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Title: Witnesses to Truth


Author: Edward Hoare



Release Date: August 8, 2016  [eBook #52750]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)


***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITNESSES TO TRUTH***

Transcribed from the 1883 Church of England Book Society edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org

WITNESSES TO TRUTH.

BY
THE REV. EDWARD HOARE, M.A.,
VICAR OF TRINITY CHURCH, TUNBRIDGE WELLS;
AND HONORARY CANON OF CANTERBURY.

AUTHORIZED EDITION.

LONDON:
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND BOOK SOCIETY,
11, ADAM STREET, STRAND.

1883.

p. 3CONTENTS.

p. 5DIFFICULTIES.

The Bible has been compared to a river in which a child may wade, and an elephant swim; by which is meant that it is full of practical truth so plainly revealed that a little child may rejoice in it, while at the same time it is full of truth so deep that the loftiest intellect of man is very soon out of its depth in the study of it.  Thus there are few things more beautifully simple than a living faith.  It is the unquestioning trust of one who loves his God and Saviour; the calm repose of the dependent heart on One who has summed up His Gospel in the words “Come unto Me.”  Thus there are thousands, and tens of thousands, of happy believers who have accepted the great salvation just as God has given it; and who, without perplexing their minds about matters which they cannot understand, most thankfully receive what God has revealed, and rejoice in it with their whole hearts as belonging to themselves and their children.  As little children they receive and trust, the result of which is that they rest p. 6in their Saviour as a child rests in its mother’s arms.  I believe there are those by whom such persons are despised, and by whom they are regarded as weak, foolish, and contemptible; but they have the joy of the Lord, and, instead of being despised, they may well be envied by those who, in the consciousness of superior intellect, consider themselves qualified to despise their folly.

But, while we rejoice in this simple and childlike Christian faith, it is vain to deny that in “the deep things of God” there are difficulties, and that there are other minds to whom these difficulties are a source of real and grave perplexity.  I am not now speaking of those who delight in magnifying difficulties, and whose only object in reading their Bible is to find out something at which they may cavil; but I am speaking rather of thoughtful men who respect religion, and are not opposed to truth; who have never set their face against the Gospel; and to whom it would be a real cause of heartfelt thanksgiving if they were able to receive, in the simplicity of faith, the great salvation revealed to them in the Word of God.  They have no wish to be unbelievers; their hearts are not set against the truth; and they believe enough to make them long to believe the whole.  But there are some things that perplex them, and there are certain difficulties which they cannot quite get over.

Now, without the slightest hesitation or disguise, I fully and frankly admit that there are very serious p. 7difficulties in the revelation of God, and difficulties which I believe it is not in the power of the human intellect to solve.  When, therefore, a person says that he cannot understand all that is revealed, I agree with him.  If he add that on that account he cannot believe, I altogether dissent from his conclusion; but as to the existence of difficulties he is undoubtedly right.  We, who believe, know perfectly well, and fully admit, that there are things in divine revelation which we are altogether unable either to explain or understand.

Think, for example, of the divinity of our blessed Lord and Saviour, and the perfect union of a divine and human nature in His one sacred person.  I am not afraid to state plainly my firm conviction that no human intellect can explain it.  If He were only an appearance of God Himself that would be intelligible; or if He were only man endued with very high qualifications, that again would be within our reach; but that He should be in His one person both perfect God and perfect man, or, in other words, both infinite and finite, that I believe to be far beyond the reach of human explanation.

It is the same with the doctrine of election, and its union with human responsibility.  The two appear to be opposed to each other, but, notwithstanding that, they are both found in the Gospel.  How can it be explained?  How can it be?  I cannot tell.  Some people meet the difficulty by cutting out one side, and some by cutting out the other; but neither one process of excision p. 8nor the other can satisfy a really thinking mind.  And the difficulty remains, for we find both sides in Scripture.

Who, again, can explain a resurrection?  We see in spring that wonderful revival of life which is a type of it.  But who can explain the thing itself?  What physician, or what scientific philosopher, can explain how the dead shall be made alive?  Whenever it is done it must be done by some power of which man knows nothing, so that the resurrection of the dead is something which, to the knowledge of man, appears impossible.

Then again, in conclusion, look around on all the sin and misery of the world.  We know that it is explained in the Scriptural account of the fall, and that there is a remedy provided in Christ Jesus.  But there is something inexpressibly appalling in the facts.  Here is this beautiful world, that appears to have been created as a happy home for holy inhabitants, filled with sin, misery, ruin, pain, anguish, remorse, strife, sickness, and ultimately death.  And when we think of the words, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” and when we contrast the Creator with the present condition of creation, there is enough to fill the heart with amazement, and to make the thoughtful man exclaim, “How can these things be?”

Now with this full and frank acknowledgment of difficulty we are brought face to face with the question, What effect should these difficulties have on our faith?  Should they shake it, or should they confirm it?  p. 9Should they lead us to give up the Gospel, or should they establish our trust, and induce us to cleave to it more stedfastly than ever?  Some people will say, “Give it up,” and will tell you, because there are difficulties to settle, to settle down in sceptical distrust!  But surely they are not wise in giving such advice, nor in acting on such principles.  They certainly do not act so in common life, and such conduct is not in harmony with the wisdom of the world.

Can you explain how a little thin vapour rising up from boiling water can force a long line of heavy-laden carriages through the country at the rate of fifty miles an hour?  But you rely on the arrangements of those who can, and, trusting them, you do not refuse to take your seat in the train.

Can you explain all the deep currents of the ocean, or how it is that water became endowed with such properties as to bear up a great, heavy, iron ship?  But you trust those who have constructed the vessel, and, without attempting to understand the construction, you do not hesitate to go to sea.

Can you explain the chemical properties of medicine, or how it is that it will act on your system and do you good?  But you trust a physician, and you take it.

Can you explain how it is that the will, that secret, hidden, indescribable power within you, makes your hand move in obedience to your wish?  But would you on that account think it wise never to move your limbs?

The fact is that in practical life we are surrounded in p. 10all directions with things which we cannot explain, and problems which we cannot solve.  We cannot escape from such difficulties; they meet us at every turn.  But in daily life we never think of them.  Our practical conduct is not affected by them.  We see what we have to do, and we do it.  We take our place in the train, we go on board the ship, we send our telegram, we eat our food, and we move our limbs, without ever endeavouring to solve the mysteries which underlie all that we are doing.  Now all I ask is that men should act on the same principle with reference to the Gospel.  There are, as I have said, difficulties, and if you never act until they are solved, a weary time you will have to wait.  But there is also a plain, simple, clear word of invitation; there is a great salvation prepared, presented, and proclaimed.  There is a way of life so clearly taught that he may run that readeth it.  So the wise course is to say, “Difficulty or no difficulty, I accept the invitation,” and to act practically just as you do with your food or your medicine.  Your physician gives you medicine, and, though you cannot explain how it will act, you take it in trust.  So your God gives you His salvation, and your part is to accept His gift, and leave it to Him to solve the deep mysteries of His hidden will.

But I cannot leave the subject there, for I am prepared to maintain that these difficulties should confirm the faith, and to claim them even as “witnesses to truth.”

1.  They are witnesses to the truth of the Scriptures, p. 11for in them we are told that we are sure to meet with them.

While, as I have already said, the way of life is presented so clearly that he may run that readeth it, there is at the same time the perfectly clear statement that we must expect to find difficulties in the revelation of God.  Only look at St. Peter’s description of St. Paul’s Epistles in 2 Peter iii. 16.  In that passage he associates those Epistles with the other Scriptures, and plainly declares that they contain some things “hard to be understood.”  Are we then to be surprised if, in reading them, we meet with things “hard to be understood,” or if we meet with men who venture to cavil at them, and so wrest them to their own destruction?  I am prepared to maintain that if in St. Paul’s Epistles, and the other Scriptures, there had been nothing “hard to be understood,” then St. Peter himself would not have spoken truth.  The difficulties in the writings of St. Paul are necessary to the complete truth of the Epistle of St. Peter.

So St. Paul himself plainly teaches us that our knowledge in this world is only partial.  Only refer to his language in 1 Cor. xiii. 12.  There are two facts there stated—first, that our vision is indistinct, and then that it is limited.  It is indistinct, for we see through a glass darkly, or through a dull refractor; and it is limited, for we know only in part.  “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”  Are we to p. 12be surprised then if we do not enjoy a full, clear, sun-light vision of the whole?  And is not the indistinctness of our vision a proof of the truth of the Scriptures?

So we meet in the Scriptures with the full recognition of the selfsame difficulties that arise in modern times.  These difficulties are no new discoveries of the sharpened intellect of the nineteenth century, but are as old as the Gospel itself.

Do you find a difficulty in explaining the perfect union of a perfect Godhead and a perfect manhood in the one person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?  I acknowledge frankly, “So do I.”  I am not afraid to acknowledge that I cannot explain it, and that I believe no one can.  But my point is that the Scriptures have prepared us for it, and that it is the very difficulty which our Lord Himself presented to the Pharisees when He said, “If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?” (Matt xxii. 45.)

Do you find a difficulty in the doctrine of “election,” and are you unable to reconcile the gift of life to a chosen number with the perfect equity of the universal government of God?  If so, remember that there is nothing new in such a difficulty.  It is as old as the Gospel itself, and it is fully recognized in the Scriptures.  Nothing can be more perfectly clear than the statement made respecting it in Romans ix. 1–13, or than the full recognition of the difficulty in verse 14—“What shall we say then?  Is there unrighteousness with God?  God forbid.”

p. 13So, once more, with the resurrection.  Does it appear impossible that the dead should rise again?  Are you unable to conceive the possibility of a body, lost in the ocean, burnt in the flames, or corrupted in the grave, being restored to unity, life, and vigour?  I grant you that it does seem impossible.  I see the difficulty as much as any of you.  But let no man suppose that this difficulty is new, or the discovery of it the result of his own independent intellect; for in the Scriptures of truth we are fully prepared for it.  We are not taken by surprise, for we were warned of it 1800 years ago in our Bibles; for there we read, in verse 35 of the great resurrection chapter (1 Cor. xv.), “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?”  Possibly there may be, at this present time, some whom I am addressing, actually fulfilling that prophecy, and so living amongst us as unintentional “witnesses to its truth.”

