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IV. THE QUALITIES WITH WHICH THE INCARNATE WORD WAS FILLED.

We may understand the words "grace and truth" in the widest sense, and regard them as denoting His possession of all excellent qualities, and His revelation of the great truths concerning God and man. Or we may give them a more limited application, and view the "grace" as meaning favour, and the "truth" as meaning faithfulness-favour in His dealings with men-faithfulness in the testimony which He bears. As we shall have virtually to take the ground which they cover when used in their wider sense, in our remarks on the parenthetic clause, we are inclined to consider them now in their limited application.

How

Favour and Faithfulness. truly was the Incarnate Word filled with them! Examine His life, and you see that His heart was so full of kindness towards men that it flows out in all His acts. That part of His history which is known to us is mainly a record of benevolent deeds. He passes through the land conferring favours on all the needy. His time is spent in continually doing good. Some chapters of the gospel narrative are crowded with miracles of healing, performed on all manner of diseases. No form of distress appeals to Him in vain. He goes to the haunts where He is most likely to find it. He heals by His touch, and He heals by His word. His very presence sheds gladness around. He brings light into every region which He visits. And when only the hem of His garment is touched, virtue goes out of him to staunch the flowing blood, and to relieve the misery of the patient. By the sick bed He arrests the progress of disease, and restores the dying to the friends whose hearts are overwhelmed at the prospect of their loss. By the bier and the grave He asserts His mastery over death, and the widow receives back

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her only son, and the brother who has been four days dead comes forth from the grave to gladden the bereaved sisters' home. When He looks on the hungry, He is moved with compassion and miraculously feeds them. When He meets with the ignorant, He communicates instruction in words of wisdom which make the bystanders exclaim, "Never man spake like this man.' When the guilty penitent crosses His path, He says, "Thy sins are forgiven,' in tones of tenderness and authority which evoke such a response, that she washes His feet with tears, and wipes them with the hairs of her head, and takes an alabaster box of ointment very precious, and kisses. His feet, and anoints them with the ointment. Over the foreseen suffering of the impenitent He utters bitter lamentations and sheds sorrowful tears; and while He bears the guilt, and sheds His blood for the pardon, of all, He prays for His murderers, murderers, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Favour for men flows out in all His words and deeds. And He is the manifested God-God's answer given in human action and speech to the question so often asked by the trembling heart of humanity-How does God feel towards His rebellious creatures? What are the propensions of His heart concerning us? What treatment may we look for at His hands? Behold the God-man

and see. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full ofwhat? Not of enmity. Not of wrath. Not even of indifference. There is no such feeling to be witnessed in His life. You behold in Him a heart overflowing with pitya heart to which the most timid may confidently appeal, and which opens to embrace every son and daughter of distress. Full of favour for mankind He moves among us; the expression and embodiment of the Divine feeling and purpose concerning us. For in that Man so full of

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Faithfulness as well as favour He is filled with. The profoundest and yet simplest utterances concerning God which the world had ever heard, and the most authoritative announcements of duty, and the clearest revelations of destiny, fell from His lips. And the world, with all its learning, with all its advances in science, all its ancient and modern philosophies, has never been able to disprove or to supersede them. On the contrary, the further it progresses in the acquisition of knowledge, the more obviously true do His utterances become. And the higher the morality to which men attain, the more do His announcements commend themselves to the moral sense, as supplying that rule of life which is fitted to secure a perfect development of character in our several relations, and to bring down even into our sinful and sinblighted world something of the bliss of heaven. He is still, and He will continue to be, the world's great and infallible teacher-the prophet of the future as well as the instructor of the past-the faithful denouncer of wrong, and the authoritative revealer of the right and the true. All future discoveries will only serve more fully to verify His utterances, and do homage to His wisdom. With partial enlightenment scepticism may boast its victories, and a proud philosophy, failing to understand, may undervalue His teaching, and despise His claims.

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larger knowledge will be accompanied by unwavering faith; and "the last and the best of the world's scholars will be among the lowliest worshippers and the loudest heralds of the crucified Nazarene."

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which John here applies to our Lord is one which is never applied to any other being, and marks Him out, therefore, as distinguished from every other, and as being God's Son in a sense in which no other is. Others are called His sons; and some would have us believe that Christ is a son in the same sense-t -that the application to Him of such a term indicates that He belongs simply to the same class of beings as they. But this word "only begotten" disposes of this theory, and places Christ on a pre-eminence which raises Him far above every man, and every creature of God. The very circumstances in which the phrase is used combine with its natural meaning in affording proof of this. For, as has been well remarked, "it is not employed for ordinary teaching, but is reserved for rare occasions of impressive solemnity and grandeur." The text is such an occasion; and so is the eighteenth verse, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." Equally so is chap. iii. 16, and 1 John iv. 9, 10. Such a use of the phrase, as well as its own significance, places Christ above all creatures. The language would not only be absurd as applied to any mere man, it is equally inapplicable to the loftiest of the creatures of God. Since all created beings, however lofty, have sprung from God, and are the products of His power, it cannot be said of any of them that he is the only begotten of the Father. He to whom this language is applicable occupies a position which is unique. He is no creature of God's power; for His relation to the Father is one which no other being sustains.

