their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me."1

Different views are taken of the question put to Jesus, It is supposed by some that it was not so much John's question as the question of his disciples; that they were full of hesitation; and that all the Baptist meant was to put them in the way of getting this great matter cleared up by the Lord's own testimony. But this gloss looks like a contrivance to get rid of a difficulty. It is neither suggested by a primâ facie view of the passage nor confirmed by after thought. The narrative indicates that the inquiry was John's own, and the answer given was sent to him; and when we remember that John was then only a little over thirty years of age, full of activity and earnestness, pining in a prison, a victim of rampant injustice, a man of like passions with ourselves, subject to depression, chilled with dungeon damps, and depressed by dungeon darkness, and looking on life in his own case as much sorrow after a short burst of popularity, as vanity and vexation, a collapse and a failure; can we wonder if doubts came over him, if he were tempted to say, "How strange that He, the Bridegroom, whose coming I announced, takes no notice of me, sends no message, expresses no pity for my bitter captivity?" We believe the solution of the difficulty is to be found in a momentary depression, a passing struggle, such as comes at times over men of the strongest faith. The answer of Jesus would clear all up, and John would be thereby prepared for speedy martyrdom.

* It is wonderful to think of the eulogium pronounced

1 Matt. xi. 2—6.

on the Baptist by his Lord. He who occasionally singled out a soul for special praise never went so far in any other case as in this; and His words enshrine His forerunner within the brightness of a surpassing fame.1

John the Baptist took up revelation where the prophets left it. Like Hosea and others, he preached repentance in some respects even more forcibly than they had done. And, standing on the same ground as Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Joel, he proclaimed, in fresh, startling words, the spiritual influence of the Messiah, whose harbinger he was-" He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." His own baptism with water prepared for a baptism more efficacious; and how eminently evangelical was his designation of Jesus, “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world!" By an inspired touch he lighted up anew the prophecies of Isaiah, and gave to sacrifices and passovers a deeper and richer meaning than ever.

1 Matt. xi. 7-15.

CHAPTER II.

JESUS CHRIST AND THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.

"G°

OD, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." 1

We have throughout been tracing the manifestation of God to men through man, in contradistinction from We the manifestation of God to men through nature. now approach that instance which immeasurably surpasses all previous ones. They were but partial and mixed displays of what is Divine; this is perfect. They were scattered; "came bit by bit," "at sundry times in divers manners;" this is included in one short human life, harmonious and complete, wherein "dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." The teaching of Jesus is much more than the development of Judaism. It takes up the "The grace old revelation, but wonderfully adds to it. and truth" which "came by Jesus Christ," run upon a far higher level than the law "given by Moses: " and 1 Heb. i. 1-3.

whilst fulfilling predictions uttered by the prophets, contain Divine thoughts which no prophet had been enabled to anticipate.1

There are four records of the most wonderful of all lives; and it is now our blessed task to examine them. Different methods of treatment may be suggested. We might with advantage look at each narrative by itself, and, after analysing its contents by a careful induction of particulars, reach certain results. But this would give rise to critical discussions, and require more space than we have at our disposal. We prefer, therefore, to bring out from these narratives, taken together, salient points of importance and interest, around which may be grouped appropriate illustrations.

We shall arrange what we have to say in the following order :

1. The verbal teaching of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels.

2. The narratives given by St. John.

3. The teaching afforded by the nature, acts, and spirit of our Lord's life.

THE VERBAL TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST IN THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.

The date of these compositions cannot be accurately determined; but it may be safely concluded that the Gospel of Matthew was not written before the year A.D.

1 "Christianity is neither a development nor an evolution. It is no republication, as it used once to be regarded, of the law of nature: still less is it a mere expansion and development of Judaism. Christianity is alike a revelation and a realisation."-Modern Unbelief (Dr. Ellicott, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol), p. 56.

61; or the Gospel of Mark later than the year A.D. 65. Some put it back to a much earlier date. The Gospel of Luke is dated by Alford about the year A.D. 58.

As to their origin we simply observe that the Gospels seem to contain the substance of an evangelical narrative common to all the apostles, repeated by them in forms of speech partly identical, as preserved by unanimous tradition; and partly dissimilar, as the character of each mind, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, might be drawn towards different particulars, and towards distinct aspects of the Master's life.

His teaching, as it appears in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is manifold; but there is a central idea in all three, which gives a connected character to His instructions, and which claims to be carefully and fully traced by theological students. It is the idea of the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven.

We have met the idea already in the ministry of the Baptist. It meets us repeatedly in the first public discourse of the Saviour, His Sermon on the Mount. "The kingdom of heaven" occurs twice in the beatitudes. He speaks of those who shall be called least, and those who shall be called great "in the kingdom of heaven," and insists upon what is requisite for entering "into the kingdom of God." Thy kingdom come" is one of the petitions in our Lord's Prayer. "Seek first the kingdom of heaven" is one of our Lord's precepts.

Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven," is one of our Lord's warnings.1 Thus at the outset we become familiarised with the expression.

If any one were asked to define in a sentence what is 1 Matt. v. 3-10, 19, 20; vi. 33; vii. 21