adopt Judaism (proselytes of the gate), which promised to gratify the longing desire of their hearts. Thus, the way was prepared, in every aspect, for the great Physician who alone could relieve the wants which were painfully felt by all, and who came for the purpose of supplying them.

OBS. 1.—The inclination of many pagans, and particularly, of eminent matrons, to adopt the Jewish faith was so decided, as to furnish the satirist with many opportunities to scoff (Juv. Sat. 14, v. 96, &c.). There were two classes of proselytes among the Jews, namely, 1. Proselytes of righteousness, who received circumcision, and engaged to observe the whole of the Mosaic law; and, 2. Proselytes of the gate, designated in the Old Testament as strangers, who dwelt within the gates of the cities of Israel, and generally termed in the New Testament “devout" men, σεβόμενοι οι φοβούμενοι τὸν Θεόν; these merely attached themselves to a certain extent to the Jews, and simply observed the so-called seven precepts of Noah.

OBS. 2.- For the sources whence the Gospel history is derived, see & 184.

§ 121. The Essentials of the Work of Redemption.

1. The Redemption of man is presented to our view in two aspects, a negative and a positive; it could not be complete, unless, on the one hand, all that was evil and ungodly, and that had entered the world in consequence of the sin of (the first) Adam should be removed, and, on the other, all that was good, and that had been omitted through his fall, should be fully set forth. The work and position of a Redeemer, consequently, required him to be a second Adam (Rom. 5 : 12-21; 1 Cor. 15:21, 22, 45–49). It was necessary that the false development which had succeeded, and which had conducted to sin and death, should be arrested, and that all the losses which it had occasioned, should be repaired; it was, further, necessary, that the development which God had appointed, and which was designed to conduct to unchangeable holiness and salvation, should be resumed, and be continued until the end which was in view should be reached. The former could not be accomplished unless the Redeemer, as our representative and substitute, would take on himself the punishment of our sins, and atone for them and blot them out by suffering death as a

sacrifice

the latter could not be accomplished, unless he should be "in all points tempted like as we are” (Heb. 4 : 15), and unfold and set forth in his life the true conception of human nature in its original and perfect state-first of all, in his own person, in order that, after we are received into the communion of his death as well as of his life, he might, as our head (Eph. 1: 22; 4: 15) and ruler or captain (Matt. 2:6; Heb. 2 : 10) raise up us also to a similar state of perfection (Eph. 2 : 5, 6).

OBS.-We are planted in the likeness or communion of the death and life of Christ ( 157. OBS. 1 and 2), by regeneration in Baptism (Rom. 6: 3-11; see 2 189). Even as the sin and guilt of the first Adam passed upon all his descendants through their generation and birth, so the righteousness and holiness of the second Adam are appropriated to the whole human race, when they are born again of incorruptible seed (1 Pet. 1: 23), through the regeneration of water and of the Spirit (John 3:5). As we are all naturally born of Adam, and are flesh of flesh, so are we all to be supernaturally born of Christ, spirit of the Spirit (John 3 : 6), in order that the children of Adam may become the children of God, sinners become saints, and the children of wrath become the well-beloved and chosen of God.

2. This two-fold work could not be accomplished unless the Redeemer who assumed it, should be God and Man in one Person, or God-Man. He was necessarily Man, like unto us in all points, yet without sin (Phil. 2:7; Heb. 2: 17; 4: 15; see § 126. OBS. 1), in order that he might accomplish his work, not only in its positive, but also in its negative aspect. With respect to the latter, he possessed a human nature like our own, in order that he might suffer death for us, as it is written: "Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death (which flesh and blood only could experience) he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2 : 14, 15). With respect to his work, in its positive aspect, he was necessarily true man, in order that he might exhibit human nature in its most perfect state, in his own person, first of all, and, afterwards, on account of his connection with us,

in us also. Further, the Redeemer was also necessarily true God, in the first place, in reference to the negative aspect of his work, in order that the merit of his human sufferings and his death, might, through the personal union of the divine with the human nature, possess infinite value and eternal validity, and thus perfectly counterbalance the infinite guilt of the whole human race; he was necessarily true God, in the second place, in reference to the positive aspect of his work, in order that his human nature, strengthened and fully qualified by the indwelling of the divine fulness of life, might enter upon the new course of development, maintain it, and conduct it to its entire completion.

§ 122. The Person of the Redeemer.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1: 14.)

