Mark viii. 11; they understood literally, and under the impression that if Jesus were indeed the Messiah, he would, in fulfilment of this prophecy, exhibit himself visibly descending from the skies; they were slow to assent Matt. xii. 38, to the testimony of any other miracles, but continually and perse- and xvi. 1; veringly demanded of him "the sign of the Son of man in heaven. Luke xi. 16. In reference to this point of error, again, it may be suggested, that the Jews were justified in adhering to the literal and more obvious meaning of their prophecies. But this is not the case. For, as was before observed, the form of Divine communication to them was not usually literal, but conveyed in types, symbols, and metaphors. With them, therefore, a secondary meaning in a prophecy was more natural than the primary. It should be observed, too, that such a method seems in strict unison with the general character of the Mosaic dispensation, which was not so much a revelation, as a deposit of truths to be revealed; the form in which these truths were deposited being calculated rather to mould men's minds for their reception, than positively to teach them. It was the Gospel which was to bring them to light. 73 Incarnation familiar to the Jews. That, with these perverse views, the Jewish people at large should The doctrine be unfavourably disposed towards the claim of Jesus to be the of a divine Christ, is what might be expected. That which to us might seem most startling, most to demand doubt and hesitation, in the character of a being so wonderful, and a doctrine so spiritual, was to them possibly no ground of scruple or surprise. That God manifested himself to mankind by his Spirit, they knew from the character of their prophets, and from the record of the creation. That he should also manifest himself in the flesh, this could not have been strange or unexpected. Their familiarity with the term Immanuel," and their acquaintance with the early mode of Divine intercourse through those mysterious messengers, who at sundry times conversed with Gen. xviii. the patriarchs, must have rendered the doctrine of the Incarnation familiar and intelligible. In Jesus the assertion of this was accounted Matt. xxvi. blasphemy, not because of the doctrine, but because they did not Mark xiv. 64; receive him as the Messiah. temple and of the Jewish polity was inconsistent with that event; and it was the establishment of this new theocracy which was expressed agreeably to the prophetic language respecting change of government, by the phrase of the new Lord coming in the clouds of heaven. The abolition of the temple service would have been the appropriate sign of the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, supposing the Jews, instead of rejecting him, to have welcomed him, and not to have incurred the heavy chastisement which befel them. 73 For this, among other reasons, our Lord might have chosen to convey his instruction to them in parables and allusions. By conforming his plan of teach H. ing thus far to the spirit of the Jewish 74 To the Christian, the prophetical D xix. xxxii. 65; Luke xxii.71. The doctrine So also with regard to the Atonement. It was obviously a notion to which their minds were long habituated. And yet it is not familiar to unlikely that the same principle which afterwards led them to separ of the Atonement the Jews: Isaiah liii. 10, 12. And that state. ate the suffering from the triumphant Messiah, might have blinded them to the union of the victim and the priest in one person; and have led them to consider him whose soul was to be an offering for sin, as distinct from him who was to make intercession for the trangressors. One part of this doctrine, too, could not but be unacceptable to the Pharisaical party, namely, that the atonement was one, once made, for the sins of all. That all, even the righteous, should require this atonement, was of itself mortifying and revolting to the self-approving Pharisee; but that all the rites and forms which typified or alluded to this act should be pronounced henceforth null and void, deprived them of every pretence of accumulating merit by the laborious observance of them, and was perhaps to them the hardest obstacle which they had to overcome. That the doctrine of a future state was familiar to the Jews at of a future the period of the Advent admits of no question. It is well known to have been one of the points of controversy between the Pharisees and Sadducees; and as the former gave the tone of opinion and faith to the people, their belief in a future state may be fairly ascribed to the nation at large. The doctrine had been gradually developed by their prophets, together with that of the Messiah's spiritual reign, of which indeed it was a necessary adjunct. Those then among the Jews, who so understood their Scriptures, as to admit the spiritual application of these latter prophecies, may be said to have seen their way far into this great secret of revelation. But the case was somewhat different with the rest, and these we know formed an exceeding great majority. For it is obvious, that to expect a temporal authority to be established, and a temporal government to be conducted, by means of eternal rewards and punishments, is incongruous and absurd; and under such a confused and disjointed view, not only did those labour who rejected Jesus, but many of those who (however much convinced that he was the Messiah) were yet so encumbered with their national prejudices, as to continue to expect from him the assumption of temporal power. So closely did the habits of the Mosaic dispensation adhere to those who had lived under it, and so great pains did it require to clear away the old incrustation, as it were, of the Law, with which Christianity had been plastered up and concealed, until it was safe to bring it forth into the light. Of all its glorious features which were then made manifest, life and immortality were the chief. III.-RELIGION OF THE SAMARITANS. ALTHOUGH the Samaritans claimed for themselves all the privileges of the Mosaic covenant, yet our Saviour in his first mission of 75 their faith. the apostles distinguishes these from "the lost sheep of the house Matt. x. 6, of Israel," and, it may be added, from the Gentiles also. Accord- and xv. 24 ingly, if we look to the accounts which are given of their origin and of the nature of their faith, we shall find religion amongst them assuming a somewhat different character from that under which it has appeared, either in the Jewish or in the Gentile world. With the Jews it was revelation neglected, with the Gentiles it was revelation perverted, with the Samaritans it was revelation corrupted. Their origin and the history of their faith is this." When the History of king of Assyria carried away the ten tribes into captivity, he repeopled Samaria with colonists drawn from various parts of his dominions. The new settlement becoming infested by wild beasts, the calamity was attributed to the wrath of the neglected God of Israel; and accordingly, on the application of the colonists, one of the captive priests was sent from Assyria "to teach them how to fear the Lord." Thus was the knowledge of Jehovah introduced among them, although, in the first instance at least, they could only have regarded him as the tutelary deity of the land, whom it was incumbent on them to associate with the former objects of their worship. Nor is it likely that their views would be greatly corrected or improved by the continual accession of Jewish refugees to their community; these being for the most part criminals, outcasts, the very refuse of the people.' 