THE RISEN JESUS. FROM THE GERMAN OF PROF. LANGE-BY THE EDITOR. THE Lord of life is risen, In death no longer lieing, He rose, the Prince, to-day We hear, in thy blest greeting: Here at thy tomb, O Jesus, How sweet the morning's breath; We hear in all the breezes : Where is thy sting, O Death! While far o'er earth and ocean O publish this salvation, Ye Heralds through the earth; Proclaim the day of birth? The countless heathens numbers. Hail, hail, our Jesus risen, Sing, ransomed brethren, sing. Through death's dark gloomy prison, Haste, haste, ye captive legions, In Jesus' Kingdom live. GOOD FRIDAY. THIS is Good Friday. There is something impressive and affecting in the very name. It is good as no other Friday, as no other day in all the year is good. Nay, if all Sundays throughout the year partake of the light and glory of Easter-day, so all Fridays are after their degree good days, because they are the weekly returns of the Good Friday. Good is it, as nothing else is good; or if any thing else can be called truly good, it can only be because it partakes in some manner of the goodness of this day. When God created all things in the beginning, He looked upon them and blessed them, and called them "good." But all their goodness was but a shadow that passeth away compared with the goodness of Good Friday. Whatever they had of goodness was looked upon in the light of the Lamb which was slain from the foundation of the world. This day indeed may be said to be more than good in the sense that other things are good; it is goodness itself; absolute, unspeakable incomprehensible goodness: comprehending all. and itself comprehended by none: goodness immeasurable, beyond all breadth and length and depth and height; goodness with outstretched arms embracing all. It is of this goodness, of this Good Friday it is said, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Who shall set bounds to the goodness of this day? Of this day it is said, "look how wide the east is from the west; so far hath He set our sins from us." The day may bring night to us as it passes from the east to the west; but in itself it has no night, for this good day goes traveling with the sun around the world and knows no setting. When the three disciples were with our blessed Saviour on the mount of transfiguration, St. Peter, knowing not what he said, exclaimed, "Lord it is good for us to be here," wishing to continue there, as it were, forever. But our Lord seemed to set aside that saying of St. Peter, as if it were not good for sinful man to abide there on that mount and on descending from thence He spoke to him then and often of his approaching crucifixion and death; as if to say to them, it is not on that mountain of glory, but it is on Good Friday that you will find where it is good for men in the flesh to abide. At another time we may remember that one came to Christ saying, "Good Master, what good things shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" But the answer to this was, "There is none good but One, that is, God. . . . Take up the cross and follow Me." What was this but saying that as none is good: but God, so nothing to man is good but as God is found by him on Good Friday? God is good, so that sinful man cannot approach Him except on those steps which are opened to him on Good Friday. Nothing is good to man but what is connected with this good day. Thus the Psalmist speaks of all mankind as asking in vain for what is good: "There be many that say, Who will show us any good?" And his answer implies that truly such a search among mankind would be all in vain, for he adds, "Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us." As much as to say, good indeed will be that day, and that day alone on which God is pleased to be reconciled, though it be by some mysterious depth of divine goodness which man's thoughts cannot fathom. And that this was truly good in distinction from all the goods of this world, by the sense of God's favour shed abroad in the heart, and the peace and safety that is found in Him, he proceeds to add, "Thou hast put goodness in my heart since the time that their corn and wine and oil increased. I will lay me down in peace and take my rest." Now the heathen philosopher of old kept asking all over the world, What is good? and the world could afford him no answer to this question. For the whole world, groaning together and travailing in pain, asked in vain for good. And the Jew also, in the cravings of the unsatisfied spirit of man, asked for what is good; and through the whole book of Ecclesiastes he pathetically mourns his ignorance of it. The depth saith, It is not in me. And the sea saith, it is not in me." The troublous ses of this world, and the deep abyss of human sin and misery, could only answer that they knew it not. But not so with us Christians, we all know what it is. It is to be found on Good Friday. That day will give the answer to them all. It alone can say, it is to be found in me. All that philosophy so long sought for to no purpose, it may here at once find. Nor is the goodness of Good Friday anything that stands alone, so that it can be said here is goodness, and this is what is good and nowhere else. For when we are given to know the goodness of this day, then we know of all things that are under the sun what is really good and what is not so, as we never otherwise should have known. Whatever is truly good in man arises from some likeness to Good Friday; it consists in that only which it derives from Good Friday. Otherwise whatever may be called good, or appear for a while to be so, is but a false and deceitful shadow, and will not in the end be found to abide the trial. Men pride themselves in many fancied and imaginary goods, from whence arises for the most all sin and sorrow, because such things have not marked upon them any sign or token of this good day. And there has always been much of false morality in the world, and false religion; such was the morality of the philosophers of old, and the religion of the Pharisees; and such has always prevailed among Christians; but