confirming their word with signs following' (Mark xvi. 20). Paul and describes the case in similar terms: -"The great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him, God also bearing them witness with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Heb. ii. 4). In this sense, the Holy Spirit is styled a witness of Christ's resurrection ; "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree, we are His witnesses of these things, and so also is the HOLY SPIRIT, which God hath given to them that obey Him' (Acts v. 30-32). This is in accordance with what Christ had said:" When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. And ye, also, shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning" (Jno. xv. 27). The power granted to the apostles for the confirmation of their testimony, was deposited in them as heavenly treasure in an earthen vessel, and they had the power of imparting it to others. This is evident from an incident recorded in Acts viii. Philip, the evangelist, went down to Samaria, and SO proclaimed the truth (of which miraculous attestation was produced by him), that many believed and were baptised; but these did not at that time receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. were had sent "Now when the apostles which at Jerusalem heard that Samaria received the Word of God, they unto them Peter and John, who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet he had fallen upon none of them, only they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.* And when Simon *In the common version, "ghost" is given as the translation of pneuma; this ought in every case to be rendered spirit; "ghost" is an obsolete Saxon term, which needlessly mystifies the idea expressed by pneuma and ruach. saw that through laying on of the apostles hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me, also, this power, that, on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit" (Acts viii. 14-19). This power of bestowing the Spirit was invariably exercised where the truth was received. In almost every case recorded, the reception of the spirit followed the reception of the truth. It was, indeed, a matter of promise that this should be so. On the day of Pentecost, Peter said Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; for the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that areafar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call " (Acts ii. 38, 39). This promise was realised in the experience of the churches founded in the days of the apostles. The spirit distributed to believers its preternatural powers in different forms and degrees. Paul says— "There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another, faith by the same Spirit; to another, the gifts of healing, by the same Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another, prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to another, divers kinds of tongues; to another, the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the self-same spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will" (1 Cor. xii. 6-11). The object of this general diffusion of spiritual power in apostolic times, is thus stated by Paul "He gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive" (Eph. iv. 11-14). This is perfectly intelligible. If the early churches, consisting of men and women fresh from the abomina. tions and immoralities of heathenism, and without the authoritative standard of the completed Scripture which now exists, had been left to the mere power of apostolic tradition intellectually received, they could not have held together. The winds of doctrine, blowing about through the activity of "men of corrupt minds," would have broken them from their moorings, and they would have been tossed to and fro on the billows of uncertain and conflicting report and opinion, and finally stranded in hopeless shipwreck. This catastrophe was prevented by the gifts of the spirit. Properly qualified men, as to moral and intellectual parts, were made the repositories of these gifts, and empowered to "speak and exhort, and rebuke with all authority," They "ruled" the communities over which they were placed, feeding the flock of God over which the Holy Spirit had made them overseers, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock (Acts xx. 28; 1 Pet. v. 2, 3). In this way the early churches were built up and edified. The work of the apostles was conserved, improved, and carried to a consummation. The faith was completed and consolidated by the voice of inspiration, speaking through the spiritually-appointed leaders of the churches. By this means the results of gospel-preaching in the first century, when there were no railways, telegraphs, or other means of a rapid circulation of ideas, instead of evaporating to nothing, as, otherwise, they would have done, were secured and made permanent, both as regards that generation and succeeding centuries. But it must be obvious that the case stands very differently now. There is no manifestation of the Spirit in these days. The power of continuing the manifestation doubtless died with the apostles; not that God could not have transferred it to " 66 others, but that He selected them as the channels of its bestowment in their age, and never, so far as we have any evidence, appointed successors. There are many who claim to be their successors; but it is not the word but the power of a man that must be taken as the test in this matter. Let those who think they have the Spirit produce their evidences. There is a great outcry about the Holy Spirit in popular preaching; but nothing more. There are phenomena which are considered outpourings of the Holy Spirit; but they bear no resemblance to those of apostolic experience, and, therefore, must be rejected. They are explicable on natural principles. When an exciting and highly mesmeric preacher gets a crowded audience, it is not a great wonder if his inflammatory exertions are successful in stimulating the susceptible among his hearers, to a state of mind corresponding with his own. He but uses a natural means, which