Lessons in the Christian Evidence: The Mould and the Medallion
For understanding some subjects, and for appreciating some kinds of evidence, a special education is requisite. In order to understand the true theory of the planetary system, the mind must be prepared by a knowledge of mathematics, The Newtonian system would still be the true theory of the universe, even although no mortal could appreciate the proofs on which it rests: but where there exists a competent knowledge of geometry, and where the celestial phenomena are adequately observed, the doctrine of gravitation forces itself on every sane and unprejudiced understanding. In other words, it sometimes needs one truth to pave the way for another.
When the Most High was about to introduce into the world the most important of all revelations, He prepared a receptacle on purpose for it. He selected a “peculiar people,” and by a lengthened process of instruction He fitted them for understanding His final message, and for giving the first welcome to the world’s Redeemer.
Had the Advent taken place in Italy or Greece, or in ancient Britain, we can scarcely see how the Saviour could have made His meaning understood, or how He could have demonstrated His celestial mission. Believing in a thousand deities, — believing, too, that heroes and patriots had often been promoted to a place among the gods, had Jesus appeared in such a nation working His miracles of mercy, it would have been supposed that He was just another Hercules or Esculapius, or a god come down in the likeness of men, and who would again go back to His native Olympus. With a most imperfect ethics, — perceiving little harm in fraud and covetousness, in lust and falsehood, and practising without remorse the most atrocious of crimes, — they had scarcely first principles sufficient to appreciate the heavenly morality of the Mount of Beatitudes, and had nothing of that “conscience of sin” which longs for a Saviour. And possessed of no prophecies, — taught by no Moses or Isaiah, — they neither looked out for a Messiah, nor did they know the tokens by which to distinguish Him when once He appeared.
6o Lessons in the Christian Evidence.
Put for this greatest event of human history God prepared a people and a place; He prepared the Hebrew people and the Holy Land.
First of all, He segregated the Hebrew race from all the nations of the world. Enclosing them within a cordon of rites and ceremonies more exclusive than any brazen wall, He planted them in Palestine, and through the long pagan ages He kept them dwelling quite alone. By a process as strange as it was wise and effective, He familiarised them with certain great ideas, and taught them those fundamental truths which it was essential that at least one nation should know.
He taught them that God is one; that He is a spirit, infinite and omnipresent, the Creator of all things. And in teaching them the unity and spirituality of the Divine nature, He placed them on a platform immeasurably exalted above the whole of Heathendom. In the absolute and undoubting certainty that there is only one God, and that God is a spirit, infinite and eternal, — the starting-point of a Hebrew child was in advance of the theological goal of a Plato and a Seneca; and in the mere absence of graven images, alongside of the intensest devotion, Palestine presented an aspect all the more impressive that it was entirely unique and unparalleled.
He taught them many of the Divine perfec-The Mould and the Medallion. 6l
tions. The gods of the nations were at the best immortal men, — heroic personages, with a mixture of human infirmities and superhuman powers. Most of them were deified monsters or canonised villains, — patrons of murder and theft, and every pollution; and it is no wonder that the worshippers of Kali and Bacchus grew nearly as vile as the almighty brutes whom they adored. But Israel knew that Jehovah is holy. They knew that the great Creator loves truth and purity, and that all His perfections are arrayed against the thief and the liar, the unchaste and untrue. They knew that God is righteous and faithful to His promises; that He is slow to anger and abundant in mercy. And though it was only a single psalm, like the 103d or the 139th, more true theology, more genuine devotion, more of child like faith in the Supreme, would be chanted any morning in the Temple in one such Hebrew hymn than could be compiled from the sacred songs of all the neighbouring bards from Hesiod and Homer down to Pindar and Callimachus.*
* The processes of this education have been illustrated in a work of remarkable freshness and power, which we recommend to all who have not yet read it, “The Philosophy of the Plan of Salvation. By an American Citizen.” Nor can the historical books of the Old Testament be perused with thorough appreciation till the reader has his eyes open to this master-fact. It s only when he remembers the important end for which the Most High was teaching and training the “peculiar people,” that he
He gave them good precepts, and in the ten commands the Hebrews had a code the most simple, precise, and comprehensive which a people could desire, and issued with all the majestic sanctions of a legislation direct from Heaven.
