive the
truth.  Cavils will be made to hide this true reason
from themselves and others; but if the particulari
ground of any man's cavilling is removed, his own indifference to the gospel will still remain as the chief
reason for his unbelief. How often have we seen our
churches crowded to overflowing, when some topic
of special interest has been discussed.  What is to
hinder the same persons from a regular and constant
attendance, if only they should form a just estimate
of their own pressing need of the gospel? Can any
topic be of more importance to a justly discerning
mind than to secure his own interest in an eternal
salvation? All the objections of men against the
preaching of the gospel may be resolved to this
foundation: "They care for none of these things."
Take away single objections of men to the gospel
without removing this plague in the very heart; and
It is but healing an ulcer while the current of tho




152           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
life-blood remains still impure to break out in another and perhaps a more dangerous sore. It is not
by any change of doctrines, or preachers, or names
or evidences of religion that a radical cure of the
evil is effected. Men make their ready objections
against a particular preacher, when really they are
indifferent to all preaching: they pick flaws in the
lives of Christians when truly a Christian life has
no charms for themselves: they object to the evidences of religion, when indeed the chief trouble is
a heart averse to the claims of piety. Let such men
become interested and awakened to a just sense of
their own sinfulness, and these cavillings will be
thrown aside. Many an infidel has thrown aside
his arguments, through no logical process that has
answered their apparent force; but awakened to see
his need of the gospel and its adaptedness to his
wants.  Many an errorist has at once laid down his
errors, taught by the candid and straightforward
movements of a heart that feels a new interest and a
true sincerity. Men find that the barriers in their
way to the sanctuary have been piled up by themselves; that their chief burdens have been burdens
self-imposed; that when the lips so readily said, "I
can't," the inner man of the heart ever meant, "I
won't."
Now when the gospel in every age has to deal
with such men, it is but a righteous testing of their
spirit; it is the wisdom of Christ, that his teachings
are so presented as to leave them at full liberty to




DIVINE CONCEALMENTS..
stand aside, at their own choice and on their own
responsibility.  Men may cavil at various things.
The teachings may be esteemed mysterious; the
duties hard; the conduct of Christians may often
bring reproach upon the cause; and the evidences,
claims, and doctrines of the gospel may seem to lack
a sufficient clearness. But on the one hand, all
these things are as they ever have been; they are
allowed in infinite wisdom; and he who demands
our faith in the gospel knew well that just such
things as these would seem to withstand it; and on
the other hand, it is plain that these things are not
hindrances to others by our very side, whose external advantages for overcoming them are no greater
than ours.  Neither wisdom  nor folly; neither
riches nor poverty; neither prosperity nor adversity;
neither favourable opportunities nor serious disadvantages have the controlling influence in leading
men to neglect religion.  The wise man can find
others as wise as he, that are lovers of Jesus; the
poor man can find others as poor as himself, who are
not hindered by poverty; side by side with every
caviller dwell his own acquaintances, who are not
hindered from studying and knowing and loving the
truth; who yet could find reasons for carelessness
as strong as his, if they were but disposed to use
them. The gospel of Christ is purposely set to
test the hearts of men.  This is a stone of trial;
and whosoever shall fall upon this stone shall be
broken.




154          A WEEK WI1TI JESUS.
While then it is the duty of the church of God
and of the ministry to lay no unnecessary stumblingblocks in the way of sinful men, we may recognize
that the pure gospel proves a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offence. Men stumble at all the
truth is, and at all the friends of truth can be, or
can do, or can leave undone.  "Whereunto," said
our Lord, "shall I liken this generation?" Yet
let us remember the Scriptural teaching, and notice
its confirmation all around us, that it is DISOBEDIENT
men who stumble at the word. This it is that
justifies the dealings of God's hand with the sons
of men. If there are things hard to be understood,
which the unlearned and the unstable wrest to their
own destruction; yet "the meek will he guide in
judgment, and the meek will he teach his way."
Every rebellious sinner in a gospel land has around
him the abundant proofs that his perdition is through
his own guilt. Men of his own acquaintance, living
by his very side, with no better opportunities of
knowing the truth, have secured the salvation of the
gospel and( lived and died in the faith of Jesus, while
he has filled his lips with excuses and cavillings.
You are too busy; but men as busy as you are earnest Christians.  You have many hindrances; but
be faithful to your own soul, and you must acknowledge that some of your own acquaintances whose
hindrances are as great as yours, yet press through
every opposing obstacle and steadfastly and humbly
follow the Lord. There is a natural tendency to




DIVINE CONCEALMENTS.           15b
magnify our own troubles; yet in the exercise of a
just and candid mind every man may decide that
the principal difficulty in religion lies in the indifference of his own heart.
Jesus entered a house and would have no man
know it; but he could not be hid. A certain woman
wanted just such a healer; and she found him out.
Somehow or other, if relief is to be had, the suffering
find out where to look for it. The man who laughs
at physicians and medicines when he is well, calls
for them as readily as any, in his time of distress.
Jesus often hides himself from people now; but let
any sinful soul seek for him as earnestly as this
woman did; and his power and grace are as great
as ever. What a solemn word is that of Paul, "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 Cor. iv. 3, 4. Every
hearer of the gospel is blinded by Satan, or enlightened by God's Holy Spirit. How should we fear
the one; how should we desire and pray for the
other. For the one is blessed and the other cursed;
and their wide extremes are the loss or the salvation
of the soul.




[156          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER Xl1.
J7AITIH SEEKINYG FOR THtE  HTE ALE'R.
"For a certain woman whose young daughter had an unclean
spirit, heard of him."
STRANGE and unusual conduct in one whose character we know, usually attracts our attention in
proportion to its strangeness.  When one speaks
and does just as we expect him to do, his conduct
passes without special remark; but when anything
seems strikingly out of character, it cannot escape
particular attention. In the scene to which our
thoughts are now called, both the principal characters, our Lord and this suppliant woman, speak and
act as we would not have anticipated for them.  It
surprises us to see here for the first time, that the
merciful Jesus apparently pays no regard to one
who supplicates his mercy; and we are as much surprised, not so much to see this heathen woman coming to this prophet from Judea to find healing for
her child, as to see her persevering faith when she
seems so decidedly, and indeed almost hopelessly,
repulsed. And if our attention is fixed upon this
whole matter, we may well wonder at the triumph
of her faith in the issue, since our Lord himself




FAITH SEEKING FOR TIIE HEALER.    157
decides that this is one of the most remarkable instances of faith that came under even his notice.
Our Lord, as we have said, was now probably in
a foreign land; at least he was on the borders of
Phoenicia. The woman was a Gentile, not only by
nation, but also by religion.  She is called a Greek;
but this word in the New Testament is not used in
its strict sense; but signifies a Gentile. Hence she
is also called a Syrophoenician. The Phoenicians
had colonies in Africa, (e. g. Carthage;) but she
belonged to the tribes which yet remained in Syria:
thus the evangelist Matthew calls her "a woman of
Canaan."  Perhaps she belonged to one of those
tribes with whom specially the Jews were forbidden
to hold intercourse; and whose great wickedness
had brought upon them the curse of Jehovah.  The
ministry of our Lord was expressly to Israel; we
cannot indeed doubt that in this case, he designs to
show that his grace is for the Gentiles: yet it was
not until after his resurrection that the barriers between them  and the Jews were broken down: and
this woman does not find ready access to him.
We are not told how this heathen mother heard
of Jesus at all; or how she came to form such just
conceptions of his dignity and mission, of his power
and grace. She may teach us perhaps the wonderfully diffusive power of divine truth in any community and around it. As no figure is more beautiful,
so none is more common or correct than that which
compares truth to light.  Light, we know, is won14




158          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
derfully diffusive. Let a single ray into a dark
room, and though it will not shine clearly, it will
shine truly and really into every corner. And we
know that a very little light is incomparably superior to entire darkness; that our eyes instinctively
accommodate themselves to the degree of light we
have, so that we can often see when the light is not
clear; and that a dim light has always at least this
advantage, that the closer we draw to it, the better
we can see. Thus even a little light has a directing
and guiding ministry. A man wandering in darkness
may see, a long way off, the twinkling beam upon
which he may fix his eye until he finds his path.
So when Evangelist in the Pilgrim's Progress could
not make the trembling sinner see the wicket gate,
he could point him to "yonder shining light;" and
the pilgrim could see enough to guide him to the
spot. We need not wonder much that this woman
seems acquainted with the claims and character of
this great Prophet.  It is doubtless true that no
preacher from Judea had ever entered the city where
she dwelt, to tell of the God of Jacob. Perhaps she
never had entered the doors of a Jewish synagogue;
much less had ever witnessed the solemn sacrifices
of Jerusalem's great temple. Yet, living upon the
borders of the land of Judea, she could not escape
some acquaintance with the peculiar claims and
character of the Jewish people.  Compared with the
Jews themselves, we might perhaps call her an ignorant woman in these things; yet she knew far more




FAITII SEEKING FOR THE HIEALER.    159
than could be known by those who lived in the distant darkness of heathenism. Especially we judge
that the wonders wrought by this mighty Prophet
of Galilee became known through a wide district of
country; and awakened much attention to learn his
character and teachings, as well as his deeds. We
can only learn from this woman's own lips what
were her views; and the name she gives him, as the
Son of David, and the perseverance with which she
urged her suit, are sufficiently remarkable. How
could she address him thus, unless she knew something of the Jewish prophecies that a Messiah should
come of David's line; and unless she acknowledged,
what the Jewish rulers denied, that this was the
long-expected Christ?  Whatever were her disadvantages of land or race or education, precious light
has dawned upon this darkened mind.
This woman may teach us something of the serious
responsibilities resting upon the men in our own
land; even those who are least directly brought
under the teachings of the gospel.  Our Lord upbraided the cities wherein most of his mighty works
were done, because they repented not: and we decide that, by a just judgment, they are held specially accountable whose privileges have been largest
and most direct. How inexcusable for any neglect
of Christ are those who have been trained in Christian families, and taught all their lives in Christian
sanctuaries! But let us not suppose that there are
any persons dwelling in this Christian land, who are




1 60          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
so ignorant of Christianity as to excuse them for th(
reproach they cast upon it, and the neglect they
show towards it.
There is a sense in which we may mourn over the
destitutions of our land. Dwelling beneath the very
shadow of Christian temples, hearing constantly the
sound of the church-going bell, mingling every day
with professors of the faith of Christ, how many
persons there are, who live and die in lamentable
ignorance of what the true gospel is, and of what is
its saving efficacy for the soul of man.  There is a
great diversity, we know, in this ignorance.  Some
of these, whose feet now never visit the sanctuary,
were in earlier life accustomed to the trainings of a
pious parentage; but unhappy associations, perhaps
marriage with an ungodly person, perhaps the mortifying influence of sinfulness, or even of poverty,
may have led to a gradual abandonment of these
early habits; and for these, or for far worse reasons,
many are training up their households in wide contrast with their own education.  Some there are
again, who have been born of infidel, or heretical, or
careless, or wicked parentage: and all the various
feelings of contempt and hostility to the gospel,
which might be expected to flow from the miserable
influences that have floated in the atmosphere of
their godless homes, have become intensified by the
distorted images of religion as they have seen it
through the dense vapours of this wicked world.
It is right for us to say that these godless men




FAITH SEEKING FOR THE HEALER.    161
all around our churches will stand utterly inexcusable before the bar of a righteous Judge for their
wicked rejection of the saving truths of the gospel.
We have no wish to apologize for any indolence on
the part of Christians, where they fail to use earnest
and zealous means of acquainting men around them
with the gospel; fail to urge church neglecters to
visit the sanctuary; fail to put the word of God into
the families of the destitute.  Much less would we
excuse the various inconsistencies of men who profess
to be religious; and because of whose folly and
wickedness, the prejudices of ungodly men are
greatly increased.  It is one thing to acknowledge
that the errors and inconsistencies of Christians
may do harm to other men, and that Christians are
greatly to blame for this; it is quite another thing
to justify ungodly men for the offence, which, for
any reason, they take at the gospel.  Make the
errors of Christians, their apathy, their formality,
their indolence, as great as the truth will warrant in
the coldest* and darkest days of religious decline;
and it still remains true, that light enough shines in
the darkest habitations of this land, to render every
soul inexcusable before God for his neglect of the
great salvation.
It is sometimes said of our communities, "We
have heathen enough all around us."  There is
one sense in which these words are not true at all:
and another sense in which they are more than true.
It is not true that any among us are as ignorant
14'




162          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
of the true God as those that dwell in lands of
heathenism. We may find mothers here who destroy
their own offspring: but no man can claim that infanticide among us ever springs, as it does in heathen
lands, from the biddings of religion. This is not a
heathen land in any just sense. We have wicked
ness: but it is not wickedness like theirs. We have
light which men cannot but see. Churches rise in
all this land, and the most ignorant man knows the
purposes for which they are built. Sabbaths dawn
on all this land; and the very men who desecrate
them most, would be confined to their ordinary labours and would not find the time to profane them,
if these days were not different from ordinary days:
and all Sabbath breakers, as well as Sabbath keepers,
know that it is as a religious day that this differs
from other days. Bibles are scattered over all this
land; and the men who read them least, know well
the reputation of the Scriptures, know that the very
reading of them has a tendency to make men religious, and have opportunities enough, at the promptings of curiosity or devotion, to learn what these
teachings are, that prefer claims so high upon man's
attention.  Professors of religion abound in all this
land; and though very many do little to commend
or adorn the gospel, there is a sense in which every
one of them teaches religion to every beholder.
Thousands of men read the lives of their neighbours
who never read the Bible; and three things are well
worthy of our careful notice upon this subject:




FAITH SEEKING FOR THE HEALER.    163
PFirst, The commendations which are sometimes
uttered by the men of the world upon those who
profess to be Christians are usually a suspicious kind
of praise. The world praises Christians in proportion as they abandon the distinctive and more spiritual things of piety, and become conformed to
worldly maxims and practices: they speak of such
as liberal-minded, and not under the influence of
bigotry: and they complain that other Christians
are more strict than these.  Yet it is well to recollect that at the very time that the laxness of such
Christians is praised, their inconsistency is a matter
of ridicule, their religious influence is mischievous,
and the very persons who tempt them to such folly
despise them  in their hearts.  It is shallow praise
which ungodliness bestows upon inconsistent piety.
But, secondly, we may notice that the general current of worldly remark respecting Christians is reproachful.  Sometimes a Christian is so consistent
and useful that all around are forced to confess that
here is a truly good man.  But this man and all
other Christians are subject to reproach more readily
and abundantly than reproach is ever cast upon
others. Men who are not Christians are frequently
commended; men who do not profess religion are
often praised for being as good as Christians, or better; men of many faults are praised for single good
qualities; the world thus loves its own. But if
there be any failing in a Christian, the keen-eyed
world is sure to discern it; even his virtues are




164          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
spoken of with a sneer; the tendency of remark is
to reproach the Christian.  But, thirdly, this very
tendency to reproach Christians is not only a compliment paid to the excellency of Christianity, but a
proof that the world knows what this Christian
ought to be. If Christianity is not better than this
Christian, he cannot be reproached with hypocrisy,
insincerity, or inconsistency, since he is as good as
his principles; and the man, who does not know
enough to make the comparison, is too ignorant to
see the inconsistency.  The very reproaches cast by
ungodly men upon Christian men, are themselves
proof that they are not ignorant of that religion,
which binds them as truly as it does the men they
reproach. Light enough to know what another
man's virtues ought to be, is light enough to reveal
what they themselves should believe and do. And
thus the very prejudices, which ungodly men have
formed against religion, will prove that they sinned
against light, and will justify their condemnation
before a righteous God. If a man should dare to
plead at the judgment, that the evil example of
Christians filled him with prejudices against religion,
the Judge would quickly answer, "Thou hypocrite,
out of thine own mouth will I condemn thee! You
found fault with another man for declining from my
service. Why did you not yourself, what you so
clearly saw he ought to do?"
Around our Christian sanctuaries there is much
ignorance of God, and much prejudice against relig



FAITH SEEKING FOR rHE HEALER.   165
ion, and much responsibility upon those who do
aught to increase these evils in any way. But even
when we say that all this is worse than heathenism,
we say nothing to excuse the wickedness of those
who despise the gospel.  It is likely that there are
souls around us, harder to reach than the heathen
would be.  Many a minister's commission is like
that given to the prophet Ezekiel,'" Surely if I had
sent thee to" a people of a strange language, "they
would have hearkened unto thee." Ezek. iii. 6.
Many a minister's experience is like that of Christ,
who reproached those that heard him  most, and
declared that Sodom would have repented where
Capernaum was hardened. Opposition to God and
truth; indifference to religion; scoffing at sacred
things, may be found in Christian lands, worse than
among the heathen.  In heathen lands every man
is religious; every man offers his prayers; every
man serves the gods.  How great is the wickedness,
which under better teachings allows men to be irreligious, and prayerless, and godless. There is a sense
in which our society exhibits forms of iniquity that
cannot be found in heathen lands: but there is light
enough thrown by the sun of Christianity into the
darkest corners where its beams never directly shine,
to leave inexcusable the guilt of those who perish here
without the gospel. If this Gentile, living outside of
the land of Judea, knew enough of Jesus to address
hini as the Son of David, that name and its power
are not unknown to all the dwellers in Christian lands.




166          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
But we need something else beside the mere shining of this true light to lead men to rejoice in it.
Men must feel their need of healing before their attention is given to the shining reputation of any
healer. Perhaps this woman had dwelt carelessly
in the twilight of truth that spread over this border
land; it may be that even the visit of Jesus had done
little to excite her interest, if it had not been opportunely made in the time of her deep distress.  It is
a frequent thing for the kind providence of God to
awaken the souls of men to a sense of their need of
him, by sending afflictions upon them. So it was
with this woman. Yet this trouble was not upon
her own person; it was upon her young daughter.
As if we were here to learn lessons of deep interest
and profit both for ourselves and for our households.
It is not needful for us to draw the distinct line between the blessings we seek for ourselves, and the
blessings we seek for our families.  Suffice it to say
that no parent can secure a blessing for himself,
who is not desirous that it should come upon his
children; and no parent can plead before God for a
blessing upon his family without himself receiving
one.  Tender and sacred are the ties by which God
has bound together the households of the earth.
Through their children, how many blessings have
come upon parents: and the various necessities of
children have often sent parents to plead before the
Son of David.
We know but little of this woman's household,




FAITH SEEKING FOR TILE HIALER.    167
except just this: she had one afflicted daughter.
Perhaps she was a widow, and had no one to come
and present her case but herself. Perhaps she had
a husband, who had been trained to heathenism like
herself, but had not risen above this; and, it may
be, he scoffed at the idea of applying to the Galilean
prophet.  Whatever may be true of these things, no
woman could be more thrown upon her own resources,
to make her way without human help, than this
woman; and she comes off none the worse from her
important pleading because this was so.  The great
object of her mission is briefly set before us.  Enter
into her house and you may learn her secret.  No
matter what kind of a house it was. Like the
Shunammite, the friend of Elisha, she may have
been a great woman, able to build a prophet's chamber, and to give a prophet lodgings; or she may, like
Elijah's friend, have been reduced to the poverty of
a handful of meal and a little oil.  Little matter
whvether she dwelt in a palace or a cottage; was
clothed in rich or in poor apparel; her's was a
human habitation; and human ills and human fears
and human cares came in to take up their abode
with her. You may enter a th usand abodes in as
many different parts of the wide earth, and find
these griefs and ills, not the exact counterpart of
hers; and yet such as burdened hearts like hers may
carry to that same gracious Son of David, and find
the relief she gained. Perhaps her case is less accurately told, as to its minuter features, just because




168           A WEEiK WITH JESUS.
those it should encourage, resemble it only in the
great facts of necessity and of opportunity to ask
relief of Jesus.  Many a mother, grievously distressed for a young child, pleading for the life of
her darling, has drawn near to Him who alone can
help, and urged her case. What a picture of distress
to bring before us; can our scenes of household wo
go beyond it? a little daughter grievously vexed
with a devil! She did not bring her daughter with
her: she was young.  Or if not too young to bring,
perhaps the case was one where the violence of the
possessing spirit placed the subject beyond the control of her friends.
HIow peculiarly distressing to consider a child
under Satanic power!  Such a case is only comparable to those moral instances, yet more distressing,
where parents see their children going perversely in
the ways of evil; bond-slaves of that same Satan;
in a worse bondage; and his willing captives.  We
have all seen the children of mothers professing
piety, refusing parental control, walking in ways of
dissipation, profanity, impurity, grievously possessed
of the devil; and in a far worse case than any bodily
ailment could ever be. And indeed every unconverted child is a subject of parental prayer, and
should be borne before God with all the earnestness
and anxiety of a persevering importunity.  WVe
weep in anguish over the sick beds of our suffering
children; yet faith bids us know that there is no
malady of the body so dangerous and fatal as that




FAITII SEEKING }FOR TilE IIEALER.    169
disease of sin, which lurks through all the veins, and
which knows no favourable crisis until the soul is
born again to God.  How easily should we know
our chief cause for anxiety!
This woman was deeply in earnest, and this we
see in every part of the narrative.  Perhaps we may
trace it on her approach to him in the house where
he did not design to receive company. Yet we must
not think that there was any rudeness in her coming,
like an intrusion on his privacy.  It was somewhat
so; yet it must not be severely judged according to
thie standard of our western manners: for oriental
customs allow a freedom of access to the house quite
different from our habits.  But the inspired writer
intimates that it was because of her earnestness that
he could not be hid.  The truth is when the soul is
filled with a deep anxiety to secure any object, all
the faculties of the mind are quickened respecting
it.  Men succeed, if success is possible, in those
things on which the mind is bent.  The slightest
hint is more profitable to an attentive and eager
mind, than the plainest thoughts are to a careless
one: and we easily comprehend and secure for ourselves every help put within our reach, to promote a
favourite scheme; and as easily set aside every hincdrance by which we refuse to be stopped.  When a
man is sick of any particular disease, he hears much
of others who have the same affection; and much
of those physicians who are specially skilfiul in such
cases.  Give a man a personal concern in anything;
i5




170           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
let his heart be set upon it; and he learns fast, and
learns under many serious disadvantages.  If this
Gentile woman, living on the borders of Palestine,
had not just then specially needed the help of Jesus,
doubtless she would have been heedless of his presence in the land; and he could have been hid in
that house.
And this after all is the great secret for securing
spiritual blessings, for securing the Divine forgiveness for our sinful souls: to set our hearts upon it.
Men gain worldly honours and worldly wealth by
earnest.and undivided care.  It is said that one of
the Rothschilds was once asked respecting the clerks
in their great banking-houses, whether be did not
sometimnes turn their thoughts to that eternity upon
which they soon must enter. "We never allow them
to think of such things," said he.  "It would entirely incapacitate them  for business."  How true
is it that this world often crowds the next out of the
heart! hIow plain is it that a truly interested heart
is the great necessity: and if men all around us had
this, our sanctuaries would soon be crowded with
earnest pilgrims pressing onwards with their faces
toward Zion.  The men all around us who now seem
so ignorant of Jesus, would find out where he is: he
could not be hid from them; they would press into
the house and fall down at his feet.  The men who
are now careless of the preaching of the gospel
would hear the words of life in the feeblest discourses
of a faithful pastor; and learn more in an hour than




FAITH SEEKING FOR THIE HEALER.    171
they can with a careless ear in a lifetime. The men
who spend so much breath in cavils against others,
would look at home, and be only too glad that they
may find pardon in Christ for the chief of sinners.
What men need to lead them to salvation is not new
or more lively teachings, nor new faculties, nor new
powers of discerning truth, nor new opportunities
of doing their duty, nor new companions around
them. Let the heart be set on these great things.
So far as the operations of our minds are concerned,
scarcely anything is of more importance than a fixed
purpose, which not only cannot be shaken by difficulties, but which turns obstacles into stepping-stones
of advance. If such a man has not full light upon
his path, he yet has enough to show him where he
may find more. This woman heard of Jesus; and
as to the place of his present retirement, from her
he could not be hid. And does not the ancient
promise run so: "And ye shall seek me and find
me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart?"
Je;. xxix. 13. How many fair promises have men
made to themselves and to God for a future repentance that have not found their fulfilment, and are
not likely to find it; because the heart is less interestcd than ever in the things of salvation. Not for
wa nt of privileges, opportunities, light, do men perishl in our land and times.  Men love darkness
ra ther than light: the god of this world has blinded
t} air eyes: the gospel is hid to them that are lost.
5 it the word of life is not afar off.  It is not in the




172          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
depths: they need not descend. It is not in heaven:
they need not go up. Jesus cannot be hid, if an
earnest soul will find him. His own words are,
"Ask and ye shall receive; seek and ye shall find;
knock and it shall be opened." The blessing may
not at once be given; it was not to this woman; but
the reasons for his delay are wise; and they are not
found in Christ's unwillingness to bless.  He may
test our faith and patience and perseverance; but he
that endureth to the end shall find the reward the
larger.




FAITH SEVERELY TESTED.          173
CHAPTER XIII..FAITH SEVERELY TESTED.
"But he answered her not a word."
BUT for the trouble that befel her daughter, we
might never have heard of this Gentile woman.
Why should we be so much afraid of sorrow?. Wisdom tells us that the best lessons of life are learned
when the head is bowed down. There are lessons
of penitence and prayer and submission and faithindeed there are lessons of thankfulness and hope,
that can be learned only when the spirit is softened,
and we wait meekly on God. And next to the
actual experience of suffering ourselves, sympathy
with those who are in any distress has a tendency
to subdue our hearts, and to impress upon us salutary lessons. Let this humble woman teach us how
to pray, as well as whom to approach: and let us
adopt her short and direct petition in our times of
need, "Lord, help me!" In our griefs we know
how to seek human help: let us, above all, seek
Divine mercy; which is more needed, may more
certainly be found, and is more effectual.  It is
proper enough to seek human counsel and aid; it is
eminently proper to pray. Indeed we should not
15 *




174           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
wait till trouble comes upon us before we begin our
trust in God: for it is only in our folly and perverseness that sorrows are God's rods to drive us to
his throne.  If we will but yield to his drawings, it
is equally true that the goodness of God leads us to
repentance. This is its design; and, upon wise
hearts, its tendency.  "Trust in him  at all times,
ye people pour out your hearts before him."  But
specially let us consider our spiritual necessities to
drive us near to God.  With these, men around us
may have but little sympathy; for these, they may
have no relief: therefore for them must we approach
the Son of David. And not because they have no
occasion, do so many refuse to seek him. As it is
in some bodily diseases, so is it in the disease of the
soul.  Men refuse to believe their danger.  Their
worst symptoms are looked upon with a flattering
eye. The fatal hectic flush upon the cheek, the eye
brightening with the lustre of its last fires, the freedom from racking pains, are looked upon as indications of recruiting strength, when life is like a dying
candle that starts up to unwonted brightness once
or twice more before it is gone.  Deceitful as these
things are, they equal not the deceit of sin.  "The
heart is deceitful above all t/hings."  Many a soul
needs redeeming help all the more, because of the
self-flattery which prevents him from recognizing
his true condition.  Let us consider, in the light of
God's holy word, our spiritual necessities; let us
own that to be a sinner unreconciled to God is a




FAITH SEVERELY TESTED.          175
more dangerous and fatal thing than any malady
of the body: let us for our own souls, and for the
heavy afflictions of those that are near and dear to
us, seek the presence of Jesus, and pray with the
woman of Canaan, "Lord, help!"
And as we consider her pleading, and now especially, the disadvantages under which she successfully
approached our Lord, let us learn to come boldly,
and believingly to the throne of grace.  Let the
lesson be even the more impressive from the humble
place she held. If the land of Israel had seen the
high priest at Jerusalem, who was learned in Jewish
law, come and bow down before Jesus, and own him
as the Messiah, how would multitudes have gazed
in wonder. Yet Christ teaches all generations since,
the great principles of his gospel, and lays them
open to the acceptance of the humblest and the most
dejected, by presenting the case of this Gentile
woman. No sinner ever had more to discourage his
application for mercy than this woman had; no sinner ought ever to give up his pleadings in despair,
after seeing her success and the commendation of
Christ; no sinner in a land where the gospel is
preached, can find any valid excuse for his ignorance
and impenitence, when we learn that Christ could
not be hid from her. In every view of the case our
encouragements are in contrast with her disadvantages.
It is difficult for us to realize the disadvantages
under which this woman laboured as she came before




176           A WEEK WITHI JESUS.
Jesus: these are either presented in the narrative,
or may be gathered from the circumstances of the
case.  Many of them are still felt as deep discouragements on the part of penitents who seek for
mercy; yet the fact that so many serious obstacles
united to deter her, and that she secured the blessing in spite of them all, should forbid any soul that
has an errand to Jesus to go empty from his presence. Let us come with confidence in him alone;
and then the want of other encouragements will
not affect the successful issue.
This woman had no invitation to come to Jesus.
She belonged to a Gentile race, and, as he told her
afterwards, he was not sent to such.  Before
this, indeed, our Lord had blessed one believing
Gentile: but Jewish friends had plead on behalf of
the Roman centurion; and it is not likely that she
had ever heard of his case to encourage her application. Not a single precedent led her to judge
that she would find acceptance; not a single promise
encouraged her to draw near: her visit was a new
interruption of the privacy which he came so far
to seek. How many troubled souls are now dejected
by thoughts which would have been true in her
case; which can be no more true in any other; and
which, in their fullest force, should not hinder us,
since they did not interfere with her success.  She
came )without an invitation; and we often fear that
the invitations of the word are not addressed to us.
They seem to be. Every variety of language is




FAITHI SEVERELY TESTED.          177
used to reach us, if trouble was not sometimes perverse in refusing to receive comfort.  The Saviour
says now and in our ears, " Come unto me all ye
that labour and are heavy-laden: Ho, every one
that thirsteth; he that believeth shall be saved."
And lest we should not come, because we judge that
we are not burdened or thirsty or believing, he
uses terms we cannot escape; addresses his gospel
to every creature; declares that he will cast out
none that come, for any reason; and urges whosoever will to come.  And even if we fear to appropriate any possible call he makes upon us, our case
can be no worse than hers. A stranger, to all
appearance  unwelcome, certainly  uninvited, she
pressed to the Saviour's feet, the first, so far as she
knew, to venture thus.  But the precedents have
multiplied since her day.  She found all she sought;
and thousands since her time, alone, unfriended,
with all their fears have gone to Jesus empty, and
returned full. We cannot make our case worse than
hers. In reality it is incomparably more favourable. The gospel is full of promises, and history is
full of examples to encourage our approach.
This uninvited woman was a stranger. Troubled
souls often say within themselves, "If I was only a
child of God, with what boldness would I approach
the throne of grace; how patiently would I await an
answer; how would I be assured of success."  Men
make themselves greatly unhappy by searching
thllrough their hearts to see whether they have faith




17j 8        A WEEK WITH JESUS.
to pray; instead of thinking nothing about that,
but, which is infinitely more natural, just as this
woman did, coming directly to God with their humble cry. It is only a day or two since I received a
letter from an unhappy sinner, complaining that he
was unfit to pray; and that God would not hear
such an one pray. Just as if prayer ever was the
appeal of merit; as if even a child of God would
dare to plead for his own sake, and not rather
through the Divine mercy; as if our unworthiness
did not make up the chief element of that necessity
that drives us to Jesus.  Let us not talk about our
rights, nor think about our rights, when we would
come to ask for mercies. Let us not be afraid to
hope or pray, because we have no sense of acceptance: but let our errand fill our hearts; and let us
press, as she did, into his presence.  She did not
feel that she was a child of God; and our fears that
we are not, should not forbid us to pray.
The only encouragements this woman had, were
drawn from the reputation of the wonderful prophet
whom  she now approached.  She knew that the
power to heal her unhappy daughter lay nowhere
else; she believed that he had the power to heal;
she believed that his benevolence would relieve.
These were the prevailing thoughts in all this persevering prayer. Yet compared with the privileges
of others, perhaps she had but little evidence to
support her faith. It is likely she had never seen
him perform a single miracle; but she had heard of
------ 1 —-~ —--  -  ~~in




FAITHI SEVERELY TESTED.         179
what he had done. She may never have heard a
discourse from his lips; but she had heard of his
claims as the Son of David.  She had not learned
to pray by listening to others; but she came to pray
for herself. How little light, how little learning may
guide a soul to salvation; yet how many are in
darkness while the light shines all around! How
many wander away and perish, who despise the
guidings of wisdom!  Sometimes we hear of souls
converted by scattered tracts and Bibles in destitute
places, where there is neither preacher nor sanctuary; sometimes we hear of a heathen cherishing
with joy the salvation of Christ as told in the first
sermon he ever heard; sometimes a degraded sinner,
trained to wretchedness and sin, comes forth from
his filthiness-like the man from whom the devils
were cast out-to sit at the feet of Jesus, clothed
and in his right mind. How this precious gospel
achieves its triumphs under the most disadvantageous
circumstances! An aged and ignorant negro in the
West Indies came regularly some distance to a missionary to learn to read. But he made very slow
progress; his teacher was disheartened, thought it
was lost labour, and intimated to the old man that he
had better give it up. "No, massa," was the reply,
"me never give it over till me die."  And pointing
to John iii. 16, "God so loved the world," &c., he
added emphatically, " It is worth all de labour to be
able to read dat one single verse."*  What a con-'! Foreign Missionary, xvii. 167.




