Jew is to be found in those whom Luke describes as "looking for redemption in Israel," or in the devout Simeon, "waiting for the consolation of Israel." But, however appropriate this simple waiting might have been before the Bridegroom came, now that He was come men were to rise up and give themselves to His active service. Hence the very first word of our Lord's charge. Strict literalists have argued, but without any show of reason, that a rejection of the Jews is implied in this word. Far from this, the head-quarters of evangelic operation were to be at Jerusalem. The message was first to be proclaimed there. The baptism of the Spirit was to come upon the brethren while tarrying there for the fulfilment of the promise. But a profound meaning is wrapped up in the Master's word, "Go." It required a full surrender of body and soul to His service; involved the leaving of home and family; pointed forward to a life of absolute and unrepining faith; revealed a future of mystery, the only certainties of which were danger and death, -a course which, if ecclesiastical legend is trustworthy, led the largest proportion of them to bonds and imprisonment, and many of them to a cruel and appalling death. They knew this-they must have known that their mission would be at war with society, and would excite its most savage passions: and yet they went. Such is ever our Lord's commission to His servants. Their course is one of labour and peril. The voice of the Master may call them from kindred and home, to the haunts of Heathenism, or to the grave of martyrs. In every case it demands the exercise of faith, self-denial, and the purest philanthropy. It rouses the disciple from repose and ease, and bids him, "Go!" The mission being thus declared, the Master proceeds to define its duties. And here again we are met by that unostentatiousness which marks out the whole character and style of Christ, as compared with those of every professed regenerator of society, of earlier or later times. The most prejudiced sceptic (and, alas, how truly is prejudice the very essence of scepticism!) must admit that not only on this, but on every occasion, the bearing of Christ was wholly original; and this, not only in contrast with the habits of others, but in contrast, also, with that line of action which men generally would expect from one in such circumstances. The impostor or the fanatic, however guarded and sagacious, must have been betrayed, on an occasion like this, into somewhat of display, or into a catalogue of directions for the carrying out of so grand a charge. Jesus, though contemplating a mission of broader sphere than it had ever entered into the mind of man to conceive, was satisfied to condense its detail into a few of the homeliest words. But these words are of the utmost moment. They are the "marching orders" of the Ministers of Christ. No time-honoured canon of official duty, no venerable and cherished rubric, possesses a tithe of their weight. Within this narrow circle lies the secret on which hinges the reward of the faithful servant. Hence the importance of fully understanding the true sense of each momentous word. According to our Authorized Version, the first branch of the apostolic mission is to teach. Now, this rendering does not convey the full idea of μαθητεύσατε. And it is worth while to ascertain what is the full idea. The use of the verb in such relation as it occupies in the Greek text, is almost unique. In classic Greek, and occasionally in the New Testament, it is used intransitively. But like many verbs of a similar ending, it is used by Jewish writers, as by later Greeks, actively. Here, of course, its use is active. But "teach," as adopted by the Vulgate, by Beza, Castalio, and others, does not by any means exhibit the sense, and it introduces tautology into the Saviour's charge. The "teaching" which follows immediately is the very proper rendering of a different word. Neither does the "convert" of Campbell, nor the "proselyte" of Doddridge, translate the original. It is unfortunate that the manuscript of the quaint but singularly clear and correct translation of St. Matthew by Sir John Cheke wants the last chapter. The rendering of Epiphanius, "convert from evil to the truth," is too long and heavy. The Syriac, and the margin of later editions of the Authorized Version, read, "make disciples of." But, perhaps, Mr. Wesley's rendering, "disciple," is the best,although he almost coins the verb, which has no place in English literature, save in the verse of Edmund Spenser. The word thus translated conveys to the mind a vivid idea of the mission of Christianity. Men are not to be isolated, or scattered over the earth, but to be called in from the world, and formed into a new order, a school, indeed, wherein they are to acknowledge themselves learners, and to submit to the rule of their Master, sitting humbly at His feet. This discipular brotherhood is to regard Him as the sole centre of truth; and, while exercising all the mental powers with which it is gifted, is to make Him and His revelation the standard of appeal. The province of the church, and of her most profound and scholarly members, is not to discover truth, but to study that which a higher Authority has revealed. The most eloquent Christian teacher is only a disciple, a