Meditations on the last days of Christ, consisting of ten sermons, preached at Constantinople and Odessa

Preface

The present series of Meditations is presented to the Christian reader with unfeigned diffidence; and the rather so because the spe¬ cific circumstance which led to its publication is not of a nature to meet the public eye. That these unassuming endeavors share, in a more than common degree, the imperfection of all human efforts, I feel deeply, and confess freely ; but I hope that the profitableness and importance of the subject, and the comparative scarcity of sermons upon the historical parts of the Sacred Scriptures will induce some to peruse these pages. If any of the readers should find but half the spiritual profit in their perusal which I was permitted to reap from their composition, they will bless the Lord with me for the precious portions of holy writ which form their basis. That the general sub¬ ject of these Meditations would bear to be enlarged upon with grow¬ ing profit and delight to an indefinite extent, all will readily agree; but I durst not tax the reader’s indulgence more than I have done. In heaven we shall dwell upon it forever.

But one may ask how I was led to the composition of discourses of this kind. Partly, I was weary of preaching upon abstract sub¬ jects; and partly, Krummacher’s Elias, a series of sermons upon the history of Elijah, had awakened in me a new relish for the history of the Bible. To select this most difficult portion of Scripture history

VI

PREFACE.

I was led by a beautiful ancient German hymn upon the burial of Christ, by the pious Paul Gerhard.

In the history of the resurrection I am much indebted to I. I. Hess, whose view has met my feelings best, though it has by no means been copied. Krummacher’s ** Lehrstimmen,” I did not see till a considerable time after these meditations were finished. I have therefore no more borrowed from him than he from me. As to form, I have moved unshackled by the rules of pulpit composition. I hate the stiff, undeviating rules of all the rhetorical schools in the world, alike. They are so many mummeries, each representing the great writer or speaker of some period or other, while the eloquence of prophets and apostles soars with undying energies, and with ever new and varying beauties, like an eagle just below the stars. We ought to be free on this subject, and suffer our texts and subjects, the character of our audience, and our prayerful feelings to suggest the form of our messages to mind So did the prophets and apostles. The circumstances under which these Meditations were written and delivered were various; now wars and a destructive plague sur¬ rounded us, and none only our mission families and a few pious na¬ tives composed the audience. Sometimes, (as in the Meditation entitled “ Thomas’s Conversion,”) missionary brethren and sisters destined for other stations were present on their passage to the re¬ gions beyond us. A few times large audiences were assembled. Considerable intervals, occasioned by travelling and other circum¬ stances, occurred likewise. This may account for some particular allusions, and perhaps for some defects, too, with which the reader will meet in these pages.

If some of our ministerial brethren in America should be led, in their public ministrations, to direct their attention more to the histor¬ ical parts of the Bible, and by their more successful efforts should supersede the use of this little volume, the author would consider this a reward for his feeble attempt beyond his boldest expectations.

PREFACE.

vii

The history, too, of our Bible is precious above gold, and much fine gold and pearls and precious stones.

May God, whose strength is made perfect in weakness, grant his blessing to the testimony of an unworthy servant, and take all the glory to himself forever.

W. G. SCHAUFFLER.

Constantinople, Jan. 14, 1836.

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I. Christ’s Entrance Into Jerusalem

JOHN XII, 12—19.

On the next day much people that were coming to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm-trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon ; as it is written, Fear not, Daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt. These things understood not his disciples at the first : but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bear record. For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.

Comparo Matthew xxi, 1 — 11 ; Mark xi, 1 — 11; Luke xix, 29 — 44.

With the leave of Divine Providence, I have pur¬ posed, partly for my own instruction and edification, to deliver a course of sermons upon the last days of our Lord Jesus Christ on earth, commencing with his solemn entrance into Jerusalem, as it is set forth in 2

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the portions of Scripture which I have chosen for the text of this discourse. Nor will this be done without the edification of those who may hear me, provided divine assistance is vouchsafed to me, to give me an insight into the portions of holy writ which I may be called to handle, and to open the eyes of my under¬ standing, that I may see “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord.”

