As you are well apprised, beginning with Revelation, we have expounded the books of the New Testament in a reverse order. The primary reason for this procedure was the realization of my incompetence for the great and responsible work of expounding God’s Word, and my consequent dread of the Savior’s ministry. Feeling more freedom in an attempt to write up the ministry of the apostles, I began with them, thinking perhaps I would never be able to reach the Lord’s ministry. But now His good providence has permitted me to expound the whole New Testament in the five volumes, which (D.V.) you have read, and make this second pilgrimage to the Holy Land by way of preparation for the great and responsible work of expounding the personal ministry of our Lord.

As the Holy Spirit is really the Author of the whole Bible, speaking through the prophets and apostles, the ministry of Christ is no exception, as He never began till the Holy Ghost came down from heaven and filled Him, immediately after John, His forerunner, had, by the ordinance of baptism, initiated Him into His official Messiahship. Henceforth He ever “preached with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” While admitting these facts, we must recognize in Jesus the only absolutely perfect Man that ever trod the earth or ever will. He alone was perfectly free from all human infirmity. While in case of the apostles, though encumbered with infirmities, they were so superseded by grace as not only to be perfectly subordinated to the Holy Ghost, but doubtless, in many cases, so utilized by Him as in the end to magnify the grace of God, yet when we sit under the ministry of Jesus, there is manifest a Divine majesty, a sweetness of spirit, a depth of love, a tenderness of sympathy, a grandeur of omnipotence, and a majesty of execution, descending to profoundest depths, mounting to loftiest altitudes, broadening to grandest latitudes, and sweeping on through illimitable longitudes, thus culminating in a beauty, grandeur, sublimity, and glory transcending the possibility of all human utterances. Hence, with deepest humiliation and profoundest realization of immeasurable responsibility, I enter upon this humble attempt to expound the Gospel of Jesus, as revealed to us through the instrumentality of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Among all the commentaries that have ever been written, expository of our Lord’s ministry, no one has been harmonical. What do you mean by a Harmonical Commentary? I mean the ministry of our Lord expounded as it took place, whether given by one, two, three, or all of the inspired writers.

We have wonderful favor in our Lord’s Gospel in the fact that it is so brief that almost every one may conveniently, at least substantially, commit it all to memory. Besides, we have it by four different authors, differing from each other by personal, experimental, and educational idiosyncrasies. This is a great blessing to us, as we have the same truth given from a diversity of attitudes, the style of the writer adding variety, vivacity, and simplicity.

Some things none but Matthew wrote; others, Mark alone wrote; others, Luke exclusively has given us; while John is quite isolated, running much of the time alone. Matthew wrote for the Jews in the Holy Land, fifteen years after the ascension of our Lord, being himself an eye-witness, as he was one of the original twelve apostles called by the Savior in the city of Capernaum. Mark was not an apostle, but is believed to have served as amanuensis of Peter, writing his Gospel for the Romans in Rome, as dictated by Peter, thirty years after the ascension of our Lord. Luke was a physician, in the city of Antioch, Syria, and of course practicing medicine there, during the ministry of John the Baptist and our Savior, as we have no mention of him until some time after Christianity had reached Antioch, Paul and Barnabas having preached there a whole year, and made their first great evangelistic tour through Cyprus, Pamphylia, and Lycaonia, returning back to Antioch. Setting out on a second tour, Luke is first mentioned as a comrade of Paul, along with Timothy and Silas, and serving him as amanuensis. He wrote the Gospel that bears his name for the Greeks, while with Paul in Corinth, twenty-five years after the ascension of our Lord. John, like Matthew, was one of the twelve apostles, and wrote his Gospel for the edification of the Christians while at Ephesus, about sixty-five years after the ascension of the Savior.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all wrote historically. Hence they run much together. John did not write historically, but spiritually and experimentally, for the edification of the Christians, and especially their fortification against dangerous heresies, which had already begun to creep in.

A Harmonical Commentary is something “new under the sun,” in the simple fact that there has never been anything of the kind written and published. At least, I have made diligent inquiry, and have never been able to hear of any. You will find the advantages of a Harmonical Commentary on the Gospels decisive and inestimable; e.g., as you all know, reading Clarke, Whedon, or any other Commentary, you get along nicely, and enjoy everything through Matthew; then in Mark they are constantly turning you back to Matthew. This becomes irksome, and the subsequent expositions, to some extent, become monotonous. There is nothing of this kind in the Harmonial Commentary, as the line of exegesis does not follow Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, but Jesus only, and taking in the writers as they come, incidentally, in the order of events.

While the Harmonical Commentary will expound every deliverance of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, it will give them incidentally, in the order of time, every one subsidiary to the Lord Himself. (a) Everything revealed by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John will be expounded in the order of time as the events transpire in the ministry of our Savior. (b) Repetitions will be diligently avoided; i.e. , when the same thing is said by more than one, there will only be one exegesis given. (c) The chronological coincidence of the items given by different writers will be diligently observed, so as to keep prominent before the eye of the reader the unbroken, consecutive history of our Lord’s ministry.

In studying the Commentary, you would do well to have the Gospels present, so you can see that everything is expounded, recognize, and keep in mind the consecutive order of the wonderful, eventful ministry of our Lord. As a matter of convenience and economy, we will use abbreviations of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Unless you bear this fact in mind, you may realize confusion, somewhat to your disadvantage. For Matthew, we will only write the single letter M.; for Mark, we will write the two letters Mk.; for Luke, we will write the single letter L.; and for John, we will only write J.

