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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

Ecce Deus-Homo

Ecce Deus-Homo

THE WORK AND KINGDOM

THE CHRIST OF SCRIPTURE.

They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him.
Mary.

PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO
1S68.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Lippincott's Press,
Philadelphia.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Parentage and Birth of Jesus  g

CHAPTER II.
Mission and Baptism of John  25

CHAPTER III.
Mission and Mediation of the God-man  35

CHAPTER IV.
Jesus Christ as Teacher of men  49
CHAPTER V.
The Death of Christ. . :  66
CHAPTER VI.
The Resurrection of Jesus  83
1* 5

6 Contents.
CHAPTER VII. ^ PAGE
The King and His kingdom  105
CHAPTER VIII.
The Structure of Christ's kingdom  ,  115
CHAPTER IX.
The Spirituality of the kingdom  132
CHAPTER X.
The Unity of the Church  144
CHAPTER XI.
Baptism, the Law of Membership  164
CHAPTER XII.
The Lord's Supper, and the Law of Life  178
CHAPTER XIII.
The Second Coming of the Son of man  192

PREFACE

The basis upon which this work rests is that Jesus
Christ was the God-man — not the Homo, merely,
nor the Deus, merely, but, in His one Person, the
Deus-Homo. Upon any other theory than this, His Life, Work
and Kingdom are perfectly inexplicable.
Some recent surveys of Christ and His work, that
have had large circulation among thinking men, rest
upon no historic foundation, because not derived
from the only trustworthy documents we have con
cerning the Divine Man ; they are dogmatic and
imaginative. I write this book because I love Him who loved
me, and gave Himself for me ; and I wish to make
known to others the loveliness of Jesus ; and to Him,
with earnest prayer to the Giver of all Good for his
blessing upon my work, I now dedicate this attempt
to set forth his claims and character as the Divine
Man.
The Author. 7

Ecce Deus-Homo.

CHAPTER I.

The Parentage and Birth of fesus.
ATTHEW begins his gospel by giving
us a genealogy of Jesus Christ, tracing
back his descent, through royal ances
tors, to Abraham, the father of the Hebrew
people. Luke, who has also written a biography of
the God-man, traces back his descent still fur
ther, through Shem and Enoch to Adam, the
father of the human race.
The first genealogy was written for the He
brews, and the object of the writer is to show
that Jesus Christ was a descendant of Abraham,
with whom the covenant of circumcision, or
ganizing the visible Church, was made. The
second was written for the Gentiles, and the
object of the writer is to show that Jesus was
descended from the first human pair, and as
such was the Saviour of the world.
A* 9

10 Ecce Deus-Homo.
Both of these biographers are very careful to
state that Mary, a Jewess, was his mother, but
that Joseph, her husband, was not his real, but
only his reputed, father. Jesus Christ was be
gotten, not after a natural, but a supernatural,
manner; He had no human father. When
Joseph and Mary, the mother of Christ, were
espoused, before they came together, it was
found that Mary was great with child by the
Holy Ghost, the Third Person of the Godhead.
This supernatural event was not entirely unex
pected to Mary. Several months before, the
angel Gabriel had been sent from God to in
form her that she was to conceive and bring
forth a son, whose name was to be called Jesus,
a Saviour, because He was to save His people
from their sins. The angel also told her that
this son of her's was to be the Son of the
Highest, and that He was to have the throne
of His great ancestor, David, for ever and ever.
Nor had Mary been left in ignorance as
to the manner of her conception. The Holy
Ghost was to come upon her, and the power of
the Highest was to overshadow her, and the
holy thing thus supernaturally begotten of her
was to be called, after his birth, the Son of
God. To the people of those days, these things did
not seem so remarkable : one of their old pro-

Parentage and Birth of Jesus. 11
phets, more than seven hundred years before,
had declared that a virgin should conceive and
bare a son, and that his name should be Im-
manuel, which means, God with us. The
entire history, too, of this Jewish people
abounded with angelic appearances, super
natural events, and Divine interpositions ; their
God was a very present God, a Personal Je
hovah. Mary, who was a Jewess, believed the angelic
annunciation, and pondered deeply in her
heart his words. There were several other
supernatural events directly connected with the
birth of Jesus Christ which deserve notice.
Mary had a cousin named Elizabeth, the
wife of Zacharias, living in the hill country of
Judea, to whose house Mary went immediately
after the announcement of the Angel Gabriel ;
and when she entered the house of her kins
woman, who was already six months advanced
in pregnancy, the babe in Elizabeth's womb
leaped, and the Holy Ghost moved her to greet
her kinswoman Mary thus : " Blessed art thou
among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb. And whence is this to me, that the
mother of my Lord should come to me ? For,
lo, as soon as the salutation of thy voice sounded
in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for
joy. And blessed is she that believed ; for

12 Ecce Deus-Homo.
there shall be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord."
Mary recognized a Divine Hand in all these
wonderful events, and she saw in them the ful
fillment of the gracious promises made in time
past to the fathers, and her feeling found ex
pression in the following beautiful language :
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Saviour. For He hath regarded the low estate of His
handmaiden ;
For, behold, from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed.
For He that is mighty hath done to me great
things ;
And holy is His name.
And His mercy is on them that fear Him
From generation to generation.
He hath showed strength with His arm ;
He hath scattered the proud in the imagina
tions of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats,
And exalted them of low degree.
He hath filled the hungry with good things ;
And the rich hath He sent away empty.
He hath holpen His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy ;
As He spake to our fathers,

Parentage and Birth of Jesus. 13
To Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
Mary abode with Elizabeth three months, and
then returned to her own home in Nazareth of
Galilee, where her espoused husband Joseph
also lived. After her return, Joseph became
aware of her condition, and was minded to put
her away privily ; but an angel appeared unto
him in a dream, and warned him against so
doing, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost ;
and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt
call his name Jesus ; for He shall save His people
from their sins. Being thus warned, Joseph
took her as his wife, but knew her not until she
had brought forth her first-born.
Soon after Joseph had been warned, and
before Jesus was born, a decree went out from
Caesar Augustus, the emperor of the vast
Roman empire of which Judea was a conquered
province, that an assessment of all the inhabit
ants of his empire should be made for the
purpose of levying a tax. The tax was not
collected until several years after the enroll
ment, when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.
In accordance with this decree of Caesar
Augustus, Joseph went up from the city of
Nazareth in Galilee, with Mary his wife, now
great with child, to Bethlehem of Judea, the
2

14 Ecce Deus-Homo.
city of David, because he was of the house
and lineage of David, to be assessed for his
tax. While they were in Bethlehem the days were
accomplished that Mary should be delivered,
and she brought forth her first-born son, and
wrapped him in swaddling-clothes, and laid
him in a manger, because there was no room
for them in the inn. The birth of the Divine
human male child was not unattended with
miraculous events.
In the country near; Bethlehem there were
certain shepherds abiding in the field, keeping
watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the
angel of the Lord came upon them, and the
glory of the Lord shone round about them ; and
they were sore afraid. But the angel said unto
them, Fear not : for behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day, in the city of
David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And then the angel tells them how they are to
recognize this Saviour Christ, in whom all
people are to be blessed. They were to find
the babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying
in the manger in Bethlehem. Scarcely had
the angel given the shepherds the sign, when
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying,

Parentage and Birth of Jesus. 15
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good-will toward man. Having chanted
the Gloria in Excelsis,. the angelic host re
turned to their home in heaven. And the
shepherds, recovering from their surprise, said
one to another, Let us now go even unto Beth
lehem, and see this thing which is come to pass,
which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary
and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger,
even as the angel had said. Having made
known publicly what they had heard and seen,
the shepherds returned to their flocks.
Jesus was a Jewish child and born under the
ancient covenant of circumcision ; and in accord
ance with the law of that covenant he was
circumcised upon the eighth day, and received
the name Jesus, as the angel had commanded.
When the days of her purification were ended,
Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to Jerusalem to
present him to the Lord, and to make the offer
ing required by the Mosaic law. While they
were in Jerusalem, the Holy Ghost revealed
unto a just and devout man named Simeon, who
waited for the consolation of Israel, that he
should not see death until he had seen the
Lord's Christ ; and he came by the Spirit into
the temple, and he took up Jesus in his arms,
and blessed God and said,

1 6 Ecce Deus-Homo.
Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in
peace, according to Thy word :
For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which
thou hast prepared before the face of all people ;
A Light to lighten the Gentiles,
And the glory of Thy people Israel.
And Simeon blessed Joseph and Mary, and
said to Mary, Behold, this child is set for the
fall and rising again of many in Israel ; and for
a sign which shall be spoken against.
Not long after this, certain magi, or wise men
from the East, came to Jerusalem, saying, Where
is He that is born King of the Jews, for we
have seen his star in the East, and have come
to worship Him. Hearing this remarkable
statement, King Herod gathered the chief
priests and scribes, and demanded of them
where Christ should be born ; and they, refer
ring to the old prophetic books of the Jews, said :
In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is- written in
the prophet Micah. King Herod then sent the
wise men to Bethlehem to find the royal child,
and commanded them, if they found Him, to
bring him word, so that he also might go and
worship Him ; his real motive was, however,
that he might kill the child, and thus save him
self from a rival in Him who was born King of
the Jews. As the wise men departed, lo, the
star they had seen in the East went before them

Parentage and Birth of Jesus. 17
until it came and stood over where the young
child was. And when they were come into the
house, they saw the young child with Mary His
mother, and they fell down and worshiped
Him ; and when they had opened their treasures,
they presented unto Him gifts — gold, and frank
incense, and myrrh. And being warned of
God not to return unto Herod, they departed
into their own country another way.
The advent of this Supernatural Being into
our world is attended with miraculous events,
angelic appearances, and Divine interpositions.
To him who believes in a Personal God, a
created universe, and the trustworthiness of
human testimony, all these statements concern
ing the parentage and birth of Jesus Christ are
clear, consistent, and credible. These biogra
phies record the birth of a Supernatural Being ;
the Incarnation of the Son of God ; the forma
tion of a -human body and soul in the womb of
a virgin by the direct agency of the Holy
Ghost ; and the eternal union of this manhood,
thus supernaturally generated, with the Second
Person of the Godhead. And this Holy Thing
is at once the Son of God and the Son of Mary
— the Son of the Highest and the Son of Man.
He is indeed the Deus-Homo, the God-man;
He is Jesus and He is Christ, and, as such, the
Saviour of the world.
2 *

1 8 Ecce Deus-Homo.
To him who denies .the personality of the
Deity and the fact of a creation, and the trust
worthiness of these biographies as historic docu
ments, of course all these statements made by
the writers of the Gospel history are impossible
and incredible, and the whole story is a legend
or myth, or both. For miracles are impossible
unless there be a Personal God and a created
universe. It is said that these facts are miracu
lous, and that hence they are incredible, be
cause they contradict all human experience.
But if the most ancient records of the race be
reliable, if any human testimony or historic
documents be trustworthy, then the facts nar
rated by the four Evangelists do not contradict all
human experience. It is true that the men of
this generation have not been eye-witnesses of
miracles, but the men of this generation are but
a part of the whole race. And the ancient
histories of the Jews — the oldest and most
reliable of all histories — are filled with records
of angelic appearances, supernatural events,
and Divine interpositions ; and if these historic
documents are rejected because they contain
records of miracles, then the whole science of
historical criticism is at an end, and no fact of a
past age can be substantiated by any amount of
testimony. And if there be a Personal God,
surely He can operate whenever and however

Parentage and Birth of Jesus. 19
He may please upon a universe that He has
created. And even grant that no miracle had ever
been wrought before the incarnation of the Son
of God ; is the negative testimony of all the men
who lived before that day to invalidate the
positive testimony of scores and hundreds of
competent and credible witnesses of that day,
who testify, in the most solemn manner, that
they saw miracles wrought? If all the genera
tions who lived before the Incarnation had been
present in Judea when these miraculous events
are reported to have occurred, and if they had
affirmed, from actual observation, knowledge
and experience, that the events did not occur,
then we might lay stress upon the argument
from universal experience ; but, as they were not
there, their testimony is perfectly valueless.
Are the steam engine and the magnetic tele
graph to be accounted myths or legends be
cause the universal experience of man up to the
days of Watt and Morse had never witnessed
any such things? Could not millions of men,
if they had power to speak from their graves,
testify that no steam engine or magnetic tele
graph had ever drawn a train or carried a
message since the creation of the world? Do
not these inventions contradict all human ex
perience, and are they not therefore impossible

20 Ecce Deus-Homo.
and incredible? Will the advocates of the
" experience" argument risk that argument
by laying their necks upon the iron rail as
the express train "thunders along the track?
They have all human experience for more than
five thousand years to prove that their necks are
safe. Either one of two things — we must accept
as true these supernatural events connected
with the birth of Jesus Christ, or else we must
reject the whole science of historic criticism and
the whole law of human testimony : there is no
middle ground. It is sad to see the dogmatism
and crude fancies and impossible conjectures
of modern rationalists, when they refuse to
accept the supernatural facts of Gospel history.
In their anxiety to get rid of the Divine and
superhuman element of the Gospel, they are
driven into conjectures and hypotheses more
improbable than the miracles which they
deny. Matthew and Luke; looking earthward, write
of Jesus as the Son of Mary — the Human, the
Homo. Mark, in his biography, declares that
Jesus Christ was the Son of God. The gentle
and loving John, gazing into heaven itself, sees
the Eternal Son upon His Father's throne, and
thus begins in solemn strain his lofty theme :
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus

Parentage and Birth of Jesus. 21
Christ, then, is both Human and Divine — God
and Man ; He is the Deus-Homo.
The proofs of His humanity are abundant
and conclusive ; but it was a sinless, supernatu
ral humanity. So also the proofs of His
Divinity are abundant and conclusive ; but it
was not Divinity afar off, but nigh to man — nay,
man's elder brother. He had an earthly human
mother ; His human body and soul were formed
in her womb and of her substance ; He was
born, He ate, He slept, He drank, He grew —
He lived, He loved, He sorrowed, He died.
Herein, He was of the earth, earthy ; of hu
manity, human. But He says, Before Abra
ham was, I am. He was the only Son, eternally
begotten of the Father; the brightness of His
glory, and the express image of His person.
Nay, He and the Father are one ; He possessed
power over creation which belonged only to
Deity; He opened the eyes of the blind, un
stopped the ears of the deaf, cleansed the lepers,
multiplied the loaves, calmed the tempest,
healed the sick and raised the dead-; herein He
was Divine — manifestly He must be called Im-
manuel, God with us, the Wonderful, the
Counsellor, the Father of Eternity, the Prince
of Peace, the Deus-Homo, the God-man Christ
Jesus. It is of the utmost importance to bear in mind

22 ^ Ecce Deus-Homo.
*
these fundamental facts of the Incarnation, for
upon these depend absolutely the life and work
of the God-man ; for if He be not Divine and
human, then the record of His life and death is
the most inexplicable of all human writings,
and we are left without any key to unlock the
mysteries of Gospel history. But with the facts
of His Incarnation in our hands, we may walk
safely amid all the grand mysteries of Godli
ness, great as they aire : God manifest in the
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels,
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, received up into glory.
The four biographers have preserved but one
incident in the life of Jesus from His childhood
to His public ministry. His parents went up
to Jerusalem every year to the great Jewish
feast of the Passover. When Jesus was twelve
years old they carried him with them. When
the feast was ended, Joseph and Mary returned,
but Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem. His
parents, supposing that he was in the returning
company, went a day's journey from the city
and sought the child among their kinsfolk ; and
not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem
seeking for him. They found him in the
temple, seated in the midst of the doctors, both
hearing them and asking them questions. And
all who heard him were astonished at his under-

Parentage and Birth of Jesus. 23
standing and answers. His mother was amazed,
and said, Son, why hast Thou dealt thus with
us ? Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrow
ing. He said unto them, How is that ye sought
me? wist ye not that I must be about my
Father's business. This surely is a very un-
dutiful reply from the child if He be the mere
boy Jesus. But if He be the eternal Son of the
Heavenly Father, as well as the Son of the
Virgin Mother, then surely it became Him thus
to do and thus to speak, for He was His mother's
Lord no less than her son.
" I must be about my Father's business."
This expression of the youthful Christ gives us
the clue to His whole subsequent life. This is
the one grand idea ever before His mind. As
the Divine boy in the temple, it is His Father's
business that engages Him ; as the Great Teacher
of mankind, it is His Father's will that He
makes known ; as the Mediator between God
and man, He does not His own will, but the will
of Him who sent Him ; as both Priest and Victim,
in the anguish of the garden and the agony of
the cross, He still pleads that His Father's will
may be done ; and though a Son, and at once
Divine and human, yet still learned He obedi
ence by the things which He suffered. This
Christ of God is not some wondrous man waking
up to the consciousness that he possesses super-

24 Ecce Deus-Homo.
human power ; He is not some high creature of
God coming from heavenly lands to teach men
how to live, and showing them how to die ; but He
is the Only Begotten of His Father, the eternal
Son coming down from the skies, to be made
flesh and dwell among us, that He may ever be
about His Father/s business, and finish the work
His Father gave Him to do.
The grand objective point in the life of the
God-man was not the mount from which He de
livered his immortal sermon ; nor the beautiful
waters of Tiberias over which He sailed, and
whose tempest He calmed ; nor the Garden of
Gethsemane where He sweat great drops of
blood ; nor Bethany, where He raised the dead ;
nor Calvary, where He himself tasted death ;
nor the Mount of Olives from which He ascended.
His Omniscient eye swept far away beyond
these ; beyond the mount, beyond the sea, be
yond the garden, beyond the cross, away off
into the eternal world, there where the joy was
set before Him — that joy which enabled Him to
endure the cross and despise the shame — to do
His Father's wiM and His Father's work, and then
to make known His Father's glory to the prin
cipalities and powers in heavenly places through
out the everlasting ages — this was the grand
object ever before Him, and most sublimely did
He accomplished the aim and end of His life.

CHAPTER II.
Mission and Bafitism of John.
|HE people of Judea were eagerly ex
pecting the advent of a superhuman
being. Their old prophetical books,
which were held in the highest esteem by all
the people, had spoken in stirring strains of a
Messiah who was to come. These books spoke
of Him as a Prophet, like unto Moses, but wiser
than Moses ; as the Son of David, who was to
sit upon David's throne for ever ; as the Priest
higher than Aaron, who was head of the whole
sacerdotal order. To prepare the minds of His
countrymen for the advent of Messiah, a fore
runner had appeared in the person of John the
Baptist. As has been already stated, John was a kins
man of Jesus, for his mother Elizabeth was
cousin to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and it was
to the house of Elizabeth that Mary went when
she knew that she was with child by the Holy
Ghost, and the unborn babe in Elizabeth's
womb leaped when the voice of Mary sounded
in the ears of his mother. B 25

26 Ecce Deus-Homo.
Zacharias, the husband of Elizabeth, went
into the temple to burn incense before the Lord,
and there appeared unto him the angel of the
Lord standing on the right side of the altar of
incense. And the angel said unto him, Fear
not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy
wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou
shalt call his name John ; and thou shalt have
joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his
birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the
Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong
drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy
Ghost even from his mother's womb. And
many of the children of Israel shall he turn to
the Lord their God ; and he shall go before
Him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn
the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the
just, to make ready a people prepared for the
Lord. In accordance with the promise of the angel,
Elizabeth, who was barren and well-stricken in
years, conceived and bare a son, and called his
name John.
His father Zacharias, who had been dumb
since the angel appeared to him in the temple,
as a sign to him that what the angel said would
come to pass, now received the use of speech
again, and in answer to the inquiry concerning

Mission and Baptism of John. 27
John, What manner of child shall this be?
moved by the Holy Ghost, thus spake :
And thou, child,
Shall be called the Prophet of the Highest,
For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord
to prepare His ways ;
To give knowledge unto His people,
By the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God ;
Whereby the Day-spring from on high hath
visited us,
To give light to them that sit in darkness and
in the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.
This son of Elizabeth and Zacharias was
circumcised on the eighth day, and received the
name of John. The child grew, and waxed
strong in the spirit, and was in the desert until
the day of his showing unto Israel.
The following points of resemblance between
John the forerunner and Jesus the Messiah are
to be noted, viz :
1st. They were kinsmen — their mothers were
cousins. 2d. The birth of each of them had been
announced by an angel.
3d. They were supernaturally conceived in
the wombs of their mothers : Mary, the mother
of Jesus, was a virgin ; Elizabeth, the mother

28 Ecce Deus-Homo.
of John, was barren, and was, moreover, past
the age of child-bearing.
4th. Very little is known of either of them
from their childhood to their public ministry.
5th. They were both prophets, and pro
claimed a baptism ; and the Greater was bap
tised by the Less.
6th. They were together upon the Mount of
Transfiguration .
7th. They were both executed by the civil
authorities — John was beheaded by King Herod,
Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate.
From the days of Haggai and Malachi, pro
phets of the restoration, until the days of John.
a period of over four hundred years, no inspired
prophet had appeared among the children of
Israel. When Tiberius Caesar had been upon the
Roman throne fifteen years, when Pilate was
governor of Judea, when Herod was tetrarch
of Galilee, and Annas and Caiaphas were high
priests, the Word of God came unto John, the
son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.
John was at this time about thirty years of
age ; his raiment was made of camel's hair, and
bound round his loins with a leathern girdle ;
his food was locusts and wild honey. Suddenly,
and without any warning, he appears before
the people of Judea with the startling message,

Mission and Baptism of John. 29
Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand. The stern prophet comes unannounced
from the wilderness to prepare the way of the
Lord. His wild appearance, his authoritative com
mand, his startling announcement, his pungent
preaching, and the general expectation on the
part of the people of the coming Messiah, all
combined to give wonderful success to the
ministry of the Baptist. Pharisees, Sadducees,
Scribes, publicans, lawyers and soldiers flock
by thousands to his preaching.
The substance of John's preaching was :
1st. He was not the Promised Messiah.
2d. He was the Messiah's forerunner, to pre
pare the way of the Lord.
3d. The forerunner was to decrease, but
Messiah was to increase.
4th. The kingdom of heaven was at hand.
5th. Men must now repent, and be baptized
for the remission of sins.
6th. The baptism which John administered
was to make Messiah manifest to Israel ; and
the sign whereby John would know the Mes
siah was the descent of the Holy Ghost.
7th. When Messiah^ was manifested, he
would baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire.
One day, as John was preaching and bap
tizing at the river Jordan, Jesus Christ, now
3*

30. Ecce Deus-Homo.
about thirty years of age, went out to the
Wilderness Prophet to receive baptism at his
hands. John appears to have had some presentiment
that Jesus was the Messiah,- and attempted to
dissuade him, saying, I have need to be bap
tized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? But Jesus
insisted that thus it became him to fulfill all
righteousness, and then John administered to
him the ordinance of baptism. After the bap
tism, the Spirit of God, in the form of a dove,
descended and lighted upon the head of Jesus ;
and an audible voice came from the Father in
heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. After this Divine manifes
tation and declaration, John knew that Jesus
Christ was the promised Messiah, and he bare
record that this was the Son of God, and cried,
Behold the Lamb of God (Ecce agnus Dei) , that
taketh away the sin of the world. Thus at the
baptism, as at the birth of the God-man, there
are Divine interpositions, heavenly announce
ments, and supernatural events.
After Jesus had entered upon His public
ministry, He said unto the multitudes concern
ing John, What went ye out into the wilderness
to-see? John the Baptist was not a reed shaken
by the wind ; he was not a man of changeable,
uncertain, and fickle purpose and judgment,

Mission and Baptism of John. 31
carried about with every wind of doctrine —
shaken in his views as the reed is shaken by
the wind.
Nor was he a man to wear soft raiment and
live in kings' houses ; he was not a man to fawn
upon those in authority, and turn and shape his
views to meet the wishes and desires of those
who had authority among their fellow-men.
But he was a Prophet, and more than a
Prophet; he was indeed My messenger,
called of God, to go before Me, in the spirit
and power of Elijah, to prepare the way of
the Lord.
Among them that are born of woman — that
is, of all those born under the ancient covenant,
that covenant made in the flesh, and after the
flesh, after the law of natural birth — there has
not risen a greater than John the Baptist ; not
withstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of
heaven — that is, least ehlig'htened under this
new and better covenant, this dispensation of
My personal ministry and the descent of the
Holy Ghost — is greater than he. John came in
a transition period, and was the transition pro
phet. The Old Dispensation was passing away,
and the New Dispensation was coming in, and
his ministry was partly in the Old and partly in
the New Dispensation. He was greater than
any prophet before him under the Old Dispen-

32 Ecce Deus-Homo.
sation, for he saw the Messiah and the descent
of the Spirit ; he was less than any prophet
under the New Dispensation, for he did not see
the Holy Ghost poured out upon the day of
Pentecost, and the Christian Church fully in
augurated. Jesus asked the people this question : The
baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven
or of man?
Undoubtedly, it was from heaven, but it was
not Christian baptism.
John was a prophet under the covenant of
circumcision ; he was raised up, called and
qualified by God as a preacher and baptizer
under that covenant. He was commissioned
by Jehovah to declare His will and to adminis
ter the baptism of repentance — but all of John's
work was wholly preparatory ; he was the
forerunner of Messiah, and Messiah's kingdom ;
and his baptism was -preparatory to Christian
baptism. Jesus, as born under the covenant of
circumcision, and as a minister of that covenant,
received the baptism that John administered ;
but, though the baptism of John was from
heaven, it was not Christian baptism, as is
evident —
ist. It was a baptism administered while the
old covenant of circumcision was in full force,
and before the dispensation of ceremonies had

Mission and Baptism of John. 33
passed away. The veil of the temple was not
yet rent in token that the ancient economy was
fulfilled. 2d. John's baptism was before Jesus was
manifested as the Messiah ; and one special
purpose to be served by that baptism was to
make Jesus known as the Messiah Saviour.
3d. It was a baptism of a kingdom of hea
ven at hand, not of a kingdom of heaven fully
cone and set up.
+th. It was a baptism of mere repentance,
not a baptism of regeneration.
5th. It was a .baptism of mere water, not of
the Holy Ghost, for the Spirit was not yet
given ; and it was the especial perogative of the
Messiah to baptize with the Holy Ghost.
6th. It was not administered in the name of
the Holy Trinity — the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. 7th. After the institution of Christian baptism
by Messiah, and the descent of the Holy Ghost,
the disciples of John, who had received his
baptism, were re-baptized in token of its in
sufficiency. Briefly, then, John's baptism was prepara
tory — of water merely, unto mere repentance,
before the Mosaic Ritual was fulfilled and abro -
gated, before the Christian dispensation was
established, and before the Messiah had a single
B«

34 Eece Deus-Homo.
disciple. It did not typify or symbolize the
Spirit, and it was not in the name of the Trinity —
Father, Son, and Spirit.
John, having prepared the way for the prom
ised Messiah, having' appeared in the spirit and
power of Elias, having turned the hearts of the
fathers to the children, having baptized and
thus made manifest the Messiah, begins to de
crease, and Messiah begins to increase ; He
commenced His ministry in Galilee by proclaim
ing the gospel of the kingdom of God.