76 Under all these disadvantages, the true faith must nevertheless have been gaining ground amongst them, for we find them at a subsequent period anxious to become incorporated with the Jews, so as to form one people and one Church. Sanballat their governor sought to bring this about, by giving his daughter in marriage to Manasses, brother to Jaddus the Jewish high priest. But the Jews could not brook the union. Manasses was forced into banishment, and with him went a numerous train of adherents into Samaria, The benefit which must have accrued to the Samaritan religion from this event is obvious. The immediate result was the erection of an Temple on independent temple on Mount Gerizim, and the more orderly obser- Mount vance of that which they maintained to be the pure Mosaic law; because on the writings of Moses alone did they found their faith and their practice." Gerizim. manifesta And certainly, whatever were the deficiencies or the mistakes of Christ's the Samaritan creed, to them, and not to the Jews, we know the tion of Messiah vouchsafed, in express terms, to declare who he was. Both himself to 75 2 Kings xvii. Joseph. Antiq. Lib. IX. Cap. ultim. 76 Josephi Ant. Lib. XI. C. 8, in fin. 77 lbid. C. 7, 8. them. Their of the Messiah distinct the Jews. Jews and Samaritans were anxiously expecting him; but it is plain, that the expectation of the Samaritans was widely different from that of the Jews; for when the inhabitants of Sychar thronged forth to gaze on him who was reported as fulfilling the prophetic marks of the Christ, they were neither surprised nor offended, at meeting with no greater personage than a lowly traveller, seated beside Jacob's well, and asking for a draught of water. The grounds of this difference form the most interesting point of the inquiry concerning the religion of the Samaritans; and to the superior clearness and correctness of their notions it was doubtless owing, that they were favoured with this more explicit avowal of himself by the Messiah, and were otherwise noticed by him in the course of his ministry. 78 Amongst the heresies of the Samaritans was their rejection of all expectation the Scriptures save the Pentateuch, so that if their expectation was founded solely on the Scripture prophecies, to the Pentateuch we from that of must look for the ground-work of their faith. Now, whoever will run through these early promises of a Saviour, will perceive that the most prominent feature in them, as far as regards the objects of the blessing, is, that all the nations of the earth shall be partakers of it.79 It was the extension of the blessing then to all nations which formed the essential feature in their expectation, as distinguished from that of the Jews. Of spurious descent, and having now failed to identify their case with that of their rivals, they had not like them any prejudices to obstruct the ready admission of this great truth. Indeed, their unsuccessful rivalry with the Jews, might be supposed to have rendered them more sharp-sighted, in eliciting what to them was a consolatory view of the prophecies. Reasons for Now this being the point, which beyond all others formed the greatest obstacle to the reception of the Messiah by his own people, it is not to be wondered at, that with a view to this the Samaritans should receive some particular notice from our Lord. Christ's avowal. Thus much on the supposition, that the Samaritan expectation was derived solely from the Jewish Scriptures. But if (as has been stated to be the opinion of some) the general expectation of the heathen world had some origin independent of this, it is but natural to conjecture further, that those who were by descent almost altogether heathen, would not have been excluded from these sources of traditionary prophecy enjoyed by the rest of the Gentiles; and that their knowledge of these might have helped them to a clearer exposition of the Jewish record than the Jews themselves generally adopted. 78 See Appendix [D.] 79 See especially Gen. xii. 3; xviii. 18; xxii. 18; xxvi. 4; xxviii. 14. PART I. THE MINISTRY OF CHRIST. THE period which will pass under review in the following inquiry, embraces the three great stages in the establishment of Christianity. In the first, it was taught by our Saviour himself on earth; in the second, it was intrusted to the ministry of men divinely inspired and extraordinarily assisted; in the last, it was permanently placed in the hands of governors and teachers neither divinely inspired nor extraordinarily assisted. Ministry There are several remarkable omissions in our Lord's personal omissions ministry, such as that he never baptized, although baptism was the in Christ's rite of admission into his religion; that he did not preach to the explained. Gentiles, although the most distinguishing feature of the new dispensation was its extension to all mankind; that he established no church during his abode on earth, and left no written laws behind him: all which seem to indicate, (what the Gospel account of him more expressly declares,) that he came to be the subject of Christianity more than the author of it. In the former view, he appears as God manifested in the flesh, and in that character accomplishing our redemption by his mysterious sufferings and death. In the latter, he appears as the teacher of mankind, instructing them in the method whereby they might attain to the Divine favour thus made accessible to all. His ministry so considered may be conveniently classed under the following heads: I. His ordinary Life, considered in the light of an Example. III. His Miracles. V. His Prophecies. This view will not include a detailed account of the events of his life, obviously because the Bible is in the hands of all. A familiarity with them is presumed, and on this presumption they will be introduced or alluded to, not in the way of narrative, but as they fall under the several divisions into which the subject has been arranged.1 1 In the mode of considering Christ's the question of its duration, and also the Ministry which has been here adopted, chronological arrangement of its several |