180          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
trast there is between cases like these, and the privileges enjoyed by those who sit regularly in the
sanctuary, and who all their lives have heard of
Jesus. If the soul may be saved where the light is
very dim, the evidences of religion feeble, and the
privileges few; yet souls may be lost in the full
blaze of the gospel.  We ought to ponder the words
of Christ to the men around him, " M[any shall come
from the heathen world on every side, and sit dowin
in the kingdom of glory, while the children of the
kingdom shall be thrust out." All the teachings of
the Sacred Scriptures bid us beware of boasting,
pride, or presumption; while they encourage us to
the most earnest and persevering efforts of prayer
and faith. Blessed are our privileges, if we rightly
use them! The more we know of Christ the better,
if we trust and love him more because we know him.
And even if our early disadvantages were great, and
our present discouragements great; if we never
heard until now of this Saviour of sinners, let us
imitate this woman, and use her pleadings for our
necessities, "Have mercy on me, 0 Lord, thou Son
of David."
But from  considering the disadvantages which
may have embarrassed her before she came at all, let
us consider the difficulties she actually encountered
when she had made her way into his presence. Her
whole soul wrapped up in the great importance of her
errand, she has thought little of the obstacles thus
far: and now she stands in the presence of that




FAITH SEVERELY TESTED.           181
great Prophet, whose fame had outgone Judea and
come to foreign ears.  She casts herself at his feet
and pours out her complaint with a mother's feeling
heart. And yet how different is her reception from
her ardent anticipations! We are as much surprised
as she at our Lord's conduct: indeed, we could not
possibly explain it, if we had not the issue before
us.  This she did not have, and we never have it,
when we come before his throne with our own pleadings.  Hers is a remarkable case.  It is the first
example in the history of our Lord, where he even
seemed to hesitate to relieve the necessities of any
that came to him. Usually he readily heard and
answered those who came; sometimes he wrought
unasked the favours that were nee(led; sometimes
be delayed long enough to inquire whether the applicants believed he could do the thing; and then
gave according to their faith.  Here is more than
ordinary hesitation, here is the only refusal on record;
and by the time we are done with it, we will find
that this is no refusal, but a temporary and benevolent testing of this woman's faith. But how is she
to know this?  Why is she not to believe that the
reports she had heard of him are untrue, and that
she has mistaken, if not the power, yet the grace of
Jesus?  She stands before him.  She has heard
what he can do; what he has done; she tells her case;
and receives her first repulse.  His lips are sealed
to her request; he answered her never a word.
When we make any request of a fiiend, per16




182           A WEEKR WTITH JESUS.
haps silence is more embarrassing than an actual
refusal. And silence is peculiarly distressing and
painful when our hearts are full of grief and trouble.
It is in the very nature of grief to seek for sympathy; yet it is too sensitive to demand it.  Those
attentions which must be sought after and asked
for, in a time of affliction, we hardly wish to receive;
while our hearts go out in all their warm  affection
to the spontaneous offer of help in a time of sorrow.
The test to which our Lord put this poor woman
seems wonderfully strange in him; and must be
recorded thus for some purpose of more than ordinary instruction.  There she stood in all her grief:
how much she felt his silence: how fast her thoughts
flew out to remember that she was there an uninvited and intruding stranger: but flew off also to
that afflicted chamber where the suffering image of
her daughter bade the mother plead still with the
POWER to save! And through these anxious moments not a word escaped him.  We have had an
experience of something like this, too.  Many a
prayer poured out before God has seemed as utterly
lost as the first requests of this Gentile woman.
Ile answers us never a word.  The case seems, not
only discouraging, but hopeless. We write bitter
things against ourselves.  We are tempted to complain of the Divine dealings.  We have heard of
others to whom his mercy came as soon as asked;
we have heard of those whom he has arrested in
ways of folly and blessed with richest grace when




FAITH SEVERELY TESTED.           183
they asked not after him; and now that he should
refuse, or even delay, to hear our earnest cry, is
enough almost to close our lips of entreaty and to
drive us away from the place of the suppliant. Yet
his dealing with us, as he dealt with her should not
drive us from the mercy-seat.  She did not leave
him.  And if we feel our need, helplessness, and
unworthiness as she did; if we have her persuasion
of his power and grace, we will not so easily give
the matter up. After all, silence is not refusal. It
may embarrass us, and make us fear; bhut it is not
the decision of the case against us.
His silence does not seem to have stopped her
praying at all. She still kept on her pleading; and
this leads on to a second repulse of increasing discouragement.  This change takes place, that our
Lord's disciples speak up. We hardly know how
to interpret, either their spirit or their request.
Their interference seems rather the result of impatience and petulance than through any sympathy
with her distress, or any benevolent desire for her
relief. If they help her any, it is little to their
credit; they simply express their own wish not to
be longer troubled.  Many a deed goes under the
name of charity that deserves no such title.  If we
give to a beggar simply that we may get rid of his
troublesomeness, our charity stands on a level with
the justice of the judge who said, "Because this
widow troubleth me I will avenge her."  The disciples wished not this woman to cry after them,




184          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
There are two ways in which we can understand the
words they addressed to Christ. But in either
sense the result would be her deeper discouragement;
and any ordinary pleader after this would give the
matter up.  Suppose they meant,' Send her away
with her prayer unanswered."  This would be to
enlist the disciples against her.  She would feel
that this made her case more doubtful.  We must
remember that these disciples, though far inferior to
their Master, yet shared somewhat of his reputation;
they were held in high esteem; indeed, they had
already been sent forth where he was not, to preach
the gospel and to work miracles in his name; and it
was natural to judge that they would have much
influence with him.  If then these good men had
sympathized with her; had joined in urging her
request, she would have felt greatly strengthened.
But how disheartening to see that they took no
interest in her case; that they petulantly complained
of her troubling them; and that they even used their
influence to have her sent away.
But there is a more favourable view of the disciples' words. Yet this, on the whole, rather increases
than diminishes the woman's discouragement. Suppose we understand them to say, "' Grant her request,
and send her away." The other would not be unlikely. For these disciples had never learned, as
yet, to show much sympathy for the Gentiles. Yet
we may give the more favourable judgment, and
believe that they plead for her. For they had never




FAITH SEVERELY TESTED.           185
known him refuse before, not even to a Gentile: and
the answer which our Lord gives seems more intelligible, if they plead on her behalf. "I cannot grant
her request: for I am not sent but to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel."  Why should she cry any
longer?  He will not hear his own disciples in a
case like this!
But she felt an urgency in the case that will
admit of no rebuffs.  There remained still the great
necessity that had brought her before Jesus: the
image of her beloved and suffering child still rose
before the mother's eye; and for her relief, the
mother's heart told her, no power could avail hut
the power of this great Deliverer. To whom could
she go?  This is her only hope.  Desperate cases
demand desperate exertions; and those who supplicate for undeserved mercy, which they cannot
afford to do without, are justified in the utmost
boldness of approach to him who alone capn help.
She felt sure there was nothing to be gained by
yielding to despondency.  If she gave the matter
up, her daughter would not be healed.
Now we ought to feel that there is a wide difference in our favour, as we compare the pleadings of
this humble female for this blessing, and the prayers
wve are allowed to offer in the name of Jesus.  We
have a far better knowledge of Christ, his power,
his grace and his methods of relief, than she could
have.  And now he is sent to the Gentiles, and we
may reasonably expect the progress of his gospel on
16




186          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
every hand. And there is encouragement for us in
the very nature of the blessings we seek; for the
soul, rather than the body. There is not a single
instance recorded in the gospels, where application
was made to him for healing power, and the person
departed without the blessing; and yet we do not
know that he sent out public invitations authorizing
the sick to come; or that he ever promised to heal
those that did come. Every miracle of healing was
spontaneous; they brought their sick to him, because
he could heal them, and not because he had promised
to do so: and how readily they brought them, and
how sometimes the streets were thronged with the
suffering, let the gospel narratives testify. But how
blind and stupid are men in spiritual things. Christ
is as able and more ready to heal souls than bodies.
Touching these, he has sent forth his invitations, he
has recorded his promises, and faith should believe
that he will receive all who come to him. We are
called, as she was not; we have promises, as she had
not; we even may understand the very trying of our
faith, as she could not.
We may know something of our own temper by
the effect produced upon us when God seems not to
answer prayer.  Mere natural feeling soon gives
over; faith becomes more earnest and importunate.
The blessing seems more important, when it is not
easily had; and the soul presses nearer to God.
Indeed God designs to draw the soul nearer by these
dealings.  Let us keep saying to ourselves, Delay




FAITIH SEVERELY TESTED.        187
is not denial. It may mean a larger blessing. So
the very church says of her Beloved, "I sought him
but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave
me no answer."  And the patriarch complains,
"Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I
might come even to his seat!" Let us be only the
more earnest, the longer he delays. He means
righteousness and love in all his dealings with penitent souls. And if we set a proper estimate upon
the salvation of the soul, and come before God to
plead for it, what have we to gain by discouragement
or despair? Among the worst things we can do, is
to say, "Why should I wait for the Lord any
longer?"




188          A WEEK WITH JESTTS,
CHAPTER XIV.
FAi4TH  EARNEST AND PERSEVERING.
"Truth, Lord! yet the dogs eat of the crumbs."
WE left the Syropheenician woman in the midst
of her pleadings, and thus far she seems to have
gained but little from her approach to the Son of
David. But let us stand near her and the Master
to treasure up every expression, that we may use
her importunity and perseverance in some hour of
our own tearful coming before Jesus. The gathering difficulties about her, seem only the more thoroughly to awaken all her earnest energies, that she
may secure the great boon she asks. Though repulsed, first by the silence of Jesus, and next by the
disheartening answer he gave when the disciples
interposed, she thinks not of turning away from her
only hope.  And yet the thing for which she plead
was but a blessing for the present life.  The deliverance of her daughter could but be her restoration
to health; and this might be quite separate from
any saving and spiritual benefit to the soul. She
teaches us that true grace may be exercised in
respect to temporal mercies; indeed that all our
household affairs may minister to our piety, give




FAITH EARNEST AND PERSEVERING.   189
tone to our devotions, and be the means of calling
forth our faith: and that He who bids us pray for our
daily bread, allows us to include in this prayer every
mercy of health and soundness and protection that
our children need.  She teaches us moreover that
still more importunate pleadings should characterize
us in asking spiritual blessings.  She becomes more
anxious and more earnest as new difficulties rise,
though her immediate object is the temporal relief
of her child.  Surely we should be solicitous and
importunate when we ask the soul's salvation.
She increases her importunity as she goes on.
She does not seem like one who says in her heart,
"I will make one more effort, and if that does not
succeed I will try no more." There is not a symptom of impatience; no betrayal of a single thought
that she was harshly treated; no half-retiring, as
if she had said all she knew how to say. Sinful
men now often say, "I have prayed; it is vain to
try again." They go further off, and plead more
coldly, and are less in earnest every time they have
no answer. This is not her example. She gets
closer to that silent Lord; gives him more devout
homage than before; and when she gets him to say
anything, admits the truth of his every word; but
turns everything into a plea to further her suit. He
has just rejected her as one that belonged not to the
house of Israel; and now she comes as near that
character as a Gentile yet could dare.  She comes
before him with an act of solemn worship.  She fell




190          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
at his feet; she worshipped him. He had spoken
of himself as one that was sent, she gave a far
higher place to the Son of David: she called him
Lord; she invoked his help as one able to render it.
On other occasions, our Lord rejected the proffered
homage of men, when the inward feeling did not
correspond with the outward act, Matt. xix. 17; but
he received homage from those who recognized his
divinity. So we may rightly judge that her faith
reached forth to the superior character of Christ.
But the severest repulse of all answers her increasing earnestness.  She has at last forced him  to
break the silence; but his words are worse than
silence. The Master speaks in terms of harshness
such as we would not expect upon the lips of that
meek and lowly man. He even seems to adopt the
deepest prejudices of the Jewish people against the
Gentiles; and to give utterance to the most opprobrious reproaches. Even among us, to call any one
a dog is insulting and reproachful; but it is still
worse in oriental than in western climes.  It has
been remarked as a singular fact that though the
Bible often speaks of the dog, it makes no reference
whatever to the useful and valuable qualities of that
animal.  We domesticate the dog, feed him, caress
him, keep him about us, as they do not; and our
ideas of the dog, and the attachments we form for
him are quite different from oriental thoughts.  We
read indeed of the use of the dog by their shepherds;
but even then it is a wild cur, and not to be conm



FAITII EARNEST AND PERSEVERING.   191
pared with what we would call a shepherd's dog.
So a modern traveller in Palestine writes thus:
"Who ever saw a dog, in the east, within a house
or tent?  If not always without the walls of the
city, they are always outside of the dwellings-a
wandering race of prowlers whom no man owns,
whom no man feeds, and for whom no man cares."*
So we read of them in the Bible, as they may be
seen now in eastern cities, finding their own food,
tearing the carcass of Jezebel in the open street,
licking the sores of the beggar at the rich man's
gate, unclean animals, everywhere held in contempt.
By this term of reproach, as the strongest they
could find, the Jews expressed their contempt for
the Gentiles; and, copying their prejudices, the
Mohammedans still use it towards all unbelievers in
their prophet.
If we can imagine ourselves standing by and witnessing this scene; if we retain our ideas of the
boundless compassion of Jesus; if we even fearafter what he has just said of his personal mission
to Israel-that he will not grant relief to this Gentile; yet these words seem needlessly harsh upon
the Saviour's lips: "It is not meet to take the
children's bread and to cast it to the dogs."  If in
our sympathy for her, we could wish the opportunity
to join in helping her to plead, we would think it
useless after this.  The case is decided.  Here is
not only a rejection from mercy for her daughter
Bona r's Desert of Sinai, 26.




192          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
and from all hope of it: but it is a rejection couched
in reproachful and unkindly terms.  Now she may
give it up.  Certainly many in her circumstances
would have turned away, not only hopeless of any
benefit, but indignant at the manner of his refusal.
But not a thought of this kind seems to belong
to her.  The very knowledge that she had no claim
but misery, seals her lips from  any complainings;
and her misery sees no help in the despair of turning away. She cannot gainsay his words. "Truth,
Lord."  "I am not a child: I do not present myself as such."  She does not expect relief by denying her true position; by opposing the truth of his
declarations.  But see the ready tact of an earnest
and believing heart to turn every difficulty into an
animating motive, every obstacle into a steppingstone to help her forward.  "Truth, Lord; I am a
dog: but even the dogs get the crumbs "  What a
humility and a faith are here.  She makes no complaint of those mysterious divine dispensations that
make so many inequalities all around us; that place
one man in favourable and another in less favourablQ circumstances; that allow one to be a child of
the covenant, trained to Israel's teachings, and
another a Gentile dog, in Pagan ignorance. Recognizing the supremacy of God and the propriety
of all his orderings; yet she pleads that she too is a
creature of his hand and the recipient of his bounty;
she tacitly says that the Lord is good to all, and
his tender mercies are over all his works; and she




FAITH EARNEST AND PERSEVERING.   193
humbly pleads that though she is a dog beneath the
table which the Most High spreads for his children,
yet even the dogs are fed.  This is the keen vision
and the holy logic of an earnest faith.
We have been attending the footsteps of Jesus.
We have witnessed his deeds; have heard his gracious words, and are ready to say, "Never man spake
like this man." But here is a sight worth visiting
Palestine to see.  The Scribes and Pharisees could
not answer his pleadings; but here a Gentile woman
fills her mouth with arguments, enters into the controversy with him, turns his own weapons against
him, and gains the victory over him in the use of his
own words. " With what joy did the blessed Teacher
see himself foiled in that high argument! how gladly
did he yield the victory to that invincible faith!"*
And we, as we look on, may be reminded of the
memorable wrestling of Jacob, when, though helpless
and disabled, he would not let the angel go without
a blessing.  But this woman's plea is more wonderful than that; for we may expect faith in a grandson of Abraham such as we look not for in a Gentile. After this, let us never wonder again at any
triumphs of faith. And the humblest need not fear
to approach the throne of grace, where this success
was gained.
But we must not allow our thoughts to dwell
upon this scene, without turning them also to those
great spiritual lessons that are tauglht us here; and
-Archer Butler's Sermons, i. 194.
]7




194          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
for the sake of which chiefly these records are made.
The Lord, to whom this woman came, had power on
earth over the maladies of humanity; but he is
chiefly known to us in a higher character; the Lord
of souls and the Saviour of sinners. This woman is
a representative character: and here, as in other
parts of the Scriptures, a case is selected that seems
to combine in a single view, such teachings as are best
adapted to all those who would know the grace of
Christ, the methods by which we must seek it, and
the encouragements that bid us draw near. If we
take the entire case in view, and make a comparison
between this woman and the suppliant sinner, who
asks before God for sin's forgiveness and the soul's
salvation, we may learn the great principles of acceptable approach. Let sinners learn of her. Can
any sinful man, in the most disheartening view of his
case, have just reason to despair of the Divine mercy
after reading of her success? Do we fear oftentimes that none of the rich promises of the gospel
refer to us; that the believing children of God may
lay hold upon these with confidence, but that we
have no claim and may indulge no hope; that Christ
was sent for others and not for us, and that therefore all our pleadings must be vain? Even supposing that all these things seem true, let her teach
us lessons of faith that will not deny these unfavourable appearances, but will find the blessing still.
in the worst view, we are no worse off than she was;
and our darkness is not worse than hers. She could




FAITH EARNEST AND PERSEVERING.   195
not know the result: only she had earnest faith to
press on.  She came into his presence uninvited
and with every indication of being unwelcome; she
plead without a promise and without a precedent;
she bore his silence; she even heard him assign a
reason why he could not help her: she felt all the
chilling influence to which a warm  and suffering
heart is so sensitive, in the want of sympathy around
her; she bore his harsh term of reproach that seemed
to add a sting to her rejection; and then gained her
triumph by trampling all these hindrances and discouragements under her feet, while she asked for a
crumb.  We, who know Jesus and his methods of
grace so much better than she, should learn here,
never to become disheartened. Are our prayers
not answered; does God keep silence; does he seem
to refuse; and do we incline to cease our anxious supplications? How much better to learn of
her and to grow more earnest as the case seems more
desperate!  Indeed as our case is more important than hers, our reasons for copying her faith are
correspondingly greater!  Did she so plead for a
daughter's bodily health, and shall we be less concerned when the souls of our children, or our own
souls are the objects that send us to the mercy-seat?
And if we justly think that our great sinfulness is
our chief discouragement; if we fear that Divine
mercy will not listen to pleadings such as ours; yet
is it true that the necessities of our sinfulness may
give an urgency to our pleadings infinitely beyond




196          A WEEK WITII JESUS.
any prayer for earthly blessings; that eternal and
infinite importance justifies the utmost boldness,
solicitude, and importunity; and that we cannot
afford to admit the thought of refusal or failure.
In Christ alone can the sinful have any hope; in
him, since her time, thousands as wretched and
hopeless have found mercy; by this Jesus wonders
of grace have been shown; in his dealings, delay,
and even apparent rejection do not mean refusal;
and the last breath of life would be wisely spentshould he delay that long his gracious approval-in
calling for his mercy.
Should even the repulse of this woman reach our
ears; should we be spurned from the footstool of
mercy as a dog unworthy of the children's bread;
even a dog's place is not hopeless, after her.  Let
us close our lips from all murmuring and complaint;
acknowledge our unfitness for a child's place; but
plead still that any portion from the table of God's
grace is better provision than a sinful and perishing
world can give.  We assume what is not ours, when
wie speak of rights, and lay a claim upon mercy.
We may ask large blessings; the word and the
character of God encourage us to this; but all upon
the footing of grace.  Sinners, asking salvation,
have no claims; should be impatient under no
delays; and should indulge in no murmurings in
any refusal to hear them. And if his word declares
our sins; if our conscience reproaches us with our
unworthiness; if every plea seems cut off; yet these




FAITH EARNEST AND PERSEVERING.   197
thoughts are true, that the more completely miserable, wretched and sinful we are, the less are we
able to bear our load of guilt and to look forward
to eternity; the less can we afford to take offence at
the teachings or dealings of Iim, in whom alone we
have hope; and the greater wisdom there is in
pleading more humbly and more importunately for
the blessing.
And not from her case only, but from others in
the Bible, and from the experience of pardoned
souls, let supplicants for God's mercy learn not to
take counsel of their fears, nor to judge of him by
apparent refusals.  God said to Jacob, "Let me
go," and yet gave him  the blessing.  I-e said to
Moses, "Let me alone that I may consume this
people," and yet heard his prayer to spare them.
Prayer may be offered against the most threatening
appearances; indeed we may be nearest the rich
display of mercy when we seem furthest from it:
and the dark hour may just precede the dawn.
God leads us to mercy through the gloom; and we
relish the blessing better and magnify the mercy
more for these impressive lessons. Let us walk by
faith and not by sight; let us judge, when it grows
so dark, the dawn must be near; let us against hope
believe in hope. So Abraham's watchword may be
ours: Jehovah jireh-the Lord will provide.
"Just in the last distressing hour
The Lord displays delivering power;
The mount of danger is the place
Where we shall see surprising grace."
17 -




198          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
She teaches us how entirely consistent to dwell
together in the same heart, are the deepest humility
and the strongest faith.  Had she not been humble
she would have taken offence at his reproaches; had
she not been of firm confidence in the Saviour's
power and grace, she would have thought all further
application vain; had not her whole soul been filled
with a sense of her helplessness and need, and bent
upon securing her end, she would not so readily have
turned the very refusal itself into a plea of still
stronger prevalence to gain her prayer.  He calls
her a dog; and submission meekly says, "Yes, it is
so."  He refuses her the bread that belongs to the
children and she acquiesces; but modestly reminds
him that he is her Master; that the table of his
bounty is well supplied; and that the scraps and
crumbs of the same food are given even to the dogs.
Here is an importunity; here a tact in turning
every discouragement into a motive for earnest
pursuit; here a confidence in Him upon which it is
the glory of the Redeemer to grant his blessing.
Her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
She turned from  him and went home to embrace
her beloved one. Faith and humility like hers never
came before Jesus and went empty away.
Let it be carefully noted that she reached her
success, because she was willing to stand just where
the word of Jesus placed her.  She was not a child,
she acknowledged; and she made no complaint of
this; but eagerly asked the crumbs. So the prodi



IFAITII EARNEST AND PERSEVERING.   199
gal son, when he thought of coming back to his
father's house, intended to ask a place among the
hired s&rvants.  It is certainly not by the indulgence of pride or impatience or murmuring, that a
sinful soul shows a prayerful spirit, or gets any
nearer that great blessing which Christ alone can
bestow. Indeed if we do not justify God's word in all
it says of us; if we do not confess our sins with
the humility it enjoins; if we do not forsako them
with the sincerity which God requires, and magnify the letter and spirit of his holy law, it is useless and unreasonable to approach the throne of
grace. For God to bless a murmuring, proud,
impatient soul, in the very indulgence of such a
temper against his law or his providence, would be
to dishonour himself.  But when we justify him  in
everything; when we confess with David, "Against
thee, thee only have I sinned;" i. e. all the sin is
on my side; when we acknowledge that the sin,
\wri:g, unworthiness all blelong to us, we glorify his
name, his law and his gospel, and stand on ground
where we may hope for a blessing.  The man that
pleads with God must be no murmurer at anything;
must stand where the law places him; and wait as
long as Providence delays; and plead on the terms
of the gospel for mercy undeserved. And if a man
has just impressions of his guilt and helplessness
and of God's justice and grace, he will pray in this
position, an humble supplicant for mercy.
It has been remarked that only upon two occa



200           A WEEK  TIT'l  JESUS.
sions did our Lord commend the faith of his hearers'
and both the persons were Gentiles.  The strength
of their faith seemed more remarkable, because
found in persons where it was not looked for. To
find a true and strong faith in an Israelite who had
known the prophets from his childhood, ought not
to have appeared strange.  But there is much more
in what is said of this woman than a commendation
of unlooked-for faith.  The wonderful strength of
her faith was shown by its triumphs over formidable
dliflculties.  We do her injustice, and we fail to
reap the benefits we should from her, if we suppose
that she felt no discouraoements and knew no misgivings, as she pressed e.arnestly on after the blessing.
Religion-we have said before-is of supervzattural
origin, but not of unnlatural operation.  No doubt
she felt, and keenly felt, all the disadvantages of
her position as a Gentile, of her uninvited presence,
of her unencouraged prayer.  She felt, and  the.meant sihe shou1zldc feel, the disheartening influence
of his silence, his refiusal, his reproach; and the
more deeply she felt and the humbler her prayer,
the stronger is the proof of faith in one who would
not be turned away, even by these things.  The
strength of faith is not shown by the absence of
fears and anxieties, but by our pressing on in spite
of their worst power.  The truly brave man is not
reckless.  Hle does not go forward by a mere
impulse that refuses to see danger; but he uses a
wise caution that sees danger, realizes its greatness,




FAITTI EAR.NEST AND PERSEVERING.   201
even fears it; but still in the pathway of duty
calmly moves forward to meet it.  True faith is not
presumptuous. bute the believer sees his unworthiness, mourns over his condition, fears that lhe Master will not receive him, and yet in spite of fears
and darkness and a thousand misgivings looks up
humbly to him  who alone has the power and the
grace to save.  When we see in her that discouragements and delays were but to try her faith; that
perseverance itself is victory, there seems no room
left for unbelief.  Darkness, sin, and trouble, fears,
delays, and discouragements in their worst forms,
do but prove the urgency of our case; and afford
the opportunity for faith's success, in our patient
waiting through them all.
And let us not fail to notice that the blessing is
richer after so hard a trial of her faith.  Many a
one gets a blessing far more easily than she did.
Some ask and receive at once.  He does not keep
them waiting.  HIe does not thwart them  at every
step.  lBut we-who can stand and look on; who
can see through the whole case; and think that his
special erraind to these coasts wtas to meet her; and
believe that his heart yearned to do her good all the
time; and consider that here is an example to encour age sinners in all ages -we may esteem her case
as enviable.  "Would you not rather be this poor
Cainaanite woman, hoping against hope, struggling
up into the presence of Christ, lying at his feet,
and having faith enough to turn his repulse into an




202          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
argument, and aim it back at his own heart-would
you not rather be this poor creature, and have her
experience, than to be the Roman centurion, answered almost before he began to ask?"* Christ
was only trying this woman. There was something
in his heart towards her, which she could not read
in his silence or in his words; but he sympathized
with that mother when he seemed to act so strangely.
And we may misunderstand our Lord, but after
such a lesson as this, we should never distrust him.
Happy woman of Canaan to hear those words of
love and admiration.  Great is thy faith; be it unto
thee even as thou wilt.  Happy mother! Go home
to thy daughter, so renewedly now thy debtor.
Happy any mother that pleads so for her loved
ones.  Happy any sinner who so pleads for his own
soul!  The voice of pious experience has often said
that, "One Christian well tried is worth ten thousand." And inspired wisdom declares that the trial
of faith is much more precious than of gold that
perisheth.
* Spencer's Sermons, i. 245.