CHAPTER III.
The Mission and Mediation of the God-man.

F any being in the universe is compe
tent to give us true information con
cerning the mission of the God-man, it
is Jesus Christ himself. And whatever may be
unsatisfactory in the present or past conceptions
of apostles or priests, or prophets or preachers
concerning His mission, surely we may rely
upon the statements of Jesus as true, for He de
clared that He was not only the Way and the
Life, but that He was the Truth.
He summed it up in a few brief sentences :
I am come to seek and to save the lost, and to
glorify My Father in heaven, by finishing the
work He gave Me to do. It is rest and peace on
earth for weary man, and it is glory to God for
evermore in the highest — it is to save sinful man
and to glorify his Father, God. It was not to
mature plans for universal empire ; not to work
miracles ; not to expound the true code of
morals ; not to display the method of the Divine
government ; not to reform men ; not to remove

36 Ecce Deus-Homo.
evils ; not to propound political dogmas ; not to
leave a perfect example ; not to die the martyrs'
death, but to save man from sin and hell, and
to glorify God throughout the eternal ages.
In accomplishing these ends, it is true that
He will work miracles, He will teach all moral
truth, He will display the method of God's
government, He will reform men, He will re
move evils, He will leave a perfect example,
He will die the death of the cross ; but all these
are incidental and ancillary — He does these
things in order to the others. He teaches, He
works miracles, He lives, He dies, that man
may be saved from sin and hell, and that His
Father may be glorified. And this two-fold
work of saving man, and displaying His
Father's glories to the whole intelligent crea
tion, absolutely demands that He shall be at
once both human and Divine ; that He shall be
the God-man Mediator Christ Jesus. He can
not save man, unless He has man's nature ; He
cannot perfectly and infinitely display and
declare the Divine character, unless He has
God's nature ; He must be one with .man,
whom He saves, and one with God, whom He
glorifies. In the mysterious Incarnation of the Son of
God, and the miraculous constitution of the
person of the God-man, the following facts are

Mission and Mediation of the God-man. 37
abundantly evident from the writings of the
evangelists and apostles :
The Divine and human natures, indissolubly
united in the person of the Son of God, pre
served each the properties peculiar to its own
nature. No change was made in the Divine
nature ; there was a partial obscuration of the
Divine Glory, but the nature remained the
same ; Deity was not changed into humanity.
Nor was any change made in the human
nature ; it had no separate personality — the
intellect and will of the man Jesus had its sub
sistence in the person of the Son of God ;
humanity was not changed into Deity.
The two natures were united in one person ;
they were not mixed or blended.
Whatever was predicable of either nature
was predicable of the God-man, Christ Jesus.
God could not die, yet the God-man Christ
Jesus did die.
Man could not create, yet the God-man
Christ Jesus did create.
The humanity of Jesus had no existence be
fore the Incarnation ; yet Christ could say, Be
fore Abraham was, I am.
The Divinity of Christ had no body, parts, or
passions ; yet the Church was purchased with
His own blood.
Jesus Christ possessed the essential properties

38 Ecce Deus-Homo.
of both natures, but they were not divided or
separable, nor changed, nor confused, nor
mixed ; they were indissolubly united in one
person. Beyond doubt there are mysteries here —
mysteries higher than the heights, deeper than
the depths ; mysteries of the Eternal, the Infi
nite, the Unfathomable; mysteries of uncreated
existence made flesh ; mysteries of God fashioned
as man, dwelling among men. What is man
that he shall refuse to believe the words of the
Most High because he cannot comprehend the
rationale of the Divine existence, the precise
method and manner of the Incarnation? We
are here dealing with facts, not with philosophy ;
and shall we reject facts, established by
competent and credible witnesses, because we
cannot fully comprehend the nature of the facts
established? God does not call upon us to
comprehend the philosophy of the Incarnation ;
He commands us to believe the facts of the In
carnation, and to trust in His Incarnate Son.
The cry of the heathen governor, the pagan
Pilate, was, Ecce Homo — Behold the Man.
The command of God, and the cry of the
Scripture is, Ecce Deus-Homo — Behold the God-
man. No wonder that they who come to see
the mere man are amazed and confounded ; it
is not a man, but a Divine man, of whom these

Mission and Mediation of the God-man. 39
biographers write. They narrate the life of the
Super-human. These records tell of God com
ing down from heaven to operate upon a
universe that He created; they tell of angels
and miracles and Divine handiwork. Is there
no existence above matter? Is there no cause
except antecedence and sequence? Is., there no
life higher than that of nature? Is there no
truth in the universal consciousness of the race
that answers back to these grand mysteries of
the Supernatural, the Divine? Is there no sub
stance casting these shadows so dark and deep
across the soul? Why does the heart of man
ever answer back, in cries almost divine, to
the infinite heights and depths of God's revela
tion to a lost and guilty race? We can believe
the facts of revelation ; we cannot find out the
Almighty unto perfection.
But the Son of Man came to seek and to save
the lost ; the God-man was a Mediator between
God and men ; God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them. Jesus Christ was a
Reconciler, a Daysman, a Mediator ; and as
there is one God and one race, so there is but
one Mediator between God and men — the man
Christ Jesus.
Mediation implies estrangement and aliena
tion ; reconciliation implies enmity and .hatred.

40 Ecce Deus-Homo.
The whole need not a physician, but they who
are sick. Friends have no need of mediators
and reconcilers. Is it true that there is aliena
tion and estrangement between God and man?
is a Mediator and Reconciler needed between
them? Surely, something has gone wrong
with our world and with the race ; man has de
parted from God ; the younger son has gone
into a strange country; one sheep of the hun
dred has gone astray; one of the pieces of
money is lost. The carnal mind is enmity
against God, not subject to His law, neither
indeed can be ; and that enmity is strong and
deep and bitter. Man hates God with an in
tense hatred, and had he the power he would
hurl Him from His throne.
God, on His part, is angry with the wicked
every day ; and the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and un
righteousness of man.
Jesus Christ Himself ever speaks of man as a
sinner, at enmity with God ; and says, I am not
come to call the righteous, but sinners to re
pentance. Come unto Me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. It
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accepta
tion, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners.
Man is guilty ; man is depraved ; man is

Mission and Mediation of the God-man. 41
miserable. Guilt is wrong-doing and liability
to punishment; depravity is corruption of the
moral nature ; misery is the suffering consequent
upon guilt and depravity ;
" There is no God, the foolish saith ;
But none, There is no sorrow;"
and the universality of sorrow proves^ the univer
sality of sin.
Where there is no law, there cannot be guilt
or depravity or misery ; for where there is no
law, there is no transgression, and hence no
liability to punishment ; where there is no law,
there is no depravity, for depravity is the want
of the rectitude demanded by the law ; where
there is no law, there is no suffering, for suffer
ing is the penalty of violated law. If there be
no penalty, there is no law ; for law without a
sanction or penalty is no longer law, but mere
advice. But law is the all-pervading principle of the
universe ; in its silent but resistless operations it
controls every particle of this boundless creation
— law in the world of matter, law in the world
of Providence, law in the world of spirit. We
may not see the Hand that drives the machinery
of the universe ; we do see that it moves, and
that it always moves in accordance with law.
Law governs the fall of the apple to the earth,
the course of the sun in his circuit. In accord-
4 »

42 Ecce Deus-Homo.
ance with law, men live and die ; in accordance
with law, nations flourish and decay. Every
thing that lives and moves and dies, lives, moves
and dies under the operation of law.
Man cannot escape from law, or the Infinite
Lawgiver ; if he ascend up to heaven, law is
there in all its beauty and all its glory ; if he de
scend to hell, law is there in all its strength and
all its vengeance ; if he take the wings of the
mornnig and dwell in the uttermost parts of the
earth, even there shall the law claim him as its
subject, and the Lawgiver hold him in His
power. Law may be violated, but violation is
not its abrogation. Man sinning, is still sub
ject — still bound to obey, and bound to endure
the penalty.
For six thousand long and weary years the
wail of a lost creation, groaning and travailing in
pain because of a broken law, has gone up to the
ears of the Lord of hosts. The order of crea
tion has been disarranged ; the harmony of the
universe has been broken ; the world is not what
it once was : some discordant element has gotten
into the machinery ; the great wheels still go on
in their revolutions — law remains the same —
but the wheels now go grinding and groaning
as if in pain, by reason of the introduction of
sin. The whole creation travaileth in anguish,
waiting the hour of its redemption. Fierce tor-

Mission and Mediation of the God-man. 43
nadoes and horrid simoons sweep over the
globe ; volcanoes belch forth fire and brimstone,
and whole regions of the earth and mighty
cities are buried in ashes and lava ; the earth
opens her yawning jaws and devours her guilty
inhabitants ; scorpions, serpents, vermin and
reptiles infest the homes of the children of men ;
deadly miasmas exhale from green-mantled
pools, breeding disease and death ; the pesti
lence walks in darkness and the destruction
wastes at noonday ; criminal laws provide penal
ties for wrong-doing, and jails and penitentiaries
and gallows inflict punishment upon transgres
sors ; cruel and bloody wars decimate the nations
of the earth ; theft and adultery and murder
stalk through the land ; altars, among all people,
and in all countries, reek with the blood of vic
tims, slain to appease the wrath of angered
deities ; surely the curse of a broken law rests
upon man and upon the earth.
When we pursue the investigation, and look
into the depths of man's moral nature, there too
we find marks of disorder, ruin, and sin. The
mind is darkened ; the desires are corrupt ; the
affections depraved ; the will is capricious ; the
emotions are perverse ; and conscience thunders
wrathfully from his throne in the human breast.
Man's deepest conviction is that he is guilty,
and his heart yearns for a better land.

44 Ecce Deus-Homo.
- Meantime the Holy God sits upon His throne
of justice, proclaiming His infinite hatred of sin,
and revealing His wrath against all the workers
of iniquity ; and the law, never abating one jot or
tittle of its demands, declares that the sinner
shall die.
In such a posture of affairs, and between these
two parties, Jesus of Nazareth appears as a
Daysman, a Mediator, a Peace-maker, a Re
conciler. In the midst of earth's darkness, He
comes to give light ; in the midst of earth's sor
row, He comes to give peace ; in the midst of
earth's death, He comes to give life.
In order to be a mediator, certain qualifica
tions are requisite on the part of him who under
takes this office ; and the higher the character
of the parties to be reconciled, the more exalted
must be the qualifications of him who attempts
the work of mediation. God is one of these
parties, and He is Infinite ; man is the other,
and he is Finite. Now mark how the very con
stitution of His person fits Him for His office as
Mediator. As the Only Begotten of the Father,
the Son of the Highest, Deity Incarnate, God
manifest in the flesh, He is most intimately con
nected with God ; nay, He is One with God,
nay He is God, and therefore Infinite, and pos
sessed of infinite qualifications ; as the Son of
the Virgin, the Seed of the Woman, the Second

Mission and Mediation of the God-man. 45
Adam, He is our elder brother, and Finite — and
so the Infinite-Finite Mediator.
If He be not Infinite, He cannot satisfy the
demands of a broken infinite law ; finite obedi
ence or finite suffering must be eternal in order
to meet the demands of an Infinite law.
Again, the Mediator must be Divine in order
to send the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, to recre
ate, in the image of God, the moral nature of
man. And He must have Infinite power, in order
that He may conquer all of our enemies, and
overcome death, hell and the grave.
But if the Mediator be merely Divine, then
He is infinitely removed from man — His media
tion is too exalted t© be efficacious ; and as He
laid hold of the seed of Abraham to save man,
He must be made like unto His brethren. As
the children who are to be redeemed are par
takers of flesh and blood, the Redeemer must
likewise be partaker of the same, that so He
may be a merciful and faithful High Priest, hav
ing a fellow feeling with our infirmities.
As God and as Man, as God-man Mediator,
He stands between the Infinite and the Finite ;
between His Father God in heaven, and His
brother man on earth ; and now God in Christ
is reconciling the world unto Himself, not im
puting their trespasses unto them.

46/ Ecce Deus-Homo.
But any mediation that will prove effectual
must respect every claim that God has upon
man, and every obligation that man is under to
God. Man having violated the law, broken the
covenant under which he was placed, God will
no longer have any dealings of any sort what
ever with him. So far as God is concerned the
case is ended, for the sanction of the law was,
do and live — disobey and die ; man failed to do,
and hence forfeited his life ; he disobeyed, and
hence he must die. All that the Infinite God
can ever say to the sinner is, Thou hast broken
the law, and thou must die. Hence the abso
lute necessity of a Mediator and Daysman be
tween God and man.
There is a popular and prevalent idea that,
somehow or in some way, Christ as Mediator
modified the demands of the law ; that He les
sened the precept and mitigated the penalty of
the law ; that, in virtue of His work, some
thing of the justice of the Divine government
was held in abeyance. To believe thus is totally
to misunderstand the nature of His mediation.
I am not come, said Jesus Himself, to destroy
the law or the prophets, but to fulfill ; for until
heaven and earth shall pass away, not one jot
or tittle of the law shall pass away until all be
fulfilled. Nay, in order that the mediation of

Mission and Mediation of the God-man. 47
Jesus Christ may be made efficacious to the
saving of sinners, He Himself must so obey the
precept, and so endure the penalty of the law,
that it is for ever magnified and made honorable.
And, in fact, the mediatorial work of the God-
man, so far from modifying the claims of the
law, has afforded, to the whole intelligent crea
tion, the very highest possible proof of the Infi
nite rectitude of the Divine government, and the
majesty of the Divine law. God is just, even
when He justifies the ungodly.
Whatever claim God ever had upon man was,
and must have been, holy, just, and right;
whatever obligation man was ever under to
obey — or failing to obey, whatever obligation he
was under to suffer the penalty — was holy, just,
and right. God could not modify or lessen, or
-abrogate His claim, when in its very nature, the
claim was holy, just, and right ; the Mediator,
in view of the character and claims of God,
could not modify or lessen or abrogate man's
obligation to obey, or to suffer, since that obli
gation was, in its own nature, holy, just, and
right. There is an absolute necessity that the
Mediator shall respect every claim of God and.
every obligation of man.
Human nature has sinned, hence human na
ture must suffer ; and the Son of God, who
comes as Mediator, must be partaker of human

48 Ecce Deus-Homo.
nature, so that in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
as made flesh, not sinful, He may obey and
suffer for man, who had sinned. He assumes
a true body and reasonable soul, and suffers in
the room and stead of man.
As the Son of man, he is sufficiently humbled
to meet the wants of man ; as the Eternal Son
of God, He is sufficiently exalted to meet the
claims of God, and to vindicate the majesty of
the Divine law.
As a correct and legitimate interpretation of
the historic records concerning the parentage
and birth of Jesus Christ, absolutely demands
the union of the Divine arid human natures in
his one Person ; as the philosophical analysis of
the records concerning His Person necessitates
that Christ Jesus shall be both God and Man ;
so here again any true conception of His media
torial office and work forces us to the conclu
sion that Jesus Christ, as Mediator between
God and man, is, indeed, the Deus-Homo, the
God-man.

CHAPTER IV.
Jesus Christ as Teacher of Men.
ESUS CHRIST was about thirty year's
of age when He began his public minis
try as a Teacher sent from God. He
was inducted into His office by His great fore
runner, John, and was anointed with the Holy
Ghost above measure.
The Jewish ruler, Nicodemus, who came to
Him by night, said unto Him, Rabbi, we know
that Thou art a Teacher come from God ; for
no man can do these miracles that Thou doest,
except God be with him. Nicodemus knew
that He was a Divine Teacher because He
wrought Divine works. The miracles of Jesus
are the proof that He was commissioned of God
to teach men ; and this is the precise import of
a miracle — it is a credential given by God to
His messengers, to authenticate their mission ;
it is a credential above nature to attest a message
above nature.
A miracle is not a violation of the laws of na-
S C 49

50 Ecce Deus-Homo.
ture, nor a suspension of those laws, nor an
abrogation of those laws — it is a Divine Hand
let down into the machinery of creation to move
it at the Divine will and pleasure. If there be
no Personal God, then, of course, there is no
Divine Hand to be let down ; if there be no
creation, then, of course, there is no machinery
to be moved at all.
"The public ministry of Jesus Christ embraced
a period of a little over three years ; it was con
fined to a conquered province of the Roman
empire ; it was limited to his own people, the
Jews — a bigoted, a peculiar, a subjugated and
an exclusive people ; but its results are still felt
over all the earth in the rolling tide of human
history; what He said can never die.
They who heard his teachings were amazed
that the carpenter of Nazareth should utter
such imperishable truth. And they asked, From
whence hath this man these things? and what
wisdom is this which is given unto Him? Is
not this the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and
are not His brethren and sisters here with us?
The difficulty to be solved was : How can this
man, this Son of Mary, this humble carpenter,
proclaim such Divine truths, with such Divine
authority, and work such miracles to attest His
mission? There is something here inexplicable
to human reason ; and we need not wonder that

Christ as the Teacher of Men. 51
they were offended at Him. They knew Him
to be a man, and yet here were Divine words
and Divine works — can man be Divine, or can
Deity be human ? If they had known the Scrip
tures and believed the facts of the Incarnation,
the difficulty would have disappeared. It is the
Deus-Homo who teaches.
As, in accordance with the saying of the Fore
runner, Jesus begins to increase, and the fame
of Him spreads throughout Judea, it is evident
to all that He is a Prophet raised up of God ;
and the question at once arises,, what Prophet is
this? Is it John the Baptist risen from the
dead? or is Elijah come down from heaven in
his chariot of fire? Or is this indeed the very
Christ, the Prophet of whom Moses did write ?
But how could such a Prophet arise out of
Nazareth, from whence no good thing could
come? And as for Christ, the Prophets
declared that He should arise out of Beth
lehem. They had forgotten the birth-place of
Jesus. These inquiries only increased the interest
excited by the teachings of the Great Prophet ;
and immense numbers of all ranks, classes', and
conditions flocked to hear Him speak ; and their
emphatic testimony was, that no man had ever
spoken as this man spoke.
When we examine the personal instructions

52 Ecce Deus-Homo.
of this wondrous Teacher, the following facts
strike us as noteworthy, viz :
i. That so little of what He said has been
put upon record, and left in a permanent form
for the guidance of mankind. One of His most
intimate friends, and a beloved Apostle, has
told us that if all the things that Jesus did should
be written, he supposes the world could hardly
contain all the books. And yet a very brief
portion of four very brief biographies contains
all that is left on record of the teachings of the
Divine Man. By all odds, the greater part of
these biographies is taken up with facts, inci
dents and events in His life.
2. The only writing that Jesus ever did was
when the woman taken in the act of adultery
was brought before Him for judgment; he
stooped down and wrote with His finger upon
the ground, and it disappeared from the earth
whereon it was written centuries ago. He left
it to His contemporaries to gather up His in
structions and put them into written forms, and
thus transmit them to men. Is it not strange
that such a Teacher, endowed with such wis
dom, uttering such truth, should have left to
others the compilation of His doctrines?
3. Jesus Christ as a religious Teacher never
identified Himself with any school of philosophy
or any sect of religion. The Pharisees as the

Christ as the Teacher of Men. 53
Ritualists, the Sadducees as the Rationalists,
the Essenes as the Mystics, or the Herodians
as the Patriots, would have gladly hailed Him
as an accession to their party ; but He stands
aloof from them all ; He asks, he desires no ad
ventitious support for His doctrines ; He will
rely simply and wholly upon the Truth which
He proclaims ; this shall commend itself to every
man's conscience in the sight of God. All
earthly teachers take advantage of their party
or sect as a means and power to propagate
their views and doctrines. To estimate the
power of Jesus as a Teacher, let any man, in
his own strength, without aid from Church or
State, party or sect, undertake to establish
among men any new system of truth. He will
soon find that he has attempted what he cannot
perform. 4. His teachings were entirely extemporane
ous. There is no evidence that He ever medi
tated beforehand what He would say. His
discourses and doctrines were delivered, as we
would say, upon the spur of the moment.
Many of His most instructive sermons had their
origin, as men would speak, in wholly acci
dental circumstances- His speech to the woman
of Samaria, at Jacob's well in Sychar, had its
origin in His asking her to give Him a drink
of water ; and such an impression did His words

54 Ecce Deus-Homo.
make upon her mind that she returned to the
city declaring that this man was the Messiah.
His conversation with Nicodemus, which con
tains, as it were, the whole essence of revealed
truth, had its origin in a night visit from a Jew
ish ruler. So with many of His discourses ;
they had their origin in some unimportant cir
cumstance, and all of them were delivered with
out premeditation.
5 . He makes no show of human learning ;
never alludes to the wise men of His own or any
preceding age ; never appeals to authority,
with this exception, that He does repeatedly
quote from the books of the Old Testament
Scriptures ; He appeals to these as of Divine
authority, and declares, most emphatically, I
am not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets,
but to fulfill.
6. In the whole range of His teaching there
is nothing peculiar to His own age, or the coun
try in which He was born and reared, or the
people among whom He lived ; and yet the age
and country and people were all peculiar. Nay,
so far from being peculiar to His own age and
people, many of His instructions were directly
opposed to the spirit of the age, the sentiments
of His countrymen, and the wishes of the people.
Compare His teachings, in this regard, with
those of any other philosopher or sage, and see

Christ as the Teacher of Men. 55
how much all other teachers owe the spirit of
the age, and how very little Christ owes. With
many the age makes the man — in this instance,
Christ made the age, and was the Instructor of
universal man. Would the fame of Bacon be
so great had he lived in this century? Would
Christ be any less were he living now ?
7. Another remarkable feature in all that
Christ said was the simplicity with which He
spoke. His language is so simple, so natural,
so clear, that the wayfaring man though a fool
need not err concerning His meaning. He de
livers the profoundest truths cognizable by man
with such perfect simplicity that children can
understand them.
8. The truth taught by Jesus Christ was not
intended merely for those who heard Him, nor
for the men of His own age, nor for His own
countrymen ; but it was truth for all men, in all
lands, throughout all time. Human teachers
rarely look beyond the immediate horizon ; they
speak, generally, to their contemporaries and
countrymen ; Christ's view was limited by no
horizon ; He spake to all men, and unto the end
of time. As Christ's teachings were intended
for all men, so they are adapted to all men.
The words of the Deus-Homo come home alike
to the heart of the savage and the sage, the
prince and the peasant, the philosopher and the

56 Ecce Deus-Homo.
rustic, the Negro and the Caucasian, the wise
and the. foolish, the learned and the ignorant.
This truth of Jesus is water for every thirsty soul.
If there be a soul, no matter what its character,
and there be thirst in that soul, then here is
water that will quench the thirst.
9. There is no evidence that He ever ex
pressed the least uneasiness as to the results of
His doctrine. Ye shall know the truth, and the
truth shall make you free — the doctrine is not
Mine, but His that sent Me. When merely
human teachers deliver truth, enact laws, pub
lish books, promulgate theories or opinions,
they are exceedingly anxious as to the result of
their theories, books, and doctrines ; nor are
they less anxious as to the reception these doc
trines, books and theories will meet with from
the public. Christ expresses no uneasiness,
either as to the result to be accomplished or the
reception to be met. True, He does not expect
all who hear to believe His doctrines ; on the
contrary, in the parable of the sower, He teaches
plainly that many will not receive the truth.
10. Those who heard Him teach, noted as
remarkable in His manner of instructing the
people that He taught as one having authority.
And this authoritative preaching was precisely
wherein He differed from the Scribes of that
day. There was a Divine authority in all that

Christ as the Teacher of Men. 57
Jesus said ; He did not advise ; He did not
speculate ; He did not quote human authorities ;
but with the profound conviction of the truth of
all that He said, He uttered that truth with the
authority of God. Btit I say u?ito you, was
His emphatic assumption of authority.
11. In all of His instructions He seems to
have the same knowledge of the past and future
that He has of the present. He never hesitates,
He never falters upon any subject of knowledge,
whether God or man or angel or devil, whether
past, present, or future. On every subject He
speaks with absolute certainty ; and after eigh
teen centuries of the most intense scrutiny, no
man is able to show that Jesus ever made a
single mistake, in the slightest particular, upon
any subject of human or heavenly knowledge.
Can it be said of any other teacher that he has
not made mistakes upon every subject upon
which he has attempted to give information?
12. His ability and success in extricating
Himself from the nets in which His enemies
sought to entangle Him are infinitely removed
from those of any other teacher. There were
three distinct parties, each one of which sought
to entrap Him in His talk, and thus destroy His
influence as a religious teacher. The Pharisees,
the Legalists of that day, hated Him because He
rebuked their hypocrisy and self-righteousness ;
c*

