Their preeminence

over other

I. CONCERNING HIMSELF.

Christ, in delivering prophecies concerning himself, may be considered as employed in framing an index to the work which he had Prophecies. in hand. It is natural to suppose, that those points which he thus selected, were by him considered as the leading features of it; and were selected in order to direct attention to them especially, and above all others.

Accordingly he foretold his betrayal, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, and his second coming. Now if he had merely marked these for special notice by the finger of prophecy, and left the doctrines arising out of them to be gathered from other parts of his own discourses, or from the preaching and writings of his inspired servants, (as is the case to a certain extent,) still, to these doctrines would belong a character of importance, corresponding to that bestowed on the events by his notice of them. But his prophecies are frequently not only predictive, but explanatory; declaring at once the event to be, and the meaning and intent of it. Thus, in foretelling his death, the prediction conveys also the doctrine John iii. 14, of the Atonement. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.' "I am John x. 11. the good Shepherd, the good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.' These and similar predictions then, when accomplished, became a commentary on the events. As in the first mentioned, for instance, when he was seen lifted up on the cross, there could be no doubt that by this means it was effected, that "whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

15.

to be

derived

II. CONCERNING HIS CHURCH.

A didactic character may also be traced in the prophecies relating to his Church or Kingdom on earth. Viewed as the display of foreknowledge, they are, like other prophecies, only miracles in reserve, the germ of evidence which time was to unfold and bring Instruction to maturity. But the application of these prophecies to a specific purpose of instruction, is the circumstance which entitles them to from them. be considered as part of the Saviour's ministry. It is said that 2 Peter i. 21. "holy men of old spake not of themselves, but as the Holy Spirit moved them." Not so our Lord. He was not the instrument of prophecy, but prophecy was an instrument in his hands, employed at his discretion, and so employed as to make a part of his didactic ministry.

Prophecy of

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Speaking of his Church, he sometimes alludes to it as already the universal established; sometimes he points to the process by which that Christianity. object was to be accomplished. Of the former subject, the leading

extent of

topic was, that his Church was to embrace within its pale all the world. Contrasted with its origin, it was as the stately tree compared with the seed from which it sprang; and as a little leaven leaveneth the whole mass, even so his little family of believers were to impart the gift which they had received from him, not to any one favoured people or sect, but to all nations. Occasionally, too, his Church is represented as a field in which tares had sprung up, or by images of a like import.

Now, keeping all this in view, let us call to mind how much the early progress of the Gospel was impeded by the Jewish prejudices respecting the nature of a Divine dispensation, which even those who were converts to Christianity could not conceive to be a thing intended alike for Gentile and Jew. The ideas of a Divine dispensation and of a chosen people were nearly inseparable. What then could be more appropriate and useful, than that our Lord's prophecies concerning his Church should point chiefly to its universality? In this point of view they were instruction, reproof, and prevention of error.

of its

Again, the prophecies relating to the establishing of his Church, of the are full of the difficulties and distresses which awaited those who difficulty were employed in this work. The very assurance, that the gates propagation. of hell should not prevail against the fabric which they were appointed to rear, is an implied declaration of extreme peril to be expected; as the promise that he would be with them always, denotes that they should always need him. Of what use now could this view of the matter be to his followers in their arduous enterprise? that is, of what use, beyond the evidence arising from the fulfilment of prophecy? It was, doubtless, no small consolation to them, to know that their Master had foreseen all their difficulties, and provided against them. But there appears also a further design. Under the Mosaic dispensation, men had imbibed two prejudices which were inconsistent with the new covenant: the one, that all Divine revelation was confined to a particular people; the other, that God's people were to expect from him temporal rewards and punishments. As the former notion was counteracted by the prophecies relating to the universality of the Gospel, so the latter was to be corrected, by presenting to their minds continual warnings of persecution, hardship, and death. Agreeably to the doctrine of temporal rewards and punishments, the Jews had looked for a Messiah who should confer on his followers worldly glory and prosperity; but these earthly motives to obedience were henceforth to be cast out of religion, and the prophecies in question were placed as a guard to prevent their re-entrance.

It is probable then that the Saviour's prophecies relating to his Church, considered as part of his didactic ministry, were designed principally to correct the erroneous notion, that that Church was to be established on the same principles as the Jewish dispensation, which it was to supersede.

Matt. xvi. 18, 19, explained.

III. CONCERNING CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS.

ST. PETER.

Three prophecies relating to St. Peter are recorded in the Gospels. Of these the most important will be first considered.

"Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.'

As we have no clue to any connexion between this saying and any future supremacy vested in the apostle because of it, it is to be considered as a prophecy of the part he was to occupy, rather than an appointment; and as such its didactic character will be here examined.

By many indeed the words are understood as having no peculiar reference to St. Peter; or rather, as declaring no more concerning him than is elsewhere declared of the other apostles. And, indeed, if Peter had been the apostle's original name, and not applied to him by our Lord himself, as if on account of some peculiarity in his character or condition, it might be fairly argued, that our Lord's language to him only differed from that which he addressed to the others, in being an allusion to his name. But the name was obviously given him because of his future destination, not that destination so expressed because of the name. Bishop Marsh,* accordingly, has applied the prophecy to him viewed as the founder of the Church at Jerusalem, which was, as he contends, more peculiarly the Church of Christ. His argument certainly rests upon the surest ground, the result. St. Peter was not the founder of an Universal Church, but of the Church at Jerusalem.5

The images of which the prophecy is composed are a rock-a church built on it—the keys of it—and the gates of hell. At least, these are all the images contained in that portion of the prophecy which was addressed to St. Peter, and to none else. Now, whatever meaning we choose to elicit from them, it will hardly be denied, on a moment's consideration, that they were amongst the most familiar to Jewish ears, because amongst the most common of their scriptural figures. Secondly, that they apply in their literal signification most remarkably to the Jewish temple, its situation, and other circumstances. Built on a rock-the one Church of God

4 See Comparative View, App. p. 23.

5 The reader may here require to be reminded of the remark already made on the recurrence of the same topics in the various discourses of our Lord.

