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king for the rescue of the tarnished honor of the Israelitish host. Modestly, David gave answer to the question of the king. "And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." "Then Jonathan and David cut a covenant, because he [Jonathan] loved him [David] as his own soul [as his own life, his own blood]." Then followed that gift of raiment and of arms which was a frequent accompaniment of bloodcovenanting. "And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his apparel, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle." 3 From that hour the hearts of David and Jonathan were as one.

Jonathan could turn away from

father and mother, and could repress all personal ambition, and all purely selfish longings, in proof of his loving fidelity to him who was dear to him as his own blood. His love for David was "wonderful, passing the love of women."5

Nor was this loving compact between Jonathan and David for themselves alone. It was for their posterity as well." "The Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father," said Jonathan. "And thou shalt

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LEGACIES OF FRIENDSHIP.

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not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not: but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not [even] when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth. So Jonathan cut a covenant with the house of David, saying [as in the imprecations of a blood-covenant], And the Lord shall require it [fidelity to this covenant] at the hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love he had to him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul [his own life, his own blood]." And years afterward, when the Lord had given David rest from all his enemies around about him, the memory of that blood-covenant pledge came back to him; "and David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" The seating of lame Mephibosheth at David's royal table was an illustration of the unfailing obligation of the primitive covenant of blood-which had bound together David and Jonathan, for themselves and for theirs forever.

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9. THE BLOOD COVENANT IN THE GOSPELS.

And now from David to David's greater Son; from type to anti-type; from symbol and prophecy to reality and fruition.

11 Sam. 20: 13-17. 22 Sam. 7: 1; 9: I. 32 Sam. 9: 2-13.

Death had passed upon all men. Yet in the hearts of the death-smitten there was still a longing for life. Sin-leprous souls yearned for that in-flow of new being which could come only through inter-union with the divine nature, in oneness of life with the Author and Source of all life. Revelation and prophecy had assured the possibility and the hope of such interunion. Rite and ceremony and symbol, the wide world over, signified man's desire, and man's expectation, of covenanted access to God, through personal surrender, and through life-giving, life-representing blood.

But where men yielded up unauthorized offerings, even of their own blood, or of the very lives of their first-born, they confessed themselves unsatisfied with their attitude God-ward; and, where men followed a divinely prescribed ritual, they were taught by that very ritual itself that the outpoured blood and the partaken flesh of the sacrifices were, at the best, but mere shadows of good things to come.1 The whole creation was groaning and travailing in pain together, until the birth of the world's promised redemption.2

The symbolic covenant of blood-friendship was between God and Abraham's seed; and in that seed were all the nations of the earth to have a blessing. God had called on Abraham to surrender to him his only

1 Heb. 10: I-4.

2 Rom. 8: 22.

THE DIVINE-HUMAN BLOOD.

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son, in proof of his unfailing love; and, when Abraham had stood that test of his faith, God had spared to him the proffered offering. It now remained for God to transcend Abraham's proof of friendship, and to spare not his own and only Son,1 but to make him a sacrificial offering, by means of which the covenant of blood-friendship, between God and the true seed of Abraham, might become a reality instead of a symbol. Abraham had given to God of his own blood, by the rite of circumcision, in token of his desire for interunion with God. God was now to give of his blood, in the blood of his Son, for the re-vivifying of the sons of Abraham in "the blood of the eternal covenant."2

Then, in the fullness of time, there came down into this world He who from the beginning was one with God, and who now became one with man. Becoming a sharer of the nature of those who were subject to death, and who longed for life, Jesus Christ was here among men as the fulfillment of type and prophecy; to meet and to satisfy the holiest and the uttermost yearnings of the human soul after eternal life, in communion and union with God.

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And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” “In him was life [life that death could not destroy; life that could destroy death], and the life [which was in him] was the light [the guide and the

1 Rom. 8: 32.

2 Heb. 13: 20.

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hope] of men." He came unto his own, and they that were [called] his own received him not. But as many as received him [whether, before, they had been called his own, or not] to them gave he the right to become children of God [by becoming partakers of his life], even to them that believe on his name: which were [through faith] begotten, not of bloods [not by ordinary generation], nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Having in his own blood the life of God and the life of man, Jesus Christ could make men sharers of the divine nature by making them sharers of his own nature; and this was the truth of truths which he declared to those whom he instructed.

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In the primitive rite of blood-covenanting, men drank of each other's blood, in order that they might have a common life; and they ate together of a mutually prepared feast, in order that they might evidence and nourish that common life. In the outreaching of men Godward, for the privileges of a divine-human inter-union, they poured out the substitute blood of a chosen victim in sacrifice, and they partook of the flesh of that sacrificial victim, in symbolism of sharing the life and the nourishment of Deity. This symbolism was made a reality in Jesus Christ. He was the Seed of Abraham; the fulfillment

1Comp. John 1: 1–14; Heb. 1: 1–3; 2: 14–16.

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