BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME FROM THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND THE GIFT OF Henrg W. Sage 1891 A s,a-a.3.r 1V5Z*: Cornell University Library BR45 .B21 1866 Divnity of pur Lord and Saviour Jesus C olin 3 1924 029 181 241 The date shows when this volume was taken. To renew this book copy the^call No. and give tO: the librariali. 5- i^Ag'll HOME USE RULES. All Books subject to Recall. Books not used for instruction or research are returnable within 4 weeks. Volumes of periodi- cals and of pamphlets are held in the library as much as possible. For special purposes they are given out for a limited time. Borrowers should not u»e their library privileges for the bene-, fit of other persons. Books not needed during recess periods should be returned to the library, or arrange- ments made for their return during borrow- er's absence.if wanted. Books needed by more than one person are held on the reserve list. Books of special value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate^'; 10: B.eaders'""are asked to repoit all cases of books marked or muti- la;ted. Oo not deface books by marks and writing. ^oi{ THE BAMPTON LECTURES FOR M.DCCC.LXVI RIVINGTONS London 3 Waterloo Place Oxford 41 High Street Cambridge 19 Trinity Street .>^^^ ^' EIGHT LECTURES PREACHED BEFOEE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, IN THE YEAE 1866, ON THE FOUNDATION OF THE LATE KEY. JOHN BAMPTON, M. A. CANON OF SALISBUBY. BY HENRY PARRY LIDDON, M.A. STUDEHT OP CHEI8T CHURCH, PEEBEtTDAlRT OE SALISBUET, AND EXAMININO CHAPI/AIH TO THE LOED BISHOP OP SAIISBUET. RIVINGTONS 1867 P[.^^S.X^ " Wenn Christus nicht wahrer Gott ist ; die mahometanische Religion eine unstreitige Verbesserung der christlichen war, und Mahomet selbst ein ungleicli grossrer und wurdigerer Mann gewe- sen ist als Christus." Lessing, Sdmnitl. Schriften, Bd. g, p. 291. " Simul quoque cum beatis videamus Glorianter vultum Tuum, Christe Deus, Gaudium quod est immensum atque probum, Ssecula per infinita saaculorum." Rhytlwn. Eccl. EXTRACT FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF THE LATE KEY. JOHN BAMPTON, CANON OF SALISBURY. " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to the " Chancellor^ Masters, and Scholars of the University of " Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and singular the " said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the intents and " pm-poses hereinafter mentioned ; that is to say, I will and " appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ox- " ford for the time being shaU take and receive all the rents, " issues, and profits thereof, and (after all taxes, reparations, " and necessary deductions made) that he pay all the re- " mainder to the endowment of eight Divinity Lecture Ser- " mons, to be established for ever in the said University, and " to be performed in the manner following : " I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in " Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads " of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoining " to the Printing- House, between the hours of ten in the " morning and two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity " Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary's in " Oxford, between the commencement of the last month in " Lent Term, and the end of the third week in Act Term. b vi BXTEACT FROM CANON BAMPTON''s WILL. " Also I direct and appoint, tliat the eight Divinity Lecture " Sermons shall be preached upon either of the following Sub- " jects — to confirm and establish the Christian Faith, and to " confute all heretics and schismatics — upon the divine au- " thority of the holy Scriptures — ^upon the authority of the " writings of the primitive Fathers, as to the faith and prac- " tice of the primitive Church — upon the Divinity of our Lord " and Saviour Jesus Christ — upon the Divinity of the Holy " G-host — upon the Articles of the Christian Faith, as compre- " hended in the Apostles" and Nicene Creeds. "■ Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity Lec- " ture Sermons shall be always printed, within two months " after they are preached ; and one copy shall be given to the " Chancellor of the University, and one copy to the Head of " every College, and one copy to the Mayor of the city of " Oxford, and one copy to be put into the Bodleian Library ; " and the expense of printing them shall be paid out of the " revenue of the Land or Estates given for establishing the '■'■ Divinity Lecture Sermons ; and the Preacher shall not be " paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, before they are " printed. " Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be quali- " fied to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless he hath " taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, in one of the " two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge ; and that the " same person shall never preach the Divinity Lecture Ser- " mons twice." PREFACE. -T ERHAPS an apology may be due to the University for the delay which has occurred in the appearance of this volume. If so, the writer would venture to plead that he undertook the duties of the Bampton Lecturer at a very short notice, and, it may be, without sufficiently considering what they involved. When, however, the accomplished Clergyman whom the University had chosen to fill this post in the year 1866 was obliged by a serious illness to seek a release from his engagement, the post «'as offered to the present writer with a kindness and generosity which, as he thought, obliged him to accept it and to meet its require- ments as well as he was able. Under such circumstances, the materials which were made ready in some haste for use in the pulpit seemed to require a close revision before publication. In making this revision — which has been somewhat seriously interrupted by other duties — the writer has not felt at liberty to introduce altera- tions except in the way of phrase and illustration. He has, however, availed himself of the customary licence to print at length some considerable paragraphs, the sense of which, in order to save time, was only summarily given when the lectures were delivered. And he has subjoined the Greek text of the more important passages of the New Testament to which he has had occasion to refer ; as experience seems to prove that b 2 viii PREFACE. very many readers do not verify quotations from Holy Scrip- ture, or at least that they content themselves with examining the few which are generally thought to be of most impor- tance. Whereas, the force of the argument for our Lord's Divinity, as is the case with other truths of the New Testa- ment, is eminently cumrdative. Such an argument is to be appreciated, not by studying the comparatively few texts which expressly assert the doctrine, but that large number of passages which indirectly, but most vividly, imply it. It is perhaps superfluous to observe that eight lectures can deal with little beyond the outskirts of a vast, or to speak more accurately, of an exhaustless subject. The present volume attempts only to notice, more or less directly, some of those assaults upon the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity which have been prominent or popular of late years, and which have, unhappily, had a certain weight among persons with whom the writer is acquainted. Whatever disturbing influence the modern destructive criti- cism may have exerted upon the form of the old argument for the Divinity of Christ, the main features of that argu- ment remain substantially unchanged. The writer will have deep reason for thankfulness if any of those whose inclination or duty leads them to pursue the subject, should be guided by his references to the pages of those great theologians whose names, whether in our own country or in the wider field of Catholic Christendom, are for ever associated with the vindication of the most fundamental truth of the Faith. In passing the sheets of this work through the press, the writer has been more largely indebted than he can well say to the invigorating sympathy and varied learning of the Rev. W. Bright, Fellow of University College; while the Index is due to the friendly interest of anotlier Fellow of that College, the Rev. P. G-. Medd. PREFACE. IX That in so vast and mysterious a subject all errors have been avoided is much more than the writer dares to hope. But at least he has not intentionally contravened the clear sense of Holy Scripture, or any fonnal decision whether of the Undivided Church or of the Church of England. May He to the honour of Whose Person this volume is devoted, vouch- safe to pardon in it all that is not calculated to promote His truth and His glory ! And for the rest, " quisquis haec legit, ubi pariter certus est, pergat meeum ; ubi pariter haesitat, quserat mecum ; ubi errorem suum cognoscit, redeat ad me ; ubi meum, revocet me. Ita ingrediamur simul chari- tatis viam, tendentes ad Eum de Quo dictum est, Qu^rite Faciem Ejus semper''." Christ Chukoh, Ascension-Day, 1867- S. Aug. de Trin. i. 5. ANALYSIS OF THE LECTUEES. LECTUEE I. THE QUESTION BEFORE US. St. Matt. xvi. 13. PAGE The Question before us in these Lectures is proposed by our Lord Himself, and is a strictly theological one . . 4 Its import i. as affirming that Christ is the Son of Man . 9 2. as enquiring what He is besides . -13 I. Enduring interest of the question thus raised even for non- believers . . . . . . . . -17 II. Three answers to it are possible — 1 . The Humanitarian . . 23 2. The Arian ....... 24 3. The Catholic 25 Of these the Arian is unsubstantial, so that practically there are only two . . . . . .26 III. The Catholic Answer 1. jealously guards the truth of Christ's Manhood . 27 2. secures its full force to the idea of Godhead . 39 IV. Position taken in these Lectures stated . . -51 Objections to the necessary discussion — n. From the ground of Historical ^Estheticism . 52 /3. From the ground of ' Anti-doctrinal' Morality . 56 y. From the ground of Subjective Pietism . .62 Anticipated course of the argument . . -64 xii ANALYSIS OF THE LBCTUllES. LECTURE II. ANTICIPATIONS OF CHEIST's DIVINITY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, Gal. iii. 8. PAGE Principle of the Organic Unity of Scripture.— Its importance in the argument ...-.■••"" I. Foreshadowings — a. Indications in the Old Testament of a Plurality of Persons within the One Divine Essence . . 72 /3. The Theophanies ; their import . -78 y. The Divine "Wisdom" 1. in the Hebrew Canon . . .89 2. in the later Greek Sapiential Books . . 93 3. in Philo Judceus ■ ■ • • • 9.5 Contrast between Philo and the New Testament . . 103 Probable Providential purpose of Philo's speculations . 106 II. Predictions and Announcements — Hope in a future, a moral necessity for men and nations 109 Secured to Israel in the doctrine of an expected Messiah . . . . . . . .115 Four stages observable in the Messianic doctrine — a. From the Protevangelium to the death of Moses 119 /3. Age of David and Solomon . . . .121 y. From Isaiah to Malachi . . . . .127 6. After Malachi 1 38 Contrast between the original doctrine and the secu- larized form of it . . . . . . .139 Christ was rejected for appealing from the debased to the original doctrine . . . . . .141 Conclusion : The foregoing argument illustrated — 1. from the emphatic Monotheism of the Old Testament . . . . . . .142 2. from its full description of Christ's IManhood . 143 Christ's appeal to the Old Testament . . .146 ANALYSIS OF THE LECTORES. Xlll LECTURE III. OUR lord's work in the world a witness to his divinity. St. Matt. xiii. 54-56. PAGE I. Our Lord's ' Plan' (caution as to the use of the expression) 149 Its substance — the formation of a world-wide spiritual society, in the form of a kingdom . . . -151 It is set forth in His Discourses and Parables . -154 Its two leading characteristics — a. originality . . . • .161 0. audacity . . . . . . • i?' II. Success of our Lord's 'Plan' — 1. The verdict of Church history . . . .178 2. Objections from losses and difficulties, considered 183 3. Internal empire of Christ over souls . .189 4. External results of His work observable in human society . . . . . . .196 III. How to account for the success of our Lord's 'Plan' — 1. Not by reference to the growth of other Keligions 201 2. Not by the 'causes' assigned by Gibbon . . 204 3. Not by the hypothesis of a favourable crisis . 206 which ignores the hostility both of Judaism . 207 and Paganism . 210 But only by the belief in, and truth of Christ's Divinity 2 1 9 LECTURE IV. OUR lord's divinity as witnessed by his consciousness. St. John X. 33. The 'Christ of histoi-y' none other than the 'Christ of dogma' 229 A. The Miracles of the Gospel History — Their bearing upon the question of Christ's Person . 230 Christ's Moral Perfection bound up with their reality . 242 PAGE 244 246 250 256 268 270 281 288 xiv ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. B. Our Lord's Self-assertion . . ■ I. First stage of His Teaching chiefly Ethical . marked by u. silence as to any moral defect 0. intense authoritativeness II. Second stage : increasing Self-assertion which is justified by dogmatic revelations of His Divinity ...•••■ a. in His claim of co-equality with the Father /3. in His assertion that He is essentially one with the Father .... y. in His references to His actual Pre- existence Ground of Christ's condemnation by the Jews . III. Christ's Self-assertion viewed in its bearing upon His Human Character : His I. Sincerity . . . • .291 2. Unselfishness ..... 293 3. Humility ...... 295 all dependent upon the truth of His Divinity . 296 The argument necessarily assumes the form of a great alternative ........ 306 LECTURE V. THE DOCTEINE OP CHRIST's DIVINITY IN THE WRITINGS OF ST. JOHN. I St. John i. 1-3. St. John's Gospel ' the battle-field ' of the New Testament . 311 I. Ancient and modern objections to its claims . -312 Witness of the second century . . . . .314 Its distinctive internal features may be explained gene- rally by its threefold purpose — 1. Supplementary . . . . . .328 2. Polemical ....... 330 3. Dogmatic ••.... 332 ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. XV PAGE II. It is a Life of the Eternal Word made flesh. Doctrine of the Eternal Word in the Prologue . . 337 Manifestation of the Word, as possessing the Divine Per- fections — of I. Life 343 2. Love ..... . . 344 3- Light 345 The Word identical with the only-begotten Son . . 348 III. It is in doctrinal and moral unison with — 1. The Epistles of St. John 355 2. The Apocalypse ...... 362 IV. Its Christology is in essential unison with that of the Synoptists. Observe — 1. their use of the title "Son of God" . . 368 2. their account of Christ's Nativity . . . 369 3. their report of His Doctrine and Work, and . 373 4. of His eschatological discourses . . -379 Summary . . . . . . -381 V. It incurs the objection that a God-Man is philosophically incredible 382 This objection misapprehends the Scriptural and Catholic Doctrine 383 Mysteriousness of our composite nature illustrative of the Incarnation ........ 394 VI. St. John's writings oppose an insurmountable barrier to the Theory of a Deification by Enthusiasm . .398 Significance of St. John's witness to the Divinity of Christ 408 xvi ANALYSIS OF THE LBCTUHES. LECTURE VI. OUB lord's divinity as taught by ST. JAMES, ST. PETER, AND ST. PAUL. Gal. ii. 9. PAGE St. John's Christology not an intellectual idiosyncrasy . . 413 The Apostles present One Doctrine under various foi-ms . 416 I. St. James's Epistle — 1. presupposes the Christology of St. Paul . . 422 2. implies a high Christology by incidental expres- sions ........ 430 II. St. Peter— 1. leads his hearers up to understand Christ's true dignity, in his Missionary Sermons . . 435 2. exhibits Christ's Godhead more fully, in his Epistles ....... 440 III. St. Jude's Epistle implies that Christ is God . .451 IV. St. Paul— I. form of his Christology compared with that of St. John ..... 454 prominent place given by him to the truths a. of our Lord's true Mediating Manhood . 454 0. of the Unity of the Divine Essence . 460 2. Passages from St. Paul asserting the Divinity of Christ in terms . . . . . .465 3. A Divine Christ implied in the general teaching of St. Paul's Missionary Sermons . . 485 of St. Paul's Epistles . . . .480 4. And in some leading features of that teaching, as in a. his doctrine of Faith .... 508 0. his account of Eegeneration . .514 y. his attitude towards the Judaizers . 521 V. Contrasts between the Apostles do but enhance the force of their common faith in a Divine Christ . .524 ANALYSIS OF THE LECTTJHES. XVU LECTURE VII. THE HOMOOUSION. Tit. i. 9. PAGE Vitality of doctrines, how tested . . . . . -528 Doctrine of Christ's Divinity strengthened by opposition . 534 Objections urged in modern times against the Homoousion . 536 Real justification of the Homoousion — I. The ante-Nicene Church adored Christ . 538 Precedents for this — 1. in His earthly Life ..... 546 2. after His Ascension ..... 549 Adoration of Christ in Apostolic Age, 1. not combined with any worship of creatures 563 2. really the worship due to God . . . 565 3. included His Manhood . -567 Adoration of Christ, in sub-Apostolic age ..... 568 in later part of Second Century . ■ 57" in Third Century . . . . -573 expressed in hymns and doxologies . -576 and signally at Holy Communion . . .582 assailed by Pagan sarcasms .... 585 embodied in last words of martyrs . . 597 inconsistently retained by Arians . . .605 and even by early Socinians . . .606 II. The ante-Nicene Church spoke of Christ as Divine . 608 Value of testimony of martyrs .... 609 Similar testimony of theologians . . . -615 Their language not mere 'rhetoric' . . . . 625 Objection from doubtful statements of some ante- Nicenes . ,.....-. 627 xviii ANALYSIS OF THE LECTUEES. PAGE Answer : i. They had not gi-asped all the intellectual bearings of the faith . • • -630 2. They were anxious to put the Unity of God strongly forward . . . ■ '634 3. The Church's real mind not doubtful . . 637 III. The Homoousion 1. not a development in the sense of an enlarge- ment of the faith . . . • .641 2. necessary (1) in the Arian struggle . . -651 (2) in our own times • • -655 LECTUKE VIII. CONSEQUENCES OF THE DOCTRINE OP OUR LORd's DIVINITY. Bom. viii. 32. Theology must be, within limits, ' inferential' . . . 659 What the doctrine of Christ's Divinity involves . . . 663 I. Conservative force of the doctrine — a. It protects the Idea of God in human thought, which Deism cannot guard . . . .666 and which Pantheism destroys . . .672 0. It secures the true dignity of Man . . .676 II. Illuminative force of the doctrine - a. It implies Christ's Infallibility as a Teacher . 680 Objections from certain texts . . .682 1. St. Luke ii. 52 considered . . .684 2. St. Mark xiii. 32 considered. . ■ . 687 A single limitation of knowledge in Christ's Human Soul apparently indicated . . . 688 admitted by great Fathers . .689 does not involve Agnoetism . . 692 nor Nestorianism . , . .695 ANALYSIS OF THE LECTURES. XIX PAGE is consistent with tlie practical immensity of Christ's human knowledge . . 696 is distinct from, and does not imply falli- bility, still less actual error . . .701 Application to our Lord's sanction of the Pen- tateuch ....... 702 /3. It explains the atoning virtue of Christ's Death 708 y. It explains the supernatural power of the Sacra- ments . . . . . . . . i\i) 8. It irradiates the meaning of Christ's kingly office ........ 727 III. Ethical fruitfulness of the doctrine — Objection — that a Divine Christ supplies no standard for our imitation . . . . . ■ T^l Answer — A. An approximate imitation of Christ secured 1. by the reality of His Manhood . . 728 2. by the grace which flows from Him as God and Man .... 730 B. Belief in Christ's Godhead has propagated virtues, unattainable by paganism and naturalism — a. Purity . . . . .731 /3. Humility . . . -736 y. Charity . . . .740 Kecapitulation of the argument . . . . -745 Faith in a Divine Christ, the strength of the Church under present dangers . . . . .746 Conclusion ........ 749 LECTUEE I. THE QUESTION BEFOEE US. When Jesus came into the coasts of Gasarea Philippi, Tie ashed His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am ? And they said. Some say that Thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias ; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them. But whom say ye that I am ? St. Matt. xvi. 13. XHUS did our Lord propose to His first followers the momentous question, which for eighteen cen- turies has rivetted the eye of thinkuig and adoring Christendom. The material setting, if we may so term it, of a great intellectual or moral event ever attracts the interest and lives in the memory of men ; and the Evangelist is careful to note that the question of our Lord was asked in the neighbourhood of Csesarea Philippi. Jesus Christ had reached the northernmost point of His journeyings. He was close to the upper source of the Jordan, and at the base of the majestic mountain which forms a natural barrier to the Holy Land at its northern extremity. His eye rested upon a scenery in the more immediate foreground, which from its richness and variety has B 2 Casarea PUlippi, the scene [Lect. been compared by travellers to the Italian Tivoli™. Yet there belonged to this spot a higher interest than any which the beauty of merely inanimate or irrational nature can furnish ; it bore visible traces of the hopes, the errors, and the struggles of the human soul. Around a grotto which Greek settlers had assigned to the worship of the sylvan Pan, a Pagan settlement had gradually formed itself Herod the Great had adorned the spot with a temple of white marble, dedicated to his patron Augustus ; and more recently, the rising city, enlarged and beautified by Philip the tetrarch, had received a new name which combined the memory of the Cassar Tiberius with that of the local potentate. It is probable that our Lord at least had the city in view'', even if He did not enter it. He was standing on the geographical frontier of Judaism and Heathendom. Paganism was visibly before Him m each of its two most typical forms of perpetual and world-wide degradation. It was burying its scant but not utterly lost idea of an Eternal Power and Divinity •= beneath a gross materialistic nature-worship ; and it was prostituting the sanctities of the human conscience to the lowest purposes of an unholy and tyrannical state-craft. And behind and around our Lord was that pecuhar people, of whom, as concerning the flesh. He came Himself'', and to which His first followers belonged. 1 Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 397. b Dean Stanley surmises that the rock on which was placed the temple of Augustus may possibly have determined the form of our Lord's promise to St. Peter in St. Matt. xvi. 18. Sinai and Pales- tine, p. 399. c Kom. i. 20. d Ibid. ix. 5. I.] of our Lord's Question. 3 Israel too was there ; alone in her memory of a past history such as no other race coiild boast ; alone in her sense of a present degradation, poHtical and moral, such as no other people could feel ; alone in her strong expectation of a Deliverance which to men who were ' aliens from ' her sacred ' common- wealth' seemed but the most chimerical of delusions. On such a spot does Jesus Christ raise -the great question which is before us in the text, and this, as we may surely believe, not without a reference to the several wants and hopes and efforts of mankind thus visibly pictured around Him. How was the human conscience to escape from that political Ado- lence and from that degrading sensualism which had rivetted the yoke of Pagan superstition ^. How was Israel to learn the true drift and purpose of her marvellous past 1 how was she to be really relieved of her burden of social and moral misery '{ how were her liigh anticipations of a brighter future to be ex- plained and justified 1 And although that " middle- wall of partition," which so sharply divided off her inward and outward hfe from that of GentUe hu- manity, had been built up for such high and necessary ends by her great and inspired lawgiver, did not such isolation also involve manifest covmterbalancing risks and loss ? was it to be eternal 1 could it, might it be ' broken down 1 ' These questions could only be answered by some New Revelation, larger and clearer than that already possessed by Israel, and absolutely new to Heathendom. They demanded some nearer, fuller, more persuasive seLf-unveiling than any which the Merciful and Almighty God had as yet vouch- safed to His reasonable creatures. May not then B 2 4 Religion and Theology. [Lect. the suggestive scenery of Ceesarea Philippi have been chosen by our Lord, as well fitted to witness that solemn enquiry in the full answer to which Jew and GentUe were alike to find a rich inheritance of light, peace and freedom \ Jesus asked His disciples, saying, " Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?" Let us pause to mark the significance of the fact that our Lord Himself proposes this consideration to His disciples and to His Church. It has been often maintained of late that the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself differs from that of His Apostles and of their successors, in that He only taught religion, whUe they have taught dog- matic theology e. This statement appears to proceed upon a pre- sumption that religion and theology can be sepa- rated, not merely in idea and for the moment, by some process of definition, but permanently and in the world of fact. What then is religion 1 If you say that religion is essentially thought whereby man unites himself to the Eternal and Unchangeable « Baur more cautiously says : " Wenn wir mit der Lehre Jesu die Lehre des Apostels Paulus zusammenhalten, so fallt sogleich der grosse Unterschied in die Augeii, welcher hier stattfindet zwischen emer nooh hi der Form eines allgemeinen Princips sick aussprechen- den Lehre, und einem sclion zur Bestimmtheit des Dogma's gestalte- ten LehrbegrifF." Vorlesungen iiber K T. Theologie, p. 123. But it would be difficult to shew that the ' Universal Principle' does noj; embody and involve a number of definite dogmas. Baur would not admit that St. John xiv., xv., xvi. contain words really spoken by Jesus Christ : but the Sermon on the Mount itself is sufficiently dogmatic. Cf. St. Matt. vi. 4, 6, 14, 26, 30 ; vii. 21, 22. I.] Religion mid Theology. 5 Being f, it is at least plain that the object-matter of such a religious activity as this is exactly identical with the object-matter of theology. Nay more, it woiild seem to follow that a rehgious life is simply a life of theological speculation. If you make re- ligion to consist in " the knowledge of our practical duties considered as God's commandments §'/' your definition irresistibly suggests God in His capacity of Universal Legislator, and it thus carries the earnestly and honestly religious man into the heart of theology. If you protest that rehgion has nothing to do with intellectual skill in projecting definitions, and that it is at bottom a feeling of tranquil dependence upon some Higher Power i\ you cannot altogether set aside the capital question which arises as to the nature of that Power vipon which rehgion thus depends. If even you should contend that feeling is the essential element in religion, still you cannot seriously main- tain that the reality of that to which such feeling relates is altogether a matter of indifierencei. For f So Fichte, quoted by Klee, Dogmatik, c. 2. With this defini- tion those of Schelling and Hegel substantially concm-. It is unne- cessary to remark that thought is only one element of true religion. s So Kant. ibid. This definition (i) reduces religion to being merely an affair of the understanding, and (2) identifies its sub- stance with that of morality. ii '■ Abhangigkeitsgefuhl." Schleiermacher's account of religion has been widely adopted in our own day and country. But (i) it ignores the active side of true religion, (2) it loses sight of man's freedom no less than of God's, and (3) it may imply nothing better than a passive submission to the laws of the Universe, without any belief whatever as to their Author. i Dorner gives an account of this extreme theory as maintained by De Wette in his Religion und Theologie, 18 15. De Wette ap- pears to have followed out some hints of Herder's, while applying 6 Religion and Theology. [Lect. the adequate satisfaction of this religious feeling lies not in itself but in its object ; and therefore it is impossible to represent religion as indifferent to the absolute truth of that object, and in a purely festhe- tical spirit, concerned only with the beauty of the idea before it, even in a case where the reflective understanding may have condemned that idea as logically false. Keligion, to support itself, must rest consciously on its Object : the intellectual apprehen- sion of that Object as true is an integral element of religion. In other words, religion is practically inseparable from theology. The religious Mahom- medan sees in Allah a being to whose absolute decrees he must implicitly resign himself; a theo- logical dogma then is the basis of the specific Ma- hommedan form of religion. A child reads in the Ser- mon on the Mount that our Heavenly Father takes care of the sparrows, and of the lilies of the field J, and the child prays to Him accordingly. The truth upon which the child rests is the dogma of the Divine Providence, which encom-ages trust, and war- rants prayer, and lies at the root of the child's rehgion. In short, religion cannot exist without some view of its Object, namely, God; but no sooner do you introduce any intellectual aspect whatever of God, nay, the bare idea that such a Being ex- ists, than you have before you not merely a rehgion, but at least, in some sense, a theology k. Jacobi's doctrine of feeling, as " the immediate perception of the Divine," and the substitute for the practical reason, to theology. Cf. Corner, Person Christi, Zw. Th. p. 996, sqq. J St. Matt. vi. 25-30. k Keligion includes in its complete idea the knowledge and the I.] Our Lord's Place in His otrn Doctrine. 7 Had our Lord revealed no one trutli except the Parental Character of Grod, while at the same time He insisted upon a certain morality and postm'e of the soul as proper to man's reception of this revela- tion. He would have heen the Author of a theology as well as of a rehgion. In point of fact, besides teaching various truths concerning God, which were unknown before, or at most only guessed at, He did that which in a merely human teacher of high pur- pose would have been morally intolerable. He drew the eyes of men towards Himself. He claimed to be something more than the Founder of a new reh- gious spirit, or than the authoritative Promulgator of a higher truth than men had yet known. He taught true religion indeed as no man had yet taught it, but He bent the religious spirit which He had summoned into life to do homage to Himself, as being its lawful and adequate Object. He taught the highest theology, but He also placed Himself at the very centre of His doctrine, and He an- nounced Himself as sharing the very throne of That God Whom He so clearly unveiled. If He was the Organ and Author of a new and final revelation, He also claimed to be the very substance and material worship of God. (S. Aug. de Util. Cred. c. 12. n. 27.) Cicero gives the limited sense which Pagan Rome attached to the word : " Qui omnia quse ad cultum deorum pertiuerent, diligenter retractarent et tanquam relegerent, sunt dicti religiosi, ex relegendo." (De Nat. Deorum, ii. 28.) Lactantius gives the Christian form of the idea, whatever may be thought of his etymology : " Vinculo pietatis obstricti Deo, et religati simius, unde ipsa religio nomen accepit." (Inst. Div. iv. 24.) Religion is the bond between God and man's whole nature : in God the heart finds its happiness, the reason its rule of truth, the will its freedom. 8 Our Lord's Place in His own Doctrine. [Lect. of His own message ; His most startling revelation was Himself. These are statements which will be justified, it is hoped, hereafter i ; and, if some later portions of our subject are for a moment anticipated, it is only that we may note the true and extreme significance of our Lord's question in the text. But let us also ask o\u-selves what would be the duty of a merely human teacher of the highest moral aim, entrusted with a great spiritual mission and lesson for the benefit of mankind 1 The example of St. John Baptist is an answer to this enquiry. Such a teacher would represent himself as a mere " voice " crying aloud in the moral wilderness aroimd him, and anxious, be- yond aught else, to shroud his own insignificant person beneath the majesty of his message. Not to do this would be to proclaim his own moral degradation ; it would be a public confession that he could only regard a great spiritual work for others as furnishing an opportunity for adding to his own social capital, or to his official reputation. When then Jesus Christ so urgently draws the attention of men to His Per- sonal Self, He places us in a dilemma. We must either say that He was unworthy of His own Words in the Sermon on the Mounts, or we must confess that He has some right, and is imder the pressure of some necessity, to do that which would be morally insupportable in a merely human teacher. Now if this right and necessity exist, it follows that when our Lord bids us to consider His Personal Bank in the hierarchy of beings. He challenges an answer. ' See Lecture IV. m Observe the principle involved in St. Matt. vi. i-8. I.] The " Son of Man." 9 Remark moreover that in the popular sense of the term the answer is not less a theological answer if it be that of the Ebionitic heresy than if it be the language of the Nicene Creed. The Christology of the Church is in reality an integral part of its theo- logy ; and Jesus Christ raises the central question of Christian theology when He asks, " Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am %" It may be urged that Our Lord is inviting atten- tion, not to His essential Personality, but to His asserted ofl&ce as the Jewish Messiah ; that He is, in fact, asking for a confession of His Messiahship. Kow observe the exact form of Our Lord's ques- tion, as given in St. Matthew's Gospel ; which, as Olshausen has remarked, is manifestly here the lead- ing narrative : " Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am V This question involves an assertion, namely, that the Speaker is the Son of Man. What did He mean by that designation % It is important to remember that with two exceptions" the title is only applied to oiu- Lord in the New Testament by His Own Lips. It was His self-chosen Name : why did He choose it 1 First then it was in itself, to Jewish ears, a clear assertion of Messiahship. In the vision of Daniel " One like unto the Son of Man " had come with the clouds of heaven, .... and there was given Him dominion and glory and a kingdom." This kingdom succeeded in the prophet's vision to four inhuman kingdoms, correspondent to the four typical beasts ; it was the kingdom of a prince, human indeed, and yet from heaven. In consequence of this prophecy, ° Acts vii. 56 ; Kev. i. 13; xiv. 14. E'JK 133 — i>j vi'os avdpawov LXX. Dan. vii. 13 sqq. 10 The " Son of Man." [Lect. the " Son of Man" became a popular and official title of the Messiah. In the book of Enoch, which is assigned with the highest probability by recent criticism to the second century before our eraP, this and kindred titles are continually applied to Messiah. Our Lord in His prophecy over Jerusalem predicted that at the last day "they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and great glory i." And when standing at the tribunal of Caiaphas He thus addressed His judges : " I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven ^" In these passages there is absolutely no room for doubt- ing either His distinct reference to the vision in Daniel, or the claim which the title Son of Man was intended to assert. As habitually used by our Lord, it was a constant setting forth of His Messianic dignity, in the face of the people of Israel I Why indeed He chose this one, out of the many titles of Messiah, is a further question, a brief con- P Cf. Dillmann, Das Buch Enoch, 1853, p. 157. Dillmann places the book in the time of John Hyrcanus, B.C. 130 — 109. Dr. Pusey ■would assign to it a still earlier date. Cf. Daniel the Prophet, p. 390, note 2, and 391, note 3. 1 St. Matt. xxiv. 30. r Ibid. xxvi. 64. s " Den Namen des vlos tov avOpamov gebraucht Jesus Selbst auf eine so eigenthiimliche Weise von Sich, dass man nur aunehmen kann, Er habe mit jenem ISTamen, wie man auch seine Bedeutung genauer bestimmen mag, irgend eine Beziehung auf die Messiasidee ausdrticken wollen." Baur, Das Christenthum, p. 37. Cf. also the same author's Vorlesungen fiber Neutestamentliche Theologie, p. 76 sqq. In iSt. Matt, x 23, xiii. 37 — 41, the official force of the title is obvious. That it was a simple periphrasis for the personal pronoun, without any reference to the office or Person of the Speaker, is inconsistent with Acts vii. 56, and St. Matt. xvi. 13. I.] The " Son of Man." 11 si deration of which lies in the trax^k of the subject before us. It would not appear to be sufiicient to reply that the title Son of Man is the most unpresuming, the least glorious of the titles of Messiah, and was adopted by our Lord as such. For if such a title claimed, as it did claim, Messiahship, the precise etymological force of the word could not neutralize its current and recognised value in the estimation of the Jewish people. The claim thvis advanced was independent of any analysis of the exact sense of the title which asserted it. The title derived its popular force from the office with which it was associated. To adopt the title, however humble might be its strict and intrinsic meaniag, was to claim the great office to which in the minds of men it was indis- solubly attached. As it had been addressed to the prophet Ezekiel *, the title Son of Man seemed to contrast the frail and shortlived life of men with the boundless Strength and the Eternal years of the Infinite God. And as applied to Himself by Jesus, it doubtless expresses a real Humanity, a perfect and penetrating community of nature and feehng with the lot of htiman kind. Thus, when our Lord says that authority was given Him to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man, it is plain that the point of the reason lies not in His being Messiah, but in His being Human, in His having a gen\iiiie Humanity Which could deem ' mx-p i.e. 'mortal.' (Cf. Ge.sen. in voc. DTK.) It is so used eighty-nine times in Ezekiel. Compare Num. xxiii. 19, Job xxv. 6, XXXV. 8. In this sense it occurs frequently in the plural. In Ps. viii. 4, 5 and Ixxx. 17 it refers, at least ultimately, to our Lord. 12 The " Son of Man." [Lect. nothing human strange, and could be touched with a feeling of the infirmities of the race which He was to judge ". But the title Son of Man means more than this in its application to our Lord. It does not merely assert His real incorporation with our kind ; it exalts Him indefinitely above us aU as the representative, the ideal, the pattern Man''. He is, in a special sense, the Son of Mankind, the genuine offspring of the race, the one Human Life Which does justice to the idea of Humanity. All human history tends to Him or radiates from Him ; He is the point in which humanity finds its unity : as St. Irenseus says. He 'recapitulates' its'. He closes the earlier history of our race ; He inaugurates its futiire. Nothing local, transient, individualizing, national, sectarian, dwarfs the proportions of His world -embracing Character : He rises above the parentage, the blood, the narrow horizon which bounded, as it seemed. His Human Life ; He is the Archetypal Man in Whose presence distinctions of race, intervals of ages, types of civihsation, degrees of mental culture are as nothing. This sense of the title seems to be implied in such passages as that in which He contrasts " the foxes which have holes, and the birds of the air which have nests," with "the Son of Man Who hath not where to lay His Head^." •1 St. John V. 27 ; Heb. iv. 15. '^ " Urbild der Meiisclieit." Neander, Das Leben Jesu Cliristi, p. 130 sqq. Mr. Keble draws out the remedial force of the title as " signifying that Jesus was the very seed of the woman, the Second Adam promised to undo what the First had done." Eu- charistical Adoration, pp. 31-33. y Adv. Haer. III. 18. i. " Longam hominum expositionem in Se Ipso recapitulavit, in compendio nobis salutem praestans." >= St. Matt. viii. 20 ; St. Luke ix. 58. I.] Meal force of our Lord' s (Question. 13 It is not the official Messiah, as such ; but " the fair- est among the children of men," the natural Prince and Leader, the very Prime and Flower of human kind, Whose lot is thus harder than that of the lower creatures, and in Whose humiliation hu- manity itself is humbled below the level of its natural dignity. As the Son of Man then, our Lord is the Messiah ; He is a true member of our human kind, and He is moreover its Pattern and Representative ; since He fulfils and exhausts that moral Ideal to which man's highest and best aspirations have ever pointed onward. Of these senses of the term the first was ever its popular and obvious one, the last has been discerned as latent in it by the devout reflection of the Church. For the disciples the term Son of Man implied first of all the Messiahship of their Master, and next, though less prominently, His true Hu- manity. When then our Lord enquires " Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am % ", He is not merely asking whether men admit what the title Son of Man itself imports, that is to say, the truth of His Humanity or the truth of His Messiahship. The point of His question is this: — what is He besides being the Son of Man ? As the Son of Man, He is Messiah ; but what is the Personality which sustains the Messianic Office ? As the Son of Man He is truly Human ; but what is the Higher Nature with which this emphatic claim to Humanity is in tacit, but manifest contrast ? What is He in the seat and root of His Being 1 Is His Manhood a Robe which He has thrown around a Higher form of pre- existent Life, or is it His all ? Has He been in existence some thirty years at most, or are the 14 Reply of the Disciples. [Lect. august proportions of His Life only to be meted out by the days of eternity % " Whom say men that I the Son of Man am \ " The disciples reply, that at that time, in the public opinion of Galilee, our Lord was, at the least, a preternatural personage. On this point there was, it would seem, a general consent. The cry of a petty local envy which had been raised at Nazareth, " Is not this the Carpenter's Son?" did not fairly represent the matured or prevalent opinion of the people. The people did not supi^ose that Jesus was in truth merely one of themselves, only endued with larger powers and with a finer rehgious instinct. They thought that His PersonaHty reached back somehow into the past of their own wonderful history. They took Him for a saint of ancient days, who had been re-invested with a bodily form. He was the great expected miracle-working EHjah ; or He was the disappointed prophet who had followed His country to its gTave at the captivity ; or He was the recently- martyred preacher and ascetic John the Baptist ; or He was, at any rate, one of the order which for four hundred years had been lost to Israel ; He was one of the Prophets. Our Lord turns from these pubhc misconceptions to the judgment of that little Body which was already the nucleus of His future Church : " But whom say ye that I am ?" St. Peter replies, in the name of the other disciples^ " Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God." In marked contrast to the popular hesitation which refused to recognise '^ St. Chrysostom, in loc, calls St. Peter rb (rr6ua rwv ano(TT6\av I.] St. Peter's Confession. 15 explicitly the justice of the claim so plainly put forward by the assumption of the title ' Son of Man,' the Apostle confesses, " Thoti art the Christ." But St. Peter advances a step beyond this confession, and replies to the original question of our Lord, when He adds " The Son of the Living God." In the first three Evangelists as well as in St. John, this solemn designation expresses something more than a merely theocratic or ethical relationship to God*^. If St, Peter had meant that Christ was the Son of God merely in virtue of His membership in the old Theocracy, or by reason of His consummate moral glory *=, the !> See Lect. V. pp. 368 sqq. c The title of ' sons ' is used in the Old Testament to express three relations to God. (i) God has entered into the relation of Father to all Israel (Deut. xxxii. 6; Isa. Ixiii. 16), whence He en- titles Israel 'My son,' 'My firstborn' (Exod. iv. 22, 23), when claiming the people from Pharaoh ; and Ephraim, ' My dear son, a pleasant child ' (Jer. xxxi. 20), as an earnest of restoration to Divine favour. Thus the title is used as a motive to obedience (Deut. xiv. i); or in reproach for ingratitude (Ibid, xxxii. 5; Isa. i. 2; XXX. I, 9; Jer. iii. 14); or especially of such as were God's sons, not in name only, but in truth (Ps. Ixxiii. 15; Prov. xiv. 26; and perhaps Isa. xliii. 6). (2) The title is applied once to judges in the Theocracy (Ps. Ixxxii. 6), ' I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High.' Here the title refers to the name Elohim, given to the judges as representing God in the The- ocracy, and as judging in His Name and by His Authority. Accor- dingly to go to them for judgment is spoken of as going to Elohim (Deut. xvii. 9). (3) The exact phrase ' sons of God ' is, with per- haps one exception (Gen. vi. 2), used of superhuman beings, who until the Incarnation were more nearly like God than were any of the family of men (Job i. 6; ii. 1; xxxviii. 7). The singular, ' My Son,' ' The Son,' is used only in prophecy of the Messiah (Ps. ii. 7, 12; and Acts xiii. 33; Heb. i. 5; v. 5), and in what is believed to have been a Divine manifestation, very probably of God the Son (Dan. iii. 25). The line of David being the line of the Messiah, culminating in the 16 Si. Peters Confession. [Leot. confession would have involved nothing ^CKbv av6pa>7rov y€vca-6ai tov 2a>Trjpa. Tert. de Praescr. Haer. c. 53. App. ; Tlieodoret, Hser. Fab. lib. ii. init. 24 {2) The Arian Answer ; [Lbct. days, the phisnomenon of practical Humanitarianism, disguised biit not proscribed by very vehement pro- testations apparently condemning it, is reproduced in the case of such well-known writers as Schleiermacher or Ewald. They use language at times which seems to do the utmost justice to the truth of Christ's Divinity : they recognise in Him the Perfect Revela- tion of God, the true Head and Lord of human kind ; but they deny the existence of an immanent Trinity in the Godhead ; they recognise in God no pre-existent Personal Form as the basis of His Self-Manifestation to man ; they are really Monarchianists in the sense of Praxeas ; and their keen appreciation of the Ethical Glory of Christ's Person cannot save them from consequences with which it is ultimately incon- sistent, but which are on other grounds logically too inevitable to be permanently eluded '5. A Christ who is " the perfect Revelation of God," yet who " is not personally God," does not really differ from the al- together human Christ of Socinus ; and the assertion of the Personal Godhead of Christ can only escape from the profane absurdities of Patripassianism, when it presupposes the Eternal and necessary Ex- istence in God of a Threefold Personality. 2. The Arian maintains that our Lord Jesus Christ existed before His Incarnation, that by Him, as by an instrument, the Supreme God made the worlds, and that, as being the most ancient and the highest of created beings. He is to be worshipped ; that, 1 Cf. Dorner, Pers. Christi, Band il. p. 153. Schleiermacher, although agreeing with Schelling and Hegel in denying an im- manent Trinity in the Godhead, did not (Dorner earnestly pleads) agree in the Pantheistic basis of that denial. P. C. ii. p. 12 12. Compai-e Ewald, Geschichte Christus, p. 447, quoted by Dorner. I.] (3) Answer of the Catholic Church. 25 however, Christ had a beginnmg of existence {apxh^ vwdp^ecoi), that there was a time when He did not exist [r/v ore ovK tjv) ; that He is formed from what once was not (e^ OVK ovTwv e^et Trjv inrocrTacriv'^^, and Can- not therefore be called God in the sense in which that term is appHed by Theists to the Supreme Being ^ 3. In contrast with these two leading forms of heresy stands the faith, from the first and at this hour, of the whole Catholic Church of Christ : " I beheve in One Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, Begotten not made. Being of one substance with the Father ; By Whom all things were made ; Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made Man." Practically indeed these three answers may be still further reduced to two, the first and the third ; for Arianism, no less than Sabellianism, is really a form of the Humanitarian or naturalist reply to the ques- tion. Arianism does indeed admit the existence of a pre-existent being who became incarnate in Jesus, but it parts company with the Catholic Belief, by asserting that this being is himself a creature, and not of the very Substance of the Supreme. God. Thus Arianism is weighted with the intellectual difficxdties of a purely supernatural Christology, while yet it forfeits all hold upon the Great Truth r Socrates, i. 5. 8 Cf. further Waterland, Defence of Some Queries, Works (ed. Van-Mildert), vol. i. pp. 402, 403. 26 Ariatdsm practically an evanescent heresy. [Lbct. wliich to a Catholic believer sustains and justifies the remainder of his Creed. The real question at issue is not merely whether Christ is only a man ; it is whether or not He is only a created being. When the question is thus stated, Arianism must really take its place side by side with the most naked Deism ; whUe at the same time it suggests, by its incarnation of a created Logos, the most dif- ficult among the problems which meet a believer in the Hypostatic Union of our Lord's Two Natures. In order to escape from this position, it practically teaches the existence of two Gods, each of whom is an object of worship, one of whom has been created by the Other ; One of whom might, if He willed, annihilate the other*. Thus in Arianism reason and faith are equally disappointed : the largest demands are made upon faith, yet the Arian Christ after all is but a feUow-creature ; and reason is encou- raged to assail the mysteries of the Catholic Creed in behalf of a theory which admits of being irre- trievably reduced to an absurdity. Arianism there- t Waterland, Works, vol. i. p. 78. note f. Bp. Van-Mildert quotes from Mr. Charles Butler's Historical Account of Confessions of Faith, chap. x. sect. 2, a remarkable report of Dr. Clarke's conference with Dr. Hawarden in the presence of Queen Caroline. After Dr. Clarke had stated his system at great length and in very guarded terms, Dr. Hawarden asked his permission to put one simple question, and Dr. Clarke assented. ' Then,' said Dr. Ha- warden, ' I ask, Can God the Father annihilate the Son and the Holy Ghost % Answer me Yes or No.' Dr. Clarke continued for some time in deep thought, and then said, ' It was a question which he had never considered.' ... On the ' preoarioua ' exist- ence of God the Son, according to the Arian hypothesis, see Waterland's Farther Vindication of Christ's Divinity, sect. xix. I.] The Answers really two, the Catholic and the Humanitarian. 27 fore is really at most a resting-point for minds which are sinking from the Catholic Creed downwards to pure Humanitarianism ; or which are feeling their way upwards from the depths of Ebionitism, or So- cinianism, towards the Church. This intermediate, transient, and essentially unsubstantial character of the Arian position was indeed made plain, in theory, by the vigorous analysis to which the heresy was svibjected on its first appearance by St. Atha- nasius, and again in the last century, when, at its endeavour to make a home for itself in the Church of England, in the person of Dr. Samuel Clarke, it was crushed out, under God, mainly by the genius and energy of the great Waterland. And history has verified the anticipations of argument. Arianism at this day has a very shadowy, if any real, ex- istence ; and the Church of Christ, holding in her hands the Creed of Nicsea, stands face to face with sheer Humanitarianism, more or less disguised, ac- cording to circiimstances, by the varnish of an ad- miration yielded to our Lord on sesthetic or ethical grounds. III. At the risk of partial repetition, but for the sake of clearness, let us here pause to make two observations respecting that complete assertion of the Divinity of our Lord for which His Church is responsible at the bar of human opinion. I . The Catholic doctrine, then, of Christ's Divinity in no degree interferes with or overshadows the complemental truth of His Perfect Manhood. It is perhaps natiu-al that a greater emphasis should be laid upon the higher truth which could be appre- hended only by faith than on the lower one which, 28 Reality of our Lord's Htmaniti/. [Lect. during the years of our Lord's earthly Life, was patent to the senses of men. And Holy Scripture might antecedently be supposed to take for granted the reality of Christ's Manhood, on the ground of there being no adequate occasion for full, precise^ and reiterated assertions of so obvious a fact. But nothmg is more remarkable in Scripture than its jjrovision for the moral and intellectual needs of ages far removed from those which are traversed by the books included in the Sacred Canon. In the present instance, by a series of incidental althoiigh most significant statements, the Gospels guard us with nothing less than an exhaustive precaution against the fictions of a Docetic or of an Apollinarian Christ. We are told that the Eternal Word aap^ eyei/ero", that He took human nature upon Him in its reahty and completeness". The Gospel narrative, after the pattern of His own Words in the text, exhibits Jesus as the Son of Man, while yet it draws us on by an irresistible attraction to contemplate that Higher Nature Which was the seat of His Eternal Personality. The superhuman character of some most important details of the Gospel history does not disturb the broad scope of that history as being the record of a Human Life, with Its physical and mental affinities to our own daily experience. The Great Subject of the Gospel narratives has a true human Body. He is conceived iu the womb of u St. John i. 14. Cf. Meyer in loc. for a refutation of Zeller's attempt to limit a-dp^ in this passage to the bodily organism, as exclusive of the anima rationalis. ^ St. John viii. 40 ; i Tim. ii. 5. I.] Witness of Scripture to Vkrisfs Human Body. 29 a human MotherJ". He is by her brought forth into the world ^ ; He is fed at her breast during in- fancy ^ As an Infant, He is made to undergo the painful rite of circumcision''. He is a Babe in swaddling-clothes lying in a manger^. He is nursed in the arms of the aged Simeon d. His bodily growth is traced up to His attaining the age of twelve®, and from that point to Manhood^. His presence at the marriage feast in Cana^, at the great entertainment in the house of Levi'\ and at the table of Simon the Pharisee i ; the supper which He shared at Bethany with the friend whom He had raised from the grave '^, the Paschal festival which He desired so earnestly to eat before He suffered', the bread and fish of which He partook before the eyes of His disciples in the early dawn on the shore of the Lake of Galilee, even after His Besurrection"i, are witnesses that He came, like one of ourselves, y (jvXKrj^rj iv yaarpl^ St. Luke i. 3 1 . 7rp6 tov (TvhX-q^6rjvai avTov iv TTj KoCkla, Ibid. ii. 2 1. fvpidrj iv yacrrpl €)(OVCTa f k Hvevparos 'Ayiov, St. Matt. i. 18. TO yap iv avTjj yevvrjOiv e/c Uvev^aros i(TTiv 'Ay/ou, Ibid. i. 20 ; Isa. vii. 14. 2 St. Matt. i. 25 ; St. Luke ii. 7, 11 ; Gal. iv. 4. i^ama-TeiXev 6 060? TOV Ylov avTOVj yevopcvov iK yvvaLKos. ^ St. Luke xi. 27. fida-roi oils idriXaa-as. b St. Luke ii. 21. ^' St. Luke ii. 12. Bpi(jios ianapyavapivov, Ketpevov iv tt} (^arvrj, *^ St. Luke ii. 28. kol avros idi^aro avro HS ras iiyKokas adroii. ® St. Luke ii. 40. to di TraiSiov rjv^ave, f St. Luke ii. 52. 'irjcrovs TrpofKovrf . . . rjXtKia. K St. John ii. 2. '' St. Luke V. 29. 6o;^i)»' peyaKr]v. i St. Luke vii. 36. '^ St. John xii. 2. 1 St. Luke xxii. 8, 15. "1 St. John xxi. 12, T3. 30 Witness of Scripture to Christ^ s Human Body. [Lect. " eating and drinking "." When He is recorded to have taken no food during the forty days of the Temptation, this imphes the contrast presented by His ordinary habit". Indeed, He seemed to the men of His day much more dependent on the physical supports of hfe than the great ascetic who had preceded Him p. He knew, by experience, what are the pangs of hunger, after the forty-days' fast in the wildernessi, and in a lesser degree, as may be supposed, when walking into Jerusalem on the Monday before His Passion''. The profound spiritual sense of His Redemptive Cry, " I thirst," uttered while He was hanging on the Cross, is not obscured, when its primary hteral meaning, that He actually endured when dying that wellnigh sharpest form of bodUy suifering, is explicitly recognised ^ His deep sleep on the Sea of Galilee in a little bark which the waves threatened momentarily to engulf, and His sitting down at the well of Jacob, through sheer exhaustion produced by a long journey on foot from Judsea", prove that He was subject at times to the depression of extreme fatigue. And, not to dwell at length upon those particular references to the several parts of His Bodily Frame which occur in ° St. Luke vii. 34. eXrjXvdev 6 Yios Tov avBpamov ecrdiav Koi TTIVCOV. " St. Luke iv. 2. OVK ((payev oidiv iv rah rjfi,cpais eKeivats. P St. Luke Vll. 34. ISov, avdpodTtos (pdyos Kal oIvottottjs. 'i St. Matt. IV. 2. vfTTepov €7T€Lva. t St. Matt. viii. 24. airos 6e eKaSfvSf. " St. John iv. 6. 6 olv 'irjo-ois KfKowuiKas eV rrjs oSomoplai eKade^fTO I.] Witness of Scripture to Chrisfs Unman Soul. 31 Holy Scripture'', it is obvious to note that the evan- gehcal account of His physical sufferings and His Deaths', of His Burial^, and of the Wounds in His Hands and Feet and Side after His Resurrection^ are so many emphatic attestations to the fact of His true and full participation in the material side of our common nature. Equally explicit and vivid is the witness which Scripture aifords to the true Human Soul of our Blessed Lord^. Its general movements are not less spontaneous, nor do Its affections flow less freely, be- cause no sinful impulse finds a place in It, and each pulse of Its moral and mental Life is in conscious harmony with, and subjection to, an all-holy Will. Jesus rejoices in spirit on hearing of the spread of the kingdom of heaven among the simple and the poor'' : X Tjjv K«f>a\fiv, St. Luke vii. 46 ; St. Matt, xxvii. 29, 30 ; St. Jolin xix. 30 ; Tovs noSas, St. Luke vii. 38 ; ras xf'pas; St. Luke xxiv. 40 ; Ta SaKTvXa, St. John viii. 6 ; ra o-xeX;;, St. John xix. 33 ; ra yopara, St. Luke xxii. 41 ; ttjv TrKevpav, St. John xix. 34 ; to a-afia, St. Luke xxii. 19, &c. y St. Luke xxii. 44, &o. ; xxiii. ; St. Matt, xxvi., xxvii. ; St. Mark xiv. 32, seq. ; xv. ^ St. John xix. 39, 40. eXajSov ovv to (TO>^a tov ^It](TOv koI ebrjcrav avTO oBovlois ^(Ta t&v dpcofidrcov ; of. ver. 42. "■ St. John XX. 27 ; St. Luke xxiv. 39. iScTf ras x^'pa^ fiov koI Toils TTodas ^ov, OTi avTos fyo) etjut' yj/rjXaiprjo-aTe fxe Kal tSfre' OTt Trv^v^a crdpKa Ka\ oarea ovk ^x^'- ^^^^s ^fJ.e B^cupeiTe ^e'^ovTa. b I St. Pet. iii. 18. davaToidds fteV trapKi, ^wowoiridfls Se TTVivjiaTi iv 10 Kal Tols iv (fivXaKTJ nveipamv nopevBels eKrjpv^ev. The ™ before Trveip-aTi in the Textus Keceptus being only an insertion by a copyist, TTvevpa here means our Lord's liuman Soul. No other passage in the New Testament places It in more vivid contrast with His Body. *^ St. Luke X. 21. TjyaWidaaTO ra nvevpaTi. 32 Witness of Scripture to Christ's Human Soul. [Lect. Hee beholds the young ruler, and forthwith loves him. He loves Martha and her sister and Lazarus with a common yet, as seems to be implied, with a discriminating affection f. His Eye on one occasion betrays a sudden movement of deliberate anger at the hardness of heart which could steel itself against truth by maintaining a dogged silenced. The scattered and fainting multitude melts Him to compassion^ : He sheds tears of sorrow at the grave of Lazarus i, and at the siglit of the city which had rejected His Love"'. In contemplating His approaching Passion^ and the ingratitude of the traitor- Apostle™ His Soul is shaken by a vehement agitation which He does not conceal from His disciples. In the garden of Gethsemane He wills to enter into an agony of amazement and dejection. His mental sufferings are so keen and piercing that His Bodily Frame gives way beneath the trial, and He sheds His Blood before they nail Him to the Cross". His Human Will con- ^ St. Mark x. 2 I. 6 5f ^Iriaovs ijx^Xe-^as avTw TjydTTTjcrfV avTov. f St. John xi. 5. S bt. Mark ni. 5- TreptlSXey^diiEVOs avrovs jueV opyrjs, (ruXXnTTOv/ifj'Os €7Ti Tjj Trojpwcrct Tjj^ Kapbias avraiv, " St. Matt. ix. 36. icrnkayxyla-Br^ trepX avrSiv. 1 St. John. XI. 33~5' i^o'ovs ovu coy tlhev avTrjv KKaiovcrav Koi tovs avveXdofTas avrfj 'lovSaiovs Kkaiovras, ev€^pifif](TaTO ra wveifiari., koL irapa^ev tavTop .... KbaKpya^v 6 ^li](rQvs. '^ St. Luke XIX. 41. Ificoi' TTjif Trokiv, €KKava-€if in avrfj. ' St. John Xli. 27. vvv 17 ^vxr] p-ov TerdpaKTat. ^ St. John XUI. 21. 6 'Irjcrovs (Tapd)(6r] tg5 nvfipart koi ep-aprv- pr]v npoaeveyKas. ^ St. John xvii, I . iirfipf tovs orpdaKpovs avTov els tov ovpavov. Km eiw€. D 34 S^iecial Prerogatives of Chrisfs Manhood [Lect. the very moment of His Crucifixion •>; He resigns His departing Spirit into His Father's Hands c. Thus, as one Apostle teaches, He took a Body of Flesh'', and His whole Humanity both of Soul and Body shared in the sinless infirmities which belong to our common nature e. To deny this fundamental truth, "that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh," is, in the judgment of another Apostle, the mark of the Deceiver, of the Antichrist f. Nor do the Prero- gatives of our Lord's Manhood destroy Its perfection and reality, although they do undoubtedly invest It with a robe of mystery, which Faith must ac- loiowledge but which she cannot hope to penetrate. Christ's Manhood is not unreal because It is im- personal ; because in Him the place of any created individuality at the root of Thought and Feeling and Will is supplied by the Person of the Eternal Word, Who has wrapped around His Being a Created Nature through Which, in Its unmutilated perfec- tion. He acts upon human kind^'. Christ's Manhood ^ St. Luke xxiii. 34. Tvdrcp, arpes avTols' ou yap oiSaci Ti TroioCcri. That this prayer refen-ed to the Jews, as well as the Roman soldiers, is clear from Acts iii. 17. <' St. Luke xxiii. 46. " Col. i. 22. croifiaTi Trjs capKos. '- Heb. ii. IT. o re yap dyid^oiv Ka\ oi dyia^oixevoL e^ evos iravTcs — ver. 14. /jLeretrx^ aapKos Ka\ aiiiaTos — ver. 1 7- &ois OfxoLaBfivaL. Heb. iv. 15. ncnfi-paa-fievov de Kara Tvdvra Kad' OpOlOTTJTa. ' I St. John IV. 2. irdv irvevfxa 6 o/ioXoyei ^Ir^aovv Xpio-rov eV aapKl cXrjXvBoTa, £K Toii 0eo{i eVn. 2 St. John 7. ttoXXoI TrXaroi ela-ifKdov els tov KOiTixov, 01 p-rj opoXoyovvres 'irjirovv Xpicrrov ip^dpcvov iv (rapKi ovtos cottiv 6 irXdvos Kal 6 \vT'i-)^pi(jTos. e The avvnoa-Taa-ia of our Lord's Humanity is a result of the Hypostatic Union. To deny it is to assert that there are Two Persons in Christ, or else it is to deny that He is more than I.] do not destroy Its reality. 35 is not unreal, because It is Sinless ; because the entail of any taint of transmitted sin is in Him cut off by a supernatural birth of a Virgin Mother ; and because His whole life of Thought, Feeling, Will, and Action is in unfaltering harmony with the Law of Absolute Truth''. Nor is the reality of His Manhood impaired by any exceptional beauty whether of outward form or of mental endowment, such as might become One "fairer than the children of men V' and taking prece- dence of them in all things'^; since in Him our nature does but resume its true and typical excellence as the crowning glory of the visible creation of Godi. Man. Compare Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. 52. 3, who appeals against Nestorius to Heb. ii. 16, ov yap SIjttov ayyeXav eViXa/i^aVfrai, aXKa (TirepiMiTos 'A^paafi (TrCKaji^aveTai. At His Incarnation the Eternal Word took on Him Human Nature, not a Human Personality. Luther appears to have denied the Impersonality of our Lord's Manhood. But see Dorner, Person Christi, Bd. ii. p. 540. ^ The Sinlessness of our Lord's Manhood is implied in St. Luke 1. 35' Thus He is ov 6 HaTrjp rjylaa-e Kal direiTTeiXev els tqv k6(t^iov, St. John X. 36 ; and He could challenge His enemies to convict Him of sin, St. John viii. 46. In St. Mark x. 1 8, St. Luke xviii. 1 9, He is not denying that He is good ; but He insists that none should call Him so who did not believe Him to be God. St. Paul describes Him as t6v pfj yvovra apaprlav, 2 Cor. V. 21 ; and Christ is expressly said to be x<"p''f aixaprias, Heb. iv. 15 ; Sa-ws, aKaxos, dpiavTOSj Ke^iopio-pevos dno tq)v apapTcoXatv, Heb. vii. 26 ; dfivos apcufios Koi a- TTOTTjTCy Seov a\T]d(os KoX avOpanov oKTjdoys, tov avTop ck y\rv)(ris XoyiK^s Kai crajxaTos, ofxoovatov tw Tlarpl Kara tjjv QeoTzjTa Koi Ofioovtriov roif avTov rifxlv Kara Tfjv avdpwTTOTrjTa, Kara rrdirra opoiov fjiuv X'^P'^ afiapTias. When these words were spoken, the cycle of possible controversy on the subject was complete, and the Church had fully sounded the depths of her illuminated consciousness. The Monothelite question liad : really been settled by anticipation. 38 Bearing of this truth on the spiritual life. [Lect. intellectual temptations and impulses which might have easily overmastered the mind of a merely human society. When Ebionites were abroad, she maintained against the Docetae that our Saviour's Body was not fictitious or apparitional. When the mutterings of that Humanitarian movement which culminated in the great scandal of Paulus of Samosata were distinctly audible, she asserted the truth of our Lord's Human Soul against BeryUus of Bostra^ When Arianism had not as yet ceased to be formid- able, she was not tempted by Apollinaris to admit that the Logos in Christ took the place of the ra- tional element in man. While Nestorianism was still poweiful, she condemned the Monophysite formula which practically made Christ an unincarnate God : nor did she rest until the Monothehte echo of the more signal error had been silenced by her assertion of the reality of His Human Will. Nor is the Manhood of our Saviour prized by the Church only as a revealed dogma intellectually es- sential to the formal integrity of the Creed. Every believing Christian knows that It touches the very heart of his inner hfe. What becomes of the one Mediator between God and man, if the Manhood whereby He places Hmiself in contact with us men is but unreal and fictitious \ What becomes of His Human Example, of His genuine Sympathy, of His agonizing and world-redeeming Death, of His plenary representation of our race in heaven, of the recrea- tive virtue of His Sacraments, of the 'touch of nature' which makes Him, most holy as He is, in very deed km with us \ All is forthwith uncertain, evanescent, 8 EfiT|/u;^oc uvm Tov evav6 paTTrjiTavTa. Syn. Bost. anno 244. I,] Jesus Christ is God in no equivocal sense. 39 unreal. If Christ be not truly Man, the chasm which parted earth and heaven has not been bridged over. God, as before the Incarnation, is stiU awful, re- mote, inaccessible. TertuUian's inference is no exag- geration : " Cum mendacium deprehenditur Christi Caro, . . . omnia quae per Carnem Christi gesta sunt, mendacio gesta sunt Eversum est totum Dei opus*." Or, as St. Cyril of Jerusalem presses the solemn argument still more closely : el (pavTaarixa ^v >i evav6pu)Trr](ri^, (bavTacrfia Kai r/ pr]oetry of hiunan history', when it has contributed one more Figiu-e to the gallery of historical portraits, tipon which a few educated persons may periodically expend some spare thought and feeling' : — if this be so, tou are probably right. Plainly you are in pursuit of that which may nomish sentiment, rather than of that which can suppoit moral vig-oiu- or peiTaanently satisfy the instinct ot truth. Ceitainly your senti- ment of beatity may be occasionally shocked by those direct questions and rtide processes which are neces- sary to the investig'ation of intellectual truth and to the sustenance of moral life. You wotild repress these processes : yoti wotdd silence these questions : or at least vou wotdd not explicitly siute yom own answer to them. Whether, for instance, the siup>endous miracle of the Kestu^-ection be or be not as certain as any event of pubhc interest which has taken palace in Etirop)e dtmng the present year, is a point which does not aflect. as it seem.s. the worth or the complete- ness oi yom- Christology. Yom- Christ is an Epic : and vciU vnM sutler no pic^saic soLoUast to try his hand upon its pages. Yotu- Christ is a portrait ; and. as we are all agreed, a poitrait is a t hiug tC' admire, and not to toucL 54 Where and TFJiat is our Lord now? [Lect. But there is a solemn qviestion which must be asked, and which, if a man is in earnest he will in- evitably ask ; and that question will at once carry him beyond the narrow horizon of a literary ses- theticism in his treatment of the matter before us. . . . My brethren, where is Jesus Christ now ? and what is He 1 Does He only speak to us from the pages which were traced by His followers eighteen centuries ago % Is He no more than the first of the shadows of the past, the first of memories, the first of biographies, the most perfect of human ideals \ Is He only an Ideal, after all 1 Does He reign, only in vir- tue of a mighty tradition of human thought and feel- ing in His favour, which creates and supports His imaginary Throne \ Is He at this moment a really living Being 1 And if living, is He a human ghost, flitting we know not where in the unseen world, and Himself awaiting an award at the hands of the Ever- lasting % or is He a super-angelic Intelligence, sinless and invested with judicial and creative powers, but still separated from the Inaccessible Life of God by that fathomless interval which parts the first of creatures from the everlasting Creator \ Does He reign, in any true sense, either on earth or in heaven % or is His Kegal Government in any degree independent of the submission or the resistance which His subjects may offer to it? Is He present personally as a living Power in this our world ? Has He any certain relations to you % does He think of you, care for you, act upon you \ can He help you \ Can He save you from your sins, can He blot out their stains and crush their power, can He dehver you in your death-agony from the terrors of dissolution, and bid you five with Him I.] Unpractical character of the objection. 55 in a brighter world for ever \ Can you approach Him now, commune with Him now, cling to Him now, be- come one with Him now, not by an unsubstantial act of your own imaginations, but by an actual objective transaction, making you incorporate with His Life ? Or is the Christian answer to these most pressing qvies- tions a weakly delusion, or at any rate too definite a statement ; and must we content ourselves with the analysis of an historical Character, while we confess that the Livuig Personality which once created and animated It may or may not be God, may or may not be able to hear us and help us, may or may not be in distinct conscious existence at this moment, may or may not have been altogether annihilated some eighteen hundred years ago 1 Do you urge that it is idle to ask these questions, since we have no ade- quate materials at hand for dealing with them % That is a point which it is hoped may be more or less cleared up during the progress of our present enquiry. But if such questions are to remain unanswered, do not shut your eyes to the certain consequence. A Christ who is conceived of as only pictured in an ancient Hterature may indeed furnish you with the theme of a magnificent poetry, but he cannot be the present object of your rehgious hfe. A religion must have for its object an actually Living Person : and the pui-pose of the definitions which you deprecate, is to exhibit and assert the exact force of the revealed statements respecting the Eternal Life of Christ, and so to place Him as a Living Person in all His Divine Majesty and all His Human Tenderness before the eye of the soul which seeks Him. When you fairly commit yourself to the assertion that Christ is at this moment 56 Objection of the Anti-doctrinal Moralists. [Lbct. living at all, you leave the strictly historical and ses- thetical treatment of the Gospel record of His Life and character, and you enter, whether it be in a Catholic or in an heretical spirit, upon the territory of Church definitions. In your little private sphere, you bow to that practical necessity which obliged great Fathers and Councils, often much against their will, to take counsel of the Spkit Who illuminated the collective Chm-ch, and to give point and strength to Christian faith by authoritative elucidations of Christian doc- trine. Nor are you therefore rendered insensible to the beauty of the Gospel narrative, because you have discovered that thus to ascertain and bear in mind, so far as Revelation warrants your effort, what is the exact Personal dignity and living Power of Him in Whom you have believed, is in truth a matter of the utmost practical importance to your religious life. (/3) But the present -enquiry may be objected to, on higher grounds than those of literary and aesthetic taste. 'Are there not,' it wUl be pleaded, 'moral rea- sons for deprecating such discussions ? Surely the dogmatic and theological temper is sufficiently dis- tinct from the temper which aims, beyond everything else, at moral improvement. Surely good men may be indifferent divines, whUe accomplished divines may be false or impure at heart. Nay more, are not mo- rahty and theology not merely distinct, but also more or less antagonistic interests 1 Does not the enthusi- astic consideration of dogmatic problems tend to di- vert men's minds from that attention which is due to the practical obligations of life 1 Is not the dogmatic temper, you ask, rightly regarded as a species of " in- tellectual rituahsm " which lulls men into the behef I.] TAh objecHou ireU stated by CiauiuHg, 57 tliat tliey have true religion at heart, when in point of foot they are merely gratifying a private taste and losing sight of honesty and sober living in the intoxi- cating study of the abstractions of eonti-oversy ? On the other hand, "wiU not a high morality shrink with an instinctive reverence from the clamorous and posi- tive assertions of the theologians I In particular, did Jesus Christ Himself i-equire at the hands of His dis- ciples a dogmatic confession of belief in His Di\-i- uityJi \ Was He not content if they acted upon His mond teaching, if they embraced that particular aspect of moral obligations which is of the highest import- ance to the well-being of society, and which we have lately teiTued the Enthusiasm of Humanity \ ' This is what is urged ; and then it is added, ' Shall we not best STicceed in doing our duty if we try better to understand Christs Human Character, while we are careful to keep deal' of those abstract and ti"anscen- dental questions about Him, which at any rate have not promoted the cause of moral progress V This language is notoriously popular in omt day ; but the substantial objection which it em- bodies has been already stated by a writer whom it is impossible to name without mingled admi-^ ration and sorrow, — adnuration for his pure and lofty humanity, — sorrow for the profound eiTors which parted him in life and in death fi«m the Church of Jesns ChiisT, " Love to Jesus Chi-ist." says TVilliam Channing, " depends very Uttle on oxu" conception of His rank in the scale of being. On no other topic have Christians contended so ear- nestly, and yet it is of secoudaiy importance. To J" Ecce Homo, p. 69. sqq. 58 CJiannmg not really Anti-dogmatic, but Socinian. [Lect. know Jesus Christ is not to know the precise place He occupies in the Universe ; it is something more : it is to look into His mind : it is to approach His soul ; to comprehend His spirit, to see how He thought and felt and purposed and loved. . . I am persuaded," he continues, "that controversies about Christ's Person have in one way done great injury. They have turned attention from His character. Suppose that, as Americans, we should employ our- selves in debating the questions, where Washington was born, and from what spot he came when he ap- peared at the head of our armies ; and that in the fervour of these contentions we should overlook the character of his mind, the spirit that moved within him, how improfitably should we be em- ployed 1 Who is it that understands Washington ? Is it he that can settle his rank in the creation, his early history, his present condition ? or he to whom the soul of that good man is laid open, who compre- hends and sympathizes with his generous purposesi." Channing's illustration of his position in this pas- sage is important. It unconsciously but irresistibly suggests that indifference to the clear statement of our Lord's Divinity is linked to a fundamental assumption of its falsehood. Doubtless Washington's birthplace and present destiny is for the Americans an altogether unpractical consideration when placed side by side with the study of his character. But the question had never been raised whether or no the first of moral duties which a creature should pay to the Author and End of his existence was or was not due to Washmgton. Nobody has ever ' Works, vol. ii. p. 145. I.] ^oral obUgailoH ^ facing the dogmatic g^uesfioii. 59 asserted that mankind owes to the founder of the American Republic the tribute of a pros- trate adoration in spirit and in tnith. Had it occurred to Channings mind as eren possible that Jesus Christ "was more than a mere man who hred and died eighteen centiuies ago, he could not have permitted himself to make use of such an iUustration. To do justice to Charming, he had much too clear and fine an intellect to imagine that the fimdamental question of Christianity could be ignored on moral grounds. Those who know anything of his works are aware that his own opinion on the subject was a very definite one, and that he has stated the tisual arguments on behalf of the Socinian heresy with characteristic earnestness and precision. My brethren, all are agreed as to the importance of studying and copying the Htunan Character of Jesus Christ. Whether it be really possible to have a sincere admiration for the Character of Jesus Chiist without believing in His Divinity is a question which I shall not shrink from considering hereafter J. Whether a true morality does not embrace, as one part of it, an honest acceptance and profession of all attainable religious Truth, is a question which men can decide withotit being theologian& As for reve- rence, there is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. Eeverence will assuredly speak, and that plainly, when silence would dishonour its Object : the reverence which is always silent as to matters of BeUef may be but the drapery of a profomid scepti- cism, which lacks the courage to unveil itself before the eves of men. Certainly our Lord did not Himself .' See Lecture JX. 60 Moral significance of the question for those who [Lect. exact from His first followers as an indispensable condition of discipleship any profession of belief in His Godhead. But why ? Simply because His requirements were proportioned to the opportunities of mankind. He had tavight as men were able to bear His teach- uig'^. Although His precepts, His miracles, His cha- racter. His express language, aU pointed to the Truth of His Godhead, the conscience of mankind was not laid under a formal obligation to acknowledge It until at length He had been defined ^ to be "the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of HoU- ness, by the Ptesurrection from the dead." Our present moral relation then to the truth of Christ's Divinity differs altogether from that in which His first disciples were placed. It is a simple matter of history that Christendom has believed the doctrine for eighteen centuries ; but besides this, the doctrine challenges at our hands, as I have already intimated, a moral duty as its necessary expression both in the sanctuary of our ovm thought and before the eyes of men. Let us face this aspect of the subject in its concrete and every- day form. Those whom I now see around me are without exception, or almost without exception, members of the Church of England. If any here have not the happiness to be communicants, yet, at least, my brethren, you all attend the ordinary Sun- day morning service of our Church. In the course of doing so, you sing the Te Deum, you repeat several times the Gloria Patri ; but you also kneel down, or profess to kneel down, as joinuig before God and man in the Litany. Now the second petition in the '^ St. John xvi. 12. 1 Eom. i. 4. tou opiaBevTos vlov eeoO. I.] join in the PMic Worship of the Church of England. 61 Litany runs thus : " God the Son, Redeemer of the ■world, have mercy upon us miserable sinners." What do you seriously mean to do when you join in that petition ? Whom are you really addressing ? What is the basis and ground of your act \ What is its morality 1 If Jesus Christ is merely a creature, is He in a position to have mercy upon you ? Are you doing dishonour to the Most High by addressing Christ in these terms at all ? Channing has said that the petition, " By Thine agony and bloody sweat, by Thy cross and passion. Good Lord deliver us," is appalling'^. On the Socinian hypothesis, Channing's language is no exaggeration : the Litany is an 'ap- palling' prayer, as the Gloria Patri is an 'appalling' doxology. Nor would you escape from this moral dif- ficulty, if unhappily you should refuse to join in the services of the Chrirch. Your conscience cannot de- cline to decide in favour of the general duty of adoring Jesus Christ, or against it. And this de- cision presupposes the resolution, in one sense or the other, of the dogmatic question on which it de- pends. Christ either is, or He is not God. The worship which is paid to Christ either ought to be paid to Him, or it ought to be, not merely withheld, but denoTUiced. It is either rigorously due from all Christians to our Lord, or it is an outrage on the rights of God. In any case to take part in a service which, like our Litany, involves the prostrate adora- tion of Jesus Christ, without exphcitly recognising His right to receive such adoration, is itself immoral. If to be true and honest in our dealings with each other is a part of mere natural virtue, surely to mean m Unitarian Christianity, Works, vol. ii. p. 541. 62 Objection frovi the School of Subjective Pietism. [Lect. what we say when we are dealing with Heaven is not less an integral part of morahty. I say nothing of that vast unseen world of thought and feeling which in the soul of a Christian behever has our Blessed Saviour for its Object, and the whole moral justification of which depends upon the conception which we form of Christ's "rank in the scale of being." It is enough to point out to you that the ' discussion in hand has a practical, present, and emi^ nently a moral interest, unless it be consistent mth morahty to use in the presence of God and man, a language which we do not believe, or as to the mean- ing of which we are content to be indifferent. (7) Once more. It may be urged from a widely different quarter, that our enquiry is dangerous, if not to literary or moral interests, yet to the spirit of sim- ple Christian piety. ' Take care,' so the warning may run, 'lest, instead of preaching the Gospel, you should be merely building up a theological pyramid. Beware of sacrificing spiritual objects to intellectual ones. Surely the great question for a sinner to con- sider is whether or not he be justified before God : do not then let us bury the simple Gospel beneath a heap of metaphysics.' Now the matter to be considered is whether this absolute separation between what is assumed to be the ' simple Gospel ' and what is called ' metaphysics ' is reaUy possible. In point of fact the simple Gospel, when we come to examine it, is necessarily on one side metaphysical. Educated men, at least, will not be scared by a term, which a scarcely pardonable igno- rance may suppose to denote nothing more than the trackless region of intellectual failure. If the Gospel I.] ' The Gospel ' cannot ignore metaphysical theology. 63 is real to you ; if you believe it to be true, and pos- sess it sprrituaUy and intellectually; you cannot but see that it leads you on to the frontier of a world of thought which you may yoiu^elves shrink from entering, but which it is not prudent to depreciate. You say that the main question is to know that you are justified ■ Yery well ; but, omitting all other considerations, let me ask you one question : Who is the Justifier ? Can He really justify if He is only Man? Does not His power to "save to the uttermost those that come imto Grod by Hinn " depend upon the fact that He is Himself Divine 1 Yet when, with St. John, you confess that He is the Eternal Logos, you are dealing quite as distinctly with a question of ' metaphysics,' as if you should discuss the value of ovv'ia. and ira-oo-racri? in Primitive Christian The- ology. It is true that such disciissions wiU carry you beyond the region of Scripture terminology; but, at least to a sober and thoughtful mind, can it really matter whether a term, such as ' Trinity,' be or be not in Scripture, if the area of thought which it covers be identical with that contained in the Scripture statements" 1 And to undervalue those portions of truth which cannot be made rhetorically or privately available to excite religious feeling is to accept a principle which, in the long run, is destructive of the Faith. In Germany, Spener the Pietist held no mean place among the intellectual ancestors of Paulus and of Strauss. In England a gifted intellect has traced the "phases" of its progressive disbehef : and if in its downward coiurse it has gone so far as to deny that Jesus Christ was even a morally righteous Man, its starting-point was as nearly as possible that of the J> Sum. Th. i*. qxi. 29. a. 3. 64 Anticipated course of the Argument. [Lect. earnest but shortsighted piety which imagines that it can dare actively to exercise thought on the Christian Kevelation, and withal to ignore those ripe decisions which we owe to the illuminated mind of Primitive Christendom. There is no question between us, my brethren, as to the supreme importance of a personal understand- ing and contract between the single soul and the Eternal Being Who made and Who has redeemed it. But this understanding must depend upon ascertained Truths, foremost among which is that of the Godhead of Jesus Christ. And in these lectures an attempt will be made to lay bare and to re-assert some few of the bases iipon which that Cardinal Truth itself reposes in the consciousness of the Church, and to kindle perchance, in some souls, a fresh sense of its unspeak- able importance. It will be our object to examine such anticipations of the doctrine as are found in the Old Testament, to note how it is implied in the work of Jesus Christ, and how inseparable it is from His recorded Consciousness of His Personality and Mis- sion, to trace its distinct, although varying asser- tion in the writings of His great Apostles and in the earliest ages of His Church, and finally to shew how intimate and important are its relations to all that is dearest to the heart and faith of a Christian. It is no slight privilege and ground of rejoicing that throughout these lectures we shall keep close to the Sacred Person of our Lord Himself If, indeed, none of us as yet believed in His Godhead, it might be an impertinence on the part of the preacher to suggest any spiritual advice which takes for granted the conclusion of his argument. I.] Its object, the appreliension of positive Truth. 65 Bvit you who, thank God, are Christians by living- conviction as well as by baptismal privilege, mtist already possess too strong and too clear a faith in the truth before us to be in any sense dependent on the success or the failure of a feeble human effort to exhibit it. You at least will endeavour, as we pro- ceed, to bear steadily in mind, that He of Whom we speak and think is no mere tale or portrait of the ancient world, no dead abstraction of modern or of mediaeval thought, but a living Being, Who is an observant Witness alike of the words spoken in His Name and of the mental and moral response which they elicit. If we must needs pass in review the erring thoughts and words of men, let us be sure that our final object is not a criticism of error, but the clearer apprehension and possession of truth. They who believe, may by reason of the very loyalty and fervour of their devotion, so anxiously and eagerly watch the fleeting, earth-born mists which for a moment have threatened to veil the Face of the Sun of Righteousness, as to forget that the true weal and safety of the soul is only assured while her eye is persistently fixed on His Imperishable Glory. They who have known the aching misery of earnest doubt, may perchance be encouraged, like the once sceptical Apostle, to probe the wounds with which from age to age error has lacerated Christ's Sacred Form, and thus to draw from a nearer con- tact with the Divine Redeemer the springs of a fresh and deathless faith that shall win and own in Him to all Eternity the unclouded Presence of its Lord and God. 66 LECTUEE II. ANTICIPATIONS OF THE DOCTKINE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel nnto Abraham, saying. In thee shall all nations be blessed. — Gal. hi. 8. If we endeavour to discover how often and by what modes of statement such a doctrine as that of our Lord's Divinity is anticipated in the Old Testa- ment, our conckision will be materially affected by the behef which we entertain respecting the nature and the structure of Scripture itself. At first sight, and jiidged by an ordinary Hterary estimate, the Bible presents an appearance of being merely a large collection of heterogeneous writings. Histori- cal records, ranging over many centuries, biogra- phies, dialogues, anecdotes, catalogues of moral maxims, and accounts of social experiences, poetry, the most touchingly plaintive and the most buoy- antly triumphant, predictions, exhortations, warn- ings, varying in style, in authorship, in date, in dialect, are thrown, as it seems, somewhat arbitra- rily into a single volume. No stronger tie is sup- Principle of an Organic Unity in Holy Scripture. 67 posed to have bound together materials so various and so ill-assorted, than the interested or the too credulous industry of some clerical caste in a dis- tant antiquity, or at best than such uniformity in the general type of thought and feeling as may naturally be expected to characterize the literature of a nation or of a race. But beneath the differences of style, of language, and of method, which are un- deniably prominent in the Sacred Books, and which appear so entirely to absorb the attention of a merely literary observer, a deeper insight will dis- cover in Scripttire such manifest unity of drift and purpose, both moral and intellectual, as to imply the continuous action of a Single Mind. To this unity Scripture itself bears witness, and nowhere more emphatically than in the text before us. Ob- serve that St. Paul does not treat the Old Testa- ment as being to him what Hesiod, for instance, became to the later Greek world. He does not re- gard it as a great repertorium or storehouse of quo- tations which might be accidentally or fancifully employed to illustrate the events or the theories of a later age, and to which accordingly he had recourse for purposes of hterary ornamentation. On the con- trary, St. Paul's is the exact inverse of this point of view. According to St. Paul, the great doctrines and events of the Gospel dispensation were directly anticipated in the Old Testament. If the sense of the Old Testament became patent in the New, it was because the New Testament was already latent in the Old*. X\()6i?io\J(Ta Se ^ ypa(prj on e/c Tria-rewi a S. Aug. Quoest. in Ex. qu. 73 : " quanquam et in Vetere Novum lateat, et in Novo Vetus pateat." P 2 68 This principle hoio recognised in Primitive Christendom. [Lect. SiKUioi TO. eQvri 6 Qeo^, TrpoevtiyyeXicraTO tw 'A/3paafx. Scriptiire is thiis boldly identified with the Mind Which inspires it ; Scripture is a living Providence. The Promise to Abraham anticipates the work of the Apostle ; the earliest of the Books of Moses determines the argument of the Epistle to the Galatians. Such a position is only inteUigible when placed in the light of a belief in the fundamental Unity of all Ptevelation, imderlying, and strictly compatible with its superficial variety. And this fundamental Unity of Scripture, even when the exact canonical limits of Scripture were still unfixed, was a common article of belief to all Christian an- tiquity. It was common ground to the sub-apostolic and to the Nicene age, to the East and to the West, to the School of Antioch and to the School of Alex- andria, to mystical interpreters hke St. Ambrose, and to hteralists like St. Chrysostom, to cold rea- soners like Theodoret, and to fervid poets like Ephrem the Syrian, to those who, like Origen, con- ceded much to reason, and to those who, hke St. Cyril or St. Leo, claimed much for faith. Nay, this belief in the organic oneness of Scripture was not merely shared by schools and writers of divergent tendencies within the Church ; it was shared by the Church herself with her most vehement heretical opponents. Between St. Athanasius and the Arians there was no question as to the relevancy of the re- ference in the book of Proverbs'' to the pre-existent Person of our Lord, although there was a vital dif- ference between them as to the true sense and force of that reference. Scripture was believed to contain '' Prov. viii. 22. II.] Fractlcal application of the principle. 69 an harmonious and integral body of Sacred Trnth, and each part of that body was treated as being more or less directly, more or less ascertain ably, in corre- spondence with the rest. This behef expressed itself in the world-wide practice of quoting from any one book of Scripture in illustration of the mind of an}' other book. Instead of illustrating the sense of each MTriter only from other passages in that writer, the existence of a sense common to all the Sacred Writers was recognised, and each writer was accord- ingly interpreted by the language of the others. To a modern naturalistic critic it might seem a culpable or at least an midiscriminating procedure, when a Father illustrates the Apostolical Epistles by a refer- ence to the Pentateuch, or even one Evangelist bv another, or the dogmatic sense of St. Paul by that of St. John. And unquestionably in a merely human Uterature such attempts at illustration would be mis- leading. The different intellectual horizons, modes of thought, shades and turns of feeling, which con- stitute the peculiarities of different writers, debar us from ascertaining, under ordinary circumstances, the exact sense of any one wi'iter, except from himself In an umnspired hterature, such as the Greek or the English, it woidd be absurd to appeal to a primitive annalist or poet with a view to de- temiining the meaning of an author of some la.ter age. We do not suppose that Hesiod ' foresaw ' the political doctrines of Thucydides, or the moral specu- lations of Aristotle. We do not expect to find in Chaucer or in Clarendon a clue to or a forecast of the true sense of Macaulay or of Tennyson. No one has ever imagined that either the Greek or the 70 Organic Unity of Scripture consistent with some [Lect. English literatnre is a Whole in such sense that any common purpose runs persistently throughout it, or that ¥/e can presume upon the existence of a com- mon responsibility to some one line of thought in the several aiithors who have created it, or that each por- tion is under any kmd of obhgation to be in some profound moral and intellectual conformity with the rest. But the Church of Christ has ever believed her Bible to be throughout and so emphatically the handiwork of the Eternal Spirit, that it is no absurd- ity in Christians to cite Moses as foreshadowing the teaching of St. Paul and of St. John. According to the tenor of Christian belief, Moses, St. Paul, and St. John are severally regarded as free yet docile organs of One Infallible Intelligence, Who places them at different points along the line of His action in human history ; Who through them and others, as the ages pass before Him, slowly unveils His Mind ; Who anticipates the fullness of later Reve- lations by the hints contained in His earher dis- closures ; Who in the compass of His boimdless Wis- dom "reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly ordereth aU things'^." Such a belief in the organic unity of Scripture is not fatal to a recognition of those differences be- tween its several portions upon which some modern critics would lay an exaggerated emphasis. When St. Paul recognises an organic connection between the distant extremities of the records of Revelation, he does not debar himself from recognising differ- ences in form, in matter, in immediate purpose, which part the Law of Moses from the writings of the c Wisd. viii. i. II.] Unlikeness of its several parts to each other. 71 New Testament^. The unlikeness wHch subsists be- tween the head and the lower limbs of an animal is not fatal to their common share in its nervous system and in the circulation of its blood. Nay more, this oneness of Scripture is a truth compatible with the existence within its compass of different measures and levels of Revelation. The unity of consciousness in a human hfe is not forfeited by growth of knowledge, or by difference of circum- stances, or by varieties of experience. Novatian compares the unfolding of the Mind of God in Revelation to the gradual breaking of the dawn, attempered as it is to the human eye, which after long hours of darkness could not endure a sudden outflash of noonday sunhght®. The Fathers trace in detail the apphcation of this principle to succes- sive Revelations in Scripture, first of the absolute Unity of God, and afterwards of Persons internal to That Unity f. The Sermon on the Mount con- trasts its own higher moral level with that of the earlier dispensation^. Ethically and dogmatically the New Testament is an advance upon the Old, yet both are within the Unity of Inspiration. Different degrees of light do not imply any intrin- sic contrariety. If the Epistle to the Galatians "i e.g. cf. Gal. iii. 23-25 ; Rom. x. 4 ; Heb. viii. 13. e Novatian, de Trin. c. 26 : " Gradatim enim et per incrementa fragilitas huBiana nutriri debet, . . periculosa enim sunt quae magna sunt, si repentina sunt. Nam etiam lux soils subita post tenebras splendore nimio insuetis oculis non ostendet diem, sed potius faciet csecitatem." f S. Epipbanius, Hseres. 74. 10; S. Gregor. Nazianzen, Orat. xxxi. n. 2 'J. Cf. Kulm, Dogmatik, Band ii. p. 5. e St. Matt. V. 21, 22, 27, 28, 33, 34; comp. Ibid. xii. 5-8. 7a rieliilion of Ikk princip/e to our jtrexenl^ subject.. [LioCT. points out the moral incapacity of the Mosaic Law, the Epistle to the Hebrews teaclies us its typica,! and unfaihng significance. If Oliristian converts from Judaism had X^ww "called out of da.rkness into God's marvellous light''," yet still "whatsoever things were written aforetime," in the Jewish Scri[)turus, " were written for the Icai-ning" of Christians'. You will have anticipa.tcd, my brethren, the bear- ixig of these remarks upon the question before us. There are (explicit refcrcjices to the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity in the (Jld Testament which we can only deny by discrediting the historical value of the documents which contain them. But there are also occult references to this doctrine which we are not likely to detect unless, while socking them, we are furnished with an exegetical pT'incij)le like that of the orga,nic unity of Scripture as it was und(;r- stood by the Ancient Church. The geologist can inform us from surface indications where and at what depths to find the coal-field or the granite ; l>ut we all of us know granite or coal when we see them in the sunlight. Let us first pla,c(! ourselves under the guidajice of the great minds of antiq\iity with a view to discovering some of those more hid- den allusions to the doctrine which are found in earlier portions of the Old Testament Scriptures; and then let us trace, however hastily, those clearer intimations of it which abound in the later Mes- sianic prophecies, and which are indeed so plain, that- ' he that runs may read them.' I. (a) At tlie begirming of the Book of Genesis there appear to be intimations of the existence of a '' I St. Pet. ii. f). ' R'jii}. XV. i\. II.] The Inner Life of God adumbrated in Genesis. 73 PKirality of Persons witliiii the One Essence of Gt d. It is indeed somewliat remarkable that the fidl significance of the two words J by which Moses de- scribes the primal Creative Act of God was not insisted upon by the Primitive Chiu-ch teachers. It attracted attention in the middle ages, and it was more particularly noticed after the revival of Hebrew Letters. When Moses is describing this Divine Action he joins a singular verb to a plural noun. Language, it would seem, thus submits to a violent anomaly that she may the better hint at the mystery of Several Powers or Persons, Who not merely act together, but Who constitute a Single Agent. We are indeed told that this Name of God Elohim, was borrowed from Polytheistic sources, that it was retained in its plural form in order to express majesty or magnificence, and that it was then united to singular verbs and adjectives in order to make it do the work of a Monotheistic Creed '^. But on the other hand, it is confessed on all sides that the promidgation and protection of a belief in the Unity of God was the central and dominant object of the Mosaic literature and of the Mosaic legislation. Surely such an object woidd not have been im- perilled for no higher purpose than that of ampli- fication, unless there had been a Truth at stake which demanded the risk. The Hebrew langaiage could have described God by such singular Names as El, Eloah, and no qiiestion would have been raised as to the strictly Monotheistic force of those words. The Hebrew language might have J Gen. i. i, D^n^X !