FAITH TRIUMPHANT AND COMMENDED.  203
CHAPTER XV.
FAITH T RIU.MPHANT AND COMIMENDED.
"0  woman! great is thy faith!"
LONG as we have already delayed to reflect upon
the interview of our Lord with the believing woman
on the coasts of Canaan, we should scarcely be willing to leave the subject without some reflections
upon the commendation he pronounced upon her.
We have before remarked that only upon two occasions did our Lord commend the faith of his hearers.
Though doubtless he brought no false charges against
his hearers, yet this greatest of all teachers often
complained of the unbelief of those about him; and
even upbraided the impenitence of those who had
enjoyed the most favourable opportunities of seeing
his works and of hearing his words. The two persons whose faith he commended were both Gentiles:
and though they both exhibited a strength of faith
that would have seemed remarkable in anybody,
doubtless it appeared more surprising, because it
could scarcely be looked for in them.  So in the
case of the believing centurion the Lord said, "I
have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel:"
as much as to say, I might reasonably have expected




'204i         A WEEK WITH JESUS.
it in Israel, where I find it not; I need not wonder
to find an unbelieving Gentile, yet here I find the
strongest faith.  And then he laments that such
contrasts as these will frequently occur.  Men of
very imperfect privileges will find salvation; and
men of many privileges be lost: they will come from
every quarter of the Gentile world to sit down with
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of
heaven-how blessed this will be, but how solemn
the conclusion-the children of the kingdom  shall
be cast out.  When he speaks of the faith of this
woman, he seems to refer, not so much to the fact
that she was a Gentile, and therefore had enjoyed
less opportunities to know him and his works; but
specially to that humble perseverance that pressed
forward to secure her object in spite of so many
formidable obstacles.  She did not allow herself to
be discouraged, when the compassionate Master
seemed to set himself in array against her; when lie
seemed to disregard; and even when he declared
that it was not meet to grant her request.
An important matter to which we may now turn
our thoughts is to the larger responsibility that rests
upon us to lead us to the exercise of a true faith in
God, when we see faith in so great exercise in such
an one as this; and when we weigh our Lord's
reflection upon the similar case.  We have perhaps
often noticed in the affairs of the world around us,
that success and eminence do not always attend
superior advantages; that indeed the world is filled,V-,III  ~IW~VM0




FAITH TRIUMPHANT AND COMMENDED.  205
with examples of those who have risen above their
disadvantages, so that we are almost tempted to
think that men rise by their disadvantages.  This
much certainly we ought to learn, that an earnest
and faithful use of all the advantages we have, is
the most important element of success in anything;
and that where an earnest heart is wanting, any
other advantages are of but little account.  It is
surely not right to make the bare conclusion, that
they are ever better off who enter on life's duties
with nothing but their bare faculties upon which to
depend; and yet we should recognize the fact that
advantages ready to our hands often forestall and
prevent exertion.  We may indeed say that there
seems a kind of providential compensation for the
inequalities of life in the very stimulus which makes
the poor man's son more than a match for one who
has all the advantages which wealth can buy.  If
inactivity forms part of an inheritance otherwise
wealthy, far better earnestness and energy with
poverty.
Of course it must be acknowledged that it is from
no legitimate influences of the advantages any man
possesses that they prove valueless to him; else it
would be a perversion of terms to call them advantages.  If in the famous fable, the tortoise overtakes
the hare, it is through the folly, not the slowness
of its competitor; and for a race, the swift is better
than the slow.  We lay therefore the just censure
upon that folly whlich should have succeeded so
18




206           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
easily, and yet lost. And if, in a career of learning,
a man who has had all the privileges of good schools
and suitable books and qualified teachers should be
outstripped by one whose early course had been
hindered at every step; because without competent
instructors he must master difficulties alone, and
without proper books he must gather up the fragments of knowledge as he best could, and must
secure his time to learn from the broken moments
snatched by a rigid economy from the pressing
claims of a toilsome avocation; we may acknowledge that such a comparison is often seen among
men, yet at the same time we decide that the same
energy in both would have given the preiminence
to him whose advantages were the best.  The tendency of a man's necessities to call forth his efforts
may be recognized; yet it is not of such a nature
as to prevent our warm  approval of his energies;
nor do we withhold our censure from  the failures
of the man who had everything necessary to secure
success except earnest energy.
Perhaps it is even an impossible thing for any of
us to exercise a faith as strong as that which our
Lord commended in the woman of Syrophcenicia:
but the more truth there is in this. the greater must
our guilt be if we do not exercise faith at all.  The
chief influence of her example is not so much
to lead us to the same strength of faith, as to leave
us inexcusable, if notwithstanding all our advantages,
we remain unbelievers.  If such faith was found in




FAITH TRIUMP1IANT AND COMMENDED.  207
a Gentile, should we be destitute?  The strength of
her faith surpasses ours just in proportion as the
reasonableness of our faith surpasses the natural
expectation of finding faith in her.  The errandto secure a daughter's earthly health-what was
this in comparison with the errand that should send
a sinner to the feet of Jesus to plead for the life
of his undying soul?  Her acquaintance with the
Son of David, what was it, in one who dwelt in a
border land, belonged to a different race, was trained
to a different religion, and had the prejudices and
the ignorance of a Gentile?  Surely she had not
the opportunities we have of knowing the truth concerning him; born, as we have been in a Christian
land, taught in a Christian sanctuary and accustomedl to repeat his name with reverence from the
lispings of infancy. The experience the world then
had of him, was not, even for his most favoured disciples, as we now know him: his exalted character
was veiled in the garments of his humanity; his glorious work was still but typified in the Jewish sacrifices; his kingdom was not yet set up, or understood, as we are able to form correct estimates of
these things; and access to his throne of saving
mercy, as the penitent souls of men have enjoyed it
for so many centuries, gave not then the encouragement which we may draw from his well-known grace.
If this humble woman who presses her way into the
Saviour's presence, without an invitation, and undeterred by words that seem so stern and stratlge in




208           A WEEiK WITHI JESUS.
him, is justified and even commended for her faith,
surely no condemnation can be too severe upon us,
if with our knowledge of Jesus, and our need of
Jesus, and our invitations to come to Jesus, we are
not believers at all.  It had seemed no strange
tiling, if upon so severe a trial her faith had failed;
but we have so many inducements to believe and so
many supports to our faith, tlhat the strangeness is
that we can be unbelieving.
The Scriptures set before us examples of strong
faith, not to say that we must imitate them; but to
urge that faith is much more reasonable in us, and
our lack of it nmuch more inexcusable.  If this
woman not only found Jesus, and obtained her request and was even commended for her faith, no
man in all this land should fail to secure the life of
his soul. AWho knows not as much as she?  WTiho
m.Lay not come in these days of free invitations, if
she came unbidden?  Who should ever be discouraged by silence or reproof or apparent reproach, if
her pressing through all these, only gave him the
greater honour and her the sweeter reward?  Such
a case as hers is both our encouragement under
dejection and our warning against perverting better
privileges.  Sometimes we see men securing an
honourable and indeed a remarkable worldly success, under circumstances so greatly unfavourable
as to make us ashamed that any one born to the
use of all his limbs and all his mental faculties should
ever prove a drone in human society.  One of the




FAITII TRIUMPIIANT AND COMMENDED,  209
eminent historical painters of France during the
present century, was physically a dwarf and a monster; and though he lived fifty years was frequently
carried during all his life in his father's arms.  For
himself, he was born without arms; his legs were
imperfect, almost without thighs, and closely united
to the trunk; a-nd he had but four toes on each foot.
Surely such a child as this was born for helplessness.  Not at all!  IHe used his legs and toes as
other boys do their arms and fingers.  While yet a
mere child, thrown on these limited resources, he
could play ball and use the scissors with his toes;
and one day laying hold of a pen, he pleased an old
wvriting-mraster so much by the use of it, that he
gave him lessons in writing. From writing he passed
to drawing, and by the time he was sixteen years
of age won the first prize in the Academy of Design.
From drawing 1he went on to painting, and won the
second and third medals of the Royal Academy at
Paris.  His manner of painting was, of course, very
remarkable, but he used his brushes with singular
dexterity, changing from one foot to the other, and
with great ease and accuracy making the most delicate touches. His merits as a painter were considerable, but were the more popular for these extraordinary circumstances.  His last historical painting
was for the present emperor of France.  The name
of this man was Louis Coesar Joseph Ducornet, and
he died in 1.856.  Not every man can make a
painter; but how many men, born in this helpless
I S  s




210          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
estate, would never have made anything; and how
unreasonable is the indolence and inactivity of so
many who have the limbs he would have prized so
highly.
And it is not only in respect to success in worldly
things that we may often stand astonished at what
can be accomplished in spite of disadvantages the
most discouraging; we may see examples of wonderfil interest to show that the race for everlasting
life may be run by the slow; the good fight of faith
won by the weak. In considering such cases, we
should better weigh the responsibilities of those who
possess the best advantages for knowing and serving
God. Perhaps one of the most remarkable examples of acquiring human and divine knowledge
under circumstances the most surprising and difficult, is furnished by tile case of a well-known American lady, who is yet living and has not yet reached
the middle age of life. A little over thirty years
ago a child was born in one of the New England
states, who possessed the usual faculties until she
was two years old; and then by sickness lost her
sight, her hearing, and her sense of smelling, and
impaired her taste; thus leaving her no other communication with the world than that which she could
acquire by touch and feeling.  How helpless would
be such a child; blind, deaf, consequently dumb,
the difficulty of communicating any knowledge beyond that which pertained to her natural wants, would
seem insuperable. When she was eight years old she




FAITH TRIUMIPIIANT AND COMMENDED.  211
was introduced into the Perkins' Institutionf for the
blind at Boston, and placed under the humane and
skilful instruction of its teachers; and the laborious
process of her education began.  The first thing
was to lead her to associate different objects with
their names, and to teach her those names by means
of raised letters.  She was presented with a familiar
object, then with the letters spelling its name, until
she caught the idea that these were related to each
other, and learned to distinguish letters and to spell
words. After she began to understand this, she
was furnished with a board full of holes and moveable types, so that she could arrange the type in the
board and spell different words. After two years
spent in learning names, she began to learn the
qualities of things; and with almost incredible patience and perseverance pressed on from one degree
of knowledge to another; learned the manual alphabet, was taught to write, became a performer of
some skill upon the piano, though herself unable to
hear a note, and acquired some practical knowledge
of needle-work. Her ideas were not simply acquired
by rote; but her curiosity to comprehend everything is intense; and her instructors were often
compelled to depart from the direct line of the lesson, to answer her questions.
One day she asked her teacher this question:
"Man has made houses and vessels, but who made
the land and sea?" Here was an awakened mind,
that had been shrouded in darkness and had now




212          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
caught a few glimpses of light, eagerly looking for
more. No mother's voice had taught her of the
Father above; her silent lips had never breathed a
prayer; and the precious soul knew not yet the
power of its Creator, or the grace and salvation of
its Redeemer.  Her only way of communicating
with the world around her, was by her sensitive
fingers; and to her, if to any one, might be applied
the remlarkable words of the apostle Paul, that she
might "feel after God" to find him.  The answer
of her teacher that God made all these things, and
the explanation of his character and of her relations
to him, opened up a new world of thought, and
deeply affected her.  Though her eyes were in
darkness, divine light penetrated her mind. "Whatsoever doth make manifest is light." Eph. v. 13.
At first doubtless she saw dimly, but her desires
were strong to know more of this great Being, and
she could only be satisfied when her teachers had
made known to her the great truths of revelation.
Before this, she had been distressed by fears of
death; but she learned to know God, she became
acquainted with the salvation of Christ and the hope
of the resurrection; she reposed her confidence in
the teachings of the gospel; and in a land where so
many thousands, with opportunities so far superior,
are neglectful of their souls, she found her way to
the foot of the cross.  She is deprived of the use
of her natural faculties, but she looks forward
hopefully to the period when, freed from all her




FAITH TRIU1IPHIANT AND COMMENDED.  213
physical infirmities she shall see and praise God with
all her powers.  She cannot share in the delights
which many have around her; but she is not unhappy; she calls the room in which she lives the
"sunny home;" and there is good reason to believe
that God who commandeth the light to shine out of
darkness has shined into her heart to bring the light
of his glorious knowledge in the face of Jesus
Christ.
It is doubtless not an easy thing to compare the
difficulties and hindrances which oppose various
minds, yet surely we may say that if such an one as
this could learn the saving truths of the gospel, no
one among us, who possesses the use of all his natural faculties, should be ignorant of them.  Why
should we not have the same anxiety to read God's
holy word that they have, who can but spell out its
precious lessons with their fingers, or even in other
ways more laborious still.  A  poor blind French
girl who had ears to hear of Jesus, and longed for
sight to read his word, was taken under the care of
a, teacher who used the raised letters, that she might
learn to read.  She entered upon her lessons with
joy, but, alas, she could not learn. The letters
were raised but a little above the surface; it requires
a very delicate touch to distinguish them; this poor
girl was accustomed to daily labour, and her hands
were not sufficiently soft and sensitive for work like
this. Every effort was of no avail; she could not
distinguish the letters.  She then took a razor and




214           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
pared down the ends of her fingers to make them
tender; but still it would not do. She was filled
with grief that she must give up her Bible; she
knelt to pray in thankfulness that she had heard of
Jesus, if she could not read of him; and in her love
to the open pages she must now give up, she pressed
her lips upon them.  A new thought entered her
heart. If her fingers were too dull, her lips were
tender. She could read with them. She tried it;
she succeeded; the Bible was hers.  "Is it not
blessed," said she, a year afterwards, "to kiss the
sweet words as I read?"  If there was but such a
love as this to God's holy word in thousands who
have so much better opportunities of making themselves acquainted with its great teachings, if those
who have eyes but will not look, and ears but will
not hear, would but begin to cry after knowledge,
to seek it as silver, to search for it as for hid treasures, what changes would we witness in our families
and communities!  Surely this is a serious reflection, that men fail to secure the salvation of their
souls, though possessed all their lives of the most
favourable opportunities.
We do not forget, while we speak thus of the
comparative privileges of men, that the influences
of Divine grace are necessary for the saving power
of the truth upon any heart; and that faith unto
eternal life is not of ourselves but is the gift of
God.  A truth so vital in itself and in its influences
may not properly be overlooked by the disciples of




FAITII TRIUMPHANT AND COMMENDED.  215
Him who taught so plainly our need of the Spirit's
regenerating power. John iii. 5. But while every
sinful soul should feel his need of the grace of the
Spirit, and from the depths of his need should
humbly implore his blessing, it is but proper to
remember that the doctrine of grace is entirely consistent with the plainest declaration of our responsibility; and that therefore all these thoughts of man's
duty to improve his privileges are forcible and appropriate.  All the truth respecting the Spirit's
grace is no discouragement of human duty.
Two important thoughts should lead us to give
our serious attention to the dangers attending neglected privileges.  The first is that men are apt to
misconceive the proper influence of superior privileges upon the minds of those who have them.  We
often see men rise above inferior opportunities and
sink below superior advantages; we see the children
of the rich enfeebled by a luxurious education, and
outstripped in the race of life by the energetic children of poverty; we see that a little religion suffices
the prosperous, while the afflicted become really
eminent in piety and influence. And we are prone
to draw the conclusion that to possess superior
privileges is really a misfortune; and even good
men have sometimes lauded the advantage of having
no advantages! In so great a matter let us not be
deceived by partial analogies. There may be an
enervating influence in the training usually given to
the children of luxury and wealth; but neither the




216           A WEEK WITII JESUS.
Scriptures, nor just reason put the possession of
wealth among things intrinsically good, and we
should not compare this with the privilege of religious instruction. And if there is in the sinful heart
of man a tendency to undervalue familiar privileges,
however excellent; yet this does not destroy their
real excellence, nor diminish our guilt in perverting
them; and our forewarning of such a tendency
should go far to counteract it.  The great thing is
to have a just sense of our responsibility and a heart
to use whatever advantages we possess; and then
the greater they are, the larger our profit.  In the
praise of self-educated men, we forget to notice how
much more useful they might have been, if with the
same intellect and energy, they had possessed better
opportunities.  For when we make all the allowance
we should, for the energies which our necessities
call forth, no wise man ever despises advantages
which he can easily secure, for the sake of reaching
the same end by more difficult means.  On the one
hand, it is our duty to use every possible advantage
to secure every good end; and on the other, it is
our guilt to neglect the opportunities which God
affords us for securing good and for doing good;
and guilt greatly aggravated, when our very advantages are made to minister to our neglect and
indifference.
The other thought is that our Lord Jesus Christ
during the course of his ministry often urged upon
his hearers the serious responsibility which grew




FAITII TRIUMPHANT AND COMMENDED.  217
out of superior advantages neglected. How can we
accompany the Master and hear his words without
understanding that man's depraved tendency to
despise familiar privileges is no valid excuse for his
sin, but rather its aggravation  When we hear him
commend the centurion by declaring that he had
not found so great faith, "no, not in Israel," what
is the plain implication, but that in Israel such a
faith might reasonably be expected?  When anything occurs beyond our reasonable expectations,
we express surprise and commendation; when men
fall below what we may reasonably look for, we
express our disapproval and their guilt. And so in
yet plainer terms our Lord upbraided the cities in
which most of his mighty works were done, because
they repented not; he declares that they were
exalted to heaven; and should fall but the lower
because of privileges despised; and contrasting his
own city with another city, whose reputation is the
worst in the world's bad history, he declares that
Sodom will find it more tolerable in the day of
judgment than Capernaum.  Surely in the light of
these teachings, we may conclude that much will be
required of those who have received much; that any
tendency to think lightly of our advantages, however natural it may seem, cannot relieve us of the
guilt and folly of neglecting our privileges; and
that man's guilt before God will be justly reckoned
according to the reasonable expectations that grow
out of the teachings and opportunities he has enjoyed.
19




218          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
And when upon another occasion we hear the
voice of this same great Teacher, reminding us that
even one talent may not wisely be hidden in the
earth; that thus those whose opportunities are
poorest, must still give an account of themselves to
God, how can we resist the conclusion that much
more will be required of him to whom ten talents
have been entrusted?  And how should we, who
are the children of the kingdom, born in the church,
trained in her teachings, and invited by her mercies,
fear lest even these advantages should not issue in
our salvation! The lesson of all ages is, be not
high-minded, but fear!  And when the apostle
would teach the same thing from the example of
Israel, who saw the wonders of Moses and yet perished in the wilderness; at one time he tells us,
"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest
he fall:" at another he concludes that they "entered not in because of unbelief;" and then his
practical exhortation is, "Let us therefore fear lest
a promise being left us of entering into his rest any
of you should seem to come short of it."  Let us
not attempt to excel the Syrophoenician woman in
the strength of her faith; but let us see to it that
we are truly believers.  We know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ as she could not; we have every
favourable opportunity for larger acquaintance with
him; we have great blessings to ask at his hands;
and he invites us to draw near to him. Let us
think seriously of our responsibilities; let us ace




FAITH TRIUMPHANT AND COMMENDED.  219
knowledge that faith may most reasonably be demanded of us; let us lay aside every excuse of
indolence and folly, and humbly ask his mercy.
This woman's faith will put to shame every one
among us who shall at the last be found unbelievers.
Doubtless many in heathen lands would repent, if
they knew a tithe of what we know of Christ's grace
to save. How great must be our disappointment
and remorse, if at the last we shall see many saved
who had not half our advantages, while we, the children of the kingdom, perish for ever.
If Jesus were even now looking around upon us;
if we were in his presence feeling just as we do now,
as we reflect on these things; if he should address
us as he did her, his words would be, "O man! O
woman, great is thy unbelief! Be it unto thee even
as thou wilt!" This poor Gentile had her desire;
and thou shalt have thine.




220          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER XVI.
7tHE GREAT CAIMS OF CH-RIST.
"Whom do men say that I amrn?"
WVE have an account, not with the same distinctness, from three of the evangelists, respecting the
conversation of our Lord and his disciples, when he
asked what were the opinions of men concerning
him; but we are not told when it occurred.  We
may suppose it was upon their return from the visit
paid to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. But we are
told where the conversation occurred.  He came
near a city of upper Galilee called Cesarea Philippi
-to distinguish it from another Cesarea on the
coast of the Mediterranean, frequently named in the
Acts of the apostles.  This place is situated at the
foot of MIount IHermon; it is on one of the sources
of the Jordan-as Dan, the ancient Leshem, Josh.
xix. 47, and Laish, Jud. xviii. 29, is a few miles off
on the other-and is known now as Banias, though
called by Josephus Paneas or Panium. A magnificent fountain of water issues there from the mouth
of a cave to form one of the heads of the Jordan;
ruins of ancient temples are there and through the
vicinity; and this section of Judea had long been




THE GREAT CLAIMS OF CHRIST.        221
famous for its proneness to idolatry.  Here it was
that the company of Danites settled, who took the
ephod, the image, and the priest from the house of
Micah, Judges xviii.: in Dan also was set up one
of the golden calves by which Jeroboam  led the
kingdom of Israel into idolatry. This region of the
country, though a part of Judea, lay near the confines of paganism, and had been long influenced by
pagan principles; and it may be with some significancy, that as he journeyed from a Gentile land
towards the heart of Palestine, our Lord made the
inquiries and called out the confessions of that
memorable time. The population around him was
a mingling of Syrians and Jews; these territories
had long been desecrated by offerings made to idols.
"Upon this border-land, Christ wished the confession of Peter put forth in the name of all the apostles, to sound out; thus intimating that the true
church is built in the midst of Jews and Gentiles."*
We need not wonder that Luke tells us of his
praying in this connection. In that gospel we have
far more frequent mention made of our Lord's
prayers than in any other. Doubtless many omissions are made in recording his devotions; but
enough is written to teach us that all our affairs,
those especially that pertain to spiritual things and
to the advancement of religion, should be undertaken with prayerfulness.
They were by themselves and on their journey;
~ Chemnitz HIarm. 1598.
19 e




222          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
perhaps were resting by the wayside, azr  D, had
retired from them for purposes of devotion, vhen,
as he joined them again, he began to make inquiries
concerning the reception of himself and his claims
among the people. They had opportunities of knowing this; they had mingled with the people; they
had recently gone forth from him for the purpose
of urging his claims.  Doubtless-as a faithful
ministry comes in contact with the popular mind —
they knew what views the people held of him, and
of this he would inquire.  Yet why do we find the
great Teacher interested in an inquiry like this?
Not from any inferior motives, surely; not, we apprehend, from any personal motives. It would be
entirely apart from the consistent dignity and humility of all else in the life of Christ to suppose
that these inquiries sprang from curiosity or vanity,
concerning the impressions made by his ministry
upon the people around. This would have argued
a weakness he never displayed. Rather, his inquiries sprang from no ignorance in him of the true
state of feeling, both on the part of the masses of
the people and on the part of his immediate followers. Nor should it be thought at all unreasonable that having already the information he should
still press his question. We have but to recall
the relation which these parties sustain to each
other, and we see the full propriety of one of
the most important questions which even he had
ever proposed. This was a teacher, and these were




THE GREAT CLAIMS OF CHRIST.       223
his scholars.  The greatest of all lessons, the most
important of all sciences, is the knowledge of himself, as the long predicted Messiah; and inquiries
of their views of this could not be out of place.
There is no more proper or profitable method of
communicating instruction, than by questioning the
puDil; and when the questions are pertinent to the
main object the teacher has in view, no one is surprised that he should thus call out the knowledge
of his scholars. The inquiry of our Lord is tentative; so are the dealings of God's providence and
God's word often, in our experience; God would
ask us what we know, to draw forth and strengthen
every wise conviction and judgment.
But brief reflection may assure us that the people
of that land must have given many thoughts to the
great wonders that belonged to the life of Jesus.
It is not possible that a new prophet should rise in
that land which claimed that only among the seed
of Abraham were divine communications made to
the sons of men; and yet that his claims should be
treated with entire indifference. They were bound,
and in a degree they were disposed, to consider the
claims of any new prophet. The length of time
that had elapsed since the close of the Old Testament canon; the evident nearness of the period
when the long-expected Christ should himself appear; perhaps the intimation of Daniel that when
he came he would close up the vision and prophecy;
the very remarkable things that belonged to the




224          A WEEK WITII JESUS.
commission of this prophet, would all tend to excite
an uncommon interest in the minds of men. An~c
yet it would be a very great mistake to suppose
that the interest thus awakened concerning thaT
prophet of Galilee, pertained only to the wondrous
works he wrought before the eyes of that generation; could be only local or transient in its nature;
or bore any character then essentially different fiom
its workings in all ages where the name and claims,
the workings and doctrines of Christ are known.
No doubt that he should heal the sick, and cleanse
the leper; should give sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf; should cast out devils and raise the
dead to life, would fill the land with his fame, would
bring around him the sons and daughters of sorrow,
and would make men wonder who was this great
prophet. But indeed the teachings and the claims
of Christ are quite as remarkable as any of his miracles were; and the effects produced upon men
where these are made known, are like the effects
produced in his own time upon the men who saw
and heard the living Jesus.
His teachings and his claims are as remarkable
as the miracles.  Of course this does not mean that
you or I would think it no more strange to see a
miracle than to hear the plainest exhibition of the
teachings of this great Master.  Teachings are permanent; once given they abide; Jesus still lives
with us in his own words.  Miracles are transient.
We may have the record; we may credit the evi



TIHE GREAT CLAIMS OF CHRIST.       225
dence; we may understand the design; we may
recognize the authority. But the act is over. Now
ACTS are never so important as PRINCIPLES. They
owe their importance, when done by a reasonable
being, chiefly to the principles they involve. The
miracles of Christ were not half so important for
what they actually accomplished for the subjects of
them, as for the other designs he had in working
them.  It was not to save the life of Lazarus that
he raised him from the dead; that end might have
been secured possibly by a skilful physician, whose
care might have saved him from premature dying;
but to show the glory of God and to awaken faith
in Jesus, his dead friend came forth from the grave.
The moral influences of such a wonder could not
belong only to that moment, nor be fastened to the
scene where it took place, nor pass away when the
death of Lazarus again occurred; the power could
be understood, the proof acknowledged, the authority recognized, the principles maintained by those
whose eyes did not see the opening sepulchre.
There is a permanence belonging to principles
that cannot belong to acts.  Therefore it would be
strange to see a miracle when it would not be to
]lear a familiar doctrine.  No matter how important
any doctrine may be, if it is familiar it ceases to
surprise.  Nobody among us questions the remarkable excellence of the printing-press, and the railroa(l, and the telegraph, over the former modes of
making books and journeys and distant communica



'226         A WEEK WITH JESUS.
tions. Yet these things have now become so familiar, that in one sense we no longer wonder at them.
But we may justly distinguish between the mere
emotion that attends something new, and the reasonable interest that must ever attend principles of
striking and essential value. Such remarkable excellence for their purposes belongs to the inventions
just named, that men will never lay them aside till
they find their superiors. Now in this sense we
aver that the claims and the teachings of Jesus are
remarkable-not only beyond his miracles-but
beyond anything the world can bring forth. As
compared with his miracles, they are familiar, as
his acts of power cannot be; we have often heard,
we have never once seen; but his claims are more
peculiar than his miracles; and both his claims and
his teachings bear proofs as remarkable as any wonders, to convince men of his authority.
Notice what these claims were of this greatest of
all prophets, "Whom  do men say that I, the Son
of man, am?" The peculiar designation he here
uses, bears this sacred character, that during our
Lord's life, none but himself ever made use of it;
he called himself the Son of man, employing a term
by which one of the most eminent of the former
prophets described the coming Christ, Dan. vii.
13; affirming by it, his true assumption of our human nature; but implying also his legitimate claims
to another nature of infinite dignity.  By laying
claim to the Messiahllship promised in the Old Tes



TIIE GREAT CLAIMS OF CHRIST.       227
tament, with its inseparable attendants of divine
dignity and human condescension; with the chief
duty of the anointed of the Lord to make atonement
for the people, this great Prophet separated himself
from every other messenger to the sons of men.
Other prophets have spoken in the name of God;
this one speaks on his own authority; other priests
have offered sacrifices upon the altar; this one alone
offers up himself.  Others have made high claims
upon the faith of men in their own and in succeeding times; it belongs to Jesus Christ alone to claim
that four thousand years before he was born, men
began to look for his coming; that a long line of
holy prophets spoke no higher themes than to declare what his character and work and rule should
be; and that the most eminent men of a church that
was as old as the race, had in vain longed to see his
day.  There are peculiarities in everything that
pertains to this great Teacher that make his claims
too remarkable to escape notice among men. Even
when he wrought precisely the same miracles as
others, he differs from them; in that theirs is ministerial and his original power. Even when he taught
the same truths with others, with what remarkable
force does he speak long-familiar thoughts. In all
things, over all the sons of men, "he has the preiminence." His miracles surpass in numbers and excellence as well as in origin, all that other prophets
wrought; his personal character exhibits in harmonious consistency all the graces of piety; and of his




228           A WEEK WITHI JESUS.
teachings may all the ages say, "Never man spake
like this man."  The sufficient evidence of his superior wisdom is inherent in his words; their like
cannot be produced in all that man has elsewhere
known; and they cannot be taught, and never have
been taught among any people without attracting
attention and changing the aspects of society.  The
teachings of Christ are as remarkable as were his
miracles; they are as peculiarly his, as any wonders
he ever wrought; and thus it is, that Christ belongs
to all ages, and that we have the principles he taught
quite as plainly set before us, as if we had seen his
face and heard his voice. Indeed we know more
of him, of his character and of his kingdom than
lid his disciples while he was yet upon the earth.




