wrong? We need only at the utmost modify his expi-essions, and
say. In that the Holy Ghost convinces the world of sin, so long as
it does not believe in Christ, He has already brought all its right-
eousness to nought : so that Rieger's first two thoughts are com-
prised in the previous conviction : and when, in immediate oppo-
sition to this, the righteousness of Christ is attested, can this be
meant in any other sense, than that this is and will be the only
righteousness of those who believe in Him? As Gerlach says,
maintaining the true meaning against the modern commentators,
' He convinces the world that there is a righteousness of God, made
manifest in Christ, which justifies and sanctifies the sinner.'
" As the tkfyi.ig of the Holy Ghost cannot but include the con-
viction, that there is no other righteousness than that of God in
Christ, of Christ before God, — for the worst, most obstinate lie of
sin, the cause of the most wilful unbelief, is the clream of our own
righteousness, — so must it include the oflfer of Christ's righteous-
ness to faith, which on the Day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 38), and con-
tinually afterward, in the preaching of the Apostles, follows im-
mediately after the declaration of sin. Or can it be conceived
that our Lord here, where He was assuredly giving a complete out-
line of the preaching of the Spirit to the world, should have made
no mention of this? Here therefore the interpretation Avhich we
reject leaves a great chasm, places the sinful world and the right-
eous Christ in total separation from each other, although in fact
460 NOTE ^Y.
the Spirit everywhere offers and holds out Christ to the world,
unto righteousness.
" Herewith alone, we assert finally with full confidence, the
â– explanatory bit completely agrees. Luecke says, 'In that case
the explanation which followed must have been, that Jesus was
giving His life for the salvation of the world, or sacrificing Him-
self for the world; this however does not lie in OTt vnaycx).' AVe
reply, it does lie therein ; for this vndyeiv comprises His death,
the overlooking of which Is a great detriment to the meaning ;
.and just before also, in v. 7, vnuyeiP, If rightly Interpreted,
implies the act of gaining, obtaining, atoning : hence it does so
likewise In v. 10. Christ alone goes to the Father for us, as our
Mediator and High-priest : see the very same thought expressed
in Hebr. ix. 24. Moreover, what is here said of not seeing Him,
must refer, if it Is to have a sense suited to the context, to faith
in the unseen, and thus sets the righteousness of Christ, which is
to be apprehended by faith, In opposition to the sin of unbelief.
Why our Lord says â– deoi^liif, addressing the disciples, has been
explained by Bengel. ' Nor yet without reason Is the verb In the
second person : for if any one would be likely to see Jesus It
would be the Ajjostles ; and yet these were the very ones to
beheve, and to invite others to believe.'
"All this sufficiently refutes what has been said against the
exposition adopted by the Reformers, concerning the righteous-
ness of Christ offered to faith. It is a remarkable justification of
this exposition, that, after the way had been prepared for It by
Cyril and Augustin, the true meaning of our Lord's words was
first brought forward clearly by the Reformers, with whom Eras-
mus concurs. In fact this is the only practical exposition : it has
continually forced itself ever since on all preachers and practical
expositors endowed with evangelical knowledge, and alone agrees
with tlie actual testimony of the Spirit to the world from the day
•of Pentecost hitherto. For, as Luther says, ' we are not to know
any other righteousness wherewith we can stand before God, —
except this going of Christ to the Father, which is nothing else
than that He took our sin upon His shoulders, and allowed Him-
self by reason thereof to be slain upon the cross, to be buried
and to go down Into hell, yet did not remain under sin and death
and hell, but passed through them by His Resurrection and
NOTE X. 461
Ascension.' Thus He who was exalted gives repentance to Israel
and forfi'iveness of sins (Acts v. 31) ; and l»j Him all that helieve
are justified (Acts xiii. 39). This is the righteousness of God,
according to Rom. iii. 26, given from heaven, and having validity
in heaven. The watchword of the Reformation, the Lord our
Rigliteomness, or Christ our Righteousness, may be misunderstood
and misused ; but it is and must ever be the centre of all the
preaching of the Holy Spirit to a sinful and self-righteous M'orld:
and this is here declared beforehand by Christ Himself."
Note X: p. 159.
Every scholar will remember the account which Thucydides
gives of the demoralization produced at Athens by the plague.