His glory, it is intimated, is peculiar to Himself. After saying "His glory," the Evangelist adds in explanation, "the glory of the only begotten of the Father"-teaching that this glory, whatever it may be,

is all His own, and is distinguish- | able from the glory of any other being. It is not the glory of the best of men. It is not the glory of angel or archangel. It is not the glory of seraphim or cherubim. It is not the glory of any of the principalities or powers in heavenly places. But the glory of the only begotten of the Father, the glory of the manifested God-God revealed to us through the human nature which the Saviour assumed.

Wherein, then, does this glory differ from the glory of the Father? If it be peculiar to the only begotten Son, are we to understand that it is distinguishable from that of the Father; and, if so, wherein is it distinguishable? Our answer is, Not in essence, but only in the manner of manifestation. Of the glory of the absolute God we may say, as we did of His essence, that we cannot form a conception. It is too resplendent for us to bear the sight; if, indeed, we are capable of seeing it. But in Christ that glory is manifested, through the humanity which reveals, by so obscuring it as to make it suitable for our finite vision. It is the glory of God we behold in Him. The effulgence with which His character is radiant is that of the Divine perfections. But it is the Divine glory so toned down that we are able to behold it. When you could not look on the sun in the firmament because its brightness dazzles the eye, you might be able to look on it as reflected in a mirror. And it is thus that we behold in Christ, as in a glass or mirror, the glory of God. It is the glory of the only begotten of the Father, but it enables us to understand the Father's glory, just as the reflection in the mirror gives us some conception of the brightness of the sun. We know that that which Christ reveals to us in measure exists in infinite degree. All the perfections whose effulgence we see in the only begotten are possessed by the Father to an extent which

immeasurably surpasses our loftiest conception. Love such as we see manifested in the God-man, He possesses to an extent which would bewilder us did we try to comprehend it. And so with every attribute. And O! what a thought it is, when we feel our hearts ravished by the character of our blessed Lord, that that which so attracts us, which so excites our love and trust-that which we so delight to contemplatethat, to an extent which eternity shall not fully disclose, is the character of our God. The glory of the only begotten of the Fatherthe radiance of love, mercy, justice, truth, purity, and all other attributes combined, which shines in the person of Christ-that is the glory of the Father presented to us through the veil of our humanity that it may suit our mortal sight-the glory which we hope to contemplate and adore, and better understand throughout the countless ages that are to come.

John and others saw this glory. Is it to be seen now? May we, living so much after them, behold the vision with which their eyes were so filled that, in comparison, they could see no beauty elsewhere, and their hearts so ravished that they became incapable of any other love? It may be that we are not so favourably situated as they were; for it must have been a marvellous advantage to hear the tones of the Saviour's voice, and look into His eyes, and behold His miracles of love, and feel the influence of His personal presence! But still, there is a vision for us also. To the soul that is spiritually enlightened, the record of His life as contained in the gospels presents a glory which eclipses every other. In prayer we can still speak to the living Saviour, and in the words which He spake we can hear His utterances, while to our inward ear He speaks in tones which thrill through our souls, and to our inward eye presents such visions of

Concerning Zeal.

His love as take captive all our affections. And what with the letter of the revelation, and the spiritual enlightenment, it may be that we are not so much less favoured than those who witnessed His earthly life. Only, let us be careful to seek this inner vision. Let us not forget that men may see a beauty in Christ, who have never in the proper sense beheld His glory. Artists have tried to paint the human face Divine, and have succeeded in painting it in a way which shews that some of them had a sentimental admiration for His character, without any perception of His essential glory. And moralists have descanted on His teaching in a way which shewed an æsthetic appreciation of His morality, while they were utterly ignorant of the spirit of His life; and failed to discern in Him any traces of the Divine. Ours, if we are to savingly profit by it, must be a different perception-such a perception as will sink us low in the dust of self-abasement, and constrain us to sacrifice all we have, if need be, for His sake-to count all things but dross and dung that we may "win Christ, and be found in Him" -a perception which will so ravish our affections, as to make all other

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loves weak and cold in comparisona perception which will constrain us to lay ourselves and all we have and are at His feet, to place every faculty under His control, making us glad to spend and be spent in His service, causing us to deem it our highest honour to be associated with Him though it be in persecution and tribulation, yea, to rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer shame for His name-a perception which will make us ever desirous to know more of Him, until we are "able to comprehend the length, and breadth, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." Such a perception as this we must have, or the glory that is in Him will profit us nothing. His incarnation will prove to have been in vain for us. And though we rejoice with others in the happy Christmas time, we shall only be like multitudes who rejoice without any apprehension of the Saviour's works, or of the great event which this Scripture records and celebrates, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

CONCERNING ZEAL.