evokes a natural result. If any of the natural conditions are awanting, the result is impaired to that extent. The "spirit," for instance, never descends to the same extent at an outdoor meeting as in a crowded chapel, especially if the day be windy. It is not dispensed so liberally to halffilled as to well-occupied pews. It does not come so quickly at the bidding of a dull temperament and barren imagination, especially if the man be of small stature-as it does at that of a lusty, excitable, well-built man, or a nervous, wiry, emphatic man. The reason is, that all these conditions are unfavourable to the play of the latent magnetism of the human system. Were it the Holy Spirit that attended these operations, it would overleap all barriers, and not only so, but its result would be of a more worthy and permanent character than the impressions made at "revival meetings," and rather more in harmony with what the Spirit has said through its ancient media, than the senti ments induced at these gatherings. But the fact is, it is not the Holy Spirit at all. It is the mere spirit of the flesh worked up into a religious excitement, through the influence of fear-an excitement which subsides as rapidly as the agency of its inception is withdrawn. The result of an intelligent apprehension of what the word of God teaches and requires, is different from this; this has its seat in the judgment, and lays hold of the entire mental man, creating new ideas and new affections, and, in general, evolving a 66 " new man. In this work, the Spirit has no participation, except in the shape of the written word. This is the product of the Spirit— the ideas of the Spirit reduced to writing by the ancient men who were moved by it. It is, therefore, the instrumentality of the Spirit, historically wielded: the sword of the Spirit by a metaphor which. contemplates the Spirit in prophets and apostles in ancient times, as the warrior. By this, men may be subdued to God-that is, enlightened, purified, and saved, if they receive the word into good and honest hearts, and "bring forth fruit, some thirty-fold, some sixty, and some a hundred." By this they may become "spiritually minded," which is "life and peace" (Rom. viii. 6). The present days are barren days, as regards the Spirit's direct operations. They are the days predicted in the following language : "I will send a famine in the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, AND SHALL NOT FIND IT" (Amos viii. 11-12). "Therefore, night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer of God" (Micah iii. 6-7). [LECT. VI. xxxii. 30, Jacob says, "I HAVE SEEN GOD FACE TO FACE, and my life is preserved." There are other places in Scripture in which God is said tohave appeared, and to have been seen and talked to, which is in seeming_contradiction to the statement of Jesus, and requires explanation. The explanation introduces. us to THE SUBJECT OF ANGELS: for it so happens that the difficulty has been created by the improper translation of terms employed in connection with God's angelic manifestations. God's manifestations have chiefly been by angelic mediumship. This will be evident to the ordinary New Testament reader from Paul's description of the law given to Moses as 66 the word spoken by angels" (Heb. ii. 2); and Stephen's remark that God, who spoke to Moses in Sinai, was "the angel that spake to him" (Acts vii. 38). This feature will be found constantly recurrent. Now, the names by which these angelic beings are designated are appropriate to them as the subordinate agents of the Deity. But this fact is concealed in the English version of the Scriptures by the translation of all divine names uniformly by 'Lord" and "God.' 66 says the terms Dr. Thomas "The names of God which occur in the Bible are not arbitrary sounds; and one of the chief imperfections of the English authorised translation, or rather version, is the slovenly manner in which all the names by which God. has been pleased to make Himself known to His people, have been rendered after the fashion of the Septuagint, by the two words, 'Lord' and 'God.' These words do not con. vey the ideas of the spirit in its use of terms. 'Lord' is of Saxon origin, and signifies mon. arch, ruler, governor, something supreme or distinguished "It fails to represent the meaning of Ail, Eloah, Elohim, Shaddai, and Yehowah; for all of which it is often, or rather most frequently, and almost generally used. The word Adon [another of the names of God employed in the original] is properly enough rendered by 'Lord,' but not the other words, for which it should never be used. The common use of God in the English language is as little justifiable as that of the word Lord. God, in Saxon, signifies good, a meaning which cannot possibly be extracted from any of the names recited above; God is indeed good, but that word is not a translation of any of the words before us, and when used in their stead, leaves the mind in the dark concerning the things which they were intended to convey." He then goes on to give a definition of each of the various words referred to. Ail, signifying strength, might, or power: Eloah, having the same signification; and Jehovah, or, more properly, Yahweh, literally I-shall-be, are all names appropriated to the uncreated Deity; but Shaddai and Elohim are plural names otherwise applied. Shaddai signifies mighty or powerful ones, from Shahdad, to be strong or powerful; while Elohim is the plural of Eloah, and means gods or powerful ones. Now these plural names are very frequently employed in the record of God's transactions with men; and it will be found they are descriptive of the angels. In Hebrews i. 6, Paul quotes a statement from Psalm xcvii. 