1073
THE KING’S BUSINESS
10:30), that argument and those assertions cannot be mistaken; but they serve to con firm the unity of that revelation of God manifest in the flesh, of which one aspect is more fully exhibited in one part, and the other aspect in the other part of the . Evangelical record. Asserting, then, the peculiar development which the last Gospel gives to the doctrine of the Person of Christ, we also assert that there is no variation from the original conception. The exposition is continuous; the picture is one. From the beginning of St. Matthew to the end of St. John it is one Lord Jesus Christ, as really the Son of Man in the last Gospel as in the first, as really the Son of God in the first Gospel as in the last. Only we find, in passing, under the teaching of St- John, that here the great mystery shows more vivid and ma ture; that the intuitions of it have become more conscious and clear,-and the asser tions of ,it more definite and indisputable; that we have advanced from the simple observation of facts to the state of retro spection and reflection, and that we have attained to the formation of a language fitted to the _highest conceptions of-'Him, Who is the Only-begotten of the Father, the Life, and the Light, and the Truth, and the Word Eternal. - , Such is the character^ of the Gospel col lection, regarded as an exposition of the doctrine of the Person of Christ. As a scheme characterized by unity and prog ress it has obviously the appearance of de sign, and the appearance of design is an argument for its reality. THE PRESIDING MIND But whose designáis this which appears not. in the separate; books, but in the col lection taken as a whole? The agents were severed from each other, and wrote as their respective turns of mind and histori cal circumstances determined. Where, then, was the presiding mind which plan ned the whole, and, in qualifying and em ploying the chosen agents, divided to'every man severally, as he would? By the voice of the Church as a body, by the ever ac cumulating consent of her several mem
bers, an unchanging answer comes down from age to age. The Spirit of the Lord is here. , Yes ! the Spirit was to testify of Jesus, and the fourfold Gospel is His permanent testimony. In it He has provided that the foundations of our faith should be laid in the region where the foundations of all human knowledge lie, namely, in the evi dence of the senses in that which “eyes have seen, ears have heard, and hands have handled of the Word of Life.” He has provided that the object of our faith should be known to us as He was known to those who saw Him, that He should be clearly known by the simplicity, fully known by the variety, and certainly known by the unity of the narratives which give to the world the perpetual and only repre sentation of its Redeemer. Finally, He has provided that the representation should be completed by a progressive course of teaching which first familiarizes us with the conversation of our Lord among men in its general and ordinary aspect, and then admits us to the more concentrated study of the glory and the mystery which had already made themselves felt at every step. THE DIVINE TEACHING ■ I have only to add that the divine teach ing thus'given, even when'viewed^sepa rately, has the appearance of being not a whole scheme ending in itself, but a part of a larger scheme. I mean that the general effect of the manifestation which is made in the Gospels is such as almost necessitates further disclosures. One shining with the glory of the Only- begotten of the Father, but clothed in the poverties and infirmities of man, has walked before us in power and weakness, in majesty and woe. He has come close to us, and drawn us close to Hirfi; has touched every chord of our heart; has secured our implicit trust, and become the. object of adoration and love; then He has hung upon a Cross, has sunk irfio a grave, has risen, has ascended, and is gone. It was a brief dispensation, and is finished once for all. What did it mean ? What has it done? What are our relations with
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