<-i3. ^ Herder, Geist der Hebr. Poesie, Bd. i. p. 48. 7-i The Inner Life of God adumbrated in Genesis. [Lect. ' ampliiied ' the idea of God thus conveyed by less dangerous processes than the employment of a plural form. Would it not have done so, unless the plural form had been really necessary, in order to hint at the complex mystery of God's inner Life, until that mysteiy should be more clearly unveiled l^y the explicit Revelations of a later day 'i The analogies of the language may indeed prove that the plural form of the word had a majestic force; but the risk of mismiderstanding wotild surely have counter- balanced this motive for using it, unless a vital need had demanded its retention. Nor will the theory that the plural noun is merely expressive of majesty in □Tt'PN N13, avail to account for the plural verb in the words, "Let Us make man'." In these words, which precede the final act and climax of the Cre- ation, the Early Fathers detected a clear intimation of a Plurality of Persons in the Godhead"'. The supposition that in these words a Suigle Person is in a dramatic colloquy with Himself is less reason- able than the opinion that a Divine Speaker is addressing a multitude of inferior beings, such as the Angels. But apart from other considerations, we may well ask, what would be the ' likeness ' or ' image ' common to God and to the Angels, in which man was to be created " 1 or why should ' Gen. i. 26. ™ Cf. the references in Petavius, de Trinitate, ii. 7. 6. " "Noa raro etiam veteres recentioresque interpretes, ut D^^i'N de angelis intelligerent, theologicis potius quani exegeticis argumentis permoti esse videnter ; cf. . . . Gen. i. 26, 27, ex quo Samaritani cum Abenezra hominein ad angelorum, no'n ad Dei, similitudiuem creatum esse probant." Gesenius, Thesaur. in voc. DTlXs, 2. II.] The Inner Life of God adumlrated in Genesis. 75 created essences such as the Angels be mvited to take part in a Creative Act at all 1 Each of the fore- gouig explanations is really weighted with greater difficulties than the Patristic doctrine, to the effect that the verb, " Let Us make," points to a Plurality of Persons within the Unity of the One Agent, while the ' Likeness,' common to All These Persons and itself One, suggests very pointedly Their par- ticipation in an Undivided Nature. And m such sayings as " Behold the man is become hke One of Us"," used with reference to the Fall, or " Gro to ; let Us go down and there confound their lan- guage P," uttered on the eve of the dispersion of Babel, it is clear that an equality of rank is dis- tinctly assumed between the Speaker and Those Whom He is addressing. The only adequate alter- native to that interpretation of these texts which is furnished by the Trinitarian Doctrine, and which sees in them a preparation for the disclosures of a later age, is the violent supposition of some kind of pre-Mosaic Olympus, the many deities of which are upon a level of strict equality with each other i. But if this supposition be admitted, how are we to account for the presence of such language in the Pentateuch at all 1 How can a people, confessedly rehgious and intelligent, such as were the Hebrews, have thus stultiiied their whole rehgious history and hterature, by welcoming or retaining, in a docu- ment of the highest possible authority, a nomen- " Gen. iii. 22. IJOD nnX3. LXX. m cis e| r^nav. P Gen. xi. 7. 1 Klose, De polytlieismi vestigiis apud Hebrseos ante Mosen, Getting. 1830, referred to by Kuhn, Dogmatik, Bd. ii. p. 10. ( 'NISI no- il) IS 76 A Tln-cefohl PernonaJUi/ in God .sinjgrxlnl [Liicr. clature which cmitauied so oxpUcit a (h'liial ol the first Article of the ITt^bvew Fiiith ">. The true senses of tlie comparatively iiKh'tenninate language which occui-s at the beghinuig of Geiu'isis, is more fully explained by the l*riesl1y ]^>1 which we find to ])v. jiresrrilied for ritual usage the Book of Numbers''. This blessing is spoken ol' as a puttmg the Nauie ol' G(Hl^ that is to say, of a ,ynil>ol unveihng His Nature*, upon the children of Israel. Here then we discover a distuict limit to the number of the Persons Who are hinted at in Genesis, as being internal to the Unity of God. The Priest is to repeat the Most Holy Name Three times. The Helirew ncwaituation, whatev(!r ))(^ its date, shews that thc^ Jews th(.^msi.^lves saw iu tins repetition the declaration of a, mystery in the Divine Nature. Unless such a, repetition IkuI Ixm.'ii designed to secure the assertion of somc^ impoi'tant truth, a siucfle mention of the S;i-cred Na,m(^ woTild have been mor(^ natural in a system, tlie olyect of which was to impress beli(^f in the Divim^ Unity upon a-n entire peo])le. This significant repetition, suggestmg without \mveiling a Triruty in the Being of (iod, did its work in Israel It is im|)ossible not to be struck with the recurrence of the Threefold r Num. vi. 2,; -26. " Tliid. vri-. 27. ' " Nai'li dcr ))i1)lisi:li(!ii Ansclifuiurif,' uiid iul)(;K(jM(l<'i'(! dcs A.T. ist iiLcrhaupt dor ZuMaTiimenlmiig zwisclien Naiiic uiid Siiclio ciu Hchr eiiyer, und eiij giinx andcicr als iiu iiiodnnicn l!i:wuHsti-in, wo sicli der Name mciHt v.u ciiii.iii Idoss f:(Jiivcntioii(;ll(;ii Zciclicn uljgcHcliwaclit hat ; dor Name ist dio Bachc sellist, sofern diiiHo ill die Ersrlicinung tritt iiud crkaniit win], dcr ins Wi)i't K'''iiH'ite Ausdriick des Wcscuw." Koiiig, Theolugic di;r Psidiiien, p. 266. T II.] ly ihe Priestli/ Blessing, and hi/ the V/sion of Isaiah. 77 rliythm of prayer or praise again and again, in the Psalter". Again and again the poetical parallelism is sacrificed to the practical and theological object of making the sacred songs of Israel contain an exact acknowledgment of that inner law of God's Nature which had been shadowed out in the Pentateuch. And to omit traces of this influence of the priestly blessing which are discoverable in Jeremiah and Eze- kiel", let us observe the crowning significance of the vision of Isaiah >'. In that adoration of the Most Holy Three, Who yet are One^, by the veiled and mys- terious Seraphim ; in that deep self-abasement and misery of the Prophet, who, though a man of im- clean hps, had yet seen with his eyes the King, the Lord of Hosts '1 \ in that last enquiry on the part of the DiATine Speaker, the very terms of which reveal Him as One and yet more than One'', — what a flood of almost Gospel hght° is poured upon the intelli- gence of the elder Church ! If we caimot altogether assert with the opponents of the Lutheran Calixtus, that the doctrine of the Trinity is so clearly con- tained in the Old Testament as to admit of being- deduced from it without the aid of the Apostles and Evangelists ; enough at least has been said to shew that the Old Testament presents us with a doctrine of the Divine Lenity which is very far removed from the hard and sterile Monotheism of the Koran. AVithin the Uncreated and Unapproach- "^ Cf. Ps. xxix. 4, 5, and 7, 8 ; xcvi. i, 2, and 7, 8; cxv. 9, 10, 1 1 ; cx'S'iii. 2-4, and 10-12, and 15, 16. ^ On this subject see Dr. Pusey's Lettei- to the Bishop of London, p. 131. > Isaiah vi. 2-8. ^ Ibid. ver. 3. a Ibid. ver. 5. "^ Ibid. ver. 8. <^ Heb. i. i. 78 The Theophanies. [Lect. able Essence, Israel could plainly distinguish the shadows of a Truth which we Christians fidlr ex- press at this hour, when we "acknowledge the glory of the Eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty worship the Unity." ('3) From these adumbrations of Personal Dis- tinctions within the Being of God we pass naturally to consider that series of remarkable apparitions Avhich are commonly known as the Theophanies, and which form so prominent a feature in the early historv of the Old Testament Scriptures. When we are told that God spoke to our fallen parents in Paradise'!, and appeared to Abram in his ninety- ninth year^, there is no distinct intimation of the mode of the Divine Manifestation. But when " Jehovah appeared " to the Great Patriarch " in the plains of !Mamre V Abraham " lift up his eyes and looked, and lo, Three Men stood by him?." Abraham bows himself to the ground ; he offers hospitality ; he waits by his Visitors tmder the tree, and they eatl^. One of the Three is the Spokesman ; he appears to bear the Sacred Xame Jehovah i : he is seemingly distinguished from the 'two angels' who went first to Sodom J; he pro- mises that the ao-ed Sarah shall have a son, and that 'ah the nations of the earth shall be blessed d Gen. iii. 8 : •' They heard the voice of the Lord God walMag in the garden in the cool of the day." <^ Ibid. xTii. 1-3 : "The Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God. . . And Abram fell on his face : and God talked with him." f Ibid, xriii. i. s Ibid. ver. 2. h Ibid. ver. 8. i Ibid. rer. i 7. -i Compare Gen. xviii. 22 and xix i. LXX. ^X^oi/ 8e 01 bio ayyeKoi. II.] Hie Theophanies. 79 in AbraliamK' With Mm Abraham intercedes for Sodom 1; by him judgment is afterwards executed upon the guilty city. When we are told that "JehoTah rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brim- stone and fire firom Jehovah out of heaven™," a sharp distinction is established between a visible and an Invisible Person, each bearing the Most Holy Name. This distinction introduces us to the Mosaic and later representations of that very exalted and mys- terious being, the mm '\vh'a or Angel of the Lord. The Auorel of the Lord is certainly distinguished jfrom Jehovah ; yet the names by which he is called, the powers which he assumes to wield, the honour which is paid to him, shew tliat in him there was at least a special Presence of God. He seems to speak sometimes in his own name, and sometimes as if he were not a ci"eated personality but only a veil or organ of the Higher Nature That spoke and acted through him. Thus he assures Hagar, as if speaking in the character of an Ambassador from God, that 'the Loi-d had heard her affliction".' Yet he promises her, "I wiU multiply thy seed exceedingly"." and she in return "called the Name of the Lord that spake unto her. Thou Grod seest me P." He arrests Abraham's arm, when the Patri- arch is on the point of carrying out God's bidding by ofTering Isaac as a sacrifice^ ; yet he associates himself with Him from Whom ' Abraham had not witliheld his son, his only son.' He accepts for himself Abraham's obedience as rendered to God, '^ Gen. xviiiiOjiS. 1 Ibid vers. 23-33. ™ Ibid, xix.24. » Ibid. xvi. 11. o Ibid, ver, 10. P Ibid. ver. 13. 1 Ibid. xxii. 11, 1 2. 80 The Theopluinies. [Lect. and he subsequently at a second a])peaTance adds the promise, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed My voice"'." He appears to Jacob in a dream, he an- nounces himself as " the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto Me^" Thus he Avas 'the Lord' Avho in Jacob's vision at Bethel had stood above the ladder and said, " I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac'." He was, as it seems, the Chief of tha,t angel-host whom Jacob met at Mahanaun " ; with him Jacob wrestled for a blessing at Peniel ; of him Jacob says " I have seen God flxce to face, and my life is preserved." Wlien blessing the sons of Jose])h, the dying Patriarch invokes not only " the God Which fed me all my hfe long unto this day," but also "the Angel which redeemed me from all evd''." In the desert of Midian, the Angel of the Lord a.ppears to Moses "in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush." The bush remains miraculously unconsumedy. "Jehovah" sees that Moses turns aside to see, and " Elohim " calls to Moses out of the midst of the bush'-. The very gromid on which Moses stands is holy ; and the Lawgiver hides his face, " for he was afraid to look upon God''." The Speaker from the midst of the bush announces Himself as the God of Abraham, the God ofJsaac, and the God of Jacob ^. His are the Mercy, the Wisdom, the Providence, the Power, the Authority of the Most r Gen. xxii. i8. ^ Hjid. xxxi. ir, 13. ' Ibid, xxviii. 13. " Ibid, xxxii. i. " Ibid, xlviii. 15, 16. v Exod. iii. i, 2. ' Ibid. ver. 4. a Ibid. ver. 6. II.] The Theophumes. 81 Higli^ ; nay, all the Divine attributes'^. When the chUdren of Israel are making their escape from Egypt, the Angel of the Lord leads them ; in the hovir of danger he places himself between the camp of Israel and the host of Pharaoh "1. How deeply Israel felt the value of his protecting care, we may learn from the terms of the message to the King of Edom^. God promises that the Angel shall keep Israel in the way, and bring the people to Canaan^; his presence is a guarantee that the Amorites and other idolatrous races shall be cut off". Israel is to obey this Angel, and to provoke him not; for the Holy "Name is in him^." Even after the sin of the Golden Calf the promised Guardianship of the Angel is not forfeited, but a distinction is clearly drawn between the Angel and Jehovah Himself'. Yet the Angel is expressly called the Angel of God's Presence^; he friUy represents God. God must in some way have been present in Him. No merely created being, speaking and acting in his own right, could have spoken to men, or have allowed men to act towards himself, as did the Angel of the Lord. Thus he withstands Balaam, on his faithless errand, and bids him go with the messengers of Balak ; but adds, " Only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak." As " Captain of the host of the li Exod. iii. 7-14. '^ Ibid. vers. 14-16. ^ Esod. xiv. 19. s Xum. XX. 16. f Exod. xxiii. 20; compare xxxii. 34. % Ibid, xxiii. 23 ; cf. .Joshua v. 13-15. '' Exod. xxiii. 21, Uipa 'CL" 'D. ' Ibid, xxxiii. 2,3: "I will send an angel before thee . . . for I will not go up in the midst of thee ; for thou art a stiff-necked people." t- Ibid. ver. 14; compare Isaiah Lxiii. 9. G 82 The Theoplianies. [Lect. Lord" he appears to Joshua in the plain of Jeri- cho ; Joshua worships God in himl ; and the Angel asks of the conqueror of Canaan the same tokens of reverence as had been exacted from Moses™. Besides the reference in the Song of Deborah" to the curse pronounced against Meroz by the Angel of the Lord, the Book of Judges contains accounts of three appearances, in each of which we are scarcely sensible of the action of a created person- ality, so completely is the language and bearing that of the Higher Natu-re present in the Angel. At Bochim he expostulates with the assembled people for their breach of the covenant in faihng to exterminate the Canaanites. God speaks by him as in His own Name ; He refers to the covenant which He had made with Israel, and to His bringiag the people out of Egypt ; He declares that, on account of their disobedience He will not drive the heathen nations out of the land". In the account of his appearance to Gideon the Angel is called sometimes the Angel of the Lord, sometimes the Lord, or Jehovah. He bids Gideon attack the Midianite oppressors of Israel, and adds the pro- mise, " I will be with thee." Gideon places an offering before the Angel, that he may, if he wills, manifest his character by some sign. The Angel touches the offermg with the end of his staff, whereupon fire rises up out of the rock and con- sumes the offering. The Angel disappears, and ' In Josh. vi. 2 the captain of the Lord's Host (cf. ch. v. 14) appears to be called Jehovah. But cf. Mill, Myth. Int. p. 354. m Josh. V. 13-15 ; Exod. iii. 5 ; compare Exod. xxiii. 23. " Judges V. 23. " Ibid. ii. i-g. See Keil, Comm. in loc. no "!<) ■^:o^ the A :>. ' of /'n' IcrJ .' 83 Gideon feai"s tliat he will die because lie has seen "the Angel of the Lord face to foceP." WTien the wife of Mauoah is repoiting the Angels lii'st appeai-ance to hei-self. she says that " A man of God came" to her. " and his comuenance was like the coTmTenance of the Angel of God, reiy terrible." She Thus speaks of The Angel as of a Being ah-eady known to Israel At his second appearance The Ano-el bids Manoah. who " knew not thaT he was an Angel of the Lord ' and otl'ered him common food, TO oti'er sacritiee Tmto The Lord. The Angel refuses TO disclose Ills Xame. which is ' wonderful')." When Manoah otfei-s a kid wiTh a meat-ofleiing Tipon a rock imto The Lord. The Angel mouuTs visibly up TO heaven ia The flame of the saciiflce. Like Gideon. ]\Iano;ih fears deaTh after such near contacT wiTh so exahed a Being of The oTher world. " We shall sTuvly die." he exclaims to his wife. "■ because we have seen God""." But yoTi ask. "Who was This Angel \ The Jewish Iiiterpreiors vary in Their explanaTions". The earliesT FaThers answer w^Th general imanimiTv That he was The Word or Son of God Him- self. For example, iu The DialogTie wiTh Trypho. St. Justin proves against liis Jewish opponenT. ThaT Gi.xi did not appear to Abraham in the plains of Mamre. o^jore The appeai-ance of tlie 'thive P Jr.a,'. \-i. II-;;. Keil, Comm. in loo. Sec Hci.i;JTer.l'eri:. Chris- to'. O. Tt?: . vol. iv append. iiL p. io;. i 'N~2. o£ Is. ix. 6. " Jv.dccs xiiL 6-;;. Cf. Keil, Comm. in loc. Hencs: v.li ji'.pi-;. Titrin_v. de Angelo ^aocvdote. obf. vi. 14. * Ci tie flutboriries quoted Iv Draoh. Le::re5 dun Eabbin Con- Terti. LeLri>e ii p. 169. On the other side. Abenezra, in Exod. iii. r. G 2 84 General Opinion of the Earlier Fathers. [Lect. men,' but that He was One of the Three'. Trypho admits this, btit he objects that this did not shew that there was any God besides Him Who had appeared to the Patriarchs. Justin replies that a Divine Being, personally although not substantially distinct from the supreme God, is clearly implied in the statement that "the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven"." Trypho yields the point. Here it is plain that St. Justin did not suppose that a created being was called God on account of his mission ; St. Jiistin believes that One Who was of the su^bstance of God appeared to Abraham -". Again, the Fathers of the First Synod at Antioch, in the letter which was sent to Paulus of Samosata before his deposition, state that the "Angel of the Father being Himself Lord and God, (ueya'Xv? ^ovKm ayyeXo^y, appeared to Abraham, ' With St. Justin's belief that the Sou and two Angels appeared to Abraham, cf. Tertullian. adv. Marc. ii. 27, iii. 9 ; S. Hil. de Trin. iv. 27. That three created Angels appeared to Abraham was the opinion of St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, x. 8, xvi. 29). St. Ambrose sees in the "three men" an adumbration of the Blessed Trinity: " Tres vidit et unum Dominum appellavit." De Abraham.i. c. 5 ; Pru- dent. Apotheosis, 28. This seems to be the sense of the English Church. See First Lesson for Evensong on Trinity Sunday. " Gen. xix. 24. " Dial, cum Tryph. § 56, sqq. On the appearance in the burning bush, cf Ibid. § 59-6 r; cf. too cli. 127. Comp. St. Justin, Apol. i. c. 63. y This gloss of the LXX. in Is. ix. 6 was a main ground of the early Pati'istic application of the title of the Angel to God the Son. " Although Malachi foretells our Lord's coming in the Flesh under the titles of ' the Lord,' ' the Angel,' or ' Messenger of the Cove- nant,' (chap. iii. i) there is no proof that He is anywhere spoken of absolutely as ' the Angel,' or that His Divine Nature is so entitled." Dr. Pusey, Daniel the Prophet, p. 516, note i. . II.] Judgment of St. Augustine. 85 and to Jacob, and to Moses in the btirning busli^." It is unnecessary to mtiltiply quotations in proof of a fact which is beyond dispute ^. The Arian controversy led to a modification of that estimate of the Theophanies which had pre- vailed in the earher Church. The earlier Church teachers had clearly distinguished, as Scripture dis- tinguishes, between the Angel of the Lord, Himself, as they believed. Divine, and the Father. But the Arians endeavoured to widen this personal dis- tmctness into a deeper difference, a difference of Natures. Appealing to the often-assigned ground ^ of the belief respectiiig the Theophanies which had prevailed in the ante-Nicene Church, the Arians argued that the Son had been seen by the Patri- archs, whUe the Father had not been seen, and that an Invisible Nature was distinct from and higher than a nature which was cognizable by the senses °. St. Augustine boldly faced this difficulty, and his great work on the Trinity gave the chief impulse to another current of interpretation in the Church. St. Aiigustine strenuously insists upon the '- Mansi, Cone. i. p. 1035. '^ Compare however S. Irenfeus adv. Hssr. iv. 7. § 4; Clem. Alex. Psed. i. 7 ; Tlieophilus ad Autol. ii. 31 ; Constit. Apostol. v. 20 ; Tertullian. adv. Prax. cap. 13, 14, and 15 ; S. Cyprian, adv. Judaaos, ii. c. 5, 6 ; S. Cyr. Hieros. Catech. 10 ; S. Hil. de Trin. lib. 4 and 5 ; S. Chrysost. Horn, in Genes. 42, 48 ; Tlieo- doret, Interr. v. in Exod. (Op. i. p. 121), on Exod. iii. 2. Cf. some additional authorities given by P. Vandenbroeck, De Theophaniis, sub Vet. Testament©, p. i"?, sqq ; Bull, Def. Fid. Nio. lib. i. c. i. ^ e.g. cf. Tertullian. adv. Marc. ii. c. 27. *= S. Aug. Serm. vii. n. 4. The Arian criticism ran thus : " Filusi visus est patribus, Pater non est visus : invisibilis auteni et visibilis diversa natura est." 86 Jii.ilfjment of St. Aiif/imline. [Lect. Scriptural truth ^i of the Invisibihty of God as Godo. The Son, therefore, as being truly God, was by nature as invisible as the Father. If the Son appeared to the Patriarchs, He appeared through the intermediate agency of a created being, who represented Him, and through whom He spoke and acted f. If the Angel who represented Him spoke and acted with a Divine authority, and received Divine honours, Augustine points to the force of the law whereby, in things earthly and heavenly, an ambassador is temporarily put in the place of the d St. John i. 1 8, &c. " " Ipsa enim natura vel substantia vel essentia, vel quolibct alio nomine appellandum est id ipsum, quod Deus est, quidquid illud est coiyoraliter vide rinon potest." DeTrin. ii. c. i8, n. 35. The Scotists, who opposed the general Thomist doctrine to the effect that a created angel was the instrument of the Theophanies, carefully guarded against the ideas tliat the substance of Gtod could be seen by man in the body, or that the bodily form which they believed to have been assumed was perHonally united to the Eternal Word, since this was peculiar to the Divine Incarnation. (Scotus in lib. ii. sent. dist. 8.) Scotus explains that the being who assv/mes a bodily form, need only be " intrinsecus motor corporis ; nam tunc assumit, id est ad se sumit, quia ad operationes proprias sibi explendas utitur illo sicut instrumento." (Ibid. Scholion i.) f " Proinde ilia omnia, quae Patribus visa sunt, cum Deus illis secundum suam dispensationem temporibus cougruam pr»senta- retur, per creaturam facta esse, manifestum est Sed jam satis quantum existimo . . . demonstratum est, . . . quod antiquis patribus nostris ante Incarnationem Salvatoris, cum Deus apparere diccbatur, voces illee ao species corporales per angclos fact* sunt, sive ipsis loquentibus vel agentibus aliquid ex persona Dei, sicut etiam pro- phetas solere ostendimus, ssive asaumentihus ex creatunt quod ipsi noil essent, ubi Deus figurate demonstraretur hominibus ; quod genus significationum nee Prophetas omisisse, multis exemplis docet iScriptura." De Trin. iii. 11, n. 22. II.] Judgment of St. Augustine and others. 87 Master who accredits himg'. But Augustine further warns us against attempting to say positively Which of the Divine Persons manifested Himself, in this or that instance, to Patriarchs or Prophets, except where some remarkable indications determine oiir conclusion very decisively^^ The general doctrine of this great teacher, that the Theophanies were not direct appearances of a Person in the Godhead, but Self-manifestations of God through a created being, had been hinted at by some earlier Fathers i, and was insisted on by contemporary and later writers of the highest authority''. This explanation g " Sed ait aliquis : cur ergo Scriptum est, Dixit Dominus ad Moysen ; et non potius, Dixit angelus ad Moysen % Quia cum verba judicis praco pronuntiat, non scribitur in Gestis, ille prseco dixit ; sed ille judex ; sic etiam loquente propheta sancto, etsi dicamus Propheta dixit, nihil aliud quam Dominum dixisse intelligi volumus. Et si dicamus, Dominus dixit ; prophetam non subtrahimus, sed quis per eum dixerit admonemus." De Trin. iii. c. ii, n. 23. ^ " Nihil aliud, quantum existimo, divinoi'um sacramentorum modesta et cauta consideratio persuadet, nisi ut temere non dica- mus, Qusenam ex Trinitate Persona cuilibet Patrum et Prophetarum in aliquo corpore vel similitudine corporis apparuerit, nisi cum con- tinentia lectionis aliqua probabilia circumponit indicia. . . . Per sub- jectam creaturam non solum Filium vel Spiritum Sanctum, sed etiam Patrem corporali specie sive similitudine mortalibus sensibus signi- ficationem Sui dare potuisse credendum est." De Trin. ii. c. 18, n. 35. ' Compare S. Irenseus adv. Hter. iv. 20, n. 7 and 24. " Verbum naturaliter quidem invisibile, palpalnle in hominibus factum." Origen (Hom. xvi. in Jerem.) speaking of the vision in Exod. iii. says, " God was here beheld in the Angel." k S.Jerome (ed.Vall.) in Galat. iii. 19 : "Quod in omniVetcriTesta- mento ubi angelus primum visus refertur et postea quasi Deus loquens inducitur, angelus quidem vere ex ministris pluribus quicunque est visus, sed in illo Mediator loquatur, Qui dicit ; Ego sum Deus Abra- ham, etc. Nee minim si Deus loquatur in angelis, cum etiam per 88 Significance of tlte Theoiilianies. [Lect. has since become the predominant although by no means the exclusive judgment of the Church l; and if it is not unaccompanied by considerable diffi- culties when we apply it to the sacred text, it certainly seems to reHeve us of greater embar- rassments than any which it creates"'. But Avhether the ante-Nicene (so to term it) or the Augustinian line of interpretation be adopted with respect to the Theophanies, no smcere be- liever in the historical trustworthiness of Holy Scripture can mistake the importance of their relation to the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity. If the Theophanies were not, as has been pretended, mythical legends, the natural product of the Jew- ish mind at a particular stage of its development, but actual matter-of-fact occurrences in the history of ancient Israel, must we not see in them a deep Providential meaning \ Whether in them the Word or Son actually appeared, or whether God made a created angel the absolutely perfect exponent of His Thought and Will, do they not point in either case to a purpose in the Divine Mind which would only be realized when man had been admitted to a nearer and more palpable contact with God than ;mgelos, qui in liominibus sunt, loquatur Devis in i)i-(iplietis, dicente Zacciiariri : et ait angelus, qui loquebatur in me, ac deinceps infe- rente ; lisec dicit Devis Omnipotens." Cf. S. (ireg, Magn. IMag. Moral, xxviii. 2 ; S. Athan. Or. iii. c. Arian. § 1 4. 1 The earlier interpretation has Leen nuire generally advocated by English divines. P. Vandenbroeok's treatise already referred to shews that it still has adherents in other parts of the Western Churcli. ™ See especially Dr. Pusey, Daniel the Prophet, p. 515, note 20; p. 516, sqq. II.] Doctrine of the KocJtmah or TTisdom. 89 was possible imder the Patriarclial or Je-\^-ish dis- pensations % Do they not suggest as their natural climax and explanation, some Personal Self-unveihng of God before the eyes of His creatures { Would not God appear to have been training His people by this long and mysterious series of communi- cations at leng-th to recognise and to worship Him when hidden rmder and indissolubly one with a Created Xature 1 Apart from the specific circum- stances which may seem to have explained each Theophany at the time of its taking place, and considering them as a series of phsenomena, is there any other accomit of them so much in harmony with the general scope of Holy Scriptvire, as that they were successive lessons adcbessed to the eye and to the ear of ancient piety, in anticipation of a coming Incarnation of God \ (7) Tlus preparatory ser^-ice, if we may venture so to term it, which had been rendered to the doc- trine of our Lord's Divinitv bv the Theophanies in the world of sense, was seconded by the upgrowth and development of a behef respecting the Di^dne Kochmah or Wisdom in the region of inspired ideas. The ' Wisdom ' of the Jewish Scriptures is certainly more than a human endowment", and even, as 1 The word t^'^Z' is, of course, used in this lower sense. It is applied to an inspired skill in making priestly vestments (Exod. xxviii. 3), or sacred furniture generally (Ibid. xsxi. 6 and xxxti. i, 2) ; to fidelity to known truth (Dent. iv. 6 ; cf. sxxii. 6) ; to great intellectual accomplishments (Dan. i. 1 7). Solomon was typically D3n : his ' Wisdom' was exhibited in moral penetration and judg- ment (i Kings iii. 28, x. 4, sqq.); in the knowledge of many subjects, specially of the works of God in the natural world (Ibid. iv. 33, 34); in the knowledge of various poems and maxims, which he had either 90 "The Wisdom" as described in Job [Lect. it would seem, more than an Attribute of God. It may naturally remind us of the Archetypal Ideas of Plato, but the resemblance is scarcely more than superficial. The 'Wisdom' is hinted at in the Book of Job. In a well-known passage of majestic beaiity. Job replies to his own question, Where shall the Wisdom" be found? He repre- sents Wisdom as it exists in God, and as it is commimicated in the highest form to man. In God, 'the Wisdom' is that Eternal Thought, in which the Divine Architect ever beheld His future creation P. In man Wisdom is seen in moral growth ; it is 'the fear of the Lord,' and 'to depart from evUi.' The Wisdom is here only revealed as under- lying, on the one side, the Laws of the physical Universe, on the other, those of man's moral na- ture . Certainly as yet ' Wisdom ' is not in any way represented as personal; but we make a great step in passing to the Book of Proverbs. In the Book of Proverbs the Wisdom is co-eternal with Jehovah ; Wisdom assists Him in the work of Creation ; Wisdom reigns, as one specially honoured, m the palace of the King of Heaven ; Wisdom is the adequate object of the eternal joy of God ; God possesses Wisdom, Wisdom delights in God. composed or which he remembered (Ibid. iv. 32; Prov. i. i). Wisdom, as communicated to men, included sometimes supernatural powers (Dan. V. 11), but specially moral virtue (Ps. xxxvii. 30, li. 6 ; Prov. X. 31) ; and piety to God (Ps. cxi. 10). In God no3nn is higher than any of these ; He alone originally possesses It (Job xii. 12, 13, xxviii. 12, sq.). Job xxviii. 12. HOann. P Ibid. vers. 23-27. q Ibid. ver. 28. II.] and in the Book of Proverts. 91 " Jehovali (says Wisdom) possessed Me in the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, From the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth ; When there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills was I brought forth : While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there ■ When He set a compass upon the face of the depth : When He established the clouds above : When He strengthened the fountains of the deep : When He gave to the sea His decree. That the waters should not pass His commandment : When He appointed the foundations of the earth : Then I was by Him, as One brought up with Him : And I was daily His Delight, rejoicing always before Him ; Kejoicing in the habitable part of His earth ; And My delights were with the sons of menf." Are we listening to the language of a real Person or only of a poetic personification % A group of critics defends each hypothesis ; and those who maintain the latter, point to the picture of Folly in the succeeding chapter^. But may not a study of that picture lead to a very opposite conclusion 1 FoUy is there no mere abstraction, she is a sinful woman of impure life, 'whose guests are in the depths of hell.' The work of Folly is the very work of the Evil One, the real antagonist of the Divine Kochmah. Folly is the principle of absolute Un- ■■ Prov. viii. 22-31. For Patristic expositions of this passage see Petavius, de Trin. ii. i. = Prov. ix. 13-18. 92 Is " Wisdom" here represented as personal ? [Lect. wisdom, of consummate Moral Evil. Folly, by the force of the antithesis, enhances our impression that ' the Wisdom' is personal. The Arians imder- stood the word' which is rendered 'possessed' in our Enghsh Bible, to mean ' created,' and they thus degraded the Wisdom to the level of a creature. But they did not doubt that this created Wisdom was a real being or person". Modern critics know that if we are to be guided by the clear certain sense of the Hebrew root'' we shall read 'possessed' and not ' created,' and they admit without difficulty that the Wisdom is uncreated by, and co-eternal with the Lord Jehovah. But they resolve Wisdom into an impersonal and abstract idea or quality. The true interpretation is probably related to these op- posite mistakes, as was the Faith of the Church to the confficting theories of the Arians and the Sabel- lians. Each error contributes its quota to the cause ' The Arians appealed to the LXX. reading e/cT-icre (not iKTrja-aro). On ktI^uv as meaning any kind of production, see Bull, Def. Fid. Nic. lib. ii. c. 6, sec. 8. In a note on Athan. Treatises, ii. 342, Dr. Newman cites Aquila, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nyss. and St. Jerome, for the sense iKTrja-aro. ^ As Kuhn summarily observes : " Das war iiberhaupt nicht die Frage in christlichen alterthum, ob hier von einem Wesen die Rede sei, das war allgemein anerkannt, sondern von welcher Art, in welchem Verlialtniss zu Gott es gedacht sei." Dogmatik, ii. p. 29, note (2). ^ This both in Hebrew and (with one exception) in Arabic. Cf. Gesenius, Thesaurus, in njp and Us. So, too, the Syr. )'■ " Neither Gen. xiv. 19 nor Deut. xxxii. 6 require that njp should be translated 'created,' still less Ps. cxxxix. 13, where it means ' to have rights over.' Gesenius quotes no other examples. The cur- rent meaning of the word is ' to acquire ' or ' possess,' as is proved by its certain sense in the great majority of cases where it is used. II.] " Wisdom" in the Greek Sapiential Books. 93 of truth ; the more ancient may teach us that the Wisdom is personal ; the more modern, that it is uncreated and co-eternal with God. But even if it should be thought that 'the personified idea of the Mind of God in Creation' rather than the presence of 'a distinct Hypostasis ?' is all that can with certainty be discovered in the text of the Book of Proverbs, yet no one, lookmg to the contents of those sacred Sapiential Books, which lie beyond the precincts of the Hebrew Canon, can well doubt that something more had been m- ferred by the most active religious thought in the Jewish Church. The Son of Sirach, for instance, opens his treatise with a dissertation on the source of Wisdom. Wisdom is from all eternity with God ; Wisdom proceeds from God before any finite thing, and is poured out upon all His Works ^. But Wisdom, thus " created from the beginning before the world," and having an unfailing existence % is bidden by God to make her " dwelling in Jacob, and her inheritance in IsraeP." Wisdom is thus the prolific mother of all forms of moral beauty'^; she is given to aU of God's true children d; but she is specially resident in the holy Law, "which Moses commanded for an heritage unto the congregations of Jacobs." Jn that beautiful chapter which con- tains this passage. Wisdom is conceived of as all- operative, yet as hmited by nothing ; as a physical yet also as a spiritual power ; as eternal and yet y So apparently Dollinger, Heidentlium unci Judenthum, bk. x. part iii. sec. 2. ^ Ecclus. i. I- 10. a Ibid. xxiv. 9. ^ Ibid. vers. 8-12. <^ Ibid. vers. 13-18. '1 Ibid. <= Ibid. ver. 23. 94 " tVisdom" in the Greek Supieidial Books. [Lect. having definite relations to time ; above all, as perpetually extending the range of her frmtful self-manifestation f. Not to dwell upon language to the same effect in Baruch?, we may observe that in the Book of Wisdom the Sophia is more dis- tinctly personal^. If this Book is less prominently theocratic than Ecclesiasticus, it is even more ex- phcit as to that supreme dignity of Wisdom which is seen in its relation to God. Wisdom is a pure stream flowing from the glory of the Almighty' ; Wisdom is that spotless mirror which reflects the operations of God, and upon which He gazes as He works'"; Wisdom is the Brightness of the Everlasting Light'; Wisdom is the very Image of the Good- ness of God'". Material symbols are unequal to doing justice to so spiritual an essence : " Wisdom is more beautiful than the sun, and above aU the order of the stars ; being compared with the light she is found before it"." " Wisdom is more moving than any motion : she passeth and goeth through aU things by reason of her pureness"." Her sphere is not merely Palestine, but the world, not this or f Cf. especially Ecclus. xxiv. 5-8, 10-18, 25-28, and i. 14-17. S Compare Baruch iii. 14, 15, 29-32, 35, 36, and the remark- able verse 37. h Liicke, who holds that in the Book of Proverbs and in Ecclesi- asticus there is merely a personification, sees a ' dogmatic hypos- tatizing' in Wisd. vii. 22, sqq. Cf. too Dahne, Alexandrinische Keligionsphilosophie, ii. 134, &c. > Wisd. vii. 25. ^ Ibid. vii. 26 : etTOiTTpov dKrfklBwTou TTji Tov Qfov epfpyfias. 1 Ibid, a-rravyaa-na fjiaros d'idiov, compare Heb. i. 3. "^ Ibid. eiKoiv Trjs dyadoTriTos tov Qeov, compare 2 Cor. iv. 4, Col. i. I 5. " Ibid. vii. 29. " Ibid. ver. 24, compare ver. 27. IL] Its identity loith the "JFord." 95 that age, but the history of humanity. All that is good and true ia human thought is due to her : "in all ages entermg into holy souls she maketh them friends of God and prophets?." Is there not here, in an Alexandrian dress, a precious and vital truth sufficiently famihar to believing Christians 1 Do we not already seem to catch the accents of those weighty formulae by wliich Apostles will presently define the pre- existent Gloiy of J,heir Majestic Lord "? Yet are we not steadily continuing, with no very considerable measure of expansion, in that very hue of sacred thought to which the patient servant of God in the desert, and the wisest of kings in Jeru- salem, have already, and so authoritatively, intro- duced us 1 The doctrine may be traced at a stage beyond, in the writings of Philo Judaeus. We at once observe that its form is altered ; instead of the Wisdom or Sophia we have the Logos or Word. PhUo indeed might have justified the change of phraseology by an appeal even to the Hebrew Scriptures. In the Hebrew Books, the Word of Jehovah manifests the energy of God : He creates the heavens'); He governs the world'". Accordingly, among the Palestinian Jews, the Chaldee paraplirasts almost always represent God as acting, not imme- diately, but through the mediation of the Memra^ or Word. In the Greek Sapiential Books, the Word is apparently identical with the Wisdom'; but the P Wisd. vii. 27. 1 Ps. xxxiii. 6. nin' -\Ti. r Ps. cxlvii. 15 ; Isai. Iv. 11. « NID^D or nm t Thus in Ecclus. xxiv. 3 the (ro<^ia Bfov uses the language which might be expected of the Xdyor GeoC, in saying that she came forth 96 Identity of the "Wmlom" and the "Word." [Lect. Wisdom is always prominent, the Word is rarely mentioned''. Yet the Logos of Ecclesiasticus is the from the Mouth of the Most High ; while in chap. i. 5 we are told expressly that 7n;-yi7 (ro4>ias Xdyor eeov. In the Book of Wisdom o-oipla is identified on the one side with the liyiov nvevixa TraiSeias (chap. i. 4, 5), and the 7rveviJ.a Kvpiov (ver. 7) ; irvevfi-a and cro0ta are united in the expression wvevfia a-o(pias (vii. 7; compare ix. 17). On the other side cro(pt.a and the Xo'yos are both instruments of creation (Wisd. ix. I, 2 ; for the nveviia, cf. Gen. i. 2, and Ps. xxxiii. 6), they both 'come down from heaven' (Ibid. ver. 10, and xviii. 15, and the Twei/ia, ix. 17), and achieve the deliverance of Israel from Egypt (cf. xviii. 15 with x. 15-20). The representation seems to point to no mere ascription of identical functions to altogether distinct conceptions or Beings, but to the inner essential unity of the Spirit, the Word and the Wisdom. " Es ist an sich eine und dieselbe gottliche Kraft, die nach aussen wirksam ist, aber es sind verschiedene Beziehungen und Arten dieser Wirksamkeit, wornach sie Wort, Geist, Weisheit Gottes genannt wird." Kuhn, p. 27. That the wneOfia really pointed to a distinct Hypostasis in God became plain only at a later time to the mind of His people. On the relations of the niH' nil, the nD3n, and the nin"i "131 to each other, see Kuhn, p. 24. " Kuhn has stated the relation of the ' Wisdom,' ' Word,' and ' Spirit' to God and to each other, in the Sapiential Books, as follows : ■ — " Die unterschiedung Gottes und Seiner offenbarung in der Welt ist die Folie, auf der sich ein innerer Untcrschied in Gott abspiegelt, der Unterchied Gottes namlich von Seinem Worte, Seiner Weisheit. Diese, wiewohl sie zunachst blosse Eigensohaften und somit Sein an Sich seiendes Wesen, oder Krafte und Wirksamkeiten Gottes nach aussen, somit dasselbe Wesen, sofern Es Sich in der Welt manifestirt, ausdrucken, erscheinen sofort tiefer gefasst als etwas fiir sich, unter dem Gesichtspunkt eines eigenen gottlichen Wesens, einer gottlichen Person. Unter einander verhalten sie sich aber so, dass einerseits Wort und Geist, desgleichen andrerseits Wort und Weisheit Gottes theils unterscheiden, theils aber auch wieder wesentlich gleichbedeu- tend genommen sind, so dass ausser dem Hauptunterschiede Gottes von Seinem Andern noch ein weiterer, der Untersoliied dieses Andern von einem Dritten hinzuzukommen, zugleioh aber auch die Identitat II.] Tie "Word" eclipses He "JTudom" in Pkilo Jndmis. 97 oigaa of crraition^ while in the Book of Wisdom the Ix^os is dearly personified, aad is a minister of the Drvine Judgments In Philo, however, the Sophia feJls into the backgronndy, and the Logos is the symbol of the general doctrine, for other reasons perhaps, but mainly as a natoral result of Philo's profound sympathy with Stoic and Platonic thought. If the Book of Wisdom adopts Platonic phraseology, its fimdamental ideas are contiuuons with those of iie Hebrew Scriptures.' Philo, on the contrary, is a hearty Platonist ; his Platonism enters into the very marrow of his thought. It is true that in Philo Platonism and the Jewish RcTelation are made to converge, but the process of their attempted as- similation is an awkward and violent one, and it des Omen (nnter ^eli nnd mit Gott) gemeinsamen Wesens angeden- tet za sdn soheint." Lefaie Ton GottL Drejeini^eit, p. 2J. ■'^ Ecchis. xliii. 26. ^ Wisd. sriiL 15. f I^iilo distinginshes between Wisdom and Fhflosoph j : Philoeo- jAj or wise Ihriiig is the slaTe of Wisdom or Science ; m^ia is hsurrignf Ocuam mi m^jposiVfiiV Km tw rmrev aknmm ^Cong. Qo. £jlld. Giat. § 14, ed. Man gey, tom. L pt 530). Philo explains Exod. xsir. 6 aO^oricall^, as the basis of a distinction between Wisdom as it exists in men and in Giod, to 0fu» yams ofuyss cm A p m- w {Qnis Bo'. Dir. H»r. f 38, L p. 498). Wisdom is the mother of the world (Qnod Det. Potiori Insid. § 16, L pu 202); her wealth is witiiont Umits, she is like a deep wdL a poeunial fountain, &c. Bat Hiilo does not in anj" case seem to personify Wisdom ; his doctrine of Wisdom is eclipsed by that of the L<^os. * VaAerot (Ecole d'Alexandrie, toL i p. 134. Introd.) say? of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticos : " Ces montunens rarferment pea de traces des idees Grecqaes dont ils semblent avoir precede Y inTasion en Orient'" Ecclesiasticos was written in Hebrew nnder the Higfa- Priesthood of Simon I, B.C. 303-284^ by Jesas the Son of Sirach, and translated into Greek by his grandson, who came to reside at Alexandria under Ptolemy Energetes. H 98 BovMe character of the mind of PJiilo. [Lect. involves the great Alexandrian in much involuntary self-contradiction. Philo indeed is ia perpetual em- barrassment between the pressure of his intellectual Hellenic instincts on the one side, and the dictates of his rehgious conscience as a Jewish behever on the other. He constantly abandons himself to the currents of Greek thought around him, and then he endeavours to set himself right with the Creed of Sinai, by throwing his Greek ideas into Jewish forms. If his Logos is apparently moulded after the pattern of the vovg ^aa-iKiKO? ev t^ tou A(o? (pvcrei — the Regal Principle of Intelligence in the Nature of Zeus — with which we meet in the Philebus of Plato", Philo doubtless would fain be translating and ex- plaining the mn'' 121 of the Hebrew Canon, in perfect loyalty to the Faith of Israel The Logos of PhOo evidently pre-supposes the Platonic doctrine of Ideas ; but then, with Philo, these Ideas are some- thing more than the models after which creation is fashioned, or than the seals which are impressed upon concrete forms of existence''. The Ideas of Philo are energizing powers or causes whereby God carries out His plan of creation'^. Of these a Plat. Philebus, p. 30. " There is not," says Professor Mansel, " the slightest evidence that the Divine Pieason was represented by- Plato as having a distinct personality, or as being anything more than an attribute of the Divine IMind." Cf. art. Philoisophy, in Kitto's C'ycl. of Bibl. Literature, new ed. b Cf. Philo, de Mund. Opif. § 44, torn. L p. 30 ; Legis Allegor. i. § 9, torn. i. p. 47. c De !Monarchia, i. § 6, torn. ii. p. 219: ovofiaf overt 8e airas ovk otto fTKCmOV TlViS TOiV TTQp Vy.1v Id^aS, €77€idr} €KaV IblOTTOlOlXTi, Ta araxra TaTTOvcraL, Koi Ta arreipa Kat dopurra KaX aaxqpxLTUTTa ncpaTovcrcu Kal Tvepiopi^ovrrai Koi crx^fiaTi^ovtrai. ical a-mnSkas to -j^eipov els to Sfieivov II.] Relation, ofPMU^s Logos to his theosophy. 99 energetic forces, the Ijogos, according to Philo, is the compendium, the concentration. Philo's Logos is a nec^saiy complement of his philosophical doctrine concerning Grod. Philo indeed, as the devout Jew, believes in God as a Personal Being Who has constant and certain dealings with mankind; Philo, in his Greek moods, conceives of God not merely as a single simple Essence, but as beyond personality, beyond any definite form of existence, infinitely dis- tant from all relations to created life, incapable of any contact even with a spiritual creation, subtilized into an abstraction altogether transcending the most abstract conceptions of impersonal being. It might even seem as if Philo had chosen for Ms master, not Plato the theologian of the Timseus, but Plato the pure dialectician of the Republic. But how is such an abstract God as this to be also the Creator and the Providence of the Hebrew Bible 1 Cer- tainly, according to Philo, matter existed before creation^ ; but how did God mould matter into created forms of life ? This, Philo will reply, was the work of the Logos, that is to say, of the ideas coHectively. The Philonian Logos is the Idea of ideas® ; he is the shadow of God by which as by an instrument He made the worlds^ ; he is himself lieSaftiut^oiKPm, Comp. the remarkable passage in De Yict. Offer. § 13, toDi. ii. p. 261. d In one passage only does Philo appear to ascribe to God the careation of matter. De Somn. i. § 13, tom. L 632. If so, for once Ms Jewish conscience is too strong for his Platonism. But even here iis meaning is at best doubtful Cf. DoUinger, Heid. und Judenth. bk. x. pt 3, § 5. * De Mundi Opif. § 6 j L p. 5 : iSe'a ri>v Ibeav 6 6eov \6yos. f Legis AU^or. iiL 3 1 j i, p. 106 : 'jZ > L)e Migr. Abraham. § 18, i. 452. De Oigant. § 11 : 6 dp-^Lipfvi X'^oi. II.~ Is tie Zf'ji^-* efPiiiajufraoHai/ 101 by aa ecstatic iatuition to a knovrledofc of the supreme God" : he is tiixis the nutriment of human souls and a source of spiritual delights p. The Lt^tKS is the eldest angel or the archangel''; he is Gods Eldest, His Firstborn Son"^ : and we almost seem to touch upon the apprehension of that sublime, that verv Highest Form of commimicated Life, which is exclusive of the ideas of iiifeiioiit\- and of time, and -wiiich was afterwards so hap- pilj and authoritatively expressed by the doctrinal jbrmula of an eternal generation. But, as we listen. we ask oui-selves one capital and inevitable question : Is Hiilos Logos a personal beuig. or is he after all a pure abstraction J Philo is silent ; for on such a point as this the Greek and the Jew in him are hopelessly at issue. PhUo's whole system and drift of thought must have inclined bim to pei-sonity tl\e Logv^ : but was the personified Logos to be a second Onxi. or "rt"as he to be nothing more than a civated angel I K the latter, then he would lose all those lofty prercgatives and characteristics, "■' Lt^s Allegv>r. uL § 75- i- uS : ofres [so. £ XvK«is" •jojj ^i^w rMV oT^wr d» eS| ^»s^ Tw de ~ '^fi^'^V <*■ ^'■'^■•" Ai>]fas fei »ire\-^ eou^ ^pama. C£ ako ^ 6a. De Somniis, J 5 7. L 691 t Tip 7<.i? am nx ^emw \aymt piwm i^tT^-^ p^ c-Aj.~i oi^ ru^ii c«ji^>ai|k oorra &• vulm» anq^mvi cat a^^juRt. 9 De Cf.~ATun.» mar e 102 Philo's indecision. [Lect. wMch, platonically speaking, as well as for the purposes of mediation and creation, were so entirely essential to him. If the former, then Philo must break with the very first article of the Mosaic creed ; he must renomice his Monotheism. Con- fronted with this difficulty, the Alexandrian wavers in piteous indecision ; he really recoils before it. In one passage indeed he even goes so far as to call the Logos a 'second GodV and he is accordingly ranked by Petavius among the forerunners of Arius. But on the whole he appears to fall back upon a position which, however fatal to the completeness of his system, yet has the recommendation of relieving him from an overwhelming difficulty. After all that he has said, his Logos is reaUy resolved into a mere group of Divine ideas, into a purely imper- sonal quality included in the Divine Being'. That 8 Fragment quoted from Euseb. Prsep. Evang. lib. vii. c. 13 in Phil. Oper. ii. 625 : Bvtjtov yap ov8ev dneiKovia-Brjvai Trpoi top dva>TaTrer"s ccoehisions. (Ibid. p. 454, note.) And I quote the following wwrds with sincere pleasure : " The object of the Gospel is real, present, snlstantial, — an object such as men may see with their eyes and hold in their hands. . . . But in Plulo the object is shadowy, distant, indistinct : whether an idea or a feet we scarcely know. . . . Were we to come near?r to it. it woald vanish away." (Ibid, p, 413. ist e-J.: p. 509, and ed., in which th«e are a few Tariation&) A study of the passages referred to in Mangey's index wilL it is beKcTed, convince any unprejudiced reader that Philo did not know his own mind : that his Logos was sometimes impersonal and soaietimes not, or that he sometimes fii<>Mj^ of a personal Logos, and never odiiad in one. 104 Moral interval between Philo and the Gospel. [Lect. Lord's Pre-existent Godhead, which meets us under a somewhat similar phraseological form" in the pages of the New Testament. When it is assumed that the Logos of St. John is but a reproduction of the Logos of Philo the Jew, this assumption overlooks fundamental discrepancies of thought, and rests its case upon occasional coincidences of language^. For besides the contrast between the abstract ideal Logos of Philo, and the concrete Personal Logos of the Fourth Evangehst, which has already been noticed, there are even deeper differences, which would have made it impossible that an Apostle should have sat in spirit as a pupil at the feet of the Alexandrian, or that he should have allowed himself to breathe the same general religious atmosphere. Philo is everywhere too Httle ahve to the presence and to the consequences of moral evil"'. The history of '^ On the general question of the phraseological coincidences between Philo and the writers in the New Testament, see the passages quoted in Professor Mansel's article ' Philosophy ' (Kitto's Encycl.), already refeiTed to. I could sincerely wish that I had had the advantage of reading that article before writing the test of these pages. ^' " Gfrorer," Professor Jowett admits, " has exaggerated the re- semblances between Philo and the New Testament, making them, I think, more real and less verbal than they are in fact." (Ep. of St. Paul, i. 454, note.) "II est douteux," says M. E. Vacherot, "que Saint Jean, qui n' a jamais visite Alexandrie, ait connu les livres du philosophe juif." Histoire Critique de I'ecole d'Alexandrie, i. p. 201. And the limited circulation of the writings of the theoso- phical Alexandrians would appear from the fact that Philo himself appears never to have read those of his master Aristobulus. Cf. Valkenaer, de Aristobulo, p. 95. ^ See the remarks of M. E. de Pr6ssense, J^sus - Christ, p. 112. II.] Doctrinal interval between PMlo and the Gospel. 105 Israel, instead of displaying a long, earnest struggle between the Goodness of God and the wickedness of men, interests Philo only as a complex allegory, which, by a versatile exposition, may be made to illus- trate various ontological problems. The priesthood, and the sacrificial system, instead of pointing to man's profound need of pardon and expiation, are resolved by him into the symbols of certain cosmical facts or theosophic theories. Philo therefore scarcely hints at the Messiah, although he says much concerning Jewish expectations of a brighter future ; he knows no means of reconciliation, of redemption ; he sees not the need of them. According to Philo, salvation is to be worked otit by a perpetual speculation upon the eternal order of things ; and asceticism is of value in assisting man to ascend into an ecstatic philoso- phical reverie. The profound opposition between such a view of man's moral state and that stern appeal to the humbling realities of human life which is insepa- rable from the teaching of Christ and His Apostles, would alone have made it improbable that the writers of the New Testament are under any real intellectual obhgations to Philo. Unless the preaching which could rouse the conscience to a keen agonizing sense of guilt is in harmony with a lassitude which ignores the moral misery that is in the world ; vinless the proclamation of an Atoning Victim crucified for the sins of men be reconcilable with an indifference to the existence of any true expiation for sin what- ever, it will not be easy to believe that Philo is the real author of the creed of Christendom. And this moral discrepancy does but tally with a like doc- trinal antagonism. According to Philo, the Divinity ort- 106 Real function of Lhe Akxandrian //i.coxop/ii/. [Lect. cannot touch that which ib m;i-torI;i,l : how can Philo then have been the teaclicr of ;i,n Apostle whone whole teaching expandtt the truth that tho Word, Himself essentially I)ivine, was maih; flesh and dwelt among us 1 Philo's real spirituaJ progimy must be sought clsowhere. Philo's method of inter- pretation may have passed into the Church ; Ik; is quoted by Clemc^nt ;i,nd Origen often and respect- fully. Yet Philo's doctrine, it hiis been well served, if niiturally developed, would h;iv(; ]<;d t( Docetism rather th;ir] to Christianity"; and wo trace its influence in forms of theosoptiie Gnosticism, which only agree in substituting the wildest lio(;rjci; of the metaphysical fancy, for simple submission to that historical fact of the Incarnation of God, which is the basis of the Gospel. But if Philo was not St. John's ma,sior, it is probable that his writings, or rather the general theosoj)hic movement of which they :i,re the most representative sample, may have supplied some eon- temporary heresies with their stock of metaphysicaJ maierial, and in this way may have determined, by an indirect a,ntagonism, the providontiaJ Form of St. John's doctrine. Nor can the general positive value of Philo's labours Ij(; mistaken, if he is viewed a,pa,rt from the use that modem HOf;[)tif:ism ha,s attempted to make of particular speculaXiijns to which he gave such shape and impulse. In making a way for some leading currents of Greek thought into thf; heart of the Jewish lievelation, hitherto well nigh altogether closed to it, Philo was not indeed iea,el]- ing positive truth, but he was breaking down some X DoiTicr, Person ChiJHti, i. .^^ (Y^nVM.). II.] Real function of the Alexandrian theosophy. 107 intellectual barriers against its reception, in the most thoughtful portion of the human family. In Philo, Greek Philosophy almost stood at the door of the Catholic Church ; but it was Greek Philoso- phy endeavouring to base itself, however precari- ously, upon the authority of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Logos of Philo, though a shifting and incom- plete speculation, may well have served as a guide to thoughtful minds from that region of luisettled enquiry that surrounds the Platonic doctrine of a Divine Reason, to the clear and strong Faith which welcomes the full Gospel Revelation of the Word made Flesh. Philo's Logos, while embodying ele- ments foreign to the Hebrew Scriptures, is never- theless in a direct hue of descent from the Inspired doctrine of the Wisdom in the Book of Proverbs ; and it thus illustrates the comprehensive vigour of the Jewish Revelation, which could countenance and direct, if it could not absolutely satisfy, those fitful guesses at and gropings after truth which were cur- rent in Heathendom. If Philo could never have created the Christian Doctrine which has been so freely ascribed to him, he could do much, however unconsciously, to prepare the soil of Alexandrian thought for its reception ; and from this point of view, his Logos must appear of considerably liigher importance than the parallel speculations as to the Memra, the Shekinah, the doctrine of the hidden and the revealed God, wliich in that and later ages belonged to the tradition of Palestinian Judaism y. " Providence," says the accurate Neander, y Compare Dorner, Person Christi, Einleit. p. 59, on the Adam Kadmon, and p. 60, on the Memra, Shekinah, and Metatron. " Zu 108 Relevancy of the foregoing discussion. [Lect. " had so ordered it, that in the intellectual world in which Christianity made its first appearance, many- ideas should be in circulation, which at least seemed to be closely related to it, and in which Christianity could find a point of connection with external thought, on which to base the doctrine of a God revealed in Christ^." Of these ideas we may well believe that the most generally difiused and the most instrumental was the Logos of Alexandria, if not the exact Logos of Philo. It is possible that such considerations as some of the foregoing, when viewed relatively to the great and vital doctrine which is before us in these Lectures, may be objected to on the score of being 'fanciful.' Nor am I insensible, my brethren, to the severity of such a condemnation when awarded by the practical intelhgence of Enghshmen. Still it is possible that such a criticism woiild betoken on the part of those who make it some lack of wise and generous thought. ' Fanciful,' after all, is a relative term ; what is solid in one field of study may be fanciful in another. Before we condemn a particular line of thought as 'fanciful,' we do well to enquire whether a penetration, a subtlety, der Idee einer Incarnation des ■vvirklich Gottlichen aber haben es alle diese Theologumene insgesammt nie gebraoht." They only involve a parastatio appearance of God, are symbols of His Presence, and are altogether impersonal ; or if personal (as the Metatron), they are clearly conceived of as created personalities. This helps to explain the fact that during the first three centuries the main attacks on our Lord's Godhead were of Jewish origin. Cf. Dorner, ubi sup. note 14. z Kirchen Geschichte, i. 3, p. 989. n.J TieIe;rUA belief i» a McSfini. 109 a versatility, I miglit add, a spirituality of intelli- gence, greater tlian ova: own mig ht not conTict the condemnation itsell* of an opposite demerit, which need not be more particularly described. Especially ill sacred Hterature the imputation of fancifiilness is a rash one ; since a sacred subject-matter is not Kkely, a. oi'iori. to be fau-lv amenable to the coarser tests and narrower views of a secular judgment. The review of those aduuibrations of the doctrine of our Lords Divinity in which we have been engaged is perhaps more likely to interest and re- assure a behever than to convince a sceptic. Christ's Divinity lightens up the Hebrew Scriptures, but to read them profitably by this light we must have some hold upon the truth from which it radiates. Yet it would be an error to suppose that the Old Testament has no relations to the doctrine of Christ's Godhead of a more independent character. The Old Testament witnesses to the existence of a great national behef, the importance of which cannot be ignored by any man who would do justice to the history of human thought. And we proceed to ask whether that beUef has any and what bearing upon the faith of Catholic Christendom as to the Person of her Lord, IL There is then one element, or condition of na- tional life, with which no nation can dispense. A nation must have its eye upon a lutui-e moi-e or less defined, but fau-ly within the apparent scope of its grasp. Hope is the soul of moral vitality; and any man, or society of men, who would live, in the moral sense of lite, must be lookino; forward to somethintr. You will scarcelv suspect me, my brethren, of seekiuir 110 Hope in a Future, essential [Lect. to disparage the great principle of tradition; — ^that principle to -which the Christian Church owes her sacred volume itself, no less than her treasure of formiilated doctrine, and the structural conditions and sacramental sources of her Hfe ; — that principle to which each generation of human society is deeply and inevitably indebted for the accumulated social and pohtical experiences of the generations before it. Precious indeed, to every wise man, to every association of truehearted and generous men, must ever be the inheritance of the past. Yet what is the past without the future'? What is memory when unaccompanied by hope \ Look at the case of the single soul. Is it not certain that a life of high earnest purpose wUl die outright, if it is per- mitted to sink into the placid reverie of perpetual retrospect, if the man of action becomes the mere ' laudator temporis acti \ ' How is the force of moral hfe developed and strengthened 1 Is it not by successive conscious efforts to act and to suffer at the caU of duty 1 Mvist not any moral life dwindle and fade away if it be not reaching for- ward to a standard higher, truer, purer, stronger; than its own 1 Will not the struggles, the sacrifices, the self-conquests even of a great character in bygone years, if they now occupy its whole field of vision, ; only serve to consummate its ruin 1 As it doatingly fondles them in memory, wiU it not be stiffened by conceit into a moral petrifaction, or consigned by sloth to the successive processes of moral decom- position ■? Has not the Author of our life so bound up its deepest instincts and yearnings with His own eternity, that no blessings in the past would II.] to Moral and Social Life. Ill be blessings to us, if they were utterly unconnected with the future '? So it is also in the case of a society. The greatest of all societies among men at this moment is the Church of Jesus Christ. Is she sustained only by the deeds and writings of her saints and martyrs in a distant past, or only by her reverent trustful sense of the Divme Pre- sence which blesses her in the actual present 1 Does she not resolutely pierce the gloom of the fviture and confidently reckon upon new struggles and triumphs on earth, and, beyond these, upon a home in Heaven, wherein she will enjoy rest and victory, — a rest that no trouble can disturb, a Arictory that no reverse can forfeit 1 Is not the same law familiar to us in this place, as it affects the well-being of a great educational institution 1 Here in Oxford we feel that we cannot rest upon the varied efforts and the accumulated credit even of ten centuries. We too have hopes embarked in the years or in the centuries before us ; we have duties towards them. We differ, it may be, even radically, among ourselves as to the direction in which to look for our academical future. The hopes of some of us are the fears of others. This project would fain banish from our system whatever proclaims that God has really spoken, and that it is man's duty and happiness gladly and submissively to welcome His message; while that scheme would endeavoru-, if possible, to fashion each one of our intellectual workmen more and more strictly after the type of a behoving and fervent Christian. The practical difference is indeed profound ; but we are entirely agreed as to the general necessity for looking for- 112 J Future necessary to the Chosen People, [Lect. ward. On both sides it is understood that an institution which is not strugghng upwards towards a higher future, must resign itself to the conviction that it is already in its decadence, and must expect to die. Nor is it otherwise with that conglomeration of men which we caU a nation, the product of race, or the product of circumstances, the product in any case of a Providential Will, Which welds into a common whole, for the purposes of united action and of reciprocal influence, a larger or smaller num- ber of human beings. A nation must have a future before it; a future which can rebuke its despondency and can direct its enthusiasm ; a future for which it will prepare itself; a future which it will aspire to create or to control. Unless it would barter away the vigorous nerve of true patriotism for the feeble pedantry of a souUess archaeology, a nation cannot fall back altogether upon the centuries which have flattered its ambition, or which have developed its material well-being. Something it must pro- pose to itself as an object to be compassed in the coming time ; something which is as yet beyond it. It will enlarge its frontier ; or it will develope its commercial resources ; or it wiU extend its schemes of colonization ; or it will erect its overgrown colo- nies into independent and friendly states ; or it will bind the severed sections of a divided race into one gigantic nationahty that shaU awe, if it do not subdue, the nations around. Or perchance its atten- tion wiU be concentrated on the improvement of its social Hfe, and on the details of its internal legislation. It will extend the range of civil privi- lege? . it will broaden the I asi? of government ; it will provide additional enoomagenients to and safeguards for pxiblic moralitv : it will steadilv aim at bettei-ing the condition cf the classes who are Ioi>?ed. bevond others, to work and to svji'er. Thajik- ful it may well be to the Author of all :;::'dness lor the enjoyment of pas: blessnio^s ; but the srii'it of a tiiie thanktViliiess is ever and veiw nearly allied to the energv of hope. Selr'-cc'inV'lace:!- a nation cannot be, unless it would reiisli. Woe radeed to the cominy which dares to assiiine that it has reached its zenith, and that it c-an achieve cr attempt no moiv ! Xow Israel as a nation was no* withdrawn from the operation of tliis law which mates the antici- pation of a better future of stioh vital imponance to the oommon life of a people. Israel indeed had been ci-adled in an atmosphere of physical and poH- tioal mii-acle. Her great lawgiver could point to the event which gave her national existence as to an event unique in liuman hisrorv'. Xo sttbsec[tient vicissitudes would obhterate the memory of the story which Israel treascj-ed in her inmost memory, the story of the stern Egyptian bondage followed by the tritmiphant Exodus. How i-etrcspe^.tive throuofhout is the sacred hteratm-e of Isi-ael ! It is not en:nirh that the gieat delivenvQee shovJd be accrirately chronicled : it must be expanded, apphed, insisted on in each of its many bearintrs and asiects bv the lawgiver who dii-ected and who described it : it must be echoed on from age to age. in the stern expostulations ot^ Prophets and m the plaintive » Deut. iv. 34. 114 This anticipated FutJire might have heen secular [Lect. or jubilant songs of Psalmists. Certainly the greater portion of the Old Testament is history. Israel was guided by the contents of her sacred books to live in much grateful reflection upon the past. Certainly, it was often her sin and her condem- nation that she practically lost sight of all that had been done for her. Yet if ever it were per- missible to forget the futrn-e, Israel, it should seem, might have forgotten it. She might have closed her eyes agamst the dangers which threatened her from beyond the Lebanon, from beyond the Eastern and the Southern desert, from beyond the Western Sea, from within hex own borders, from the streets and the palaces of her capital. She might have abandoned herself in an ecstasy of perpetuated triumph to the voices of her poets and to the roUs of her historians. But there was One Who had loved Israel as a child, and had called His infant people out of Egypt, and had endowed it with His Name and His Law, and had so fenced its hfe around by pro- tective institutions, that, as the ages passed, neither strange manners nor hostile thought should avail to corrupt what He had so bountifully given to it. Was He forgetful to provide for and to direct that instinct of expectation, without which as a nation it could not hve ? Had He indeed not thus provided, Israel might have struggled with vain energy after ideals such as were those of the nations around her. She might have spent herself, like the Tyrian or Sidonian merchant, for a large commerce; she might have watched eagerly, and fiercely, Uke the Cilician pirate or like the wild sons of the desert, for the spoils of adjacent civihzations ; she might have essayed to Iir iuf for *he BevrlafloH -fa Cruna J[:ys:ai. 115 combine, after the Greek pattern, a discreet measure of sensiialitT -^th a great activity of the specnlatire intellect : she might have done as did the Babylonian, or the Persian, or the Roman ; she might have at- tempted the establisliment of a world-vride tvi-anny aroimd the thi'one of a Hebrew Belshazzar or of a Hebrew Xero. Xor is her history altogether free ft-om the disturbing infliience of such ideals as -were these ; we do not forget the brigandage of the days of the Judges, or the imperial state and prowess of Solomon, or the commercial enterprise of Jeho- shaphat, or the union of much intellectual activity with low moral effort which marked more than one of the Eabbiuical schools. But the life and energy of the nation was not really embarked, ax least in its best days, in the piu-s\rit of these objects : their atti-active inllnence was intermittent, transient, acci- dental The expectation of Israel was steadily di- rected towards a future, the lustre of which woidd in some real sense more than ecHpse her gL:riotis past. That futnre was not sketched by the vain iningn'riino-s of populai" aspii-ations ; it was unveiled to the mind of the people by a long series of authoritative aimouncements. These announcements did not merely point to the introduction of a new state of things : they centred very remarkably upon a comino- Pei-son. God Himself votichsafed to s^itisty the instinct of hope which stistained the national life of His Own chosen people : and Israel hved for the expected Messiah. But Israel, besides being a civil polity, was a theocracy ; she was not merely a nation, she ^^■as a Ghnrch. In Israel reho-ion was not, as with the I 2 116 Israelitic Belief in a Living God, [Lect. peoples of pagan antiquity, a mere attribute or function of the national life. Keligion was the very soul and substance of the life of Israel ; Israel was a Chiu'ch encased, embodied, in a political consti- tution. Hence it was that the most truly national aspirations in Israel were her religious aspirations. Even the modern naturalist critics cannot fail to observe, as they read the Hebrew Scriptures, that the mind of Israel was governed by two dominant convictions, the like of which were unknown to any other ancient people. God was the first thought i in the mind of Israel. The existence, the presence of One Supreme, Living, Personal Being, Who alone exists necessarily, and of Himself: Who sustains the life of all besides Himself; before Whom, all that is not Himself is but a shadow and vanity ; from Whose sanctity there streams forth upon the conscience of man that moral law which is the light of human hfe ; and in Whose mercy all men, especially the afflicted, the sufiering, the poor, may, if they mil, find a gracious and long-suifering Patron, — this was the substance of the first great conviction of the people of Israel. Dependent on that conviction was another. The eye of Israel was not merely opened towards the heavens ; it was aHve to the facts of the moral human world. Israel was conscious of the presence and power of sin. The ' healthy sensuality,' as Strauss has admiringly termed it^, which pervaded b See Luthardt, Apologetische Vortr'age, vorl. vii. note 6. The expression occurs in Schubart's Leben, ii. 461. Luthardt quotes a very characteristic passage from Goethe (vol. xxx. Winckelmann, Antlkes Heidnisches, pp. 10-13) to the same effect. "If the modern, II.] ariJ ill fie /■ealifi/ of Sin. 117 the whole fabric of Hfe amono- the Greeks, had closed lip the eye of that gilted race to a perception which was so faniihar to the Hebrews. We may trace indeed throtighotit the best Greek poetry a view of deep suppressed melancholy"^, but the secret of this subtle, this inestingtiishable sorrow was tin known to the accomplished artists who gxire to it an involuntary expression, and who lavished their choicest resotuves npon the oft-repeated efl'ort to veil it beneath the bright and graceful drapeiy of a vei-satile light-heart edness peculiarly thek own. But the Jew knew that sin was the secret of htmian sorrow : he conld not forget sin if he would, for before his eyes the impoitimate existence and the destructive force of sin were inexorably picttu'ed in the ritual. He witnessed daily sacrifices for sin ; he witnessed the sacrifice of sacrifices which was oflered on the Day of Atonement, and by which the • nation of religion,' impersonated in its High Priest, ;it almost every reflection, casts himself into the Infinite, to rettirn at last, if he can. to a limited point ; the ancients feel themselves at once, and without turther wanderings, at ease only witliin the limits of this beautiful ^rorld. Here were they placed, to this were they called, here their activity has found scope, and their passions objects and nourishment.'' The •■ heathen mind.'' he says, produced '" such a condition of htiman existence, a condition in- tended bv nature," that " both in the moment of highest enjoyment and in that of deepest sacrifice, nay, of absolute ruin, we reoocnise the indestructibly healthy tone of their thought.' Sin.i'.arly in Strauss' Leben Marklin's. 1S51. p. 12- . Marklin says. "I would with all my heart be a heathen, for here I find truth, nature, ijreatiiess.'' •^ See the beautiful passage quoted from Lasau'.x, Abhandlung fiber den SLnn der CEdiptis-sasre. p. 10. by Luthardt. ubi supra, note 7. 118 The Idea of Sin protected ly the Mosaic ritual. [Lect. solemnly laid its sins upon the sacrificial victim, and bore the blood of atonement into the Presence- chamber of God. Then the moral law sounded in his ears ; he knew that he had not obeyed it. If the Jew could not be sure that the blood of buUs and goats really effected his reconciliation with God ; if his own prophets told him that moral obedience was more precious in God's sight than sacrificial oblations \ if the ritual, interpreted as it was by the Decalogue, created yearnings within him which it could not satisfy, and deepened a sense of pollution which of itself it could not re- lieve ; yet at least the Jew could not ignore sin, or thuik lightly of it, or essay to gUd it over with the levities of raillery. He could not screen from his sight its native blackness, and justify it to himself by a pliilosophical theory which should represent it as inevitable, or as being something else than what it is. The ritual forced sin in upon his daily thoughts ; the ritual inflicted it upon his imagi- nation as being a terrible and present fact ; and so it entered into and coloured his whole conception alike of national and of individual life. Thus was it that this sense of sin moulded aU true Jewish hopes, all earnest Jewish anticipations of the national future. A future which promised political victory or de- liverance, but which offered no relief to the sense of sin, would have faUed to meet the better as- pirations, and to cheer the real heart of a people which, amid whatever unfaithfulness to its measure of light, yet had a true knowledge of God, and was keenly alive to the fact and to the effects of moral evil. And He Who, by His earlier revelations, had II.] JBa^is of tie Jlessiaiiic Belief origbiaUy religious. 119 Himself made the moral needs of Israel so deep, and had bidden the hopes of Israel rise so high, vouchsafed to meet the one, and to ofler a plenary satisfaction to the other, in the doctriae of an expected Messiah. It is then a shalloTv misapprehension which re- presents the Messianic behef as a sort of outlying prejudice or superstition incidental to the later thought of Israel, and to which Christianity has attributed an exaggerated impoitance, that it may the better find a basis in Jewish history for the Person of its Founder. The Messianic behef was in truth interwoven with the deepest life of the people. The promises which formed and fed this belief are distributed alone; nearlv the whole ranwe of the Jewish annals, while the belief rests originally upon sacred traditions, which cany us up to the very cradle of the human family, although they are pre- served in the sacred Hebrew Books. It is of importance to enquire whether this general Mes- sianic behef carried alono- with it any definite convictions respecting the Personal Eani of the Beino" ^Tio was its obiect. In the gradual imfolding of the Messianic doctrine, three stages of development may be noted within the Emits of the Hebrew Canon, and a fotirth beyond it. (a) Of these the first appears to end with Moses. The Protevangehiun contams a broad indeterminate prediction of a victory of htunanity'-^ <5 So fno of the Targiims, wliicli nevertheless refer the ful- filment of the promise to the days of the King Messiah. The singular form of the collective noun would here, as in Gen. sxii. iS, have been intended to surest an individual descendant. 120 First period of Messianic Prophecy. [Lect. over the Evil Principle that had seduced man to his fall. The ' Seed of the woman ' is to bruise the serpent's head^. With the lapse of years this blessing, at first so general and indefinite, is nar- rowed down to something in store for the posterity of Shem^, and subsequently for the descendants of Abrahams. In Abraham's Seed all the famihes of the earth are to be blessed. Already within this bright but indefinite prospect of deliverance and blessing, we discern the emerging Form of a Per- sonal Dehverer. St. Paul argues, in accordance with the Jewish interpretation, that ' the Seed ' is here a personal Messiah''; the singular form of the word denoting His individuality, while its collective ' force suggests the representative character of His Human Nature. The characteristics of this personal Messiah emerge gradually in successive predictions. The dying Jacob looks forward to a Shiloh as One to Whom of right belongs the regal and legislative authorityi, and to Whom the obedient nations will be gathered. Balaam sings of the Star That wiU come out of Jacob and the Sceptre That will rise out of IsraeP. This is something more than an e Gen. iii. 15 ; of. Kom. xvi. 20; Gal. iv. 4; Heb. ii. 14; i St. John iii. 8. f Gen. ix. 26. g Ibid. xxii. 18. ^ Gal. iii. 16. See the Eabbinical authorities quoted byWetstein, in loo. ' Gen. xlix. 10. On the reading n^tJ* see Pusey, Daniel the Prophet, p. 252. The sense given in the text is supported by Targum Onkelos, Jerusalem Targum, the Syr. and Arab, versions, those of Aquila and Symmachus, and substantially by the LXX. and Vulgate. k Num. xxiv. 17. II.] The Divinity of Messiah not here stated hut implied. 121 anticipation of the reign of David : it manifestly points to the glory and power of a Higher Royalty. Moses 1 foretells a Prophet Who would in a later age be raised up from among the Israelites, like unto himself This Prophet accordingly was to be the Lawgiver, the Teacher, the Ruler, the Deliverer of Israel. If the prophetic order at large is included in this prediction"', it is only as being personified in the Last and the Greatest of the Prophets, in the One Prophet who was to reveal perfectly the mind of God, and whose words were to be implicitly obeyed. During this primary period we do not find explicit assertions of the Divinity of Messiah. But in that predicted victory over the Evil One ; in that blessing which is to be shed on all the fami- lies of the earth; in that rightful sway over the gathered peoples ; in the absolute and perfect teach- ing of that Proj)het Who is to be like the great Lawgiver while yet He transcends him, — must we not trace a predicted destiny which reaches higher than the known Hmits of the highest human energy? Is not this early prophetic language only redeemed from the imputation of exaggeration or vagueness, by the point and justification which are secvired to it through the more explicit disclosures of a succeeding age 1 (/3) The second stage of the Messianic doctrine centres in the reigns of David and Solomon. The form of the prophecy here as elsewhere is suggested 1 Deut. xviii. i8, 19; see Hengstenberg's Christologie des A. T. vol. i. p. 90; Acts iii. 22, vii. 37 ; St. John i. 21, vi. 14, xii. 48, 49. m Cf. Deut. xviii. 15. 122 Second 2]erioil of Messian'ic FropJieci/. [Lect. by the period at wliich it is uttered. When mankind was limited to a single family, the Hope of the future had lain in the seed of the woman : the Patriarchal age had looked forward to a descendant of Abraham ; the Mosaic to a Prophet and a Legis- lator. In like mamier the age of the Jewish mo- narchy in its bloom of youth and prowess, was bid- den fix its eye upon an Ideal David Who was to be the King of the future of the world. Not that the colouring or form of the prophetic announcement lowered its scope to the level of a Jewish or of a. human monarchy. The promise of a kingdom to David and to Iris house for ever'^, a promise on which, we know, the great Psalmist rested at the hour of his death °, could not be fuhilled by any mere continuation of his dynasty on the throne of Jerusalem. It implied, as both David and Solomon saw, some Superhuman Royalty. Of this Royalty the Messianic Psalms present us vdth a series of pictures, each of which illustrates a distinct aspect 1 2 Sam. vii. i6 (Ps. Ixxxix. 36, 37; St. John xii. 34). "From David's address to God, after receiving the message by Natlian, it is plain that David understood the Son promised to be tlie Messiah in Whom liis house was to be establishoil for ever. But tlie words which seem most expressive of this are in tliis verse now rendered very unintelligibly ' and is this the manner of man "? ' whereas the words DTxn niin riNTI literally signify ' and this is (or must lie) the law of the man, or of the Adam,' i.e. this promise must relate to the law, or ordinance, made by God to Adam concerning the Seed of the woman, the Man, or the Second Adam, as the Messiah is expressly called by St. Paul, I Cor. XV. 43-47." — Kennioott, Eemarks on the Old Testament, p. 115. He confirms this interpretation by comparing i Chron. xvii. 17 with Rom. v. 14. ° 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. ,11.] Witness of the Messianic Psalms. 123 of its dignity, while all either imply or assert the Divinity of the King. In the second Psahn, for instance, Messiah is associated with the Lord of Israel as His Anointed SonP, while against the authority of Both the heathen nations are rising in rebellion 1. Messiah's inheritance is to include all heathendom^ ; His Sonship is not merely theocratic or ethical, but Divhie*. AU who trust in Him are blessed ; all who incur His wrath must perish with a sharp and swift destruction'. In the first recorded prayer of the Chiuch of Christ*^, in St. Paul's sermon at Antioch of Pisidia^, in the argument which opens the Epistle to the Hebrews^, this Psalm is quoted in such senses, that if we had no Rabbinical text-books at hand, we covdd not doubt the behef of the Jewish Church respecting it>. The forty-fifth Psahn is a picture of the peaceful and glorious union of the King Messiah with His mystical bride, the Church of redeemed humanity. Messiah is introduced as a Divine Kmg reigning P Ps. ii. 7- q Ibid. ver. 2. r Ibid. vers. 8, 9. s Ibid. ver. 7 . t Ibid. ver. 1 2. See Dr. Pusey's note on St. Jerome's rendering of ~\1 IpB'J, Daniel the Prophet, p. 478, note 2. " Acts iv. 25, 26. '•' Ibid. xiii. 33. ^ Heb. i. 5 ; of. Rom. i. 4. y The Chaldee Targum refers this Psalm to the Messiah. So the Bereshith Rabba. The interpretation was changed with a view to avoiding the pressure of the Christian arg-uments. " Our masters," says R. Solomon Jarchi, "have expounded [this Psalm] of King Messiah; but, according to the letter, and for furnishing answer to the Minim [i. e. the Christian ' heretics ], it is better to interpret it of David himself." Quoted by Pocock, Porta Mosis, note, p. 307. See too Dr. Pye Smith, Messiah, p. 197. 124 IFifiiess of the ^less'iauic Psalms [Lect, among men. His Form is of more than lauman beauty ; His Lips overflow with grace ; God has blessed Him for ever, and has anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows. But Messiah is also directly addressed as God ; He is seated upon an everlasting throne^. Neither of these Psalms can be adapted without exegetical violence to the circumstances of Solomon or of any other king of ancient Israel ; and the New Testament interprets the picture of the Royal Epithalamium, no less than that of the Royal triumph over the in- surgent heathen, of the one true King Messiah ^ In another Psalm the character and extent of this z Dr. Pusey observes that of those who Iiave ciKleavoured to evade the literal sense of the words addressed to King Messiah (ver. 6), " Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever," " no one who thought he could so construct the sentence that the word Kloldm need not designate the being addressed, doubted that Elohim. signified God ; and no one who thought that he could make out for the word Elulihn. any other meaning than that of ' God,' doubted that it designated the being addressed. A right instinct prevented each class from doing more \iolence to gi-nnnnar or to idiom than he needed, in order to escape the truth which he dis- liked. If people thought that they might paraphi-ase ' Thy throne, O Judge ' or ' Prince,' or ' image of God,' or ' who art as a God to Pharaoh,' they hesitated not to render with us ' Thy throne is for ever and ever.' If men think that they may assume such an idiom as ' Thy throne of God ' meaning ' Thy Divine throne,' or ' Thy throne is God ' meaning ' Thy thrcnie is the throne of God,' they doubt not that Elohim means purely and simply God. . . . If people could persuade themselves that the words were a parenthetic address to God, no one would hesitate to own their meaning to be ' Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever.' " Daniel the Pro- phet, pp. 470, 471, and note 8. Eev. v. 13. a Heb. i. 8. II.] to the Divinity of the Christ. 125 Messianic Sovereignty are more distinctly pictured'^. Solomon, when at the height of his power, sketches a Superhuman King, ruling an empire which in its character and in its compass altogether transcends his own. The extremest boundaries of the kmgdom of Israel melt away before the gaze of the Psalmist. The new kingdom reaches " from sea to sea, and from the flood unto the world's end*'." From each frontier of the Promised Land, the new kingdom ex- tends to earth's remotest regions in the opposite quarter. From the Mediterranean it reaches to the ocean that washes the shores of Eastern Asia ; from the Euphrates to the utmost West. At the feet of its mighty monarch all who are most inaccessible to the arms or to the influence of Israel hasten to tender their voluntary submission. The wild sons of the desert '', the merchants of Tarshish in the then distant Spain®, the islanders of the Mediterra- nean f, the Arab chiefs^, the wealthy Nubians^, are foremost in prqferfing their homage and fealty. But all kings are at last to fall down in submission before the Puler of the new kingdom ; all nations are to do Him service'. His empire is to be co-extensive with the world : it is also to be co-enduring with time '^. His empire is to be spiritual ; it is to confer peace on the world, but by righteousness l. The King will Himself secure righteous judgment"", salvation", deliverance", redemption p, to His sub- b Ps. Ixxii. c Ibid. ver. 8. d Ibid. ver. 9, D"S. e Ibid. ver. 10. f Ibid. 8 Ibid, t Ibid. N3D. > Ibid. ver. 11. k Ibid. ver. 17. > Ibid. ver. 3. ™ Ibid. vers. 2, 4. i> Ibid. vers. 4, 13. " Ibid. ver. 12. p Ibid. ver. 14. 126 Divine Moyalty of the Messiah of David. [Lect. jects. The needy, the afflicted, the friendless, will be the especial objects of His tender carei. His appearance in the world wiU be like the descent of 'the rain upon the mown grass'';' the true life of man seems to have been killed out, but it is yet ca- pable of being restored by Him. He Himself, it is hinted, wiU be out of sight ; but His Name will endure for ever ; His Name will ' propagate ' ; ' and men shall be blessed in Him', to the end of time. This King is immortal ; He is also aU-knowing and aU-mighty. " Omniscience alone can hear the cry of every human heart ; Omnipotence alone can bring dehverance to every human sufferer"." Look at one more representation of this Royalty, that to which our Lord Himself referred, in dealing with his Jewish opponents". David describes his Great Descendant Messiah as his 'Lord^.' Messiah is sit- ting on the right hand of Jehovah, as the partner of His dignity. Messiah reigns upon a throne which impiety alone could assign to any human monarch ; He is to reign until His enemies are made His footstool^ ; He is ruler now, even among His unsub- dued opponents ^ In the day of His power, His people offer themselves willingly to His service ; they are clad not in earthly armour, but ' in the beauties of holiness'^. Messiah is Priest as well as Kingc ; He is an everlasting Priest of that older order which had been honoured bv the father of <1 Ps. Ixxii. 12, 13. r Ibid. ver. 6; cf. 2 Sam. xxiii. 4. s Ps. Ixxii. 17. t Ibid. 11 Daniel the Prophet, p. 479. X St. Matt. xxii. 41-45; Ps. ex. i. y Ps. ex. i. 2 Ps. ex. I. a Ibid. ver. 2. b Ibid. ver. 3. <= Ibid. ver. 4. n.J Third ^riod ofJIessiame Prophecy. 127 the feitMuL Who is this everlasting Priest, this resistless King, reigning thus amid His enemies and commanding the inmost hearts of His seiTants ? He is David's Descendant ; the Pharisees kne^ that tnith. But He is also David's Lord. How could He be both, if He Tpas merely human ? The beHef of Christendom can alone answer the question which our Lord addre^ed to the Phaiisees. The Son of David is David's Lord because He is God ; the Lord of David is David's Son, because He is God Incarnate. (7) These are but samples of that rich store of Messianic prophecy which belongs to the second or Davidic period, and much more of which has an im- portant bearing on our present subject. The third period extends Ixom the reign of Uzziah to the close of the Hebrew Canon in Malachi. Here Messianic prophecy reaches its chmax : it expands into the fbllest particularity of detail respecting Messiah's Human Life : it mounts to the highest assertions of His Divinity. Isaiah is the lieheso: mine of Messianic prophecj in the Old Testament ''. Messiah, * With reference to the modem theory (Benan. Tie de Jesus. p. 37, &e.. Lto.) of a - later Isaiah,' or ' Great Unknown,' liYing at the time of the Babrlonish Capti-ritT, and the assumed author of Is. xL— Irri., it may suffice to refer to Professor Payne Smith's vahiable Tolume of ITniTeisity Sermons on the su'oject. When it is taken for srranted on a priori grounds that hond jide prediction of strictly future events is impotable, the Bible predictions must either be resolved into the &r-saghted anticipations of genius, or when their accuraoy is too detailed to admit of this explanation, they must be treated as beino; only historical accotints of the events referred to. thrown witii -whateTer design into the form of prophecy. The predictions respecting Cyras in the latter part of Isaiah are 128 Messiah's IhonanUy dearlij ^nedlded. [Lect. especially designated as 'the Servant of God,' is the central figure in the prophecies of Isaiah. Both in Isaiah and in Jeremiah tlie titles of Mes- siah are often and pointedly expressive of His true Hmnanity. He is the Fruit of the earth <5; He is the Rod out of the stem of Jesse f; He is the Branch or Sprout of David, the Zemach^. He is called by God from His mother's womb''; God has put His Spirit upon Him '. He is anomted to preach good tidmgs to the meek, to bmd up the broken- hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive'^. He is a Prophet ; His work is greater than that of any prophet of Israel. Not merely will He come as a Redeemer to them that turn from transgression in Jacob 1, and to restore the preserved of Israel 'i^; He is also given as a Light to the Gentiles, as the Salvation of God unto the end of the earth ". Such is His Spiritual Power as Prophet and Legislator too explicit to be reasonably regarded as the results of natural foresight ; hence the modern assumption of a ' later Isaiah ' as their real author. "Supposing this assumption," says Bishop Ollivant, " to be true, this later Isaiah was not only a deceiver, but also a witness to his own fraud ; for he constantly appeals to prophetic power as a test of truth, making it, and speoifioally the prediction respecting the deliverance of the Jews by Cyrus, an evidence of the foreknowledge of Jehovah, as distinguished from the nothingness of heathen idols. And yet we are to suppose that when this fraud was first palmed upon the Jewish nation, they were so simple as not to have perceived that out of his own mouth this false prophet was condemned ! " — Charge of Bishop of LlandaflP, 1866, p. 99, note b. Comp. Delitzsch, Der Prophet Jesaia, p. 23. e Isa. iv. 2. f Ibid. xi. I. 8 Jer. xxiii. 5; xxxiii. 15. '' Isa. xlix. 1. i Ibid. xlii. i. Ic n^jj j^^j j 1 Ibid. lix. 20. ™ Ibid. xlix. 6. n jjjjj 11.] Threefold office of Messiah. 129 that He will write the law of the Lord, not upon tables of stone, but on the heart and conscience of the true Israel °. In Zechariah as in David He is an enthroned Priest?, but it is the Kingly glor}^ of Messiah which predominates throughout the pro- phetic representations of this period, and in which His Superhuman Nature is most distinctly sug- gested. According to Jeremiah, the Branch of Righteousness, who is to be raised up among the posterity of David, is a King who will reign and prosper and execute judgment and justice in the earth 1. According to Isaiah, this expected King, the Root of Jesse, " will stand for an ensign of the people;" the Grentiles will seek Him; He will be the rallying-point of the world's hopes, the true centre of its government ''. Righteousness, equity, swift justice, strict faithfulness, will mark His ad- ministration^; He will not be dependent like a hu- man magistrate upon the evidence of His senses ; He will not judge after the sight of His eyes, nor rejDrove after the hearing of His ears*; He will rely upon the infalhbity of a perfect moral insight. Beneath the shadow of His throne all that is by nature savage, proud, and cruel among the sons of men will learn the habits of tenderness, humility, and love". " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall he down with the kid ; and the calf and the yoimg Hon and the fathng to- gether ; and a little child shall lead them." The " Jer. xxxi. 31-35. P Zech. vi. 13. 1 Jer. sxiii. 5. risa. xi. 10. s Ibid. vers. 4, 5. t Ibid. ver. 3. " Ibid. vers. 6-8. K J 30 Spiritual Soi/aUi/ of Messiah. [Lect. reign of moral power, of spiritual graces, of inno- cence, of simplicity, will succeed to tlie reign of j^liysical and brute force. The old sources of moral danger will become harmless through His protecting presence and blessing ; " The sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den'';" and in the end "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea>'." Zechariah too especially points out the moral and spiritual characteristics of the reign of King Messiah. The founder of an eastern dynasty must ordmarily wade through blood and slaughter to the steps of his throne, and must maintain his authority by force. But the daughter of Jerusalem beholds her Kinof commg to her, " Just and ha^-iug salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass." " The chariots are cut off from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem;" the King " speaks peace unto the heathen ; " the " battle -bow is broken," and yet His dominion ex- tends " from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth^." In harsh and utter contrast, as it seemed, to tills representation of Messiah as a Jewish King, the moral conqueror and ruler of the world, there is another representation of Messiah which be- longs to the Davidic period as well as to that of Isaiah. Messiah had been typified in David persecuted by Saul and humbled by Absalom, no less truly than He had been typified in Solomon surrounded by all the glory of his imperial court. X Isa. xi. 8. y Ibid. ver. 9. z Zech. ix. 9, 10. II.] Messiah ilie Man of Sorrows. 131 If Messiah reigns in the forty -fifth or in the seventy- second Psalms, He suffers, nay He is pre- eminent among the siiffering, in the twenty-second. It might seem that the suffermg Just One who is described by David, reaches the chmax of anguish; but the portrait of an Archetypal Sorrow seems to be even more minutely touched by the hand of Isaiah. In both writers, however, the deepest humiliations and woes are confidently treated as the prelude to an assured victory. The Psalmist passes from what is httle less than an elaborate programme of the historical cu'cumstances of the cnicifixion to an announcement that by these unex- ampled suffermgs the heathen will be converted and all the kindreds of the Gentiles wiU be brought to adore the true God''. The Prophet describes the Servant of God as "despised and rejected of men*^;" His sorrows are viewed with general satis- faction ; they are accounted a just punishment for His own supposed crimes °. Yet in reality He bears our infirmities, and carries our sorrows*'; His wounds are due to our transgressions ; His stripes have a healing %Txtue for us^. His sufferings and death are a trespass-offeringf; on Him is laid the iniquity of alls. If in Isaiah the inner meanuig of the tragedy is more fidly insisted on, the picture itself is not less vivid than that of the Psalter. The suffer- ing Servant stands before His judges; "His Visage is so marred more than any man, and His Form a Ps. xxii. 1-2,1, and 27. ^ Isa. liii. 3. c Isa. liii. 4. d Ibid. e ibid. ver. 5. f Ibid. ver. 12. s Ibid. ver. 6. K 2 132 Significance of the apparent paradox. [Lect. more than the sons of men'';" like a lamb', innocent, defenceless, dumb, He is led forth to the slaughter ; "He is cut oflP from the land of the living^" Yet the Prophet pauses at His grave to note that He " shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied'," and that God " will divide Him a portion with the great," that Ho will Himself "di- vide the spoil witli the strong." And all this is to follow "because He hath poured out His soul unto death'"." His death is to be the condition of His victory ; His death is the destined instrument whereby He will achieve His mediatoiial reign of glory. Place yourselves, brethren, by an effort of intel- lectual sympatliy in the position of the men who heard this language while its historical fulfilment, so familiar to us Christians, was as yet futtire. How self-contradictory must it have appeared to them, how inexplicable, how full of |jaiadox ! How strong must have been the temptation to anticijiate that invention of a double Mcssiali, to which the later Jewish doctors li;ul recourse that they might escape the manifest cogency of the Christian argu- ment". That our Lord should actually have sub- mitted Himself to the laws and agencies of disgrace and discomfiture, and should have turned His deepest humiliation into the very woii,])on of His victory, is not the least among the ovidences of li Isii. lii. 14. ' Iliid. liii. 7. '< Ibid. vcr. 8. 1 Ibid. ver. 11. f" Ibid. vcr. 12. n See Dr. Hengstenberg's eluliorute account of the sui;(;r,s;-iivc Jewish interpretutions of Isaiuli lii. 13-liii. 12, Chriwtolog. vol. ii. pp. 310-319 (Clarke's trans.). II.] DirinUii ascribed in terms to the Messiah. 133 His Divine power and mission. And the prophecy which so paradoxically dared to say that He wonld in such fashion both suffer and reign, assuredly and imphcitly contained within itself another and a higher truth. Such majestic control over the ordinary conditions of failure betokened something- more than an extraordinary man, something not less than a distinctly Superhuman Personality. Taken in connection with the redemptive powerp, the world-Avide sway, the spiritual heart-controlling teaching, so distinctly ascribed to Him, this pre- diction that the Christ would die and would convert the whole world by death, prepares us for the most explicit statements of the prophets respecting His Person. It is no surprise to a mind which has dwelt steadily on the destiny which prophecy thus assigns to Messiah, that Isaiah and Zechariah should speak of Him as they do. We will not lay stress upon the fact that in Isaiah the Redeemer of Israel and of men is constantly asserted to be the Creator", Who by Himself will save His people P. Significant as such language is as to the bent of the Divine Mind, it is not properly Messianic. But in that great prophecy i, the fuU and true sense of which is so happily suggested to us by its place in the Church services for Christmas Day, the ' Son ' who is sfiven to Israel receives a fourfold Name. He is A. Wonder-Counsellor, or Wonderful, above aU earthly beings ; He possesses a Nature which man cannot o Isa. xliv. 6; xlviii. 12, 13, 17. V Ibid. xlv. 21-24; Hos. i. 7; cf. Rom. xiv. 11; Phil. ii. 10; Isa. XXXV. 4, xl. 3, 10. 1 Isa. ix. 6. 