It is such a revelation of the dark places of human nature, and so
plainly shows how inefficient the intensest anticipation of suffering
is to produce a conviction of judgment, that I will insert it here,
" The pestilence also in other respects led to much greater wickr
edness in the city. For people now lightly ventured to do those
things for sensual gratification, which they heretofore concealed.
They saw the sudden change of fortune, the rich cut off at once,
and their wealth passing to such as were before destitute ; so that
they thought it best to lay hold of swift enjoyments and delights,
deeming their bodies and possessions alike ephemeral. And no
one was inclined to labor for an honorable reward in prospect,
considering it uncertain whether he should not perish before
reaching it. Whatever was for the present agreeable or lucra-
tive from any source, that was considered good and useful. No
fear of God or law of man restrained them ; for they esteemed
piety and impiety to be alike, because they saw that all equally
perished ; or they doubted whether they should live to be tried
and punished for their crimes ; or in view of the much greater
judgment to which they were doomed, they thought fit to enjoy
somewhat of life, before it fell upon them." ii. § 53.
Arnold, who was fond of giving a reality to his religious teach-
ing, by showing the bearing of its principles, and exemplifying
their operation, in social and political life, remarks, in his first
Sermon, how the same facts were observed on other like occasions.
" Those who have read the story of the Great Plague of London in
39*
462 NOTE X.
1666, or tliat of Florence in 1348, or of any other seasons of
great pestilence â– wliicli have visited countries possessing a knowl-
edge of the Gospel, may remember the striking effect produced
upon men's minds by those sweeping calamities. It seenied as if
all were awake from a dream, had turned away from acting an
unreal part, and were at once suddenly sobered and made In ear-
nest. There was a separation broadly and strongly nlarked
between the good and the wicked, like that which will take place
in another world. Those who knew what would become of them
after death, but had been playing away their lives in the usual
follies of mankind, all began now to crowd the churches, to pray
with most hearty sincerity, and to look upon sin in its true light,
as .their worst and most deadly enemy. The unbelievers on the
contrary, those who had hardened their hearts effectually by a
course of godless living, they too threw aside the covering which
they had merely worn for the sake of the world's opinion, and
began to serve their master, the Devil, without disguise. Thus the
churches were thronged in one place, whilst every sort of abomi-
nable wickedness, open blasphemy, lewdness, rioting, robbery,
and mui-der, were practised without restraint in another. In
short, the servants of God and of Satan took their part openly ; and
few, if any, held a middle course between them." Even at Athens
some persons were roused to a higher pitch of magnanimity : ol
fxgeit}? Ti fi6Tanoiovfifi>oi, Thucydides says, uioyvvt] J/^i/-
dovi' oqcov avTOJi'^ eatovieg nagcc xovg rftlovg.
The ordinary occurrence of crimes at executions is noticed by
Donne in his 37th Sermon, when he is urging that the fear of the
Almighty Judge, if we kept it always before us, would keep men
from sin. " We have seen purses cut at the sessions and at exe-
cutions ; but the cutpurse did not see the judge look upon him :
we see men sin over those sins to-day, for which judgment was
inflicted but yesterday ; but surely they do not see then that the
judge sees them." It is sad to think that, in the face of this
observation, legislators should have continued for centuries acting
under the notion that punishment is almost the only preventive of
crime.
NOTE Y. 463
Note Y: p. 1G3,
Witli regard to tbe meaning of tlie Comforter's third convic-
tion, the great body of divines are in tbe main tolerably well
agreed. Cbrysostom indeed seems to narrow tbe sense, by rest-
ing tbe evidence of tbe judgment passed upon the Prince of this
â– world almost entirely upon the fact of the Resurrection. " Here
again He turns tbe discourse upon righteousness, because He
overcame tbe adversary. But as a sinner He could not have
conquered ; nor would a righteous man have been able to do this.
' For that he has been judged by Me, they shall know, who tram-
ple him under foot hereafter, and are clearly informed of My
resurrection, which shows Me to have judged him; for he was
unable to retain Me. Since then they charged Me with having a
devil and being a deceiver, these things shall hereafter be shown
to be absurd; for I could not have subdued him, had I been
chargeable with sin: but now he has been judged and cast out.' "
But Theopbylact, while in the main be copies Cbi-ysostom, gives a
wider proof of this great victor}^, in the presence of the Spirit.