learner of Him who is meek and lowly in heart: he is not the oracle, but only the oracle's expositor, deriving the very power of true exposition from the Master Himself. The costliest diamond can sparkle only in the light; and the sublimest philosophy is the simplest faith. There is a further significancy in the discipleship of the church. Christians are to maintain the fashion and spirit of a society marked out from the circles of the world. The church is to be an inner sanctuary, into which there shall in no wise enter anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie. Just as the disciples of the various schools of ancient learning were wont to wear a specific badge, so are the disciples of Christ among all nations to wear their mark, the insignia of their order. A Christian should be known before he opens his lips. His carriage in life should attest his faith. The curse of the church from the beginning has been the tendency to obliterate this distinction, and tone itself down to a level with the world. But woe unto him that removeth the ancient landmarks! It was a natural consequence in the heart of Christ, that, all power being given to Him in heaven and earth, He should commission His servants to disciple "all nations." This commission at once and for ever broke down the partition-wall between Jew and Gentile. But this aspect of Christianity, though in perfect harmony with the character of its Founder, is one which no impostor, laying claim to the Messiahship, would have dared to exhibit, and a totally original feature of the system. Religious catholicity was a new idea in the world. Paganism had never dreamed of it; Judaism had ever denounced it. And even if Roman or Grecian or Oriental philosopher had conceived of a catholic system of truth, there was nothing that called upon him to extend it, and to undergo peril and martyrdom for its extension. Actual proselytism among the Jews was founded upon pride; and Paganism spake not of a brotherhood, a universal sympathy binding man to man. Paganism had no missions; for she had no baptism of love. If she crowded her streets with temples, her temples with statues; if she salaried her Priests, and sold all her "silver shrines;" she was satisfied. She could tolerate all kinds of idolatry, -the more gods the better. She would have tolerated Christianity, had it not denounced Paganism and claimed universal faith. Christ was the first to publish a Gospel for the world; and no religion could have been world-wide but His. In the parallel text of St. Mark, there occurs another phrase, and, perhaps, a more extended one :-"Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει). Kuinöel's interpretation of this word, (which has puzzled commentators so much in Romans viii.,) is, that it refers to all kinds of men, Jews or Gentiles. Lightfoot says, in his Horæ Hebraicæ et Talmudicæ, that the Gentiles were specially called "creatures" )בִּרְיוֹת( by the Jews. Wetstein advocates the same notion. But the learned Bengelius argues, that, while our Lord refers to man primarily, He has a further allusion to all other creatures; and that the blessing is to be as wide as the curse. Mr. Alford falls in with this view, and regards the passage as referring to the blessings which Christianity confers on the inferior creatures, and on the face of the earth, by bringing civilization in its wake. Now, although the primâ facie view of this interpretation seems almost puerile, a second thought may, perhaps, invest it with considerable worth: for though, strictly speaking, there can be no κήρυγμα or preaching of the Gospel to every creature, (regarding the κτίσις as including unintelligent and inanimate nature,) yet it is unquestionable that the proclamation of the Gospel does affect all creation. It is everywhere promotive of civilization and industry; it tends everywhere to clothe the face of nature with loveliness; it advocates and instils a spirit of benevolence, which contemplates the comfort even of the lower animals ; and it seeks to meliorate the condition of everything that God has made. The grammatical construction in Mark gives countenance to the universal sense of κτίσις,-for the gender is changed immediately when the idea of belief is introduced. And the classical use of κτίσις is such as to warrant this wide interpretation. Its true and normal sense is the act of creation; then, creation itself; and, finally, the individual creature. The exegesis of this word, as occurring in Romans viii., is quite marvellous, not to say amusing.* The testimony of Scripture is greatly in favour of this theory of a general renovation of all things as the result of the Redeemer's work. For, if such passages as are found in Isai. xi. 6-9, and lxv. 25, must be regarded as highly-wrought and poetical, the same canon of interpretation can hardly be used in the case of 2 Peter iii. 13, or Rev. xxi., or Acts iii. 21. Such a theory exalts the passage in Romans viii. to a true magnificence of meaning, and invests with profound significancy the grand doxology in Psalm cxlviii. If the work of the Redeemer is prolific of such vast and various results, then "praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars of light. Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps: fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling His word: mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars; beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl. Praise ye the Lord!" After the express declaration of our Lord that they were to go and teach all nations, it has been matter of wonder that the Apostles could ever doubt the expediency of admitting Gentiles into the church. It may be answered, that the Apostles never had any doubt as to the propriety of admitting Gentiles as such; the question being, whether converts of this class should not be first circumcised. Or, perhaps, they interpreted our Lord's charge as referring to Jews and Jewish proselytes scattered abroad. But, in process of time, and by means of subsequent revelation, (to Peter, for instance,) their conceptions of the mind of Christ were more adequately enlarged. On this passage of Scripture rests the responsibility of the church to foster Missionary enterprise. Our Lord subdivides the discipling of the world into two branches, the initiatory rite, and the subsequent education or teaching. It is worthy of note, that the teaching is to succeed the baptizing. The inexact rendering of the term which in truth means "to disciple" must not be allowed to darken the true sense of the passage, or to eclipse this important point. Candid observers will conclude that the sacrament of baptism is here instituted as an initiatory rite, admitting into the discipleship of the Redeemer, the external and visible church. That this sacrament is properly administered to infants, may be argued, not only by inferring * Chrysostom, Theophylact, Calvin, and Beza refer it to inanimate creation; Luther, to the machina nature; Augustine, to men not yet believers; Locke, Lightfoot, Semler, Hammond, and others, to the yet unconverted Gentiles; Cramer, Gersdorf, and others, to the yet unconverted Jews; Le Clerc, and others, to the converted Gentiles; others, to the converted Jews; others, to all Christians; and Irenæus, Calvin, Grotius, Meyer, Neander, Tholuck, and others, to all animate and inanimate nature, as distinguished from mankind. De Wette. that such a practice received the sanction of the apostolic church, (Acts xvi. 15, 33,) whole households having been thus baptized; but also on the ground of the continuity of the covenant of grace to Jew and Christian, the sign only being altered. If the initiatory rite of Judaism was administered to children, it follows that the initiatory rite of the New Covenant, of which the former was typical, should likewise be administered to children. Infants thus received, though not personally holy, become the subjects of a holiness of dedication. (1 Cor. vii. 14.) They are solemnly commended to the care of God; and His covenant of grace is thus claimed by the symbolic service. Further: If religious teaching is to be subsequent to baptism, by all means let such teaching commence as early as possible. Whether or not the words immediately following are to be regarded as the express formula of baptism, is uncertain. Justin Martyr speaks of the rite as administered "in the name of the universal Father and Lord God, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit." But the Apostles seem to have generally baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. There is a vast doctrinal significancy in the command to baptize all nations in the NAME of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, not in the names: thus declaring the unity of the Godhead, as well as the co-ordinate dignity of the distinct Persons. The Greek preposition signifies "into,” as it is rendered in Gal. iii. 27, and should be in 1 Cor. x. 2. The second branch of the discipling of all nations is comprehended in the charge to teach them to observe whatsoever Christ had commanded: in other words, the disciples were to be taught the principles, precepts, and promises of the Gospel. The didactic work of those called to the sacred office is thus raised to a high degree of importance. The mere κήρυγμα, or proclamation of the Gospel, does not exhaust ministerial responsibility. Those who are gathered into the church, the school of Christ, are to be educated in the Faith, and enlightened as to the scheme, as well as the duties, of the evangelical economy. The church is not to be founded only, but built up, and established. The obligation to observe the things which Christ has commanded is not discharged by obedience alone: it involves the idea of devout study and scrutiny, and even implies that every disciple is to be the guardian of the Faith, and to watch over it with intense jealousy. Every disciple is to be the champion of his Master, and training for this championship cannot be commenced too early. Those are the best Sunday-schools in which the spirit of the truth is brought out. That which is good to the use of edifying, or building up, is the staple of the influential pulpit. A church of growing purity and maturing intelligence is the Gospel ideal. With this commission the disciples were sent forth. But something was yet lacking to render their great labour possible. "Lo, I am with you alway," said their Lord, "even unto the end of the world." This was enough. It would have been enough, if He, the crucified Nazarene, had stayed with them: they would have braved death for Him. But |