words of the Psalmist and of the
Prophets ought to have led them to expect the Son of God as King. And,
if they had nurtured any real love of God in their hearts, they would
have been ready to become His subjects. But it was not so. They
expected a conqueror to free them from the yoke of their enemies. And
the enemies which He came to conquer were spiritual--the great enemy
of the whole human race--not the earthly foes of the one race of
Israel. They expected the glory and pomp which are the outward signs
of the authority to rule; and they could not understand the position
which He claimed to hold who had come in such humility that He said,
"The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head" (S. Matt. viii. 20).
"Tell us," they said, "by what authority doest thou these things?" (S.
Luke xx. 2). And, therefore, we need not seek far to find the reason
of the small success which followed the preaching of the Gospel of the
Kingdom. Only a spiritual power can move men in spiritual things, and
a man must first give himself up to the guidance of the Holy Spirit
before He can take in spiritual truths. If men resist the teaching of
God, no evidence will move them. "If they hear not Moses and the
Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the
dead" (S. Luke xvi. 31). "The Kingdom of Heaven" could not be set up
until the Holy Ghost was given[5], because the Jews were not prepared
to accept Messiah as the King of a spiritual Kingdom; and only the
Holy Ghost could move the hearts of men to desire spiritual blessings,
and to hope for spiritual rewards.

So our Blessed Lord preached the Gospel of the Kingdom to unwilling
hearts; and was compelled to "upbraid the cities wherein most of His
mighty works were done, because they repented not" (S. Matt. xi. 20).
Only the few received Him--the few who were "babes" in spirit--whilst
"the wise and prudent" (S. Matt. xi. 25) rejected Him.

There were two kinds of evidence to which He continually appealed in
His arguments with the Jewish rulers in proof of His claims upon their
hearts. The first was the direct testimony of John the Baptist: "Ye
sent unto John and he bare witness unto the truth" (S. John v. 33).
For "when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him,
Who art thou? he confessed, I am not the Christ" (S. John i. 19, 20).
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the
Lamb of God" (S. John i. 29). And he declared that he knew H