58 Ecce Deus-Homo.
they brought to Him a woman .taken in the very
act of adultery, and said to Him, Moses com
manded in the law that such should be stoned
to death, but what sayest Thou? If He shall
say, Let the woman die, then the people will call
Him harsh and cruel ; if He shall say, Let the
woman go free, then He is teaching contrary to
the law. His answer utterly confounds His
enemies : Let him that is without sin among
you cast the first stone ; and they went out from
the eldest to the last ; turning then to the woman,
He says, Go, sin no more.
The Sadducees, the religious Rationalists,
hated Him because He taught the existence of
angels and spirits, and the resurrection from the
dead ; they came to Him and said, There were
seven brothers, and the first married a wife and
died, and left his widow unto his brother ; and
the second died and left her ; and the third, unto
the seventh ; last of all the woman died ; in the
resurrection therefore whose wife shall she be ?
In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are
given in marriage — all earthly relations cease —
the children of the resurrection are as the angels.
Even Moses, whom you quote as authority,
teaches the resurrection of the dead. The God
of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob is not a God of
the dead, but of the living.
The Herodians, the " disloyal" of that day,

Christ as the Teacher of Men. 59
hated Him because He refused to become a
partisan; they came to Him, and asked: Is it
lawful to give tribute unto Caesar or not? If He
says it is lawful, then He is not true to his coun
try ; if He says it is not lawful, then He is dis
loyal to Caesar. He asks them to show Him a
penny. Whose image and superscription is
this? He asks; they say unto Him, Caesar's.
Then render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar's ; and unto God, the things that are
God's. 13. Christ Jesus never repeats Himself. Most
teachers possess themselves of a few ideas, and
these they are continually repeating in every
conceivable form. Christ's doctrines are always
new. Whenever He speaks, there comes forth
from His lips some new and hitherto unknown
doctrine. And it may be safely affirmed that
every parable that He uttered contained a new
and distinct truth ; and that every discourse de
livered by Him was different from every other
one. Human teachers soon exhaust themselves,
but Christ seems inexhaustible.
14. The form in which He uttered most of
His doctrine was the parable. The Prophets
had foretold that the Messiah, when He came,
would teach the people in parables ; so that the
very form of the teachings of the God-man was
a proof that He was the Anointed of God. I

60 Eece Deus-Homo.
do not know that it is possible to define a para
ble — it is unlike any other form of words used
among men. It is not simile, or allegory, or
analogy, and yet it combines some of the
characteristics of all these. By using, in a
figurative manner, the occupations, incidents
and images of everyday life and nature, the
Great Teacher conveys spiritual truths other
wise unknown to men. One peculiarity of
the parable is, that it seizes upon some great
principle that pervades the world of nature
and spirit, and by the operation of the principle
in nature it illustrates the operation of the
principle in the world of spirit ; the parables of
the sower, of the tares, of the mustard-seed, of
the leaven, are of this character. * The para
ble conveys the most profound and recondite
truth in so simple and natural a manner that
after its exposition the wonder with every
man is, that he did not sooner see the truth
conveyed. 15. The subject-matter of the Messiah's
teachings is no less remarkable than the manner
thereof. Being the Eternal Son of God, He-
came forth from the bosom of the Father to
make known to men the nature and attributes
of the Godhead. Christ was a Revealer of God
— of the mode of the Divine existence, of His
character, of His works, of His ways, of His

Christ as the Teacher of Men. 61
government, of His will. The hitherto " Un
known God," whom the nations of the earth
ignorantly worshiped, was now made known to
men by Him who was the Brightness of His
Glory, the Express Image of His Person. And
it is not too much to assert that the race has
obtained more true knowledge of God from the
teachings of the God-man than from all other
sources combined. Nay, the very life of the
Lord Jesus — all that He did and said and
suffered — was a revelation of the Infinite ; for
He Himself was God manifest in the flesh.
And herein is one of the most marvelous methods
whereby Jesus Christ was a Revealer of God to
man. But this Great Prophet in Israel is no less
familiar with the origin, nature, needs and
destiny of man, than He is with all that pertains
to God. He knew thoroughly all that was in
the heart of man, and had no need that any one
should teach Him. He laid bare the deepest
recesses of the soul, and solved all those tre
mendous problems over which man had ago
nized in vain. The Sermon on the Mount is
the most remarkable utterance of truth that was
ever heard by mortal man. The more we study
this sermon, the readier are we to confess that
it far transcends the limit of finite intelligence ,
and if there were no other proof of His super-

62 Ecce Deus-Homo.
human character, this sermon would for ever
establish His claims as a Divine Teacher.
Take the parable of the Rich Man and Laza
rus, and where in all the literature of men is
so much knowledge of the future world con
veyed as in this single parable ?
Every parable spoken by Jesus contains a
revelation of spiritual truth ; and they who have
studied most intensely these matchless produc
tions, confess that they have utterly failed to ex
haust the richness and depth of instruction con
tained in them. As a Teacher of men, as a
Speaker of parables, as a Revealer of God, the
world has «ever seen such an one as Jesus of
Nazareth ; no man ever spake as this man.
We call Jesus a Prophet, for so the Evangel
ists term Him ; and He was a Prophet in both
uses of the word. A prophet is any one com
missioned by God to speak for and from Him to
men — the essential idea of the term is not fore
telling events, as some suppose, but speaking
for God to man. There were Prophets who
uttered no predictions. But Christ was a Pro
phet who foretold future events ; He was a
Predictor. Many of His predictions, or prophe
cies as they are termed, have been left on
record ; the utter destruction of Jerusalem and
the Temple, which was fulfilled to the very letter ;
the dispersion of the Jews, which is fulfilled in

Christ as the Teacher of Men. 63
the eyes of men every day that we live ; His
own death, resurrection and ascension, which
were witnessed by hundreds of His countrymen ;
the progress and establishment of His Church,
and the destruction of Satan and his kingdom ;
the rise of Antichrist, and the restoration of the
Jews, and His own glorious advent a second
time ; — these and many other things were plainly
foretold by Him. Some of them have been ful
filled, as we have seen ; others are fulfilling
now, and others lie still in the future. What we
have seen of the past is abundantly sufficient to
justify the confident assurance that the future
will not fail to vindicate Him as the greatest of
all Prophets.
But we are not at liberty to limit the teach
ings of the God-man to what He Himself uttered.
He quotes from the Sacred Books of the Jews ;
the Law, the Prophets, and Hagiographa, as the
Old Testament was classified in His day, and
makes Himself responsible for their contents ;
these writings are His testimony, for the spirit
of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. His
Spirit inspired them all, and He, as Teacher and
Prophet, is responsible for all.
Besides this, He inspired His Apostles to
write other books, and thus to complete the
Canon of Scripture ; and holy men spake as
they were moved by His Spirit. And thus both

64 Ecce Deus-Homo.
Old and New Testament are inspired — theo-
pneustic — God-imbreathed.
When we say that the entire Bible is inspired,
it is not meant that every word in that Book is
the word of God. Some of the words are the
words of the devil ; some are the words of
wicked men. The Bible is a history ; it records
the deeds of bad men, the sins of good men, the
idolatry of. the nations, the apostasies of the
Church. It records these things just as they
occurred, as facts. But the holy men of old,
who wrote these books, were inspired by the
Spirit of Jesus to record these facts as a neces
sary part of the development of the plan of sal
vation. The religion of Jesus is a religion of
facts — it rests upon a historic basis ; hence the
Spirit of Jesus so directs and controls the minds
and pens of the sacred writers, that they select
and arrange just the very facts that are neces
sary to make a complete revelation. Where
they record history, the Spirit led them to make
the record ; where they write proverbs, the
Spirit directed them to write proverbs ; where
they record the predictions of the Prophets, the
Spirit bade them record the predictions. It was
the Spirit who guided them as to what facts,
and proverbs, and psalms, and prophecies
should be recorded ; and the very form in which
the record should be made was also dictated by

Christ as the Teacher of Men. 65
the same Spirit. For since the truth is con
veyed in words, how can that truth be preserved
free from any admixture of error unless the
form, the words in which the truth is conveyed,
is likewise kept free from error? and how can
the form be kept free from error unless the
Spirit select the words ?
All Scripture is inspired, but all is not re
vealed; the record of the temptation of Jesus by
the devil is an inspired record — the Evangelists
wrote as they were moved to write by the Holy
Ghost — but there is no revelation in that record.
Where Jesus says, God is a Spirit, or where
John says, God is love, both of these statements
are revelations ; they convey truths otherwise
unknown to man ; and besides being revelations,
the statements are inspired — that is, the Spirit
moved the writers to record these revelations as
part of the Scriptures.
As we examine these holy oracles, what an
idea do they give us of the superhuman, the
Divine intelligence of the Great Teacher, who
directed the composition of them all ! The spirit
of prophecy, the spirit of the entire Scriptures
is a testimony or witness of Jesus ; and as we
listen to these words we are forced %d exclaim,
This is the very Christ, the God-man, the Deus-
Homo. 6*

CHAPTER V-

The Death of Christ.

HE closing scenes in the lives and the
last words of the great and good are
matters of profound interest to every
thinking man. The interest of a whole life
seems gathered and concentrated in the last
few moments of the dying man ; and all persons
seem to think that he who stands upon the con
fines of the eternal world must speak and act
the truth. Concerning the death of Jesus
Christ, Rousseau has said : " Socrates lived and
died like a sage ; Jesus Christ lived and died
like a God."
The fact, the time, and the manner of His
death were not unknown to the God-man ; He
had foreseen and foreknown it all long before it
came to pass. He had distinctly and repeatedly
announced to His disciples that He was to
suffer death, and that He was to die at Jeru
salem. The death of Jesus Christ, in whatever aspect

The Death of Christ. 67
we consider it, was the most remarkable death
that has ever occurred among men. Let us
gather up the main facts, and endeavor to com
prehend their tremendous import. He was put
to death in the reign of Caesar Tiberius, and
when Pontius Pilate was Procurator of Judea,
then a province of the empire. He was crucified
at Jerusalem, and at the time of the old Jewish
Feast of the Passover. This Jerusalem was the
ancient city of Salem, where Melchizedek, the
royal priestly type of Christ, had lived and
ruled two thousand years before the Incarnation
of the Son of God ; it was the old Jebus of the
Canaanites ; it was the city of the kings of
Judah, and it was shrined in the hearts of the
Hebrew people by a' thousand sacred memories
and hallowed associations. It was in every
way becoming that Jesus, the Son of David,
should suffer in the city of His royal ancestors,
the city of His most illustrious type, the city of
His own chosen people. He Himself had said,
It cannot be that a Prophet perish out of Jeru
salem. There was an eminent propriety, too, in His
suffering death at the great Feast of the Pass
over. This religious festival had been insti
tuted by God Himself more than fifteen hundred
years before the death of Jesus Christ. It com
memorated the deliverance of the Israelites from

68 Ecce Deus-Homo.
their bondage in Egypt, and it pointed them
forward to their rest in the Promised Land.
The matter of the feast was a male lamb slain ;
his blood sprinkled upon, the lintels of the
houses of the Hebrews ; the flesh of the lamb
cooked', and eaten with bitter herbs and un
leavened bread. Now John the Baptist, the
forerunner of Messiah, had expressly pointed
out Jesus as the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world ; and one of the most re
markable of those men who knew Jesus declared
that Christ is our Passover, slain for us. The
Paschal Lamb appointed of God offers up
Himself as a Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, at the time of the Jewish Pass
over Feast.
Just before the time of the Passover He com
manded his disciples to go into the city of Jeru
salem, and make ready for them to celebrate
the feast and eat the supper. They sat down
together to eat His last Passover supper on the
earth. While they were partaking of the meal,
Jesus took bread, and having given thanks,
said : This is my body broken for you ; like
wise He took the cup, saying, This cup is the
New Testament in my blood, which is shed for
many for the remission of sins : drink ye all of
it ; and all who love Him are commanded to eat
the bread and drink the wine as a memorial

The Death of Christ. 69
supper, until He shall come a second time,
without sin unto salvation.
After they had eaten the Passover, and Jesus
had instituted the Lord's Supper, He and His
Apostles went unto a place called Gethsemane.
This was a garden across the brook Kidron,
beyond the limits of the city, and was at the
foot of a small mount, called the Mount of
Olives. When He reached this garden, He
took with Him Peter, James and John, saying
to the rest of the disciples, Sit ye here, while I
go and pray yonder ; and He began to be
sorrowful and very heavy. He makes this
strange declaration to the three who are with
Him — My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even
unto death ; tarry ye here, and watch with me.
And now His soul seems to enter into the gloom
of a rayless and starless night of sorrow ; un
utterable agonies seize fast hold upon Him ; He
begins to speak to some Fourth Person who is
invisible to the three ; He calls Him Father —
Father, if it be possible let this cup pass. He
prays to the Invisible to deliver Him in this the
hour of His anguish and agony. And then He
seems to remember that His great mission into
the world was not to do His own, but the will of
Him who sent Him, and he exclaims, Never
theless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. His
sufferings seem to abate somewhat, and He

70 Ecce Deus-Homo.
comes to the three ; and finding them asleep,
gently chides them — Could ye not watch with
me one hour? A second time He goes from
them and prays to His Heavenly Father — O
my Father, if this cup may not pass from me
except I drink, Thy will be done. At this
point an angel appears from heaven, strength
ening Him. Coming again to the three dis
ciples, He finds them asleep ; and again He
leaves them, and prays the same words. This
time He prays more earnestly, and Luke, who
was a physician, tells us that His sweat was as
it were great drops of blood, falling down to the
ground. As He returns the third time to Peter,
James and John, a band of armed men with
their officers are seen approaching, guided by
Judas, one of the Twelve. Judas had been
present at the Passover Feast, but had left the
little company after Jesus had given him the
sop as a token to show who it was that should
betray Him. Judas covenanted with the priests
to deliver Jesus into their hands for thirty pieces
of silver. He now approaches Jesus, saying,
Hail, Master ! and kisses Him ; the kiss was the
signal agreed upon, whereby Judas was to indi
cate to the officers which one of the little com
pany was Jesus. His friends are disposed to
resist the arrest, and one of them drew his
sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the

The Death of Christ. 71
high priest ; but Jesus knowing all things that
should come upon Him, steps forth, and says,
I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom ye seek. The
arrest was made in the night, and the officers
carry Jesus at once, before day, to the house of
Caiaphas, the high priest.
The preliminary trial of Jesus was held at the
house of Caiaphas before day ; it was here that
Peter so shamefully denied his Lord and Master.
When the morning came, He had his second
examination before the council or Sanhedrim,
the highest tribunal of the Jews. The elders
and chief priests sought false witnesses against
Jesus to put Him to death ; but these suborned
witnesses did not agree in their testimony ;
finally the high priest adjured Jesus, by the
living God, to tell whether He was the Christ,
the Son of God; and Jesus, when thus adjured
by the highest officer of the tribunal and nation,
declared that He was. The high priest im
mediately declared that this was blasphemy —
that there was no further need of any witness in
the case, and demanded of the council, What
think ye ? The answer was, He is guilty of
death. Nothing was now needed to the execution of
the decree of the council except authority from
the Roman governor ; so the elders, scribes
and priests bind Jesus, and carry Him to the

72 Ecce Deus-Homo.
hall of Pilate. His third trial is before the
heathen governor. The charge of blasphemy
will avail these bloodthirsty rulers but little in
the judgment-hall of Pilate, for Pilate knows
nothing of Jehovah, the Jewish God against
whom the blasphemy was uttered ; and as for
the charge of blasphemy, he does not even know
the meaning of the word. If, then, these Jew
ish rulers go into Pilate's court with no other
charge against Jesus than this, they will be
driven from the judgment-hall. But their
malice finds a new and ready charge for the
new tribunal to which they have carried the
case. We found this fellow perverting the nation
— so these Jews, so eminently loyal to the Ro
man empire, affirm — and forbidding to give
tribute to Caesar ; saying that He Himself is
Christ, a King. Intensely loyal are these
leaders of the mob ecclesiastical. Their new
born zeal for Caesar is consuming them, as they
see therein a method whereby they may get rid
of a religious enemy. In this court the charge
is not blasphemy, but treason.
Pilate called Jesus, and said unto Him, Art
Thou the King of the Jews? Jesus admitted
that He was a king, but affirmed that His King
dom was not of this world ; that if it were, His
servants would fight for it ; that there was no
conflict whatever between Him and Caesar, be-

The Death of Christ. 73
tween His Kingdom and the empire. Pilate
then told the Jews that he found no fault in
Christ. This only made them cry out more
fiercely against Jesus, declaring that He had
stirred up all Jewry, beginning from Galilee.
When Pilate heard that He was a Galilean, he
determined to send Him to King Herod, who
was then in Jerusalem, and to whose jurisdic
tion Galilee belonged.
His fourth examination is before Herod. To
the many questions asked Him by Herod, Jesus
answered not a word ; and then Herod and his
men of war set Him at naught, and mocked
Him, and arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe of
purple, and put on His head a crown of thorns,
and sent Him back to Pilate. Pilate said to the
Jews, Behold the Man ; but they cried out,
Crucify Him. Pilate again declares that he
finds no fault in Him ; and when the Jews de
clare that by their law He ought to die, because
He made Himself the Son of God, Pilate is the
more afraid and anxious to release Him. But
the cry of loj'alty to Caesar terrifies the timid
governor, and, washing his hands in water, he
brings Jesus forth to the pavement, and said to
the Jews, Behold your King — will ye crucify
Him ? And the frenzied shout of the maddened
mob is, Away with Him, crucify Him ! we have
no king but Caesar.
7 d

74 Ecce Deus-Homo.
It was mid-day when Jesus, bearing His
cross, reached the Place of a Skull, called in
the Hebrew Golgotha, where He was crucified.
Two malefactors are crucified at the same time ;
the one on the right, the other on the left of
Jesus. As He hangs upon the cross, nature begins
to give signs of consternation and woe ; the
sun shines with pale and sickly rays ; dark
ness begins to gather over the world, until soon
it envelops the whole land ; the earth, affrighted,
quakes with horror ; the veil of the temple is
rent in twain from top to bottom ; the very rocks
are burst asunder ; the very graves are opened,
and the sheeted dead lie exposed ; meantime the
soul of the Crucified is wrestling with the King
of terrors ; He is treading the wine-press alone;
His friends have forsaken Him ; and more than
all, His Father's face is hid; no angel comes
now from the skies to strengthen Him ; the ninth
hour (three o'clock, in the evening) is near at
hand ; in the intolerable anguish of His spirit,
He exclaims, My God, My God, why hast
Thou forsaken me? And then, with a loud
voice, He cries, It is finished, and gave up the
ghost. The Roman sentinel who witnessed the scene
was forced to exclaim, Truly this man was the
Son of God.

The Death of Christ. 75
The death of Christ was the separation of
His soul and body. His soul went at once to
Paradise, for He said to the penitent thief, To
day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise ; His
body was laid in the tomb of Joseph of Ari-
mathea. His death was not caused by the physical
pain of the crucifixion, for, just as He died, He
. cried out with a loud voice of triumph ; and
when the soldiers came to break His legs, they
marveled that He was already dead.
But the separation of His soul and body was
His own voluntary act. He had power to lay
down His life, and power to take it up again.
His humanity was not descended from Adam
by an ordinary generation ; but being miracu
lously formed by the Holy Ghost, was exempted
from the death penalty of the law. His life
was not taken from Him by violence, for He
gave up the ghost. He breathed out His Spirit.
He gave His life a Ransom for many. His life
was His own to give ; hence it was not suicide
when He breathed out His Spirit.
In His death, the Eternal High Priest offered
up His own soul and body as a sacrifice for sin ;
for His death was in every sense a sacrifice ;
and He was the Priest who slew and offered the
Victim ; and He Himself was the Victim. The
whole story of His death loses its consistency,

76 Ecce Deus-Homo.
and the death itself loses all its efficacy, the
moment that you deny His Humanity or His
Divinity, or the union of the two natures in the
One Person, or the voluntary act of the High
Priest in offering the sacrifice.
This is no mere martyr dying for the truth ;
no mere man just " reeling out of life ;" no mere
example of the Perfect Man, to show men how
to die ; no mere theatrical display of the method
of the Divine government ; it is God manifest in
the flesh, dying for the sins of the world ; it is
the Eternal Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh,
offering Himself up as a substitute and surety
for His own people ; it is the Lamb of God
taking away the sin of the world. His death is
vicarious ; it is not for Himself, but for others.
He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners, and was not subject to the death-
penalty of the law.
He is the High Priest after the order of Mel-
chizedek, offering up the one complete, perfect,
and final sacrifice for sin. As God, He could
not suffer; as Man, He could not satisfy; but
as God-man, as the Deus-Homo, He could both
suffer and satisfy. As the Son of God, and as
Son of man in One Person, the Person of the
God-man, He could offer up Himself, and as
such the sacrifice was accepted. In all God's
wide domain there was no other life of suffi-

The Death of Christ. 77
cierit worth and dignity to take away sin. Man
could offer no human life a sacrifice for sin, for
the life of every human being was already for
feited ; no angel or seraph could offer for man,
for angel and seraph were bound to obey for
themselves. But here is a life that can be given in ex
change for the life of man ; here is a Priest, with
a holy, harmless, undefiled victim ; here is a
Priest who had no need to offer any sacrifice
for Himself; here is a Priest with the power of
endless life in Himself, and a Victim with an
unforfeited life, and this life this Priest volun
tarily gives for the lives of others. His death
is a priestly offering, a sacrifice, an atonement,
a propitiation, a ransom. He gave His life a*
ransom for many.
When we say that Christ was the substitute
for His people, and that He died in their room
and stead, and that He who knew no sin was
made sin for them, it is not asserted, nor is it
meant to teach, that there was any transfer
of moral character. Of course, the personal
moral character of Christ could not be trans
ferred to His people ; nor could their personal
character be transferred to Him. But there
was a transfer of legal obligations — the right
eousness of the God-man, wrought out by His
obedience and suffering, was transferred, by the
7 *

78 Ecce Deus-Homo.
act of God the Father, to those for whom Christ
obeyed and died : Christ became to them the
end of the law for righteousness. The obliga
tion of His people to obey and to suffer was
also transferred to Him — their sin was made
His, and He bare their sins in His own body
on the tree. He was wounded for our trans
gressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and
with His sjtripes we are healed ; for the Lord
hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He who was thoroughly acquainted with the
Jewish sacrificial system, he who saw Jesus
after his resurrection from the dead, he who of
all men was best qualified to unfold the nature
of this priestly offering, has left on record his
conceptions of the priesthood and sacrifice of
the God-man ; and as the author of this work is
only attempting to present the conception of the
God-man as given by His contemporaries, he
takes this occasion to introduce the testimony of
Paul as given in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Christ Jesus, he tells us, was superior in na
ture to the angels ; for He was the Son of God,
the brightness of His glory, the express Image
of His person. He was superior in office to
Moses ; for Moses was but a faithful servant,
while Christ was a faithful Son. He was su
perior in dignity to Aaron ; for His priesthood

The Death of Christ. 79
was after the order of Melchizedek, which was
an order of priesthood above the Aaronic.
Melchizedek was a real person ; he lived two
thousand years before Christ ; he was king of
Salem, and priest of the Most High God.
There was no genealogy of his family, no
record of his ancestors. History does not tell
us who was his father and mother, nor when
he began to exercise priestly functions, nor
when he died. With the Aaronic order of priest
hood the case was different — the genealogy of
the family was strictly kept, an accurate pedi
gree of the priests was preserved ; this re
cord stated when each priest entered upon
his office and when he ceased to discharge its
duties. With Melchizedek the case was other
wise ; there was no record, no genealogy; so
that, as compared with the Aaronic order, it
might be said of him, He was without father,
without mother, without descent, having neither
beginning of days nor end of life, but made
like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest con
tinually. Jesus Christ, our High . Priest, is without
mother as to His Divine nature, for that nature
had existed long before the Incarnation, and
there was no divine mother in the Eternal
Trinity : He had been eternally begotten of the
Father, and was of the same substance with

80 Ecce Deus-Homo.
Him, and there never had been a time when
He was not.
He was without father as to His human na
ture ; for Joseph was only His reputed, not
His real father ; the Eternal Father was not the
father of His human nature, for it was the Holy
Ghost, not the Father, that came upon the Vir
gin ; nor is it proper to call the Holy Ghost
father ; because the human body and soul of
the man Jesus were formed, not begotten of
Him : the humanity of Jesus was formed, not
generated. He was without descent — who shall declare
His generation? There had been no one like
Him before, and in all time to come there
would arise no one like Him. In His wondrous
constitution as the Divine-human priest he was
isolated and alone in the universe.
Nor with Him was there any beginning of
days or end of life ; for He was High Priest of
an everlasting covenant made in the councils of
eternity, before the morning stars had sung to
gether or the sons of God had shouted for joy.
Nor has His Priesthood terminated ; and it will
never end.
The Priesthood of Christ was unchangeable ;
it never passed from Him to any other person ;
He had no successor in office. The priests of
Levi after the Aaronic order were many, and

The Death of Christ. 81
were not suffered to continue, by reason of death,
and the office passed in succession from one to
another. But this Deus-Homo continueth for ever ;
death has no power to destroy Him or His
Priesthood ; hence it is unchangeable, it passes to
no successor. As His death did not give any oc
casion for a succession in this office, so after
His resurrection He never appointed any suc
cessor. The very constitution of His person
and the very nature of His priesthood absolutely
forbid that there should be any successor to the
God-man. Christ Jesus was made a priest, not after the
law of a carnal commandment, but after the
power of an endless life. The priests of Levi
were appointed in virtue of a carnal command
ment — a law concerning the flesh. Whoever
was descended in the regular line from Aaron,
if a male without blemish and thirty years old,
belonged to the priestly order : the whole priest
hood hung upon a question concerning the flesh,
and rested upon the ground of a natural gene
ration. But Christ was priest after the power
of an endless life — His life was eternal, un
created, and higher than the heavens — His life
was not derived and dependent ; it was original
and independent. He had power to lay down
His life, and power to take it up again. He

82 Ecce Deus-Homo.
had a life that was His own to give, and in Him
is life.
The Priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ
depend absolutely upon the constitution of the
person of the Priest : and the whole story of
the Cross becomes an insoluble mystery unless
Jesus Christ be indeed the God-man. For how
can He, by his own act, separate His soul and
body unless He be Divine? and how can He
die unless He be human ? how can His suffer
ings satisfy unless He be God? and how can
He suffer unless He be man? how can He
offer an acceptable sacrifice unless He be a
High Priest called of God? and how can the
death of the victim secure the life of the sinner,
unless the victim have an unforfeited life to sub
stitute for the forfeited life of the sinner?
Without the shedding of blood there can be no
remission or pardon of sin. Behold the Lamb
of God, that taketh away the sin of the world !