But, whether there are or not, my point is that the difficulties themselves are “witnesses to the truth of the Word of God.”  The Bible says, plainly and repeatedly, that there are things “hard to be understood,” and, therefore, if I were to meet with nothing of the kind, and if everything contained in St. Paul’s Epistles and the other Scriptures were perfectly plain, the only conclusion at which I could arrive would be that those Scriptures had not given a true description of the fact.  Now, however, I find them in this most important matter perfectly true.  The objection of the sceptic p. 14only leads me to trust my Bible.  If there were no difficulties, then I should begin to be afraid that my Bible could not be from God.  But now the infidel himself is one of the best “witnesses” that I can put into the witness-box, and the very argument which he brings against the possibility of the fulfilment of the promises of God is an evidence, as clear as the noonday sun, of the wisdom, the foreknowledge, and the perfect acquaintance with the human understanding, with which God inspired, 1800 years ago, (by His Holy Spirit) the Scriptures of truth.  It reminds me of the words of the apostle—“Let God be true, but every man a liar.”

But this is not all; for not only are these difficulties exactly what are revealed in the Scriptures, but they are also exactly what, as thinking men, we ought to expect in a divine revelation.

Let us think what we mean by a divine revelation.  We mean, the communication from an infinite God to fallen man, of His own plan for the salvation of the sinner.  Now what would a reasonable person expect in such a communication?  He would expect Him to inform us of all that concerned our own action, and to make plain to us the way of life in which it is His will that we should walk; but he would not expect Him to indulge our craving after full information respecting His own hidden being, or the mode and power by which He would carry out His promises.  He would expect Him to make His promises plain, but he would not expect Him to explain to us His divine plan for their p. 15fulfilment; he would expect Him to do exactly what He has done in the case of the resurrection—promise it faithfully, and so lead us to trust Himself, without giving any explanation as to the mode or the instrumentality by which that promise should be fulfilled.  And this is exactly the principle which He Himself has laid down in His own Word, as when He said (Deut. xxix., 29), “The secret things belong unto God,” i.e. they are hidden in the depths of His own infinite mind; “but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law;” i.e. all that He has revealed we may freely make use of, and even our little children may learn in it the blessed secret of a Father’s love.

But does it not follow that the moment we attempt to reach into the secrets of God we are perfectly certain to meet with difficulty?  We get out of depth directly, and are like people who cannot swim.  For how can the human mind, for one moment, expect to solve the mysteries of the deep things of God?  How can it aspire either to fathom its depths, or to scale its heights?  Think for one moment what man is, a little creature on this little ball of earth, here for a few years, and then passing away for ever.  And think what He is, “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy,” the “everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.”  And is it likely that man should be able to put as it were into the balances the deep mysteries of His eternal will?  When Zophar thought of it he said p. 16(Job xi. 7, 8), “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?  It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?”  When David thought of the knowledge of God, he said (Psalm cxxxix. 6), “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”  When St. Paul was meeting the objection of those who cavilled at the righteousness of the government of God, he met them with the words (Rom. ix. 20), “Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?  Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”  And when the Sadducees put a difficult puzzle on the subject of the resurrection, our Lord Himself silenced them with the words, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” (Matt. xxii 29.)  And were they not all right?  Shall the finite sit in judgment on the infinite? the created on the Creator? the man of to-day on the God of all eternity?  And are we to doubt His revelation because we cannot fathom the depths of His wisdom nor the hidden mysteries of His being?  Nay, rather, are not those very depths witnesses to the divinity of His revelation?  If it were all so shallow that any young man could wade in it without wetting even his ancles, might we not then believe that it came from some shallow mind no deeper than his own?  If it contained no mysteries, might we not begin to doubt whether it really came from a mysterious God?  So these difficulties of which we hear so p. 17much in modern times, these difficulties on which so many of our young men are so perfectly ready to decide, and on account of which they are even tempted to cast aside the revelation of God—these very difficulties are to us who believe, divine “witnesses” to the divine authorship of the whole.  Had the Book been a man’s book, drawn up by man to commend itself to the mind of man, it never would have had in it those high and holy mysteries by which we see the intellect of man altogether baffled.  Man’s mind would have produced nothing which man’s mind could not comprehend.

We may rejoice, therefore, in “the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;” and, instead of being dismayed or disheartened because we cannot fathom the unfathomable depths of the unfathomable counsels of our God, we would rather say with St. Paul, “Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?” and cling, with more tenacity than ever, to this sacred and holy Book, thus shown by its very mystery to be superhuman and supernatural, nothing less than a revelation from God.

p. 18THE RACES.

Our subject now is one of almost unlimited extent, for we are to call as “witnesses” the races of the world.  We are to take the evidence of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and of all the nations, tongues, peoples, and languages that are dispersed throughout them; and we are to consider the evidence which they bear to the inspiration of the Scriptures.

As some limit must be put to such an enquiry, I propose to confine our thoughts to the study of one passage of Scripture; viz., Gen. ix. 25–27, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.  And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.  God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.”  Some people appear to speak with great disrespect of the Pentateuch.  It is well, therefore, to take from it an ancient prophecy, and to study first the historical truth, and secondly the prophetical accuracy of these remarkable words.

I.  The Historical Truth.

It is not an uncommon thing in these days to set science in opposition to the Scriptures, and to speak as if the one were opposed to the other.  As a general p. 19rule, the persons who do so are persons who have a very shallow acquaintance with either, for the truly scientific man, and the true student of the Scriptures, are both so conscious of their own limited attainments in the face of the vast fields of unlimited knowledge which are still unexplored, that they are sure to feel humbly on the subject, and to be very shy of bold assertions respecting matters that they do not understand.  But, instead of science being opposed to the Scriptures, we are quite prepared to call in science as a witness to its truth; for science is the study of the creation of God, and it would be indeed strange if His own works were at variance with His Word.  So we will turn now, if God permit, to one of the great results of modern scientific discovery, and see what testimony it bears to the truth of the Pentateuch.

The particular branch to which I would refer is what is called “Ethnology,” or the study of the nations of the world.  This is comparatively quite a modern science, for it is only quite lately that the world has been thrown open to the investigation of scientific men.  The two means by which it has been thrown open have been the steam-engine, and Christian missions.  The steam-engine has enabled investigators to travel in all directions, and Christian missions have led to the study of hundreds of languages that were previously unknown.

The history of one of these languages is worth recording.  When the late Mr. Darwin visited the islands of Tierra del Fuego, in the celebrated voyage of the Beagle, he considered the inhabitants to be below ordinary p. 20manhood, and to have no language.  But a devoted missionary, settled amongst them, has not only found that they have a language, but he has learned it, reduced it to writing, and translated into it the Gospel of St. Luke.  It has been printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and is now read amongst the people.  Mr. Darwin, being a truly scientific man, was so deeply interested at the discovery of his own mistake, that for the last few years of his life he subscribed £5 a year to the South American Missionary Society.

Thus the missionary movement has brought about a vast increase of scientific knowledge respecting the languages of the world, and scientific men have had before them a mass of fresh material to which their predecessors had no access whatever.  The British and Foreign Bible Society has circulated the Scriptures in no less than 250 languages, by far the greater number of which had never before been reduced to writing.  By this means there has been an immense impetus given to the researches of scientific men.  The two points to which especial attention has been directed have been the structure of language, and the formation of the skull.  On these two points men of science have most carefully collected information from all quarters of the globe—north, south, east, and west; and they have endeavoured to group, or classify, the various scattered nations of mankind.

And now I come to the most remarkable and assuring fact, that, after patient, laborious, and most elaborate p. 21scientific comparison, they have come to the conclusion that all the nations of the earth may be grouped into three great families, and have probably descended from three original centres.  They name these three great divisions the Aryan, the Semitic, and the Turanian.  But we need not trouble ourselves about the names.  The classification itself is the matter of supreme importance; for in this discovery of the nineteenth century we find the full confirmation of the account, written by Moses more than 3,000 years ago, of the three sons of Noah surviving the flood more than 4,000 years ago.  In that narrative we find the account of mankind starting afresh under three heads, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Since that time there have elapsed more than 4,000 years, and now, in this nineteenth century, after all the changes that have taken place, we find a body of learned and unprejudiced men, enabled by the discovery of steam to discover amongst mankind, as we now exist, precisely the same threefold division that is described in the Scriptures as having taken place in the days of Noah.  Now how are we to explain this fact?  What is the cause of this strange coincidence?  It is utterly impossible that the Mosaic record should have been constructed in order to suit the scientific discoveries of our own day.  And those who honour science would be the last to admit that men of science have constructed their system on the lines of the Mosaic record.  But, there is one word that is a key to the whole, one word that is the connecting-link between the fifteenth century before p. 22Christ, and the nineteenth century after Him; between the statements of the Scripture and the researches of science, and that one word settles all.  That one word is Truth, truth in science, and truth in Scripture; truth in the Word, and truth in the works of God.

But we have not yet done with history, for the tenth chapter of Genesis gives us some idea of the direction in which these three great families spread themselves over the surface of the globe.  A moment’s thought will be sufficient to show that it must be next to impossible to trace these descriptions now.  Vast changes have taken place during the 4,000 years that have elapsed.  Cities have sprung up and disappeared; whole nations have risen to power, and passed away; names have changed; there have been migrations, invasions, captivities, and dispersions; so that the different families have in many cases been strangely intermingled.  But still there is a certain outline given in the Pentateuch, and a certain outline agreed upon by the men of science.  Now look at this outline.

Begin with Japheth.  Amongst his sons we meet with three well-known names, all connected by Ezekiel (xxxviii.) with the north; viz., Mesech, Tubal, and Togarmah, leading us to suppose that his descendants most probably spread along the North of Europe and Asia; and in Genesis x. 5 it is added, “By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations”—an expression invariably used for Europe, and p. 23all countries approached from central Asia by sea.  Now, curiously enough, that very district, Europe and Northern Asia, is regarded by the men of science as the head-quarters of those whom they call the Aryans.

As for Shem, there is no difficulty in ascertaining his head-quarters, for Abraham was his lineal descendant; and we know that from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates was the country given him by God.  That country, therefore, was his starting-point; and accordingly men of science tell us that Western Asia, including Palestine and the adjacent countries, must have been the home of the great Semitic family.  Again, therefore, there is the closest possible agreement between ancient history and modern discovery.