134 Divinity ascribed in terms to the Messiah. [Lect. fathom. He thus shares and imfolds the Divine Mind"". He is the Father of the Everlasting Age or of Eternity*; He is the Prince of Peace. Above all. He is expressly named, the Mighty God^ Con- formably with this Jeremiah calls Him Jehovah ' yVV K7Zi. These two words must clearly be connected, al- though they do not stand in the relation of the status constructus. Gen. xvi. 12. fVI' designated the attribute here concerned, N?a the superhuman Possessor of it. 8 ny-'as, Bp. Lowth's Trausl. of Isaiah in loc. t This is the plain literal sense of the words. The habit of construing 113J"?X as ' strong hero,' which was common to Gese- uius and the older rationalists, has been abandoned by later writers, such as Hitzig and Knobel. Hitzig observes that to render lUJ'pK by ' strong hero ' is contrary to the tisus loquendi. "?K," he argues, "is always, even in such passages as Gen. xxxi. 29, to be rendered ' God.' In all the passages which are quoted to prove that it means ' princeps,' ' potens,' the forms are," he says, "to be derived not from ?X, but from TK, which properly means ' ram,' then ' leader,' or ' prince ' of the flock of men." (See the quot. in Hengst. Christ, ii. p. 88, Clarke's transL). But while these later rationalists recognise the true meaning of the phrase, they en- deavour to represent it as a mere name of Messiah, indicating nothing as to His possessing a Divine Nature. Hitzig contends that it is applied to Messiah " by way of exaggeration, in so far as He possesses divine qualities ; " and Knobel, that it belongs to Him as a hero, who in His wars with the Gentiles will shew that He possesses divine strength. But does the word ' El ' admit of being applied to a merely human hero 1 " El," says Dr. Pusey, " the name of God, is nowhere used absolutely of any but God. The word is used once relatively, in its first appellative sense, the mighty of the nations (Ezek. xxxi. 11), in regard to Nebuchadnezzar. Also once in the plural (Ezek. xxxii. 21). It occurs absolutely in Hebrew 225 times, and in every place is used of God." Daniel, p. 483. Can we then doubt its true force in the present passage, especially when we compare Isa. x. 21, where "iDJ'i'K is applied indisputably to the Most High God % Cf. Delitzsch, Jesaia, p. 155. II.] iJivinity ascribed in terms to the Messiah. 135 Tsidkenu", as Isaiali had called Him Emmanuer. Micah speaks of His eternal pre-existence "', as Isaiah had spoken of His endless reign''. Daniel predicts that His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away J'. Zechariah terms Him the Fellow or Equal of the Lord of Hosts ^; and refers in the clearest language to His Incarnation and Passion as being that of Jehovah Himself^. Haggai implies His Divinity by foretelling that His presence will make the glory of the second temple greater than the glory of the first''. Malachi points to Him as the Angel of the Covenant, Jehovah, Whom Israel " Jer. xxiii. 5, 6, xxxiii. 15, 1 6. ^ Isa. vii. 14, St. Matt. i. 23. That this title, like Jehovah Tsidkenu in Jer. xxiii. 5, 6, is descriptive of our Lord's Nature and not merely appellative, is implied in language used respecting Him elsewhere. Dr. Pye Smith, Messiah, p. 241. ^' Mic. V. 2. ^ Isa. ix. 6. y Dan. vii. 14. ^ Zech. xiii. 7. fl'DJ? does not mean only an associate of any kind, or a neighbour. "The word rendered ' My fellow ' was revived by Zechariah from the language of the Pentateuch. It was used eleven times in Leviticus, and then was disused. There is no doubt then that the word, being revived out of Leviticus, is to be understood as in Leviticus ; but in Leviticus it is used strictly of a fellow-man, one who is as himself. Lev. vi. 2, xviii. 20, xix. 1 1, 15, 17, xxiv. 19, XXV. 14, 15, 17. . . The name designates not one joined by friendship or covenant, or by any voluntary act, but one united indissolubly by common bonds of nature, which a man may violate, but cannot annihilate. . . . When then this title is applied to the relation of an individual to God, it is clear that That Indi- vidual can be no mere man, but must be one united with God by an Unity of Being. The ' Fellow ' of the Lord is no other than He Who said in the Gospel, 'I and My Father are One.'" Pusey, Daniel, pp. 487, 488. Hengst. Christ, iv. pp. 108-112. a Zech. ii. 10-13; ^ii- 1° j ^t- John xix. 34, 37 ; E.ev. i. 7. b Hag. ii. 7, 9. I'iC) AUi/iidf (if IJir. N((liinilis/ Inlrr/ircfcr.s. | Lkct. warS seeking-, ;iii(l Wlio would HU(l(l<'i)ly v\)\\\v. to HIh i-ciii](l(^<'. Head tliiw laiigii:iL;'(i afl a, wliolo ; read i(, by iJa; light oi' tli(^ grca-t (locti-iiK^ wliicli i(, ;l,t(,(^sl,H, and wliicli in turn ilhniiinai(!S il-, I.Iki ddc^l.rino oC ;i, Mc^SHiali Divines aw well aw iriunan ; a.ll m naXui'al, consistent, full of point and iruianing. But divoiv'o it from that docljiiio in ol)(;dion(;(! to a. fon'tiMinc and arhitrary j)la/jiturn of the nogaJ.ivo (aiti(;iHrn to the (iffcct that Jcsuh flln-ist hIkiII Ix^ haniHlnMl ;i,l, any cowt from tlie scroll of ])ro|>ii(^(-y ; — how full ol" difficulties docs such langnargc Cortiiwith hcconic, how ovcfstraJned and exaggoraJjC^d, how irmipid a,nd disappointing! DoiihtlosH it iw poHsihlc to hid de- fiance alike to Jcjwish and to Christian inti'.ipr(H,(U-s, and to rc^solvc! ii])on seeing in the j)roph('tH only sued a sense as may be oonHist(int with tli ^h 18, 21, 22, xlviii. 11, 12 ; Wisd. xii. 13; EccluB. i. 8. K Dont. iv. 16-18. 1' Ps. cxv. 4-8 ; Isa. xxxvii. 19, xliv. 9-20, xlvi. 5, sq.; Jer. ii. 27, 28, X. 3-6, 8-10, 14, 16 ; Hal), ii. 18, 19 ; Wiwd. xiii. xiv. II.] a foil to the anticipations of our Lord's Godhead. 143 of the Old Testament religion i." But then this discriminating and fundamental truth does but throw out into sharper outhne and rehef those suggestions of personal distinctions in the Godhead ; that Personification of the Wisdom, if the Wisdom be not indeed a Person ; those visions in which a Divine Being is so closely identified with the Angel Who represents Him ; those successive predictions of a Messiah personally distinct from Jehovah, yet also the Saviour of men, the Lord and Ruler of all, the Judge of the nations, Almighty, Everlasting, nay. One Whom prophecy designates as God. How was the Old Testament consistent with itself, how was it loyal to its leading purpose, to its very central and animating idea, unless it was in truth entrusted with a double charge ; unless besides teaching ex- phcitly the Creed of Sinai, it was designed to teach imphcitly a fuller revelation, and to prepare men for the Creed of the Day of Pentecost ? If indeed the Old Testament had been a semi-polytheistic lite- rature ; if in Israel the Divine Unity had been only a philosophical speculation, shrouded from the popu- lar eye by the various forms with which some imagi- native antiqtiity had peopled its national heaven ; if the line of demarcation between such angel minis- ters and guardians as we read of in Daniel and Zechariah, and the One High and Holy One Who inhabiteth eternity, had been indistinct or uncertain; if the Most Holy Name had been really lavished upon created beings with an indiscriminate profusion that deprived it of its awful, of its incommunicable ' Cliristentlium, p. 17. 144 Our Lord's Godhead indirectly implied [Lect. valued, — then these intimations which we have been reviewing would have been less startling than they are. As it is, they receive prominence from the sharp, unrelieved antagonism in which they seem to stand to the main scope of the books which contain them. And thus they are a perpetual wit- ness that the Jewish Revelation is not to be final ; they irresistibly suggest a deeper truth which is to break forth from the pregnant simplicity of God's earher message to mankind; they point, as we know, to the Prologue of St. John's Gospel and to the Council Chamber of Nicaea, in which the absolute Unity of the Supreme Being will be fully exhibited as harmonizing with the true Divinity of Him Who was thus announced in His distinct Personality to the Church of Israel. 2. It may be urged that the Old Testament might conceivably have set forth the doctrine of Christ's Godhead in other and more energetic terms than those which it actually employs. Even if this should be granted, it is still to be observed that the wit- ness of the Old Testament to this truth is not con- fined to the texts which expressly assert that Messiah should be Divine. The Human Life of Messiah, His supernatural birth. His character, His death, His tri- umph, are predicted in the Old Testament with a minuteness which utterly defies the rationalistic in- siauation, that the argument from prophecy in favour of Christ's claims may after all be resolved into an adroit manipulation of sundry more or less irrelevant quotations. No amount of captious ingenuity will k On the senses of Elohim in the Old Testament, see Appendix, Note B. n.] in tkefiiU»e$4 cfjm>pi«cy respeciin^ Sb Manhood, 1 45 destroy the substantial feet tliat the leading fea- tures of our Lord's Human manifestation were announced to tie world some centuries before He actually came among uSl Do I say that to be the subject of prophecy is of itself a proof of Divinity ? Certainly not. But at least when prophecy is so copious and elaborate, and yet withal so true to the facts of history which it predicts, its higher utterances, which lie beyond the verification of the human senses, acquire corresponding significance and credit. If the circumstance of Christ's Hmnan Life were actually chronicled by prophecy, prophecy is entitled to submissive attention when she proceeds to aesert, in whatever terms, that the Christ Whom she has described is more than Man. It must be a robust and somewhat coarse scepticism which can treat those early glimpses into the laws of God's inner being, those mysterious apparitions to Patri- archs and Lawgivers, those hypostatized represen- tations of Divine Attributes, above all, that Divinity repeatedly and expKcitly ascribed to the predicted Ejestorer of Israel, only as illustrations of the ex- uberance of Hebrew imagination, only as redundant tropes and moods of Eastern poetry. When the destructive critics have done their worst, we are still oonfironted by the feet of a considerable literature, indisputably anterior to the age of Christianity, and foretelling in explicit terms the coming of a Divine and Human Saviour. We cannot be insensible to the significance of this feet Those who in modem days have endeavoured to estabHdi an absolute power over the conduct and lives of their feUow- L 146 Sigmficance of OUT Lord' s appeal [Lect. men have foimd it necessary to spare no pains in one department of political effort.. They have en- deavoured to ' inspire,' if they could not suppress, that powerfid agency, which both for good and for evil moulds and informs popular thought. The con- trol of the press from day to day is held in our tunes to be among the highest exercises of desjDotic power over a civilized community ; and yet the stern- est despotism will in vam endeavom" to recast in its own favour the verdict of History. History, as she points to the irrevocable and unchanging past, can be won neither by violence nor by blandishments to silence her condemnations, or to lavish her approvals, or in any degree to luisay the evidence of her chroni- cles, that she may subserve the purpose and esta- blish the claim of some aspiring potentate. But He Who came to reign by love as by omnipotence, needed not to put force upon the thought and speech of His contemporaries, even could He have willed to do sol. Por already the literature of fifteen centu- ries had been enhsted in His service ; and the annals and the hopes of an entire people, to say nothing of the yearnings and guesses of the world, had been moulded into one long anticipation of Himself Even He could not create or chansre the past ; but He could point to its unchangeable voice as the herald of His Own claims and destiny. His language would have been foUy on the lips of the greatest of the sons of men, but it does no more than simple justice to the tiiie mind and con- stant drift of the Old Testament. With His Hand 1 Lacordaire. II.] to the sacred literature of the Jewish peoj)le. 147 upon the Jewish Canon, Jesus Christ could look opponents or disciples in the face, and bid them " Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal hfe, and they are they which testify of Me." L 2 LECTUEE III. OUR LOED'S WOEK IN THE WOELD A WITNESS TO HIS DIVINITY. Wkenee hath This Man this wisdom, and these mighty works ? Is not This the carpenter's Son ? is not His mother called Mary ? and His brethren, James, and loses, and Simon, and Judas ? And His sisters, are they not all with tis ? Whence then hath This Man all these things ? St. Matt. xiii. 54-56. A SCEPTICAL prince once asked his chaplain to give him some clear evidence of the truth of Chris- tianity, but to do so in a few vs^ords, because a king had not much time to spare for such matters. The chaplain tersely repUed, " The Jews, your majesty." The chaplain meant to say that the whole Jewish history was a witness to Clxrist. In the ages before the Incarnation Israel witnessed to His work and to His Person, by its Messianic belief, by its Scrip- tures, by its ritual, by its rabbinical schools. In the ages which have followed the Incarnation, Israel has witnessed to Him no less powerfully as the people of the dispersion. In all the continents, amid all the races of the world, we meet with the Our Lord's 'jjIuh.' 149 nation to -irlnch there clings an unexpiated. self- imprecated gnilt. This nation dwells among ns and around us Englishmen : it shares largeh- in our material prosperitr : its social and ci'vil Hie are shaped bv our national institutions ; it sends its representatives to om- tribunals of justice and to the benches of otu- senate : yet its heart, its home, its futm-e, are elsewhere. It still hopes for Him Whom we Christians hare found ; it still witnesses, by its accumulating despair, to the titith of the creed which it so doggedly rejects. Oiu- rapid sur- vey then of those anticipations of otu- Lonl's Divinity which are furnished by the Old Testament, and by the Hterattrre more immediately dependent on it, has left untotiched a district of history fruitftil in considerations which beiu- upon otu- subject. But it must suffice to have hinted at the testimony which is thus indii'ectly yielded by the later Judaism : and we pass to-day to a topic which is in some sense continuous with that of our last lecture. We have seen how the appearance of a Divine Person, as the Saviour of men, -vvj^s anticipated by the Old Testa- ment ; let us enquire how fai* Christ's Divinity is attested by the phenomenon which we encounter in the formation and continuity of the Christian Chtuch. I. When modem writers examine and discuss the proportions iuid character of our Lord's ' plan,' a Chiistian behever may lightly feel that such a term can only be tised in such a connection with some mental caution. He may urge that in forming an estimate of strictly hiunan action, we can distingtiish between a plan and its realization : 150 Resenw in the use of such an expression. [Lect. but that this distinction is obviously inapplicable to Him with Whom resolve means achievement, and Who completes His action, really if not visibly, when He simply wills to act. It might further be maintained, and with great truth, that the preten- sion to exhibit our Lord's entire design in His Life and Death proceeds upon a misapprehension. It is far from being true that owe Lord has really laid bare to the eyes of men the whole purpose of the Eternal Mind in respect of His Incarnation. Indeed nothing is plainer, or more upon the very face of the New Testament, than the limitations and reserve of His disclosures on this head. We see enough for faith and for practical purposes, but we see no more. Amid the glimpses which are offered us respecting the scope and range of the Incarna- tion, the obvious shades off contiaually into mystery, the visible commingles with the unseen. We Chris- tians know just enough to take the measure of o\xv ignorance ; we feel ourselves hovering intellectually on the outskirts of a vast economy of mercy, the complete extent and the inner harmonies of which One Eye Alone can survey. If however we have before us only a part of the plan which our Lord meant to carry out by His In- carnation and Death, assuredly we do know some- thing and that from His Own Lips. If it is true that success can never be really doubtful to Omni- potence, and that no period of suspense can be pre- sumed to intervene between a resolve and its ac- comphshment in the Eternal Mind ; yet, on the other hand, it is a part of our Lord's gracious condescen- sion that He has, if we may so speak, entered into m.] 0«rr Lord designed to /bund a soeUfy. 151 the lists of history. He has come among us as one of ourselTe* ; He has made Himself of no reputation, and has been foimd in fashion as a man. He has despoiled Himself of His advantages; He has actually stated what He proposed to do in the world, and has thus submitted Himself to the ver- dict of man's experience. His Own Words are our warrant for comparing them with His Work ; and He has interposed the struggles of centuiies be- tween His Words and their fulfilment. He has so shrouded His Hand of might as at times to seem as if He would court at least the possibilities of feilure. Putting aside then for the moment any recorded intimations of Christ's Will in respect of other spheres of being, with all their mighty issues of life and death, let us enquire what it was that He purposed to eflfect within the province of hu- man action and histoiy. Now the answer to this question is simply that He proclaimed Himself the Founder of a world-wide and imperishable Society. He did not propose to act powerfiilly upon the convictions and the cha- racters of individual men, and then to leave to them, when they beUeved and felt alike, the liberty of voluntarily forming themselves into an associa- tion, with a "v-iew to reciprocal sympithy and united action. From tibe first, the formation of a society was quite as essential a feature of Christ "s plan, as was His redemptive action upon single souls. This society was not to be a school of thinkers, or a self- associated company of enterprising fellow- workere ; it was to be a Kingdom, the kingdom of heaven. 152 The Kingdom of Heaven, or, of God. [Lbot. or, as it is also called, tlie kingdom of God^ For ages indeed the Jewish theocracy had been a kingdom of God upon earth''. God was the one true King of ancient Israel. He was felt to be present in Israel as a Monarch living among His subjects. The temple was His palace ; its sacrifices and ritual were the pubHc acknowledgment of His present but invisible Majesty. But the Jewish pohty, con- sidered as a system, was an external rather than an internal kingdom of God. Doubtless there were great saints in ancient Israel ; doubtless Israel had prayers and hymns such as may be found in the Psalter, than which nothing more searching and more spiritual has been since produced in Christen- dom. Looking however to the popular working of the Jewish theocratic system, and to what is im- plied as to its character in Jeremiah's prophecy of a profoundly spiritual kingdom which was to suc- ceed it", may we not conclude that the Eoyalty of God was represented rather to the senses than to the heart and inteUigence of at least the mass of His ancient subjects ? Jesus Christ our Lord announced a new kingdom of God ; and by terming it the King- dom of God He unplied that it would first fully deserve that sacred name, as corresponding with a paa-iKda rav ovpavav occurs thirty-two times in St. Matthew's Gospel, to which it is peculiar ; ^ao-iKela toC eeoC five times. The latter term occurs fifteen times in St. Mark, thirty -three times in St. Luke, twice in St. John, seven times in the Acts of the Apostles. In St. Matt. xiii. 43, xxvi. 29, we find i} I3aa;\cta tov narpos. Our Lord speaks of .7 ^ao-iX^ia rj ii^f, three times, St. John xvJii. 36. b St. Matt. xxi. 43. <= Jer. xxxi. 31-34, quoted in Heb. viii. 8-u. III.] The Kingdom, of Heaven not properly a repnilic. 15S Daniel's prophecy of a fifth empire"^. Let ns more- over note, in passing, that when using the -word 'kingdom,' our Lord did not announce a republic. Writers who carry into their interpretation of the Gospels ideas which have been gained from a study of the Platonic dialogues or of the recent history of France, may permit themselves to describe our Lord as Founder of the Christian repiiblic. And certainly St. Paul, when accommodating himself to the Greek forms of poHtical thought wliich pre- vailed largely throughout the Roman world, repre- sents and recommends the Church of Christ as the source and home of the highest moral and mental hberty, by speaking freely of our Christian ' citizen- ship,' and of our coming at baptism to the ' city ' of the living God®. Not that the Apostle would press the metaphor to the extent of implying that the new society was to be a spiritual democracy ; since he very earnestly taught that even the inmost thoughts of its members were to be ruled by their Invisible King*^. This indeed had been the claim of the Foimder of the kingdom Himself &; He willed to be King absolutely and without a rival in the new society ; and the nature and extent of His legislation shews us in what sense He meant to reign. "J Dan. vii. 9-15. ® Phil. iii. 20 : i]}ia>v yap TO TToKiT^vjia iv ovpavols imdpxfi, Cf. Acts xxiii. I : irfiroKirrviiai ra 6em. Phil. i. 2'j: d^ias Tov evayyeXiov noKiTevea-$e. Heb. xiii. 14. In Heb. xi. 10, xii. 22, ttoXij apparently embraces the whole Church of Christ, ^-isible and invisible j in Heb. xi, 16, xiii. 14, it is restricted to the latter. f 2 Cor. X. 5. S St, ilatt. xxiii. 8. 154 Laws of tJie K'liigiloin of Ih'dvcn. [Leot. The original laws of the new kingdom ni-o for the most part set forth by its Founder in His Ser- mon on the Mount. After a preliminary statement of the distinctive character which was to mark the life and bearing of those who would fully corre- spond to His Mind and WilU^, and a further sketch of the nature and depth of the influence which His subjects Were to exert upon other men', He pro- ceeds to define the general relation of the new law which He is promulgating to the law that had preceded it*^. The vital principle of His legislation, namely, that moral obedience shall be enforced, not merely in the performance of or in the abstinence from outward acts, but in the deepest and most secret springs of thought and motive, is traced in its application to certain specific enactments of the older Lawi ; while other ancient enactments are modified or set aside by the stricter purity"', the genuine simplicity of motive and character", the entire unselfishness", and the superiority to jjersonal prejudices and exclusiveness i* which the New Law- giver insisted on. The required life of the new kingdom is then exhibited in detail ; the duties of almsgiving 1, of prayer'', and of fasting^, are suc- cessively enforced ; but the rectification of the ruling motive is chiefly insisted on as essential. In ])er- forming religious duties God's Will, and not any li St. Matt. V. I- 1 2. ' Ibid. vers. 13-16. k Ibid. vers. 17-20. ' Ibid. vers. 21-30. •H Ibid. vers. 31, 32. " Ibid. vers. 33-37. o Ibid. vers. 38-42. p Ibid. vers. 43-47. q Ibid. vi. 1-4. •■ Ibid. vers. 5-8. • Ibid. vers. 16-18. > III.] The Sermon on the Mount. 155 conventional standard of human opinion, is to be kept steadily before tbe eye of tbe soul. The Legislator insists upon the need of a single, supreme, imrivalled motive in thought and action, unless all is to be lost. The luicorruptible treasure must be in heaven ; the body of the moral life will only be full of hght if " the eye is single ; " no man can serve two masters ^ The birds and the flowers suggest the lesson of trust in and devotion to the One Soirrce and End of life ; all will really be well with those who in very deed seek His king- dom and His righteousness". Charity in judgment of other men", circumspection in communicating sacred truthy, confidence and constancy in prayer^, perfect consideration for the wishes of others", yet also a determination to seek the paths of difficulty and sacrifice, rather than the broad easy ways trodden by the mass of mankind'' ;- — these features will mark the conduct of loyal subjects of the kingdom. They will beware too of false prophets, that is, of the movers of spiritual sedition, of teachers who are false to the truths upon which the kingdom is based and to the temper which is required of its true children. The false prophets will be known by their moral unfruitfulness'', rather than by any lack of popularity or success. Obedience to the law of the kingdom is finally msisted on as the one con- dition of safety; obedience 'i, — as distinct fi-om pro- ' St. Matt. vi. 24. " Ibid. vers. 25-34. X Ibid. vii. 1-5. y Ibid. ver. 6. 2 Ibid. vers. 7-1 1. a Ibid. ver. 12. t Ibid. vers. 13, 14. ■= Ibid. vers. 15-20, * Ibid. vers. 21-23. 156 The Kingdom to be a visible polity [Lect. fessions of loyalty ; obedience, — which wiU be found to have really based a man's life upon the immove- able rock" at that solemn moment when all that stands upon the sand must utterly perish '5. Such a proclamation of the law of the kingdom as was the Sermon on the Mount, already implied that the kingdom would be at once visible and invisible. On the one hand certain outward duties, such as the use of the Lord's Prayer and fasting, are prescribed f; on the other, the new law urgently pushes its claim of jurisdiction far beyond the range of material acts into the invisible world of thought and motive. The visibility of the kingdom lay already in the fact of its being a society of men, and not a society solely made up of incorporeal beings such as the angels. The King never professes that He will be satisfied with a measure of obedience which sloth or timidity might confine to the region of inoperative feelings and convictions ; He insists with great emphasis upon the payment of homage to His Invisible Majesty, outwardly, and before the eyes of men. Not to confess Him before men is to break with Him for ever ^ ; it is to forfeit His blessing and protection when these would most be needed. The consistent bearing then of His loyal subjects will bring the reahty of His rule before the sight of men ; but, besides this. He provides His realm with a visible government, deriving its authority from Himself, and entitled on this account to deferential and entire obedience on the part of His subjects. To the first members of this government His com- e St. Matt. vii. 24-27. f Ibid. vi. 9-13, 16. s Ibid. X. 32 ; St. Luke xii. 8. III.] with a deep invisible life. 157 mission runs thus : — "He that receiveth you, receiv- eth Me''." It is the King Who will Himself reign throughout all history on the thrones of His repre- sentatives ; it is He Who, in their persons, will be acknowledged or rejected. In tliis way His empire will have an external and pohtical side ; nor is its visibiHty to be limited to its govern- mental organLzation. The form of prayer ^ which the Kmg enjoins on His siibjects, and the outward visible actions by Avhich, according to His appoint- ment, membership in His kingdom is to be begun J and maintained'', make the very hfe and movement of the new society, up to a certain point, visible. But undoubtedly the real strength of the kingdom, its deepest life, its truest action, are veiled from sight. At bottom it is to be a moral, not a material em- pire ; it is to be a realm not merely of bodies but of soids, of souls instinct with intelligence and love. Its seat of power will be the conscience of mankind. Not ' here ' or ' there ' ui outward signs of estabhsh- ment and supremacy, but in the free conformity of the thought and heart of its members to the WUl of theu- Unseen Sovereign, shall its power be most, clearly recognised. Not as an oppressive out- ward code, but as an inward buoyant exhilaratmg motive, wiU the King's Law mould the hfe of His subjects. Thus the kingdom of God will be found to be 'within' men^; it will be set up, not like ^ St. !M:itt. X. 40 ; comp. St. Luke x. i6. ' St. Mrttt. vi. 9-13. ' Ibid. xxA-iii. 19 ; St. John iii. 5. •t St. Ltike xxii. 19 ; i Cor. xi. 24 : St. John vi. 53. ' St. Luke xvii. 21. 158 T arables of the Kingdom. [Lect. an eartKly empire by military conquest or by violent revolution, but noiselessly and 'not with, observa- tion"".' It will be maintained by weapons more spiritual than the sword. "If," said the Monarch, " My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, but now is My kingdom not from hence"." The charge to the twelve Apostles exhibits the outward agency by which the kingdom would be established o ; and the discourse in the supper- room unveils yet more fully the secret sources of its strength and the nature of its influence p. But the ' plan ' of its Founder with reference to its establishment in the world is perhaps most fully developed in that series of parables, which from their common object and from their juxtaposition in St. Matthew's Gospel, are commonly termed Parables of the Kingdom. How various would be the attitudes of the hu- man heart towards the ' word of the kingdom,' that is, towards the authoritative announcement of its establishment upon the earth, is pointed out in the Parable of the Sower. The seed of truth would fall from His Hand throughout all time by the wayside, upon stony places, and among thorns, as well as upon the good gTound"!. It might be ante- cedently supposed that within the limits of the new kingdom none were to be looked for save the holy and the faithful. But the Parable of the Tares corrects this too idealistic anticipation ; the king- «> St. Luke xvii. 20. » St. John xviii. 36. St. Matt. X. 5-42. P St. John xiv. xv. xvi. 9 St. Matt. xiii. 3-8, 19-23. III.] Parables of the Kingdom. 159 dom is to be a field in which until the final har- vest the tares must grow side by side with the wheat ■■. The astonishing expansion of the kingdom throughout the world is . illustrated by " the grain of mustard seed, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs ^" The principle and method of that expan- sion are to be observed in the action of "the leaven hid in three measures of meal'." A secret invisible influence, a soul-attracting, soul-subduing enthusiasm for the King and His work would presently pene- trate the dull, dense, dead mass of human society, and its hard heart and stagnant thought woiild expand, in virtue of this inward impulse, into a new Hfe of light and love. Thus the kingdom is represented not merely as a mighty whole, of which each subject soul is a fractional part ; it is also viewed as an attractive influence, acting energetically upon the inner personal life of individuals. It is itself the great intellectual and moral prize of which each truth-seeking soul is in quest, and to obtain which all else may wisely and well be left behind. The kingdom is a treasure hid in a field", that is, f St. Matt. xiii. 24-30, 36-43. " In catholica enim ecclesia, quae non in sola Africa sicut pars Donati, sed per omnes gentes, sicut promissa est, dilatatur atque difFunditur, in universo mundo, sicut dicit Apostolus, fructificans et crescens, et boni sunt et mali." S. Aug. Ep. 208, n. 6. " Si boni sumus in ecclesia Christi, frumenta sumus ; si mali sumus in ecclesia Christi, palea sumus, tamen ab area non recedimus. Tu qui vento tentationis foris volasti, quid es ? Triti- cum non tollit ventus ex area. Ex eo ergo, ubi es, agnosce quid es." In Ps. Ixx. (Vulg.) Serm. ii. n. 12. Civ. Dei, i. 35, and es- pecially Eetract. ii. 18. s St. Matt. xiii. 31, 32. ' Ibid. ver. 33. " Ibid. ver. 44. 160 Parables of the Kingdom. [LecT. in a line of thought and enquiry, or in a particular discipline and mode of life ; and the wise man will gladly part with all that he has to buy that field. Or the kingdom is like a merchant-man seeking " goodly pearls^," who sells all his possessions that he may buy the "one pearl of great price." Here it is hinted that the kmgdom alone embodies that one absolute and highest Truth which is contrasted with the lower and relative truths current among men. Further, the preciousness of membership in the king- dom is only to be completely realized by an unre- served submission to the law of sacrifice ; the king- dom flashes forth in its full moral beauty before the eye of the soul, as the merchant-man resigns his all in favour of the one priceless pearl. In these two parables, then, the individual soul is represented as seeking the kingdom; and it is suggested how tragic in many cases would be the incidents, how excessive the sacrifices, attendant upon "pressing into it." But a last parable is added in which the kingdom is pictured, not as a prize which can be seized by separate souls, but as a vast imperial sys- tem, as a world-wide home of all the races of man- kind. Like a net" thrown into the GalUean lake, so would the kingdom extend its toils around en- tire tribes and nations of men ; the vast struggling multitude would be drawn nearer and nearer to the eternal shore; until at last the awful and filial separation would take place beneath the eye of Absolute Justice ; the good would be gathered into vessels, but the bad would be cast away. V St. Matt. xiii. 45, 46. x aid ^g^s. 47-50. III.] Tico cJiaradenstics of our Lord's '2^^'^"-' 161 Tlie proclamation of this kingdom was termed the Gospel, that is, the good news of God. It was good news for mankind, Jewish as well as Pagan, that a society was set up on earth ^vherein the human soul might rise to the height of its original destinv, might practically imderstaud the blessechiess and the awfiil- ness of life, and might hold constant communion in a free, trustful, joyous, childlike spirit with the Author and the End of its existence. The minis- terial work of our Lord was one long proclamation of this kingdom. He was perpetually defining its outhne, or promulgating and codifying its laws, or instituting and explaining the channels of its organic and individual life, or tratherincr new subiects into it by His wcu'ds of wisdom or by His deeds of pc'wer. or perfecting and refining the temper and cast of character which was to distinguish them. T\Tien at length He had Himself overccmie the sharpness of death, He opened this kingdom of heaven to all behevers on the Day of Pentecost. His ministry had begun with the words, " Repent ye. for the kingdom of heaven is at hand 5";"' He left the world, bidding His followers carry forwai'd the frontier of His kingdom to the utmost limits of the human famil}'^. and promising them that His presence with- in it would be nothing less than co-enduring with time^ Let us note more especially two featm-es in the ' plan ' of our Blessed Lord. (a) And, fixst, its originality. Xeed I say, 3" St. Matt iv. 17. ^ Ibid, xxviii. 19 ; St. Luke xxiv. 47 ; Acts i. S. a St. Matt, sxviii. ;o. M 162 Originality of our Lord' s ' plan.' [Lect. brethren, that real originahty is rare 1 In this place many of us spend our time very largely in imitating, recombining, reproducing existing thought. Conscious as we are that for the most part we are only passing on under a new form that which in its substance has come to us from others, we honestly say so ; yet it may chance to us at some time to imagine that in our brain an idea or a design has taken shape, which is originally and in truth our own creation — • " Libera per vacuum posui vestigia princeps ; Non aliena meo pressi pede^." Those few, rapid, decisive moments in which genius consciously enjoys the exhilarating sense of wield- ing creative power, may naturally be treasured m memory ; and yet, feven in these, how hard must it be to verify the assumed fact of an absolute originahty ! We of this day find the atmosphere of human thought, even more than the surface of the earth, thronged and crowded with the results of man's activity in times past and present. In pro- portion to our consciousness of our real obhgations to this general stock of mental wealth, must we not hesitate to presume that any one idea, the imme- diate origin of which we cannot trace, is in reality oiu- own % But let us suppose that in this or that in- stance we believe ourselves, in perfect good faith, to have produced an idea which is really entitled to the merit of originality. Yet may it not be, that if at the right moment we could have ex- amined the intellectual air around us with a suffi- b Hor. Ep. i. 19. 21. III.] Real limits of originaliti/ . 163 ciently powerful microscope, we should have detected the germ of ovir idea floating in from without upon our personal thought '? We only suppose ourselves to have created the idea because at the time of our inhaling it we were not conscious of doing so. The idea perhaps was suggested indirectly; it came to us along with some other idea upon which our attention was mainly fixed ; it came to us so disgTiised or so undeveloped, that we cannot recog- nise it, so as to trace the history of its growth. It came to us during the course of a casual con- versation ; or from a book the very name of which we have forgotten ; and our relationship towards it has been after all that of a nurse, not that of a parent. We have protected it, cherished it, warmed it, and at length it has grown within the chambers of our mind, untU we have recognised its vahie and led it forth into the sunlight, shaping it, colouring it, ex- pressing it after a manner strictly our own, and beheving in good faith that because we have so entirely determined its form, we are the creators of its substance. At any rate, my brethren, genius herself has not been slow to confess the rarity and the difficulty of a real originality. In one of his later recorded conversations Goethe was endeavour- ing to decide what are the real obligations of genius to the influences which inevitably afiect it. " Much," said he, "is talked about originality; but what does originaHty mean \ We are no sooner born than the world around begins to act upon us ; its action lasts to the end of our lives and enters into every- thing. All that we can truly cafl oixr own is our energy, our vigoirr, our wiU. If I," he continued, M 2 164 Isolation of our Lord's Human Life, [Lect. "could enumerate all that I reallj owe to the great men who have preceded me, and to those of my own day, it would be seen that very httle is really my own. It is a point of capital importance to observe at what tune of hfe the influence of a great character is brought to bear on us. Lessing, Win- kelmann, and Kant, were older than I, and it has been of the greatest consequence to me that the two first powerfuUy influenced my youth and the last my old age"." On such a subject, Goethe may be deemed a high authority, and he certainly was not likely to do an injustice to genius, or to be guilty of a false humility when speakmg of himself But om* Lord's design to estabhsh upon the earth a kingdom of sovds was an original design. Remark, as bearing upon this origiuahty, our Lord's isolation in His early life. His social obscurity is, in the eyes of thoughtful men, the safeguard and guarantee of His originahty. It is not seriously pretended, on any side, that Jesus Christ was enriched with one single ray of His Thought from Athens, from Alex- andria, from the mystics of the Ganges or of the Indus, from the disciples of Zoroaster or of Confucius. The centurion whose servant He healed, the Greeks whom He met at the instance of St. Philip, the Syro-phenician woman, the judge who condemned and the soldiers who crucified Him, are the few Gen- tiles with whom He is recorded to have had deal- ings during His earthly life. But was our Lord equally isolated from the world of Jewish speculation"? M. Renan, indeed, impatient at the spectacle of an <= Conversations de Goethe, trad. Delerot, torn. ii. p. 342, quoted in the Eev. des Deux Mondes, 15 Oct. 1865. III.] considered in its bearing upon His originalify. 165 unrivalled originality, suggests that Hillel was the real master of Jesus^l But Dr. Schenkel will teU us that this suggestion rests on no historical basis whatever^, while we may remark in passing that it is at issue with a theory which you would not care to notice at length, but which M. Renan cherishes with much fondness, and which represents our Lord's 'tone of thoiight' as a psychological result of the scenery of north-eastern Palestine f. The assumption that when making His yearly visits to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover, or at other times, Jesus must have become the pupd of some of the lead- ing Jewish doctors of the day, is altogether gra- tuitous. Once indeed, when He was twelve years old, He was found in a synagogue, hard by the d " Hillel fut le vrai maitre de Jesus, s'il est permis de parler de maitre quand il s'agit d'une si haute originality." Vie de Jesus, P- 35- e " Ganz unbewiesen ist es," Schenkel, Charakterbild Jesu, p. 39, note. When however Dr. Schenkel himself says, "Den Einblick, den Er [sc. Jesus] in das Wesen und Treiben der religiiisen Eichtungen und Parteiungen seines Volkes in so hohem Masse befass, hat Er aus persbnlicher Wahrnehmung und unmittelbarem Verkehr mit den Hauptern und Vertretern der verschiedeneu Parteistandpunkte gewonnen" (ibid.), where is the justification of this assertion, ex- cept in the Humanitarian and Naturalist theory of the writer, which makes some such assumption necessary'! f Vie de J^sus, p. 64 : " Une nature ravissante contribuait S, former cet esprit." Then follows a description of the flowers, the animals, the insects, and the mountains (p. 65), the farms, the fruit-gardens, and the vintage (p. 66), of Northern Galilee. M. Eenan concludes, " cette vie contente et facilement satisfaite . . se spiritualisait en reves 6ther^s, en une sorte de mysticisme po^tique confondant le ciel et la terre. . . . Toute I'histoire du Christianisme naissant est devenue de la sorte une d^licieuse pastorale." p. 67. 166 Our Lord under no intellectual ohUgations [Lect. temple, in close intellectual contact with aged teachers of the Law. But all who hear Him, even then, in His early Boyhood, are astonished at His understanding and answers ; and the narrative of the Evangelist implies that the occurrence was not repeated. Moreover there was no teaching in Judsea at that era, which had not, in the true sense of the expression, a sectarian colouring. But what is there in the doctrine or in the character of Jesus that connects Him with a Pharisee or a Sadducee, or an Herodian, or an Essene type of education ? Is it not significant that, as Schleiermacher remarks, " of all the sects then in vogue none ever claimed Jesus as representing it, none Ijranded Him with the reproach of apostasy from its tenets s*?" Even if we lend an ear to the precarious conjecture that He may have attended some elementary scliool at Naza- reth, it is plain that the people believed Him to have gone through no formal course of theological training. " How knoweth This Man letters, having never learned^ V was a question which betrayed the popular surprise created by a Teacher Who spoke with the highest authority, and Who yet had never sat at the feet of an accredited doctor. It was the homage of public enthusiasm which honoured Him with the title of Rabbi ; since this title did not then imply that one who bore it had been qualified by any intellectual exercises for an official teaching position. Isolated, as it seemed, obscure, uncidti- vated, illiterate, the Son of Mary did not concern Himself to struggle against or to reverse what man would deem the crushing disadvantages of His lot. g LeLcD Jesu, vorl. xvi. '' St. John vii. 15. III.] to Jewish or Pagan tliinhers. 167 He did not, like philosophers of antiquity, or like the active spirits of the middle ages, spend His Life in perpetual transit between one lecturer of reputation and another, between this and that focus of earnest and progressive thought. He was not a Goethe, continually enriching and refining his con- ceptions by contact with a long catalogue of in- tellectual friends that reaches from Lavater to Eck- ermann. StiU less did He, as a Young Man, Hve in any such atmosphere as that of this place, where interpenetrating aU our differences of age and occu- pation, and even of conviction, there is the magni- ficent inheritance of a common fund of thought, to which, whether we know it or not, we are all con- stantly and inevitably debtors. He mingled neither with great thinkers who could mould educated opinion, nor with men of gentle blood who could give its tone to society ; He passed those thirty years as an Under- workman in a carpenter's shop ; He lived in what might have seemed the depths of mental solitude and of social obscurity ; and then He went forth, not to foment a political revolution, nor yet to found a local school of evanescent sen- timent, but to proclaim an endiuing and world-wide Kingdom of Soids, based upon the culture of a common moral character, and upon inteUectiial sub- mission to a common creed. Christ's isolation then is the guarantee of His originahty ; yet had He lived as much in public as He lived in obscurity, where, let me ask, is the king- dom of heaven anticipated as a practical project in the ancient world % What, beyond the interchange of thought on moral subjects, has the kingdom 168 The Kingdom of Heaven radically imlike [Lect. proclaimed by our Lord in common with the philosophical schools or coteries which grouped themselves around Socrates and other teachers of classical Greece 1 These schools, indeed, dif- fered from the kingdom of heaven, not merely in then- lack of any pretensions to supernatural aims or powers, but yet more, in that they only existed for the sake of a temporary convenience, and that their members were bound to each other by no necessary ties'. Again, what was there in any of the sects of Judaism that could have sug- gested such a conception as the kingdom of heaven? Each and all they differ from it, I will not say in organization and structure, but in range and com- pass, in hfe and action, in spirit and aim. Or was the kingdom of heaven even traced in outline by the vague yearnings and aspirations after a better time which entered so mysteriously into the popular thought of the heathen populations in the Augustan age J ? Certainly it was an answer, complete yet unexpected, to these aspirations. They did not origi- nate it; they coidd not have originated it; they pri- marily pointed to a material rather than to a moral Utopia, to an idea of improvement which did not enter into the plan of the Founder of the new i This point is well stated in Ecoe Homo, p. 91, sqq. The writer observes that if Socrates were to appear at the present day, he would form no society, as the invention of printing would have rendered it unnecessary. But the formation of an organized society was of the very essence of the work of Christ. I heartily rejoice to recognise the fulness with which this vital truth is set forth by one from whom serious Churchmen must feel themselves to be separated by deep differences of belief and principle. J Virgil, Eel. iv. ; ^11. vi. Y93, and Suetonius, Vespasianus, iv. 5. III.] ilie scTiooh of Greel- PJiUosopIii/ and the Jemsli sects. 169 kingdom. But you ask if the annomicement of the kingdom of heaven by our Lord was not really a continuation of the announcement of the kuiP-dom of heaven by St. John the Baptist ? You might go fui-ther, and enquire whether this proclamation of the kingdom of heaven is not to be traced up to the prophecy of Daniel respecting a fifth empire 1 For the present of coiu'se I waive the question which an Apostle^ would have raised, namely, whether the Spirit That spoke in St. John and in Daniel was not the Spirit of the Christ Himself. But let us enquu-e whether Daniel or St. John do anticipate oui* Lord's plan in such a sense as to rob it of its immediate originahty. The Baptist and the prophet foretell the kingdom of heaven. Be it so. But a name is one thing, and the vivid complete grasp of an idea is another. You are accustomed to distinguish with some wholesome severity be- tween oiiginahty of phrase and originahty of thought. You observe that an intrinsic poverty of thought may at times succeed in formulatiag an origmal expression ; while a true originahty will often, nay generally, welcome a time-honoui'ed and conventional phraseology if it can thus seciu'e currency and acceptance for the tiaith which it has' brought to light and which it serves to convey. The oiiginality of oui" Lord's plan lay not in its name but in its substance. When St. John said that the kingdom of heaven was at hand^, when Daniel ^ I St. Peter i. 1 1. • The teaching of St. John Baptist centred around three points : (i) the call to penitence ^^St. Matt. iii. :. S-io : St. Mark i. 4; St. Luke iii. 3. 10-14); (2) the relative gi-eatness of Christ (^St. Matt. 1 70 Our Lord's or'uj'mality oiservaUe [Lect. represented it as a world-wide and imperishable em- pire, neither prophet nor Baptist had reaUy antici- pated the idea ; one furnished the name of a coming system, the other a measure of its greatness. But what was the new institution to be in itself; what were to be its controUing laws and principles; what the animating spirit of its inhabitants, what the sources of its life, what the vicissitudes of its estabhshment and triumph 1 These and other ele- ments of His plan are exhibited by our Lord Him- self, in His discourses, His parables. His institutions. What was as yet AvhoUy or partially vague He made definite, what had hitherto been abstract He put into a concrete form, what had been ideal He clothed with the properties of a living and working reality, what had been scattered over many books and ages He brought into a focus. If prophecy supplied Him with some of the materials which He employed, prophecy could not have suggested the secret of their combination. He combined them because He was Himself; His Person supphed the secret of their combination. His originality is in- deed seen in the reality and life with which He iii. 11-14; St. Mark i. 7; St. Luke iii. 16; St. John i. ig, 26, 27, 30-34) ; (3) the Judicial {ov ro tttvov iv rfj xftpi avTOv, St. Matt. iii. 12; St. Luke iii. 17) and Atoning (iSe 6 a/xvos roD efoO, 6 alpov TTjv d/jLaprlav tov Koa-fxov, St. John i. 29, 36) Work of Christ. In this way St. John corresponded to prophecy as preparing the way of the Lord (St. Matt. iii. 3 ; St. Mark i. 3 ; St. Luke iii. 4 ; St. John i. 23; Isa. xl. 3) ; but beyond naming the kingdom, the nature of the preparation required for entering it, the supernatui-al greatness, and two of the functions of the King, St. John did not anticipate our Lord's disclosures. St. John's teaching left men quite unin- formed as to what the kingdom of heaven was to be in itself. III.] in His use of the materials siippliedly projiTiecy. 171 lighted up the language used hy men who had been sent in earlier ages to prepare His way; but if His creative Thought employed these older mate- rials, it did not depend on them. He actually elaborated into a practical and energetic form the idea of a society of spiritual beings with enlight- ened and purified consciences extending throughout earth and heaven. When He did this, prophets were not His masters; they had only foreshadowed His work. His plan can be traced in that master- ful completeness and symmetry, which is the seal of its intrinsic originality, to no source beyond Himself. Well might we ask with His astonished countrymen the question which was indeed prompted by their jealous curiosity, but which is natural to a very different temper, " Whence hath This Man this wisdom \ " (/8) And this opens upon us the second charac- teristic of our Lord's plan, I mean its audacity. This audacity is observable, first of aU, in the fact that the plan is originally proposed to the world with what might appear to us to be such hazardous completeness. The idea of the kingdom of God issues almost "as if in a single jef"" and with a ftilly developed body from the Thought of Jesus Christ. Put together the Sermon on the Mount, the Charge to the Twelve Apostles, the Parables of the King- dom, the Discourse in the Supper-room, and the institution of the two great Sacraments, and the plan of our Savioiir is before you. And it is enunciated with an accent of calm unfaltering conviction that it will be realized in human history. "» PrgssensI, J6sus Christ, p. 325. 172 AudacUi/ of our Lord's '2>lan' [Lect. This is a phsenomenon wliich we can only appre- ciate by contrasting it with the law to which it is so signal an exception. Generally speaking, an am- bitious idea appears at first as a mere outline, and it challenges attention in a tentative way. It is put forward enquiringly, timidly, that it may be com- pleted by the suggestions of friends or modified by the criticism of opponents. The highest genius is always most keenly alive to the vicissitudes wliich may await its own creations ; it knows with what difficulty a promising project is launched safely and unimpaired out of the domain of abstract specu- lation into the region of practical human life. Even in art, where the materials to be moulded are, as compared with the subjects of moral or political endeavour, so much under command, it is not pru- dent to presume that a design or a conception will be carried out without additions or without cur- tailments. In this place we all have heard that between the Oewpla and the yevecri? of art there may be a fatal interval. The few bold strokes by which a Raffaelle has suggested a new form of power or of beauty, may never be filled up upon his canvass. The working- drawings of a Phidias or a Michael Angelo may never be copied in stone or in marble. As has been said of S. T. Coleridge, art is perpetually throwing out designs which re- main designs for ever ; and yet the artist possesses over his material, and even over his hand and his eye, a control which is altogether wanting to the man who would reconstruct or regenerate human society. For human society is an aggregate of hu- man intelligences and of human wills, that is to say. III.] as shewn hy its completeness. 1 73 of profound and mysterious forces, upon the direction of wliicli under absolutely new circumstances it is impossible for man to calculate. Accordingly, social reformers tell us despondingly that facts make sad havoc of their fairest theories ; and that schemes which were designed to brighten and to beautify the life of nations are either forgotten altogether, or, like the Republic of Plato, are remembered only as famous samples of the impracticable. For whenever a great idea, affecting the well-being of society, is permitted to force its way into the world of facts, it is hable to be carried out of its course, to be thrust hither and thither, to be compressed, exag- gerated, disfigured, mutdated, degraded, caricatured. It may encounter torrents of hostile opiaion and of incompatible facts, upon which its projector had never reckoned ; its course may be determined into a direction the exact reverse of that which he most earnestly desired. In the first French Revolution some of the most humane sociological projects were distorted into becoming the very animating princi- ples of wholesale and extraordhiary barbarities. In England we are fond of repeating the political maxim that " constitutions are not made, but grow ; " we have a proverbial dread of the paper- schemes of govermnent which from time to time are popular among our gifted and volatile neighbours. It is not that we English cannot admire the creations of political genius ; but we hold that in the domain of human life genius must submit herself to the dictation of circumstances, and that she heiself seems to shade ofi" into erratic folly when she can- not clearly recognise the true limits of her power. 174 No proof of change in the 'plan' of our Lord. [Lect. Now Jesus Christ our Lord was in the true and very highest sense of the term a Social Reformer ; yet He fully proclaimed the whole of His social plan before He began to realize it. Had He been merely a 'great man,' He would have been more prudent. He woidd have conditioned His design; He would have tested it ; He would have developed it gradually ; He would have made trial of its work- ing power; and then He would have re-fashioned, or contracted, or expanded it, before finally proposing it to the consideration of the world. But His actual course must have seemed one of utter and reckless foUy, unless the event had shewn it to be the dic- tate of a more than human wisdom. He speaks as One Who is sure of the compactness and faultless- ness of His thought ; He is certain that no htiman obstacle can baulk its realization. He produces it simply, without effort, without reserve, without ex- aggeration ; He is calm, because He is in possession of the future, and sees His way clearly through its tangled maze. There is no proof, no distant inti- mation of a change or of a modification of His plan. He did not, for instance, first aim at a political suc- cess and then cover His failure by giving a religious turn or interpretation to His previous manifestos ; He did not begin as a religious teacher and then aspire to convert His increasing rehgious influence into political capital. No attempts to demonstrate any such vacillation in His thought have reached even a moderate measure of success". Certainly, with the " Dr. Scbenkel, in Lis Charakterbild Jesu, represents our Lord as a pious Jew, -wlio did not assume to be the Messiah before the scene at Ctesarea Philippi. Kap. xii. § 4, p. 138 : " Dadurch, dass ni.] Our Lord certain of the future. 175 lapse of time, He enters upon a larger and larger area of ministerial action ; He developes with majestic assurance, with decisive rapidity, the integral features of His work ; His teaching cen- tres more and more upon Himself as its central Subject ; but He nowhere retracts, or modifies, or speaks or "acts as One Who feels that He is depen- dent upon events or agencies which He cannot control. A poor woman pays Him a ceremonial respect at a feast, and He simply announces that the act will be told as a memorial of her through- out the world" ; He bids His Apostles to do all things whatsoever He had commanded them? ; He promises them His Spirit as a Guide into all neces- sary truth 1: bu-t He invests them with no such dis- cretionary powers, as might imply that His design would need revision under possible circumstances, or could be capable of improvement. He calmly turns the glance of His thought upon the long perspec- tives of the years which lay before Him, and in the immediate foreground of which was His Own Jesus Sich nun wirklicli zu deni Bekenntnisse des Simon bekannte, trat er mit eineni Schlase aus der verworrenen und verwirrenden Lage heraus, in welche Er, duroh die Unklarbeit seiner JiJnger und den Meinungstreit in seiner Umgebung gebrackt war. Eiu Stichwort war jetzt gesproohen." Tbis tbeory is obliged to reject tbe evangelical accounts of our Lord's Baptism and Temptation, and to distort from tlieir plain meaning the narratives of our Lord's sermon in tbe synagogue at Nazaretb (St. Luke iv. i6), of His call of tbe Twelve Apostles, and of His claim to forgive sin. See tbe excellent remarks of M. Pressens^, J^sus Cbrist, pp. 326, 327. o St. Matt. xxvi. 1 3 ; St. Mark xiv. 9. P St. Matt, xxviii. 20. 1 St. John xvL 13. 176 Audacity of our Lord's 'plan' as seen in its substance. [Lect. humiliating Death.''. Other founders of systems or of societies have thanked a kindly Providence for shrouding from their gaze the vicissitudes of coming time, " Prudens futuri temporis exitum Caligiuosa nocte premit deus^;" but the Son of Man speaks as One Who sees beyond the most distant possibihties, and Who knows full well that His work is indestructible. " The gates of hell," He calmly observes, " shall not prevail against it* ;" " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away"." Nor is the boldness of Christ's plan less ob- servable in its actual substance, than in the fact of its original production in such completeness. Look at it, for the moment, from a political point of view. Here is, as it seems, a Galilean Peasant, surrounded by a few followers taken like Himself from the lowest orders of society; yet He deliberately proposes to rule all human thought, to make Himself the Centre of all human affections, to be the Lawgiver of humanity, and the Object of man's adoration. He founds a spiritual society, the thought and heart and activity of which are to converge upon His Person, and He teUs His followers that this society which He is forming is the real explanation of the highest visions of seers and prophets, that it will embrace all races and extend throughout all time. He places Him- self before the world as the true object of its r St. Matt. XX. 19; St. Mark viii. 31. b Hor. Od. iii. 29, 20. t St. Matt. xvi. 18. u Ibid. xxiv. 35. III.] Audacity of our Lord' s 'plan' as seen in its substance. 177 expectations, and He points to His proposed work as the one hope for its future. There was to be a universal rehgion, and He would found it. A uni- versal religion was just as foreign an idea to hea- thenism as to Judaism. Heathenism held that the state was the highest form of social life ; religious life, like family life, was deemed subordinate to poli- tical interests. Morahty was pretty nearly dwarfed down to the measure of common pohtical virtue; sin was little else than political misdemeanour ; religion was a subordinate fimction of the national life, differing in different countries according to the varying genius of the people, and rightly liable to being created or controlled by the government. A century and a half after the Incarnation, in his attack upon the Church, Celsus ridicules the idea of a universal rehgion as a manifest foUy''; yet Jesus Christ has staked His whole claim to respect and confidence upon announcing it. Jesus Christ made no concessions to the passions or to the prejudices of mankind ; the laws and maxims of His kingdom are for the most part in entire contradiction to the instincts of average human nature : yet He pre- dicts that His Gospel will be preached in all the world, and that finally there will be one fold and One Shepherd of men^. "Go," He says to His Apostles, "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe aU things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the X Origen. contr. Celsum, ii. 46. y St. John x. 16. N 178 Realization of our Lord^ s ' plan? [Lect. worlds'' He founds a world-wide religion, and He promises to be the present invigorating force of that religion to the end of time. Are we not too accus- tomed to this language to feel the full force of its original meanmg % How must it have sounded in the ears of Apostles ! Such words as these are not accounted for by any difference between the East and the West, between ancient and modern modes of speech. They will not bear honest trans- lation into any modern phrase that would enable good men to use them now. Imagine such a com- mand as that of our Lord upon the Hps of the best, the wisest of men whom you have ever known ! You cannot. It is simply to imagine that goodness or wisdom has been exchanged for the folly of an intolerable presumption. Such language is folly, unless it be something else ; unless it be proved by the event to have been the highest wisdom, the wisdom of One, Whose ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts". II. But has the plan of Jesus Christ been carried out % Does the kingdom of heaven exist on earth % The Church of Christ is the living answer to that question. BoUeau says somewhere that the Church is a great thought which every man ought to study. It would be more practical to say that the Church is a great fact which every man ought to measure. Probably we Christians are too familiar- ized with the blessed presence of the Church to do justice to her as a world-embracing institution, and as the nurse and guardian of our moral and mental 2 St. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. a laa. Iv. 8. III.] Continuous growth of the Church. 179 life. Like tlie air we breathe, she bathes our whole beiog with influences which we do not analyse ; and we hold her cheap in proportion to the magnitude of her secret services. The sun rises on us day by day in the heavens, and we heed not his svirpassing beauty until our languid sense is roused by sonae ob- servant astronomer or artist. The Christian Church pours even upon those of us who love her least floods of intellectual and moral light ; and yet it is only by an occasional intellectual efibrt that we detach ourselves sufficiently from the tender mono- tony of her influences to understand how intrinsi- cally extraordinary is the fact of her perpetuated existence and of her continuous expansion. Glance for a moment at the history of the Christian Church from the days of the Apostles until now. What is it but a history of the gra- dual, unceasing self - expansion of an institution which, from the first hour of its existence, dehbe- rately aimed, as it is aiming even now, at the conquest of the world ^ 1 Compare the Church which sought refuge and which prayed in the upper chamber at Jerusalem, with the Church of which St. Paul is the pioneer and champion in the latter portion of the Acts of the Apostles, or with the Church to which he refers, as already making its way throughout the world, in his Apostohcal Epi- stles ". Compare again the Church of the Apostohcal age with the Church of the age of Tertulhan. Christianity had then already penetrated, at least b St. Luke xxiv. 47 ; Acts i. 8, ix. 15 ; Mark xvi. 20. " Rom. i. 8, X. 18, XV. 18-21; Col. i. 6, 23; cf. i St. Peter i. i, &c. N 2 1 80 Continuous growth of the Church . [Lect. in some degree, into all classes of Eoman society*^, and was even pursuing its missionary course in re- gions far beyond the frontiers of the empire «, in the forests of Germany, in the wilds of Scythia, in the deserts of Africa, and among the unsubdued and barbarous tribes who inhabited the northern ex- tremity of our own island. Again, how nobly con- scious is the Chu.rch of the age of St. Augustine of her world-wide mission, and of her ever- widening area ! how sharply is this consciousness contrasted with the attempt of Donatism to dwarf down the realization of the plan of Jesus Christ to the nar- row proportions of a national or provincial enter- prise^ ! In the writings of Augustine especially, we 3 Tert. Apol. 37 : "Hesterni sumus, et vestra omnia implevimus, urbes, insulas, castella, municipia, conciliabula, castra ipsa, tribus, decurias, palatium, senatum, forum, sola vobis relinquimus templa." Cf. de Eossi, Koma Sotteranea, i. p. 309. e Tert. adv. Judseos, c. 7 : " Jam Getulorum varietates, et Mau- rorum multi fines, Hispaniarum omnes termini, et Galliarum di- versse nationes, et Britannor%m% inaccessa Ronianis arina, Christo vero subdita, et Sarmatarum, et Dacorum, et Germanorum, et Soytharum, et abditarum multarum gentium et provinciarum, et inaularum multarum. nobis ignotarum, et quse enumerare minus possumus. In quibus omnibus locis, Christi nomen, qui jam venit, regnat, utpote ante Quem omnium civitatum portse sunt apertse." f S. Aug. Ep. xlix. n. 3 : " Quferlmus ergo, ut nobis respondere non graveris, quam causam forte noveris qua factum est, ut Christus amitteret hsereditatem Suam per orbem terrarum diffusam, et subito in soils Afris, nee ipsis omnibus remaneret. Etenim ecclesia Catbolica est etiam in Africa quia per omnes teiTas eam Deus esse voluit et prsedixit. Pars autem vestra, quae Donati dicitur, non est in omnibus illis locis, in quibus et literse et sermo et facta apostolica cucurrerunt." In Ps. Ixxxv. n. 14 : "Christo enim tales malediount, qui dicunt, quia periit ecclesia de orbe terrarum, et remansit in sola Africa." Compare S. Hieron. adv. Lucifer, tom. III.] CcHiiHHOUiffrowUi-ftAeQiHrei. 181 see the Church of Christ tenaciouslv grasping the deposit of revealed unchan^iig doctrine, while Htur- gies the most dissimilar, and teachers of many tongues", and a large variety of ecclesiastical customs'", find an equal welcome "within her comprehensive bosom. Yet contrast the CLuixii of the fourth and fifth centuries with the Church of the middle ages, or with the Church of our own day. In the fourth and even in the fifth century, whatever may have been, the activity of individual missionaries, the Church was still for the most p^art contained within the limits of the empire; and of parts of the em- pire she had scarcely as yet taken possession. She was still confix)nted by powerful sections of the popu- lation passionately attached for various reasons to the ancient superstition : nobles such as the powerful iv. pt. ii. p. 298 : - Si in Sardinia tantom habet [ecdeaam Chiistas] nimium pauper feems est." And S. Clirys. in CoL Hem. i. n. 2 : in I Cor. Horn. xxdi. n. i. s In PS. xlir. (Vnlg.) Enarr. n. 24 : •• Sacramenta doetrinse in linCT iv omnibus vaiiis. Alia lingua Afira, alia STxa, alia Giseca, alia Hebrsea, alia Ula et iUa ; &cinnt istit linguse Tarietatem Testis i^iose hujus ; qoomodo autem omnis Taiietatis Testis in unitate concordat, sie et omnes linguse ad nnam fidem." * Ep. Kt. ad Januar. n. 2 : ■^ Alia Tero [sunt] quse per loca ter- larum regionesque Tariantor, sicuti est quod alii jejimant sabbato, alii non ; alii quotidie communicant Corpoii et Sanguini Domini, alii eertis diebus acoipiunt ; alibi nuUus dies praetermittitor, quo non offeiatuT, alibi sabbato tantum et dominieo. alibi tanmm do- minieo : et si quid aliud hujusmodi animadTerti potest, tottim hoe i^ii'.is rer'.:—,' lib^r.^.-s hahet oh$itrraiion-:s : nee disoinlina ulla est in bis meli verb non dubitent earn coniiteri magnam, si obtempe- retur, salutem esse reipublics?." 8 S. Hieronymus adv. Jovin. lib. ii. torn. iv. pars ii. p. 200, ed. Martian : " Nostra religio non TrvRTr]v, non atbletam (St. Jerome might almost have in his eye a certain well-known modern theory) non nautas, non milites, non fossores, sed sapientise erudit secta- 190 Actual emjjire of Christ over the mind, [Lect. of the outward aspects of human existence ; it has created a new religious language, a new type of worship, a new calendar of time. It has furnished new ideals to art ; it has opened nothing less than a new world to hterature ; it has invested the forms of social intercourse among men with new graces of refinement and mutual consideration. Yet these are but some of the superficial symptoms of its real work. It has achieved these changes in the out- ward life of Christian nations, because it has pene- trated to the very depths of man's heart and thought ; because it has revolutionized his convic- tions and tamed his will, and then expressed its triumph in the altered social system of that section of the human race which has generally received it. How complete at this moment is the reign of Christ in the soul of a sincere Christian! Christ is not a constitutional. He is emphatically an absolute Mo- narch ; and yet His rule is welcomed by His subjects Avith more than that enthusiasm which a free people can feel for its elected magistracy. Every sincere Christian bows to Jesus Christ as to an Intellectual Master. Our Lord is not merely held to be a Teacher of Truth ; He is the very Absolute Truth itself. No portion of His teaching is received by true Christians merely as a ' view,' or as a ' tentative system,' or as a 'theory,' which may be entertained, discussed, partially adopted, and partially set aside. Those who deal thus with Him are understood to have broken with Chris- tianity, at least as a practical religion. For a Chris- tian, the Words of Christ are, one and all, an abso- torem, qui se Dei cultui dedicavit, et scit cur creatus sit, cur versetur in mundo, quo abire festinet." m.] ieart, aud iclll of a true Ciri^tiaa. 191 lute rule of truth. All ttat Christ has authorized is amply ao^pted vith the whole energv of the Chris- tdan reason. Christ's Thought is reflected, it is repro- duced, in the thought of the true Christian. Christ's dictatorship in the sphere of speculatiTe truth is thaaikfiilly acknoisiedged bv the Christian's Toluntary and unreserred submission to the slightest known intimations of his Masters judgment. High aboTe the din of human Toices, the tremendous Self-a^ertion of Jesus Christ echoes on firom age to age, — " I am the Truth V And from age to age the Christian responds by a life-long endeaTOur "to bring every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Christ i." But if J^us Christ is Lord of the Christian's thought. He is also Lord of tiie Christians afiections. Beauty it is -which provokes love ; and Christ is the Highest Moral Beauty. He does not merely rank as a Teacher of the pur^t morality; He is Absolute Virtue itself. As such He claims to reign over the inmost affections of man ; He claims and He sectures the first phice in the heart of every true Christian. To have taken the measure of His Beauty, and yet not to love Him, is, in a Christians judgment, to be self-condemned. '• If anv man love not the Lord Jesus Clmst, let him be Anathema Maranatha^." And ruling the affections of the Christian, Christ is also King of the sovereign feculty in the Christianized soul: He is Master of the Christian wiH He has tamed its native stubborn- ness, and now He teaches it day by day a more and more phant accuracy of movement in obedience to Himself Nay, He is not merely its rule, but its very 1> St. John xir. 6. » :: Cor. x. 5. ^ I Cor. stL 22. 192 The Christian, a witness to the Living Christ. [Lect. motive power ; each act of devotion and self-sacrifice of which it is capable is but an extension of the energy of Christ's Own moral Life. " Without Me," He says to His servants, "ye can do nothing';" and with St. Paul His servants reply, " I can do all things through Christ Which strengtheneth me™." This may be expressed in other terms by saying that both intellectually and morally Christ is Chris- tianity. Christianity is not related to our Lord as a philosophy might be to a philosopher, that is, as a moral or intellectual system thrown off from his mind, resting thenceforward on its own merits, and impljdng no necessary attitude towards its author on the part of those who receive it, beyond a certain sympathy with what was at one time a portion of his thought. A philosophy may be tluis abstracted altogether from the person of its originator, vdth entire impimity. Platonic thought wotild not have been damaged, if Plato had been annihilated ; and in our day men are Hegelians or Comtists without be- lieving that the respective authors of those systems are in existence at this moment, nay rather, in the majority of cases, while deliberately holding that they have ceased to be. The utmost stretch of per- sonal allegiance, on the part of the disciple of a philosophy to its founder, consists, ordinarily speak- ing, in a sentiment of devotion 'to his memory.' But detach Christianity from Christ, and it vanishes I before your eyes into intellectual vapour. For it is of the essence of Christianity that, day by day, hour by hour, the Christian should live in conscious, felt, sustained relationship to the Ever-living Author of 1 St. John XV. 5. m piiii. iv. 13. in.] Christ the Life of all lii-'ing Chnstiauif I/. 193 his creed and of his life. Christianity is non-existent apart from Christ ; it centres in Christ ; it radiates, now as at the first, from Christ. It is not a mere doctrine bequeathed by Him to a world with which He has ceased to have dealings ; it perishes ontright when men attempt to abstract it from the Living- Person of its Founder. He is felt by His people to be their Living Lord, really present with them now, and even tmto the end of the world. The Christian life spring's from and is svistained by the apprehen- sion of Christ present in His Church, present ia and with His members as a iri'eijfj.a ^woiroiouv^. Christ is the quickening Spirit of Christian humanity; He lives in Christians ; He thinks ia Christians ; He acts through Christians and with Christians ; He is indissolubly associated with every movement of the Christian's deepest life. "I live," exclaims the Apo- stle, ''yet not I, but Christ liveth in me^." This felt presence of Christ it is, which gives both its form and its force to the sincere Christian life. That life is a loyal homage of the intellect, of the heart, and of the will, to a Divine King, with Whom will, heart, and intellect are in close and constant com- munion, and from Whom there flows forth through the Spirit and the Sacraments, that supply of Hght, of love, and of resolve, which enriches and ennobles the Christian soul. My brethren, I am not theorizing or describing any merely ideal state of things ; I am but putting into words the inner experience of every true Christian among you ; I am but exhibiting a set of spiritual circumstances which, as a matter of course, every true Christian endeavours to realize ^ I Cor. sv. 45. ° Gal. ii. 20. o 194 Actaal iiijliieiicc of the Sermon on the Iloui/t. [Lect. and make his own, and wliich, as a matter of fact, blessed be God! very many Cbristians do realize, to tlieir present peace, and to their eternal welfare. Certainly it is not uncommon in our day to be informed, that ' the Sermon on the Mount is a dead letter in Christendom.' In consequence (so men speak) of the engrossing interest which Christians have wrongly attached to the discussion of dogmatic questions, that original draught of essential Chris- tianity, the Sermon on the Mount, has been weUnigh altogether lost sight of. Perhaps you yourselves, my brethren, ere now have repeated some of the current commonplaces on this topic. But have you endea- voured to ascertain whether it is indeed as you say? You remark that you at least have not met with Christians who seemed to be making any sincere efforts to turn the Sermon on the Mount into prac- tice. It may be so. But the question is, where have you looked for them 1 Do you expect to meet them rushmg hurriedly along the great highways of life, with the keen, eager, self-asserting multitude 1 Do you expect, that with their eye upon the Beatitudes and upon the Cross, they will throng the roads wliich lead to worldly success, to earthly wealth, to tem- poial honour "? Be assured that those who know where moral beauty, aye, the highest, is to be found, are not disappointed, even at this hour, in their search for it. Until you have looked more carefully, more anxiously than has probably been the case, for the triumphs of our Lord's work in Christian souls, you may do well to take upon trust the testimony of others. You may at least be sufficiently generous, aye, and sufficiently reasonable, to believe in the exist- III.] Moral creativeness of our Lord in modern times. 195 ence at this hour of the very highest types of Chris- tian virtue. It is a simple matter of fact that in our day, multitudes of men and women do lead the hfe of the Beatitudes ; they pray, they fast, they do alms to their Father Which seeth in secret. There are numbers who take no thought for the morrow. There are numbers whose righteousness does exceed that worldly and conventional standard of religion, which knows no law save the corrupt pubHc opinion of the hour, and which inherits in every generation the essential spirit of the Scribes and Pharisees. There are numbers who shew forth the moral crea- tiveness of Jesus Christ in their own deeds and words ; they are hving vntnesses to His sohtary and supreme power of changing the human heart. They were naturally proud ; He has enabled them to be sincerely htunble. They were, by the inherited taint of their nature, impure ; He has in them shed honour upon the highest forms of chastity. They too were, as in his natural state man ever is, sus- picious of and hostile to their fellow-men, unless connected with them by blood, or by country, or by interest. But Jesus Christ has taught them the tenderest and most practical forms of love for man viewed simply as man ; He has inspired them with the only true, that is, the Christian, humanitarianism. Do not suppose that the moral energy of the Chris- tian life was confined to the Church of the Catacombs. At this moment, there are millions of souls in the world, that are pure, humble, and loving. But for Jesus Christ our Lord these milhons would have been proud, sensual, selfish. At this very day, and even in atmospheres where the tamt of scepticism dulls the o 2 196 Moral creativeness of our Lord in modern times. [Lect. brightness of Christian thought, and enfeebles the strength of Christian resolution, there are to be found men, whose intelligence gazes on Jesus with a faith so clear and strong, whose affection clings to Him with so trustful and so warm an embrace, whose resolution has been so disciplined and braced to serve Him by a persevering obedience, that, be- yond a doubt, they would joyfully die for Him, if by shedding their blood they could better express their devotion to His Person, or lead others to know and to love Him more. Blessed be God, that portion of His one Fold in which He has placed us, the Church of England, has not lacked the lustre of such lives as these. Such assuredly was Ken ; sixch was Bishop Wilson ; such have been many "v^^hose names have never appeared in the page of history. Has not one indeed quite lately passed from among us, the boast and glory of this our University, great as a poet, greater still perhaps as a scholar and a theo- logian, greatest of aU as a Christian saint % Cer- tainly to know him, even slightly, was inevitably to know that he led a life, distinct from, and higher than, that of common men ; to know him well, was to revere and to love in him the manifested beauty of his Lord's presence ; it was to trace the sensibly perpetuated power of the Life, of the Teaching, of the Cross of Jesus p. On the other hand look at certain palpable effects of our Lord's work which He on the very face of human society. If society, apart from the Church, P The author of the Christian Year had passed to his rest during the interval that elapsed between the delivery of the second and the third of these lectures, on March 30, 1866. III.] Social results of the spread of Christianity. 197 is more kindly and humane than in heathen times, this is due to the work of Christ on the hearts of men. The era of 'humanity' is the era of the In- carnation. The sense of hinnan brotherhood, the acknowledgment of the sacredness of human rights, the recognition of that particular stock of rights which appertains to every human being, is a cre- ation of Christian dogma. It has radiated from the heart of the Christian Church into the society of the outer world. Christianity is the power which first gradually softened slavery, and is now finally abolishing it. Christianity has proclaimed the dignity of poverty, and has insisted upon the claims of the poor, with a success proportioned to the sincerity which has welcomed her doctrines among the different peoples of Christendom. The hospital is an inven- tion of Christian philanthropy ; the active charity of the Church of the fourth century forced into the Greek language a word for which Paganism had had no occasion. The degradation of woman in the Pagan world has been exchanged for a position of special privilege and high honour, accorded to her by the Christian nations. The sensualism which Paganism mistook for love has been placed under the ban of all true Cliristian feeling ; and in Chris- tendom, love is now the purest of moral impulses ; it is the tenderest, the noblest, the most refined of the movements of the soul. The old, the universal, the natiu'al feeling of bitter hostility between races, nations, and classes of men is denounced by Chris- tianity. The spread of Christian truth inevitably breaks down the ferocities of national prejudice, and prepares the world for that cosmopohtanism which, 198 These social improvements radiate from the Church. [Lect. we are told, is its most probable future. International law had no real existence until the nations, taught by Christ, had begun to feel the bond of brother- hood. International law is now each year becoming more and more powerful in regulating the affairs of the civilized world. And if we are sorrowfully reminded that the prophecy of a world-wide peace within the limits of Christ's kingdom has not yet been realized ; if Christian lands in oiir day as be- fore are reddened by streams of Christian blood ; yet the utter disdain of the plea of right, the high- handed and barbarous savagery, which marked the wars of heathendom, have given way to sentiments in which justice can at least obtam a hearing, and which compassion and generosity, drawing their in- spirations from the Cross, have at times raised to the level of chivalry. But neither these improvements in human society, nor the regenerate life of the indi- vidual Christian, would, taken separately, have rea- lized our Lord's ' plan.' His design was to found a society or Church ; individual sanctity and social amelioration are only effects radiating from the Church. The Church herself is the true proof of His success. After the lapse of eighteen centuries the kingdom of Christ is here, and it is still expanding. How fares it generally with a human undertaking when exposed to the action of a long period of time % The idea which was its very soul is thrown into the shade by some other idea; or it is warped, or dis- torted, or diverted from its true direction, or changed by some radical corruption. In the end it dies out from among the hving thoughts of men, and takes its place in the tomb of so much forgotten specula- III.] i?c''."//cVii//rt' ;■>• ■.■; >■,■•■■' - . 199 tion, on the shelves of a libraiy. Within a short lifetime we may follow many a popular moral im- pulse ii"om its ei-adle to its grave. From the era of its yonng enthtisiasm we mark its gradttal entry upon its stage of tixed habit ; from this again we pass to its day of lifeless formalism and to the rapid pro- gress of its decline. But the Society foundeii by Jesus Christ is here, still animated by its original idea, still eaiTied forward by the moral impulse which sustained it in its uifancy. If Christian doctrine has, in partiotilar branches of the Chtu'ch, been over- laid by an encrtistation of foreign and earthly ele- ments, its Ixxly and substance is tmtottched in each o;reat division of the Catholic Societv ; and mtich of it, we may rejoice to know, is retained by bodies external to the Holy Fold. If intimate union with the worldly power of the State lias sometimes i as especially in England dm-ing the last centiu-A") seemed to chill the warmth of Christian love, and to subsniuto a heartless extemalism for the spiritual life of a Christian brotherhood : yet again and again the llame of That Spirit AViiom the Sou of Man sent to ■ glorify' Hiuaself, has biu-st up fi'om the depths of the liviuii- heart of the Chtu-ch, and has kindled au^oui^' a ov-ueration cf sceptics or sensualists a pure and keen enthtisiasm which coufesS'.n-s and martyrs might have recognised as their own. The Church of Christ in sooth carries within herself the secret t'or^cs which leuew her moral vigoiu', and which will, in Gods oood time, visibly re-asseiT her essential unitv. Her perpetttated exisrence aiuou.g ourselves at this hotu- beai-s a witness to the superhuman | owers other Foimder not less sli^'uincant than that afforded 200 Hoto to account for the success of Jesus Christ ? [Lect. by the intensity of the individual Christian life, or by the territorial range of the Christian empire. III. The work of Jesus Christ in the world is a patent fact, and it is stUl in fuU progress before our eyes. The question remains. How are we to account for its success % If tliis question is asked with respect to the ascen- dancy of such a national religion as the popular Paganism of Greece, it is obvious to refer to the doc- trine of the prehistoric mythus. The Greek religious creed was, at least in the main, a creation of the national imagination at a period when reflection and experience could scarcely have existed. It was re- commended to subsequent generations not merely by the indefinable charm of poetry which was thrown around it, not merely by the antiquity which shrouded its actual origin, but by its accurate sym- pathy with the genius as with the degradations of the gifted race which had produced it. But of late years we have heard less of the attempt to apply the doctrine of the mythus to a series of well- ascertained historical events, occurring in the mid- day light of history, and open to the hostile criti- cism of an entire people. The historical imagination, steadily apphed to the problem, refuses to picture the unimaginable process by which such stupendous 'myths' as those of the Gospel could have been fes- tooned around the simple history of a humble preacher of righteousness. The early Christian Church does not supply the intellectvial agencies that could have been equal to any siich task. As Eousseau has observed, the inventor of such a history would have been not less remarkable than its Subject ; and the utter reversal of the ordinary laws of a in.] C.'.;fk-i/>!i; and cf BiulUiisin. 201 people's mental development "vronld have been itself a mii-ade. Xor was it to be anticipated that a reh- gion which was, as the mythical school asserts, the ' creation of the Jewish race," would have made itself a home, at the verv beo-innintr of its existence, amona: the Greek and the Roman peoples of the Western world. If however we are refen-ed to the upgrowth and spread of Btiddliism, as to a phienomenon which may rival and explaui the triumph of Chi'is- tianity. it may be sirtlicient to reply that the ■writers who insist upon this panillel ai'e themselves eminently successful in analysing the purely nattu-al causes of the success of Cakya-Moimi. They dwell among other points on the rai-e dehcacy and fertihty of the Aryan imagination'', and on the absence of any strong counter- atti-action to arrest the cotu'se of the new doctrine in Central and Sotith-eastern Asia. Xor need we fear to admit, that, mingled with the dai'kest en-ors. Buddhism contained elements of truth so imdeniably powerful as to appeal with gi-eat force to some of the noblest aspirations of the soul of man. Btit Buddhism, vast as is the population which professes it, has never yet fotuid its way into a second continent "■ ; while the religion of Jesus Christ is to be foimd in every qtiarter oi the globe. As for tbe rapid and widesja-ead growth of the religion of the False Prophet, it may be explained partly by the ja-actical genius of Mohammed, pu'tly by the rai-e qualities of tie Arab i-ace. If it had not 1 Cf. on Tlis point the interesting Essay of M. Tixine, Etudes Critiques, p. ,:;;i. ■■ There is. I believe, a single Budelhist temple at San Frimoisoo. Japin and the ishmds of the Eastern Archipelago lulong of course properly to Asia. 202 Cases of Mohammedanism, and Confucianism. [Lect. claimed to be a new revelation, Mohammedanism might have passed for a heresy adroitly constructed out of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. Its doc- trine respecting Jesus Christ reaches the level of Socinianism ; and, as against Polytheism, its specu- lative force lay in its insistance upon the truth of the Divine Unity. A religion which consecrated sensual indulgence could bid high for an Asiatic popularity against the Church of Christ ; and Mohammed deli- vered the scymetar, as the instrument of his Aposto- late, into the hands of a people whose earlier poetry shews it to have been gifted with intellectual fire and strength of purpose of the highest order. But it has not yet been asserted that the Church fought her way, sword in hand, to the throne of Constan- tine ; nor were the first Christians naturally calcu- lated to impose their will forcibly upon the civilized world, had they ever desired to do so. StiU less is a parallel to the work of Jestis Christ to be found in that of Confucius. Confucius indeed was not a warrior like Mohammed, nor a mystic like Qakya- Mouni ; he appealed neither to superior knowledge nor to miraculous power. Confucius collected, codi- fied, enforced, reiterated all that was best in the mora] traditions of China ; he was himself deeply penetrated with the best ethical sentiments of Chi- nese antiquity. His success was that of an earnest patriot who was also, as a patriot, an antiquarian moralist. But he succeeded only in China, nor could his work roll back that invasion of Buddhism which took place in the first century of the Christian era. Confucianism Ls more purely national than Buddhism and Mohammedanism; in this respect it contrasts more sharply with the world-wide presence of Chris- III.] WorfJ-frideaetirifjf^f^jeOinstMMOitiivJi. 203 tianity. Yet if Confdcianism is mtknown beyond the frontiers of China, it is equally true that neither Buddhism nor Mohammedanism have done more than spread themselves over territories contiguous to their original homes. Whereas, ahnost within the lii"st century of her existence, the Church had her mis- aonaries in Spain on one band, and, as it seems, in India on the other; and her Apostle proclaimed that his Master "s cause was utterly independent of aU distinctions of race and nation-. At this mo- ment, Chiistian charity is fi-eely spending its ener- a:ies and its blood in efforts to carrv the work of Jesus Christ into i-egions where He has been so stoutly resisted by these ancient and highly organ- ized fonns of error. Yet in the streets of London or of Paris we do not hear of the labours of Mos- lem or Buddhist missionaries, instinct with any such sense of a duty and mission to all the world iQ the name of Truth as that which animates at this veiw hour- those heroic pioneers of Christen- dom whom Exuxtpe has sent to Delhi or to PeVin ', From the earhest ages of the Church, the rapid progress of Chrisrianity in the fece of appa- * CoL iii. 1 1 ; Bom. i. 14. ' We are indeed told that " if we were to judge from the histoiy of the last thousand veiirs, it would appear to shew that the per- manent area of Christianitr is conterminous with that of Western ciTiliration, and that its doctrines could find acceptance onlv among those who, by incorporation into the Greek and Latin races, have adopted their system of life and morals." International Policy, p. 50S. The An^o-Posdtivist school however is careful to explain that it altogether excludes Kussia fipom any share in " Western civi- liraiion;' Eussia, it appears, is quite extenoal to 'the West." Ibid, pp. 14-17. 5S. 95.A-C. 204 Gibbon's account of the success of Jesus Christ. [Lect. rently insurmountable difficiilties, has attracted at- tention, on the score of its high evidential value 'i. The accomplished but unbeheving historian of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire under- took to furnish the scepticism of the last century with a systematized and altogether natural account of the spread of Christianity \ The five 'causes' which he instances as sufficient to explain the work of Jesus Christ in the world are, the ' zeal ' of the early Christians, the ' doctrine of a future life,' the 'miraculous powers ascribed to the primitive Church,' the ' pure and austere morals of the first Christians,' and ' the union and disciphne of the Christian repub- lic' But surely each of these causes points at once and irresistibly to a cause beyond itself. If the zeal of the first Christians was, as Gibbon wUl have it, a fanatical habit of mind inherited from Judaism, how came it not merely to survive, but to acquire a new intensity, when the narrow nationalism which pro- voked it in the Jew had been wholly renounced ? What was it that made the first Christians so zealous amid surrounding lassitude, so holy amid encompassing pollution % Why should the doctrine of a Hfe to come have had a totally different effect when proclaimed by the Apostles from any which it had had when taught by Socrates or by Plato, " S. Justin. Dialog, cum Ti-yph. 117, 121; S. Irenseus, adv. Hier. i. c. 10, § 2 ; Tertull. adv. Judteos, vii.; Apolog. 37 ; Orig. contr. Celsum, i, 26, ii. 79. " No reader of Gibbon will be misled by the profane sarcasm of the opening paragraphs of Decl. and Fall. c. xv. Would that Gibbon had really supposed himself to be describing only the ' secondary causes ' of the progress of Christianity ! III.] Recent theory of the success of our Lord. 205 or by other thinkers of the Pagan world'? How came it that a few peasants and tradesmen could erect a world-wide organization, so elastic as to adapt itself to the genius of races the most various, so uniform as to be everywhere visibly conservative of its unbroken identity ? If the miracles of the early Church, or any one of them, were genuine, how can they avail to explain the nctturalness of the spread of Christianity 1 If they were all false, how extraordinary is this spectacle of a moral tri- umph, such as even Gibbon acknowledges that of Christianity to be, brought about by means of a vast and odious imposition ! Gibbon's argument would have been more conclusive if the ' causes ' to which he points could themselves have been satisfactorily accounted for in a natural way. As it was, the historian of Lausanne did an indirect service to Christendom, of that kind which our country has sometimes owed to the threatening preparations of a great military neighbour. Gibbon indicated very clearly the direction which would be taken by mo- dern assailants of the faith ; but he is not singular in having strengthened the cause which he sought to ruin, by an indirect demonstration of the essen- tially supernatural character of the spread of the Gospel. But you remind me that if the sceptical artillery of Gibbon is out of date, yet the 'higher criticism' of our day has a more dehcate, and, as is presumed, a more effective method of stating the naturahstic explanation of the work of Jesus Christ in the world. Jesus Christ, you say, appeared at a time when the world itself forced victory upon Him, or 206 Recent theory of the success of our Lord. [Lect. at least ensured for Hixa an easy triumph y. The wants and aspirations of a worn-out civihzation, the dim but almost universal presentiment of a coming Restorer of mankind, the completed organ- ization of a great world-empire, combined to do this. You urge that it is possible so to correspond to the moral and intellectual drift of a particular period, that nothing but a perverse stupidity can escape a success which is all but inevitable. You add that Jesus Christ ' had this chance ' of appear- ing at a critical moment in the history of humanity; and that when the world was ripe for His religion. He and His Apostles had just adroitness enough not to be wholly unequal to the opportunity. The report of His teaching and of His Person was car- ried on the crest of one of those waves of strange mystic enthusiasm, which so often during the age of the C^sars roUed westward from Asia towards the capital of the world ; and though the Founder of Christianity, it is true, had perished in the surf. His work, you hold, in the nature of things, could not but survive Him. In this representation, my brethren, there is a partial truth which I proceed to recognise. It is true that the world was weary and expectant ; it is true that the political fabric of the great empire y Kenan, Les Apotres, pp. 302, 303. M. Eenan is of opinion that " la conversion du monde aux id(£es Juives (!) et chr^tiennes etait inevitable ; " liis only astonishment is that " cette conversion se soit fait si lentement et si tard." On the other hand the new faith is said to have made "de proohe en proche d'etoniiantes progres" (Ibid. p. 215); and, with reference to Antioch, "on s'etonne des progrls accomplis en si pen de temps." Tbid. p. 236. aflPcflpded lo the Gx>spel tie same feaKties for self- extension as those -wrhich it offered to the religioii of Osiris or to the feble of Apollonitis Tyanrexts. But ttose &vo«ralile drenmstances are only what we should look for at the hands of a Divine PiwTi- deuce, when the true religion was to be introduced into the world; and they are altogether uneqtial to account fi>r the success of Christianity. Toti say that Christianity corresponded to the dominant moral and mental tendencies' of the time so perfectly. that those tendencies secured its tiitmiph. But is this accurate ^ Christianity Tras cradled in Juda- ism ; but was the later Judaism so entirely in har- mony with the temper and aim of Cliristianity t Was the age of the Zealots, of Judas the Gaulonite, of Theudas- iiiely to welcome the spiritual empire of such a teacher as our Lord ? Were the moral dis- pc'sitions of the Jews, their longings &r a pohtical Messiah, their fierce legalisni. their passionate jea- lousy fox the prerogatixes of their race, calcidated — 1 do not say to forther the triumph of the Church, but^ — to enter even distantly into her dis- tincriTe spirit and doctrines I Did not the Syna- gogue perseexite Jesns to death, when it had once diseemed the real character of His teaching f Per- haps you suggest that the fevourable dispositions in question which made the sncxiess of Christianity practically ineyitable w^eie to be found among the HeDenistie Jews*. The Hellenistic Jews were less cramped by national prejudices, less strictly ohser- Tant cf the Mosaic cejemcnies, more willing to wel- come Gentile proselytes than was the case with the « Baoaa, Les Ap^rres. e. ia.^>. 300. sqq- * BssL P- 113- 208 No aderiuate explanation furnished ly Judaism. [Lect. Jews of Palestine. Be it so. But the Hellenistic Jews were just as opposed as the Jews of Palestine to the capital truths of Christianity. A crucified Messiah, for instance, was not a more welcome doc- trine in the synagogues of Corinth or of Thessalo- nica than in those of Jerusalem. Never was Juda- ism broader, more elastic, more sympathetic with external thought, more disposed to make concessions than in Philo Judseus, the most representative of Hellenistic Jews. Yet Philo insists as stoutly as any Palestinian Eahbi upon the perpetuity of the law of Moses. As long, he says, as the human race shall endure, men shall carry their offerings to the temple of Jerusalem''. Indeed in the first age of Christianity the Jews, both Palestinian and Helle- nistic, illustrate, unintentionally of course, but very remarkably, the supernatural law of the expansion of the Church. They persecute Christ in His mem- bers, and yet they submit to Him ; they are fore- most in enriching the Church with converts, after enriching her with martyrs. Wherever the preachers of the Gospel appear, it is the Jews who are their fiercest persecutors °; the Jews rouse against them the passions of the Pagan mob, or appeal to the prejudice of the Pagan magistrate ''. Yet the 1) De- Monarchia, lib. ii. § 3, ii. 224: e(^' oaov yap to dvBpairav yevos Siaficvf'i, ad Ka\ al jvpoa-oSoi roii Upov (j)v\ax6ricrovTat avvStaivcovi^ovo-ai TTavjl Tta Koapa. How far St. Paul thought that Judaism contributed to the triumph of the Church might appear from i Thess. ii. 15, 16. Com- pare Acts xiii. 50; xiv. 5, 19; xvii. 5, 13; xviii. 