He taught them the enormity of sin. Not that other nations had no sense of sin; but their apprehension of its demerit and its turpitude was faint, even when they felt its danger. But to the Israelite the law of the leper, the scape-goat, the morning and evening sacrifice, the Day of Atonement, and the perpetual ablutions and offerings, were so many mirrors; and in the focus where all the light concentred was that dark and dreadful evil, sin. And of all men then existing, it was only from the heart of a Hebrew that such bitter cries could be wrung,” Have
can see the rationale of the Levitical code, with all its specifications of creatures clean and unclean; and it is only then that he can understand why judgments so severe and terrible followed acts of transgression. It was needful to wean the people from idolatry; and the plague which followed the erection of the golden calf was a sharp and signal lesson. It was all-important to give an impressive view of the Divine sanctity, — the immeasurable interval betwixt the sinful creature and the Holy One of Israel; and this impression was instantly produced by the fate of Korah and his confederates, and afterwards of Uzzah. It was essential that all should feel how the eyes of the Lord are everywhere, beholding the evil and the good; and how could Jehovah’s omniscience be more effectually taught to a rude and half-reclaimed nation than by the detection and punishment of Achan?
mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”
Yet He taught them that sin may be taken away. Such was the avowed significance of each expiatory offering; and the two ideas, — sin, and a satisfaction for sin, — were involved in every sacrifice. We can easily imagine the emotions of a Nathanael, or other thoughtful Israelite, on his yearly visit to Jerusalem. From the battlements of the “Beautiful House,” the silver trumpets have sounded their peaceful signal, and the mighty portals are flung open for the day. Already the courts are peopled with kneeling groups and solitary Simeons at their morning prayer; and from the fagots on the burnished altar the flame leaps soft and pale to the sunshine; — when, in his gorgeous robes, and with the Twelve Tribes flashing on his jewelled breastplate, the high priest solemnly advances, and a Levite leads forward a spotless lamb. It was touching to see it there, and to know its doom; last week sporting amidst its fellows on the green pastures of Bethlehem, and now the only one of its species amidst this strange multitude, for whose fault it is about to suffer, — its unused footsteps slipping on the marble floor, but silent and unresisting. Over its head, on which he lays his hands, the high priest confesses Israel’s sins; and then, taking from an attendant the sacrificial knife, next moment the poor firstling bleeds and dies. And as from the altar where it burns great clouds ascend, fragrant with wine and incense, the voice of praise and prayer rises loud and urgent; and, the service ended, Aaron’s successor turns to the prostrate worshippers, and uplifting his outspread hands, he says, “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace,” — and amidst the loud amens the congregation separates, and the courts are clear. And so we might follow the wistful worshipper through the ceremonial of a Passover, or of a personal sin-offering: and in every sacrifice he would see a remembrance of sin. For just as the morning sacrifice reminded him that sure as the favoured land woke up, so depravity went forth to repeat its daily doings: just as the evening sacrifice told him that six hours had not elapsed till, from the fermenting surface of a nation’s life, a miasma had again arisen, which needed prayers and sacrifice to disperse its wrathattracting exhalations; so the Passover proclaimed that, in the holiest home of all that Holy Land, there still was guilt sufficient to draw down Jehovah’s ire, and that nothing could hold back the destroyer’s sword save the sprinkled sign, — at once a confession and a covert, — an acknowledgment of guilt, and an avowal of confidence in Jehovah’s covenant: whilst, in like manner, the personal offering spoke the sad admission, “Against thee, thee only, have /sinned.” But along with the suggested sinfulness, simultaneous and commingling, rose the idea of substitution. Still the victim, and that victim most frequently the lamb, — beautiful and free from blemish; the lamb so patient and meek, so innocent and endearing, such a favourite everywhere, the gentle creature which you would like to carry in your bosom. But once more, the hand laid upon its head, and the guilt confessed, — once more, the glittering steel, the flowing blood, the dying struggle, — once more, the victim and the sacrifice. So that the same sacrifice which spoke of guilt published God’s mercy. Along with the Divine displeasure, it gave a welcome hint of righteous reconciliation. It suggested a penalty, but a penalty which could be somehow transferred. And if to the transgressor it cried, “Behold your sin!” to the believing suppliant it audibly whispered, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes it away!”
Finally, in preparing a nation as the special shrine of the Advent, God sent to it many prophets. In predictions exceedingly numerous — and many of them remarkably precise — He gave the Jews tokens by which they might recognise the Saviour when He came. His Divine Father, His mortal mother, His tribe, His family, His birthplace, the period of His appearing, His precursor, His miracles, His popularity, His betrayal, His cruel death in its minutest details, His reappearance in life, His ascension to heaven, and the wonders that should instantly follow, — all were so vividly described that for ages beforehand the Hebrews were furnished with ever so many “marks of Messiah.”