VARIOUS OPINIONS RESPECTING CHRIST. 229
CHAPTER XVII.
~ARIO US OPINJIONS BIESPECiCING CHRIST.
"But whom say ye that I am?"
THE inquiry of Christ may lead us to reflect upon
the various opinions held by men concerning his
character and claims.  It is no abatement of the
excellence of his claims that they were not, and are
not, immediately conceded by all before whom he
sets such clear and wondrous proofs. Thus it is that
men ever do. We may say, for example, that it is
impossible to make the inferior nations of the world
acquainted with our arts and civilization without
awakening their surprise, proving our superiority,
and leading them to new graspings after our manifest advantages. And this is true; yet how slowly
and variously the influence works.  Warlike and
barbarous tribes see the superiority of our arms,
and eagerly lay aside the rude bow for the musket
or the rifle.  The natives of India, brought into
close contact with their English rulers, establish
printing-presses and issue Hindu newspapers.  The
Turks and Chinese find it needful to maintain their
conflicts with European powers by adopting their
improvements; and almost every maritime nation
20




230          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
adopts the manifest advantages of steam navigation.
Yet men are prejudiced, indifferent to new things,
and the progress of thought is slow.  So is it in
regard to the things of religion. It is impossible
for Christianity to come in conflict with paganism
without producing great changes, as civilization
must influence barbarism according to the closeness
of contact. The teachings of Christ are wonderfully
distinct from all else the world knows; men must
be influenced where these are taught; and as it
would be monstrous to find a man trained under
civilizing influences preferring the degradation of
barbarism, so it is impossible to find real paganism
in a people where Christ's claims and teaching have
long been made known. These teachings cannot be
given to any land without producing important
results.
But it is in every land and age as it was when
Christ appeared; the reception he meets among men
is wonderfully various. Then and now, some things
were beyond dispute to everybody. That he wrought
wondrous works all admitted. That the teachings
of the gospel are excellent no man has ever had the
temerity to dispute. That he healed the sick innumerable witnesses testified through all Judea. That
his teachings now heal the sin-sick soul, that they
effect changes of the most beneficial and permanent
character, that to know and adopt his holy principles is a blessing to man, more numerous witnesses
testify in many ages and in many lands.  The




VARIOUS OPINIONS RESPECTING CHRIST. 231
teachings of Christ are more remarkable than his
miracles. They effect benefits more important; as
truly beyond human power; and more needful for
the good of man.
This is a matter very easily tested.  Suppose
that in any family two forms of evil should come;
the one natural, the other moral.  One beloved
child lies on a bed of sickness: painful watchings,
harassing anxieties, sorrowful forebodings are appointed to the household; and they hold the fearful
"Post of observation
Darker every hour."
Another child is in the full vigour of health, but
has become the shame and grief of the family.
Wandering in sin, every reclaiming effort is ineffectual; tears are disregarded; prayers are mocked;
and for the sin of this erring one the parental hearts
are filled with sorrows, so weighty that the anguish
of the sick chamber grows pale in comparison.
Now suppose the cry was raised, which blind Bartiimeus heard by the gaite of Jericho, "Jesus of Nazareth passeth by;" and the parents of these children
were permitted their choice, which of these two sufferers his wondrous hand should heal; that his
gracious form should enter their abode and for one
of them, should do as their faith should suggest; he
would raise the dying, or he would bring back the
lost; he would heal the malady of the body or the
malady of the soul; he would remove their sickness




232          A. WEEK WITH JESUS.
or remove their shame; does anybody doubt which
choice the parents should that day make? Death
is not the chief calamity for a household; restoration
from the grave is not the highest object of desire.
It would be a better thing; it would be a greater
thing, to bring back the wanderer than to raise the
dying; as moral evils are incomparably worse than
physical, and crime and sin worse than calamity and
misfortune; as life is inferior to character; and as
spiritual and eternal are better than temporal blessings. Now this better thing is what the Lord Jesus
Christ still does among the sons of men.  We never
saw a sick man whom his miraculous power had
healed; but we have seen the better sight, of souls
whom his truth has converted.  He still enters our
abodes with his healing power; the wonders of his
grace and truth are better and more remarkable
than his miracles; and we would see still greater
things, if our faith more earnestly sought his saving
power, and cried anxiously with the believing nobleman, "Sir, come down, ere my child die."
No man could be so blind in Judea, as not to
know the miracles of this wonder-working Prophet;
no man can be so blind in this land as not to know
the excellence of the teachings of Christ. And yet
then, when our Lord asked,'"Whom do men say
that I am?" he elicited the truth that the people
held various opinions. And the same inquiry now
would find the same result.  The opinions of that
generation are divided by the reply of the disciples




VARIOUS OPINIONS RESPECTING CHRIST. 233
into two classes, to which we can easily add a third
class; for to this Christ himself calls our attention
at another time.  And into these three classes may
all they be divided, who now hear the teachings of
the great Redeemer, as that generation saw his miracl]es.  Just such men now live in Christian lands,
as then gathered around him while he walked on
earth.
The unmentioned class comprised the Pharisees,
and all those who stood in hostility to Jesus.  To
them upon a subsequent occasion our Lord himself
addressed substantially the same inquiry, "What
think ye of Christ?' Matt. xxii. 42.  We may
wonder that he should have any enemies; we may
wonder that his religion has any now.  And we
believe that our careful inquiries would establish
that the hatred and unbelief of our later ages, spring
from no insufficiency of reasonable evidences touching his claims, from no just charges of error or folly
touching his doctrines, from no lack of excellent
influence in his gospel; but firom the same pride
and( depravity and inconsistency that refused, in the
rulers of the Jews, to recognize the bearing of facts
they could not dispute.  Of opposers in our age,
as truly as when he was upon earth, may Jesus say,
"If I had not come and spoken unto them, they
had not had sin; but now they have no cloak for
their sin." Jno. xv. 22.
But to his disciples now, the Master says nothing
of opposers.  Ile asks concerning the people gen20,'




234           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
erally, "Whom say the people that I am?"' That
generation was like this.  Between the decided
opinions of his enemies on the one hand, and his
disciples on the other, stood the multitude-just as
the multitude stand now —neither disposed to reject
him as an impostor, nor to receive him as a Saviour.
Some thought he might be John the Baptist, risen
from the dead, and therefore able to do these wonders; and these did not carry their inquiries far
enough to learn that his ministry had begun while
John was yet alive, and that therefore their conjecture must be incorrect.  Others thought that this
might be the reappearing of -Elijah; for his mysterious translation gave room for many conjectures
touching hlim; and his coming as the Messiah's herald had been foretold by the prophets.  Others
pretended not to decide which of the prophets this
might be; but were ready to agree that he was one
of them. Thus in that day, as in our day, men
could admit that Christ has claims, who take no
pains to ascertain, and who are not ready to admit
TIIE CLAIMS of the Messiah of God.  We may think
that the men who saw the wonders of Christ, should
have given their closest attention and their readiest
confidence and affection to all his claims. And yet
indeed there are many reasons that make it a more
wonderful thing that so many in Christian lands
and in Christian congregations and families, should
hear so much of what he teaches; should have their
need of him as a Savioul so clearly pressed upon




VARIOUS OPINIONS RESPECTING CHRIST. 235
them; and should be ready to recognize so much
of truth and interest and duty; while yet they rank
among the respecters-in a certain sense the admirers-of Jesus; whose disciples still, THEY ARE
NOT. Favourable opinions may be entertained of
this greatest of all teachers; benefits may be enjoyed that could flow only from his gospel; a man
may be separated widely from the openly opposing
foes of Jesus; and yet he approves not those who
rank him as a prophet, and not THE prophet; and
the reply of a true disciple differs far from any
wvhich these would render.
But the remaining view is that of Christ's true
disciples.  Our Lord then asked his followers, "But
whom say ye that I am?"  Peter promptly answered
for them all, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God." This is his personal confession: but
they all shared it. For three things especially is
it remarkable.
First, For the excellence of this great truth itself.
It is the full acknowledgement, at once of the peculiar personal dignity, and of the peculiar official
character and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
not needful for us to say that Peter fully understood
at this time all he afterwards knew of the force of
his confession; we must acknowledge that his own
conduct was not always in full harmony with what
he here declares. But if the grand belief of the
gospel truly possesses the heart, it will show and
cast out in due time the errors and inconsistencies




236          A WEEK WITIH JESUS.
which linger still in the regenerate mind. But the
language of Peter implies his cheerful recognition
of the claims of his Lord.  He was the Son of the
living God: here is the divine dignity. He was the
Son of man: here is his mediatorial office. He was
the Christ: this is to attribute to him and to find
fulfilled in him  all those remarkable types and
prophecies by which God had foretold the Redeemer's
coming, by the mouths of all the holy prophets since
the world began; and we need not wonder that our
Lord should follow such a confession by teaching
his disciples more than they then understood —more,
manifestly, than Peter now intended to imply-concerning his redeeming work upon the cross; which
was the great work of his redemption; and which
had been so abundantly attributed to the coming
Messiah, both by the voices of the prophets and by
the bleeding sacrifices of the old economy from the
days of Abel onwards. These things-all the things
of Christ-are better understood now, than when he
was on the earth; indeed the imperfect knowledge
of his disciples was more than was given to the people while his atoning work was still unfulfilled; and
in our making reply to the same inquiry, "Whom
say ye that I am?" "What think ye of Christ?"
there ought to be that full recognition of his divine
dignity and mediatorial work, which implies a confession of our guilty and lost estate as sinners: and
our cheerful and happy dependence upon him for
our salvation.  True thoughts of Christ may mingle




VARIOUS OPINIONS RESPECTING CHRIST. 237
with various imperfections, but they imply that sense
of our sin and of his grace; of our weakness and
his dignity which leads us to recognize his divine
mission, to own him as our Master, and to receive
him, as he is offered in the gospel, as our mighty
Redeemer.
It was a second excellency of Peter's faith that
he made this confession at a time when the rulers
of the Jews were already manifesting that hostility
to the Redeemer's claims, which not long afterwards
brought him to Pilate's hall and Calvary. He had
indeed proofs enough of the authority of his Lord,
in his workings and in his words. But this is a
noble confession, while many stand in doubt or
indifference; and many of the influential men of the
nation stood opposed.  Thus is it in every age.
Reasons enough exist to lead any man in our day to
see and acknowledge the claims of Christ and the
excellence of his service. Yet it requires more than
mere reflection and decision to come forth, not only
apart from the opposers of religion, but from the
mass of those who pay it some measure of respectful
deference; and with a holy boldness make such a
confession, as will call forth the benediction of the
Lord. Happy indeed are they, and they only, who
range themselves decidedly upon the side of Messiah-our Redeemer and King-and hear from his
lips the commendation, "Blessed art thou!"
But thus are we reminded of the third and greatest
excellency of this notable confession. Peter says this




238           A WrEER  WITH JESUS.
great thing, not through the force of superior discernment on his part; nor by reason of his natural
boldness of character: but under the influence of
divine teachings.  "Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee; but my Father which is in
heaven."  True piety in the heart of every disciple
of Christ is due to the grace and power of God's
Holy Spirit, who works to regenerate the soul.
Without this working of the Spirit, this revelation
of Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God, there is no
true faith, there is no true blessedness.  We do not
mean that this internal spiritual experience is without any external teachings of the grace of the Redeemer.  It was not in the case of Peter; it will
not be in any of ours. Peter was under the teachings of Christ, as in no inferior sense we all are.
And attentive and serious hearing of the word of
truth has its proper place in the economy of salvation.  But we need something more than can be
secured by any resolutions we can form, any decision
we can exhibit, any attainments we can reach by
our unaided powers. We may be conscious of our
sinfulness; we may fear the wrath of an offended
God; we may recognize that in the atoning work
of Calvary alone is God reconciled to the guilty
sons of men. But we need something more than all
this. All our views of sin, all our indefinite thoughts
of the divine mercy are vain for our salvation, if we
stop short of the revelation of God reconciled in
Christ, brought home to our hearts by the Holy




VARIOUS OPINIONS RESPECTING CHRIST. 239
Spirit.  "Sense can never find him; only faith."
If we are perplexed to know how we may secure
this greatest of all blessings-the revelation of Christ
to the soul and in the soul-let us learn that only
the Spirit can reveal him. Nothing is more important than to know that the piety which springs not
from the Spirit's workings, is insufficient and vain;
that our dependence is upon the Spirit; that our
prayers should be for his gracious power. The
most eloquent teachings of men; the most impressive
teachings even of the Bible; the greatest thoughts
man can have of Christ, how powerless they fall,
unless the Spirit breathes upon the truth. tflow
the Spirit works we may not decide. But that only
is true piety in us, which leads us to long for and
cherish the Spirit's workings; that brings forth the
Spirit's fruits in penitence and faith and meekness
and holiness; and that recognizes our dependence,
not only upon the truths taught by the Spirit, but
upon the workings of his grace.
Blessed are they in whose hearts this revelation
of the Son of God has been made. And if we were
standing by him to-day-as his little band were with
him by the towns of Cesarea Philippi-and not
through curiosity or for information, but with infinite concern, for our sakes, and to call forth our
faith towards himself-he should ask us individually,
"Whom say ye that I am?"  Happy indeed if we
could reply,




240            A WEEK WITHI JESUS.
"Dear name! the rock on which I build,
My shield and hiding-place;
My never-failing treasury, filled
With boundless stores of grace."
The world is as full as ever of various opinions
concerning Christ.  To some he is a root out of a
dry ground; he has no form or comeliness; he is a
rock of offence and a stone of stumbling. But to
them that believe he is precious; the chief among
ten thousand and altogether lovely.  Blessed art
thou, 0 believer in Jesus; renewed by his Spirit,
led by his Spirit. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his.




THE CIIURCH FOUNDEL ON THE ROCK.  241
CHAPTER XVII1.
THE CITirRCHII FOUNDED ON THE ROCK.
" Upon this rock I will build my church."
DOUBTLESS no passage, of all those recorded from
the lips of our Lord, has been the ground of more
vehement and abundant dispute, than this one, in
which he speaks of the rock upon which he will
build his church. An old writer in expounding the
place gives it a fourfold meaning.* It is first instructive, i. e. it teaches us true doctrines; it is,
secondly, vindicatory or controversial, i. e. it refutes
the errors of false teachers; it is, thirdly, consolatory, i. e. it sustains and comforts those who receive
it; and it is, fourthiy, persuasive, i. e. it exhorts us
to maintain and exemplify the teachings here given.
Of course, the foundation of all is the true understanding of his word.  What did the Saviour mean,
when he said, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock
I will build my church?" It seems impossible for
us in these later days to examine the matter without
putting its controversial aspects first.  For the
church of Rome claims that by these words of Christ,
z Chemnitz HIarmon., 1603, 4.
21




242           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
Peter is recognized as primate among the apostles;
that Peter is the rock upon which the church shall
for ever rest; and that the church of Rome, as
founded by Peter, and possessing a succession of
bishops in an unbroken line from him, is therefore
the only and the truly apostolic church.  This is
indeed a stupendous claim to found upon these
words.  And the whole question may be narrowed
down into these two inquiries. 1st. Does our Lord
mean at all to say that Peter is the rock upon which
his church should be built? And, 2d, Does he so
mean Peter as to sustain any of the pretensions of
the Romish church?
Now, while both these questions are well worthy
of our thoughts, we cannot here pretend their full
discussion.  Yet neither can we allow  them  to
remain undiscussed.  Some brief suggestions therefore may be made upon them both.
We should consider first whether our Lord meant
Peter by the rock.
The earliest question naturally pertains to the
meaning and connection of his language. In the
original the language is,'"Thou art 7Zr,ooS and
upon this rs-r o7."'"Thou art a stone and upon
this rock will I build."  It is affirmed by Romish
writers that in the language, in which it is likely
our Lord spoke, no such variation of the words,*
through their grammatical terminations, could be
made. But it is impossible for any modern critics:Dens' Theology, ii. 148. So also, Rosenmiiller and Bengel.




THE CHURCH FOUNDED ON THE ROCK.  243
to prove that no such variations could exist in the
old Syriac; in fact, a high authority declares that
these two forms, cephas and cepha, do really exist;
and indeed so long as the inspired evangelist wrote
in Greek, the singularity of his language is none
the less remarkable.* The very thought that the
words of Christ contain a kind of enigma, not to be
obviously understood, but whose meaning must be
gathered from other teachings, would but make
them  more characteristic of himself.  Upon one
occasion he was in the temple and the Jews asked a
token of his authority, and he said, "Destroy this
temple and I will raise it up in three days." They
thought he meant the temple in which they stood:
how could they then think otherwise? Yet the evangelist tells us, " He spake of the temple of his body."
Jno. ii. 18-22. The change of words is significant
here.  Indeed a stone is not a rock.  It is but a
fragment of a rock. The rock is the Son of God
himself, whom Peter had just recognized, not of
himself; but as it was revealed to him by the Father.
The Master was the rock; of this rock the disciple
was a fragment. We may prefer this interpretation
for these reasons:
1st. Thus we account for the change of the words:
if there was no change of meaning from 7r6spo~ to
r,ac,0  why change the word at all?
2d. This is quite in keeping N ith our Lord's
manner of speaking.:-Lightfoot. See J. A. Alexander and Pool's Synopsis.




244           A WEEK WITII JESUS.
3d. Thus we more fully maintain the propriety
of the figure here used.  We build upon a rock; we
build with stones. Christ as the foundation is truly
a rock; Peter as a part of the building is a stone.
Christ is indeed called the Foundation-Stone; yet,
as we shall see, no other is called a rock.
4th. To maintain that by the rock, Christ himself is meant, is agreeably to a most wonderful
unanimity in the Scriptural writers. The divine
nature is in the Scriptures called a rock, times
almost numberless; and no instance can be pointed
out where any human being is called so. According to Scriptural teachings, we cannot trust in man;
we may ever trust in God. And there is no one
figure applied to our Lord Jesus Christ himself more
abundantly than that he is the foundation which
God has laid in Zion. In Ps. cxviii. a head or
chief corner-stone is spoken of, which has indeed
found rejection by Jewish and papal builders, but
which Christ himself interprets of himself. So, not
to multiply passages, in Isaiah xxviii. 16, God
promises to lay in Zion a foundation, evidently
thereby meaning Christ.  So it is interpreted by
Peter himself, not only when he declares that Christ
is the stone, the chief of the corner in whom alone
is salvation, Acts iv. 12, but also when he quotes the
very words of Isaiah, explains them to signify Christ,
and speaks of believers as living stones built into
the spiritual temple. And so Paul expressly affirms
that the only foundation of the church is Jesus Christ.




THE CHURCII FOUNDED ON THE ROCK.  245
This he repeats in different passages of his writings.
1 Cor. iii. 11: Eph. ii. 20: Rom. ix. 33: 1 Cor. x.
4. And it seems strange indeed, if this verse was
meant to teach any superiority of Peter, that the
other evangelists who mention this conversation,
should yet omit so important a clause as this.
Rather, we judge that it may be said here,:Ls of the
rock in the desert, "That rock was Christ." 1 Cor.
x. 4.
5. The opinions of many in the church from the
earliest ages agree to this understanding of the passage.  The church of Rome lays great stress upon
the opinions of the ancient fathers; but they do not
support her interpretation of this important word.
Some have understood that by the rock is meant
neither Peter nor Christ, but the confession which
had just been made.  Upon the settled truth of the
Sonship-upon the divine dignity of Christ, the
church should be founded.  And truly there is no
doctrine of all the Scriptures that may more properly
be regarded as lying at the foundation of all-none
that has been more truly a criterion of the church.
So the passage was understood by Hilary, Cyril,
Chrysostom, Theophylact, Ambrose and Gregory
of Nyssa,* and the authority of these men is not
despicable in the Romish church.* But others suppose directly that Christ is the rock. Among these
Augustine  must be reckoned.  He reasons, in:-Pool's Synopsis, Chemnitz, 1606, Dens' Theology, ii. 149, Tar
rettine, iv. 103.
21 -:0




246             A WEEK  WITH  JESUS.
two* different passages that Peter is derived from
the rock, and not the rock from Peter-as Christ is
not derived from Christian, but Christian is derived
from Christ.  Augustine had in earlier days applied
the word to Peter; but in his Retractations, a work
expressly written to correct his early errors, he distinctly  recalls this, and  says, "Petra  autern  erat
Christus," —the rock was Christ.t
But we have asked the second question.  Supposing that the rock does refer io Peter, does this
sustain any of the pretensions of the Romish bhll-ch?
Surely it does not.  It goes not the slightest step
towards proving assumptions which are necessary to
the support of the apostate church, which can never
be vindicated by evidence or argument. They claim
that Peter was the first bishop at Rome, and yet
cannot prove that he ever was at Rome.  They
regard the popes as the successors of Peter, while it
is false that the apostles can have any successors,
or that the marks or duties of apostles belong to
them. They pay no attention to the difference of
the words here used; and destroy the consistency
"'See one quoted by Dr. J. A, Alexander. The other may be
found in Oper. Aug. 7, 1191. "Tu enim Petrus. A petra, petrus,
non a petro petra. Sic a petro Petrus, quomodo a Christo, Christianus. Vis nosse de qua petra, petros? Paulum audi. 1 Cor. x. 4.
Ecce, unde Petras." Dr. Alexander shows that even Pope Hildebrand recognizes Christ as the Petra. —Commentary on 5Iatthew.
See notes in Lange on Matthew.
t Aug. Opera, i. 36. Yet Dens notes that he allows his readers to
choose which sentiment they prefer.




THE CHURCH FOUNDED ON TILE ROCK.  247
of the figure, as if the foundation of the building
was constantly changing, They assume that Peter
is addressed here as an individual, and that to him
is granted a primacy among the apostles, of which
important teaching not a word is said in other passages, not even when the other evangelists speak
of this very same transaction; and which indeed is
contrary to the representations of the New Testament elsewhere.  The most that can be meant of
such a designation applied to Peter is that to him
was granted the privilege of doubly laying the foundation of the Christian church, first, by preaching
the first discourse after the resurrection of Christ,
and with such signal success upon the day of Pentecost; and, secondly, by preaching the first discourse
in the house of Cornelius, for the introduction of
the Gentiles into the Christian church.  These two
things in Peter would be in an important sense a
fulfilment of all that can be meant in the Saviour's
words to make thenm at all consistent with what he
adds to them, with the teachings of the Scriptures
elsewhere, and with the restrictions which must be
put upon the evident meaning.  For the Romish
theologians are themselves obliged to admit that
"Christ alone is the essential and primary foundation, because he stands by himself, and can be based
upon no other, but sustains all things which pertain to
the church, and so also Peter himself."*  And what is
subsequently said of the keys of the kingdom of
w Dcns, ii. 149.




248               A  WEEK  WITH  JESUS.
heaven, manifestly refers to authority in the church,
not to him personally, but to the others as well; for
there was no power exercised by Peter that did not belong to the other apostles, as the council held at Jerusalem, Acts xv., evidently shows. So Augustine
does not say only once, but repeatedly, that these
words were spoken not to Peter alone, but to the
whole church in him.*   What is thus said to Peter,
is said of him  not as an individual, but with him  are
associated all his fellow-apostles and the church of
Christ.   And thus the true test of the church is an
abiding in the teachings of Christ.
It should serve as additional proof that no especial primacy was given to Peter that the keys of the
kingdom of heaven are no more given to him than
to any other of the ministers of Christ.   Two things
only need be said in regard to these declarations.
First, The power of the keys —or the thing signified
by giving the keys of the kingdom  of heaven-seems
i- Petrus enim in multis locis Scripturarum apparet quad personam
gestet Ecclesiae: maxime illo in loco ubi dictum est. Tibi trado
claves regni, &c. Numquid istas claves Petrus accepit et Paulus
non accepit?  Petrus accepit et Johannes et Jacobus non accepit et
ceteri apostoli?  Aut non sunt istoo in Ecclesi' claves, ubi peccata
quotidie dimittuntur?  Sed quoniam  in significatione personam
Petrus gestabat Ecclesise quod illi uni datum est, Ecclesive datum
est.  Ergo Petrus figuram  gestabat Ecclesire, Ecclesia corpus
Christi est."-Opera x. 438. De diversis Sermon. xxvi.
"Si hoe Petro tanturm dictum est, non facit hoc ecclesia.....
si hoc ergo in ecclesia sit, Petrus quando claves iccepit, Ecclesiam
sanctanm significavit..... si bonus es, si ad corpus pertines, quod
significat Petrus: habes Christumn in prwasenti, et in futuro."-Opera
ix. 370.-Sermon 1. i n Johannem.




TIIE CIIURCII FOUNDED ON TIHE  lOCK.  249
simply to be the grant of authority to exercise government and discipline in the church.  The church
of God is a kingdom.  In a kingdom authority is to
be exercised, not by those who have merely the capacity, but by those to whom power is entrusted in
an orderly manner.  The nature and limits of authority must be determined by the laws of the kingdom. The question whether any minister of Christ's
church has power to forgive sins must always find
its answer in full harmony with the principles of
Christ's gospel.  So long as men have no power to
search the heart, they can never do more than declare that the truly penitent are forgiven.  It is
undesirable, inconsistent with the honour of Christ,
destructive of every important influence, that to any
man should be entrusted the power of granting or
withholding the blessings of the Most High, so that
impenitent sinners should be forgiven, or so that
penitent and humbled souls should find it impossible
to find pardon.  Christ can have no such meaning
as this.  So the Romish church is obliged to acknowledge that her sacraments are often void of
power, and of no avail to the rebellious. Every
grant under the gospel is entirely according to the
gospel.  The power given to Christ's ministers in
these words, can be none other than the power
elsewhere spoken of in the Scriptures.  To Peter
vwas granted the power to administer all the ordinances of the house of God; but these of course in
their own proper meaning and force.  The laws of




250          A WEEK WVITl1 JESUS.
Christ govern his kingdom; and Peter as a faithful
servant must use the authority here granted accordingly. And so Peter understood it. For indeed
no portion of the New Testament more directly
refutes the preposterous claims of the popes, as the
alleged successors of Peter, than the two epistles
written by Peter.  IIad they followed him, they
would never have claimed a primacy; nor lorded it
over God's heritage; nor assumed power over kings;
nor have been so notoriously greedy of filthy lucre.
See 1 Peter v. 1-3: ii. 13-17.  The meaning of
our Lord in these words cannot be more or less than
the power of executing the laws of the kingdom of
heaven in the church, according to the nature, spirit,
and design of the church.
But, secondly, this power of the keys was given
to the other apostles and rulers in the church as
truly and fully as to Peter.  There is no trace of
prerogatives belonging to him alone among the servants of the same Lord.  Christ expressly told his
disciples that though there was lordship in earthly
kingdoms, "it shall not be so among you." Matt.
xx. 26. And though here he says to Peter, "Whatsoever thou shalt bind," yet in a subsequent passage
of this same gospel, Matt. xviii. 18, he extends this
to the church, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven." And so we actually
find that Peter, save as the first preacher at Pentecost and to the Gentiles, did nothing that was not
done also by others.  He preached the gospel; so




THE CHURCH FOUNDED ON THE ROCK.  251
did they all; he baptized; so did Philip the evangelist; he rebuked with severe authority the sin of
Ananias and Sapphira; so did Paul the wickedness
of Elymas the sorcerer, and of the incestuous Corinthian; he administered the Lord's supper; but
Paul has given us our plainest teachings respecting
this.   So in the ordination of deacons and  presbyters, in the ordinances of the council at Jerusalem,
and  in  the whole administration of the church  no
evidence appears that Peter was vested with powers
that differ in nature or in degree from the powers
given to other rulers in the kingdom of heaven.*
In all then, Peter personal is not the rock. Peter
representative  of the church  is Peter as standing
himself upon the great foundation. We are thus
forced to this substantial interpretation that Christ
is the rock; Peter himself was, to use his own words,
a living  stone, 1 Peter ii. 5, built upon  the  true
foundation: and only they are the followers of Peter
i-Chemnitz Harm., 1620. Many Protestant writers on this matter
appropriately notice that Peter, in a remarkable degree, refutes the
claims made in his name by the Romish church. In addition to the
citation already made from  Chemnitz, we may notice this from
Stier's Words of Jesus. " Peter must needs testify in the Scripture
against almost all the principal parts of the papacy. Against lordship over the church. 1 Peter v. 3, 4. Against a separate priesthood, ch. ii. 5-9. Against assumption over a civil magistrate,
verses 13-17. Against silver and gold and shameful gain. Acts iii.
6: 1 Peter v. 2. Against unbecoming marks of honour and slipperkissing. Acts x. 25, 26. Against infallibility, verse 34. Against
celibacy. 1 Cor. ix. 5. Against all righteousness by works, in harmony with Paul. Acts xv. 10, 11: 1 Peter i. 13, &c."a:
* Stier, (Clarke's Foreign Library,) ii. 342.




252          A AWEEK WITH JESUS.
who follow his teachings. In how many points the
church of Rome differs from the simple teachings
of Peter, it would not be difficult to show.* Whether
we interpret the rock to be Christ or Peter, the
claims of Romanism are equally unfounded. No
superiority over his brethren is given to Peter. The
apostles and prophets are the foundation of the
church in no such sense as to make any one of them
the corner-stone; and though the stability of the
church is here declared against all the raging of
secret and open foes, there is no such infallibility
promised, as would preclude many a fall to error,
on the part of either individuals or judicatories; or
make unnecessary many signal deliverances by the
power and grace of God. And so it occurs, that
the claims of the church of Rome are ever shaken,
when men have free access to the Scriptures, and
can compare her assumptions with the spirit of the
gospel of Christ.
Let these thoughts suffice upon the controversial
aspects of our Lord's words, which naturally need
our consideration.  The instructive teachings they
present should possess more interest.  Here we are
called upon to consider the noblest institution on
our fallen earth, THE CHURCIH OF CHRIST. No more
important inquiry can occupy our thoughts than
when we ask, "What constitutes a church?"  The
entire tenor of the Scriptures teach us that the
church exists in no line of persons as such.  Where
~'See on this Chemnitz HIarm. 1609.