12; xix. 9; xxii. 21, 22. " Ibid. p. 305: "Le mal venait surtout de I'Orieat, de ces fiatteurs de bas etage. de ces hommes infames que I'Egrpte et la Svrie envoyaient a Eome." P. 306: " Le plus choquantes igno- minies de I'empire, telles que lapotlieose de I'empereur, s;i divi- nisation de son vivant, venaieut de rOrient, et surtout de TEijvpte, qui etait alore un des pays les plus corrumpus de I'umyers." "' Ibid. p. jiS: "La Idgferete S}Tienne, le charlatanisme Babv- lonien, toutes les impostures de I'Asie, se confondant a cette limite des deux mondes avaient fait d'Antioclie la capitale du men- songe, la sentine de toutes les infamies.'' P. 2 1 9 : " L'a\-ilissement des ames j etait eftroyable. Ze propir Ji a^/oyeis di^ put re rati ion morate. c'est (Tamcner toiit-s h-s rac-M an mime iiiveau." ^ Ibid. p. 343. 214 The spirit of Paganism and JesKS Crucified. [Lect. indeed Christianity had been an 'idyll' or 'pas- toral,' the product of the simple peasant life and of the bright sky of Gahlee, there is no reason why it should not have attracted a momentary interest in literary circles, although it certainly would have escaped from any more serious trial at the hands of statesmen than an unaffected indifference to its popu- larity. But what was the Gospel as it met the eye and fell upon the ear of Roman Paganism '? " We preach," said the Apostle, " Christ Crucified, to the Jews an oifence, and to the Greeks a folly y." " I determined not to know anything among you Corinthians, save Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified 2." Here was a truth linked inextricably with other truths equally 'foolish' in the apprehension of Pa- gan intellect, equally condemnatory of the moral de- gradation of Pagan life. In the preaching of the Apostles, Jesus Crucified confronted the intellectual cynicism, the social selfishness, and the sensuahst degradation of the Pagan world. To its intellect He said, "I am the Truths;" He bade its proud self-confidence bow before His intellectual absolutism. To its selfish, heartless society, careful only for bread and amusement, careless of the agonies which gave interest to the amphitheatre. He said, "A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one anotlier, as I have loved you*'." Disinterested love of slaves, of barbarians, of pohtical enemies, of social y iCor. i. 23: JJ^fir 8e Kt)pvaiTOiiev XpicrTov faravpovfievov, 'lovSaiois fxiv (TKCLvdaXov, "EXXjjo-i 8e fxaplav. =' Ibid. ii. 2 : ov yap (Kpiva tov eltivai Tt (v iipXv, (I fifi 'lr)(rovv XptoroK, Koi TOVTOv earavpaipevov. " St. John xiv. 6. t Ibid. xiii. 34. III.] The real toants of Paganism satisfied ly Christ. 5il5 rivals, love of man as man, was to be a test of true discipleship. And to the sensuality, so gross, and yet often so polished, which was the very law of individual Pagan hfe, He said, " If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me'^;" "If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee ; it is better for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that th}'- whole body should be cast into hell'i." Sensuality was to be dethroned, not by the negative action of a prudential abstinence from indulgence, but by the strong positive force of self- mortification. Was such a doctrine likely, of its own weight and without any assistance from on high, to win its way to acceptance e \ Is it not certain that debased souls are so far from aspiring naturally towards that which is holy, elevated and pure, that they feel towards it only hatred and repulsion % Certainly Rome was unsatisfied with her old national idolatries ; but if she turned her eyes towards the East, it was to welcome not the religion of Jesus, but the impure rites of Isis and Serapis, of Mithra and Astarte. The Gospel came to her unbidden, in obedience to no assignable attraction in Roman so- ciety, but simply in virtue of its own expansive, world -embracing force. Certainly Christianity an- swered to the moral wants of the world, as it really answers at this moment to the true moral wants of c St. Matt. xvi. 24; St. Mark viii. 34. d St. Matt, xviii. 9; St. Mark ix. 47. « M. Eenaii himself observes that " la degradation des aines en Egypte y rendait rares, d'ailleurs, les aspirations qui ouvrirent partout (!) au christianisme de si faciles acces." Les Ap6tres, p. 284. 216 Complex opposition of Fag an society to the Church. [Lect. all human beings, however imbelieving or immoral they may be. The question is, whether the world so clearly recognised its real wants as forthwith to embrace Christianity. The Physician was there ; but did the patient know the nature of his own malady sufficiently well not to view the presence of the Physician as an intrusion? Was it likely that the old Roman society, with its intellectual pride, its social heartlessness, and its unbounded personal self-indulgence, should be enthusiastically in love with a religion which made intellectual siibmission, social unselfishness, a,nd personal mortification, its very fundamental laws 1 The history of the three first centuries is the answer to that question. The kingdom of God was no sooner set up in the Pagan world than it found itself surrounded by all that combines to make the progress of a doctrine or of a system impossible. The thinkers were op- posed to it : they denounced it as a dream of folly^. The habits and passions of the people were opposed to it : it threatened somewhat rudely to interfere with them. There were venerable insti- tutions, coming down from a distant antiquity, and gathering around them the stable and thoughtful elements of society : these were opposed to it, as to an audacious innovation, ;i„s well as from an in- stinctive perception that it miglit modify or destroy themselves. National feeling was opposed to it : it flattered no national self-love; it was to be the home f Tac. Ann. xv. 44: "Eepressa in pnesens exitiabilis superstitio rursus erumpebat." Suetonius, Claudius, xxv. ; Nero, xvi. : " Cliris- tiani, genus hominum superstitionis nova; ac malcficr." Cclsus apud Oiigeneni, iii. 17. Celsus eompared the Church's worship of our Lord with the Egyptian worship of cats, crocodiles, &c. of hiuuaa kind ; it wa? to embrace the Trorki ; and as yet tlie nation was the higliest oonoeption of as- sociated life to ■which humanity had reached. Xay, religious feeling itself Tvas opposed to it ; for reli- gious feeling had been enslaved by ancient false- hoods. There were worships, priesthoods, beliefe. in long-established possession : and they were not likely to yield \rithout a struggle. Picture to yourselves the days when the temple of the Capitoline Jupiter was still thronged with worshippers, while the Eu- charist was secretly celebrated in the depths of the Catacombs. It wi^s a time when all the adminis- tratiTe power of the empire was steadily concen- trated upon the extinction of the Xame of Christ, What were then to a human eye the fiiture prcs- pect^ of the kingdom of God ? It had no aDies, like the sword of the Mahommedan, or like the congenial mvsticism which welcomed the Buddhist, or like the pohtidans who strove to uphold the falling Paganism of I\ome. It found no countenance in the Stoic mo- ralists : they were indeed its lieivest enemies. If it ever was identified by Pagan opinion, as M. Eenan maintains, with the ctrtus illicit i. with the collegia illicito. with the burial-clubs of the imperial epoch : this would only have rendered it moi-e than ever an object of stispicion to the government?. Between the new doctrine and the old Paganisan there wtis a deadly feud : and the question tor the Church was simply whether she could suffer as long as her ene- mies could pei-secute Before she could triumph in the western world, the soil of the empire had to be reddened by Christian blood. Igniitius of Antioch s Les Apikres. pp. 355. 361. 36::. 218 Our Lord Creator of the moral force of Christendom. [Lect. given to the lions at Home''; Polycarp of Smyrna condemned to the flames'; the martyrs of Lyons and Yienne, and among them the tender Blandina J, extorting by her fortitude the admiration of the very heathen ; Perpetua and Felicitas at Car- thage'^ conquering a mother's love by a stronger love for Christ ; — -these are but samples of the ' no- ble army' which vanquished heathendom. " Plures efficimur," cries Tertullian, spokesman of the Church in her exultation and in her agony, "quoties meti- mur a vobis ; semen est sanguis Christianoruml." To the heathen it seems a senseless obstinacy ; but with a presentiment of the coming victory, the Apologist exclaims, " Ilia ipsa obstinatio quam ex- probatis, magistra est""." Who was He That had thus created a moral force which could embrace three centuries of a protracted agony, in the confidence that victory would come at last " ■? What was it in Him, so fascinating and sustaining to the thought of His followers, that for Him men and women of all ages and ranks in life gladly sacrificed all that is dearest to man's heart and nature 1 Was it only His miracles 1 But the evidential force of miracle may be easily evaded. One main object of St. John's Gospel appears to have been the furnishing an authoritative explanation of the b A.D. 107. i A.D. 169. J A.D. 177. k A.D. 202. 1 Apol. 1. m Ibid. D M. Kenan observes scornfully, " II n'y a pas eu beaucoup des martjTS trbs intelligents." Apotres, p. 382. Possibly not, if a man's intelligence is to be measured by his amount of unbelief. Yet the French Institute, if we may judge from some of the dis- tinguished names which it has honoured, does not seem to be of that opinion. III.] His Divinity explains the moral force of Christendom. SI 9 moral causes which actually prevented the Jews from recognising the significance of our Lord's miracles. Was it simply His character \ But to understand a perfect character you must be attracted to it, and have some strong sympathies with it. And the language of human nature in the presence of su- perior goodness is often that of the Epicurean in the Book of Wisdom : " Let us lie in wait for the righteous, because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings. . . . He was made to reprove our thoughts ; he is grievous unto lis even to behold ; for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion °." Was it His teacli- ing ? True, never man spake like this Man ; but taken alone, the highest and holiest teaching might have seemed to humanity to be no more than "the sound of one that had a pleasant voice, and could play well upon an instrument." His Death 1 Cer- tainly He predicted that in dying He would draw aU men unto Him ; but Who was He That could thus turn the instrument of His humiliation into the certificate of His glory? His Resurrection 1 His Resurrection indeed was emphatically to be the re- versal of a false impression, but it was to witness to a truth beyond itself; our Lord had expressly predicted that He would rise from the grave, and that His Resurrection would attest His claims P. None of these things taken separately will account for the power of Christ in history. In the conver- gence of all these ; of these majestic miracles ; of that Character, which commands at once our love and our reverence; of that teaching, so startling, so awful, Wisd. ii. 12, 15. P St. Matt. xii. 39; Eom. i. 4. S20 Ckrisiendofti could not have been created [Lect. SO searching, so tender; of that Death of agony, encircled with such a halo of moral glory ; of that deserted tomb, and the majestic splendour of the Risen One; — a deeper truth, underlying ah, justify- ing all, explaining all, is seen to reveal itself We discern, as did the first Christians, beneath and be- yond all that meets the eye of sense and the eye of conscience, the Eternal Person of our Lord Himself. It is not the miracles, but the Worker ; not the character, but its living Subject ; not the teach- ing, but the Master ; not even the Death or the Resurrection, but He Who died and rose, upon Whom Christian thought. Christian love. Christian resolution ultimately rests. The truth which really and only accounts for the establishment in this our hiiman world of such a religion as Christianity, and of such an institution as the Church, is the truth that Jesus Christ was beheved to be more than Man, the truth that Jesiis Christ is what men believed Him to be, the truth that Jesus Christ is God. It is here that we are enabled duly to estimate one broad feature of the criticism of Strauss. Both in his earlier and scientific work, published some thirty years ago for scholars, and in his more recent pub- lication addressed to the German people, that writer strips Jesus Christ our Lord of aU that makes Him superhuman. Strauss eliminates from the Gospel most of Christ's discourses, all of His miracles. His supernatural Birth, and His Ptesurrection from the grave. The so-termed "historical" residuum might easily be compressed within the limits of a newspaper paragraph, and it retains nothing that can rouse a moderate measure, I do not say of enthusiasm, but ni.] ly tie Chrut of Strauss. 221 even of interest. And yet few minds on laying down either of these unhappy books can escape the rising question : " Is this hero of a baseless legend, this impotent, fallible, erring Christ of the 'higher cri- ticism,' in very deed the Founder of the Christian Church % " The difficulty of accounting for the phse- nomenon presented by the Church, on the suppo- sition that the ' historical ' account of its Founder is that of Dr. Strauss, does not present itself forcibly to an Hegelian who loses himself in a 'priori theories as to the necessary development of a thought, and is thus entranced in a subhme forgetfulness of the actual facts and laws which affect humanity. But here M. Eenan is unwittingly a witness against the writer to whom he is mainly indebted for his own critical apparatus. The finer political instinct, the truer sense of the necessary proportions between causes and effects in human history, which might be expected to characterize a thoughtful Frenchman, will account for those points in which M. Renan has departed from the path traced by his master. He feels that there is an impassable chasm between the hfe of Jesus according to Strauss, and the actual history of Christendom. He is keenly ahve to the absurdity of supposing that such an impoverished Christ as the Christ of Strauss, can have created Christendom. Although therefore, as we have seen, he subsequently 1 endeavours to account for the growth of the Church in a naturalistic way, his native sense of the fitting proportions of things impels him to retouch the picture traced by the German, and to ascribe to Jesus of Nazareth, if not the reality, yet q In his later work, Les Apotres. 222 Opinion of Napoleon the First respedi III] [Leot. some shadowy semblance of Divinity'". Hence such features of M. Renan's work as his concessions in respect of St. John's Gospel. In making these con- cessions, he is for the moment impressed with tlie political absurdity of ascribing Christendom to the thought and wUl of a merely human Christ ; and although his unbelief is too radical to allow him to do adequate justice to the consideration, his in- direct admission of its force has a value, which Christian believers will not mistake. But a greater than M. Renan has expressed tlie common-sense of mankind in respect of the Agency which alone can account for the existence of the Christian Church. If the first Napoleon was not a theologian, he was at least a man whom vast experience had taught what kind of forces can really produce a lasting effect upon mankind, and under what conditions they may be expected to do so. A time came when the good Providence of God had chained down that great but ambitious spirit to the rock of St. Helena ; and the conqueror of civi- hzed Europe had leisure to gather up the results of his unparalleled life, and to ascertain with an accuracy, not often attainable by monarchs or con- querors, his own true place in history. When con- versing, as was his habit, about the great men of the ancient world, and comparing himself with them, he turned, it is said, to Count Montholon with the enquiry, " Can you tell me who Jesus Christ was 1 " The question was declined, and Napoleon j)roc(M;d('d, "Well, then, I will tell you. Alexander, Csosar, Charlemagne, and I myself have founded great ■• Vie de Jdsus, pp. 250, 426, 457. III.] the witness of our Lord's loorh to His Divinity. 223 empires ; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend % Upon force. Jesus Alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day milHons would die for Him I think I understand something of human nature ; and I teU you, all these were men, and I am a man : none else is like Him ; Jesus Christ was more than man. . . I have inspired multitudes with an enthusiastic devotion such that they would have died for me, . . but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, of my words, of my voice ; when I saw men and spoke to them, I hghted up the flame of self-devotion in their hearts. . . . Christ Alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man towards the Unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy ; He asks for that which a philosopher may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart ; He will have it entirely to Himself He demands it unconditionally ; and forth- with His demand is granted. Wonderful ! In de- fiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable supernatural love towards Him. This phaenomenon is unaccount- able ; it is altogether beyond the scope of man's creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is power- less to extinguish this sacred flame ; time can 224 The loorh of Christ unrivalled. [Lect., neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it which strikes me most ; I have often thouglit of it. This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ^." Here surely is the common-sense of humanity. The victory of Christianity is itself the great standing miracle. Its significance is enhanced if the miracles of the New Testament are rejected*, a;nd if the Apostles are held to have received no illumination from on high ". Let those in our day who believe s This is freely translated from the passages quoted by Luthardfc, Apologetisohe Vortrage, pp. 234, 293 ; and Bersier, Serm. p. 334. I have not been able to meet with General Bertrand's Memoires de Ste. Helene, from which these writers quote. In the preface of Bertrand's Campagnes d'Egypte et de Syrie, to which the title of his other work is frequently given, there is an allusion to some reported conversations of Napoleon on the questions of the ex- istence of God and of our Lord's Divinity, which, the General says, never took place at all. The Emperor's real conversations on the latter topic have been collected into a small brochure (NapoMon, Meyrueis, Paris 1859), attributed to M. le Pasteur Bersier, and published by the Keligious Tract Society. Comp. Chauvelot, Divinite du Christ, pp. 11-13, Paris 1863, where the Emjjeror's words are reported witli some variations, t " Se il mondo si rivolse al cristianesmo Diss' io, senza miracoli, quest' uno E tal, che gli altri non sono il centesmo ; Che tu entrasti povero e digiuno In campo, a seminar la buona pianta, Che fu gia vite, ed ora e fatta pruno." Dante, Paradiso, xxiv. 106-111. " "Apres la mort de Jesus Christ, douze pauvres p6cheurs et artisans entreprirent d'instruire et de convertir le monde . . . . le succes fut prodigieux. . . . Tous les chr^tiens couraient au mar- tyre, tous les peuples couraient au bapteme; I'histoire de ces premiers temps etait un prodige continuel." Eousseau, Pi,eponse au Koi de Pologne, Paris 1829, Discours, pp. 64, 65. III.] The work of Christ beyond human rivalry. 225 seriously that the work of Christ may be accounted for on natural and human grounds, say who among themselves wiU endeavour to rival it. Who of our contemporaries will dare to predict that eighteen hundred years hence his ideas, his maxims, his institutions, however noUe or philanthropic they may be, will stiU survive in their completeness and in their vigour 1 Who can dream that his own name and history will be the rallyiag-point of a world-wide interest and enthusiasm in some distant age 1 Who can suppose that beyond the political, the social, the intellectual revolutions which he in the fatmre of humanity, he wiU himself still sur- vive in the memory of men, not as a trivial fact of archaeology, but as a moral power, as the object of a devoted and passionate affection 1 What man indeed that stiU retains, I will not say the faith of a Christian, but the modesty of a man of sense, must not feel that there is a hterally infinite interval between himself and That Majestic One Who, in the words of Jean Paul Eichter, "being the Holiest among the mighty, and the Mightiest among the holy, has lifted with His pierced Hand empires off their hinges, has turned the stream of centuries out of its channel, and stiU governs the ages^ ( The work of Jesus Christ is not merely a fact of history, it is a fact, blessed be God ! of indi- vidual experience. If the world is one scene of His conquests, the soul of each true Christian is another. The soul is the microcosm within which in aU its -^ .Jean Paul : " Ueber den Gott in der Gescliiclite und im Leben." Siimmtl. Werke, xxxiii. 6; Stirm. p. 194. Q 226 The redeemed soul confesses a Divine Saviour. strength the kmgdom of God is set up. Many of you know from a witness that you can trust Christ's power to restore to your inward hfe its original harmony. You are conscious that He is the fertilizing and elevating principle of your thought, the purifying principle of your aifections, the invigorating prin- ciple of your wills. You need not to ask the ques- tion " whence hath This Man this wisdom and these mighty works 1 " Man, you are well assured, cannot thus from age to age enlarge the realm of moral light, and make aU things new ; man cannot thus endow frail natures with determination, and rough natures with tenderness, and sluggish natures with keen energy, and restless natures with true and lasting peace. These every-day tokens of Christ's presence in His kingdom, of themselves answer the question of the text. If He Who could predict that hy dying in shame He would secure the fulfilment of an extraordmary plan, and assure to Himself a world-wide empire, can be none other than the Lord of human history ; so certainly the Friend, the Teacher, the Master Who has fathomed and controlled our deepest life of thought and passion, is welcomed by the Christian soul as something more than a student explormg its mysteries, or than a philanthropic experimentahst alleviating its sorrows. He is hailed. He is loved. He is wor- shipped, as One Who possesses a knowledge and a strength which human study and human skill fail to compass ; it is felt that He is so manifestly the true Saviour of the soul, because He is none other than the Being Wlio made it. LECTIJEE IV. OUE LOED'S DIVINITY AS WITNESSED BY HIS CONSCIOUSNESS. The Jews answered Him, saying, For a good worh we stone Thee not ; hut for blasphemy j and because that Thou, being a Man, maJcest Thyself God. — St. John x. 33. -It is common ithw some modern writers to repre- sent tlie questions at issue between the Faith and its opponents with respect to the Person of our Lord, as being substantially a question between the .historical spirit and the spirit of dogmatism. The dogmatic temper is painted by them as a baseless but stdl powerful superstition, closely pressed by the critical enquiries and negative conclusions of our day, but cidpably shutting its eyes agamst the advancing truth, the power of which nevertheless it cannot but instinctively feel, and clinging with the wrong-headed obstinacy of despair to the cherished but already condemned formulae of its time-honoured and worn-out metaphysics. Opposed to it, we are told, is the historical spirit, young, vigorous, fearless, truthful, flushed with successes already achieved, as- sured of successes yet to come. The historical spirit Q 2 228 The Christ of dogma and the Christ of history. [Lect. is thus said to represent the cause of an enlightened progress in conflict with a stupid and immoral con- servatism. The historical spirit is described as the love of sheer reality, as the longmg for hard fact, determined to make away with all 'idols of the den,' however ancient, venerated, and influential, in the sphere of theology. The historical spirit ac- cordingly undertakes to disentangle the real Person of Jesus from the metaphysical envelope with which theology is said to have encased Him. The Christ is to be rescued from that cloud-land of abstract and fanciful speculation to which He is stated to have been banished by the patristic and scholastic divines ; He is to be restored to Christendom in manifest subjection to all the actual conditions and laws of human history. Look, it is said, at that figure of the Christ which you see traced in mosaics in the apsis of a Byzantine church. That Countenance upon which you gaze, with its rigid, unalterable outline, with its calm, strong mien of unassailable majesty ; that Form from which there has been stripped all the historic circumstance of life, all that belongs to the changes and chances of our mortal condition ; what is it but an artistic equivalent and symbol of the Catholic dogma'? Elevated thus to a world of unfading glory, and throned in an imperturbable repose, the Byzantine Christos Pantocrator must be viewed as the expres- sion of an idea, rather than as the transcript of a fact. A certain interest may be allowed to attach to such a representation, from its illustrating a particular stage in the development of religious thought. But the historical spirit must create what it can consider IV.] The new Christ of history. 229 a really historical Ctirist, who will be to the Christ of St. Athanasius and St. John what a Rembrandt or a Rubens is to a Giotto or a Cimabue. If the illustration be objected to, at any rate, my brethren, the aim of the historical spirit is sufficiently plain. The historical spirit proposes to fashion a Christ who is to be aesthetically graceful and majestic, but strictly natural and human. This Christ will be emancipated from the bandages which 'supernatu- ralism has wrapped around the Prophet of Nazareth.' He will be divorced from any idea of incarnating essential Godhead ; but, as we are assured. He will still be something, aye more than the Christ of the Creed has ever been yet, to Christendom. He will be at once a Kving man, and the very ideal of hu- manity ; at once a being who obeys the invincible laws of nature, like ourselves, yet of moral piopor- tions so mighty and so unrivalled that his appear- ance among men shall adequately account for the phaenomenon of an existing and still extending Church. Accordingly by this representation it is designed to place us in a dilemma. 'You must choose,' men seem to say, 'between history and dogma ; you must choose between history which can be verified, and dogma which belongs to the sphere of inaccessible abstractions. You must make your choice ; since the Catholic dogma of Christ's Divinity is pronounced by the higher criticism to be irrecon- cileable with the historical reality of the Life of Jesus.' And in answer to that challenge, let us proceed, my brethren, to choose history, and as a result of that choice, if it may be, to maintain that the Christ of history is either the God Whom 230 The GatkoUc dogma really Iiistorical [Lect. we believers adore, or that He is far below the moral level of the undivinized man, whom rational- ism stUl at least professes generally to respect in the pages of its mutilated Gospel. For let lis observe that the Catholic doctrine has thus much in its favour : it takes for granted the only existing history of Jesus Christ. It is not compelled to mutilate it, to enfeeble it, to do it critical violence. It is in harmony with it, it is at home, as no other doctrine is at home, in the pages of the Evangelists. Consider, first of all, the general impression re- specting our Lord's Person which arises upon a sur- vey of the miracles ascribed to Him in all the extant accounts of His Life. To a thoughtful Humanitarian, who believes in the prseternatural elements of the Gospel history, our Lord's miracles, taken as a whole, must needs present an embar- rassing difiiculty. The miraculous cures indeed which more particularly in the earlier days of Cln-ist's ministry drew the eyes of men towards Him, as to the Healer of sickness and of pain, have been ' explained,' however unsatisfactorily, by those methods which foiind such favour with the older rationaHsts. A Teacher, it used to be argued, of such character as Jesus Christ, must have created a profound impression ; He must have inspked an entire confidence ; and the cures which He ^seemed to work were the immediate results of the impres- sion which He created, they were the natural conse- quences of the confidence which He inspired. Now, apart from other and many obvious objections to this theory, let us observe that it is altogether r\ .] a* ianmomi-iH^'Kiti mr Z'^rtF* •' r.'.iraeles o/jpower' 2S1 inapplicable to the ■ miracles of power," as thev are freqnentlv termed, "wrhich are recorded by the thiee first Evangelists, no less than by St. John. "Miracles of this class," says a freethinking "wniter, " are not cures Trhich could havie been effected by the infln- ence of a striking sanctity acting upon a simple faith- They are prodigies : they are, as it seems, works which Omnipotence Alone could achieTe, In the case of these miracles it mav be said that the laws of nature are simply suspended. Jestis d':>es not here merely exhibit the power of moral and mental stipeiiority over common men : He upsets and goes beyond the rules and bounds of the order of the univei-se. A word from His mouth stills a temp^:. A few loaves and fi.shes are feshioned by His Almighty Hand into an abundant feast, which Siitisfies thousands of hungry men. At His bidding life returns to inanimate e>:-rf ses. By His curse a tig -tree which had no fruit on it is withered up".'" The writer prcneeeis to argue that such miracles must be expefle-l from anv Life ot Christ ^rhieh 'criticisni' will condescend to accept. They belong, he conten>is, to that 'torrent of le- gend,* with which, according to the rationalistic creed, Jesus was surrounded after His Death bv the unthinking enthusiaan of His disciples^. But * Schenkd, Charakterbild JtiSii. f- 21. Dr. ScteiLkel eoEcIuies : •■ Svnsr er?ohent Jcsiis in den drei astai E-ra-jtlien dnrefcjir^J: ak ein trahRr, innolialb dear Gr»uea meisdilicbn' Be>ehrSiikszig sicli bewegender Menseh: dmdii Seine Wrmderthatigkei" werdeii diese Gienzeu durchlKochen ; A TT-ma i-'n r.^Tm t. i>,. er and meneeUicb nieht mehr begreifSeh." * Ibid. p. 2 1 : ^ Dass ein Leceiubili wie c&iiejL"^ des Erl:«i?, 232 Chrisfs Resurrection from the grave cannot be rejected [Lect. then a question arises as to how much is to be included within this legendary 'torrent.' In par- ticular, and above all else, is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the grave to be regarded as a part of its contributions to the Life of Christ 1 Here there is a division among the rationalizing critics. There are writers who reject our Lord's miracles of power, His miraculous Conception, and even His Ascension into heaven, and who yet shrink from denying that very fundamental fact of all, the fact that on "the third day He rose from the dead, according to the Scriptures °." A man must have made up his mind against Christianity more conclusively than men are gene- rally willing to avow, if he is to speculate with M. Renan in the face of Christendom, as to the exact spot in which " the worms consumed the Hfe- less body" of Jesus'^. This explicit denial of the literal Resurrection of Jesus from the grave is not compensated for by some theory identical with, or bald nach dessen irdischem Hinscheiden von einem reiohen Sa- genstrom umflosseu wurde, liegt in der Natur der Sache." It may be asked— Why'! If these legendary decorations are the inevitable consequences of a life of devotion to moral truth and to philanthropy, how are we to explain their absence in the cases of so many moralists and philanthropists ancient and modern 1 <= Cf. Hase, Leben Jesu, p. 281, compared with p. 267. <1 Les Apotres, p. 38 : " Pendant que la conviction inlbranlable des Ap6tres se formait, et que la foi du monde se pr^parait, en quel endroit les vers consumaient-ils le corps inanimd qui avait Hi, le samedi soir, d^pos^ au sepulchre ? On ignorera toujours ce detail ; car, naturellement, les traditions chretiennes ne peuvent rien nous apprendre l&-dessus." IV.J without a total and explicit rejection of Christianity. ^3S analogous to, that of Hymenseus and Philetus® respecting the general Resurrection, whereby the essential subject of Christ's Resurrection is changed, and the idea of Christianity, or the soul of the converted Christian, as distinct from the Body of the Lord Jesus, is said to have been raised from the dead. For such a denial, let us mark it well, of the hteral Resurrection of the Human Body of Jesus involves nothing less than an abso- lute and total rejection of Christianity. AU ortho- dox Churches, all the great heresies, even Socinian- ism, have believed in the Resurrection of Jesus. The Hteral Resurrection of Jesus was the cardinal fact upon which the earliest preachers of Chris- tianity based their appeal to the Jewish people f. St. Paul, writing to a Gentile Church, expressly makes Christianity answer with its life for the literal truth of the Resurrection. " If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. . . Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished s." Some modern writers would possibly have reproached St. Paul with offer- ing a harsh alternative instead of an argument. But St. Paul would have replied, first, that our Lord's honour and credit was entirely staked upon the issue, since He had foretold His Resurrection as the ' sign ' which would justify His claims ^^ ; and secondly, that the fact of the Ptesurrection was at- ® 2 Tim. ii. l8 : 'Y/ieuaios koI $iX?;Tor, oinvcs irfpi rrjv akrjdeiav Tj(rT6)(T](raVj Xeyovr^s Trjv dvd(Traaiv ijhr) yeyovsvai. I Tim. 1. 20. f Acts i. 22; ii. 24, 32; iii. 15; iv. 10; v. 30; x. 40; xiii. 30, 33,34; xvii. 31. g I Cor. XV. 14, 1 8. ^ St. Matt. xii. 39, 40. 234 The Remrrection the warrant of other miracles. [Lect. tested by evidence which must outweigh everything except an dj 'priori conviction of the impossibihty of miracle, since it was attested by the word of more than two hundred and fifty hving persons who had actually seen the "Risen Jesus i. As to ob- jections to miracle of an d priori character, St. Paul would have argued, as most Theists, and even the French philosopher, have argued, that such objec- tions could not be urged by any man who be- lieved seriously in a living God at all^. Biit on the other hand, if the Resurrection be admitted to be a fact, it is puerile to object to the other miracles of Jesus, or to any other Christian mira- cles, provided they be sufficiently attested. To have admitted the stupendous truth that Jesus, after predicting that He would be put to a violent death, and then rise from the dead, was actvially so killed, and then did actually so rise, must incapacitate any thoughtful man for objecting to the supernatural Conception or to the Ascension into heaven, or to the more striking wonders wrought by Jesus, on any such ground as that of intrinsic improbability. The Resurrection has, as compared with the other miraculous occurrences narrated in the Gospels, aU the force of an a fortiori argument ; they follow, if ^ I Cor. XV. 6 : eTrura u> ^^'^ observe the correspondence between the actions described in St. ilatt. siv. 19, and xxvi. 26. The deeper Lutheran commentators are honourably distin- guished from the CaMnistic ones in recognising the plain Sacra- mental reference of St. John vi. 53, sqq. See Stier, 'Eeden Jesu,' in loc; Olshausen, Comm. in loc; Kahnis, H. Abendmahl, p. 104, sqq. For the ancient Church, see St. Chrys. Hom. in loc; Theo- phylact, &c. The Church of England authoritatively adopts the sacramental interpretation of the passage by her use of it in the Exhortation at the time of the celebration of the Holy Com- munion. "The benefit is great, if wth a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that Holy Sacrament : for tJun (i. e. by such reception, as distinct from a trust in Christ's merits without it) we spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ and drink His Blood ; then we dwell in Christ and Christ in us; we are one with Christ and Christ with us." Cf. too the " Prayer of Humble Access." 238 The mysteries of our Lord's Human Life [Lect. from it. And assuredly such a study can have but one result for those who honestly believe in the literal reality of the wonders described ; it must force upon them a conviction of the Divinity of the Worker i'. But the miracles which especially point to the Catholic doctrine as their justification, and which are simply iacumbrances blocking up the way of a Humanitarian theorist, are those of which our Lord's Manhood is Itself the subject. According to the Gospel narrative Jesus enters this world by one miracle, and He leaves it by another. His human manifestation centres in that miracle of miracles. His Ptesurrection from the grave after death. The Resurrection is the central fact up to which all leads, and from which all radiates. Such miracles as P It may be urged that Socinians have been earnest believers in tlie Resurrection and other preternatural facts of the Life of Christ, while explicitly denying His Godhead. This is true; but it is strictly true only of past times, or of those of our contemporaries who are more or less inaccessible, happily for themselves, to tlie intellectual influences of modern scepticism. It would be difficult to find a modern Socinian of high education who believed in the literal truth of all the praeternatural phenomena recorded in the Gospels. This is not merely a result of modern objections to miracle ; it is a result of the connexion, more clearly felt, even by sceptics, than of old, between the admission of miracles and the obligation to admit attendant dogma. In his Essay on Clianning, M. Renan has given expression to this instinct of modern sceptical thought. " II est certain," he observes, " que si Tesjirit moderne a raison de vouloir une religion, qui, sans exclure le surnaturel, en diminue ht dose autant que possible, la religion de Channing est la plus parfaite et la plus epurde qui ait paru jusqu'iei. Mais est-ce Ik tout, en verite, et quand le symbole sera r^duit a croire d Dieu et au Christ, qu'y aura-t-on gagn^ ? Le scepticisme se tiendra-t'il pour satisfait f La formule de I'univers IV.] jioint directly to a Superhuman Person. 239 Christ's Birth of a virgin-motlier, His Resurrection from the tomb, and His Ascension into heaven, are not merely the credentials of our redemption, they are distinct stages and processes of the redemptive work itself. Taken in their entirety, they interpose a measureless interval between the Life of Jesus and the hves of the greatest of prophets or of Apostles, even of those to whom it was given to still the elements and to raise the dead. To expel these miracles from the Life of Jesus is to destroy the identity of the Christ of the Gospels; it is to substitute a new Christ for the Christ of Christen- dom. Who would recognise the true Christ in the natural son of a human father, or in the crucified prophet whose body has rotted in an earthly gravel en sera-t-elle plus complete et plus olaire 1 La destinde de Fhomme et de rhumanit(^ moins impenetrable 1 Avec son symbole ^pure, Channing evite-t-il mieux que les theologiens catholiques les ob- jections de I'incredulite ] Helas ! non. II admet la re'surrection de Jesus-Christ, et n'admet pas sa Divinite; il admet le Bible, et n'admet pas I'enfer. II deploie toutes les susceptibilites d'un scholastique pour etablir centre les Trinitaires, en quel sens le Christ est fils de Dieu, et en quel sens il ne Test pas. Or, si Ton accorde qu'il y a eu une Existence r^elle et miraculeuse d'un bout a I'autre, pourquoi ne pas franchement I'appeler Divine 1 L'un ne demande pas un plus grand effort de croyance que I'autre. En v^rite, dans cette voie, il n'y a que le premier pas qui coute ; il ne faut pas marchander avec le surnaturel ; la foi va d'une seule piece, et, le sacrifice accompli, il ne sied pas de r^clamer en detail les droits dont on a fait une fois pour toutes I'entiere cession." Etudes d'Histoire Eeligieuse, pp. 377, 378. Who would not rather, a thousand times over, have been Channing than be M. Eenan ? Yet is it not clear that, half a century later, Channing must have believed much less, or as we may well trust, much more, than was believed by the minister of Federal-street Chapel, Boston 1 240 The miraculous element [Lect. Yet on the other hand, who will not admit that He Who was conceived of the Holy Ghost and born of a Virgin -mother, Who after being crucified, dead, and buried, rose again the third day from the dead, and then went up into heaven before the eyes of His Apostles, must needs be an altogether super- human Being 1 This is what has been already urged by saying that the Catholic doctrine is at home among the facts of the Gospel narrative, while the modern Humanitarian theories are iU at ease among those facts. The four Evangehsts, amid their dis- tinguishing pecuharities, concur in representing a Christ Whose Life is encased in a setting of miracles. The Catholic doctrine meets these representations more than half-way ; they are in perfect sympathy with itself. The Gospel miracles point at the very least to a Christ Who is altogether above the range of human experience ; and the Creeds simply con- firm and recognise this by saying that He is Divine. Thus the Christ of dogma is the Christ of history: He is the Christ of the only extant history which describes the Foundei' of Christendom at all. He may not be the Christ of some modern commenta- tors upon that history ; but these comment;\.tors do not affect to take the history as it has come down to us. As the Gospel narratives stand, they present a block of difficulties to Humanitarian theories ; and these difficulties can only be removed by mutilations of the narratives so wholesale and radical as to de- stroy their substantial interest, besides rendering the retention of the fragments which may be retained a purely arbitrary procedure. The Gospel narratives describe the Author of Cln-istianity as the Worker IV.] cannot he eliminated from the Gospel narratives. 241 and the Subject of extraordinary miracles ; and these miracles are such as to aiFord a natural lodgment for, nay, to demand as their correlative, the doctrine of the Creed. That doctrine must be admitted to be, if not the divinely authorized explanation, at least the best intellectual conception and resume of the evangelical history. A man need not be a be- hever in order to admit, that in asserting Christ's Divinity we make a fair translation of the Gospel story into the language of abstract thought ; and that we have the best key to that story when we see in it the doctrine that Christ is God, luifolding itself in a series of occurrences which on any other supposition seem to wear an air of nothing less than legendary extravagance. It may — it probably will — be objected to aU this, that a large number of men and women at the present day are on the one hand strongly prepos- sessed against the credibility of all miracles what- ever, while on the other they are sincere ' admirers ' of the moral character of Jesus Christ. They may not wish explicitly and in terms to reject the mi- raciolous history recorded in the Gospels ; but still less do they desire to commit themselves to an un- reserved acceptance of it. Whether from indifference to miraculous pheenomena, or because their judgment is altogether in suspense, they would rather keep the praeternatural element in our Lord's Life out of sight, or shut their eyes to it. But they are open to the impressions which may be produced by the spectacle of high ethical beauty, if only the character of Christ can be disentangled from a series of wonders, which, as transcending all ordinary B 242 Integrity of our Lord's moral cJiaracter [Lect. human experience, do not touch the motives that compel their assent to rehgious truth. Accordingly we are warned that if it is not a piece of spiritual thoughtlessness, and even cruelty, it is at any rate a rhetorical mistake to insist upon a consideration so opposed to the intellectual temper of the time. This is what may be urged : but observe, my brethren, that the objector assumes a point which should rather have been proved. He assumes the possibility of putting forward an honest picture of i the Life of Jesus, which shall uphold the beauty, and even the perfection of His moral character, while | denying the historical reality of His miracles, or at ! any rate while ignoring them. Whereas, if the only ' records which we possess of the Life of Jesus are to be believed at all, they make it certain that Jesus Christ did claim to work, and was Himself the embodiment, of startling miracles'). How can this fact be dealt with by a modern disbehever in the miraculous ■? Was Christ then the ignorant vic- tim and promoter of a crude superstition 1 Or was He, as M. Renan considers, the conscious performer of thaumaturgic tricks'"? On either supposition, is 1 Eoce Homo, p. 43 : " On tlie whole, miracles play so important a part in Christ's scheme, that any theory which would i-epresent them as due entirely to the imagination of His followers or of a later age, destroys the credibility of the documents, not par- tially, but wholly, and leaves Christ a personage as mythical as Hercules." r Cf. Vie de Jesus, p. 265 : " II est done permis de croire qu'on lui imposa sa reputation de thaumaturge, qvJil n^y resista jias heaucoicp, mais qu'il ne fit rien non plus pour y aider, et qu'en tout cas, il sentait la vanite de I'opinion ^ cet egard. Ce serait manquer a la bonne m6thode historique d'dcouter trop ici nos IV.] depends on the reality of His miracles. 243 it possible to uphold Him as 'the moral Ideal of Humanity,' or indeed as the worthy Object of any true moral enthusiasm \ My brethren, you cannot decline this question ; it is forced upon you by the subject-matter. A neutral attitude towards the miraculous element in the Gospel history is im- possible. The claim to work miracles is not the least prominent element of our Lord's teaching ; nor are the miracles which are said to have been wrought by Him a fanciful or ornamental appendage to His action. The miraculous is inextricably inter- woven with the whole Life of Christ. The ethical j beauty, nay the moral integrity of our Lord's cha- racter is dependent, whether we will it or not, upon the reality of His miracles. It may be very desirable to defer as far as possible to the mental prepossessions of our time ; but it is not practicable to put asunder two things which God hath joined together, namely, the beauty of Christ's character and the honA fide reality of the miracles which He professed to work But let us nevertheless follow the lead of this objection by turning to consider what is the real bearing of our Lord's moral character upon the question of His Divinity. In order to do this, it is necessary to ask a previous question. What position did Jesus Christ, either tacitly or explicitly, claim to occupy in His intercourse with men \ What allusions did He make to the subject of His Per- sonality % You win feel, my brethren, that it is impossible to overrate the solemn importance of such a point as this. We are here touching the repugnances." See M. Eenan's account of the raising of Lazarus, ibid. pp. 361, 362. K 2 244 What did Christ say respecting His Personality/? [Lect. very heart of our great subject : we have penetrated to the inmost shrine of Christian truth, when we thus proceed to examine those words of the Gospels which exhibit the consciousness of the Founder of Christianity respecting His rank in the scale of being. With what awe, yet with what loving eagerness, must not a Christian enter on such an examination ! No reader of the Gospels can fail to see that, speaking generally, and without reference to any presumed order of the events and sayings in the Gospel history, there are two distinct stages or levels in the teaching of Jesus Christ our Lord. I. Of these the first is mainly concerned with primary fundamental moral truth. It is in substance a call to repentance, and the proclamation of a new Hfe. It is summariyied in the words, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand^" A change of mind, both respecting self, and respecting God, was necessary before a man could lead the new life of the kingdom of heaven. In a previous lecture we have had occasion to consider the kingdom of heaven as the outline or plan of a world-wide insti- tution which was to take its place in history. But viewed in its relation to the life of the soul, the kingdom of heaven is the home and the native atmosphere of a new and higher order of spiritual existence. This new life is not merely active thought, such as might be stimulated by the cross- questioning of a Socrates ; nor is it moral force, the play of which was limited to the single soul that possessed it. It is moral and mental hfe, having God and men for its objects, and accordingly lived B St. Matt. iv. 17. IV.] , First stage of teaching, mainly ethical. 245 in an organized society, as the necessary counter- part of its. energetic action. Of this stage of our Lord's preaching the Sermon on the Mount is the most representative document. The Sermon on the Mount preaches penitence by laying down the highest law of holiness. It contrasts the external- ized devotion, the conventional and worldly rehgion of the time, created and sanctioned by the leading currents of pubHc opinion, and described as the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, with a new and severe ideal of morality, embodied in the new law of Christian perfection. It stimulates and regulates penitence, by proposing a new conception of blessedness ; by contrasting the spirit of the new law with the literalism of the old ; by exhibiting the devotional duties, the nding motives, the cha- racteristic temper, and the special dangers of the new life. IncidentaUy the Sermon on the Mount states certain doctrines, such as that of the Divine Providence, with great explicitness' ; but, throughout it, the moral element is predominant. This great discourse quickens and deepens a sense of sin by presenting the highest ideal of an inward holiness. In the Sermon on the Mount our Lord is laying broad and deep the foundations of His spiritual edifice. A pure and loving heart ; an open and trustful conscience ; a freedom of communion with the Father of spirits; a love of man as man, the measure of which is to be nothing less than a man's love of himself; above all a stern determination, at any cost, to be true, true with God, true with men, true with self; — such were the pre-requisites for t St. Matt. vi. 25-33. 246 Christ never confesses moral deficiencies. [Lect. gemiine discipleship ; such the spiritual and subjec- tive bases of the new and Absohite Rehgion ; such the moral material of the first stage of our Lords pubhc teaching. In this first stage of our Lord's teaching let us moreover note two characteristics. (a) And first, that our Lord's recorded language is absolutely wanting in a feature which, on the hypothesis of His being merely human, would seem to have been practically indispensable. Our Lord does not place before us any relative or lower j standard of morals. He proposes the highest stan- dard, the Absolute morality. " Be ye therefore per- fect," He says, " even as your Father Which is in heaven is perfect"." Now in the case of a human teacher of high moral and spiritual attainments, what should we expect as an inevitable concomitant of this teaching 1 Surely we should expect some confession of personal unworthiness thus to teach. We should look for some trace of a feeling (so in- evitable in this pulpit) that the message which must be spoken is the rebuke, if not the condem- nation, of the man who must speak it. Conscious of many shortcomings, a human teacher must at some time reheve his natural sense of honesty, his fundamental instinct of justice, by noting the dis- crepancy between his strugghng, imperfect, perhaps miserable self, and his sublime and awful message. He must draw a line between his official and his personal self; and in his personal capacity he must honestly, anxiously, persistently associate himself with his hearers, as being before God like each one u St. Matt. V. 48. IV.] Contrast with the Kehrew prophets. 247 of themselves, a learning, struggling, erring soul. But Jesus Christ makes no approach to such a dis- tinction between Himself and His message. He bids men be like God, and He gives not the faintest hint that any trace of unlikeness to God in Him- self obliges Him to accompany the dehvery of that precept with a protestation of His Own personal unworthiness. Do you say that this is only a rhe- torical style or mood derived by tradition from the Hebrew prophets, and natural in any Semitic teacher who aspired to succeed them 1 I answer, that nothing is plainer in the Hebrew prophets than the clear distinction which is constantly maintained between the moral level of the teacher and the moral level of His message. The prophetic ambassador repre- sents the Invisible King of Israel; but the holiness of the King is never measured, never compromised by the imperfections of His representative. The prophetic writings abound in confessions of weak- ness, in confessions of shortcomings, in confessions of sin. The greatest of the prophets is permitted to see the glory of the Lord, and he forthwith exclaims in agony, " Woe is me ! for I am undone ; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips : for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts''." But the sUence of Jesus as to any such sense of personal un- worthiness has been accounted for by His unrivalled closeness of Ufe-long communion with God. Is it then certain that the hohest souls are least alive to per- sonal sin % Do they whose life of thought is little less than the breath of a perpetual prayer, and who dwell " Isa. vi. 5. 248 The sense of sin deepened by real nearness to God. [Lect. continuously in the presence-chamber of the King of kings, profess themselves insensible to that taint of sin, from which none are altogether free ? Is this the lesson which we learn from the language of the best of the servants of God ? My brethren, the very re- verse is the case. Those who have Uved nearest to God, and have known most about Him, and have ' been most visibly irradiated by the light of His countenance, have been foremost to acknowledge that the burden of remaining imperfection in them was truly intolerable. Their eager protestations have often seemed to the world to be either the exag- gerations of fanaticism, or else the proof of a more than ordinary wickedness. For blemishes which might have passed unobserved in a spiritual twilight, are lighted up with torturing clearness by those searching, scorching rays of moral truth, that stream from the bright Sanctity of God upon the soul that beholds It. In That Presence the holiest of creatures must own with the Psalmist, " Thou hast set our mis- deeds before Thee, and our secret sins in the hght of Thy countenance y." Such self-accusing, broken- hearted confessions of sin have been the utterances of men the most conspicuous in Christendom for holiness of life ; and no true saint of God ever supposed that by a constant spiritual sight of God the soul would lose its keen truthful sense of personal sinfulness. No man could imagine that the sense of sinfulness, as distinct from the sense of unpardoned guUt, would be banished by close communion with God, unless his moral standard was low, and his creed im- perfect. Such an imagination is inconsistent with y Ps. xc. 8. IV.] Our Lord claims positively to he sinless. 249 a true sight of Him Whose severe and stainless beauty casts the shadow of failure upon aU that is not Himself, and Who charges His very angels with moral folly. Yet Jesus Christ never once con- fesses sin ; He never once asks for pardon. He, Who so sharply rebukes the self-righteousness of the Pharisee ; He, Who might seem to ignore all human piety that is not based vipon a broken heart ; He, Who deals with human nature at large as the pro- digal son, in whose return to a Fathers love lies the one condition of its peace and bhss, — He never Himself lets fall a hint. He never Himself breathes a prayer, which implies any, the slightest trace, of a personal remorse. From no casual admission do we gather that any, the most venial sin, has ever been His ; never for one moment does He associate Himself with any passing experience of that anxious dread of the penal future with which His Own awful words must fill the sinner's heart. If His Soul is troubled, at least His moral sorrows are not His Own, they are a burden laid on Him by His love for others. Nay, He even challenges His enemies to convince Him of sin; He declares positively that He does always the Will of the Father ^^ and He always, even when speaking of Himself as Man, refers to eternal life as His inalienable possession. It might, so perchance we think, be the illusion of a moral dullness, if only He did not penetrate the sin of others with such relentless analysis ; it might, we imagine, be a subtle pride, if we did not know Him to be so unrivalled in His great Humihty^. This '•- St. John viii. 46 ; Ibid. ver. 29 ; of. ver. 26. a Hollard, CharactSre de Jesus Christ, p. 150. 250 Attitude of our Lord towards [Lect. consciousness of an absolute sinlessness in such a Soul as That of Jesus Christ, points to a moral elevation unknown to our actual human experience, and is, at the very least, suggestive of a relation to the Perfect Moral Being altogether unique in humanity^. (/3) The other characteristic of this stage of our Lord's teaching is the attitude which He at once and, if I may so say, naturally assumes, not merely towards the teachers of His time, but towards the letter of that older, divinely- given Revelation which they preserved and interpreted. The people early remarked that Jesus " taught as One having autho- b Cf. Mr. F. W. Newman, in his Phases of Faith, p. 143 : " We have a very imperfect history of the Apostle James ; and I do not know that I could adduce any fact specifically recorded con- cerning him in disproof of his absolute moral perfection, if any of his Jerusalem disciples had chosen to set up this as a dogma of religion. Yet no one would blame me as morose, or indisposed to acknowledge genius and greatness, if I insisted on believing James to be frail and imperfect, while admitting that I knew almost nothing about him. And why 1 Singly and surely, because we know him to be a man : that suffices. To set up James or John or Daniel as my model and my Lord ; to be swallowed up in him, and press him upon others as a universal standard, would be despised as a self-degrading idolatry, and resented as an ob- trusive favouritism. Now why does not the same equally apply if the name Jesus be substituted for these ■? Why, in defect of all other knowledge than the bare fact of his manhood, are we not unhesitatingly to take for granted that he does not exhaust all perfection, and is at best only one amongst many brethren and equals 1 " The answer is that we have to choose between believing in Christ's moral perfection, and condemning Him of beinw guilty of intolerable presumption; and that His teaching, His actions and (Mr. Newman will allow us to add) His supernatural cre- dentials, taken together, make believing Him the easier alternative. IV.] the Jewish teachers, and the Mosaic Revelation. 251 rity, and not as the Scribes °." The Scribes reasoned, they explained, they balanced argument against argument, they appealed to the critical or verifying factdty of their hearers. But here is a Teacher, Who sees truth intuitively, and announces it simply, without condescending to recommend it by argument. He is a Teacher, moreover, not of truth obvious to all, but of truth which might have seemed to the men who first heard it to be what we should call paradoxical. He is a Teacher Who condemns in the severest language the doctrine and the prac- tice of the most influential religious authorities among His countrymen. He takes up instinctively a higher position than He assigns to any who had preceded Him in Israel. He passes in review, and accepts or abrogates not merely the traditional doc- trines of the Jewish schools, but the Mosaic law But Mr. Newman's remarks are of substantial value, as indirectly shewing from a point of view further removed from Catholic belief than Socinianism itself, how steadily a recognition of our Lord's moral perfection as Man tends to promote an acceptance of the Catholic doctrine that He is God. " If," says Mr. Newman, " I were already convinced that this person (he means our Lord) was a great Unique, separated from all other men by an im- passable chasm in regard to his physical origin, I (for one) should be much readier to believe that he was unique and unapproachable in other respects; for all God's works have an internal harmony. It could not be for nothing that this exceptional personage was sent into the world. That he was intended for head of the human race in one or more senses, would be a plausible opinion ; nor should I feel any incredulous repugnance against believing his morality to be, if not divinely perfect, yet separated from that of common men so far that he might he a God to us, just as every parent is to a young child." Ibid. p. 142. c St. Matt. vii. 29. 252 Contrast iciHi the practice of the Frophets. [Lect. itself. His style runs thus : " It was said to them of old time, . . . but I say unto you*^." Again, my brethren, let us protest against statements which imply that this authoritative teaching of Jesus was merely a continuation of the received prophetic style. It is true that the prophets gave promi- nence to the moral element in the teaching of the Pentateuch, that they expanded it, and that so far they anticipated one side of the ministry of Jesus Himself But the prophets always appealed to a higher sanction ; the prophetic argument ad- dressed to the conscience of Israel was ever " Thus saith the Lord." How significant, how full of im- port as to His consciousness respecting Himself is our Lord's substitute, " Verily, verily, / say unto you." What prophet ever set himself above the great Legislator, above the Law written by the finger of God on Sinai 1 What prophet ever un- dertook to ratify the Pentateuch as a whole, to contrast his own higher morality with some of its precepts in detail, to imply even remotely that he was competent to revise that which every Israelite knew to be the handiwork of God % What prophet ever thus implicitly placed himself on a line of equality, not with Moses, not with Abraham, but with the Lord God Himself 1 A claim so momen- tous requires explanation if the claimant be only human. This impersonation of the source of moral law must rest upon some basis : what is that basis on which it rests'? — Yet in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus Christ does not deign to justify His lofty ^ St. Matt. V. 27. For the translation of roir dp^awis see Arch- bishop Trench on Auth. Vera, of New Testament, p. 79. lA .] A sending of our Lord's ji/enonal cl-aims inevitalle. 253 critical and re^"isionaiy attitude towards the ancient Law ; He neither explains nor exaggerates His power to review tlie older revelation, and to reveal new truth : He simply teaches. He abrog-ates. He establishes. He sanctions, He unfolds, as the case may be, and in a tone which implies that His right to teach is not a matter for discussion. It was inevitable that the question should be asked, anxiously, earnestly, fiercely, ' Who is This Teacher I ' I say, it was inevitable : for if you teach the lowest moral truth, in the humblest sphere, your right to do so will sooner or later be called in question. To teach moral truth is to throw down a challenge to human nature, human nature being such as it actually is, that is to say, conscious of more or less disloyalty to the moral light which it already possesses, and indisposed to -become respon- sible for knowledge of a yet higher standard of moral truth, the existence of which it may already suspect. Accordingly the challenge which is thus made is generally met by a shai-p counter-scrutiny into the claims, be they personal or cifiicial. of the teacher who dares to make it. This penalty of teacliing can only be escaped either in certain rare and primitive conditions of society, or else when the teacher fails to do his duty. Missionaries have described savage tribes whose sense of ignorance was too sincere, and who were too grateftil for know- ledge, to take umbrage at the practical bearings of a new doctrine. Poets have sung of ancestors " Qui prfeeeptorem sancti voluere parentis Esse loco«." « Juv. vii. 207, S. 254 A fearless teacher of moral truth [Lect. Again, immunity from criticism may possibly be secured by signal inefficiency, feebleness, or dis- loyalty to principle, on the part of the teacher. A teacher of morals may have persuaded his conscience that the ruling worldly opinion of his time can safely be regarded as its court of final appeal. He may have forced his thought to shape itself with prudent docility into those precise conventionalities of expression which are tmderstood to mean nothing or which have lost their power. In such a case it may so happen that the total failure to achieve moral and spiritual victories will not necessarily entail on the teacher complete social or professional obscurity, while it will certainly protect him against any serious liability to hostile interference. But picture to yourselves a teacher who is not merely under the official obligation to say something, but who is morally convinced that he has something to say. Imagine one who believes alike in the truth of his message and in the reality of his mission to deliver it ; while his message combines those moral contrasts which give permanency and true force to a doctrine, and which the Gospel alone has combined in their perfection. Let this teacher be tender, yet searching ; let him win the hearts of men by his kindly humanity, while he probes, aye to the quick, their moral sores. Let him be uni- formly calm, yet manifestly moved by the fire of repressed passion. Let him be stern yet not un- loving, and resolute without lessening the elasticity of his sympathy, and genial without condescending to be the weakly accomplice of moral mischief Let him pursue and expose the latent evil of the human IV .] cannot but jwovoJce enquire/ into his right to teach. 255 heart tkrougli all the mazes of its unrivalled deceit- fulness, without sullying his own purity, and with- ovit lessening his strong belief in the present capa- city of every hiunan being for goodness. Let him be one who 'knows what is in man,' and yet, with this knowledge clearly before him, not only does not despair of hinnanity, but respects it, nay loves it, even enthusiastically. Above all, let this teacher be per- fectly independent ; let him be independent of the voice of the multitude; independent of the enthusiasm and promptings of his disciples ; independent still when face to face with the bitter criticism and scorn of his antagonists ; independent of all save God and his conscience. In a word, conceive one whose moral authority and beauty combine to elicit a simiiltaneous tribute of reverence and of love. Clearly such a teacher must be a moral power ; and as a conse- quence, his claim to teach must be scrutinized with a severity proportioned to the interest which he excites, and to the hostility which he cannot hope to escape provoking. And such a Teacher, and much more than this, was Jesus Christ our Lord. Nor is this all. The scrutiny which our Lord necessarily encountered from without was responded to, or rather it was anticipated, by Self-discovery from within. The soul, it has been said, Hke the i body, has its pores ; and in a sincere sovil the pores of its life are always open. Instinctively, uncon- sciously, and whether a man will or not, the insig- nificance or the greatness of the inner life always reveals itself. In our Lord this self-revelation was not involuntary, or accidental, or forced; it was in the highest degree deliberate. He knew the thoughts 256 Self-assertion in the second stage of Christ's teaching. [Lmct. of those about Him, and He anticipated their ex- pression. He placed beyond a doubt, by the most explicit statements, that which might have been more than suspected, if He had only preached the Sermon on the Mount. II. (a) It is characteristic then of what may be termed the second stage of our Lord's public teach- ing, that He distinctly, repeatedly, energetically preaches Himself He does not leave men to draw inferences about Himself from the power of His moral teaching, or from the awe-inspiring nature of His miracles. He does not content Himself with teaching primary moral truths concerning God and o\ir duties towards God and towards one another. He does not bequeath to His Apostles the task of elaborating a theory respecting the Personal Rank of their Master in the scale of being. On the con- trary, He Himself persistently asserts the real cha- racter of His position relatively to God and man, and of His consequent claims upon the thought and heart of mankind. Whether He employs meta- phor, or plain unmetaphorical assertion, His meaning is too clear to be mistaken. He speaks of Himself as the Light of a darkened world ', as the Way by which man may ascend to heavens', as the Truth which can really satisfy the cravings of the souP, as the Life which must be imparted to all who would hve in very deed, to all who would really f St. Jolin viii. 1 2 : 'Eym ci'/jt to (pSis tov K6crfi.oV 6 aKo\ov6a>p ifidi oil pj] 7repnraTT](T€t iv ttj fTKOTin, dXX' e^ft to v ei' efixn, Kayoi eV airiB. ciros- fpf^Jei K:ip~oy 258 Our Lord' s persistent Self -assertion [Lect. severed from His''. He stands consciously between earth and heaven. He claims to be the One Means of a real approach to the Invisible God : no soul of man can come to the Father but through HimJ". He promises that all prayer offered in His Name shall be answered : " If ye ask anything in My Name I will do it^'." He contrasts Himself with a group of His countrymen as follows : " Ye are from be- neath, I am from above ; ye are of tliis world, I am not of this worlds" He anticipates His Death, and foretells its consequences : " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Myself^." He claims to be the Lord of the realm of death ; He will Himself wake the sleeping dead ; all that are in the graves shall hear His voice"; nay, He will raise Himself from the dead*^. He proclaims, "I am the Resurrection and the Life®." He encourages men to trust in Him as they trust in God^ ; to make ^ St,. John XV. 6: lav \xt] ti^ f^fivji iv ifiol, fPKrjdrj e|a) a>s to Kkrjixa, Koi l^pavQrj, y Ibid. xiv. 6'. ovdels ejo;^crat irpos Tov TraTepa^ el fxr) dt ifiov. ^ Ibid. ver. 14: edv Ti alTTjO-rjTf iv rm ovofiari fiov, iya Troirjira. ^ Ibid. Vlil. 23: *Y/Aet9 iK Ta>u Karat eore, eya ck toiv avu> €lp.i' vpus eic TOV KoafjLov tovtov ia-re, iyio ovk elfxi ck tov Koap-ov tovtov. ° Ibid. xii. 3 2 ; Kayu> iav v-^a>6S> « ttjs yvjs, iravTas ikKvcra TTpas ipavTOV. " Ibid. v. 28, 29: i'pxfTai &pa, iv fi irdvres oi iv toIs p.vr]pfiois aKOv- aovTat Tijs (pwvijs avTov, Kal iKTTOpevaovTat. Ibid. VI. 39 ] XI. 25. '^ Ibid. 11. 19: AvcaTc t6v vaov tovtov^ kol iv TpKTiv rjp.ipais iyepai avrov. Ibid. X. 1 8 : i^ovcrlau e'xoi deivai avrrjv [rrjv -^vxtjv /xoul, Kal i^ov- alav e^a ndXtv \a(iiLV avTTjV. ^ Ibid. xi. 25^ 'Eyo) elpi Tj avdaraats Kal rj ^corj, ^ Ibid. xiv. I : ^irj Tapaa-ffea-da Vfiwv rj Kapdla' 7rt{7TfV€Te els tov Qeov, Kal (Is ipi ma-revcTe. Ibid. xvi. 33: Tavra Xe\d\r]Ka vp-tv, Iva iv ipol elprjvrjv ex'?''f. iv Ta Kotrpif ffKi^iv f^erC [exfre, Tiscll.] oKKa 6ap- aeire, iyoi veviKrjKa tov Koapov. IV.] eiara^eriMk ^His itist Dheotirse. 259 TTim aa objeot of fidth jusi as they believe in God?; to honom- Him as they honour the Fatherly. To loTe Him is a neoessaiy maik of the children of God : " K God were your Father, ye would have loved Me\" It is not po^ble. He rules, to love God, and yet to hate Himself: "He that hateth Me, hateth My Father alsoJ." The proof of a ti-ue love to Him lies in doing His bidding : " If ye love Me, keep J/y commandments^" Of this stage of our Lords teaching the most representative docu- ment is the Discourse in the supper-room. How ojreat is the contrast between that discourse and the Sermon on the Mount. In the Sermon on the Mount, which deals with questions of human cha- racter and of moral obligation, the reference to our Lords Person is comparatively indirect. It Hes, not in e:s:pHoit statements, Inu in the authority of His tone, in the attitude which He tacitly assumes towards the teachei-s of the Jewish people, and towards the ancient Law. In the Last Discoiii^se it is His Person rather than His teaching which is S St, John Tl. 29 : TouTO «rn to ^py>' ^-'•^ Sew, im rtarfimfrf els ok uiiimtiXew acEomr. Ibid, ver, 40: roiro ^i^p etrra to ft'X^iui tbi sm)Mk fURi' ua STos o ^impw ror i«or mi futtevni' 6ir aiTor, f \t- ^a>^ oiKnor. Ibid. Ter. 47: e srurret'wM' «r f>j^- ^X^' f*^ mimor. Cf. AoT$ iAVl, I S : rov Xc^^ attws a(j>ftnr dfiapnSr, mi ick^pim iw rtxs f7«av}t»oi£, inom rj or euc. '^ Si. John T, 2 3 : ua starrer zyMtn tw vior, mdw; lyji^tn rov vnrtptt. I Ibid. riii. 42 : Et o 6cos s ifiim ^, fymrarE ov euc. Ct. Ibid. stL 27. i Ibid. XT. 23: o ^ fuoW, mi to* wxayta iiov /lurct. ^ Ibid. xir. 15: far ayexmi pe. ris crrtAoi rdi efios njpi^fTarE. 2 St. John 6 : au ovt^ am» f oy«nr(; vm scpuuCHfieir mro tos ^toX^ 260 This Self-assertion not confi7ied to the fourth Gospel. [Lect. especially prominent ; His subject in that discourse is Himself. Certainly He preaches Himself in His relationship to His redeemed ; but still He preaches above all and in all. Himself All radiates from Himself, all converges towards Himself. The sor- rows and perplexities of His disciples, the mission and work of the Paraclete, the mingling predictions of suffering and of glory, are all bound up with the Person of Jesus, as manifested by Himself ; in those matchless words all centres so consistently in Jesus, that it might seem that Jesus Alone is before us ; Alone m the greatness of His supramimdane glory; Alone in bearing His burden of an awful, fathom- less sorrow. It will naturally occur to us that language such as that which has just been quoted is mainly cha- racteristic of the fourth Gospel ; and you will per- mit me, my brethren, to consider the objection which may underlie that observation somewhat at length in a future lecture l. For the present the author of "Ecce Homo" may remind those who, for whatever reasons, refuse to believe that om- Lord used these words, that " we cannot deny that He used words which have substantiaUy the same meaning. We cannot deny that He called Himself King, Master, and Judge of men ; that He pro- mised to give rest to the weary and the heavy-laden ; that He instructed His followers to hope for life from feeding on His Body and His Blood™." Indeed so entirely is our Lord's recorded teachino- penetrated by His Self-assertion, that in order to represent Him as simjDly teaching moral truth while 1 See Lecture V. m Ecce Homo, p. 177. IV.] Christ proclaims Himself Judge of all men. 261 keeping Himself strictly in the background of His doctrine, it would be necessary to deny the trust- worthiness of all the accounts of His teaching which we possess. To recognise the difference which has been noticed between the two phases of His teach- ing merely amounts to saying that in the former His Self-proclamation is implied, while it is avowed in the latter. For even in that phase of Christ's teaching which the three first Evangelists more particularly record, the public assumption of titles and functions such as those of King, Teacher, and Judge of the human race, implies those statements about Himself which are preserved in the fourth Gospel. Consider, for instance, what is really involved in a claim to judge the world. That Jesus Christ did put forward this claim must be conceded by those who admit that we have in our hands any true records of Him whatever. Men who reject that account of the four Gospels which is given us by the Catholic Church, may perhaps consent to listen to the opinion of Mr. Francis W. Newman. " I be- lieve," says that writer, " that Jesus habitually spoke of Himself by the title Son of Man, [and] that in assuming that title He tacitly alluded to the seventh chapter of Daniel, and claimed for Himself the throne of judgment over all mankind. I know no reason to doubt that He actually delivered in sub- stance the discourse in the twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew"!." That our Lord advanced this tre- mendous claim to be the Judge of all mankind is equally the conviction of foreign critics, who are as widely removed as possible from any respect n Phases of Faith, p. 149 ; cf. St. Matt. xxv. 31-46. 262 Christ proclaims Himself to he the Universal Judge. [Lect. whatever for the witness of the Church of Christ to Holy Writo. But let us reflect steadily on what Christ is thus admitted to have said about Him- self by the most adva,nced representatives of the destructive criticism. Christ says that He will return to earth as Judge of all mankind. He will sit upon a throne of glory, and will be attended by bands of obedient angels. Before Him will be gathered aU the nations of the world, and He will judge them. In other words, He will proceed to discharge a function involving such spiritual insight, such discernment of the thoughts and intents of the heart of each one of the milhons at His Feet, stich awful, unshared supremacy in the moral world, that the imagination recoils in sheer agony from the task of seriously contemplating the exercise of this func- tion by any created intelligence. He will draw a sharp trenchant hne of eternal separation through the dense throng of all the assembled races and generations of men. He will force every individual human being into one of two distinct classes re- spectively destined for endless happine&s and endless woe. He wUl reserve no cases as involving complex moral problems beyond His Own power of decision. Baur, Vorle-sungen iiber X. T. Tbeologie, p. 109 : " Dass .Jesus Sich Selbst als den kunfti»eii Richter betrachtete, und ankiindigte, lasst sich auch nacb dem Evangelium ^Nlatthaus nicht in Zweifel Ziehen. Fasst man die Lehre und "\Virk,9amkeit .Jesu auch nur nach dem sittlichen Gesichtspunkt auf, unter welchen sie der Bergrede und den Parabein zufolge zu stellen ist, so gehcirt dazu wesentlieh auch die Bestimmung, dass sie der Absolute ^Maastab zur Beur- theilung des sittlichen Werthes des Thuns, und Verhaltens der menschen ist." TYJ Chr'ut jjYod'jirM Hmself to he the Unher-io.I Ji"-],je. 263 He will sanction' no intermediate class of awards to meet the neutral morality oi souls whom men might deem "too bad. for heaven, vet too good for hell." If it shotdd be urged that our Lord is teaching- truth in the garb of parable, and that His words must not be taken too Kterally, it may be answered that, supposing this to be the case (a supposition by no means to be conceded) the main featiu'es, the purport and drift of the entire representation cannot be mistaken. The Speaker claims to be Judge of all the world. Whenever, or however, you understand Him to exercise His function, Christ claims ui that discourse to be nothing less than the Universal Judge. You cannot honestly translate BG.S language into any modem and prosaic equi- valent, that does not carry with it this tremendoiTS claim. Xor is it relevant to observe that Messiah had been pictured in prophecy as the Universal Judge, and that in assuming to judge the world Jesus Christ was only claiming an official conse- quence of the character which He had previously assumed Surely this does not alter the natiue of the claim. It does indeed shew what was involved in the original assertion that He was the Messiah : but it does not shew that the title of Universal Judge was a mere idealist decoration having no practical duties attached to it. On the contrary, Jesus Christ asserts the practical value of the title very dehberatelv ; He insists on and expands its significance ; He draws out what it implies into a vivid pictiu-e. It cannot be denied that He literally and deliberately put Himself forward as Judge of all the world ; and the moral significance 264 Absolute claims of Christ on the entire [Lect. of this Self-exaltation is not affected by the fact that He made it, as a part of His general Messianic claim. If He could not claim to be Messiah without making it. He ought not to have claimed to be Messiah unless He had a right to make it. It may be pleaded that He Himself said that the Father had given Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man P. But this, as has already been shewn, means simply that He is the Universal Judge becaiise He is Messiah. True, the chosen title of Messiahship implies His real Humanity ; and His Human Nature invests Him with special fitness for this as for the rest of His mediatorial work. But then the title Son of Man, as implying His humanity, is in felt contrast to a Higher Nature which it sug- gests. He is more than hiunan ; but He is to judge us becatise He is also Man. On the whole it is impos- sible to reflect steadily on this claim of Jesus Christ without feeling that either such a claim ought never to have been made, or that it carries us forward irre- sistibly to a truth beyond and above itself. In deaHng with separate souls our Lord's lan- guage and attitude is not less significant. We wiU not here dwell on the fact of His forgiving sins % and of transmitting to His Church the power of forgiving them''. But it is clear that He treats, P St. John V. 27. q St. Matt. ix. 6 ; St, Mark ii. 10. M. Salvador represents in our own day the Jewish feeling respecting this claim of our Lord. " Voila pourquoi les docteurs se recrierent de nouveau en entendant le Fils de Marie s'arroger ^ lui-meme, et transmettre a, ses delegu^s le droit du pardon : ils y voyaient une autre maniere de prendre la place de Dieu." J&us-Christ, torn. ii. p. 83. r St. Matt. xvi. 19 ; St. John xx. 23. IV.] allegiance of the sotils of men. 26'5 those who come to Him as literally belonging to Himself, in virtue of an existing right. He com- mands, He does not invite, discipleship. To Philip, to Levi, to the sons of Zebedee, to the rich yoimg man. He says simply, " Follow Me ^." In the same spirit His Apostles are bidden to resent resistance to their Master's doctrine : " When ye come into an house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it : but if it be not worthy, let yoiir peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shah, be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city^." And as His mes- sage is to be received upon pain of eternal loss, so in receiving it, men are to give themselves up to Him simply and unreservedly. No rival claim, how- ever strong, no natural affection, however legitimate and sacred, may interpose between Himself and the soul of His follower. "He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me^;" "If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own Hfe also, he cannot be My disciple^." Accordingly He predicts the painful severance between near relations which would accompany the advance of the Gospel : " Suppose ye that I am come to give peace s St. Matt. iv. 19 ; viii. 22 ; ix. 9 ; xix. 21 ; St. Mark ii. 14; St. Luke V. 27 ; St. John i. 43 ; x. 27. t St. Matt. X. 12-15. 11 Ibid. 37. ^ St. Luke xiv. 26. 266 Absolute claims of Christ on the entire [Lect. on earth 1 I tell you, Nay ; but rather division : for from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father ; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother ; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in lawy." And the Gospel narrative itself furnishes us with a remarkable illustration of our Lord's application of His claim. " He said unto another. Follow Me. But he said. Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him. Let the dead bury their dead : biit go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said. Lord, I will follow Thee ; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto liim. No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God^." It is impossible to ignore this imperious claim on the part of Jesus to rule the whole soul of man. Other masters may demand a man's active energies, or his time, or his purse, or his thought, or some large share in his affections. But here is a claim on the whole man, on his very inmost self, on the sanctities of his deepest life. Here is a claim which sets aside and ignores the dearest ties of family and kindred, if perchance they interfere with it. Does any who is merely man dare to advance such a claim as this 1 If so, is it possible that, believing him to be only a fellow-creatvire, we can listen to the claim with respect, with patience, without earnest indignation ? y St. Luke xii. 51-53. z Ibid. ix. 59-62. I^'.] alleffianceqffJiesonhofmen. 267 Do not oiu" souls belong only and wlioUv to Him Who made tliem I Can we not biiiy om-selves out of the sight and reach of every f'ello^v-creatm•e, in the hidden recesses of the spuit which we carry witlrin? Can we not escape, if we will, from all scrutiny save One, from all wills save One, from all voices save One. from all beings save Hini ^^Hio gave us life ? How then can we listen to the bidding of this claim of the Prophet of Nazareth \ Is it tolerable if He is only man \ If He does indeed share with ourselves the great debt of creation at the hand of God ; if He exists, like oitrselves. from moment to moment merely upon sirflerance ; or rather, if He is upheld in being in virtue of a continuous and gratuitous ministration of life, sfipplied to Him by the Author of all life ; is it endurable that He sliould thus assmne to deal with us as His own creatm-es, as beintrs who have no rio^hts before Him, and whom He may command at will I Doubtless He speaks of certain souls as given Him by His Father-^ ; btit then He claims the fealtv, the submission of all. And even if souls are only ' given" to Clu-ist. what is the moral explanation of this absolute gift of an immortal sotil to a human Lord I What, in short, is the moral justification of Clmsts demand tipon a man's whole being 1 How can He bid men hve for Him as for the very End of their exist- ence \ how can He rio-htlv draw towards Himself the whole thotight and love, I do not say. of a world, biit of one single htiman being, with this imperious m-gency, if He be indeed only the Christ of the Hu- manitariim teachei-s. if He be anything else or less than the stipreme Lord of lite ? » St. Jolin X. ^9. 268 Such claittis, to le justifiable, imply Biviniti/. [Lect. It is then not merely an easy transition, it is a positive moral relief, to pass from considering these statements and claims to those declarations in which Jesus Christ explains them by exphcitly asserting His Divinity. For although the solemn sentences in which He makes that supreme revelation are comparatively few, it is clear that the truth is latent, in the entire moral and intellectual posture which we have been considering, unless we are prepared to fall back upon a fearful alternative which it will be my duty presently to notice. Every man who takes a public or stirring part in life may assume that he has to deal with three different classes of men. He must face his personal friends, his declared opponents, and a large neutral body which is swayed by turns in the opposite direc- tions of friendliness and opposition. Towards each of these classes he has varying obHgations ; and from their different points of view they form their estimate of his character and action. Now our Lord, entering as He did perfectly into the actual conditions of our human and social existence, exposed Himself to this triple scrutiny, and met it by a correspondingly threefold revelation. He revealed His Divinity to His disciples, to the Jewish people, and to His em- bittered opponents, the chief priests and Pharisees. Bearing in mind His acceptance of the confessions of Nathanael^ and of St. Peter*', as well as His solemn words to Nicodemus'l, let us consider His language in the supper-room to St. Phihp. It may have been Philip's restlessness of mind, taking pleasure, as men b St. John i. 49. " St. Matt. xvi. 16. d St. John iii. 18. IT.] Cirhf reveah His Godiead to tie Jjxisffes. 269 will, in the mere stai-tiug a religions difficulty for its own sake ; it may have been an instinctive wish to find some excuse for escaping from those sterner obligatious -which, on the eve of the Passion, disciple- ship would threaten presently to impose. However this was. Philip preferred to our Lord the |:>eremptory request, " Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." The answer may well have thrilled those who heard it. '• Have I been so long time with yon, and yet thou hast not known Me, Plnlij) I He that hath seen 3Ie hath seen the Father ; and how sayest thou then. Shew us the Father I Behevest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in ]\Ie '^ I " Xow what this indwelling really implied is seen in our Lord's answer to a question of St, Jude. St. Jude had asked how it was that Christ would manifest Himself to His servants and not to the world. Our Lord re- phes that the heavenly revelation is made to love ; but the form iu which this ans-«er is couched is of the highest significance. " If a man love Me. he will keep ]\Iv words ; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Ovu' abode with him^." ■■ We will come imto him and make Our abode ! " Eeflect : 'Who is This Speaker That pro- mises to dwell in the soul of man 1 And with Whom does He associate Himself i It may be true of any eminent saint, that " God speaks not to him, as to one outside Himseh"; that God is in him; that he feels hi m self with God : that he draws from his own heai-t what he teUs us of the Father ; that he lives in the bosom of God by the intercommunion e St. Joliu xiv 9, 10 1' Ibid. ver. ::3. 270 Christ reveals His Qodhead to the Jewish people. [Lect. of every moment e." But Buch an ouc could not forget that, favoured as he is by the Divine I'rosonce illuminating his whole inner life, he is still at iui immeasurable interval beneath the Being Whose con- descension has so enriched him. In virtue of his sanctity, he would surely shrink with horror from associating himself with God ; from promising, along with God, to make a dwelling-place of the souls that love himself; from representing his presence with men as a blessing co-ordinate with the presence of the Father ; from proclaiming an abs(jlute onencHS of will with the Will of God ; fi'orn inj])lying that side by side with the Father of spirits, he was him- self equally a ruler and helper of the life of the soul of man. The most prominent statements however which our Lord made on the subject of His Divinity occur in those conversations with the Jews which are spe- cially recorded in the fourth Gospel. Our Lord discovers this great truth to the Jewish people by three distinct methods of statement. (a) In the first place. He distinctly places lliniself on terms of equality with the Father, Vjy a double claim. He claims a p&rity of working power, and ife \ claims an equal right to the homage of mankind, i Of these claims the former is implicitly contained in passages to which allusion has been already made. g Quoted in Dean iStanley't* Lectui'eH on the .JewiBli Cliurcli, part ii. p. i6i, from Jlenan (Vic; de .Jc:suh, p. 75), wlio is Hpeaking of our Lord. M. Renan, in using this langungi-, is very careful to explain that he does not mean it> assert that our Lord is Ood : ".Jesus n'enonce pas un njoinent I'id^e sacrilege (\) qu'il soit Jjieu." Ibid. r\\] GronHd of OUT Lord's claim to wori on ike SoMaik. 271 We have seen that it is contained in the assumption of a judicial authority equal to the task of decidino- the final condition of eTeiy individual human being. Although this office is delegated to and exercised by our Lord as Man, yet so stupendous a task is obviously not less beyond the reach of any created intelligence than the providential government of the world. In like manner, this claim of an equality in working power with the Father is inseparable from our Lord's statements that He could confer animal life^^, and that the future restoration of the whole human race to life would be efiected by an act of His WiUi. These statements were made by o\u- Lord after healing the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda. They are in fact deductions fix>m a previous and more comprehensive one. Our Lord had healed the impotent man on the Sabbath day, and had bidden him take up his bed and walk. The Jews saw an infraction of the Sabbath, both in the command given to the impotent man, and in the act of healing him. They sought to slay our Lord ; but He justified Himself by saying, " My Father worketh ^ 8t John T. 2 1 : S utoi ovs 6ikti ^aMnnNo. The quickening the dead is a special attribute of God (Dent xxxii 39 ; i Sam. ii 6). If our Lord's power of quickening -whom He would had referred only to the moral life of man, the statement would not have been less significant. To raise a soul from spiritoal death is at least as great a miracle, and as stricdv proper to God Almighty, as to raise a dead body. But the ^uosrotTou here in question, if moral in ver. :?5, is physical in Ter. 28; our Lord is alluding to His reoently-perforuied miracle as an illustration of His power. Ibid. vers. S. 9. i St. John T. 28: tpx^""^ '^P'h "' S ToJ^fS <" ^ '"O"' fUT;fi«W arow- iro»Ts Spri epya^erai, Kayai ipyd^uyju. " Wie der Vater seit Anbeginn nicht aufgehbrt habe, zum Heil der Welt zu wirken, sondern immer fortwirke bis zur jetzigen Stunde, so mit Nothwendigkeit und Recht, ungeachtet des Sab- bathsgesetzes, auch Er, als der Sohn, Welcher als Solcher in dieser Seiner Wirksamkeit nicht dem Sabbathsgesetze unterthan sein kann, sondern Herr des Sabbaths ist." (St. Matt. xii. 8; St. Mark ii. 28.) Meyer in loc. ^ St. John V. 18: JlaTepa tStoi^ eXeye rbti Qebvy Xuov iavTov iroioiv Tw eem. M. Salvador points out the abiding significance of our Lord's language in the opinion of his co-religionists. " Si I'on ne s'attaquait qu'aux traditions et interpretations abusives, c'dtait s'en prendre a la jurisprudence du jour, aux docteurs, aux hommes ; c'^tait user simplement du droit commun en Israel, et provoquer une r^forme. Mais si Ton se mettait au dessus de I'institution en elle-m^me, si, comme J^sus devant les docteurs, on se proclamait le Mattre absolu du sabbath, dans ce cas, entre circoncis, o'^tait atta- quer a la loi, en renverser une des pierres angulaires ; c'dtait im- poser au grand Saorificateur le devoir de faire entendre une voix accusatrice ; enfin c'^tait s'dlever au dessus du Dieu des Juifs, ou to^d-au-moina se pretendre son Egal. Ausai une temoignage dclatant vient k I'appui de cette distinction, et ajoute une preuve a la conformity g^ndrale des quatres Evangiles. ' Les Juifs,' dit judicieusement I'apotre et dvangdliste Jean, ' ne poursuivirent pas Jesus, par ce seul motif qu'il violait les ordonnances relatives au sabbath. On lui intenta une action par cette autre raison ; qu'il se faisait dgal k Dieu.' " Salvador, J^sus-Christ, ii. pp. 80, 81. IV.] Ground of Ckrisfs claim to work on the Sabhath. 273 which He has summoned it. They knew that He "rested on the seventh day" from the creation of new beings ; but that in maintaining the life of those which akeady exist, He " worketh hitherto." They knew that none could associate himself as did Jesus with this world-sustaining energy of God, who was not himself God. They saw clearly that no one coidd cite God's example of an uninter- rupted energy in natiu-e and providence as a reason for setting aside God's positive law, without also and thereby claiming to be Divine. It did not occur to them that our Lord's words need have implied no more than a resemblance between His working and the working of the Father. If indeed our Lord had meant nothing more than this, He would not have met the objection tirged by the Jews against His breaking the Sabbath. It would have been no argu- ment against the Jews to have said that because God's incessant activity is ever working in the imi- verse, therefore a holy Jew might work on unin- terruptedly, although he thereby violated the Sabbath day. With equal reason might it have been urged, that because God sees good to take the hves of His creatures, in His mercy no less than in His justice, therefore a religious man might rightfully put to death his tempted or afflicted brother. The Sabbath was a positive precept, but it rested on a moral basis. It had been given by God Himself Our Lord claims a right to break the Sabbath, because God's ever active Providence is not suspended on that day. Our Lord thus places both His Will and His Power on the level of the Power and Will of the Father. He might have parried the Jewish attack by saying that the 274 Christ's Power Divine, altJwugh [_eterHally\ given. [Lect. miracle of healing the impotent man was a work of God, and that He was Himself but the umesisting Organ of a Higher Being. On the Socinian hypo- thesis He ought to have done so. But He represents the miracle as His own work. He claims distinctly to be Lord of nature, and thus to be equal with the Father in point of operative energy. He makes the same assertion in saying that "whatsoever things the Father doeth, those things the Son also doeth in like manner 1." To narrow down these words so as to make them only refer to Christ's imitation of the moral nature of God, is to take a liberty with the text for which it affords no warrant ; it is to make void the plain meaning of Scripture by a sceptical tradition. Our Lord simply and directly asserts that the works of the Father, without any restriction, are, both as to their nature and mode of production, the works of the Son. Certainly our Lord insists very carefully upon the truth that the power which He wielded was derived originally from the Father. It is often difficult to say whether He is speaking, as Man, of the honour of union with Deity and of the graces which flowed from Deity, conferred upon His Manliood ; or whether, as the Everlasting Son, He is describing those Natural and Eternal Gifts which are inherent in His Godhead, and which He receives from the Father, the Fountain or Source of Deity, not as a matter of grace or favour, but in virtue of His Eternal Generation. As God, "the Son can do nothing of Himself," and this, "not from lack of power, but because His Being is inseparable from 1 St. John V. 19 : a yap (iv cKftvos Trocfj, ravra Km 6 Yiof ojioias rV'.] The Son to be AoHoured equally mti tie FaiAer. 275 That of the Father"*." It is true of Cluist as God in one sense — ^it is true of Him as Man in another — that "as the Father hath hfe ia Himself so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. " But neither is an absohite harmony of the works of Chiist with the Mind and Will of the Father, nor a dCTivation of the Diriae Xatitre of Christ Itself firom the Being of the Father by an unbegun and unending Gteneration, destructive of the force of our Lord's representation of His operative energy as being on a par ^\-ith that of the Father. On the other hand, our Lords real sense is made plain by His statement that " the Father hath committed all judgment imto the Sou ; that all [men] should honour the Son even as they honour the Father".' This claim is indeed no more than He had ali-eady adAranced in bidding His followers tnist Him and love Him. The obligation of honour- ing the Son is defined to be just as stiingent as the obligation of honoiuing the Father. What- ever fonn that honour mav take, be it thouoht, or language, or outwtxrd act, or devotion of the aflec- tions. or submission of the will, or that union of thought and heart and will into one complex act of self-prosti-ation before Infinite Greatness, which we of the present day usually mean by the term "adoration," such honoiu- is due to the Son no less than to the Father. How fearful is such a claim if the Son is only Human : how nattu^^l, how moderate, how just, if He is in very deed Divine ! (j8) Beyond this assertion of an equal operative Power, and of an equal right to the homage of man- «n Euthjm. T 2 276 Our Lord claims to he One tvith the Father. [Lect. kind with the Father, is our Lord's revelation of His absolute Oneness of Essence with the Father. The Jews gathered around Him at the Feast of Dedication in the Porch of Solomon, and pressed Him to tell them whether He was the Christ or noto. Our Lord referred them to the teaching which they had heard, and to the miracles which they had witnessed in vainP; but He proceeded to say that there were docile and faithful souls whom He terms His ' sheep,' and whom He ' knew,' while they too understood and foUowed Himi. He goes on to insist upon the blessedness of these His true followers. With Him they were secure ; no power in earth or in heaven could " pluck them out of His Hand*"." A second reason for the blessedness of His sheep follows : " My Father which gave them Me is a Greater Power [ixelX^ov) than all : and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's Hand^." In these words our Lord repeats His previous assurance of the security of His sheep, but He gives a different reason for it. He had represented them as " in His Own Hand ; " He now represents them as in the Hand of the Almighty Father. How does Lie con- solidate these two reasons which together assure His ' sheep ' of their security 1 By distinctly as- serting His Own oneness with the Father : " I and My Father are One Thing*." Now what kind of unity is that which the context obliges us to see in this o St. John X. 22, 23. P Ibid. ver. 25. <1 Ibid. ver. 27. ^ Ibid. ver. 28. » Ibid. ver. 29. ' Ibid. ver. 30: 'K70) km 6 Ylarrfp ev iaji(v. For a full explanation of this text see Bishop Beveridge's noble sermon on the Unity of Christ with God the Father, Works, vol. ii. Serm. xxv. IV.] yaitireofihisUuHi/. 