CHAPTER VI.

The Resurrection of Jesus.

EFORE His death, Jesus told his disci
ples plainly that He would rise from the
dead on the third day after His cruci
fixion ; but they understood not what the Re
surrection from the dead meant. As He had
power to lay down His life, so also He had
power to take it up again.
The Pharisees and Priests remembered the
words of Jesus, that He would rise upon the
third day, and they came to Pilate and asked
that the sepulchre should be made sure until the
third day, lest his disciples come by night and
steal Him away, and say to the people that He is
risen from the dead ; and the last error be worse
than the first. In order to prevent such a de
ception if it had been possible, the great stone
at the mouth of the tomb was sealed and made
sure ; and a Roman guard was placed at the
grave to prevent the disciples from stealing the
body of Jesus, 83

84 Eece Deus-Homo.
But this was the last thing that suggested it
self to their minds ; for His crucifixion had
dashed to the ground all their high hopes and
expectations connected with the restoration of
of the kingdom to Israel, and their hearts were
sad and nigh to breaking when His corpse was
laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. The
Friend whom they loved, the Master whom they
served, the Lord whom they followed, and the
Saviour whom they adored had passed away
from the sight, to be seen, as they supposed, no
more by them until the great day. For though
He had plainly told them that He would rise
from the dead, they did not understand the
doctrine of the Resurrection.
On the morning of the third day from His
death there was a great earthquake, and the
Angel of the Lord descended from heaven and
rolled away the stone from the mouth of the
sepulchre, and sat upon it. His countenance
was like lightning, and his raiment white as
snow, and for fear of him the guard did shake
and become as dead men. Very early the
same morning, certain pious women who were
His disciples, Mary Magdalen, and Mary the
mother of James, and Salome, came unto the
sepulchre at the rising of the sun :¦ to these
women, who thus came, the Angel of the Lord,
who was seated upon the great stone which he

The Resurrection of Jesus. 85
had rolled away from the sepulchre, said, Fear
not ye ; for I know that ye seek Jesus of Naza
reth : He is not here, for He is risen, as He said.
Come see the place where the Lord lay.
This was the first knowledge that the disci
ples had of the Resurrection of Jesus from the
dead. It was the first, but it was by no means
the only evidence they were to have of the Re
surrection of their Lord. For He showed him
self alive after His Passion to His followers, by
many infallible proofs, being seen of them
forty days, and speaking to them concerning
the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
I shall make no use in this discussion of the
various explicit testimonies and incidental al
lusions of profane authors as to the general
belief among the Jewish people that Jesus had
risen from the dead. These testimonies have
their use and value ; but the grand fact of the
Resurrection of Jesus must be established by
the writings of his four biographers : if it can
not be established from the writings of the New
Testament, it cannot be proved at all.
I assume here, as I have assumed all along,
that the books of the New Testament were
written by the men whose names they bear, and
that these books record events that did actually
occur ; in other words, these records are trust
worthy historic documents. And as nearly

86 Ecce Deus-Homo.
all the knowledge we have of Christ and his
work is derived from these authors, we must
either form our conceptions of Him from these
writings, or else confess our utter ignorance of
Him and of His work.
As the Resurrection of Jesus is the corner
stone upon which the whole superstructure of
Christianity rests, it is well that the proofs of
His Resurrection are infallible. If Christ be
not risen, then the whole system of the Chris
tian religion is false ; while, on the other hand,
if He is indeed risen, as the angel declared,
then that Resurrection carries with it the truth
of all that He said and did.
The general statement of the infallible proof s
is, that during a period of over forty days He
was seen alive after His crucifixion by more
than five hundred different persons ; and these
appearances of the risen Jesus were open and
unmistakable. i. The first appearance of Jesus after His
Resurrection was to Mary Magdalen, out of
whom He had cast seven devils. As she stood
at the sepulchre talking with the Angel, she
turned herself back and saw Jesus standing,
and knew not that it was Jesus ; but when He
called her by name, she at once recognized the
person who addressed her as Jesus of Nazareth,
and exclaimed, Rabboni ; and she went and told

The Resurrection of Jesus. 87
the disciples that she had seen the Lord and
that He had spoken to her.
2. Certain women who had gone to the se
pulchre were told by the Angels that Jesus was
risen ; and as they were returning to Jerusalem
to tell the disciples, Jesus met them on the
way, saying unto them, All hail ; and they
came and held Him by the feet, and worshiped
Him. '
3. The third appearance was to the penitent
Apostle Peter. When Cleopas and the other
disciple with him, to whom Jesus showed Him
self, returned to Jerusalem, they heard the
Eleven say, The Lord is risen indeed, and
hath appeared unto Simon. This name of
Simon was the one by which Peter was usually
called by his brethren and by Jesus.
4. The next appearance was to two disciples,
one of whom was Cleopas, who were on their
way from Jerusalem to Emmaus. As they com
muned and reasoned by the way, concerning
the wondrous events that had so recently oc
curred in Jerusalem, Jesus drew near and want
with them. They narrate some of the facts
concerning Jesus of Nazareth ; and then de
clare that certain of their own company, who
had gone early that morning to the sepulchre,
had not found the body of Jesus, but had seen
a vision of angels. Jesus reproves them for

88 Ecce Deus-Homo.
their want of faith, and then, beginning at Moses
and the Prophets, He expounded unto them in
all the Scripture the things concerning Himself;
and when they drew nigh the village he went
in with them, and while they sat at meat their
eyes were opened and they knew Him.
5. The fifth appearance is to the gathered
disciples the evening of the same day, and in
Jerusalem. The doors of the room where they
were assembled were shut, when suddenly Jesus
appeared in their midst, and said, Peace be unto
you. It is said of Thomas, one of the follow
ers of Jesus, that He was not with the disciples
at this time when Jesus showed Himself unto
them. 6. These five appearances of Jesus took
place upon the first day of the week, the third
day from His crucifixion. One week from this
day Jesus showed Himself again to His disci
ples, who were gathered together upon the
Lord's day for his worship, This time Thomas
was also present, and he declared that he would
not believe in the fact of the Resurrection until
he had seen the print of the nails in the hands
and the mark of the spear in the side of Jesus.
Jesus told him to examine His hands and to
thrust his hand into His side, and to be no
longer faithless, but believing ; and when Thomas
saw with his own eyes, and felt with his own

The Resurrection of Jesus. 89
hand he was convinced, and cried out, My
Lord, and my God.
7. The seventh appearance, if we count the
whole number — the third, if we count the official
number — was to the eleven at the sea of Tibe
rias. The Apostles, at the suggestion of Simon
Peter, had gone fishing ; while they were thus
engaged Jesus showed Himself unto them,
spake to them, gave them bread and fish, and
dined with them ; and after they had dined, the
tender and touching interview narrated by John
takes place between the weeping and penitent
Peter and his forgiving friend, and Jesus for
mally reinstates him in the Apostolic College.
8. Jesus appeared again to five hundred
brethren at once, some of whom were alive
when Paul wrote the Epistle to the Corinthians ;
for in the fifteenth chapter of that Epistle,
treating expressly of the doctrine of the Resur
rection, he declares that the Resurrection of
Jesus was the foundation of the Christian's
hope and immortality ; and argues the certainty
of the latter from the certainty of Christ's Re
surrection ; and as one proof that Jesus was
risen from the dead, he adduces the fact that
five hundred brethren saw Him at one time, of
whom the greater part were still alive.
9. Jesus showed himself the ninth time to
his brother James.
8*

90 Ecce Deus-Homo.
10. The next appearance was to eleven
Apostles at the Mount of Olives near Bethany,
when He gave them the Great Commission to
go into all the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature ; and as He finished speaking
He was parted from ihem and ascended up to
heaven. To these ten different and distinct appear
ances of Jesus must be added His personal
appearing to Saul of Tarsus when on his way
from Jerusalem to Damascus to persecute the
Christians of that city. Jesus showed Himself
in His glorified human body to the fierce and
bigoted Saul, and said to him, Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou Me? Saul recognized the
voice, and knew that the person who spake to
him was Jesus of Nazareth.
If any event, natural or supernatural, can be
established by human testimony, then, beyond
the possibility of a peradventure, Jesus is in
deed risen from the dead. If the proofs of any
past event be conclusive, then are the proofs of
Christ's Resurrection infallible. If competent
and credible witnesses can establish any fact,
then these witnesses do establish the fact of the
Resurrection. There are three, and but three, possible sup
positions concerning these witnesses, viz :
First. These witnesses were impostors ; they

The Resurrection of Jesus. 91
knew that Jesus was not risen from the dead, and
they knowingly deceived the people ; or,
Second. They were themselves deceived,
and did really believe that Jesus was risen,
though he was not ; or,
Third. Their testimony is true, and Jesus is
indeed risen from the dead.
To suppose that these men were impostors,
and they knowingly deceived the people, is to
suppose a miracle greater even than the Re
surrection of Jesus. For the testimony which
they gave was in direct conflict with the opin
ions and desires of the civil and ecclesiastical
authorities ; subjecting them on the one hand
to the loss of all religious standing among the
Jews, and on the other to the loss of civil privi
leges, and liability to trial for treason, as sup
porters of a king hostile to Caesar. If they
bore false witness, there were hundreds of men
in Jerusalem and Judea to convict them of per
jury, and they must suffer the penalty of the
Mosaic Law against false swearing ; if they
still contended that Jesus was King, and that
He was risen from the dead, they might suffer
any day as their pretended King Jesus had suf
fered. It is absolutely contrary to human na
ture, human reason, and human experience
that men should propagate falsehoods when
they thereby gain nothing, but lose all.

92 - Ecce Deus-Homo.
Tradition affirms that all of the Apostles suf
fered death rather than recant their testimony
that Jesus was their risen Lord and King.
And it does seem that any argument to prove
that these witnesses were not impostors is need
less with any man who has ever given their
writings a candid perusal. The very character
of the evidence given forbids for ever the sup
position of imposture or fraud.
But were not these men themselves mistaken ?
They were good and honest men, and really
believed that Jesus was risen, but they were
deceived. No one who has ever read the
masterly discussions of Paul, or the profound
discourses of John, or the logical histories of
Luke would ever suppose that these men could
be mistaken upon a subject of such vital and
transcendent interest and importance as the
Resurrection of Him upon whom all their hopes
for time and eternity were built.
Suppose that the most prominent man in
London were to declare in the presence of hun
dreds of persons of that city that he would die
upon a certain day, and that three days after
he would rise from the dead. Suppose his
death to occur just as he said it would occur ;
and that three days after his burial, certain
members of his own family, and others of his
most intimate friends affirmed most positively

The Resurrection of Jesus. 93
that they saw this man alive, talked with him,
touched him, and saw certain scars upon his
body which were peculiar to him. Suppose the
number of those who said they saw him in
creased day by day, until five hundred and
more affirmed that they had seen him. Would
not all of this testimony prove that the man was
alive from the dead, if human testimony can
establish any fact? And if no fact can be estab
lished by the testimony of those who saw and
heard it, then all knowledge is for ever at end.
This thing was not done in a corner ; it was
open and public. The witnesses who testify to
the fact of the Resurrection were of all men the
most competent and credible to give true evi
dence in the case : John had leaned on His
bosom ; Thomas saw the print of the nails arid
the mark of the spear ; Mary had sat at His
feet and had anointed Him for his burial ;
Peter had been His constant companion ; and
Paul could never forget what he saw on his
way up to Damascus.
The third possible supposition is the true one :
these men are true witnesses, competent and
credible, and Jesus is indeed risen from the
dead.

94 Ecce Deus-Homo.
The Nature of Christ's Resurrection.
Christ, in the beautiful language of inspira
tion, was the First-fruits of them that slept; and
in His Resurrection and Gospel He has brought
Life and Immortality to light.
There had been traces and types of the re
surrection of the dead and the life everlasting
long before Jesus appeared to His followers in
His glorified human body. The germs of this
sublime doctrine are found in the Old Testament
Scriptures — a doctrine revealed by God, at sun
dry times and in diverse manners in time past,
to the Fathers, but now revealed unto us by
His Son, whom He hath appointed Heir of all
things. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, lived three
hundred and sixty and five years, and Enoch
walked with God, and was not, for God took
him ; that is, he was translated to heaven and
did not see death.
The Angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses
out of the midst of a bush, and though the bush
burned with fire, yet the bush was not consumed ;
and God spake unto Moses, saying, I am the
God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Fif
teen hundred years after, Jesus expounded this
very Scripture to the Sadducees, who denied

The Resurrection of Jesus. 95
the doctrine of the Resurrection of the dead ;
Ye do err, said he, not knowing the Scripture
or the power of God; have ye not read that
which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I
am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of
Jacob. These men were dead when God spake
these words ; how then could He be their God ?
But though they had died, yet still they were
alive ; for God is not the God of the dead, but
of the living.
Elijah, the Prophet of the Lord, who con
fronted Ahab, Jezebel, and the priests of Baal,
was taken up from before the very eyes of
his Elisha to heaven in a chariot of fire and
with horses of fire.
There are three cases recorded in the
Gospels where the dead were brought back
to life, to complete in the flesh their mortal
existence. The daughter of Jairus had died, and was
laid out upon her bed prepared for her burial ;
and all her friends and relatives wept and be
wailed her. Jesus, taking with Him Peter,
James, and John, went into the room, and said
unto her, Maid, arise : and her spirit came
again, and she arose straightway.
A widow of Nain lost her only son, and the
funeral procession was carrying the young man
on his bier to the grave when Jesus met them,

96 Ecce Deus-Homo.
and came and touched the bier, and the dead
sat up and began to speak.
The third case is still more remarkable. The
first was raised from the bed whereon she had
died ; the second was raised from the bier
whereon he was carried to the grave ; the third
was raised from the grave wherein he was laid.
Lazarus, the friend of Jesus and the brother
of Martha and Mary, had been buried four days
when Jesus reached Bethany, where the sisters
resided ; but when Jesus stood at the grave and
said, Lazarus, come forth, the sheeted and
stinking dead came to life again, and arose and
came forth and was restored to his friends.
It is to be specially noted that in these three
instances there was no change wrought in the
persons who were raised from the dead ; they
were in all respects precisely the same after as
before their resurrection ; they were restored to
a purely natural life, and lived in the same
manner after their return to a mortal existence
that they had lived before their death ; and
then they all died again and returned to dust,
where their bodies now await the Resurrection
morning, when at the sound of the Archangel's
trump their bodies shall be made like unto
Christ's glorious body.
Christ's Resurrection differs from these in
this, that His human body was changed and

The Resurrection of Jesus. 97
glorified : with Him the mortal put on Immor
tality, and the corruptible Incorruption.
His human body was changed, but he pre
served His identity ; He was the same Jesus
after His Resurrection that He was before. His
beloved friends all recognized Him as the same
— the gentle Mary, the loving John, the im
petuous Peter, the skeptical Thomas, all knew
Him to be the same Jesus they had known be
fore His crucifixion. Nay, so complete was the
identity that the marks of the nails and the
spear were plainly visible upon His body. It is
true the body was changed, immortalized,
glorified, but it preserved intact its identity.
His body, like every other human body, had
been sown in weakness ; it had been raised in
power. Before His death Jesus had been
subject to all the weakness of humanity, sin of
course excepted ; He hungered and thirsted,
and needed sleep and rest, just as other men.
His body was subject to the same laws of time
and space that govern other human bodies ; but
after His Resurrection all these weaknesses of
humanity disappear, nor is His body any longer
subject to the laws of time and space ; for in a
moment He would appear all of a sudden to
His disciples, and then as suddenly He was
gone. On one occasion, when the eleven were
gathered in Jerusalem, with the door fastened

98 Ecce Deus-Homo.
for fear of the Jews, He appears instantly in
their midst without the door being opened.
Although thus changed, He was still the same
Jesus ; and to convince His affrighted followers
that He was not a mere disembodied Spirit re
turned from the realms of shade, He showed
them His hands and feet, and told them to
handle Him and see for themselves ; and then
added that a disembodied spirit did not have
flesh and bones as He had.
Many persons conceive of the Resurrection
state as one purely spiritual, and of heaven as
a rest and home for disembodied spirits;
whereas the risen and glorified bodies have part
in the Resurrection state, and heaven is the
local habitation of both the bodies and spirits
of the Just made perfect. It is true that the
natural body is changed and fitted for spiritual
purposes, is made like unto Christ's own glori
ous body, and is thus prepared for the mansions
of the blest.
Another change wrought in the body of Jesus
was that it became immortal. The death of
the body was a part of the penalty for the vio
lation of the Divine law — In the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die ; and this
sentence of a broken covenant and a violated
law had passed upon every son and daughter
of Adam for four thousand years, with the ex-

The Resurrection of Jesus. 99
ceptions of Enoch and Elijah, who were trans
lated that they should not taste death.
The God-man, speaking in the person of His
great Type one thousand years before, said :
Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades ; neither
wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see cor
ruption ; and the Apostle Peter upon the day of
Pentecost, speaking upon the fact of the Resur
rection of Jesus, declared that His soul was not
left in Hades, and that His flesh did not see
corruption. This is the only particular wherein
the Resurrection of Jesus differs from that of
His brethren. The bodies of believers moulder
into dust and see corruption : Christ's body did
not moulder, neither did it see corruption.
And the reason of this is to be found in the
fact that Jesus was begotten and born not after
the manner of ordinary generation, but by the
direct agency and power of the Holy Ghost.
His human body was superhuma.nly formed by
the Third Person of the Godhead in the womb
of the Virgin, and of her substance ; pollution
was riot therefore transmitted in the regular
channel of generation, and as it could not, in the
nature of the case, be imputed, the body of Jesus
was not subject to corruption. Nor could He
die an ordinary death in a natural way as the
penalty of violated law ; but He must Himself
lay down His life in virtue of His own power

too Ecce Deus-Homo.
over life. This commandment He had received
of His Father.
But, though it did not see corruption, an im
mortal change passed upon His body. A simi
lar change had passed upon it on the Mount of
Transfiguration, when the cloud overshadowed
Peter, James, and John, and when Moses and
Elias appeared with Jesus, when the fashion of
His countenance was altered, and His raiment
became white and glistening. This was to
show the nature of that Transfiguration which
will pass upon the righteous who are alive at
His second coming.
When He rose from the grave His body,
which had been sown in weakness, was raised
in power ; sown in dishonor, it was raised in
glory : the mortal put on immortality, and the
Resurrection body of the Son of Man was pow
erful, honorable, glorious, incorruptible, and
immortal. And when the Son of Man comes a second
time, He will come in this same glorified human
nature. The death of Christ took away the curse
and condemnation of the law — the Resurrec
tion secures the pardon and acceptance of
believers. The Resurrection of Jesus secures the Re
surrection of all who believe in Him, and is a

The Resurrection of Jesus. 101
type of their Resurrection ; their bodies shall
be made like unto His own glorious body.
I am the Resurrection and the Life ; he that
believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall
he live. If we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus
will God bring with Him. He that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your
mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Christ is the Head, believers are the body, and
where the Head is there shall the body be also.
They who believe in Jesus need not fear the
grave, for it cannot hold them in its cold em
brace ; the sting is taken from death, and the
victory from the grave, by Him who rose from
both. As Lazarus came forth when Jesus
called, so shall also all who love Jesus come
forth at His appearing and His kingdom.
But if Christ be not risen from the dead, then
is the Christian religion vain, and they also that
are fallen asleep in Jesus are perished ; but now
is Christ risen from the dead, and become the
First-fruits of them that slept ; and as in Adam
all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive ; but
every man in his own order or class.
All that sleep in the dust shall awake — some
to everlasting life, some to shame and everlast
ing contempt ; they that be wise shall shine as
the brightness of the firmament, and they that
9 *

102 Ecce Deus-Homo.
t,urn many to righteousness as the stars for ever
and ever. The hour is coming when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live.
Many current conceptions of the Resurrection
state and the Life everlasting are far more ob
scure and unsatisfactory than they ought to be ;
for if Christ's Resurrection be a type of the
Christian's Resurrection, then the future state of
the righteous is no dim, vague, unreal life of
disembodied spirits, but a real and palpable life
of glorified humanity.
The life and immortality brought to light in
the Gospel by the Resurrection of Jesus from
the dead is a life of purified, quickened, and
glorified humanity ; it is an immortality of mor
tality. All that is noble, and true, and pure,
and lofty, and good in the life here on earth
will be transferred to the world beyond the
grave, to the land across the Jordan. The iden
tical man will live on in a better country ; he will
preserve his self-conscious existence and all
the blessed memories of the life he now lives.
It is this sublime doctrine that lays at the
basis of any comfortable hope concerning our
beloved dead. When the Lord shall descend
from heaven with the voice of the archangel,
we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up with all the righteous and risen dead to meet

The Resurrection of Jesus. 103
the Lord in the air, and to be for ever with and
for ever like Him ; wherefore comfort one an--
other with these words, and let not the living
righteous sorrow for their righteous dead as
those who have no hope.
There will be a grand gathering of all God's
righteous dead on the morning of the Resur
rection ; for their dead dust is precious in His
eyes who is the Resurrection and the Life, and
those eyes are keeping loving watch over all
that precious dust till the trump of God shall
wake the dead. No matter where the saint
dies, nor where he is buried, that body and
that grave are known to Him who never slum
bers or sleeps. Jesus watches over all the lonely
graves and all the scattered dust of His dear
people ; and Moses, and Paul, and Polycarp,
and Wycliffe, and Knox, and Luther, and
Bunyan, and Patriarchs and Prophets, and
Apostles and Martyrs, and they of whom the
world was not worthy, they who perished on
the deserts, and they who went down to the
bottom of the. deep, they who sleep in the old
family burial-place, and they who were slain in
battle, and all the bodies of the dear little chil
dren who have laid them down to sleep, — these,
oh ! all these, will Jesus bring with Him on the
morning of the Resurrection.
That will be the grandest assembly the Uni-

104 Ecce Deus-Homo.
verse ever saw, when the righteous and risen
dead, gathered from all lands and kindreds and
tribes and people, shall be caught up in the air
to meet the Lord, and to be with Him for ever.
Blessed and holy and happy is he who shall
have part in this, the First Resurrection, for the
wicked dead rise not until the thousand years
are ended.

CHAPTER VII.