The case of Ham is not so perfectly clear.  According to the book of Genesis he appears, if we understand the names, to have spread in two directions—eastward towards Southern Asia, and also south-west to Gaza, the gateway to Africa.  Though Africa is not mentioned in that passage it is clear that the descendants of Ham spread over the isthmus of Suez into that continent; for in Psalm cv. 23, 27, Egypt is actually called “the land of Ham.”  And now once more I turn to the men of science, and I find that these very districts are thought by them to be the ancient homes of those they call Turanians.  Now, let it be well understood, I do not say that these outlines are never crossed, and that the races are not found in many cases to be intermixed.  But what I do say is, that in their great local outlines the p. 24arrangements of the men of science correspond, in a very remarkable manner, with the arrangements which we gather from all that we can learn from the Scripture history.  Once more then modern discovery bears its testimony to Scriptural accuracy, and we welcome the men of science as unanswerable “witnesses” to historical truth.

II.  The Prophecy.

Thus far we have not gone beyond the historical truth of the Pentateuch; but now let us turn to the prophecy,—that most remarkable prophecy of Noah, in which he foreshadowed the future destiny of the great families.  Let us consider the three prophecies in the order in which they stand.

(1.)  Canaan.  There is something inexpressibly awful in the words respecting Canaan, and they are full of instruction respecting sin.  They show what an awful thing sin is in the sight of God, and how superficial is man’s estimate of its guilt; for here is a whole race laid under a solemn curse in consequence of the sin of its head.  As Adam brought a curse on the world, so Ham brought one on Canaan.  The curse inflicted in that case was bondage, and the prophecy was that Canaan should be a servant of servants to both his brethren: i.e. to both Shem and Japheth.  And now look at the fulfilment.

Take first a period about 1,000 years after the prophecy was given, when the Canaanites were still in the promised land, and Israel, the descendants of Shem, p. 25came up from Egypt.  The conflict then was between Shem and Canaan, and what was the result?  The greater part of the Canaanites were destroyed, and those that remained were reduced to abject slavery.  The prediction was fulfilled, and Canaan became the slave of Shem.

But some may say that all that was a long time ago, and only matter of ancient history.

Let us then turn to our own times, and consider facts that are within our own observation.  How is it that our own West Indian islands are peopled with negroes?  Is it not because we English made slaves of the Africans, or, in other words, because Japheth made a slave of Canaan?  How is it that there is a negro population amounting to 4,000,000 in the United States?  Is it not for the name reason, that Japheth made a slave of Canaan?  How is it that up to the year 1807, when the slave trade was abolished, the West Coast of Africa was made the hunting-ground for all the leading nations of Europe?  What was it but the simple fulfilment of this prophecy, in which it was foretold that Japheth should make a slave of Canaan?

And now turn to the Eastern coast of Africa, and the present negotiations now going on in Egypt.  One of the great difficulties of these negotiations arises from the horrors of the East African slave trade.  There is an extensive trade in slaves being carried on at this very time all along the East Coast of Africa.  There are gangs of miserable victims being driven at this very hour to the principal slave markets.  And who are the p. 26great offenders in that most nefarious and wicked traffic?  The Arabs, some still living in Arabia, and some settled in Egypt at the time of the great Arab invasion of the country.  And who are the Arabs, and to which race do they belong?  I believe it is agreed by all parties that they are Semitic, or from Shem.  So that the result is that poor Canaan has been enslaved by both his brethren—on the west by Japheth, and on the east by Shem; and however deeply we deplore the woes of Africa, and however earnestly we should arise as one man to urge our rulers to use their powers to put down the accursed trade, we must look on the fact of its existence with reverent wonder, and learn from those miserable slave gangs a most solemn lesson as to the abiding truth of the prophecies of God.

(2.)  But now let us turn to Shem, where we have a brighter prospect; for on the mention of his name the prophet exclaims, “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem,” or rather, “Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem.”  Now here we have not merely an act of praise, but a prophecy; for there is a clear prediction that Jehovah should be the God of Shem.  Canaan and Japheth might worship devils and false gods, and bow down before man-made idols; but the God of Shem should be Jehovah Himself, and Shem should be distinguished by the fact that Jehovah should be his God.  And is not this precisely what has happened?  Up to the time of our blessed Saviour what nation was there in the world that worshipped p. 27Jehovah except the seed of Abraham?  It was the sacred calling of that family to stand out alone as witnesses before an apostate world to the great principle—“Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”  It was Shem, and Shem alone, that worshipped the one self-existent, omnipotent, omnipresent, and everlasting Jehovah.

The great prophecy, therefore, was most literally fulfilled in fact.  But if we understand the name “Jehovah” as applied to the promised seed of the woman, the Saviour who was to come, the fulfilment is still more remarkable; for it was in the line of Shem that the Coming One appeared.  No trouble is taken in the Scriptures to record the genealogies of either Ham or Japheth, and they terminate with two generations.  But the sacred line of Shem is carefully preserved.  We have every link given, from Adam to Abraham, and after that from Abraham to the Lord Jesus; so that if we thus understand the title Jehovah, the prophecy would mean, Blessed be the Coming One, the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the God of Shem; and we should see in it the prophecy that the coming deliverer, the deliverer promised to Eve, should arise out of the family of Shem, so that in him and his seed should all nations of the world be blessed.  I need not stop to point out how exactly this prophecy was fulfilled in the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ about 2,300 years after it was spoken by Noah.

(3.)  But now for Japheth.

The meaning of the name is generally considered to p. 28be “enlargement,” and the prophecy is that he should be enlarged.  The meaning of this must be, that he should be gifted with what may be termed a spreading power.  His great characteristic is to be expansion, or, the enlargement of his borders.  Now think for one moment of Europe and Europeans.  Think of Europe as the home of the sons of Japheth according to the Scriptures, or of the Aryans according to the men of science.  And may we not appeal to any one who will take the trouble to look around the world at this present day, and ask whether this power of spreading is not one of the most peculiar and exceptional features of the European family?  Ham and Shem are not spreading anywhere; but Japheth everywhere.  Why, look at this little island of our own—one of the very least of the “isles of the Gentiles”—and see how its people have spread.  Not only has it peopled the vast continent of America, but it possesses at this present time such a colonial empire that the sun never sets on the dominions of our Queen.  Most truly and most remarkably in our own case has God enlarged Japheth, and so made England a “witness to the truth” of the prophecy which He gave through Noah no less than 4,000 years ago.

But there still remains that last clause, “He shall dwell in the tents of Shem,” and, as we ought never to speak too dogmatically respecting the prophetic Word, I am free to admit that it is not perfectly clear in what sense it should be understood.

It may refer to the spreading of the Europeans into p. 29all the nations of the world, and so dwelling in the tents of Shem; and if there were nothing more than our own settlements in foreign lands, there would be the most complete fulfilment of the prophecy.

But surely there is more.  And especially there is one remarkable fulfilment, which I cannot help thinking must have been intended in the prophecy.  Now let us remember that the Lord and His coming is the centre, or turning-point, of the whole prophetic Word.  Let us not forget how we found that the prophecy respecting Shem appeared distinctly to foretell His advent.  Now when the predicted time came, and the promised Jehovah appeared, why did He not take His place on the throne of David, and why did He not reign in the tents of Shem?  The Holy Land had all been given to Abraham, and belonged to the family of Shem; but when the Lord, the God of Shem, came, there was neither throne nor kingdom for Him, and He had not even where to lay His head.  How could this be?  And what had become of the royal throne?  The answer is most remarkable.  The Romans were on it, or, in prophetic words, Japheth was dwelling in the tents of Shem.  The Romans were sons of Japheth, and by them the Lord, the God of Shem, was supplanted on His throne.

But, though that was a clear, literal, and most remarkable fulfilment of the prophecy, I cannot help thinking that in these words the Spirit of God referred to something higher.  When St. James was speaking of p. 30the call of the Gentiles at what has been termed the council of Jerusalem, as recorded, Acts xv. 15, he quoted the words, “I will build again the tabernacle of David.”  The conversion of the Gentiles was compared, therefore, to their admission into the tabernacle of David.  And so the safety of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is compared by David himself to the shelter of God’s tabernacle, as, e.g., in Psalm xxvii. 5, where we read, “In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.”  Now, bearing in mind the great fact that Jehovah is the God of Shem, and that the predicted Redeemer came from Shem, may we not believe that the tent, or the tabernacle of Shem, was the prophetic figure of the safety provided in the promised Son of God?  The word Shem means “name,” and there may be something in the passage not unlike those other words, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.”  Now if the passage were so understood, it would lead to the conclusion that Japheth would shelter himself under the Jehovah of Shem, and so dwell, as it were, in his tent, or under his tabernacle.  It would lead us to expect a salvation through the Jehovah of Shem, bestowed on Japheth in such a way that Japheth should become possessor of Shem’s inheritance.

Now if that view of the prophecy commend itself to your judgment, remember that Noah spoke more than 4,000 years ago, and then look at the present position of the world.  In what quarters of the globe do we find p. 31at this present time the most general recognition of the God of Shem?  Which of the continents are most prominent in the honour paid to His name?  Certainly neither Africa nor Asia; neither Ham nor even Shem itself.  Beyond all controversy the two great Christian continents that are dwelling under Jehovah of Shem are the two peopled by Japheth; viz., Europe and America.  Explain it as we may, the facts are most remarkable.  The Lord Jesus Christ came from Shem, and, according to the language of scientific men, was Semitic, whereas by far the great majority of those who believe in His Name are from Japheth, or, according to men of science, Aryans.  Shem has rejected its own Saviour; but Japheth has received Him, so that, under our own eyes, and at this present time, Japheth is dwelling in the tents of Shem.  I know well how grievous a perversion of truth there is throughout Europe, and I do not for one moment maintain that the worship is pure; but still the name of Jehovah, the God of Shem, as manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ, is avowedly honoured, and we sons of Japheth are at this present moment abiding in His tent.

Now how are we to explain all this?  How are we to explain the agreement between the conclusions of modern science and the historical fact of the threefold division which occurred more than 4,000 years ago?  How again are we to account for the fulfilment of the prophetic Word?  How do we explain the fact that, in exact accord with the prophecy, Canaan is the servant p. 32of servants; that it was from Shem that the Lord appeared; that Japheth is at this day remarkable for enlargement; and that we ourselves at this very moment are assembled to worship in the house of the God of Shem?  It is impossible to believe that the book of Genesis was written to suit the conclusions of modern science; for these conclusions were utterly unknown at the time of its composition.  It is impossible to believe that it is the result of design in our scientific men, for such an idea would indeed dishonour science.  It is equally impossible to believe that the agreement was the result of chance or accident; for there are far too many points, both in the history and prophecy, to render such accidental coincidence possible.  It is like a complicated lock which can only be opened by the key that was made to fit it.  No; there is only one solution of the problem.  As for the history, science agrees with it, and therefore confirms its truth; and as for the prophecy, it could have had its origin in no human calculation of the future; for how should Noah make any calculation respecting the state of this nineteenth century?  But all is plain if we believe it to be inspired.  He who inspired the prophecy, He saw the end from the beginning.  He knew all, and by the lips of Noah he foretold what he foreknew; and thus we are brought to the conclusion, so plainly stated by St. Peter—“The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

p. 33THE JEWS.