277 solemn statement ■ Is it such a unity as that Nvhich our Lord desired for His followers in His intercessory prayer ; a unity of spiritual communion, of reciprocal love, of common participation in a new and heaven- sent Xatiue" I Is it a unity of design and co-opera- tion, such as that which, in Tarying degrees, is shared by all true workers for God"^' I How woidd either of these lower luiities sustam the full sense of the con- text, which represents the Hand of the Son as one with the Hand — that is, with the Love and Power — of the Father, securuig to the souls of men eftectual preservation li'om eternal ruin \ A unitv like this must he a dpiamic unity, as distinct from any mere moral and intellectual union, such as mio-ht exist ui a real sense between a creature and its God. Deny this dynamic unity, and you destrov the in- ternal connexion of the passage^. Admit this dv- namic unity, and you admit by necessarv impli- " As in St. John xvii. ii. jj, 23. ■*' i Cor. iii. 8. ^ ifever in Joh. x. 20: " Der Vnter iu dem Sohne ist vmd wirkt, uud dalier dieser, als Organ und Triiger [He is, of com-se, much more than this] der yoctlichen Thiitigkeit bei Aiisfiihraug des Mes- t^iaiiisohen Werk. nieht ge^chieden von Gott [i. e. the Father] uiclit (in -u\:'itv, noins Sfavrov ecoj'. IV.] Our Lord re-asserts His original position. 279 the wicked judges under the Jewish theocracy, in the eighty-second Psalm ^ Surely, with this authoritative language before their eyes, His coimtrymen could not object to His calling Himself the Son of God. And yet He irresistibly implies that His title to Divinity is higher than, and indeed distinct in kind from, that of the Jewish magistrates. If the Jews could tolerate that ascription of a lower and relative divinity to the corrupt officials who, theocratically speaking, repre- sented the Lord Jehovah ; surely, looking to the wit- ness of His works, Divinity could not be denied to One Who so manifestly wielded Divine power as did Jesus^^. Our Lord's argument is thus d minori ad majus ; and He arrives a second time at the assertion which had already given such offence to His comitry- men, and which He now repeats in terms expressive of His sharing not merely a dynamical but an essen- tial unity with the Father : " The Father is in Me, and I in Him°." What the Father is to the Son, the Son is to the Father. The context again forbids us to compare this expression with the phrases which are often used to express the indwelling of God with holy souls, since no moral quality is here in question, but an identity of Power for the performance of superhuman works. Our Lord expresses this truth of His wielding the power of the Father, by asserting His identity of Nature with the Father, which in- volves His Omnipotence. And the Jews understood Him. He had not retracted what they accoimted blas- phemy, and they again endeavoiu'ed to take His life ^. a Ps. Ixxxii. 6. t St. John x. 37, 38. " Ibid. ver. 38 : iv 'Efioi 6 narfjp, Kaya iv avrS. ^ Ibid. ver. 39 : i^r/TOvu ovv n-dXiv avTov Ttiaaai. 280 The Jews understood what our Lord meant. [Lect. It will probably be said that the Church's inter- pretation of Christ's language in the Porch of Solomon is but an instance of that disposition to materialize spiritual truth, which seems to be so imhappily natural to the mind of man. What grossness of apprehension, it will be urged, is here ! How can you thus confound language which merely asserts the sustained intercommunion of a holy soul with God, and those hard formal scholastic assertions of an identity of essence ? But it is obvious to re- join that in cases Hke that before us, language must be morally held to mean what it is understood to mean by those to whom it is addressed. After all, langiiage is designed to convey thought, and if a speaker perceives that his real mind has not been conveyed by one statement, he is bound to correct the deficiencies of that statement by another. Had our Lord been speaking to populations accus- tomed to Pantheistic modes of thinking, and insen- sible to the interval that parts the Uncreated from created life, His assertion of His oneness with the Father might perhaps have passed for nothing more than the rapture of a subjective ecstasy, in which the consciousness of the Speaker had been so raised above its ordinary level, that He could hyperbohcally de- scribe His sensations 'as Divine. Had our Lord been an Indian, or an Alexandrian, or a German mystic, some such interpretation might have been reasonably affixed to His language. Had our Lord been a Christian instead of the Author of Christianity, we might, after carefully detaching His words from their context, have even supposed that He was describing the blessed experience of millions of behevers ; it IV.] References made hy our Lord to His Pre-existence. 281 being certain that, since the Incarnation, the soul of man is capable of a real union with the All -holy God. Undoubtedly writers like St. Augustine and many of later date do speak of the union between God and the Christian soul in terms which signally illustrate the loving condescension of God truly pre- sent in holy sovils, of God's gift of Himself to His redeemed creatures. But the belief of these writers respecting the Nature of the Most High has placed the phrases of their mystical devotion beyond the reach of a possible misunderstanding. Our Lord however was addressing earnest monotheists, keenly ahve to the interval that separates the Life of the Creator from the life of the creature, and rehgiously jealous of the Divine prerogatives. The Jews did not understand Christ's claim to be One with the Father in any merely moral, spiritual, or mystical sense. Christ did not encourage them so to under- stand it. The motive of their indignation was not disowned by Him. They believed Him to mean that He was Himself a Divine Person; and He never re- pudiated that construction of His language. {7) In order however to determine the real sense of our Saviour's claim to be One with the Father, let us ask a simple question. Does it appear that He is recorded to have been conscious of having existed previously to His Human Life upon this earth 1 Sup- pose that He is only a good man enjoying the highest degree of constant spiritual intercommunion with God, no references to a Pre-existent Life can be anti- ■ cipated. There is nothing to warrant such a behef in the Mosaic Kevelation, and to have jsrofessed it on the soil of Palestine would simply have been 282 Christ contrasts His Eternal Kfl.itence [Lect. taken by the current opinion of the people as a proof of mental derangement. But believe that Christ is the Only-begotten Son of God, manifested in the sphere of sense and time, and clothed in our human nature, and some references to a con,scioiisiiess ex- tending backwards through the past into a boundless eternity are only what would naturally be looked for at His hands. Let us then listen to Him as He is proclaiming to His countrymen in the temple, " If a man keep My saying. He shall never see death '^" The Jews exclaim that by such an announcement He assumes to be greater than Abraham and the prophets. They indignantly ask, " Whom makest Thou Thyself ? " Here as elsewhere our Lord keeps both sides of His relation to the Eternal Father in full view : it is the Father that glorifies His Manhood, and the Jews would glorify Him too if they were the Father's true children. But the Jews were at variance not merely with their Heavenly Father. The eartlily ancestor of the Jewish race might be invoked to rebuke his re- creant posterity. " Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." Abraham had seen the day of Messiah by the light of prophecy, and accordingly this statement was a claim on the part of Jesus to be the true Messiah. Of itself such a claim would not have shocked the Jews; they would have discussed it on its merits. They had latterly looked for a political chief, victoiious but human, in their expected Messiah ; they would have welcomed any prospect of realizing their expectations. But ' St. Jva. IV.] with the life of Abraham. 283 they detected a deeper and to them a less welcome meamng in the words of Christ. He had meant, they thought, by His ' Day " something more than the veai s of His Human Life. At any rate they would ask Him a question, which would at once justify their suspicions or enable Him to clear Himself. " Thou," thev said to Him, '• art not vet tiftv years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham ■? " Now if our Lord had only claimed to be a human Messiah, such as the Jews of later years had learned to look for, He must hare earnestly disavowed any such inference from His words. He might have replied that if Abraham saw Him by the light of prophecy, this did not of itself imply that He was Abraham "s contemporary, and so that He had Himself hterallv seen Abraham. But ffis actual answer more than justified the most extreme suspicions of His examiners as to His real meaning. "" Jesus said imto them, Verily, verily, I say unto vou. Before Abraham was, / am." In these tre- mendous words the Speaker institutes a double con- trast, in respect both of the duration and of the mode of His existence, between Himself and the great ancestor of Israel. T\p\v 'A,8paa^i yeveo-dai. Abraham, then, had come into existence at some given point of time. Abraham did not exist until his parents gave him biith. But, Eytt' e'l/ut. Here is simple existence, with no note of beginning or end f. Our Lord says f St. Jolin viii. 58. Meyer in loc. : " Ehe Abraham ward, bin Ich, alter als Abraham's Werden ist meine Existenz." Stier characterizes our Lord's words as -'a sudden [not to Himself] Hash of revelation out of the depths of His own Eternal Consciousness." That Christ should finally have spoken thus, is not, Stier urges, to be wondered at, on the supposition of this Eternal Consciousness ever abiding 284 Christ speaks of having come down from heaven, [Lect. not, "Before Abraham was, I was," but " I am." He claims pre-existence indeed, but He does not merely claim pre-existence ; He imveils a consciousness of Eternal Being. He speaks as One on Whom time has no effect, and for Whom it has no meaning. He is the I AM of ancient Israel ; He knows no past, as He knows no future ; He is unbeginning, unending Being; He is the eternal 'Now.' This is the plain sense of His language, and perhaps the most in- structive commentary upon its force is to be found in the violent expedients to which humanitarian writers have been driven in order to evade its. Here again the Jews understood our Lord, and attempted to kill Him ; while He, instead of explam- uig Himself in any sense which would have disarmed their anger, simply withdrew from the templel^. With this statement we may compare our Lord's references to His pre-existence in His two great witli Him. Kather is it wonderful, that He should ordinarily, and as a rule, have restrained it so much. Here too, indeed, He restrains Himself. He does not go on to say, as afterwards in the Great Intercession — n-po roC tov Koa-fiov flvm (St. John xvii. 5). s Cf. Meyer in St. Joli. viii. 58 : " Das fyci fi/xt ist aber weder : Ich bin es (der Messias) zu deuten {Faustus Sociiins, Paulus, ganz contextwidrig), noch in den Rathsclduss Gottes, zu verlegen {Sam. Crell, Grotius, Paulus, B. Crusius), was schon durch das Praes. verboten wird. Nur noch geschichtlich benierkenswerth ist die von Faustus Socinus auch in das Socinianisohe Bekenntniss (s. Catech. Kacov. ed. Oeder, p. 144, f) uebergegangene Auslegung : ' Ehe Abraham, Abraham, d. i. der Vater vieler Volkcr, wild, bin Ich es, namlich der Messias, das Licht der Welt.' Damit ermahne Er die Juden, an Ihn zu glauben, so lange es noch Zeit sei. ehe die Gnade non ihnen genommen und auf die Heiden iibergetragen werde, wodurch dann Abraham der Vater vieler Volker werde." h St. John viii. 59. IV.] and of ascending up to where He was before. 285 Sacramental Discourses. Conversing with Nico- demus He describes Himself as the Son of Man Who had come down from heaven, and Who while yet speaking was in heaveni. Preaching in the great synagogue of Capernaimi, He caUs Himself " the Bread of Life Which had come down from heaven." He repeats and expands this description of Himself His pre-existence is the warrant of His lifegiving power '^. The Jews objected that they knew His father and mother, and did not imder- stand His advancing any such claim as this to a Pre-existent Life. Our Lord repHed by saying that no man could come to Him unless taught of God to do so, and then proceeded to re-assert His pre- existence in the same terms as before '. He pursued His former statement into its mysterious conse- quences. Since He was the heaven-descended Bread of Life, His Flesh was meat indeed and His Blood was drink indeed"^. They only would have life in them who shovdd eat this Flesh and drink this Blood°. Life eternal, Resiurection at the last dayo, and His own Presence even now within the soulP, would follow upon a due partaking of that heavenly food. When the disciples murmured at this doctrine as a 'hard saying 1,' our Lord met their objections by predicting His coming Ascension into heaven as an event which would justify His allusions to His Pre-existence, no less than to the life-giving Virtue of His Manhood. " What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend i St. John iii. 13. ^ Ibid. vi. 33. 1 Ibid. vers. 44-51. ™ Ibid. ver. 55. n Ibid. ver. 53. ° Ibid. ver. 54. P Ibid. ver. 56. 1 Ibid. ver. 60. 286 Christ's Glory before the world was. [Lect. up where He was before'"?" And the truth of our Lord's pre-existence lightens up such mysterious say- ings as the following : " I know whence I came, and whither I go ; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go^ ;" " I am from above : . . . I am not of this world*;" "If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins";" "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world : again, I leave the world, and go to the Father'^." And how full of solemn significance is that reference to " the glory which I had with Thee before the world wasy," in the great intercession which our Incarnate Saviour offered to the Eternal Father on the eve of His agony ! Certainly taken alone, our Lord's allusions to His >■ St. John vi. 62. Strauss thinks it " difficult but admissible " to interpret St. John viii. 58, with the Socinian Crell, of a purely ideal existence in the predetermination of God. He considers it however " scarcely possible to view the prayer to the Father (St. John xvii. 5) to confirm the 86^a which Jesus had with Him before the world was, as an entreaty for the communication of a glory predestined for Jesus from eternity." He adds that the language of Jesus (St. John vi. 62) where He speaks of the Son of Man re-ascending where He was before, dvafiaivciv onov rjv to upoTipov, is in its intrinsic meaning, as well as in that which is reflected on it from other passages, unequivocally significative of actual, not merely of ideal jire-existencc." Leben Jesu, pt. ii. kap. 4. § 65. Here, as sometimes elsewhere, Strauss incidentally upholds the natural and Catholic interpretation of the text of tJie Gospels ; nor are we now concerned with the theoi'y t<.i which he eventually applies it. It may be further observed, that Strauss might have at least interpreted St. John viii. 58 by the light of St. John vi. 62. 8 Ibid. viii. 14. * Ibid. ver. 23. ^ Ibid. ver. 24. ^ Ibid. xvi. 28. y Ibid. xvii. 5. IV.] Our Lord's iesiimonij when hefore the Sanhedrim. 287 Pre-existence need not imply His true Divinity. There is indeed no ground for the theory of a Pales- tinian doctrine of metempsychosis ; and even Strauss shrinks from supposing that the Fourth Evangelist makes Jesus the mouthpiece of Alexandrian theories of which a Jewish peasant would never have heard. But Arianism wotdd argue, and with reason, that in some of the passages jvist referred to, though not in all, our Lord might conceivably have been speaking of a created although pre-existent life. Yet if we take these passages in connexion with our Lord's assertion of His being One with the Father, each truth forthwith falls into its place. On the one hand, Christ asserts His substantial oneness with Deity, on the other His distinct pre-existent Per- sonality. He might be an inferior and created Being, if He were not thus absolutely One with God. He might be only a saintly man, or an aspect, a relation of the Divine Life, if His language about His pre- existence did not clearly imply that before His birth of Mary He was a hving and superhuman Person. If indeed, in His dealings with the multitude, our Lord had been really misunderstood. He had a last opportunity for explaining Himself when He was arraigned before the Sanhedrim. Nothing is more , certain than that, whatever was the dominant motive that prompted our Lord's apprehension, the Sanhe- drim condemned Him becaiise He claimed Divinity. The members of the com't stated this before Pilate. " We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God 2." Their z St. John xix. 7. "Devant ce proctirateur," observes M. Sal- vador, " cliacune des parties emit une parole capitale. Telle fut 288 Our Lord condemned for claiming to he Divine. [Lect. language woiild have been meaningless if they had understood by the ' Son of God ' nothing more than the ethical or theocratic Sonship of their own an- cient kings and saints. If the Jews held Christ to be a false Messiah, a false prophet, a blasphemer, it was because He claimed literal Divinity. True, the Messiah was to have been Divine. But the Jews had htimanized the Messianic promises ; and the Sanhe- drim held Jesus Christ to be worthy of death under the terms of the Mosaic law, as expressed in Levi- ticus and Deuteronomy i''. After the witnesses had dehvered their various and inconsistent testimonies, the high priest arose and said, "I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him. Thou hast said : nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy l^'." The blasphemy did not consist in the assumption of the title Son of Man, or in the claim to be Messiah, or even, excepting indirectly, in that which by the terms of Daniel's prophecy was involved in Messiahship, namely, the commission to judge the world. It was the further claim to be the Son of God, not in any moral or celle du conseil ou de ses d^Mguds : ' Nous avons une loi ; d'aprfes cette loi il doit mourir,' non paroe qu'il s'est fait Fils de Dieu, selon I'expression familifere a notre langue et a iios prophfetes ; mais parce qu'il se fait ^gal a Dieu, et Dieu meme." Salvador, Jdsus- Clirist, ii. p. 204. a Lev. xxiv. 16; Deut. xiii. 5; cf. Wilson, Illustration of the Muthod of Explaining the New Testament, p. 26. b St. Matt. xxvi. 63-65. lY.] Our Lord cotid-emned for claiming to be Divine. 289 tlieocratic, but in tlie natiu-al sense, at which the high priest and his coadjutors professed to be so deeply shocked. The Jews felt, as our Lord intended, that the Son of Man in Daniel's prophecy could not but be Divine ; they knew what He meant by appro- priating such words as apphcable to Himself Just as one body of Jews had endeavoured to destroy Jesus when He called God His Father in such sense as to claim DiATnity*^ ; and another when He contrasted His Eternal Being with the fleeting life of Abraham in a distant past*^ ; and another when He termed Himself Son of God, and associated Him- self with His Father as being dynamically and so substantially One'? ; — -just as they murmured at His pretension to " have come down from heavenV and detected blasphemy in His authoritative remission of sinsS; so when, before His judges. He admitted that He claimed to be the Son of God, all further dis- cussion was at an end. The high priest exclaimed " Ye have heai'd His blasphemy," and they all con- demned Him to be guilty of death. And a ver}- accomplished Jew of otu* own day, M. Salvador, has shewn that this question of our Lord's Divinity was the real point at issue in that momentous trial. He maintains that a Jew had no other logical alter- native to belief in the Godhead of Jesus Christ than the imperative duty of putting Him to death J^. <^ St. Joliu V. 17, 18. d Ibid. viii. 58. 59. e Ibid. X. 30, 31, 39. f Ibid. vi. 42. e St. Matt. ix. 3 ; St. Luke v. 20, 21. !> Salvador, J^sus-Christ, ii. pp. J 32, 133, 195 : "La question avait un cote politique ou national juif : c'etait la resistance du Fils de !Mai'ie, daus Jerusalem m^me, aux ordres et avertissements U 290 What are the features which chiefly impress its [Lect. III. In order to do justice to the significance of onr Lord's language about Himself, let us for a mo- ment recall our very fundamental conceptions of His character. There is indeed a certain seeming im- propriety in using that word ' character' with respect to Jesus Christ at all. For in modern language ' character ' generally imphes the predominance or the absence of some side or sides of that great whole which we picture to ourselves in the background of each individual man as the true and complete ideal of human nature. This predominance or absence of particular traits or faculties, this precise combination of active or of passive qualities, determines the moral flavour of each individual life, and constitutes cha- racter. Character is that whereby the individual is marked off from the presumed standard or level of du grand Conseil. Au point de vue religieux, selon la loi, Jdsus se trouvait en cause pour s'etre d^clard 6gal k Dieu et Dieu lui- meme." See also the Eev. W. Wilson's Illustration of the Method of Explaining the New Testament, p. 77, sqq. Mr. Wilson shews that the Sanhedrim sincerely believed our Lord to be guilty of the crime of blasphemy, as inseparable, to a Jewish apprehension, from His claim to be Divine. This is argued (i) from the regularity of the proceedings of the Sanhedrim, the length of the trial, and the earnestness and unanimity of the judges. The false witnesses were considered as such by the Sanhedrim : our Lord was condemned on the strength of His Own confession ; (2) from the language of the members of the Sanhedrim before Pilate : " Bt/ ov/r law Pie ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God ;" (3) from the fact that the members of the Sanhedrim had no material object to gain by pronouncing Jesus guilty, without being persuaded of His criminality in claiming to be a Divine Person. Mr. Wilson fortifies these considei-ations by appealing to our Lord's silence, to St. Peter's address to his countrymen in Acts iii. 14-17, and to the general conduct of the Jewish people. IV.] in Ckri-ffs Montl eiaracfer f 291 typical manhood. Yet the closest analrsis of the actual Human life of Jesus reveals a moral Portrait not only imlike any that men have -witnessed before or anee, but especially remarkable iu that It pre- sents an equally balanced and entirely harmonious repr^entation of all the normal elements of our per- fected moral nature, StilL, we may dare to ask the question : TVbat are the features iu That perfectly harmonioxis moral life, upon which the rcTei-enee and the love of Christians dwells most constantly, most thankfully, most enthusiastically I If then on such a subject I may utter a truism without irreverence, I say first of all that Jesus Christ was sincere. He possessed that one indispensable qualification for any teacher, specially for a teacher of religion : He beHeved in what He said, without reserve : and He said what He beheved, without re- gard to consequences. Material error, my brethi-en, you may pardon, if it be error which in good faitb believes itself to be truth. But evident insincerity you cannot pardon; you cannot r^ardwitb any other sentiment than that of indignation tbe conscious propagation of what is known to be felse. or even to be exa^erated. If any could doubt the sincerity of OTU" Lord, it might suffice, among the various &cts which so irresistibly prove this truth, to point to His dealings with persons who followed and trusted Him. It is easy to denounce the eri\>re of men who oppose us ; but it is difficult to be always perfectly outspoken with those who love us, or who look up to us, or whose services may be of use to us. and who may be aHenated by oiur outspokenness. Xow Jesus Christ does not merely drag forth to the light r 2 ~92 Sinccrilj/ of Jcntis C/n-i/sl. [TjI«it. of day the hidden motives of His powerful iidviT- saries, that He may exhibit them with so merci fully implacable an accuracy, in all theii' basc^ntvss and ] ire- tension. He exposes, with c(piid inipartiiility, the weakness, or the unreality, or tlic^ .sclf-chKH^ptioTi of others who already regard Him with affection or wlio desire to espouse His cause. A disciple addresses Him as " Good Master." In order to mark His dis- pleasure at perceiving that the speaker was using a conventional expression which, however true in itself, he did not mean, oui' Lord sliarjjly asked, "Why callest thou Me Good? There is none good but One, that iw, Godi." A multitude which lie has fed miraculously returns to seek Him on the follow- ing day, but instead of silently accepting this tacit proof of His popular jiower, He observes, "Ye seek Me, not beciiuse ye saw the miracKiS, l»iit beeaiise yo did eat of the loaves and weie filledK" On anotlun- occasion, we are told, "there went great niultitudes with Him." He turns, warns them tliat all Imman aflPections must be sacrificed to His service, a.nd th,-it none could be His disciple who does not take up tlic^ cross 1. He solemnly bids men "count the cost" ))o(bre they "build the tower" of discipleship'". He is on the point of being deserted by all, and an Ajxistlo protests with fervid exaggeration that he is rendy to go with Him to prison or to deatli. But our Lord, instead of at once welcoming the affection which dictated this |)i-otestation, pauses to sliew Simon Peter how little he really knew of the weakness of i St. Matt. xix. 1 6, 17. It ,St. .lolin vi. 26. 1 St. Luke xiv. 26, 27. '" U,v\. vcr. 28. IV.] Unselfishness of Jesus Christ. 293 his own heart". With the woman of Samaria, with Simon the Pharisee, with the Jews in the temple, with the rich young man, it is ever the same ; Christ cannot flatter. He cannot disguise. He cannot but set forth truth in its Hmpid purity. Such was His moral attitude throughout : sincerity was the mainspring of His whole thought and action ; and when He stood before His judges He could exclaim, in this as in a wider sense, " To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth 0." Surely this sincerity of our Holy Saviour is even at this hoiir a main secret of His attractive power. Others, we know, may flatter and deceive us till at length we grow sick and weary at heart of a world, from which Truth in her stern sim- plicity might sometimes seem to have fled. But Jesus Christ, speaking to us from the Gospel pages, or speaking in the secret chambers of conscience, is a Monitor Whom we can trust to tell us the un- welcome but wholesome truth ; and could we conceive of Him as false, He would no longer be Himself in our thought ; He would not be changed ; He would simply have disappeared. A second moral truism : Jesus Christ was unselfish. His Life was a prolonged act of Self-sacrifice ; and sacrifice of self is the practical expression and mea- sure of unselfishness. It might have seemed that where there was no sin to be curbed or worn away by sorrow and pain, there room might have been found for a lawful measure of self-satisfaction. But "even Christ pleased not Himself;" He "sought not His Own glory;" He "came not to do His Own n St. John xiii. 37, 38. ° Ibid, x-v-iii. 37. 29-4 Humility of Jesus Christ. [Lect. will P." His Body and His Soul, with aU the faculties, the activities, the latent powers of Each, were offered to the Divine WiU. His friends. His relatives. His mother and His home. His pleasure. His reputation, His repose, were all abandoned for the glory of God and for the good of His brethren. His Self-sacrifice included the whole range of His human thought and affection and action ; it lasted throughout His Life ; its highest expression was His Death upon the Cross. Those who beheve Him to have been merely a man endowed with the power of working miracles, or even only with the power of wielding vast moral influence over masses of men, cannot but recognise the rare loveliness and sublimity of a Life in which great powers were consciously possessed, yet were never ex- ercised for those objects which the selfish instinct of ordinary men would naturally pursue. It is this dis- interestedness ; this devotion to the real interests of humankind ; this radical antagonism of His character to that vile thing selfishness, which in our better moments we men hate in ourselves and which we always hate in others; — it is this unrivalled and majestic renunciation of all that has no object be- yond self, which has won to Jesus Christ the heart of mankind. In Jesus Christ we hail the One Friend Who loves perfectly ; Who expresses perfect love by the utter surrender of Self; Who loves even unto death. In Jesus Christ we greet the Good Shep- herd of humanity ; He is the Good Shepherd under Whose care we can lack nothing, and Whose glory it is that He "giveth His Life for the sheep i." P Eom. XV. 3 ; St. John v. 30 ; vi. 38 ; St. Matt. xxvi. 39. Q St. John X. II. IV.] These virtues depend on the truth of Kis Livinity. 295 A third moral truism : Jesus Christ was humble. He might have appeared even to human eyes as " One naturally contented with obscurity ; wanting the restless desire for eminence and distinction which is so common in great men ; hating to put forward personal claims; disliking competition and disputes who should be greatest ; . . . fond of what is simple and homely, of children, and poor people ^." It might have almost seemed as if His preternatural powers were a source of distress and embarrass- ment to Him ; so eager was He to economize their exercise and to veil them from the eyes of men. He was particularly careful that His miracles should not add to His reputation s. Again and again He very earnestly enjoined silence on those who were the subjects of His miraculous cures*. He would not gratify persons whose motive ia seeking His com- pany was a vain curiosity to see the proofs of His power u. By this humility is Jesus Christ most em- phatically distinguished from the philosophers of the ancient world. Whatever else they may have been, they were not humble. But Jesus Chiist loses His individuality if you separate Him iu thought for one moment from His ' great humility.' His humility is the key to His whole life ; it is the measuring-Hne whereby BSs actions. His sufferings. His words. His very movements are to be meted in order to be understood. "Learn of Me," He says, "for I am meek and lowly of heart ; and ye shall find rest unto your soTils'^." r Ecce Homo, pp. 178, 179. « St. Luke viii. 51. t St. Matt. ix. 30 : ivf^pt/iTjO-aTO ; xii. 1 6 : eTVfniirfa-ev avTOis. 1 St. Mark viii. 11, 12; St. Matt. xvi. i, 4; St. Luke xi. 16 ; St. John vi. 30. " St. Matt. xi. 29. 296 Is Jesus Christ Jiumlle, if He is not God!' [Lect. But what becomes of these integral features of His character if, after considering the language which He actnally used about Himself, we should go on to deny that He is God 1 Is He, if He be not God, really humble ? Is that reiterated Self-assertion, to the accents of which we have been listening this morning, consistent with any known form of creaturely humihty 1 Can Jesus thus bid us believe in Him, love Him, obey Him, live by Him, hve for Him ; can He thus claim to be the universal Teacher and the miiversal Judge, the Way, the Truth, the Life of luimanity, — if He be indeed only man 1 What is humility but the honest recognition of truth respecting self 1 Could any mere man claim that place in thought, in society, in history, that authority over conscience, that relationship to the Most High ; coiild he claim such powers and duties, such a position, and such prerogatives as are claimed by Jesiis Christ, and yet be justly deemed "meek and lowly of heart "? " If Christ is God as well as Man, His language falls into its place, and all is intelligible ; but if you deny His Divinity, you must conclude that some of the most precious sayings in the Gospel are but the outbreak of a preposterous self-laudation ; they breathe, you might add, the very spirit of another Lucifer. If Jesiis Christ be not God, is He really luiselfish % He bids men make Himself the centre of their affec- tions and their thoughts ; and when God does this He is but recalling man to that which is man's proper duty, to the true direction and law of man's being. But deny Christ's Divinity, and what will you say of IV.] Is Jems Christ unselfish, if He is not G-ocl? 297 the disinterestedness of His perpetual Self-asser- tion^'? What matters it that He teaches the 'en- thusiasm of humanity,' if that enthusiasm was after all to centre in His merely human Self, and to sur- round His Personal Manhood with a tribute of superhuman honour % What avails it that He teaches the law of self-renouncement, if He is Himself thus guilty of its signal infraction % Nay, to what pur- pose will you still insist that He dies upon the Cross % The Cross is indeed for Christians the symbol and the throne of a boundless Love ; but it is only such to those who believe in the Di-\TJiity of the Crucified. Deny the truth of Christ's account of Himself; deny the overwhelming moral necessity for His perpetual Self-assertion ; and His Death may assume another aspect. For He plainly courted death by His last de- nunciations against the Pharisees, and by His presence at a critical moment in Jerusalem. That He was X M. Kenan thinks that our Lord's self-assertion may be ac- counted for satisfactorily in the following manner. " II ne prechait pas ses opinions," M. Kenan observes, " il se prechait lui-meme. Souvent des ames trfes grandes et trfes-d^sint^ressdes pr^sentent, associd \. beaucoup d'^ldvation, ce caractfere de perpdtuelle atten- tion a elles-memes, et (^extreme susceptihiliie personnelle, qui en general est le propre des femmes. Leur persuasion que Dieu est en elles et s'occupe perpdtuellement d'elles est si forte qu'elles ne craignent nullement de s'imposer aux autres." (Vie de Jesus, p. 76.) Accordingly, we are told that " J^sus ne doit pas etre jugd sur la regie de nos petites convenances. L'admiration de ses disciples le d^bordait et I'entrainait. II est Evident que le titre de Kabbi, dont il s'^tait d'abord content^, ne lui sufilsait plus ; le titre m^me de prophfete on d'envoye de Dieu ne repondait plus i sa pensde. La position qu'il s'attribuait dtait celle d'un atre surhumain, et il voulait qu'on le regardat comme ayant avec Dieu un rapport plus dlev6 que celui des autres hommes." (Vie de Jdsus, p. 246.) 298 Is Jems Christ sincere, if We is not God? [Lect. thus voluntarily slain and has redeemed us by His Blood is indeed the theme of the praises which Christians daily offer Him on earth and in paradise. But if He be not the Divine Victim freely offering Himself for men upon the altar of the Cross, may He not be vs^hat Christian hps cannot force them- selves to uttery \ You urge that at least He would be a man freely devoting Himself for truth and goodness. But it is precisely here that His exces- sive Self-assertion would impair our confidence in the purity of His motive. Is not self-sacrifice, even when pushed to the last extremity, a suspected and tainted thing, when it goes hand in hand with a consistent effort to give unwarranted prominence to self? Have not men ere now even risked death for the selfish, albeit unsubstantial, object of a post- humous renown \ If Jesus was merely man, and His death no more than the fittmg close, the su- preme effort of a life consistently devoted to the assertion of self, has He not succeeded beyond the dreams of the most delirious votary of fame^ % If the blood of a merely human Christ was the price which was deliberately paid for glory on Mount Calvary, then it is certain that the sufferer has had his reward. But at least he died, only as others have died, who have sought and found in death as in life, a tribiite of sympathy, of admiration, of honour at the hands of their feUow-men. And we owe to such a sufferer nothing beyond the com- passionate silence wherewith charity would fain veil the violence of selfishness, robed in her garments and seeking to share her glory and her power, y Cf. Newman, Phases of Faith, p. 159. = F^lix. IV.] Is Jesiis Christ sincere, if He is not God ? 299 wliile false to the verv vital principle "whicli makes her -what she is. Once more, if Jesus Christ is not God, can we even say that He is sincere 1 Let us suppose that it were granted, as it is by no means granted, that Jesus Christ nowhere asserts His Hteral Godhead*. Let us suppose that He was after all merely man, and had never meant to do more than describe in the lan- giiage of mysticism the intertwining of His human Soul with the Spirit of God, iu a communion so deep and absorbing as to obhterate His sense of distinct hiunan personality. Let this, I say, be supposed to have been His meaning, and let His sincerity be taken for granted. Who then shall anticipate the horror of His sotil or the fire of His words, when He is once made aware of the terrible misapprehension to which His language has given rise in the minds around Him : "Thou being a man, makest Thyseh" God." The charge was hterally true : being human. He did make Himself God. Christians beheve that He only 'made' Himself What He is. But if He is not God, where does He make any ade- quate repudiation of a construction of His words so utterly derogatory to the great Creator, so necessarily 3 M. KeDan indeed sars. ■■ Jesus n'dnonce pas un moment I'idee sacrilege qu'il soit Dieu." (Tie de .Jesus, p. 75.) Yet, ''on ne nie pas qu'il v eiit dans les affirmations de Jesus, h germe de la doc- trine qui devait plus tard faire de lui une hvpostase divine." (Ibid, p. ::47.) M. Eenan even explains our Lord's language as to His Person on the ground that "I'idealisme transcendant de J6sus ne lui permit jamais d'avoir une notion bien claire de sa propre personnalite. II est son Fere, son Fere est hti." (p. 244.) In other ■words, our Lord did affirm His Divinity, but only because He '^^as, unconsciouslj- perhaps, a Pantheist ! 300 Jesus Christ not sincere, if He is not God. [Lect. abhorrent to a good man's thought ■? If it should be urged that on one occasion He " explained His claim to Divinity by a quotation which implied that He shared that claim with the chiefs of the theocracy," it has already been shewn that by that quotation our Lord only deprecated immediate violence, and claimed a hearing for language which the Jews themselves regarded as not merely allowable, but sacred. The quotation justified His language only, and not His full meaning, which, upon gaining the ear of the people. He again proceeded to assert. If it should be contended that in such sayings as that addressed to His disciples, " My Father is greater than I^^," He abandoned His claim to be a Person internal to the Essential Life of God ; it may suffice to reply, that this saying can have no such force, if its application be restricted, as the Latin Fathers do restrict it, and with great apparent probability, to our Lord's Manhood. But even if our Lord is here speaking, as the Greeks generaUy maintain, of His Essential Deity, His Words still express very exactly a truth which is recognised and required by the Catholic doctrine. The Subordination of the Everlasting Son to the Everlasting Father is strictly compatible with the Son's absolute Divinity ; it is ^ St. John xiv. 28 : iropevojxai npos Thv JlaTtpa' on 6 Harr^p fxov [ifi^aiv fiou icrri For Patristic arguments against the Arian abuse of this text, see Suicer, Thes. ii. p. 1368. The jafifoj/rfTJjs of the Father is refen-ed by St. Athanasius, St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, and St. Hilary, to His being the Unbegotten One ; by St. Cyril, St. Augustine (in loc. ; de Trin. i. 7 ; Enchiridion, x.), St. Ambrose (torn. iii. p. 795), St. Leo (Ep. xxviii. c. 4), to the Son's humiliation as incarnate. See the very full but unsatisfactory note of Meyer in loc. IT.] Jesus Christ not sincere, if Se is not God. 301 abundantly implied in our Lord's language ; and it is an integxal element of the ancient doctrine which steadily represents the Father as Alone Unoriginate, the Fount of Deity in the Eternal Life of the Ever- blessed Trinity'-'. An admission on the part^ of one in whom men saw nothing more than a fellow- crea- tm-e, that the Everlasting God in heaven was ' gTeater' than himself, would fail to satisfy a thoughtful listener that no claim to Divinity was advanced by the speaker. Such an admission pre- supposes some assertion to which it stands in the relation of a necessary qualification. If any good man of our acquaintance shotdd say that God was greater than himself, should we not hold him to be guilty of something worse than a stupid truism \ Should we not acctise him of implving that he was not a creature of God s Hand, and even that the <^ Bull, Def. Fid. Xic. iv. i. i : ■■ Decretum illud S^Tiodi Xi- c£en: " Naturellement, plus on croyait en lui, plus il croyait en lui-mfime." Accordingly (p. 210) "sa l^gende (i.e the account given of Him in the Gospels and in the Apostles' Creed, and specially the doctrine of His Divinity) etait le fruit d'une grande conspiration toute spontan^e et s'elaboraii aulour de lui de >>nHHil)l(^ TIh; choice really licw between tlic hypothcHlH ofconHciouH and culpablo iriHincerity, and th(; l)c,li('r that J(^4llK Hpeaks litcriiJ truth :uid iruiKt he taken ;i,i IHh word. You complain that thin JH one of tlioHO ;i,ll,(irn;i- tivcH which orthodoxy is wont to HuhHtitute lor leHH violent ;i,r(fiirti(;ntH, a,nd (Votii tiio cxiifeniiicH ol'whicli you j)ioUHly nicoil ''. I>iit under certain eirciunatanccH HXich alterii:i,tiveH a,r(; l(!oitirna,Le ffuid(;H to l,|-ulJi, na,y, they a,re tho oidy jijuideH available. (Jf'rlajnly wo ca.nriot create .such a,ll,(;i-na,l,ivcs by any pri)(-(;KH of dialeetica,! jnajniliuilun^, if tfiey do not already oxist. If they a,r-(; not rna,i,ters of \\u;i, they ca.n ea.sily Ik; convicted of inaceuracy. We who ,sl»a,n(l in this |)iilf)it a,r(; not rriak(;rs or rna.sters ol" the cternaJ ha,rnionies ; we ca.ii but (;xhibit thorn as Ijcst we may. 'I'riith, even in her Kev<'.r(tr mcjods, rrujst ever he wele,ome, to sirK^erity ; and she does us a ser-viee by njiriinding us that it is not a.lways possil)le to (;ml>raee witfiin tho ra,nge of our roli he Divivr, [Lect. ties of Christiiuiity without any of its com] jgti nations — to see at last in man's iiK'x])licablo destiny only the justification of his despaii-. Yet tlio tnu; alternative to this frightful conclusion is in reality a fi-ank ac- ceptance of the doctrine which is inidcr consideration in these lectures. For Christianity, hoth as a cro'cd and as a life, depends absolutely upon tli(^ Personal Character of its Founder. Unless His virtue was only apparent, unless ITis miracles were notliing better than a popuLir delusion, we must admit that His Self-assertion is justified, even in the full mea- sure of its blessed and awful import. We iruist deny the antagonism which is said to exist between the doctrine of Christ's Divinity and the history of His human manifestation. We must believe and con- fess that the Christ of history is the Chi-ist of the Catholic Creed. Eternal Jesus! it is Thyself Who hast thus l)iavep6v, on 6 tS>v avavrav TexvLTTjs Aoyos, 6 KaOrj^evos €7rt Toiv Xepov^lfi Kol o^ve^coi^ to. iravra^ (pavepoiOas Tois dv6paiiT0LS, edaKsv rj^Lv TCTpdfiop^ov to euayyeXtoi', iifi 6e TTVcvp-aTi avvi\6p.evov . . . . Kal yap ra Xepou/3i/i TerpaTrpoa-Qyrra' Kot rd TrpdcrwTra avrwv, elKoves ttjs Trpayp-arelas tov Ylov rov Qeov. . . Kat TO fvayye'Kia ovv tovtols crvp-tpiova, iv ols eyKade^erat XptaTos, To fj.ii/ yap Kara 'ladvvr]v, ttjv dwb toO Xlarpbs jjyf/ioi'ixr;!' avTOv Koi i'vSo^ov ■yeKcai' SirjydTai, Xe'yiBi'' ev dpxo ?" b Aoyof. ^ S. Irenseus, fragment, vol. i. p. 822, ed. Stieren: elSov yap a-t, TTois 03V €TL cV TTj KaTO) 'AcTiO TTOpd TW Uo^VKapTTCO, \ap.TTpa)S TVpaTTOVTa iv Tji ^aa-i\iKfj avXfi, xal nfipaipevov evSoKifie'iv nap' avra' paWov yap rd TOTC Si,apvr]p.ovevco rav Evayxos yivofifvaiV (at yap « TralSaiv fiaGifcreis trvvav^ovtrai ttj \/'UXS> ivovvrai avrfj^ coo-re fie dvvaadat elireTv Kal tov TOTTOVf iv 6) Kade^ofievos fiteXeycro 6 fiaKaptos UoXvKapnos, Kal rds npo- (ToSovs avTov dvvov (rvvavaaTpov Svvdfxeav avTOv, Kal nepl TTfS bibaa-KoKias, ms napd Ta>v alronTwv T^y ^arjs tov Aoyou wapeiKrjcfiws 6 JloXvKapTros, dirTfyyeWe ndvTa (Tvpfpcova Tals ypa(pa'ts- Ci. il-US. Hist. Eccl. V. 20. St. Irenseus succeeded St. Pothinus in the see of Lyons. Pothinus was martyi'ed a.d. ly?, and Irena?us died a.d. 202. s Adv. Hjer. iii. i. St. Irenasus was probably born about a.d. 140. 316 Witness of the Second Century [Lect. the same time, Tertullian wrote his great work against the heretic Marcionl'. Tertullian brought to the dis- cussion of critical questions great natural acuteness, which had been sharpened during his early hfe by his practice at the African bar. Tertullian distin- guishes between the primary, or actually apostolical rank of St. Matthew and St. John, and the rank of St. Mark and St. Luke, as being apostolical men of a secondary rank^ ; but he treats of aU four as in- spired writers of an authority beyond discussion k. Against Marcion's mutilations of the sacred text Ter- tullian fearlessly appeals to the witness of the most ancient apostohcal Churches. TertuQian's famous canon rvms thus : " Si constat id verius quod prius, id prius quod et ab initio, id ab initio quod ab apo- stolis, pariter ubique constabit, id esse ab apostolis li Tertullian was born at Carthage about a.d. i6o. Cave places his conversion to Christianity at a.d. i8g, and his lapse into the Montanist heresy at a.d. 199. Dr. Pusey (Libr. of Fathers) makes his conversion later, a.d. 195, and his secession from the Church A.D. 201. i Adv. Marc. iv. c. 2 : " Constituimus imprimis evangelicum in- strumentum apostolos auctores habere, quibus hoc munus evangelii promulgandi ab Ipso Domino sit impositum. Si et apostolicos, non tamen solos, sed cum apostolis et post apostolos, quoniam pradicatio discipulorum suspecta fieri posset de glorite studio, si non adsistat illi auctoritas magistrorum, immo Christi, qiise magis- tros apostolos fecit. Denique nobis fidem ex apostolis Joannes et Matthffius insinuant, ex apostolicis Lucas et Marcus instaurant." ^ Adv. Marc. iv. c. 5 : " Eadem auctoritas ecclesiarum apostoli- carum ceteris quoque patrocinabitur Evangeliis, qusa proinde per illas et secundum illas habemus, Joannis dico et Matthsei, licet et Marcus quod edidit Petri affirnietur, cujus interpres Marcus. Nam et Lucse digestum Paulo adscribere solent. Capit magistrorum videri quae discipuli promulgarint." v.] to St. John's Gospel. SI 7 traditum, quod aptid ecclesias apostolorum fuerit sacrosanctuml" But what would liave been the worth of this appeal if it could have been even sus- pected that the last Gospel was reallj written when Tertulhan was a boy or even a young man \ At Alexandria, almost contemporaneously with Ter- tulhan, St. Clement investigated the relation of the synoptic Gospels to St. John"", and he terms the latter the ^vay^/ekiov Trvev/xaTtKov^. It is unnecessary to say that the intellectual atmosphere of that famous Gr^co-Egyptian school would not have been favourable to any serious countenance of a really suspected document. At Rome St. John's Gospel was certainly received as being the work of that Apostle in the year 170. This is clear from the so-termed Muratorian fragment°; and if in receiving it the Roman Church had been under a delusion so fundamental as is imphed by the Tubingen 1 Adv. Marcion. iv. 5. " Westcott, Canon of the New Testament, 2nd ed. p. 104. See Mr. Westcott's remarks on St. Clement's antecedents and position in the Church, ibid. pp. 298, 299. St. Clement lived from about 165 to 220. He flourished as a Christian Father under Severus and Caracalla, 193-220. " Eus. Hist. Eccl. vi. 14, condensing Clement's account, says, t6v fievTOL *lo3dvjJT]v e(T-)(aTov avvidovra ore to crcojuariKa ev rots fvayyeXtois ficfijjXajrat, TrporpaTvevra VT70 rav yvcoptp.oji'j IlvevfJiaTi 6eo(popr}6ei'Ta, ttvcv- IMiTiKov TTOirjo-at euayyeXiov. ° Westcott on the Canon, p. 170. The Muratorian fragment claims to have been written by a contemporary of Pius I., who probably ruled the Eoman Church from about a. d. 142 to 157. " Pastorem vero nujjerrime temporibus nostris in urbe Eoma Hermas conscripsit, sedente cathedra urbis Romse ecclesite Pio episcopo fratre ejus." Cf. Hilgenfeld, Der Kanon und die Kritik des N. T., p. 39, sqq. 318 Witness of the Second Century [Lect. hypothesis, St. John's own pupil Polycarp might have been expected to have corrected his Roman brethren when he came to Rome in the year 163. In the farther East, St. John's Gospel had already been translated as a matter of course into the Pes- chito Syriac version?. It had been translated in Africa into the Latin Yersio Itala v6fx.aa-ev. Theodoret, Hfer. Fab. i. 20; Westcott, Canon, pp. 279, 280, sqq. t Ad Autol. ii. 31. p. 174, ed. Wolf. Cf. St. John i. i, 3. Theo- philus is the first writer who quotes St. John % name. " Orat. contr. Gr«c. c. 4 (St. John iv. 24) ; c. 5 (Ibid. i. i); c. 13 (Ibid. i. 5); c. 19 (Ibid. i. 3). X Chron. Pasoh. p. 14 ; cf. St. John xix. 34 ; Kouth, i. 160, sq. ; Westcott, Cauon of New Testament, pp. 19H, 199. y Apud Eus. V. 24. Cf. St. John xiii. 23 ; xxi. 20. 320 11 Uness of the Second Ccu/iiri/ [Lect. that a work of such primary claim to speak on the question of highest interest for Christian be- lievers could liave been forged, widely circulated, and immediately received by Africans, by Ptoiaans, by Gauls, by Syrians, as a work of an Apostle who had passed to his rest some sixty years before. And, if the evidence before us ended here, we might fairly infer that, considering the difficulties of communica- tion between Chuiches in the sub-apostolic age, and the various elements of moral and intellectual cau- tion, wliich, as notably in the case of the Epistle to the Hebrews, were likely to delay the oecumenical reception of a canonical book, St. John's Gospel must have been in existence at the beginning of the second century. But the evidence d(.)os not desert us at this point. Through Tatian we ascend into the earlier portion of the century as represented by St. Justin Martyr. It is remarkable that St. Justin's second Apology, written in i6i, contains fewer allusions to the Gos- pels than the earlier Ajjology written in 138, and than the intermediate composition of this Father, his Dialogue with the Jew Trypho. Now passing by re- cent theories respecting a Gospel of the Hebrews^ or a Gospel of Peter, by which an endeavour has been made to weaken St. Justin's witness to the sy- noptic Evangelists, let us observe that his testimony ''■ On the identity of tlie ' Gospel of the Hc'brews ' "witli the original Hebrew draught of the Oospel of St. Matthew, see the remarks of Tischendorf in his pamphlet, Wann wurden unsere Evangelien verfasstl pp. 17-19- To that admirable compendiuna I am indebted for several remarks in the text of this and the following pages. v.] to St. Join's Gospel. 321 to St. John is particularly distinct. Justin's emphatic reference of the doctrine of the Logos to our Lord^, not to mention his quotation of John the Baptist's reply to the messengers of the Jews^, and of our Saviour's language about the new birth '^j makes his knowledge of St. John's Gospel much more than a probabihty''. Among the great Apostohc fathers, St. Ignatius alludes to St. John in his Letter to the Romans®, and St. Polycarp quotes the Apostle's first Epistle f. In these sub-apostolic "v^iitings there are large districts of thought and expression, of a type unmistakeably JohanneanS', which, hke St. Justin's " Cf. Tischendorf, Wann wiirden unsere Evangelien verfasst ? p. i6 : "Die Uebertragung des Logos auf Christus, von der uns keine Spur weder in der Synoptikern noch in den altesten Parallel- schi-iften derselben vorliegt, an mehreren Stellen Justins von Johannes abziileiten ist." b Ibid. Dialog, cum Tryph. 88. Cf. St. John i. 20. •^ Apolog. i. 61: Km yap 6 Xpitrros elweV *Av fxrj avayevvT)6i]Tf, ov fiTj eia^BrjTe els ttjv IBaaiXeiav t5>v ovpavuiv' "On fie kol dbvvarov els ras fXTjTpas TOiV TeKovaoiV tovs avra^ yevop.evovs efi^jjvai <^avepov ttcktlv eVrt. Cf. Westcott. Canon of the New Testament, p. 130. d Cf however ilr. Westcott's remarks (Canon of the New Tes- tament, p. 145) on the improbability of St. John's being quoted in apologetic writings addressed to Jews and heathen. St. Justin nevertheless does " exhibit types of language and doctrine which, if not immediately drawn from St. John (why not?), yei mark iJie pi-e- sejwe of his influence and the recognition of his authority." Westcott, Ibid.) Besides the passages alread}" alluded to, St. Justin appears to refer to .St. John xii. 49 in Dialog, cum Tryph. c. 56; to St. John i. 13 in Dialog, c. 63; to St. John vii. 12 in Dialog, c. 69; to St. John i. 12 in Dialog, c. 123. Cf Lticke, Comm. Ev. Joh. pp. 34, sqq. *■ S. Ign. ad. Eom. c. 7. Cf. St. John xvi. ii. f Ep. ad Phil. c. 7. Cf i St. John iv. 3. s Cf St. Barn. Ep. v. vi. xii. (cf St. John iii. 14); Herm. Past. Simil. ix, 12 (cf Ibid. x. 7, 9; xiv. 6); S. Ignat. ad Philad. 7 (cf y lOO JJ'/f//(',ts ofihc Second Ccuinry [Leot. doctrine of the Logos, witness no less poAverfull)' to the existence of St. John's \\Titinga than direct citations. The Tubingen writers Lay emphasis upon the flxct that in the short fragment of Papias whicli we possess, nothing is said about St. John's Gospel''. Ibid. iii. 8); ad Tral. 8 (ef. Ibid. vi. 51); ml Magiiea. 7 (cf. Ibid, xii. 49; X. 30; xiv. 11); ad Itcuu. 7 (cf. Ibid. vi. 32). 1' jNIeyer, Evan. Jobann. Einl. p. 14 : " Die coutiiiuitat [i.o. of the evidence in favour of the fourtb Gospel] ,i;clit sowobl von Ircna'UH iiber Polycarp, als aucli von Pa])ias, soferu dieseni der Gcbraucb des ersten Briefs Job, bezeugt i^fc, iiber den Presbyter Johannes, aiif den Apostel selbst zuriicl: Dass aber das Pragmeut des Papias das Evangel. Job. niclit evwalnit, kaun niclits verscblagen, da en iiber- baujit keine sehriftlieben Quellen, aus weleben er seine Naehricliten gesclitipft babe, auft'iibrt, vichnebr das Verfalireu des Papias daliin bestlnimt, dass er bei don Apostelscbulern die Aussagcn der Apostel crkundet babe, und desscn ausdriicklicben Clrundsatz aussprielit : oil yap ra ck twv ISi^XioiV ToaovTuv fie cot^eXftv vnfXup.fSavov, ucrov Tu napa fmoT/r (pmvrji Koi jievova-qs. Papias wirft liicr die Jamais vor- bandenen evangeliscben Schriftcn (raiv fii^Xiaiv) deron eini'. Mcuge war (Luk. i. i) alle oline Auswabl zusammen, und wie er das Evan- gel. Mattbiei und das des Marcus niit daruutei- begriii'en hat, welobe beide er spiiter besonders erwiibnt, so kann er auch das Evangel. Job. mit bei tS>v jSiliXtav gcnieint lialien, da Papias einen Begriif von hanonischen Evangelien uls soleben offenbar nooli niolit bat (vergl. Grodn. Beitr. i. p. 23) und dieso auszu/.eicbnen iiiclit veranlasst ist. Wenn aber weiterhin Eust^bius nocb /vvei Aussagen des Papias iiber die Evangelieu des Mark, und Mattbaiis anfilhrt, so wird daniit uuser Evangeliuni nicbt ausgeseblossen, wolebcs Papias in andcren Theilen seines Buohs ei-\viiliut liabcn kann, son- dern jene beiden aussagen werden nur dcwball) beuuTklioh genia<'ht, Vi'eil sie iiber (\\e Ensldinrnj jcner Evangelicn etwas Aljsonderlicbcs, besonders MerkwUrdiges enthalten, wie auch d(w als besonders bemorkenswertb von Eusebius angefiibrt wird, das Papias aus zwci epistolischen Schriften. (i Job. u. i Pctr.) Zeugnisse gebrauohe, und eine Erzahlung babe, welche sieh ini llebriier-Evangel. findc. Cf. also Westcott, Canon, p. 65. Y.] to St. Johi's Gosjiet. 303 But at least \ve have no evidence that Papias did not speak of it in that larger part of his ■writings which has been lost ; and if his silence is a valid argtunent against the fourth Gospel, it is equally available against the Gospel of St. Luke, and even against each one of those four Epistles which the Tubingen writers themseh-es recognise as the work of St. Paul. The testimony of the Cathohc Chiu:ch during this century is supplemented by that of the contemporary heretics. St. Irenaeus has pointed out how the sys- tem of the celebrated Gnostic, Valentinus, was mainly based upon a perversion of St. John's Gospels This assertion is borne out by that remarkable work, the Philosophumena of St. Hippolytus, which, as we in Oxford well remember, was discovered some few years since at Mount AthosJ. Of the ptipHs of Valentiuus. Ptolemteus quotes from the prologue of St. Johns i St. Iren»us (Hser. iii. ir, 7) lays doTvn the general position: "Tanta est circa Evangelia hsec firmitas, ut et ipsi hteretici testi- monimri reddant eis. et ex ipsis egrediens unusqtdsque eonim conetur suam confirmare doctrinam." After illustrating this ft-om the cases of the Ebionites, Marcion, and the Cerinthians, he pro- ceeds, " Hi autem qui a Valentino sunt, eo [so, evanijelio] quod est secundum Johannem plenisiitne utenfes. ad ostensionem conjuga- tionum suarum ; ex ipso detegentur nihil recte dicentes." " C4ewiss war (says ^leyer) die ganze Theosophie des Valentin mit auf Johanneischem Grund und Boden erwachsen. . . . Die Valentinian- iscbe Gnosis mit ihren Aeonen, Syzygien u. s. w. verhalt sich zuni Prolog des Joh. wie das ktinstlich Gemachte und Ausgespon- nene zum Einfachen und Schopferischen." (Einl. in Joh. p. 12. note.) For an illustration of the truth of this, cf. S. Iren. adv. Hssr. i. 8, 5. i Cf Kefut. Hsr. vi. 35. init., for the use made by Valentinus of St. John X. 8. Y 2 324 Wifnes.i borne to St. JoJin's Gosj^el [Lect. Gospel in his extant letter to Flora'^. Heracleon, another pupil, wrote a considerahle commentary upon St. John 1. Heracleon lived about 150; Valen- tinus was a contemporary of Marcion, who was teaching at Kome about 140. Marcion had ori- gmally admitted the claims of St. John's Gospel, and only denied them when, for the particular purposes of his heresy, he endeavoured at a later time to demonstrate an opposition between St. Paul and St. John"\ Basilides taught at Alexandria under Adrian, apparently about the year 120. Basilides is known to have written twenty- four books of commentaries on the Gosjjeln; but if it can- not be certainly affirmed that some of these com- mentaries were on St. Jolm, it is certain from St. Hip- polytus that Basilides appealed to texts of St. John in favour of his system^. Before Basilides, in the k Apud S. Epiph. adv. llu'i-. lib. i. torn. i. Hser. 33; Ptol. ad Flor. Cf. St. Jolin i. 3; also Stieren's St. Irciuiius, vol. i. p. 924. 1 Fragmeuts of Heraolcmi's Commentary on St. John, collected from Origen, are published at the end of the first vol. of Stieren's edition of St. Ircnfeus, pp. 938-971. St. John iv. is chiefly illus- trated by these remains of the great Valentinian conmientator. Two points strike one on perusal of them: (i) that before Heracleon's time St. John's Gospel must have acquired, even among heretics, the highest authority; (2) that Heracleon has continually to resort to interpretations so forced (as on St. John i. 3; i. 18; ii. 17; (titeil by Westcott, Canon, p. 266, note) as "to prove sufficiently that St. John's Gospel was no Gnostic work." m Tertullian. adv. Marcion. iv. 3; De Carnc Christi, c. 2 : quoted by Tischendorf, Wann wurden unserc Evangclien verfassti pp. 25, 26. n Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. iv. 7, 7. Refut. Hu'r. vii. 22 (quoted by Tischendorf, ulji supr.), where Basilides uses St. John i. 9 ; ii. 4. v.] hy the Heretics of the Second Century. o25 two first decades of the century, we find OpHtic Gnostics, the NaaseniansP, and the Perataei, appeal- ing to passages in St. John's Gospel, which was thus already, we may say in the year iio, a recognised authority externally to the Catholic Church. It may further be observed that the whole doctrine of the Paraclete in the heresy of Montanus is a mani- fest perversion of the treatise on that subject in St. John's Gospel, the wide reception of which it accordingly presupposes'". The Alogi, who were he- retical opponents of Montanism, rejected St. John's Gospel for dogmatic reasons, which are really con- firmatory of the general ti'adition in its favour*. Nor may we forget Celsus, the keen and satirical opponent of the Christian faith, who wrote, even according to Dr. Hilgenfeld, between i6o and 170 but more probably, according to other avithorities, p Eefut. Hser. y. 6 sqq., 8 (St. John i. 3, 4) ; c. 9 (Ibid. iv. 21; and iv. 10) : quoted by Tischendorf. 9 Ibid. y. 12 sqq., 16 (St. Jobn iii. 14; i. 1—4); c. 17 (Ibid. viii. 44). r See ho-wever Meyer, Einl. in Job. p. 13, for the opinion that Montanism originally grew out of belief in the Parousia of our Lord. Baur, Christenthum, p. 213. The Paraclete of Montanus was doubtless very different from the Paraclete of >St. John's Gos- pel Still St. John's Gospel must have furnished the name; and it is probable that the idea of the Montanistie Paraclete is originally due to the same source, although by a rapid development, con- tortion, or perversion, the Divine Gift announced by our Lord had been exchanged for Its heretical caricature. The rejection of the promise of the Paraclete alluded to by St. Irenseus (adv. Haer. iii. 1 1. 9) proceeded not from Montanists. but from opponents to Montanism, who erroneously identiiied the teaching of St. John's Gospel with that heresy. 8 S. Epiph. H»r. li. 3. 326 St. John's Gospel thus referred [Lect. as early as 150. Celsus professes very ostenta- tiously to confine himself to the writings of the disciples of Jesus^; but he refers to St. John's Gospel in a manner which would be utterly incon- ceivable if that book had been in his day a lately completed, or indeed a hardly completed forgery". This evidence might be largely reinforced from other quarters'^, and especially by an examination of that mass of apocryphal literature which belongs to the earlier half of the second ceirtury, and the rela- tion of which to St. John's Grospel has lately been very clearly exhibited by an accomplished critical scholar y. But we are already in a position to admit that the facts before vis force back the date of St. John's Gospel within the lines of the first century. * Origen, contr. Celsum, ii. 74. " Ibid. i. 67; cf. St. Jolin ii. 18. Contr. Celsum, ii. 31, 36, 55; cf. St. John XX. 27. X E. g. the Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons, Eus. v. I, which quotes St. John xvi. 2 as an utterance of our Lord Him- self Athenagoras, Leg. pro Christianis, 10: cf St. John i. i-ii; xvli. 21-23. The Clementine Homilies, xix. 22: cf St. John ix. 2, 3; iii. 52; X. 9, 27. Recognitions, vi. 9: cf St. John iii. 3-5; ii. 48; V. 23. Ibid. V. 12: cf St. John viii. 34. y Tischendorf, Wann wurden uusere Evangelien verfasst % p. 35, sqq. That the Ada, Pilati in particular were composed at the beginning of the second century, appears certain from the public appeal to them which St. Justin makes in his Apology to the Roman Emperor. The Acta Pilati " presuppose not only the synop- tists, but particularly and necessarily the Gospel of St. John. It is not that we meet with a passage here and there ((uoted from that Gospel. If that were the case we might suspect later interpolation. The whole history of the condemnation of Jesus is based essen- tially upon St. John's narrative; while in the accounts of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, it is rather certain passages of the synoptists which are particularly suggested." v.] to Us Apostolical Origin. 327 And when this is done the question of its authen- ticity is practically decided. It is iiTational to sup- pose that a forgery claiming the name and authority of the beloved disciple could have been written and oirci;lated beneath his very eyes, and while the Church was still illumiuated by his oral teaching, jii'bitrary theories about the time which is thought necessary to develope an idea cannot rightly be held to counterbalance such a sohd block of historical evi- dence as we have been consideruig. This evidence shews that long before the year i6o St. John's Gos- pel was received thi'oughout orthodox and heretical Clu'istendom, and that its recognition may be traced up to the Apostohc age itself Ewald shall supply the words with which to close the foregoing conside- rations. ■' Those who since the first discussion of this question have been really conversant with it, never could have had and never have had a moment's doubt. As the attack on St. John has become fiercer and fiercer, the truth during the last ten or twelve vears has been more and more soHdly established, error has been pursued uito its last hiding-places, and at this moment the facts before us are such that no man who does not will knowmgly to choose error and to reject truth, can dare to say that the foui'th Gospel is not the work of the Apostle John 2." Certainly Ewald here expresses liimself with vehe- mence ; and some of you, my biethren, may possibly be disposed to complain of Mm as being too dog- matic. It may be that you have made impatience of certamty a part of yom* creed ; you may hold z Review of Renau's Yio de Je'sus, in the Gottingeu Scientific Journal, 5 Aug. 1863 ; quoted by Gratiy, Jt^sus-CLrist, p. 119. 328 Turposes of St.Johi's Gospel: [Lect. generally that a regulated measure of weU- expressed doubt is essential to true intellectual culture. You may urge in particular that the weight of external testimony in favoiu- of St. John's Gospel does not silence the difl&cidties which arise upon an exami- nation of its contents. You point to the presence of a mystical and metaphysical terminology, to the re- petition of abstract expressions, such as Word, Life, Light, Truth, Paraclete. You remark that St. John's Gospel exhibits the Life of our Lord under an en- tirely new aspect. Not to dwell immoderately uj)on points of detail, you insist that the plan of our Lord's life, the main scenes of His ministry, all His miracles save one, the form and matter of His dis- courses, nay, the very attitude and moral physio- gnomy of His opponents, are so represented in this Gospel as to interfere with your behef in its Apo- stohcal origui. But are not these peculiarities of the Gospel ex- plained when we consider the purpose with which it was written ? I. St. John's Gospel is in the first place an histo- rical supplement. It was designed to chronicle dis- courses and events which had been omitted in the narratives of the three preceding Evangelists. Chris- tian antiquity attests this design with remarkable! unammity a. It is altogether arbitrary to assert that i if St. John had seen the works of earlier Evangehsts he would have alluded to them ; and that if he had intended to supply the omissions of their narratives he would have formally announced his intention of doing a See especially the remarkable passage in Eus. Hist. Eccl. iii. 24, S. Epiph. Haer. ii. 51. v.] I. An Kuioncal Supplement to the Synoptists. 329 so'^. It is sufficient to observe that the literary con- ventionahties of modern Europe were not those of the sacred writers, whether of the Synagogue" or of the Church. An inspired writer does his work without the self-consciousness of a modern composer ; he is not necessarily careful to define his exact place in literature, his precise obligations to, or his presumed improvements upon, the laboiurs of his predecessors. He is the organ of a Higher Intelligence ; he owes both what he borrows and what he is believed to originate to the Mind Which inspires him to originate or which guides him to select. While the stream of sacred truth is flowing forth from his entranced and burning soul, and is being forthwith crystallized in the moulds of an imperishable language, the eagle- eyed Evangehst does not stoop from heaven to earth for the purpose of guarding or reserving the rights of authorship by shewing how careful he is to ac- knowledge its obligations. Certainly St. John does repeat in part the narratives of his predecessors'^, but this repetition does not interfere with the supple- mentary character of his work as a whole <^. Yet his b These arguments of Lticke are noticed by Dr. Wordsworth, New Test, part i. p. 206. c " The later prophets of the Old Testament enlarge upon and complete the prophecies of the earlier. But they do not mention their names, or declare their own purpose to do what they do." Townson, pp. 134-147 ; quoted by Dr. Wordsworth, ubi supr. d As in chaps, vi. and xii. 6 M. Kenan admits the supplementary character of St. John's Gospel, but attributes to the Evangelist a motive of personal pique in writing it. He was annoyed at the place assigned to himself in earlier narratives ! " On est tent6 de croire, que Jean, dans sa vieillesse, ayant lu les recits dvang^liques qui circulaient, d'une part, 330 1. A Polemical Treatise against [Lect. Gospel is not only or mainly to be regarded as an historical supplement. It exliibits the precision of method and the orderly development of ideas which are proper to a complete doctrinal essay or treatise. It is indeed rather a treatise illustrated by history, than a history written with a theological jDurpose. Viewed in its historical relation to the first three Gospels, it is supplemental to them ; but this rela- tive character is not by any means an adequate explanation of its motive and function. It might easily have been written if no other Evangehst had written at all ; it has a character and purpose which are strictly its own ; it is part of a great whole, yet it is also, in itself, organically perfect. 2. St. John's Gospel is a polemical treatise. It is addressed to an intellectual world widely different from that which had been before the minds of the earlier Evangehsts. The earhest forms of Gnostic thought are recognisable in the Judaizing theoso- phists whom St. Paul has in view in his Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians. These Epistles were written at the least some thirty years before the fourth Gospel. The fourth Gospel confronts or anticipates a more developed Gnosticism, although we may observe in passing that it certainly does not contain references to any of the full-grown Gnostic systems which belong to the middle of the second y remarqua diverses inexactitudes, de I'autre, fut froissd de voir qu'on ne lui accordait pas dans I'histoire du Christ une assez grande place ; qu'alors il commenga a dieter una foule de choses qu'il savait mieux que les autres, avec I'intention de montrer que dans heaucoup de cas oil on ne pcvrlait que de Pierre, il avait figtwe aveo et avant lui." Vie de J^sus, pp. xxvii. xxviii. v.] the earlier forms of Gnosticism. 331 century. The fourth Gospel is in marked opposition to the distinctive positions of Ebionites, of Docetse, of Corinthians. But among these the Cerinthian gnosis appears to be more particularly contemplated. In its earlier forms especially, Gnosticism was as much a mischievous intellectual method as a formal heresy. The Gnostic looked upon each revealed truth merely in the light of an addition to the existmg stock of materials ready to his hand for speculative discussion. He handled it accordingly with the free- dom which was natural to a behef that it was in no sense beyond the range of his intellectual grasp. He commingled it with his cosmical or his psychological theories ; he remodelled it ; he submitted it to new divisions, to new combinations. Thus his attitude towards Christianity was friendly and yet super- ciHous. But he threatened the faith with utter destruction, to be achieved by a process of eclectic interpretation. Cerinthus was an early master of this art. Cerinthus as a Chiliastic Judaizer was natu- rally disposed to Humanitarianism. As an eclectic theorist, who had been trained in the "teaching of the Egyptians f," he maintained that the world had been created by "some power separate and distuict from Him Who is above all." Jesus was not born of a virgin ; He was the son of Joseph and Mary ; He was born naturally like other men. But the ^on Christ had descended upon Jesus after His baptism, in the form of a dove, and had proclaimed the un- known Father, and had perfected the virtues of Jesus. The spiritual impassible Christ had flown back to heaven on the eve of the Passion of Jesus ; the f S. Hippolytus, Kefut. Hser. vii. 33. 332 3- ^ Life of Jesus, as the Incarnate God. [Lect. altogether human Jesus of Cerinthus had suffered and had risen alone 8'. To this fantastic Christ of the Cerinthian gnosis St. John opposes the counteracting truth of our Lord's Divine and Eternal Nature, as manifested in and through His human life. This Nature was united to the manhood of Jesus from the moment of the Incarnation. It was not a transient endowment of the Person of Jesus ; since it was Itself the seat of His PersonaHty, although clothed with a human form. This Divine Nature was ' glori- fied' in Chiist's Passion, as also in His miracles and His Resurrection. St. John disentangles the Cathohc doctriue from the negations and the speculations of Cerinthus ; he proclaims the Presence among men of the Divine Word, Himself the Creator of all things, incarnated in Jesus Christ. 3. Thus St. John's Gospel has also a direct, posi- tive, dogmatic purpose. It is not merely a contro- versial treatise, as it is not merely an historical g S. Irenseus, i. 26: "Et Cerinthus autem quidam in Asia non a primo Deo factum esse mundum docuit, sed a virtute quadam valde separata et distante ab ea principalitate, quce est super uui- versa, et ignorante eum qui est super omnia, Deum. Jesum autem subjecit, non ex virgine natuni (impossibile enim hoc ei visum est) ; fuisse autem Eum .Joseph et Marise filium similiter ut reliqui omnes homines, et plus potuisse justitia et prudentia et sapientia ab hominibus. Et post baptismum desoendisse in eum ab ea principalitate quaj est super omnia, Christum figura columbse; et tunc annuntiasse incognitum Patrem et virtutes perfecisse; in fine autem revolasse iterum Christum de Jesu, et Jesum passum esse et resurrexisse; Christum autem impassibilem perseverasse, exis- tentem spiritalem." When St. Epiphanius represents Cerinthus as affirming that Jesus would only rise at the general resurrection, he seems to be describing the logical results of the heresy, not the actual doctrine which it embraced. (Hser. xxviii. 6.) v.] Peculiarities of the narrative explained. 83 appendix. Its teaclimg is far deeper and wider than was needed to refute the errors of Cerinthus. It teaches the highest revealed truth concerning the Person of our Lord. Its substantive and enduring value consists in its manifesting the Everlasting Word or Son of God as historically incarnate, and as uniting Himself to His Church. The peculiarities of St. John's Gospel are explained when this threefold aspect of it is kept in view. As a supplementary narrative it presents us, for the most part, with particulars concerning our Blessed Lord which are unrecorded elsewhere. It meets the doubts which might naturally have arisen in the later Apostohcal age, when the narratives of the earher Evangehsts had been for some time before the Church. If the question was raised why, if Jesus was so holy and so supernatural a Person, His countrymen and contemporaries did not believe in Him, St. John shews the moral causes which pre- vented this ; and he pourtrays the fierce hatred of the Jews against rejected moral truth, ever in- creasing in its intensity as the sanctity of Jesus shines out more and more brightly. If men asked anxiously for more proof that the Death and Resur- rection of Jesus were real events, St. John meets that demand by recording his own experience as an eye-witness, and by carefully accumulating the wit- ness of others. If it was objected that Christ's violent Death was inconsistent with His Divine claims, St. John points out that it was strictly voluntary, and even that by it Christ's true glorification was achieved. If the authority of the Apostles and of those who were succeeding them was depreciated 334 S(. Jo/m's peculiarities explained [Lect. on the score of their being rude and illiterate men, St. John shews from the discourse in the supper- room that the claims of Apostles upon the dutiful submission of the Church did not depend upon any natural advantages which they possessed. Jesus had promised a Divine Comforter Who was to guide them into the whole truth, and to bring to their minds whatever He had said to them^. As a polemical writer, St. John selects and mar- shals his materials with a view to confuting, from historical data, the Humanitarian or Docetic errors of the time. St. John is anxious to bring a par- ticular section of the Life of Jesus to bear upon the intellectual world of Ephesus^. He puts forward an aspect of the original truth which was certain to command present and local attention; he is suflB.- ciently in correspondence with the age to which he ministers, and with the speculative temper of the men around him. He had been led to note and to treasure up in his thought certain phases of the teachuig and character of Jesus with especial care. He had remembered more particularly those discourses in which Jesus speaks of His Eternal Relation to the Father, and of the profound mystic communion of hfe into which He would enter with His followers through the Holy Spirit and the Sacraments. These cherished memories of St. John's earlier life, unshared in their completeness by less privileged Apostles, were well fitted to meet the hard necessities of the Church ^ Cf. Alford, Greek Test. vol. i. Prolegom. p. 60. i S. Irenseus adv. Hfer. iii. 1. See Ebrard's discussion of the objections wliich have been urged against this statement. Gospel History, pt. 2, div. 2, § 127. v.] hy his polemical and dogmatic aim. 335 in the closing years of tte beloved disciple. To St. John the gnosis of Cerinthus must have appeared to be in direct contradiction to the sacred certainties which he had heard from the Lips of Jesus, and which he treasured in his heart and memory. In order to confute the heresy which separated the man Jesus from the '^on' Christ, he had merely to publish what he remembered of the actual words and works of Jesus. His translation of those divine words may be sufficiently coloured by the phraseological turns of the school which he is addressing, to make them poptilarly intelligible. But the peculiarities of his language have been greatly exaggerated by criticism, while they are naturally explained by the polemical object which he had in view. To that object, the language, the historical arrangement, the selection from conversations and discourses'^ before unpub- lished, the few deeply significant miracles, the description of opponents by a generic name which ignores the differences of character, class, and sect k Baur begs the whole question by saying that " the discourses in St. John could not be historical, since they are essentially nothing more than an explanation Of the Logos-idea put forth by that writer." This might be true if the doctrine of the Logos had been the product of Gnostic speculations. But if Jesus was really the Divine Son, manifesting Himself as such to men, such language as that reported by St. John is no more than we should expect. St. John never represents our Lord as announcing His Divinity in the terms in which it is announced in the Prologue to the Gospel ; he would have done so, had he really been creating a fictitious Jesus designed to illustrate a particular theosophic speculation. As to the alleged difference between the discourses reported in St. John and those in the Synoptists, of. e. g. St. Matt. xi. 25-30. 336 St. John's depth and simplicity. [Lect. among them, and notices them only so far as they are in conflict with the central truth manifested in Jesus, — all contribute. But these very pecxJiarities of the fourth Gospel subserve its positive devotional and didactic aim even more directly than its contro- versial one. The false gnosis is refuted by an exhibi- tion of the true. The true is set forth for the sake of Christian souls. These things "are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that beheving, ye might have life through His Name'." We may perhaps have wondered how a Galilean fisherman could have thus mastered a subtle and sublime theosophy, how the son of Zebedee could have appropriated the language of Athens and of Alexandria to the service of the Crucified. The answer is that St. John knew from experience the blessed and tremendous truth that his Lord and Friend was a Divine Person. Apart from the guid- ance of the Blessed Spirit, St. John's mental strength and refinement may be traced to the force of his keen interest in this single fact. Just as a desperate moral or material struggle developes forces and resources unused before, so an intense religious conviction fer- tilizes intellect, and developes speculative talent, not unfrequently in the most unlearned. Every form of thought which comes even into indirect contact with the truth to which the soul clings adoringly, is scanned by it with deep and anxious interest, whether it be the interest of hope or the interest of apprehension. St. John certainly is a theosophic philosopher, but he is only a philosopher because he 1 St. John XX. 31. v.] Prologue of St. Johi's Gospel. 337 is a theologian ; he is such a master of abstract thought because he is so devoted to the Incarnate God. The fisherman of Galilee could never have written the prologue of the fourth Gospel, or have guided the rehgious thought of Ephesus, unless he had clung to this sustaining Truth, which makes him at once so popular and so profound. For St. John is spiritually as simple, as he is inteUectuaUy majestic. In this our day he is understood by the spiritual in- sight of the unlettered and the poor, while the learned can sometimes see in him only the weary repetition of metaphysical abstractions. The poor understand that revelation of God, the Creator of the world, as pure Light and Truth ; they understand the moral dark- ness which commits sin, and excuses sin, and hates the hght ; they receive gratefully and believingly the Son of God made Man, and conqu.ering darkness by the laying down His Life ; they follow, from experience of their own temptations or sins, or hopes or fears, those heart -searching conversations with Nicodemus, with the Samaritan woman, with the Jews. In truth, St. John's language and the words of Christ in St. John are as simple as they are profound ; they stUl speak peace and joy to little children ; they are still a stumbling-block to, and a condemnation of, the virtual successors of Cerinthus. II. If there were nothing else to the piu-pose in the whole of the New Testament, those first four- teen verses of the fourth Gospel would suffice to teach the believer in Holy Scripture the truth of the absolute Godhead of Jesus Christ. It is a mis- take to regard those fourteen verses as a mere pre- fatory attack upon the gnosis of Cerinthus, having 338 Doctrine of the Eternal Word [Lect. no necessary connexion with the narrative which follows, and representing nothing essential to the integrity of the Apostle's thought. For, as Baur very truly observes, the doctrine of the prologue is the very fundamental idea which underlies the whole 'Johannean theology^^^.' It is not enough to say that between the prologue and the history which follows there exists an intimate organic connexion. The prologue is itself the beginning of the history. " It is impossible," says Baur, " to deny that ' the Word made flesh ^i' is one and the same subject with the Man Christ Jesus on the one hand, and with the Word Who 'was in the beginning, Who was with God, and Who was God,' on the other o." Taking then the prologue of St. John's Gospel in connexion with the verses which immediately suc- ceed it, let us observe that St. John attaches to oiu" Lord's Person two names which together yield a complete revelation of His Divine glory. Our Lord is called the ' Word,' and the ' Only-be- gotten Son.' It is doubtless true, as Neander ob- serves, that "the first of these names was" piit prominently forward at Ephesus, "in order to lead those who bvisied themselves with speculations on the Logos as the centre of all theophanies, from a mere religious idealism to a religious reahsm, to lead them in short to a recognition of God revealed in Christ P." It has already been shewn that the Logos of St. John differs materially from the Logos of later m Vorlesungen, p. 351. u St. John i. 14. o Baur, ubi sup. St. .John i. i. p Neander, Kirchengeschichte, p. 549 ; quoted by Tholuck, Ev. Johan. kap. i. v.] in the Prologue of St. John's Gospel. 339 Alexandrian speculation, while it is linked with great lines of teaching in the Old Testament. No reason can be assigned why St. John had recourse to the word Logos at all, unless he was already in posses- sion of the material truth to which this word sup- phed a philosophical form. If the word did express in a form familiar to the ears of the men of Ephesus a great truth which they had buried beneath a heap of errors, that truth, as Bruno Bauer admits, must have been held independently and previously by the Apostle 1. The direct expression of that truth was St. John's primary motive in using the word ; his polemical and corrective action upon the Cerinthian gnosis was a secondary motive. By the word Logos, then, St. John carries back his history of our Lord to a point at which it has not yet entered into the sphere of sense and time. " In the four Gospels," says St. Augustine, " or rather in the four books of the one Gospel, the Apostle St. John, deservedly compared to an eagle, by reason of his spiritual understanding, has lifted his enunciation of truth to a far higher and subhmer point than the other three, and by this elevation would fain have our hearts lifted up likewise. For the other three Evangelists walked, so to speak, on earth with our Lord as Man. Of His Godhead. they said but a few things. But John, as if it were op- pressive to him to walk on earth, has opened his treatise as it were with a peal of thunder ; he has raised himself not merely above the earth, and the whole compass of the air and heaven, but even above 1 Kritik der Evangel. Geschiclite des Joli. p. 5 ; quoted by Tholuck, ubi supra. Z 2 840 Doctrine of the Eternal Word [Lect. every angel-host, and every order of the invisible powers, and has reached even to Him by Whom all things were made, in that sentence, 'In the begin- ning was the Word''/" Instead of opening his nar- rative at the Human Birth of our Lord, or at the commencement of His ministry, St. John places him- self in thought at the starting-point (as we should conceive it) of all time. Nay rather it would seem that if n''ti/in at the beginning of Genesis signifies the initial moment of time itself; ev ap-xy rises to the absolute conception of that which is anterior to, or rather independent of time 8. Then, when time was not, or at a point to which man cannot apply his finite conception of time, there was — the Logos or Word. When as yet nothing had been made. He was. What was the Logos ? Such a term in a po- sition of such moment, when so much depends on our rightly understanding it, has a moral no less r St. Aug. tr. 36 in Johan. s Meyer in loc. : " Johannes parallelisirt zwar den Anfang seines Evangel, mit dem Anfange des Genesis ; aber er steigert den liis- torisclien BegrifF JT'E'ia, welcher (Gen. i. i) den Anfangsmoment der Zeit selbst bedeutet, zum absoluten Begriffe der Vorzeit- lichkeit." This is alone sufficient to refute the assertion of a modern writer that St. John does not teach the Eternity of the Divine Word. " Une des thbses fondamentales de la speculation eccl^siastique, c'est idde de r6ternit6 du Verbe. Depuis que le concile de Nic^e en a fait une des pierres angulaires de la thdologie Catholique, sa decision est rest^e I'hei-itage commun de tons les systfemes orthodoxes.' Eh bien ! les Merits de Jean n'en parlent pas." Eeuss, Th^ol. Chr6t. ii. 438. The author is mistaken in attributing to iv dpxfj a merely relative force, and thence arguing that if the Word is eternal, the world is eternal also (Gen. i. i). Besides, Oebs ^v 6 Aoyof. How is the Word other than eternal if He is thus identified with the ever-existing Being % v.] in the Prologue of St. John's Gospel. 341 than an intellectual claim upon us, of the highest order. We are boimd to try to understand it just as certainly as we are bound to obey the command to love our enemies. No man who carries his morahty into the sphere of religious thought can ajBfect or afford to maintain that the fundamental idea in the writings of St. John is a scholastic conceit with which practical Christians need not concern themselves. And indeed St. John's doc- trine of the Logos has been scrutinized anxiously and from the first by the mind of Christendom. Clearly the term Logos denotes at the very least something intimately and everlastingly present with God, something as internal to the Being of God as is thought to the soul of man. The Divine Logos is God reflected in His Own eternal Thought ; in the Logos God is His Own Object. The Infinite Thought, the reflection and counterpart of God, subsisting m God as a Being or Hypostasis, and having a tendency to self-communication, — such is the Logos. The Logos is the Thought of God, not inter- mittent and precariovis like human thought, but sub- sisting with the intensity of a personal form. The very expression seems to court the argument of Athena- goras, that since God could never have been aXoyo?, the Logos must have been not created but eternal; and the further inference that since reason is man's noblest faculty, the Uncreated Logos must be at least equal with God. It might have in any case been asked why the term was used at all, if these obvious inferences were not to be deduced from it ; but as a matter of fact they are not mere inferences, since they are warranted by the express language of St. John. 342 Relation ietiveen the Word and God. [Lect. St. John says that the Word was " in the beginning." The question then arises : What was His relation to the Self-existent Being ? He was not merely irapa tw Oew ^, along with God, but wpos t6v Oeov. This last preposition expresses, beyond the fact of co-existence or immanence, the more significant fact of per- petuated intercommunion. The Face of the Ever- lasting Word, if we may dare so to express ourselves, was ever directed towards the Face of the Everlasting Father". But was the Logos then an independent being, existing externally to the One God 1 To con- ceive of an independent being, anterior to creation, would be an error at issue with the first truth of monotheism; and therefore Oeb? tjv 6 Aoyos. The Word is not merely a Divine Being, but He is in the absolute sense God^. Thus from eternal existence we ascend to t St. John xvii. 5. u Meyer in loc. : " irpos bezeichnet das BefindlicLsein des Logos bei Gott im Gesichtspunkte der Eichtung der Gemeinscliaft." Bernhardy Syntax, p. 265. X Here is tlie essential difference between the Logos of St. John and the Logos of Philo. Meyer, who apparently holds Philo to have defi- nitely considered his Logos as a real hypostasis, states it as follows, in his note on the words koI 6e6s rjv 6 \6yos. " Wie also Johannes, mit dem nichtartikulirten 6ibi kein niedrigeres Wesen, als Gott Selbst hat, bezeichnen will ; so unterscheidet sich die Johanneische Logos- Idee bestimmt von derjenigen bei Philo, welcher 6(6s ohne Artikel im Sinne wesentlicher Unterordnung, ja, wie Er Selbst sagt, iv Karaxprjo-fi (1. p. 655, ed. Mangey) vom Logos pradicirt; — wie denn auch der Name 6 Seirepos Beos, welchen er ihm giebt, nach ii. p. 625. Euseb. prrep. Ev. vii. 13, ausdi-iicklich den Begriff eines Zwis- chenwesens zwischen Gott und dem Menschen bezeichnen soil, nach dessen Bilde Gott den Menschen geschaffen hat. Dieser Subordi- natianismus, nach welchem der Logos zwar fieO&pws tis 6eov ^iJo-tr, aber tov p.iv cXdrToiv, dvBpaiwov 8i KpeirTav ist (i. p. 683) ist nicht der v.] B,epresentations of the Divine Nature in St. John. 343 tlie idea of a distinct Personality ; from the idea of a Personality to that of substantial Godhead. Yet the Logos necessarily suggests to our minds the further idea of communicativeness ; the Logos is Speech as well as Thought y. And of His actual self- communication St. John mentions two phases or stages ; the first creation, the second revelation. The Word unveils Himself to the soul through the mediation of objects of sense in the physical world, and He also unveils Himself immediately. Accord- ingly St. John says that "all things were made'\ by the Word, and that the Word Who creates is also the Revealer : " the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory." He possesses ^6'^a, that is, in St. John, the totality of the Divine attributes. This ' glory' is not merely something belonging to His Essential Nature ; since He allows us to behold It through His veil of Flesh. What indeed this ^6^a or glory was, we may ob- serve by considering that St. John's writings bring God before us more particularly under a threefold aspect. I. God is Life i^wh). The Father is "living^;" He "has life in Himself^." God is not merely the living God, that is, the real God, in contrast to the non- existent and feigned deities of the heathen. God neu-testamentliche, welcher vielmehr die Ewige Weseneiuheit des Vaters und des Sohnes zur Voraussetzung hat (Phil. ii. 6 ; Kol. i. 15 f.), und die Unterordnung des letztern in dessen Abhangigkeit vom Vater setzt." y Cf. Delitzsch, System der Biblisclien Psychologie, p. 138. ^ St. John vi. 57 : onifTTiCki /it o faiv IlaTrjp. ^ Ibid. V. 2 6 : narfip ex^i (a>^v iv iavra. 344 God revealed as Life and as Love. [Lect. is Life, in the sense of Self-existent Being ; He is tte Foc\;s and the Fountain of universal life. In Him life may be contemplated in its twofold activity, as issuing from its source, and as returning to its object. The Life of God passes forth from Itself; It lavishes Itself throughout the realms of nothing- ness ; It summons into being worlds, systems, intelli- gences, orders of existences tinimagined before. In douig this It obeys no necessary law of self-expansion, but pours Itself forth with that highest generosity that belongs to a perfect freedom. In other words, God as the Life, is God the Creator. On the other hand, God is Being returning iato Itself, finding in Itself Its perfect and consummate satisfaction. God is thus the Object of all dependent life ; He is indeed the Object of His Own Life; all His infinite powers and faculties turn ever inward with uncloyed delight upon Himself as upon their one adequate End or Object. We cannot approach more nearly to a defini- tion of pleasure than by saying that it is the exact correspondence between a faculty and its object. Pleasure is thus a test of vitality ; and God, as being Life, is the One Beuig Wlio is supremely and per- fectly happy. 2. Again, God is Love {ajawr])^. Love is the re- lation which subsists between God and all that hves as He has willed. Love is the bond of the Being of God. Love binds the Father to that Only Son Whom He has begotten from all eternity". Love ^ I St. John iv. 8 : 6 fiij aymt-av, ovK 'iyva Tav 6fdv on 6 6fOS aydjrq itrriv. Ibid. ver. l6 : 6 Oeos aydiTT] eVri, Km 6 fidvav iv rjj ayanr], iv ra ©foi ixiveij Kai 6 Qebs iv avTa. " St. .John iii. 35: Uarrip ayana rbv Yl6v Kai Trdvra didwKev iv rfj v.] God revealed as Light. 345 itself knows no beginning ; it proceeds from tte Father and the Son from all eternity. God loves created life, whether in nature or in grace ; He loves the race of men, the unredeemed world''; He loves Christians with a special love®. In beings thus ex- ternal to Himself, God loves the life which He has given them ; He loves Himself in them ; He is still Himself the ultimate, rightful, necessary Object of His love. Th\is love is of His essence ; it is the expression of His necessary delight in His Own existence. 3. Lastly, God is Light (0w?). That is to say, He is absolute intellectual and moral Truth ; He is Truth in the realms of thought, and Truth in the sphere of action. He is the All-knowing and the perfectly Holy Being. No intellectual ignorance can darken His all-embracing survey of actual and possible fact ; no stain can soil His robe of awful Sanctity. Light is not merely the sphere in which He dwells : He is His own sphere of existence ; He is Himself Light, and in Him is no darkness at all^. X'^'-P^ 0.VT0V. Ibid. V. 20 : 6 yap Uarrjp ^iXel roj/ XloVj Koi irdvra d€LKvv(Ttv aira a avTos Troiei. Ibid. X. 17 ; XV. 9. Ibid. xvii. 24 : riyaTrqads Me Trpo KaTa^oXrji Kocrfiov. '^ St. John iii. 1 6 : ovtod yap rjydTrrjrrfV 6 Oeos tok Koanov, &a-re Toi' Yiw avTov Tov /jLovoyevrj i'ScoKev. I St. John iv. 10: avTos rjyaTnjirev fjiids, Kal dnearetXe tov Yibv avTOv iKa(jp,6v Trepi rwv dfxapTiaiv rj^atv. Ibid. ver. 19: rjiiels dyairco^ev avTof, on avTos irpwTos rjydin}(T€v rjpds. e St. John xiv. 23 ; xvi. 27. f I St. John i. 5 ■ o Qeos (pms €cos, dW iva paprvprja-^ nepl tov CptOTOS. '' Ibid. ver. 9 : ^v t6 (jias to a\r]6i.v6v. ' Ibid. ver. 9 : 6 (pcoTi^ei, •jravra avdpwirov ipxop-^vov (Is Toy Koixpov "Das (jimTi^eLP ndm-a avdpcnroii, a\s characteristiche Wirksamkeit des wahren Liclits, bleibt wahr, wenngleich empirisch diese Erleuch- tung von Vielen nicht empfangen wird. Das empirische Verhalt- niss kommt darauf zuriick : quisquis illuminatur ab hac luce illuminatur. (Beng.)." Meyer in Joh. i. 9. The Evangelist means more than this : no human being is left without a certain measure of natural light, and this light is given by the Divine Logos in all cases. ^ Ibid. Vin. I 2 : eyw ei/zi to (fiws tov Kdtrpov' o okoXovBcov ipo\ ov p-rj irepiTraTrjo-d Iv tj) a-KOTta, dXX' e^ei to (pas Trjs fco^f. Ibid. iii. 19 : to (j)as iXfjXvBev els tov Kdapov, that is, in the Incarnate Word. Ibid, ix. 5 ' OTO!/ fV Ta Kdaptf !>, (pas dpi tov K6 el/u ... 17 fto^. Ibid. xiv. 6. ■■ I St. John V. 20; ovTos itmv . . . fj fo)^ alavLos. The ovtos is referred to the Father by Liicke and Winer. But see p. 357, note 6. 8 St. John V. 26 : eSta/ct koi ra Yia fw^K ex*'" ^'^ '"^tiS. t Ibid, i 3, 4. " I St. John i. 1 : 6 Xdyoj ttjs fm^s. 348 The Word is the Only-legotten Son. [Lect. meet in God ; but they meet also in Jesus Christ. They do not only make Him the centre of a philosophy. They belong to the mystic language of faith more truly than to the abstract terminology of speculative thought. They draw hearts to Jesus ; they invest Him with a higher than any intellectual beauty. The Life, the Love, the Light, are the 'glory' of the Word Incarnate which His disciples 'beheld,' pouring its rays through the veil of His human tabernacle^. The Light, the Love, the Life, constitute the 'fulness' whereof His disciples received y. Herein is com- prised that entire body of grace and truth ^, by wliich the Word Incarnate gives to men the right to become sons of God ^. But, as has been already abundantly implied, the Word is also the Son. As appHed to oiu" Lord, the title ' Son of God ' is protected by epithets which sustain and define its unique significance. In the synoptic Gospels, Christ is termed the 'well-beloved' Son^. In St. Paul He is God's 'Own' Son". In St. John He is the Only- begotten Son, or simply the Only- begotten'i. This last epithet surely means, not merely ^ St. John i. 14 : 6 \6yos '^^pk eyeVero, kcll ^aKT^vcufr^v iv r]\uv. Km eSeaaa^fBa ttjv bo^av avTov. y Ibid. ver. 1 6 : koI ex to5 TiKrip&fiaTos avTov ij/Licis navres eXd^oftev. 2 Ibid. ver. 14; TrXrjpjjs x'^piros koI aXrjdflas, ^ Ibid. i. 12: ocrot Se €\al3ov avToi^, edcoKev avrois i^ova-iav r^Kva Oeoit yevecrdai. ti dyoTnjrds, St. Matt. iii. 17; xii. 18; xvii. 5; St. Mark i. 11; ix.. 7; xii. 6; St. Luke iii. 22. ix. 35. Cod. Alex, reads iKkeXey- jMevov, XX. 13; cf. 2 St. Peter i. 17. c Rom. viii. 32 : roO Ihiov Yioi! ovk is jiovoyevovs irapa v.] Relation of the Only-hegoiten Son to the Father. 349 that God has no other such Son, but that His Only- begotten Son is, in virtue of this Sonship, a partaker of that Incommunicable and Imperishable Essence, Which is sundered from aU created life by an im- passable chasm. If St. Paul speaks of the Resur- rection as manifesting this Sonship to the world®, the sense of the word ^novoyevrj's remains in St. John, and it is plainly "defined by its context to relate to something higher than any event occurring in time, however great or beneficial to the human race^." The Only -begotten Sons is in the bosom of the Father (6 wv ei? tov koXttov rod IlaTpo?) just as the Logos is -n-pb? TOV Qeof, ever contemplating, ever as it were moving towards Him in the ceaseless activities of an ineffable communion. The Son is His Father's equal, in that He is partaker of His nature : He is Harpos. Ibid. i. l8 : 6 /lovoyenjs Ylos, 6 i>v els tov koXttov tov Harpos. Ibid, iii. l6: [6 Geoy] tov Ylov avTov Toi' fiovoyevq edaiKev, Ibid. ver. l8; 6 Se fiT} irtorTevav ^drj KeKptTaij ort fXTj TrenlaTevKev els to bvopa tov fiovoyevovs Ylov TOV ©eoO. Cf. I St. Jobn iv. p : tok Yiov avTov tov jiovoyevr) aiT€(TTakK€V 6 Qebs els tov KoafioVj iva ^T}a(i)p.ev fit* avTov. The word fiovoyevrjs is used by St. Luke of the son of the widow of Nain (vii. 12), of the daughter of Jairus (viii. 42), and of the lunatic son of the man who met our Lord on His coming down from the mount of the transfiguration (ix. 38). In Heb. xi. 17 it is applied to Isaac. iiovoyevTjs means in each of these cases ' that which exists once only, that is, singly in its kind.' (Tholuck, Comm. in Joh. i. 14.) God has One Only Son Who by nature and necessity is His Son. e Acts xiii. 32, 33; Eom. i. 4. Compare on the other hand, Heb. V. 8. f Newman's Arians, p. 174. s St. John i. 18, o fwvoyevTjs Xlos, where however the Vatican and Sinaitic MSS. and Cod. Ephr. read fxovoyevijs eEOS. For the Pa- tristic evidence on the subject see Alford in loc. 350 'Word' and 'Son' complete and guard each other. [Lect. His Subordinate, in that tHs Equality is eternally derived. But the Father worketh hitherto and the Son works ; the Father hath life in Himself, and has given to the Son to have life in Himself; all men are to honour the Son even as they honour the Father. Each of these expressions, the Word and the Son, if taken alone, might have led to a fatal mis- conception. In the language of Church history, the Logos, if unbalanced by the idea of Sonship, might have seemed to sanction Sabellianism. The Son, without the Logos, might have been yet more suc- cessfully pressed into the service of Arianism. An Eternal Thought or Reason, even although constantly tending to express Itself in speech, is of Itself too abstract to oblige us to conceive of It as of a Per- sonal Subsistence. On the other hand the filial re- lationship carries with it the idea of dependence and of comparatively recent origin, even althovigh it shoiild suggest the reproduction in the Son of all the qualities of the Sire. Certainly St. John's language in his prologue protects the PersonaHty of the Logos, and unless he beheved that Grod could be divided or could have had a beginning, the Apostle teaches that the Son is co-eternal with the Father. Yet the bare metaphors of ' Word ' and ' Son ' might separately lead divergent thinkers to conceive of Him to Whom they are applied, on the one side as an impersonal quality or faculty of God, on the other as a concrete and personal but inferior and dependent being. But combine them, and each cor- rects the possible misuse of the other. The Logos, Who is also the Son, cannot be an impersonal and abstract quahty; since such an expression as the Son v.] The Eternal Word historically manifested. 351 would be utterly misleading unless it implied at the very least the fact of personal subsistence distinct from that of the Father. On the other hand, the Son, Who is also the Logos, cannot be of more recent origin than the Father ; siace the Father cannot be conceived of as subsisting without that Eternal Thought or Eeason Which is the Son. Nor may the Son be deemed to be in aught but the order of Divine subsistence inferior to the Father, since He is iden- tical with the Eternal Intellectual Life of the Most High. Each metaphor reinforces, supplements, and protects the other ; and together they exhibit Christ before His Incarnation as at once personally distinct from, and yet equal with, the Father; He is That personally subsisting and " Eternal Life, Which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us"^." St. John's Gospel is a narrative of that manifes- tation. It is a Life of the Eternal Word tabernacling in Human Nature among men^. The Hebrew schools employed a similar expression to designate the per- sonal presence of the Divinity in this finite world. In St. John's Gospel the eternal Personahty of Christ makes Itself felt wellnigh at every step of the nar- rative'^. Each discourse, each miracle, nay each sepa- •i I St. John i. 2. i St. Jolin i. 1 4 : ia-KrjvaxTcv iv fjiuv. The image implies both the reality and the transient character of our Lord's manifestation in the flesh. Olshausen, Meyer, and Liicke see in it an allusion to the ' Shekinah,' in which the Divine glory or radiance (nua) dwelt enshrined. k Baur, Dogmengeschichte, i. 602: "Was das johanneische Evangelium betrifft, so versteht es sich ohnediess von selbst, dass das eigentliche Subject der Personlichkeit Christi nur der Logos ist, die Menschwerdung besteht daher nur in dem a-ap^ yivetrOm • 352 Tlie Eternal Word historically manifested. [Lect. rate word and act, is a fresh ray of glory streaming forth from the Person of the Word through the veil of His assumed Humanity. The miracles of the Word Incarnate are frequently called His works'. The Evangelist means to imply that "the wonderful is only the natural form of working for Him in Whom all the fulness of God dwells." Christ's Divine Nature must of necessity bring forth works greater than the works of man. The Incarnation is the one great wonder; other miracles follow as a matter of course. The real marvel would be if the Incarnate Being should work no miracles "i; as it is, they are the natural results of His presence among men, rather than its higher manifestation. His true glory is not perceived except by those who gaze at it with a meditative and reverent intentness"!. The Word In- carnate is ever conscious of His sublime relationship to the Father. He knows whence He is". He refers class der Logos Fleisoh geworden, im Fleiscli erschienen ist, ist seine menschliche Ersclieinung." It will be borne in mind tbat v TW Yioc ey^ii rfjv (arjV 6 iifj (^(av tov Yiw Tov Gfov Trjv ^corjv ovK e;^et. c Ibid. ver. 1 1 : koL avrrj ea-riv fj jxaprvpia (i. 6. the revealed doc- trine resting on a Divine authority) 6Vi ^mf/v alamov cScoxei/ rjfuv 6 6coff, Koi avTT] rj ^corj iv tw Yea avrov eanp. '^ I St. John ii. 22: ovtos ecmv 6 dvrixpi-o-Tos, 6 apvovfisvos top Uarepa A a 2 356 Chidology of 8t. John's First :Epistle. [Lect. hand, whosoever sincerely and in practice acknow- ledges the Son of God in His historical manifesta- tion, enjoys a true communion with the Life of God. "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth m him and he in Gode." St. John constantly teaches that the Christian's work in this state of probation is to conquer ' the world^.' It is, Kal rov YioV. A liumanitarian might have urged that it was possible to deny the Son, while confessing the Father. But St. John, on the ground that the Son is the Only and the Adequate Manifesta- tion of the Father, denies this : ttos 6 dpvoviievos rov Yiov oiSi t6v HaTcpa €)^€i. ^ I St. John iv. 15: or av o^oXoy^o-r; on 'Irjaovs ea-riv 6 Yios rov Oeov, 6 Geo? €u avrw /ieVei, Kal avTos iv tw 0ew. f Ibid. ii. 15: edv Tis ayaTta TOf KoiTfiov, ov< fcrnv tj aydm) toC Harpis en avTw. Compare JIartensen, Christl. Dogmat. § g6 : "If we consider the effects of the Fall upon the course of historical development, not only in the case of individuals but of the race collectively, the term ' world ' (koo-juov) bears a special meaning different from that which it would have, were the development of humanity normal. The cosmical principle having been emancipated by the Fall from its due subjection to the Spirit, and invested with a false independence, and the universe of creation having obtained with man a higher importance than really attaches to it, the historical development of the world has become one in which the advance of the kingdom of God is retarded and hindered. The created universe has, in a relative sense, life in itself, including, as it does, a system of powers, ideas, and aims, which possess a relative value. This relative independence, which ought to he subservient to the kingdom of God, has become a fallen ' world-autonomy.' Hence arises the scriptural expression ' this world' (6 Koa-fios uvtos). By this expression the Bible conveys the idea that it regards the world not only ontologically but in its definite and actual state, the state in which it has been since the Fall. ' This world' means the world content with itself, in its own indejjendenoe, its own glory ; the world which disowns its dependence on God as its Creator. ' This world' regards itself, not as the KTiats, but only v.] ChristologT/ of St. John's First Epistle. 357 in other words, to fight successfully against that view of life which ignores God, against that complex system of attractive moral evil and specious intel- lectual falsehood which is organized and marshalled by the great enemy of God, and which permeates and inspires non- Christianized society. The world's force is seen especially in " the lust of the flesh, in the lust of the eyes, and in the pride of hfe." These tliree forms of concupiscence manifest the inner life of the world? ; if the Christian would resist and beat them back, he must have a strong faith, a faith in a Divine Sa^'iour. " Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God'^f This faith, which introduces the soul to communion with God in Light, attained through communion with ffis Blessed Son, exhibits the world in its true colours. The soul spurns the world as she clings believingly to the Divine Son. The whole picture of Christ's work in St. John's first Epistle, and especially the pointed and earnest ojjposition to the specific heresy of Cerin- thus^ leads us up to tlie culminating statement that as the KoV/xof, as a system of glory and beauty which has life in itself, and can give life. The historical embodiment of ' this world' is heathendom, which honoureth not God as God." S I St. John ii. I 6 : irav to iv rw Koa-fj-w, rj imdviila t^? crapKos, Kal rj iniByfila twv d(f)dakfjLa>v, Koi ?; aka^oveia roO /S/ou, ovk iUTiv €K tov Tlarpos, oXX* eK TOV Koapov eVrt. '^ Ibid. V. 4, 5 : avTi] €(7t\v fj VLK7] rj viKYja-afTa tov Koa-pov, rj ttiittis rjpaiv* tU iaTiv 6 vikS>v t6v Kotrpov^ el pr] 6 7nfTT€vT)v €\€T€ alcdVioVj Koi tva 7n(TT€vr]T€ [oi mcTTivovTti, Tisch.] CIS tA ovoixa TOV YioJ Toil &eov. 1" In St. John's second Epistle observe (i) the association of Christ with the Father as the source of x^P'f) f^fos, and flprjvr) v.] a union of tenderness and decision. 359 special temper, at once so tender and so peremptory, which is an ethical corollary to belief in an Incar- nate God. St. John has been called the Apostle of the Absolute. Those who would concede to Chris- tianity no higher dignity than that of relative and provisional truth, wiU fail to find any countenance for their doctrine in the New Testament Scriptures. But nowhere will they encounter more earnest op- position to it than in the pages of the writer who is pre-eminently the Apostle of charity. St. John preaches the Christian creed as the one absolute cer- tainty. The Christian faith might have been only relatively true, if it had reposed upon the word of a hmnan messenger. But St. John specially insists upon the fact that God had revealed Himself, not merely through, but in Christ. Thus the Absolute Religion is introduced by a Self-revelation of the Absolute Being Himself God has appeared, God has spoken ; and the Christian faith is the result. St. John then does not treat Christianity as a phase in the history even of true religion, as a religion con- taining elements of truth, or even more tiuth than any religion which had preceded it ; he says, " We Christians are in Him that is True." Not to admit that Jesus Christ has come in the Flesh, is to be a deceiver and an antichrist. St. John presents Chris- tianity to the soul as a religion which must be every- (ver. 3) ; (2) the denunciation of the Cerinthian doctrine as anti- Christian (ver. 7); (3) the significant statement that a false pro- gress (6 Trpodyav, A. B., not as rec. 6 Trapafiaivoiv) wl)ich did not rest in the true Apostolic diSaxfi tov Xpia-rov, would forfeit all communion with God. We know Him only in Christ His Blessed Son, and to reject Christianity is to reject the only true Theism (vers. 8, 9). 360 SL John's characteristic temper [Lect. thing to it, if it is not really to be worse than nothing". The opposition between truth and error, between the friends and the foes of Christ, is for St. John as sharp and trenchant a thing as the con- trast between light and darkness, between life and death o. This is the temper of a man who will not enter the public baths along with the heretic who has dishonoured liis Lord p. This is the spirit of the teacher who warns his flock to beware of eating with a j)ropagator of false doctrine, and of bidding him God speed, lest they should partake of his "evU deeds 1." Yet this is also the writer whose pages beyond any other in the New Testament beam with the purest, tenderest love of humanity. Side by side with this resolute antagonism to dogmatic error, St. John exhibits and inculcates an enthusiastic af- fection for humankind as such, which otu" professed philanthropists camiot rival''. The man who loves not "^ I St. John ii. 21: ovk 'iypa^a v\uv on oiiK oiSare TrjV d\rj6eiav, aXX' QTi oidarc avTijv, Ka\ on ivav -^^vdos €K rrJ9 oKrjdetas ovk (an. Ibid. V. 10: 6 firj 7Ti(jT€vo3v Tw Gew yj/€V{rrTjv n€7rolr]Kfv avTop. Ibid. ii. 15: ^o.v Tis dyciira tov Koa-fiov ovk eaTtv rj dyanri rov Uarpos iv aiira. Ibid. ver. 19: i^rjjimv e^fjXdop [scil. ol di/TixpiCTTOi] dXV OVK fjo-av e^ jj/xSv el yap rfirav i^ rifj.wv, fiepevrjKfurav &v p.eff rip.S)V dXX' im (pavfpcodaxni/ oVi ovk dal navres i^ rjp&v. Ibid. ver. 22: ovtos i(Tnv 6 avrlxpiCTTOs, 6 apvovpevos tov VlaTepa Ka\ tov Y'wv. P S. Irenseus, adv. Haer. iii. 3, 4 : rai daiv 01 dKrjKooTes airov (rov noXvKdpnov) on 'ladvvr]s 6 tov Kvplov paSrjTTjs, cv Trj 'Ecjieaa wopevBeis XovaaaBai, Ka\ Ibcov eVo) K-qpivBov, c^^Xaro tov ^oKavelov pfj Xovcrdpevos dXX' e'lrcmwv, ^vyapev, prj Km t6 l3d\ave'iov crviinea-r], evbov ovtos KrjpivSov, TOV TTJs dXrjOelas ixdpov. Cf. Eus. Hist. Eccl. iii. 28. <1 2 St. John 10, II : u Tis epxcTai ivpos iipas, Koi TavTrjv Tr)V SihaxrjV ov (pepfi, prj XajX^dviTe avrov els oldav, Kal xalpeiv avTw /ii) Xf'yfrf 6 yap \eyav avTa xa^pei-v, Koiviovel rots epyois avTov toIs irovripols. r I St. John iii. 11. v.] a product of tlie doctrine of an Incarnate God. 361 his brother man, whatever be his spiritual estimate of himself, abideth in death®. No divorce is practi- cally possible between the first and the second parts of charity : the man who loves his God must love his brother also*. Love is the moral counterpart of intellectual light". It is a modern fashion to repre- sent these two tempers, the dogmatic and the philan- thropic, as necessarily opposed. This representation is not indeed in harmony even with modern experience ; but in St. John it meets with a most energetic con- tradiction. St. Jolm is at once earnestly dogmatic and earnestly philanthropic ; for the Incarnation has taught him both the preciousness of man and the preciousness of truth. The Eternal Word, incarnate and dying for the truth, inspires St. John to guard it with apostolic chivalry ; but also, this revelation of the Heart of God melts him into tenderness towards the race which Jesus has loved so well^. To St. John a lack of love for men seems sheer dis- honour to the love of Christ. And the heresy 8 I St. Jolin iii. 1 4 : ijftcis o'lSafKV on nera^e^jjKajxev Ik tov davdrov fts Tj}v C'^rjVf OTi dyanCjfLep Tovs ahektpovs' 6 firj dyancov tov ddeXcfiou /zeWt fv Tw davdra. * Ibid. iv. 20, 21 : 6 fir) ayavav tov ahekov avTOv ov empoKf, TOV Qeov ov ovj^ €OipaK€ TrciJs dvvaTat dyairdv ; Kol TavTr)v ttjv ivroXrjv €\oiiev an avTOVj iva 6 dymriov tov Q^ov dyaira Koi tov dbe\<^ov avTOv. ^ Ibid. ii. 9, 10: 6 Xeyav iv Tw (fxoTl dvaij Koi tov ddeXcjyov avTov fiurav, iv rrj ukot'u} eortc ias apTi. 6 dyanav tov d8eX(pov airov iv ra (JxotI fievei. ^ Ibid. iii. 16: iv tovto) iyva>Ka^€v Trjv dydirrjv (i.e. absolute charity), OTt iKelvos vnip rjpav Trjv ^v)(r]v avTov €07jK€' kol 17/xaff offxi^. Xo/ufi/ VTTep Twv d8€\(pa)v Tas ^jrv^ds TiBivat. Ibid. IV. 9 • ^^ TOVT