" Again the Spirit shall show Me to be just and without sin,
because tbe ruler of this world has been judged and overcome by
Me. For when they said, ' He hath a devil,' and 'He doeth won-
ders by Beelzebub,' and ' is a deceiver,' all these things. He saith,
shall be proved vain, when the devil is shown to be judged, and is
exhibited to all as conquered by Me : which indeed I could not
effect, unless I were stronger than he, and free from every sin.
But how was this shown ? At the coming of the Spirit all believ-
ers in Christ despised and trampled under foot the ruler of this
â– world. Hence it was shown by these also, that be had been much
before judged by Christ. — And besides, the Spirit convinces the
unbelieving world of righteousness, that is, that he is destitute of
righteousness who believes not on the righteous Jesus, who, by
reason of His righteousness, was received up into heaven. He
convinces and judges him as careless, because when Satan was so
crippled in power he did not desire to escape from him."
Augustin, in his 95th Tractate on St. John, refers tbe judgment
to that at the end of the world. " He also will convince of Judg-
ment because the prince of this u-orld is judged. Who is this, un-
less it be one of whom He says in another place, Behold the prince
464 NOTE T.
of this world cometJi, and hath nothing in Me 1 i. e. notliing in his
own right, nothing which belongs to him, in short no sin at all.
For through sin is the Devil prince of this world. For it is not
heaven and earth, and all things therein, of which the Devil is
Prince, in which sense the icorld is understood, when it is said,
And the icoiid. teas made hy Him: but the Devil is pi'ince of that
world, concerning which it is directly added, and the world knew
Him not : that is, unbelieving men, of which the whole habitable
globe is full: among whom the believing world suffers tribulation,
•which He by whom the world was made has chosen out of the
world ; of which Himself hath said, The Son of Man came not to
condemn the world, but that the icorld throitcjh Him might be saved.
When He judges the world is condemned, by His intervention the
world is saved ; since as a tree is full of leaves and fruit, and a field
of chaff and wheat, so the world is full of unbelievers and believ-
ers. Therefore the prince of this world is that prince of darkness,
i. e. of unbelievers, — from whom that world is separated, — which
is thus addressed. Ye were sometime darkness, but notv are ye light
in the Lord, — the prince of this world is he of whom it is else-
where said. Now is the prince of this icorld cast out, and judged;
since he is irrevocably doomed to the judgment of everlasting fire.
And so of this judgment, by which the prince of this Avorld is
judged, is the world convinced by the Holy Spirit; since it is
judged along with its own prince, whom it has proudly and wick-
edly followed. For if God, as saith the Apostle Peter, spared not
the Angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered into
chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment ; why is not the
world convinced of this judgment by the Holy Spirit, since the
Apostle said this by inspiration of the Spirit ? "
In his 143d Sermon, on the other hand, Augustin applies our
Lord's promise to the casting out of Satan through the power of
Christ from the hearts of believers. " Nor can *the Avorld excuse
itself for not believing in Christ, on the ground that It is hindered
by the Devil. For to believers the prince of this world Is cast out,
that he may no longer work in the hearts of men, whom Christ has
begun to possess by faith ; as he does work in the children of unbe-
lief, whom for the most part he instigates to tempt and afflict the
righteous. For since he, who ruled inwardly, is cast out, he now
fights from without. Therefore altliough, through his persecutions,
the Lord will guide the meek in Judgment ; still he is now judged,
NOTE T. 465
in the-very fact that he is cast out. And of this judgment is the
â– world convinced; for in vain does he, who will not believe on
Christ, complain of the devil, whom judged, that is, cast out, and
for our discipline allowed to attack us from without, the martyrs,
not only men, but even women and boys and girls, have OA-ercome.
Now in whom have they overcome, but in Him on whom they have
believed, and whom seeing not, they loved, and by whose domin-
ion in their hearts they have been delivered from a most malignant
(^pessimo) lord. And all this by grace, that is, by the gift of the
Holy Ghost. Rightly then doth the same Spirit convince the
world, both of sin, because it believeth not on Christ ; and of rifjlit-
eoiisness, because the_y wlio have had the will have believed, al-
though they saw not Ilim on whom they believed ; and by His resur-
rection have hoped that they themselves also should be perfected
in the resurrection ; and of Judgment, because if they had had the
will to believe, they could be hindered by none, since the prince of
this ivorld has been judged already."