I am about, if God permit, to speak now of, by far, the most remarkable people in the world.  In the last chapter we studied the Races, and found that through the labours of scientific men the three patriarchs of 4,000 years ago reappear in this nineteenth century as most important “witnesses to truth.”  We put, as it were, Shem, Ham, and Japheth into the witness-box, and the result of their testimony was that Noah was inspired, and the Bible true.  Such a subject as that has a tendency to lose power through the vastness of its extent.  Our reading is not sufficiently wide, nor our minds sufficiently large, to enable us to take in the whole.  We are dependent, moreover, on scientific men; and it is a strange thing, but a fact, that those who talk most of science are generally the least disposed to receive the conclusions of scientific men, when those conclusions differ from their own.  But now I am about to call witnesses, in the examination of whom we do not want the help of science; for in their case there are no scientific difficulties.  Their evidence is within reach of us all, and if we choose we may test it for ourselves.  I am not about to speak of what happened 4,000 years ago; but of what is going on now, of what p. 34took place last year, and what any one may see for himself, if he will take the trouble to go to Houndsditch or Petticoat Lane.  There he will find a most remarkable people, eager, quick, and intelligent, exceedingly different from the rest of the inhabitants of London, and separated from their fellow-townsmen by a social barrier, which is very seldom overstepped.  These remarkable people are the Jews.

Now there are five undoubted and indisputable facts respecting the Jews that I propose, if God permit, to bring before you, and may He be pleased to help our study to the confirmation of our faith, and to the increase of our interest in His own ancient people!

(1.)  Their Expatriation, or their expulsion as a nation from their country.

Now it is a curious fact, that there is no other nation in the world which has such a right to its own country as the Jews.  Other nations claim their country simply through the right of occupation.  We live in England, and our fathers lived there before us, so we consider it ours, and are ready to lay down our lives for its safety.  But we have no title-deeds, and we have no documents to prove that it is ours.  But it is very different with the Jews.  They have the clearest possible documentary evidence of their covenant right to Palestine.  There is not a person in any town who has a better title to his house than the Jews have to their country.  It was distinctly given to them by God Himself, as we read in Gen. xv. 18.  And yet after having occupied it for fifteen p. 35centuries, and after having shown the utmost courage and determination in its defence, they were driven from their homes by their Roman conquerors.  Their city was sacked, their temple burnt with fire, their country laid desolate, and they themselves scattered homeless through the world.  The result is that at this present time there are many more Jews in London than there are in the whole of Palestine.  Now these are plain, well-known facts, and facts so well established that they are beyond the reach of contradiction.

(2.)  Dispersion.  When their home was broken up in Jerusalem they were not carried elsewhere as they were when they entered it, like a hive of bees moved from one garden to another, but they were dispersed in all directions.  From that day they have had no resting-place anywhere, and they have never since had what we may term a central home.  They have had no head-quarters, and, although they cluster more thickly in some places than in others, they have on the whole gone forth as lone wanderers on the face of the earth.  The result is that, go where you will, you are sure to meet with Jews.  They are sometimes driven about by persecution, and sometimes attracted by trade; but we need not study the cause of their movements.  They are found in all the continents—Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia; in new settlements and old countries, in all climates and amongst all races; and as the seed is scattered over the field, so the Jewish people are dispersed through the world.

p. 36(3.)  Distinction, or Distinctiveness.

It appears to be the general law of human nature, that when different races live together they become, before long, fused with each other.  There may be exceptions, as there are in certain cases; but there is always some cause to account for it.  In India, for example, there is very little fusion between the English and the Hindoo; but then it must be remembered that no English ever settle in India as their permanent home.  So in America there is not much fusion between the European races and the negroes; but there again we must remember that there is the almost impassable barrier of the difference of colour as well as the slave curse on Canaan.  But in ordinary cases there is always fusion, and when there is no such barrier the races soon amalgamate.  In our own country, for example, there are Britons, Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans; but who can distinguish them?  We are all merged into one race, and the distinction of our nationality is totally lost.  Who could pick out from any congregation the Roman, the Dane, or the Norman?  But the Jew remains distinct.  There is nothing to keep him separate, but separate he remains.  He is rich, and enterprising, and talented, and often exceedingly handsome; but he does not amalgamate, and he remains to this day as distinct from us all as he was when he first landed on our shores.

(4.)  Reproach and persecution.

Notwithstanding the wealth and great ability of the p. 37Jewish nation, they have always been a people under reproach.  In trade, if people wish to describe any one as covetous, grasping, and avaricious, it is not an uncommon thing for people to say that he is “a regular Jew,” and thus, whatever a person may be in himself, the name “Jew” is a term of opprobrium throughout the world.

But reproach is not all, nor nearly all; for they have had to endure the most terrible persecutions.  They have been treated most barbarously by the nations amongst whom they have been scattered.  It has mattered little whether they have been living amongst Pagans, Mahommedans, or spurious Christians, though I fear it must be admitted that the treatment by spurious Christians has been the worst.  But I need not dwell on these horrible atrocities; for they are fresh in our own memories.  We have only to go back to the newspapers of last year to learn what the poor Jews endured in Southern Russia.  Their property was plundered, their homes burnt, their daughters—oh, I cannot tell you the horrors!—and their whole families cast out on a pitiless world to perish from cold, hunger, and nakedness; and all this in the face of the whole of Europe in this enlightened nineteenth century.

(5.)  Preservation.

But in the midst of all this they have been preserved.  Kindness has not fused them, reproach has not shamed them, and persecution has not destroyed them; so that after eighteen centuries they are in the midst p. 38of us still—still scattered through the world, still remaining a separate people, still under reproach and persecution, but still moving amongst us as an active, intelligent body of men; in the midst of us, but not of us; living in England, but not Englishmen; the subjects of another dynasty, the proprietors of another land, and the scions of another home.

Now I wish to put it to all thinking and observing men, Can they refer me to any other people in the world in which these five facts are found to meet?  Do they know of any other people that was ever so completely removed from its home, that was ever so effectually dispersed amongst the nations, that has been kept so distinct, that has endured such reproach and persecution, and that, notwithstanding all, has been so long preserved?  There have been amongst other races conquests, massacres, and migrations; but I venture to affirm, without the slightest hesitation, that you may search history from one end to the other, may ransack its pages for all that you can find respecting the nations, and I venture to affirm, without the slightest fear of contradiction, that you will not find one in which any of those facts have taken place as they have with the Jews, and still less one in whom in this most extraordinary manner they have all been found to meet.

But now comes the question, How is all this to be explained?  What is it that has made the Jews such an exceptional people?  What is it that has made their experience so entirely different to that of all the other p. 39peoples upon the earth?  I ask the infidel to tell me if he can, but I know he cannot; I ask the man of science to explain it on scientific principles, but I know he cannot.  But I ask the believer to explain it, and he can do so in a moment by the simple answer, “It is the hand of God.”  But some man may say, “How do you know that it is the hand of God?  What proof have you that it is His doing?”  A perfectly clear proof that it is impossible to deny.  There is a sixth fact quite as plain as the other five; i.e., that all the five facts were predicted in the prophecies, and that centuries before the dispersion took place it was clearly foretold in the prophecies of the Word of God.  These facts were all foretold in prophecy, and therefore we are firmly persuaded that they were all brought about by God.  The fulfilment of prophecy is a proof that the whole is of God.

In proof of this let us refer to a few passages.

I spoke of the fact of their expatriation, or expulsion from their own land.  Now what did Moses say of it fifteen hundred years before it happened?  Only mark his words: “Ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it.” (Deut. xxviii. 63.)

I spoke of their dispersion amongst the Gentiles.  Now what did Moses say of it?  “Thou shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.” (v. 25.)  “And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.” (v. 64.)

p. 40I spoke of their distinctness.  Now what did Balaam say of it?  “The people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned amongst the nations.” (Num. xxiii 9.)  And though these words were spoken no less than three thousand three hundred years ago, do they not predict exactly that which you may see this very day in London, Liverpool and in every other great city of Europe?

I spoke of reproach and persecution.  And returning to Deut. xxviii., what do we there find?  In verse 33 you find the prediction of persecution and spoliation.  “The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway.”  And in verse 37 the reproach in foretold: “And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byeword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.”

The last fact of which I spoke was the preservation, the long preservation, through those eighteen centuries of unequalled trial; and again we turn to Moses, and find him saying, “And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God.” (Lev. xxvi. 44.)

Now all these passages are taken from the Pentateuch, the earliest book of the Scriptures; and I have referred especially to them because some people appear to speak with disrespect of the Pentateuch.  But here we see the Pentateuch prophecies fulfilled in this nineteenth p. 41century in so remarkable a manner that no observant man can deny it.

But if people prefer prophecies of a later date they shall have them; for time makes no difference to truth, and the inspiration of the Scriptures extends through its whole length.

We find that they have been driven from their country, and can no longer inhabit the land which is their own.  Now what did the prophet Isaiah say?  “Then said I, Lord, how long?  And He answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.” (Chap. vi. 11, 12.)

We found that they are scattered amongst all the nations of the world.  Now what did God predict by the mouth of Ezekiel?  “The whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds.” (Chap. v. 10.)

We found that, though scattered, they are preserved as a distinct and separate people.  Now what did God foretell by the prophet Amos?  “For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.” (See ix. 9.)

We found that in their dispersion they have been the object of cruel reproach, and have endured much fierce persecution.  Now what said Jeremiah, the prophet of God, in chap. xxix. 18?  “And I will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, p. 42and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them.”

But we found also that, notwithstanding all, they have been preserved in a most marvellous manner; so that at the end of eighteen centuries they are still amongst us a separate people, and preserved in the providence of God.  And is it not all explained by that wonderful prophecy of Jeremiah?  “If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.” (Chap. xxxi. 36.)