I feel sure that you will not only be interested, but much edified, in the wonderful preaching and mighty miracles of our Savior. I suppose you have not only read the other five Commentaries, but “Footprints of Jesus,” in which you find that I have been on His track, beginning at Caesarea-Philippi, the northern terminus of His ministry, and following Him round and round over the country, and two days sailing on the Sea of Galilee, the northern center of His ministry and really His home after they rejected Him at Nazareth. On His track, in that far off land, we dictated the Gospel Commentaries to our son-in-law, Rev. F. M. Hill, one of my traveling companions, who wrote them in brief; but now, in the quietude of my dear “Old Kentucky Home,” we rewrite and prepare them for the printers.

The end for which I made this second tour to the Holy Land was, that I might explore more extensively the track of our Savior, and especially that, by walking round in His footprints, and lingering at those places rendered historic and hallowed by His conception, birth, residence, baptism, crucifixion, interment, resurrection, and ascension, that God, in His mercy, might favor me with a deeper insight into Divine things; a more thorough illumination of the Holy Spirit; a clearer apprehension of Divine truth; a more vivid realization of my own momentous responsibility in my humble effort to expound His Word; a deeper crucifixion in my own interior spirit; a more thorough annihilation of the self life; a more total eclipse of the world, with all its vanities and emoluments; and a profounder humiliation of my own soul before God, — thus, not only more thoroughly preparing me for the awful responsibility of expounding to immortal intelligences the Word of my Lord, but a more thorough qualification to meet the thousands of people who read these Commentaries at the judgment seat of Christ.

Now, reader, as you, in the good providence of God, shall examine the subsequent pages of this Commentary, I hope you will have but one end in view, and that is, to know the Word of Him “who spake as never man spake.” It is understood that a Holiness Commentary is rigidly nonsectarian and undenominational, but simply an explanation of the Bible, whose central idea is “holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord.” I hope no one reading these Commentaries will endeavor to utilize them to bolster up a sectarian dogma; e.g., the baptismal controversy. The Calvinian or the Arminmanas we are reading and expounding the wonderful words and mighty works of our Lord and Savior, I hope you will see Jesus only in all these pages; the heart cry for a greater nearness to God, a deeper similitude to Jesus, and a richer enduement of the Holy Ghost may simultaneously ascend to the mercy-seat. We are sweeping with avalanche velocity into eternity. We have not time to preach anything but Jesus and His great salvation.

The great end for which these Commentaries are written is not only the salvation and sanctification of the readers, but especially the evangelization of the world. “The Lord is nigh.” We need millions of blood-washed and fire-baptized men and women to go to the ends of the earth, and preach the everlasting gospel, thus fulfilling the commission Jesus gave us before he ascended into heaven, assuring us that He will come in His glory so soon as we do this work. Not only do men and women need the sanctification and enduement of the Holy Ghost, but the Word of God is the gospel; they must understand it in order successfully to preach it to others. Hence, the explanation of God’s Word is a sine qua non to every person who would preach it to others.

The world is full of learning. Infidels, skeptics, and heretics set their traps on all sides to catch the herald of God’s truth, and run him into entanglements and sophistical dilemmas. Great human learning is not necessary to the preacher, but a knowledge of God’s Word is indispensable. Without this knowledge, and the sanctifying grace of God, the preacher gets caught and hung up, a spectacle of popular ridicule, before he is aware, and in this way is gobbled up by Satan. If these Commentaries are read, in the providence and grace of God, they will make multitudes of preachers. God has given you intellect enough to understand them.

Millions, in all lands, are perishing for the bread of life; i.e. , the precious Word of God. Nothing but the Word is the gospel, and nothing but the gospel can save souls. Many Churches, this day, are starving to death for the bread of life; the multitudes in Satan’s dark world, and the heathen millions, dead and dying. The great responsibility of giving the gospel to the world devolves on the holiness people. The worldly Churches will never do it. A dead man can not help his neighbor. If you are in the swelling flood, you can not rescue others sinking into a watery grave. God needs all the holy people on the earth to go and preach the everlasting gospel to the dying millions. The evangelization of a lost world is the grand incentive for which I have devoted years of toil, and foregone the perils of sea and land, to give you these Commentaries; not simply that you may get saved, but that you may go and blow the silver trumpet amid the tombs of spiritual death, and see the resurrection power, that lost millions may be saved, heaven populated, and the return of our King expedited. (CHAPTER) - THE INTRODUCTION Luke 1:1-4. “Since indeed many have undertaken to set forth a narrative concerning the things which have been fulfilled among us, as those being eye-witnesses from the beginning and ministers of the Word, have handed down to us; it seemed good to me also, following all things accurately from the beginning, consecutively to write unto thee, O most noble Theophilus, in order that you may well understand the certainty of the histories concerning which you have been catechetically instructed.” We see from this statement that Luke was not one of the old disciples of our Lord, neither was he an eye-witness of His mighty works; as we never hear of him till the second evangelistic tour of Paul, in which he becomes one of his helpers, about A.D. 42. Doubtless he was a practicing physician in Antioch during the entire period of our Lord’s ministry. We have three reasons for accepting the Gospel of Luke without the slightest discount: 1. He received all of his information from the veritable disciples of our Savior, who were eye-witnesses to His mighty works; 2. Paul was his constant companion, and, as we all believe, the dictator of his writings; 3. The plenary inspiration of the Holy Ghost settles forever all controversy in reference to Biblical authenticity. 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.”

