A Goodly Heritage

: “To them who are disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient; whereunto also they were appointed.” The language is elliptical, and the manner in which the ellipsis is to be supplied, depends on the manner in which you translate and explain the clause which immediately precedes, rendered in our version, “he is precious.” “To you who believe, he,” that is, Jesus Christ, “is precious;” he is highly valued by you. Supposing this to be the true rendering, the ellipsis must be thus supplied, ‘To them who are disobedient, he is contemptible; by them he is undervalued and despised;' and what follows should be the illustration of this. I have already stated to you the reason why I cannot consider these words, “To you who believe, he is precious,”—though embodying in them a truth very dear to the heart of every Christian, expressed i...

. The first direction given by the apostle to his suffering brethren is, ‘Be not astonished at your sufferings.' “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing had happened to you.” The course of suffering on which these Christians had entered, is figuratively described as a fire or burning, intended to try them. The allusion is to the intense heat of the furnace of the refiner, by which he tests the genuineness, and increases the purity, of the precious metals. The figurative representation is obviously designed to indicate, at once the great severity and the important purposes of the afflictions on which these Christians might reckon with certainty as awaiting them. These afflictions were to be severe. They are compared, not to the heat of the sun, or of an ordinary fire, but to the concentrated heat of the refiner's furnace; and we know, from authentic history respecting the persecutions to which the primitive Chr...

—HIS SUFFERINGS. Having thus shortly illustrated the two descriptive appellations here given to the illustrious Sufferer, let us now, in the second place, turn our attention to his sufferings. “Christ, the just One, suffered; being put to death in the flesh.” The exalted personage to whom these appellations belong, existed from before all ages in a state of the most perfect blessedness: “He was in the beginning with God,” “in the bosom of the Father,” enjoying glory with him before the foundation of the world, delighting in him, and delighted in by him. A state of suffering was not then his original condition. But when, in order to gain the great objects of his eternal appointment, he, in the fulness of the times, took on him the nature of men in its present humbled state, a state resulting from their violation of the Divine law, “the likeness of sinful flesh,” he, of course, became a sufferer: for “man born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble; he comes forth as a flower, a...

—The just One. The second appellation given to the glorious Sufferer spoken of in the text is, the just, or the righteous, One. “The just One,” as well as the anointed One, is an appellation given to the great promised Deliverer in the writings of the Old Testament prophets. In the last prophetic words of David, he speaks of his Son and Lord under this name. “The just One ruleth among men;” for so do the best Scripture critics render the words translated in our version, “He that ruleth among men must be just.” It is of him of whom it was predicted that a bone of him should not be broken, that it is said by the same inspired writer, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous” or just One. The prophet Isaiah speaks of Him as Jehovah's “righteous servant;” and the prophet Zechariah, congratulating the church on his appearance, exclaims, “Behold, thy King cometh. He is just, having salvation.” In obvious allusion to such passages, we find the appellation not unfrequently given by the ...

—Christ. First, He is Christ. This is not, strictly speaking, the proper name of Him who bears it. It is one of his official designations; and in this way stands in the same class as Mediator, Redeemer, Saviour. Jesus was his proper name; and Jesus Christ, or rather Jesus the Christ, is not like Simon Peter, or John Mark, a double name, but like John the Baptist, or Herod the king, a proper name, and a descriptive appellation conjoined. Christ is a Greek word, corresponding in meaning to the Hebrew word Messiah, and the English word anointed. The Christ, then, is just the Anointed One. Anointing seems, from a very early period, to have been the emblem of consecration; the setting apart of a person or thing to a particular and sacred purpose: and it appears that, among the Jews, consecration to the three sacred offices, the prophetical, priestly, and kingly, was indicated by anointing. In the Old Testament Scriptures, the great Deliverer, who had been promised almost immediately after ...

"I AM found of them who sought me not," is the language of the Messiah in the prophetic word, many ages before he made his appearance among mankind; and the oracle has been frequently verified. His saving blessings are not only always unmerited by those on whom they are conferred, but they are often unsought; and of all who form a part of his peculiar people, it may be as truly said as of his apostles, "It was not they who chose him, it was he who chose them." When they were going on in their folly and sin-when they were alike ignorant of and careless about, him and his salvation, HE, to use the apostle's peculiarly appropriate word, "apprehended" them, aroused their attention, poured light into their darkened minds, opened their understandings to understand the truth, and their hearts to receive the love of that truth, so as to be saved by it. We have a beautiful illustration of these remarks in that part of our Lord's history, on the considerat...

MATTHEW XV. 1-20.—MARK VII. 1-23. W HILE  our Lord was “teaching in the cities and villages of Galilee,” a number of  “doctors of the law,” belonging to the sect of the Pharisees, whose ordinary residence was Jerusalem, came to him. Whether they were deputed by some public body—or, of their own accord, came expressly for the purpose of hearing the discourses and witnessing the miracles of Jesus— or, being in that remote district of the country at any rate, took the opportunity of obtaining personal information respecting an individual whose character and claims had become a subject of general interest, it is needless to inquire, for it is impossible to learn. From the general character of the body to which they belonged, and from their own conduct on this occasion, there can be little doubt that their object was not to find out the truth, but rather to “entangle Jesus in his talk,” and, if possible, to obtain some ground of accusation against him, either before the ecclesi...