BY THE REV. W. UNDERWOOD, D.D.

IF our object in writing were to "tell some new thing" we should not write concerning zeal. And if we wished to present something old chiefly to the intellectual faculties of our readers, we should not have chosen the subject of the present paper. Being affectionately desirous of their Christian welfare, we seek to commend ourselves to their consciences and hearts, and would feign infuse into them a little warmth at this cold time of the year.

Zeal, considered as a quality, is

one of the most dubious things we can possess. A dictionary may tell us, truly enough, that it is fervency, earnestness, or enthusiasm. But that definition does not determine whether the thing is good or bad. We call a person zealous who is eager for any object, and who puts forth energy in seeking to attain it: yet this eagerness and energy are good only when the object of them, and their manifestation, are good. Bad passions have so often covered themselves with its name, and so

many evil deeds have been done under its influence, that great authorities in moral science have questioned whether zeal should be classed among the virtues or the vices.

In

Leaving the lexicons, and coming to the Scriptures, we may be a little startled to find that in the Greek text of the New Testament the word for zeal is oftener employed with an evil, than with a good meaning! Take the following instances. Acts v. 17, the high priest, and those who were with him, are said to have risen up against the apostles, and to have been "filled with indignation" (zeal). In vii. 9, Stephen states that the patriarchs, in selling Joseph into Egypt, "were moved with envy" (zeal). In xvii. 5, the unbelieving Jews, who were in Thessalonica, are said to have been "moved with envy" (zeal) in setting the city on an uproar against the apostles. In Rom. xiii. 13, Christians are exhorted to walk honestly as in the day. . .“not in strife and envying" (zeal).

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1 Cor. xiii. 4, we are told, "Charity envieth not" (is not zealous). In Gal. v. 20, the plural form of it, under the name of emulations (zeals), appears in company with such evil things as idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, envyings," and even ders." In James iii. 14, the brethren are admonished not to " glory" if they have in their hearts bitter envying (zeal) and strife: for "where (verse 16) envying (zeal) and strife are, there is confusion and every evil work." He even tells some that they "kill and desire to have" (are zealous)" and cannot obtain." And, to mention one instance more: In the place Phil. iii. 6, where we find the phrase which forms the title of of our paper-" Concerning Zeal" Paul tells how the zeal which once inflamed him showed itself, namely, in "persecuting the church.”

And

in reading the history of the church from the beginning until now it is difficult to say whether that which has borne the name of zeal has been

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a blessing or a bane to religion. The Judaizers in Galatia "zealously affected" the sound believers there, that is, they envied them-" but not well." Yea, says Paul," they would exclude you, that ye might affect," or envy "them." But it is good to be zealously affected," literally envied, "always in a good thing." And the drift of the apostle's teaching there is to show that it is better to be envied than to envy-better to be hated than to be perverted-better even to be a martyr than a zealot.* The Jewish Pharisees, of whom Saul was one, were exceedingly zealous for the traditions of their fathers." The first Christian converts in Jerusalem were only half evangelized. There were 66 many thousands that believed," but they 66 were all zealous of the law;" and their zeal rendered it unsafe for a gospel preacher like Paul to omit the ritualistic keeping of the Mosaic law there. The Corinthians were "zealous of spiritual gifts;" but did not seek to excel for the edifying of the church. And even now some are fervent, and almost furious, in contending for minor points of doctrine, and unessential forms of polity, while the vital truths and principles, which underlie all doctrines and duties, are too little regarded. They hoist the flag of sectarianism, and follow the banner of bigotry, instead of rallying around the right standard-the standard of Christ's cross!

Is there, then, no zeal that is true, and pure, and honourable? Are

*The passage to which we here refer, Gal. iv. 17, 18, is variously interpreted, but our view of its meaning is derived from the literal sense of the words in the original. We are confirmed in this view by the exposition given by so accurate a Bible critic as the late Dr. John Brown, of Edinburgh, in his work on the Galatians. The envy, or zeal of the Judaizing teachers, he says, "did not stir them up to rise to the level of the Galatian liberty, but to bring down the Galatians to the level of the Jewish bondage. To gain their object, says the apostle, they would exclude you, i.e., from the privileges of the kingdom of Christ, that you may envy them! it is good, honourable, to be envied in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.' It is better to be the object of the envy of these Judaizers than to be the subject of their triumph."

'But

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