Theophilus literally means “God breathed,” involving the clear and unequivocal revealed truth that all Scripture was breathed into the different authors by the Almighty. Hence the verbal and plenary inspiration of the Bible is positively and unequivocally revealed. The rapid spread of infidelity is one of the omens of the last days and the near coming of the Lord. Semi-infidelity, admitting a kind of substantial inspiration, is rapidly filling the pulpits. The true teaching of the Bible is, that “all Scripture” — i.e. , every word — is breathed into the writer by the Holy Spirit. Hence the great importance of understanding the original, because there the plenary verbal inspiration alone is to be found, translations only carrying with them this inspiration in a general, substantial sense, as they literalize the original.

Theophilus was a name so common in the gospel ages that we can have no idea who is personally alluded to, but doubtless some noble Christian friend of the writer. Bear in mind that Luke dedicates this Gospel to this noble Christian, Theophilus. As the word means “Lover of God,” it follows, as the legitimate sequence, that this Gospel is dedicated to all the lovers of God. I hope, reader, that includes you.

OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS 5. John the Baptist was a bonafide Aaronic priest in a pre-eminent sense, both his father and his mother belonging to the family of Aaron. 6. “They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” While the rank and file of the priesthood, as well as the membership, had degenerated into dead formality and hollow hypocrisy, yet there were a few paragon saints, scattered here and there, in the Jewish Church at the time of our Lord’s advent. They enjoyed the glorious honor of receiving the Christ of prophecy, and introducing Him to the world — a peculiar honor, which God conferred upon all Israel; but, through blind unbelief, pride, and disobedience, they all forfeited it except Zacharias and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna, and a few others, dispersed hither and thither in the kingdom of Israel. The phraseology in reference to Zacharias and Elizabeth is such that we must conclude they enjoyed the sanctified experience. It seems, however, that Elizabeth enjoyed a deeper spirituality and a brighter type of faith than her husband, who certainly was not free from vacillation. 7. Sterility among the Hebrews was deprecated, not only as a calamity, but an opprobrium, as, in that case, there must follow a forfeiture of their inheritance in Israel as well as the hope of the honored progenitorship of Christ. 8. Since the priests had become so numerous, the institution of the sacerdotal divisions and courses by Abia had obtained, pursuant to which every priest must await his time to officiate in the temple. 9,10. Only the priests were admitted into the temple proper, the multitudes remaining out, having access to the great brazen altar, on which they offered their sacrifices, while the priests within the temple burnt incense to the Lord. On the present occasion, Zacharias was burning the holy incense to the Lord in the temple, and all the people were praying without, at the hour of incense; i.e. , nine o’clock in the morning. 11. “The angel of the Lord appeared, standing on the right hand of the altar of incense: Zacharias seeing him, was excited, and fear fell on him.” The position occupied by the advocate in court is always on the righthand side of the judge. Gabriel and Michael are the two great archangels prominent throughout the Bible; the latter always appearing in the interest of the Divine government, and the former in behalf of humanity. 12,13. We see here that Zacharias and Elizabeth had prayed much that God might remove the sterility and give them posterity. As they are now quite old, the faith of Zacharias had much waned, while that of Elizabeth was stalwart and vigorous. “Thou shalt call his name John.” John does not occur in the Old Testament, being here given for the first time by the archangel. It means the grace of God, because John the Baptist was the harbinger of that wonderful grace which came to redeem the whole world from endless death. 14. The birth of John the Baptist was the occasion of general rejoicing among all the consanguinity of Zacharias and Elizabeth, as well as the more spiritual people enjoying a degree of insight into the things of God, who entertained hopeful apprehension that a mighty prophet was thus born into Israel. 15. “For he shall be great before the Lord.” John the Baptist, the last of all the Old Testament prophets, was truly the greatest, being more than a prophet; i.e. , the forerunner and introducer of Christ. “And he shall not drink wine and strong drink.” John was a Nazarite unto the Lord, living exceedingly abstemious, and a total abstainant from everything calculated to intoxicate. The Nazarite of the Old Dispensation was identical with the sanctified man of the gospel age. Samson was a Nazarite, this being the secret of his wonderful strength. “He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from the womb of his mother.” Here we have an actual case of sanctified infancy, illustrating the gracious possibility of having our infants filled with the Holy Ghost. Doubtless this will become the normal state during the glorious Millennial Theocracy. 16. “And he shall turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.” John the Baptist was a wonderful preacher, his stentorian voice pealing into the popular ear after a prophetical interregnum of four hundred years, thus arousing Israel from her long sleep, emptying the cities and populating the desert, with the spellbound multitudes, listening with burning hearts and penitent spirits to the mighty and irresistible appeals of this wonderful prophet of the wilderness. 17. “He shall go before His face in the spirit and dynamite of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” The great and sweeping revival which broke out under the preaching of John the Baptist, stirring the whole nation from center to circumference, was the very thing to bring the people down into the dust of humiliation, and thus prepare them for the grandest opportunity the world had seen in four thousand years.

