THE Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for to-day all refer to the ministry of the Church, considered as one of the agencies which is intended to prepare mankind for the second coming of Christ. St. John the Baptist in prison is the subject of the Gospel; and St. John, as the forerunner of our Lord at His first coming, is a great example to be followed by those who have to prepare mankind for His second. In the Epistle St. Paul discusses the functions and the responsibilities of the Apostolic ministry; while the Collect, which is addressed to our Lord Jesus Christ, combines the Gospel and the Epistle. After referring to the work of the Baptist, it chooses from St. Paul the pregnant phrase, "stewards of the mysteries of God," to describe the office of the Christian ministry. Grant that the "stewards of Thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready Thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at Thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in Thy sight." Surely a most necessary and wholesome prayer for all of us, during this Ember-week, when we Christians are supposed, after the manner of the Church of Apostolic times,1 to be fasting and praying before hands are laid next Sunday on those who are to serve God in Holy Orders; a prayer which we shall use all the better if we devote this afternoon to considering the phrase of St. Paul, which is of such capital importance in it," stewards of the mysteries of God." 1 Acts xiii. 3. I. "The mysteries of God." word "mystery rouses a certain feeling of discomfort, almost amounting to suspicion and dislike, in the mind of an ordinary Englishman when he first hears it. In the customary use of language, too, the word has got into bad odour by the force of bad association. A "mystery" is frequently understood to mean something which will not bear the light; something which is wanting in the qualities of straightforwardness and explicitness; which belongs to the region of charlatanism, intrigue, ignorance, superstition. When a crime has been. committed a theft or a murder-the author of which has not been found out, what is the phrase which rises involuntarily to our lips? "There is a dark mystery here," we say; and, as we say it, the word "mystery" seems to add a new element of malignity to the crime; to surround it in our minds with that peculiar apprehension and dread which belongs to undiscovered evil. In this sense you observe that handbills published today refer to a "Mysterious Explosion at London Bridge last evening," meaning, I presume, that its origin and object are obscure. In this sense a modern poet speaks of the murderer who There can be no doubt that this 1 "On a lonely hill Shall do a deed of mystery." 2 Thus the word is discredited by the force of association. Shakespeare, indeed, after his wont, claims for it its nobler sense, when he speaks of "Those mysteries which heaven Will not have earth to know." 3 But, like other words, it has lost caste in popular usage since his day. And thus, when we find the word "mystery " in the Bible or Prayer-book, some of us, almost involuntarily, turn away from it; we ignore its true force, or, at best, we treat it as belonging to a state of mind which has passed away. It would be curious to ascertain the idea which the word "mystery" suggests the first five men whom we meet in the street. One man 1 On Saturday evening, December 13, 1884, a fruitless attempt was made to blow up London Bridge by means of dynamite. 2 Praed. 3 Coriolanus, act iv. sc. 2. 66 66 would probably say, "I mean by 'mystery' something confused and unintelligible;" another, "something involving a plain contradiction;" another, a statement which is chiefly distinguished by its defiance of reason; another, some physical or even moral impossibility;" another, "that which is believed to be true because there is no real reason for believing it." And if these, or anything like these, are the ideas which are associated by us with the word "mystery" what wonder that the word is regarded with a certain dislike and suspicion when it intrudes into the region of religious truth? 66 II. What, then, let us ask, is the true account of this word mystery"? As used in the Bible it is not to be confused with a word spelt in the same way, but having quite a different sense and derivation; I mean "mystery," when it stands for a trade, a calling, or even a miracle-play of the Middle Ages. This word is originally French, or, more properly, Latin;1 and it is applied to any pursuit, office, or performance which can impart instruction or advice. The word "mystery " in the Bible is a purely Greek word, the termination only being changed. In Greece, for many centuries, it meant a religious or sacred secret, into which, after due preparation, men were initiated by solemn rites. At Eleusis, near Athens, there were famous mysteries of this description. There has been much controversy in the learned world as to their origin and object : the most probable account being that they were designed to preserve and hand on certain tenets which formed part of the earliest religion of Greece, and which were lost sight of, or denied, or denounced by the popular religions of a later time. A secret tenet thus partially disclosed was called a "mystery," because after disclosure it was still concealed from the general public; because it had been concealed even from the initiated man up to the moment of initiation; and because, probably, it was of a character to suggest that, however much truth it might convey, there was more to which it pointed, but which remained unknown. This was the general sense which the word had acquired at the time when the New Testament was written. Perhaps it will occur to you, as it has occurred to others, to ask, What business has a word with these pagan antecedents Magisterium. to appear at all in the phraseology of the Gospel, in the pages of the New Testament? 