The King and His Kingdom.
[HE great difficulty with the people was,
how to reconcile the apparently con
flicting elements in the person, life, and
work of Jesus Christ. How could the carpen
ter of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, teach with
such superhuman wisdom and such Divine au
thority? How could David's son be at the
same time David's Lord? How could He
work such miracles, and yet be a blasphemer,
claiming equality with God? How could the
Son of God die? and how could the Son of
Man rise from the dead? This was the stone
of stumbling and the rock of offence. And to
this day, this is the difficulty with Rationalistic
conceptions of the life and work of Jesus.
Reason recognizes Him as human, the Son
of Man, the Son of Mary ; but, refusing to see
that while He was human He was also Divine,
the Son of the Highest as well as the Seed of
the woman, it has utterly failed to grasp or
E* 105

106 Ecce Deus-Homo.
present the true conception of the Christ of his
tory, the Christ of God.
Nowhere was the difficulty greater than to
reconcile His regal claims with His lowly sta
tion. How can this man, without throne, or
crown, or court, or sceptre, or legions, or king
dom, be a king? But He was, nevertheless,
a king ; yea, the King of kings, and Lord of
lords. A king, and, though men saw it not, a
king with throne, and crown, and court, and
sceptre, and legions, and kingdom.
He was a king by birth; for He was of the
Royal House of David on His human side,
and on the Divine side He was the First-born
of the Eternal King. And the question asked
by the wise men of the East was, Where is He
that is born king of the Jews, for we have seen
His star in the East, and have come to worship
Him ; and though His dwelling-place was a
stable, and His cradle a manger, yet the wise
men worshiped Him as King ; and His name
was Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Prince
of Peace.
Born a King, He also died a King. The
charge upon which He was tried was, that. He
claimed to be Christ, a King. The soldiers
platted a crown and placed it upon His head,
and bowed the knee to Him, saying, Hail,
King of the Jews. When Pilate asked Him if

The King and His Kingdom. 107
He was a King, He confessed and denied not
that He was. Pilate's question to the Jews
was, Shall I crucify your King? The very su
perscription placed over His head on the cross,
written in the three great languages of the
world — the Hebrew, the Greek, and Latin — was
Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews ; and
thus the heathen Governor, in the exercise of
his own free agency, was unconsciously reg
istering, for the reading of the whole race, the
eternal decree of Jehovah, when He set the
Messiah Jesus as King upon His holy hill of
Zion. As King He died upon the cross, con
quering Satan and Hell, and crying with a loud
voice, It is finished.
And so, too, it was in virtue of His kingly
office and kingly power, that having as High
Priest laid down His life, He now took up that
life again, and rose triumphant frem the grave ;
for it was not possible that such a King could be
holden of it.
As King, He ascended up on high, leading
captivity captive, escorted by the great cloud of
Angels ; and for Him, as King of glory, the
everlasting doors were lifted up, and the Lord
strong and mighty entered through the pearly
gates, and sat down upon His Mediatorial
Throne. And now He reigns as King in heaven and

108 Ecce Deus-Homo.
on earth ; He rose from the grave to sit as
Prince and Saviour at God's right hand, to give
repentance unto Israel and the Remission of
sins. He is exalted far above all Principalities
and Powers, and is Head over all things to the
Church and for the Church, which is His
kingdom. And when He returns to earth, as He most
assuredly will, He will then appear in glory,
as the mighty King of Zion, with thousands
and tens of thousands of Angels, to execute
judgment upon His enemies, to deliver His
people, and to inaugurate the Millennial reign.
In all His life, and in all His work, in His
birth, in His death, in Resurrection, in His ex
altation, in His second Advent, He is King-
King of kings and Lord of lords. He is King
by birthright, King by inheritance, King by na
ture, King by the oath and gift of Jehovah, King
by conquest, King by purchase. In all the
universe there is no such King — in all the uni
verse no such kingdom.
The God-man receives and holds His king
dom as the gift of His Eternal Father ; the
crown is placed upon the Son's head by Him
who is the Sovereign Lord' of the whole Cre
ation. Saith Jehovah, I have set my King upon
my holy hill of Zion; ask of Me, and I will
give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and

The King and His Kingdom, 109
the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession.
By the act of God He was constituted Mediator
of the Covenant of Grace, and as the reward
of His obedience and suffering under that Cove
nant, God the Father gave Him the kingdom.
The kingdom results from the Covenant, is the
outgrowth of the Covenant ; and all those whom
the Father gave the Son are members of the
kingdom. There is no room for any doubt as
to the reality or nature of the Covenant ; for the
King Himself says, I have manifested Thy
name unto the men that Thou gavest me out of
the world ; Thine they were, and Thou gavest
them Me. I pray not for the world, but for
them Thou hast given Me ; all that the Father
hath given Me shall come unto Me, and him
that cometh I will in no wise cast out.
The God-man here speaks of a certain defi
nite, fixed number of persons given Him in some
past time by the Father. He declares that all
those thus given will be sure to come unto Him ;
and His purpose is elsewhere declared to keep
them by His own power, through faith unto
salvation. It was because the Son of God took upon
Him the form of a servant, and became obe
dient unto death, even the death of the cross,
that God also hath highly exalted Him, giving
Him a name that is above every name ; that at
10

no - Ecce Deus-Homo.
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and
every tongue should confess that He is King, to
the glory of God the Father.
Most of the kings of the earth hold their
kingdoms by the right of conquest. One king
goes to war with another king, and having a
stronger army, and wiser generals, and greater
resources, and a richer treasury, he overcomes
the second king, and takes from him part of his
possessions, and annexes them to his own
crown. Christ is a King also by right of conquest.
He spoiled the powers of darkness, and wrested
man from the grasp of the destroyer. Satan
was the God of this world, and the family of
man were his willing subjects. They had re
nounced their allegiance to God and had trans
ferred their affections to Satan. He was the
strong man armed, who kept his house and
goods, but a stronger than he came upon him
and entered his house and took his goods. The
Prince of the power of the air had no right to
these goods, to this dominion over man. He
had deceived man ; he was a liar and a mur
derer ; his dominion was a usurped dominion ;
and his only claim upon man was a claim
founded in deceit and force and fraud.
But still he had power over man, and his
kingdom of darkness was a terrible reality, and

The King and His Kingdom. 1 1 1
men were led captive by him at his will. The
chains wherein he held his subjects were light,
but they were made of burnished steel, and man
could not break them. His dominion was a
usurpation ; but, like all usurpers, he ruled with
a rod of iron.
Into this kingdom of darkness the God-man
entered, and with this foul Spirit, the King of
Zion grappled. The yoke of bondage upon
the necks of those given him in the everlasting
Covenant must be broken, and His people must
be made willing in the day of His power. As
second Adam, as Mediator of an Eternal Cove
nant, as King in Zion, the God-man undertakes
to destroy him who held this usurped dqminion,
and to deliver them who through fear of death
were all their life long subject to this bondage.
The struggle was fierce and bitter and
bloody, the matter in dispute could not be com
promised ; and any truce was impossible from
the very nature of the case.
In the death grapple, the Captain of our Sal
vation was made perfect through suffering, and
though the Son of God, yet learned He obe
dience by His very sufferings.
The conflict culminated on Calvary ; the God-
man died in fearful agony upon the cross ; but
in the very hour and article of death He tri
umphed as a King most gloriously, and ex-

1 1 2 Ecce Deus-Homo.
claimed with a loud voice, It is finished ; and
then He saw Satan as lightning falling from
heaven. By dying Himself, He saves those
whom the Father gave Him from eternal death,
and snatches them as brands from the everlast
ing burning. As He had power to lay down
His life, so He had power to take it up again ;
and when He took up the life that He had
laid down, and rose from the dead, then indeed
were His people free, and Satan's usurped do
minion broken.
The God-man, having spoiled Satan and
having broken the yoke of bondage, makes His
people willing in the day of His power, trans
lates them out of the kingdom of darkness into
the marvelous light of His own glorious king
dom, subdues His and their enemies under His
feet, and rules over and reigns in His willing
subjects. Sometimes, kings acquire possessions not by
gift, nor by inheritance, nor by conquest, but
by purchase ; and Christ is also King by right
of purchase: His kingdom is His purchased
possession ; the church of God is bought with
His own blood. His subjects are redeemed not
with silver or gold, or any such perishable
thing, but with His own precious blood.
Of course, there is no such doctrine of this
kingdom, as that so much blood was given for

The King and His Kingdom. 113
just so many souls ; that had there been less
blood or less agony, there had been fewer souls
saved. This is not the doctrine taught by the
King ; but He does teach that He paid a price
for His kingdom, and that price was His own
blood. There was a debt due to the law — a debt
of obedience and a debt of suffering. The
debt was justly due ; and the law could not say
that it was not due, nor could the law cancel
the debt ; for the moment it did that, the law
ceased to exist, and the law, which was holy,
just, and good, could not commit suicide. The
debt, then, must be paid. But may not the Sub
stitute pay the debt due from the principal?
May not Christ obey and suffer for His people ?
May He not thus redeem and purchase them?
Man was debtor to the law, and he was
in prison, and could by no means come out
until he had paid the very last farthing : the
God-man comes forward, assumes the payment
of the debt, and the prisoner is released ; hence
forward he must serve his new Master.
This payment of the sinner's debt was not a
mock transaction, a mere sham ; it was a bona
fide purchase, and the price was paid in legal
tender currency ; not silver or gold, it is true,
but something far more precious, even the blood
of Jesus Christ, as of a Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world.
10 • .

n4

Ecce Deus-Homo.

This Jesus of Nazareth is, then, a King —
King by investiture from the Sovereign of the
worlds, King by right of conquest, and King
by right of purchase. Who, then, will dare
deny His royal claims and character? Behold
the Man, the King !

CHAPTER VIII.

The Structure of Christ's Kingdom.

[HE Christian Church is the kingdom of
the God-man ; it bears His name, and is
His purchased possession.
However much men dispute as to who and
what Christ was, or whether any such person
ever lived or not, there can be no dispute as to
the fact that the Christian Church does exist.
It exists as an outward visible Institute among
men ; it must have had some origin, and it must
owe allegiance to some King. It is to-day a
living organization ; and it can be traced back
historically to the time when Christ lived and
taught. If men reject the account of this kingdom
given by the writers of Sacred history, then
they must give some satisfactory explanation of
its origin ; the fact of the existence of this
kingdom must be accounted for.
This Christian Church, through all its rulers
and all its members, claims to have been
115

116 Ecce Deus-Homo.
founded by Christ, whose name it bears, and
it owns Him as rightful King and Lord.
The fact that the Christian Church has sur
vived all the efforts made to destroy it is a most
instructive commentary on its supernatural ori
gin and structure. For eighteen centuries, its
life has been assailed by the fierce fires of per
secution from without, and the fiercer fires of
apostasy from within ; and yet it has lived to
see the death of all who dared to attempt the
destruction of its God-given existence. It lives
to-day, and it will live when all its enemies are
dead. The Scriptures give the only satisfactory so
lution of the continued existence of the Church ;
it was built by the God-man, and it is founded
upon the God-man as chief corner-stone.
When Simon Peter, in answer to the question
of Christ, Whom say ye that I am? said, Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the Living God ; the
reply from the Son of God was, Upon this con
fession, that I am the Son of God, I will build
my Church, and the gates of hell shall not pre
vail against it. The Church, then, rests upon
Christ as a foundation ; and when the rains
descend, and the floods come, and the winds
blow, it is no wonder that a house resting upon
such a Rock should stand.
The Church rests upon an invisible, absent

The Structure of Christ's Kingdom. 117
King. This remarkable fact is pointed out with
great clearness and power by the first Napoleon
when a prisoner upon St. Helena. In a con
versation with General Bertrand, he demon
strates the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and then
goes on to show the difference between the
kingdom founded by Christ, and all other king
doms founded by men.
" I have so inspired multitudes," said the
great Emperor, "that they would die for me.
But, after all, my presence was necessary — the
lightning of my eye, my voice, a word from
me. Now that I am at St. Helena, now that
I am alone, chained upon this rock, who fights
and wins empires for me? Who thinks of me?
Who makes efforts in Europe for me? Such is
the fate of great men. So it was with Caesar
and Alexander.
"Can you conceive of a dead man making
conquests, with an army faithful and entirely
devoted to his memory? My armies have for
gotten me even while living, as the Cartha
ginian army forgot Hannibal. Can you con
ceive of Caesar from the depths of his mausoleum
governing the Roman Empire? But such is the
history of the conquest of the Christian Church,
such is the power of the God of Christians.
Whose is the arm which for eighteen hun
dred years has protected the Church from

n8 Ecce Deus-Homo.
so many storms which have threatened to
engulf it?"
The problem of the Christian Church is solved
when we remember that it is founded upon the
God-man, and built by the God-man.
I will build my Church, said the Son of the
Living God. There is heard no sound of any
human axe or hammer in this wondrous struc
ture, this kingdom and house of the God-man.
It is the hand of the Deus-Homo that selects
and prepares and places every stone in this
Spiritual Temple.
The Divine Man left no part of this house to
be built by His followers, the members of His
kingdom ; He Himself built and furnished the
whole, and left to His subjects a complete and
finished kingdom. He gave it a written Consti
tution under which it exists ; He gave it a com
plete system of Doctrine which the Church must
proclaim ; He instituted a Government which the
Church must administer, and a Worship which
the Church must observe. Every office-bearer
in this kingdom is appointed by Him, whether
Apostle, or Prophet, or Evangelist, or Pastor, or
Teacher, or Elder, or Deacon. Every sacra
ment to be administered in this kingdom must
stand in virtue of His kingly command. Every
act of worship or government must be performed
in the manner pointed out by the King. Abso-

The Structure of Christ's Kingdom. 119
lutely nothing is left to the invention of man.
It is Christ who gives the Sacraments, and the
Sabbath, and the Spirit, and the Word, the Doc
trine, the Rulers and the Courts — all, all is from
the God-man ; and He is Head and King
over all.
The Constitution of the Christian Church is
fixed by the King in Zion, and is unalterable
save by the King Himself; and the Doctrine,
the Worship, and the Government of the king
dom are to be sought for and found only in the
written Constitution, the word of God, which is
the complete Statute Book of the kingdom.
The God-man, as the Teacher of men, hath
revealed a doctrine, and inspired holy men of
old to commit the same to writing for the future
instruction and guidance of the members of His
kingdom. The word of God, which is contained
in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament,
is the only rule to the Church of what doctrine
she is to believe and teach ; for all Scripture is
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine ; therefore the command is, Preach
the Word. The doctrine to be believed and
taught by the Church is complete and perfect.
The Canon of doctrine is closed ; the sayings of
the prophecy of the God-inspired Book are ended
and sealed. If now any man shall add unto the
doctrines of the kingdom, God shall add unto

120 Ecce Deus-Homo.
him every plague written in the Book ; if any
man shall take from the doctrines of the Book,
God shall take away his part out of the Book of.
Life, and out of the Holy City, and from the
things that are written in this Book.
There are to be no more Revelations from
heaven, until the King Himself is revealed in
flaming fire, gathering His elect and taking ven
geance on His enemies. If, now, men come
telling of new Revelations made from heaven by
spirit-rappings or dealings with the dead, go not
after them ; if they come telling of new Words
of God found in lonely places, believe them not.
Whatsoever truth the Royal Teacher hath
revealed the Church must proclaim — where He
hath not spoken the Church dare not speak.
She must not go beyond the commandment of
the Lord, to say or to do, either good or bad.
What the King hath said, that and only that
must she proclaim.
There is no place in this kingdom for the
traditions of Elders or Apostles ; for the com
mandments of men ; for the opinions of Councils ;
for the bulls of the Pope ; — all must be of faith,
derived from the Word of the King, and standing
in the power of the God-man.
The doctrine is so perfect and complete that
everything not contained explicitly or implicitly
in the Statute Book of the kingdom is utterly

The Structure of Christ's Kingdom. 121
excluded from the Faith and Practice of the
Church. As the Divinely-appointed Custodian of the
Truth, the Church must not make, she must
proclaim, the doctrines revealed by the Head
of the kingdom. She has no authority to make
any doctrine for the King. — He is the only doc
trine-maker. Ye are -witnesses of these things, teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded. Clearly enough, the Church is
limited, both by her constitution and commission,
to teaching the things contained in the Statute
Book of the kingdom. Questions of civil alle
giance, political tenets, dividing inheritances,
in short, all that is secular, must be handed over
to the tribunals of Caesar. For where the Law
of the kingdom is silent, the Church has no
opinion to give. In fact, she has no business
uttering opinions of any sort. — Her work is not
with opinions, but with authoritative truth.
If any set of religious teachers, or any church,
or even any angel, come among you, claiming
to act by authority from Christ, and proclaim
any other truth than that found in the old Statute
Book of the kingdom, whether it be the new
Evangel of Caesar, or Loyalty, or Freedom, or
Reform, let him be anathema : to the Law and
the Testimony of the God-man — if his servants
11 F

122 Ecce Deus-Homo.
speak not according to these, then let them be
cast out as usurpers of the King's prerogatives.
Not to express human opinions, not to make
terms of Christian communion, not to legislate
for Christ, but to proclaim the finished system
of Doctrine, to preach the Word, and expound
the Statute Book and Laws of the kingdom,
was the work given to the Church by Him who
is both her Lord and Law-giver.
Men speak of the " legislative powers" of
the Church, but from whom did she ever receive
one particle of authority to make laws for that
kingdom which is universal and eternal? In
such a kingdom as this, the King, not the
subject, makes laws. Every law having any
binding obligation in the Church must be pro
mulgated by the King in Zion.
It is not strange that the American Church,
failing to comprehend the Structure of the king
dom of Heaven, and failing to comprehend the
limitations of her commission, has departed so
far and so sadly from her province and functions,
as fixed by Him who gave her the keys of the
kingdom of Heaven.
The Church, besides, being from her very
structure, a Teaching Institute, is also a Wor
shiping Institute. — She not only proclaims the
Doctrines of the kingdom, she must worship
the King.

The Structure of Christ 's Kingdom. 123
When Moses received the oracles of God,
prescribing the Worship of the Lord, he was
commanded, See that thou make all things after
the pattern shown thee in the mount ; and the
heaviest curses of the Law are denounced against
him who shall add to or take from the prescribed
worship of the kingdom.
Under the Ancient Dispensation, the worship
was ritualistic and sensuous, but still appointed
of God, a shadow of good things to come. Under
this dispensation, the worship is purely spir^
itual — the hour is now come, when neither in
this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, shall the
Father be worshiped. God is a Spirit, and they
who worship Him must worship in spirit and in
truth ; for He desireth a spiritual worship.
All things pertaining to His worship, nof en
joined by the King, are not merely indifferent,
they are sinful; and it were well if this great
principle of the kingdom, as practiced in Apos
tolic days, and as held by all the Reformed
Church, were more distinctly enunciated and
more faithfully enforced in this day of Will-
worship and Apostasy.
The Doctrines of the kingdom relate more
especially to the Prophetic office of the God-
man — the worship relates more especially to His
priestly work; as High Priest, He slays the
victim as a solemn act of worship ; as Priest, He

124 Ecce Deus-Homo.
opens up a new and living way of access to God ;
as Priest, He goes into the very presence of the
Father, with sacrificial blood in His hands, inter
ceding for His people. In the nature of the case,
the High Priest will not sprinkle with His atoning
blood, and present to the Father, the prayers
and oblations of His people, unless they be such
as He has prescribed, and unless they be pre
sented in the manner pointed out by Him.
Plainly enough, there is no place and no
authority in this kingdom for any Ritual-making
— the Royal Priest is the only Ritual-maker.
Hence the. folly and sin of all those attempts —
no matter, by whomsoever made — to render the
simplicity and spirituality of the worship, as
appointed by the God-man, more acceptable to
the Carnal mind and "heart by human devices
and inventions of men. To all those who would
improve the worship of the kingdom in ways
and by methods not commanded by Christ, the
ready question suggests itself, Who hath re
quired this at your hands ?
A third essential element in the structure of
this kingdom is the power of Rule or Govern
ment. A kingdom cannot exist without law,
and law unexecuted is no law. It seems the
height of folly to suppose that the God-man
built a kingdom that was to outlive all kingdoms,
and yet appointed no Government for His sub-

The Structure of Christ's Kingdom. 125
jects ; that He revealed a Doctrine and pre
scribed a Worship, but ordained no Govern
ment. The Government is upon His shoulders ; and
every Ruler is called and appointed by Him,
and every Court or Council of the kingdom sits
in His name and acts by His authority. When
He ascended on high He gave every gift that
the Church possesses ; and all of these gifts are
for the express purpose of perfecting the saints,
the work of the ministry, and the edifying of the
body of Christ.
How absurd the folly of all those who under
take to form a better government for this king
dom than that framed by the King Himself ! And
yet the Church has always been afflicted with
government-makers .
These government-makers went upon the
theory, that the old government given by the
King, through Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles
was at best incomplete ; or even if adapted to
the olden times, still, with the increased light
and advanced thought of this day, it was inade
quate to meet the exigencies of the present
demands. Some even denied that Christ as King had
ever established any government for His king
dom, but affirmed that He had left the whole
matter of Rule to be fixed by the members of
11 *

126 Ecce Deus-Homo.
His kingdom as the varying circumstances of
the times demanded ; or, at the best, the King
had only incidentally enacted a few general
principles of government, and had left His people
at liberty to develop these principles and to
arrange all details ; that when the God-man
founded a kingdom and built a house, there was
no Divine plan and no finished work.
Utterly ignoring the kingly office and Head
ship of Christ, and the divinely-appointed office
bearers, courts and instrumentalities of the
Church, they have devised, in the wisdom of
men, scores of schemes for doing the work of
Christ's kingdom ; hence come voluntary so
cieties, Christian Commissions, Christian Asso
ciations, Board of Missions, and other human
machinery ; hence, too, the doctrine that the
Pope, or Caesar, or somebody else is king.
Surely, after the robes and sceptre and crown
are taken from the God-man, some other king
must be found to wear and wield them. After
the dethronement of Christ, the King, there may
be an interregnum, but no longer shall the
interregnum last than a new king can be found
or made. Caesar is the most popular candidate
for regal honors, now-a-days, in that kingdom
which is not of this world. And woe to both
Church and State when he takes his seat upon
the Mediatorial Throne !

The Structure of Christ's Kingdom. 127
The kingdom of the God-man is then a finished
and perfect structure. Its doctrine is revealed ;
its worship is prescribed ; and its government is
instituted — nothing, as pertaining to Doctrine,
Worship or Government, is left to the devices
of man. The God-man completed everything,
and left to His followers no functions or powers
of kingdom-building whatever.
The foregoing statements must be qualified by
the following limitation, viz. : There are some
things common to all kingdoms, all societies, all
organizations, all assemblies ; those things that
are common flow from the very nature of the
kingdom, society, or assembly, and are neces
sary and unavoidable. If a revealed doctrine
is to be proclaimed, it must be proclaimed from
some place; if a prescribed worship is to be ob
served, it must be observed at some hour of the
day ; if the divinely-appointed office-bearers of
the kingdom meet in assemblies, there must be
a presiding officer. These and other things that
are common to all organizations and assemblies
are not built into the kingdom, but are to be
ordered by Christian people, in accordance with
the injunction, Let everything be done decently
and in order. These things, without which, the
doctrine could not be proclaimed, the worship
observed, and the government administered, are
not a part of the structure built by the God-man,

128 Ecce Deus-Homo.
but flow from the very nature of the struc
ture ; these things are not fixed by the King,
but they are the only things not fixed by
Him. Whatever power, therefore, the Church may
have, must be a derived power — must come
from the God-man, as Teacher, Priest and King.
It is a power declarative and ministerial — the
power of a herald to declare the will of the King ;
the' power of a servant to do the will of the
Master ; the power to declare the mind of the
King as contained in the Statute Book of the
kingdom ; the power to administer the affairs of
the Church in accordance with the Laws of the
kingdom. Her's is the Power of the keys — to open and
to shut the doors of the kingdom. Whatsoever
the Church binds on earth in His name, by His
authority, and in accordance with His revealed
will, is bound in heaven : and so in like manner
with whatsoever the Church shall loose on
earth. But the question arises just here, How is the
kingdom of the God-man to be distinguished
from other kingdoms?
There are false prophets and false Christs ;
and there are false Churches and apostate
Churches. But if we bear in mind the structure
of Christ's Church, we will have very little diffi-

The Structure of Christ's Kingdom. 129
culty in indentifying the kingdom not of this
world. As this kingdom is spiritual and supernatural,
founded upon Christ, and built by Christ, with
a revealed doctrine, a prescribed worship, and
an ordained government, and as the Record of
all this is contained in the Scriptures of the Old
and New Testament, it is perfectly obvious that
the man who starts to find the true Church
must commence his search with the Bible in his
hand. For as the King in Zion describes the
Church in His Revealed Will, it is evident that
every true Church will correspond with His
description. But Doctrine, Worship and Gov
ernment cover the totality of the life of the
Church. Here, then, are the infallible marks :
1. Any Church that proclaims the Doctrine
revealed by the King,
2. Any Church that Worships God after the
manner pointed out by the King,
3. Any Church that maintains the govern
ment set up by the King — is a true Church of
Jesus Christ, is part of the kingdom of the God-
man. Any arrogant and exclusive claim set up by
any body of men to be the true Church is, in its
very nature, presumptuous. The claim to be
the true Church must be substantiated by a cor
respondence with the description given by the
F *

130 Ecce Deus-Homo.
King. The Church must possess the essential
features of the structure built by Christ, or it is
no part of His heritage. These marks are so
few and simple that no man, with the Word of
the King in his hands, need make any mistake
as to the kingdom of the God-man.
There is & fourth mark, or rather there is a
test of the marks already given, viz. : Holiness
of Life. By their fruits ye shall know them, is
a universal test. The invariable result of true
doctrine, spiritual worship and scriptural gov
ernment is holiness of heart and life ; and
wherever holiness is found in connection with
scriptural doctrine, worship and rule, there is
the true kingdom of the God-man.
There may be departures to some extent in
the particulars of doctrine, worship and govern
ment, and the Church may still be a true, though
very imperfect Church ; but beyond a certain
point these departures cannot go without the
Church becoming apostate.
This kingdom of the God-man is His perpetual
representative among men. As His servants and
subjects proclaim the finished doctrines of the
kingdom, they exalt the Great Teacher sent
from God ; as they order and observe the spiritual
worship prescribed in the laws of the kingdom,
they glorify the Great High Priest ; as they
recognize the Headship and kingly office of

The Structure of Christ's Kingdom. 131
the Son of the Living God, and maintain His
appointed government, they honor Him who is
the only King and Law-giver in Zion. And as
thus the Church in her doctrines, worship, gov
ernment and life exalts her Prophet, glorifies
her Priest, and honors her King, the life of the
God-man flows through her, and she becomes
instinct with a new power and a glorious light,
and is at once an Evangel to all nations, and a
manifestation unto principalities and powers, in
heavenly places, of the manifold wisdom of
God.

CHAPTER IX.

The Spirituality of the Kingdom.