I have formed this purpose for my instruction, I say ; because there are various difficulties of different kinds attending this part of the history of Christ. These I shall endeavor to clear away by an exhibition of the events in their true order and connection, as they may appear after a careful examination of the harmony of the four evangelists, and by such other observations as may tend to throw light upon the sacred text. I have made it for my edification, because I am con¬ vinced that, unless I am altogether deserted from above — which may God in mercy avert! — such scenes as shall come before me cannot be contemplated with¬ out serious spiritual enjoyment and advantage. May it please Him, with whom is the residue of the Spirit, who himself is the living fountain, and in whose light alone we can see light, to give me such help, such insight and enjoyment in this my undertaking, as will show that it remains still true what his servant of old said of Him — “He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.” Is. xl.

Such is the interest thrown around the various scenes in the field of contemplation before me, that I hardly dare cast forward my looks, lest I should faint and relinquish my task as incapable even of the slightest approximation; lest, forgetting that the pow¬ er of God is made perfect in weakness, I should exclaim, with Peter, " Depart from me, for I am a sin¬ ful man, O Lord.”

There it lies, the whole vast picture — rich, various, an unique combination of all that is just, good, holy, heavenly, divine, on the one hand; and all that is black, disgusting, and diabolical, on the other — the most interesting part of the most interesting history of our globe from the beginning to the end of time — the revealed light of Heaven mingling in contest with the smoke of the bottomless pit; divine love and forbear¬ ance and infernal hatred and outrage in close encoun¬ ter — Heaven on the one side, hell on the other, and a wicked, perishing world in the centre, — the Lamb of God on the accursed tree; here a dying, penitent sinner; there an expiring, cursing wretch; believers dispersing, doubting, denying, swearing, repenting, weeping, recovering; high treason committed, and punished with unavailing sorrows and everlasting burnings; the world and hell in a shout of triumph, because Heaven is defeated and its hero slain; the everlasting interests of a world at stake and involved in impenetrable gloom for thirty-six hours; the heav¬ ens darkened, and the earth convulsed and shook out of her place; and, as the catastrophe of the whole, the

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armies of hell routed, the main power of Satan broken, a divine dispensation closed forever; Christ reigning victorious; a new irrevocable covenant between God and repenting sinners established; songs of triumph in Heaven; the everlasting kingdom of our God and of his Christ commenced upon earth; and between these leading facts, numerous collateral circumstances, but even these, like stars of minor magnitude, each still a world by itself; — this is the sketch, these are the elements of the story before me, upon all of which to touch even in the most protracted course of sermons, would be counting the stars — an awful, fearful, de¬ lightful view !

But I must not indulge, for my own discouragement, in anticipations like these. I have chosen a text — I owe you an explanation of it, and it shall be deferred no longer. It was not without hesitation that I chose the first text and subject of my contemplated series of discourses. There are various points in the history of our Lord, which seemed almost to have equal claims with this. After all, however, my text struck me as being especially prominent, because it is the first pub¬ lic step which Christ took, to show his character, to meet his last trials, and to finish the work which his heavenly Father had given him to do on earth.

We shall at this time contemplate more particu¬ larly :

1. Christ setting out on his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem.

2. The rejoicing disciples.

3. The willing people.

4. The gainsaying Pharisees.

5. Jesus’ tears.

I- It was towards the close of our Lord’s ministry on earth, that the exasperation of the most influential among the pharisees, the scribes, and the elders of the Jews, rose to such a height as to render Jerusalem no longer a safe abode for him. The resurrection of Lazarus from the grave had filled the measure of their rage, and satisfied their minds that nothing short of the violent death of their formidable adversary could answer their purpose, and liberate them from the fear¬ ful apprehensions with which his growing popularity began to fill their bosoms. Down with him! So it echoed from mouth to mouth. Down with the Sabbathbreaker, the despiser of our venerable, sacred tradi¬ tions, who dares to oppose council, sanhedrim, and high-priests, and to foil them by his continual, trouble¬ some appeals “to the law and to the testimony.” Down with him! though he cleanse all the lepers, heal all the sick, raise all the dead, comfort all the af¬ flicted, feed all the poor, and save all the perishing souls from Dan to Beersheba. Down with him! for it is better that he and all the poor and sick perish throughout the land, than that our synagogue estab¬ lishment should suffer, our craft get into disrepute, and our income cease.