Thus peculiar were Palestine and its people; and such were the great truths to which, through a term of fifteen centuries, the Most High had been gradually conducting them; till at last the Holy Land had become the only oasis in a blighted world, the only Goshen amidst the heathen gloom. Of sound theology and of substantial morality, the Jews, however otherwise uninteresting, possessed a monoply; and of all nations they alone had the means of acquiring those views of sin which awaken the desire of a Saviour. Theirs was the only land without an idol, and theirs the only one which boasted a revealed religion. The moral law was theirs, and theirs were all the prophets. And yet, with all their advantages, the Jews themselves were not a noble people. Generally speaking, they had no elevation of mind, no expansiveness, no spirituality. In the reign of the Caesars they had become a morose and selfish community —
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a set of noisy wranglers and repulsive fanatics. Could we suppose a philosopher like Seneca travelling in Syria about the year 25, we might imagine him writing, — “What a paradoxical people! Judging by the Greek version, there exists nothing comparable to their sacred books. Rules of virtue so strict, patterns of excellence so majestic, representations of the Deity so sublime, do not exist in any other literature. And they have many strange usages: a Sabbath every seventh day on which they do no work; sacrifices which they offer with very singular but affecting observances; many lustrations and intricate ceremonies. But the two most extraordinary features of this anomalous people remain to be noticed. There is not in all their land a single statue or image; and yet they are not atheists. On the contrary, no people can be more religious; but they fancy that any similitude, however costly or fair, would be an outrage on the infinite and invisible Deity. Their other peculiarity is this: — their sacred books teem with predictions of a great Deliverer, who, they think, will acquire for their country universal empire. He is suddenly to make his appearance in their temple at Jerusalem; and you cannot conceive with what intensity the expectation makes them cling to this temple; which, indeed, is in itself a fane of surpassing costliness and glory. At this very moment they are on the tiptoe of expectation; for they affirm that the time has arrived for this conqueror coming. We shall see. I confess that I am perplexed. I admire the theology and ethics of these Jews; and sometimes, in their gorgeous temple, with its veiled but vacant sanctuary, amidst their ancient worship, I feel as if I could adore the Jehovah of Israel. But when I look to the Jews themselves, and say, — Is this the product of that lofty creed and spiritual worship? these sour bigots and solemn triflers, these jabbering rabbis and snivelling pedants — are these the normal community, — the model people, — the optimist nation? And when I see that such is revealed religion’s masterpiece, I fall back upon philosophy, and am again the doubter.”
Not so, Sir Sage. Not the normal people, but the pupil nation. Israel is God’s scholar, but he is not meant to be the world’s pattern. By a series of admirable lessons God has been educating this nation with a view to the Saviour’s arrival; and in His wonderful wisdom He has contrived it that were Messiah coming now, the mass of the people would instantly be moved and yet He would obtain an enlightened welcome from only a small and wistful minority. The moment that His harbinger announces, “The kingdom is nigh!” you shall see the whole country stirred from end to end; but when He adds, “Behold the Lamb of God!” few will follow. And yet these few, in following Messias, will move the world. But were it in your Rome that the cry was raised, “The kingdom of God!” who would understand? and were any one proclaiming, “Behold the Lamb!” would not the magistrate confine him as a maniac?
No; not the model people, but the mould for a nobler dispensation. It is only amongst a people who believe the Divine unity and holiness that an Incarnation can answer its purpose. It is only amongst a people habituated to the ideas of substitution and expiation that a gospel, based on sacrifice and satisfaction for sin, can find its first footing. It is only amongst a people possessed of the prophetic marks of Messiah, that He can be expected before He arrives, and identified when at last He appears. Like one who looks at the dark mould into which the artist is about to pour the liquid alabaster, and he thinks, “How black! It will surely soil the fine material! And pray, what is the use of these sharp cuttings and deep indentations’?” But the projection takes place, and as soon as the mass is set, there comes forth a copy from some great Master, — a Nativity, a Transfiguration, a Last Supper. You look at that Hebrew Institute, and you say,” Had it been the work of a Divine Artist, it had surely been fairer.,> But you forget that it is only the matrix of a yo Lessons in the Christian Evidence.
forthcoming model: the pattern* of eventual Perfection. Every depression and indentation has its meaning. These strict precepts and stern prohibitions will only give brighter relief to the counterpart gospel; and the nicer and more numerous the lines, the more exquisite will the product appear. “Meats, and drinks, and new moons, and holy days, and sabbath days, are all shadows of things to come: but the body is of Christ.” If you desire to know the meaning of this Hebrew Institute, you must look to Messiah. This land of greatest light has been prepared as His cradle. These prophecies are His credentials. That temple is the march-stone of the two dispensations, the limit which fixes His arrival, and on the hither side of which His coming must take place. That Old Testament is His text-book, and the pedestal of the national religiousness His pulpit. The very prejudices of the majority will be the means of accomplishing His great oblation, and the existing rites and sacrifices are the hieroglyphics which His one offering will finally expound. And when once that Advent is accomplished, the old Institute will be abolished. When once the medallion comes forth, the mould will be broken. No counterfeit can ever appear; for, exploding the temple, annihilating the royal family of Judah, and expelling every Hebrew * Heb. ix. 23.
from the Holy Land, God in His providence will make it impossible for any one after His own Messiah to be born at Bethlehem, or to claim descent from David, or to come suddenly to the temple at Jerusalem. And having fulfilled their first function as the pupil nation and the pioneers of the Advent, but rejecting the mercy which they transmit to others, the Jews will survive as God’s witnesses. Sullen and selfblinded, the old scholar will wander everywhere a reluctant evidence that Jesus is the Christ, and that the gospel is Divine.