drj fj dydirrj tov &fov iv rjpiv, oTi tov vlov avTov tov povoyfvij dirioToKKiv 6 Of 6s els tov xdcrpov, tva (j)(Tu>p(v Si' avToO. 362 Cliristology of the Apocalupse. [Lect. which mutilates the Person or denies the work of Christ, does not present itself to St. John only as speculative misfortune, as clumsy negation of fact, as barren intellectvial error. Heresy is with this Apostle a crime against charity ; not only because heresy breeds divisions among brethren, but yet more because it kills out from the souls of men that blessed and prolific Truth, Wliich, when sincerely believed, cannot but fill the heart with love to God and to man. St. John writes as one whose eyes had looked upon and whose hands had handled the very present Form of Truth and Love. That close contact with the Absolute Truth Incarnate had kindled in him a holy impatience of antagonist error ; that felt glow of the Infinite Charity of God had shed over his whole character and teaching the beauty and pathos of a tenderness which, as our hearts tell us while we read his pages, is not of this world. This ethical reflection of the doctrine of an In- carnate God is perhaps mainly characteristic of St. John's first Epistle ; but it is not wanting in the Apocalypse. The representation of the Person of our Saviour in the Apocalypse is independent of any indistinctness that may attach to the interpretation of the historical imagery of that wonderful book. In the Apocalypse, Christ is the First and the Last ; He is the Alpha and the Omega ; He is the Begin- ning and the End of all existence y. He possesses the seven spirits or perfections of God^. He has a mysterious Name which no man knows save He y Rev. i. 8 : iyi> eliu TO A KOI t6 n, o TTpSyros v ovo\ia yeypamievov o oiSeis oiSfv el fif] airos. b Ibid. iii. 12; cf. ii. 1 7 . •^ Ibid. xxii. 21. ^ Ibid. xix. 1 3 : KoXeirat to oi/ofui avrov *0 Aoyos tov ©f oO. ^ Ibid. ver. 1 6 : e'xf i fVi to Ijxcltiov kcu tVi t6v /irjpov avTov to ovopa yeypajifxevov, BacriXfij /Sao-iXc'tDj/ kcu. Kvpios Kvpiatv. Cf. I Tim. VI. I 5. f Ibid. i. 1 7 : otc elSov avrov, eireaa wpos Toiis wo&as avToiJ mf vcKpos. S Ibid. xix. 13, 14. ^ Ibid. V. 6 : ev fifVij) toO 6p6vov . . . 'Apvlov iarriKos i>s eaipayptvov. 364 Is the Div'nie Christ of A'/. JiJui [Lect. the highest intelligences around the throne'; and as the Object of that solemn, uninterrupted, awful wor- ship!^, He is associated with the Father, as being in truth the Almighty, Uncreated, Supreme God^. IV. Considerable, then, as may have been the in- terval between the composition of the Apocalypse and that of the fourth Gospel, we find in the two docu- ments one and the same doctrine, in substance if not in terms, respecting our Lord's Eternal Person ; and further, this doctiine accurately corresponds with that of St. John's first Epistle. But it may be asked whether St. John, thus consistent with himself upon a point of such capital im[)ortance, is really in har- mony with the teaching of the earlier Evangelists ? It is granted that between St. John and the three first Gospels there is a broad difference of charac- teristic ])hraseology, of the structure, scene, and matter of the several narratives. Does this dif- ference strike deeper still 1 Is the Christology of the son of Zebedee fundamentally distinct fi-om that of his predecessors 'i Can we recognise the Christ of the earlier Evangelists in the Christ of St. John 1 Now it is obvious to remark that the difference between the three first Evangelists and the fourth, 1 Rev. V. 8 : tu Tfua-apa (aia Kai ol flKocnT(a(rapcs npfaliirfpot enecrov ivUiTTLOV TOV ^ hpvloV, K. T. X. ^ Ibid. ver. I 2 : li^iov fan to 'Apvtov rii e(r(j)ayiifmv Xafieiv ttjV Svvapiv Ka'i TtXovTov KOI (Tocjiiav Koi ItTxvv Kol Tt/Lt^i/ KoL b6^av Kol ev\oylav. ' Iljid. ver. 13: ra KaBrjixeva im toC dp6mv koi tm 'Apvia r) cv\oy[a Kal 17 Tiftij Kai fj 86^a Ka'i ri KpuTos tts roiis aldvas raiv alavav. Cf. Ibid. xvii. 14: to 'hpvlov viKrfaei avToiis, Sri Kvpios Kvpiav cVti koi Baa"tXfvv (iaaiKewv, v.] aho the Christ of the Bynoptlsts ? 365 in their respective representations of the Person of our Lord, is in one sense, at any rate, a real differ- ence. There is a real difference in the point of view of the writers, although the truth before them is one and the same. Each from his own stand-point, the first three Evangelists seek and pourtray sepa- rate aspects of the Human side of the Life of Jesus. They set forth His perfect Manliood in all Its regal grace and majesty, in all Its Human sympathy and beauty, in all Its heahng and redemj)tive virtue. In one Gospel Christ is the true Fulfiller of the Law, and withal by a touching contrast the Man of Sorrows. In another He is the Lord of Nature and the Leader of men ; all seek Him, all yield to Him ; He moves forward in the independence of majestic strength. In a third He is active and all-embracingf Compassion ; He is the Shepherd, Who goes forth as for His Life-work, to seek the sheep that was lost; He is the Good Samaritan "i. Thus the obedience, the fiirce, and the tenderness of His Humanity are successively depicted ; but room is left for another aspect of His Life, differing from these and yet in harmony with them. If we may dare so to speak, the synoptists approach their great Subject from -\vitliout, St. John unfolds it from within. St. John has been guided to pierce the veil of sense ; he has penetrated fir beyond the Human Features, nay even beyond tlie Human Thought and Human Will f the Redeemer, into the central depths of His Eternal Personality. He sets forth the Life of our Lord and Saviour on tlie eai'th, not in any one of the aspects which belong to It as Human, but as "' Cf. Holtzmaim, Die Synoptischcn Evaiigelien. () 366 The Evangelists Jiave distinct points of view, [Lect. being the consistent and adequate expression of the glory of a Divine Person, manifested under a visible Form to men. The miracles described, the discourses selected, the plan of the narrative, are aU in har- mony with the point of view of the fourth Evan- gehst, and it at once explains and accounts for them. Plainly, my brethren, two or more observers may approach the same object from different points of view, and may be even entirely absorbed with distinct aspects of it ; and yet it does not follow that any one of these aspects is necessarily at variance with the others. StiU less does it follow that one as- pect alone represents the truth. Socrates does not lose his identity because he is so much more to Plato than he is to Xenophon. Yoii yourselves, my brethren, may each of you be studied at the same time by the anatomist and by the psychologist. Cer- tainly the aspect of your complex nature which the one study msists upon, is suificiently remote from the aspect which presents itself to the other. In the eyes of one observer you are but pure spirit; you are thought, affection, memory, wiU, imagination. As he analyses you he is almost indifferent to the material body in which your higher nature is encased, upon which it has left its mark, and through which it expresses itself But to the other observer tins your material body is every- thing ; its veins and muscles, its pores and nerves, its colour, its proportions, its functions, absorb his whole attention ; he is nervously impatient of any speculations about you which cannot be tested by his instruments. Yet is there any real ground for v.] yet they agree fundamentally . 367 a petty jealousy between the one study of your nature and tlie other % Is not each stiident a ser- vant whom true science will own as doing her work 1 May not each illustrate, supplement, balance, and check the conclusions of the other ? Must you ne- cessarily view yourselves as all mind, if you will not be persuaded that you are merely matter 1 Must you needs be materialists if you will not become the most transcendental of mystics 1 Or will not a Httle physiology usefully restrain you from a fan- ciful supersensualism, while a study of the immate- rial side of your being forbids you to listen, even for a moment, to the brutalizing suggestions of con- sistent materialism % These questions admit of easy reply ; each half of the truth is practically no less than speculatively necessary to the other. Nor is it otherwise with the first three Gospels as generally related to the fourth. Yet it should be added that the Synoptists do teach the Divine Nature of Jesus, although in the main His Sacred Manhood is most prominent in their pages. Moreover the fourth Gospel, as has been noticed, insists clearly upon Christ's true Hu- manity. But for the fourth Gospel we should have known much less of one side of His Human Cha- racter than we actually know. For in it we see Christ engaged in earnest conflict with the worldly and unbelieving spirit of His time, while surrounded by the little company of His disciples, and devoting Himself to them even " unto the end." The aspects of our Lord's Humanity which are thus brought into prominence would have remained, comparatively speaking, in the shade, had the last Gospel not been 368 The title 'Son of God' in the Bynoptists. [Lect. written. But the symmetry of conception of our Lord's Character which modern critics have remarked upon as especially distinguishing the fourth Gospel, is to be referred to the manner in which St. John lays bare the true Eternal Personahty of Jesus, in Which the scattered rays of glory noticeable in the earlier Evangehsts find their point of unity. By laying such persistent stress upon Christ's Godhead, as the seat of His Eternal Personality, the fourth Gospel is doctrinally complemental (how marvellous is the complement !) to the other three ; and yet these three are so full of suggestive implications that they practically anticipate the higher teaching of the fourth. For in the synoptic Gospels Christ is called tlie Son of God in a higher sense than the ethical or than the theocratic. In the Old Testament an anointed king or a saintly prophet is a son of God. Christ is not merely One among these many sons : He is the Only, the Well-beloved Son of the Father". His relationship to the Father is unshared by any other, and is absolutely unique. It is indeed pro- bable that of our Lord's contemporaries many applied to Him the title ' Son of God ' only as an official designation of the Messiah ; while others used it to acknowledge that surpassing and perfect moral cha- racter which proclaimed Jesiis of Nazareth to be the n Compare the voice from lieaven at our Lord's baptism, ovros iv \awv' tpas €ts anoKaXvylz-tv iSvaVj Ka\ ho^av \aQv trov 'l Qvopart dvvdpeis TroXXas enoLrjcrapev ; Kai totg opoKoyrjao) avTois, on ouSeTTore eyvwv vpas. aTTOx^opciTe an epov ot ipyaCopepoi rrjv avopiav. St. Luke xiii. 25. St. Matt. xiii. 41 : dffoarf- Xfl 6 Yiof Tov av6pamov tovs ayyiKovs avTov, Kai avX\e$ovaiv €K rrjs jSacTi- Xfi'as avToii navra Ta crKavSaXa Koi tovs TTOWvvTas rrjv avopiav, Kai PdXova-iv avToi/s eis ttjv Kapivov tov irvpos. Ibid. x. 32; bt. MarK viii. 38. St. Matt. xxiv. 31 : aTroerrfXcI tovs dyye'kovs avTOv pfTci crd\- ■rnyyos a>v!is peyakrjs, Ka\ emdwd^ovcn tovs €Kl\fKT0vs avToi ex rmw Teaa-dpav dvepav, an aKpwv ovpavav eas aKpwv avTav. Ibid. XXV. 34-46; St. Luke xii. 35; xvii. 30, 31. r> Martensen, Christl. Dogm. § 128. 380 Relation of Christ to the world's fidure. [Lect. its Creator \ No. The esctatological discourses in the synoptists do but tally with the prologue of St. John's Gospel. In contemplating the dignity of our Lord's Person, the preceding Evangelists for the most part look forward; St. John looks backward no less than forward. St. John dwells on Christ's Pre-existence ; the synoptists, if we may so phrase it, on His Post- existence. In the earlier Evangelists His personal glory is viewed in its relation to the future of the human race and of the vmiverse ; in St. John it is viewed in its relation to the origin of the Cosmos, and to the sohtary and everlasting years of God. In St. John, Christ our Saviour is the First ; in the synoptists He is more especially the Last. In the synoptic Gospels, then, the Person of Christ Divine and Human is the centre-point of the Chris- tian rehgion. Christ is here the Supreme Lawgiver; He is the Perfect Saint ; He is the Judge of all men. He controls both worlds, the physical and the spiritual ; He bestows the forgiveness of sins, and the Holy Spirit ; He promises everlasting Hfe. His Presence is to be perpetuated on earth, while yet He will reign as Lord of heaven. " The entire representation," says Professor Dorner, " of Christ which is given us by the synoptists, may be placed side by side with that given by St. John, as being altogether identical with it. For a faith moiilded in obedience to the synoptic tradition concerning Christ, must have essentially the same features in its resulting conception of Christ as those which be- long to the Christ of St. Johno." In other words, Dorner, Person Christi, Einl. p. 89 : " Das synoptisohe Total- bild von Christus dem johanneischen insofern vollkommen an die Seite setzen kann, als der durch vermittlung der synoptischen v.] Summary of the Synoptical Christology. 381 think over the miracles wrought by Christ and nar- rated by the synoptists, one by one. Think ovei the discourses spoken by Christ and recorded by the synoptists, one by one. Look at the whole bearing and scope of His Life, as the three first Evangelists describe It, from His supernatural Birth to His dis- appearance beyond the clouds of heaven. Mark well how pressing and tender, yet withal how full o\ stern and majestic Self-assertion, are His words Consider how merciful and timely, yet also how expressive of immanent and unlimited power, are His miracles ! Ptit the three representations of the Royal, the Human, and the Healing Redeemer to- gether, and deny, if it is possible, that Jesus is Di- vine. If the Christ of the synoptists is not indeed an unreal phantom, such as Docetism might have constructed. He is far removed above the Ebionitic conception of a purely human Saviour. If Christ's Pre-existence is only obscurely hinted at in the first three Gospels, His relation to the world of spirits is brought out in them even more clearly than in St. John by the discourses which they contain on the subject of the Last Judgment. If St. John could be blotted out from the pages of the New Testa- ment, St. John's central doctrine would still live on in the earlier Evangelists as implicitly contained within a history otherwise inexplicable, if not as the illuminating truth of a heavenly gnosis. There would still remain the picture of a Life Which belongs Tradition gebildete Glaube wesentlich ganz dieselben Ziige in seinem Christusbegriff haben musste, wie sie der johanneisclie Christus bat." See also for the preceding remarks, Person Christi, Einl. pp. 80-89, to which I am largely indebted. 382 Uuifi/ ofClirhfs Person in St. John as God and Man. [Lect. indeed to human history, but Which the laws Avhich govern human history neither control nor can ex- plain. It would still be certain that One luul lived on earth, wielding miraculous powers, and claiming a moral and intellectual place which belongs only to the Most Holy ; and if the problem presented to faith might for a moment be more intricate, its ultimate resolution could not be different from that which is supphed in the pages of the beloved disciple. V. But what avails it, say you, to shew that St. John is consistent with himself, and that he is not really at variance with the Evangelists wlio preceded him, if the doctrine which he teaches, and which the Creed re-asserts, is itself incredible \ You object to this doctrine that it " involves an invin- cible contradiction." It represents Christ on the one hand as a Personal Being, while on the other it asserts that two mutually self-excluding Essences are really united in Him. How can He be pcrKoual, you ask, if He be in very truth both God and Man % If He is thus God and Man, is He not, in point of fact, a ' double Being ; ' and is not unity of being an indispensable condition of personality % Surely, you insist, this condition is forfeited by the very terms of the doctrine. Christ either is not both God and Man, or He is not a single Personality. To say that He is One Person in Two Natures is to affirm the existence of a miracle which is incredible, if for no other reason, simply on the score of its unin- telligibilityP. P Schenkel, Charakterbild .Jesu, p. 2 : " Es gehijrt vor Allom zuni Begriffe Einer Person, class sic im Kerne ihres Wesens eiiie Einheit v.] Christ is One Person both in the Gospel and the Creed. 38' This is what may be said ; but consider, mj brethren, whether to say this does not, howevei unintentionally, caricatiu-e the doctrine of St. Johr and of the CathoHc Creed. Does it not seem as i; both St. John and the Creed were at pains to makt it clear that the Person of Christ in His pre-exist em glory, in His state of humiliation and sorrow, anc in the majesty of His mediatorial kingdom, is con- tinuously, unalterably One 1 Does not the Nicen( Creed, for instance, first name the Only-begotten Soi of God, and then go on to say how for us men anc for our salvation He was Himself made Man, anc was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate 1 Does noi St. John plainly refer to One and the Same Agem in such verses as the following'? "AU things wert bildet ; nur unter dieser Yoraussetzung liisst sie sich geschiohtlicl begreifen. Diese Einheit wird durch die herkommliclie Lekre ii der Person des Welterlosers aufgehoben. Jesus Christus wird ii der kirchlichen Glaubenslehre als ein Doppel-Wesen dargestellt, al: die personliche Vereinigung zwier Wesenheiten, die an sich nicht: mit einander gemein haben, sich vielmebr schlechtbin widersprecbei nnd nur vermoge eines alle Begriffe ubersteigenden Wunders in dii engste und unauflbslicbste Yerbindung mit einander gebracht wor den sind. Er ist demzafolge 2£ensch und Gott in einer und der selhen Person. Die kirchlichen Theologen haben grosse Anstren gungen gemacht, um die unanflosliche Yerbindung von Gott unc !Mensch in einer Person als begTeiflich und mbglich darzustellen sie haben sich aber zuletzt doch immer wieder zu dem Gestandnis; genothigt gesehen, dass die Sache unbegreiflich sei, und dass eii undurchdringliches Geheimniss iiber dem Personleben -Jesu Christ schwebe. Allein eine solche Berufung auf Geheimnisse und 'VYundei ist, wo es auf die Erklarung einer geschichtlichen Thatsache an kommt, fiir die Wissenschaft ohne alien Werth ; sie offeubart un^ die Unfahigkeit des theologischen Denkens, das in sich Wider sprechende Torstellbar, das geschichtlich Unbegreifliche denkbai zu machen." 384 Nestorius makes our Lord a 'double Being.' [Lect. made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was madei." "He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments ; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded 1." If St. John or the Creed had proceeded to introduce a new subject to whom the circum- stances of Christ's earthly Life properly belonged, and who only maintained a mysterious even although it were an indissoluble connexion with the Eternal Word in heaven, then the charge of making Christ a ' double Being ' would be warrantable. Nestorius was fairly liable to that charge. He practically de- nied that the Man Christ Jesus was One Person with the Eternal Word. In order to heighten the ethical import of the Human Life of Christ, Nestorianism represents our Lord as an individual Man, Who, although He is the temple and organ of the Deity to Which He is united, yet has a separate basis of Per- sonality in His Human Nature. The individuahty of the Son of Mary is thus treated as a distinct thing from that of the Eternal Word ; and the Christ of Nestorianism is really a ' double Being,' or rather He is two distinct persons mysteriously joined in one^. q St. John i. 3. r Ibid. xiii. 4, 5. s Ap. Marium Merc. p. 54: "Non Maria peperit Deum. Non peperit creatura increabilem, sed peperit hominem Deitatis instru- mentum. Divide naturas, sed conjungo reverentiam." Cf. Nestorii Ep. iii. ad Ceelestin. (Mansi, torn. iv. 1197): to npoikBelv t6v eeoy Aoyov €< TTjs xpujTOTOKov ■napdivov napa rrjs Selas fhLba\6r]V ypadiris' TO 8e yivvTjBrjvai, Oeov i^ avTrjs, ovSapov i8i.Sd)(6r]v. And his 'famous' saying, "I will never own a child of two months old to be God." v.] Nestorianism condemned by the Church. 385 But the Church has formally condemned this error, and in so doing she was merely throwing into the form of a doctrinal proposition the plain import of the narrative of St. John's Gospel *. Undoubtedly, you reply, the Church has not al- lowed her doctrine to be stated in terms which would dissolve the Eedeemer into two distinct agents, and so forfeit altogether the reality of redemption i. t S. Leo in Epist. ad Leonem Aug. ed. Ballerino, 165 : " Anathe- matizetur ergo Nestorius, qui beatam virginem non Dei, sed hominis tantummodo credidit genitricem ut aliam personam car- nis faceret, aliam Deitatis ; nee unum Christum in Verbo Dei et came sentiret, sed separatum atque sejunctum alterum Filium Dei, alterum bominis prsedicaret." Symb. Epbesin. cf. Mansi, v. 303 : 'OjLtoXo^ou/iev T^v KvpLOV ij^av 'irjaovv Xpia-Tou, tov Ylov tov Geou, Qeov TeXeiov Kal avBptonov reXetoi' ex ^v^rjs \oyiKTjS Koi v Tjp^paiv TOV avTov €k Maptas KaTa ttjv dvOpoTTOTTjTa, opoovaiov rw Tlarpl Kara ttjv OeoTtjTaj 6p.oovcnov i^juv Kara rrjv dvOpoyrroTrjraj dvo yap (jyvaecov evaais yeyove. Kara TavTr)v ttjv tt}s CKTvyxvTov ivao-ecos ^vvoiav d/zoXoyoC- peu Tr]V dyiav napdevov GeoTOKov fita to tov Qcov Ad-yoj' a-apK(a6T]vai. Koi evav6pco7Trj(rat, Kal i^ avTrjS tjjs crvWTjyj/e(t}S ivwo-ai iavTM tov e^ avTjjs Xrjcj)- divTa vaov. Tas de svayyeXiKas nepl tov Kvplov vas 'lafiev tovs 6eo- \6yovs dvdpa^ Tas p^v KOLVoiroLovvras oys e0 ivos TrpcacoTrov, Tas Se diaLpovvTas ens fVt dvo <^uo"e&)v, /cat Tas pev Ofonp^neis KaTa ttjv Qcotjjtci TOV Xpi(7T0Vj Tas de TaTretvas KaTa ttjv dvOpaTvoTTjTa aiiTov irapabi- bovTas. The definition of Chalcedon is equally emphatic on the sub- ject of the Hypostatic Union. " Jackson on the Creed, Works, vol. vii. p. 294 : " That proper blood wherewith God is said to have purchased the church, was the blood of the Son of God, the second Person in Trinity, after a more peculiar manner than it was the blood either of God the Father or of God the Holy Ghost. It was the blood of God the Father or of God the Holy Ghost, as all other creatures are, by common right of creation and preservation. It was the blood of God the Son alone by personal union. If this Son of God, and High Priest of our souls, had offered any other sacrifice for us than Himself, oi- C C 386 Our Lord's Godhead Ue seat of His Personalitj/. [Lect. But the question is whether the orthodox statement is really successful in avoiduig the error which it deprecates. Certainly the Church does say that '•al- though Christ be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one Christ." But is tliis possible 1 How can Godliead and Manhood thus coalesce without for- feiture of that unity wliich is a condition of per- sonahty \ The answer, my brethren, to this question lies in the tact upon which St. Jolm insists with such prominence, that our Lord's Godhead is the seat of His Personality. The Sou of jMary is not a distinct human person mysteriously hnked with the Divine Natm-e of the Eternal AVord^. The Person the ilanhood thus personally united unto Him, His ofteriug could not hnve been satisfactoiy, because iu all other things created, the Father and the Holy Ghost liad the same right or interest which the Son had. He could not have offered anything to Them which were not as truly Theirs as His. Only the Seed of Abraham, or Fruit of the A'irgiu's womb Which He assumed into the Godhead, was by the assumption made so His own, as it was not Theirs, His own liy incommunicable property of personal union. By reason of this incommunicable property in the woman's seed, the Son of God might tnily have said unto His Father, ' Lord, Thou hast pur- chased the church, yet with ily blood :' but so could not the Man Christ Jesus say unto the Son of God, ' Lord, Thou hast paid the ransom for the sins of the world, yet >vith Jly blood, not with Thine own.'" ^ S. Ful. de fide ad Petr. c. 17 : "Dens Yerbum non aceepit personam hominis, sed uaturam ; et in a?ternam personam di\-ini- tatis aceepit temporalem substantiam carnis." 8. Joh. Damasc. de fid. Ortliod. iii. 11: 6 Geo? Adyo? (TapKOidfXs oii rijv tv tco cl'Set ^eco- povfifvqv, oi yap nd(ras ras VTrooratrfis- dyeXadev dXAa njv ev aTOfxa, airapxriv tov tjfifTe'poii ^vpdpaTos, oil KiiO' iavTrjV vwoaTdcrav Kol aropov XpT)paTLu-aa'av TrporepoVj Koi ovtcos vtt atVoO 7rpo(r'K7]'." Thus to speak of Christ as a ]\lan may lead to a. serious misconception; He is the Man, or rather He is Man. C^hrist's Man- hood is not of Itself an individual being ; It is not a seat and centre of personality ; It has no conceiv- able existence apart from the act of Self-incarnation whereby the Eternal A)\ud called It into being and made It His Own''. It is a vesture which He has folded around His Person ; It is an instriunent through A\-hich He places Himself in contact with men, and whereby He acts upon humanity''. He by siiyiug tiuit our Lonl's Huniauity hail no subsistouce of itself. It was not iSloo-va-rnrof, noi' was it strictly awnocmiTOi, but tf avry TTJ Tov Qiov Aoyov VTTOOTaa'ei imooTciaa^ eVi'TTooraroy. Ho spoaks tOO of Christ's i>7r(iaTn(rit crvvSfTos. ^■ Art. ii. '■ y. Aul;'. c. Sorm. Avian. ^■. 6: ''Nee sic assumptus est [homo] lit prills erearetur, ptist assinneretur, seil ut in ipsa assumptione erearetur." .laeksou ou the L'reeil, ^Yorks, vol. vii. p. 289: "The flumanity of Christ is such an instrument of the I>i\ iue Nature in His Pereon, as the hand of man is to the person or party whose hand it is. And it is well observed, whether by Aqninas himself or no I re- member not, but b}' Yiii'uerius. au aeeurate summist of xVquinas' sums, that albeit the intelleetual jiart of man be a spiritual sub- C 2 388 Analogy hetween the composite nature [Lect. wears It in heaven, and thus robed in It He repre- sents, He impersonates, He pleads for the race of beings to which It belongs. In sa,ying that Christ "took our nature upon Him," we imply that His Person existed before, and that the Manhood which He assumed was Itself impersonal. Therefore He did not make Himself a 'double Being' by becoming in- carnate. His Manhood no more impaired the unity of His Person than each human body with its various organs and capacities impairs the unity of that per- sonal principle which is the centre and pivot of each separate human existence, and which has its seat within the soul of each one of us. "As the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ." As the personality of man resides in the sovd, after death has severed soul and body, so the Person of Christ had Its eternal seat in His Godhead before His Incarnation. Intimately as the ' I,' or per- sonal principle within each of us, is associated with every movement of the body, the ' I ' itself resides in stance, and separated from the matter or bodily part, yet is the union betwixt the hand and intellectual part of man no less firm, no less proper, than the union between the feet or other organical parts of sensitive creatures, and their sensitive souls or mere phy- sical forms. For the intellectual part of man, whether it be the form of man trul}', though not merely physical, or rather his essence, not his form at all, doth use his own hand not as the carpenter doth use his axe, that is, not as an external or separated, but as his proper united instrament : nor is the union between the hand as the instrument and intellective part as the artificer or commander of it an union of matter and form, but an union per- sonal, or at the least such an union as resembles the hypostatical union between the Divine and Human Nature of Christ much better than any material union wherein philosophers or school-divines can make instance." v.] of man, and the Incarnate Word. 389 the soul ; the soul is that which is conscious, which remembers, which wills, and which thus realizes per- sonahty. Certainly it is true that in our present state of existence we have never as yet realized what personal existence is apart from the body. But we shall do this, even the youngest of us, ere many years have passed. Meanwhile we know that when divorced from the personal principle which rules and inspires it, the body is a lump of lifeless clay. The body then does not superadd a second personality to that which is in the soul : it supphes the personal soul with an instrument ; it introduces it to a sphere of action ; it is the obedient slave, the plastic ductile form of the personal soul which tenants it. The hand is raised, the voice is heard ; but these are acts of the selfsame personahty as that which, in the voiceless invisible recesses of its immaterial self, goes through intellectual acts of in- ference, or moral acts of aversion or of love. In short, man is at once animal and spirit, but his personal unity is not thereby impaired : and Jesus Christ is not other than a Single Person, although He has luiited the Perfect Nature of Man to His Divine and Eternal Being. Therefore although He says " I and the Father are One," He never says "I and the Son" or "I and the Word are One." For He is the Word ; He is the Son, and His Human Life is not a distinct Person, but the robe which is folded around His Eternal Peisonahty. But if the illustration of the Creed is thus sug- gestive of the unity of Christ's Person, is it, you may ask, equally suggestive of the Scriptural and Catholic doctrine of His Perfect Manhood \ If 390 JxcaViIji of flin- Lonl'.i Tin wan Will \ \i\v\'. Christ's Humanity stands to His Godhead in tho relation of tlie hody of a man to liis soxil, (h)es not this imply that Christ has no human Soul'', or at. any rate no distinct human Will ^ You remind me that 'the truth of our Lortl's Human Will is essential to the intc^'rity of His Manhood, to iJu' reality of His Incarnation, to the completeness of His redemptive work. It is jilaiidy a,sser(.eil by Scripture; and the error which denies It has been vm\- demned by the Church. If Ncstorius errs on ont^ side, Apollinaris, Eutyches, and iinally the Monothelites, warn us how easily we may vxx in the other. Christ has a Human Will as beini^; Perfect Man, no less than He has a Divine Will as bcsiiio' Pei-tect Cod. But this is not sngi^i^sted by the iinaJot^'y of tlie union of body and soul in man. And if th(!r(i a,re two Wills in C'hrist, must there, not also W\ two Persons'? and may not the Sulfcrer Who kneels in Gethsemane be another than the Word by Whom all thhigs were made T Certainly, my brethren, the illustration of the Creed cnunot be pressed closely without risk (;f serious error. An illustration is ^(Mierally used to indicate eon-espondence in a Hinii;le particuhii- ; aud it will not bear to be erected into a,n absolute a,nd '' This preliminary form of tlio olyootioii Ih tliiiH iioficrd by the l\r:iater of the Scntenecs, Petr. Loml). L iil. d. r; (8,158). " N Eom. vii. 14-25. Origen, St. Chrysostom, and Theodoret understand this passage of the state of man before regeneration. St. Augustine was of this mind in his earlier theological life (Confess. viL 21; Prop. 45 in Ep. ad Eom., quoted by Meyer, Eomer. p. 246), but his struggle with the Pelagian heresy led him to understand the passage of the regenerate (Eetractat. i. 23; ii. i ; contr. duas Ep. Pelag. i. 10; contr. Faust, xv. 8). This judgment 392 Reality of our Lord's Human Will [Lect. real self is loyal to God ; yet the Christian sees ■within him a second self, warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to that which his central being, in its loyalty to God, ener- getically rejects'^. Yet in this great conflict between the old and the new self of regenerate man, there is, we know, no real schism of an indivisible person, although for the moment antagonist elements within the soul are so engaged as to look like separate hos- tile agencies. Of course this is not more than an illustration of the point before us ; but it may enable us to understand the case of the Incarnation, where a Human and a Divine Will, really distinct yet necessarily harmonious, are mysteriously attached to a single Personality. In the Incarnate Christ the Human Will is a distinct extension of the province of voUtion into the sphere of finite and created life. But Christ's Human WiU, although a proper principle of action, was not, could not be in other than the most absolute harmony with the Will of God^. Christ's sinlessness is the historical expression of this was accepted by the great divines of the middle ages, St. Anselm and Aquinas, and generally by the moderns ; although of late there have been some earnest efforts to revive the Greek interpretation. d Eom. vii. 17, 2 2, 23. e This was the ground taken in the General Council of Constan- tinople, A.D. 680, when the language of Chalcedon was adapted to meet the error of the Monothelites. Auo (f,va-iKas deXtjo-eis iv avra Koi &V0 0u(riKaf evepyetas aSimperas, aTpeTVTois, dpepia-Tas, acrvy)(yTas Kara ttjv tS>v aylav nareprnv dt&aa-Kokiav Krjpvrropev, Ka\ &vo (pvaiKO. Bik-qiiaTa ovK VTrevavria, prj yevoiTO, Kadcos oi dtre)3eis 'di^-qcrav aiperiKo), dXX' inopevov to avdpamvov airov deXrjpa, kol pfj avmrmTov, paKkov piv ovv KM VTTOTatTcropiVOV T(B Bfia avTOv Kol iravcr6(Vil 6e\fjpaTi. Mansi, torn. xi. p. 637. v.] consistent with the Impersonality of His Manhood,. 393 harmony. The Human Will of Christ corresponded to the Eternal Will with unvarying accuracy ; because in point of fact God, Incarnate in Christ, wiUed each volition of Christ's Human WUl. Christ's Human WiU then had a distinct existence, yet Its free vo- htions were but the earthly echoes of the WiU of the All-holy. At the Temptation It is confronted with the personal principle of evil ; in Gethsemane It is thrown for a moment into strong rehef as Jesus bends to accept the chalice of suffering from which His Hxunan Sensitiveness cannot but shrink. But from the first It is controlled by the Divine Will to which It is indissolubly united ; just as, if we may use the comparison, in a holy man passion and impulse are brought entirely under the empire of reason and conscience. As God and Man our Lord has two Wills ; but the Divine Will originates and rules His Action; the Human Will is but the docile servant of that Will of God which has its seat in Christ's Divine and Eternal Person^. Here indeed we touch upon the line at which revealed truth shades off into inaccessible mystery ; we cannot penetrate the secrets of that marvellous Qeav^piKn evepyeia ; but we know that each Nature is perfect, and that the Person of Christ is One and Indissoluble s. f S. Ambros. de Fide, v. 6 : " Didicisti, quod omnia sibi Ipsi sub- jicere possit secundum operationem utique Deitatis ; disce nunc quod secundum carnem omnia subjeota accipiat." s S. Leo, Ep. ad Flavianum, c. 4: "Qui verus est Deus, idem verus est Homo, et nullum est in hac unitate meudacium, dum invicem sunt et humilitas hominis et altitude deitatis. Agit enim utraque forma cum alterius communione quod proprium est ; Verbo scilicet operante quod Verbi est, et carne exsequente quod carnis est. Unum borum coruscat miraculis, alteram succumbit 394 Mysferiotistiess of onr present being [Lect. The illustration of the Creed might at least re- mind us that we carry about with us the mystery of a composite nature which should lead a thought- ful man to paiise before pressing such objections as are lurged by modern scepticism against the truth of the Incarnation. The Christ Who is revealed in the Gospels and Who is worshipped by the Church, is rejected as an unintelligible Wonder ! True, He is, as well in His condescension as in His greatness, iitterly beyond the scope of our finite comprehensions. " SalvEi proprietate utriusque Naturae, et in unam coeunte personam, suscepta est a maj estate humilitas, a virtute infirmitas, ab a3ternitate mortalitas'\" We do not profess to solve the mystery of that Union between the Almighty, Omniscient, Omnipresent Being, and a Human Life, with its limited power, its partial knowledge, its restricted sphere. We only know that in Christ the finite and the Infinite are thus united. But we can imderstand this mysterious union at least as well as we can miderstand the union of such an organism as the human body to a spiritual immaterial principle like the human soul. How does spirit thus league itself with matter "? Where and what is the life -principle of the body'? Where is the exact frontier-line between sense and consciousness, between brain and thought, between the act of will and the movement of muscle-'? Is human nature then so utterly commonplace, and have injuriis." S. Joh. Damasc. iii. l 9 : Qeov imvdpmjrrio-avTos, kqI 17 dv6pa>- mvT] auTOv (vepyeia dela rjv, r/'yovv redeafievt], Kal ovk afioipos Tr)s ddas avTov ivepyeias' Ka\ J} 6eia alrov evepyeia ovk ap.oi.pos rrjs avdpanrtvr]s avTOv €V€py€ias* aXK cKarepa (ruv rfj erepa Secopovpevrj. ^ S. Leo Ep. ad Flavianum, c. 3. .] guides ns to the mystery of the Word Incarnate. 395 8 secrets been so entirely unravelled by contem- orary science, as to entitle us to demand of the Al- lighty God that when He reveals Himself to us He liall disrobe Himself of mystery ? If we reject His elf-revelation in the Person of Jesus Christ on the round of oiir inability to understand the difficulties, reat and undeniable, although not greater than we light have anticipated, which do in fact surround ;; are we also prepared to conclude that, because ^e cannot explain how a spiritual principle like the oul can be robed in and act through a material ody, we will therefore close our eyes to the argu- lents which certify us that the soul is an immaterial ssence, and take refuge from this oppressive sense of lystery in some doctrine of consistent materialism % Certainly St. John's doctrine of the Divinity of he Word Incarnate cannot be reasonably objected on the score of its mysteriousness by those who How themselves to face their real ignorance of the lysteries of our human nature. Nor does that doc- rine involve a necessary internal self-contradiction n such a ground as that " the Word by Whom all hings were made, and Who sustains all things, can- ot become His Own creature." Undoubtedly the Vord Incarnate does not cease to be the Word ; but le can and does assume a Nature which He has cre- ted, and in which He dwells, that in it He may lanifest Himself Between the processes of Cre- tion and Incarnation there is no necessary contra- iction in Divine revelation, such as is presumed exist by certain Pantheistic thinkers. The Self- acarnating Being creates the form in which He aanifests Himself simultaneously with the act of 396 Incarnation, how related to Creation. [Lect. His Self-manifestation. Doubtless when we say that God creates, we imply that He gives an existence to something other than Himself. On the other hand, it is certain that He does in a real sense Himself exist in each object which He creates. He is in every such object the constitutive, sustaining, binding force which perpetuates its being. Thus in varying degrees the creatures are temples and organs of the indwelling Presence of the Creator, although in His Essence He is infinitely removed from them. If this is true of the irrational and, in a lower measure, even of the inanimate creatures, much more is it true of the family of man, and of each member of that family. In vast inorganic masses God discovers Himself as the supreme, creative, sustaining Force. In the graduated orders of vital power which range throughout the animal and vege- table worlds, God unveils His activity as the Foun- tain of aU Hfe. In man, a creature exercising con- scious reflective thought and free self-determining will, God proclaims Himself a free InteUigent Agent. Man indeed may, if he will, reveal much more than this of the glory of God : he may shed forth by the free movement of his will, rays of Grod's moral glory, of love, of mercy, of purity, of justice. But whether each man will make this higher revelation depends not upon the necessary constitution of his nature, but upon the free co-operation of his will with the designs of God. God however is obviously able to create a Being who will reveal Him perfectly and of necessity, as expressing His perfect image and likeness before His creatures. AH nature points to such a Beiiag as its climax and consummation. ^] Belief in Christ's Godhead, hoio originating. 397 Lnd such a Being is the Archetypal Manhood as- umed by the Eternal Word. It is the climax of irod's Creation ; It is the cHmax also of God's Self- evelation. At this point God's creative activity be- omes entirely one with His Self-revealing activity, ^he Sacred Manhood is a creature, yet It is mdis- olubly united to the Eternal Word. It differs from very other created being, in that God personally enants It. So far then are Incarnation and Creation rem being antagonistic conceptions of the activity f God, that the Absolutely Perfect Creature only xists as a perfect reflection of the Divine glory. In he Incarnation, God creates only to reveal, and He eveals perfectly by That which He creates. "The V^ord was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we leheld His glory i." YI. But if the truth of our Lord's Divinity, as aught by St. John, cannot be reasonably objected to •n such groimds as have been noticed, can it be [estroyed by a natural explanation of its upgrowth nd formation 1 Here, brethren, we touch upon a sus- licion which underlies much of the current unbelief f the day; and with a few words on this momentous opic we may conclude the present lecture. Those who reject the doctrine that Christ is God re confronted by the fact that after the lapse f eighteen centuries since His appearance on this arth, He is believed in and worshipped as God by Christendom which embraces the most civilized sction of the human family. The question arises ow to account for this fact. There is no difficulty t all in accounting for it if we suppose Him to be, i On this subject see Martensen, Christl. Dogmat. § 132. 398 Theory that Jesus was divinized [Lect. and to have proclaimed Himself to be, a Divine Person. But if we say that, in point of historical fact, He was a mere man, how are we to explain the world- wide upgrowth of so extraordinary a belief about Him, as is this belief in His Divmity 1 Scepticism may fold its arms and may smile at what it deems the intrinsic absurdity of the dogma believed in ; but it cannot ignore the prevalence of the behef which accepts the dogma. The belief is a phsenome- non which challenges attention. How has that belief been spread 1 How is it that for eighteen hundred years, and at this hovir, a conviction of the truth of the Godhead of Jesus dominates over the world of Christian thought 1 Here, if scepticism would save its intellectual credit, it must change its traditional tac- tics. It must cease from the perpetual reiteration of doubts and negations unreHeved by any frank admis- sions or assertions of positive truth ; it must make a venture; it must commit itself to the responsi- bilities of a positive position, however inexact and shadowy ; it must hazard an hypothesis and be pre- pared to defend it. Accordingly the hyjDothesis which is to explain the belief of Christendom in the Godhead of Christ sets forth that Christ was divinized by the enthusiasm of His first disciples. We are told that 'man instinctively creates a creed that shall meet the wants and aspirations of his understanding and of his heart '^. The teaching of Christ created in His first followers a passionate devotion to His Person, and a desire for unreserved submission to His dictatorship. Not that Christ's Divinity was decreed Him by any formal act of ^ Feuerbach, Geist. d. Chrjstentli. Einl. v.] h^' the enthusiasm of His first disciples. 399 public honoiir ; it was the spontaneous and irregular tribute of a passionate enthusiasm. Could any ex- pression of reverence seem exaggerated to an admi- ration and a love which knew no bounds "? Could any intellectual price be too high to pay for the advantage of placing the authority of the Greatest of Teachers upon that one basis of authority which is beyond assault 1 Do not love and reverence, centring with eager intensity upon an object, turn a somewhat impatient ear to the cautious protes- tations of the critical reason, when any stich voice can make itself heard 1 Do they not pass by im- perceptible degrees into an adoration which takes for granted the Divinity of the Object which it has learned unreflectingly and imperceptibly to adore V The enthusiasm created by Jesus Christ in those around Him, thus comes to be credited with the in- vention and propagation of the belief in His Divinity. ' So mighty was the enthiisiasm, that nothing short of that stupendous belief would satisfy it. The heart of Christendom gave law to its understanding. Chris- tians wished Christ to be God, and they forthwith thought that they had sufficient reasons for beheving in His Godhead. The feeling of a society of affec- tionate friends found its way lq process of time into the world of speculation : it fell into the hands of the dialecticians, and into the hands of the metaphysi- cians ; it was analysed, it was defined, it was coloured by contact with foreign speculations; it was enlarged by the accretion of new intellectual material ; and at length Fathers and Councils had finished their grace- less and pedantic task, and that which had at first been the fresh sentiment of simple and loving hearts 400 St. John's writings fatal to the theory. [Lect. was at length hardened and rounded off into a solid block of repulsive dogma.' Now St. John's writings are a standing difficulty in the way of this enterprising hypothesis. We have seen that the fourth Gospel must be recog- nised as St. John's, unless, to use the words of Ewald, " we are prepared knowingly to receive false- hood and to reject truth." But we have also seen that in the fourth Gospel Jesus Christ is proclaimed to be God by the whole drift of the argument, and in terms as expHcit as those of the Nicene Creed. We have not then to deal with any supposed pro- cess of divinization ' transfiguring ' the Person of Jesus in the apprehension of sub-apostolic, or post- apostolic Christendom. It is St. John who proclaims that Jesus is the Word Incarnate, and that the Word is God. How can we account for St. John's repre- senting Him as God, if He was in truth only man'? It is not sufficient to argiie that St. John wrote his Gospel in his old age, and that the memories of his youthful companionship with Jesus had been co- loured, heightened, transformed, idealized, by the meditative enthusiasm of more than half a century. It will not avail to say that the reverence of the beloved disciple for his ascended Master was fatal to the accuracy of the portrait which he drew of Him. My brethren, what is this but to misapprehend the very fundamental nature of reverence ? Truth is the basis, as it is the object of reverence, not less than of every other virtue. Reverence prostrates herself before a greatness the truth of which is obvious to her ; but she would cease to be reverence if she could exaggerate the greatness which provokes her v.] True reverence necessarily truthful. 401 homage, not less surely than if she could depreciate or deny it. The sentiment which, in contemplating its object, abandons the guidance of fact for that of imagination, is disloyal to that subjective truthful- ness which is of the essence of reverence ; and it is certain at last to subserve the purposes of the scorner and the spoiler. St. John insists that he teaches the Church only that which he has seen and heard. Even a slight swerving from truth must be painful to real reverence ; but what shaU we say of an exaggeration so gigantic, if an exaggeration it be, as that which transforms a human friend into the Almighty and Everlasting God \ If Jesus Christ is not God, how is it that the most intimate of His earthly friends came to believe and to teach that He is God 1 Place yovirselves, my brethren, fairly face to face with this difficulty ; imagine your- selves, for the moment, in the position of St. John. Think of any whom you have loved and revered, beyond measure, as it has seemed, in past years. He has gone ; but you cling to him more earnestly in thought and affection than while he was here. You treasure his words, you revisit his haunts, you delight in the company of his friends, you represent to yoiirself his wonted turns of thought and phrase, you con over his handwriting, you fondle his hkeness. These things are for you precious and sacred. Even now, there are times when the tones of that welcome voice seem to fall with living power upon your strained ear ; even now, the outline of that countenance, upon which the grave has closed, flits, as if capriciously, before your eye of sense ; the air around you yields it perchance to your intent gaze, Dd 402 If Chid had been merely Human, [Lect. radiant with a higher beauty than it wore of old. Others, you feel, may be forgotten as memory grows weak, and the passing years bring with them the quick succession of new fields and objects of interest, pressing importunately upon the heart and thoughts. But one such memory as I have glanced at fades not at the bidding of time. It cannot fade ; it has become a part of the mind which clings to it. Some who are here may have known those whom they thus remem- ber ; a few of us assuredly have known such. But can we conceive it possible that, after any lapse of time, we shoiild ever express our reverence and love for the unearthly goodness, the moral strength, the ten- derness of heart, the fearlessness, the justice, the tin- selfishness of our friend, by saying that he was not an ordinary human being, but a superhuman person 1 Can we imagine ourselves incorporating our recol- lections about him with some current theosophic doctrine elevating him to the rank of a Divine hy- postasis ? WhUe he lies in his silent grave, can we picture ourselves describing him as the very abso- lute Light and Life, as the Incarnate Thought of the Most High, as standing in a relationship altogether luiique to the Eternal and Self-existent Being, nay as being literally God ? To say that " St. John lived in a difierent intellectual atmosphere from our own," does not meet the difiiculty. If Jesus was merely human, St. John's statements about Him are among the most preposterous fictions which have imposed upon the world. They were advanced with a full knowledge of all that they involved. St. John was at least as profoundly convinced as we are of the truth of the unity of the Supreme Being. St. John was v.] Si. John could not have proclaimed Him Divine. 403 at least as alive as we can be to the infinite interval ■which parts the highest of creatures from the Great Creator. If we are not naturally lured on by some irresistible fascination, by the poetry or by the credulity of our advancing years, to believe in the Godhead of the best man whom we have ever known, neither was St. John. If Jesus had been merely human, St. John would have felt what we feel about a loved and revered friend whom we have lost. In proportion to our belief in our friend's goodness, in proportion to our loving reve- rence for his character, is the strength of our con- viction that we could not now do him a more cruel injury than by entwining a blasphemous fable, such as the ascription of Divinity would be, around the simple story of his merely human life. This 'divini- zation of Jesus by the enthusiasm' of St. John would have been consistent neither with St. John's reve- rence for God, nor with his real loyalty to a merely human friend and teacher. St. John worshipped the 'jealous' God of Israel; and he has recorded the warning which he himself received against wor- shipping the angel of the Apocalypse '. If Christ had not really been Divine, the real beauty of His Human Character would have been disfigured by any association with such legendary exaggeration, and Christianity would assuredly have perished within the limits of the first century. But the hypothesis that Jesus was divinized by enthusiasm assumes the existence of a general dis- position in mankind which is unwarranted by 1 Eev. xxii. 9. D d 2 404 Real functions of the Divine Comforter [Lect. experience. Generally speaking men are not eager to believe in the exalted virtue, mucli less in the super- human origin or dignity, of their fellow-men. And to do them justice, the writers who maintain that Jesus was divinized by enthusiasm illustrate the weakness of their own principle very conspicuously. While they assert that nothing was more easy and obvious for St. John in the apostoHc age than to believe in the Divinity of his Master, they them- selves reject that truth with the greatest possible obstinacy and determination, well-attested though it be, now as then, by historical miracles and by over- whelming moral considerations ; but also now pro- claimed, as it was not then, by the faith of eighteen centuries, and by the suffrages of all that is purest and truest in our existing civilization. But, it is suggested that the apostolic narrative itself bears out the doctrine that Jesus was divinized through enthusiasm by the functions which are ascribed, especially in St. John's Gospel, to the Com- forter. Was not the Comforter sent to testify of Jesus 1 Is it not said " He shall glorify Me" ? Does not this language look like the later endeavour of an enthusiasm to account for exaggerations of which it is conscious, by a bold claim to supernatural illu- mination 1 Now this suggestion implies that the Last Discourse of our Lord is in reality a forgery, which can no more claim to represent His real thought than the political speeches in Thucydides can be seriously supposed to express the minds of the speakers to whom they are severally attri- buted. The suggestion further implies that a purely human feeling is here clothed by our Lord Him- v.] not the enthusiasm of human imaginations. 405 self with the attributes of a Divine Person. Of course if St. John was capable of deliberately attri- buting to his Master that which He did not say, he was equally capable of attributing to Him actions which He did not do ; and we are driven to the theory that the closest friend of Jesus was believed by apostolical Christendom to be writing a history, when in truth he was only composing a biographical novel. But, as Rousseau has observed, the original inventor of the Gospel history would have been as miraculous a being as its historical Subject. In like manner the moral fascination which the last dis- course possesses for every pure and true soid at this hour, combines with the testunony of the Church to assure us that it could have been spoken by no merely human lips, and that it is beyond the inven- tive scope of even the highest human genius. Those three chapters which M. Renan pronounces to be full of " the aridity of metaphysics and the darkness of abstract dogmas " have been, as a matter of fact, watered by the tears of all the purest love and deepest sorrow of Christian humanity for eighteen centuries. Never is the New Testament more able to dispense with external evidence than here ; nowhere more than here is it sensibly divine. Undoubtedly it is a fact that in these chapters our Lord does promise to His apostles the supernatural aid of the Holy Spirit. It is true that the Spirit was to testify of Christ"^ and to glorify Christ^, and to guide the disciples into alio truth. But how 1 " He shall take of Mine and shall ™ St. Jolm XV. 26 : (Keluos iiapTvprjcrei irepl ipov. ^ Ibid. xvi. 14 : cKelvos ifii 8o|as Km ras \oijias ypaffiat, irpos Trjv l^Lav avTwp aTTwKeLav. VI.] tddle representing distinct types of doctrine. 419 critias are mistaken who profess to have discovered at the very fountaiia-head of Christianity at least three entirely distinct doctrines respecting so funda- mental a question as the Personal Rank of Christ in the scale of being. Undoubtedly it is true that as the Evangelists approach the Person of our Lord from distinct points of view, so do the writers of the apostolic epistles represent diiferent attitudes of the human soul towards the one evangehcal truth ; and in this way they impersonate types of thought and feeling which have ever since found a welcome and a home in the world-embracing Church of Jesus Christ. St. James insists most earnestly on the moral obhgations of Christian believers ; and he connects the Old Testa- ment with the New by shewing the place of the law, now elevated and transfigured into a law of liberty, in the 'new life of Christians. He may in- deed for a moment engage in the refutation of a false doctrine of justification by faith s. But this is because such a doctrine prevents Christians from duly recognizing those moral and spiritual truths and obligations upon which the Apostle is most eagerly insisting. Throughout his Epistle, doctrine is, comparatively speaking, thrown into the back- groimd ; he is intent upon practical considerations, to the total, or wellnigh total, exclusion of doc- trinal topics. St. Paul, on the other hand, abounds in dogmatic statements. Stih, in St. Paul, doctrine is, generally speaking, brought forward with a view to some immediate practical object. Only in five out of his fourteen Epistles can the doctrinal element be 6 St. James ii. 14-26. E e 2 420 Various types of Apostolical teaching [Lect. said very decidedly to predominate <'. St. Paul as- sumes that his readers have gone throvigh a course of oral instruction in necessary Christian doctrine S ; he accordingly completes, he expands, he draws out into its consequences what had been already taught by himself or by others. St. Paul's fiery and impetuous style is in keeping with his general relation, through- out his Epistles, to Christian dogma. The calm enunciation of an enchained series of consequences flowing from some central or supreme truth is per- petually interrupted in St. Paul by the exclamations, the questions, the parentheses, the anacoloutha, the quotations from liturgies, the solemn ascriptions of f And yet in these five Epistles an immediate practical purpose is generally discernible. In the Komans the Apostle is harmonizing the Jewish and Gentile elements within the Catholic Church, by shewing that each section is equally indebted to faith in Jesus Christ for a real justification before God. In the Galatians he is opposing this same doctrinal truth to the destructive and reac- tionary theory of the Judaizers. In the Ephesians and Colossians he is meeting the mischievous pseudo-philosophy and Cabbalism of the earliest Gnostics, here positively and devotionally, there polemically, by insisting on the dignity of our Lord's Person, and the mystery of His relation to the Church. In the Hebrews, written either by St. Paul himself or by St. Luke under his direc- tion, our Lord's Person and Priesthood are exhibited in their several bearings as a practical reason against apostasy to Judaism, it would seem, of an Alexandrian type. S I TliesS. iii. lo: wktos koI r^^xepas vTTep €K TTeptfraov ^eofxevot els to ISelv Vfiav TO npoawKov, Kal KaTapTLO-m ra vnov, x<'>P'! epyav v6fiov VI.] presupposes the Christolociy of St. 'Paul. 423 even if you should adopt that paradox, you woidd still obviously be debarred from saying that St. James' Epistle is a sample of the earliest Christianity, of the Christianity of the pre-Pauline age of the Church'^. But in point of fact, as Bishop Bull and others have long since shewn, St. James is attacking an evd which, although it presupposes and is based upon St. Paul's teaching, is as foreign to the mind of St. Paul as to his own. The justification by faith without works which is denounced by St. James is a corruption and a caricature of that sublime truth which is taught us by the author of the Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. Correspondent to the general temper of mind which in the later apostolical age began to regard the truths of faith and morals only as an addition to the intellectual stock of human thinkers, there arose a conception of faith itself which degraded it to the level of mere barren consent on the part of the speculative faculty. This ' faith ' had vvird nun hier der Satz entgegengestellt, Jac. ii. 24: on e| 'ipyav SiKMovTai avSpcoTTos, Kal ovK (K trlcTTecos fiovov. Alle Versuclie, die man gemaclit hat, um der Anerkennung der Thatsache zu entgehen, dass ein directer Widerspnich zwischen diesen beiden Lehrbegriflfen statt- finde und der Verfasser des Jacobusbriefs die paulinische Lehre zum unmittelbaren Gegenstand seiner Polemik macbe, sind vollig vergeblicb." In his Christenthum (p. 122) Baur speaks in a some- what less peremptory sense. St. James " bekampft eine einseitige, fiir das praktische Christenthum nachtheilige Auffassung der pauli- nischen Lehre." k Baur, Christenthum, p. 122: " Der Brief des Jacobus, wie unmoglioli verkannt werden kann, die paulinische Kechtfertigungs- lehre voraiissetzt, so kann er auch nur eine antipaulinische, wenn auch nicht unmittelbar gegen den Apostel selbst gerichtete Teudenz haben." 424 St. James' teaching on justification [Lect. no necessary relations to holiness and moral growth, to sanctification of the affections, and subdual of tlie will^. Thus for the moment error had imposed upon the sacred name of faith a sense which emptied it utterly of its relieious value, and which St. Paul would have disavowed as vehemently as St. James. St. James denies that this mere consent of the intellect to a speculative position carrying with it no neces- sary demands iipon the heart and upon the Avill, can justify a man before God. But when St. Paul speaks of justifying faith, he means an act of the soul, simple indeed at the moment and in the process of its hving action, but complex in its real nature, and profound and far-reaching in its moral range. The eye of the soul is opened upon the Redeemer : it believes. But in this act of living belief, not the in- tellect alone, biit in reality, although unperceivedly, the whole soul, with all its powers of love and resolution, goes forth to meet its Saviour. This is St. Paul's meaning when he insists upon jvistifying faith as being -Trla-n? Si' a-ya-TDy? evepyov/xei/rj^K Faith, according to St. Paul, when once it lives in the soul, 1 Messmer, Erkl. des Jacobus-briefes, p. 38 : " Der glaube ist bei Jacobus nichts auders als die Annahme, der Besitz oder aueh das leere Bekenntniss dercliristlichen Wahrlioiten (sowohl der Glaubens- als-Sitten-wahvheiten,) Resiiltat des blossen Hijrens und eigentlich bloas in der Erkenntniss liegend Ein solclier Glaube kann fiir sich, wie ein unfruchtbarer Keim, viillig wirkungslos fiir das Lebeu in Mensclien liegen, oder aueh in leeren Gefiihlen bestehen ; er ist nichts als Nameu-und-Scheincliristenthum, das keine Hcilig- keit hervorbringt Das was diesem Glauben erst die Seele einhaucht, ist die Gottliche Liebe, durch welche der Wille und alle Krafte des Mensclien zuin Dienste des Glaubens gefaugen ge- nommen werden." ™ Gal. v. 6. ^'I.] presufipoies iie drtiU^higjf of Sf. Pan/. Ho is all Christian practice in the germ. Tlie H^Tiig apprehension of tJie Cnicitied One, whereby the soxil attains light and Hbei-t\\ may he separable in idea, but in fiiet it is insep\rable from a Christiaii lite. If the appreliension of revealed ti^uth does not carry witiiin itself the secret wiU to yield the whole being to Gods qniekening grace and guidance, it is spi- lituallT worthless, accordins: to St Paul. St, Paul gi>es so far as to tell the Corinthians that even a taith whidi was gifteil with the power of performing stupendous miracles, if it had not charity, would profit nothing^. Thus between St. Paul and St. James there is no real opposition. When St. James speaks of a taith. that CiUinot justify, he meajis a barren intellectaal consent to oeitain religious truths, a phi- losophizing temper, cold, thin, heartless, soulless. morally impotent, divorced from the spii-it as fitjm tlie fruit* of charity. "Wlien St. Paul proclaims that we are justifieil by feith in Jesus Christ, he means a feith which only realizes its life by love, and which, if it did not love, would cease to live. When St Jiimes contends that "by works a man is justified, and not by taith only," he implies that foith is the animating motive which givei* to works their justi- fying power, or rather that works only justify as being tlie expression of a li^'ing feith. AMien St. Paul ai^rtiesi that a man is iustified neither bv the works of the Jewish law, nor by the works of natural mo- ralit V. his arsrument shews that bv a "work ' he means " I Oor, xiii. 2 ; tAr ? y<"^ 'x-Hcrav r^r sriWtp, &trrf Sp^ fn'^ioxiofu', myaar^ ^ ^ eva. «>»>8s» *t^ The yrwffti of 1 Cor. Tiii I seen« to be MentiisU witli the bane ur/oTtr lienoxmced hv St. James. The a^-eani of I Cor. Tiii. I is really the stjotu Si' d^anjl irtpyaviier^ of G*l, V, 6. 426 Si. James, how far iv airov KTKT/idTav. aTroKVfiv is elsewhere used of the female parent. Hence it indicates the tenderness of the Divine love, as shewn in the new birth of souls ; just as fiovXrjBeis points to the freedom of the grace which regenerates them, and airapx^v nva tS>v KTia-fuirav to the end and purpose of their regeneration. Com- pare St. John i. 12, 13: Sa-oi Se eXaffov avToii . . cV OfoC iyevvrjBrjcrav . ^ St. James i. 21 : tV 7rpa.vTt]Ti Se^nadf rbv epcfiVTOv Xoyov, tov bvmk- pevov crSxrat Tcis ifrvxas v/iSiv. Messmer in loc. : " Die Offenbarung heisst hier das eingepflanzte, eingewachsene Wort ; namlich bei der 432 SL James and Si. Paul on the Christian Law. [Lect. up into, and livingly united with, the life of human souls. It will thus bud forth into moral foliage and fruits which, without it, human souls are utterly incapable of yielding. This Xo'70? is clearly not the mere texture of the language in which the faith is taught. It is not the bare thought of the believer moulded into conformity with the ideas suggested by the language. It is the very substance and core of the doctrine ; it is He in Whom the doctrine centres ; it is the Person of Jesus Christ Himself, Whose Humanity is the Sprout, Shoot, or Branch of Judah, engrafted by His Incarnation upon the old stock of humanity, and sacramentally engrafted upon all living Christian souls. Is not St. James here in fundamental agreement not merely with St. Paul, but with St. John ? St. James' picture of the new law of Christendom harmonizes with St. Paul's teaching that the old law of Judaism without the grace of Christ does but rouse a sense of sin which it cannot satisfy, and that therefore the law of the spirit of hfe in Christ Jesus has made Chiistians free from the law of sin and death''. St. James' doc- Wiedergeburt durcli die christliclie Lelire eiugepflanzt. Wenn nun von einem Aufnehmen der eingepflanzten Lehre die Rede ist, so ist das natiirlicli niclit die ei-ste Aufiialime, sondern vielmehr das immer iunigere Insichhineimiehmen und Aneignen derselben und das Sichhineinleben in dieselbe." See too Dean Alford in loc. : "The Word whose attrilmte and api-ri^ it is to be i'fxvTos, awaiting your reception of it, to spring up and take up your being into it and make you new plants." b Baur admits that " dem Verfasser des Briefs auch die pauli- nische A'^erinnerlichung des Gesetzes nicht fremd, indem er nicht bios das Gebot der Liebe als konigliches Gesetz bezeichnet, sondern auch von einem Gesetze der Freiheit spricht, zu welchem ihm das VI.] St. James' direct references to Our Blessed Lord. 433 trine of the Engrafted Word is a compendium of the first, third, and sixth chapters of St. John's Gos- pel ; the word written or preached does but unveil to the soul the Word Incarnate, the Word Who can give a new life to human nature, because He is Himself the Source of Life. It is in correspondence with these currents of doctrine that St. James, although our Lord's Own first-cousin, opens his Epistle by representing him- self as standing in the same relation to Jesus Christ as to God. He is the slave of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ". In like maimer he appears to apply the word KJ|Oio?, throughout his Epistle, to the God of the Old Testament and to Jesus Christ quite indifferently. Especially noteworthy is his assertion that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Judge of men, is not the delegated representative of an absent Majesty, but is Himself the Legislator enforcing His own laws. The Lawgiver, he says, is One Being with the Judge Who can save and can destroy'^ ; the Son of man, coming in the clouds of heaven, has enacted the law which He thus administers. With a reverence which is as practical as his teaching is suggestive, St. James in this one short Epistle reproduces more of the Gesetz nur dadurch geworden sein kann, dass er, der Aeusserlich- keit des Gesetzes gegeniiber sich innerlich ebenso frei von ihm wusste, wie der Apostel Paulus von seinem Standpunkt aus." Christenthum, p. 122. •^ St. James i. I : 'Iokw^os Oiov koI Kvplov 'Itjaov XpiaTov SoOXor. •1 Ibid. iv. 12: (is i(TTiv 6 vonodeTrjs Ka'i Kpirrji 6 hvvdfievos crSxrai, Kai diroXtVai. ((cal Kpirfji is omitted by text, recept., inserted by A. B. X.) So De Wette : " Einer ist der Gesetzgeber und Kichter, der da vermag zu retten und zu verderben." Cf. Alford in loc., who quotes this. Ff 4i34( Reverential reserve of St. James. [Lect. words spoken by Jesus Christ our Lord than are to be found in all the other Epistles of the New Tes- tament taken together f'. He hints that all social barriers between man and man are as nothing when we place mere human eminence in the light of Christ's majestic Person ; and when he names the faith of Jesus Christ, he terms it with solemn em- phasis the "faith of the Lord of Glory," thus adopting one of the most magnificent of St. Paul's expressions^, and attributing to our Lord a Majesty altogether above this human worlds. In short, St. James' re- cognition of the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity is just what we might expect, if we take into account the immediately practical scope of his Epistle. Our Lord's Divinity is never once formally proposed as a doctrine of the faith; but it is largely, although indirectly, implied. It is implied in language which e The following are his references to the Sermon on the Mount. St. James i. 2; St. Matt. v. 10-12. St. James i. 4; St. Matt. v. 48. St. James i. 5 ; St. Matt. vii. 7. St. James i. 9 ; St. Matt. v. 3. St. James i. 20; St. Matt. v. 22. St. James ii. 13; St. Matt. vi. 14, 15 ; V. 7. St. James ii. 14 sqq. ; St. Matt. vii. 21 sqq. St. James iii. 17, 18; St. Matt. V. 9. St. James iv. 4; St. Matt. vi. 24. St. James iv. 10; St. Matt. v. 3, 4. St. James iv. 11; St. Matt. vii. I sqq. St. James V. 2; St. Matt. vi. 19. St. James v. 10; St. Matt. V. 12. St. James v. 12 ; St. Matt. v. 33 sqq. And for other dis- courses of our Lord : St. James i. 14 ; St. Matt. xv. 19. St. James iv. 12 ; St. Matt. X. 28. Again, St. James v. 1-6 ; St. Luke vi. 24 sqq. See reflf.; and Alford, vol. iv. p. 107, note. f I Cor. ii. 8. S St. James ii. I : dSeX0o/ fi.ov, fir; iv 7Tpo(rw!To\rj\j^ims i'xere riji/ Tricmv TOV Kvplov r]jia>v \rjv, iv Tovra OVTOS TrapicTTrjKfV evaimov vpav vyijjs. ™ Ibid. iv. 12: OVK c(TTiV iv aXXo) oiSevl fj TT]pla' oi/re yap ovopd iaTiV iTfpov xmo tov ovpavbv t6 deSopevov iv avBpomots, iv a Sei a'co6rjvat fjpas. 440 Clrlstology of 8t. Peter's General Epstles. [Lect. Jesus is the true, the universal, the absolute religion. This implication of itself implies much beyond as to the true dignity of Christ's Person. Is it conceivable that He Who is Himself the sum and substance of His religion. Whose Name has such power on earth, and Who wields the resources and is invested with the glories of heaven, is notwithstanding in the thought of His first apostles only a glorified man, or only a super-angelic intelligence \ Do we not inter- pret these early discourses most natiirally when we bear in mind the measure of reticence which active missionary work always renders necessary if truth is to win its way amidst prejudice and opposition % And will not this consideration alone enable us to do justice to those vivid glimpses of Christ's Higher Nature, the fuller exhibition of Which is before us in the Apostle's general Epistles % In St. Peter's general Epistles it is easy to trace the same mind as that which speaks to us in the earliest missionary sermons of the Acts. As addressed to Christian believers "i, these Epistles exhibit Chris- tian doctrine in its fulness, but incidentally to spi- ritual objects, and without the methodical complete- ness of an oral instruction. Christian doctrine is not propounded as a new announcement : the writer takes it for granted as furnishing a series of mo- tives, the force of which would be admitted by those who had already recognized the true majesty and proportions of the faith. St. Peter announces him- self as the Apostle of Jesus Christ, and as His •1 I St. Pet. i. 1,2: (KXeKToh ■n-apeni&TjiJ.ois Siaa-iropas, Kara 7rp6yv(oa'iv Qeov TlarpoSj ev ayta(Tp.a Uvevp-aroS) us VTraKorjv Kai pavrifT- pov oipoTos *lrj(TOv XptfTTOv. 2 St. Pet. 1. I : Tots LTOTtpov vp.lv \a^ov(ri •nltTTiv. VI.] Relation of Jesus Christ to prophecy. 441 slave as well as His Apostle o. In his Epistles, St. Peter lays the same stress on prophecy that is so observable in his missionary sermons. Thus as in his speech before the Council, so in his first Epistle, he specially refers P to the prophecy of the Rejected Corner-stone, which our Lord had applied to Himself But St. Peter's general doctrine of our Lord's rela- tion to Hebrew prophecy should be more particularly noticed. In our day theories have been put forward on this subject which make the Hebrew propheti- cal Scriptures little better than a large dictionary of quotations, to which the writers and preachers of the New Testament are said to have had recourse when they wished to illustrate their subject by some shadowy analogy, or by some vague semblance of a happy anticipation. St. Peter asserts the exact inverse of such a position. According to St. Peter, the prophets of the Old Testament did not only utter literal predictions of the expected Christ, but in doing this they were Christ's Own servants. His heralds, His organs. He Who is the Subject of the Gospel story, and the living Ruler of the Church, had also, by His Spirit, been Master and Teacher of the prophets. Under His guidance it was that they had foretold His sufferings. It was the Spirit of Christ Which was in the prophets, testifying beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow 1. The prophets did not at first I St. Pet. i. I : an6(rToXoi 'irjaov XpifjLaTi avTOv eVi TO ^vkov. ^ Ibid. ver. 2 1 : Xptoros eiradev VTrep rjp.a3Vj VH-"^^ VTrokijxirdvayv vno- ypappbvj Lva e7raKo\ovdr}(rT]Te rot? i)(V€aiv avTOu. ^ Ibid. ver. 22 : ^s dpapiiav ovk (Tvoli^crev^ ovbe evpidr} h6\os €V rai (TTojxaTi avTov. Isa. liii. 9; 2 Cor. v. 21; i St. Jobn iii. 5. S I St. Pet. ii. 23: OS Xoidopovpfvos ovk aireXotSopet, nda-xoiv ovk ^TTfiXei. In the rj-rreCKei there lies the consciousness of power. ^ Ibid. : nnpedlSov fie Ta KpivovTi 8tKai(os. ^ Ibid. ver. 24 : ov Ta /^wXcoTrt avrov IddrjTe. '^ Ibid. i. 2 : ets viraKotiv Kai pavrta-pov alparos 'lr]v irvOi] XpicTTos. Heb. ix. 1 2 : dta tov Idlov uip-aTos tlo'rjXdev if^dna^ els Ta ayta, alcoviav XvTptoo-iv cvpdp.€vos. ^ I St. John i. Y * TO alfia ^Irjo-ov XpitTTOv tov Ylov avTov Kadapi^ei Tjpds diTO TrdoTjs dpapTtas, Hev. I. 5- "^^ dyaiTr]vtqs O^ov Koi fievovTos eU tov alo)va. By understanding the X070S here to mean only the written word, Baur maintains his paradox, that in St. Peter's Epistles the written word is sub- stituted for, and does the work of, the Person of Christ in St. Paul's writings. Vorlesungen, p. 296. r Ibid. iii. 22 : vnoTayivTuiv aura dyyfXav Kai i^ovvas twv alwvoiv. dprju. u For an examination of the arguments which have been urged against the genuineness and authenticity of this Epistle, see Olshausen, Opuscula Theologica, pp. 1-88. V 2 St. Pet. i. i; iii. 18. x eVi'yi'mo-is. y Ibid. i. 2, 3, 8; ii. 20; iii. 18. z Ibid. i. 2 : X^P'-^ vpXv Ka\ elprjurj TrXTjdvvdelrj ev eTTcyvaxrei Toii 0eov, KOi ^lrj(TOV Tov Kvpiov J]pci}V, ^ Ibid. ver. 8 : raCra yap (that is, the eight graces previously enumerated) vplv vndpxovra kol TrXeord^oira, ovk dpyovs ovde dKapnovs KadlcTTTfaLV fis Tr)V TOV Kvpiov r]pS>v 'lrj(jov XpKTTOv iTrlyvoxnv, VI.] The 'higher knowledge' of Jesus Christ. 449 charity^. In this higher knowledge of Jesus, all these excellences find their end and their completion. On any other path, the soul is abandoned to spi- ritual bhndness, tending more and more to utter for- getfulness of aU past purifications from sin". For this higher practical knowledge of Jesus Christ is the means whereby Christians escape from the polluting impurities of the Hfe of the heathen world '^. It raises Christian sotils towards the Unseen King in His glory; it secvires their admission to His everlasting reahn^. If Christians would not be carried away from their stedfast adherence to the truth and life of Christianity by the errors of those who hate aU law, let them endeavour to grow in this blessed knowledge of Jesus f. The prominence given to the Person of Christ in this doctrme of an eTrLyvwa-ig of which His Person is the Object, leads us up to the truth of His real Divinity. If Jesus, thus known and loved, were not God, then we must say that God is in this Epistle thrown utterly into the background, and that His Human Messenger has taken His place. Nor is the negative and polemical side of the Epi- stle much less significant than its constructive and hortatory side. The special misery of the false teachers of whom the Apostle speaks as likely to b 2 St. Pet. i. 5, 6, 7. c Ibid. ver. 9. " Ibid. 11. 20 : anoc^vyovTes ra ^tdcr^aTa tov Koafiov ev iiriyvoxjei tov Kvpiov Km auiTrjpoi 'irjirov Xpicrrov. Cf. Ibid. i. 4: anocjivySvTfs Tijr fV Koafia €V ini.6vfila <^6npat. ® Ibid. i. I I : ovTa yap irXovcrlas iinxoprjyr)6f)Cr(Tai vjxiv f/ el'troSor els Trjv aloiVLOt^ jSacriXe/ai/ tov Kvpiov rjfi6>v Koi crar^pos Irja-ov Xptarov. ^ Ibid. iii. 17, 18 : tpv\da(Te(r6e, Iva p.fi rfj rSiv a6ea-p,av Trkavji (rvva- 7rax6fVTes, CK7re enaSe ttjv vnaKorjV. 8 2 Cor. xiii. 4 : icTravpaSri e^ da-6(Vfias. t Ibid. i. 5 : to. ■Ka6r]p,aTa tov XpidTOv. Pllil. iii. I O : TT]v KOivaviav Twv TTadijparmv avTov. Col. i. 24 : ra vcrTfprjp-aTa rSiv d\i\j/€Qiv toO XpLO-Tov. " Phil. ii. 8 : iTairelvtoaev iaVTov, y£v6pevos inrjKOOs p-^XP^ Bavdrov^ 6avaTov he tTTavpov, 456 Truth of Christ's Manhood consistent [Lect. Almighty Power, be assimilated'^. Upon two fea- tures of our Lord's Sacred Humanity does St. Paul lay especial stress. First, Christ's Manhood was clearly void of sin, both in Soul and Body ; and in this respect It was unlike any one member of the race to which It belonged'^. This sinlessness, how- ever, did but restore humanity " in Christ" to its original type of perfection. Thus, secondly, Christ's Manhood is representative of the human race ; it realizes the archetypal idea of humanity in the Di- vine Mind. Christ, the Second Adam, according to St. Paul, stands in a relation to the regenerate family of men analogous to that ancestral relationship in which the first Adam stands to all his natural de- scendants. But this correspondence is balanced by a contrast. In two great passages St. Paul exhibits the contrast which exists between the Second Adam and the first y. This contrast is physical, psycho- logical, moral, and historical. The body of the first Adam is corruptible and earthly ; the Body of the Second Adam is glorious and incorruptible^. The first Adam enjoys natural life ; he is made a living sovd. The Second Adam is a supernatural Being, ^ Phil. iii. 2 1 ; OS i^eratrxifiaTia-et to (Tm/ia Trji Tajreitiaxreais fifxaiv, .... (rvfi^op- TTOS [6 Kiniof], €^ ovpavov. Oios 6 ;)(0tK6j, toiovtoi Ka\ 01 xoiKoi' Koi olos 6 (TTOVpdviOS, TOWVTOl Kol oi eTTOvpavioi. VI.] with its sinlessness and archetypal character. 457 capable of communicating His Higher Life to others; He is a quickening Spirit''. The first Adam is a sinner, and his sin compromises the entire race which springs from him. The Second Adam sins not ; His Life is one mighty act of righteousness^ ; and they who are in living communion with Him share in this His righteousness °. The historical con- sequence of the action of the first Adam is death, the death of the body and of the soul. This consequence is transmitted to his descendants along with his other legacy of transmitted sin. The historical consequence of the action and suffering of the Second Adam is life ; and communion with His living righteousness is the gauge and assurance to His faithful disciples of a real exemption from the law of sin and death ^. Such a contrast, you observe, might well suggest that the Second Adam, Representative of man's race, its true Archetype, its Restorer and its Saviour, is Himself more than man. Certainly; but neverthe- less it is as Man that Christ is contrasted with our ^ I Cor. XV. 45 '■ iyeviTo 6 n-pSros tivBpaTTos 'A8afi ds ^x'l" C^xrav 6 ecx^Tos 'ASa^ els nvev^a ^(oottoiovv. b diKaimjia, Kom. V. 1 8. '^ Rom. V. 1 8, 19 : apa ovv as 81' evos irapaiTTafiaros, els wavras avdpa- Tvovs, els KaraKptp-a' ovto) koi bi ivos SiKmapaTos, els TfavTas avBpimovs, els hiKaiacw C<^rjs. aairep yap Sia Trjs ■JTapaKorjS tov evos avdpairov apaprakoX KaTeaTa6r}s p.ir€(Tx^ tuv aiiroiv, iva fita rov 6avarov KarapyrjaTj Tov TO KpaTOs exovra rov davarov, TOVTiUTi, rov hm^oKov. Ibid. V. I. s I Cor. viii. 6: cis Kupiof 'Irjo-oCr Xpio-Tos-. Here however (1) KiJpiof, as contrasted with. Qehs, implies no necessary inferiority ; else we must say that the Father is not Kuptos- ; while (2) the clause bi ov TO. TvavTa, Ka\ 17/xfis 81' avrov, which cannot be restricted to our Lord's redemptive work without extreme exegetical arbitrariness, and which certainly refers to His creation of the universe, places Jesus Christ on a level with the Father. Compare the position of 81a between e| and eU, Eom. xi. 36; cf. Col. i. 16. Our Lord is here distinguished from the " One God," as being Human as well as Di- vine ; cf. the relation of pLeairrj? to Oeos in i Tim. ii. 5. Baur's re- marks on I Cor. viii. 6 (Vorlesungen, p. 193), which proceed upon VI.] as the Instrument of His Mediation. 459 St. Timothy that there is One God and One Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for aW^. Thus he looks forward to a day when the Son Himself also, mean- ing thereby Christ's sacred Manhood, shall be sub- ject to Him That put all things under Him, that God may be all in all^. It is at least certain that no modern Humanitarian cotdd recognise the literal reahty of our Lord's sacred Humanity more expli- citly than did the Apostle who had never seen Him the assumption that only four Epistles of St. Paul are extant, and therefore that Col. i. i6, 17 is nothing to the purpose, and which moreover endeavours to impose the plain redemptive reference of 2 Cor. v. 17, 38 upon this passage, are so capricious as to shew very remarkably the strength and truth of the Catholic interpretation. ^ I Tim. ii. 5? 6 : els yap 0e6s, ftff Koi p-caiTrjs Q€Ov kui avOpcomoVy avSpooTTOS Xptcrros ^Irjcrovs. i I Cor. XV. 28: OTav Se vnorayfj avra ra Tvavra, T6re koX avTOi 6 Ylos viTOTayrjo'eTai tw VTTOra^avTt avrw ra iravra, iva r) 6 Geo? ra Travra iv naa-iv. That our Lord's Humanity is the subject of vnoTay^crfTai is the opinion of St. Augustine (de Trin. i. c. 8), St. Jerome (adv. Pelag. i. 6), Theodoret (in loc). If airos 6 Yios means the Divine Son most naturally, the predicate inorayrio-erat is an instance of communicatio idiomatum (cf. Acts xx. 28; iCor. ii. 8; Kom. viii. 32; ix. 5; St, John iii. 13) ; since it can only apply to a created nature. A writer who believed our Lord to be literally God (Kom. ix. 5) could not have supposed that at the end of His media- torial reign as Man a new relation would be introduced between the Persons of the Godhead. The subordination (Kara rd^w) of the Son is an eternal fact in the inner Being of God. But the visible sub- jection of His Humanity (with Which His Church is so organically united as to be called 'Christ,' i Cor. xii. 12) to the supremacy of God will be realized at the close of the present dispensation. Against the attempt to infer from this passage an dnuKaTaaraiTis of men and devils, c£ Meyer in loc; and against Pantheistic in- ferences from TO Travra iv naa-cv, cf. Julius MuUer, Lehre von d. Siinde, i. p. 157, quoted ibid. 460 St. Paul on the Divine Unity. [Lect. on eartli, and to whom He had been made known by visions which a Docetic enthusiast might have taken as sufficient warrant for denying His real participation in our flesh and blood. (/3) On the other hand, St. Paul is as strict a monotheist as any unconverted pupil of Gamaliel ; he does not merely retain, he has an especial devo- tion to the primal truth of God's inviolate Unity. God is parted from the very highest forms of created life by a measureless interval, and yet the universe is a real reflection of His Nature'^. The relation of creation to God is threefold. Nothing exists which has not proceeded originally from God's creative Hand. Nothing exists which is not upheld in being and perfected by God's siistaining and working energy. Nothing exists which shall not at the last, whether mechanically or consciously, whether wil- lingly or by a terrible constraint, subserve God's high and resistless purpose. For as He is the Creator and Sustainer, so He is the One last End of all created existences. Of Him, and through Him, and unto Him, are all things i. So absolute an idea of God excludes all that is local, transient, particular, finite. God's supreme Unity is the truth which determines the universahty of the Gospel ; since the Gospel ^ Rom. i. 20 : to. yap dopara avTov diro ktIctcois K6iTpov Tois noir/iiacn voovpeva KaOopdrai. 1 Ibid. xi. 36 : on £| airoii Kal 8t' avTov Kol els avrbv ra Travra. "AUes ist aus Gott ( Urgrund), in sofern Alles aus Gottes Schbpfer- ki-afte liervorgegangen ist ; durch Gott ( Vermittelungsgrund'), in sofern nichts ohne Gottes Vermittelung (continuirliche Einwirkung) existirt ; fiir Gott {teleologische Bestimmung), in sofern Alles den Zwecken Gottes dient." Meyer in loo. VI.] Ground of St. Paul's judgment of Paganism. 461 unveils and proclaims the One supreme, world -con- trolling God"i. Hence the Apostle infers the deep misery of Paganism. The Pagan representation of Deity was 'a lie ' by which this essential truth of God's Being" was denied. The Pagans had forfeited that partial apprehension of the glory of the incor- ruptible God which the physical universe and the light of natiu-al conscience placed within their reach. They had yielded to those instincts of creature - worship" which mere naturahsm is ever prone to indulge. The Incarnation alone subdues these in- stincts by consecrating them to the service of God Incarnate; while beyond the Church they tloreaten naturalistic systems with an utter and disastrous subjection to the empire of sense. When man then had fairly lost sight of the Unity and Spi- ritiiahty of God, Paganism speedily aUowed him to sink beneath a flood of nameless sensualities ; he had abandoned the Creator to become, in the most debased sense, the creature's slave p. The Apostle's thought rests for an instant upon the elegant but ™ Baur, Vorlesungen, p. 205: "Auf dieser Auffassimg der Idee Gottes beruht der Universalis raus des Apostels, vvie er diess in dem Satz ausspricht, dass Gott sowolil der Heiden als der Juden Gott sei. Eom. ii. 11; iii. 29; x. 12. Das Christenthum ist selbst nichts anderes (it is this, but it is a great deal more) als die Aufhebung alles Particularistischen, damit die reine absolute Gottes-Idee in der Menschheit sich verwirkliche, oder in ihr zum Bewusstsein komme." The Pantheistic touch of the last phrase does not destroy the general truth of the observation. 1 Rom. i. 25 : ^leTrjKKa^av ttjv akj]6€iav roC 6foC iv Toj \j/eiiSei. " Ibid. vers. 18-25; especially 23: fpCKa^av rrjv So^av roC d(f>ddpTov 6eoD iv oftotM/xart eiVoVos (pdaprov avBpamov Kol iiiTewmv Koi TeTpairdoav Kal ipTTfTWV, K. T. X. P Ibid. ver. 24: -irapihaKiv avrovs 6 Beos iv Ta'is i-mBv^iaii tSjv Si. Paul's doxologies to the One God. [Lect. impure idolatries to -wliicli the imagination and the wealth of Greece had consecrated those beautiful temples which adorned the restored city of Corinth. " To us Christians," he fervently exclaims, " there is but one God, the Father ; all things owe their exist- ence to Him, and we live for His purposes and His glory 1." In after years, St. Paul is writing to a fel- low-labourer for Christ, and he has in view some of those Gnostic imaginations which already pro- posed to link earth with heaven by a graduated hier- archy of ^ons, thus threatening the re-introduction either of virtual polytheism or of conscious creatiire- worship. Against this mischievous speculation the Apostle utters his protest ; but it issues from his adoring soul upwards to the footstool of the One Supreme and Almighty Being in what is perhaps the richest and most glorious of the doxologies which occur in his Epistles. God is the Blessed and Only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords ; He only has from Himself, and originally, immortality ; He dwells in the light which is inaccessible to creatures ; no man has seen Him ; no man can see Him ; let honour and power be for ever ascribed to Him''. Kapbicov avTcoif els aKaOaptjiav. Ibid. ver. 26: ei? iradr] aTifiias. Ibid. ver. 28: els ahoKifxov vovv. See tlie whole context. •^ I Cor. viii. 5? 