IV. Biblical Use of the Term " Jfi/stery." — A most un- scriptural and dangerous sense is too often put upon the word, as if it meant something absolutely unintelligible and incomprehensible; whereas in every instance in which it occurs in the Sept. or New Testament it is applied to something which is revealed, declared, ex- plained, spoken, or which may be known or understood. 1. It is sometimes used to denote the meaning of a symbolical representation, whether addressed to the mind by a parable, allegorj^ etc., or to the eye by a vis- ion, etc. Thus our Lord, having delivered to the mul- titude the parable of the sower (Matt, xiii, 3-9), when
the disciples asked him (ver. 10) why he spoke to them in parables, replied, " Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but unto them which are without it is not given" (Mark iv, 11); " Therefore I speak to them in parables" (Matt, xiii, 13) ; '• But your eyes see, and j'our ears understand" (ver. IC) : here our Lord applies the term mysteries to the moral truths couched under that parable, that is, to its figurative meaning. Again, the mystery or symbol- ical vision of the " seven stars and of the seven golden candlesticks" (Uev. i, 12, IC) is explained to mean " the angels of the seven churches of Asia, and the seven churches themselves" (ver. 20). Likewise the mystery or symbolical representation "of the woman upon a scarlet-colored beast" (Kev. xvii, 3-6) is explained, " I will tell thee the mystery of the woman," etc. (xvii, 7). When St. Paul, speaking of marriage, says " this is a great mystery" (Eph. v, 32), he evidently treats the original institution of marriage as affording a figurative representation of the union between Christ and the Church (Campbell, Dissert, p. 10, pt. iii, § 9), 2. The word is also used to denote anything whatever which is hidden or concealed, till it is explained. The Sept. uses it to express 11, a secret (Dan. ii, 18, 19, 27, 28, 29, 30, 47 ; iv, 6), in relation to Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which was a secret till Daniel explained it, and even from the king himself, for he had totally forgotten it (ver. 5, 9). Thus the word is used in the New Testament to denote those doctrines of Christianity, general or particular, which the Jews and the world at large did not under- stand till they were revealed by Christ and his apostles : •' Great is the mystery of godliness," i. e. the Christian re- ligion (1 Tim. iii, 16), the chief parts of which the apostle instantly proceeds to adduce — " God was manifest in the flesh, justified by the Spirit, seen of angels," etc.— facts which had not entered into the heart of man (1 Cor. ii, 9) until God visibly accomplished them, and revealed them to the apostles by inspiration (ver. 10). The apostle is generally thought here to compare the Gospel with the greater Eleusiiiian m3'Steries (for which see Diod. Sic. iv, 25 ; Dem. xxix, ult. Xen. //. G. i, 4, 14 ; or Leland's Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Reve- lation, pt. i, ch. viii, ix ; or jMacknight's Preface to the Epkesians, § 7). Thus also the Gospel in general is called " the mystery of the faith," which it was requisite the deacons should " hold with a pure conscience" (1 Tim. iii, 9), and •• the mystery which from the beginning of the world had been hid with God, but which was now made known through means of the church" (Eph. iii, 9) ; the mystery of the Gospel which St. Paul desired '• to make known" (Eph. vi, 19) ; '■ the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ," to the full apprehension or understanding of which (rather than "the acknowledg- ment") he prayed that the Colossians might come (Col. ii, 2; comp. the use of the word i—iyvixxyiQ, 1 Tim. ii,4; 2 Tim. iii, 7) ; which he desired the Colossians to pray that God would enable himself and his fellow-apostles " to speak and to make manifest" (Col. iv, 3, 4) ; Avhich he calls " the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest and known to all nations" (Rom. xvi, 25) ; which, he says, " we speak" (Cor. ii, 7), and of which the apostles were " stewards" (1 Cor. iv, 1). The same word is used respecting certain particular doctrines of the Gospel, as, for instance, "the partial and temporary blindness of Israel," of which mystery " the apostle would not have Christians" ignorant (Rom. xi, 25), and which he ex- plains (ver. 25-32). He styles the calling of the Gen- tiles "a mystery which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit" (Eph. iii, 4-6; comp. i, 9, 10, etc.). To this class we refer the well-known phrase, "Behold, I show you a mystery (1 Cor. XV, 51) : we shall all be changed ;" and then follows an explanation of the change (ver. 51-55). Even in the case of a man speaking in an unknown tongue, in