laneum and Pompeii. We there discover that every work of man was so penetrated with corruption, every production of genius so defiled with uncleanness, that God, in introducing a better dispensation, determined to cleanse the world from the pollution of preceding ages. As when all flesh had corrupted His way, He purified the world by the waters of a flood; so when genius had covered the earth with images of sin, He overwhelmed the works of ancient civilization with a deluge of barbarism, and consigned the most splendid monuments of literature and art to almost universal oblivion. It was too bad to exist, and He swept it all away with the besom of destruction." Even the craving for the sight of human blood had become, like hunger for bread, a recognised popular appetite, which it was one of the functions of government, in the public amphitheatres, to satisfy. "It was," says Schlegel, "as if the iron-footed god of war, so highly revered from of old by the people of Romulus, actually bestrode the globe, and at every step struck out new torrents of blood; or as if dark Pluto had emerged from the abyss of eternal night, escorted by all the revengeful spirits of the lower world, by all the Furies of passion and insatiable cupidity, by the bloodthirsty demons of murder, to establish his visible empire, and erect his throne for ever on the earth." All attempts to infuse new life into the pagan system proved utterly futile. It lay like a pitiable torso, without head or hands, on the threshold of its crumbling temple. The experiment which was commenced when men built the tower of Babel, had been fully tried, and this was the result. Neither the austerities of Egyptian theology, nor the moralities of stoical philosophy could infuse new life into a religion which contained the active elements of its own dissolution. themselves, and destitute of the spirit of faith and love, these imperial props to a falling idolatry were destined to pass away. False The human mind could never have advanced further, but must have certainly and hopelessly declined, had not a new element of life and power been imparted by Him who made it. Like soil which, from long and injudicious tillage, is worn out, it needed some new and fertilizing agent or influence to save it from hopeless sterility. That influence came with the introduction of Christianity, which not only brought the divine teachings of JESUS, and the inspired writings of His apostles, but the sublime productions of Hebrew bards and prophets to the knowledge of mankind. New views of men and of life, and a new or-ganization of society were to spring from the power of love divinely revealed. "In this great central point of history," to use again the words of Schlegel, "stood two powers opposed to each other. On one hand we behold Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero, the earthly gods and absolute masters of the world, in all the pomp and splendour of ancient paganism, standing as it were on the very summit and verge of the old world, now tottering to its ruin; and on the other hand we trace the obscure rise of an almost imperceptible point of light, from which the whole modern world was to spring, and whose further progress and full development through all succeeding ages constitute the true purport of modern history." It was an era for which the world had long been waiting and preparing. During the domination of the Ptolemies, the Jewish Scriptures had been translated, with great care, into the Greek language, and the Jews, scattered far and wide, had talked of their prophecies to their heathen neighbours, until some of them were gradually taken up by them, as if they had been actually prophecies of their own oracles. Revealed knowledge was no longer to be confined, shut up in narrow bounds. The same great providential act, which breaks its bonds, and unlocks its prison house, enlarges its commission, confirms its credentials, and sends it forth to conquer and regenerate the world. But the character of the period in which the apostle John lived, as shown from the condition of the Jewish people (his own nation), and the state of opinion among them, as influenced by the inspired writings in their possession, and their expectation of a Messiah, have a still more important connection with his life and the productions of his pen. No sooner was the early promise given, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, than we discern a tendency in sacred history towards the great end indicated in that promise; namely, the manifestation of the Son of man, in whom and through whom alone the counsel of God could be fulfilled. To preserve the knowledge of divine truth among men, and to prevent heathenism from becoming universal, the danger of which, on account of the corruption in man, was imminent, Abraham was called, and the visible church instituted. In the promise to him-"In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed,"2 -the purpose of redemption flames out with the brightness of the sun, 1 Virgil, in one of his noblest bursts of poetry, drew from the prophetic visions of Isaiah:: "Ipsa lacte domum referent distenta capella There was a very general expectation in the world that some personage, who was to perform a great work for humanity, was soon to be manifested. (Comp. Isa. xi. 6-9; xxxv. 9; lxv. 25.) 