Appendix III. The Rich Young Man.
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The eternal Godhead of CHRIST was the mark at which, in the earliest age of all, Satan persistently aimed his most envenomed shafts. St. John, in many a well-known place, notices this; begins and ends his Gospel by proclaiming our Saviour's Eternal Godhead502 ; denounces as “deceivers,” “liars,” and “antichrists,” the heretical teachers of his own day who denied this503 ;—which shews that their malice was in full activity before the end of the first century of our era; ere yet, in fact, the echoes of the Divine Voice had entirely died out of the memory of very ancient men. These Gnostics found something singularly apt for their purpose in a famous place of the Gospel, where the blessed Speaker seems to disclaim for Himself the attribute of “goodness,”—in fact seems to distinguish between Himself and GOD. Allusion is made to an incident recorded with remarkable sameness of expression by St. Matthew (xix. 16, 17), St. Mark (x. 17, 18) and St. Luke (xviii. 18, 19), concerning a certain rich young Ruler. This man is declared by all three to have approached our LORD with one and the same question,—to have prefaced it with one and the same glozing address, “Good Master!”—and to have been checked by the object of his adulation with one and the same reproof;—“Why dost thou [who takest me for an ordinary mortal like thyself504 ] call me good? No one is 502
St. John i. 1-3, 14; xx. 31. 1 St. John ii. 18, 22, 23; iv. 1, 2, 3, 15; v. 10, 11, 12, 20; 2 St. John ver. 7, 9, 10. So St. Jude ver. 4. 504 So Athanasius excellently:—A ¸µx ÃŽ±Á¹¸¼uñ ±ÅÄx½ ¼µÄp Äö½ ½¸Á}Àɽ, º±Äp Ät½ ÃqÁº± ±PÄ¿æ Ä¿æÄ¿ µ6Àµ, º±v ÀÁx Äx½ ½¿æ½ Ä¿æ ÀÁ¿Ãµ»¸y½Ä¿Â ±PÄ÷; ºµÖ½¿Â ³pÁ ½¸ÁÉÀ¿½ ±PÄx½ ½y¼¹¶µ ¼y½¿½ º±v ¿P ¸µy½, º±v Ä¿æÄ¿½ ǵ¹ Äx½ ½¿æ½ ! ÀyºÁ¹Ã¹Â. •0 ¼r½ ³pÁ ½¸ÁÉÀ¿½, Æ·Ãw 503