1 The answer is that the Apostles of Christ, in order to make their Divine message to the souls of men as clear as might be, took the words in common use which most nearly answered their purpose, and did the best they could with them; giving them, so to put it, a new turn; inspiring them with a higher significance. Thus, the word which in the original language of the New Testament stands for "Church," had before meant the Athenian people in full deliberative assembly; and the word "liturgy,' ," which is unhappily buried out of sight in our translation, but which is used in the New Testament of both Jewish and Christian offerings of prayer or sacrifice to God, originally meant some public service or work undertaken, at his own cost, by a private citizen for the good of the State. The Apostles found these words, as they found the word "mystery," ready to their hands, in the language which they had to use; they were guided to them by the Greek Version of the Old Testament; they, so to speak, blessed and baptized them, enriching them with a new and profound meaning, which yet was not wholly inconsistent with the associations that had already belonged to them for many centuries. III. What, then, is the meaning of the word "mystery" in the pages of the New Testament? It is used to describe, not a fancy, or a contradiction, or an impossibility, but a truth; yet a truth which has been or is more or less hidden. Sometimes language itself, the meaning of which is hidden, is called a "mystery," as in the title on the forehead of the woman who typified the Pagan Empire,-Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots; or when some Corinthian Christians in their religious assemblies are said to have "spoken 3 1 The use of kкλŋσía in St. Matt. xvi. 18; 1 Cor. xii. 28; Eph. i. 22; iii. 10; v. 23, etc.; Phil. iii. 6; Col. i. 18, 24; Acts xx. 28, etc., is derived immediately from the LXX. translation of Spin Judg. xxi. 8; 1 Chron. xxix. 1; Deut. xxxi. 30; Josh. viii. 35, etc. 2 Cf. Boëkh, Athen. Staatshaush., i. 480, sqq. Exod. xxviii. 35; xxix. 30; Numb. xviii. 2; and by λEITOUрYEîv, which is used in its ecclesiastical solemn worship offered to God. Rev xvii. 5. ADV SERMS.] The LXX. translate n 2 M mysteries,' ,"1 that is to say, language which was not understood by those who heard it. Sometimes the word is used of the hidden drift, purpose, meaning, of institutions, or tendencies, or events; as when our Lord speaks of "the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven" which it was given to the Apostles to know, or St. Paul of "the mystery of iniquity" which does already work. 66 Sometimes, again, it is applied to Christian doctrines, which, after being hidden for long ages in the Divine Mind, were at last revealed by men taught by the Holy Spirit; as when St. Paul writes to the Romans of the preaching of Jesus Christ as the revelation of a mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest . . . for the obedience of faith," 994 or to the Ephesians, of the call of the Gentiles into the Church of Christ, as "the mystery which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His Holy Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit; or to the Colossians, of Christ as an inward Presence in the soul of those who once were heathens, as "the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest unto His saints."6 998 Once more, the word "mystery "is used of truth which has been revealed in outline, or partially, yet of which much is still beyond the grasp of our minds; as when St. Paul bids the Ephesians pray that, while in prison at Rome, he may "make known the mystery of the Gospel,' " that is, the Gospel which, though revealed, is still in many respects beyond our comprehension; or when he prays that his Colossian converts may be brought to a higher knowledge "of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; or writes to them of "the mystery of Christ," meaning the deeper truths about His Person and His Office; or to Timothy of the "mystery of faith,' "10 which the Deacons should hold "in a pure conscience," meaning the partially hidden truths to which faith clings; or of the "mystery of godliness," "1 or piety, meaning especially the Divine Incarnation which Christian piety receives, without being able perfectly to comprehend it. And this sense of the word appears more clearly when St. Paul, 11 11 Ibid. iii. 16. |