But, after all, the Protestant advocate need not be very solicitous about settling

the precise import of the promise to St. Peter; that is, as far as it affects the controversy between Protestants and Papists; for, whatever kind of foundation St. Peter was to the Church, it is obvious that the image employed in the metaphor excludes the notion of a succession of persons similarly circumstanced.

heretofore, and its keys the badge of authority to him who held them that Church was now given over to the gates of Hades, and the Christian Church was to be established instead.

Accordingly in this prophecy, concerning the founder of the new Church at Jerusalem, our Lord has crowded together some of the most familiar Jewish images, and those of a kind calculated to recall the ancient temple to men's minds. Now, however obscure his language might become to others, by reason of this assemblage of national figures, to the Jews it would on that very account be the more explicit, and they would the more readily recognise its particular application to them. We hear of no doubts originating in these words, as to St. Peter's rank and authority-of no question, in short, about the meaning, being agitated in the early Church. When St. Peter took on him the ministry of the circumcision, and still more on his first preaching at Jerusalem, the converted Jew might have remembered the words of the Lord Jesus, and understood that the former temple was now consigned to destruction, and the new one in the hands of him who bore the office designated by the keys.

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ST. JOHN.

"If this man tarry till I come, what is that to thee?"

John xxi. 22, explained.

28;

What was affirmed in these words concerning St. John, was applied on another occasion to some whose names are not specified. There be some standing here who shall not taste of death, till Matt. xvi. they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom." The didactic use Mark ix. 1; of these prophecies seems to have been to check the erroneous Luke ix. 27. notion, that whenever Christ spoke of his " coming," it meant his coming to judge the world at the last day. For the expression, "shall not taste of death until," &c., rather implies that those persons should afterwards taste death; and that this expression concerning St. John was intended only to convey the same meaning,

we learn from that apostle himself: "Then went this saying abroad John xxi. 23. among the brethren, that that disciple should not die; yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come," &c.

JUDAS ISCARIOT.

25,

As our Lord was to be betrayed by one of his apostles, it seems Matt. xxvi, but natural that this should be made the subject of prophecy by explained. him, in order to prevent any possible objection respecting his want of foresight in the choice of the twelve. Such, then, might have been the primary design of this prophecy. But, like his others, its record might have been intended to convey also some instruction to the Church in after times--even to us.

Indeed it cannot but strike one as remarkable, not that he should be betrayed, but that his betrayal (and that by one of his own

Matt. xxvi. 13:

Mark xiv. 9; John xi. 1, explained.

friends) should be made a necessary part in his scheme of life as marked out for him in ancient prophecy, and that he should point to it, as to one of those important figures in the great prophetic painting, at which we are to pause and learn something.

Now the circumstances of the betrayal were such, as to make it highly probable that Judas did not intend the death of his Master, but rather designed to force him to an open declaration of himself as a temporal King; the character under which he was at that time obstinately contemplated, even by his most faithful followers. Otherwise, indeed, it would be impossible to account for his behaviour at the last supper. As, for instance, that he should leave the room to execute his purpose, knowing that our Lord was aware whither he was going, and with what intent. Doubtless he thought, that if his stratagem succeeded, his impatient zeal would not only have been excused, but even honoured and rewarded. The rejection of the wages of his guilt too, the natural result of severe disappointment, is perfectly consistent with this view."

It is probable, therefore, that the apostles considered the crime of Judas simply as an act of treachery or treason. He is not called murderer, bloody, or inhuman, but traitor. Regarding the Church as a kingdom of which Christ is the head, his offence was not so properly moral as political. It was a presumptuous attempt to change the constitution of that kingdom, by introducing into it the pomp and power of this world. And if so, this prophecy might have served (among many others more obviously framed with this view) to warn the apostles and their successors, not to betray the holy charge with which they were intrusted, by attempting, whether from motives of avarice and ambition, or from want of confidence in the support of Heaven, to convert Christ's spiritual crown into an earthly one.

PROPHECY CONCERNING MARY.

The incident which gave occasion to this was the anointing the Lord's feet by Mary, who is said to have been the sister to Lazarus ; and the prophecy was, "Wheresover this Gospel shall be preached

in the whole world, there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her." Our Lord adds the reason, why he made a circumstance apparently so trivial, the occasion of so marked a prophetic declaration; "for in that she hath poured the ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.

May we not venture to infer, that Mary's faith was clearer than

6 The common view of Judas's crime, that it proceeded from avarice, is so unsatisfactory, that many have been at no small pains to set the transaction in a more intelligible light. Michaelis (see Introd. to the New Test. vol. iii. pp. 23, 24, Marsh's edition,) attributes the act of

treachery to revenge for the rebuke which Judas received respecting the unction at Bethany. Mr. Thruston's very ingenious book, "The Night of Treason," seems to leave no room for further doubt or controversy. - See Thruston's Night of Treason.""

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