6 : nai yap e'lnep eicl \ey6p.evoL deol, e'lre eV ovpava^ fire cttI yrjs (the two departments of polytheistic invention) mcnrep elal 6eol TroWo'i, Ka\ Kvpioi ttoWol' dW rjplv els Qeos 6 TraTTjp, e^ ov to. ndvra, Koi Tjpels eis aiiTOv. ^ I Tim. VI. 15, 16: 6 paKaptos Ka\ povos dvvdfTrrjs, 6 /3acrtXeu? TO)if jSan-tKevovTcoVj Kal Kvpios Toiv KvptevovTwv, 6 p6vos ex^v dQavatriav ^ (^o>s oiKOiU drvpoo-iToif, ov elSev nvdeXs dvOpoiTTCov^ oi/de Idetv dvvaraij m Ttprj Kn\ Kpdros alo)VloVj dp-qv. VI.] Bearing of his Monotheism on his Christology. 46S Unquestionably, my brethren, St. Paul is an ear- nest monotheist ; his faith is sensitively jealous on behalf of the supremacy and the rights of God. What then is the position which he assigns to Jesus Christ in the scale of being % That he believed Jesus Christ to be merely a man is a paradox which could be maintained by no careful reader of his Epistles. But if, according to St. Paul, Christ is more than man, what is He % Is He still only a creature % or is He a Divine Person % In St. Paul's thought this question could not have been an open one. His earnest, trenchant, sharply- defined faith in the One Most High God must force him to say either that Christ is a created being, or that He is internal to the Essence of God. Nor is the subject of such a nature as to admit of accommodation or compromise in its expression. St. Paul may, in practical matters, and where the law of God per- mits it, become all things to all men that he may by all means save some'*. But he cannot, as if he were a pagan politician of old, or a modern man of the world, compliment away his deepest faith*. He cannot ascribe Divinity to a fellow- creature by way of panegyrical hyperbole ; his belief in God is too powerful, too exacting, too keen, too real. St. Paul may teach the Athenians that we Hve and move and have our being in the all-present, all- encompassing Life of God"; he may bid the Corinthians expect a time when God shall be known and felt by every member of His great family to be all in all^. But St. Paid cannot merge 8 I Cor. ix. 22. t 2 Cor. i. i8; ii. 17. " Acts xvii. 28. ''I Cor. xv. 28. 464 Christ absolutely Ood if not merely a creature. [Lect. the Maker and Euler of the universe, so gloriously free ia His creative and providential action y, in any conception which identifies Him with the work of His hands, or which reduces Him to the level of an impersonal quality or force. The Apostle may contemplate the vast hierarchy of the blessed an- gels, ranging in their various degrees of glory be- tween the throne of God and the children of men^. But no heavenly intelligence, however exalted, is seen in his pages to trench for one moment upon the incommunicable prerogatives of God. St. Paul may describe the regenerate life of Christians in such terms as to warrant us in saying that Christ's true members are divinized by spiritual communion with God in His Blessed Son*. But the saintliest of men, the most exalted and majestic of seraphs, are alike removed by an infinite interval from the One Uncreated, Self-existent, Incorruptible Essence^. There is no room in St. Paul's thought for an ima- ginary being like the Arian Christ, hovering indis- tinctly between created and Uncreated life ; since, where God is believed to be so utterly remote from the highest creatures beneath His throne, Christ must either be conceived of as purely and simply a crea- ture with no other than a creature's nature and rights, or He must be adored as One Who is for ever and necessarily internal to the Uncreated Life of the Most High. 2. It has been well observed by the author of "Ecce y Kom. ix. 21. z Col. i. 1 6. These hierarchical distinctions appear to have been preserved among the fallen angels (Eph. vi. 1 2). a I Cor. iii. 16, 17; vi. 19, 20. b Eom. xi. 34-36. VI.] Si. Pawl's devotion to our Lord's condescension. 465 Homo" that " the trait in Christ which filled St. Paul's whole mind was His condescension;" and that "the charm of that condescension lay in its being volun- tary*^." Certainly. But condescension is the act of bending from a higher station to a lower one ; and the question is, from what did Christ condescend ? If Christ was merely human, what was the human eminence from which St. Paul believed Him to be stooping ? Was it a social eminence 1 But as the fa- vourite of the synagogue, and withal protected by the majesty of the Koman franchise'', St. Paul occupied a social position not less widely removed from that of a Galilean peasant leading a life of vagrancy, than are yoiur circumstances, my brethren, who belong to the middle and upper classes of this country, re- moved from the lot of the homeless multitudes who day by day seek relief in our workhouses. Was it an intellectual eminence 1 But the Apostle who had sat at the feet of Gamaliel, and had drawn largely from the fountains of Greek thought and culture, had at least enjoyed educational advantages which were utterly denied to the Prophet of Nazareth. Was it then a moral eminence 1 But, if Jesus was merely Man, was He, I do not say morally perfect, but morally emment at all 1 Was not His Self- assertion such as to be inconsistent with any truth- ful recognition whatever of the real conditions of a created existence 1 But was the eminence from which Christ condescended angelical as distinct from human ? St. Paul has drawn the sharpest distinc- tion between Christ and the angels ; Christ is re- lated to the angels, in the belief of the Apostle, c Ecce Homo, p. 49. ^ Acts xxii. 29. Hh 466 Okrist condescended from a [Lect. simply as the Author of their being®; while the appointed duties of the angels are to worship His Person and to serve His servants f. What then was the position from which Clirist condescended 1 Two stages of condescension are in- deed noted, one within and one beyond the Hmits of our Lord's Human Life. Being found in fashion as a Man, He voluntarily humbled Himself and be- came obedient unto death f^. But the earlier and the greater act of condescension was that whereby He had become Man out of a state of pre-existent gloryli. St. Paul constantly refers to the pre-existent Life of Jesus Christ. The Second Adam differs from the first in that He is ' from heaven"'.' When ancient Israel was wandering in the desert, Christ had been Himself invisibly present as Guardian and Sastainer of the Lord's people'*^. St. Paul is pleading on behalf of the poor Jewish Churches with their wealthier Corinthian brethren ; and he points to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, when He was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich^ Here Christ's eternal wealth is in e Col. i. i6 ; cf. p. 477. f Heb. i. 6, 14. S Phil. ii. 8 : (Tx^fxuTL evpe$€\s cos avdp(07T0s, €Ta7relvata€, . . popcprjv fiouXou Xa/Swi/. i I Cor. XV. 47 '. o SevT€pus avBpaitos [6 Kipios\ e'| ovpavov. Cf. Tert. adv. Marc. v. 10. k I Cor. X. 4 ; 7j 8e nerpa [the Tvirpa aKoKovQovcra commemorated by Jewish traditions] fjv 6 Xpiaros. Ibid. ver. 9 : iJ.rj8e (Kitdpa^aix^v tov XpiOToc, Ka6a>s Kal Tives avT&v (Trdpacrav. 1 2 Cor. viii. 9 : ytva>xfvei» heisst nieht arm icenlen, sondern arm sein), nioht iLis von Cliristo grfuhrte gaiisf Lti>en in Armuth imd Xiedrigkeit. wobei er gle.ich- wolil reicL an Gnade gewesen sei." (Meyer in > Cor. viii 9.) » 1 Tim. iii. 16: ((fxavp^Sif er ]TO^ eh Tov? atHva?. It was from the blood of Israel that the true Christ had sprung, so far as His Human Nature was concerned ; but Christ's Israelitic descent is, in the Apostle's eyes, so consummate a glory for Israel, because Christ is much more than one of the sons of men, because by reason of His Higher Pre-existent Nature He is " over all, God blessed for Phil. ii. 6; Col. i. 15. P Rom. ix. 5. VI.] God blessed for ever." 469 ever." This is the naturali sense of the passage. If the passage occurred in a profane author, and there were no anti- theological interest to be pro- moted, few men would think of overlooking the anti- thesis between Xpiaros to kutu a-dpKa and 6eoy eCXo- ytjTos^. Still less possible would it be to destroy this antithesis outright and impoverish the climax of the whole passage by cutting off the doxology from the clause which precedes it, and erecting it 1 Reuss, Th^ol. Chr. ii. 76, note. M. Reuss says that the Catho- lic interpretation of Rom. ix. g is " Texplication la plus simple et la plus naturelle." " Man hat hicr verschiedene Auswege gesucht, der Nothwendigkeit zu entgehen, [6] tl>v eVl ndvToiv Beds auf Christum zu beziehen ; aber bei jedem bieten sie solche Schwierigkeiten dar, die immer wieder auf die einfachste und von der Grammatik gebo- tene Auslegung zuriickfuhren." (Usteri, Entwickelung des Paulin- ischen Lehrbegriffes, p. 309.) That the text was understood in the early Church to apply to Jesus Christ will appear from S. Iren. iii. 16, 3 ; Tert. adv. Prax. 13 ; S. Hipp. c. Noet. 6. So Origen, Theodoret, S. Athan. Orat. c. Ar. i. 10, &c. It seems probable that the non-employment of so striking a passage by the Catholics during their earlier controversial struggles with the Arians is to be attributed to their fear of being charged with construing it in a Sabellian sense. (Cf Olsh. in loc. ; Reiche, Comm. ii. 268, note.) The language of the next age was unhesitating : elirev avrhv ' im navTav' . . . ' &e6v' . . . ' fiXoyijrAv' . . . e)(0VTes ovv tov Xpiirr6v Koi 8vTa B(6v Koi (vKoyr)T(iv, avra irpotTKUvfiaaiicv, S. Procl. ad Arm. (Labbe, iii. 1 23 1.) Wetstein erroneously assumed that those early fathers who refused to apply 6 iiA navTav Qeis to Christ, would have objected to the predicate actually employed by the Apostle, eVt nivTav Qeds. (Cf. Fritzche, Comm. in Rom. i. p. 262 sqq.) And indeed Socinus himself (see Tholuck in loc.) had no doubt of the reference of this passage to Christ ; although he explained it of a conferred, not of a 'natural' Divinity. (Cat. Rac. 159 sqq.) See too Dr. Vaughan, Comm. in loc. ■' Observe Rom. i. 3, where ix o-irepiiaTot Aa/3iS Kara trapxa is in contrast with vlov e€Ow . . . /cara TLvevpa 'Ayicocrvvrjs. 470 Christ is "over all, [Lect. into an independent ascription of praise to God the Father s. If we should admit that the doctrine of s As to the punctuation of this passage the early MSS. them- selves of course determine nothing ; but the citations and versions to -which Lachmann generally appeals for the formation of his text are decisively in favour of referring 6 &v to Xpitrrds. The Sabellian use of the text to prove that the Father became Man, and the orthodox replies shewing that this was not the sense of the pas- sage, equally assume that the doxological clause refers to Christ. Nothing can with safety be inferred as to the received reading in the Church from the general and of course prejudiced statement of the Emperor Julian, that t6>' •yoCi' 'It^o-oCk ovt( Uavkos iToKfirjaiv eliTe'iv 0c6v. S. Cyrill. cont. Jul. x. init., Op. tom. vi. p. 327. Two cursive MSS. of the twelfth century (5 and 47, cf Meyer), are the first which distinctly interpose a punctuation after crdpKa, and so erect the following clause into an independent doxology ad- dressed to God the Father. But the construction which is thus ren- dered necessary (i) makes the participle &v altogether superfluous. In 2 Cor. xi. 31, 6 Av d'KoyriTos ih tovs alavas is an exactly parallel construction to that of Kom. ix. 5. Nothing but strong anti-theo- logical bias can explain the facility with which the natural force of the passage is at once recognised in the former and denied in the latter case (see Prof. Jowett in loc, and Baur, Vorlesungen, p. 194, who begs the question, — " Christus ist noch wesentlich Mensch, nicht Gott."). It need scarcely be added that there is no authority for transposing 6 &v into &v 6, in order to evade the natural force of the participle. (2) The construction which the isolation of the clause renders necessary violates the invariable usage of Bibli- cal Greek. " If the Apostle had wished to express ' God, Who is over all, be blessed for ever,' he must, according to the unvar3dng usage of the New Testament and the LXX. (which follows the use of inn), have placed ei^ny-qrus first, and written eiXoyj^rof 6 !i>v K.r.\. There are about forty places in the Old Testament and five in the New in which this formula of doxology occurs, and in every case the arrangement is the same, ' Blessed be the God Who is over all, for ever.'" (Christ. Kern. April 1856, p. 469.) It may be added that in Ps. Ixvii. 19, LXX. (cited by Winer, N. T. Gr. Eng. Tr. p. 573), Kvpios 6 Qebs evKoyrjros, ciXoyj/TOf Kvptos, the first YI.] God blessed/or ever." 471 Christ's Gk»dhead is not stated in this precise form elsewhere in St Paul's writings ^ that admission cannot be held to jiistily ns in violently breaking up the passage in order to escape firom its natural meaning. Xor in point of fact does St. Paul say evXoyijros has no corresponding -srord in the Hebrew text, and appeals to be interpolated. Dean Alford observes that i Kings X. 6 ; 2 Chron. ix. 8 ; Job i. 21 ; Ps. exiL 3. are not exceptions : " since in all of them the Terb eu; or y^rotm is expressed, requiring the sutstantive to foUow it closelj-." TVe maybe Teiy certain that, if riri Komar ©fos conld be proTed to be an un'srarranted reading, no scholar, however Soeinianiring his bias, wotild hesitate to say that o S>r rfXoyifros k.tX, shoidd be referred to the proper name which precedes it. ' Oht Lord is not, we are reminded, called rfXoyijTos elsewhere in the Xew Testament. Bnt HXayqitiims is certainlv applied to Him, St. Matt, xxi 9 ; St. Luke xix. ;S : and as ri^ards rfXo- ■yipw, the remarkable fewness of doxologies addressed to Him might accoimt for the omission. The predicate could only be refused to Him on the ground of His being, in the belief of St. Paid, merely a creature. It is arbitrary to maintain that no word can possibly be applied to a given subject because there is not a second instance of such application within a limited series of boots. Against ori nmar Sfdi, besides the foresroing objection. it is farther urged that it cannot be applied to our Lord, Who. although eons!ubstantial with, is subordinate to, the Eternal Father, and withal personally distinct from Him : c£ Eph. iv. 5 ; i Cor. viiL 6, where, however. His Manhood, as beiag essential to His mediation, is specially in the Apostle's eye. But St. Paid does not call our Lord 6 eiri mirraw 8a>s — the article would lay the expression open to a direct SabeUian construction ; St. Paid s;iys that Christ is «■! ramar Oecj. where the Father of course is cot included among TO vnara. I Cor. xviL 27 ; and the sense correspocas substsntially with Acts X. 36. Kom. x. 12. It asserts that Christ is internal to the Divine Essence, without denying His personal distiuotaess frtnn, or His filial relation t<>. the Father. C£ Alford in loc. : Ustm, Entwiekehmg des Panlinisehen Lehrbegrines. p. 300 sqq. : Olshaasen, Camm. in loo. 472 Christ is "our Great God and Saviour." [Lect. more in this famous text than when in writing to Titus he describes Christians as "looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us"." Here the grammar apparently, and the context certainly, oblige us to recognise the identity of " our Saviour Jesus Christ " and " o\a Great God." As a matter of fact. Christians are not waiting for any manifestation of the Father. And He Who gave Himself for us can be none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Reference has already been made to that most solemn passage in the Epistle to the Philippians, which is read by the Church in the Communion ^ Tit. ii. 13; TTpo(jhe-j(6ii^voi TTjV {xaKaptav iXTrida Kal iTTKJidveiav rrjs 60^7/? Tov peyaKov Qeov Koi '2o)Trjpos r][jLO)v 'li](rov XptaroVj os eSojKei/ iavTov imp r^p.av. " Nicht Gott und Christus, sondern bloss Chris- tus gemeint ist ; denn es ist von der herrliohen Wiederkunft Cliristi die Kede, und eine Erscheinung Gottes (of the Father) auzuneh- men, ware ausser aller Analog! e ; auch bediirfte Gott der Vater nicht erst des erhebenden und preisenden epithets p-eyas, viehxiehr deutet auch dieses auf Christum:" (Usteri, LehrbegriiF, j3. 310.) To these arguments Bishop Ellicott adds tliat the subsequent allusion to our Lord's profound Self-humiliation accounts for St. Paul's ascribing to Him, by way of reparation, " a title, otherwise unusual, that specially and antithetically marks His glory," and that two ante-Nicene writers, Clemens Alexandr. (Protrep. 7) and St. Hip- polytus, together with the great bulk of post-Nicene fathers, al- though not all, concur in this interpretation. And the bishop holds that grammatically there is a presumption in favour of this interpretation, but, on account of the defining genitive fjpwv, nothing more. Nevertheless, taking the great strength of the exegetical evidence into account, he sees in this text a " direct, definite, and even studied declaration of the Divinity of the Eternal Son." See his note, and Wordsworth in loc. ; Middleton, Greek Article, ed. Kose, p. 393. VI.] Christ "thought it not robbery to eqiial God." 473 Service on Palm Sunday ^, in order, as it would seem, to remind Christians of the real dignity of their suffering Lord. Our Lord's Divine Nature is here represented as the seat of His Eternal Personality ; His Human Nature is a clothing which He assumed m Time. Ev fiopcprj Qeov inrap-^uiv, .... €auTOv eKevunre, ixop(phv SoiiXov Xa/3(ivy. It is impossible not to be struck by the mysterious statement that Christ, being in the form of God, did not look upon equahty with God (to eti/ai ta-a Qew) as a prize to be jealously clutched at [ovk dpirayfj-ov ^yija-aro). It has been maintained that St. Paul is here contrasting the apostolic behef in our Lord's condescending love with an early Gnostic speculation respecting an JKon. This ^on desired to grasp directly, and by a violent assault, the invisible and incomprehensible God ; whereas God could only be really known to and con- templated by the Monogenes. The ambition of the ^ See Epistle for Sunday next before Easter. y Phil. ii. 6, 7. " Die Gnostiker spraohen von einem Aeon, wel- cher das absolute Wesen Gottes auf unmittelbare Weise erfassen wollte, und well er so das an sich Unmogliche erstrebte aus dem TrXrjpaifia in das Kevafia herabfiel. Dieser Aeon begieng so gleichsani einem Eaub, well er, der in der Qualitat eines gottlichen Wesens an sich die Fahigkeit hatte, sich mit dem Absoluten zu vereinigen, diese Identitat, welche erst durch den ganzen Weltprocess realisirt werden konnte, gleichsam sprungweise, mit Einem Male, durch einem gewaltsamen Act, oder wie durch einen Kaub an sich reissen wollte. So erhalt erst die bildliche vorstellung eines apvayiios ihre ergentliche Bedeutung." (Baur, Vorlesungen, p. 266.) Compare, how- ever, Meyer, Philipperbrief, p. 68, Anmerkung. Baur has spun a large web out of St. Irenseus, Cont. Hser. I. 2. i. 2. The notion that the ^on sought to attain an identity with God,— and this assumption is necessary in order to construct a real parallel with St. Paul's words,— has no foundation in the text of St, Irenasus. Ire- rogatives which a creatun; could not have ;i,rTogat(;d to hnrjsclf without imjtious folly''. Oliristians a-re to have in themselves the Mind of Christ .l(;sus ; but what thiit Mind is they can only understand by '' Tlii; Arian gloss upon thlH text run tlnis : iWi 6eus tov tXarraiv ovx rjpnaa-E to fLvat lira Tta Ofoi rw /xf-yaXw Koi jiil^iwi. St. (JIirVHOHtom comments thuH : Ktn jxmpoi Kai fityut 0fot ei/t ; km tIi 'KXXr;i'tici this r^t fKKKrjalns hoyjuiaiv tTTfLadyfTe ; ... Ei yap fUKpus, ttwp ku\ Ordv ; n-foin. vi. in loc.) Tl]e popcjir/ 6(nv JH a))|>iircntly the irjiuiircHtrd glory oC Deity, imjilying of (-ourHi' tlio rciility of tlio Deity ho miinifeHtcd. Com|iiiri; fjo|(i, St. .John xvii. ti- ^>^ thiH piipv ayyeXcov TrporepoSj Kol ovrtos^ w(TT€ koi avroy €KrifT€V avTOvs. (Theophyl. in loc.) Christ is not the first of created spirits ; He exists before them, and as One 'begotten not made.' "Deic genit. ttuo-tjs Kn'o-ftur ist nicht Genit. partitiv. (obwohl diess noch de Wette fiir unzweifel- haft halt), weil naaa KTia-19 nicht die ganze Schbpfung heisst, mithin nicht die Kategorie oder Gesaniiniheit aussagen kann, zu welcher Christus als ihr erstgebornes Individuum gehore: es heisst, jecl- ivedes Geschopf (s. Bernhardy, ]i. 139) d. h. eher geboren als jedes Geschopf. Vrgl. Bahr z. St. u. Ernesti Ursprung d. Siinde, p. 241. Anders ist das Verhaltniss Apoc. i. 5: npaTOTOKos tS>v veKpav, wo tSiv ueKpmi/ die Kategorie anzeigt, vrgl. npcoTOTOKos iv noWois a&ek<^ois (Kom. viii. 29). Unser Genit. ist ganz zu fassen wie der ver- gleiehende. Genit. bei npStTos Job. i. 15, 30; Winer, p. 218; Fritzsche ad Rom. ii. p. 421. Das Vergleichungs -Moment ist das Verhaltniss der Zeit, und zwar in Betreff des Ursprungs : da aber letzterer bei jeder Krtiris anders ist als bei Christo, so ist nicht npioTOKTicrros oder TrparoTrXaiTTos gesagt, Welches von Christo cine gleiche Art der Enstehung wie von der Creatur anzeigen wiirde, sondern TTpcororoKos gewahlt, welches in der Zeitvergleichung des Ursprungs die Absonderliche Art der Enstehung in BetrefF Ghristi anzeigt, dass er namlich von Gott nicht geschaffen sei, wie die andei-en Wesen, bei denen diess in der Benenuung ktIo-ls liegt, sondern geboren, aus dem Wesen Gottes gleichartig hervorgegangen. Richtig Theodoret : oi;^ as d8e\cj)r]V ex^av Tijf KTia-iv, dXX' as irpb ndixris KTio-eas yevvrjSels. Wortwidrig ist daher die Arianische Erklarung, dass Christus als das erste Geschopf Gottes bezeichnet werde." Meyer, Kolosserbrief, p. 184. VI.] Christ the Author and the End of created life. 477 but it is also the only sense wticli is in real harmony with the relation in which, according to the context, Christ is said to stand to the created universe. That relation, according to St. Paul, is threefold. Of all things in earth and heaven, of things seen and unseen, of the various orders of the angelic hierarchy, of thrones, of dominions, of princi- palities, of powers — it is said that they were cre- ated in Christ, by Christ, and for Christ. 'E;/ ain-Qi, CKTicrdi] . . . . ot avTOv, /cai eiy aiiTOv eKTicrrai^. In Hlin. There was no creative process external to and in- depcDdent of Him ; since the archetypal forms after which the creatiires are modelled and the sources of their strength and consistency of being, eternally reside in Himf. By Him. The force which has summoned the worlds out of nothingness into being, ® Compare Rom. xi. 36 : i^ airov kqI St' avrov koX els avTov TOL navra. As in this passage tlie Apostle is speaking of God, without hinting at any distinction of Persons witliin the Godhead, he writes €| airov, not iv aira. The Eternal Father is the ultimate Source of all life, both intra and extra Deum ; while the production of created beings depends immediately upon the Son. The other two prepositions — the last being theologically of most import — correspond in the two passages. f eKTlcrdr] describes the act of creation ; eKrla-rai points to creation as a completed and enduring fact. In tV alra, the preposition signifies that " in Christo beruhete (ursaohlich) der Act der Schop- fung, so dass die Vollziehung derselben in Seinen Person hegriindet war, und ohne ihn nicht geschehen ware." Cf. St. John i. 3 : x"P's avTov lyiviTo ovhi iv, o yiyovtv. But although the preposition im- mediately expresses the dependence of created life upon Christ as its cause, it hints at the reason of this dependence, namely, that our Divine Lord is the causa exemplaris of creation, the Ko(Tp.os voTiToi, the Archetype of all created things, "die Dinge ihrer Idee nach, Selbst, er triigt ihre Wesenheit in sich." (Olshausen in loc.) 478 Christ the Author and the MA of created life. [Lbct. and which upholds them in being, is His ; He wields it ; He is the One Producer and Sustainer of all created existence. For Him. He is not, as Arianism afterwards pretended, merely an inferior workman, creating for the glory of a higher Master, for a God superior to Himself. He creates for Himself; He is the End of created things as well as their immediate Source ; and living for Him is to every creature at once the explanation and the law of its being. For " He is before all things, and by Him all things con- sist?." After such a statement it follows naturally that the TrXnpiafj-a, that is to say, the entire cycle of the Divine attributes, considered as a series of powers or forces, dwells in Jesus Christ ; and this, not in any merely ideal or transcendental manner, but with that actual reality which men attach to the presence of material bodies which they can feel and measure through the organs of sense. 'Ei/ avrw KarotKet -wav to TrXripw/xa T^s QeoTtjTO'i Ibid. iil. 5) 6 : koX Mmo-i}? fxh ttio-tos iv oXo) tSi o"koi avTov, a>t BepaTTOjVy .... Xpiaros 6e, cor utos eVi rov oiKov avTOv^ ov oIkos icrjuv rifids. The preceding words are yet more noteworthy : Moses and the house of Israel stand to Jesus Christ in the relation of creature to the Creator. Ti-'Keiofos yap fidjijf ovtos napa Maxrrjv r/^iaTai, Ka6' odov TrXfiOva rtfJLrjV €)(€t tov oIkov 6 Karao'Kevda-as avTov. na^ yap oiko^ KaTaiTKfvd^eTal ino Tims' 6 Se ra iravra KaTacrKtvaaas (sc. .JesUS Christ), efdf. So too the ano &eov fa)i/70f of ver. 1 2 refers most naturally to our Lord, not to the Father. ^ Ibid. i. I ; TroXu/i/ptos Kat TroXurpoTTo)? TrciXat d 0edy XaXijcras rots Trarpdinv iv rois ■npor)Tais . VI.] Christ served and worshipped by the Angels. 481 theologians had laid miich stress upon the delivery of the Sinaitic Law through the agency of angels acting as delegates for the Most High God". The Author of Christianity might be superior to Moses and the prophets, but could He challenge com- parison with those pure and mighty spirits before whom the greatest of the sons of Israel, as beings of flesh and blood, were insignificant and sinful 1 The answer is, that if Christ is not the peer of the angels, this is because He is their Lord and Master. The angels are ministers of the Divine WiU ; they are engaged in stated services enjoined on them towards creatures lower than themselves, but re- deemed by Christ P. But He, in His glory above the heavens, is invested with attributes to which the highest angel could never pretend. In His crucified but now enthroned Humanity He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on highl; He is seated there, as beiag Heir of all things'" ; the angels them- selves are but a part of His vast inheritance. The dignity of His titles is symbolical of His essential rank^ Indeed He is expressly addressed as God^= ; Heb. ii. 2 : 6 hC iyyeXav XaXrjdeis Xo'yor. Acts vii. 38 : /ifTo Tov ayyeXov tov \a\ovvTos airoj eV tm opet 2wa. Ibid. ver. 53- o"'"'" (^a- Bere tov mixov ds Siarayas ayyeXwv. Gal. iii. 19: 6 j/o/iot . . . npocreTedr] . , . dtarayets 5t ayyeXtov. P Ibid. i. 1 4 ; XeiTovpyiKa nvcvy.aTa, els bianovlav ai!0(jTiK\6p(va 8ta Toi'S fieWovrns KXrjponofMHV (Ta>Tr)p'iav. Q Ibid. ver. 3 : ^Kadtcrcv iv 8e|ia ttjs iMeyaXaaivrjs iv i\//-;;XoIf. '' Ibid. ver. 2 : KKrjpovofiov vavrav. 8 Ibid. ver. 4 : too-ovto) xpttTTav yevofieuos TUiv ayyiXav, octo oiacpopw- T€pov Trap* avTovs K£K\T]povop.t]K€v 'ovop.a. t Ibid. ver. 8 : wpos Se tov \wv, '6 Bpovos a-ov, 6 0eos, fls TOV alava TOV alavos.' Ps. xlv. 6. I i 482 Christ served and worshipped ly the Angels. [Lect. and when He is termed the Son of God, or the Son, the full sense of that term is drawn out in lan- guage adopted, as it seems, from the Book of Wis- dom ^i, and not less explicit than that which we have been considering in the Epistle to the Colos- sians, although of a distinct type. That He is One with God as having streamed forth eternally from the Fathers Essence, like a ray of light from the parent fire with which it is unbrokenly joined, is implied in the expression airavya(Tixa t»7? S6^}j?^. That He is both personally distinct from, and yet literally equal to, Him of Whose Essence He is the adequate imprint, is taught vis in the phrase -^apuKTrip rtjs inrocrracrewsy. By Him, therefore, the universe was made^; and at this moment all things are preserved and upheld in being by the fiat of His almighty word*. What created angel can possibly compare with Him ? In the Name which He bears and which unveils His Nature'^ ; in the honours which the heavenly intelligences themselves may not refuse to pay Him, even at the moment of His profound Self-humiliation c ; in the contrast between their ministerial duties and His Divine and unchanging Royalty''; in His relationship both to earth and heaven as their Creator •= ; and in the majestic cer- ^ Wisd. vii. 26; cf. p. 94. ^ Heb. i. 3. 'Ibid. ^ Heb. i. 2 : ^l uv Kal tovs alavas itrolrjirev. ^ Ibid. ver. 3 : cpepiov re ra Tvavra rw prjfiaTi ttjs fiuvd/iews avrov, ^ Ibid. ver. 5 : Yiot pov el a-i. ^ Ibid. ver. 6 : irpoaKwriadTttiO-av avTM navTcs ayyeXoi Qfov, Psalm xcvii. 7. d Heb. i. 7-9, 14. s Ibid. ver. I O : o-u kot apxas, Kvpif, rrjv yrjv edfiifXicocras, Kal (pya TU)V \fipo3V aov ilalp ol ovpavoi. VI.] Tie doctr'iHe nof eotifiied io jtariieular tejrts of St. PauL 483 tainty of His triumph OTer all "who shall oppose the advance of His kingdom f- — we i-ecognise a Being, for Whose Person, although It be clothed in a finite Hmnan Nature ?. there is no real place between hu- manitT and God. While the Epistle to the Hebrews lays almost more emphasis than any other book of the New Testament upon Chiist's true Humanity^*, it is nevertheless certain that no other book more exph- citly asserts the reality of His Divine prerogatives. 3. Enough has been said, my brethren, to shew that the Apostle Paul believed in the Di^■^nity of Jesus Christ, not in the moral sense of Socinianism, not in the ditheistic sense of Arianism. but in the hteral, metaphysical, and absolute sense of the CathoKo Church. Those passages in his writings which may appear to interfere with this conclusion are certainly to be referred either to his anxiety to insist upon the reality of ovnr Lord s Manhood, or to his I'eeog- nition of the truth that Christ "s Eternal Sonship is Itself derived finom the Person of the Father. From the Fathei- Christ eternally receives an equality of life and power, and to Him therefore, as a recipient. He is in a sense subordinate. We have indeed al- ready seen that Christ "s eternal derivation firom the Father is set forth nowhere more fiilly than in the Gospel of St, John, and by the mouth of our Lord Himself. But the doctrine before us, as it lies in the writings of St. PauL is not to be only measured by an analysis of those particular texts ' Heb. L 13: wpoi jxra 8e Ti» v ; ' 5 Ibid. iii. 2 : i-iCTTOir orro r^ ■«>«7<"I»ti arror. ^ Ibid. ii. 14. iS; iv. 15: t. 7. I i 2 484 The doctrine hound up ivith St. Paul's loJiole mind. [Lect. which proclaim it in terms. The doctrine is not in suspense until such time as the critics may have finally decided by their microscopical and chemical apparatus whether the bar of the 6 in a famous pas- sage of St. Paul's first Epistle to Timothy is or is not really discoverable in the Alexandrian manuscript. The doctrine lies too deep to be afiected by such contingencies. It is indeed, as we have seen, as- serted by St. Paul with sufficient explicitness ; but it is implied more widely than it is, asserted. Just as it is inseparable from the whole didactic activity of our Lord Himself, so is it mextricably interwoven with the deepest and most vital teaching of His Apostle. You cannot make St. Paul a preacher of Humanitarianism without warping, mutilating, de- grading his whole recorded mind. Particular texts, when duly isolated from the Apostle's general mind, may be pressed with plausible effect into the ser- vice of Arian or Humanitarian theories ; but take St. Paul's teaching as a whole, and you must admit that it centres in One Who is at once and truly God as well as Man. St. Paul never speaks of Jesus Christ as a pupil of less genius and originality might speak of a master in moral truth, whose ideas he was recom- mending, expanding, defining, defending, popular- izing, among the men of a later generation. St. Paul never professes to be working on the common level of human power and knowledge with a master from whom he differed, as an inferior teacher might differ, only in the degree of his capacity and authority. St. Paul always writes and speaks as becomes the slave of Jesus. He is indeed a most willing VI.] Christology of St: Paul's missionary/ sermons. 485 and enthusiastic slave, reverently gathering up and passionately enforcing all that touches the work and glory of that Divine Master to Whom he has freely consecrated his hberty and his life. In St. Paul's earliest sermons we do not find the moral precepts of Jesus a more prominent element than the glories of His Person and His redemptive work. That the reverse is the case is at once apparent from a study of the great discourse which was pro- nounced in the synagogue of the Pisidian Antioch. The past history of Israel is first summarized from a point of view which regards it as purely prepara- tory to the manifestation of the Saviour i ; and then the true Messiahship of Jesus is enforced by an ap- peal to the testimony of John the Baptist^, to the cor- respondence of the circumstances of Christ's Death with the prophetic announcements l, and to the histo- rical fact of His Eesurrection from the grave^^, which had been witnessed by the apostles as distinctly "^ as it had been foretold by the prophets °. Thus the Apostle reaches his practical conclusion. To believe in Jesus Christ is the one condition of receivinsr re- mission of sins and (how strangely must such words have sounded in Jewish ears !) justification from aU things from which men could not be justified by the divinely- given law of Moses?. To deny Jesus Christ is to incur those penalties which the Hebrew J Acts xiii. 17-23. '^ Ibid. vers. 24, 25. 1 Ibid. vers. 26-30. ™ Ibid. ver. 30. ^ Ibid. ver. 31. " Ibid. vers. 32-37. P Ibid. vers. 38, 39 : 81a tovtov vjiiv a(p€cns afiaprtav KarayyeWfTaf Koi OTTO TTavTtov hv oitK r]dvvrj6rjTf iv T6> vo/iO) MojuVeoj? dtKactodTJvat, iv tovtriTais' '"iSfTe, oi KaracppoiiriTai, Kal SavfidcraTf kol cKpavla-BrjTe' on epyov iyai epya^opm iv Tals rjfie'paLs vprnv.' Hab. i. 5. r Acts xvii. 1 8 : ^ivav Saipoviav SoKel KarnyyeXevs etvai. 8 Ibid. vers. 24, 25. * Ibid. vers. 26-28. " Ibid. vers. 29, 30. ^ Ibid. ver. 31. \I.] C.'iriyto^O(}i/ of Sf. P<7;!/'g (ijjoloffefic discourses. 487 the strand of Miletus. Here the Apostles address moves iueessautly roimd the Person of Jesiis. He protests that to lead men to repentance towards God and faith towards the Lord Jesns Christ-^, had been the smgle object of his pttblic and private ministrations at Ephesus. He counts not his life dear to himself, if only he can complete the mis- sion which is so precious to him because he has received it li-om the Lord Jestis^. The presbyters are bidden to " shepherd the Church of God which He has pm-chased with His Oavu Blood'';" and the Apostle conchides by e^^uoting a saying of the Lord Jesus which has not been recorded in the Gospels. but which was then reverentlv treasmed in the Chtuvh, to the eflect that " it is more blessed to ofive than to receive ^\' lu the two apologetic discourses delivered, the one from the stairs of the tower of Antonia before the angiy multitude, and the other in the council - chamber at Ca?sarea before King Agrippa II. of Chalcis. St. Paid iustities his missionary activitv bv dwelling upon the cii'cmustances which accompanied y Acts XX. 21 : ^iciuapr\'f)o^€yoi .... rr^y ils Toy Qiov /Ljfrarciar. Kat Ti.TTij' T'-y m Toy Kfjioj' 'jfiun- Iiytjoij' X^ncrroT'. z Ibid. ver. ;4. ■'' Ibid. XX. jS: -Ci^iiyeiv Try eKn\ycr[ay to\ OfoC [Kiyiioi. Tisoll. al.] r.y 7rfpte~ci''t^aro Sta tci a'lujTos Toi ii^iov. .See I)i*. W ords^orth's note in loc. In tie thii-d edition of his Greek Testament Dean Alfoi-d i-estored tlie readins: roC t»eoC, which he had abandoned for Kvpiov in the two former editions. Xothing Ciin be added to the ai-gii- ment of tie note in his fifth edition. For Kipiov are A. C. D. £ ; for 6for. B. S. Syr.. Vulg. ^ Ibid. xxii. :; - : iirT-^oj'fifo- t€ Tci^y \6)u}y to\ Kiyioi' Irj-o; . or; QiToi ciVf. ' >Li*:ki.?iL'j' €cm ftoXXo)' diSorai tj XauSaifiy. 488 Christology of St. Paul's apologetic discourses. [Lect. and immediately followed his conversion. Everything had turned upon a fact which the Apostle abundantly insists upon, — he had received a revelation of Jesus Christ in His heavenly glory. It was Jesus Who had spoken to St. Paul from heaven °; it was Jesus Who had revealed Himself as persecuted in His suifering Church ff, 6ta ^Irjcrov XpioroO tov Scorijpoj rjpcov, LVa diKatcodevTCS rfj iKelvov x^P^-'^'f-j KXrjpovopot yevSpeOa KaT iXnlda fcoij? alcovlov. Although in Tit. iii. 4 SojT^po? Seov refers to the Father, it is Jesus Christ our Saviour through Whom He has given the Spirit and the sacraments, the grace of justification, and inheritance of eternal life. Jesus is the more prominent Subject of the hymn. Compare YI.] Tlie Christ of the Ejjisne to the Soma/is. 491 thanksgivings and doxologies poured forth to His praise 1. It alone can explain the application of passages, which are used in the Old Testament of the Lord Jehovah, to the Person of Jesus Clirist '' ; snch an apphcation woidd have been impossible lui- less St. Paul had renounced his belief in the autho- rity and sacred character of the Hebrew Scriptures, or had explicitly recognised the truth that Jesus Christ was Himself Jehovah visiting and redeemino- His people. JNIark too how the truth before us enters into the leading topics of St. Patil's great Epistles ; how it is presupposed even wheie it is not as- serted in terms. Does that picttne of the future Judge Whose Second Condng is again and again brought before us in the Epistles to the Thessa- lonians befit one who is not Divine ^ I Is it pos- sible that the Justifier of htunanity in the Epistles to the Romans and the Galatians can be only a hiunan martvr after all ? Why then is the efiect of His Death so distinct in Idnd from any which has followed upon the martyrdom of His ser^-ants' I the fragment of a hymn on penitence, based on Isa. Ix. i, and quoted in Eph. v. 14. eyeipai 6 Kadevdoyv KaL dvdcTTa « twp v^Kpwv, Ka\ €Ki(l)av(7ei tjoi 6 Xptcrroff. ^ Rom. ix. V I Tim. i. 12 : X^P^^ ^X^ ^"^ ^t'^^i^cip-f^O'cim-i ^e Xpfcrrw ^lljaOV TO) KvpicO TJp.O>V K.T.\. r e.g. Joel ii. 32 in Eom. x. 13 ; Jer. ix. 2^. 24 in i Cor. i. 31. etc. 5 I Thess. iv. 16, 17:2 Thess, i. 7, S ; ii. S. t Eom. iii. 25, 26: Gal. ii. 16. etc. St. Paul's argimient in Gal. iii. 20 implies our Lord's Divinity : since, if He is merely Human. He -n-ould be a mediator in the same sense in which Moses was a mediator. The /nfcriTTjf of i Tim. ii. 5 is altogether higher. 492 The Christ of the Epistles to the Corinthians. [Lect. How comes it that by dying He has achieved that restoration of man to the rightful relations of his being towards God and moral truth", wliich the law of nature and the Law of Sinai had ahke failed to secure ? Does not the whole representation of the Second Adam in the Epistle to the Romans and in the first Epistle to the Corinthians point to a dignity more than human \ Can He Who is not merely a living soul, but a quickening Spirit ; from Whom Hfe radiates throughout renewed humanity; from Whom there flows a stream of grace more abundant than the inheritance of sin which was bequeathed by our fallen parent, — can He be, in the Apostle's mind, merely one of the race which He thus blesses and saves % And if Jesus Christ be more than man, is it possible to suggest any inter- mediate position between humanity and the throne of God, which St. Paul, with his earnest belief in the God of Israel, could have beheved Him to occupy ? In the Epistles to the Cormthians St. Paul is not especially maintaining any one great truth of reve- lation, but is entering with practical versatility into the varied active life and pressing wants of the Church. Yet these Epistles might alone sufiice to shew the position which Jesus Christ holds in the Apostle's heart and thought. Is the Apostle con- trasting his preaching with the philosophy of the Greek and the hopes of the Jewish world around him \ Jesus crucified^ is his central subject ; Jesus ^ hiKaiofjvvr]. ^ I Cor. i. 23, 24: r)^(is 8f Kr)pvfj,a Xpicxrov Kal fie'Xi; ck fiipovs. Thus he even identifies the Church with Christ. Ibid. ver. 12 : KaOdirep yap to aajpia cv eart, Ka\ p^^ ^X^^ TToWa .... ovto} Ka\ 6 XpKTTOi. ^ Ibid. vi. 1 g : ovk otSare OTi TO trmpara vpav peXr] XpicTTOv iariv ; 2 Cor. xiii. 5 : ^ ovk emyivaa-KeTe eavTovs, on 'Irjaovs Xpia-Tos fV vplv idTiv ; ft pri ti aboKipol earf . d I Cor. V. 4, 5 : iv tS ompaTi tov Kvplov fjpav 'Irjo-ov, .... avy TJi fiwd^et Toil Kvpiov rjpmv 'lr]tTov XptcFTOV napaSovvai tov towvtov tm SaTava. 2 Cor. ii. 10: Kal yap iyoi el ti KexapKrpai, & Kexap'crpai, 81 vpas, iv ■n-poa-an-a XpicrroO, "iva prj ■n'XioveKTrjBapev vno Toii laTava. 494 The Christ of the Epistles to the Corinthians. [Lect. Which he does not " discern e." Is he pointing to the source of the soul's birth and growth in the life of light % It is the " illumination of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the Image of God ; " it is the "illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the Person of Jesus Christ f." Is he de- scribing the spirit of the Christian life 1 It is per- petual self-mortification for the love of Jesus, that the moral hfe of Jesus may be manifested to the world in our frail human nature s. Is he sketching- out the intellectual aim of his ministry 1 Every thought is to be brought as a captive into submis- sion to Christ'^. Is he unveiling the motive which sustained him in his manifold sufferings 1 All was undergone for Christ *. Is he suffering from a severe bodily or spiritual afl&iction % He prays three times to Jesus Christ for relief ; and when he is told that the trial will not be removed, since in having Christ's ® I Cor. X, l6; ro TTorr^piov Trjs elXoyias o euXoyou/xey, ov)(l Koivwvla Toil ailMUTOS TOV Xpt(TTOV itTTi ; TOV apTOV OV kKw^EVj OVxi KOLV(aVLa TOV o'a)p.aTQS TOV XptaTov iuTi ; Ibid. xi. 27 : os av eaOtj] tov npTov tovtov T) TTlVTj TO TTOTrjpLOV TOV KvploV dva^itOS, eVO^OS €p.a tov Kvpiov. f 2 Cor. iv. 4. The god of this world has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers, els to p-r/ avyaa-ai avTols TOV (p(ori(rp6v tov evayye\iov Trjs 86^T]s TOV XpLO-Tov, Off i(TTiv iiKcbv TOV 0eoO. On tliG Other hand, God, Who bade light shine out of darkness, has shined in the hearts of believing Christians, irpoi (paTia-pov ttjs yvaa-tas t^s 8d^i;s TOV e€o{; eV Trpoa-uinto 'irjaov Xpiarov (ver. 6). S Ibid. ver. 10: Iva koI 17 fm?) to£) 'lijiroO iv T& ampaTi fjp.S>v (pavc- p^6fj. "^ Ibid. X. 5 : alxpaXmTtCovTes ndv vorjpa fls ttjv vnaKofjV tov XpiaTOv. 1 Ibid. xii. 10: evdoKw iv dcrOeveiaiSj iv v^pefjLV^ iv dvdyKaLS^ iv 6t(u- ypols, iv a-T€VO^t\('i TOV Kvpiov 'Jyaovv Xpicrroc, fJTOi avddfpa, papav add, Ibid. ver. 23. p 2 Cor. xiii. 13. 496 The Christ of the Epistles of the First Imprisonment. [Lect. are most entirely without the form and method of a doctrinal treatise, dealing as they do with the varied contemporary interests and controversies of a local Church. Certainly some of these texts taken alone do not assert the Divinity of Jesus Christ. But put them together ; add, as you might add, to their number ; and consider whether the whole body of language before you, however you interpret it, does not imply that Christ held a place in the thought, affections, and teaching of St. Paul, higher than that which a sincere Theist would assign to any creature, and, if Christ be only a creature, obviously inconsistent with the supreme and exacting rights of God. It is not the teaching, but the Person and Work of Jesus Christ, upon which St. Paul's eye is mainly fixed : Christ Him- self is, in St. Paid's mind, the Gospel of Christ ; and if Christ be not God, St. Paul cannot be ac- quitted of assigning to Him generally a prominence which is inconsistent with loyalty to a serious monotheism. Still more remarkably do the Epistles of the First Imprisonment present us with a picture of our Lord's Work and Person which absolutely demands, even where it does not in terms assert, the doctrine of His Divinity. The Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians are even more intimately related to each other than are those to the Romans and the Galatians. They deal with the same fines of truth ; they differ only in method of treatment. That to the Ephesians is devotional and expository ; that to the Colossians is polemical. In the Colossians the dignity of Christ's Person is asserted most explicitly VI.] The Christ of the Epistles of the First Imprisonment. 497 as against the speculations of a Judaizing tlieosopliy wHcli degraded Christ to the rank of an archangel i, and which recommended an asceticism based on cer- tain naturalistic doctrines as a substitute for Christ's redemptive work''. In the Epistle to the Ephesians owe Lord's Personal dignity is asserted more indi- rectly. It is implied in His reconciliation of the Jewish and heathen worlds to each other and to God, and still more in His relationship to the pre- destination of the saints®. In both Epistles we en- counter two prominent lines of thought, each, in a high degree, pointing to Christ's Divine dignity. The first, the absolute character of the Christian faith as contrasted with the relative character of heathenism and Judaism*; the second, the re-creative 1 Baur, Vorlesungen, p. 274: "Die im Colosserbrief gemeinten Engelsverehrer setzten ohne Zweifel Chi'istus selbst in die Classe der Engel, als era Tmv apxayyeXmv, wie diess Epiphanius als einen Lelirsatz der Ebioniten angibt, wogegen der Colosserbrief mit allem Nacbdi-uck auf ein solches Kpare'iv rfjv Ke(j)aXfjv dringt, dass alles, was nicbt das Haupt selbst ist, nur in einem Absoluten Abbangigkeits- verhaltniss zu Ihm stehend gedaoht wird. ii. 19." r Ibid. 6 Ibid. p. 270: "Der transoendenten Christologie dieser Briefe und ibrer darauf beruhenden Anschauung von dem alles umfas- senden und tiber alles libergreifenden Charakter des Cbristen- thums ist es ganz gemass, dass sie in der Lehre von der Beseligung der Menscben auf eine iiberzeitlicbe Vorberbestimmung zuriick- gehen, Eph. i. 4, £" t Ibid. p. 273: "So ist aucb die absolute Erbabenbeit des Cbristentbums iiber Judentbum und Heidenthum ausgespro- cben. Beide verhalten sich gleicb negativ (but by no means in the same degree) zum Christenthum, das ihnen gegeniiber 6 Xoyos rrjt dXrjdeias ist Eph. i. 1 3, oder c^ws im Gegensatz von o-KoVof (v. 8). Die Juden und die Heiden waren wegen der allgemeinen Kk 498 The Christ of the Ejnstles of the First Imprisonment. [Lect. power of the grace of Christ ". In both Epistles we are brought face to face with the Church considered as a vast spiritual society^ which, besides embracing as its heritage all races of the world, pierces the veil of the unseen, and includes the families of heaven y in its majestic compass. Of this society Christ is the Head'-, and it is "His Body, the fulness of Him That fiUeth all in all." Christ is the pre- destined point of unity in which earth and heaven, Jew and Gentile, meet and are one^. Christ's Death is the triumph of peace in the spiritual world ; and this, not only through the taking away of the law of condemnation by the Dying Christ Who nails it to His Cross and openly trivimphs over the powers of darkness ^\ but also and especially because the Suudhaftigkeit dem gottlichen Zorn verfallen, Eph. ii. 3. Dei- religiose Charakter des Heidenthums wird iioeh besonders dadurch bezeichnet, dass die Heiden adcoi iv ra Koa-ji-a sind (ii. 12), cVko- raifxivoi rfj biai/oia oires (iv. 18), dirrjWoTpiafxepot ttjs C^rj^ roC 06oO dca rrjv dyvoiav rrjv ovo-av €v auroif (iv. 18), TvepiiraTovvT^s Kara tov aiwva Tov KOfjfxov TOVTOV Kara rhv ap^nvra rrj^ e^ovtrlas tou aepoi (ll. 2j. Beiden Religionen gegeniiber ist das Christentlium die absolute Reliffion. Der absolute Cbarakter des Clmstenthums selbst aber o ist bediugt duroh die Pei-son Christi." u Col. iii. 9; Epli. iv. 21 sqq.; cf. Ibid. ii. 8-10. Baur, Vorle- sungen, p. 270: "Die Gnade ist daa den Mensclien durch den Glauben an Christus neu scliaffende Princip. Etwas Neues muss namlich der Mensch durch das Ghristenthum werden." ^ Col. i. 5, 6: Toi fiayyeXiov, rod TrapoVror els vpas, Ka6o>s (cai cunavTi TO) KdcpCOy Koi €(XTi KapTTOfjiopoVpfVOV. Eph. 1. 1 3. ^ Eph. 111. 15. '' Eph. i. 22, 23: avTov eScoKC Ke(paKr]v vTrip TTavra rfj eKK\T](na, tjtis eVri TO ampa aiiTov, to nXripcapa tov iravTa ev traa-i TrXrjpovpevov. ^ Ibid. ver. lo: avaKf(j>a\aia>(TaiT8a(. ra navTa iv Ta XpicrTM, ra re tv TOts ovpavots KOI TO fVi TTjs yijs' iv airm, ev a Kal eKXTjpadrjpev. b Col. ii. 14. 15- VI.] Tie drist 0/ tie ^^mtles of tie First Imprison men f. 499 Cross is the centre of tlie moral universe*^. Divided races, religions, nationalities, classes, meet beneath the Cross; they embrace as brethren; they are fused iato one vast society which is held together by an Indwell- ing Presence, reflected in the general sense of bound- less indebtedness to a transcendent Love<^. Hence in these Epistles snch marked emphasis is laid upon the unity of the Body of Christ ^ ; since the reunion " CoL i. 20, 21: 61' ovroi! asroicoTnXXa|at ra jran-a €is avr^v, Aprjvo- vo^^tras 5ia rov mfuxros Toit aravpov avrov, dt aurou, ctre ra e^ri njs •^s, cere nk iv rou ovpavoa. ^ Ibid. iii. 1 1 : ov« evt 'EXXiji' km 'lov&alos, srepirofi^ Koi axpa^aTia, ^ap^apoi, SioJSijr, SouXor, ikfvSfpos' dXXa ri Trdarra Koi ev mm X/motoi. Observe the moral inferences ia vers. 12-14, the measiu-e of charity being icadiis icai 6 X^Kmor Ixapicmro ifiip. Especially Jews and Gtentiles are reconciled beneath the Cross, because the Cross cancelled the obligatoriness of the ceremonial law. Eph. ii. 14-17- avTos yap fonv ^ clpTji^ ^f^^y o vroajfras rh dfitpoT^pa ev, xai to /icflno- Tot^ov Tov rj trupKi mrov, tov vo/iov ritv erroXov ip ^oy^tru Karapy^tras' tva Tttvs dvo icrwnj €v 4avTW eis eva Ktupov ajiS/marav., ttoi&v fip^rr/v, rai dsromiraXXd^ Tuvs ap^ripovs cv erl cretp^vri ■ ry 6ey 8t^ Toii mnvpov, mmKTfipas ttjv ?x^pav h' avra. ^ Banr, Christenthnm, p. 119: "Die Einheit ist das eigentliche Wesen der Kirche, diese Einheit ist mit alien zu ihr gehorenden Momenten dnrch das Christenthnm gegeben, es ist Ein Leib, Ein Geist, Ein Herr, Ein Glanbe, Eine Taufe n. s. w. Eph. iv. 4. f. Von diesem Punkte ans strigt die Anschauung hoher hinanf, bis dahin, wo der Gmnd aller Einheit liegt Die einigende, eine allgemeine G«meinschaft stiftende Kxaft des Todes Christi iSsst sich nnr dara,ns b^reifen, (frr-ss Chri.stti^ iiberJumpt der alhs tra^end^ vnd :ii,saim»fen}iv ovpavwv, Lva irKr^paXTr] ra -ndvra, S Ibid. vers. II — 13: koI airos eScoKf Tovs fiiv cmocrToKovs, tovs 8c 7rpo(f>rjTai, tovs Be cvayy(\i(TTas, tovs Be Tvoifxivas Ka\ BiSaa-KoXovs, Trpus tov KaTapTio-pov Tu>v dyioiv, els epyov BiaKovias, els olKoBop,r]v tov (ToipaTos tov Xpta-Tov' pexpi- KaravTrjO-topev ol iravTes els ttjv ej/OTjjTa Tijs TTKTTews Koi Trjs eTnyucao-ecos tov Ylov tou QeoVj els avBpa TeXeiov, els p.€Tpov tjXlklgs Toil 7T'KT]po>paTOS TOV XpLaTOV. ^"^ Col. ii. 7 • eppL^copevoi Kal eTTOiKoBopovpeuoi ev avTw. i Eph. iv. 15, 16 : 6 Xpia-TOSj i^ ov Tvdv to (joipa ot. Ibid. i. 19; ii. 9- VI.] The Christ of the Epistles of the First Imprisonment. 501 Holy Persons, which so remarkably underlie the structure and surface-thought of the Epistle to the Ephesians, Jesus Christ is associated most signifi- cantly with the Father and the Spirit l. He is the Invisible King, Whose slaves Christians are, and Whose WiU is to be obeyed™. The kingdom of God is His kingdom 11. He is the Subject of Cliristian study, the Object of Christian hopeo. In the Epistle to the PhUippians it is expressly said that all cre- ated beings in heaven, on earth, and in heU, when His triumph is complete, shall acknowledge the majesty even of His Human Nature P. The preach- ing the Gospel is described as the preaching Christ "J. Death is a blessing for the Christian, since by death he gains the eternal presence of Christ ^. The Phi- Hppians are specially blessed in being permitted, not 1 Epll. i. 3 : HaTTjp Tov Kvplov. Ibid. ver. 6 : ev ra rjyaTrtjuivco. Ibid. ver. 13: i TlviijxaTi. Ibid. ii. 18: 81' avTOv e)(0ii.iv Tr]V 7rpo(Tayv. 9 Ibid. i. 16: TOV XpitTTOv KaTayyekXova-iv. Ibid. ver. 18: Xpia-Tos KOTayyeWeTai, ■■ Ibid. ver. 23: iiti.6vplav exccv (Is TO dvd\v(Tai, Kai a-iiv Xpia-Ta ciKai. The Christ of the 'Epistles of the First Imprisonment. [Lbct. ely to believe on Christ, but to suifer for Him ^. Apostle trusts in Jesus Cbrist that it will be dble to send Timothy to Phihppi *. He contrasts selfishness of ordinary Christians with a disin- stedness that seeks the things (it is not said jrod, but) of Christ". The Christian 'boast' or )ry' centres in Christ, as did the Jewish in the 7^; the Apostle had counted all his Jewish pri- ges as dung that he might win Christ y ; Christ ngthens him to do all things ^ ; Christ will one change this body of our humihation, that it may Dme of like form with the Body of His Glory, )rding to the energy of His abdity even to subdue things unto Himself'^. In this Epistle, as in 36 to the Corinthians, the Apostle is far from pur- ig any one line of doctrinal statement : moral ex- bations interspersed with allusions to persons and iters of interest to himself and to the Philippians stitute the staple of his letter. And yet how con- it are the allusions to Jesus Christ, and how in- sistent are they, taken as a whole, with any con- tion of His Person which denies His Divinity ! Phil. i. 29; vylv ej^aplaOi) to VTrcp Xptorou, ov fiovov to els avThv zViiVj oKKa Kai to VTvep aurov Traa^eiu. Ibid. ii. 19 : tXTrifco 8e eV Kvpia'lr]a-ov,Ti,p.66eovTax^s irefj.xjrai vixiv. Ibid. ver. 21: 01 Trdcrcf yap to iaVTav ^t]tovp.evoi iv Xpicrrm 'lj;cro£). Ibid. ver. 8 : 81' ov ra irdvTa d^rjpiwBrjv' Koi ^yoC/jai (TKv^aKa uvm, [ptiTTOv Kepbr](T(o, Koi €vp€$0} elf aiiTa. Ibid. iv. 1 3 : navTa Itr^vto ev rai evhvvap.ovvTL fxe XpicTa. Ibid. iii. 2 I : &r lieTaa-xriliaTta-ei. to o-wjua Trjs Ta7reiva>a-ea>s fip,S>v, eh t6 rdai avTb a-vpiiiopcjiov Ta> (Ta>p.aTt Tijt So^rjs avToC, koto Tr)v evepyeiav ^vvafjBai avTov Kai inrord^at eavT^ ra TrdvTa. VI.] Tie Christ of the Pastoral Epistles. 503 The Pastoral Epistles are distinguished not merely hy the specific directions which they contain respect- ing the Christian hierarchy and religious societies in the apostolical Church'^, but also and especially by the stress which they lay upon the vital distinction between heresy and orthodoxy ". Each of these lines of teaching radiates from a most exalted con- ception of Christ's Person, whether He is the Source b I Tim. iii. iv. v.; Tit. i. 5-9; ii. i-io, ifec. <= St. Paul's language implies that the true faith is to the soul what the most necessary conditions of health are to the body. vyiaivovua bihav rrjv Ihiav (TweiBrjaij' K.r.X. (l Tim. iv. I, 2) j ovroi dv- 6i7rovs ^eXet (rcodrjvat Ka\ (Is eTriyvwatv dXridelas eXSelv. els yap Geo?, els Koi p^e(TtTr]S Qeov Ka\ dvdpairuiVj avdpwiros Xpiarbs 'lt)(rovSf 6 dovs eaVTOv dvrlXvrpov VTrep ndvrau. Cf. Ibid. iv. I o ; Tit. ii. II. 6 Tit. ii. 13 : TOV peydXov SfoO Kal 2aTrjpos rjp,S)v 'irjcrov XpiaTOv. ^ I Tim. i. 16: 8ia tovto rjKirjdr^v, tva iv ep.o\ irpaTm evSei^rjTai'lrja-ovs Xpia-T^s TTiv nda-av paKpodvpiav. Cf. ver. 13. Compare the intercession for the (apparently) deceased Onesiphorus : Smi; avTm 6 Kipios evpfiv 'fKeos Tvapa Kvpiov iv iKfivri rij rjpepa (2 Tim. i. 18); where the second Kvpios also must be Jesus Christ the Judge, at Whose Hands St. Paul himself expects to receive the crown of righteousness (Ibid. iv. 8). "^^.] and of the Ej/uiU to iJie Etlreics. 505 tie CliurcliS His active providence over His ser- vants, and His ready aid in trouble^, are introduced naturally as familiar topics. And if the Manhood of the One Mediator is prominently alluded to as being the Instrument of His Mediation i, His Pre-existence in a Higher Xature is as clearly intimated'^. After what has already been said on the promi- nence of the doctrine of Christ's Divinity in the Epistle to the Hebre^vs. it may stiffioe here to re- mark that the powerii of His Priestly Mediation as there insisted on, although exhibited in His Glorified Himianity, does of itself imply a Superhiunan Per- sonality. This indeed is more than hinted at in the terms of the comparison ^rhich is instituted between Melchisedec and His Di-dne Antitype. Historv re- cords nothing of the parents, of the descent, of the birth, or of the death of Melchisedec ; he appears in the sacred narrative as if he had no beo- innin o; of days or end of hfe. In this he is "■ made like luito the Son of God, " with His Eternal Pre-existence and i Observe the remarkable adjiirations, Siaiiaprvpofuii eKB-iof tov Qeov Koi Kiptou 'iTjaov XpioTou Kai rav eKKeicroii' dyyfKcov (\ Tun. T. 2 l) ^ TTapayysWoi trot h/ayiTLOv tov Qeoxi tov ^(HOTrotovvros Ta Trdyra, Kai XpiOTOu ^It/ctov tov fiapTvp-qaavTQS cttI UovTiov HtXarov r!]i' KoXfjv OfioXoyiav (Ibid. vL 13). t 2 Tun, iy. 17: 6 Be Kvptos fioL Trapscrrq, koi ivedwaficoae fie. Ibid. ver. I S : pvtrerat fie 6 Kvptos ajro ttoptos epyov irovrfpov. 1 I Tim. ii 5. ™ Ibid, iii 16. Baur, Torlesungen, p. 351 : " Mensch wird rwar Christus ausdriicklich genannt (i Tim. ii. 5) aber von eiaem mensch- licben Subject kann doch eigentlich niclit gesagt werden eeTj ev aapKi. Es pasit diess nur fiir ein boberes ubermenschliclies Wesen." n Heb. TiL 25 : crajfcif els TO iravTe'Xes ^vvarai. 506 Why can no Himan Name be substituted [Lect. His Endless Glory ». This Eternal Christ can save to the uttermost, because He is Eternal p. In short, if we bear in mind that, as the Mediator, Christ is God and Man, St. Paul's whole language about Him falls into its place. On the one hand, the true force of the distinction between One God and ' One Lord ' or ' One Mediator ' becomes apparent in those pas- sages where Christ in His assumed Manhood is for the moment in contrast with the Unincarnate Deity of the Father 1. On the other hand, it is only possible to read the great Christological passages of the Apostle without doing violence to the plain force of his language, when we beheve that Christ is God. Doubtless a Divine Christ is shrouded in mystery; but can there be any real intercourse re-estabhshed with heaven which is wholly unmysterious 1 Strip Christ of His Godhead that you may denude Him of mystery, and what becomes, I do not say of par- ticular texts, but of the whole characteristic teaching of St. Paiil 1 Substitute, if you can, throughout those Epistles the name of the first of saints or of the highest among angels, for the Name of the Divine Redeemer, and see how they read. Accept the Apostle's imphed challenge. Imagine for a mo- ment that Paul was crucified for you, that you were baptized in the name of PauD'; that wisdom, holi- ness, redemption, come from an apostle who, saint o Heb. vii. 3 : anarap, dfirjTap, ayeveaKoyrjTos' firjTf ctpxriv fjpepav, prjTe ^(or}s reXos ex^V dcjxopoicopevos 6e ra Yla tov Geov, P Ibid. ver. 25 • oG^v koI aat^itv els TO Trai/reXeff hvvaTai. ti I Cor. viii. 6 ; Eph. iv. 5 ; i Tim. ii. g. ■" I Cor. i. 1 3 : /iij HaCXos eiTTavpd>6rj vnep ipwi/ ; ij f if to Svopa JlaiXov l^aTTTla6r}T€ ; VI.] in St. Paul's writings for the Same of Jesus? 507 though he be, is only a brother -man. ConceiTe that the Apostle ascends for a moment his Master's throne; that he says anathema to any one Tvho loves not the Apostle Paul ; that he is bent upon bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Paul ; that he announces that in Paul are hid all the treasvires of wisdom and knowledge ; that instead of protesting "We preach not ourselves, but Clu'ist Jesus the Lord, and oiu-selves yoiu- sen-ants for Jesus' sake,'' he could say, "Paul is the end of the law to every one that beheveth." You cannot conceive it. What then is it in the Name of Chiist which renders this language, when apphed to Him, other than un- intelligible or intolerable \ Why is it that when coupled T\dth any other name, however revered and saintlv, the words of Paul respectiuo- Jesus Christ must seem not merelv strained, but esao-o-erated and blasphemous 1 Is it not that truth answers to truth, that all through these Epistles, and not merely in particular assertions, there is an imderlying idea of Clnist's Divinity which is taken for granted, as being the very soid and marrow of the entire series of doctrines \ that when this is lost sight of, all is misshapen and dislocated % that when this is recog- nised, all falls into its place as the exhibition of a boundless Power and Mercy, clothed indeed in a vestm^e of humihation and sacrifice, and devoted to the siiccour and enlightenment of man ? 4. It is with the prominent featm-es of St. Paul's characteristic teaching as with the general drift of his great Epistles ; they irresistibly imply a Clnist Who is Divine. (a) Ever)- reader of the New Testament associates 508 St. Paul's account of Faith [Leot. St. Paiil with a special advocacy of the necessity of faith as the indispensable condition of man's justification before God. What is this 'faith' of St. Paul ? It is in experience the most simple of the movements of the soul ; and yet, if analysed, it turns out to be one of the most comj)]ex ideas in th(! New Testament. The word tt/o-ti? implies first of all the double idea of faithfulness luid confidenci:**; but religious confidence is closely allied to bcjliuf, that is to say, to a persuasion that an unsi^cn fact is true^^. This belief, having for its objcjct the unseen, is opposed by St. Paul to 'sight";' it is (i;d by, or rather it is in itself, a higher intuition than any of which nature is capable ; it is the continuous exercise of a new sense of spiritual truth with which man has been endowed by grace. It is indeed a spi- ritual second-sight ; and yet reason has ancillary du- ties towards it. Reason may prepare the way of faith in the soul by removing intellectual obstacles to its claims ; or she may arrange, digest, explain, system- atize, express the conclusions of faith in accordanco with the needs of a particular time or locality. This active intellectual appreciation of the object- matter of faith, which analyses, discusses, combines, infers, is by no means necessary to the life of" the 8 Kom. iii. 3. TTiVrif OeoO is the faitlifiilness of God in aocom- plishing His promises. Cf. ■marbs I'l Beds, 1 Cor. i. 9 ; 1 Tlicss. v. 24. nies not d^erve the name (amdea-eis r^r i^n^mi-ijtsv ypixreias. I Tim. ri. 20). y Horn. X. 14— 1 7 : 9 jTumr e| aa^. Cf. Xoyos om^, I Thess. iL 13. ^ Heh. iv. 2. « I Thess. iv. 14, sumiav is used of recognising two past his- 510 Si. PauPs account of Faith [Lect. braces the object thus present to his understanding; his heart opens instinctively and unhesitatingly to receive a ray of heavenly light''. And his will too resigns itself to the truth before it ; it places the soul at the disposal of the object which thus rivets its eye and conquers its affections. The believer accordingly merges his personal existence in that of the object of his faith ; he lives, yet not he, but Another hves in him". He gazes on truth, he loves it, he yields himself to it, he loses himself in it. So true is it, that in its essence, and not merely in its conse- quences, faith has a profoundly moral character. Faith is not merely a perception of the vmderstand- ing ; it is rather an act of the whole soul, which, by one simultaneous complex movement, sees, feels, and obeys the truth presented to it. Now, according to St. Paul, it is Jesus Christ Who is eminently the great Object of Christian faith. The intelligence, the heart, the will of the Christian unite to embrace Him. How versatile and many-sided a process this believing apprehen- sion of Christ is, might appear from the constantly varied phrase of the Apostle when describing it. Yet of faith in aU its aspects Christ is the End torical facts ; Rotn. vi. 8, of recognising a future fact ; 2 Tliess. ii. II, of believing that to be a fact which is a falsehood. ^ Rom. X. 9, 10; tav ojjLoKoyrjajjS eV tm aTOjiaTi crov Kvpiov 'Ir^coCy, /cat nLar€V(Tj]^ eV rfj Kaphla aov art 6 Qfus nvTov rjyeipfv fK v€Kpu}Vj ao>6r](T]'i' Kaphiq yap mimieTat eli 8iKaw(Tvvriv. Thus coincidcntly with the act of faith, ij dydnrj Toii Oeov eKKe'xvTaL cV rat? Kapdiais r)p.5>v (Rom. V. 5). The love of God is infused into the heart at the moment when His truth enters the understanding; and it is in this co- operation of the moral nature that the essential power of faith resides ; hence faith is necessarily 81' dyan-i/t ivepyovixevr}. '^ Gal. ii. 20 : fa> 6e ovk i'n iyi>, (^ Se eV e'^oi Xpurros. VI.] implies a Divine Christ. 511 and Object. Does St. Paul speak as if faith were a movement of the soul towards an end. ? That end is Christ d. Does he point to faith as a repose of the soul resting upon a support which guarantees its safety 1 That support is Christ ®. Does he seem to imply that by faith the Christian has entered into an atmosphere which encircles and protects his spi- ritual life, and which fosters its growth ? That atmosphere is Christf. Thus the expression "the faith of Christ" denotes the closest possible union between Christ and the faith which apprehends HimS. And this union, effected on man's side by faith, on God's by the instrumentaHty of the sacra- ments'^, secures man's real justification; the be- Hever is justified by this identification with Christ, Whose perfect obedience and expiatory sufferings are thus transferred to him. St. Paul speaks of belief in Christ as involving behef in the Christian ^ This seems to be the force of ds with ina-Tdeiv, Col. ii. 5 : to (TTfpiaifia Trjs els Xpi. ■jricrTeios vfimv. Phil. i. 29 ; Rom. X. I4. The preposition npbs indicates the direction of the soul's gaze, without necessarily implying the idea of movement in that di- rection. In Philem. 5 : ''ijj' jtiotik, tjv fX^'* rrpos top Kipwv 'irjirovv, Cf. 1 Thess. i. 8. ® I Tim. i. 16: TTta-Teieiv in' aira (sc. Jesus Christ) eli ^(orjv alaviov. Uia-Tevfiv e'nt is used with the ace. of trust in the Eternal Fathei-. Cf. Eom. iv. 5, 24. ^ Gal. iii. 26: navra yap viol 0eov icrrc bia rrjs TrliTTems iv Xpia-ra 'Itjcov. Eph. i. 1 5 : aKQiKTas tjjv Ka6* vpas ttlcttiv iv rat Kvplco 'Irjaov. 2 Tim. iii. 15. The Old Testament can make wise unto salvation, dta 7rt(TT€Qis TTjs iv Xpiara 'iTjtrov. S Kom. iii. 22 : 8ta nia-Tias 'Irja-ov XpicrroC. Gal. ii. 1 6. This genitive seems to have the force of the construct state in He- brew. ^ Tit. iii. 5 ; i Cor. x. 16. 512 Si. Paul's acccount of Faith [Lect. 3reed i ; Christ has warranted the ventures which iaith makes, by assuring the behever that He has guaranteed the truth of the whole object-matter of ■aithk. Faith then is the startuig-point and the rtrength of the new life ; and this faith must be pre-eminently faith in Christ 1. The precious Blood sf Christ, not only as representing the obedience of His Wdl, but as inseparably joined to His Majestic Person, is itself an object in which faith finds life and nutriment ; the baptized Christian is bathed in i-t, and his soul dwells on its pardoning and cleans- ing power. It is Christ's Blood ; and Christ is the great Object of Christian faith b^. For not Christ's teaching alone, not even His redemptive work alone, but emphatically and beyond all else the Person of the Divine Redeemer is proposed by St. PaTil to Christians as That upon Which their souls are more especially to gaze in an ecstasy of chastened and obedient love. i I Tim. iii. i6: eTria-revdrj iv KotTfio). Christ's Person is here said to have been believed in as being the Centre of the New Dispen- sation. k 2 Tim. i. I 2 : olda yap (a ■KenicrrevKay Ka\ ireneKjp.ai on hvvaTos ecTTi rfjif TTapaOfjKTjv fiov es per- ceive Aid apprdiend tte existence :f inv-sitle oea- tores as well as of the Invisible God Certainly the angels are discerned by &ith : ilie Evil Or_e idz^seli is an object :f &ith. That is to scsv, the s\ireTr:at^iral serse >:f the sonl pextvives ttese iriialitants of tie r^see- wxarM in their di&raat st teres of wretched- ne^ and bliss. But aziiirels and devils are not ob- jects of the &ith which saves hnmanity firom sir and death. The blessed sririts c-tnunand not tlat JL lovakv of heart and will which welcomes Christ to the Christian s^rtd. The s'miI Icves them as His Eiinis- ters, not as its end IS c oreatnre can be the loiriti- mate satis&ction of a s^^riti^ activity s complex in its elements, and s? s^r-rd-absrTbinir in its ranee, as is the &ith which jrastines. Xo can thns be ^\z;ed at. lovevi. ol-eyed ■ I ISai. L i; I Cor. sr. 19 ; Cel *■ 1 Cc*-. xtL z z. lI ».-rsr-.iI'tfM 514 St. Panrs account' of liffjeneration [Lect. sanctuary of a soul, which is consecrated to the exclu- sive glory of the great Creator. If Christ had been a creature, we may dare to affirm that St. Paul's account of faith in Christ ought to have been very different from that which we have been considering. If Christ is only a creature, in the belief of St. Paul ; then it must be said that St. Paul, by his doctrine of faith in Christ, does lead men to live for a crea- ture rather than for the Creator. In the spiritual teaching of St. Paul, Christ eclipses God if He is not God ; since it is emphatically Christ's Person as warranting the preciousness of His work Which is the Object of justifying faith. Nor can it be shewn that the intellect and heart and will of laan could conspire to give to God a larger tribvite of spiritual homage than they are required by the Apostle to give to Christ. (/3) Again, how much is imphed as to the Person of Christ by the idea of regeneration, as it is brought before us in the writings of St. Paul ! St. Paul uses the word itself only once P. But the idea recurs continually through i)ut his vtritings ; it is not less prominent in them than is the idea of faith. This idea of regeneration is sometimes ex- pressed by the image of a change of vesturei. The P TToKLyytvia-la, Tit. iii. 5. In St. Matt. xix. 28 the word has a much wider and a very distinct sense. 1 Col. iii. 9, 10 ; aTrf^fiuo-ajuei/ot tov iraXatov ai^$p(ii'iTov Kai evhvadufvoi xoi' viov. Eph. iv. 22—24; aivoBiiydM tov nuKawv avdpomov r6v (^Ofipojievov Kara ras iniOvplai t^s aTvarris' avavioiiaBai te red TTViVfxaTi TOV vohi vficoVj Kal evdvaaaBat top Kaivbv avdpanvov t6v KaTa 0601/ KTtcrBeVTa cv SiKaioauvji koX 6(ii.6ttjti, rrjs akrjBdas. Gal. iii. 2*J \ XpiaTov evebvcracrBe. Rom. xiii. 1 4. A'l.] implies our Lord's Divinity. 515 regenerate nature has put off" the old man, with his deeds of untruthfuhiess and lust, and has put on the new or ideal man, the Perfect Jloral Being, the Christ. Sometimes the idea of regeneration is expressed more closely bv the image of a change of form^'. The regenerate man has been metamorphosed. He is made to correspond to the Foi-m of Christ ; he is renewed m the Image of Christ ; l\is moral being is reconstructed. Sometimes, however, and most em- phatically, regeneration is paralleled with natiu'al bii'th. Reafeneration is a second birth. The reirene- rate man is a new creature * ; he is a work of God ' ; he has been created according to a Divine standard'^. But — anei this is of capital importance — he is also said to be created in Christ Jesus^; Clu'ist is the sphei'e of the new creation^. The mstrument of re- generation on Christ's part, according to St. Paul, is the sacrament of baptism 2, to wliich the Holy Spirit giTes its efficacy, and which in the case of an adult recipient must be corresponded to by repentance and faith. Eegeneration thus impHes a double process, one destractive, the other constructive ; hj it the ^ Rom. xii. 2 : fi€Ta^op(^ov(r&e rrj avaKau'cocet rov 1*00? {'^(or. Ibid. ^^ll. 20: oti 77^100 j'u>. koI Trpooipio'e crvfx^oficpovs Trjs etKOvos tov YfoO avrov. Cf. Col. iii. I O : KaT fiKova rov KTicFayros ai'r6j\ * Gal. vi. 1 5 : Kann) Kricns. ^ Eph. ii. 10: ni'Tov yap [sc. Ofor] sap.ev TTolrjfia. " Ibid. iv. 24 : rov Kara Osov KTt(T(^€vra. ^ Ibid. ii. 10: KTKrSiVTis €v Xpi(rTw ^Ijjaov €n\ epyoLs ayaBo'is. y 2 Cor. V. 17 ; and perhaps i Cor. viii. 6, where t)ixets means ' wo regenerate Christians." ^ Tit. iii. 5 • fCTftxrei' T]ij.as, 6ta XovTpov TTaXiyyej'eirias Ka\ ayaKaivoitreoys nvevfiaros '.\)i'of. Gal. iii. 2~ : otrot yap eU Kpiarov eici-ruTt'ijTs^Xpia'- Tov eVfSi o-acrt'f . I Cor. xii. 13. l1 2 516 St. Paul's account of Regeneration [Lect. old life is killed, and the new life forthwith bursts into existence. This double process is effected by the sacramental incorporation of the baptized, first ■with Christ crucified and dead"^, and then with Christ rising from the dead to life ; although the language of the Apostle distinctly intimates that a continued share in the resurrection-life depends upon the co- operation of the wiU of the Christian^. But the moral reahties of the Christian life, to which the grace of baptism originally introduces the Christian, correspond with, and are effects of, Christ's Death and Resurrection. Looked at historically, these events belong to the irrevocable past. But for us Christians the Crucifixion and the Resiu'rection are not merely past events of history ; they are energizing facts from which no lapse of centuries can sever us ; they are perpetuated to the end of time within the kingdom of the Redemption •=. The Christian is crucified with * Rom. vi. 3, 4: 7 ayvue'i7€ on oaot e^aTTTLtrdrjjiev ils Xpt(7T6l^^lr}Tjfj.€y ovv avTa 8ia Toil ^aiT- TLO'iiUTUs eii TOV BavaTOV, ^ Ibid. vers. 4, 5 ■ ^''^ wtrTrep j^yepB-q XpiaTos e« ueKpSiV Sia ttjs do^rjs TOV HaTpbs, ovTOi Kal T^juei? eV KatvorrjTL C^JJs 7Tepi7raTrjaa)p.€U. 'El yap (rvp.p.aTi Tov BavaTov avTOv, dWa Kal Trjs dva- crcfo'eajs' eaop-eda. <= Reuss, Theol. Chrlt. ii. 140: "La r6g6neratioii en tant qu'elle comprend ces deux elements d'une moi-t et d'une renaissance, est tout naturellement mise en rapport direct avec la mort et la resur- rection de J^sus-Clirist. Ce rapport a 6te compris par quelques theologiens comma si le fait historique 6tait un symbole du fait ])sycliologique, pour lequel il aurait fourni la terniinologie figurde. Mais assurement la pens^e de I'apotre va au deld, d'un simple rapprochement ideal et nous propose le fait d^une relation objective el reelle. Nous nous trouvons encore une fois sur le terrain du mysticisme evangelique ; il est question tres-positivement d'une VI.] implies our Lo7-d's Bivinity. 517 Christ d ; he dies with Christ ^ ; he is huried with Christ^ ; he is quickened together with Christ^ ; he rises with Christ 'i ; he lives with Christ'. He is not merely made to sit together in heavenly places as being in Christ Jesus^*^, he is a member of His Body, as being of His Flesh and of His Bones l And of identification avec la niort et la vie du Sauvev/r, et il rHy a id de fi^uree qvs V expression, puisqu'au fond il ne s'agit pas de I'exist- ence physique du Chretien. Oui, d'apres Paul, le croyant meurt avec Christ, pour ressusciter avec lui ; et cette phrase ne s'explique pas par ce que nous pourrions appeler un jeu de mots spirituel, ou un rapprochement ingenieux ; elle est VaiJpUcation du grand, principe de VvMion persminelle, d'apris lequel V existence propre de rhomme cesse reellement, pour se confondre avec celle du Christ, qui repfete, pour ainsi dire, la sienne, avec ses deux faits capitaux, dans chaque individualite se donnant a lui." si sic omnia ! *i Rom. vi. 6: o irnKaios rjfioiv av6p<07roi avvecrravpaiOT], Gal. il. 20: XpicTTia avvecTTavpapai. ^ 2 Tim. ii. 1 1 : irvvaiTeBavojx^v. Rom. vi. 8 : dirfdavofiev a-iiv XptaTa. f Rom. vi. 4 : (rwerdcftriiiev ovv aira Sia tov jSaTrnV/iaTOf. Col. ii. I 2 : (TvvTa(f)evTes avroj cV ra ^aiTTLfTpxiTt. S Eph. ii. 5- (TVve^atonoiTjae rw Xpi(TTa. Col. ii. I3: (Tvyf^cooTrotr/trf avv avTa>, h Eph. ii. 6 : a-vvrjyfipf [rm X/jio-ra], There is no sufficient reason for understanding Eph. ii. 5, 6 of the future resurrection alone ; although in that passage the idea of the future resurrection (cf. ver. 7) is probably combined with that of the spiritual resurrection of souls in the kingdom of grace. We have been raised with Christ here, that we may live with Him hereafter. Col. ii. 12: iv a Koi [sc. €v XpitTTo] (rvvr)yepdr}T€ 8ta ttjs ntareas ttJs ^vepyetas rod 0eo{). Ibid. iii. i. ' Rom. vi. 8 : trv^rjcrojifv avra. 2 Tim. ii. 11: (I yap (Tvvan€6dvop.ev, Koi (TV^7](T0p.€V. ^ Eph. ii. 6 : (rvvcKadiaev iv tois inovpaviois iv Xpicrra 'Ii/croC. 1 Ibid. V. 30 : /iAi; ia-p.ev TOV (To>p,aTos avrov, ix ttjs crapKot airov, Kai iit T&v oariaiv avTov. Cf Hooker, Eccl. Pol. V. 56, 7 : " We are 518 St. PauVs account of Regener alio II [Lect. this profound incorporation baptism is the original instrument. The very form of the sacrament of regeneration, as it was administered to the adult multitudes who in the early days of the Church pressed for admittance into her communion, harmo- nizes with the spiritual results which it effects. As the neophyte is bathed beneath the waters, so the old nature is slain and buried with Christ. As Christ crucified and entombed rises with irresistible might from the grave which can no longer hold Him, so the Christian is raised from the bath of regeneration radiant with a new and supernatural life. His eye is to be fixed henceforth on Christ, Who, being raised from the dea-d, dieth no more. The Christian indeed may fail to persevere ; he may fall from this high grace in which he stands. But he need not do so ; and meanwhile he is bound to account himself as " dead indeed unto sin, but alive imto God through Jesus Christ our Lord"^." This regenerate or Christian life is described by two most remarkable expressions. The Apostle speaks sometimes of Christians being in Chrisf^; sometimes of Christ being m Christians «. The most recent criticism refuses to sanction the efforts which in former years have been made to empty these ex- of Him and in Him, even as though our very flesh and bones should be made continuate with His." ™ llom. vi. lO, II : o ycxp a-niQave [ac. 6 '%.punh'i\ Tjj aiiapria ajridaveu f<^a7ra^' o Se ^^, ^fj tw Gtw. ouro) Koi u/xci? Xoyt^cirde caVToiis V€Kpovs jxiv flvm Ttj afxaprlcf, ^avras 8f roj OfM ev Xpio-TM 'Irjaov rm Kvplai rjfiiiv. n Ibid. xii. 5; I Cor. i. 2; xv. 22; 2 Cor. ii. 17; v. I'j; xii. 19; Gal. i. 22; iii. 26; Eph, i. 3, 10; iii. 6; Phil. i. i; i Thess. iv. 16. o Gal. ii. 20; Eph. iii. 17; 2 Cor. xiii. 5; Col. i. 27. VI.] 'nnj)Ues ovr Lord's Livinit^. 519 pressions of their literal and natural force. Even Hooker had observed that it is " too cold an inter- pretiition vhereby some men expound bemg in Clu'ist to import nothing eke but only that the selfsame nature \Ahich maketh us to be men is in Hun, and maketh Him man as we are. For what man in the world is there which hath not so far forth com- mmiion with Jesus Christ P ? " Nor will it suffice to say that in such phrases as are hero in question • Chi'ist ' means only the moral teaching of Christ, and that a Christian is ' in Christ ' by the force of mere intellectual loyalty to the Sermon on the Blount. The expression is too energetic to admit of this treatment ; it resists any but a literal explana- tion. By a vigorous metaphor an enthusiastic Pla- touist might perhaps speak of his ' living in ' Plato, meanino- thereby that liis whole intellectual beina: was absorbed by and occupied with the recorded thought of that philosopher. But he wotdd scarcely say that he was 'in' Plato ; since such a phrase woiild imply not merely intellectual comnumion with Platos mind, but objective inherence in his natm'e or being. Still less possible would it be to adopt the alternative plu-ase. arid say that Plato is 'in' the student of Plato. When St. Paul uses these expressions to denote a Christian's relation to Christ, he plauily is not recordmg any subjective impres- sion oi the human mmd ; he is pointing to an ob- jective mdependent fact strictly peculiar to the king- dom of the Inciirnation. The regenerate Christian is a* really ' in ' Christ as every member of the human p Hooker, Ecel. Pol. v. 56, 7. -520 Our Lord's Divinity, how related [Lect. family is 'in' our first parent Adami. Christ is indeed the sphere in which he really moves and breathes ; but Christ is also the Parent of that new nature in which he shares ; Christ is the Head, of Wliose Body he is a member ; nay, the Body of Which he is a member is itself Christ *". From Christ, risen, ascended, glorified, as from an ex- haustless storehouse, there flow powers of unspeak- able virtue ; and in this life-stream the beheving and baptized Christian lives. And conversely, Clmst lives in the Christian ; the soul and body of the Christian are a temple of Christ ; the Christian is well assured that Jesus Christ is in him, except he be reprobate^. My brethren, what becomes of this language if Jesus Christ be not truly God % No conceivable rela- tionship to a human teacher or to a created being will sustain its weight. If it be not a mass of crude, vapid, worthless metaphor, it indicates relationship with One Who is altogether higher than the sons of men, altogether higher than the highest arch- angel. It is true that we are in Him, by being joined to His Human Nature ; but what is it which thus makes His Human Nature a re-creative and world -embracing power % Why is it that if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation* of his moral being % And how can Christ really be in us, if He is not One with the Searcher of hearts % Surely He Only Who made the soul can thus q See Olshausen on the Epistle to the Komans, § 9, " Parallel between Adam and Christ," chap. v. 12-21, Introductory Eemarks. r I Cor. xii. 12. s 2 Cor. xiii. 5. t Ibid. V. 1 7 : f I' Tts Iv Xpia-Ta, Kaivrj ktIo-is. VI.] to Si. TauVs controversy with the Judaizers. 521 sound its depths and dwell within it, and renew its powers and enlarge its capacities. And must we not add that if Christ be not God, this renewal of man's nature rests only on an empty fiction, this regeneration of man's soul is but the ecstasy of an enthusiastic dreamer ■? It would, then, be a considerable error to recognise the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity only in those pas- sages of St. Paul's writings which distinctly assert it. The indirect evidence of the Apostle's hold upon the doctrine is much wider and deeper than to ad- mit of being exhibited in a given number of iso- lated texts ; since the doctrine colours, underhes, interpenetrates the most characteristic featvires of his thought and teaching. The proof of this might be extended almost indefinitely ; but let it sufiice to observe that the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity is the key to the greatest polemical struggle of the Apostle's whole life. Of themselves neither the im- portation of Jewish ceremonial, nor even the dispo- sition to sacrifice the Catholicity of the Church to a petty nationalism, would fuUy account for the Apo- stle's attitude of earnest hostility to those Judaiztng teachers whom he encountered at Corinth, in Galatia, and, in a somewhat altered guise, at Colossse and at Ephesus. For, in point of fact, the Judaizers imphed more than they expressly asserted. They implied that Christ's religion was not of so perfect and abso- lute a character as to make additions to it an irreve- rent impertinence. They implied that they did its Founder no capital wrong when, instead of recognising Him as the Savioiir of the whole human family, they practically purposed to hmit the applicability of Our Lonl',f Blrhiiti/, lioio rclnlcd [IjHC'I'. UHl His wmk to a narrow section of il. Tlu^y imp that tliere was notliing iu liis Miiji'stic Person which should have forbidden tluun to raii<^e tliowc dead rites of the old law, whicli He had fuKilled and abolished, side by side with the ("Iross and Saeranient-s of Redemption. The keen histinct of the Apostle de- tected the wound thus indirectly but (K'l'ply a,inied at his Master's honour ; and St. Taul's love for (1n-ist was the exact measure of his determined opjuisition to the influence and action of tlie Judai/.erw. If the Judaizers had believed in the true J)ivinit\- of Jesus, they could not have returned to tlm "weak and bego-arly elements" of systc^ius which had paled and died away before the o-lories of ITis Advent. If they ha,d fully and tdearly believinl .lesua to be Grod, that faith must have oppost'd an iiisurirR)init- able bai-rier to these i-eaclionaiy yearninll is vicwcil ti'oiii without, (111 the s'kU' cif tlie Divine Energy Wliii-li uauHeH it; in (fill. V. 6, where it iH ciiually coiitfiiHted with hi/^'al cireiiineiHiou, it is vi(^\vi'il from within the houI, as ednsiKtin^- OHsentially in nlans fit' ayuTTT^ff fuepyovfievTj. VI.] to St.Pav.rs cotitrotersy with the Jiidaizers. 523 not denied Christ ia terms, yet He had become of no effect to them ; and the Apostle sorrowfullj pro- claimed that as many of them as were justified by the law had fallen from grace ■^. They had prac- tically rejected the plenary efficacy of Christ's sa\'ing and re-creating power; they had imphcitly denied that He was a greater than Moses. Their work did not at once perish from among men. For the Juda- izing movement beqvieathed to the Churches of the Lesser Asia many of those theological influences which were felt by later ages in the traditional tem- per of the School of Antioch ; while outside the Church it was echoed ia the long series of Humani- tarian mutterings which culminated in the blasphe- mies of Paiilus of Samosata. It must th\is be al- lowed to rank conspicuously in the intellectual an- cestry of the Arian heresy ; and St. Paul, not less than St. John, is an apostoHcgl representative of the cause and work of Athanasius. Although the foregoing obseivations may have taxed your indulgent patience somewhat severely, they frimish at best only a sample of the evidence which might be brought to illustrate the point before us. But enough will have been urged to dispose of the suspicion that St. John's belief and teaching re- specting the Divinity of Jesus Christ was only an in- tellectual or spiritual peculiarity of that Apostle. If the form and clothing of St. John's doctrnie was pe- culiar to him, its substance was common to aU the "^ Gal. T. 4 : KaTTjpyrjBTjTe oko tov XpioToO, o'lrivis ev vofico SiKaiova-Oe, rfis xapiTos E|e77cVaTf. Cf. Ibid. V. 2 : eov TrepiTefiinicr6e, Xpiaros vpas 524 Contrasts between the Apostles enhance [Lect. apostles of Jesus Christ. Just as the titles and po- sition assigned to Jesus Christ in the narrative of the fourth Gospel are really in harmony with the powers which He wields and with the rights which He claims in the first three Evangelists, so St. John's doctrine of the Eternal Word is substantially one with St. Paul's doctrine of the " Image of the Father," and with his whole description of the redemptive work of Christ, and of the attitude of the Christian soul towards Him. St. John's fuller statements do but supply the key to the fervid doxologies of St. Peter, and to the profound and significant reverence of St. James. Indeed from these Apostles he might seem to diflier in point of intellectual temper and method, even less than he differs from St. Paiil. Between St. Paul and St. John how great is the contrast ! In St. Paul we are struck mainly by the wealth of sacred thought ; in St. John by its simplicity. St. Paul is versatile and discur- sive ; St. John seems to be fixed in the entranced bliss of a perpetual intuition. St. Paul is a dialec- tician who teaches iis by reasoning ; he refutes, he infers, he makes quotations, he deduces corollaries, he draws out his demonstrations more or less at length, he presses impetuously forward, reverently bending before the great dogmas which he proclaims, yet moving in an atmosphere of perpetual conflict. St. John speaks as if the highest life of his soul was the wondering study of one vast Apocalypse : he teaches, not by demonstrating truths, but by ex- hibiting his contemplations ; he states what he sees ; he repeats the statement, he inverts it, he repeats it once more ; he teaches, as it seems, by the ex- ^^.] ihefaree ofiidr common witness to Ckrisfs Dirinity. 525 quisite tact of scarcely disguised but xminterrupted repetition, which is justified because there is no higher attaiuable truth than the truth which he repeats. St. Paul begins with anthropology, St. John with theology ; St. Paul often appeals to theology that he may enforce truths of morals, St. John finds the highest moral truth in his most abstract theo- logical contemplations. St. Paid usually describes the redemptiTe gift of Christ as Eighteousness, as the restoration of man to the true law of his being : St . John more naturally contemplates it as Life, as the outflow of the Self-existent Being of God into His creatures through the quickening Hiunanity of the Incarnate Word. In St. Paul the ethical element predominates, in St. John the mystical St. John is more especially the spiritual ancestor of such fethers as was St, Gregory Xazianzen : St. Paul of such as St. Augustine, It may be said, with some reser- vations, that St. Paul is the typical Apostle of West- em, as St. John is of Eastern Christendom : that the contemplative side of the Christian life finds its pattern in St. John, the active in St. Paul. Tet profotmd as are these differences of spiritual method and temper, they are found in these great apostles side by side with an entire unity of teaching as to the Person of our Lord. " Certainly, " says Xeander, with deep trutii, '"it could be nothing merely ac^ cidental which induced men so differently con- stituted and trained as Paul and John to connect such an idea [as that of Divinity] with the doctrine of the Person of Christ. This must have been the result of a higher necessity, which is founded in the nature of Christianity, in the power of the impression 526 Contrasts between the Apostles enhance [Lect. which the Life of Christ had made on the lives of men, in the reciprocal relation between the appear- ance of Christ and the archetype that presents itself as an inward revelation of God in the depths of the higher self- consciousness. And all this has found its point of connexion and its verification in the manner in which Christ, the Unerring Witness, expressed His consciousness of the indwelling of the Divine Essence within Him^." This is indeed the only reasonable explanation of the remarkable fact before us, — of the fact that the persecutor who was converted on the road to Damascus, and the disciple who had lain on Christ's breast at supper, were absolutely agreed as to the Divine Prerogatives of their Master. And if we, my brethren, have ever been tempted to think that a creed like that of St. John befits only a contempla- tive or mystic life, alien to the habits of our age and to the necessities of our position, let us turn our eyes towards the gTeat Apostle of the Gentiles. It would be difiicult, even in this busy day, to rival St. Paul's activity ; and human weakness might well shrink from sharing his burden of pain and care. It is given to few to live " in journeyings often, in perils of X Planting and Training, i. 505, Bohn's edit. Neander adds : " Had the doctrine of Christ's Eternal Sonship, when it was first promulgated by Paul, been altogether new and peculiar to himself, it must have excited much opposition as contradicting the common monotheistic belief of the Jews, even among the apostles, to whom, from their previous habits, such a speculative or theosophic element must have remained unknown, unless it had found a point of con- nexion in the lessons received from Christ, and in their Christian knowledge." Of such opposition, direct and avowed, there is no trace. VI] the force of Hi el r common faith in Christ's Bivinlty. 527 waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from a man's own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, m perils among false brethren y," for a purely i;nsel£sh object. Fcav rise to the heroic scope of a life passed " in weariness and painfulness, in watch- ings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness^." But this is certain, — that at much lower levels of moral existence, there is much to be done, and much, sooner or later, to be endiu'ed, which we can only do manfully and suffer meekly in the strength of the Apostle's great con- viction. If St. Paid can suffer the loss of all thmgs that at the last he may win Christ, if he can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth him, this is because he is consciously reaching towards or leaning on the arm of a Saviour Who is God as well as Man. And if we, looking onward to the unknown changes and chances of this mortal Hfe, and to death beyond it, would fain live and die like Christians, we too must see to it that we fold to our inmost souls that central truth of the Christian creed which was the strength and joy of the first servants of Christ. We too must behave and confess that that Human Friend Whose words enlighten us. Whose Blood cleanses us, Whose Sacraments have renewed and even now sus- tain us, is m the truth of His Higher Nature none other and no less than the Unerring, the All-merciful, the Almighty God. 5" 2 Cor. xi. 25, 26. z Ibid. ver. 27. Cf. Ibid. vi. 4-10, and xi. 5 sqq. LECTUKE VII. THE HOMOOUSION. Holding fast the faithful loorcl as he hath been tmiyht, that he may he able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. — Tit. i. 9. A GEEAT doctrine whicli claims ,to rule the thought of men and to leave its mark upon their conduct, must of necessity encounter some rude and probing tests of its vitality as it floats along the stream of time. The common speech of mankind, embodying the verdict of man's experience, lays more emphasis upon the ' ravages ' than upon the constructive or conservative effects of time ; — " Tempus edax rerum, tuque invidiosa vetustas, Omnia destruitis, vitiataque dentibus ajvi Paulatim lenta consumitis omnia morte"." The destructive force of time is no less observable in the sphere of human ideas and doctrines than in that of material and social facts. Time exposes every doctrine or speculation to the action of causes a Ovid, Met. xv. 234. The vitality of a doctrine, hoio test-ed. 529 which, if more disgxiised and subtle, are not less certainlv at work than those which threaten poHtical systems or works of art with decay and cKssijlution. A doctrine is Hable to suffer with the lapse of time from without and from within. From within it is expCised to the risk of decomposition by ana- lysis. When once it has been launched into the ocean of om- public intellectual hfe, it is forth- with subjected, as a condition of its acceptance, to the play and scrutiny of many and variously consti- tuted minds. The several ingredients which consti- tute it. the primary truths to which it appeals or upon which it ultimately rep'^ses. are separately and constantly examined. It may be that certain ele- ments of the doctrine, essential tii its perfect repre- sentation, are rejected altogether. It may be that all its constitutive elements ai-e retained, but the proportions in which they ai'e blended are radically altered. It may be that an impulse is given to some active intellectual solvent, hitherto dormant, but from the first latent in the constitution of the doctrine, and hkely, according' to anv ordinarv hu- man estimate, to break it up. Or some point of attraction between the doctrine and a threatening philosophy outside it is disc<;ivered and insisted on : and the philosophy, in a pati'onizuig spirit, proposes to meet the doctrine half way, and to ratify one half of it if the other may be abandoned. Cir S' ome subtle iDteUectual poison is injected into the doc- trine : and while men fancy that they are adapting it to the temper of an age. or to the demands of a line of thought, its glow and beauty are forfeited, ';ir its very hfe and heart are eaten out. And tbr Mm 530 The vitality of a doctrine, hoiv tested. [Lect. awhile its shell or its skeleton lie neglected by the side of the great highway of thought ; tmtil at length some one of those adventiirers who in every age devote themselves to the manufacture of eclectic systems, gives it a place in his private mi;seum, side by side with the remains of other extinct theo- ries, to which in its life-time it was fundamentally opposed. But even if a doctrine reposes upon bases sviffi- ciently assured to resist internal decomposition, it must m any case be prepared to encounter the shock of opposition from without. To no doctrine is it given to be absolutely inoffensive ; and therefore sooner or later every doctrine is opposed. Every doctrme, however frail and insignificant it may be, provokes opposition by the mere fact of its existence. It challenges a certain measure of attention which is coveted by some other doctrines. It takes up a cer- tain amount of mental room which other doctruies would fain appropriate, if indeed it does not jostle inconveniently against them, or contradict them out- right. Thus it rouses against itself resentment, or at any rate, ojaposition ; and this opposition is rein- forced by an appetite which is shared in by those who hold the opposed doctrine no less than by those who oppose it. The craving for novelty is no mere specialty of quickwitted races Hke the Athenians of the apostohcal age or the French of our own day. It is profoundly and universally human ; and it en- ters into our appreciation of subject-matters the most various. Novelty confers a charm upon high efforts of thought and enquiry as well as upon works of art or imaguiation, or even upon fashions in amusement or VII.] The vitality of a doctrine, how tested. o31 in dress. But to treat this yearning for novelty as though it were only a vicious frivolity is to over- look its profound significance. For, even in its lowest and unloveliest forms, it is a Hving and per- petiial witness to the original nobility of the soiil of man. It is the restlessness of a desire which One Being Alone can satisfy ; it reminds us that the Infinite One has made us for Himself, and that no object, person, or doctrine that is merely finite and earthly, can take His place in our heart and thought, and bid us finally be still. And therefore as man passes through life on his short and rapid pilgrimage, unless his eye be fixed on that treasure in heaven which " neither moth nor rust doth cor- rupt," he is of necessity the very slave of novelty. Each candidate for his admiration wins from him, it may be, a passing glance of approval ; but, unsatisfied at heart, he is ever seeking for some new stimulant to his evanescent sympathies. He casts to the winds the faded flower which he had but lately stooped to gather with such eager enthusiasm ; he buries beneath the waves the useless pebble which, when his eye first detected it sparkling on the shore, had yielded him a moment of such bright enjoyment. No- thing human can insure its life against the attrac- tions of something more recent than itself in point of origin ; no doctrine of earthly mould can hope to escape the sentence of superannuation when it is fairly confronted with the intellectual creations of an age later than its own. A human doctrine may live for a few years, or it may Uve for centuries. Its duration will depend partly upon the amount of absolute truth which it embodies, and partly M m 2 532 The doctrine of our Lord's Divinity [Lect. iipou the strength of the rivals with which it is brought into competition. But it cannot always satisfy the appetite for novelty ; its day of extinc- tion can only be deferred. ovK e^ft) TtpoireiKatjai, f y ' irXrjv Aio?, el TO fMOLTav utto (ppovrloo? uydo<; ~)(jph /3a\etv eT>;Ti'jHcof. ov§ birri? TrapoiOev rjv fxeya^, TraiJ.fJ.ayw Bpacrei. (Spvcov, ovoev af Ae^ai Trpiv cov, i\ W V ' J/ J, oy n eweiT eipv, Tpia- /CTJ/jOOf (H-^eTai Tvywi' . So it must ever fare with a religious dogma of purely human authorship. In obedience to the lapse of time it must perforce be modified, corrupted, revolutionized, and then yield to some stronger successor. " Our little systems have their day, They have their day and cease to be." This is the true voice of human speculation on Di- vine things, conscious that it is hviman, conscious of its weakness, and mindful of its past and ever- accumulating experience. He Only, " with Whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning," can be the Author of a really unchanging doctrine ; and, as a matter of historical fact, " His truth endureth from generation to generation." When the doctrine of our Lord's Divinity entered into the world of human thought, it was not screened b ^sch. Ag. 163-177. ^ n.j /r\t:'(\7 ;';/ fie modt's abort iiu^ii-afcd. 5SS from the operation of s\u-li aiitagoniftio influences as have been jnst noticed. It ^^■a^ confronted with the passion for novelty beneath the eyes of the apostles tlieniselves. The passion for novelty at Coloss;¥ appears to have combined a licentious fer- tility of the leligious imagination with a taste for such cosmieal specirlations as were ctu'rent in that age ; wliile in the Galatian Chtirches it took the foiTn of a retm-n to the discarded ceremonial of the Jewish law. In both cases the novel theory was oppx'sed to the apostolical accotmt of our Lord's personal dignity : and in another generation the wild imaginings of a Pasilides or of a Valentinns illns- ti-ated the attn\ctive force of a new fashion in Clii'is- tologioal specnlation still more powerfullv. Some- what later the dialectical method of the Alexandiii\n writers subjected the doctrine to acttte internal aiia- Ivsis. wlule the neo-Platonic philosophy brought a powerful intellectual s^^npathy to bear upon it. which, as an absorbincr or distortinor influence, mio-ht Cr C? ^ well have been tatal to a human do^rma. Lastlv. the doctrine was directly opposed by a long line of Hmn;\nitiuian teachers, reaching, with but few inter- missions. fi"om the Ebionitic period Xc the Arian. In the liistory of the doctrine of Christ's Divuiitv tlie Arian heresy was the climax of diffictilty and of trdumph : it tested the doctiine at one and the same time in all of the tlu'ee modes which have been no- ticed. Aiianism was ostentatiously anxious to ap- pear to be an oiiginal specnlation. and aocorilinglv it taimted the Nicene fathers with theu- intellectual pc'verty ; it branded them as ac^e-Xt-rc va! Icia'-rai be- catise thev adhered to the crround of handinij on 534 Doctrine of onr Lord's Blvhiity confirmed [Lect. simply what they had received. Its dialectical me- thod was inherited from the Alexandrian eclectic school ; and by this method, as well as by the as- sumption that certain philosophical iplacita were granted, Arianism endeavoured to kill the doctrine from within by a destructive analysis. And it need scarcely be added that Arianism inherited and in- tensified the direct opposition which had been offered to the doctrine by earlier heresies ; Arianism is im- mortaHzed, hov^ever ingloriously, in those sufferings, in those struggles, in those victoiies of the gTeat Athanasius, of which its own bitter hostility to our Lord's Essential Godhead was the immediate cause. That such a doctrine as our Lord's Divinity should be thus opposed was not unnatural. It is in itself so startling, so awful ; it confers so absolutely a new conception of the whole worth and drift of Chris- tianity upon the man who honestly and inteUigently believes it ; it is so utterly intolerable if you admit a suspicion of its iDeing false ; it is so necessarily exacting when once you have recognised it as true ; it makes such large and immediate demands, not merely upon the reason and the imagination, but also upon the affections and the will, that a specific oppo- sition to it, as distract from a professed general oppo- sition to the religion of which it is the very heart and soul, is only what might have been expected. Such a doctrine certainly could not at first bring peace on earth ; rather it could not but bring di- vision. It could not but divide families, cities, na- tions, continents ; it could not but arm against itself the edge and point of every weapon that might be forged or whetted by the ingenuity of a passionate VII.] hy the opposition which it encoimtered. 