that has fallen within the duties of any bishop since the earlier ages of Christianity, he employed himself, wherever he came, not only in the peculiar functions of his office, but in the duties of an ordinary pastor. He had thus become known to all his clergy and to all his people, in the plains and mountains of Hindostan, in the wilder tracts of Central India, in the stations of Guzerat, the Deckan, and the western coast, in the hills and valleys of Ceylon, and in these southern provinces, the scene of his latest labours, and henceforth of his dearest memory. "In the course of these journeys," continues Mr. Robinson, "and in all his other labours, his heart was most earnestly and intently fixed, not only on the government of the existing church, but on the extension of Christ's kingdom in these strong holds of Heathen and Mohammedan superstition. He delighted to consider himself as the chief missionary of India; a character implied, in his judgment, in the nature of his episcopal office itself: and, while he felt it to be his bounden duty to confine his pecuniary aid and direct influence to the establishments of that church whose orders and ministry he received as Apostolical, yet most sincerely, did he rejoice in the successful labours of all Christian societies, of whatever denomination, in the field of India." (To be concluded.) PECULIARITY OF THE GOSPEL NARRATIVES. Tothe Editorofthe Christian Observer. THE eleventh chapter of St. John's Gospel is scarcely more valuable for the Divine consolation which it comprises, than for the light which it throws upon the characters of the persons introduced in the Gospel narrative. The simplicity of the disciples; the sincere, yet weak and CHRIST. OBSERV. No. 345. fluctuating, faith of the sister of Lazarus; the malicious curiosity and contemptuous incredulity of our Lord's enemies; above all, the softness blended with resolution which appears in the human nature of the Redeemer himself; are painted in beautiful relief. Nothing can be more inartificial than the opening verses. Lazarus had never been mentioned before by St. John, nor does his name occur in the other Evangelists; yet it appears only accidentally, and in a parenthesis, that he was the brother of Martha and Mary: the circumstance is mentioned in the manner of a writer whose mind is occupied with matter more grave and interesting. Again: when the message of the sisters had reached our Saviour, and he had remarked to his disciples that this sickness was "not unto death," what could appear more probable than that he should immediately have obeyed the summons, and saved the life of his friend? And this probability would rather be increased by the remark of the Evangelist which follows, "Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." After this observation, we are prepared to hear that he hastened without delay to the house of affliction: yet the case proved otherwise. We are immediately told, that "he abode two days in the same place where he was." This certainly might appear, at first sight, rather contradictory; yet the sacred writer is in no haste to remove any disadvantageous impression. In verse 11, indeed, our Lord refers to the resurrection of Lazarus, but in a figurative manner, which was unintelligible to his disciples. In ver. 15 also he intimates that his absence from the scene might be profitable to them; but without specifying any reason: and even when the Redeemer tells Martha that her brother should rise again, he employed language capable of a more general meaning. A writer conscious of deceit would have ascribed no words to Jesus which might be liable to 3 Z misrepresentation; or, at least, he would have taken care to explain every obscurity: he would either have made no mention of his Master's attachment to Lazarus and his family, or he would probably have thus expressed himself: Now, though Jesus had a real affection for the brother and sisters, and fully intended to relieve their distress, yet he judged that greater good would result from the resurrection than from the cure of his friend: he therefore remained two days where he was.' Yet the Evangelist uses no such language. Deeply impressed with the importance of his main subject, and anxious to treasure up every word and action of his Divine Master; entertaining no doubts of their truth and excellence, and therefore seeking no apologies for them; he narrates the particulars in the order in which they occurred to his memory. The mention of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, naturally brought to his mind the affection of Christ towards them; and he then proceeds to a relation of facts, without stopping to explain a seeming discrepancy, which is not entirely removed until he arrives at the sequel of his story. When on his way to the grave of Lazarus, the Redeemer was met by Martha. It might appear, to a cursory reader, that Mary, who during a former visit had so affectionately hung upon his words, would have been the first to greet him. But her character was probably soft and retiring absorbed in grief, she was unable to attend to the tidings which were brought of the arrival of Jesus. But the same activity of mind which had prompted the hospitality of Martha towards our Lord, now led her to go eagerly forth to receive him. Her views of Gospel truth were at first worldly and contracted, but further intercourse had imparted to them more elevation and spirituality: her faith had become greatly strengthened, though there were still sometimes moments of weakness and despondency. Upon meet ing our Saviour, her first remark related to the point which we might expect to be uppermost in her mind: "Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died." The words which follow, while they demonstrate that increase of her faith which I have noticed, discover a scruple to petition in plain terms for so amazing an act of power and mercy as his restoration to life. Thus, when Christ answered " Thy brother shall rise again," she could not be persuaded that he spoke of his immediate resurrection. Either her courage faltered, or the idea was too transporting to be indulged: she therefore