HE charge preferred by the Jews against
Jesus before the tribunal of Pilate was,
that He was Christ — a king — a rival of
Caesar, the Roman Empero.r, whose agent
and servant Pilate was. Jesus admitted the
truth of the charge that He was a king ; but .
denied that He was any rival of Caesar. Nor
was there any need of any conflict of claims or
powers between Christ and Caesar. The king
dom of Caesar was of the world ; the kingdom
of Christ, so Jesus expressly declared, was not
of this world ; if it had been a worldly kingdom
like Caesar's, then His servants would have
fought for Him.
Jesus had before this enunciated the same
great principle, that there was no occasion for
any collision between the Church and the State.
Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's,
and render unto God the things that are God's.
132

The Spirituality of the Kingdom. 133
He distinctly recognizes the co-existence of two
kingdoms — the kingdom of God and the king
dom of Caesar ; the Church of Christ and the
Civil authority.
In point of time and thought the Family
institution precedes both Church and State ;
and upon this institution, both Church and
State rest as a natural basis ; that is, both of
them are composed, not of individual units,
but of families.
The State is an ordinance of God ; for the
powers that be are ordained of God ; the Civil
Magistrate is God's agent, and he beareth not
the sword in vain. It follows then, with abso
lute certainty, that every soul must be subject to
the higher authorities ; and that tribute must
paid to those to whom the tribute is due; custom
to whom the custom is due, fear to whom fear,
honor to whom honor. Cmsar must have all
his dues, for so Christ commanded. And if
allegiance be due to Caesar, then Caesar must
have it.
Some kind of organized government would
have arisen and existed among men had the
race never sinned against God. Civil Govern
ment is for man the creature, and is from God
as Creator. The State, therefore, does not
handle the Revealed Will of the King in Zion ;
nor does it deal with problems of sin and re-
12

134 Ecce Deus-Homo.
demption. It legislates for the creature in the
light of reason and the moral law, which is
binding upon all creatures.
God delegated to the people the power to
establish governments among men, but He pre
scribed no form through which the delegated
power should be exercised ; hence any form
may be established — despotism, monarchy, re
public, or democracy ; hence, too, the right of
the people to change, modify, or abrogate any
form of government under which they live.
The subject-matter of State legislation is
persons and property ; the rights of the citi
zen, the protection of property ; and this legis
lation is for time ; it does not reach forward to
eternity. The end which the State is intended to ac
complish is to enable the citizens to lead
quiet and peaceable lives, in all godliness and
honesty. In order that the State may enforce its laws
concerning persons and property, and secure to .
its citizens quiet and peaceable lives, it is armed
with, and carries as its symbol, the sword.
Side by side with this temporal worldly king
dom of Caesar there moves the spiritual, eternal
kingdom of Christ, which, though in the world,
is yet not of the world. The questions which,
by the appointment of God, belong to the State

The Spirituality of the Kingdom. 135
do not belong in anywise to the Church ; and
the questions which, by the appointment of
Christ, belong to the Church do not belong in
anywise to the State.
The Church is a mediatorial kingdom — is
founded upon and is derived from Jesus Christ
as Mediator ; it is a government ordained and
organized for man the sinner, not for man the
creature; had there been no sin, there had been
no Church.
The light -that was sufficient for man the
creature is insufficient for man the sinner ;
hence the Mediator in founding his kingdom
must give light, and that light is His revealed
will, and this will, as contained in the Statute
Book of the kingdom, is the only and all-suffi
cient rule of Church action. And as the whole
matter of redemption for the sinner is a question
of pure revelation, the form of the Messianic
kingdom is appointed and revealed by Him
who is Head and Lord of that kingdom. It
exists under a written charter and constitution,
and outside of this it dare not go.
The Church deals with souls, and reaches
onward to the eternity before us all.
The end which the Church proposes to accom
plish is the salvation of sinners, and therein the
glory of God. It bears no sword, but the keys
of the kingdom of heaven are given to it by

136 Ecce Deus-Homo.
Him who built the kingdom. It has no right to
wear the sword nor to inflict temporal penalties.
It is obvious at a glance that Church and State
differ most widely in their structure, powers and
ends. 1 . The State is from God ; the Church is from
the Mediator.
2. The State is for the Creature ; the Church
for the sinner. 1
3. The State bears the sword; the Church
the keys.
4. The State secures peaceable lives ; the
Church the salvation of sinners.
5 . The State deals with persons and property ;
the Church deals with souls.
If the State keeps within the limits assigned
to it by God, and the Church keeps within the
limits assigned it by the Mediator, it is impos
sible for any conflict ever to arise ; and, in
fact, no conflict ever arises until one or the
other transcends its proper province, and
undertakes to settle matters over which it has
no jurisdiction.
In reference to those mixed questions which
are partly civil and partly ecclesiastical, the
principles above indicated prevail. The State
handles the civil, and the Church takes charge
of the spiritual interests of the mixed question.
Slavery, the observance of the Sabbath, the

The Spirituality of the Kingdom. 137
marriage relation — these and various other ques
tions have a twofold aspect, but in every case
the State determines the civil part of the prob
lem in the light of nature, reason, history,
and the moral law ; the Church settles the re
ligious part of the problem solely in the light
of revelation.
But, says some one, may not the Church tes
tify against all sin? is not the Church a witness
for the King of Heaven ? and must she not lift
up her voice against all transgressions of the
Divine Law? Must not the Church declare
against the sin of slavery, treason and rebellion ?
Certainly it is the right and the solemn duty of
the Church to testify against all sin. If she
will be a faithful witness for Jesus, she must do
this. But in bearing this testimony, the Church
must never go beyond or aside from the Word
of her King in defining what sin is. If Christ
either expressly or by fair inference says that
slaveholding is sinful, the Church is bound to
declare" that the slaveholder is an offender
against God ; but if Christ has never pronounced
slavery sinful, then the Church dare not con
demn the slaveholder as a transgressor of the
Divine Law. There is no other rule for the
Church than the King's Revealed Will. So far
as the, question of treason and rebellion is con-
12 *

13S Ecce Deus-Homo.
cerned, the King in Zion has never defined
either term. The Church cannot punish treason
or rebellion, because it has no authoritative infor
mation from the Word of God as to what con
stitutes either treason or rebellion.
Crime cannot be punished unless the crime
be defined : the statute books of the State may
define treason and rebellion ; but the Statute
Book of the heavenly kingdom does not define
either. The State, then, may punish traitors and
rebels ; the Church cannot punish either.
The moment the Church defines rebellion
and issues process or anathema against the
rebel, she has passed outside of her sphere and
province, and has become an interpreter and
judge of civil law, which belongs exclusively
to the State.
The Church has no right to interpret civil
law, for God gave her no such commission ;
she is a witness for Christ, to declare the things
.written in the Book, and since the Book is silent
upon all these questions of allegiance, loyalty,
treason and rebellion, the Church dare not open
her mouth.
But does not the Book command us to be
subject to the powers that be? to render to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's? to pay tribute to
whom tribute is due, and custom to whom cus
tom? Certainly, the Word of God does so com-

The Spirituality of the Kingdom. 139
mand, and the Church must so teach ; but the
same word does not define who are the higher
powers, nor does it tell or give us any criteria
by which we can determine who is our Caesar ;
nor does it declare to whom the tribute is due :
it leaves the citizen to determine for himself,
and takes for granted that he has settled the
question, who is Caesar, and to whom the trib
ute is due ; and then it commands the citizen
to pay the tribute, and to render to Caesar the
things that are his.
The mistake the Church has so frequently
made was, that it did not stop where the com
mand of God ceased; it went beyond the Written
Law of the Spiritual kingdom ; and determined
authoritatively, and in the name of God, who
was the citizen's Caesar, and to whom the tribute
was due.' And as these were questions not set
tled in the Statute Book of the mediatorial king
dom, of course the Church had no shadow of
right to utter any opinions whatever concerning.
them. If the Bible defined treason or rebellion as it
defines murder or theft or adultery, then the
Church would be bound to treat treason or re
bellion just as she treats murder or adultery.
But the very fact that theft, murder, and other
crimes are defined in the Word of God, while
treason and rebellion are left undefined, is a

140 Ecce Deus-Homo.
proof that Jesus Christ has left the latter to the
State for definition and punishment.
The guilt or innocence of the citizen, as a
member of the civil organization, is to be de
termined entirely by the laws of the Common
wealth under which he lives ; as these laws are
interpreted one way, he is guilty ; as interpreted
in a different way, he is innocent. It is impos
sible in the very nature of the case for any eccle
siastical tribunal, sitting in the name and acting
by the authority and guided by the Written
Word of Jesus Christ, to form or to express any
opinion as to the proper interpretation of the
laws of the land : the name, authority, and Word
of the King are all silent, and how dare the
Church speak in His name and by His authority
when He never gave her any authority, and
when He Himself has never spoken? ' To sup
pose that such testimony of the Church is in ac
cordance with the commission to preach Christ
and Him crucified, is a stretch of the law eccle
siastical reserved to the modern lights of latter
days in Church and State.
The kingdom not of this world must not
handle the constitutions and laws that are of
this world. As the Church may not handle
civil matters that pertain to the Commonwealth,
so the State is not a teacher of religion nor a

The Spirituality of the Kingdom. 141
judge of the things revealed in the Statute Book
of the Messianic kingdom. In so far as mem
bers of the Church are also citizens of the State,
they are protected in their persons and property ;
and when it is necessary for the Church in its
organic capacity to have recourse to law, the
State provides for the appointment of certain
persons who shall act as trustees for the Church.
The most of the United States do not recognize
the existence of the Church, as such, but deal
with it only through trustees.
It is a right of the State, whenever the Church
becomes an injury to the Commonwealth, to pro
hibit, by proper legislation, any injury that may
arise to its citizens ; but if the State forbids the
Church to do what Christ commanded, or com
mands what Christ forbids, then the Church
must obey God rather than men. If the Church
will keep within her proper sphere, she has
little to apprehend from unfriendly State legis
lation. The very fact that the Church is founded upon
the Mediator of the Covenant of Redemption
lies at the basis of her Spirituality. The King in
Zion is no earthly, temporal King ; He is an in
visible, eternal, heavenly prince. Having shed
His blood to redeem His Church , He has ascended
up into heaven, is seated upon His mediatorial
throne, and from thence, by His Spirit and

142 Ecce Deus-Homo.
Word, He rules as King in Zion. His throne
is in the heavens.
The spirituality of the kingdom is further
evident from the fact that the Holy Spirit is Vicar
of Christ, and is at work in the hearts of Christ's
subjects, working in them to will and to do the.
King's good pleasure. There is no force, no
coercion in this reign of Christ ; all is love — love
to an unseen Saviour — for the love of Christ
constraineth us.
The members of this kingdom are spiritual ;
the holy, the regenerated, the saints, the spir
itually-minded ; they who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit, and who are led by the
Spirit. The mission of this kingdom is purely spir
itual. Its great commission is, Preach the Gos
pel, make disciples, baptize them in the name
of the Holy Three ; train them for eternity. It
teaches men revealed truth unto salvation ; it
worships God in the Spirit. Its great work is to
make known the will of the King as contained
in His Holy Word ; with questions aside from this
Word it has nothing whatever to do. The sanc
tions, too, by which the Church enforces its
authority are also spiritual. The Church carries
no sword, but the keys of the kingdom. It de
clares the King's will, administers the King's
government, and opens and shuts the doors

The Spirituality of the Kingdom. 143
of the Spiritual House. The weapons of the
Church's warfare are not carnal, but spiritual,
and are mighty through the power of God to
the accomplishment of all spiritual ends.
Different in its structure from all earthly king-
. doms, with a revealed Doctrine, a prescribed
Worship, and a Divinely-appointed Government ;
distinct and separate from the State by the
decree of Christ, and by His Work as Builder ;
derived from and founded upon the Mediator,
with an invisible- spiritual King, who rules over
the kingdom after a spiritual manner ; composed
of the spiritually-minded, whom it trains for
eternity unto God's glory ; with a spiritual doc
trine to proclaim, and with nothing wherewith
to enforce its authority except spiritual sanction,
we need not hesitate to reaffirm the declaration
of the King, that His kingdom is not of this
world.

CHAPTER X.

The Unity of the Church.

HE idea of unity was never more fully
realized than in the history of the Jewish
nation, God segregated them from the
other nations of the earth, and by the most rigid
enactments prevented them from mixing with
other people. The un circumcised Gentile was
an object of scorn to the descendant of the
father of the faithful.
But when the Son of God died upon the cross,
this middle wall of partition was broken down,
and the uncircumcised Gentiles were admitted
to all the privileges of the Christian Church
upon the very same terms as the Jews were
admitted. In Christ Jesus all distinctions according to
the flesh are completely and for ever abolished.
In Him there is neither Jew nor Greek ; there
is neither bond nor free ; there is neither male
nor female, for ye are all one in Christ.
The Incarnation of the. Son of God, the
144

The Unity of the Church. 145
assumption of our common humanity, seals for
ever the brotherhood of man. God hath made
of one blood all the nations of the earth, and in
his Incarnate Son all men are brothers.
The Christian Church rests upon the Incar
nation and Headship of Jesus Christ as the
Divine basis, and the universal brotherhood of
man as the human basis of its unity.
When once a man has entered into the king
dom of Jesus Christ, then no matter whether he
be Jew or Gentile, Scythian or Barbarian, bond
or free, Greek or Roman, Caucasian or negro,
he is one with Christ, 'and one with all those
who are in Christ. He has every right and
every privilege in the Church that any other
member has — right to the Word and the Sacra
ments ; the right to vote in all Church elections,
and to be voted for. We say a man, for women
are prohibited by the written command of the,
King from holding certain offices ; but any man
who has the proper qualifications may be called
by the Lord Jesus to hold any office in His king
dom ; and if the call to the man from the Head
of the Church be clear, then the Church dare
not withhold ordination. To deny any member
of the kingdom of heaven any right or privilege
of his brother members is to strike at the unity
of the Church itself. If the King has made any
restrictive regulations in His kingdom, of course
13 G

146 Ecce Deus-Homo.
the Church is bound to obey those regulations.
The great principle is, however, clear and indis
putable, that in Christ all distinctions of race,
color and caste cease for ever — all are one in
Him. This principle must be limited by the state
ment that Christ was no agrarian, and the
Church is no society of communists, nor is the
Church intended to break down the framework
of society, and to teach the Jacobin doctrine of
liberty, equality and fraternity. Let every man
abide in the same calling wherein he was called,
is also a law of the universal kingdom.
In one of the last recorded conversations of
the Divine Man He prays most earnestly for the
unity of His people, that they all may be one,
even as He and the Father were one, and He
declares that there is one fold and one Shepherd.
. Jesus Christ represents Himself as the Head,
and the Church as His body ; and though there
are many members in the body, yet, as there is
one Head, so also there is but one Body. And
this body of Christ, is pervaded by one common
life — the life of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter ;
and this Headship of Christ, and this life from
the Spirit constitute the organic Unity of the
Church. This organic Unity does not depend upon
any one visible Head, as the Pope, or a College

The Unity of the Church. 147
of Bishops, as the successor of the Apostolic
College, but it depends upon an Invisible Head,
the risen and enthroned Redeemer, and the
pulsations of a common life, derived from the
Holy Ghost.
There are many branches, yet but one Vine ;
there are many stones, yet but one Temple ;
there are many children and brethren, yet but
one family in heaven and on earth ; there are
many mansions, yet but one house and one
home for all the saints. There is one Lord,
one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is above all, and through all, and in
you all ; and the Saviour's last prayer for all
who believe is, that they may be one, as Thou
Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also
majr be one in Us.
Starting with this view of the Unity of Christ's
kingdom as given by Himself, when we look at
the Christian Church of the present day we
see on all sides divisions and diversities. The
ideal unity of the Church as presented in the
Word of God does not seem to be realized in
the outward life of the Church.
In the same local church organization, there
are diversities of gifts ; to one, is given the word
of wisdom ; to another, faith ; to another, the
gift of healing ; to another, prophecy ; to an
other, charity.

148 Ecce Deus-Homo.
Again, even in churches of the same faith
and order, as they are called, all the churches
under one supreme supervision are not united
in the same local organization ; but there are
particular churches in different localities.
Add to this, that Church organizations gene
rally follow State and national boundaries ; hence
we have the Church of England, the Church of
Ireland, and the various non-State Churches of
the different countries of the globe.
And still further, there are different denomi
nations or sects of Christians, having separate
ecclesiastical organizations, throughout nearly
all the Christianized parts of the world.
When we pursue this line of inquiry, we
find different creeds, different hymn-books, dif
ferent forms of worship and ' government ; so
that we are ready to despair of finding any
unity in these different and diverse organiza
tions. But if the Mystical Body of Christ be one,
then the outward manifestation of that body,
the visibility of the Church, must also give evi
dence of unity — the shadow must present the
outlines of the substance that casts the shadow.
It is evident, that uniformity does not con
stitute unity — organic, vital unity. There is
perfect uniformity in the walls of a marble
palace ; each block of marble may be of the

The Unity of the Church. 149
same size, and present the very same appear
ance as his fellow ; and yet though this be the case,
and the entire walls of the palace be uniform,
there is no unity, for each block is separate and
distinct from every other block ; and the whole
mass is held together, not by any organic life
or principle of unity, but entirely by artificial
means. The oak of the forest gives the idea of unity,
in contrast with the uniformity of the wall ; each
leaf, and branch, and root, and fibre is differ
ent from every other ; yet there is an organic
life flowing from lowest root to topmost leaf,
and the whole tree produces upon the mind of
the beholder the idea of unity.
The Papal conception of the unity of the
Church is no unity at all, but the dull uniformity
of one of the marble palaces of the Pope.
Unity does not anywhere consist in uniform
ity, but the highest possible unity is manifested
and developed in the midst of diversities.
Mind and matter, two totally different things,
united in the person of a human being, give
one of the highest forms of unity, man. He is
one, though composed of elements so unlike
and diverse.
The most perfect of all unities, the unity of
the Divine Being, manifests itself in diversity.
The essence of the Godhead is one ; yet this
13 *

150 Ecce Deus-Homo.
one essence manifests itself to men in three dis
tinct and separate Persons — Lthe Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost ; and yet there is but one God.
In the human body there are many members ;
hands, eyes, feet, arms, and limbs, and yet the
body is one — its unity exists in the midst of diver
sity : so with the Body of Christ, there are many
members, . many denominations, many diver
sities, and yet but one Church of the Living
God. And just as every member of the human
body has its place and use, so all these different
Churches and denominations have their place
and use in the Body of Christ.
And when we come to a closer examination
of these differences among Christians and
Churches, we shall find them more apparent
than real : in all the essential elements -of the
life of the Church there is remarkable concord
and unity.
There are three great departments which em
brace the sum total of the outward life and
activities of the Church ; and if the ideal unity
of the Church, as taught in the Scriptures, can
be manifested in the life of the Church, it must
be in these departments ; and if in these particu
lars that unity is seen, then the visible unity of
of the God-man's kingdom is no less certain
than its invisible Unity.
The total activities of the outward life of the

The Unity of the Church. 151
Church may be thus classified, viz. : Doctrine, ,
Worship, and Government. When the Doctrine
or Faith of the Church is given, together with
the object and mode of its Worship, and the
Government, it seems that there is no activity
of the Church that will not fall into one or the
other of these departments.
As the structure of the kingdom consisted of
a Revealed Doctrine, a Prescribed Worship,
and an Ordained Government, as the marks
of the true Church are to be found in its Doc
trine, Worship and Government, so also the
outward unity of the Church is seen in these
three grand elements.
Now it may be safely asserted that in these
three departments of the outward life of the
Church there is substantial agreement :
1. Unity of Doctrine.
In reference to the Supreme Being, the object
of all religion, there are no discordant notes
given forth by any creed or confession of any
true Church of Jesus Christ. Hear, O Israel !
the Lord our God is One Lord.
The starting-point of all evangelical doctrine
of all Christians on the face of the earth is the
absolute and perfect unity of the Deity.
But in this one essence, so the common faith
of the Church of God teaches, there are three
DivinePersons — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost —

152 Ecce Deus-Homo.
, of the same substance, equal in power and
glory. The Spirituality of God is also a fundamental
article in the creed of the Church ; and they
who worship God must worship Him in Spirit
and in truth.
The creed called by the name of the Apos
tles, though not composed by them, believed
by all Christians and all Churches, taught in
the Sabbath-schools, recited in the congrega
tions of believers, accepted throughout all
Christendom as a brief summary of the com
mon faith, thus declares the doctrine concern
ing the Deity : I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth ; in
Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord ; I believe
in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church,
the Communion of Saints, the Forgiveness of
Sins, the Resurrection of the Body, and the
Life Everlasting.
If we pass now to consider the doctrine con
cerning the person and work of the Mediator,
Him who "stands as the middle term between
God and man, here, too, there is substantial
unity among all bodies of Christians. All re
cognize Him as God, manifest in the flesh ; as
both human and Divine, in one Person, the
Person of the Son of God : this Divine man,
thus wonderfully constituted, renders a perfect

The Unity of the Church. 153
obedience to the precept of the law, and en
dures its full and fearful penalty, and thus be
comes to all those who believe in Him the end
of the law for righteousness. He is a Saviour
able and willing to save unto the uttermost all
who will come unto Him. I believe, says the
creed of the whole Church, in Jesus Christ, the
Only-Begotten Son, our Lord, who was con
ceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
dead and buried ; the third day He rose again
from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father
Almighty, from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
The God-man is the one great theme of all
Revelation ; the central figure of the common
salvation ; the object of the faith of the Church
of God under every Dispensation of the cove
nant of Redemption. " He is the Lord whose
future coming cheered the saintly Enoch ; the
Redeemer on whom Job rested his hopes of im
mortality, when in the latter days he should
stand upon the earth ; the Seed of Abraham in
whom all nations were to be blest ; the Shiloh
of Jacob's dying bed ; the Angel of the cove
nant at the Burning Bush and in the cloudy
fiery pillar ; the Captain who fought for Israel's
hosts and nerved the hearts of Israel's warriors ;
0

154 Ecce Deus-Homo.
the Virgin-born Immanuel foretold by Isaiah
when he saw His glory, and spake of Him as
the Wonderful Counsellor ; the Messiah an
nounced by Daniel, cut off not for Himself but
for His people ; the Fourth Form in the fiery
furnace, walking with the Hebrew children ;
the Fountain opened in the House of David for
sin and uncleanness ;" the Infant whom Simeon
blest ; the Jesus whom the Angel named ; the
dying Saviour in whom the penitent Thief
trusted ; the Son of God on the cross whom the
Centurion acknowledged ; the risen Rabboni
whom Mary adored ; and the Infinitely Precious
Redeemer of all God's saints in all ages, and of
every kindred and tongue and tribe and people.
Passing now to consider Man the subject of
religion, here, too, the testimony of all creeds
and confessions is to the effect, that man is a
guilty, depraved, miserable being, and that un
less saved from sin by the grace of God, he
must perish for evermore. It is true there are
differences upon the non-essential points, of
how man came into this estate of sin and
misery, and the precise extent of His connec
tion with Adam in his first disobedience, but
these are matters not vital to his salvation : the
great fact that man is a sinner is accepted by all
who are part of the true Church.
So also with reference to other precious doc-a

The Unity of the Church. 155
trines of Revelation, — that the Bible is a perfect
rule of faith and practice ; that there is a future
State of rewards for the righteous, and punish
ments for the wicked ; that there is to be a
Resurrection of the dead, and a general Judg
ment — upon these doctrines the faith of the
Church is emphatically one.
The statements just made as regards the unity
of the Church in the matter of doctrine may be
verified by consulting the symbols of all the
Reformed Churches on the continent of Europe ;
the Confessions of the Scotch, Irish, Welsh, and
Moravian Churches, the Articles of the Church
of England, the Catechism of the Lutheran
and German Reformed Churches, the Books of
Discipline of the Methodist Churches, the
Standards of the Presbyterian and Baptist
Churches, and in short, all the symbolic books
of all bodies recognized as parts of the visible
kingdom of the Divine man.
2. The unity of the Church is no less visible
in the matter of Worship than in the department
of Doctrine.
There are three particulars that are decisive
of the question of unity of worship : they are,
the object of worship ; the sincerity of the wor
shiper ; and the worship rendered, to be regu
lated in the manner prescribed by the object
of the worship. Where there is agreement

156 Ecce Deus-Homo.
in these three particulars there is unity of
worship. Now as to the object of religious worship, all
Protestant Churches hold most tenaciously that
the only proper object of worship is the Infinite
God — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Thou
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only
shalt thou serve. Worship offered to any other
object is not religious worship, but idolatry.
Nor is there any difference of sentiment as to
the sincerity of the worshiper. God is a Spirit,
and they who worship Him must worship Him
in spirit and in truth.
So also with regard to the several acts and
parts of worship ; it is conceded by all Churches,
that these acts and parts of worship must be
those prescribed by the King in His revealed
Word. When one enters the different Churches, he
finds great apparent diversity in the worship
offered to the Most High. In some assemblies,
the worshipers stand while they sing ; in others,
they stand and pray, and sit while they sing —
some kneel at the Lord's Supper, and others sit
while they receive the sacred memorials. Some
ministers pray extempore, and others read from
the prayer-book. But a closer inspection shows
that these are mere differences of posture, while

The Unity of the Church. 157
the essential parts of worship are the same in
all the Churches.
First and foremost, in all assemblies of the
King's true worshipers, you will find the Word
of God, the Scriptures of the Old and New
Testament, the Infallible Rule of Belief and
Duty. This Revealed Will of the King, this
Statute Book of the kingdom, holds the promi
nent place in all true Churches of Jesus Christ.
Sabbath after Sabbath, wide over all the earth,
in all the assemblies of the Saints, this Book is
read in the hearing of the people, and ex
pounded unto them.
Again, prayer and praise are parts of wor
ship prescribed by the King in Zion ; and into
whatever house of God a man may enter,
whether Established or Dissenter, whether
Lutheran or Reformed, whether Baptist, Metho
dist, or Presbyterian, he will hear the voice of
thanksgiving, intercession, and supplication
going up to the God that heareth and answereth
prayer. And if a worshiping assembly be
found where no voice of prayer is heard, it may
be safely assumed Jesus Christ does not claim
it as any part of His heritage.
The God-man has appointed that His people
shall worship Him in the singing of Psalms and
Hymns and Spiritual Songs ; and in nothing is
the unity of the Church more palpably seen
14