DOUBT & DUMBNESS ALWAYS CO-EXISTENT 18-20. Here we see that Zacharias evinced his doubt of Gabriel’s communication by asking a sign. O how many people now doubt God and wait for signs, instead of taking Him at His word and rejoicing in His promises! The result in the case of Zacharias was, that he became dumb, and so remained till the birth of John the Baptist. If you ever doubt God, you will forfeit your testimony, and become a poor dummy in the meetings. You can recognize it definitely in all cases. So fast as the people give way to doubt, they forfeit their testimony, becoming dumb. Real faith always tells its own story. How common to find whole Churches dumb, thus evidencing the lamentable fact that, if they ever had faith, they have permitted the enemy to steal it away from them! Without faith there is no salvation. Hence you see that all dumb Churches are proper missionary ground. You must get their tongues loose, or they forfeit the hope of salvation. 21-23. Here we see that the words of Gabriel were signally verified when Zacharias, sure enough, was dumb, because he had disbelieved the word of the Lord spoken by the archangel. Be sure you believe all of God’s Word, and keep your testimony ever ringing clear, as otherwise you forfeit your salvation. 24,25. Here we find that when Elizabeth realized pregnancy, she went into retirement five months. Why was this? Evidently that she might enjoy uninterrupted communion with God, fasting, praying, and meditating, thus sinking away into His will, adoring His majesty, and contemplating His glory; meanwhile seeking that extraordinary enduement of grace requisite to qualify her for the immeasurable responsibilities of motherhood, and especially the maternity, training, and education of such a man as she knew, by the revelation of Gabriel, that her son would be. In that age of the world, and the ensuing fifteen hundred years, monastic seclusion for spiritual blessings was very common. We seriously feel the need of it now, in this age of superficiality. Nothing is really so much needed on the part of God’s people, and especially the ministry of God’s people, at the present day, as uninterrupted communion with God. Certainly the reproach of her sterility was gloriously removed in the birth of such a man as John the Baptist, the prince of prophets, and even more the precursor of the world’s Redeemer. We have in the birth of John the Baptist a repetition of that supernatural intervention of the Holy Ghost which characterized the birth of Isaac. In that case, however, the faith of Abraham was robust and triumphant, that of Sarah somewhat staggering through unbelief; whereas, in the case of John the Baptist, Zacharias’s faith flickered seriously, while that of Elizabeth is unimpeached, and, as we have good reason to believe, was athletic throughout.

THE ANNUNCIATION TO MARY 26-30. When I visited Nazareth, I spent some time in the Church of the Annunciation, quite magnificent and capacious, said to stand on the identical spot where the angel Gabriel delivered the wonderful tidings to Mary. Here we have it stated positively that Joseph, the husband of Mary, was a descendant of David. While the genealogy of our Savior recognizes the necessity of Mary’s personal identity with David’s family, and it is so taken for granted, yet it is not directly revealed, except in her wifehood to Joseph; as you must remember the institution of matrimony actually identifies husband and wife, “They two shall be one flesh.” In the recognition of this absolute unification through the institution of matrimony, we must concede Mary’s identity with the family of David. 31. “And thou shalt call His name Jesus.” This name is eminently significant of His office and mission to save the whole world, as it is a Greek word, and means Savior, THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST 32-34. “He shall be called Great and the Son of the Highest; the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” I see no possibility of satisfying these plain and unequivocal affirmations of inspired truth by a simple reference to His spiritual kingdom, which was a glorious verity before David was born, and will be forever. One line of Biblical exegetes spiritualize all the literal Scriptures, while their opponents literalize all, the tendency being to materialistic infidelity, and that of the fornier into a dreamy Utopianism, doing away with the material, universe, and running into the vagaries of idealism. While David’s throne was a temporal reality, visible, tangible, and actual, it was not his own, as he was merely the executive of the theocracy — a man after God’s own heart, because he did God’s will. ( Acts 13:22.) Therefore we are bound to conclude that David’s great Son and Successor will restore the theocracy of which David was the executive, extended over, not only this world, but, as it already prevails, over all other worlds, and reign forever. The magnitude of the Divine attributes, administration, grace, and glory is so incomprehensible by human intellect as to superinduce a constant liability on our part to run into the heresy of minification. Good Lord deliver us! Let us take the Word as we find it, if it decapitates all of our idols!

MARY’S SUBMISSION 34-38. “And Mary said, Behold the handmaiden of the Lord: may it he unto me according to thy word.” Good Lord, give us the faith of Mary, that we may perfectly submit to Thy Word and will, regardless of consequences!