In the 144th Sermon, which, as has already been observed, be-
longs to a different, probably an earlier, period of his life, and
which is derived from a different collection, and has merely been
placed next to the preceding one by the editors in consequence of
the similarity of the subject, Augustin's explanation coincides with
that given in the Tractate on St. John. " And therefore of judg-
ment too is the world convinced because the prince of this world
has been judged already ; that is, the devil, the prince of the un-
righteous, who in heart dwell only in this world which they love,
and therefore are called the world; as our conversation is in
heaven, if we have risen again with Christ. Therefore as Christ
together with us, that is. His body, is one ; so the devil with all the
ungodly whose head he is, with, as it were, his own body, is one.
Wherefore as we are not separated from the righteousness, of
which the Lord said: Because I go to the Father; so the ungodly
are not separated from that judgment, of which He said: Because
the prince of this world has been judged already."
Tauler strangely misunderstands the meaning of the judgment,
which is to be the subject of the Comforter's tXey'j(og, but writes
beautifully, as he alwa^ys does. " The Holy Ghost reproves man
for his judgment. What are these judgments ? It means that
every man passes judgment on his neighbor, civil or spiritual, and
that they have no eyes for their own faults and sin, although
466 NOTE T.
Christ lias said, With tvJiat measure tJiou metest, ivith the same it
sJiaU be measured to thee again. Ye shall judge nobody, that ye
be not judged. Unhappily all men, bishops, prelates, priests, and
monks, provincials and abbots, gentle and simple, will try and judge
one another ; and therewith ye build great thick -walls between
God and yourselves. Beware thereof as ye love Almighty God
and everlasting happiness ; and prove and judge yourselves. This
is useful to you, if ye desire to be blessed, and to stand, and if ye
would escape being judged by Almighty God, and by all His
chosen saints. A man should judge nothing that is not a plaia
mortal sin. He should much sooner and rather bite his tongue
that it bleed, than judge a man in little or in great things. One
should leave this to the eternal judgment of God ; for from man's
judgment upon his neighbor there grows a complacency in oneself,
an evil arrogance, and a contempt for one's neighbor. This fruit
is therefore ti-uly a work of the Devil, whereby many a heart is
defiled ; and then the Holy Ghost is not truly in man. But where
the Holy Ghost is truly with His presence. He judges by that
same man where it is necessary ; and then that man waits for the
hour and occasion when it is fitting to punish. This must not be
done so as, before one heals one wound, to inflict three or four A'io-
lently. One should not even punish a man with hard words, but
friendly and kindly. One should not crush a man, nor lower
him in any other man's heart, be he civil or spiritual ; but it should
come out of a pure love, friendship, and gentleness. Herewith a
man abides within himself, in humility and poverty of spirit ; and
this he then bears within him wherever he goes and whatever he
does, whether amid a congregation or alone. And herewith he
profits no one else but himself, in a true simplicity, and lets all
such things lie as do not concern him, and are not committed to
him."
Luther, as usual, exemplifies the conviction of judgment by a
reference to his own times, and finds it a source of inexhaustible
comfort and strength. " Christ does not S2:)eak here of a worldly
judgment, as the world judges in its own matters, Avhich relate to
body and goods, lands and j^ersons; but this is a spiritual judg-
ment, which pertains to the government of sovils and consciences.
It follows plainly from what went before. For where righteous-
ness comes,«there judgment must be held ; since righteousness has
two works, help and punishment. By help the innocent are saved
NOTE Y. 467
and maintained ; by punishment the wicked and wrong-doers are
hindered and checked. Therefore, as the world is rebuked for that
righteousness which holds good before God, for that it has not this
righteousness, and will not accept it, but sets up another righteous-
ness of its own ; in like manner is it to be rebuked for judgment,
because it takes upon itself to punish and condemn in matters
which it does not understand, and in which it has no right or au-
thority to punish. For here it lifts itself up, when such things are
preached and taught through the reproof of the Holy Sj^irit, as,
that all men are under sin, and that without Christ there is no
counsel or help against sin, and no righteousness before God ex-
cept in Christ. This the world cannot and will not brook or hear,
but begins to condemn this sermon, and to persecute all who cleave
to it and confess it, and claims a right and authority for such judg-
ment or condemnation and punishment, as though exercising it in
God's name, and all the while bears the name of the Christian
Church. For here the world chooses to be Master Clever, and
Satan to be God Himself; and they presume to declare and decide
"what is right or wrong, punishable or acceptable, in divine things.
