which Christ was to purchase wifli His own blood, — ^the peace which is offered freely to all mankind^ — the peace which, once admitted into the heart, makes men live at peace one with another, and will one day overspread the whole world.
"Good wiU towards men ! " the song concludes. Now is come the time when God's kindness and good wiU towards guilty man is to be fully made known. His power was seen in creation. His justice was seen in the flood. But His mercy remained to be fully revealed by the appearing and atonement of Jesus Christ.
Such was the purport of the angels' song. Happy are they that can enter into its meaning, and with their hearts subscribe to its contents. The man who hopes to dwell in heaven, should have some experimental acquaint- ance with the language of its inhabitants.
Let us mark, ere we leave the passage, tJ^ prompt obedience to the heavenly vision displayed by the shepherds. We see in them no doubts, or questionings, or hesitation. Strange and improbable as the tidingis might seem, they at once act upon them. They went to Bethlehem in haste. They found every thing exactly as it had been told them. Their simple faith received a rich reward. They had the mighty privilege of being the first of all mankind, after Mary and Joseph, who saw with believing eyes the new-bom Messiah. They soon returned, "glori- fying and praising God" for what they had seen.
May our spirit be like their's ! May we ever believe implicitly, act promptly, and wait for nothing, when the path of duty is clear I So doing, we shall have a reward
60 BXPosrroRY thotsghtb.
like that of the shephercbi. The jonniey that is began in £aithy will generally end in praise.
Notes. Luke IT. 8—20.
8. — [STiepherds abiding in the field, do!] It has been argued from these words, that our Lord could not have been bom on GhristmaB day, because it was not the custom of the Jews to keep flocks in the field in winter. It may be doubted whether the argument is quite conclusive. At any rate, Jacob complains of "frost by night/' when he kept the flock of Laban, in the neighbouring country of Padan Aram. (Gen. xxxi. 40.) However, it is an undeniable fact that the precise month or day of our Lord's nativity is not known. Every month in the year has found its advocates, in the conjectuies made on the subject Certainty about it there is none. Had it been good for us to know the day, God would have told us. For keeping Christmas we have no authority, but that of the church.
JO. — [AU people.'] It may be questioned whether this expression was not meant to apply specially and primarily to the Jews. It would be translated more Literally, " to all the people."
12. — [The hckbe.] There can be no doubt that this expression would have been better translated, " a babe.'* The whole con- text, no less than the absence of the Greek article, shows the propriety of this.
14. — \Oood wiU.] The word and thing here are the same that we find in Ephes. i. 5, 9. The meaning is that " good will and good pleasure of God " towards man, which is revealed in His Son Jesus Christ. — -It is the same as the " kindness and love of God" in Titus iii. 4, and the "love of God" in John iii. 16.
15. — [See this thing which is come to petss.] The word translated "this thing," might also be rendered "this saying." The com- mentary 01 Ambrose on this passage is a curious proof that the Fathers were anything but iniallible. He actually regards " this thing " as the personal Word, the Son of God ! A very slight acquaintance with Greek will show that this sense of the word is unpossible. Even the Romish commentator Barradius is obUged to confess, that in this comment Ambrose erred.
16. — [They came with Juute.] There is a touching comment on this conduct of the shepherds, in a letter of Bishop Hooper's to certain " godly and faithful prisoners, which were taken together at prayer in a house in Bow Churchyard." He says, "Read the second chapter of St. Luke, and there ye shall see how the shepherds that watched their sheep all night, as soon as they
. heard that Christ was bom at Bethleheni, by and bye most go
LUKE, CHAP. n. VEE. 21 — 2i. 61
to see him. They did not reason nor debate with themfieWes who should keep the wolf from the sheep in the mean time, hut did as they were commanded, and committed their sheep to him whose pleasure they obeyed. So let us do, now we be called ; let us commit all other tnings unto him that called us. He will take heed that all things shall be well. He will help the hus- band ; he will comfort the wife. He will guide the servants ; he will keep the house ; he will preserve the goods ; yea, rather than it should be undone, he will wash the dishes, and rock the cradle. Cast, therefore, all your oare upon God." — Hooper*$ Works. Parker Edit. vol. ii. 617.
LUKE n. 21—24.
21 And when eight days were ao- eompliflhed for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was bo named of the angel be- fore he was conceived in the womb.
22 And when the days of her puri- fioation according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him
Lord;
23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall oe called holy to the
LordO
24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves or two
to Jerusalem, to present Mm to the I young pigeons.
The first point whicli demands onr attention in this passage, is the obedience which our Lord rendered, as an infant, to the Jewish law. We read of His being circum- cised on the eighth day. It is the earliest fact i^rhich is recorded in His history.
It is mere waste of time to speculate, as some have done, ab6ut the reason why our Lord submitted to cir- cumcision. We know that " in TTim was no sin,** either original or actual. (1 John lii. 5.) His being circumcised was not meant in the least as an acknowledgment that there was any tendency to corruption in His heart. It was not a confession of inclination to evil, and of need of grace to mortify the deeds of His body. All this should be carefully borne in mind.
Let it suffice us to remember that our Lord's circum- cision was a public testimony to Israel, that according to