Perfect submission is the indefeasible fulcrum on which rests the Archimedean lever by which we tilt the world all out of the heart. In this case, you see, Mary must take the risk of the deepest disgrace in worldly estimation and really the liability of martyrdom as the law specified the penalty of death for prostitution in Israel. Mary’s faith here leaps above every intimidation, and soars to the very pinnacle of victory. 39-45. It is about a hundred miles, through a rough, mountainous country, from Nazareth to Jutta, the home of Elizabeth, in the tribe of Judah. Upon the annunciation of Gabriel, and the information in reference to Elizabeth, her relative, Mary immediately set out on that long journey, walking, riding a donkey, or perhaps a camel, in order to visit her at her home. It here says that she came into the hill-country with haste, into a city of Judah. On arrival at the house of Elizabeth, wonderful manifestations of the Divine presence transpire. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Ghost — i.e. , the spirit of prophecy comes on her, and she speaks fluently with a loud voice: “Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord may come unto me? For, behold, when the voice of thy salutation came into my ears, the infant in my womb leaped with joy. And blessed is she that believeth, because there shall be a perfection unto those things having been spoken unto her by the Lord.” These inspired utterances of Elizabeth, enunciated in the fullness of the Spirit, should raise the faith of every Christian to the acme of full assurance; as we see, positively and unequivocally, that our faith is the measuring line of our experience. There is no reason why the Elizabethan blessing pronounced on Mary may not be appropriated by every disciple of our Lord. O how appropriate the prayer, “Lord, increase our faith!” 46-56. And Mary said: “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Savior: because He hath looked upon the humility of His servant; for, behold, from now, all generations shall call me blessed.” While, of course, we are all to diligently steer clear of the Mariolatry so prominent among the Romanists, yet we must admit that the mother of the Lord, in a most extraordinary sense, is blessed among women, honored far above all others. Well did she predict the encomium pronounced upon her by all generations. This had been the grand aspiration, inspiring millions of Jewish maidens; now she very appropriately realizes this pearl of all blessings within the reach of womanhood: “The Mighty One hath wrought great things; His name is holy; His mercy is to generations of generations of them that fear Him. He hath humiliated the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the humble. He hath filled the poor with good things, and sent away the rich empty. He hath looked upon Israel, His son, to remember mercy, as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever.” This brilliant and beautiful prophetical thanksgiving of Mary, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, vividly contrasts the temporal aggrandizement of the worldly with the spiritual blessings and achievements of the saints, its culminating fulfillment realizable at the second coming of our Lord, when all temporal thrones will fall ( Daniel 7:9); every monarch doff his crown, forfeit his scepter, preparatory to the coronation of Jesus as “King of kings and Lord of lords;” and the promotion of His bridehood to the thrones, dominions, and principalities of all nations.

BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST 57-66. As Mary abode with Elizabeth at Jutta three months, the time of parturition was at hand. A wonderful time of rejoicing took place at the humble home of Zacharias and Elizabeth when this heir of promise was horn. Pursuant to the Jewish custom of circumcising on the eighth day (a striking symbolism of regeneration — i.e. , the spiritual birth — followed by sanctification, which is spiritual circumcision, in a few days, giving no time for backsliding), they came to administer the rite to the infant. “And they continued to call him Zacharias, by the name of his father.” This was very natural, as both the father and the mother had passed the age of fertility, and this child was supernaturally born, and consequently they could never expect another. We do not wonder that they mutually called him by the name of his father, thus seeking to perpetuate the family cognomen. His mother responding, said: “No; but he shall be called John;” i.e. , the grace of God. We see in all this narrative no discount on the faith of Elizabeth. She has the victory throughout, while her clerical husband has been dumb by reason of doubt. “And they said to her, “There is no one in thy family who is called by this name; and they were beckoning to his father what he might wish to call him. And asking for a writing tablet, he wrote, saying, His name is John; and they were all astonished.” As they had neither ink nor paper, this tablet was a smooth board, covered with oil, on which they wrote with a stile. “And immediately his mouth and tongue were opened, and he continued praising God. And fear came upon all those dwelling around: and all these words were spoken throughout the hillcountry of Judea. And all those hearing, placed them in their hearts, saying, What then shall this child be? And the hand of the Lord was with him.” This whole affair had produced a wonderful sensation, arousing the people on tiptoe of astonishment, as the miraculous and the supernatural are so conspicuous in the whole affair — i.e. , the announcement of the archangel, the heroic faith of Elizabeth, her hermitage in order to communion with God, her wonderful blessing under the ministry of Mary, her mighty preaching and stirring prophecy, the visit of Mary, the wonderful power and spirit with which she witnessed and preached the living Word, the dumbness of Zacharias these nine months, and the flood of sanctifying power poured on him when he confesses the grace of God, — had all conspired to interpenetrate the whole community with electric shocks, and thrill all the people with a burning enthusiasm, holding them spellbound with thrilling anticipation of God’s wonderful visitation to Israel through the instrumentality of this child. 67. “And Zacharias, his father, was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying.” You see here that Zacharias became dumb when he doubted the angel who spoke the word of God. So you — the moment your faith fails, spiritual dumbness will strike you, and your testimony will be minus. You can recognize the spiritual status of the people all around you by their testimonies. All dummies should rally at once to an altar of prayer, and seek the reclaiming grace of God. You see here how faith is made perfect by testimony. The moment Zacharias testifies to the grace of God, his mouth is opened, his tongue loosened, and he is filled with the Holy Ghost, shouting, prophesying, and praising the Lord. So you see that faith and testimony are the two oars by which you row out of doubt and dumbness into the joyous triumphs of entire sanctification. We also here see the superlative importance of speaking as the Oracles of God; i.e. , calling everything by its right name. Zacharias never got the blessing till he called the child John; i.e. , the grace of God. If you want to be filled with the Holy Ghost, and have the victory in your soul and life, call your blessing “sanctification.” So long as your faith flickers, you will never get the victory. Swing clear on the line of consecration, faith, and testimony, and assuredly the victory will not tarry.

ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION THE CENTRAL TRUTH OF THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT 68-75. “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, because he hath interposed and wrought redemption for His people, and raised up a horn of salvation to His people in the house of David His son, as He spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets from the beginning, and from the hand of all who hate us, to extend mercy with our father, and remember His holy covenant, which He swore unto Abraham our father: to grant unto us, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, to serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness, in His presence, all the days of our life.” The Abrahamic covenant is primary in the movement of God’s mercy in behalf of fallen humanity, and fundamental in the redemptive scheme. This follows a logical sequence, from its identity with the covenant which God made with Christ to redeem the world by His expiatory death. ( Galatians 3:16.) Hence the covenant with Abraham was no de novo transaction, but a simple reiteration of the covenant of redemption entered into, in the councils of the Uncreated Three, before sin ever entered into this world; as God, forseeing the catastrophe, provided the remedy. It was pertinent, in order to its recognition and appropriation by the human race, that this covenant should be reiterated with Abraham, or some other suitable representative of the human race. In this peculiar representative sense, Abraham is the father of all the faithful, from the simple fact that there is no salvation outside the redemption covenant, of which he is the representative, participant, human defender, and exponent; i.e. , Abraham is honored by the Almighty as the recipient of the great covenant of human redemption by His Son, and also the paternal representative of this covenant to the whole human race. Therefore, all who have true faith, in all ages and nations, are honored with a place in the Abrahamic paternity. ( Galatians 3:7.) Now if we can ascertain the condition of membership in this covenant, we certainly have found out the sure way of salvation.

Those conditions and promises are clearly and unmistakably specified in the above Scriptures. Pursuant to this covenant, God promises that, “being delivered out of the hands of our enemies [i.e., all spiritual foes, men and devils without, and evil tempers, unholy passions, vicious appetites, and all the debris of the carnal mind within — i.e., being truly sanctified wholly] we shall serve Him in righteousness and holiness all our days.” Whereas sanctification is the work of the Spirit, by which we are made holy, holiness is the state which supervenes in the heart and life as the result of sanctification. Hence, you see that the only stipulation of the Abrahamic covenant, by which the world is to be saved, is, that we get sanctified wholly, and abide in the same throughout probationary life. The prerequisite of admission into heaven is a state of holiness, resulting from the utter eradication of all sin, actual and original, God positively assuring us that we shall never see His face without this gracious attainment. ( Hebrews 12:14.) Hence, we find perfect harmony throughout the Bible, setting forth holiness as the one condition indispensable to admission into heaven. Life in this world is probationary, giving us all time and opportunity to become sanctified, by the blessed and direct office of the Holy Spirit, applying the redeeming blood and washing away all unrighteousness from our spiritual natures, thus rendering our hearts pure and holy. We see here that this is clearly and unequivocally promised in the Abrahamic covenant. Not only the grace of perfect deliverances — i.e. , entire sanctification — but grace to “serve Him, in holiness and righteousness, in His presence, all our days;” i.e. , His wonderful keeping power, by His Word, Spirit, and providence, enabling us to keep this holy covenant amid the temptations of this wicked world, thus illustrating to men, angels, and devils our adaptation to the heavenly state, and congeniality to angels unfallen and spirits redeemed. This we are to do here, “in His presence;” i.e. , God Himself is our Judge, His omniscient eye seeing all of our thoughts, inclinations, and intentions, His infallible ear hearing all the inaudible utterances of our spirit. What a wonderful responsibility is involved in probationary life! Yet the illimitable resources of Omnipotent Grace are abundantly sufficient to qualify all true hearts for these momentous ordeals; and thus fortified by His precious and infallible Word, illuminated and guided by His blessed Holy Spirit, and environed by His merciful providence, like a wall of fire around us by day and by night, there is a blessed possibility that we may live on earth as safe as in heaven. Glory to God for His unspeakable mercies and superabounding grace! 76-79. “And thou shalt be called the prophet of the Highest.” Things in the Divine order are called what they are. John is not only a prophet, but the greatest of all the prophets, and even the honored harbinger of Jesus: “Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways.” The burden of John’s preaching was repentance, which is fundamental in the plan of salvation. The reason why people are not saved is because they do not receive Jesus; the reason they can not receive Jesus is because they do not repent. John cried constantly, with stentorian Voice, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The King had the kingdom, into which none could enter unless he came by the only door — i.e. , repentance; in order to give a knowledge of salvation to His people through the remission of their sins, through the bowels of the mercy of our God. The Jews were the people of God — His by election to the progenitorship of Christ. To them, first, experimental salvation was offered. Many of the Gentiles are the elect of grace, foreknown of God. To them, in the second place, salvation was offered. God knows His own, whether Jews or Gentiles, and reveals to them a knowledge of their own salvation through the remission of sins, in which the “day-spring from on high” has looked down upon us.

The wonderful mercy of God in Christ is a day-spring from heaven: “To appear unto those sitting down in darkness and the shadow of death.” The whole world down, easy, careless, and unconcerned, in spiritual darkness, and in the shadow of that dismal night of hopeless, eternal doom, while hell-hounds, bloodthirsty, are on their track, roaring for their prey. “In order to direct our feet in the way of peace:” Instead of sitting down in a careless attitude, we should be up and running for life. The glorious grace of God is here contrasted with the terrible bloody wars raging in the unregenerate heart, and destined to dump us amid the merciless devastations of infuriated devils through all eternity, unless, amid the fleeting opportunities of probationary grace, we may happily exchange the horrific fears of sin and devils for the peace of God in Christ, which is heaven begun in the soul. 80. “The child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and is in the wilderness unto the day of his showing unto Israel.” As a rule, children grow in sin as they increase in physical power. As John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost from his infancy, his spiritual growth and development kept pace with the physical. Jutta, the place of his birth, is not far from the wilderness of Judea. During the slaughter of the infants at Bethlehem, Zacharias and Elizabeth migrated into this wilderness, in order to protect their son from the cruelties of Herod. They return no more to Jutta, but abode in the wilderness the thirty years of John’s minority, and doubtless to the end of their lives; consequently, John enjoyed the signal blessing of an humble, retired home with the poor people of the wilderness. If you have an intimation from the Lord that there is a child of peculiar promise in your home, you should, by all means, get away from the hon tons of society, find a sequested retreat among the poor, where you can bring up your children uncontaminated with the popular and fashionable vices and follies. The Essenes — i.e. , the holiness people of the Jewish Church — who are generally poor, abode in the desert; hence, John was fortunate to enjoy their influence during the thirty years of his childhood and youth.

