These sects phenomena, confined to the countries or times in which they appeared. They exhibit human nature throughout all time; and the precepts and truths which were adapted to their condition are not less adapted to ourselves.

exhibit the tendencies of human na

ture.

Old Testament com

pleted by the life of our Lord.

He came to be the subject of the gospel.

CHAPTER V.

THE GOSPELS.

Introductory.

129. We now come to the New Testament, the fullest and latest revelation of God. The ancient dispensation, made nothing perfect. Apart even from the abuses, by which it had been corrupted, it was in itself incomplete, Gal. 3. 21: Heb. 7. 18: 9. 9, II. Whatever was wanting, however, in the ancient institution, is supplied by the incarnation, the life and death of our Lord: facts which form the theme of the Gospels, as the explanation of them forms the theme of the Epistles. He is himself, in truth, the gospel. His coming and work, apart even from all he directly taught, constitute the glad tidings of great joy unto all people. Did men need a real sacrifice for sin, in which the rites of the law should find their explanation and end? That sacrifice he offered. Did men need a perfect rule of life? That rule he gave when he dwelt amongst us; and immortality he brings to light, not so much by teaching it, or promising it, as by the actual fact of himself rising from the dead in our nature, and on our behalf. There is, indeed, no question in religion which it is essential for us to know, which the life of Christ has not solved. In Him we see God himself revealed, his mercy, justice, faithfulness, and power; and in Him we see no less clearly our own nature; its sinfulness in his sufferings; its duties in his example; its dignity, if we are united with him, in his ascension and glory.

This double purpose of our Lord-to fulfil the ancient institute, and to be himself the foundation of a liarities of his new one-explains peculiarities in the Gospels, teaching. which would otherwise be inexplicable.

Hence pecu

Hence, for example, the substance, and even the form of his teaching. Types and predictions which had served in ancient times as a depository of spiritual truth he fulfilled. His lessous are often

given in parables, testing the hearts of the uncandid and indifferent, and reminding all of the true character of their own dispensation. His acts were often symbolical on the same ground, He washed his disciples' feet; he took and set little children in the midst of them; and in all his miracles he carefully looked to this double end-to suggest the true rule of interpreting the ancient law, and to teach the mysteries of his own kingdom.

Hence the gradual

his truth.

130. To this cause, too, it may be attributed, that our Lord's revelations were gradually disclosed, and never fully till after he had risen. Other reasons there were also. The disclosure of prejudices of his disciples were strong, and a gradual disclosure of truth was on that account desirable; for they were not at first able to bear it. It was his rule, moreover, to reward faith in a little, by imparting more, as he himself taught them. But the chief reason seems to be that the doctrines of Christianity spring out of the facts, and could not therefore be revealed till the facts had been accomplished. Hence peculiarities such as the following. He first hints at some doctrine, or event, then repeats the lesson more explicitly, and then either clearly reveals it, or refers his disciples to the teaching of the coming Spirit. He avoids everywhere a full disclosure of his character, even forbidding others to declare it. His ministry he confines to a small district and a despised people. Doctrines he seldom or never propounds; but he does the works that are at the foundation of them. He suffers, and hence the doctrine of atonement. He pleads, and hence the doctrine of spiritual influence. He rises from the grave, and hence our resurrection and glory. The truth is, as Macknight has remarked, our Lord came from heaven, not so much to teach the gospel as to be himself the subject of it, leaving the Spirit to be its chief interpreter. We study, therefore, the law in the Gospels; the Gospels in the Epistles; and all in Christ.

Christ.

"All in Christ," we repeat. For a personal Saviour is the glory All truth in of the gospel, and the study of a personal Saviour the great instrument of our holiness. Religion is not merely the contemplation of truth and the practice of morality; it is fellowship with God through his Son, We are to love not moral beauty only, but Christ; to believe not so much in it, as in Him. Hence the peculiarity of all apostolic teaching. In place of inculcating virtue, they bid us "walk in his steps," and do what is "well pleasing" in his sight. Death they represent as union with him; and to "follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth" is given as the sum of Christian duty and of Christian blessedness. To understand even the morality of the New Testament, much more its doctrines, we must study the Gospels.

131. The recorded discourses and parables of our Lord, are Import of his to us with the Bible in our hands, sufficiently miracles. clear. The rules that teach their meaning and application may be gathered from Part i., Sec. 7, etc. The significancy of his miracles is perhaps less obvious. They have clearly an outward and an inward meaning.

Outwardly, they are expressions of power (dvváμeis). They excite surprise, and so, as "wonders" (Téρатa), they prompt inquiry, and they give evidence of a Divine mission, and are therefore signs (σnuêia). In each of these characters they are important. The constancy of the processes of nature had been converted into an argument against an active Providence. In miracles, the perpetuity and extent of providential government are vindicated and proved. They show that a natural law is one thing, and a living agent another. Nor are they, as evidence, less significant. Inwardly, in the moral lessons they teach, they are even more important. As a whole, they may be called redemptive, as those of the older dispensation were chiefly judicial: the earlier illustrating a state of law; the later, a state of grace. Each miracle, moreover, has its own essential characteristic, teaching some truth or duty, and often foreshadowing a glorious future. The miracles, in fact, of our Lord are as parabolic as his parables, and should be studied for the same ends. His own work, his kingdom, and our duty, are revealed in both.