the reason why all these are not good, and will not stand the test of the great day of God, is because they have not in them any resemblance to Good Friday because in fact they are founded on pride, on self-seeking, and selfpleasing, and do not flow from the self-denying love of God and man, which was manifested to us on this good day. Again, if you consider those characters in Holy Scriptures which are called good, and which are set before us as those most worthy of our imitation, you will find that their goodness consists in this, that they have in them some likeness to this good day. Such is the good Samaritan who saved his enemy from death, which is given unto us as the great example of love to our neighbour. Nor can this good Samaritan be found any where in that perfection of goodness which it teaches except on Good Friday. Such is the good Shepherd, who layeth down his life for the sheep; which is the pattern for all those who have others entrusted to their charge; and where shall we find it perfectly drawn out but on this day? Nor is this only the case with the characters and dispositions of men, but if you wish any portion of your time to be spent wisely and profitably, so as to be truly good to you, it is Good Friday that you must feed upon; it is on meditating upon this day that such good will be most abundantly derived to you. It is on this account that I know of nothing that will so much promote spiritual growth and holiness in any man as to make every Friday in the week a Good Friday, by meditating during this good day on Christ, in retirement, and fasting, and prayer. On such an occasion many duties to your neighbor will come to your mind which you have neglected; you will think of many kindnesses which you now for the first time wish to perform, many offices of love which open themselves before you. And above all things the love of God in Christ will be shed abroad on your mind. Nor can this be done on any day of the week so well as on Friday, because the shadow of Good Friday seems to rest upon that day, and brings with it its own peculiar blessing and healing shade. And this is not only the case with our voluntary actions, but if God should be pleased to bring upon us any state of suffering, it will derive all the blessings which have been pronounced on a state of suffering, by being brought through a spirit of patient love and endurance into some resemblence to Good Friday. We read that when the martyr, Charles the First, was about to be put to death, that the faithful bishop who attended him on that day read to him the ac count of our blessed Saviour's crucifixion from the 27th chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, and the good King asked him whether he read it as being applicable to his own case; to which the bishop replied that it. was the appointed lesson for the day. On hearing which the king was much affected. What was the meaning of this? The meek and holy martyr scarce dared to hope that he was treading so closely in the steps of his blessed Saviour and was made like unto Him; but God was graciously pleased to throw over him thus clearly and distinctly before all men the shadow of Good Friday, and underneath that hallowed shadow the dying martyr was comforted and rejoiced. He knew not what we know, that it was the likeness to his blessed Saviour which wicked spirits and wicked men had seen in him which brought him to his end; but God was renewing in him that likeness more and more, and stamped upon him more and more even in outward calamities a resemblance to that Saviour to whom he had long looked with such firmness, wisdom, and constancy. Now what I would observe in this, is, that what would otherwise have been a miserable and dishonorable death, Good Friday has sanctified and blessed. It is on account of this day that in the sight of God the death of His saints is precious. THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. JESUS, my God! Thy blood alone Hath power sufficient to atone ; Thy blood can make me white as snow, No Jewish types can cleanse me so. HEBREW LEGENDS. BY THE EDITOR. ORIENTAL literature in general abounds in beautiful fancies. For their childlike simplicity, poetical charm, and for the beautiful lessons of wisdom which they teach, nothing but the Parables of our Saviour can excel the old Legends of the Hebrews. These are buried in the Talmud, that immense repository of Hebrew wisdom, covering 36 folio volumes, exclusive of the formidable commentaries which accompany it. These pleasant legends have been gathered from the Talmud and introduced in German literature quite extensively; but they are not so well known, as yet, to English readers. By means of an antiquarian catalogue, we have lately secured a fine collection of these Legends, gathered from the original Hebrew sources, by Neuberger and Obermeier, and published in German in 1828. These, taken direct from the sources, accompanied with references to the Talmud and its commentaries from which they are collected, have the merit of critical correctness; for which reason we desire the more to present the readers of the Guardian with a careful translation of them. I. MOSES AND THE LAMB. The Lord is good to all: And His tender mercies, Are over all his works.-Ps. 145: 9. As Moses was watching the flocks of Jethro in the wilderness, a lamb wandered away from the flock. Moses quickly followed it, but it ran faster than he; and he only overtook it as it stood slaking its thirst at a fountain. "Now "Thou innocent, tender creature," said Moses to the lamb. I see why thou didst wander away. have carried thee to the fountain! let me bear thee back on my arm." Had I known this, I would myself Yet, come now, little innocent, and Thus he brought it back to the flock. The Almighty Father in heaven praised the deed, and a voice was heard, saying: "Moses! if a little animal can so move thy pity, how much more wilt thou feel compassion for the children of men! Henceforth shalt thou be the Shepherd of my chosen ones; for the Lord is merciful to all, and his grace reigns over all His works." |