535 animosity. It could not but have collapsed utterly and vanished away when confronted with the heat of opposition which it provoked, had it not descended from the Source of Truth, had it not reposed upon an absolute and indestructible basis. The Arian con- troversy broke upon it as an intellectual storm, the violence of which must have shattered any human theory. But when the storm had spent itself, the doctrine emerged from the conciliar decisions of the fourth century as luminous and perfect as it had been when proclaimed by St. Paul and St. John. Resistance does but strengthen truth which it can- not overthrow : and when the doctrine had defied the craving for novelty, the disintegrating force of hostile analysis, and the vehement onslaught of pas- sionate denunciation, it was seen to be vitally unlike those philosophical speculations which might have been confused with it by a superficial observer. Its exact area was mialtered ; it involved and it ex- cluded now precisely what it had excluded and in- volved from the first. But henceforth it was to be held with a clearer recognition of its real frontier, and of the necessity for insisting upon that recog- nition. In the Homoousion, after such hesitation as found expression at Antioch, the Church felt that she had lighted upon a symbol which was practically ade- quate to an expression of the truth which she had from the first possessed, and capable of resisting the intellectual solvents which had seemed to threaten that truth with extinction. The Homoousion did not change, it protected the doctrine. It clothed the doc- trine in a vesture of language which rendered it in- telligible to a new world of thought while preserving 536 Trkimph of the doctrine embodied in the Homoousion. [Lect. its strict ■unchanging identity. It translated the apostolical symbols of the Image and the Word of God into a Platonic equivalent ; and it remains with us to this hour, in the very heart of our Creed, as the complete assertion of Christ's Absolute Oneness with the Essence of Deity, as the monument which records the greatest effort and the greatest defeat of its an- tagonist error, as the guarantee that the victorious truth maintains and will maintain an unshaken em- pire over the thought of Christendom. We are all suiliciently famihar with the line of criticism to which such a formula as the Homoousion is exposed in our day and generation. A con- trast is projected and insisted upon with more vehemence than accuracy, between the unfixed popular faith of Christians in the first age of the Church and the keen theological temper of the fourth century. It is said that the Church's earliest faith was unformed, simple, vague, too fidl of child- like wonder to analyse itself, too indeterminate to serve the pvirposes of a theology. It is asserted that at Alexandria the Church learned how to fix her creed in precise, rigid, exclusive moulds ; that she there gradually crystalhzed what had once been fluid, and cramped and fettered what had before been free. And it is insinuated that in this process, whereby the fresh faith of the infant Church " was hardened into the creed of the Church of the Coun- cils," there was some risk, or more than risk, of an alteration or enlargement of the original faith. 'How do you know,' men ask, ' that the formulary which asserts Christ's Consubstantiality with the Father is really expressive of the simple faith in which the VII.] Relation of the Homoousion to the worship of Christ. 537 first Christians lived and died ? Do not proba- bilities point the other way 1 Is it not likely that when this effort was made to fix the expression of the faith in an unchanging symbol, there was a si- multaneous growth, however unsuspected and im- recognised, in the subject-matter of the faith ex- pressed % May not the hopes and feehngs of a passionate devotion, as well as the inferential argu- ments of an impetiious logic, have contributed some- thing to fill up the oiitline and to enhance the significance of the original germ of revealed truth "? May not the Creed of Niceea be thus in reality a creed distinct from, if not indeed more extensive than, the creed of the apostolic age ? ' Such is the substance of many a whispered question or of many a confident assertion which we hear around us ; and it is necessary to enquire whether the admitted difference of form between the apostolic and Nicene statements does really, or only in appearance, involve a deeper difference — a difference in the object of faith. I. Observe then, my brethren, that a belief may be professed either by stating it in terms, or by acting in a manner which necessarily implies that you hold it. A man may profess a creed with which his life is at variance ; but he may also live a creed, if I may so speak, which he has not the desire or the skill to put into exact words. There is no moral difference between the sincere expression of a con- viction in language, and its consistent reflection in life. There is, for example, no difference between my saying that a given person is not to be relied upon when dealing with money matters, and my pointedly 538 The Homoousion justifies the practice of Christendom [Lect. declining to act with him on a particular trust, when asked to do so. It is not necessary that I shovild express my complete opinion of his character, until I am pressed to express it, I content myself with acting in the only manner which is prudent under the circumstances. Meanwhile my line of action speaks for itself ; its meaning is evident to all who are practically interested in the subject. Until I am challenged for an explanation, until the assumption upon which I act is denied, there is no necessity for my putting into words an opinion which my line of conduct has already stated in the language of action and with such unmistakeable decision. Did then the ante-Nicene Church as a whole — did its congregations of worshippers as well as its councils of divines — did its poor, its young, its un- lettered as well as its saints and doctors, so act and speak as to imply a belief that Jesus Christ is actually God 1 A question such as this may at first sight seem to be difficult to answer, by reason of the usual one- sidedness and caprice of history. History for the most part' concerns herself with the actions and opinions of the great and the distinguished, that is to say, of the few. Incidentally or on particular occasions she may glance at what passes beyond the region of courts and battle-fields ; but it is not her wont to enable us readily to ascertain the real currents of thought and feeling which have swayed the minds of multitudes in a distant age. Such at any rate is the rule with secular history ; but the genius of the Church of Christ is of a VII.] in adoring Jesus Christ. 539 nature to limit the force of the observation. In her eyes the interests of the many, the customs, the deeds, the sufferings of the illiterate and of the poor, are, to say the least, not less precious and noteworthy than those of kings and prelates. For the standard of aristocracy within her borders is not an intel- lectual or a social, but a moral standard ; and her Founder has put the highest honour not upon those who rule and are of reputation, but upon those who serve and are vinknown. The history of the Chris- tian Church does therefore serve to illustrate the point before us ; and it proves the belief of Chris- tian people in the Godhead of Jesus by its wit- ness to the early and universal practice of adoring Him. The early Christian Church did not content her- self with ' admiring ' Jesus Christ. She adored Him. She approached His Majestic Person with that very tribute of prayer, of self-prostration, of self-surrender, by which all serious Theists, whether Christian or non-Christian, are accustomed to express their felt relationship as creatures to the Almighty Creator. For as yet it was not supposed that a higher and truer knowledge of the Infinite God would lead man to abandon the sense and the exj^ression of complete dependence upon Him and of unmeasured indebted- ness to Him, which befits a reasonable creature whom God has made, and whom God owns and can dispose of, when such a creature is dealing with God. As yet it was not imagined that this bearing would or could be exchanged for the more easy demeanour of an equal, or of one deeming himself scarcely less than an equal, who is intelhgently 540 Jesus Christ not simply ' admired' but ' adored.' [Lect. appreciating the existence of a remarkably wise and powerful Being, entitled by His activities to a very large share of speculative attention*'. The Church simply adored God, and she adored Jesus Christ as beheving Him to be God. Nor did she destroy the significance of this act by conceiving that admiration differs from adoration only in degree, that a sincere admiration is practically equivalent to ado- ration, that adoration after aU is only admiration raised to the height of an enthusiasm. You will not deem it altogether unnecessary, under our present intellectual circumstances, to consider for a moment whether this representation of the relation- ship between admiration and adoration be strictly accurate. So far indeed is this from being the case, that adoration and admiration are at one and the same moment and with reference to a single object, mutually exclusive of each other. Certainly in the strained and exaggerated language of poetry or of passion you may speak of adoring that on which you lavish an unlimited admiration. But the com- mon sense and judgment of men refuses to regard « Cf. Lecky, History of Eationalism, i. 309. Contrasting the Christian belief in a God Who can work miracles with the ' sci- entific ' belief in a God Who is the slave of ' law,' Mr. Lecky re- marks, that the former "predisposes us most to prayer," the latter to " reverence and admiration." Here the antithesis between 'reverence' and 'prayer' seems to imply that the latter word is used in the narrow sense of petition for specific blessings, instead of in the wider sense which embraces the whole compass of the soul's devotional activity, and among other things, adoration. Still, if Mr. Lecky had meant to include under ' reverence ' any- thing higher than we yield to the highest forms of human great- ness, he would scarcely have coupled it with ' admiration.' VII.] 'Admiration' and 'Adoration.' 541 admiration as an embryo form of adoration, or as other than a fundamentally distinct species of mental activity. Adoration may be an intensified reve- rence, but it certainly is not an Intensified ad- miration. The difference between admiration and adoration Is observable in the difference of their respective objects ; and that difference is immea- surable. For, speaking strictly, we admire the finite ; we adore the Infinite. Why is this "? It is because admiration requires a certain assumption of equality with the object admired, an assumption of ideal, if not of hteral equality. Admiration such as is here in question is not vague unregulated wonder ; it involves a judgment ; it is a form of criticism. And since it is a criticism, it consists m our internally referring the object which we admire to a criterion. That criterion is an ideal of our own, and the act by which we compare the admired object with the ideal is our own act. We may have borrowed the ideal from another ; and we do not for a moment suppose that we ourselves could give it perfect ex- pression, or even could rival the object which com- mands our critical admirations. Yet, after all, the ideal is before us ; it is, in a sense, our own ; we take a certain credit to ourselves for possessing it, and for comparing the object before us with it ; nay, we identify ourselves more or less with the ideal when we compare it with the object before us. When you, my brethren, express your admiration of a good painting, yoii do not mean to assert that you your- selves could have painted it. But you do imply that you have before your mind an ideal of what a good painting should be, and that you are able to form 542 . ' Aihiiiral'ion' (Did ' Ailoratlon.' [Lect. a judgment as to the correspondence of a particnlar work of art with that ideal. Thus it is that, whether justifiably or not, your admiration of the painting has the double character of sell-appreciation and of patronage. Indeed it may be questioned whether as an art-critic, intent upon the beauty of your ideal, you are not much more disposed secretly to claim for yourself a share of merit than woidd have l)ec^n the case if you had been the artist himself whose success you consent to admire ; since the aitist, we may be sure, is at least conscious of some nK'asure of faihire, and is humbled, if not depv(!ssed, by a sense of the difficulty of translating Ins ideal into reality, by the anxieties and struggles which are attendant on the process of production. Now this element of self-esteem, or at any rate of apjaroving reflection upon self, which enters so penetratingly into admiration, is utterly incom- patible with the existence of genuine adoration. For adoration is no mere prostration of the body ; it is a prostration of the soul. It is i-everence i-ar- ried to the highest point of possible exa,ggoratioii. It is mental self-annihilation Ijefoi-e a Boundless Greatness Which utterly transcends all human a,n(l finite standards. In That Presence self knows that it has neither plea nor right to any consideration ; it is overwhelmed 1)}' the sense of its utter insig- nificance. The adonng soul bends thought and heart and will before the footstool of the One Self- existing, All-creating, All-upholding Being; the soul wiUs to be as nothing before Him, or to exist only that it may recognise His greatness as altogetlier surpassing its words and thoughts. If any one Vn.] 'Aihniralion' and 'Adoration.' 543 element of adoration be its most prominent cha- racteiistic, it is a heartfelt uncompromising renun- ciation of the claims of self. Certainly admiration mar lead up to adoration ; but then real admiration dies a^way when its object is seen to be entitled to something higher than and distinct from it. Admiration ceases Trhen it has perceired that its Object altogether transcends any standard of excellence or beauty with which man can compare Him. Admiration may be the ladder by ^hich we moimt to adoration, but it is useless, or rather it is an impertinence, when adoration has been reached. Everr man of intelligence and mo- destT meets in life with manv obieets which call for his free and sincere admiration, and he himself grains both morally and intellectually by answering such a call. But while the objects of hiunan admira- tion are as various as the minds and tastes of men, ••Denique non omnes eadem mii-antur amantque." One Onlv Beinff can be riohtfidlT adored. To ' ad- mire ' God wotild involve an irreverence only equal to the impiety of adoring a fellow- creature. It would be as reasonable to pay Divine worship to oiu- eveiy-day associates, as to substitute for that incommimicable honour wliich is due to the [Most High some one of the tranquil and self-satisfied forms of favotrrable notice 'uith which we greet ac- comphshments or excellence in om* fellow- creatures. " "WTien I saw Him," says St, John, speaking of Jesus m His glory, -I feU at His feet as dead^''." That was somethiny- more than admiration, even the *^ Kev. i. I - : ore ^l^ov airoi', ^Trcija jrpc^ rci^ -0''5as avroi coi i€*:^o's. 544 The adoration of Jesus coeval with the Church. [Lect. most enthusiastic ; it was an act, my brethren, of adoration. If Jesus Christ had been only a morally perfect Man, He would have been entitled to the highest human admiration ; although it may be questioned, as we have seen, whether He can be deemed morally per- fect if He is in reahty only human. But the historical fact before us is, that from the earliest age of Chris- tianity, Jesus Christ has been adored as God. This adoration was not yielded to Him in consequence of the persuasions of theologians who had pronounced Him to be a Divine Person ; it had nothing in com- mon with the fulsome and servile insincerities which ever and anon rose like incense around the tlirone of some pagan Csesar who had received the equivocal honour of an apotheosis. Nor was this adoration of Jesus the product of a spiritual fascination too subtle or too strong to admit of accurate analysis. You cannot trace the stages of its progressive de- velopment. You cannot fix the period at which it was regarded only as a pious custom or luxviry, and then mark this ofl" from a later period when it had become, in the judgment of Christians, an imperious Christian duty. Never was the adoration of Jesus protested against in the Church as a novelty, de- rogatory to the honour and claims of God. Never was there a time when Jesus was only 'invoked' as if He had been an interceding saint, by those who had not yet learned to prostrate themselves before His throne as the throne of the OmniiJotent and the Eternal. In vam will you endeavour to establish a parallel between the adoration of Jesus and some modem 'devotion' unknown to the early days of VII.] Worship of Jems during His earthly Life. 545 Christendom, but now popularized largely in portions of the Christian Church ; since the adoration of Jesus is as ancient as Christianity, and Jesus has been ever adored on the score of His Divine Per- sonality — that Personahty of which this tribute of adoration is not merely a legitimate but a neces- sary acknowledgment. During the days of His earthly life our Lord was surrounded by acts of homage, ranging, as it might seem, so far as the intentions of those who offered them were concerned, from the wonted forms of Eastern courtesy up to the most direct and con- scious acts of Divine worship. As an Infant He was 'worshipped' by the Eastern sages <=; and during His ministry He constantly received and welcomed acts and words expressive of an intense devotion to His Sacred Person on the part of those who sought or who had received from Him some super- natural aid or blessing. The leper worshipped Him, saying, " Lord, if Thou wilt. Thou canst make me clean f." Jairus worshipped Him, saying, " My daughter is even now dead : but come and lay Thy hand upon her, and she shall live^." The mother of Zebedee's children came near to Him, worshipping Him, and asking Him to bestow upon her sons the first places of honour in His kingdom*". The woman of Canaan, whose daughter was " grievously vexed ^ St. Matt. ii. 1 1 : Trecrdires 'nj)0v vimv Zf^fSoi'ou pera tS>v viav avTTjS, TTpoaKVvovaa Kol airovaa Ti nap' avTov. N n 546 Worship of Jems during His earthly Life. [Lect. with a devil," "came and worshipped Him, saying. Lord, help meV The father of the poor lunatic, who met Jesus as He descended from the Mount of Transfiguration, "came, kneehng down to Him, and saying. Lord, have mercy on my son'^." These are instances of worship accompanying prayers for spe- cial mercies. And did not the dying thief offer at least a true inward worship to Jesus Crucified, along with the words, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom " % At other times visible worship was an act of acknowledgment or of thanks- giving. Thus it was with the grateful Samaritan leper, who, " when he saw that he was healed, tiu-ned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His Feet, giving Him thanksl" Thus it was when Jesus had appeared walking on the sea and had quieted the storm, and " they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, say- ing. Of a truth Thou art the Son of God™." Thus it was after the miraculous draught of fishes, that St. Peter, astonished at the greatness of the miracle, "fell down at Jesus' Knees, saying. Depart from me ; for I am a sinful man, Lord °." Thus the ' St. Matt. XV. 25 : 17 ^E eXBovcra TrpofTeKvvei. (lira, Xeyovaa, " Kipie, ^ Ibid. XVll. 14, 15* TTpocrriXBcv avra avdpiOTTOS yovvTt^Tutv avrco, KaX 1 St. Luke xyii. 15, 16: d? 8e f| aijTmi/, ISav OTt laBrj, xmicTTpe^e, peTa (fxov^s peyaXrjs do^d^av tov Qeoj/' Kal ^TvetJtv eVi TTpoaionoif jrapa Tovs TTodas avTOVj evxapttTToji/ avru, Di St. Matt. xiv. 32, 33: eKO-rraa-fv 6 avepos' oi Be iv T(a nXoia e\- 66vT(S ■Kpoa-eKvPTjcrav aiiTW, Xiyovrts, "'A\T]6a>s Qfov Yioj el." " St. Luke V. 8 : iSav Se 'S.ipav nirpos irpoatwecre ToTf y6va( rm p.vpa. These actions were expressive of a passionate devotion ; they had no object beyond expressing it. P St. John ix. 35—38: rJKOva-fv 6 'irjtrovs oVi i^effaXov avTov f^W Ka\ evpcbv avTQV, eiirev avT(£>y "2u inaTeveis els Tov ylov tov Geov ; AireKptdr) eK^lvos kol eincj " Tiff eVrt, Kvpif, cva TncTevaco els avTov ; EiTre de avra 6 ^Irjirovs, " Kal eaipaKas avTov^ Koi 6 \aK5>v p.€Ta aoi, cKeij'o'i iariv." '0 8e e'l^i;, " Hiarfva, Kiipie"" Kal Trpoa-eKvvrjaev avTw. 1 St. Matt, xxviii. g : 6 'lrj. ■■ St. John XX. 17. ^ St. Matt, xxviii. 17: Koi ISivres airbv, 7rpo(T€K{ivi](Tav aira' ol de N n a 548 Worship of Jesus during His earthly Life. [Lect. St. Thomas uses the language of adoration, even if we are not told that it was accompanied by any corresponding outward act. When, in reproof for his scepticism, he had been bidden to probe the Wounds of Jesus, he burst forth into the adoring- confession, "My Lord and my God'." Thus, when the Ascending Jesus was being borne upwards into heaven, the disciples, as if thanking Him for His great glory, worshipped Him ; and then " returned to Jerusalem with great joy^." It may be that in some of these instances the ' worship ' paid to Jesus did not express more than a profound reverence. Sometimes He was worshipped as a Superhuman Person, wielding superhuman powers ; sometimes He was worshipped by those who instinctively felt His moral majesty, which forced them, they knew not how, upon their knees. But if He had been only a 'good man,' He must have checked such worship. He had Himself re- affirmed the foundation-law of the religion of Israel ; " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve ^." Yet He never hints that danger lurked in the prostration of hearts and wiUs before Himself; He welcomes, by a tacit approval, ihia-Taaav. If some doubted, the worship offered by the rest was a very deliberate act. * St. John XX. 28 : Ka\ onreKpiBr] 6 Oafxas, Kal einev aira, " 'O Kipios fiov Kai 6 Beos jxov." Against the attempt of Theodore of Mopsuestia and others to resolve this into an ejaculation addressed to the Father, see Alford in loc. " St. Luke xxiv. ^1, 521 kqi dvapepero e?£ toj/ ovpavov, Kai avTOL 7rpov cot, Ao? /iot TTtfZf, trv hy fjTq(ras avTov, Ka\ edccK^i' av (rot uficop 2 Ibid. xvi. 2 2 : ttoKiv 8c oyj^oiim vfnas, kol xopTjO'fTai Vjxav fj KapSia, Kai TTjP \apav Vficov oi/Seiff a'lpci d(f)^ vjxwv' Ka\ iv CKeivrj rfj rjpLcpa c/ze ovk Eparrja-cTe ovSev. Here e'pcoTTjo-fTf means ' question.' a Ibid. xii. 32. 550 Apostolic jyrayer at the election of Bt. Matthias. [Lect. upwards from the heart of His Church a tide of ado- ration which has only become wider and deeper with the lapse of time. In the first days of the Church, Christians were known as "those who called upon the Name of Jesus Christ^." Prayer to Jesus Christ, so far from being a devotional eccentricity, was the universal practice of Christians ; it was the devo- tional act which specially characterized a Christian. It would seem more than probable that the prayer offered by the assembled apostles at the election of St. Matthias, was addressed to Jesus glorified °. A b Thus Ananias pleads to our Lord that Saul " hath authority from the chief priests to bind navras tovs iiriKoKoviJicvovs to onofid aov." (Acts ix. 14.) On St. Paul's first preaching in Jerusalem, "All that heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he that de- stroyed in Jerusalem tovs fVixaXou/MeVoDr to oVofia tovto ; " (Ibid. ver. 21.) Thus the title was applied to Christians both by themselves and by Jews outside the Church. In after years St. Paul inserts it at the begiiming of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, which is addressed to the Church of God at Corinth o-i/v vaa-t to'k iniKaXov- fievoLS TO ouofia Tov Kvplov rjfiav 'irjaov XpiaTov. (l Cor. i. 2.) The expression is illustrated by the dying prayer of St. Stephen, whom his murderers stoned iTTtKoKovfievov /cat Xeyovraj "Kupte 'Irja-ov, fif'^at TO ■Kvevixd IJ.0V." (Acts vii. 5g.) It cannot be doubted that in Acts xxii. 16, 2 Tim. ii. 22, the Kiptos Who is addressed is our Lord Jesus Christ. 'EiTiKoKnodai is not followed by an accusative except in the sense of appealing to God or man. Its meaning is clear when it is used of prayer to the Eternal Father, i St. Pet. i. 1 7 ; Acts ii. 2 1 (but cf. Rom. X. 13); or of appeal to Him, 2 Cor. i. 23; or of appeal to a human judge, Acts xxv. 11, 12, 21, 25; xxvi. 32; xxviii. 19. Its passive use occurs in texts of a different construc- tion : Acts iv. 36; X. 18 ; xii. 12; xv. 17; Heb. xi. 16; St. James '^ Acts i. 24: Kai vpoa-ev^afi(Voi earov, " Su Kupte KaphioyvSia-Ta ndv- rav, dvdSec^ov ex tovtiov tS>v Sio eva bv i^fke^ta " k. t, X. The selection of the twelve apostles is always ascribed to Jesus Christ. Acts i. 2 : VII.] The dying prayer of 8t. Stephen. 551 few months later the dying martyr St. Stephen passed to his crown. His last cry was a prayer to our Lord, moulded upon two of the seven sayings which our Lord Himself had uttered on the Cross. Jesus had prayed the Father to forgive His exe- cutioners. Jesus had commended His Spirit into the Father's Hands d. The words which are ad- dressed by Jesus to the Father, are by St. Stephen addressed to Jesus. To Jesus Stephen turns in that moment of supreme agony ; to Jesus he prays for pardon on his murderers ; to Jesus, as to the ovs i^cXi^aro. St. Luke vi. 13: npo(T«pi>vr] e^eXe^d/i/^y v^ds eV tov Koa-fiov. Meyer quotes Acts xv. 7 : 6 etor e'lfXeJaro Sid tov arofiaros fxov uKovcrat rd eSvrj tov Xoyov tov euayyeXtou, in order to shew that the Eternal Father must have been addressed. But this assumes that eedf can have no reference to our Lord. More- over St. Peter is clearly referring, not to his original call to the apostolate, but to his being directed to evangelize the Gentiles. St. Paul was indeed accustomed to trace up his apostleship to the Eternal Father as the ultimate Source of all authority (Gal. i. 1 5 ; 2 Cor. i. I ; Eph. i. i; 2 Tim. i. i) ; but this is not inconsistent with the fact that Jesus Christ chose and sent each and all of the apostles. The epithet KaphioyvinTTrjs, and still more the word Y-ipios, are equally applicable to the Father and to Jesus Christ. For the former see St. John i. 49 ; ii. 25; vi. 64; xxi. 17. It was natural that the apostles should thus apply to Jesus Christ to fill up the vacant chair, unless they believed Him to be out of the reach of prayer or incapable of helping them. See Alford and Olshausen in loc. ; Baumgarten's Apost. History in loc. •i Acts vii. 59, 60 ; i\i6o^6\ovv t6v Trtcjiavov, imKoXovfievov Koi XiyovTa, " Kvpie 'Irja-ov, bc^ai to irvevpd pov." Qfls Be Td yovaTa, expats (j)a>vjj piydXrj, " Kvpie, prj otijctt/s aiiToli rf/v dpapTiav ravTrjv. 552 The dying prayer of St. Stephen. [Lect. King of the world of spirits, he commends his part- ing soul. Is it suggested that St. Stephen's words were " only an ejaculation forced from him in the extremity of his agony," and that as such they are " highly unfitted to be made the premiss of a theo- logical inference % " But the question is whether the earliest apostoHcal Church did or did not pray to Jesus Christ. And St. Stephens dying prayer is strictly to the point. An ' ejaculation ' may shew more clearly than any set formal prayer the ordinary currents of devotional thought and feeling ; an ejaculation is more mstinctive, more spontaneous, and therefore a truer index of the real man, than a prayer which has been used for years. And how could the martyr's cry to Jesus have been the product of a thoughtless impulse"? Dying men do not cling to devotional fancies or to precarious opinions ; the soul in its last agony instinctively falls back upon its deepest certainties. Assuredly the unpremeditated ejaculation of a man dymg in shame and torture cannot be credited witli that element of dramatic artifice which may in rare cases have coloured the parting words and actions of those who, on the brink of eternity, have thought more of their "place in history" than of the awful Presence into which they were hastening. Is it hinted that St. Stephen was a recent convert not yet entirely instructed in the complete faith and mind of the apostles, and not unlikely to ex- aggerate particular features of their teaching 1 But St. Stephen is expressly described as a man "full of faith and of the Holy Ghosts." As such he had <^' Acts vi. 5- avhpa TTKrjpri TricTTcws Koi nveiparos 'Aylov. "\TI.] The dying prayer of St. Stephen. 553 recently been chosen to fill an important office in the Ctiirch ; and as a prominent missionary and apologist of the faith he might seem almost to have taken rank with the apostles themselves. Is it urged that St. Stephen's prayer was offered under the exceptional circumstances of a vision of Christ vouchsafed in mercy to His dying servant^'! But it does not enter iuto the definition of prayer or worship that it must of necessity be addressed to an iavisible Person. And the vision of Jesus stand- ing at the right hand of God may have differed in the degree of sensible clearness, but in its general nature it did not differ from that upon which the eye of every dying Christian has rested from the begimiing. St. Stephen would not have prayed to Jesus Christ then, if he had never prayed to Him before ; the vision of Jesus would not have tempted him to irmovate upon the devotional law of his Hfe ; the sight of Jesus would have only carried him in thought upwards to the Father, if the Father alone had been the Object of the Church's earhest ado- ration. St. Stephen would never have prayed to Jesus if he had been taught that such prayer was hostile to the supreme prerogatives of God ; and the apostles, as monotheists, must have taught thus, unless they had taught that Jesus was God, and had accordingly prayed to Him. Indeed St. Stephen's prayer may be illustrated, so far as this point is concerned, by that of Ananias at Damascus. To Ananias Jesus appeared in a vision, and desired him * So apparently !Meyer in loc. : " Das Stephanus .Jesum anrief, war hochst natiirlich, da er eben Jesum fiir ihn bereit stehend gesehen hatte." 554 Prayer of Ananias to Jesus Christ. [Lect. to go to the newly- converted Saul of Tarsus "in the street that is called Straight." The reply of Ananias is an instance of that species of prayer in which the soul trustfully converses with God even to the verge of argument and remonstrance, while yet it is controlled by the deepest sense of God's awful greatness : " Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to Thy saints at Jerusalem : and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on Thy Name§"." Our Lord overrules the objections of His servant. But what man has not at times prayed for exemption when God has made it plain that He wills him to undertake some difficult duty, or to embrace some sharp and heavy cross 1 Who has not pleaded with God the claims of His interests and His honour against what appears to be His WiU, so long as it has been possible to doubt whether His Will is really what it seems to be ? Ananias' 'remonstrance' is a prayer ; it is a spiritual colloquy ; it is a form of prayer which implies daily, hourly familiarity with its Object ; it is the lan- guage of a soul habituated to constant communion with Jesus. And it is noteworthy as shewmg that Jesus occupies the whole field of vision in the soul of His servant. The ' saints ' whom Saul of Tarsus has persecuted at Jerusalem, are the 'saints,' it is said, not of God, but of Jesus ; the Name which is called upon by those whom Said has authority to S Acts ix. 13, 14: Kvpif, aKTjKoa diro noXXav vtp\ toO avhpbi Tov- Tov, o(Ta KOKa fVoiJjcrc ToTc ayiois (rov iv lepovadXrjii' Koi &Be ep^ei ef- ovijiav irapa T&v dp^Lfp^'cov, drjaat ndpTas tovs intKoXovi^evovs to ovofid VII.] Si. Paul's early prayers to Jesus. 555 bind at Damascus, is the Name of Jesus. Ananias does not glance at One higher than Jesus, as if Jesus were lower than God ; Jesus is to Ananias his God, the Recipient of his worship, and yet the Friend with Whom he can plead the secret thoughts of his heart with earnestness and freedom. But he to whom, at the crisis of his wonderful destiny, Ananias brought consolation and relief from Jesus, was himself conspicuous for his devotion to the adorable Person of our Lord. At the very moment of his conversion Saul of Tarsus surren- dered himself in prayer to Christ, as to the lawful Lord of his being. "Lord," he cried, "what wilt Thou have me to do^^ 1 " And when afterwards in the temple our Lord bade St. Paul, " Make haste and get thee quickly otit of Jerusalem," we find the Apostle, like Ananias, unfolding to Jesus his secret thoughts, his fears, his regrets, his confessions ; laying them out before Him, and waiting for His response in the secret chambers of his soul*. Indeed St. Paul constantly uses language which shews that he ha- bitually thought of Jesus as of Divine Providence in a Human Form, watching over, befriending, con- soling, guiding, providing for him and his with Infinite foresight and power, but also with the ten- derness of a human sympathy. In this sense Jesus ^ Acts ix. 6 : rpeixav re Kai 6ajifiu>v erne, " Kvpif, tI /if dtkeis i Ibid. xxii. 19, 20: Kupic, airol imaTavTm, on eyio rjfirjv (pvKaKl- (lov Kai Sepav Kara rat (Tvvaywyas Tovs wuTTeiovTas eVi (re" koX ore e|e- XeiTO TO aljia ^Tirpavov tov jxapTiipot (Tov, Koi avTos rjp.rfv apcaTas Kai crvvevdoKoiv rrj dvaipecrei avTov, Koi (f)v\dv avaipovvrav avrdv. 556 Prai/er to Jesus, how recognised [Lect. is placed on a level with the Father in St. Paul's two earliest Epistles. " Now God Himself and ovir Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way imto you^;" "Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, Which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work'." ThiTS Jesus is asso- ciated with the Father, in one mstance as directing the outward movements of the Apostle's hfe, in an- other as building up the inward hfe of his converts. Sometimes, however, the Name of Jesus stands alone. " I trust in the Lord Jesus," so the Apostle writes to the Philippians, "to send Timotheus shortly unto you ™." " I thank Christ Jesus our Lord," so he assures St. Timothy, " Who hath given me power, for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry"." Is not this the natural language of a soul which is constantly engaged in communion with Jesus, whe- ther the communion of praise or the communion of prayer ? Jesvis is to St. Paul, not a deceased teacher or philanthropist, who has simply done his great work ^ I Thess. iii. II : Auro? Se 6 Geoy Ka\ YlaTTjp ^/xoJi/, Kol 6 Kvpios fjficoif 'Ijjo'cvs Uptaro^, Karevdvvat rrjv obov rjnoip npos Vfias, 1 2 Thess. ii. l6, 17 : avros 8e 6 Kipios fifiim 'lT](rovs XpuTTOi, koX 6 ©eoff Kal Uarfjp Tjp-atv, 6 dya7rr)(ras rjpas Kal Sous TrapaKhTjO'Li' alwviav Ka\ eXiTtda ayaOfjV ev )^dpiTi, TrapaKoKeaai. vpoiv ras Kapblas, Kol (Tttj- pL^ai vpas €if navri \6yoi kol epyoj dyaSa. °i Phil. ii. 19; eXTTt'^co fie ev Kvptat ^Irjaov, TLpoSeov Ta\4a)S irip^ai. " This hope was ev Kvpico 'irja-oC : it rested and centred in Him ; it arose from no extraneous feelings or expectations, and so would doubtless be fulfilled." Bp. Ellicott in loc. ^ I Tim. i. 12: Kal xdpiv €\ai rw ivbvvapaxravTi pc Xptarw ^Irjaoij Ta> Kvpico rjpaVj on 7vl(7t6v pe TjyrjcraTOj Bep^vos (Is diaKovlav, VII.] in St. Paul's Epistles. 557 and left it as his inheritance to the world ; He is God living and present, the Giver of temporal and spiritual blessings, the Guide and Friend both of man's outward and of his inward life. If we had no exphcit records of prayers offered by St. Paul to Je- sus, we might be sure that such prayers were offered, or that such language as he employs could not have been used. But, in point of fact, the Apostle has not left us in doubt as to his faith or his practice in this respect. " If," he asserts, " thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man beheveth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek : for the Same is Lord over all, rich unto all that call upon Him. For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved °." The prophet Joel had used these last words of prayer to the Lord Jehovah. St. Paul, as the whole context shews beyond reasonable doubt, understands them of prayer to JesusP. And what O Rom. X. 9 — 13 : ^O-V 6fJL0\0yr]O-7jS €V T€0 aTOfJLaTl aOV KvpLOV '17)V Koi iracra 560 St. John on the power of prayer to Christ. [Lect. had ended, to have been so highly exalted that the Name which He had borne on earth, and wliich is the symbol of His Humanity, was now the very nutriment and atmosphere of all the streams of prayer which rise from the moral world beneath His throne ; that as the God-Man He was wor- shipped by angels, by men, and among the dead. Their practice did but illustrate their faith ; and the prayers offered to Jesus by His servants on earth were believed to be but a reflection of that worship wliich is offered to Him by the Ch\;rch of heaven. If this behef is less clearly traceable in the brief Epistles of St. Peter", it is especially observable in St. John. St. John is speaking of the Son of God, when he exclaims, " This is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything accordmg to His WiU, He heareth us : and if we know that He hear us, .... we know that we have the petitions that we de- sired of Him"." These petitions of the eartlily Church yKosiTfja l^Q\j.oKQyr\tjrjTai ort Kuptoj 'It/o'oi's Xptoroy eiff do^av Qeov Uarpos. See Alford in loo. : " The general aim of the passage is ... . the_ exaltation of Jesus. Tlie eiV 8o|ai/ Qeov Harpoi below is no de- duction from this, but rather an additional reason why we should carry on the exaltation of Jesus imtil this new partieidar is in- troduced. This would lead us to infer that the universal prayer is to be to Jesus. And this view is confirmed by the next clause, where every tongue is to confess that Jesus Christ is Kipios, when we remember the common expression, emKaXeta-dat to ovojia Kvpiov, for prayer. Eom. x. i 2 ; i Cor. i. 2 ; 2 Tim. ii. 22." " Yet I St. Pet. iv. 1 1 is a doxology " framed, as it might seem, for common use on earth and in heaven." See also 2 St. Pet. iii. 18. ^ I St. John V. 13—15 ■ '"" "■"rrevi/Tc els t6 ovop.a tov Yiov Toi GfoO. Kai avTTj (crAv rj Trapprjala rjV fp^o/iei/ Tjpbs avrov, on edv tc aiTafiiBa Kara to de\r}p.a avTOV, dicovei. f}p.o>v' Ka\ ialf o\bap.fv otc aKovei rjp.(oVj o hv anoiacGay o'lSafifv oTi exojiev ra aWrifiaTa a yTTjKap.ev nap' avToxi. The natural VII.] The Adoration of the lamh. 561 correspond to the adoration above, where the wounded Humanity of our Lord, is throned in the highest heavens. " I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne .... stood a Lamb as It had been slain y." Around Him are three concentric circles of ado- ration. The inmost proceeds from the four myste- rious creatiu-es and the foLir and twenty elders who " have harps, and golden viaLs full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints^." These are the courtiers who are placed on the very steps of the throne ; they represent more distant worshippers. But they too fall down before the throne, and sing the new song which is addressed to the Lamb slain and glorified^ : " Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy Blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth **." Around these, at a greater distance from the Most Holy, there Ls a count- less company of worshippers : " I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the construction of this passage seems to oblige us to refer uItov and TO BtKrjiui to the Son of God (ver. 13). The passage i St. .John iii. 21, 22 does not forbid this ; it only shews how fully in St. John's mind the honour and prerogatives of the Son are those of the Father. y JXftv. V. 6 : Ka\ eihov^ Kai Idoii eV ^eo-co rov Opovov kq\ rav rea-aapcov ^oxaf, KOL €V fieco} rap 7rpeo'/3uTepa)i/, apviov eo'TrjKos o>s io'^ayixevov. ^ Ibid. ver. 8 : f'xovres eKaaros Ki6dpas, Km (pidXas )(pvads y(fiov(Tas dvfiiafjATCoVj at u(riv at npo(T€V)^ai Tuiv ayloiv. * Ibid. : fTTifTov ivoiTTWv Tov dpviov .... Kal adovaiv tobfjp Kaivrjif. b Ibid. ver. 9 : iircpdyris, Koi rjyopaa-as ra Of w rjfids iv ra aifiaTL <70v, SK Trdcrrjs 0vXJ)s Koi yXaca-rjs Kal "Xaov Kal gBvovs, Kal €7roLTj(Tas rjfidi T» Qeio f]p.aiv ^acrtXels Kal lep(7s' Kal /3aa-iXev(70/jei' eVl rrjs y^t. O 562 The Adoration of the Lamb. [Lect. creatures and the elders : and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thovisand, and thousands of thousands ; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb That was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing''." Beyond these again, the entranced Apostle discerns a third sphere in which is maintained a perpetual adoration. Lying outside the two inner circles of conscious adoration offered by the heavenly intelligences, there is in St. John's vision an assemblage of all created life, which, whether it wills or not, lives for Christ's as for the Father's glor}^ : " And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying. Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him That sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever^i." This is the hymn of the whole visible creation, and to it the resjjonse comes from the inmost circle of the worshippers, latifying and harmonizing this adoring movement of universal life : " And the four creatures said, Amen"^." Nor does the redeemed Church on earth faU to bear her part in this chorus of praise : ^ iReV. V. II, T2 ; KaL cidov, Ka\ {JKCtvaa (pcovrjv ayyeXwv ttoWcov KVKkoBfV Tov Bpovnv Kol Toiv ^iiav KOI Twv npecrfivTepcof Ka\ ;((XiaS6r ;((AtaSan', "XeynvTe^ (ptovfi fieyaXr]^ "A^iov iaTl to dpviov to iv afj.ap- Ttaiv fjiJiav eV ra ai/iaTi aiiTov' Kai inoi-qaev rjfias /SacriXeit Kat tepels ra 6ew Kol TJarpl avTov' avTca fj h6^a Ka\ to KpuTos eU tovs aiavas Tav alavav. a^rjv. O 2 564 Significance of the worship of Jesus not weakened [Lect. Sinaitic law which restricts worship to the Lord God Himself. St. Peter will not sanction the self- . prostrations of the grateful Cornehus, lest Cornelius should think of him as more than human ^. When, at Lystra, the excited populace, with their priest, desired to offer sacrifice to St. Paul and St. Barna- bas, as to " deities who had come down to them in the likeness of men," the Apostles in their unfeigned distress protested that they were but men of like passions with those whom they were addressing, and claimed for the living God that service which was His exclusive rightly. When St. John fell at the feet of the angel of the Apo- calypse in profound acknowledgment of the mar- vellous privileges of sight and sound to which he had been admitted, he was peremptorily checked on the ground that the angel too was only his fellow- slave and that God was the rightful Object of worship i. One of the most salient features of the Gnostico- Jewish theosophy which threatened the faith of the Church of Colossse was the worshippmg of angels ; and St. Paul censures it on the ground S Acts X. 25: (TvvavTrjcras avToi 6 KopvriXios, Trecrcoi' ewl Toiis TToSas rrpocreKvprjaeif. 6 Se Uirpos avTov ^yetpe Xe-ycof, *Avav TTodwv tov dyyeXov TOV beiKvvovTos poi TavTa. Koi Xeyei /xot, Opa ptj' avifdoyXos (tov ydp ei/ii KOI To>v db(K(f>a>v aov tS>v npacjjjjTav, Kai tS>v Tt)povvTa>v Tovs \6yovi TcO /3t/3Xl'oV T0VTOV^ TO! OfW TVpn!TKVVr](JOV. VII.] hy any ' secondary' worship iu Ike New Testament. 565 bhat it tended to loosen men's hold upon the in- 3ommunicable prerogatives of the great Head of bhe Church'^. Certainly the New Testament does beach that we Christians have dose communion with the blessed angels and with the sainted dead, such as would be natural to members of one great family- The invisible world is not merely above, it is around as ; we have come into it ; and Christ's kingdom on sarth and in heaven^ forms one supernatural whole. But the worship claimed for, accepted by, and paid bo Jesus, stands out ia the New Testament in the sharpest relief. This relief is not softened or shaded off by any instances of an inferior homage paid, whether legitimately or not, to created beings. We do not meet with any clear distinction between a primary and a secondary worship, by which the force of the argument might have been seriously weakened. Worship is claimed for, and is given to, God alone : if Jesus is worshipped, this is be- cause Jesus is God. /3. The worship paid to Jesus in the apostolic ^ Col. ii. r8: fjLTjd€\s u/xa? Kara^pal^eveTai $i\(i>v iv Ta7r€iifowv Ka\ a-vvdecrpav entxop^yov- Kvov Kol (Tvpffiffa^opfvov, ail^ei ttjv ail^rjaiv tov Beov. ' Heb. xii. 22: Trpoa-ekriXidaTe 2icbi/ opei, Kol noXfi 0eov fmi/rof , 'If- )ovv, Travrjyvp^i kol eKKXrjo-ta Trpa- roTOKav iv oipavols d7royfypap.peua>p, Koi Kpirrj Bfw navTcav, Kai nvd- ia(Ti diKaLcov rereXeiiop-evcoVf koI diaBrjKrjs vias fisatTTj lr)aov. ■566 Jems ivorshijjjied ivith the adoration due to God. [Lect. age was certainly in many cases that adoration which is due to the Most High God, and to Him alone, from all His intelligent creatures. God Himself must needs have been, then as ever, the One Object of real worship. But the Eternal Son, when He became Man, ceased not to be God. As God, He received from those who believed in Him the only worship which their faith cordd render™. Thus much is clear from the representations which we have been considering m the Apoca- lypse, even if we take no other passages into account. That worship of our glorified Lord is not any mere honorary acknowledgment that His redemptive work is complete ; since even at the moment of His Incarnation it is addressed to His Divine and Eternal Person. Doubtless the language addressed to Him in the Gospels represents many postures of the human soul, ranging between that utter self-prostration which we owe to the Most High, and that trustful familiarity with which we pour our joys and sorrows, our hopes and fears into ™ Meyer's remarks are very far from satisfactory. "Das anrufen Christi ist niclit das Anbeten schlechthin, wie es nur in Betreff des Vatera als des einigeu absoluteu Gottes geschieht, wolil aber die Anbetung naoh der durch das Verhaltniss Christi zum Vater (dessen wesensgleioher Sohn, Ebenbild, Throngenosse, Vermittler, und Fiir- sprecher fur die Menschen u. s. w. er ist) bedingten Eelativitat im betenden Bewusstsein Der Christum Anrufende ist sich bewusst, er rufe ihn nicht als den schlechthinigen Gott, sondern als dem gottmenschlichen Vertreter und Mittler Gottes an." In Rom. X. 12 our Lord is adored as being of one substance with the Father, and as therefore equally entitled to adoration. Adoration is due only to the Uncreated Substance of God, and to Jesus Christ as being personally of It. The mediatorial functions of His Manhood cannot aifeot the bearings of this truth. VII.] Adoration of the Sacred Manliood of Jesus. 567 the ear of a human friend. Such 'lower forms' of worship lead up to, and are explained by, the higher. They illustrate the purpose of the Incarnation. But the famUiar confidence which the Incarnation invites cannot be pleaded against the rights of the Incar- nate God. A free, trustful, open-hearted converse with Christ is compatible with the lowliest worship of His Person ; Christian confidence even " leans upon His Breast at supper," while Christian faith discerns His Glory, and "falls at His Feet as dead." 7. The apostolic worship of Jesus Christ embraced His Manhood no less than it embraced His God- head". According to St. Paul His Human Name of Jesus, that is, His Human Nature, is worshipped on earth, in heaven, and among the dead. It is not the Unincarnate Logos, but the wounded Hii- manity of Jesus, Which is enthroned and adored in the vision of the Apocalypse. To adore Christ's Deity while carefuUy refusing to adore His Man- 1 Cf. Pearson, Minor Theological Works, vol. i. 307 : " Christiis sive Homo lUe Qui est Mediator, adoratus est. Heb. i. 6 ; Apoc. v. II, 12. Hseo est plenissima descriptio adorationis. Et hie Agnus occisus erat Homo ille, Qui est Mediator ; Ergo Homo Hie, Qui est Mediator est adorandus. S. Greg. Nazianzen. Orat. li. : EiVjs ^17 TTpocTKVi'e'i Tov i(TTavpco^€voVt dvaSepa eVrtu, Ka\ T€Td)(d(o fiera tS>v dfo- KTovav." Cf. also Ibid. p. 308 : " Ghristus, qua est Mediator, est unica adoratione colendus. Concil. Gen. V. Collat. viii. can. 9. Si quis adorari in duabus naturis dicit Christum, ex quo duas adorationes introducat, semotim Deo Verbo, et semotim Homini ; aut si quis adorat Christum, sed non und adoratione Deum Verbum Incarnatum cum Ejus Carne adorat, extra quod sanctoe Dei ecclesise ab initio traditum est ; talis anathema sit." See the whole of this and the preceding ' Determination.' 568 References to the ivorship of Jems Christ [Lect. hood would be to forget that His Manhood is for ever joined to His Divine and Eternal Person, Which is the real Object of our adoration. Since He has taken the Manhood into God, It is an in- separable attribute of His Personal Godhead ; every knee must bend before It ; henceforth the angels themselves around the throne must adore, not as of yore the Unincarnate Son, but "the Lamb as It had been slain." Thus rooted in the doctrine and practice of the apostles, the worship of Jesus Christ was handed down to succeeding ages as an integral and recog- nized element of the spiritual life of the Church. The early fathers refer to the worship of our Lord as to a matter beyond dispute. Even before the end of the first century St. Ignatius bids the Roman Christians " put up litanies to Christ " on liis behalf, that he might attain the distinction of martyrdom". St. Poly carp's Epistle to the Philippians opens with a benediction which is in fact a prayer to Jesus Christ, as being, together with the Almighty Father, the Giver of peace and mercy''. Polycarp prays that " the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Eternal Priest Himself, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, would build up his readers in faith and truth and in all meekness, . . . and would give them a part and lot among the saints 1." And at a later day, *^ S. Ign. ad Rom. 4 : \iTav^vv aperoyi/, dvencpLKTOV re KaKias deov' aXX' eKilvov re, Kai tov Trap avTov Ylov eXOovra Kai didd^avra rifids Taiira, Kai tov tq>v aXKcov eTTop^vav Kai e^opoiovpivav dya6a>v dyyeXfov (TTpaTov, Tlvevpd Te to npocpr^TLKOv (T€J36p€$a Kai Trpoo-Kvvovpiev Xdyo) Koi oKrjdeta. TipavTes. With regard to tlie clause of this passage which has been the subject of so much controversy (rai TOV Twv aXKa>v .... dyyeXav a-TpoTov), (i) it is impossible to make iTTpaTov depend upon ae^oiieBa Kai 7Tpoa-Kvvovp.(v without involving St. Justin in self-contradiction (c£ the jsassage quoted above), and Bellarmine's argument based on this construction (de Beatitud. Sanctor. lib. i. c. 13) proves, if anything, too much for his purpose, viz. that the same worship was paid to the angels as to the Persons of the Blessed Trinity. Several moderns (quoted by Otto in loc.) who adopt this construction use it for a very different object. (2) It is difficult to accept Bingham's rendering (Ant. bk. 13, c. 2,§ 2) \'IT.] in SS. Justin, Irenaus, ami demerit. 571 Trypho he especially urges that prophecy foretold the adoration of Messiah^. St. Ireneeus insists that the miracles which were in his day of common oc- cixrrence in the Church were not to be ascribed to any invocation of angels, nor yet to magical incan- tations, nor to any form of evil curiosity. They were simply due to the fact that Christians con- stantly prayed to God the Maker of all things, and called upon the Name of His Son Jesus Christ^. Clement of Alexandria has left us three treatises, designed to form a missionary trilogy. In one he is occupied with converting the heathen from idola- try to the faith of Christ ; in a second he instructs the new convert in the earlier lessons and duties of the Christian faith ; while in his most considerable work he labours to impart the higher knowledge to which the Christian is entitled, and so to render him ' the perfect Gnostic' In each of these treatises, widely different as they are in point of practical aim, which joins ayyeXoij/ a-rpaToi/ and ifias with SiSd^ai/Ta, and makes Christ the Teacher not of men only but of the angel host. This idea, how- ever, seems to have no natural place in the passage, and we should have expected Tovra tj/jlos not rj/ias ravra. (3) It seems better, there- fore, with Bull, Chevallier (Transl. p. 152), Mohler (Tubing. Theol. Quartalsch. 1833, Fasc. i. p. 53 sqq., quoted by Otto) to make ayyeKav a-Tparov and TaiiTa together dependent upon SiSd^avra : " the Son of God taught us not merely about these (viz. evil spirits, cf § 5) but also concerning the good angels," &C.3 roi/ dyytkav a-rpdrov being elliptically put for rd nep\ tov . . . dyyeXau (TTpaTov. z Dial, cum Tryph. C. 68 ; ypa(f)ds, at ScapprjBrjv t6v Xpia-rov Ka\ ira- OrjTOP KOI TTpocrKVinjTov Koi Seov aTTO$€LKVvoviTi.v. Ibid. C. 76 : Kai Aaviio .... Geov l(7\vpov Ka\ 7rpo(rKvvrjT6u, XpiCTTOV ovra, €Orj\ ^wvTi' TTLCrtvaaTe oi dovXot rw veKpw' ndvTes avOpainotj irnTTevcraTe pot/a rw TrdvTtov dvdpoyjraiv 6eo>* TrtOTcucrare kol pidBov \d^€Te troiTijpiav K. t, X. " Psedagog. lib. iii. c. 7, p. 3 1 1, ed. Potter: Swep ovv Xomov eVI ToiairTj TravjjyvpiL tov hoyov, rw Adyw irpoa-ev^wpeOa' "iXa^t Tols (JOij, TratSa-yoj-ye, TratSt'otff, Tlarrjpj rjviox^e 'l, (tvv Kai rat dyia Ili/fu/xart, jravTa tm *Ej/i, fV a rd TrdvTa, dt ov rd irdvTa ev, . . . w rj dd^a Koi vvv kcli ets alavas. TlaTp\ TTpo(Tiv\ffj6ai XPVi V '^^y^ Tvpoa-iv^opai' oTrep dia twv dyltov ypaf^aiv pavOdviTe' Apxtfpel yap ro) VTrep rjpcov KaTaaraBevTi vtto tov HarpoSy kol napa- K\rjT(o VTTO TOV UaTpoi eti/at XajSdvri, cvx^frOai rjpds ov dd, dWa hi apxiepecos KoX napaKkfjTov k. t. X. This indefensible language was a result of the line taken by Origen in opposing the Monarchians. "As the latter, together with the distinction of substance in the Father and the Son, denied also that of the Person, so it was with Origen a matter of practical moment, on account of the systematic connexion of ideas in his philosophical system of Christianity, to maintain in oppo- sition to them the personal independence of the Logos. Some- times in this controversy he distinguishes between unity of sub- stance and personal unity or unity of subject, so that it only con- cerned him to controvert the latter. And this certainly was the 574 References to the loorsAip of Jesus Christ [Lect. line of teacliiiig, by which it must in fairness be interpreted. Origen often insists upon the worship of Jesus Christ as a Christian dutyl ; he illustrates this duty frequently, especially in his Homilies, by his personal example"' ; he refers it to that great point of greatest practical moment to him ; and lie must have been well aware that many of the Fathers who contended for a jjer- sonal distinction held firmly at the same time to a unity of sub- stance. But according to the internal connection of his own system (Neander means his Platonic doctrine of the to ov) both fell together ; wherever he spoke, therefore, from the position of that system, he affirmed at one and the same time the hepor-qs TT}s ovalas and the eTEp6Tr}s TTJ^ vTrocTTacreats or rov vTroKeipevov" Neander, Ch. Hist. ii. 311, 312. From this philosophical premiss Origen deduces his practical inference above noticed : el yap erepoi, cos iv aXXotff beLKVVTat, Kar ovcrlav Kal vnoKei^evo^ ItTTiv 6 Yio? tov Xlarpos, rJTOi Trpo(TKVVr]T€OV t See his prayer on the furniture of the tabernacle, as spiritually explained, Horn. 13 in Exod. xxxv. p. 176 : "Domine Jesu, prtesta mihi, ut aliquid monument! habere merear in tabernaculo Tuo. Ego optarem (si fieri posset), esse aliquid meum in illo auro, ex quo pro- pitiatorium fabricatur, vel ex quo area contegitur, vel ex quo can- . delabrum fit luminis et lucernse. Aut si aurum non habeo, ar- gentum saltem aliquid inveniar offen-e, quod proficiat in columnas, vel in bases earum. Aut certe vel seris aliquid Tantum ne in omnibus jejunus et infecundus inveniar." Cf. too Hom. i. in Lev., Hom. V. in Lev., quoted by Bingham, Ant. xiii. 2, § 3. VII.] in Origen and Novatian. 575 truth which justifies it". It is in keeping with this that Origen explains the frankincense offered by the wise men to our Infant Saviotir as an ac- knowledgment of His Godhead, since such an action obviously involved that adoration which is due only to God°. This explanation at any rate could not have been advanced by any but a devout worshipper of Jesus. In the work on the Trinity P, ascribed to n Comm. in Kom. x. lib. viii. vol. 4, p. 624, ed. Ben., quoted by Bingham, ubi supra : " [Apostolus] in principio Epistolse quam ad Corinthios scribit, ubi dicit, ' Cum omnibus qui invocant nomen Domini nostri Jesu Christi, in omni loco ipsorum et nostro ' eum cujus nomen invocatur, Dominum Jesum Christum esse pronuntiat. Si ergo et Enos, et Moyses, et Aaron, et Samuel, ' invocabant Dominum et ipse exaudiebat eos,' sine dubio Christum Jesum Dominum invocabant ; et si invocare nomen Domini et orare Domi- num unum atque idem est ; sicut invocatur Deus, invocandus est Christus; et sicut oratur Deus, ita et orandus est Christus ; et sicut oiferimus Deo Patri primo omnium orationes, ita et Domino Jesu Christo ; et sicut offerimus postulationes Patri, ita offerimus postu- lationes et Filio ; et sicut offerimus gratiarum aotiones Deo, ita et gratias offerimus Salvatori. Unum namque utrique honorem deferendum, id est Patri et Filio, divinus edocet sermo, cum dicit : ' Ut omnes honorificent Filium, sicut honorificant Patrem.' " ° Contr. Cels. i. 60, p. 375 • (pfpovres jxev 8S>pa, a (iv'ovrcos oi/o/jdcrm) ovvB^Tw Ttv\ €K Qeov Kol av6payjTov Bv'qTov 7rpo(rr]V€yKav, (rvp^oXa p^v, w? ^aaCKa. Tov xP'^^ov^ ojs Se Tedvq^optvo) Tr]v apvpvav, wj Se Bew tov \tj3a- vcoTov' Trpoarjv^yKaif fie, paOovTes rhv tottov ttjs ■yei'ecreMS avrov. AXX efffi Qeos rjV, 6 iirip tovs ^oTjBovvTas dv6pioiroit dyye\ovs (vvndpx<»v laiTr^p TOV yevovs Toiv dvdpatncov^ ayyf'Kos rjpci^aTO rrjv twv pdy(ov eiri npoaKV- vrjaai tov *lT](rovp ev(rc^€iav, XPVP^"^^^^^ avToli " prj rjK€Lv 77pus tov 'Hpm&riv, dXX' inaviKBdv aWrj oSa fls to oUe'ia." Of. S. Iren. adv. Haer. iii. 9. 2. P Novat. de Trin. c. 14, quoted by Bingham : " Si homo tantum- modo Christus, quomodo adest ubique invocatus, quum hsec hominis natura non sit, sed Dei, ut adesse omni loco possit 1 " 576 Hymnody contributes to the worship of Jesiis. [Lect. Novatian, in the treatises and letters « of St. Cyprian, in the apologetic works of Arnobius'' and Lactantius^ references to the subject are numerous and decisive. But our limits forbid any serious attempt to deal with the materials which crowd upon us as we advance into the central and later decades of the third century ; and at this pomt it may be well to glance at the forms with which the primitive Church approached the throne of the Redeemer. Remark, then, my brethren, that Christian hymnody contributed to the worship of Jesiis Christ a very considerable element. Hymnody actively educates, 1 S. Cyprian, de bono Patientise, p. 220, ed. Fell. : "Pater Deus prsecepit Filium suum adorari : et Apostolus Paulus, divini praecepti memor, ponit et dicit : ' Deus exaltavit eum et donavit illi nomen quod est super omne nomen ; ut in nomine Jesu omne genu flec- tatur, coelestium, terrestrium, et infernorum;' et in Apooalypsi ange- his Joanni volenti adorari se resistit et dicit : 'Vide ne feceris, quia conservus tuus sum et fratrum tuorum ; Jesum Dominum adora.' Qualis Dominus Jesus, et quanta patientia ejus, ut qui in coelis adoratur, necdum vLndicetur in terris % " In Rev. xx. 9, St. Cyprian probably read tm Kvpim instead of ra 6em. See his language to Lucius, Bishop of Eome, who had recently been a confessor in a sudden persecution of Gallus, A. d. 252 (Ep. 61, p. 145, ed. Fell.) : " Has ad vos literas mittimus, frater carissime, et reprtesentantes vobis per epistolam gaudium nostrum, fida obsequia caritatis ex- promimus ; hie quoque in sacrificiis atque in orationibus nostris non cessantes Deo Patri, et Christo Filio Ejus Domino nostro gra- tias agere, et orare pariter ac petere, ut qui perfectus est atque per- ficiens, custodiat et perficiat in vobis confessionis vestrse gloriosam coronam." r Arnobius adv. Gentes, i. 36: "Quotidiauis supplicationibus adoratis." And Ibid. i. 39 : " Neque [Christus] omni illo qui vel maximus potest excogitari divinitatis afficiatur cultu 1 " [ed. Oehler]. e Lactantius, Div. Inst. iv. 1 6. '^11.] Value of Hymns as expressions of Christian doctrine. STTl ^r]lile it partially satisfies, the instinct of worship ; t is a less formal and sustained act of worship han prayer, yet it may really involve transient ,cts of the deepest adoration. But because it is ess formal, — because in using it the soul can pass, ,s it were, unobserved and at will from mere sym- )athetic states of feeling to adoration, and from ado- ation back to passive although reverent sympathy, — hymnody has always been a popular instrument for he expression of rehgious feeling. And from the sarliest years of Christianity it seems to have been ;onsecrated to the honour of the Redeemer. We lave already noted traces of such apostolical hymns n the Pauline Epistles ; but the early Humanitarian eachers did unintentional service by bringing into )rominence the value of hymns as witnesses to Christian doctrine, and as efficient aids to popular logmatic teaching. When the followers of Arte- iion maintained that the doctrine of Christ's God- lead was only brought into the Chm-ch during he episcopate of Zephyrinus, an early writer, quoted )y Eusebius, observes, by way of reply, that " the )salms and hymns of the brethren, which from he earliest days of Christianity had been written )y the faithfid, all celebrate Christ, the Word of Tod, proclaiming His Divinity*." Origen pointed lut that hymns were addressed only to God and o His Only-begotten Word, Who is also God". ' Eus. Hist. Eccl. V. 28: ■\jra\no\ 8e oaoi Koi ai8ai d8f\(pS>v dir dpxfjs no -TTifTTWv ypa(p€'icraL, tov hoyov tQv Qcov t6v Xpca-rov vfivovai 6co- oyoiivm. " Contr. Cels. viii. 67 : vjxvovs yap els ixovov tov eVi vatn Xeyopiev lehv, Kal TOV jMovoyivrj avTov t\.6yov Koi Qeov' Kai vjivovpiv y( Qeov Kol tov lovoyivr^ avTov. p p 578 Christ adored in theTersanctiis, the Gloria in Bxcelsis, [Lect. And the practical value of these hymns as teach- ing the doctrine of Christ's Deity was ilhistrated by the conduct of Paulus of Samosata. He banished from his own and neighbouring churches the psalms which were sung to our Lord Jesus Christ ; he spoke of them contemptuously as being merely modem compositions". This was very natural in a prelate who " did not wish to confess with the Church that the Son of God had descended from heaven^ ; " but it shews how the hymnody of the primitive Church protected and proclaimed the truths which she taught and cherished. Of the early hymns of the Chxirch of Christ some remain to this day among us as witnesses and expressions of her faith in Christ's Divinity. Such are the Tersanctvis and the Gloria in Excelsis. Both belong to the second cent\\ry ; both were in- troduced, it is difficult to say how early, into the Eucharistic Office ; both pay Divine honours to our Blessed Lord. And as each morning dawned the Christian of primitive days repeated in private the Gloria in Excelsis as a hymn of praise to Christ his Lord. How wonderfully does that hymn blend "^ Eus. Hist. Eccl. vii. 30 : ^aKfiovs 8e roij fiEi/ fls TO!/ Kipwv rjfiav Irjaovv X-pLCTTOv jravaaSt tos brj ve(OT€povs kol peo}Tcp(ov dvdpoiv (rvyypap- Hara. The account continues : ds iuvTov Si tV p^icrrj ttj cKKXrjrria, TTJ fiEyaKj] Toil 7rd(r^a rjpepa yj/aXpadeli^ yvvoiKas Trapaa-Kcvd^oyv, hv Ka\ oKovaas av Tts (^pi^eiev. They Seem to have sung in this prelate's own presence, and with his approbation, odes which greeted him as " an angel who had descended from heaven," although Paulus de- nied our Lord's pre-existence. Vanity and unbelief are naturally and generally found together. ^ Ibid. : Tov pev yap Ylov rov Qeov ov ^ouXerat ovvopoXoyelv i^ ov- pavov KUTeKrjkvBivm. '^11.] and the Evening Hymn of the early Church. 579 be appeal to our Lord's human sympathies with he confession of His Divine prerogatives ! " Lord irod, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, That takest way the sins of the world, have mercy upon us." low thrilling is that burst of praise, which at last .rowns the plaintive notes of entreaty that have ireceded it, and hails Jesus Christ glorified on His hrone in the heights of heaven ! " For Thou only ,rt holy ; Thou only art the Lord ; Thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the dory of God the Father." Each evening too, in those arly times, the Christian offered a hymn of praise ?hich was also addressed to his ascended Lord : — " Hail ! gladdening Light, of His pure glory poured, Who is th' Immortal Father, heavenly, blest, Holiest of Holies — Jesus Christ our Lord ! Now we are come to the sun's hour of rest, The lights of evening round us shine. We hymn the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Divine ! Worthiest art Thou at all times to be sung With undefiled tongue, Son of our God, Giver of life, Alone ! Therefore in all the world, Thy glories. Lord, they ownv." y Cf Lyra Apostolica, No. 63. The original is given in Eouth's ^eliquife Sacr. iii. p. 515 : ^ws iKapov ayias So^ijy d6avaTov Oarpof ovpavLov, aytov, fiaKapos, *jT}a-ov Xpicrre, i\d6vr€s eVt tov tjXlov dvcriv, ld6i/T€S (f)a>s fo-jrepivov f vfivovfiev UaTepa^ Kal Ylov, Kai \yiov Uvevpa Oeov. a^ios et €v naai Kaipoii vp.V€lr}V 6 di^ovs' t. Basil quotes it in part, De Sj)ir. Sanct. 73. It is still the Vesper [ymn of the Greek Church. P n 2 580 AJoratioii of Christ in the Te Benin, [Lect. A yet earlier illustration is afibrded by the ode with which Clement of Alexandria concludes his Pasdagogus. Although its phraseology was strictly adapted to the 'perfect Gnostic' at Alexandria in the second century, yet it seems to have been intended for congregational use. It praises our Lord, as 'the Dispenser of wisdom,' 'the Support of the suffermg,' the 'Lord of immortality,' the ' Saviour of mortals,' ' the Mighty Son,' ' the God of peace.' It insists three times on the ' sincerity ' of the praise thus offered Him. It concludes : — " Sing we sincerely The ilighty Son ; We, tlio peaceful choir, We, the Christ-begotten ones, We, the people of sober life, Sing we together the God of peace''-." Nor may we forget a hymn which, in God's good providence, has been endeared to all of us from child- liood. In its present form, the Te Deum is clearly Western, whether it belongs to the age of St. Au- gustine, with whose baptism it is connected by the ]3opular tradition, or, as is probable, to a later period. z Clem. Alex. Pred. iii. 12, fin. p. 313; Daniel, Thesaurus Hymno- logicus, torn. iii. p. 3. " Der Ton des Liedes ist . . . . gnostisch versinnlichend." (Fortliige Gesiinge Christlicher Vorzeit, p. 357, qu. by Daniel.) Traifia Kparepov, Xopos flprivtjs ol xpKXToyovoL^ \abs (T03(pp(OV, i^aXXw/itv opov Qcov elprjVTjs. "II.] in ancient do.i-f>I('oii\i, amf f/w K//rie Fh-ison. 581 ^\it we can scarcely doubt that portions of it are of Eastern origin, and that the)^ carry us up welhiigli o the sulvapostohc period. The Te Deiun is at 11XV a song of praise, a creed, and a suppHcation. [n each capacity it is addressed to our Lord. In lie Te Deuni how profound is the adoration offered o Jesus, whether as One of the IMost Holv Three. n- more specially in His Personal distinctness as the King of Glory, the Father's Everlasting Son! Hoay louching are the supplications which remmd Him :hat when He became incarnate " He did not abhor :he ^'irgins womb," that when His Death-agon-s' was [xissed He " opened the kingdom of heaven to all ,>elieversl" How passionate are the pleadings that Be wo\dd "help His servants whom He has rc- ieemed -with His most precio\is Blood,"" that He would " make them to be niunbercd with His saints in iilorv everlasting- ! "' ]\Iuch of this lanofuao-e is of the highest antiquity : all of it is redolent with the fragrance oi the earliest Church : and, as we Eno-lish Christians use it still in otu* daily services. we mav rejoice to teel that it miites us tiltogether in spirit, and to a great extent in the letter, with the Clnu'ch of the iirst three centm-ies. The Apostolical Constitutions contain ancient doxo- looies which associate Jesus Christ with the Father :^s " iuliabiting the praises of Israel," after the mamier of the Gloria Patri'*. And the Kyrie a Couftitiitioiies, viii. \2 ^vol. i. p. 4S;. ed. L:ibl>c), quoted by Bina;ll!llll. !rnf>aKaXot"/ifl' (Tf o!7u>f n-aiT.if i)}ias StaTTjpijLrai iv TtJ nireliela, (77uT\rayayj]i tV r^ (SacriXfia Tov \,iuT7or crov roi Scoi Trainjt .luTC^TTT-rjf K.ii vorjrrjs (^vaeayi, ToC l^airiXtu^i j';^u>r. arptrrTovi, afiiprrrovi^ 582 Worship of Christ at the celebration of the Eucharist [Lect. Eleison, that germinal form of supplication, of which the comitless htanies of the modem Church are varied expansions, is undoubtedly sub-apostolic. Together with the Tersanctus and the Gloria in Excelsis it shews very remarkably, by its pre- sence in the Eucharistic Office, how ancient and deeply rooted was the Christian practice of prayer to Jesus Christ. For the Eucharist has a double aspect : it is a gift to earth from heaven, but it is also an oflPering to heaven from earth. In the Eucharist the Christian Church offers to the Eternal Father the Death and Passion of His dear Son ; since Christ Himself has said, " Do this in remembrance of Me." The Council of Carthage ac- cordingly expresses the more ancient law and in- stinct of the Church : " Cum altari adsistitur, semper ad Patrem dirigatur oratio''." Yet so strong was the impulse to offer prayer to Christ, that this canon is strictly observed by no single liturgy, while some rites violate it with the utmost consistency. The TO) TiaTp\y Ka\ Tat Yiw, Kat tw Ayio) Uyevfiari Kai vvif /cat ae\ koX els tovs dpeXKemf'is Koi driXfVTrjTovs alavas rav almvaiv. Ibid. 13 (p. 483); 81a Tov XptaTov rw pouco dyefvrjTot Bea, Koi TU Xpicrrm avTov Trapadapeda. Ibid. 15 (p. 486) : iravras rjpas £7Ti.a-vvdyay€ fls ttjv riiiv ovpavav (iaa-iXiiav, iv XpicrTO) 'lijo-oC rm Kvpico rjpS)P' peff ov (Tot fio^a, Ttprj Ka\ a€^as Ka\ Tt^ 'Kyita TLvevpaTi els tovs alavas, dprjv. Ibid. (p. 487) : oti o-ot Sd^a, alvos, peyaXonpeircia, ire^as, 7zpotJKvvrj(Ti.s, Kai rai trw 7rat8i lr)(Tov tco Xptoro) o'ov ro> Kvplco rjpcov Koi QeiB Kai ^acriXei, Kai tm 'Ayia UvcvpaTi, viiv Kal del Koi (Is tovs aimj/at T03U alatvav, aprjv. b Cone. Carth. iii. c. 23, Labbe, vol. ii. p. 11 70. /"II.] notwithstanding the rule of the Council of Carthage. 583 /[ozarabic rite is a case in point : its collects wit- less to the Chiirch's long struggle with, and final dctory over, the tenacious Arianism of Spain c. It <= Taking a small part of the Mozarabic Missal, from Advent Sunday o Epijjhany inclusive, we find sixty cases in which prayer is offered, .uring the altar service, to our Lord. These cases include (i) three Illations ' or Prefaces, for the third Sunday in Advent, Circum- ision, and Epiphany (and part at least of this Mass for the Epi- )hany is considered by Dr. Neale in his Essays on Liturgiology, ). 138, to be at least not later "than the middle of the fourth ;entury") ; also (2) several prayers in which our Lord's agency n sanctifying the Eucharistio sacrifice, or even in receiving it, is mplied — e. g. " Jesu, bone Pontifex sanctifica banc oblatio- lem ;" or, in a " Post Pridie" for fifth Sunday in Advent : " Hsec )blata Tibi benedicenda assume libamina (. . . . tui Adventus ^loriam, &c.)." (Miss. Moz. p. 17.) So again, on Mid-Lent Sunday : ' Ecce, Jesu . . . deferimus Tibi hoc sacrificium nostroe redemptionis .... accipe hoc sacrificium ; " on which Leslie quotes St. Eul- >entius, de Fide, c. 19 : " Cui (i.e. to the Incarnate Son) cum Patre ;t Spiritu Sanoto .... sacrificium panis et vini .... Ecclesia . . . . • )fferre non cessat." Again, in the Mass for Easter Friday, in an 'Alia Oratio : " " Ecce, Jesu Mediator .... banc Tibi aflferimus vic- ;imam sacrificii singularis." From Palm Sunday to Easter Day in- clusive, the prayers offered to Christ, according to this Missal, are ;wenty-nine. The zeal of the Spanish Church for the Divinity of ;he Holy Spirit is remarkably shewn in a " Post Pridie " for Whit- sunday : " Suscipe Spiritus Sancte, omnipotens Deus, sacri- icia ; " on which Leslie's note says, "Ariani negabant sacrificium lebere Dei Filio offerri, aut Spiritui Sancto .... contra quos Catho- ici Gotho-Hispani Filio et Spiritui Sancto sacrificium Eucharisti- !um distincti offerunt;" and he proceeds to quote another passage rom Fulgentius that worship and sacrifice were offered alike to all he Three Persons, "hoc est, Sanctse Trinitati." The Galilean [liturgies, though in a less degree, exhibit the same feature of Eucharistic prayer to our Lord. In the very old series of frag- nentary Masses, discovered by Mone, and edited by the Rev. G. H. Forbes and Dr. Neale (in Ancient Liturgies of the Gallican Church, lart i.), as the "Missale Eichenovense" (from the abbey of Eeichenau, 584 EucJiaristic prayers to Jesus Christ. [Lect. might even appear to substitute for the rule laid down at Carthage, the distinct although, considering the relation of the Three Holy Persons to each other, the perfectly consistent principle that the Eucharist is offered to the Holy Trinity. This too would seem to be the mind of the Eastern Church"^. where they were found), there are four cases of prayer to Christ ; one of them, in the ninth Mass, being in a " Contestatio " or Preface. In the " Gothic " (or southern-Gallic) Missal, prayer is made to Him about seventy-six times. Some of these cases are very striking. Thus on Christmas Day, " Suscipe, .... Domine Jesu, omnipotens Deus, sacrificium laudia oblatum." (Muratori, Lit. Kom. ii. 521 ; Forbes and Neale, p. 35.) The "Immolatio" (another term for the Contestatio) of Palm Sunday is addressed to Christ. The " Old Galilean " Missal, belonging to central Gaul, has sixteen cases of prayer to Him, including the " Immolatio " of Easter Saturday. The " Gallican Sacramentary " (called also the Saoramentarium Bobiense, and by Mr. Forbes the Missal of Besangon), has twenty-eight such cases, including three Contes- tations. •3 The principle affirmed in the old Spanish rite, that the Eucha- rist was to be offered to the whole Trinity, and therefore to the Son, is also affirmed in the daily Liturgy of the Eastern Church. The prayer of the Cherubic Hymn, which indeed was not originally a part of St. Chrysostom's Liturgy, having been inserted in it not earlier than Justinian's reign, has this conclusion : Iv yap el o 7rpoa-€pQiv Kai 7rpoa-(pep6p.€VQSt kol npo(rde^6ixevos, kol dtadidop-evost Xptare o 060? rjptovy Kai 2ot Tr^v do^av avoir einroiiev k. r. X. About I155 ^ dis- pute arose as to Trpoo-fiexoMf-oS) and Soterichus Panteugenus, patri- arch-elect of Antioch, who taught that the sacrifice was not offered to the Son, but only to the Father and the Holy Spirit, was con- demned in a council at Constantinople, 1156. "This," says Keale (Introd. to East. Church, i. 434), "was the end of the controversy that for more than seven hundred years had vexed the Church on the subject of the Incarnation." Between this event and the con- demnation of Monothelitism, Neale reckons the condemnation of Adoptionism, in 794. Compare also, in the present Liturgy of ^11.] Pagan notice of the worship of Christ. 585 [t is unnecessary to observe that at this day, both n the Eucharistic Service and elsewhere, prayer to Tesus Christ is as completely a feature of the devo- bional system of the Church of England, as it was Df the ancient, or as it is of the contemporary Use A Western Christendom*. Nor was the worship of Jesus Christ by the early Christians an esoteric feature of the Christian sys- bem, obvious only to those who were within the Church, who cherished her creed, and who took part in her services. It was not an abstract doctrine, but a living practice, daily observed by, and recom- mended to. Christians ; and in this concrete ener- getic form it challenged the observation of the tieathen from a very early date. It is probable indeed that the Jews, as notably on the occasion sf St. Polycarp's martyrdom ^ drew the attention of pagan magistrates to the worship of Jesus, in order St. James, a prayer just before the " Sanota Sanctis," addressed to Dur Lord, in which the phrase occurs, " Thy holy and bloodless sacrifices." The same Liturgy has other prayers addressed to Him. 3ee also in St. Mark's Liturgy, among other prayers to Christ, one ivhich says, " Shew Thy face on this bread and these cups." In "act, the East seems never to have accepted the maxim that Euoha- ■istic prayer was always addressed to the Father. Our " Prayer )f St. Chrysostom," addressed to the Son, is the "prayer of the ;hird Antiphon " in Lit. S. Chrys. ; and the same rite, and the 4.rmenian, have the remarkable prayer, "Attend, Lord Jesus Uhrist our God and come to sanctify us," &c. In the Doptic Liturgy of St. Basil, our Lord is besought to send down rhe Spirit on the elements. The present Koman rite has three )rayers to Christ between the "Agnus Dei " and the " Panem ioelestem." « See Note C in Appendix. f Martyr. S. Polyc. c. 17. 586 Tliny's letter to tie Emperor Tt-ajan. [Legt. to stir up contempt and hatred against the Chris- tians. But such a worship was of itself calculated to strike the admmistrative mind of the Roman officials as an unauthorized addition to the regis- tered divinities of the empire, even before they dis- covered it to be irreconcileable with adherence to the estabhshed ceremonies, and specially with any acknowledgment of the divinity of the reigning em- peror. The younger Pliny is drawing up a report for the eye of his imperial master Trajan ; and he writes with the cold impartiality of a pagan statesman who is permittmg hunself to take a distant philo- sophical interest in the superstitions of the lower orders, Some apostates from the Church had been brought before his tribmial, and he had questioned them as to the practices of the Christians in Asia Minor. It appeared that on a stated day the Chris- tians met before daybreak, and sang among them- selves, responsively, a hymn to Christ as God^. Here it should be noted that Pliny is not recording a vague report, but a definite statement, ehcited from several persons in cross-examination, moreover touching a point which, m dealing with a Roman magistrate, they might naturally have desired to g Plin. Ep. lib. X. ep. 97 : " Alii ab indice nominati esse se Chris- tianos dixerunt, et mox negaverunt ; fuisse quidem sed desiisse ; quidam ante triennium, quidam ante plures annos, non nemo etiam ante viginti quoque. Omnes et imaginem tuam, deorum- que simulacra venerati sunt, ii et Christo maledixerunt. Adfirma- bant autem, banc fuisse summam vel culpse suae vel erroris, quod essent soliti state die ante lucem couvenire, carmenque Cbristo, quasi Deo, dicere secum invicem, seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere, sed ne furta, ne latrocinia, ne adulteria com- mitterent." VII.] Sarcastic observations of Lueian. 587 ieep in the background^. Again, the emperor A.drian, when writing to Servian, describes the popu- .ation of Alexandria as divided between the wor- ship of Christ and the worship of Serapis i. That One Who had been adjudged by the law to death IS a criminal should receive Divine honours, must tiave been sufficiently perplexing to the Roman offi- cial mind ; but it was less irritating to the states- men than to the philosophers. In his life of the fanatical cynic and apostate Christian, Peregrinus Proteus, whose voluntary self-immolation he himself witnessed at Olympia in a.d. 165, Lueian gives vent to the contemptuous sarcasm which was roused in tiim, and in men hke him, by the devotions of the Church. " The Christians," he says, " are still wor- shippuig that great man who was gibbetted in Palestine'*^." He complains that the Christians are taught that they stand to each other in the relation Df brethren, as soon as they have broken loose from the prevaihng customs, and have denied the gods jf Greece, and have taken to the adoration of that impaled Sophist of theirs 1. The Celsus with whom ive meet in the treatise of Origen may or may not ii That the ' carmen ' was an incantation, or that Christ was laluted as a hero, not as a Divine Person, are glosses upon the lense of this passage, rather than its natural meaning. See Augusti, Denkwiirdigkeiten, tom. v. p. 33. i Apud Lamprid. in vita Alex. Severi : " ab aliis Serapidem, ab iliis adorari Christum." ^ De Morte Peregrini, C. 1 1 : t6v fieyav ovv iKiivov en a-e^ova-tv av- ^payKov, Tov ev Uakaio-Tii^rj avafTKoKoiTLfTdivTa^ ^ Ibid. C. 1 3 : iireihav ana^ TTapafiavTes, Bfoiis fifv 'EWrjviKOvs arrap- TjaavTm, TOV 8' di/ccTKoXoTrKr^evow tKclvov a-o(j)i(rTr]V avrlov TrpocTKV- ^°8 Indignation of Celsus [Lect. have been the friend of Luciano. Celsus, it has been remarked, represents a class of intellects which is constantly fornid among the opponents of Chris- tianity ; Celsus has wit and acuteness without moral earnestness or depth of research ; he looks at things only on the surface, and takes delight in construct- ing and putting forward difficulties and contradic- tions". The worship of our Lord was certain to engage the perverted ingenmty of a mind of this description ; and Celsus attacks the practice upon a variety of grounds which are discussed by Origen. The general position taken up by Celsus is that the Christians had no right to denounce the poly- theism of the pagan world, since their own worship of Christ was essentially polytheistic. It was absurd in the Christians, he contends, to point at the hea- then gods as idols, whilst they worshipped One Who was in a much more wretched condition than the idols, and indeed was not even an idol at all, since He was a mere corpse". The Christians, he urges, worshipped no God, no, not even a demon, but only a dead man p. If the Christians were bent upon ■>! Neander decides in the negative (Ch. Hist. i. 225 sqq), (i) on the ground of the vehemence of the opponent of Origen, as con- trasted with the moderation of the friend of Lucian ; (2) because the friend of Lucian vfas an Epicurean, the antagonist of Origen a neo-Platonist. K See the remarks of Neander, Ch. Hist. vol. i. p. 227, ed. Bohn. " Contr. Gels. vii. 40, p. 722: Iva iif/ ■aavTonaatv rjre KaraycKacrroi Tovs jiiv aXKovs, Tovs hfiKmjievovs Seovs, o>s e'lScoKa p\aa-(j>rjfi.ovvT(s' top 8e Koi avTwv (OS aK7)&iiiS c'lbtaKwv adXtarepov, Koi {J^rj^e c'ldaXof €Tt, aXX* ovTas vcKpov, o-e'iSovTEf, Koi TlaTfpa oiioiov avTa ^rjTovvTes. P Ibid. vii. 68, p. 74^' S'f^'yX'"""'" "'a^St oi Btov, dXX' ovbi hal- fiova aWa veKpov (refiovTes. V^II.] at the adoration of Jems Christ. 589 religious innovations ; if Herciiles, and ^sculapius, ind the gods who had been of old held in honour, were not to their taste ; why could they not have addressed themselves to such distinguished mortals as Orpheus, or Anaxarchus, or Epictetus, or the Sibyl \ Nay, would it not have been better to have paid their devotions to some of their own prophets, to Jonah under the gourd, or to Daniel in the lion's den, than to a man who had Uved an infamous life, and had died a miserable death 1 1 In thus honouring a Jew Who had been appre- hended and put to death, the Christians were no better than the Getse who worshipped Zamolxis, than the Cilicians who adored Mopsus, than the Acarnanians who prayed to Amphilochus, than the Thebans with their cultus of Amphiaraus, than the Lebadians who were devoted to Trophonius ■". Was it not absurd in the Christians to ridicule the hea- then for the devotion which they paid to Jupiter on the score of the exhibition of his sepulchre in Crete, while they themselves adored One Who was Himself a tenant of the tomb ^ % Above aU, was not the worship of Christ fatal to the Christian 1 Contr. Cels. vii. 53, p. 732: iroaa S' fjv vixiv a/iewov, eVeiSij ye iaivOTOixTJaai Tt cTredv^rjaare, nepi aWov tlvo. rwv yevvaiuts diroduvovTatVf kql 9elov jiiBov bi^aaOai bvvajiivaiv, crnovhaaai ; ^ipe, il pfj fj'pe(TK(v 'HpaxX^j, rai 'Aa-K\7]Trios, Kul oi TrdXat 8e8o^aiTpevoi, 'Op(j)ea f'l^erf (c. t. X. Cf. 57. ^ Ibid. iii. 34, p. 469: liera raira " TrapairXrjawv ij/iur " oUrai " tte- roirjKi'vai," tov (wf (f)r]a-iv 6 KcXtros) aXovTa kui ano6av6iiTa 6pr)crKevoi'Tas," ■o'ls re'rais (Tc^ova-i tov Zap,oK^tv, Kal KiXi|i rov M6\j/ov, Kal 'kKupvairi tov Kji^iKoxov, Kal Qrf^a'wis tok 'Atrtptdptav, Kal Ac/3u8iois tov Tpo(^uiviOv." ^ Ibid. iii. 43, p. 475- /^fa TavTa Xe'yci itepi rjpStv "on KurayeXoi/ifi' ■S>v irpoiTKvvovvTav tov Ala, eVei Tdos aiiroi eV KprjTjj beiKwraL' Kal )uSei/ ijTTov ai^opev tov and tov Ta(^ou K. T. X. 590 Tenor of Origen's rt'plies. [Lect. doctrine of the Unity of God? If the Christians really worshipped no God but One, \ho\\ their reason- ing against the lieathen might have liad force in it. But while they offer an excessive adoration to this Person Who has but lately appeared in the ^^'orld, how can they think that they commit no offence against God, by giving these Divine honours to His Servant'? In his replies Origen entirely admits the fact upon which Celsus comments in this livel_y sjiirit of raillery. He does not merely admit that jirayer to Christ was the universal practice of the Clmrcli ; he energetically justifies it. In presence of tlie heathen opponent of His Master's honour, Origen is the Christian believer rather than the philosophizing Alexandrian". He deals with the language of Celsus patiently and in detail. The oljjot'ts of heathen worsliip were unworthy of worship ; the Jewish prophets had no claim to it ; Christ was worshipped as the Son of God, as God Himself "If Celsus," he says, " had understood the meaning of this, ' I and the Father are One,' or what the Son of God says in His pi'ayer, 'As I and Thou are One,' he would never have imagmed that we worship any but the God Who is over all ; for Christ says, ' The Father t Contr. Gels. viii. 12, p. 750- W|at 8" av tis e^rjs TOVTOis TTlBa- v6v TL Ka&* rjfxuip 'Ktyfiv fv to), "Ei ^eu drj firjdeva ^Wov tBtpdnevov oJtoi irXrjV iva Oibv, rju av T15 avrols trrati Tiphs rouf aXAous aTfvr]S Xoyoff* vvvL de rhv evayxos (^avevra tovtov v7r(p$pij(rK€vov(ri, Ka\ opcot ovScv nXrjppiKflv vopt^ovcn nfpl t6v Beov, el Koi VTrtjperrjs avTov Bipa- 7T(v6r}ueTai.' u See however Contr. Cels. v. 11, sub fin. p. 586, wlicro, never- thele.gs, the conclusion of the passage shews his real mind in De Orat. 0. 15, quoted above. IT,] Laier pnpan //og/i/ify to Ihe irorsJnji of Jesus:. 591 in AIo and I in Him\'"" Origen then proceeds. [tliough bv a questionable analogy, to guard this ing\iag"e against a. Sabellian construction : tlie wor- lip addressed to Jesris was adda-essed to Him as ersonallv distinct from the Father. Origen indeed, 1 vindicating this worship of our Lord, describes it Isewhere as prayer rii an improper sense'', on the romid that true prayer is offered to the Father only, 'his has been explained to relate only to the media- oi'i;d aspect of His ]\[anhood as oiu- High Pi-iest> ; nd Bishop Bull further Tindersta.nds him to argue hat the Father, as the Source of Deity, is tdtimatel}" he Object of all adoration ''. But the foot that Jesus eceived Divine honours is fully admitted to be, nd is defended as being, an integi'al element of he Church's life*. The stress of heathen criticism, hoAvever, still con- inued to be directetl against the adoration of our ^ord. " Our gods." so rait the heathen language of 1 later day. "are not displeased -with you Christimts or vrorshipping the Ahnightv God. But j^ou maiu- aiu the Dcitv of One Who was born as a man. and ^' Contv. Cols. viii. I :. J1. 'J50 : fl-fp ysvoijKet 6 KAtros to" "'E-yo) Ka\ Ylarr,^ e)' €(T^€r' Ka\ TO €V fl \,'l npr]f.iil'OJ' i'TTO TOV X'lOl' TOV GfoO fv TU>' O^ evai KOA (Tr €V fiT^ifJ'. OIK ^V WfTO rj^ai KOI oXXoi' ^fpa7T€Vti}\ TTapa TOV ~\ TTiitTf Ofor. " O yap Harijp, (pi^rrtv, " Er f/JOt, Kayco fi' To) YlaTpi. ^ Ihid. V. 4 : T?5? 7r€p\ 7rpOLT(v\TjS KVptoXe^ias Ka\ f:aTn\pT}tTftof. .^ Ibid, \-iii. i^ 16. "Loquitur do Christo." snys Bishop Bull, ut Snmmo Sncordoto." Def. Fid. Nic. ii. 0, 15. « Bull, Def. Fid. Xic. soot. ii. c. o. n. 15 : ".Sin Filium intuoaiuur elat^. quS Filius est. et ex Doo Patre traliit origiueui, turn nirsus ertuni ost, cnltuui et veuorationem omnom. quern ipsi deferimus, ad ■"atrem redundare. in i]isnniquo, ut mj'yi)!' t>(ori]Tos ultimo refen-i." 8 Soo Readiiitr's note on Orii;. do Orat. § 15. 592 Explanations given hy Lactantius and Arnohius. [Lect. Who was put to death by the punishment of the cross (a mark of infamy reserved for criminals of the worst kind) ; you believe Him to be stUl ahve, and you adore Him with daily supphcations^." " The heathen," observes Lactantius, "throw in our teeth the Passion of Christ ; they say that we worship a Man, and a Man too Who was put to death by men under circumstances of ignominy and torture^." Lactantius and Arnobius reply to the charge in pre- cisely the same manner. They admit the truth of Christ's Humanity, and the shame of His Passion ; but they earnestly assert His literal and absolute Godhead as the great certainty upon which, however the heathen might scorn it, the eye of His Church was persistently fixed — as the triith by which her practice of adoring Him was necessarily determined''. ^ Ai-nob. adv. Gentes, i. 36 : " Sed non idcirco Dii vobis infesti sunt, quod omnipotentem colatis Deum : sed quod hominem natum, et (quod personis infame est vilibus) crucis supplicio interemptum, et Deum fuisse contenditis, et superesse adhuc creditis, et quotidi- anis supplicationibus adoratis." a Lact. Div. Inst. iv. 16: " Venio nunc ad ipsam Passionem, quse velut opprobrium nobis objectari solet, quod et hominem, et ab hominibus insigni supplicio adfectum et excruciatum colamus : ut doceam eam ipsam Passionem ab Eo cum magna et divini ratione susceptam, et in ea sola et virtutem, et veritatem, et sa- pientiam contineri." b Arnob. adv. Gentes, i. 42 : " Natum hominem colimus. Etiamsi esset id verum, locis ut in superioribus dictum est, tamen pro mul- tis et tarn liberalibus donis, quse ab eo profeota in nobis sunt, Deus dici appellarique deberet. Cum vero Deus sit re certS, et sine ullius rei dubitationis ambiguo, inficiaturos arbitramini nos esse, quam maxima ilium a nobis coli, et pr»sidem nostri corporis nuncupari ? Ergone, inquiet aliquis furens, iratus, et percitus, Deus ille est Christus ? Deus, respondebimus, et interiorum potentiarum [I.] Pagan caricature of the adoration of Jesus. 593 If the Grospel had only enjoined the intellectual ceptance of some philosophical theistic theory, and id thus been cold, abstract, passionless, impotent, would never have provoked the earnest scorn of Lucian or of a Celsus. They woiild have con- )ned or passed it by, even if they had not cared patronize it. But the continuous adoration of jsus by His Church made the neutrality of such en as these morally impossible. They knew what meant, this worship of the Crucified ; it was too teUigible, too soul-enthralling, to be ignored or to ' tolerated. And the lowest orders of the popu- 36 were as inteUigently hostile to it as were the lUosophers. Witness that remarkable caricature the adoration of our crucified Lord, which was scovered some ten years ago beneath the ruins the Palatine palace ". It is a rough sketch, lus ; et quod magis infidos acerbissimis doloribus torqueat, rei iximse causa a summo Kege ad nos missus." Lact. Div. Inst. 29 : " Quum dioimus Deum Patrem et Deum Filium, non diver- 11 dicimus, nee utrumque secernimus : siquidem uec Pater sine io nuncupari, nee Filius potest sine Patre generari." = See " Deux Monuments des Premiers SiScles de I'Eglise expli- ;s, par le P. Kaphael Garrucci," Kome, 1862. He describes the covery and appearance of this " Graffito Blasfemo " as follows : — iomme tant d'autres ruines, le palais des C^sars r^c^lait aussi de nbreuses inscriptions dictdes par le caprice. Aprls avoir recueilli les qui couvraient les parois de toute une salle, nous arrivames a uver quelques paroles grecques, inscrites au sommet d'un mur eveli sous les ddcombres. Ce fut la un precieux indice qui nous poursuivre nos recherches. Bientot apparut le contour d'une } d'animal sur un corps humain, dont les bras 6taient ^tendus mie ceux des orantea dans les Catacombes. La d^couverte aissait avoir un haut int^rSt : aussi Mgr. Milesi, Ministre des vaux publics, nous autorisa-t-il, avec sa bienveillance accoutum^e, Q q 594 The 'Graffito Uasfemo' of the Palatine. [Lect. traced, in all probability, by the hand of some pagan slave in one of the earhest years of the third century of our erac". A hirnian figure with an k faire enlever la terre et les debris qui encombraient cette chambre, le II Novembre, 1857. Nous ne tardames point \ contempler une image que ces ruines avaient conserv^e intacte \ travers les sifecles, et dont nous primes relever un caique fiddle. " EUe rdpr^sente une croix, dont la forme est celle du Tau gree, surmont^ d'une clieville qui poste une tablette. Un bomme est attach^ \ cette croix, mais la tete de cette figure n'est point hu- maine, c'est celle du cbeval ou plut6t de ronagre. Le crucifix est rev^tu de la tunique de dessous, que les anciens designaient sous le nom d'interula, et d'une autre tunique sans ceinture ; des bandes appelees crurales enveloppent la partie inf^rieure des jambes. \ la gauche du spectateur, on voit un autre personnage, qui sous le mSrne v^tement, semble converser avec la monstrueuse image, et dlfeve vers elle sa main gauche, dont les doigts sont separ^s. X droite, au dessus de la croix, se lit la lettre Y; et au dessous, I'in- scription suivante : AAESAMEN02 2EBETE (pour SEBETAl) eEON Alexamenos adore son Dieu." For the reference to this interesting paper I am indebted to the kindness of Professor Westwood. See also Archdeacon Words- worth's Tour in Italy, ii. p. 143. ^ P. Garucci fixes this date on the following grounds : (i) In- scriptions on tiles and other fragments of this part of the Palatine palace shew that it was constructed during the reign of the Em- peror Adrian. The dates 123 and 126 ai-e distinctly ascertained. (Deux Monuments, &c., p. 10.) The inscription is not therefore earlier than this date. (2) The calumny of the worship of the ass's head by the Christians is not mentioned by any of the Apologists who precede Tertullian, nor by any who succeed Minuoius Felix ; which may be taken to prove that this misrepresentation of Chris- tian worship was only in vogue among pagan critics in Kome and Africa at the close of the second and at the beginning of the third century. (3) It is certain from Tertullian that there were Chris- \JIJ T»e 'Graffito ila^pmo' of fie Palatine. 595 asss head is represented as fixed to a cross ; •while another figure in a tunic stands on one side. This figure is addresang himself to the crucified mon- ster, and is making a gesture -which was the cus- tomary- pagan expression of adoration. Underneath there rims a rude inscription : Alexamenos adot'ss his '.T-.^i. Here "we are fece to face with a touch- ing episvxle of the life of the Roman Church in the davs of Sevenis or of CaracaUa. As under Xero, so, a centuir and a half later, there iirere worshippers of ChiisT in the household of the Ciesar. But the paganism of the later date was more intelligently and bitterly hostile to the Church than the paganism which had shed the blood of the apostles. The Gnostic invecrive \rhich attributed to the Je^^s the worship of an ass. was apphed by tiaiK in the impmal palace d-iric^ the reiim of the Emperor Seveartis : " Ethi SeT«ms himself, the feth«T of Antonina^ -was mindfbl o£ the CSufetians ; for he songht out Froenhis a Chrisi- tian, who "nras sDmamed Totpaeioii, the steward of Eaodia. who had once cared him W meanj of oil, and kept him in ii? own palace, even to ii> death : whom also Antosinns tmt well knew, mused as he was npon Christian miltr " Ad Sv'ap:i!aru. c. 4- Caiaealla's plaTmate was a Cirisriiii boT : see Dr. Poser's note on TeituIL pL i4?. Qst Tr. liibr. Fath. <4) "Eien dans le monnment dn Falatin ne contredit cette opiEiv n. ni la paZeV-irrsriie, qui trahit la meme epoqne, taut 2 oao^je de lasai:^ 5iin:jlr&ne de I'E eane er de Fe s«niciivnlaire dans la mSme inscriptic-a, qne par la forme ;:*i»- lale des lertr?* ; ni m cins encore rort'.>graphe, ear oi^ sail qne le diang«Daest de I'AI en E a pfn? il'un exwnple ai Kome. meme snr "=« moanments grees dn r^jae d'Angnste. TInfiini les :i:;rrfs is- senpdons ^rrec-jnes de cette ebambne. qoi sans pa^gndiee p^»■:Ir no'Te "i.TS^, poonaient eore dune anfine temps, ne f«:"t Esitne anenae di£Bcahe serie^Lse, e:an.t par&itemeiit ?t::rL": kU*^ a celle dent nous noos oecnp(Hi&'' Gamcci, Ihid. pi 13. Qq - 596 The 'Graffito Uasfemo' of the Palatine. [Lect. pagans indiscriminately to Jews and Christians. Tacitus attributes the custom to a legend respecting services rendered by wild asses to the Israelites in the desert e ; " and so, I suppose," observes Tertul- lian, " it was thence presumed that we, as bordering on the Jewish religion, were taught to worship such a figure f." Such a story, once current, was easily adapted to the purposes of a pagan caricaturist. Whether from ignorance of the forms of Christian worship, or in order to make his parody of it more generally intelligible to its pagan admirers, the draughtsman has ascribed to Alexamenos the gestures of a heathen devotee s. Biit the real object of his parody is too plain to be mistaken. Jesus Christ, we may be sure, had other confessors and wor- shippers in the imperial palace as well as Alexa- menos. The moral pressure of the advancing Church was felt throughout all ranks of pagan society ; ridicule was invoked to do the work of argument ; and the moral persecution which crowned all true Christian devotion was often only the prelude to a sterner test of that loyalty to a crucified Lord, <^ Tao. Hist. V. 0. 4. He had it probably from Apion ; see Josephus, c. Ap. ii. 10. It is repeated by Plutarch, Symp. iv. 5 : TOV ovov dva(l)TjVaVTa avrois TT-qyTjV v^arns rifxcofTl. And by Democritus : Xpvcrrjv 01/011 KecpaKrjV npocriKviiovv. Apud Suidas, VOC. 'lovSds. f Apolog. 1 6. TertuUian refutes Tacitus by referring to his own account of the examination of the Jewish temple by Cn. Pompeius after his capture of Jerusalem ; Pompey ' found no image ' in the temple. For proof that the early Christians were constantly iden- tified with the Jews by the pagan world, see Dr. Pusey's note on Tert. ubi supra, in the Ox£ Tr. Libr. Path. S Job xxxi. 27. S. Hieronym. in Oseam, c. 13 : "Qui adorant solent deosculari manum suam." Comp. Minuc. Pel. Oct. c. 2. ^I.] Jesus Christ adored hy the primiiwe martyrs. 597 ?Hcli was as insensible to the misrepresentations, s Christian faith was superior to the logic, of hea- hendom. The death-cry of the martyrs must have familiar- zed the heathen mind with the honour paid to the ledeemer by Christians. Of the worship offered Q the Catacombs, of the stern yet tender discipline thereby the early Church stimulated, guided, moiilded he heavenward aspirations of her children, pagan- 3m knew, could know, nothing. But the bearing nd the exclamations of heroic servants of Christ i^hen arraigned before the tribunals of the empire r when exposed to a death of torture and shame 1 the amphitheatres, were matters of public noto- iety. The dying prayers of St. Stephen expressed he instinct, if they did not provoke the imitation, f many a martyr of later days. What matters it Blandina of Lyons that her pagan persecutors ave first entangled her limbs in the meshes of large net, and then exposed her to the fury of wild bull ? She is insensible to pain ; she is en- hanced in a profound communion with Christ^. iTaat matters it to that servant-boy in Palestine, 'orphyry, that his mangled body is " committed 3 a slow fire 1 " He does but call more earnestly in is death-struggle upon Jesus i. Felix, an African Lshop, after a long series of persecutions, has been '' Eus. Hist. Ecc. V. I ; ets yvpyadov ^XrjdfWa^ Tai>pv TreTrtarev^eVcoi/ KaX oplXtav npos ntjTov. ' Ibid. Mart. Pal. 1 1 : Kaday^rapevris avTov rris (f>\oyos c'nrepprj^e (j)l;, |)i;it|mMi,vil, hi; nil vi^rliiTU HUHtinciidii. iSiiriul ij^'iCiir piirHfjitciiiid, in (iriiXiDiii; ciiiii niartyre, qui iirolixi; |mc;(:iiI,iih, l,;i.iidriii uit : JJuiii.tjir, .Iimh, -,MiY. seeiuir hat for Thy "Na.nie's sake T suifer thus'"." And wlien lie pain had failed to bend his resohition, and the ist sentenee had been pronounced bv the anory .idge. ■' Lord Jesu Christ," tl\e martyr exelaims, Thou Maker of lieayeu and earth. Who forsakest lot them that put their hope in Thee, I giye Thee hanks for that Thou hast niaih^ me meet to be itizen of Thy heayenly eity, and to haye a share a Thy kino-dom. I ijiye Thee thanks tliat Thou la.st giyen me streiigtli to conquer the dragon, nd to bi'uise his head. Ciye rest unto Thy ser- ants, ;\iid stay the tiereeiiess of the enemies in my lerson. Ciye peace \mto Thy Ohin-cli, and set her ree from the tyranny of the deyil"." Tluis it \y:is that the martyrs prayed and died. [heir yoices reach us across the chasm of interyeninsif ™ Ruinart, ,\ot.v. p. 307 : " A"iclc-iis orgci Tr.'vsos so frustra labo- ur, ot fntij^'rttos tortcres doficore ; dopositum Jo liguo jnssit super ;iiitns fostulas oolloonri. Quibus ctiaiii intoriora corporis peiic- •autibus gi-axissiimnu doloroni sontions Tlioocbitus. oravit dioous. hmiiw J"(>-.'( Christt-. spts ilcsj'tT