2 Gen. xii. 3. which, although still far below the horizon, begins to scatter the darkness of the night. The Messiah is now to be found in the seed of Abraham. This is a decided advance on the idea presented in the first promise respecting the Seed of the woman. The believing Israelites are expressly told from what quarter they are to expect deliverance to arise; and are further taught that the promised salvation will consist, not merely in the destruction of evil-the bruising of the serpent's head, but in positive blessings. Next they have the promised salvation in the words of the dying Jacob. No longer in the terms merely of the promise made to Abraham, the particular line of Judah is designated, and we have the first distinct mention of a personal Messiah. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be." At length Moses appears as a deliverer from bondage and a lawgiver, and in him the idea of a personal Messiah becomes even more distinct: "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken." 2 The very law which was given by Moses was calculated to show man his need of redemption, and awaken a desire to obtain it. It showed him the need of grace-grace that can come only from One who is able to sustain the honour of a violated law. The law was his schoolmaster to bring him to Christ. God did not relax His holy demands. The curse remained; it thundered in the ear of man, “Thou shalt surely die, unless a Deliverer be found." It kept pealing and echoing along the ages which preceded the advent of the Redeemer, in louder and more distinct reverberations, according as they cherished a knowledge of the law; and dying comparatively away as that law, for any season, was lost and buried out of sight. It presented the idea of a personal Jehovah, the Creator of all things, and the Governor of all, as an Avenger of sin, and the Rewarder of all them that diligently seek Him. In the ceremonial law and the worship it prescribed, we see, moreover, how significant and typical of Christ it was in all its parts. The spiritual worshipper could not rest in these things; he would have found them in themselves empty ceremonies, or a yoke of bondage. They pointed him to a future, better service. They were a shadow of good things to come. In the sacrifices the atoning work which a broken law demanded was portrayed. The victim, a lamb without blemish and without spot, represented a Saviour so holy and well-pleasing to God, that He can take away the sin of the world. The whole Jewish economy, in its priests, 1 Gen. xlix. 10. 2 Deut. xviii. 15; Acts iii. 22; vii. 37. its tabernacle and its temple, its festivals and purifications, was but a shadow and a type of a coming One unto whom the gathering of the people should be, and in whom all the nations of the carth should be blessed. At the same time, the early promise continued to blossom out in prophecies, which shed beauty and fragrance over the dreary desert by which the Church was making her steady way towards the promised land. Their history, their captivities, their deliverances were a perpetual prophecy to the Jews of their deliverance from a worse-a spiritual bondage. The interpositions of God to deliver them from earthly enemies and straits prefigured a higher work to be done in the future. The highest splendour of the history of the old covenant appeared in David, when the promise was given that his Seed should reign for ever, and that the throne of his kingdom should be established for ever.1 There is a further development of the expectations connected with the coming of Messiah. The quarter whence the Star that should come out of Jacob was to arise is more specifically mentioned. The family of David is singled out from the tribe of Judah, and made the bearer of the line of the promise. First, the revelation was in the most general form, the Seed or Offspring of the woman; next, this promised Offspring is to be of the seed of Abraham. Again, the boundaries are narrowed, and we see the Star arising out of Jacob, and Shiloh coming out of Judah. And, lastly, the house of David is selected out of Judah, and Bethlehem, the city of David, is pointed out as the birthplace of the Saviour. The peaceful, prosperous reign of Solomon was prophetic of the reign of the Prince of peace, and the building of the temple expressed, in its perfection and reality, the conception of the Christian Church. Psalms were heard in the temple and at the hearthstones of the people, which spoke of the future King. The pious Hebrews were always, as it were, in the attitude of expectation. There was a gradual advancement from the first ray which broke on the darkness of the night, to the clear dawn, which foretokened the going forth of the Bridegroom out of His chamber. The plan of salvation had been gradually developed, and made clearer and clearer, as the time for the full manifestation of its Author and Finisher drew And, while this was going on, the salvation itself was imparted to every one who in faith built on the foundation laid in Zion, according to the measure of truth revealed to him. Many died "in faith, not having received the promises (or the things promised), but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."2 1 2 Sam. vii. 12, 13; 1 Kings viii. 25; Ps. lxxxix. 29. near. 2 Heb. xi. 13. We have a long catalogue of such worthies. It was in the growing light of a dawn like this that such men as John, and Andrew, and Peter, and Philip, and Nathanael, came on the stage of life. They were neither blind nor infatuated. It is not to be wondered at, that when Jesus was pointed out to them by him whom all men counted as a prophet, as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, they followed Him, and were convinced that they had "found Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write."1 1 St. John i. 45. |