On this account, when Christ returned for the last time to Jerusalem, his hour being not yet come, he stopped for some time at Ephraim, a city, or rather an obscure town, probably but a few miles north-east from Jerusalem, on the borders of the desert of Judah. (John xi, 59.) Six days, that is, as chronologists would have it, the Sabbath or Saturday before the passover, he came up from Ephraim to Bethany, where

Lazarus and his sister lived, to attend a supper, which seems to have been prepared for him in particular, and where Lazarus was one of the guests, Martha served, and Mary anointed Christ with precious ointment while he was reclining at the table. This is doubtless the same supper with that of which we read in Mat¬ thew xxvi, and Mark xiv, where Simon the leper is mentioned as the host. The apparent discrepancy between John and the two evangelists last alluded to, admits of such an easy and satisfactory solution, that it is astonishing how men of sense could ever have thought of two distinct suppers at Bethany, one be¬ fore and one after the entrance of Christ into Jeru¬ salem; at each of which Christ had been anointed by a woman; at each of which his disciples had rebuked the person urging the same plea for the poor and re¬ ceiving the same answer from Christ — other obvious coincidences not to mention. That Matthew and Mark mention the supper after the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, while John introduces it as occupying the day before, will not appear strange, if we consider that Matthew does not aim at chronological order, but relates his facts upon the principle of some moral sym¬ metry which he has in view. Mark frequently follows the same method from the same consideration. An at¬ tentive reading of these two evangelists will satisfy any one on the subject. All the objections which have been urged against the identity of these two suppers, are too trifling almost to deserve a refutation. One evangelist says, that the woman anointed the feet of Christ, and the other, that she anointed his head. And the easy reply is, that both are right, that neither denies what the other asserts, and that both the head and the feet of Christ were anointed. Either was the practice on such occasions, as we may safely infer from Luke vii, 46. There, Christ says to the pharisee, in whose house he sat down to meat, and where also he was anointed by a woman of unhappy notoriety,* “Mine head with oil thou didst not anoint, but this woman has anointed my feet with ointment.” And as this and the transposition of the narrative are the only differences between the evangelists, I maintain that John, Mat¬ thew, and Mark refer to the same supper, in which John keeps the order of time, and after having related this occurrence in its proper place, he goes on to state, that on the next day after the supper in Simon’s house, our Lord set out publicly to enter the royal city.

He set out from Bethany. Matthew makes the im¬ pression that he obtained his animal from Bethphage. These two places were both situated on the east of the mount of Olives, north-east from Jerusalem; and they were so near to each other, that Christ may have sent to Bethphage after having set out, himself, on foot from Bethany, — he, perhaps, passing up the mount of Olives with the people, while some of his disciples procured the animal. This latter appears to have been borrowed from a couple of men well inclined towards our Lord; for otherwise the commission of Christ, as well as the owners’ readiness to comply, as soon as they heard that “the Lord had need” of the creature, could not well be explained.

The ass is brought, and Christ proceeds up the as-

* Not Mary Magdalene, as some think ; her name is unknown.

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cent, accompanied by a crowd of disciples, and a large number of people from abroad, who were come to the approaching feast, and who had visited Bethany to see Lazarus after his miraculous resurrection, glorifying God for all these displays of his power. As they ap¬ proach the top of the mountain, the prospect widens; and what the weakness of the bodily senses cannot reach or discern, the charm of an imagination well acquainted with the sacred relics of the holy land, would, in the twinkling of an eye, gather within the compass of their horizon. In front, there lies the “mountain of the Lord’s house” crowned with the royal city, the only, exclusive, earthly dwelling-place of the Most High. On the west, the great sea, whose mighty ships are one day, and perhaps soon, to bring back the dispersed of Israel from the four winds of Heaven, and whose remotest islands and shores are, ere long, to stretch out their hands unto Jehovah. Did one of the company chance to look back, — there was Jordan, the witness of divine power when Israel passed through it dry-shod, to take possession of the promised land, — and the Dead Sea, the emblem of God’s wrath over all the incorrigible enemies of his word and work. On the south, there lay the birth¬ place of Him “whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting; ” and dear Hebron, of sacred memory, was also near, the dwelling-place of Abraham the father of the faithful. It was a wonderful, soul-inspir¬ ing panorama of sacred places, witnesses of divine revelations, expositions, mercies, judgments, and won¬ ders past numbering. And — what completed the sacred enthusiasm of the pious company — in the midst of them was riding, upon an ass-colt, a mysteri¬ ous man, with unassuming plainness, heaven in his countenance, of whose love and miraculous power the land was ringing again, and whose every step, word, look, and turn was but a new proof, that he moved in a more than human sphere. What wonder, then, if their feelings were enlarged, their hopes raised high, and their hearts filled with joy to overflowing. They look at him again. Is he not the promised, peaceful King of God’s people? Yes, it is he! He it is, — or no one ever comes! They tear branches from the trees, and throw them into the way, as marks of their reverence and joy; they mind not their gar¬ ments, — they spread them out into the dust, and as he rides away over them, they burst forth into a song, Hosanna to the Son of David! blessed is the King of Israel, that cometh in the name, of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest — according as it is written, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Je¬ rusalem; behold! thy King cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.”