Such passages might be multiplied to almost any extent, as they abound throughout the prophecies; and I have merely selected a text from the Pentateuch and another from the later prophets to illustrate each of the five facts to which we all are witnesses.  And are they not sufficient?  How was it, I ask, that these great prophecies were given, some fifteen hundred years, and some five hundred years, before the dispersion?  Was it accident?  Was it calculation or guesswork?  How should the writers have calculated, or, how should they have guessed?  One thing is perfectly plain.  They could not have been written after the event; for ever since that time the Jews have been dispersed over the world, and in all their dispersions have carried with them these prophecies.  If they were forged afterwards, how did the forger get them into circulation amongst all the scattered Jews throughout the world, and that before there was a printing-press?  They must have p. 43been written before the event; and before the dispersion what human mind could calculate the condition of the Jews after eighteen centuries of wandering?  Think calmly over it.  Consider well the five facts; test them both by history and the statements of modern travellers; and I cannot doubt for one moment that the conclusion of any thinking and intelligent man must be that the history of the Jewish people has been ordained of God, and that the Scriptures foretelling it were inspired by His Spirit, I cannot imagine how it is possible to avoid the conclusion that it is His hand which has ordered all in His sovereign providence, and His Spirit which has so clearly and so unmistakably foretold it all in His Word.  While, therefore, we grieve over the Jew, and long to see, not only the nation safe in Palestine, but the individual safe in his own Messiah, we consider it no small gift in these sceptical days that we have him living amongst us as one of a separate people, and so bearing an unconscious testimony to the truth and inspiration of the prophecies of God.

But I cannot stop there; for it is not the inspiration of the Scriptures only to which the Jews bear unconscious testimony, for they are witnesses also to the faithfulness of God.  Here they are after eighteen centuries of dispersion, during which they have lived without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice; during which they have been exposed to isolation, to temptation, to reproach, to spoliation, and to most unjust persecution; p. 44but not one grain has been lost from the seed, and here they are, Jews still.  Aye, and what is more wonderful than anything, they are thus preserved in mercy, notwithstanding all that they have done, even in the rejection of their own Messiah.  How could it be, and how can such preserving mercy be explained?  Just turn to one text out of many that may unlock the mystery.  It is written, in Psalm cv. 42, “He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant.”  There was His own covenant given to Abraham, and our heavenly Father is faithful to it still.  Three thousand eight hundred years have not exhausted His faithfulness, and even the sin of the Jew has not prevailed over the fidelity of our God to His friend.  Oh, what a lesson does this teach us as to the faithfulness of our God!  Will He break the covenant which He has made with us in Christ Jesus?  Will He depart from the promise which He has ratified in the precious blood of the chosen Messiah?  Is not the covenant with Christ as sure as that with Abraham?  And though we may be deeply conscious how unable we are to stand, and still more deeply conscious how unworthy we are to be preserved, may we not rest in the peaceful assurance of His covenant grace, and apply to all His people in Christ Jesus these wonderful words in Jeremiah xxxi. 37: “Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord”?

p. 45PALESTINE.

Can stones speak?  Can rocks make their voice to be heard?  The Lord said of His people on His entrance into Jerusalem, “If these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out.”  And this is very much what those very stones are now doing; for the stones of Palestine are beginning to speak with a voice so clear and decisive that it seems a perfect marvel that any thinking man should be able to resist their evidence.  Now therefore, if God permit, we will study their testimony; we will put the rocks into the witness-box, and endeavour calmly to learn from them what they teach us of the truth of God.  There are three subjects on which their evidence is conclusive—the geographical accuracy, the historical truth, and the prophetic inspiration of the Scriptures.  Let us examine them on all three points, and may that divine Spirit who inspired the word of His own great grace bring it home to our understandings and our hearts!

I.  The Geographical Accuracy.

We must remember that a large portion of the Old Testament consists in the history of that chosen line which connected the Lord Jesus Christ with Abraham, p. 46and that the country which we generally call “Palestine” was given to that family as their home.  It was in that country that Abraham sojourned, and that his family lived for the 1,400 years between the Exodus and the Advent.  It is obvious therefore that the history of that family during all those centuries must abound in allusions to the different places in that country, and as the history enters very much into social life, we must naturally expect very frequent allusions to the places in which the people lived.

It is important for us also to remember that the history was not one book written by one author at one time, but that much of it was evidently contemporary history; so that there were different books written by different authors at different times, beginning with Moses 3,300 years ago, and ending, as some suppose, with Ezra, or Nehemiah, about 2,300 years ago.

Now the question is, “Do the various allusions to places which lie scattered up and down the history agree or disagree with what we know of those places from observation on the spot?”  Through the patient labours of some eminently scientific men working for the Palestine Exploration Fund, we know a vast deal more of the country than has ever been known since the dispersion of the people.  We have before us the result of a most careful scientific survey, from which we may learn in perfect confidence the evidence of the rocks.  What we have to do therefore is to lay side by side the evidence of the rocks and the evidence of the p. 47Books—to compare the two carefully, and to ascertain whether or not the “witnesses” agree.  The ancient rule was, that “out of the mouth of two witnesses shall every word be established.”  Here then there are two witnesses—the rocks and the Books—do they or do they not agree?

Let us begin with the Book of Joshua, a book recording the original invasion of the country, and the distribution of the land among the tribes.  In the ten chapters, beginning with the 13th, we have a full account of that distribution, and a clear definition of the boundaries of eleven tribes, with a list of forty-eight cities assigned to the sons of Levi.  This list and these boundaries have been most carefully examined by the officers of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and the remarkable result is that they can trace almost every place mentioned in Joshua; and what is more remarkable still, “there is scarcely a village which does not retain for its desolate heap or its modern hovels the Arabic equivalent for the name written down by Joshua 3,300 years ago.”  In many cases there is nothing more than a cluster of a few wretched Arab huts, or a heap of shapeless ruins; but so complete has been the identification that there is no doubt left respecting Joshua’s boundaries; and if the Jews were to return to-morrow, and in returning were to observe the distinction of the tribes, those officers could at once point out to them their several homes, and show them exactly what portion of the country was originally assigned to them by lot.

p. 48This general fact is quite sufficient to prove the general accuracy of the geography of the Book.  But the general fact does not stand alone, and there are countless details which are almost more conclusive than the close agreement which we find existing between the list by Joshua and that by scientific men.  Let us consider one of these details, and examine one neighbourhood in the light of modern science.  The neighbourhood shall be that of Bethel and Hai.  Respecting Bethel, no one, I believe entertains a doubt.  It was named by Jacob “Bethel,” or the house of God.  It was afterwards called “Bethaven,” or “the house of vanity,” in consequence of the idolatry of Jeroboam; and the extensive ruins now found there are called Beitin.  Now Bethel does not stand alone, for it is frequently connected with Hai; so that Abraham’s second halting-place, as recorded in Gen. xii. 8, was on a mountain “having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east.”  There were two ranges of hills running from north to south, with a valley between them, and on a hill standing in that valley Abraham pitched his tent, and built an altar unto the Lord.  Now, as I have just said, there is not the slightest doubt about the identification of Bethel.  But what are we to say of Hai?  In Joshua viii. we have an accurate description of its capture, and every detail of the attack can be verified on the spot.  But we cannot find the name.  There is a heap, or mound, on the slope of the hill, which no doubt marks the site.  But the name Hai is completely lost.  The p. 49name given to the mound is Tell.  Now Tell is the word for heap, so that Tell Ashtereh is the heap of Ashtaroth, and Tell Kedes the heap of Kadesh.  But to this heap there is no such name attached, and the only name is Tell.  “Tell” alone marks the spot.  And now turn to Joshua viii. 28: “And Joshua burnt Hai, and made it an heap” (i.e. a Tell) “for ever, even a desolation unto this day.”  The name given by the modern Bedouin is exactly that of the ancient record, and the testimony of the stones is in perfect agreement with the scriptural narrative.

But this is not all.  I have already pointed out that the hill between Bethel and Hai was Abraham’s second halting-place; and if we turn to Gen. xiii. we shall find, in verses 3, 4, that after he had been down into Egypt he returned to that same spot, and there once more he called on the name of the Lord.  It was there that he made Lot the generous offer of the choice of the land, and that “Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan.”  But at first sight this seems impossible, for between Bethel and Jordan there is a lofty range of hills running from north to south, and completely obstructing the view; and so the merely superficial observer might say that the Book was wrong.  But before we come to any such decision we must consult the stones.  And what will they say to us?  Go up the heights above Bethel on the west, and they will tell you that there is no view of the plain of Sodom there.  Go up on the eastern side to the Tell that once p. 50was Hai, and there is no view there.  But now go to the mountain having Bethel on the west and Hai on the east, the very spot where, according to the 13th chapter of Genesis, Abraham and Lot were standing; and there through a gap in the hills you see the very sight that tempted Lot, and you look on the plains of Sodom, as Lot looked on them not much less than 4,000 years ago.

And what makes the agreement still more wonderful is that the Book was written by one who was not an inhabitant of the country, and who had never stood on that mountain-top.  It is obvious from the history that Moses was never there, and accordingly it is obvious from the Book that it was written on the eastern side of Jordan.  In all the Books written in Palestine the expression “Beyond Jordan” is employed to describe the eastern side.  But it is not so with the Book of Genesis.  In chapter l. 10 there is the mention of the “threshing-floor of Atad,” where Joseph and his company made a mourning for Jacob, and in verse 11 this place is said to be “beyond Jordan.”  But Atad was on the west side of Jordan, for it was amongst the Canaanites, and is believed by learned men to have been between the Jordan and Jericho.  To Moses, therefore, approaching Canaan from the east, it was “beyond Jordan.”  To any pretender writing after the occupation of the promised land it would have been “on this side Jordan.”  But to Moses, who died on the eastern side, and never set his foot on the western side, it was “beyond.”  He may have p. 51seen it from Pisgah, but that was all.  He never set his foot there, for he never crossed the Jordan.  So he never set his foot on the mount between Bethel and Ai; but he wrote with the most minute geographical accuracy.  And thus we have the testimony of the stones that the Book of Genesis was not only the Book of truth, but, may we not add, that Moses was inspired by God Himself to write with such perfect truthfulness of places which he had never seen?