Thus he studied in God’s theological college — i.e. , the sandy desert where Moses spent forty years preparatory for the leadership of Israel, winding up with the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, as revealed in the burning bush. Brush College sends out brighter and better graduates than all of the metropolitan universities. (CHAPTER) - AN ANGEL APPEARS TO JOSEPH Matthew 1:18-25. We find that Gabriel spoke to Mary when she was wide awake, in broad daylight; but in the case of Joseph, he appears to him in a dream, while asleep; as Mary, if not vindicated by Divine intervention, must have been culpable under the law of Moses, and liable to the penalty of death by stoning. While Joseph, recognizing her physical condition, and was contemplating a private separation from her, in order to protect her from the severity of the law, the angel notifies him relative to the Conception of Jesus by the Holy Ghost, repeating the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14: “And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins.”

Here we see that the Messianic glory of Jesus, witnessed by both Testaments, is that “He shall save His people from their sins.” The world is full of religion — Pagan, Moslem, Papal, and Protestant with an infinite diversity of subdivisions; but the great trouble is that they do not take away the sins of their votaries. For this reason, the people who preach and experience entire sanctification really stand alone as the dispensers of the true Gospel, while on them devolves the magnitudinous work of the world’s evangelization. The Bible is its own expositor. If we are not in harmony with it, we are without hope and without God. Full salvation follows as a logical sequence from the Divinity and Consequent omnipotence of our Savior. The world is thronged with millions today who claim to be the followers of Jesus, but do not realize that they are saved from their sins. There is a missing link somewhere in the chain of their profession. If they had Jesus in the true Scriptural sense, they would be saved from all their sins, the Holy Spirit testifying to the fact. The trouble with the world is not about religion, for it inundates the globe, more demonstrative with heathens, Mohammedans, and Jews than Christians; but the problem to be solved is personal, experimental salvation, which, in its intrinsic reality, attested with the Holy Spirit and corroborated by the Word of God, is the only foundation of heavenly hope. When Jesus saves people from their sins, they have them no more. It is an accomplished fact, known and realized beyond the possibility of doubt; has the full assurance, given by the Holy Spirit, to the complete work of Christ in your heart; really precludes all doubt. “And they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God is with us.” Here you see a refutation of the idea entertained by some that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew, and it was subsequently translated into Greek. This inference has doubtless originated from the fact that he wrote it in Judea and for the Jews. But we must remember that the Greek language was universal in the apostolic age, and well known in Jerusalem. The fact that Matthew translates this Hebrew word Emmanuel into Greek, is demonstrative proof that he was writing in Greek. There is a deep and sweet significance in the word Emanuel — i.e. , “God with us” — in contradistinction to his dwelling, far away in heaven, among the angels. The very fact that He took our humanity, to retain it forever, is demonstrative proof that He has become one of us, to abide with us in this world, and all other worlds, through all eternity. Joseph, awakening from his sleep, proceeds at once to do as the angel had told him; i.e. , receive his betrothed wife, and call the name of her Son Jesus, which is a Greek word, and means Savior, signifying the work He came to do — i.e. , to save His people from their sins. Who are His people? All who receive Him; as to them He gives power to become the children of God. ( John 1:12.)

THE BIRTH OF JESUS Luke 2:1-7. “It came to pass in those days [i.e., in the days above mentioned, with reference to John the Baptist and the annunciation of the coming Christ], a decree went forth from Augustus Caesar to enroll all the world.” The battle of Actium, between Augustus Caesar and Mark Antony, gave the former the sole dominion of the known world, his crown radiating the rays of an unsetting sun, and his scepter sweeping the circumference of the globe. “This enrollment first took place, Cyrenius being the governor of Syria, and all went to be enrolled, each one into his own city. And Joseph went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he is of the house and family of David, to be enrolled, along with Mary his wife, being betrothed to him, being in an advanced state of pregnancy.” Nazareth is away up north, in the tribe of Zebulun, while Bethlehem is about one hundred miles south of it, in the tribe of Judah. It so happened that they were not living in their own township. Bethlehem is a compound Hebrew word, and means house of bread; very significant, as it is the nativity of Christ, who is the Bread of life to all the world. I have several times visited Bethlehem, which is this day a beautiful little city of eight thousand, much revived by Jewish capital and industry. The great Church of the Nativity — Greek, Latin, and Armenian each denomination holding daily service at respective hours, contains the manger, hallowed to receive the world’s Redeemer, being wrapped in swaddling-cloths, and laid in a manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn. As His parents were poor, He had no fine clothes, and there was no room for Him in the tavern, where the moneyed people lodged. It is literally true, as a rule, this day, that the Savior is excluded from the houses where the well-to-do people abide. Why was the incarnation of the Savior, the most important event of all ages, postponed four thousand years, while multiplied millions swept into eternity? a. Christ was in the world excarnate — i.e. , out of the place from the beginning and through all the ages preceding His birth at Bethlehem; He was here, and omnipotent to save. Hence there was a gracious possibility in all ages for all to be saved. b. It was necessary that the important event of His incarnation should be postponed beyond the prehistoric ages of myth and fable, lest it be lost in the fogs of ignorance and superstition, and history should not be able to apprehend, appropriate, and transmit it intelligently to all coming ages. c. Such was the incorrigible propensity of fallen humanity to go into creature worship — i.e. , idolatry — that it was necessary to give it the field unobstructed, and opportunity to run its race, do its execution, culminate, and fall into dilapidation, before the great and notable event of our Lord’s incarnation and evangelization to all the nations of the earth.