II. But we must not overlook with whom the joy of our happy company to-day originated. This we learn from the evangelist Luke. “And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.” This main object of the triumphal march is now obtained. The disciples, are now all convinced and sure the Messiah is among them. And (mark this) not the worldly

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bent on revenge and slaughter, but the peaceful Lord, the deliverer from all evil, the spiritual and everlast¬ ing King, whose kingdom is not of this world in the usual sense of the term. Their hearts overflow; they can refrain no longer; their feelings want utterance, and they burst forth; not into a wild cry of war and bloodshed; not into threatenings and imprecations against their enemies; nor into flattering encomiums of their new king; but into a sacred song of praise and prayer, in which angels might well have joined: “ Ho¬ sanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, which cometh in the name of the Lord! Peace in Heaven, and glory in the highest!” That their frame of mind was at least not altogether different from what our Lord wished it to be, is clear from the fact that He indulged and encouraged them himself. On other sim¬ ilar occasions he had withdrawn and hid himself, when the people endeavored to proclaim him Messiah, be¬ cause then their minds v^ere wholly unprepared, and their motives and expectations low and carnal. Now, seeing them in some measure prepared to enter into his views, he gives them occasion, himself, for doing so, by the most forcible allusion possible to the well-known prophecy in Zachariah ix.

To see Christ exalted and glorified is the chief de¬ light of every true believer, and the ultimate object of all his prayers and efforts. To see him forgotten, neglected, and despised, mingles wormwood in the cup of his joy, and would make existence itself burden¬ some to him at last. But Christ is glorified and honored in the highest possible degree, when he can enter as the prince of life and peace, here into a heart, there into a family, a church and congregation, a city, or a land, and pour his rich and precious blessings freely over them. And hence his true friends are never happier than when they are permitted to precede and to follow him in his march, with the voice of rejoicing and triumph; when they see the people “ willing in the day of his power,” flocking to him “ as clouds and as doves to their windows.” They delight to be the helpers of the young convert’s first love and first joy. They remember the time when they themselves were sitting in darkness; when the awakened conscience roared terribly in their guilty souls; when they wished to pray, but had no heart to it; when they wanted to “flee from the wrath to come,” but their feet seemed to be rivetted to the ground; when they wished to make themselves better by good works, but grew worse every minute; when the heavens above them were as black as pitch, and as impenetrable as brass; when they longed to turn back to nought, but found themselves shut into existence by everlasting bars, and doomed to eter¬ nal consciousness by the decree of him who changeth not, though Heaven and earth pass away; when they wanted to curse the day of their birth, but feeling the guilt to be theirs, durst not indulge even that misera¬ ble gratification, and went away, broken-hearted, into the remotest corner, and sat down and wept sore and long. But while they are weeping, all at once, be¬ hold! a ray of light breaks through the darkness of their souls. Hearken! a voice comes from above, — and O the blessed message ! Rejoice greatly, O daugh-

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ter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee; he is just and having sal¬ vation. And they, shedding tears of joy, reply — Hosanna to the Son of David, who cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest! They remem¬ ber all this, I say, and they know that it is the appro¬ priate glory of Christ, and his highest desire and de¬ light, so to appear to perishing sinners when all else have forsaken them. They want that he should be filled with the travail of his soul and be satisfied. Nor can they rest easy until their consciences bear them witness that they are doing all they can to prepare his way, and that they are continually praying for his coming.

III. The disciples have no sooner tuned their voi¬ ces to the sacred song, than the people join them — a delightful chorus. They cut branches from the sur¬ rounding trees, and spread them into the way; they spare not their very garments. A foretaste of celestial joy absorbs every other thought throughout the whole company. This is the regular course of things. When Christians wake up, the people rejoice; while Christians slumber, the people will continue in the road to death. Exceptions to this rule are rare.