THE CHURCH FOUNDED ON TIlE ROCK.  253
the principles of the church are held, there the
church is to be found.  Men tend  to change.
Again and again has the church been rescued from
destruction by the revival of her principles.  Men
have ever been prone to boast of ecclesiastical
descent, as did the Jews in the days of Christ; but
John the Baptist declared that God could raise up
children to Abraham from the very stones; and our
Lord declared that the true followers of Abraham
and Moses were they who held their faith and dicd
their works.  The calling of the Jews was to preserve the faith of God's people; for their departing
from the faith, they were cut off; and the express
threatening was made that any of later times departing from the faith should also be cut off. Rom. xi. 21,
22. And Paul explicitly declared that an apostacy
upon a grand scale should really occur. 2 Thess. ii.
3 seq.  So the succession of the church is to be
tested by her conformity to truth, not the truth by
a succession of men.  The church of Christ is made
up of Christ's humble, believing followers.
" For where but two or three,
Whatever place, in faith's communion meet,
There, with Christ's presence, is a church complete."
The church of Christ is of all ages, times, people.
It admits of diversity of forms and views; so long
as the Head, even Christ is firmly held, and the
common bond of faith unites all in one glorious
body.
But how delightful is the assurance that this
22




254          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
church is the church of Christ. So he says, "'1My
church!" In every respect the church belongs to
Christ. As we have seen already he is the foundation upon which it rests. Not upon any created
being can so noble a structure stand; but only upon
the Rock of Ages. And Christ- is the proprietor
of the church in every respect. He planned the
church. He chose the place where it should be established, on this earth where we now are; he chose
the materials of which it should be built, not the
angels that sinned, but sinners of Adam's lowly
race; he chose the workmen that should be employed
upon it. The ministers of the gospel are the servants of Christ, and according to our Lord's own
rule they are to be known by the conformity of
their teachings and success to the precepts he has
given. "By their fruits ye shall know them;" and
they who have the true teachings of Christ, they
who have Christ's approval in souls converted and
sanctified under their ministry, have a legitimate
seal. But we are further directly taught that
Christ builds the church. Whatever instrumentality
man has, Christ has the efficiency.  "Paul plants,
Apollos waters, God gives the increase."  The
wisest servants indeed understand but a small part
of the immense plan of this church of Christ. What
a figure is this for the church; a grand temple that
occupies all the ages of the world for its erection.
In this new world upon the western continent, we
have no old buildings, and we scarcely know what a




THE CHURCH FOUNDED ON THE ROCi.  255
splendid and costly temple is.  We have no wealth
to spend in such ways; we do not comprehend what
sums, what thought, what time may be laid out in
the stable magnificence of a grand architectural pile.
St. Peter's church at Rome cost immense sums for
its completion. Nearly two hundred years passed
after it was begun before it was ready to be dedicated; and it was finished more than a century and
a half later. Notre Dame in Paris took four hundred years to find completion; and the cathedral at
Cologne, one of the most imposing Gothic structures
in Europe, begun over six hundred years ago, remains yet unfinished.  Generations of workmen
labour on such buildings; the architects change the
plans; no one man can superintend the whole. But
the church of Christ is one, as to the great Master
Workman.  lie indeed bought all the materials at
a costly price, 1 Peter i. 18, 19; he employs all the
labourers and gives them their reward. 1 Peter v. 4.
Mortal men no more can foresee the changes and
duties of the church in advance, than they can anticipate and control the workings of Divine Providence; and so Christ keeps the whole in his own
hands.  "I will build."
But the instruction assures us further that Christ
is the preserver of his church.  HIe declares that
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. By
the "gates of hell" he means the power and malice
of Satan, however these may attempt to destroy or
injure the church.  Ile does not say that Satanic




256          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
power should not rage against the church. Rather
he intimates that it will.  The history of his church
is a history of conflicts and deliverances.  There is
no pledge here of infallibility in the opinions and
decisions of the church.  God has never so dealt
with his people as to preserve his wisest and holiest
servants from error. This would be to change entirely the great principles upon which his church
has ever been governed.  How lamentably did the
people of God err in the desert, where even with
their high priest at their head, they made and worshipped the golden calf at the very foot of Sinai!
How sadly did they wander when the greatest living
prophet thought himself alone in all Israel! 1 Kings
xix. 10.  How humbly does Daniel lament, "We
have not obeyed thy servants, the prophets who
spoke to us in thy name." I-ow plainly are we
warned against false prophets and apostacies in far
later days.  Christ promises not infallibility in his
church; he promises stability. And the very pledge
implies dangers of every kind; errors, assaults,
temptations, but deliverance; not exemption, but
final safety.  And so has it come to pass.  "Many
a time have they afflicted me from my youth up,
yet have they not prevailed against me,"
is the song of God's Israel in all generations.
" The time would fail," as the apostle says, not only
to enumerate the troubles of Zion, but also the
means by which her troubles have been brought
upon her.  Superstition, infidelity, heresy; curses,




THE CHURCH FOUNDED ON THE ROCK.  257
crosses, inquisitions; flatteries, falsehoods, hypocrisies; every force and every fraud have assailed the
church.  Sometimes the enemies of the church have
seemed to prevail; and her people have been almost
disheartened and ready to give up hope; as men's
hearts often fail for fear, when the earth shakes
beneath their unsteady feet. In Satan's rage against
the church, not long after this promise of her stability was made, he so far prevailed as to lay her
Head in the sepulchre of Joseph. But that hour
of his triumph was the hour of his most complete
discomfiture! A  type, this, of every succeeding
time; when most perplexed, Christ's people may
take the very darkness as a sign that their deliverance will not long delay. And indeed the promise
belongs not only to the church, but to every individual believer, toward whom the pledge of Christ
is, "None shall pluck them  out of my hand."
John x. 28.
And now, to follow the thoughts before indicated,
what consolation there is for the humble believer in
Jesus in the assurances thus given! Could we stand
by the blessed Redeemer as he uttered these words;
could we know more than did the listening disciples
of his infinite power and wisdom and grace; could
we anticipate all they experienced of grief and perplexity and darkness, and indeed all that has been
known by his people in all the intervening centuries,
we might rejoice in his assurance that no power of
earth or hell could prevail against his kingdom.
22  -




258          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
Blessed are our eyes, for they see far greater things.
All the varied experience of eighteen hundred years
may help us to interpret the promise, and give us
confidence that it shall be fulfilled.  HIow many
empires have risen and fallen while the church of
Christ is more widely known on the earth now than
ever; possesses more vitality than ever; has sent
forth the sacred Scriptures in more languages, in
wider dispersion, in more abundant copies, and to
more numerous and intelligent hearers than ever
before; and has had larger experience of the grace
of the Divine Spirit to accompany the footsteps of
his servants as they fulfil their Lord's command and
preach the gospel in all the world. It is a wonderful
support to our faith in these words of that incomparable Teacher, that no human wisdom could have
anticipated their fulfilment either upon a scale so
grand, or with mercies so truly beneficent.  It is
exceeding consolation to judge that every past deliverance is a pledge of future blessings.  The time
has long since past for any thought of failure to the
church of Christ. If he could ever think of abandoning his cherished plan of salvation, it must have
been before he suffered so much for his church.
Before his sufferings he promised that the gates of
hell should not prevail. Now that the worst is all
over; now that his feebleness on earth has given
place to power in heaven; now that his humiliation
is past and his exaltation begun, there is no reason
for the doubt of his power and willingness to save.




THE CHURCH FOUNDED ON THE ROCK.  259
Every past interference for the deliverance of his
people is a pledge that he will still deliver. So that
this is the believer's constant encouragement, "'Now
is our salvation nearer than when we believed."
Rom. xiii. 11. This indeed may be our song in the
house of our pilgrimage, that our Lord's leadings
are pledges for the future. He who begins the work
in us will perform it. Phil. i. 6.
"Can he have taught me to trust in his name,
And thus far have brought me to put me to shame?"
Nay, rather:
"His love in times past forbids me to think
He'll leave me at last in trouble to sink;
Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review,
Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through."
NEWTON.
And not less have we in these teachings of Christ
the voice of mingled warning and exhortation calling
the sons of men to put their trust in One who can
fulfil a promise so grand as this. The disciples who
stood beside him had but feeble thoughts of that
grand pledge that his church should rest upon an
immovable foundation, against which all raging of
earth and hell would be in vain.  But we may
understand how dignified are his claims as the proprietor and builder and preserver of the church.
Truly we need the confession of Peter as the interpreter of his character, who makes claims like these.
The Son of the Living God is here indeed. And
quite as blessed now as then, are those to whom this




260          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
great truth is made known, not by flesh and blood,
but by the Father. Our opportunities for knowing
the superiority and the truth of his great claims are
greater far than the apostles had. Nothing can be
more important than for us to know Christ.  How
happy are the hours we may spend in following his
footsteps; in dwelling upon his gracious words; in
pondering his wonderful works; in spelling out the
precious meaning of each significant thing; and in
tracing in pious experience the rich fulfilment of
his great promises. How miserable and unhappy
are they who have no care to linger on the sacred
places where Jesus loved to abide; who find no interest in thoughts that make him known; who have
felt no need of him as their Teacher, King, Redeemer;
and who have neither eyes to see nor ears to hear
those great things which prophets and righteous men
longed in vain to know. We may not forget that
alike to those who saw Christ, and to us who live
in far later ages, no knowledge is saving that flows
not from the illumination of the darkened understanding by God's Holy Spirit! Not only Peter
and Paul, that they may be apostles, but every man
that he may be a believer, needs that which flesh
and blood cannot impart.  We must be born of
God, or we cannot see the kingdom of heaven. We
may have some knowledge of our sin and of the
gospel as its proposed remedy; we may have concern for our interest in this great salvation; but to
see the truth and excellency of Christ, to realize




THE CHURCH FOUNDED ON THE ROCK. 261
our need and his power to save, to be drawn to him
that we may truly repose upon him, with a cheerful,
loving faith, we need the light of the Divine Spirit.
God alone, who commanded the light to shine out
of darkness, can shine thus in our minds. We need
eyes as well as light. We need to come, like the
blind beggar of Jericho, forgetful of everything but
our blindness; undeterred though the multitude bid
us hold our peace; and earnest only with this great
request, "Lord, that I may receive my sight!"
Luke xviii. 41. But now, as when Christ was upon
the earth, many say, "'We see," therefore their sin
remains. John ix. 41.




262          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SCRIPTURES FUFILL.ED IN CHRIST'S DEATH.
"He must go unto Jerusalem and suffer."
COMMENTATORS generally agree that this period
in our Lord's life marks a striking and important
change in his ministry.  Some judge that from this
time forward, he speaks less to the multitude, and
more directly to his band of disciples.  More agree
that henceforward he speaks more plainly respecting
his death and resurrection, now near at hand.  On
those topics he had not, before this, been wholly
silent. At an early period of his ministry he had
spoken of the great object of his mission to earth.
John iii. 17. But here is a special record. "From
that time Jesus began to show unto his disciples
how he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many
things of the elders and chief priests and scribes;
and be killed, and be raised again the third day."
We can easily understand why he should say less
about his death before its actual occurrence; yet we
would be greatly surprised if he had been entirely
silent upon this topic; and we would rather hear
him speak upon this greatest of all themes, than
upon any other. He came into the world thus to




SCRIPTURES FULFILLED IN CHRIST S DEATH. 263
lay down his life; he knew well the goal towards
which he now pressed; and he would give his disciples teachings to be recalled with the deepest interest when time had unfolded their entire meaning.
We may plainly see here, on the one hand, that
his disciples do not comprehend his words; and on
the other, that he himself attaches especial value to
this particular teaching.  Between the reception
and the rejection of the great necessity he here
affirms, runs the dividing line that separates divine
thoughts and inferior thoughts-separates the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.  Even an
apostle-even one upon whose head so lately descended a precious benediction, as upon one divinely
taugIht, must not question the necessity of his sufferings at Jerusalem, upon pain of being repulsed as a
very Satan whose evil suggestings the Messiah could
not endure.  These are teachings essential to the
gospel.  That he gave them with some degree of
publicity before his death, his enemies have proved.
For the Jewish rulers set a guard at his sepulchre;
and thus witnesses chosen by themselves attested
first to them the resurrection of Jesus.  His disciples had forgotten the words so carefully treasured
by his foes. But the faith of the apostles was
greatly confirmed afterwards in the remembrance
of the words which now foretold these events.
Some commentators suppose that the reproof here
given to Peter was chiefly for his presumptuous
manner of addressing his Lord. We cannot so think.




264          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
There was doubtless an error here. This ardent
disciple is often upon extremes. He had just been
commended, and now he is unduly elated. He now
presumes upon a familiarity that can have no place
in any supreme respect for Christ.'"Peter took
him and began to rebuke him:" perhaps in the
sense of our common phrases, took him up, or, took
him in hand.  Yet his words express a deference,
though he speaks forwardly. They may be rendered, "Pity thyself, Lord," or rather, "lMay God
be gracious to thee, this shall not be unto thee."*
But he was stopped short by a pointed and severe
rebuke; was even addressed as a very Satan for
words like these.  We cannot believe that it was
either the manner, or the spirit of the disciple which
our Lord here chiefly reproves. Peter needed a
lesson in humility; but our Lord corrects more than
mere forwardness. The false thought of Peter is
far worse than his temper or manner; he has no
adequate conception of the MUST which his Lord
had just declared: and the promptness and emphasis
of the reproof forbid us to confine its meaning to
the narrow occasion on which it was uttered.
Meekness so blends with the Redeemer's dignity
that he would hardly utter so severe a reproof to a
warm-hearted disciple for a breach of decorum.
And so far as Peter's error was one of fact, it would
soon be sufficiently corrected.  In a little time the
events here foretold would be past; the brief triumph
aBengel, Alford, &c.




SCRIPTURES FULFILLED IN CHRIST'S DEATH. 265
of Jewish and Satanic malice would be over; and
the cross would stand, the great historic scene of
the world's annals.  There was little danger that
succeeding ages would copy the form of Peter's
error.  But against the principle which Peter's
words imply, we must guard as carefully as our
Lord's zealous warning would here admonish us.
1'o the apostles, the thought of Christ's death was
new and strange and startling; to us it is familiar.
The fact announced troubled Peter; he could not
anticipate it, much less discern the necessity for it.
To us the fact is sufficiently obvious; but neither he
nor we must deny, through human reasonings, or
Satanic suggestions, the mvust which our Lord here
asserts.  Peter's confession of the Redeemer's dignity must not be annulled by his denial of the
Redeemer's work. The mvust be of the death accomplished at Jerusalem is a truth inferior to none of
all that pertain to human salvation.  Human folly
or Satanic malice can suggest none more false, or
more dishonouring to the plans of infinite wisdom
than to declare that Christ need not die, and died
therefore in vain.  "The things that be of God"
include a just understanding of the death of the
Mlediator as the needful means, divinely chosen for
nman's redemption.
Few single words ever uttered by those incomparable lips, possess the emphasis which the word and the
providence of God have thrown around the important MUST with which our Redeemer here inaugurates
23




266          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
this new era of his life and ministry.  Could wt
indeed stand by and hear this word, how should it
fill our minds with busy thought! Even if we stood
as did Peter, and appreciated the prejudices of his
age and people, such a word as this should strike a
key-note in full harmony with many a song that
had been long familiar to believing ears. And
if now we should attempt to array before our minds
the evidences which tell us that Christ must needs
die that man might know salvation, we would turn
our thoughts to those things that were already
before the eyes of our Lord's disciples, and consider,
I. Thle IP'opehetic Proof that Ch'rist znust die.
Thcre is immense force in the great truth, undeniable to all whlo possess the Old Testament Scriptures, that long before the ministry of Jesus of
Nazareth, the Jewish people looked for the coming
of a great Messiah; and were held together as a
most peculiar people by a religious system, whose
types and prophecies were scattered all along a
venerated history from the earliest knowledge of
man. No principle seems more prominently set
forth or more closely interwoven with this whole
system, than that an apostle so plainly enunciates,
"Without the shedding of blood there is no remission" of sins. The worship, the types, the teachings,
the expectations of the Jewish church from the
beginning onward, seem to say the same things.
Not only do we find the bleeding victim at the altar




SCRIPTURES FULFILLED IN CH, [ST'S DEATH. 267
of God from the first trace of sin in Eden; but after
the establishment of the Levitical economy, " almost
all things under the law were purged with blood."
We should not wonder if, at our Lord's words, his
disciples had consented that the Messiah's death did
agree to the voices of their prophets. When we
think of Israel's bleeding victims; when we recall
their significant types; when we read their pages
where Moses and David and Isaiah speak so plainly,
we wonder that the ancient church could read these
same truths, and still not understand that the Messiah must suffer and die.
In that beautiful philosophical instrument of
modern days, we have sometimes been unable to see
more than an ordinary picture. The peculiar relief
which the stereoscope was designed to give, we could
not perceive. Yet perhaps after gazing a while
upon it, the eyes adjust themselves to the instrument,
the difficulty disappears, and the very same figures
which, a moment before, seemed so dull and lifeless,
not only stand out full and fresh, but appear so vivid
and life-like, that now we cannot but see them in
these better forms. And now since our Lord, after
his resurrection, took especial care to open the
understanding of his disciples to see his necessary
sorrows foretold in the Scriptures, how can we
doubt that the scattered but numerous hints which
" all the prophets" give us since the world beganof suffering and sorrow in HIM  that was to comeare so many rays of light that were divinely designed




268          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
to converge upon Calvary. Like the undesigned
coincidences of many independent witnesses to the
same events, the seeming insignificance of various
words, and their wide dispersion through so many
books and over so many ages, gives additional force
to their bearing upon that distant and august event.
The woman's seed in conflict with the adversary,
must be bruised; the promised son of the believing
father must be devoted to the altar and significantly
restored on the third day, as if from the dead; the
blood of deliverance must put its redeeming token
upon every door-post in the night of Egypt's terror;
the healing serpent must be lifted up in the wilderness, though the nation was not as yet born whose
cruel mode of capital punishment was to raise the
Messiah to the cross! And that the true method
of redemption might be studied in its mysterious
significancy; should be recognized as inadequate and
typical by its very repetition, Heb. x. 1, 2; and yet
should never pass out of sight with God's worshipping people, twice every day must costly victims
bleed at his altars.  What less, or what else, could
all these things mean, in an expecting church, than
that the coming Deliverer should himself be a sufferer?  And if these hlnts, taken alone, could
scarcely be understood; if these typical and significant services seemed but dark enigmas, too deep
for man's solution, yet their very existence and
continued observance by a believing people cannot
be accounted for, on any less supposition than intel



SCRIPTURES FULFILLED IN CHRIST'S DEATH. 269
ligent and authoritative, and, because so anticipatory, therefore divine enactment.  Nor can we
believe that an array of sacrifices and services and
priests and symbols, so magnificent, so costly and
so singular, would be adopted by that ancient people,
or commended by their God, yet involving no permanent principles, teaching no abiding doctrines,
confirming no stable covenant, proposing no valuable example for our imitation,* but vanishing away
from the church, like the shadow of a passing cloud,
whose influence is lost the moment the sun shines
out. Rather, these forms of the old economy-like
the chaff which covers and nurtures the growing
grain, and yet falls from it dry and useless at the
maturity of the harvest-drop off from the unchanging principles of the church when they are better
known than ever. Death and the sprinkled blood
are the unchanging lessons of the church of God.
But all these things are clearer when we add to
them the more explicit teachings by which tht
prophets sometimes declared the Messiah's sufferings. How can we read the complaints which fell
from David's lips, but which express sorrows that
David never knew; or the description given by
Isaiah in that remarkable passage, ch. liii., which
stands by itself in all the records of the past; or
the statement of Daniel that Messiah should be
"cut off;" or Zechariah's later words, which tell
of his piercing; and not agree that to fulfil the
* Turrettine, iv. 402-3.
23 3




270          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
voices of the prophets Christ must suffer? We
indeed cannot now look on these teachings, and shut
out the later light which gives them such illustrious
clearness.  Some of these old teachings have a later
and most wonderful counterpart, like a new view
of the same scene; and we may place two passages
side by side and look upon both together until they
blend into one. For in the stereoscope of this twovolumed book, the Old and New Testament prophets
prove their common inspiration by the same Spirit,
by presenting us with harmonious views of the same
subject.  Place side by side the twenty-second
Psalm and the twenty-seventh chapter of Matthew.
Look at them both at once; for, though they are
not alike, their subject and their teachings are evidently the same.  Behold in both an illustrious
Sufferer. Hear the same language of complaint
from his lips, as of one forsaken of his God.  Witness the gathering multitudes with reviling tongues,
and shaking heads, and taunting gibes that this
man trusted in his God.  See the bitter rage of
angry men, the barking of Gentile dogs, the tumultuous swelling of wicked assemblies. Testify that
his garments are parted and by lot; that his hands
and feet are pierced; that in his racked and distorted frame upon that cross of agony you may
count the staring bones; there is no mistaking the
identity of the pictures; they are, they are the same!
No two such scenes, in so many points alike, can all;he world produce here is indeed the double glass




SCRIPTURES FULFILLED IN CHRIST S DEATH. 271
of prophecy; prophet and evangelist speak of Christ
and Calvary.  And we who look upon both, should
not fail to see that the cross is the central figure in
all the Scriptures; should expect the living Jesus
to anticipate and foretell his death by cruel hands
at Jerusalem; should recognize that for the fulfilment of the Scriptures Christ must suffer; and
should agree to call that a Satanic sentiment, even
from apostolic lips, that gainsays the necessity for
such a death.
Now while it is both impossible and undesirableas we have frequently said-for us to take our stand
by the disciples who heard the Lord, to see with
their eyes, to hear with their ears, and to understand
no more than they; while we find it difficult to make
due allowance for their ignorance and prejudice;
there is an important sense in which the very
inability of the apostles and of the ancient prophets
themselves to interpret these great oracles, enhances
the value of the testimony which they bear to Christ.
When we can see the evident meaning of the types
and prophecies, and then know that those who wrote
them aforetime did not comprehend them, we are
certain that they were, in no proper sense, the
authors of them.  If a messenger brings me a letter
written in plain English, of which language he
understands not one word, need I any better proof
that he is not its author?  The prophets, moved by
the Holy Ghost, wrote words they did not understand.  And after his resurrection from the dead




272          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
our Lord opened the understandings of his disciples
to see in all the prophets that the Messiah ought to
suffer these things before he entered into his glory.
And nothing is more characteristic of the ministry
of the apostles than their alleging out of the Scriptures that Christ must suffer.  So did Peter at
Pentecost and in the epistles that bear his name.
Acts ii. 23: 1 Peter i. 10, 11.  So did they in
every synagogue, arguing with the Jews. So Philip
preached Christ from Isaiah's great prophecy. Acts
viii. 35.  So Paul in his life-long ministry said,
"None other things than those which the prophets
and Moses did say should come, that Christ should
suffer." Acts xxvi. 22, 23. As a matter of certainty, according to the teachings of all God's
previous prophets, these new teachings of Jesus to
his disciples are true.  "He must go to Jerusalem
and suffer many things.....  and be killed."




THE "MUST BE" OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 273
CHAPTER XX.
THIE "MUST BE2" OP TUHE DEATItH OF CHRIST.
"The things that be of God."
IT may justly be said that the more closely this
prophetical proof of the necessity of Messiah's sufferings is studied and understood, the more complete
will be the strength of our convictions, and the more
wonderful the establishment of the authority of the
Scriptures. This however is but one branch of the
proof of this important teaching, which Peter cannot
be permitted to gainsay. It would be easy to set
forth,
Il. The Didactic Proof that Christ must die.
For not only do our Lord's words here assert
that he must; but he repeats afterwards, thus it
must be, Matt. xxvi. 54; Christ ought to suffer
these things, Luke xxiv. 26; and thus it behooved
Christ to suffer, v. 46. So the apostles teach in
later days, "It became.. the Father..
to make the Captain of our salvation perfect through
sufferings." It was necessary to purify by better
sacrifices than those of the old economy, Heb. ii.




274           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
10: ix. 23, those who should enter the heavenly
sanctuary.
But we may read, as these disciples could not,
II~. The:Historic Proof that Christ nrmust die.
He did die we know; and in the knowledge of
this is the clear proof that he must needs suffer.
Before us we set illuminated prophecies, plain declarations, and indisputable providences. Predictions
that thus it should be, declarations that thus it must
be, have been succeeded by historic records that
thus it has occurred. Here again our deepest study
brings most profound conviction. Every just thought
of that great event, when Christ did die upon the
cross, under the government of a holy God, and
directly according to the divine will, demands that
a righteous necessity, for some adequate end, should
exist for a scene like this. The dignity of the sufferer, who was the Son of God, and but voluntarily
subject to the law for redemption's sake, Gal. iv. 4,
5; the excellence of his personal character, well
pleasing in the Father's sight, and found without
fault before the earthly judge who condemned him;
the representations of the Scriptures so abundantly
made that his death was public and official, and not
private and personal, for others and not for himself;
their constant teaching that love prompted himself
to offer and the Father to give him, though there
can be neither wisdom nor love in sufferings that
may be easily and righteously avoided; the terms




THE "MUST BE" OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 27.5
applied to that death, that he was a surety, a curse
for us, a ransom and a propitiation; that he bore
our sins, takes away sin by the sacrifice of himself,
brings redemption to us, and reconciles us to God
by his cross; all these things bid us recognize these
sufferings as ordered by Providence, and as the
needful means by which the Divine ruler would
secure the Messiah's glory in man's salvation.
Now in speaking of the providential aspects of
this great matter,-in justifying the Saviour's words
that he must suffer-one sorrowful record in his life
brings this necessity directly before us. In the
great enterprise upon which the Mediator had now
entered, he delights to do God's holy will, Ps. xl. 8:
Heb. x. 7, and is actuated by a holy and steadfast
purpose that is straitened till his fearful baptism is
accomplished. Luke xii. 50. Yet he did not undervalue the heavy griefs through which his soul must
pass. If the infinite wisdom of this suffering Mediator could have found any cheaper method of
securing the same great end, that method he would
have chosen. He chose the cross for its end, not for
itself; as a needs be, not as an expedient: to save
men who otherwise could not be saved. Could he
have gained the same end in the avoiding of the
cross, he would have done it. He passed on a willing victim to the cross; yet its gathering terrors
filled his soul with anguish; he poured out his soul
in strong crying and tears unto him who was able
to save; and asked the Father to remove the bitter




276          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
cup, with an earnestness that three times repeateo
the wonderful request. Yet he just so asked as to
prove that its removal was not possible, consistently
with those great designs which no sorrows could
make him surrender. The Father heard, Heb. v. 7,
but he did not save his beloved Son from death.
Can we imagine a better proof in fact that the sorrows of his incarnate Son were necessary to the
salvation of man than is furnished by the refusal of
this submissive prayer? The Father would have
removed it, if it had been possible.  It was not.
Christ must die.  The pleading Redeemer DID suffer; the strongest possible proof that he MUST.
But besides this wonderful pleading in Gethsemane, these gospel narratives set before us two grand
mysteries, springing out of two great facts, that
seem capable of but a single sufficient explanation.
Taken by themselves, we can explain neither. They
seem altogether inconsistent with proper ideas of
divine justice. One mystery is that Christ Jesuswhose innocence is acknowledged, and rendered
indeed preeminent, by virtues the most extraordinary-suffers at the hands of man, is deserted by
his God, and seems peculiarly to bear the curse of a
law which truly he never broke. He restored that
he took not away. The other mystery is, that many
sinners-known as flagrant violators of the law, and
themselves candidly confessing their guilt-are set
free from the law's condemning sentence, are reconciled to God, and are rewarded with his favour.




THE L"MUST BE" OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 277
Separated, neither of these things can be comprehended. Taken together they may be solved; for
the innocent takes the responsibilities of the guilty,
and the guilty are set free from the sentence which
he endures for them.  These two things equally
demand our faith in the necessity of the sufferings
of Christ.
We have spoken of Divine justice.  This we
should more carefully consider.  It leads us to
notice,
IV. The E;thical Alqrgument for the Necessity of Mlessiah's
Death.
How can we understand a great moral question,
without going beyond facts and statements to inquire
into the moral principles it involves? All the various
points may be in harmony.  Let us strive to see
this. Prophecy foretold; wisdom taught; providence accomplished; thus events answer to God's
intelligent designs. The prophets, looking forward,
declared that Messiah's death should certainly occur;
the Redeemer says it must be; and the evangelists,
looking backward, narrate that it did take place.
Can we pass deeper down than prophet, and teacher,
and historian, and ask of Him from whom time and
the things of time proceed-from  the common
Controller of prediction and event-what righteous
principles underlie the whole? In the Saviour's
reproof to Peter, he declares that the "must be" of
his death is one of the "things of God." Is there
24




278          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
that, in God and his government, which declares that
Christ to save man ought to suffer? We have the
shall of the prophets; we have the must of Christ's
irrefragable word; we have the did in the evangelistic narratives; can we find the ought in the decisions of infinite righteousness; and find these all
harmonious elements in the loving cross? Yes, we
can. So we understand the Scriptures; so we
interpret the scenes of Calvary; so we comprehend
our Lord's reproof to Peter, far above the offence
of forward zeal or rash presumption; so we draw
the line between the decisions of divine wisdom and
righteousness, and those offending suggestions, from
whatever quarter, to which our Lord would say,
"'Get thee behind me, Satan!" The necessity for
the death of Christ is not one of mere expediency,
even to fill up the harmony of God's prophetic and
providential plans: it was itself according to the
preceding plan from which prophecy and providence
themselves have sprung; and infinite grace and
wisdom and righteousness meet in the cross of
Calvary.
We can address ourselves to no higher thoughts
than those which consider God himself. Let us
study his works and his word; but through creation
and through providence, through revelation and
through grace, and, as superior to them all, let us
study tHIMSELF. And in all that we can know of
God, no truth is of value or interest at all to be
compared with the sure conviction of his unchanging




THE "MUST BE" OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 279
righteousness.  "Shall not the Judge of all the
earth do right?" Everything he is and does, must
be capable of vindication upon righteous principles.
By declaring that God is just, we mean that he will
deal with moral beings as they deserve-either
directly punishing sin, or so dealing with it as to call
forth confessions of his righteousness from the intelligent universe. It is unspeakably more important
that God should be infinitely perfect in righteousness, than even in his natural attributes of wisdom
and power. We could not respect even an angel
upon whose robes was found one spot of falsehood
or injustice.  Wo to the universe, if the Most High
is of infinite exaltation and of unchanging excellence,
except in the most important of all things-his own
moral principles. And here, above all, the character of God is incapable of the least deflection. Even
in judging of men, "He who keeps the whole law
and yet offends in one point, is guilty of all." He
is no longer sinless who has spoken one untruth, or
done one wrong. It arises from the infinite perfection of Jehovah, that he is incapable of the slightest
decline from  entire righteousness.  "He cannot
deny himself." 2 Tim. ii. 13. He is "God that
cannot lie." Titus i. 2.  Falsehood or injustice
would be weakness, in One who has no weakness;
he has no capacity for evil, but every excellence
dwells in him; and all his attributes are in a harmony as excellent and glorious as themselves.
Of every man and of every thing must this holy




280          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
God form a just judgment.  He cannot but knom
the sins of men; he cannot but approve or disapprove. But disapproval is condemnation; in a just
judge the difference between right and wrong can
never be trivial; and a righteous condemnation
must go the full length of the ill desert it condemns,
When we say that God is just, we can mean nothing
less than that lie will deal with sinners as they
deserve.  This his nature requires; this his lam
demands; this his word declares; and every just
argument drawn from either, confirms this most, in
its fullest strength.  But sinners do not deserve
approval, pardon, reward; and the judge who deals
thus with acknowledged offenders must vindicate his
decision for good reasons assigned, or lose his reputation for justice.  God himself-indeed we should
say, God pre,'minently-cannot arbitrarily forgive
sinners.
This is the true reason for the necessity of Christ's
death.  Caprice cannot be introduced into God's
government, or the foundations are destroyed. If
he may smile upon any sinner, why not frown upon
any holy being? If right no longer governs, anarchy
sends dismay through the universe. This cannot
be. Righteousness must reign-unswerving righteousness. Nowhere less can we tolerate the slightest
defect-the least change from perfection-than in
the truth and righteousness and purity of the divine
character. In the sufferings and death of God's
incarnate Son Jehovah "declares his righteousness




THE "MUST BE" OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 281[
in the forgiveness of sins." Rom. iii. 25. Proper
ideas of this scheme, devised by love, wisdom and
righteousness, divine and infinite, alone can explain
why the holy should suffer, or the sinful be set free
from suffering. Personally considered, neither was
Christ, nor are Christ's people treated as they
deserve. Christ, as innocent, deserved not to die;
yet he did die. His people, as guilty, deserve condemnation; yet are they justified.  So we are told
that Christ took their place and suffered in their
stead.  Love and grace prompted his mediation.
The claims of divine justice are made upon a sufficient and voluntary surety; these righteous claims
are transferred from his people; this transfer presupposes the movements of infinite grace. The
MUST BE of Christ's death was not absolute, but
relative to man's salvation.  Man must suffer for
his own transgressions, in which sense no salvation
was possible; or another must bear his guilt.  So
our great poet says,
"Die he or justice must, unless for him
Some other, able and as willing, pay
The rigid satisfaction, death for death."
The apostle clearly argues that when God forgives
sin, he vindicates the righteousness of so doing by
setting forth the propitiation of Christ. Rom. iii. 25.
If man is forgiven Christ must die.  This is the
counsel of God.  This justifies even the death of
the innocent, when he stands voluntarily in the
stead of the guilty.  This declares the divine recti24  -




282          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
tude when the believer on Jesus is justified. This
explains how impossible it was to answer the prayer
of Gethsemane; and to put away that bitter cup
from a Saviour's lips.
There are not wanting other reasons to show the
necessity of that death which our Lord now predicted to his astonished disciples. But we will not
now present any others in the form of arguments.
We may simply suggest that only by the death of a
Redeemer is there any semblance of satisfaction
made to the righteous demands of God's law, or to
the expectations of man's enlightened conscience;
while in the atonement of Jesus a complete answer
is made to every inquiry which justice and intelligence can ask. Penitence, of itself, cannot answer
the law, remove guilt, satisfy the conscience, or
repair consequences; if indeed penitence could be
exercised apart from the atonement. Perhaps especially we should say that,
V. The efficacy shown by experience to belong to the death of
Christ is an irportant proof of its necessity.
This is a two-fold argument. On the one hand,
it is notorious that lax views of morality, of sin, of
divine righteousness, prevail among those who deny
the doctrine of the atonement.  On the other hand,
those who recognize the necessity and efficacy of the
death of God's own Son for human salvation, have
the most profound views of man's sin, the highest
views of God's justice, the most penitent thoughts




THE ~"MUST BE" OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 283
of themselves, the most careful endeavours to keep
holy the demands of God's law. The character and
government of God are matters of the deepest
concern to those who have learned their lessons at
the cross of a redeeming Jesus. We put the Lord's
own test to the Lord's own work. "By their fruits
ye shall know them." The world over, no man
ever becomes interested in the atonement of Calvary
without higher views of the law of God, and more
careful efforts to honour and keep it. This experimental test may be applied to this teaching, that it
has every tendency to maintain the honour of God
and of his law; that it makes men the cheerful and
obedient subjects of his authority; that its fruits
are holiness; and that those who decline from this
doctrine of the atonement, decline to lax views of
divine rectitude and of human duty.
The error of Peter was not one of mere form or
temper. It was one of vital principle, when he did
not recognize the must be which his Lord asserted.
And no age, and no man can safely deny the necessity of his sufferings on the tree. Let us understand
the position occupied by the great Mediator; let us
rejoice in his willingness and his ability to do tL'at
most necessary work. The guilt of man is open,
flagrant, manifold; the law of God is plain, and
strict, and changeless; the divine justice demanded
that the sinner should meet its claims. In the
voluntary shedding of Christ's blood we recognize
tbe plan of redeeming love and wisdom.  Mercy




284           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
and truth meet; righteousness and peace embrace.
This satisfies our just reasonings respecting divine
righteousness. This explains the scope of Scriptural
teachings from Genesis to Revelation. Death and
the sprinkled blood-without this, no remission-is
God's wise method for man's forgiveness. To any
that " for any reason " would deny this great teaching
-the Son of man must suffer-should our reply be,
"Get thee behind me, Satan! thou savourest not
the things that be of God!"
Now all these thoughts are corroborated by the
evident prominence and importance of the death
of Christ in the gospel narratives, and in the teachings of the apostles. In no sense can his be thought
an ordinary death. For the innocent to die at all
is extraordinary; for such an one as he to fear
death for any personal considerations is nearly as
extraordinary;* for so much stress to be laid upon
his death in the New Testament church, except as
it was needful, vicarious and efficacious, is inexplicable. For the church to celebrate his death in a
solemn sacrament that excludes all former sacrifices,
and is itself to last till he shall come; to repeat this
so often, with impressive words and actions; to make
it the most affecting solemnity of her latest and
most glorious dispensation, may sufficiently prove
that we are in no danger of overestimating the cross
Df Christ. Let us beware of any leanings towards
See the striking remarks of Saurin. Sermon on the Crucifixion,
-i. 84.