158 Ecce Deus-Homo.
than in its Hymnology. The Psalms of David
form a part of almost every collection of sacred
music that is used in the praise of the Almighty ;,
while the great majority of hymns used in the
service of the Sanctuary are found in all the
Hymn-books of the different branches of the
true Church. Such, for example, as —
" Rock of Ages ! cleft for me" — " Alas, and
did my Saviour bleed?" — " There is a Fountain
filled with blood!" — "Amazing grace! how
sweet the sound !" — "Jesus, lover of my soul !" —
these and scores of others are known and loved
and sung by all who are called by the name of
Christ. Sacraments and Almsgiving complete the list
of prescribed acts of Worship.
The true Church of Jesus Christy has never
recognized but two Sacraments as appointed by
the Head of the Church ; and these are Bap
tism and the Lord's Supper. There are differ
ences among true Christians as to the subjects
and mode of Baptism ; but in the following
essential elements there is no difference of
opinion, viz. : Jesus Christ, as Founder and
Head of the Church instituted the ordinance ;
it consists of the application of water to a per
son scripturally qualified to receive it ; it is to
be applied in the name of the Trinity, by a
person authorized by Christ to administer the

The Unity of the Church. 159
ordinance ; and it signifies and seals to the
worthy recipient the blessings of the New Cove
nant ; and these particulars, wherein all agree,
are the essence of the Sacrament.
Concerning the Lord's Supper, the sentiment
of the Church is so conipletely a unit that
nothing need be said in this connection.
The giving of alms on the Sabbath-day,
and in the house" of God, has been a part
of the prescribed worship of the King's house
from the days of the Patriarchs to the present
time. 3 . Unity of Government.
In this particular, it is frankly admitted there
are more differences among the various denomi
nations of Christians than in either the depart
ment of Doctrine or Worship ; and yet a rigid
analysis of the Government of the kingdom
will show, that even here, in the midst of diver
sities, there is substantial unity.
Waiving any inquiry into the four forms of
Church Government — the Papal, Prelatical,
Presbyterian and Independent — and passing at
once to consider the office-bearers and rule that
are of the essence of the Government of the
kingdom, we see at once, in all of our Churches,
a certain class of men whose duty it is to pro
claim the Finished Doctrine and to order the
Worship of the Church. Call these men by any

160 Ecce Deus-Homo.
name, Bishop, Elder, Doctor, Teacher or Dea
con, still here is the work for them to do, and
that work is the same in all Churches, viz. : to
preach the Word and to administer the ordi
nances of the kingdom.
So also there is a work of ruling in all
Churches ; and for this there is a class of
Rulers, whose duty and work it is to take heed
unto the Flock over which the Holy Ghost has
made them Overseers. Here, again, the mere
name is of no consequence ; and the grant of
more or less power to certain ones of these
Rulers ought not to be esteemed a matter of
vital moment.
But Doctrine, Discipline, and Distribution
exhaust the list of office-bearers in the Spiritual
kingdom ; and if we find in all of our Churches
certain persons who act as Distributors of the
revenues of the King's treasury, then we have
obtained the object of our search, viz. : unity
of Church Government. There is a class
of office-bearers, in all branches of the true
Church, who attend upon this very matter.
Some call these men Stewards ; others, Dea
cons ; others, Vestrymen ; the name is nothing,
the reality only concerns us.
If the foregoing analysis be correct, then the
unity of the Visible Church is established ; for
if Doctrine, Worship, and Government cover

The Unity of the Church. 161
the totality of the outward life of the Church,
and if there is substantial agreement in these
particulars among the various sects, then the
outward unity of the Spiritual kingdom is
proved. There is a very popular and prevalent idea
now-a-days that there is no unity of the Church
of Christ so long as there are different Church
organizations and denominations ; and there is
a great, pious, canting cry for the breaking
down of all denominational barriers, and the
herding of all the sheep in one great Union
Commons — that each branch of the true
Church must give up some of its distinctive
features, and all the various sects must form a
Church Union. The advanced thought cries
aloud for co-operative Christianity. The body
of Christ must be taken to pieces : hands, eyes,
feet, arms, must all be plucked out and cut off,
and the disjoined members put into the great
Union Cauldron and made over into a New
Union Church ; and the Churchman who enters
not into these pious schemes is called a bigot.
This is nothing but a re-hash of the old Papal
theory of Church unity ; it is the uniformity of'
the wall, not the living unity of the tree, the
unity of the Gospel. The highest types of
unity are, as we have seen, perfectly compatible
with the greatest diversities ; and the unity of
14*

1 62 Ecce Deus-Homo.
the Visible Church is perfectly compatible with
the most vigorous denominational life.
The tribes of Israel, when they took the line
of march for the Promised Land, did not go in
one union mob, but each tribe under its own
flag and its own leader ; so let the chosen tribes
of the Spiritual Israel, who are journeying to
the Better Land, march each tribe under its
own chosen leaders and with its own distinct
ive banner ; for high over all the tribes and all
the banners is the* banner stained with blood,
and the Captain who leads the whole host is the
Incarnate Son of God ; and to all the tribes the
same heavenly manna is given, and the same
cloudy fiery pillar guides them all. Give us,
then, a vigorous denominational life and love ;
and while there is such remarkable unity of
Doctrine, Worship, and Government, let not
the .tribes fall out by the way, but present a
united "front to the common enemy of them all.
The unity of the Spiritual kingdom will not
be fully realized and manifested in time ; but
the Head of the kingdom assures us that the
day will come when all the scattered sheep of
the Fold shall be gathered together in one fold
and under one Shepherd ; when the teachings
of Scripture and the longings of the Saints shall
be alike realized ; when the scaffoldings that
now hide the beauty and unity of the living and

The Unity of the Church.

163

Spiritual Temple shall all be taken down ; and
when the New Jerusalem, the Bride of the
Lamb, all prepared and adorned for her hus
band, shall descend from God out of heaven to
possess the New Heavens and the New Earth.

CHAPTER XI.

Baptism, the_ Law of Membership.

T is a matter of the utmost importance
to understand and to state the terms
upon which any one may become a
citizen of this Spiritual kingdom ; and it is
gratifying to know that the King himself has
laid down the invariable law of admission into
His kingdom.
The man to whom Jesus stated the mode and
law of admission was surprised at the words
of the King. How can a man be born when
he is old? can he enter the second time into his
mother's womb and be born? — was his inquiry
to the statement that the New Birth was the
mode and law of admission into the kingdom
of heaven. Nicodemus confined his ideas to
the material and temporal. He did not com
prehend that the kingdom of heaven had no
earthly origin, no earthly Head ; that it was
governed by no earthly constitution, adminis
tered by no earthly laws ; was neither advanced
161

Baptism, the Law of Membership. 165
nor retarded by earthly power. He did not
realize that the kingdom into which He sought
admission had a Divine Head, a Heavenly ori
gin, and was governed by Spiritual influences.
Like its glorious Author, it cometh not with ob
servation : and while one is looking here and
another there for the King and His kingdom,
the testimony of Christ is, that His kingdom is
within the soul.
The kingdom is Spiritual and supernatural ;
hence it follows, of necessity, that the mode of
admission, the law of membership must be
Spiritual and supernatural. We ought not
therefore to be surprised, as Nicodemus was,
when the King proclaims the law : Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. So,
then, no man can become a citizen of the heav
enly kingdom except by the New Birth of the
soul. This New Birth is the work of the Spirit
of the God, for so the Divine Teacher expressly
declared to the Jewish Ruler. Except a man
be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. How the
Spirit causes the spiritual New Birth, the Re
generation of the soul, we know not — the work
is spiritual, supernatural, invisible : even the
wind bloweth where it listeth ; we hear the
sound, we see the effects, we know that the

1 66 Ecce Deus-Homo.
wind has been in motion ; but how and whence
it came, and whither it goeth, we know not : even
so with those who are born of the Spirit ; and
if we understand not the mode of physical
things, we need not expect to comprehend the
rationale of heavenly things.
This work of the Spirit in the soul is a new
creation in Christ Jesus, a Resurrection from
spiritual death. It is the workmanship of God,
independent of human instrumentalities : a
birth, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but a Divinely-begotten
principle, of which the Holy Ghost is the
Author. It is not a joint work of God and man — the
soul is passive, it is acted upon, and the Holy
Spirit is the sole actor. It is the heart of stone
that is made a heart of flesh. As the inani
mate body of Adam lived not until Jehovah
breathed into it the breath of life, so the dead
soul lives not until the Holy Spirit implants the
principle of Spiritual life. Regeneration is an
act above the operations of nature, by which a
tree that had been bringing forth evil fruit, now
brings forth good fruit ; by which a fountain
that had been sending forth bitter water, now
sends forth sweet water. It is a Birth, a Crea
tion, a Resurrection.
The soul that is admitted into the Spiritual

Baptism, the Law of Membership. 167
kingdom is born of the Spirit, and is led to de
sire and to seek after Spiritual things. Quick
ened by the Spirit and risen with Christ, it
seeks those things which are above : it looks
not for an earthly Canaan, but for a city which
hath foundations whose Maker and Builder is
God. This real, supernatural, spiritual change
wrought in man by the Holy Ghost must not
be confounded with a Reformation of manners
and morals, however thorough such a Reforma
tion may be. Regeneration is indeed Refor
mation ; but Reformation is not Regeneration.
There are many sins the indulgence in
which involves the loss of reputation, health,
and property ; and many a man has been in
duced to give up his sins and reform his life
because he saw that his sins would ruin him :
he gave up one temporal pleasure for a greater
temporal good. But the new principle of life
leads a man to give up all sins, and suffer the
loss of all temporal good, if needs be, for the
love he has for Christ.
The change wrought in the heart of man is
not the mere change whereby the rogue deter
mines to be an honest man — the liar, a speaker
of the truth — or the lewd man, chaste : it is not
a conflict against inveterate habits and bad so
ciety and evil example, wherein the man tri-

1 68 Ecce Deus-Homo.
umphs, and by great effort forces himself back
into the ranks of good citizens and honest men ;
but it is a cleansing of the fountain of the heart,
whence all the life of man flows — it is the puri
fying of the source of the stream — it is a new
principle of life ; old things pass away — all
things are made new.
Nor is Regeneration to be confounded with
the most blameless life of outward morality. A
man may be a pattern of all external morality ;
he may keep all the commandments from his
youth up, as the young Jew did ; and still he is
not a member of the Spiritual kingdom, unless
he has experienced within the supernatural
change. What is absolutely necessary is not
morality, but life; ye must be born again.
Nor can this new principle of Spiritual life
be produced by any change in the governing
purpose of the will ; for the sons of God, the
members of the Spiritual kingdom, are not born
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.
As we see daily in the lives of our fellow-
men, the most powerful motives that can be ad
dressed to the will fail to lead the sinner to
love holiness for its own sake, and to follow
Christ in the regeneration. A will that is cor
rupt and depraved will never choose holiness in
preference to sin ; and as the nature that lies
back of the will, and controls all of its motions,

Baptism, the Law of Membership. 169
is also depraved, the case is utterly hopeless, so
far as man is concerned ; ye must be born of
water and of the Spirit.
This New Birth is Baptism, the Baptism of
the Holy Ghost, the only Baptism that Jesus
Christ ever administered ; it is the inward law
of membership in His kingdom — His mark in
the foreheads of His Elect. Verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born again, except he
be Baptized with the Holy Ghost, he cannot see
the kingdom of God.
But the Spiritual kingdom of the Divine Man
is also a Visible kingdom among men ; the sub
jects of this kingdom are men in the flesh,
brought together into the Christian Church,
which is constituted and made visible by certain
divinely-appointed ordinances, viz. : Doctrine,
Worship, and Government.
The mode of admission into the Visible
Church must correspond with the mode of ad
mission into the invisible Spiritual kingdom :
as men enter the invisible kingdom, by the
Baptism of the Holy Ghost, so the King hath
appointed an outward ordinance of water
Baptism to symbolize the Baptism of the
Spirit. Water Baptism is not a charm, possessing
some secret, indefinable power to cure the lep
rosy of sin, or to drive away moral or physical
15 H

170 Ecce Deus-Homo.
evil, or prevent the commission or punishment
of sin.
Nor is water Baptism a grace-working Sac
rament, conveying Spiritual blessings in virtue
of its own inherent efficacy and power : thou
sands have received water Baptism, and have
lived and died without experiencing the saving
grace of God. All the water under the hea
vens cannot remove one sin from the soul.
Nor is it a mere arbitrary ordinance. True,
it is appointed by the Sovereign of the Spir
itual kingdom, appointed in virtue of His
kingly authority ; but there is nothing arbitrary
about it : so far as we can see, it could not have
been anything else. The resemblance, corres
pondence, connection between the Baptism of
the Spirit and the Baptism with water is close
and complete. The appointment of the King
is founded upon this relation between the two
Baptisms. And the whole significance of water
Baptism lies in the fact that it symbolizes the
Baptism of the Holy Ghost.
There is the outward sign — the water; the
inward grace signified — regeneration ; and the
correspondence and sacramental union between
the sign and the thing signified ; and to all
worthy recipients of Baptism it is a seal as well
as a sign.
In the Baptism of the Spirit man receives a

Baptism, the Law of Membership. 171
divine, quickening, and purifying influence ; in
the water Baptism man must also receive the
water, in token of the Spirit's work. He is
never put into the Holy Ghost; so he ought
never to be put into and under- the water. . In
both cases the subject is acted upon from
above. It was prophesied that Messiah should
sprinkle many nations ; the word was fulfilled
upon the day of Pentecost, when many nations
were representatively gathered at Jerusalem,
and the ascended King shed down upon them
the Holy Ghost, and the Apostles sprinkled
three thousand with water.
The invariable practice of the Apostles was
to apply the water to the subject ; they never
applied the subject to the water.
When Cornelius and his friends were gath
ered in his house to hear the words of Peter,
as Peter spake the Holy Ghost fell upon them ;
then Peter remembered his Master's words con
cerning the Spirit's Baptism, and he called for
water, and there in the house, the room where
they were assembled, he applied the water to
those upon whom the Spirit fell.
So when Ananias baptized Saul of Tarsus,
he did not say, Arise, let us go to the river
Pharpar ; but stand upon thy feet, and here
in the house where you now are, receive the

172 Ecce Deus-Homo.
water Baptism, in token of your Spiritual
cleansing. Nor is there any account of preparation made
for the Baptism of the jailor at Philippi ; no
changes of raiment, no Baptisteries, no bath
houses ; but in the same hour of his believing
he brought them from the inner prison to the
part of the same building occupied by his
family, and washed the stripes of Paul and
Silas, and was straightway baptized by them.
And in all these cases the word of Jehovah
was fulfilled : Then will I sprinkle clean
water upon you ; I will pour my Spirit upon
thy seed ; then shall He sprinkle many na
tions. To dip, or plunge, or immerse, or sub
merge the body of the believer into the liquid
grave is to destroy the whole significance of the
ordinance and the entire resemblance between
the sign and the thing signified. And to con
nect water Baptism with the burial of Christ's
body is wholly to misunderstand the phrase
Buried with Him in Baptism, for this al
ludes in nowise to His body, but to His Bap
tism of Suffering in Gethsemane and at
Calvary. Baptism is, also, to the proper subject, a seal
of the saving grace of the Spirit, and of the
blessings secured to the Elect in the Covenant
of Redemption. Baptism is a Covenant ordi-

Baptism, the Law of Membership. 173
nance, and as such it is, to the proper subject,
the Seal, the Pledge of the Mediator and Ex
ecutor of that Covenant that He will faithfully
perform all of His engagements to and for His
people. Where the subject is a proper one,
Regeneration is always signified and sealed by
Baptism ; for the sign and seal are not man's,
but God's, and appointed by the Lord Jesus,
according to the provisions of a Covenant, the
conditions of which have all been fulfilled.
But Baptism and Regeneration, the sign and
the thing signified, are not always indissolubly
connected together. Sometimes Regeneration
may precede Baptism by many years ; Abra
ham believed long before he received the sign
of the Covenant. Sometimes Baptism may
precede Regeneration by many years, as is the
case in scores and hundreds of instances.
It is a mistake to suppose that an unregene-
rate person can have no ecclesiastical right to
water Baptism. The King himself declares
that the tares will grow with the wheat ; that
the foolish virgins will go forth with the wise to
meet the Bridegroom ; and that bad as well as
good fishes will be taken in the Gospel net. A
perfectly pure Church is the hope of a better
dispensation ; it will never be realized in the
present one.
As the Church has not power to read the
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174 Ecce Deus-Homo.
heart, so she may admit to her communion those
who profess to have been born again, but who
have never felt the renewing power of the Holy
Spirit ; such persons, when they make a satis
factory profession of conversion, are entitled to
and should receive Baptism, as did Simon
Magus, though he was in the gall of bitterness
and the bonds of iniquity.
Who are the proper subjects of Baptism in
the sight of God is one thing : who are entitled
to ecclesiastical Baptism is a different thing.
Who are entitled to Baptism is a question to
be decided wholly by what the King has said :
as the kingdom is His, He only has the right to
say who shall be entitled to receive its signs and
seals. There can be no doubt that all those who
make satisfactory professions of their faith are
entitled to Baptism ; but there has been doubt
expressed by some as to whether the children
of Church members were entitled to the same
ordinance. Baptism is a Covenant ordinance, and be
longs to the Spiritual kingdom, made visible
among men. Now it is a universal law of all
kingdoms that children take the status of their
parents : a child born in Scotland is a Scotch
child, and in virtue of his birth-right is entitled
to the privileges and protection of Scotch law ;

Baptism, the Law of Membership. 175
and when he arrives at legal age he has all the
rights of a citizen. A child born in one of the
United States is a member of that particular
State wherein he was born, and is protected by
that State : so the child born in the Visible
kingdom of the God-man is a member of that
kingdom, and is entitled to the privileges and
blessings of that kingdom. Christ's kingdom
is not so unlike all other kingdoms that the
moment a child is born into it, he is cast out of
it, over into the kingdom of darkness, to be the
child of the Devil. Lambs born of a man's
flock receive the owner's mark, not to make
them his, but because they are his : so the little
ones of the Good Shepherd's flock receive his
mark, Baptism, because they are his, and Bap
tism is their covenanted birth-right.
The Church exists under the Covenant made
with Abraham, and made with him as a Church
member : if this Covenant has been abrogated,
then the Church as a visible society has no
charter, nor does it stand in any covenanted
relations towards its Head and King.
If any adult in the present day is entitled to
Baptism, it is because he professes the same
faith which Abraham had, being yet uncircum-
cised : they that are of faith are blessed with
faithful Abraham ; but Abraham's household re
ceived the sign of the Covenant : so the house-

176 Ecce Deus-Homo.
holds of believers now ought to receive the
sign of the same Covenant, for they that are
Christ's are Abraham's seed, and heirs of the
same promise. It is true the outward sign of
circumcision has passed over into Baptism, but
the Covenant, which is the all-important thing,
remains ever the same ; for there is no law of
the King that has changed the Constitution of
the Church as given to faithful Abraham.
So far from the children of Church members
being driven out of the kingdom of Christ and
their fathers, Peter expressly declared to the
Jews, after the Spirit had been poured out and
the Christian dispensation was fully inaugu
rated, Ye are still living under the Covenant
made with Abraham, and the promise now, as
then, is not only to you, but to your children
also. The promise, I will be a God to thee and thy
seed has come upon the Gentiles through faith ;
and it is as great an offence now to deny the
sign and seal of the Covenant to the children
of Church members as it was in the days of
Abraham and Moses.
And, says the Apostle Paul, one parent being
a Church member settles the status of the chil
dren ; for if the believing wife does not sanctify
the unbelieving husband, then were your chil
dren unclean, but now are they holy; i. e.,

Baptism, the Law of Membership. 177
federally holy, and entitled to Baptism, the sign
and seal of the Covenant.
And in accordance with these plain provisions
of the Charter and the Covenant of the Church,
we read of whole households being baptized
upon the faith of one or both parents. The
household of Stephanas was baptized by an in
spired Apostle : so were the households . of
Lydia and the jailor at Philippi ; and Peter bap
tized the household of Cornelius the centurion.
Under every dispensation of the Covenant
of Redemption — Patriarchal, Abrahamic, Mo
saic, or Christian — the children of Church mem
bers have ever been regarded as entitled to the
signs and seals of the Covenant under which
the Church existed as a Visible Institute.
Noah's children were saved from the Flood
with their righteous father and because of his
faith ; Abraham's children were included in the
Covenant made with him, and received the sign
of that Covenant, the circumcision of the flesh ;
the King Himself, when He was upon the earth,
received the children, and declared that they
were members of His heavenly kingdom ; in
spired Apostles recognized the birth-rights of
the children of Church members, and baptized
whole households of them ; and the whole
Christian Church, with few exceptions, has fol
lowed these illustrious examples.
H*

CHAPTER XII.

The Lord's Supper, and the Law of Life.

REAT events in the history of indi
viduals and nations are commemorated
by various kinds of ceremonies and
observances. Signal victories achieved by the Roman Em
perors were commemorated by the erection of
triumphal arches and columns. Remarkable
events in the history of the Jews were com
memorated by national feasts. The Independ
ence of the United States of America is com
memorated from year to year by the observance
of the Fourth day of July as- a great National
Festival. The column of Trajan at Rome is sufficient
evidence to establish the fact that'Trajan lived,
that he was Emperor of Rome, and that he
conquered the Dacians and Parthians. The
observance of the Feast of Passover by the
Jews is sufficient evidence to establish the facts
connected with its institution more than three
178

The Lord's Supper and the Law of Life. 179
thousand years ago in Egypt. The unfinished
monument of Washington at the Capital of
the United States of America, and the observ
ance of the anniversary of his birth by the
American people, establish the fact that such
a man as Washington lived ; that he was born
on the 22d day of February ; and that he was
the Father of his country.
In proportion too, as the commemorative ob
servances are widespread and ever recurring,
just in that proportion is the evidence increased
that the events commemorated did actually
occur. If no such event as the Independence
of the United States has ever occurred, the
observance of the Fourth day of July as the
anniversary of that Independence by the whole
American people would be simply impossible.
Now the great event in the history of the
God-man and of His kingdom is commemo
rated by an observance called the Lord's Sup
per. The amount and character of the historic
evidence accumulated upon this point leave no
room whatever to doubt that since the death of
Jesus Christ those who acknowledge Him as
Lord and King have observed this ordinance in
memory of His death. The observance of the
Lord's Supper can be traced back as a historical
fact to the night when Jesus Himself instituted
the Supper.