It is delightful to see the people willing in the day of God’s power, crowding around Christ. But there is still a thought which not unfrequently casts a veil over the scene. They are willing; but O that they were determined to serve Christ! Not your garments he wants, but your hearts ! Not your willingness to rejoice in his light; your fixed, immoveable purpose to be his forever. This is what he wants, and what alone

'•CEfRIST S ENTRANCE INTO JERUSALEM.

will make Christians of you, and save you. Nor is the distance between a willingness to be a Christian and a determination to be one, trifling. It is enor¬ mous! Angels cannot tell the number of those who perished, with all the willingness in the world, to be saved, — simply because firmness of purpose was wanting.

I will do no wrong to our willing people to-day. I do not believe, as many do, that this body of men, who are now singing hosanna, were the very same ones who, a few days after, roared out, “ Crucify him! cru¬ cify him! ” Ours is a company of strangers, who came to the feast; and having heard of Lazarus’ re¬ surrection from the grave, went out to see him, and rejoiced, and glorified God. They are well disposed people; and being strangers, and dispersed in the large city among friends and acquaintances, they could hardly have received information of what was going on in that darkest of all nights, when Christ was betrayed and condemned to death. And the first word which probably most of them heard of it was, that the young Rabbi was condemned to death, and just hurrying to the place of execution. But the clamorous crowd be¬ fore Pilate’s door was chiefly from the mob of Jerusa¬ lem, well known, and in their interests wedded to the high priests and Pharisees; and they were probably called together by some special effort of these ecclesi¬ astical dignitaries. For these cautious assassins ex¬ pressly said, 4 ‘Not on the feast-day, lest there be an uproar among the people;” and they pressed on all the night to accomplish their purpose with the most unheard-of anxiety and vigor.

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Still, there were doubtless among our willing people many with whom the divine word and divine joys fell into stony ground, and having not root, withered in the time of offence and persecution. There were those whose hearts had begun to be overrun with the thorns and briers of worldly cares and plans, or were becom¬ ing hard, like the broad highway of honor, wealth, and pleasure, “ which leadeth unto death.” Now they re¬ joice and are nigh to the kingdom of Heaven; they are willing. But many of them wanting depth, single¬ ness of purpose and determination, they soon faint, and give it all up again; and this day of high religious privilege, instead of becoming a blessing to them, will prove a curse and a condemnation forever. Still, some of our happy company to-day, who perhaps never be¬ fore had sung hosanna to the Son of David, are doubt¬ less now singing his nobler praise in the world above. May the number of such be great! And may we learn of them the value of an unperverted, plain good sense, and of openness to the truth, which often prepare the way of Christ in our hearts; while artificial minds, thrown out of balance by an overstock of earthborn knowledge, such as we shall meet with under the next head, are sure to meet with the doom of reprobation.

IV. No class of men, it seems, followed Christ more perseveringly in his ministrations, than the Phar¬ isees. Where he is, there they are also. Even here, on the top of the solitary mount of Olives, they are present, with no profit or pleasure, either to them¬ selves, or to anybody else. Methinks I can see them standing on some elevation along the road, to see the fanatical, uninstructed people pass by, while they wisely shake their heads at their extravagance. They affect to despise those who accompany Christ, and yet they are again and again anxious for their perishing cause, and say to one another, “Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.” And when they hear the people bursting out into ho¬ sannas, they can contain themselves no longer, but addressing Christ while he is passing by, they exclaim, “Master, rebuke thy disciples; ” to which Christ re¬ plies, “ I tell you that if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out! ”

The Pharisees do not appear here, as in other in¬ stances, in the character of self-righteous men in par - ticular , for this besetting sin of theirs was not especi¬ ally called into exercise in the present instance. They appear to me to act simply as a set of distant, coldhearted men, whose deep-rooted prejudices did not per¬ mit them to sympathize with the feelings of the people who surrounded Christ. The Pharisees were a studi ous class of men, who had enough to do to master the enormous mass of their traditions, some of which are by no means destitute of interest. Their heads were well stored with such knowledge as their age afforded, and their hearts enjoyed a degree of self-confidence far outstripping the extent of their mental acquisi¬ tions, as is usually the case with learned men who are destitute of true religion. They had everything, and knew everything; and were quite prepared to mas¬ ter all the world, while they themselves had no idea of making any new experience, or admitting any truth which they could not draw from their own fountain.