THE "MUST BE'; OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST. 285
the error of Peter.  We cannot indeed even wish to
stay the Redeemer's footsteps as he presses towards
Jerusalem.  The work of Calvary is "finished."
It is too late to stop it, as Peter would have done.
But it is not too late to misunderstand it; and
against this we must guard.
If any sinful man needs an interest in the atoning
work of Christ, every man does. If that death was
at all needful, it was needful both for you and for
me. Any failure to appreciate this; any neglect
to seek the "blood of sprinkling" for our own souls;
any confidence in other means of safety is to repeat
the error of Peter. Let us rather believe that Christ
has not died in vain. Neither was his death uncalled
for by our necessities; neither is it inefficacious for
the largest guilt; neither is it withheld from our
humble and penitent application; neither can we
slight it, but to our eternal undoing. Oh, foolish
hearers of the gospel of his grace! who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth,
before whom, so frequently. Jesus Christ has been
set forth evidently crucified!*
-- On the necessity for the atonement see Turrettine, vol. iv. pp.
385-435; Witsius, Econ. Cov., book i. ch. v. ~ 23, seq., book ii. ch.
viii.; Buddeus Inst. Theol., 870.




286          A WEEK WITII JESUS.
CHAPTER XXI.
TAKING UP THE CROSS.
THE wisest teachers often perplex their disciples;
and the most thoughtful scholars are the most likely
to be perplexed.  Careless hearers of the truth
dismiss at once the instructions they do not readily
understand: as if the thoughts that cannot be immediately comprehended, were thus proved wanting in
intelligence or value. But thoughtful minds, really
desirous of instruction, are awakened to more careful attention when the meaning of the lesson is not
obvious.  Of all teachers none give lessons more
worthy of our earnest study than our Lord Jesus
Christ: yet many of his words must have been
obscure and enigmatical to the most intelligent of
his apostles. We know no better illustration to
explain the crude views and wild anticipations of
that band of twelve, who gathered around him for
three years, than to compare him to a father, and
these to the children, whom he instructs by precepts, direct and indirect; by examples, copied more
through an imitative instinct than by intelligence;
by teachings, some of which are now understood,
some half understood, and some not understood at




TAKING UP THE CROSS.          287
all.  How little does a child enter into sympathy
with the parent. A thousand reflections, plans, fears,
hopes, pass every day through a father's mind, of
which the child can have no knowledge. Yet no
one can doubt that the child learns in this parental
school: indeed, reason as we may, of the strangeness of a scholar's learning where so many things
are so long above his capacity and outside of his
sympathy, experience tells us that there is no better
method of training minds than in the family —a
providential seminary of the wisest adaptation. Our
Lord's disciples were his family; and if we wonder
at their early misconceptions of his words and character and plans, we may acknowledge that in due
time they knew his doctrines and sympathized with
his designs.
As little as the children of our families know of
the world before them and of their life in it, knew
the disciples of Jesus of the spiritual kingdom that
was to be established through their means. We
talk to our children of life and its duties; and they
learn to use language similar to our own; while yet
only a practical experience of life's own changes
can teach them the full meaning of the words we
thus use.  They often get false ideas from  our
teachings: not because we have taught falsehood,
but because they have been incapable of appreciating
the true meaning of our words. They are often at
a loss to understand things, which may be recalled
and understood better at a later time. True teach



288          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
ing is worth far more than its present apparent
value.
When our Lord said to his disciples that they
must deny themselves and take up the cross and
follow him, he used in their ears the language of
enigma. They had but a low conception of the
meaning of the cross upon his lips. If he refers to
his own sufferings upon the cross, they were not so
familiar with that Roman mode of capital punishment; and they had not yet arrived at the conception that their Lord should indeed die a violent
death. Yet doubtless they had seen or heard of the
cross; they knew that the unhappy victims must
carry the means of their own torture to the place
of death; and must linger in cruel agony until they
found a slow relief from every pang. And thus his
words, dark though their meaning was, were a
faithful forewarning that his service was not one
of pleasure simply.  He gives fair notice of suffering rather than of joy; of reproach rather than of
honour.
Now if we may hear our Lord's words more
intelligently than they, we should desire to know
their true meaning in this especial case. He is
willing-indeed desirous —that men should take distinct forewarning of the certain and unavoidable
difficulties that attend their discipleship to him.
He would not win a single follower by any bright
representation of the joys or advantages attending
his service; especially by any holding back of sac



TAKING UP THE CROSS.           289
rifices to be made, or sufferings to be endured.  He
makes the cross an early, a prominent, a continual
lesson of the Christian life. So no man can have it
to say that the Scriptures beguiled him to embrace
a service that turned out harder than had been
represented. Those who would follow Christ are
expressly directed to sit down and count the cost,
that they may decide for, or against him, in view
of intelligent considerations. So men who have once
taken up the Saviour's service should be expected
to press steadily forward, even through difficulties
anid self-denials; since they are not only supported
under them, but have been forewarned of them.
WVhen we meet self-denials, difficulties and the cross,
let us not judge that we have mistaken the path.
For it could not be THE PATH, if it led us where we
had nothing like trials or self-denials to encounter.
And let it be known, the world over, that Christ
Jesus has no other terms to offer that he may win
the most illustrious disciple. No mortal man confers
an honour on Jesus, when he is numbered among
his followers; for no mortal man will any decline
be made in the duties of his service; he that shrinks
back from the cross is not worthy of this Lord;
anid while he speaks graciously, he ever speaks as a
Sovereign to all the sons of earth.
Since we have good reason to believe that the
Master expresses no special rule for his apostles
when he speaks of the cross; but rather that his
language can mean nothing less than a permanent
25




290          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
rule of Christ's kingdom, we may the more thoughtfully listen while he speaks to us. Time has not
faded a single letter; distance does not dim our
reading of a single word; changing circumstances
cannot transpose a single expression; nor can the
pervading principle of this great sentence ever be
wisely lost sight of by any of Christ's disciples. In
view of the profession his followers must make of
his name, of the sacrifices they must make, of the
griefs they must endure, and of the services they
must render, he had once before said, " He that
taketh not his cross and followeth after me, is not
worthy of me." Matt. x. 38.  And now having
spoken of his own needful sufferings for our salvation, he resumes the same topic, and asserts its
universal necessity for all his people.  " If any
man will come after me, let him deny himself and
take up his cross and follow me."
But this teaching of Christ, though a just forewarning of trials, is not, merely in this aspect, a
strange thing for a religious teacher. For it would
be difficult to point out any system of religion on
earth, that does not enjoin its self-denials.  Far
more importance is to be attached to the true nature
of Christian self-denial, than to the mere fact that
self-denials are enjoined in the teachings of Jesus.
If we look over the earth at this very hour; if we
make ourselves acquainted with the gross impostures
of paganism and of the corrupted forms of Christianity, we may well be surprisedl, not only at the




TAKING UP TIIE CROSS.           291
sacrifices, personal and pecuniary, which they everywhere demand; but at the willingness with which
their votaries pay the exactions that seem to us the
extreme of absurdity and even wickedness. The
Hindu will undertake protracted and dangerous
journeys; will endure frightful and long-continued
tortures; will pay liberally-from  his poverty or
from his abundance-if thus his gods command.
Pilgrimages and penances, fastings and mortifications, alms-giving and self-denials form a prominent
part of every kind of religion on the earth. Perhaps
it is so, that man's sense of his fallen, degraded,
sinful estate is so thoroughly felt by the conscience,
that no man can consent to take the natural actings
of his mind for religion.  Religion, by the unanimous verdict of mankind, is self-denial, not selfgratification: it runs counter to man's natural
impulses, not in the same channels with them; it
testifies that man has departed from his God, and
needs a painful restoration: and thus the world
bears witness-in its very falsehoods against Christ
-to the propriety of the claims which he here
makes.  This great fact, indeed, so universally
recognized, is not properly interpreted anywhere
else than in the gospel of Christ. False religions
take this great truth as the basis,-that man needs
self-denials,-and upon this they invariably build
for man a superstructure of self-gratification.  This
wide and essential difference exists between the
sacrifices and self-denials required by the gospel,




292           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
and those demanded by every form of false religion;
that false systems regard these as sufferings, sacrifices, efforts, COMPENSATORY; they are matters of
penance, into which the idea of making amends for
sins essentially enters; rather than matters of penitence, which indeed includes efforts for the amendment of the life, but which possesses no value as
making amends to the law.  The self-denials of the
gospel are self-denials of another order, and hold
quite a different place.  So an apostle assures us
that a man may give away all his goods to the poor,
and give his body to the fiery stake: and yet in all
this, offer a profitless sacrifice to that God, who asks
a nobler offering still.
The self-denial required in the gospel may extend
to personal suffering and include pecuniary sacrifice:
but it is something very different from the senseless
mortification of our persons, or the useless or reckless sacrifice of our property.  It is easier to
understand the object we should keep constantly in
view, than to enumerate the details of a duty that
influences all possible characters, situations, engagements and times of our earthly life.  Interpret the
words of Christ plainly, and you have the whole
of it. Deny self, take up the cross, and follow me.
Even the fearful requirements of false teachings;
the evasions, which our depraved natures, instinctively keen to avoid every cross, would prompt us to
make of true teachings; and the penances of a
spurious devotion, yet allow men to gratify self.




TAKING UP THE CROSS.            293
They enjoin self-denials in voluntary and useless
mortifications, that have no tendency to do good to
ourselves or to others, or to glorify God; and
especially they build up the pride of man's heart,
and beget an esteem of his own righteousness, in
which thing they are the furthest removed from
the spirit of the gospel.
At the foundation of the self-denial enjoined
in the gospel lies an utter renunciation of our
dependence upon our characters or doings, as the
ground of our acceptance before God. This is the
denial of self.  Nor is it easy.  Self-righteousness
is a root of bitterness not easily extirpated from the
soil of the human heart. In the spirit of dependence
upon Christ, we are to take up the cross he lays
upon us, and to follow him in all his teachings
and in all his leadings.  Christian self-denial is to
follow the Lord's leadings, to submit to the Lord's
will, to do the Lord's bidding, and to promote the
Lord's glory, out of love to the Lord, undeterred
by painful, costly, difficult or unpleasant sacrifices,
or engagements. It is nothing more nor less than
giving ourselves to Christ-to have our souls imbued
with the holy principles of his gospel; to have every
rebellious passion brought into subjection to his holy
will; to have every step of our earthly path taken
cheerfully by the direction of his providence; and
to have our souls upon the constant watch, not to
seek our own honour, but to seek his glory, for
whom we live, and for whom we are ready to suffer
25  h



294          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
the loss of all things. It is to live in the world in
constant contact with things that are unfriendly,
yet also to live above the world. It is to find that
the changes of life, as we grow older, as we grow
wiser, as we grow richer, or as we grow poorer,
even indeed as we grow holier, still bring us no
relief from the law that yet rests upon us to take
up our daily cross and bear it after Jesus. We
may learn to glory in the cross we bear for him, we
may count it all joy that we are esteemed worthy
to suffer or endure for his sake; we may lighten the
burden by holding it closely to our hearts; but still
will we find it THE CROSS: like our afflictions, not in
themselves joyous, but grievous: rejoiced in not as
pleasant, but as working afterwards the peaceable
fruits of righteousness. As our sorrows often wither
our brightest hopes, sever our tenderest ties, and
grieve our dearest affections; and submission under
them  is most the fruit of grace when we feel the
most keenly: so the cross borne in our following
after Jesus may be the heaviest, the hardest to bear
just when our patient endurance may enable us
most fully to glorify the name and the principles
of Christ. And it should be no mean support under
the heavy burden of some special cross, to remember
that the infinite wisdom of our King has appointed
our place in his kingdom; and has laid upon us the
very duties wherein we may get the most good to
our own souls, do good to those that are around us,
and glorify the great name of our Redeemer.




TAKING UP THE CROSS.            295
Notice, in our Lord's phraseology, it is the
believer's cross, as well as Christ's cross.  It is
Christ's cross because borne at his bidding and to
glorify him; it is the believer's cross because he
must bear it; yes, indeed, suffer upon it!  And
because the cross you bear is divinely designed to
mortify your members that are upon the earth, and
to enable you to adorn the gospel, the especial;weight of this cross as borne by you, is divinely
adapted to form your character and to mould your
life in Christ's service.  We often feel like complaining that we have special griefs to bear, special
hardships to encounter, special losses to endure!
And so we all have! Not in the sense that our
crosses are heavier than any ever before borne; but
in the better sense that divine wisdom has made no
mistake in the burden specially allotted to him; let
every man take up Ins cross.




BU6            A WEEK WITII JESUS.
CHAPTER XXII.
BEARING TKHE CROSS.
"Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free?
No, there's a cross for every one,
And there's a cross for me."
PERHAPS it may be well for us to specify some
of the forms which the cross assumes, as the disciples
of Jesus must bear it after him.
First, then, it is an important part of Christian
duty that we must not be ashamed of the teachings
of Christ before men. He himself expressly forbids
his disciples to be ashamed of him or of his words.
The teachings of Christ are so excellent that men
are everywhere willing to applaud; and that many
even wear the name of Christian who still are far
From following where Jesus leads. It is not enough
that we should honour some of the teachings of
Christ. He claims to be the greatest of all teachers,
infallible in the correctness of his doctrines, consistent in their entire harmony, and legitimate and
supreme in the authority with which he calls his
disciples to embrace them.  Yet there are many of
Christ's teachings not readily received among men:




BEARING TIIE CROSS.            297
and the man who dares to hold consistently all
the teachings of such a Lord must expect to be
reproached as bigoted and illiberal by that wisdom
of the world, which refuses to be instructed even
when the Son of God is the teacher.  The followers
of Christ must belong to a sect that is "everywhere
spoken against;" they need not wonder if many
slanders are heaped upon the truth; they may
expect that their Lord's own words will be perverted
to uses far different from his designs.  Among the
variety of opinions among men touching religious
doctrines, every disciple of Christ should learn and
should firmly maintain the teachings of Jesus; he
should be undismayed, if indeed special dehial is
made of important doctrines, and special reproach
is cast upon them; he should even anticipate this,
as the offence inseparable from the cross.
If the authority of the sacred Scriptures is called
in question; if men deny the divinity of Christ, the
necessity and efficacy of his atonement, the power
or freeness of his grace, or the worthlessness of
human merits; if the doctrines of the resurrection,
the final judgment, and the future perdition of
ungodly men are called in question, we are not at
liberty even to seem indifferent or neutral in matters
so important as these.  To argument we can often
reply; by sneers we must be unmoved; it is foolish
and perilous to avoid the cross.  We must not be
ashamed of the words of Christ.  We are often
tempted to compromise the truth that we may not




298           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
vex opposers. But it is our duty to be both wise
and bold; and the prudence that allows error to
triumph and truth to fall in the streets is more
timid than faithful. Nothing is more noble than
for a disciple of Christ to be ready anywhere and
at any time to speak firmly in vindication of every
doctrine that has been delivered to us in the teachings of our Lord.
Secondly, the service of Christ often lays a cross
upon us in reference to our ordinary duties of life
and to our tenderest relationships.
Our Lord Jesus Christ does not intend that his
people should separate themselves from other people;
but that they should live in a mixed state of society,
and show their discipleship by their principles rather
tban by their abodes, their professions or their
apparel.  And men can be known by their principles as certainly as by anything else.  If Christians
tried to live in separate towns or streets by themselves, many people would crowd in there who were
not true Christians.  If they wore any special
dress, other people could put on similar clothes.
Christ enjoins no such separations. His people are
thoroughly mingled with the world; and all their
attempts to stay too much together he thwarts; as
when the apostles tarried too long at Jerusalem
against his bidding, he scattered them by persecution.
So you can hardly find a family that has not its
ungodly members; and sometimes a single person
in a family has alone tasted of the grace of Christ,




BEARING THE CROSS.             299
and is called to bear the cross for Jesus in the very
circumstances thus surrounding him. For though
persecutions are not known among us, in the same
gross sense that pertained to the earlier ages; though
the trials of many converts from heathenism, who
must surrender their earthly goods and part from
their earthly friends, are not the trials endured in a
Christian community; it is as true now as ever,
that the spirit of Christ is not the spirit of the
world; that every Christian will be closely watched
by those who are about him; that he will find a
cross in the differences which true piety puts between
himself and others.  Christ's words are still true
that he has come to set at variance the most intimate
relationships of life.  If a wife is a Christian and
the husband is not; the parent is and the child is
not; the sister is and the brother is not, here is
room for cross-bearing.
The engagements of the family may not be
changed; the affections of the family may be as
warm as ever; they live still beneath the same roof,
and are upon the best of terms with each other.
But the member of the household that loves Jesus
has new views in which the others do not sympathize;
new affections and tastes that agree not with theirs;
and it is worse, that conscience often takes the
differences as a protest against a worldliness that
would otherwise remain unreproved.  It is very
hard always to maintain a truly Christian temper;
especially when the mildness that yields is reproached




300           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
as inconsistent and unfaithful; the firmness that
refuses to yield is branded as stubborn and unfeeling; the zealous care to keep a good conscience is
thought overscrupulous; and watching against sin
is esteemed the bigotry of a sect.  Many a time are
the warm  affections our tempters to do what we
hope may be for good; and it is a cross to be
misinterpreted by dearly loved friends in our best
intended services.  This cross is infinitely various,
as it rests here or there; it must be borne faithfully
wherever it rests; and every wise disciple will judge
that the most dangerous of all mistakes, which lays
off the cross itself to avoid the reproach of the cross.
Faithfulness to Christ is the very first requisite in
all true affection and faithfulness to the souls of
others.  Compliances with their wishes against the
duty we owe to the Saviour will both entangle our
souls and lay stumbling-blocks for theirs. Many
of our most delicate duties-especially for younger
Christians-arise in these social relationships.  The
firm, kindly, consistent exhibition of Christian principles; the denial of self in a thousand ways, which
every intimate friend must see; the constant humble
care to honour the Saviour and to let nothing stand
before him, is the best proof of piety in the eyes
of unconverted friends. We all have our opportunities for such service in the cause of Jesus; and
just the cross we each arc called to bear has been
fitted to our shoulders by One who will bless us and
glorify himself as we faithfully bear it.




BEARING TIE CROSS.             301
Thirdly, the service of Christ lays a cioss upon
his disciples in respect to their conformity to the
world.
Christians are still in the world; they mingle
with its business; they partake of its prosperity;
they share its pleasures.  It is impossible, it is
undesirable; we may go still further, it would be
wicked for Christians to stand wholly aside from
that world which they should do so much to save,
and which they cannot save if they withdraw from
the sympathies of men. As before remarked, Christ
designs a separation in principles rather than in
place. There are many self-denials in worldly business.  The Christian desires success as truly as
another man; he may be tempted to use means for
this end which others use; and in the exciting
whirl of life, he is often on the point of saying and
doing things that are forbidden by the holy teachings of his Master. To curb the temper that is
naturally so quick; to repress the passions that are
naturally so strong; to keep in check our' interest
in worldly things, that it gets not too powerful,
at the same time that we must give our careful
attention to business in order to secure its success;
to be actuated by principle, and not by impulse and
feeling; these things are the daily duty of Christ's
followers in the business of this life; and these
things are the denial of self and the bearing of the
cross.  Many a gain could the Christian make,
many a thing could he do, many a word could he
26




302           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
say~ many a feeling could he cherish, did not
Christian principles forbid; and he who ever acts
thus denies self and bears a daily cross.
So are Christians, for the Master's sake, called to
bear the cross with reference to the pleasures of this
world. Men love pleasure. Christians love pleasure. And many of the world's pleasures they can
innocently enjoy. And many that are ensnaring
have their strong attractions.  We may have a
natural taste for them; this may be stronger because
we have formerly indulged it; and it would be very
easy to acquire so strong a passion for earthly and
sensual pleasures that reason and conscience would
try in vain to hold us back from their indulgence.
But Christ's disciples are not to be governed by
their tastes. Deny thyself, is a fundamental rule
in his service.  All our engagements, pleasures,
pursuits, must be subservient to an all-possessing
desire to glorify Christ. If the world claims any
pleasure for its own and triumphs over my religion
to see me indulge in it; if Christian people withdraw from vain scenes and are grieved to see me
there; I would rather give up all the border pleasures that lie between the church and the world,
than inflict one pang upon the friends of my Master,
or allow one feeling of exultation in his foes. No
doubt it is often a difficult thing for young Christians
to bear the cross meekly in reference to the world's
pleasures; yet just in proportion to the difficulty of
maintaining a firm and holy standing as a youthful




BEARING THE CROSS.            303
disciple, is the honour put upon Christ and the good
accomplished for others, when such a position is
held. Let every Christian in regard to the pleasures
around him, notice what those are that belong to the
world, are claimed by the world, and ever promote
only a -worldly spirit; and let him refuse entirely
and always to indulge in these. Let him notice
those that are innocent in themselves, and that may
be safely indulged in their proper time and measure;
and let him form such rules in' regard to these as
becomes his Christian character.
For example, he cannot be a Christian at all
if he finds his highest happiness in any earthly
thing. He should let the world know that he has
sources of enjoyment better and purer than any it
can give. So then with him religious engagements
should take precedence of the calls of earthly pleasure; and nothing of an earthly nature should be
allowed to create a disrelish for pious enjoyments.
In this unfriendly world it is unwise for a disciple
of Christ to allow anything to weaken or to clash
with his religious principles; and it is safer to err
on the side of self-denial, than to run the risk
of bringing reproach upon his consistency, or of
ensnaring the conscience by doubtful compliances.
Fourthly, Christ's disciples must bear his cross
by their efforts to advance his cause among men.
The church is a vineyard into which Christ's
servants come to labour. It is a home for weary
souls; but it is not a lounging-place for the indolent.




304          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
HIere as elsewhere the divine rule is, "If any man
will not work neither should he eat;" the divine
economy gives the sweetest rest to those who most
faithfully toil; and many lose the rest and peace
of Zion, because they do not Zion's work. The
happiest Christians are those that are cheerful in
labouring for Christ. The work he gives us to do
is very different; but he is well served when we
have a mind to seek his glory, no matter that it
costs us some inconvenience. Every Christian has
an example to set which proves his attachment to
his Lord.  Some indeed excuse themselves upon
frivolous pleas. Their influence is small. They
are too shrinking and timid to let their voices be
heard in social or even in family prayer. They
have no'time or talents to teach in the Sabbathschool. If all the servants of Christ did as some
do, we would have no prayer-meetings, no Sabbathschools, no cross-bearing among us.  What if it is
hard?  Who ever told you that the cross was easy?
Is it a cross for you to do this thing for Jesus?
You feel that it is.  Does that prove that therefore
you may shrink? Are you justified in the life-long
neglect of a serious work which your Lord lays
before you, because you fear that your discharge
of it may be difficult or imperfect?
We must deny ourselves that we may aid in the
spread of the gospel. Our Lord designs to send
these great teachings to the whole earth; and to do
this by the instrumentality of his people.  So he




BEARING THE CROSS.            305
calls upon us to do this work with our might.  The
work has a thousand various forms, and should tax
our energies and resources in every way.  In one
sense it is a most exalted privilege that we are
permitted to carry forward the work for which
Christ died; in another sense it is like Christ's own
work, a matter of great self-denial.  As it cost our
Lord himself so much to win salvation, so it costs
his people labour to spread the tidings.  There are
two departments of service, giving from our substance as the Lord has prospered us, and labouring
ourselves directly in the same service. We have no
right to neglect either of these as our opportunities
offer; nor should we allow one to serve as compensation for the neglect of the other. Every disciple
should be glad to do either; though indeed many
give much who cttn work little, and many work
much who have nothing to give. But he is unworthy
the name of a disciple who stands back from this
cross, not through inability but through indisposition.
Every disciple of Christ should from principle support the ministry of the church to which he belongs;
sustain all the institutions of religion about him;
and labour and pray and give for the conversion
of souls elsewhere. We speak not now of amounts.
If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that
he hath not.  But the more there is of the true
mind that was in Christ, the more liberal things will
we devise for the promoting of his cause.
26 *



306           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
Btit we may attempt to specify no more particulars touching this great duty. It is the life-work
of the Christian to bear his cross after Christ; and
he can spend no hour upon earth that will not afford
him an opportunity for cross-bearing. Nothing is
of greater or more pressing or continual importance
than an entire self-renunciation, so that the soul's
full dependence for acceptance before God is upon
the finished righteousness of this glorious Redeemer;
and in full consistency with this, we should press on
in his steps who for us " endured the cross, despising
the shame."  We have indeed self-denials which he
could not have.  We have passions to subdue,
affections to mortify, tendencies to correct, even
follies of our very worship to watch, that could not
belong to him; and the argument for our watchfulness and prayer is stronger than for his.
Nothing is to be gained by efforts to avoid the
cross.  Self-imposed penances are indeed of no
account in the service we should render to him; but,
truly, joys sought in the shunning of duty are of as
little worth. Christians would undoubtedly be happier, if they endured self-denials more abundantly
and more cheerfully for the dear sake of Christ.
The joy of being like Jesus, the privilege of doing
like him. the happiness of suffering as he did and
for his sake, these things his loving disciples should
highly prize. Little wonder is it that so many
complain of the absence of pious joys, when they so
much neglect pious duties; little wonder that they




BEARING THE CROSS.              307
taste not the Redeemer's gladness, who avoid his
bitter cup of sorrow. As our Lord passed to his
crown by his cross, his people must expect to follow
him. This, indeed, is an old watch-word of Christianity,-" No cross, no crown."
If any man will come after Christ let him deny
himself, take up his cross, and follow him. Men
like not the path of self-denial; but Christ calls us
to it. And unhappily too many persons fail to look
far enough, when they ponder the question of taking
up the cross. It lays burdens on us. Does it
relieve us of none?  Is Christ Jesus exacting only?
Does he not promise really also? Let us take both
worlds into the account, when we hear his calls who
has the keys of hell and of death. And his very
language holds forth our unspeakable privilege.
He addresses not simply those who stood by him on
that eventful day; but his terms are extended also
to us. If any man will come, let him! He holds
forth a cross in one hand; he points to a crown
with the other. The two are one. The cross is a
seed to fall in our hearts and die; the crown is the
fruit to satisfy us in glory for ever.
"The consecrated cross I'll bear
Till death shall set me free;
And then go home my crown to wear,
Far thrsq's a crown for me."