answered, "I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day;" probably hoping that Christ would speedily clear up her remaining doubts. But our Lord, perceiving her to waver, resolved, for the wholesome exercise of her Christian feelings, to give her an answer, sufficient indeed to encourage the confidence of faith, but not to dispel every fear of the carnal mind. He tells her, that the resurrection itself would be the immediate effect of his power; that all who were in the grave would hear his voice; and that, most of all, believers would experience a complete victory over death. The natural inference from this language was, that he at all times possessed this power, and that he would not fail to exert it in their present necessity, especially towards the object of his affection. These would have been the natural suggestions of a simple and unhesitating faith; but that of Martha was still oppressed by the weakness of the flesh. She confesses Jesus, indeed, to be the Christ, but she has not courage sufficient to apply this belief to her present condition, and the object nearest her heart. She perceives, however, that the truest consolation was to be looked for from Christ: she is therefore anxious that her sister Mary should be a sharer in it; but she invites not our Lord to the house, partly from a reluctance that the Jews who were there should witness the interview, and partly, perhaps, from a lingering hope that he was then on his way to the tomb, where, at least, something remarkable would take place. Martha's address to her sister, "The Master is come, and calleth for thee," is highly natural, though the name of Mary is not mentioned in the preceding dialogue: in the fulness of her heart she forgets this trifling omission, or the Evangelist might not deem it material to detail the whole conversation. When Mary meets our Lord, her repetition of the sentiment expressed by Martha is exactly what we have reason to expect; it was the thought uppermost in the minds of both-a thought which they had doubtless expressed to one another. The sympathy of our Lord, when he beheld the grief of the sisters, may perhaps be sur. prising to some readers: the certainty that Lazarus would soon be restored to them, might appear to preclude sorrow but weeping is commonly contagious; it is not to be measured by rules, and may be the effect of any vivid emotion. The objection suggested by our Saviour's grief to the unbelieving Jews, that He who had given sight to the blind could have saved Lazarus, would have been natural in any ignorant persons, but much more in men prepared to put the worst construction on all his words and actions yet the Evangelist takes no pains to answer it, but leaves his readers to collect an explanation from the fourth and fifteenth verses of the chapter. Arrived at the sepulchre, Jesus orders the stone to be taken away from its mouth. Vestiges of doubt in the mind of Martha are then conspicuous. Her earthly feelings are shocked at the idea of unclosing the tomb after her brother had been buried four days. She knew, that, in the course of nature, the lapse of that period, in the climate of Judea, would make the exposure of the body improper and disgusting. The power of Christ, and her own lately awakened hopes, were forgotten in this hour of darkness. Perhaps her remark (ver. 39) may appear little consistent with her former alacrity; but it should be remembered, that a disposition wavering between the extremes of confidence and despondency is far from uncommon, though a writer of fiction, who had much at stake, would scarcely have ventured on this seeming contrariety. The answer of our Lord, in the next verse, contains at once a gentle rebuke for her want of faith, and an announcement of the illustrious miracle which was approaching; the expression, however, which he uses, is rather a paraphrase of his sentiments (expressed in verses 23, 25, 26) than a verbal citation. Throughout the whole of this narrative the characters of truth are so conspicuous that he who runs may read " them. It is distinguished by an air of unsuspecting and unpretending simplicity which is almost without example. It bears the stamp of a writer conscious that he is a Divinely appointed witness of eternal and saving truths;-truths for which he was thankful to be thought worthy to suffer; truths which he was enabled to proclaim with the tongue and the pen of inspiration ;--singly intent upon imparting them to the souls of men; careless of the little graces and arts of composition; careless of appearances; forgetful of himself--in a word, insensible to all the motives and feelings by which the men of this world are commonly induced to become authors. In the chapter just discussed I noticed two instances of objections to our Lord's conduct, alleged by his friends as well as enemies, which the Evangelist has unscrupulously recorded, leaving his readers to collect an answer from the context. The twelfth chapter of the same Gospel affords an equally striking example of the same fearless confidence in the stability of his Master's cause. Jesus had been telling the people that he must shortly be "lifted up them, yet they believed not on him." But why, it may be asked, has not the Evangelist taken pains to reply to an insinuation which, to the minds of the ignorant or prejudiced, might have a formidable appearance? If we suppose them to be other than inspired writers of the truth, this may indeed be difficult to explain. Mere adventurers would scarcely have introduced such an objection; or, if they did venture upon it, would have been in haste to crush it by a triumphant refutation. They would scarcely have lost the opportunity of contriving such a discourse as would at once annihilate the charge, and magnify the cause of which they were advocates. But if they were (as the Christian believes) teachers sent from God, this omission is far from surprising. It is no more than might be expected in unlearned persons, unaccustomed to composition, but enabled by a Divine impulse to give a clear and simple narrative of the things they had heard and seen. Moreover, there could be no just reason why this sceptical argument should weigh, even in the minds of the most