This was actually done. The Baal idolatry — i.e. , the worship of the sungod, as well as many other forms of idolatry had actually monopolized the world, received the adoration of all nations four thousand years, proved unsatisfactory; ostensibly inadequate to the consolation of the human heart, and the solution of the great problem of humanity: Who am I? whence came I? and what is my destiny? d. Human learning, unsanctified by grace, has in all ages fostered pride and arrayed itself against God.

Hence it was important to give it rope enough to hang itself, and time and opportunity to do it. This was done in the four thousand years postponement. If you will travel through Egypt, Greece, and Rome, you will certify me that the surviving monuments of human art, genius, and learning forces on us the conclusion that in the anti-Christian ages, they actually made greater proficiency and reached loftier achievements that the attainments of any subsequent period; therefore, when infidelity arrays human learning against the Bible, and would extol its superiority as an antidote to the wants of humanity, the argument breaks down, from the simple fact that the arts, sciences, and every ramification of human learning, had the world four thousand years, unobstructed by the revealed Word, meanwhile making the loftiest attainments possible, and still signally failing to satisfy the longings of the immortal soul, condole the griefs of a broken heart, and deliver humanity from guilt and sin, and solve the great problem of experimental salvation. e. When the postdiluvians, under the leadership of Nimrod, resolved to build a tower so high that another flood could never pass over it, God arrested their impious enterprise by confounding their language, and thus filling the world with innumerable dialects.

In order to the universal propagation of the gospel, it was important to girdle the globe with one common language, spoken by all the nations of the earth. This was done by the universal conquest of Alexander the Great, placing the Greeks, with their beautiful, vivacious, and comprehensive language, in the leadership of every nation under heaven, thus enveloping the globe with one common language. f. As the world was occupied by an infinite variety of different nations, so that an army could scarcely pass out of the shadow of its own capital without invading the territory of its neighbor, and all these arrayed against each other in deadly conflict — amid this state of infinite and antagonistical political divisions, it would have been impossible to verify the Commission, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” A great, universal military Government was an indispensable prerequisite to the world’s evangelization. This actually obtained in the universal conquests of Rome, throwing the Briarean arms of a powerful military despotism around all the nations of the earth. Under this universal military Government, the apostles were permitted to go to the ends of the earth — Matthew to Ethiopia and Central Africa; Mark to Egypt and Northern Africa; Peter to Rome; Paul to Eastern Asia and Western Europe; the two Jameses to Jerusalem and Palestine; Andrew to Armenia; Philip to Syria; Bartholomew to Phrygia; Jude to Tartary; Thomas to India; and Simon Zelotes to the British Islands, their comrades actually dispersing to the ends of the earth. If all these countries had not been under the one great military Government of Rome, it would have been impossible for them to carry out the Commission in the peregrination of the globe; for as soon as they passed into another nation, they would have been arrested, imprisoned, and probably put to death. Now that all of these important and indispensable events. have transpired, Pagan polytheism has run its race without a competitor, and is on the universal decline. Human learning, with the world for its dominion, has gone to the acme, and signally failed to solve the grand problem of human life and destiny. The Alexandrian conquest has put the Greek language, the finest the world ever saw, in every nation, actually making it the shibboleth of the globe; while the Romans have triumphed on all the battle-fields of earth, enveloping all nations in the mystical network of an invincible universal despotism, thus obliterating the incorrigible obstructions of national boundaries, unifying the world, and turning it over to the heralds of gospel grace. g. Besides the removal of the above difficulties, and the opening of all nations to the ingress of the gospel, there has already sprung up a universal anticipation, not simply among Jews, blessed with the light of prophecy, but all the Gentile world have, in some way, received the impression and reached the conclusion that a Divine messenger is about to come into the world — really, all nations are on tiptoe with anticipation of the coming Messiah. Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers:

Prepare the way! a God, a God appears!

Lo! earth receives Him from the bending skies; Sink down, ye mountains; ye valleys, rise; With heads declined, ye cedars, homage pay; Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way; The Savior comes, by ancient bards foretold; Hear him, ye deaf; and all ye blind, behold!” The advent of Christ is the greatest event that has ever transpired upon the earth, actually inundating the globe with the grace of God, and bringing salvation within the reach of every fallen son and daughter of Adam’s lost race. While His first advent floods the world with grace, the second will inundate the world with glory; thus His two advents constituting the great salient epochs of the world’s history — the one, the ineffable transition out of legal bondage into the triumphs of free grace; and the other, sweeping on from grace to glory. As the Incarnate