This one instance must suffice as an illustration of geographical accuracy, and we may hasten to consider the second point; viz.:—

II.  Historical Truth.

To this I turn with deeper interest, because it has been denied.  Voltaire, for example, describes Palestine as one of the worst countries of Asia, comparing it to Switzerland, and says it can only be esteemed fertile “when compared with the desert.” (Keith, p. 106.)  There cannot be one moment’s doubt that in such statements he exceeded fact.  But others have pointed to the desolate hillsides, and asked the question whether such a country could ever have supported a population as dense as that of Norfolk or Suffolk.  Now let there be no mistake on this subject; for we are fully prepared most freely to admit that the hill country, as we now see it, could not possibly support a large population, and that there is a dreary, barren desolation about it which is wholly unlike the descriptions p. 52of rich fertility which abound through the Scriptures.  One of these descriptions will be sufficient; viz., Deut. viii. 7–9: “For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.”  Now I am not in the least afraid of saying plainly that such a description as that is not true of modern Palestine.  It is not a good land flowing with milk and honey; it is not a land of vines and oil olives; it is not a land from which a large population could eat bread without scarceness.  I read that there is not a vine to be seen between Eschol and Beersheba, and that there are very few olives to be found anywhere.  What then are we to say?  Was the historical description true, or was it not?  Were the people deceived, or was God true to His Word?  “Let God be true, but every man a liar.”  On this point let us ask the stones, and let us take the testimony of the rocks.  But in doing this we must not be content with taking a tourist’s ticket, and hurrying as fast as possible along the beaten tracks; but we must accompany our scientific men in their investigations; and if we do so, what shall we find?  In the first place we shall find scattered through the country the ruins of an enormous number p. 53of villages.  The Exploration Fund have actually entered on their map no less than 2,770 names.  It is perfectly clear therefore that there was once a very large and densely-packed population.  Then in the next place the careful observer will perceive that those hills which are now so barren were once covered with terraces so as to preserve the soil.  Dr. Keith says that on one hill he counted no less than sixty-seven such terraces one above another.  Then if you examine these terraces you find a countless number of cisterns and water-courses cut in the rocks, proving clearly that there was once a careful system of irrigation; and then, in conclusion, near many of the villages there is found an olive-press, apparently used by the whole village, while up amongst the terraces there are multitudes of smaller wine-presses, apparently cut in the rocks by each proprietor for his own use.  In confirmation of this evidence I have been informed by one for many years a resident in Jerusalem, that the inhabitants are dependent for firewood on the roots of the vines and the olives still found on the desolate hillsides.  The roots remain, though the trees are gone, and those roots unite in their testimony with the rocks amongst which they are found.  The evidence therefore of the rocks is irresistible.  The people are scattered through the nations, and the rain has washed down the toil from the broken terraces; but the rocks remain; and the proof is as clear as any proof can be of anything, that there was once a teeming population and a high state of p. 54cultivation, that the country was once a land of vines and oil olives, and that it was a land maintaining a prosperous, thriving, and painstaking people.  Thus the rocks agree with the Book.  Those barren hills themselves supply the evidence of their former fertility, and the stones cry out that the grand old Pentateuch is historically true.

III.  Prophetic Inspiration.

But we have not yet done with those barren hills; for we have not yet exhausted their evidence.  Some may enquire how it is that a country which was once so fertile is now become so desolate; and the answer may be given that the villages have been burned, the terraces neglected, the cisterns broken, and the water-courses choked, which is all perfectly true.  But that is not enough to satisfy a real enquirer.  “How was it,” the thoughtful man will ask, “that the villages were burned and the terraces neglected?”  In the answer of this question the rocks can give us no assistance, and we must depend entirely on the Book; but there we find the whole mystery solved.  The fact is, that the whole country bears witness to the truth of prophecy.  The present state of things is exactly what God foretold in His Word.  It is perfectly true that the mountains are dreary, barren, and desolate; perfectly true that it is no longer “the land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands;” but it is equally p. 55true that the change which has taken place is exactly that which God foretold in the Scriptures.

What did Moses write three thousand three hundred years ago?  Turn to Leviticus xxvi. 33: “And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.”

What did Isaiah say, writing about two thousand five hundred years ago?  Turn to Isaiah vi. 11: “Then said I, Lord, how long?  And He answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.”  Turn to chap. xxiv. 3: “The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word.”  Or to chap. xxxii. 12, 13: “They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.  Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city.”

What did Jeremiah say, writing about two thousand three hundred years ago?  Turn to Jeremiah iv. 26, 27: “I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger.  For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.”  “The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.” (Chap. xii. 12.)

p. 56And what did Ezekiel, writing about the same time, predict of the condition of Palestine during the dispersion, and until the restoration of the people?  Turn to his address to those hills of which we have been speaking, in Ezekiel xxxvi. 3, 4: “Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people: therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about.”

Here then we have the whole mystery solved, and the whole thing explained.  In His sure Word of prophecy our heavenly Father told us what He would do, and the desolate hills of Palestine bear witness that He has done it.  We may long to see them clothed once more with the vine and the olive, and we may profoundly pity their lawful proprietors, who look on their lawful home—once so beautiful, but now so desolate!  But yet we cannot look even on that desolation without thanksgiving, for it is an evidence to all thinking men of the certain truth of God’s inspired Word.  Those who refer to those desolate hills as an argument against the truth forget that the desolation to which they refer is p. 57a conclusive proof of the truth of the prophetic Word of God.  Thus we are carried by this third proof far beyond either geographical accuracy or historical truth.  A book may be geographically accurate, or historically true, and yet not be inspired.  But no man can foretell the future.  No man can look forward 3,000 years.  No man, therefore, could span over all those centuries and tell us ages ago what would be the condition of Palestine in this nineteenth century.  But God has done it.  We thank God, therefore, for His Word, and we thank Him also for the testimony of the rocks.  Nay, more, we may thank Him even for the sneers of such a man as Voltaire, for the very sneers are a proof to the students of the Scriptures that God’s prophecy is being fulfilled, and that God’s Holy Word may be trusted as divine.

But we must not leave the subject there, for we are taught a most solemn lesson as to the desolating power of a righteous God.  He who has reduced those fertile hills to desolation, cannot He equally desolate the soul, and reduce the poor ruined heart to a similar condition of barren hopelessness?  And will He not do it if His great salvation be neglected?  I know that it is the fashion to believe that He is too merciful to punish; but for my own part I find it much more easy to believe that he is too true to declare that which he has no intention of performing.  If the Word of God be true, “Verily there is a God that judgeth the earth,” and we cannot doubt that to the guilty sinner He must prove p. 58“a consuming fire.”  But, thanks be to His Holy Name, if the warnings be true, so also are the promises.  If the judgment be certain, so also is the salvation.  If the minister of wrath be sure to fulfil the Word of judgment, so also is the blessed Saviour perfectly sure to fulfil the promises of life.  If the law condemn with infallible certainty, so also does the Gospel proclaim that the claim of the law is satisfied in the great propitiation by the Son of God; so that any one, even the least and most unworthy of His people, may peacefully rest in the certainty of His never-failing Word, and abide in perfect peace, and perfect safety, in the perfect truth, and never-failing covenant of God.

p. 59SCOFFERS.

I propose to call the evidence of an unwilling witness, and to ask the scoffer himself to bear his “testimony to the truth” against which he scoffs.  There is no better evidence than that which is given unwillingly—than that of a man who is put into the witness-box in order to prove one thing, and when closely examined is compelled by the force of truth to prove the opposite.  Now as a general rule the scoffers desire to dishonour the Scriptures; they ridicule its statements, and deny its inspiration.  But I am not sure that, if carefully examined, they will not be found to confirm the Word.  Let us then carefully study their evidence, and may God the Holy Ghost bring it home to their hearts and our own!

But before we examine the modern scoffers, we must turn to what the Word of God has said respecting them.  Rather more than eighteen hundred years ago the apostle Peter wrote two letters, the first addressed to scattered strangers, and the second to those who had “obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”  In this second Epistle he gave a divine prophecy to all such persons, and told them from God what they were to p. 60expect in the latter days.  He taught them quite clearly that when they were approaching the end they were not to expect to be like some beautiful ship (with its sails set and its flags flying) sailing gallantly into the harbour, with a bright sunshine, a flowing tide, and a prosperous breeze; but rather like some weather-beaten craft, battered by the storm, beating up against the gale, and almost overwhelmed by the breakers on the bar.  And it teaches also that one of the trials of those last days will arise from scoffers.  As in navigation the chart may teach that there are dangerous rocks near the harbour mouth, so the prophecy says that when we draw near to the coming of the Lord, there will arise certain persons who will not be afraid even to scoff at the revelation of God.  Let us first examine the prophecy, and then we shall be prepared to compare it with the fact.  It assures us then of the fact that there will be scoffers, and it gives us a fourfold description of their character.

We shall find it in 2 Peter iii. 3–5: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.  For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.”

(1.)  They will scoff.

Now, as a general rule, a scoffer is not a reasoner.  It p. 61requires some knowledge and logical power to argue, but any fool can scoff.  In fact, it seems the peculiar attribute of folly; for we are distinctly told that “fools make a mock of sin.”  Now in this passage it is clearly foretold that in the last days men will scoff.  But when St. Peter wrote the words he must have thought it almost impossible.  For let any man look around at the visible effects of sin—the ruin, the misery, the wretched homes, the miserable wives, the pitiable children, the sickness, poverty, crime, violence, and every species of abomination resulting from sin—and can any wise man scoff at sin?

Or look at the majesty of God, at His omnipotence, His omnipresence, His omniscience, His infinitude, His holiness, His sin-abhorring character, and it seems impossible that there should be anyone bold enough to presume to scoff at the Most High God.

Or look at His love in Christ Jesus; in the provision of such a salvation for sinners such as we are; in providing such a Lamb for the burnt-offering; in making to the guilty such an offer of such a salvation on such terms of magnificent generosity, and can it be possible that any man should scoff at that?  Will they scoff at the love that prompted it, at the sacrifice made for it, or at the pardon and life presented through it?  We might as well expect to see the condemned criminal scoffing at a free pardon from the Queen.

But notwithstanding all that, the prophecy says plainly that in the last days there shall be scoffers.

p. 62(2.)  The next clause throws further light on their character; for it teaches that they will walk after their own lusts.  Now “lust” does not mean merely the low, vicious, depraved passion of the profligate; but the word in old English expresses exactly the meaning of the Greek—the appetite or will of the natural man.  A person, therefore, may be what “the world” calls a moral man, and still be walking after his own lust.  Such characters are described by the prophet Isaiah in the words, “We have turned every one to his own way.” (Chap. liii. 6.)  And again, chap. lxvi. 3, “Yea, they have chosen their own ways.”  They make of themselves their own god.  They set up their own understanding as their teacher, and their own will as their law.  Their religion consists in one letter of the alphabet, that one most absorbing letter, “I.”  “I know,” “I think” “I choose,” “I will,” “I am,” and “I act as I think proper;” and thus it is that their own will becomes their only god.  Oh what a miserable god!  Oh, what a contrast to the life of him who knows his Saviour! to the blessedness of the man whose life is hid with Christ in God, and whose daily prayer is, “Thy will be done!”  But though it seem almost impossible, the words of the prophecy are perfectly clear that the rise of such characters will be amongst the anxious trials of the latter days.