7, in which the word "Elohim " Occurs. In the Psalm it is rendered "gods Worship him, all ye gods;" in Hebrews, it is rendered as follows: "Let all the angels of God worship Him." Here, to Paul's mind, Elohim represented angels. Again, in Exodus iii., we have an -account of the unconsumed burning bush, which God selected as a medium of communication with Moses. It is stated that Moses hid his face, and was afraid to look upon God, who announced Himself from the bush as "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ;" yet in the second verse, we read that "the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in the flame of fire out of the midst of the bush; so that the agency was angelic, though the power was of God. Again, in the instance already cited. Jacob says that he had "seen God face to face;' while from Hosea we find that it was not the Most High God that Jacob saw, but one of the Elohim, or angels. The prophet (Hosea xii. 4) referring to the incident, says "Jacob by strength had power with God; yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed." These instances prove that "Lord" and "God," as employed in the English version, do not always signify the great Increate, but sometimes, in fact almost generally, those glorious beings who act and speak in His name and with His authority. Keeping this in view, many seeming difficulties made much of by unbelievers entirely disappear. The angels are referred to by David in these words: "Bless the Lord, ye His angels that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word" (Psalm ciii. 20). Who are these angels? Popular theology represents them in books and on hearses, tombstones, &c., as baby cherubs with wings. Many believe that their ranks are greatly recruited, from time to time, by arrivals from earth of baby-spirits, who, thenceforth, become their mothers' guardians-a beautiful poetical fancy, and very pleasing to maternal instincts; but as a matter of serious teaching, to be dismissed from the rational mind. It is simply untrue. The whole of popular belief concerning the nature of angels, is characterised by the same mysticism and misconception which we have seen to pertain to other doctrines. angels of the Bible are as real as ourselves, though of a much more exalted order of being: and, instead of babyhood, are distinguished by all the maturity and dignity which belong to perfect intelligence. Three of them appeared to Abraham (Gen. xviii. 2-5). The "He sat in the tent door in the heat of the day, and he lifted up his eyes, and looked, and lo! three men stood by him, and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, and said, my Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; and after that ye shall pass on." Abraham thought they were ordinary wayfarers, and desired to extend his hospitality towards them. Paul referring to the circumstance CHRISTENDOM ASTRAY. in Heb. xiii. 2, says: 'Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels UNAWARES.' "And the men said unto Abraham, so do as thou hast said. And Abraham took butter and milk, and a calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat." In the next chapter, we read "Two angels came to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them, rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground, and he said, Behold, now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet; and ye shall rise up early and go on your ways. And they said Nay, but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed them greatly, and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat." Lot, also, like Abraham, supposed his angelic visitors to be ordinary men, and was among the number of those who "entertained angels unHe was only brought to a knowledge of their true character when they said awares. "Bring all that thou hast out of this place, for we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it." Manoah, the father of Samson, fell into a similar mistake—(Judges xiii. 15). He pressed an angelvisitor to partake of his hospitality; and it is added (ver. 16), "for Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord." These narratives prove that the angels of God are like ourselves, so far as figure is concerned; and that they are not the ethereal beings of popular theology. Eating and having their feet washed takes them out of the category of " orthodox' They are as real and substantial as angels. mortal men, but of a higher nature. Like the glorified righteous of the future age, they are incorruptible in substance, and, therefore, immortal, and luminous in appearance when that quality is not restrained. We read in the account of Christ's resurrection (given by Matthew, chap. xxviii. 2, 3), that "the [LECT. VI. angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it; and his countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow," and Cornelius, when describing the vision of an angel which he had seen, says (Acts x. 30), 66 MAN stood before me in bright clothing." A The angels, in form and feature, resemble human beings. They eat. and drink, and walk and talk, and deport themselves in general like ourselves; but unlike us, they are incorruptible, deathless, perfect, and strong in the might with which God has invested them for the execution of His purposes. They have power to traverse space; but it does not require wings to do this, for the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven without the aid of such appendages. It is only necessary to power to counteract the influence of physical gravitation, and the ability to command it at will. This power dwells in the angels and in the Lord Jesus Christ, and seems generally to be the characteristic of spiritbodies. In the angels we behold an exemplification of what the saints. will be after the resurrection; for Jesus says possess "They that shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; FOR THEY ARE EQUAL UNTO THE ANGELS, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection (Luke xx. 35, 36). a At present, the righteous are little lower than the angels" (Heb. ii. 7); then, they will be on the same level. This is a confirmation of all that was advanced in the last lecture regarding the state of the righteous after they have attained to immortality. It is a state in which they will be real, substantial, human-like in form, of flesh and bone, yet incorruptible, glorious, powerful, never-dying, perfect in happiness, uncloyed in the exercise of the functions of their exalted condition. |