180 Ecce Deus-Homo.
What adds significance to this Memorial Feast
as an evidence that such a man as Jesus did
live and die is the fact, that the observance of
this rite has not been confined to one age, or
country, or people, or nation : it has been ob
served for eighteen centuries in all lands,
among almost all people and nations. If Jesus
did not institute this ordinance, and if it is not
a memorial of His death, then its observance
as above stated is no less remarkable than the
greatest miracle recorded in the Bible ; nay, it
is more marvelous than any miracle.
The Lord's Supper was instituted by Jesus
Christ Himself, and before His death. Jesus
and the Twelve went into the city of Jerusalem
to eat the Passover Supper, one of the great
national Feasts of the Jews ; and while they
were partaking of the meal, Jesus took bread,
and blessed it, and brake it, and gave to His
disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body
which is given for you ; this do in remembrance
of Me. And He took the cup, and gave thanks,
and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it ;
for this is my blood of the New Testament which
is shed for many for the remission of sins. And
as often as Christians eat this bread and drink
this cup, they do show the Lord's death till He
comes. The remarkable feature about this observance

The Lord's Supper and the Law of Life. 181
is that it is a Memorial of the death of the
Founder of the Christian Church. Nations and
organizations among men never celebrate the
death-days of their founders and heroes ; they
always select some joj'ous day or some trium
phant event in the history of the man or the
nation. Americans do not observe the anni
versary of the death of Washington, but the
anniversary of his birth ; nor do they observe
the anniversary of any of their defeats during
Revolution, but the Fourth of July, the Inde
pendence anniversary, is observed. So with all
other nations and organizations ; the joyous and
triumphant days are the anniversary days.
Christ commanded His death to be commemo
rated because that event was the great signifi
cant event in His life ; for this very end did He
come into the world, that He might die. He
was born to die. Strike the death of Christ
from the Christian Calendar, and nothing is
left; for the whole structure of the Christian
Church rests upon Christ crucified as the Chief
Corner-stone. The widespread observance
of this Sacrament for so many centuries does
incontestably establish the fact of the death of
Jesus Christ ; and this fact is the great central
idea of the Christian Religion -x
Another striking fact connected with this
Supper is, that out of the most perishable ele-
16

1 82 Ecce Deus-Homo.
ments of bread and wine an imperishable and
perpetual memorial is erected. No brass, no
bronze, no marble commemorates a Saviour's
death ; but the outward memorial of that event
has survived the ravages of eighteen centuries ;
and all the experience of the past proves that it
will remain the monument of that death, until
He shall come a second time, without sin unto
salvation. The profound wisdom of Jesus, in appoint
ing these perishable elements the perpetual
memorial of His death, is abundantly evident,
when we reflect upon the universal and invari
able tendency of mankind, to attach an undue
and superstitious importance to all sacred signs
and relics.
The human mind, with all the light of Reve
lation, has ever sought to deify and worship
the creature ; and where the outward sign of a
religious ordinance signified the very body and
blood of the Incarnate God, how surely will
fallen man be led to deify the sign, and worship
the creature instead of the Creator ! Christ or
dains that the sign, though perpetual, shall con
sist of perishable elements. And men are
under the necessity of creating a new Christ
every time they deify, and worship the Conse
crated Host.
When Jesus brake the bread, and gave to His

The Lord's Supper and the Law of Life. 183
disciples, saying, This is my body broken for
you, He does not mean to teach, that that very
bread broken was His very body broken ; nor
that the very wine poured out was His very
blood poured out ; for His body had not as yet
been broken, nor had His blood been shed ;
for He was crucified, and gave His body, and
shed His blood, after He had instituted the
Supper. What He does teach is, that the bread
broken signifies His body broken, and the wine
poured out signifies His blood poured. As in
the Sacrament of Baptisrh, the water is not the
Holy Ghost, but symbolizes the Holy Ghost,
so here the bread is not Christ's body, but sym-
bolizes that body, and the wine symbolizes His
blood. One of the essential elements of a
Sacrament is the outward sign; but if the
bread be the real body, and the wine the real
blood, then there is no outward sign, and hence
no Sacrament : and the Holy Supper is but a
cannibal feast of Christians, where they devour
their Redeemer and drink His blood. God has
revealed .truths above reason; He has never
revealed truth contradictory of the senses, and
all the senses of all who have ever lived have
been unable to detect real body or real blood in
the Eucharist; there is bread and there is wine,
but there is no body and no blood.
The outward sign, then, is undoubtedly the

184 Ecce Deus-Homo.
bread and the wine. But a sign must signify
something ; and the thing signified by the bread
and wine is the broken body and the shed blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord's Supper
is the proclamation, by sensible signs, of Christ
crucified. It is a pictorial representation of the
sum and substance of the Gospel — Christ cruci
fied, the Wisdom of God and the Power of God
unto salvation ; and to the believer it not only
signifies Christ crucified, but seals to him all
the benefits of that death.
There are two unalterable pre-requisites to
man's being happy in the world to come. His
sins must be pardoned, and his nature must be
purified. He must have a title to heaven, and
a fitness for heaven. These two ideas underlie
the whole of Christ's work ; and without the
title to, and the fitness for, no man can enter the
kingdom of heaven. Before the Incarnation
of the Son of God, the Old Testament Church
had the Sacrament of circumcision, wherein
was signified the purification of man's nature,
by the work of the Holy Ghost, and the Sacra
ment of the Passover, wherein was signified
the pardon of the sinner, through the blood of
the Lamb, that taketh away the sin of the
world. After the Incarnation, and in the New Testa
ment Church, baptism takes the place of cir-

The Lord's Supper and the Law of Life. 185
cumcision, and holds forth the Regeneration of
the soul by the work of the Spirit; and the
Lord's Supper takes the place of the Passover
Supper, and holds forth the idea of pardon
through the broken body and shed blood of
Jesus Christ. As there can be but one New
Birth of the soul, so Baptism, which is the
sign therof, ought never be administered but
once to the same person ; but as the renewed
soul sins often, and needs to be pardoned often,
so the Lord's Supper, which is the sign thereof,
is to be administered often to the same person.
Baptism has reference to the beginning of the
New Spiritual Life ; the Lord's Supper to the
continued nourishment of that Life. The New
Life can have but one beginning ; but it needs
continued supplies of spiritual food.
Christ and all the blessings of the Covenant
of Redemption are signed and sealed to the
worthy recipient of the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper. To the believer in Jesus, the Lord's
Supper not only signifies, it also seals, the
blessings secured by Christ's death. Not that
there is any inherent efficacy in the bread and
wine, or that the Sacrament of itself confers
grace ; but the King in Zion has appended the
sensible sign to His written and covenanted
promises as the seal thereof. The seal, attached
to the word of the King, does not make the
16*

1 86 Ecce Deus-Homo.
King's promise and word any more sure, but it
wonderfully helps and strengthens the faith of
the subject in the word of His Sovereign,
wherein he is promised pardon and life eternal.
And just as bread and wine nourish the natural
life of the body, so this ordinance of the King
does to the worthy communicant nourish the
supernatural life of the soul. By faith he
spiritually receives and feeds upon that spiritual
food signified by the bread and wine.
The invisible grace in the soul of the subject
of this Spiritual kingdom, answerable to the
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, is faith or
allegiance to King Jesus.
The Christian's faith is no mere assent of the
intellect to the truth of the teachings of the
Divine man, nor any mere natural enthusiasm
or goodness of the soul attaching itself to Jesus
and His kingdom ; it is not natural, but super
natural ; it is the gift of God ; it is a manifestation
of the New Life communicated to the soul by the
Holy Spirit ; it is the very life of the Christian, for
the just shall live by his faith. The renewed
soul, looking through the Sacrament to Christ
crucified, recognizes Him as Lord and King
and Saviour, arid as such it receives and rests
upon Him as the only hope and foundation of
salvation. Faith is an act of the regenerated soul, but

The Lord's Supper and the Law of Life. 187
not a mere act ; it is rather a life ; it is the con
tinued resting of the soul upon the righteous
ness of the crucified Redeemer. The Lord's
Supper brings the object of his faith specially
near to the believer. This do in remembrance
of Me. As the devout Christian receives the
sacred emblems, he also receives, at the same
time, spiritually, Him whom the emblems sym
bolize. The Supper stands in the kingly authority
of Christ, and is to be observed by the mem
bers of His kingdom because He commands it.
This do in remembrance of Me, said the King ;
how dare His subjects disobey His direct and
positive command?
The Lord's Supper is called a Sacrament ;
from the Latin sacramentum, an oath — the
word denoting the oath of allegiance which the
Roman soldier took to his emperor or general.
So with the Christian soldier, the Supper is his
Sacramentum, his oath of Allegiance to the
Great Captain of his salvation : in this solemn
act, he avows himself to be a loyal and faithful
subject of King Jesus, and consecrates his life
to the service of his rightful Lord.
The great law of life in the Spiritual king
dom of the God-man is the profound allegiance
of every true subject to Him who is Head over
the Church and King in Zion. This allegiance

1 88 Ecce Deus-Homo.
to the King is the overpowering passion of the
New Creature in Christ Jesus ; his devotion to
the Great Captain is complete and absorbing,
and his zeal for the prosperity of the kingdom
is as a consuming fire in his bones : the love of
Christ constrains him, and the zeal of Christ's
House consumes him.
As the Christian soldier sits with the Great
Captain at the Lord's table, and receives the
Sacred memorials, his soul glows with the fire
of a complete consecration, and as he com
munes, in a method unknown to the world, with
his adorable Lord and Master, he renews his
sacramentum, his oath of fidelity and allegi
ance to his King, and receives new measures
of strength and grace for the Christian warfare.
Talk not to this man of intellectual exercises,
of natural admiration for the loveliness of the
character of the man Jesus ; with him, there is
a Soul Union to the Deus-Homo ; by faith he is
feeding with and upon the Son of God, and this
life of Faith is hid with Christ in God.
But the Lord's Supper is not only a sacra
mentum ; it is also a Kocvovla, a Fellowship, a
Communion. They who have the Life of Faith
in their souls are not only one with Christ, and
have fellowship with Him , but they are also one
with each other, and have fellowship one with
the other.

The Lord's Supper and the Law of Life. 189
The Lord's Supper is the Communion meal
of the saints, where the Unity of the Christian
Church is visibly realized — where the members
of the Spiritual kingdom, the subjects of King
Jesus, having taken the vow of consecration to
their common Lord, unite in partaking of a
simple meal in token of their brotherhood. This
communion of the Saints flows from their union
and communion with their common Head and
Saviour. The life of the God-man flows from
Him through all the members who compose His
mystical body ; the Life of the Brotherhood is
one, because it comes down from one glorious
source, even the Risen Christ. That the un
believing world, outside of this consecrated
Brotherhood, should not comprehend these
sacred and holy mysteries of the Spiritual king
dom is not at all to be wondered at. Men out
side of the Masonic Order cannot understand
the symbols of Masonry ; they must be initiated
and instructed in the principles of the Order.
So a man must have the Spiritual Baptism and
enter the Spiritual kingdom before he can un
derstand the holy mysteries of that kingdom ;
the natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit, neither can he understand them,
for they are spiritually discerned. The things
of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of

190 Ecce Deus-Homo.
God, and he to whom the Spirit shall re
veal them. A man must do the will of God,
before he can understand the doctrine. Even
the things of a man must be discerned by the
spirit of man ; much more must there be a
Spiritual discernment to understand the things
of God.
This Supper is then a separating ordi
nance ; it draws the line between those who
acknowledge Jesus as their King, and those
who will not have Him to rule over and
reign in them. They who are loyal subjects
of the crucified but risen King will joyfully
obey. His command — this do in remembrance
of Me : loving Him, they will keep this com
mand. On the other hand, they who have never
acknowledged this King as their King, this
Saviour as their Saviour, will feel no obligation
to obey a King whom they never acknowledged,
and to vow allegiance to a Lord whom they do
not love. And it is a fearful perjury for a man
who does not love Jesus to come to the Lord's
table, and take the Sacramentum and partake
of the Holy Communion. He is vowing a lie
in the presence of the Crucified but Omniscient
Christ. The simple test of admission to the Supper

The Lord's Supper and the Law of Life. 191
is loyalty and love to Him whose table it is,
and whose death it commemorates. If any
man truly and sincerely loves Jesus, it is his
privilege and duty to testify that love by partak
ing of the Supper.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Second Coming of the Son of Man.

j]PON no topic is the unity of the faith of
the Church of God more plainly seen,
than in reference to the Second Coming
of the Son of Man. Since the Resurrection,
no part of the Visible Church has even a doubt
as to the fact, that the Lord Jesus would come
again. While the Church has been a unit in
believing the fact of the Second Advent, there
have been great diversities of views as to the
time of, and the circumstances attending, that
Advent. The Church could not doubt when
the King Himself plainly said that He would
come again and receive His people to Himself.
It will assist our inquiry in this discussion to
divide the life of the Deus-Homo into the fol
lowing periods : —
I. Period before the Incarnation ;
II. Period after the Incarnation.
This division is not artificial, but perfectly
natural ; for it is evident that the assumption
192

The Second Coming of the Son of Man. 193
of human nature into personal union with the
Divine nature does mark an era in the life of
the Son of God.
The life of the Son of God before the Incar
nation also falls into two natural divisions,
viz : —
1. The eternal life of the Son before the
creation of the material heavens and earth ;
2. His Life from the Creation to the Incar
nation. Concerning His life before the Creation,
we only know that He was in the beginning,
and was with God, and was God.
From the Creation to the Incarnation, is a
a period of about four thousand years ; in which,
He was revealing Himself to the race, and pre
paring the world for His coming in the flesh.
His Life, after the Incarnation is also capable
of a natural division into two parts, viz : —
1. The time before the General Judgment;
2. The time after the General Judgment.
The first division here, from His Incarnation
to the Judgment, is a period of Revelation, in
which Christ is revealing Himself by His Spirit,
Word, and Providence to His Church.
The second division of this period, like the
first division of the first period, lies in compara
tive darkness. We know that all enemies are
subdued under the Son ; that He delivers up
17 1

194 Ecce Deus-Homo.
the kingdom to the Father, and that God is all
in all. The beginning and the end of the life
of the Son of God lie in the depths of the In
finities and Eternities, beyond the reach of
mortal sight, save that we know that He al
ways was and always will be ; that part of
His life that is let down from heaven into
the history of men we do know ; and we
can also understand its grand facts, and their
import. The first division of the Second Period, viz. :
from the Incarnation to the Judgment, may be
thus subdivided : —
(a.) From His Incarnation to His Resur
rection. (b.) From His Resurrection to His As
cension. (c.) From His Ascension to His Second
Advent. (d.) From the Second Advent to the Gen
eral Judgment.
The first subdivision includes the childhood,
youth, personal ministry and death of Jesus,
covering a period of about thirty-three years
and a half.
The second subdivision covers a period of
about forty days, in which Jesus gave to chosen
witnesses infallible proofs of His Resurrection.
The third subdivision is absolutely indefinite,

The Second Coming of the Son of Man. 195
for no man knoweth the day or the hour of the
coming of the Son of man.
The fourth subdivision extends over the mys
tic thousand years of the Revelation.
According to this chronology, the Advent
closes the third subdivision of the first division
of the second period.
There are points of resemblance and of con
trast between the first coming of the Son of
God in the flesh, and the second coming of the
Son of man in glorified flesh.
At His first coming, He bare the sins of His
people ; at His second coming, He brings sal
vation to them : in the first, He who knew no
sin was made sin for them ; in the second, He
comes without sin unto salvation.
There are two Testaments — the Old and the
New ; there are two comings of the Son of
God — one in the flesh, the other in glory ; His
Incarnation was the great promise of the Old
Testament ; His second Advent is the great
promise of the New.
The main object of all Old Testament Reve
lation was to prepare the race for the coming
of the Promised Seed — that Seed of the woman,
promised in Eden, to the lost parents of the
race. As the covenant of Redemption is his
torically developed, additional light is thrown
upon the Eden promise. The coming One

196 Ecce Deus-Homo.
shall descend from Shem, and unto Shiloh
shall be the gathering of the people.
Out of the loins of Abraham shall He come,
and in Him shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed. As we approach nearer and nearer
the time of His Advent, prophecy becomes
clearer and clearer, until it would seem that
when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of
Judea, no flesh could for a moment doubt that
this was indeed the Seed promised in Eden, the
Messiah of Old Testament Revelation, the Sa
viour of the world. And yet when He came
unto His own, though they had in their hands
all these clear prophecies concerning Him, they
received Him not, but cried aloud for His blood,
even when the pagan Pilate desired to release
Him. Now His second coming bears the same re
lation to the New, that His first coming bears
to the Old Testament. As the Old Testament-
Church looked forward, with hope and joy to
the coming of Messiah, so the New Testa
ment-Church, as she now waits weeping in the
wilderness, looks forward with patience aha ex
pectation and longing for the hour when the
Kingly Bridegroom shall return to wipe the
tears from the face of His beloved Bride. As
the whole of the Old Testament Revelation
pointed forward to the coming Messiah, so the

The Second Coming of the Son of Man. 197
doctrine of the second Advent of the Son of
Man is thoroughly inwoven into the entire fabric
of New Testament Revelation. Many of those
wondrous parables uttered by the Divine Man
find their full solution only at His coming. The
nobleman who took his journey into a far coun
try ; the servants to whom the Lord entrusted
talents, until He should come and reckon with
them ; the five wise and the five foolish virgins,
who are aroused at midnight by the coming of
the Bridegroom, — these and others of His para
bles plainly teach the fact that He will come
again. The solemn Sacrament of the Lord's Supper,
not only shows forth the death of the Divine
man, but as often as it is administered, it shows
forth that death, till He comes again.
The great historic questions of this Dispen
sation are to find their solution at and in the
second coming of the Son of man. The Man
of Sin who is now revealed, that son of per
dition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above
all that is called God or that is worshiped, will
continue his career of wickedness, until the
coming Lord shall consume him with the spirit
of His mouth, and shall destroy him in Epiph
any of His personality.
The relations of the Jews, God's ancient
people, to the Covenant ; the question of their
17*

19S Ecce Deus-Homo.
ingrafting and restoration ; their return to Judea,
and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, — all of these
questions are to receive a solution, one way or
the other, at His appearing and His kingdom,
when the veil shall be taken away from their
hearts. The great problem of the Pagan world, how
far the Gospel is to be preached, and how many
of the Gentiles are to be converted in the latter
days, these and kindred problems will not be
solved until He shall come.
Nay, so completely is this doctrine incorpo
rated into the New Testament, that the exhor
tation to daily Christian duty is based upon the
fact, that as we know not the hour of His com
ing, we ought to watch, pray, and be ready.
As Jesus knew and foretold His death, so He
also knew and foretold that He would come
again. He declared that if any one was ashamed
of Him and His words, of him would He be
ashamed, when He came in the glory of the
Father with the holy angels. He said that
all the tribes of the earth would mourn when
the sign of the Son of man appeared in heaven,
and that then the Son of man would be seen
coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and
great glory.
The declaration was also expressly made by
angelic messengers to the Apostles, who were

The Second Coming of the Son of Man. 199
steadfastl}' gazing into heaven, whither Jesus
had gone, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye
gazing up into heaven ? This same Jesus which
is taken up from you into heaven shall so come
in like manner as ye have seen Him go into
heaven. This statement is so clear and ex
plicit that it is impossible for it to mean anjr-
thing else than the personal return of the God-
man in His glorified human body.
After His resurrection, Jesus was seen of His
followers for about forty days, and then, as they
were assembled at the mountain in Galilee
where Jesus had appointed to meet them, He
was parted from them and ascended up into
heaven, where He will remain until the times
of the Restitution of all things.
After His obedience and sacrifice, God ex
alted Him, raising from the dead, and giving
Him a name that is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow and
every tongue should confess.
The Mediator of the Covenant having per
formed all of its stipulations, ascended up on
high, leading captivity captive, and giving gifts
unto men : as His humiliation was infinite, so
also His exaltation is infinite ; for He is made
Head over all things. He went up to heaven
with a shout, and the pearly gates lifted up
their heads, and the everlasting doors were

200 Ecce Deus-Homo.
lifted up, and the crowned King entered in and
took possession of His Mediatorial throne ; and
was welcomed back to His heavenly home by
the shining ranks of angels and archangels,
cherubim and seraphim, principalities and pow
ers. When He comes again, He will descend
from heaven, not as the wayfaring man turn
ing aside to tarry for the night, but as mighty
King, with a shout and the voice of the arch
angel and the trump of God.
He will come in like manner as He was taken
up. Then He was escorted by a great cloud of
angels : when He returns the same heavenly
messengers will attend Him, for He will come
in the glory of the Father with the holy angels.
He came once in the form of a servant and
after the fashion of a man ; His face was so
marred, and His form more than the sons of
men ; the chastisement of our peace was upon
Him, and by His stripes we were healed. His
hands were pierced by the nails, and His side
with the soldier's spear. This same Jesus,
this crucified but Risen" Christ, in His glorified
human body will surely come again. But not
then will He come as the Man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, hiding as it were His
face from us ; not then as the Lamb of God,
slain from the foundation of the world ; not
then as the world's atoning Sacrifice ; but as the

The Second Coming of the Son of Man. 201
world's avenging Judge, as the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, as the mighty King in Zion, and as
Judge of the quick and dead.
He will come in all the pomp of His power
and in all the splendor of the skies ; His eyes
as a flame of fire, and His feet like unto fine
brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; the crown
of many diadems upon His head, and the seven
stars in His right hand. He is attended by
thousands and tens of thousands of holy angels ;
the majestic train sweeps down in solemn
grandeur from the skies ; the voice of the arch
angel and the pealing notes of the trump of
of God are heard, and lo ! the Crucified has
returned in triumph to the earth.
At His first coming, when He came unto His
own, they received Him <not, for the Jewish
Church was hopelessly apostate ; and He him
self asks the thrilling question, Nevertheless,
when the Son of man cometh, shall He find
faith on the earth?
There are many who declare that the whole
earth will be filled with the knowledge of the
Lord at the coming of the Son of man ; that
then the Gospel will have been proclaimed
to all the nations of the earth ; and that in a sea
son of universal peace, righteousness, and love
Jesus will return to the earth : and that, in re
ply to the Saviour's question, the true answer
i *

202 Ecce Deus-Homo.
is, Yea, Lord, the whole earth will be full of
faith. There are three great eras in the history- of
the race, each marked by a pectiliar form of re
ligion, by a peculiar form of wickedness ; and
each one terminated by a signal display of the
Divine power.
The first era extends from the Creation to the
Deluge, a period of about sixteen hundred
years ; this era was marked by the' outbreaking
wickedness of the children of men ; and during
this era religion assumed the Family form : the
Church andiState both existed in the bosom of
the family, neither one of them being fully or
ganized or established among men. During
this period family religion did not bring men
to God ; but on the contrary, at its close, the
whole race had utterly and hopelessly departed
from God ; and in the midst of the abounding
iniquity of the antediluvian world, the Lord de
scended in vengeance, and terminated the era
and closed the career of the race by the wa
ters of the Flood, that destroyed the whole
family of man, save Noah and those with him
in the Ark : as it was in the days of Noah, so
shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
The second era extends from the Deluge to
time of the first Advent, a period of about twenty-
three hundred years. Although the Patriarchal

The Second Coming of the Son of Man. 203
form of religion prevailed during the first part
of this period, still the era was characterized by
a national form of religion : the worship of God
was in the chosen Nation. The peculiar form
of wickedness in this era was idolatry — leaving
the worship and service of the true God for
idols. But a national form of religion proved
no more efficacious in- drawing men to God than
had the family, and when God was manifested
in the flesh, all flesh was thoroughly corrupt.
And the old economy passed away when the
veil of the temple was rent, and the chosen na
tion was scattered to the four quarters of the
earth when their Temple was destroyed.
Neither at the flood, nor at His Incarnation, did
the Son of man find faith when He came to the
earth : will He find it when He comes again ?
The third era extends from the destruction of
the temple • until the second Advent. In this
period the prevailing form of religion is the
Church, as a visible, separate, spiritual institute
among men. The peculiar form of wickedness is
neither violence nor idolatry, but apostasy — men
departing from the truth, and holding the truth
in unrighteousness : men of sin and sons of
perdition sit now even in the temple of God,
and in His name work their vilest iniquity. The
apostasy of Mohammed in the East still flourishes
in wondrous vigor, and almost one-tenth of the

204 Ecce Deus-Homo.
human race bow their faces to Mecca, and cry God
is great, and Mohammed is His only prophet. The
Harlot rides forth still upon her mystic Beast,
and one-fourth of the population of the globe
follow in her train ; while the great mass of
mankind lie in the cold and deadly embrace of
heathenism, and evil men wax worse and
worse. When the Bridegroom comes, all ten
Virgins are asleep, and only five have any oil
in their lamps.
This era is a pre-eminently a religious age, in
name at least. Religious rites, forms, cere
monies, words, rituals, establishments abound ;
even the most infamous men open the most in
famous partisan and political meetings with
prayer to God : certainly the form of godliness
is beautiful and robust, but alas ! many who
have the form deny the power thereof. The
Divine Teacher does not give us any reason to
suppose that this state of things will be better
until He comes again ; when He comes, He
does not expect to find much real saving faith
in the earth.
When He returns it will not be to find the
Church and the world holy and righteous and
ready to receive Him, but to find an apostate
Church and a guilty and corrupt world. He
will come in flaming fire to execute judgment,
and that judgment must begin first at the house

The Second Coming of the Son of Man. 205
of God. The harvest of the earth will then
be ripe for the reaping, and the angels
will separate the wheat from the tares, and
bind the tares in bundles for the everlasting
burning. He will raise His righteous dead, transfigure
His righteous living, destroy the wicked from
the earth, purify the earth with fire, and make
the new heavens and the new earth for the
dwelling of the righteous.
The order of the Resurrection is — Christ the
first-fruits ; then they that are Christ's at His
coming. Only the righteous have part in the
first Resurrection, which occurs at His Advent:
the rest of the dead live not until the thousand
years are ended. This is the Resurrection for
which Paul hopes, when he says, If by any
means I might attain unto the Resurrection
from among the dead. This is the Resurrec
tion of the Just, of which Jesus speaks. This
is the first resurrection, spoken of in the Reve
lation. When the Lord descends from heaven, the
righteous are caught up with Him in the air,
while the new heavens and the new earth are
being prepared for the saints. After the fire
purification of earth, the saints descend to pos
sess the renovated earth.
The wicked who are alive at His coming are
18

206 Ecce Deus-Homo.
punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord.
The righteous who are alive are transfigured,
and caught up with the risen righteous.
His coming will establish His kingdom in
power and great glory. ' The Church is now a
regnum crucis — then it will be a regnum
gloria; and Jesus will then be glorified in
his saints, and admired in all them that believe.
Of the day and the hour of the coming of
the Son of man knoweth no man, no, not even
the angels in heaven, but the Father only.
That day is wisely and purposely kept hid from
all created eyes : it will come suddenly and un
expectedly, as a thief in the night. As it was
in the days of Noah, so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be : they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, and
knew not until the Flood came and took them
all away ; so also will it be when He appears —
the day will not be known until the day comes.
As a snare will it come on all them that dwell
on the face of the whole earth. When the Lord
Himself so plainly teaches that the day is not,
and cannot be known until it comes, it is very
strange that men should undertake to determine
definitely . the day of His appearing and His
kingdom. As it is absolutely impossible to fix
certainly the terminus a quo of the prophetic

The Second Coming of the Son of Man. 207
periods that determine the time of His coming,
of course it is impossible, to settle the terminus
ad quern.
It is true that there are certain signs that
precede the great and notable day of the Lord ;
and they who study most devoutly the prophetic
signs will be able to form a more accurate
judgment of the times and seasons than those
who neglect the prophecies.
The signs that precede His coming are great
apostasies, false Christs, false prophets, wars
and rumors of war, perilous times, abounding
iniquities, great political commotions, evil men
waxing worse and worse, the seas and waves
roaring, and men's hearts failing them for fear,
and looking for the things that are coming on
the earth ; earthquakes, famines, and pesti
lences ; signs in the sun and moon, and stars ;
on earth distress of nations and perplexities, —
when these things begin to come to pass, then
let the saints lift up their heads and look, for
their Redemption draweth nigh.
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His
words shall never pass until all is fulfilled. He
that testifieth these things saith, Surely I come
quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus.
THE END.

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S'SSSSbISO 1704

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