308           A WEEK WITH JESUS
CHARTER XXI11.
THE S.AVIOUR'S GREAT QUESTION.
"What shall a man give in eachange for his soul?"
FWE cannot accompany the footsteps of Jesus, and
carry with us our present knowledge of his character
and mission to the earth, without desiring to hear
something from his lips, not only of sympathy and
encouragement, but also of awakening. Any just
understanding of his errand to earth will assure
us that if love prompted, justice demanded his
condescension and sacrifice; and that therefore the
voice of warning to sinful souls sounds as clearly in
his gospel as the voice of invitation and mercy.
We listen to the words of this Teacher as the Saviour of sinners; yet we need not a Saviour except
as we are lost; and to need such a Saviour and
such a method of redemption implies that man's lost
estate is one of the deepest wretchedness, and that
only he could save. And upon the subject of the
soul's worth, who can know more than Jesus? Surely
we should listen reverently when this is the theme
of his remark. If now we were walking with him
and his disciples, when he declared the necessity
o)f self-denial to follow him; if we heard him  ask




TIIE SAVIOUR'S GREAT QUESTION      309
the momentous question, " What is a man profited
if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own
soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for
his soul?"-could we help but esteem this as a
most solemn inquiry to reach our ears from his lips?
Recognize his character, and then ask, "Who could
better know the soul's excellence and the value of
its salvation than he?"  Himself the Son of God
and possessed of every attribute of divinity, yet also
the Son of man, possessed of a human soul, and
knowing its joys and sorrows and longings and
attachments; himself the Maker of the soul, and
well knowing its capacities and its immortality; and
beyond this, himself the soul's Redeemer, exposed
to scorn and suffering and the death of the cross,
that he might ransom it; surely he has a right to
make this inquiry; and it has an emphasis upon
his lips that it cannot have from any other prophet.
And if now we stood among the people around that
great Teacher; if now he should fix his eye upon
you and inquire of you personally in these solemn
terms; if with his emphasis it should fall upon your
ear, could you fail to ponder it?  Indeed he does
speak to you! His words have addressed myriads,
but they always mean to reach the individual; and
if you have a soul to save, the inquiry is as pertinent
and as important to you as ever it was to any man.
These are living words of Jesus, though thousands
that have heard them are numbered with the dead;
these are words in which indeed Jesus does address




310          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
us, as truly as if we stood beside him; the tones are
not here, but the principles are. This is certainly
the most momentous question of life; and practically
it must be answered by every man. Men may put
religion away from them; they may dislike to listen
to thoughts which bring it home to personal reflection; they may hate the message and refuse to
ponder what even Jesus speaks. But they cannot
evade the responsibility laid upon them by divine
authority. The anxious and the careless, the humble and the scoffing, the penitent and the unbelieving
do all decide, in their different ways, the same
unavoidable question. The soul must be gained
through Christ, or lost in neglecting or rejecting
him..
We may well ponder the great question proposed
by our Lord for human solution, as a remarkable
example of the power of the great Teacher to compress the most mighty and suggestive thoughts into
the compass of a brief and simple sentence. Few
words and many thoughts may better describe what
he here says, than almost any other passage of even
his teachings.  And this inquiry should follow us
and be often repeated by us, in the house and upon
our beds, till it has profited us in the soul's eternal
gain.
His language implies, we can easily see, that the
soul of man is of infinite value.  He does not argue
this question, nor suggest reasons why it is of more
value than the whole world; lie assumes the fact,




THE SAVIOUR'S GREAT QUESTION.    311
as one that needs but be stated, to secure the assent
of every thoughtful mind. It is not wrong for us
to argue upon this, or upoJ:: other subjects. Yet
indeed we would never ncf.d to argue upon this or
any other matter but for the weakness of the human
intellect and the ignoi-rinice of the understanding.
All truth is intuitive before the infinite mind of God;
and the larger man's knowledge and intellect, the
more fully he perc:.&ves truth without needing the
processes of argumentation.  The weaiker the mind
is, the more must we descend to nitiute details to
convince it by an argument.  ScG llen the power to
argue denotes vigour of intellect, and his is a
master-mind who can set truth before men in the
clearest and most convincing forms.  But if the
necessity for argument denotes weakness of intellect,
he has the feeblest mind who needs the most numerous stepping-stones to cross over from a statement
to its conclusion.  Some great things every man
should see at a glance.  Argument is possible, but
not needful.  We might speak of the soul's origin
and nature and capacities and immortality; we
might elaborately show that the man who loses his
soul loses himself, and can hold nothing else he
gains; yet the question is itself sufficiently suggestive; it carries its own argument to the humblest
mind; we may leave the statement where the Master does, to make its own way; the incomparable
value of the soul we all may grant.
But the suggestive language of the great teacher




312           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
further implies that men ought to ponder the loss or
the salvation of the soul; that we are placed in circumstances where either of these is possible; and that
the very pondering of this inquiry has its bearing
upon the momentous issue.  We may justly say
indeed that in the nature of the case and in all the
teachings of the Scriptures, the loss of the soul
is not its destruction, in the sense of annihilation;
its loss is all the more dreadful, because this cannot
occur; it is not the loss of being, for the soul is
immortal; but it is the loss of WELL-BEING, for the
soul is sensitive and rational.  In one important
sense, every sinful soul is already lost, because
already condemned by God's righteous law; and so
Christ says he came to save the lost. But the lost
condition of sinful men is not as yet beyond a
remedy.  Condemnation is pronounced, but the
sentence is not yet executed. The mission of Christ
is to save; and the preaching of Christ promises
salvation to every believing disciple. Every man
then who hears Christ's gospel is called to consider
the soul's perdition or salvation; and the question
would not be asked at all, but for the responsibility
that rests upon every man for his own soul's gain
or loss.
We could not listen to this great question from
the lips of Jesus, without understanding him to
admit that the loss of the soul is quite consistent
with the enjoyment of the present life; that men
may lose the soul and be insensible to any depriva



THE SAVIOUR'S GREAT QUESTION.    e 3
tion, so far as their present consciousness gors;
because, in the supposition, the gain of the world is
expressly set over against the loss of the soul.  He
does not mean that every man who loses the next
world gains this; but simply that a man may gain
this and lose that. We may turn our thoughts to
any desirable form of worldly prosperity, and reflect
that the possessor of this may be one who after all
may lose his soul. See the honoured of the earth,
holding their eminent dignities; see the rich, amassing their treasures; see the voluptuous, enjoying
their pleasures; see the learned, studying lessons
of various wisdom; but these things may all belong
to men who are righteously condemned by God's
holy law; and in their best estate, these earthly
things are not evidence of the soul's acceptance before
God. A man may gain as much of this world in
any of its forms as ever a man gained, and yet lose
his soul.
But the Saviour's words imply that any man is
guilty of inexpressible folly who chooses this world
to the loss of the soul.  lie recognizes the danger
that men will do this; that they will prefer a flattering and seductive world to a strict and self-denying
religion; that neglecting him they will lose the soul.
And the interrogative method of instruction implies
that even the great Teacher could not express in
direct words the folly of the choice. The burden
of such a thought, human language is too weak to
bear. On both sides of the subject-looking on what
27




314          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
men gain, and on what they lose —this folly is
palpable.
For the gain of the world is but a partial, shortlived, and unsatisfactory acquirement, when men
make the most of it; and nothing can be more
complete and irrevocable and miserable than the
loss of the soul. Consider both, if you can; and
let the sum of your thoughts lead you humbly to
that Redeemer, by whom alone the salvation of the
soul can be secured.
No man has ever gained the whole world, or
enjoyed to the full even one single kind of earthly
good. Earth's sons of unbounded ambition have
run for a few years a career of splendid glory; but
a drunken revel cuts an Alexander off in the flower
of his youth, or a foreign island holds the imprisoned Napoleon. How few of the world's honours
or pleasures or riches can any one man enjoy?
And those that have the most that earth can yield
may repeat the experience of Solomon. They may
build houses; they may gather delights about them;
they may seek all their hearts can wish; and confess after a fair trial as the final result, "All is
vanity!" "All is vanity and vexation of spirit!"
The result of all earthly experience, expressed by
a modern poet in a single line," Vexation, disappointment, and remorse,"
is necessarily reached by all those who seek their
happiness in this world. For many reasons it is




THE SAVIOUR S GREAT QUESTION.    315
impossible that this experience should be different
to any one who chooses earth as his portion. For
whatever of earth any man has, he is liable to lose
at any time; and this mars his enjoyment. The
highest honours often suddenly change to shame
and contempt; wealth deserts a man, and he sinks
to poverty; health leaves him, and he declines to
feebleness and pain; friends forsake him, and he is
miserable. Even social joys, the holiest and purest
on earth, cannot be retained.  Our best beloved
distress us, pine away before our eyes, are suddenly
removed. Every man is liable to lose every earthly
thing at any hour; or he may at any time pass
away from them. Even while he holds them, his
enjoyment is far from perfect. Honours are harassing.
" Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."
Wealth fills a man with cares, draws the envy of
others upon him, and even exposes his life to
violence. How easily may he lose his relish for
any earthly good. The aching of a single nerve
gives torture which honour, wealth, and respect cannot remove; the king cannot sleep when the labourer
finds repose; and but little is required to unbalance
reason from her seat, and to make a man, though
surrounded with every earthly good, that most pitiable object among the objects of human pity, a lunatic.
At the very best and when most firmly held, the
world cannot satisfy the mind of man. God never




316          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
intended that a rational, immortal soul should be
satisfied with earthly good. And the very sinfulness
of man, which gives him a morbid and unnatural
thirsting for these earthly joys, tends also to make
him more and more dissatisfied; the more exclusively and sinfully he seeks pleasure in the world,
the more constantly will it elude his grasp; and he
who makes the world his portion may well expect
to be dissatisfied with his choice.
But their folly who prefer the world to the soul's
salvation is more manifest, as we look upon the
other side of the subject.  The loss of the soul we
may contemplate, but we cannot fully comprehend.
The loss of the soul is the loss of God's offered and
eternal favour; it is the incoming of God's threatened and everlasting wrath.  This is the constant
contrast set before us in the teachings of Jesus; no
prophet ever invited more kindly or warned more
fearfully than he; his lips declare that the lost shall
go away into everlasting punishment, and the saved
into life eternal; and his own mission to die upon
the cross can be justified only by the fearful destiny
of the lost whom he came to save.  Let us not close
our eyes to the solemn truth, so clearly revealed in
the entire word of God, that the difference between
the salvation and the loss of the soul can be measured only by the contrast between the favour and
the wrath of God for ever.  "Eye hath not seen,
ear hath not heard," imagination has not conceived
the eternal weight of glory; and no conception can




THE SAVIOUR'S GREAT QUESTION.    317
make too fearful the wrath of God abiding upon the
sinner. The man who loses his soul loses himself,
in the worst form of loss, and beyond remedy for
ever!
All we know upon this subject we know from the
teachings of the Scriptures. Men may argue profoundly; they may bring their selfishness to aid
them; they may refuse to believe the teachings of
truth. But this is a topic upon which we want
INFORMATION, not argument; though correct arguing
may teach us the same things, and forewarn us of
God's righteous judgments. Information man cannot give.  Passing constantly into eternity, no
traveller comes back to tell its wonders; and it
remains to us an undiscovered country. What we
know, we know only because God has revealed it to
us; and if conscience and reason ratify these Scriptural teachings, still it is chiefly from what HE says
that we can know the great truths of eternity.
Among the things we learn from the sacred
Scriptures respecting this fearful thing, the loss
of the soul, are such as these.
I. The loss of the Soul is not the loss of its V xistenee.
The soul is immortal. The last enemy which
Christ shall destroy is death; and there shall be no
more dying.  In the sense of terminated existence
or even changing existence, there shall be no death
in the world to come.  Satan can never die; his
angels will live and suffer for ever; and though the
27




318           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
spirits of lost men may wish, they will ever vainly
wish for death.
And if the soul of man lives for ever, it must still
live as a soul.  All the faculties which make it a
soul will still belong to it. No essential change can
affect its nature.  It may think more truly, but it
will still think; it may feel more keenly, but it will
still feel; and whatever changes take place, understanding, and conscience, and will, and memory,
and imagination, and the affections, must still belong
to a living soul.
II. The loss of the Soul is not the loss of the ULnderstanding.
The soul will be intelligent still; and its capacities and its actual knowledge will doubtless be
greatly enlarged. The man will there understand
his own capabilities, and the holy and just character
of God better than ever before. No ignorant man
will there charge God with too great severity.
Every mouth will be stopped; and the justice of
the sentence of wrath will be in every case undeniable. And as our Lord in one parable speaks as
if the inhabitants of hell are able to look across the
impassable gulf, directly into heaven, we may learn
that the lost will see the glories they can never
reach, as well as feel the sorrows they can never
escape.
III. The Soul in fEternity will not lose its Conscience and
its sense of Accountability.
The conscience of man is an essential and distin



THE SAVIOUR'S GREAT QUESTION.    319
guishing characteristic. Brutes have limited powers
of reasoning and affection; but they have no moral
sense. Man is an accountable being. Here indeed
his conscience is often stupid; yet even here no
sufferings are so severe, so incapable of alleviation,
as those which the guilty sometimes endure from an
awakened conscience. If men may argue what the
conscience can do, from what it has sometimes done,
they may well fear the day when it shall lash them
with remorse. Here there are many ways in which
men are able to silence the voice of conscience.
They can consciously do wrong, and yet be little
troubled by it; they can forget, in the busy cares
of life, the wrongs they have already done; they
can neglect many duties, and feel no regret. But
the veil of delusion will drop as the soul passes to
the eternal world. A just sense of accountability
will no longer be lost in pressing cares; and the
dull conscience will arouse from its apathy, never
more to slumber.
And we may well think what a different judgment
from that of earth will be passed by an enlightened
understanding and an awakened conscience, between
the worth of the world and the worth of the soul.
If the question were now proposed to a soul in
perdition, "What is a man profited, if he should
gain the whole world and lose himself?" what would
be the answer? Aside from the question of the
malignant affections, the lost soul would not answer
as sinful men now act. Would he reply, "Place me




320          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
back in the world again, and again I would choose
it as my portion? I would neglect religion; I would
close my Bible; I would refuse to pray; I would
reject the offer of heaven; I would hear the preacher
speak of the loss of the soul; I would follow the
footsteps of the Son of God, and hear his startling
and momentous question; and yet I would be just
as indifferent, and as prayerless, and as idle as
ever?" Is it possible that the lost soul, with its
new views of heaven and hell, could use such language? Is it not more likely that eternity will
change these earthly delusions?  Would you not
expect to hear from that abode of despair, according
to Christ's own teachings, a voice like that of the
rich man? "I have five brethren; oh, I have five
brethren; let me go and tell them, lest they also
come to this place of torment." Ah, if the truth
could resound from the depths of the abyss, it would
come in a voice louder than seven thunders; and
the united confession of innumerable lost souls
would declare, "We would not purchase the world's
highest honours, and riches, and pleasures for the
longest life, if at the end of all, we were doomed for
them to experience only one hour of hell!"  There
will be an amazing difference in the judgment which
the sinner forms in time, and that which he will
form in eternity of the worth of the soul. The loss
of the soul is not the loss of understanding or
conscience.




THE SAVIOUR S GREAT QUESTION.    321
IV. The loss of the Soul will not be the loss of its Affections.
There may be no objects upon which love, and
joy, and hope can rest, but fear, and hatred, and
malice will dwell there. The malignant affections
will darken the lost world with infinite gloom and
misery.  Who could live in a village on earth,
where every man hated God and hated his neighbour?  How wretched will hell be from  passions
unrestrained, desires ungratified, the reign of despair, and the tormented, tormenting each other.
V. The lost Soul will not lose its 2fMemory.
If the past was blotted out, the soul might be
comparatively easy. But the mind will constantly
revert to the scenes of earth, its various engagements, its lost opportunities. Memory will recall
years of false peace, promises never fulfilled, and
hopes that proved vain; and these will awaken
many feelings of bitter remorse. Hours of giddy
mirth, moments of sensual guilt, aspirations for
honour, strivings for wealth, words of boasting,
thoughts of vanity, will each be remembered; and
the memory of each will add its sting.  The desire
for vain display, the fear of ungodly associates, the
pressure of worldly business, the determination to
seek one more pleasure, the oft-urged plea, "a more
convenient season," those trifling hindrances, which
turned the soul away fiom piety, memory will bring
up, and will contrast them with the solemn calls,




322          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
and warnings, and seasons of peculial solemnity,
that urged the man to forsake the world and secure
salvation.  Many a son of believing parents has
sold his precious birthright cheaper far than Esau,
and shall find no place of repentance, though he
seeks it carefully with tears.
Let the sinner now reflect that through a neverending eternity, the memory will have time enough
to think again and again over the whole life. The
attention will be fixed, the faculties exercised, and
nothing will be forgotten. There are instances of
astonishing vigour and accuracy of human recollection. Drowning people have said that, at the
moment of sinking, the whole past life came up
before the mind with wonderful vividness, as the eye
sees a landscape at a glance.  What a power will
memory be in eternity. There will be no Bibles in
hell; but on the pages of many a memory, too faithful at the last, will be deeply engraved those solemn
warnings and those precious invitations, whose truth
is seen too late.  It is hard to treasure up these
teachings now; but chapters even rarely read, will
be well remembered there. Memory will bring up
many sermons now not easily recollected. Memory
will recall the form of every pastor that has ever
preached to you the blessed gospel, the tones of
every voice, and the solemn pleadings and tender
entreaties that are now unheeded.  The appearance
of the sanctuary, the solemnity of the people, the
songs of praise, the voice of prayer, the sacramental




THE SAVIOUR'S GREAT QUESTION.    823
table, the baptismal water, will be vell remembered.
You have been asked to go into your closet; the
call of the Spirit has touched your heart; you have
quenched his strivings and refused to pray. His
serious seasons; the times when he was almost persuaded to be a Christian; the deep conflict, known
only to himself and his God; the uprisings of pride;
the victory of unbelief, the man who loses his soul
will never forget. The lost soul will not lose its
memory.
VI.'he loss of the Soul is not the loss of its Sensibilities.
These will indeed be keener than ever. Desires for
sympathy, relief, and happiness will still exist. These
are inseparable from the soul's existence. But they
must for ever remain ungratified. Our sorrows on
earth are lightened by human sympathy; but the
relief of sympathy will be unknown there. The
soul is ruined, and its every power will fill it with
misery; it is a world of wailing; and the torment is
unceasing, unmitigated, and for ever. The soul's own
endowments will increase the blessings of heaven,
and the curses of hell. Immortality, conscience,
intelligence; the affections and sensibilities of the
soul; the memory; how precious will these be in
heaven; how awful in the abode of despair!
We cannot decide that the great question which
the lips of Jesus asked of the multitude around him
would fall on our ears with any saving power, if
now we stood beside him, and heard its solemn




324           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
emphasis from his living voice. But this we can
easily know, that the words mean no less for us than
they did for those to whom they were first directed.
This is a question for the world and for every heart
of man; and whether pondered in the sanctuary or
in the place of secret solitary meditation, let us
reflect that it embodies the truth, and the wisdom,
and the grace of Christ.  Christ teaches us here
that the soul may be lost, that its loss is possible
when the world is gained, yet that its loss is dreadful beyond all comparison or conception. Yet would
his lips have been silent, indeed his mission to earth
would not have taken place at all, and a less
charge of folly would be made against man for the
soul's loss, but for this other truth, that the soul's
salvation may be secured. There is an aspect of
Christ's question which makes it fearful; so that
indeed men like not to hear the perdition of the
soul discussed as even possible; but there is another
aspect of the question that is exceedingly precious;
and the Saviour speaks and his ministers may repeat
his words in tones of richest mercy. If his question
implies clearly that the soul of man may be lost,
that this loss is unspeakably great, and that through
man's folly and sin it may occur; it just as clearly
implies that the soul may be saved, that its salvation
is precious beyond all price, and that man's wise
efforts should be directed to secure it.  Let us fix
our minds chiefly on this thought, for it filled the
Saviour's heart when he made this great inquiry,




THE SAVIOUR S GREAT QUESTION.    326
man may secure the soul's salvation. We do not
lose sight of that atoning blood by which he bought
our souls upon the accursed tree; but we make
this the basis of our hope, as we draw near a sinforgiving God.  We do not forget that these our
sinful souls need the renewing power of the Holy
Spirit:as an essential part of their salvation: but
we desire to plead for the Spirit's grace, to receive
his teachings, and to obey his promptings. But
with these truths fully in view, and the rather
because we are made so fully acquainted with them,
we dare not forget the very object which alone could
prompt this question from the lips of the great
Teacher. If there is any meaning in these words
at all, they impress the folly and'the guilt of any
man who hears the gospel and neglects to secure
according to it the salvation of his soul. The words
are spoken in infinite mercy. If they teach solemnly that man may be lost, they assure us, just as
plainly, that he may be saved. And surely it is
only for the greater encouragement of our humble
prayers for divine deliverance that assurances are
given us of the grace of God in the salvation of the
soul.
If we could bring up before our minds at this
hour the deep importance of this question in the eyes
of him who asked it, with what different interest
would we ponder it! The soul's Redeemer talks
with man about his soul's worth.  IIe, who made
our souls, who saw their ruin by sin, a ruin hopeless
28




326          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
and irrecoverable, so far as created wisdom and power
could go; who came himself from the joys and
glories of heaven to the griefs of earth and the
shame of the cross, was able surely to estimate the
worth of the soul; and he knew what his words
meant when he called our thoughts to its salvation.
If we could see these great truths as Christ saw
them, could we be indifferent? Yet we ought to
know that his judgment is just, and his words should
awaken our concern for salvation. And there is
one thought, infinitely serious for our reflection, in
any comparison we may make between the estimate
lie put upon the soul, and that which we may put
upon it; that the soul of each individual is more
valuable to himself than it can be even to the soul's
Creator and Redeemer. The soul of man to man is
his all. It robs not the Redeemer of his glory, if
even the foolish and guilty sinner departs with those
that shall perish for ever. This great question of
the soul's salvation is of infinite importance to every
man who hears it; a value as great to every one, as
if the voice of Jesus spoke it in his ear alone.
Concerned we may be for other men's lives; but
death comes to each man for himself as no other
man's death can affect him.  Concerned we may be
for the salvation of other souls; but God has laid
upon each individual a responsibility for his own
soul, and for securing its salvation, unspeakably
more pressing than any care or obligation he may
have for others.  This responsibility in its just




THE SAVIOUR'S (REAT QUESTION.    327
bearings does not interfere with any other duty upon
us. The man who cares most for this great first
duty, will be least prone to neglect any other.
But he, who fails to ponder the Saviour's great
question, loses all else to which he has ever given
his thoughts.
Many persons who acknowledge the infinite value
of the soul, will yet fail to secure its salvation.
Multitudes lose their souls through neglect.  Possibly they make many fine promises, indulge many
serious thoughts, and flatter themselves with hopes
that they may yet inherit everlasting life.  And
alas for what a miserable price do men barter heaven
and eternal glory. Let us ponder the Saviour's
words as we never have before.  He warns us, but
he warns in mercy; he speaks of the soul's loss, he
calls to its gain; he tells us of perdition, he offers
us salvation.  Do you think you would  listen
eagerly, you would take home the lesson seriously,
you would seek the soul's salvation, if you could sit
down with the multitudes around the living Jesus,
and hear from his lips this impressive inquiry?
You will lose your soul, if you never repent till
then. And you will perish in your own guilt, for
you reject the same truth which the men around
hlim heard; you despise Christ's own chosen method
of bringing his truth to your thoughts; and you
lose your soul under more favourable circumstances
for securing its salvation than belonged to those
who lived while Jesus was here upon the earth.




32 8         A WEEK WITH JESUS.
CHAPTER XXIV.
SCElNES OF TRANSFIG URATITON.
WE have already said that the wonderful scene
which is now to pass before our thoughts, did not
perhaps occur within a week of our first interview
with the SON OF MAN. But it will be none the less
instructive though we are unable to decide its exact
chronological place. If we were accompanying the
footsteps of Jesus during that eventful year, we
would not wish to lose sight of him upon that wonderful night; we would desire to be eye-witnesses
of his majesty on the holy mount; we would prize
the privilege of beholding the glimpses of his glory
through the veil of his flesh, and of seeing his companions from the celestial world; and we would
listen reverently to hear their conversation and the
approving voice of the Father concerning his beloved
Son. And we may see here, as truly as anywhere
else in all these meditations, how important it is for
us not to see as the apostles then saw, but to see
with our better knowledge of the character and mission of our Lord. For the truth will bear repetition
that we know Jesus better than they then did, and




SCENES OF TRANSFIGURATION.        329
that we stand in more favourable circumstances for
a just comprehension of the words and scenes of his
earthly life.
We may not be able to decide fully what was the
design of the transfiguration scene. It may have
had its important teachings and supports even for
the Mediator himself; and it seems to mark the
beginning of a new era of his life. It is deeply
interesting to notice that the nearer the Redeemer
came to the death of the cross, the more was his
soul occupied with the grand theme of his sufferings.
Before the transfiguration he had spoken of his
coming death; but it was his more abundant teaching fiom this time until it occurred. The transfiguration marks the beginning of the second grand
period of our Lord's public ministry. The first
period began at his baptism, and was specially the
period of active labours and diligent obedience to
the law; the second began on the holy mount, and
was specially the time of sufferings unto death,
anxiously and yet cheerfully anticipated, spoken of,
and endured. These two periods are both marked
by the same approving voice from heaven: "This is
my beloved Son;" and if we regard the baptism
of Jesus as foreshadowing the sufferings he must
endure, and which he himself expressly calls a baptism, Luke xii. 50, we may take the transfiguration
as anticipating the glory which was to follow his
death accomplished at Jerusalem.  And several
things seem to teach us that upon that holy mount
28




330           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
our Lord stands to look both backward and forward,
to the past designs of God touching his church, and
to their coming fulfilment. Especially the presence
of Moses and Elijah, the great representatives of
the old economy, and at the same time the representatives of the church of the first-born above, reminds
us that God's people belong to one church, no matter
if they are widely separated on earth by changing
times and dispensations; no matter even if they are
separated by the dividing line that runs between
earthly darkness and celestial glory.
The sacred writers do not tell us where the transfiguration occurred.  Tradition, since the fourth
century, has declared that it was upon Mount Tabor,
an affirmation which it is impossible for us either to
sustain or disprove, and which may therefore be
received or classed among the legends which superstition has so largely prepared for almost every spot
in Palestine.  Mount Tabor may have been the
place.  "No more noble or appropriate theatre for
such a glorious manifestation could be found or
desired."*  Perhaps one of the strongest reasons
against judging that it is the proper spot, is found
in the silence of the evangelists respecting the name
of the mountain; for Tabor was so famous in the
Hebrew annals, that the mention of its name seems
almost certain, if there these things occurred.  It
was upon a high mountain, with perhaps more than
* The Land and the Book, ii. 139.




SCENES OF TRANSFIGURATION.        331
ordinary care to secure a retired spot, that this
extraordinary scene took place.*
If we accompany the footsteps of the three
favoured disciples, let us do it with deeper than
usual reverence. Few spots on earth are holier
ground than this meeting-place of celestial visitors
and their Lord; few sights are greater than the
Redeemer lighting up his transfigured person; no
theme is nobler than that which formed the topic
of this remarkable conversation. Let us not forget
that our Lord went apart to pray. His life was so
eminently devotional that prayer marks every movement; and we should learn to abound in prayer
from the example of Jesus. We are not told the
object of his prayer, and we cannot listen to his
words. Perhaps, if we could listen to one prayer
from his lips, we would learn ourselves to pray as
we have never yet prayed. And yet it is easy for
us to decide that in one especial and most essential
element of our prayers, we have reasons to pray
almost infinitely beyond the necessities which his
petitions could express as he bowed before his
Father. That sinfulness, which forms the chief
burden of our prayers, formed no part of his confession; and our true reasoning from the devotion
of Christ is simply this, if he prayed constantly,
much more may we!  If our Lord seems like ourselves, when he felt the necessities to which prayer
gives expression; if we have no greater example of
i Lange judges it was HIermon.