(3.)  But this is not all; for the next clause shows they will scoff at the hope of the Advent, and they will say, “Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from p. 63the beginning of the creation.”  This does not mean, “Where shall we find the promise in the Scriptures?” but rather, “What has become of it?  Everything is going on just as it always has done, and He is not come yet.  The winter comes and goes, the sun rises and sets, the business of life goes on as in former days, and the Lord has not yet appeared; so what are we to think of the promise?”  St. Peter points out the true answer to all this; viz., that God’s time must not be measured by man’s scale; for that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” and he might have added that prophecy of our Lord Himself, in which he taught us that everything will go on exactly the same right up to His return; viz., “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matt. xxiv. 38, 39.)  It is most important that we bear this well in mind; for there is an undoubted tendency in us all to settle down into an undefined feeling that things that have gone on without a change will go on still without a change, and so to allow our hope of the Advent to grow weary, or to burn itself out through delay.  There is this tendency in even the Christian mind, and in all probability there are few amongst us who have not felt the need of watching against the temptation.  So in this prophecy the scoffer is predicted as availing himself of this natural p. 64tendency in our hearts, and turning it against the promises of God; as attacking the Christian in His blessed hope; as striving to shake the faith of believers; and as endeavouring to pull down those who are looking for the Lord to the dreary level of utter hopelessness on which he finds that he himself is standing.  It seems a very cruel thing, and I often think that if I were an infidel I could not endeavour to shake the faith of other men.  It seems a horrible thing, that because a man is without hope himself, he should endeavour to take away hope from others; and a most especially horrible thing that he should endeavour to poison the minds of children, and so harden their young hearts against the reception of the truth of God.  But though it seem so cruel, so unnatural, and so contrary to any principle of ordinary benevolence, the prophecy teaches quite plainly that so it will be in the “latter days.”

(4.)  But there is one more feature in the description; viz., this, that these scoffers are “willingly ignorant.”  The ignorance here predicted has special reference to the creation and the flood; but the point to which I would draw your most especial attention is the willingness of its character.  Ignorance in many cases is the result of circumstances, and in some of grave misfortune.  There are some who long for knowledge, but have no opportunity of obtaining it; and there are many others who, though they show no such thirst, cannot be blamed; for they have never known enough even to excite an p. 65appetite.  But the prophecy describes men who are determinately and wilfully ignorant; who are ignorant, not because they cannot know, but because they will not.  They are like those persons described in Romans i. 28: “Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.”  Such are the people described in this prophecy—persons who are profoundly ignorant of the whole purpose of God in Christ Jesus; who know absolutely nothing of that knowledge of the true God and of “Jesus Christ, whom He has sent,” which the Lord Himself declared to be “life eternal;” and who do not wish to know it, but had rather remain without the knowledge.  The result is, that they will read no Christian evidence, will care for no books but those of infidels, and will never search their Bible, unless it be to find out something which they may make the subject of their mockery.  Such is the willing ignorance most clearly predicted in this prophecy.

There are, therefore, four points clearly predicted in the character of those persons who, according to prophecy, must be expected in the “latter days.”  They will scoff; they will walk after their own will; they will call in question the Lord’s coming; and they will be willingly ignorant of His inspired truth.  What then should be the effect on our own minds when we see the fulfilment of this prophecy?  Should it shake our faith, or strengthen it?  Should it lead us to doubt our Bibles, or to rest in them as the truth of God?  When we found that Noah’s great prophecy respecting Shem, Ham, and Japheth was p. 66fulfilled, what was the effect?  It assured us that the Pentateuch was true, and the Bible inspired.  When we found a whole series of prophecies respecting the Jews and Palestine were literally fulfilled, what again was the effect?  It assured us that the Bible was true, and those prophets inspired.  So now, if we see with our own eyes the clear fulfilment of St. Peter’s prophecy, what again must be our conclusion?  What but that the Bible is true, and that the apostle Peter was inspired?  Thus it is that the scoffer against the truth becomes a witness for the truth, and the man who would insult our God by what he calls “profane jokes” is unconsciously and unintentionally bearing testimony to the God whom he insults.  If there were no such scoffers in these latter days, then indeed we might begin to doubt the inspiration of the prophetic Word.  If the Jews had remained settled in their own country, and had never been dispersed among the nations, then we might have doubted the inspiration of the prophets respecting them; and so, if there were no infidels and no scoffers, then we might call in question the inspiration of the Scriptures that predicted them.  But now, as the Jews are witnesses to one class of prophecy, so are the scoffers to another; and while we grieve for the poor men, and most heartily desire to see them saved with the great salvation, we may be at the same time thankful for their evidence, and may accept their scoffing is an unanswerable testimony to the prophetic truth of the inspired Scripture.

p. 67But that is not all.  For when we have such a prophecy, so full in its prediction, and so clearly proved by its fulfilment to have been inspired by God, we are bound by every principle of allegiance to Him to listen to His counsel and act on His warning.  If we believe His Word, the least we can do is to be on our guard; and if God has predicted scoffers, we ought to be prepared to meet them.  This is the application which the apostle Peter makes of his own prophecy, and the passage is a remarkable instance of the application of a prophecy by the prophet who was employed to give it.  Turn, then, to verse 17 of the chapter, and there you find him saying, “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before” (i.e., that you are fully warned beforehand), “beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.”  He points to a danger against which we should watch, and a standard at which we are to aim.  The danger is that, “being led away with the error of the wicked,” we should “fall from our own stedfastness.”  The standard is, that we “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”  But if we are to act on this advice, it is clear that we must be armed in the understanding.  It is not enough that we feel emotion; but we want to be able to give a reason for the hope that is in us—to know what that hope is, and to know also the strong foundation on which it rests.  Most especially would I urge this on our young men.  As you go through life you are almost p. 68certain to meet with scoffers, and when you do you do not want to be like them, willingly ignorant.  Our position is perfectly impregnable!  We have a rock under our feet which nothing can shake.  We have facts which cannot be disproved, and an accumulation of evidence which is not to be found respecting any other book in the world.  But we must not let our weapons remain locked up like old armour in some baronial hall, but we must have them out, and use them with vigour.  They are made of the best of steel; but we must take care that there is no rust on the blade, and so be able to meet the scoffer; not by scoffing, but by the sword of the Spirit, remembering well the assurance of Scripture, that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”

But it is not in the understanding only that we require to be armed, for I believe there is no armour like the heart’s experience of the love of God in Christ Jesus.  The happy, consistent, thankful believer, he is not afraid of the scoffer.  He knows whom he has believed, and he is persuaded that he is able to keep that which he has committed to Him against that day.  He pities the scoffer, therefore; but he is not afraid of him except for the harm that he may do to others.  He has felt the strength of the rock under his feet, and he is not going to be driven from it on to the shifting sands of unsettled infidelity.  Oh, may God grant to every one of us strong assurance in the grace wherein we p. 69stand!  May He keep us in the hearty enjoyment of an abiding union with Christ Jesus our Lord! that so, strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might, we may stand fast in Him; redeemed by His blood; born again by His Spirit; called by the Holy Ghost; justified in His righteousness; forgiven through His atonement; and made heirs according to the hope of eternal life!  If that be granted, we can afford to be scoffed at; and if that be ours, we should be stirred in the very depths of our soul to fresh energy as the witnesses for Christ.  The scoffer himself is a witness to Him, inasmuch as he is a living, speaking, visible proof of the fulfilment of the prophetic Word.  But it is not so that we must bear our testimony.  He is a witness to truth by his denial, we by our confession; he by his insult, we by our reverend faith; he by denying the coming of our Lord, we by expecting it; he by the assertion of his own will, we by the surrender of ourselves to the will of the Lord.  So it is that we may realize the full meaning of the words of our Lord, “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me.”

p. 70THE SACRAMENTS.

It was one of the principles of the ancient Jewish law, that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”  I have already exceeded that requirement in having brought before you no less than five “witnesses” to establish the truth and inspiration of the Scriptures; but I propose, if God permit, to conclude my series with two more:

They shall be very simple witnesses, and to the eye of man quite insignificant.  They shall not have in themselves any apparent power of testimony; but yet I believe they are intended to speak in words of irresistible argument to all thinking men, and I trust will carry home to the hearts of those who are not “willingly ignorant” the most conclusive evidence of the truth of God.  I refer to the two Sacraments of the Lord’s appointment—Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  In 1 John v. there appears to be a distinct reference to the Jewish rule, and there are three witnesses mentioned as bearing testimony upon earth—“the Spirit, and the water, and the blood.”  The passage is not an easy one, and it behoves us to speak with caution.  But I cannot help believing that by “the Spirit” is meant the testimony of the Holy Ghost in His inspired Word; and by p. 71“the water and the blood,” the two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  It is to the testimony of these two latter witnesses that I now propose to refer; but we must remember there is nothing in either of them of a conspicuous or ostentatious character.  In neither one nor the other is there anything like a material monument, nor anything to attract the attention of “the world;” there is no erection of granite or marble, nor any inscription like those on the stones from Nineveh; but they are both simple acts of the simplest possible character.  A little water is all that is visible in the one, and a little bread and wine in the other; and yet, though so simple, so insignificant, and so absolutely without any visible monument, for the last eighteen hundred years they have been bearing their testimony as “witnesses” for Christ.  Let us then conclude our series by the examination of their evidence, and let us consider two points: (1) Their present position; and (2) When and how did they acquire it?  May God so bless our study by the Holy Ghost as to bring home conviction to all our hearts and understandings.

(1.)  Their present position.

In order to realise this we must not confine our thoughts to our own personal enjoyment of our own sacred privileges.  We may come to the Lord’s table as individuals, and find in the sacred feast such “a strengthening and refreshing of our souls” as may be to us the most conclusive and satisfactory evidence of p. 72the certain reality of the grace of God; but our personal experience would be no evidence to others, and our own enjoyment would not be regarded by the sceptic as a proof; it would be evidence to ourselves, but not to him, nor to the world at large.  We must therefore take a wider range, and consider only such evidence as lies within the cognizance of all observing men.  For this reason I have selected their position in the Church of Christ at this present time.  I am not about to ask you to consider past history, but present facts; facts that may be tested by every one, facts belonging to this enlightened nineteenth century; and what I ask you to do is quietly and patiently to investigate facts.