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself,” &c. (Phil. 2 : 6–8.)

For the purpose of accomplishing this redemption, Christ, the Son of God, and the Son of Man, appeared in the fulness of the time; in him the eternal and true Deity of the Word which created the world, was united with the true humanity of Jesus the descendant of David, constituting a personal unity. The eter nal, uncreated Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us; the Creator and Lord of the world forsook the throne of glory, and appeared on earth in the form of a servant; the Son of God divested himself of his divine majesty, was made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man. His divine splendor was hidden beneath the dark veil of human nature. He did not divest himself of his divinity, which he continued to possess, but only of the unrestricted and unconditional (supermundane) exercise of it; he did not lay aside his divinity, but only its form (uoppn sov, the form of God (Phil. 2: 6), that is, the eternal, supermundane form of existence). All the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily in the man Jesus (Col. 2: 9), but it was only

the eye of faith that could behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1: 14).

as

OBS. His divine nature is designated by the term: "Son of God" (which expresses the perfect equality of his essence or being with that of the Father), and by the term: "Word of God," aóyo5, John 1: 1, &c. (which expresses that he is the Father's revelation of himself). On the other hand, the name "the Son of Man," designates him as the true and archetypal man, in whom the conception of humanity was first of all really seen in its truth and perfection the second Adam, beginning a new and sanctified human race. He is designated as God-man (which term implies the essential and permanent personal union of the divine and the human nature) by the name of Christ, that is, the Messiah, or the Anointed One; this name refers more immediately to his three-fold theocratic office of King, Prophet and Priest- an office the functions of which none but a God-man could perfectly discharge and ultimately complete.

§ 123. The Forerunner.

"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isa. 40: 3.)

66

Behold, I will send my messenger," &c. (Mal. 3 1.) See & 109. 3. 1. John the Baptist, who belonged to a sacerdotal family, was the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth; when the angel of the Lord foretold his birth, he was already dedicated to the Nazariteship (§ 52. A. OBS.). The unbelief of his father was punished with an inability to speak. When his tongue was loosed at the circumcision of the promised son, he was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied concerning "the day-spring from on high," for which that child should, at a future day, prepare the way (Luke ch. 1). John grew up, spake as a prophet, "in the spirit and power of Elias" (Luke 1 : 17), and said: "Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). He baptized those who confessed their sins, symbolically sealing their repentance with water, and said: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matt. 3: 11). And he also said:

"There standeth one among you, whom ye know not: he it is, who coming after me, is preferred before me . . . . he must increase, but I must decrease" (John 1: 26, 27; 3: 30). When he saw Jesus coming to him, he said: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world!" (1 : 29.)

OBS.-The Baptism of John does not possess the rank and character of Christian Baptism ( 189); the former was merely a symbol, the latter is a Sacrament ( 188. OBS. 1); the former was, according to the declaration of John himself, a baptism with water unto repentance, the latter is a baptism with water and the Holy Ghost, whereby the great salvation is fully appropriated; and, in the case of the disciples of Jesus, it was a baptism with fire and the Holy Ghost ( 162. 2, OBS. 1). The former was, moreover, a baptism unto the Messiah who should come (Acts 19: 4), the latter is a baptism unto Him who has really come. It was not the office of John to impart salvation himself, but only to prepare the minds of men for it, both by preaching repentance and by sealing it through the baptism of water. The promised salvation had not yet been accomplished, and the Holy Ghost, to whom alone the office of appropriating it belongs (161 and 3 185), had not yet been poured out. Hence those disciples of John in Ephesus (Acts 19: 3, 5; ? 175), who had already been baptized unto John's baptism, nevertheless received Christian Baptism afterwards.

2. John preached repentance not only to the people, but also to the tetrarch Herod Antipas, who had married the adulterous wife of his brother. He approached Herod and said: "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife." Herod commanded John to be seized, and imprisoned him in the fortress of Macharus in Peræa, where the tetrarch resided. He did not venture to take John's life; he even gladly heard him occasionally, and obeyed him in many things (Mark 6:20).—It was in his gloomy prison, that the bright and distinct views which usually characterized John's faith were, on one occasion, clouded during an hour of temptation, and he sent two of his disciples to Jesus with the commission to ask: "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" Jesus answered by directing them to consider his miracles, and, after their departure, testified in the hearing of the people, that John was greater than all the prophets of the Old Testament, but also added that he that is least in the