332          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
the propriety and value of prayer; surely it is also
true that prayer to us is a privilege the more indispensable for the very weakness and wants which
bid us pray.
We learn from him that prayer is not necessarily
the language of guilt, seeking forgiveness; but it is
the language of dependence, of weakness, of inferiority, looking upward to God for blessings he
alone can grant.  We are never able to separate
from our prayers the tones of penitence, the confessions of unworthiness, the pleadings for mercy; and
in this particular our supplications are widely separated from the devotions of our spotless Lord. He
prayed not as we do. But while it is of great
importance for us to understand the words of Jesus
when he declares, "My Father is greater than I,"
and of as great importance to comprehend his teachings when he says, "I and my Father are one," it
is of no less interest to be able to reconcile these in
the teachings of this scene on Tabor. When we see
this wonderful person spending so many hours in
humble prayer, we cannot but recognize that strength
is not here, but weakness; sovereignty is not here,
but subjection; riches are not here, but poverty.
And our souls are drawn out towards that brother,
who so evidently feels our necessities, endures our
temptations, and shares our sympathies. Well may
we study the prayerfulness of Jesus; but we need
some deliverer stronger than he seems to be in these
hours of weakness.  And so, if we look on while he




SCENES OF TRANSFIGURATION.       333
bows before God, we may see the proof we need.
While he was praying the fashion of his countenance
was altered. He rises above weakness. Tie appears
as the Son of God. Yet it is the same person.
This is the excellency of the transfiguration. This
is the proof of the great mystery of godliness. God
is manifest in the flesh.  The humility of onn
moment, succeeded by the dignity of the next, gives
us the needed evidence of the two distinct natures
in one mediatorial person; and we may bow before
him, who is at once the Son of man, the Son of God.
We need not attempt to explain the appearances
upon the mountain. While he prayed, he changed.
His face, his whole appearance, his clothes shone
with a glorious brightness. Of something like this
we have two other records in the Scriptures; for
the face of Moses, after his communing with God
on Sinai, was so radiant that the people dare not
behold it; and those who stood about the dying
martyr, Stephen, saw his countenance as the face
of an angel. But these were reflections from the
glory of Jehovah upon the faces of mortal men;
while the glory of Christ upon that mountain, as
the sun gleams brightly through a floating cloud,
was the forth-shining, through the veil of his human
nature, of that personal dignity which essentially
belonged to the Son of God, and which the Father
proclaimed in a voice from heaven. How could we
look upon the bright form of Jesus, or hear that
voice from heaven, without reverencing his majesty,




334          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
without believing in his divine commission, without
longing to share that glory which is to be revealed
when all, his people shall be like their glorified
Lord!
But what lessons may we learn as we look upon
the celestial visitors, who now stand beside him upon
the holy mount. We are told that Moses and
Elijah appeared by him, and that they appeared in
glory.  How they appeared we cannot declare.
We think we can better conceive of the appearance
of Elijah, for he never tasted death; and we do not
wonder that his appearance should be in the body.
But it seems more strange that Moses should be
there in a bodily form, especially when we read of
his burial where no man knew, and of a mysterious
contest respecting his body. Jude 9. Yet let us
acknowledge that we know too little concerning the
departed to reason upon the matter; and let it suffice us to be taught that both Moses and Elijah
appeared in glory. Doubtless they came as representing the Old Testament church; perhaps particularly the Jewish dispensation, soon to pass away.
Thus they give their homage to the great Messiah,
in the presence of the three greatest of the college
of apostles.  Some suppose that Moses appears as
the lawgiver, and Elijah to represent the prophets;
or it may be that Moses was the great giver of
the law, and Elijah the great reformer of Israel's
degeneracy.
How gladly would we listen if we could draw




SCENES OF TRANSFIGURATION.       335
near and hear the conversation of these glorified
prophets and their shining Lord. If one of the
heavenly inhabitants should appear upon the earth,
how would we desire to learn the glories of the
place. And indeed heaven itself, we learn from
many teachings, has no greater theme for the
thoughts of happy saints than that very thing about
which Moses and Elijah speak on this holy mount.
If we cannot hear their words, we know the subject
of them; and perhaps Peter, and James, and John
were astonished to find these two speaking of that
very thing which had excited the surprise of the
impetuous disciple but a little while before. When
Christ had told them that he must suffer at Jerusalem, Peter could not bear the thought, and even
ventured to rebuke his Lord concerning it. Yet
here the topic is renewed; and Moses and Elijah
spoke "of his death, which he should accomplish at
Jerusalem."
If we accompany the footsteps of the Son of God
as he treads the earth, we may both desire and
expect to hear something from him respecting the
chief object of his errand from the skies.  Christ
came to bleed and die. Yet we hear less from his
lips respecting his expiatory death, because it was
not yet accomplished; after the scenes of Calvary
this great thing was better understood by his disciples; and it is our privilege to know more than
they then comprehended. The teachings of Christ
during his life-time were entirely consistent with the




336          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
later teachings of his apostles; but the instructions
which succeed his death are plainer, fuller, and
more easily understood.  The death of Christ "to
be accomplished at Jerusalem" is the great theme,
alike of the Bible and of the church of God; our
teachings respecting it begin before the birth of the
eldest prophet; before a word was penned of the
sacred writings; and as we stand before the first
smoking altar. From the days of Abel's sacrifice
onward, how many bleeding victims spoke typically
of his availing blood; how many prophets, taught
by the Holy Ghost, spoke of his sufferings unto
death; how many righteous men longed to bathe in
the fountain of his atonement. And the interest
belonged not only to earth. The very angels stooped
to look into these things, 1 Peter i. 12; and when
Moses and Elijah come down to earth for a brief
season, it is to speak of this absorbing topic. No
wonder for this. The redeemed firom among men
owed their seats in glory to that glorious covenant
which demanded the death upon the cross, and
which was not fulfilled until his death was accomplished. Though there was no possibility that he
could fail in the great work he had undertaken;
though thus their crowns were secure before the
price was paid, yet could they not be uninterested
in the accomplishment of that great event.
It is not for us to know what communications are
made to saints and angels respecting the future
events of our earthly history. We may understand




SCENES OF TRANSFIGURATION.        337
that in our life of faith there are reasons for concealment which do not pertain to them; thus they
may be able to see things in our future of which
we are ignorant; and yet, doubtless, to all finite
beings, there is a gradual unfolding of the divine
plans. They eagerly inquire into the things of
earth, and learn progressively, as we do, the great
things which lie in the pathway of Providence.
Providence itself is above all creatures. God alone
directs its march; God alone foreknows its revealings. Yet it may be that in the clearer light of
heaven and in the purity of heavenly minds, there
is a far further discernment in advance —especially
a clearer understanding of those prophetic revelations which God has been pleased to make for
human teaching. One of the favoured three, who
was an eye-witness of this glory on the holy mount,
tells us that the angels of heaven, with anxious
searchings, were wont to study those great words
which, of old time, were spoken by inspiration of the
Holy Ghost respecting the sufferings and glory of
the Messiah. 1 Peter i. 10-12.  These things were
not understood when they were first spoken. The
time was not yet.  First, he declares that the
prophets who foretold these sufferings could not
themselves understand the words which the Spirit
spake by them, but searched diligently, and, as to
some points at least, in vain. Then he declares
that the angels found in them matter of profound
inquiry.  Repeatedly in the Scriptures we are told
29




338          A WEEK WITH JESUS
that angels wonder at and adore God's great scheme
of mercy for man's salvation, as it is accomplished
by the death of his Son. What profound amazement
must have filled the mind of Gabriel, when he first
heard the grand revelation that the Son of God had
laid hold on sinning man, and purposed by his own
sufferings to secure his salvation.  Perhaps no
thought of grace divine to sinning rebels ever entered the minds of angels, when they saw Satan
and his hosts cast down from their seats of shining
bliss to the abode of darkness and despair; and even
holy angels may have trembled when they saw God's
fearful wrath.  It may be they looked for new
thunderbolts of vengeance, to lay waste Eden and
to smite men down, when Adam fell. But now
they heard, with wonder and with joy, Jehovah's
words of mercy. Here was heaven's new, everlasting theme, thenceforth to be the greatest for heaven's
study. HIow can we conceive the thoughts which
would fill the minds of angels, when they first learned
that the glorious Son of God was himself to be man's
Redeemer; how can we trace the growing interest
of angelic minds, as they studied the increasing
evidences of God's grace for man's salvation; now
reading the prophecies which the Holy Ghost spake
by man; now ministering about the heirs of glory
upon the earth; now welcoming the souls of the
redeemed to their abodes of bliss. But how wonderful, in the gradual unfolding of the scheme of
salvation, was that period when angels saw their




SCENES OF TRANSFIGURATION.       339
Lord empty himself of his glory and descend from
the throne to the manger. If they wondered, they
also rejoiced, and filled the air with their songs of
congratulation to man. And even angelic recollection can recall no period of more eventful scenes,
of more wonderful instructions, or calling for deeper
adoration before the God of grace, than the three
years spent by the Son of God upon earth; and
specially the three days which witnessed his death
and resurrection accomplished at Jerusalem. Surely
there can be no question in angelic minds, on the
one hand touching the necessity of the death of
Christ; and on the other touching its efficacy.
Knowing God as they do, they are well assured
that if justice had not demanded and wisdom approved, love and grace would never have provided
such a sacrifice. And their greatest wonder, perhaps,
as they know the history of redemption, is at man's
indifference to a gospel of grace so unspeakable.
But, whatever may be in full the relationship
sustained to the angels by the redeemed now in
glory, we know they serve the same God, and share
the same joys; we may believe that they study the
same profound subjects; we must also think that
their interest is far deeper in these thoughts of
human redemption.  It was no new theme of which
the glorified Moses and Elijah spoke, when they
came from heaven to earth to talk with Jesus on
that shining mount. Surely, if the inhabitants of
heaven study the death of Christ, the sons of earth,




340          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
who owe their crowns to him, must be deeply inter.
ested. And when we consider how dimly these
things were understood in the ancient days of the
church; when we recall the perplexed faith of the
ancient believers, as they gazed upon their dim
types and through the smoke of their altars; when
we are assured that the prophets did not understand
their own predictions; we judge that with wonderful
interest they would renew these studies in the light
of eternity.  Here Moses talks of the death of
Christ. He had known him, he had talked of this
long before. His mother's lips, by the reedy Nile,
had first taught him of the faith of God's earthly
people; and he esteemed the reproach of Christ
greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.  He
himself had ranked among the greatest of earthly
teachers; and yet he knew but little of the meaning
of those dim ceremonies and significant types by
which the church in the wilderness were taught of
the sufferings of the Messiah. Many prophets and
righteous men longed to see things they never saw.
How were these Old Testament prophecies studied to
know their meaning; how would the spirits of the
just renew their studies when they reached heaven.
When Moses entered heaven, he began anew to
study the great subject of salvation. What a sight
that would be to look in upon the heavenly hosts
and see Moses studying his own teachings! That
eye, which six-score years of earth did not dim, is
bright with unfading lustre; that face, which Israel




SCENES OF TRANSFIGURATION.        341
could not behold, is far more radiant now; and he
sees a glory, which he could not bear when he was
hidden in the clefts of Sinai. But all the new light
of heaven only imparts a deeper interest to that
most sacred of all themes; and glorified spirits
speak of the death of Christ, to be accomplished at
Jerusalem.
But how strange it seems to speak of Christ's
death at such a moment as that. The mountain
around was'lighted up with celestial splendour,
which shone forth from his transfigured form;
never before, since he came to earth, did he so seem
the Son of God, and incapable of death; and who
could judge that this glorious One could ever die?
To speak of his glory, when he was so glorious,
would seem a natural topic for their thoughts; but
how is his death an appropriate theme for that time?
What reflections would fill our minds if we could
see that wonderful person, and hear these conversings respecting his death?  Gaze, listen, reflect, as
you would if you were among that favoured three
upon the holy mount.
Surely, if this Jesus is to die, his death must be
entirely voluntary. Not only may he avoid it,
advertised of his danger, but such an one as this
has power over every foe. No man can take his
life from him: if he lays it down, he must lay it
down of himself! And, in a higher sense than ever
was true of any martyr upon earth, the death of
Jesus WAS voluntarily met.  Not even duty, but
29 -*




312          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
grace and love, bade him tread that painful path.
The glory which he had with the Father before the
world was, and which now shone in him upon the
mount of transfiguration, may give sufficient proof
that he at once knew the bitterness of that cup of
sorrows, and voluntarily and cheerfully drank it to
the dregs.
Moreover, we could not gaze upon that shilling
form and know that it must meet the stroke of death,
without judging that extraordinary things belong to
such an event as happening to him. If death cormes
to the feeble, how can this mighty One feel his
power? If death is the wages of sin, this holy One
is not a sinner. Yet no death in all the world was
so anticipated and prepared for as his. It was not
merely because he was a man that he must die.
Elijah, though a man of like passions with other
mortals, escaped death; and yet the Messiah, who
plead three times for release, if it were possible,
must bow his head in death. Nothing less than the
representative, expiatory nature of the death of the
Messiah can explain why he must die at all, or
vindicate the propriety of his unparalleled sufferings.
But the chief thought that may attract our attention in the death of Christ, springs from the very
glory that essentially belonged to him, that shone
so brightly on the mount, that seemed to render it
impossible that he should die, and that yet was his
very qualification for that dying upon the cross.
instead of saying that one so glorious as he cannot




SCENES OF TRANSFIGURATION.        343
die for man, it is far nearer the tiuth to say that
only such a glorious One can suffer such a death.
The wide extremes, of weakness that is capable of
death, and of power that can again rise from the
dead, must meet in OUR REDEEMER. These glorified
prophets speak not simply of A DEATH to be accomplished at Jerusalem, but of HIS DEATH! It is
Christ that died for us.  This eminence belongs
only to him, for he only is worthy. Only the
transfigured Jesus can so pass through the realms
of death as to come forth on the third day from
humiliation to glory.  And if our eyes could see
his glory as it shone on that holy mount; if we
could realize that he is to meet death for us, could
we have any doubts that such a Redeemer was able
to save to the uttermost?
Great as would be the privilege of seeing the
transfiguration, and of hearing the voices of Moses
and Elijah upon this greatest of all topics for human
thought, we may be assured that we can now secure
a better acquaintance with the death of Christ, than
was gained by the three favoured apostles upon that
eventful night. Alas for the infirmities of our poor
human nature, which often prevents our appreciating
the most delightful opportunities! Peter and his
brethren were overcome by sleep, even in this august
presence.  Perhaps they did not hear what Moses
and Elijah could tell.  Perhaps their darkened
minds could not understand what they did hear.
This much we know, that after this, and even when




344          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
their Lord was in his sepulchre, they did not comprehend the teachings of the Scriptures concerning
the death of their Master; and he must, after he
had arisen from the dead, explain the teachings of
Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, respecting
himself.
Let us understand our opportunities. We do not
see that transfigured form: but we know who he
was; and we do not wonder that the Son of God
could look so glorious.  We do not hear Moses and
Elijah talk of that death to be accomplished: but
we look back upon the finished work of redemption,
and are permitted to know more than his most
favoured disciples then knew of the nature, and
aim, and efficacy of his cross. Peter might say,
"It is good for us to be here;" yet Peter himself
says that our word of prophecy is more sure than
that transient vision. It is good for us to be here.
We may learn of Jesus and of his death; we may
secure an interest in it; we may see in him a glory
above all that could merely meet the eye; indeed,
we may be prepared to share that glory through the
leath accomplished at Jerusalem.




IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE.    345
CHAPTER XXV.
IT IS GOOD FOR US TO B HERE!r
WE may sympathize with Peter when, beholding
the glory of his Lord, he said, "Master, it is good
for us to be here!"  And yet we wonder that these
disciples learned less from these scenes, and knew
less their true power and glory, than we may learn
and knowfrom our opportunities. That it was a great
privilege to see Jesus in the flesh, to witness his wonderful deeds, to hear his gracious words, to accompany
his footsteps, especially to behold his honour and majesty in this transfiguration scene, we readily grant.
But that we should long for such opportunities, in
comparison with those we now enjoy; that we should
think they could learn more than we, or draw near
to God in closer communion than we, or rise more
above their own infirmities than we, or have more
convincing proofs of the divine origin of our holy
religion, are all matters, respecting which many are
tempted to judge unwisely.  In a fair comparison
we live in times more favourable than theirs for an
acquaintance with Christ and his gospel, and for a
cordial embrace of its claims.  They were eyewitnesses of his majesty, as we cannot be; and this
had its advantages; but the prejudices of their early




346          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
education, the darkness usually gathering about the
unfinished plans of Providence, and the unrevealed
things of the gospel, put them under other serious
disadvantages, which more than compensate to us;
and with the full records of all they saw in our
hands, with the opportunity of repeatedly pondering
upon the sights and words that were transient to
them, with the clearer knowledge of things they so
imperfectly understood, and with the accumulated
evidences which support the authority of the sacred
writers, we have no reason to envy even the favoured
disciples who saw our Lord in the flesh. Our walks
with Jesus may give us, by the blessing of his Spirit,
as large an acquaintance with the grace of the gospel; we may know him as truly, and secure as
precious and true communion with God; indeed we
have a "more sure word of prophecy."
Our profit depends not only upon our opportunities. Some of our best advantages secure us small
return, through the weakness of our poor human
nature! How do we think we would enjoy the sight
and the conversation on the holy mount! Jesus is
transfigured; Moses and Elijah talk with him;
redemption is the theme! Yet, behold, Peter and
James and the beloved disciple were heavy with
sleep. Even such a sight fades from their eyes;
even such a conversation cannot fix their attention.
The topic is noble; the speakers are glorious; the
occasion is once in the world's history; the audience
is select; but the hearers are asleep.




IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE.    347
That the chosen three were overcome with sleep
may suggest to us one of the advantages which we
now possess for learning the great teachings of the
gospel, over those who were eye-witnesses of the
Saviour's earthly majesty. We may suppose that
this drowsiness on the part of the disciples was
merely natural; the demands of the physical system
claiming ordinary repose in its appropriate and customary time. Our Lord, we know, sometimes spent
the entire night in prayer; he had gone up upon
this high mountain to pray; it is likely that these
scenes occupied the whole night.  For we are
expressly told that they came down from the mountain upon the next day, Luke ix. 37; and perhaps
not at a very early hour of it. Night is the time
to sleep; and though there are occasions when our
untiring attention may be fixed for successive hours,
even through the night watches, it is not surprising
to see men sleep in the night. The opportunities
enjoyed by those who saw Christ in the flesh in
themselves were transient; they must be embraced as
they passed, or be lost; and yet nature's feebleness
might mar the improvement of their best seasons.
To some extent this is still so with us; yet the
written and inspired record of these scenes in the
life of Christ, is far better for our profit than the
sight first and the memory afterwards, to those who
saw these things.  Our opportunities are not transient, but are repeatedly offered.  We may take
our freshest hours to the study of these sacred




348          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
scenes; we may keep them before us when the
attention is most fixed; we may refresh our memories by hearing of them again; we may weigh every
important truth; we may lie down to night's slumbers
in night's season, not fearing that the vision will be
for ever gone before we wake again. What if we
had been with Peter, and, like Peter, upon the holy
mount? Peter knew more of these scenes when the
Spirit of inspiration brought them to remembrance,
than he did in that hour of infirmity.
But perhaps the disciples slept, because the
glorious scene before them  was more than our
mortal frame can bear; the sleep was supernatural, and necessary for them in such a scene as that;
and thus we know not what we ask, when we would
share the privileges they enjoyed. We are abundantly assured in the sacred word that communications of the glory of God are more than man can
bear. Jehovah assured Moses that no man could
see his face and live. Paul heard in paradise words
unspeakable and unlawful to be uttered.  The beloved Daniel twice expressly tells us that when
divine communications were made to him, he fell on
his face in a deep sleep; and Zechariah declares
that the angel awakened him "as a man is awakened
out of his sleep." The disciples may have been
unable to bear the flood of glory that shined forth
from their transfigured Lord; they were unable to
hear the language of heaven respecting the death to
be accomplished at Jerusalem; they were not as yet




IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE.     349
prepared to be the companions of Moses and Elijah;
and, in the divine mercy, they sank into the repose
of deep slumbers. But the communications of divine
truth to us are large enough for us, and they are
every way suited to our present capacities. We
read, but not with such overwhelming emotions as
forbids us to understand; the words are more than
celestial; they are the teachings of the Holy Ghost;
yet the language is human language; and the thoughts
are not all that God could teach, but all that infinite
wisdom has chosen to express for our profit.
In reflecting upon our comparative advantages
over those who witnessed these scenes in the life of
our Lord, it is exceedingly difficult to realize how
much better is our position than theirs, because of
the clearer knowledge given us of the true nature
of Christ's character and kingdom. There is an
important sense in which it is impossible that the
men of any age can understand the scenes going on
around them, as they will be known to later times.
No man knows his own times, as he may know the
generation before him; in our personal experience
we often see better what we should have done, when
the opportunity is passed for ever, than when it is
present with us; in the present we are like men
who wander through the mists in the valley; in the
future we ascend the mountain, the sun clears the
air around us, we look forth over a larger view, and
understand all these various objects better than when
we were down among them. It is, perhaps, true
30




350          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
that there are scholars now upon the earth whc
understand the Greek language more critically than
the men who spoke and wrote it two thousand years
ago. Histories of ancient times have been written
in the present age, far superior to any that could
have been written by the nations of whom they
speak, and far in advance of any that have been
written, by even profound scholars, for twenty cen2
turies back. No candid and intelligent man can
question that we are capable of knowing the principles of the gospel of Christ, and the historical and
moral evidences of Christianity, and of arriving at
as great and as intelligent certainty of all these
things as they could who were the eye-witnesses of
his majesty. The principle upon which we urge
this is given by our Lord himself, when he says, in one
of his parables, "If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither would they be persuaded though
one rose from the dead."
We do not call in question the evident truth
that things which are seen to pass before our
eyes may awaken our interest, may convince us of
their reality, and may be adapted to make upon us
a salutary impression. If the gospel of Christ was
simply an array of FACTS, then the advantages of
being an eye-witness would be greater than we now
allow. But it is far more than a system founded
upon historical verities. It is a great system of
holy PRINCIPLES; and these may be far better
understood by those who never saw Jesus than by




IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE.    351
those who saw him. Whether we look at the evidences of Christianity, or its spiritual teachings,
or its influences upon the minds of men, or at
the responsibilities which rest upon those who now
read the sacred writings, the times in which we live
enable us to know Jesus, to walk with Jesus, and to
find our salvation in him, quite as easily as if we
were among those who knew him in the flesh.
If we speak of this in reference to the evidence
that Christianity is from God, we find no serious
objection in the fact that infidel men now live upon
the earth, and even take rank among the learned
of a polished age. For unbelievers looked upon
the miracles of Jesus, heard him who spake as never
man spake, and knew that he had arisen from the
grave. We never expect to array such proofs of the
divine commission of Christianity, as will force
conviction upon every unwilling mind; especially
we do not expect that men who study only the false
side of a question shall reach the knowledge of the
truth. Indeed, in the orderings of God's inscrutable
providence the infidels of every age are among the
witnesses to testify that our religion is true. Unquestionably no book but the Bible can claim to be
a divine revelation, and stand the test of any examination; but this system has stood the severest tests
during every age. These teachings, openly and
publicly proclaimed, amidst the most violent opposition, eighteen centuries ago, have never since wanted
either friends to uphold, or foes to resist; and it is




352          A WEEK WITHI JESUS.
not in a trifling sense that the foes of religion are
witnesses as truly as its friends. If it is true that
there are now infidels among men, it is also true that
infidelity has given occasion to some of the most
important teachings which support the authority of
the Scriptures. Infidelity has never arrayed intellect and learning against the Scriptures, that have
not been met by learning as profound, and by as
vigorous thoughts; every changing and reviving age
of skepticism has been of brief duration, and has
been succeeded by the more rapid spread of the
truth; and Christianity is purer and better understood to-day, because opposition so fierce has so
often assailed her.
It is no small task to bring into view, at a glance,
the various evidences which support our faith; yet
there is no presumption in saying that to spend a
year in the personal society of Jesus upon earth,
would give no more intelligent reason for believing
his gospel, than a man may now possess who studies
the evidences of Christianity. Reasons for doubting
might arise anywhere: these may spring from our
depravity, and may be made confirmatory of a more
settled faith. But the evidences of Christianity are
stronger now, to any man who will candidly examine
them, than ever they were.
Look at them historically. Consider this church
of Christ, with all the influence she has exerted
upon the earth, for eighteen centuries back; see how
the changes among the nations, the rise and down



IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE.      353
fall of empires, the wars and revolutions, the discoveries, the arts, the commerce, the civilization of
men, have been originated, or modified, or controlled
by the influence of this religion; see how human
laws, benevolent institutions, language, and the
social manners of the nations, bear testimony to its
power; see how the Sabbath and the sacraments
of the church have been adopted and variously corrupted among men; and an array of historical
evidence gathers here which makes it madness to
question the reality of those events in the life of
Jesus and his apostles which attended the setting
up of the Christian church. These things we may
reasonably believe, as truly as if we saw them before
our eyes. There is an array of testimony, gathered
from so many quarters, embracing so many independent witnesses, corroborating each other in so
many unlooked for ways, that the proof is as strong
as any evidence of the senses.  Consider also this
Bible. Ialf the literature of the Christian world,
far more than half that is worth anything, is written
about it. Every thing has been attacked, sifted,
defended.  Many errors have been controverted,
many given up among Christ's professed followers.
But the sacred volume itself has passed unscathed
and victorious through a thousand fierce attacks.
It is the simple truth to say that more is known of
the Bible in our age than in any preceding generation. Not only has every book in it been attacked
and defended, but even every word has been critic30:




354           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
ally scanned, every letter has been investigated
The various manuscripts have been compared with
profound and various learning, with laborious industry, with unwearied perseverance; yet, whatever
conflicting views may prevail touching minor passages, we have no reason to believe that one single
doctrine'is different in the entire Bible from the
original teachings of the inspired writers. All this
is the more remarkable, because the foes of revelation
are continually changing their ground; the infidels
of each succeeding age are ashamed of the cavils
and arguments of their predecessors; no careful,
candid, systematic refutation of the best Christian
writers has ever been attempted; and the infidelity
of all the ages has no other bond of union than that
it ever possesses a like bitter spirit, and is ever
unscrupulous in using any means of hostility against
the Scriptures.
But let us not forget to say that there is one part
of the evidences of the Christian religion, that is of
itself sufficient to vindicate any man's faith. This
is open to every man who intelligently reads
THE  BOOK, and  may be independent of every
other evidence. The book commends itself. There
is a purity and a power in these teachings which
only truth can possess. There is an adaptation to
the necessities of sinful men; there is a revelation
of help for our distresses; there is a sympathy for
the hidden griefs of a wounded heart, which divine
teachings alone can afford. These words of Jesus




IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE.    355
cannot possibly come from an inferior teacher; and
yet so connected are his words, his life, his mission,
and his superior character, that we cannot consistently admit any of his claims, without admitting all.
Take Christianity in its chief claim as a system of
holy principles, and we are as capable of understanding and receiving them as the men of any
age; we may know Jesus more fully, and be his
disciples as truly as any who saw him on earth.
Indeed, we see upon this mount of transfiguration
how Peter misconceived the kingdom of Christ.
"It is good for us to be here; and let us build three
tabernacles." Ah, short-sighted and erring Peter!
Evidently the church of God and the triumphs of
Christianity were never planned by him; evidently
these apostles did not control the great revolution
that established the Christian church, but were
borne along with it, themselves ignorant of the
results they did so much to bring about. Peter
would have Jesus set up an earthly kingdom; he
would even have Moses and Elijah come down from
heaven to take part in the new commonwealth. Ile
knew not what he said. Christ planned the church
better than the apostles thought; and we know better the nature of Christ's spiritual kingdom, the
excellency of his doctrines, and the precious blessings he secures to his people, than did that favoured
three upon the holy mount. Te know the Son of
God, we know the death of Christ, we know all the
truths of his salvation better to-day than if we were




356          A WEEK WITII JESUS.
merely eye-witnesses of that glory. As they came
down from that mount, Jesus charged his disciples
not to make these things known, until the Son of
man was risen from the dead; and they understood
not his words, but inquired among themselves what
the rising from the dead should mean. If the transfiguration foreshadowed the resurrection, it was not
to their minds. After such a sight they knew more
than others, which as yet they must not tell; but
they knew less than they afterwards knew, and less
than is known to us.
But we do not wisely institute any comparison
between the advantages we possess, and those that
belonged to them or to any previous time, if we do
not use them to impress upon ourselves our own
responsibilities, and to learn what further needs we
have, beyond the teachings that address our eyes
and ears. It would be a great thing to be allowed
to walk with Jesus for a few brief days, to see that
blessed form, to hear his gracious words, and to
receive from his lips the delightful invitation to
follow him as our Lord and Saviour. But there
are two or three thoughts, with which now we may
close these meditations, which it becomes every
man seriously to ponder, touching the opportunities
divinely afforded for our instruction in the things
of "TIIIS LIFE." Acts v. 20.
1st. During our life-time must each one settle
the great question that pertains to his immortality.
Whether former times were better or worse than the




IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE.    357
present; whether others have had opportunities
more or less favourable than our own, will make
no difference as to this point. We cannot change
places with others. God has chosen our lot; God
has taught us the truths we know; God calls us to
repentance and salvation by means of his own
choosing for us. In some matters, all who hear the
teachings of the gospel are much alike. All are
sinners; all are in a sinful world; all are called to
contend with difficulties. Temptations ever beset
us, to delay the affairs of salvation, to think our
circumstances peculiarly trying, and to wish we
enjoyed the advantages of some of whom we have
heard. Yet all have the important responsibility
of securing or neglecting the soul's salvation, during
that brief life which the casualty of any moment
may so suddenly close.
2d. The privileges we enjoy are among the highest
ever given to any land or race. They really leave
us nothing to desire, so far as the full revelation of
the duties or the privileges of piety are concerned.
It might be a great privilege to spend a week in the
society of Jesus; but, really, we may come into his
society under more favourable circumstances than
those who lived with him upon the earth. They
saw him in his estate of humiliation, and it was by
a slow process that they were brought to realize his
true character and dignity; while we cannot remember the time when we first recognized his supreme
claims, and regarded him as the Son of God. They




358          A WEEK WITH JESUS.
were filled with many prejudices, could scarcely
credit the fact or the need of his death, and had no
just conceptions of a spiritual church; while the
great principles of Christianity have been household
words for us from the very lispings of our childhood.
The miracles which they saw him perform were
doubtless deeply impressive: but we may have a
conviction, as thorough and as intelligent, that he
did perform these wonders, as if we saw them done
before our eyes; and the most important part-that
is, not the mere wonder of the sight-but the moral
impression, arising from the nature and design of
Christ's miracles, we may possess as thoroughly as
any of the original witnesses. The wondrous words
of Jesus, what would we give to hear them? But
here they are, better than any hearers ever had
them from his lips. The same teachings, written
down, put in print, put in our possession, so that
no treacherous memory can deprive us of them, so
that we may study every word, the very thoughts
of Jesus, the words of everlasting life. We who think
that if Jesus should warn, we would tremble; if Jesus
should call, we would follow; if Jesus should assure,
we would believe; if Jesus should promise, we would
rejoice, may have all these things here; solemn
warnings, earnest calls, firm assurances, precious
promises, in his very words and addressed to our
souls. Not a single lesson of the law of God is
wanting for our teaching: every precious principle
of the whole gospel of God's grace is given in his




IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE.    359
blessed instructions; and though there are temptations to turn our thoughts away from salvation,
though this present world, with its pressing cares,
withstands every movement towards piety, and every
new year of life has its new dangers and excitements, yet, compared with other men and other
times, "the times have fallen to us in pleasant
places." God's full word is in our hands, and we
are free to use it; God's holy Sabbath dawns upon
us, and we may enjoy its richest privileges; and we
need envy none the privileges they enjoy. Happy
will it be for us if we are prepared to answer for
the wise use of the opportunities God has given to us.
But, while it is true that our responsibilities are
full, and we must surely answer if we neglect the
privileges granted to us, it becomes us to remember,
3d. That the teachings of God's Holy Spirit
are ever necessary to our spiritual profit, under any
means of grace. He can make the very feeblest
teachings and the very poorest opportunities effectual
for the soul's salvation; and, without his blessing,
Paul may plant and Apollos water in vain. The
disciples of Christ often did not understand his
words. Their minds were darkened, their eyes were
holden, they saw and saw not. We need not only
light, but open eyes to see. Men may have the
gospel and love it not; the inhabitants of Christ's
own city may perish in unbelief; while a poor woman
from the coasts of heathenism may find the commendation of her unwonted faith. Unquestionably, the




360           A WEEK WITH JESUS.
Spirit of God, who opens blind eyes and awakens
stupid hearts, is a sovereign, working when and as
he pleases; but this in such a sense as to leave upon
every man who hears this blessed gospel, the full
responsibility that attends his rejection of it.  It
relieves us from no sense of obligation that we need
the Spirit's regenerating power; it is our precious
encouragement that he is a Spirit of infinite love,
that we live in the age of his largest workings, and
that his own word bids us seek his grace. Let our
prayer ever be for the Spirit's teachings. To his
more sure word of prophecy let us give heed "as to
a light that shineth in a dark place." How long?
As he bids. "Till the day dawn and the day-star
arise in our hearts." Praying for the Spirit, let us
follow his bidding, yield readily to his promptings,
and beware of all resistance to his strivings. The
Spirit speaks in his word; let us ponder it. The
Spirit calls in the sanctuary; let us love the habitation of his house. The Spirit bids us pray; let us
draw near the throne of grace.
Every soul truly led by the Spirit shall see Jesus,
and be with him, and be like him, on a better mount
than Tabor, to see and share more glory than at
the transfiguration, to eat the living bread, and to
enjoy, not a week, but an eternity with Jesus.