FEELING EXPRESSED IN GENERAL TERMS.

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instance, a dry, doctrinal character has been given to the language of the Apostle Paul when he says "In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation." And yet, when I consider the connexion of these words, I cannot help feeling that in this general way, he was giving expression to his own burning experience. He exclaims just before, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." And then, he adds, "For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision is of any importance, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation." What an immense change had taken place in the mind of Paul! The cross, that instrument of suffering-that symbol of the deepest shame had become, in its spiritual aspects, its moral manifestations, his central light, and a glory streamed from it, which was as the glory of God! Well did he say, and he must have uttered it from the fervent feeling of his own soul-To be a Christian, is to be ushered into a new creation.' In eyes illuminated by the moral light of the cross of Christ, all things are changed. The old world with its artificial standards of judgment and thought, its superficial distinctions, vanishes utterly away, and a new world appears, a world, not of outward observance, but bound together by the moral influences, and irradiated by the spiritual light, of the cross of Christ.

But to return. On the occasion mentioned above, they who cavilled at the astonishing work wrought by

Not a new creature.'

Jesus, betrayed a moral blindness, hopeless to the last degree. A work which they confessed to be superhuman, and in which power and benevolence were miraculously displayed, they refused to refer to the agency of God. As I conceive, and as I have already said, Jesus was shocked at the impenetrable hardness of their hearts. And it is as if he had said, 'Any other sin or blasphemy, of which men may be guilty, they may be forgiven, for they may repent of it; but you are past repentance, you, who speak against the Spirit of God, so overpoweringly manifested. There is no hope of you. You cannot be moved, and of course you cannot be forgiven. He who speaks against me as a man, without knowledge of my words or works, as, no doubt, many do, may be forgiven, for he may repent; but when a man sets himself against God, against the most striking exhibitions of God's presence and agency, there is no hope for him, now or ever.' Such I believe to be substantially the meaning of this passage. It was uttered with direct reference to a peculiar case, and in that general and unqualified manner, which the deep feeling, excited by the case, naturally prompted.

The Pharisees immediately ask Jesus for a sign. And this request, in connexion with the peculiar circumstances, intimates, as I have suggested in another place, that the Pharisees were momentarily impressed by what he had done, and were ready to believe in him, if he would only do a work which should prove him to be such a Christ as they expected. That this was their state of mind is implied by what follows. For, after saying that no sign of his

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authority would be given them except his death and resurrection, he goes on to describe the condition of a man suffering under one of those violent maladies, which in those days were ascribed to evil spirits, and which come on by paroxysms; evidently hinting in this description at the moral condition of the Pharisees. They might appear for a little while to be forsaken by the evil spirit of unbelief which possessed them. But its departure was only temporary. It would return like other diseases with seven-fold fury and violence.

Some

We come now to the point which I wish to make prominent. The narrative proceeds to inform us that while he was speaking, speaking, as I have represented, with the greatest earnestness and solemnity, one said to him, "Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee." thoughtless individual, insensible to the import of his words and to common decorum, or, it might have been, some one who disliked the direction his remarks were taking, and was glad of an opportunity to break them off, interrupted him, telling him that his mother wanted to see him. Now it seems to me he was disturbed at the interruption, ("ægre ferens interpellationem," says Kuinoel) and that the exclamation, "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?" reveals a momentary excitement of mind. So full was he of what he was saying, and so offended, if I may be allowed the expression, that he speaks as if he had forgotten that he had either mother or brethren.

I am unable to understand the feelings of those

who can consider this incident, thus regarded, as indicating any defect in the character of Jesus. It reveals his humanity, it is true, but in so doing, in showing him affected by human feelings,-weaknesses, if you please-it heightens my reverence for him, and makes him live more vividly in my faith and affections. With not a trace of human weakness, his character might have been beautiful, but its beauty would have been unreal and visionary, appealing only to the imagination. It could have had no foundation in nature, no power over the deep and active sympathies of the human soul. There is none absolutely good but one, God. We want not a character absolutely good in the person of a man, for that would be an inconsistency in the nature of things, but we want a specimen of the perfection of a nature, still seen and felt to be a human nature, possessing the inherent, ineradicable principles of humanity. My mind does not pause with the least regret over the hasty feeling which prompted the exclamation, "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren ?" but I feel all the more deeply the touching manner in which he corrects himself, the evidence he immediately gives of the tenderness of his filial and fraternal affections, when, extending his hand towards his disciples, and, as if he could say nothing more affectionate, he adds, "Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever will do the will of my Father in Heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."

In commenting upon this passage I have followed the Gospel of Matthew. Luke relates the circum

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stances of the same occasion, but he does not mention that the mother of Jesus desired to see him, he only mentions that a woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts that gave thee nourishment!"* Is there not a probable coincidence here between the two narratives? Some one, as we learn from Matthew, told Jesus that his mother was waiting for him. Upon the mention of his mother, a woman, herself probably a mother, exclaimed in effect, "Thy mother! what a blessed woman thy mother must be !" The whole passage is redolent of nature and life. Is it looking at it too curiously to see in the introduction of the word, "sister," a little

To this benediction, Jesus replied, " Yea, rather blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it." Here, by the way, we have an instance of that mode of speaking, upon which I was just remarking—a proposition general in its terms, but prompted by, and applying to a particular case. It was not a formal declaration, but a spontaneous and sudden exclamation. We cannot doubt that when Jesus uttered these words, he fastened his eyes upon the woman And it is as if he had said,

whose language had called them forth. "Dost thou deem my mother happy? Rather most blessed art thou if thou but know thy present privilege, and hearing what I say, bear thyself accordingly." How deeply absorbed he was with what he had just been saying, we may infer from the sensitiveness he evinces to the least disposition on the part of his hearers to think of anything else.

When the woman uttered this benediction on the mother of Jesus, little did she dream that she uttered a sentiment to which, in the worship of the Virgin, the world was for ages to respond; and which was to be embodied in the finest efforts of Art. In the adoration of the infant Jesus and his mother have we not a touching tribute to the power with which Christianity has appealed to some of the best and tenderest affections of our nature? With the manhood of Jesus the world has yet to learn to sympathize.