Taking then our standpoint in this year of our Lord, 1883, we find that the Church of Christ has been extending for just 1850 years, and that throughout that time it has been spread by countless agents, and in countless manners, in every direction throughout the world.  Starting as it did from Palestine, it has now taken root on every continent, and it has borne the sacred Name of our blessed Saviour into every quarter of the globe.

But while there has been this world-wide spread of Christianity, and while there is at this present time this widely-extended acknowledgment of the Name of the Lord Jesus, it is at the same time perfectly obvious that there are within the Church of the baptized immense diversities both of creed and practice.  There are different Churches standing aloof from each other.  There is the p. 73Church of Rome in conflict with what is called the Greek Church on the one hand, and with us Protestants on the other.  What is commonly called the Greek Church consists again of many branches, or is rather an aggregate of many independent Churches not united under any one head.  There is the original Greek Church, the Russian, the Syrian, the Coptic, and the Abyssinian.  So in the Church of Rome there are various orders, besides the great division between the secular and regular clergy; while we all know, to our heartfelt sorrow, how those who are united in their love for the great Scriptural principles of Protestant truth are still divided into various denominations.  Thus, looking at the Church of Christ as a whole, we find it spread into so many places that it encircles the world; and broken up into so many sections that it is hard to trace what we may term any visible corporate union.  There is separation as to place, and divergence as to Church organisation.

But now we come to the wonderful and indisputable fact that, notwithstanding all this separation and all this divergence in all countries and many systems, wherever we find the name of Christ there we find His own two Sacraments; and wherever we meet with Christianity there we are sure to meet with Baptism and the Holy Communion, God’s two witnesses to His inspired truth.

This is sufficiently wonderful if you think merely of the geographical extension of the Church.  The visible p. 74Church is spread amongst different nations, in different climates, and with different habits; some of which are leading the way in civilization and science, while some are sunk in barbarism; some leading the thoughts of the world, and some apparently never thinking at all; some absorbed in trade, and some so completely without trade that they have not even a currency.  In some there are old churches that have existed for centuries, and in some churches of modern formation recently called into being through colonization and missions; and yet, though the two Sacraments are so perfectly simple that there is nothing in themselves to spread or perpetuate themselves, wherever you go you find them.  Place and space have made no difference.  Go to Europe, Asia, Africa, or America, it makes no difference; wherever you go there you find God’s two Sacraments essentially bound up with the Christianity of the people.

But what is more wonderful still, the divergences in the faith have not destroyed them.  There are different Churches most earnestly opposed to each other, as the Church of England to that of Rome, and the Church of Rome to that of Constantinople; but all have the two Sacraments.  So at home there are various denominations, sadly disunited, and in some cases, I fear I must say, opposed; but yet amidst them all there remains this remarkable fact, that, with one or two perfectly insignificant exceptions, they all observe these same two Sacraments.  And what makes this more remarkable p. 75still is the fact that throughout Christendom there are immense diversities of opinion on the particular subject of these Sacraments; and there is scarcely any subject around which controversy has raged more fiercely.  Both Baptism and the Lord’s Supper have been the subject of sharp contention; and they have both been misinterpreted, misrepresented, and misused.  Desperate heresies have been attached to them both, and they have become the battle-field for most determined theological conflict; but, notwithstanding all this confusion of tongues, the great fact still remains, that after eighteen centuries of conflict, here they are still.  Controversy has not destroyed them; perversion has not put an end to them; separation has not divided them; but in the midst of all disturbing forces they remain.  Wherever you find Christianity, there you find them.  In all parts of the world, and in all Churches on the face of the earth, they are inseparably connected with the confession of Christ; and, as a matter of fact, there is not a Church in Christendom which in some mode or other does not observe them both.

Now in the study of this fact we must remember, as I said at the outset, that they are not like solid marbles set up by some great men, and so remaining as national monuments; but they consist in very insignificant actions, and their existence depends on their being observed by millions of insignificant individuals.  They are preserved, not by state authority or church councils, but by the loving hearts of millions of scattered individuals, who, p. 76though it may be in much confusion, desire to act on the bidding of their Lord.  Thus they become exceedingly like the rainbow spanning the heaven.  That beautiful bow, the token of the covenant, is formed by the reflection of the sun from unnumbered millions of minute drops of falling rain.  Each drop is in itself a mere speck, a nothing, falling rapidly, but shining as it falls; and all these millions of falling drops combine to form the one beautiful arch, which remains perfectly still, and bridges the interval between earth and heaven.  So these two Sacraments are maintained throughout the world by the faith and piety of millions of insignificant and short-lived individuals, each one undesignedly fulfilling his own little part; while the grand combination of all these millions of little individualities maintains in all places and in all ages the twofold token of the everlasting covenant of God.

(II.)  Thus far I have spoken simply of facts, of facts open to the observation of all men, and, as far as I know, denied by none.  I cannot imagine that even an infidel would deny any of them.  I may proceed then to my next question: When and how did these two Sacraments acquire this position?  As a matter of fact they are observed throughout Christendom; when then were they introduced, and how did this observance begin?  To this question our answer is simple; for we believe that they were ordained by Christ Himself, the one as His last act before His crucifixion, and the other before His ascension.  To us therefore who receive the p. 77Scriptures the whole thing is perfectly clear, and the fact is explained by the principle that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ must receive, in obedience to His will, the two Sacraments which He Himself ordained.

But suppose there were any one who did not receive the Scripture account, it would be extremely interesting if such an one would endeavour to explain the introduction of either Sacrament, and would tell us who introduced it, and when, and how.  If any person were now to endeavour to invent a third Sacrament he would find it very difficult to obtain for it a general acceptance through the world.  The Church of Rome endeavoured to establish a new dogma respecting the Pope’s infallibility, and what was the result?  They split off a large body of their own people, and they totally failed to introduce their dogma amongst any of the other churches of Christendom.  In this respect the divisions of Christendom tend greatly to confirm the evidence of the Sacraments; for they show the complete impossibility of the introduction of these Sacraments at a later date than that claimed for them in the Scriptures.  If Protestants had invented them, Roman Catholics would never have received them; or, to go back to a later date, if they had been invented by Rome they would never have been received at Constantinople.  The Church of God is like a multitude of channels, all radiating from one centre.  If you pour water into one channel you produce no effect on all the others, for the water will not pass across from channel to channel; p. 78but if there be a spring in the centre itself, then they are all filled together, for they all draw from one fountain-head.  Just so it is with the Sacraments.  If they had sprung up in any one branch of the scattered Church, they might have remained there; but there is no power on earth that could have carried them across into the other branches.  So that now, as they are found in every branch, and in every part of every branch, the only possible explanation is that they have come direct from the fountain-head; that therefore the Scriptural narrative is perfectly true; and that they were founded, as there recorded, by our Lord Himself, and none other.  As they came from Christ, the original centre, they spread through Christendom; as they were founded by the Author of Christianity, they are observed wherever Christianity exists.  If any one doubt this conclusion, let him tell us where, when, and by whom they were first invented, and how after that they were spread through the world.

But we have not done yet; for if we believe that the two Sacraments were founded by our Lord Himself at the time and in the manner recorded in the Scriptures, there are certain very important results which follow.

Let us confine our thoughts to the Lord’s Supper.  It was clearly declared at the time of its institution to be a memorial of the death and passion of our blessed Lord and Saviour.  It was founded, moreover, on the night before His suffering, and that amongst men who were eye-witnesses of all that passed.  Such is the statement p. 79of the Scriptures, which we now follow up by the fact that, from that day to this, wherever the name of Christ is named, there has never been a break in the observance of that memorial.  Now what is the plain, simple, and obvious conclusion from all this?  Is it not surely this, that the facts actually took place?  The Lord’s Supper is a memorial of the crucifixion, and it was founded among persons who were eye-witnesses of the whole transaction.  Now if these facts had never occurred, and if the Book recording them had not been a true Book, how could the memorial have ever got its hold on the Church?  The truth of the Book is proved by the existence of the memorial.  The Book and the memorial are bound the one to the other.  They stand and fall together; they cannot be separated.  But the memorial may be seen throughout Christendom as a visible fact.  It is, and always has been, co-extensive with Christianity.  It is at this present time open to the observation of any one; so, seeing the memorial, we believe the Book, and are fully, perfectly, and historically satisfied as to all the great facts of the crucifixion.

But we must not stop there; for the memorial is not merely a proof of the facts of the crucifixion, but is also a proof of the doctrine of the cross.  We have found that the memorial could not possibly have been introduced at any subsequent date, but that its institution must be traced up to the fountain-head, even to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and those words of His, p. 80“Do this in remembrance of me.”  But this is not the whole of the passage, and we must not forget those other words, “This is my body, which is given for you,” and, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”  The memorial, therefore, is not merely a memorial of the death, but of the purpose of it, and of the great principle which underlies the whole.  It is a monument of those two sentences, “given for you” and “shed for you.”  If it were a granite column instead of a simple service, these would be the two sentences to be engraved upon it; or if men wished to make the inscription shorter still, they might be content with two words, and write “For you;” for these two words contain the pith and marrow of the whole matter.  It is not, therefore, merely the fact that He died of which the Lord’s Supper is a divinely-appointed witness, but the fact that He died as a vicarious satisfaction for sin—“a propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”  It is well for us, therefore, to look carefully at the certain and undeniable fact, that in this nineteenth century the Lord’s Supper is observed in some form or other wherever the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is known; to consider well the utter impossibility of its being introduced at any period subsequent to the foundation of the Gospel, or by any person except by Him who said, “This do in remembrance of me;” and so to accept the assurance of its testimony that the body there given was given for us, and the blood there shed was p. 81shed for us.  Divine atonement then is the great truth visibly signed and sealed to us by God’s divine memorial; and when we kneel together before that table of His, we may accept for our own soul’s everlasting peace, not merely the fact that He died, but the truth that He died as a propitiation for our sins; that His body was given in our behalf, or for us, and His blood shed in our behalf, or for us; and that therefore, without any further propitiatory sacrifice, or any supplementary mode of reconciliation, believing in Him, we are perfectly, immediately, and eternally free.

LONDON:
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND BOOK SOCIETY,
11, ADAM STREET, STRAND.

p. 82WORKS BY THE REV. CANON HOARE, M.A.,

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