For it sets to and condemns the sermon of the Apostles and of the
Gospel, and all who abide therej^v, to the bottomless pit ; and this
it does by its highest regular power, right, and autliority, which
are given to it by God to punish the wicked. This it uses against
God and His Christians, to destroy the preaching of the Gospel
therewith. Thus the two judgments run counter to each other,
in that the Holy Ghost by His sermon judges and rebukes the
â– world ; but the world sets itself in opposition, will not hear nor
bear this, claims judgment for itself, says, this is not God's but the
Devil's sermon and doctrine, so that it has not only a fair plea not
to accept them, but is also bound to condemn them, tq prevent,
and to root them out, through its judicial power, that is, for the
sake of God and of righteousness.
" Well then, we must let these two judgments, that of God, and
that of the world, and of its Prince, the Devil, run and clash
against each other ; and we must wait and expect, and for God's
and His word's sake must endure, that they should condemn us,
persecute us, and, when they cai^, slay and murder us, in the ser-
vice of their God. But in so doing we have the comfort, where-
with the Lord Christ has beforehand provided and armed us, as
indeed we greatly need, — else would it be too hard for us to bear
468 NOTE Y.
this juclgment and condemnation, — in that He promises, not only
that the Holy Ghost, by our means, shall rebuke the world on
account of sin and righteousness, and also of judgment, but more-
over shall uphold those Avho are His therein, and shall give eiTect
to their judgment and rebuke against the opposite judgment and
condemnation ; so that in the end His judgment shall stand.
" This is Tvhat He means, when He says that the Prince of this
world is judged. Here, in the first place, we are told and assured,
that this judgment and condemnation of the world is not the
judgment and sentence of God, or of Christ's Church, as the world
gives out, and would have us believe, but is the Devil's judgment,
and is already condemned by God ; and we too are to count it
groundless and condemned, and not to care for it, nor to follow or
obey this judgment of the vrorld, but may cheerfully let ourselves
be condemned, and set this judgment or condemnation there-
against, that Christ pronounces the world with its Prince to be
condemned.
" This I say, because nowadays certain scatterbrains and popish
dunces, now that they are forced to confess that our doctrine is
right and scriptural, yet sjiluttcr against it, and cry that, because
it has not been confirmed by coj^ncils, and because the govern-
ment has not adopted, or rejects it, that doctrine is nothing worth ;
for that one must obey the government, and he who opposes it is
seditious ; and so forth. Nay, they would so arrange matters,
that the government and men shall be set as judges o^'er God's
word ; and we are to be free and blameless, so that we need not
accept or confess it, if the government does not choose. Scripture
however says, not the world, the prince, or emperor, but the Holy
Ghost is to be judge by the word. But the world must let itself
be rebuked and judged, and must give heed to this judgment.
And if the world opposes it, and would itself judge God's word,
and condemn and command us to hold with it, we are to know
that this judgment is condemned, and is the devil's, and that we
are to resist it, as being condemned by God, and to say, Dear
Prince, Emperor, and World, I am indeed under thy iwicer tciOi my
body and goods ; and as to ivJiat thou shall ordain concerning my
body and goods, I must and will readily obey : but if thou stretchest
out further into God's government, where thou mayest not, nor canst
be Judge, but must let thyself he judged, along tcith me and all crea-
tures, by His word, there I musl and loill not follow thee, hut do the
NOTE T. 469
contrary, that I may obey Him, and allele hy His zcord. For if I
tvere to obey thee, I should condemn myself, along icith thee, hy
God's icord ; because Christ here concluded and says. What the
prince of this world judges concerning God's word is already con-
demned.
" In the next place, He also gives us the comfort that the Holy
Ghost with His judgment shall prevail and make way against the
"world's judgment and condemnation, in order that we may not be
dismayed at the power of the world and the devil, and their angry
threats and terrors. For Christ here speaks very grandly and