ignorant, against the combined evidence of prophecy and miracle; and a very moderate portion of knowledge and attention, might, with the utmost ease, detect the fallacy. from the earth." They readily understood the phrase of his suffering death, and immediately seized the opportunity to introduce a specious objection. "We have heard," they said, "out of the Law, that Christ abideth for ever, and how sayest thou the Son of man must be lifted up?" Their first remark was certainly just; for numerous passages from the Scriptures of the Old Testament (here called by one comprehensive term "the Law") speak of the eternity of the Messiah's kingdom but they chose to forget that these Scriptures never announced a kingdom eternal upon earth; and that the prophets Isaiah, Daniel, and Zechariah, had plainly declared that Christ must suffer death. Hence they might have seen, that because "Christ abideth for ever," it by no means followed that he might not "be lifted up" nay, that, as the prophets had described him under both characters -that of a triumphant prince, and a "man of sorrows "-he could not, unless he appeared in both, fulfil their predictions. Although, in this stage of the Gospel dispensation, they might possibly have found some difficulty in reconciling the two descriptions, yet could they not with any justice deny that both were highly consistent with those Scriptures to which they made their appeal. All this the Jews might have seen, but they were resolved to shut their eyes upon the light: their remark, therefore, expressed not the doubt of ignorance; it was rather the cavil of malice and unbelief. In this case, therefore, as in several others, a sufficient reason was afforded to justify Christ in his refusal to meet their objection. His reply, To know God effectually, we must however conclusive, would but have know him as our Friend and Father: enflamed their enmity. Even a all other manifestations of him are teacher who had not, like our Lord, a perfect knowledge of the heart, might easily have predicted that neither argument nor eloquence could convince them; since (as the Evangelist remarks) "though he had done so many miracles before A. R. C. FAMILY SERMONS-No. CCLXXI.* Romans v. 2.-By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. but preparatory to this. We may perceive the traces of his power in fulness of his compassion in Christ creation; we may even read of the * See Review of the Rev. T. Griffith's Sermons. Jesus; but what will this avail us, if we cannot say, in humble faith, "This God is our God?"—if we enter not into personal enjoyment of his favour, nor realize his presence in our hearts? But how can this blessed consummation be attained? How shall we gain that Spirit from on high by which alone God communes with man? There has been a separation between us and Him, by reason of our sinfulness; there has been displeasure upon his part, and distaste, nay, enmity, on ours. Who shall reconcile this difference? Who shall remove from our minds the dread of God's displeasure, and the disinclination for his presence? Who shall mediate between us and God? Who shall introduce us to his favour, and reconcile us to him as our Father? Let me pause a moment here, and ask, Are these the questions of your hearts? for on this will depend the interest and efficacy of what we have yet to say. Too many, alas! would rather turn from such inquiries, and indulge their day-dream of security, than wake to topics whose first aspect must disturb the mind. In our self-willedness and sin, we think not of access and introduction to the presence of our God; we altogether shrink from him: we would not seek his face; we would rather flee to the remotest corner of creation to escape his look. As little as the ungrateful man desires to behold him whom he has injured, or the debtor to meet his creditor, or the felon to be confronted with his judge, or the rebel to approach his prince; so little does the impenitent sinner desire to see his God. Nay, even as the prodigal took his journey into a far country, that he might follow his devices untroubled by the consciousness of a father's eye; and as Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amidst the trees of the garden, and thereby betrayed in action that sense of guilt which in words they endeavoured to deny; even so does the unrelenting sinner attempt to flee from God. And this, let me warn you, is that silent, inward testimony of your guilt and danger, which speaks more strongly than a thousand sermons, of reproach and condemnation; which is not to be escaped from, as outward warning is, but cleaves to your very soul, and will at last be heard. Oh that you would hear it now-in the accepted time-in the day of salvation!-now, before it be too late! For, Does a man awake to some perception of his alienated state ?— does he pause, and wait in inward meditation, till even the very echoes of the din and hum without have died away; and there comes slowly upward, from the depths of his spirit, that still, small voice which would instruct him what he is, and what he should be?-does he recollect to whom he is amenable?-does he consider the authority that God has over him? the demands that he has upon him, and the impossibility of answering or escaping them?does he cry, with David, "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit; or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”— then there comes upon him, with an awful force, the questions that I have proposed: How shall I meet him? meet him as my Friend, since meet we must? return to him as a penitent? gain access to his grace and favour? I feel that there has been disunion between us; I discover that union is essential to my welfare, nay, my life; but where shall I find a right to seek his face, and whence shall I gain a heart to use that right? These questions relate to our present and eternal happiness. Oh, may they rise in every heart may they be detained there till they gather strength! Then shall we prize the answers of our text: By Christ we gain admission to the Father's favour; And, by faith we realize this blessed privilege in our hearts. First By Christ we gain admis sion to the Father's favour. |