Miracles not contrary to nature:

· 132. If the truth of miraculous interference create a difficulty in the mind of an inquirer, it may be well to remind him that a miracle, though above nature, is not contrary to it, and may even be said to be in the strictest harmony with it. What we call natural laws are nothing more than uniformities of existence or of sequence, and really imply at some stage Divine power. They account for nothing; and after we have reached the highest law we say, "Here God himself seems to interpose: second causes can be traced no further." A natural law, therefore, is but a theory (as of motion, for example); it is not a living force. It is only the plan on which some agent works, and that agent works miraculously-that is, supernaturally-though with constancy. The miracles of the gospel, therefore, suppose no greater interference than may be found already in any department of physical science.

133. The supernatural interference of malevolent beings referred to in the Gospels has also created difficulty, but admits of a satisfactory interpretation. Some have said that such interference was peculiar to the time of our Lord,

Nor Satanic agency in disease.

and is now withdrawn. And it was natural, it is added, that the manifestation of God in the flesh should be accompanied with un. usual activity on the part of the powers of evil: their design was the defence of their own cause; God's design, in permitting it, his glory. Others have supposed that Scripture, when speaking of disease as the result of Satanic agency, lifts up the veil and reveals a secret which is still true. Devils, it is implied, are the first causes of suffering; though second causes are also permitted to work; and in our own time, it is added, they act with power as real, and with results as seemingly natural, as in the days of our Lord. Either interpretation is consistent with physical facts. What men call causes of disease are either second causes or symptoms. The agent that originates them is not seen. In ascribing

them, therefore, to an extraneous cause, Scripture is in harmony with philosophy; and in ascribing them to a spirit of evil, it is not otherwise than in harmony with the indications of even natural

reason.

Christ God

The

134. One remark more, on the nature of our Lord. Gospels give the life of One, who was both God and and Man. Man; and we must not be surprised to find him spoken of now in the one character, and now in the other.

Sec. 1. The Gospels in their mutual relation.

135. The word gospel means good news, and corresponds exactly to the Greek terma by which this portion of sacred Scripture is distinguished.

Gospel.

The Gospels were written at different times, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by the men whose names they bear. They give, not a complete history of the Saviour's life, but such facts and discourses as explain the nature, and prove to different readers the Divine origin, of the Christian system. The four books make really not a biography, but a memoir, and only one. They form one Gospel-a "four-sided Gospel," as Origen called it-and by their marvellous unity and diversity are adapted to interest and instruct every class of character in every age. 136. The first Gospel (by Matthew), was intended for Jews. He therefore gives no explanation of Jewish customs or topography. The genealogy of our Lord he traces through his reputed father to Abraham, and shows how the New Testament is the fulfilment of the Old. The second εὐαγγέλιον, see Luke 2. 10.

Charac

teristics of each.

a

verts.

Gospel (by Mark), was written for the instruction of Roman conJewish customs and places have consequently explanations appended. Narrative is preferred to discourse, and the writer dwells rather on the actions than on the teaching of our Lord. His Gospel is thoroughly practical, and though he has added but twenty-four verses which are not found in the Gospels of Matthew or Luke, the whole is admirably adapted to the energetic business habits of the Roman people. The third Gospel was written by Luke, for the use of the Gentiles generally. Here, again, Christ appears under a new aspect, not as the minister of the circumcision -his character in Matthew-nor yet as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, "Lord of all power and might"-his character in Markbut as the Saviour of the world. His genealogy is traced through his mother to Adam, the head of the whole human family. While Matthew tells of the twelve apostles who were sent to Israel, Luke speaks also of the seventy disciples who were sent as to the nations of the earth. Several parables are found in this Gospel alone, and among them, the good Samaritan and the prodigal son-the one humbling to Jewish pride, the other cheering to the Gentile penitent. Jewish customs and chronological statements are made intelligible to a foreigner, while the fulness of his record of the discourses of our Lord meets the curiosity of the Grecian character. In the fourth Gospel, we have something that meets the higher speculative tendencies of men; correcting what was false in the Jewish and heathen systems of religious philosophy, and completing what was deficient in previous revelations. None has spoken so fully of the Divine character of our Lord, or of the inward spiritual life which springs from union with him. As Matthew's Gospel was called the material one, so John's was called the spiritual, or Divine."

Thus it is that the gospel stands "four-square," with a side fronting each side of the spiritual world: Matthew, addressing the Jew, reveals the Messianic king; Luke, the Greek, reveals the man: Mark, showing the power and vital force of truth; and John, its attractive and subduing love. Matthew exhibits chiefly the Jewish and subordinate; John, the spiritual and Divine, in our Redeemer; Mark, his authority over nature and devils; Luke, his personal history as man. In all combined, Jesus is represented as the Messiah, the Teacher, the Pattern, the Brother, and the God.

Sec. 2. The Genuineness of the Gospels.

137. The general evidence of the genuineness of the New a By Clement.