The theology of Christ, from his own words ...

Front matter

| LI BRARY OF CONGRESS, I

THE THEOLOGY OF CHRIST.

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Preface

Kecent discussions of Christianity as a Faith have revolved about Christ as a Person ; and the Life of Christ, that formerly was shaped into biography for the instruction of the young and the edification of the devout, has become an effective weapon of theological polemics. But while within the sphere of theology this new significance has been given to the Life of Christ, the Theology of Christ Himself has hardly received the distinction due to it as the formative power in the Christian system both as to faith and to practice. The doctrine of Christ was of the very essence of His life, and constitutes the true and vital Christianity. " I am the light of the world ; he that folio we th Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of lifer

This book does not attempt to delineate the life of Christ, but to evolve, directly and exclusively from His own words, the Doctrine that He taught. Theology has been too much the name of speculative systems, the product of philosophy applied to the Scriptures, or of some spiritual experience evolved from an individual soul and then supplemented from the Scriptures. But in the teaching of Christ,

Y

VI PREFACE.

theology is declarative in its form, and directly practical in its intent. He sets forth the truth of God, and all things spiritual and divine, with a specific cast of doctrine, and a subjective relation of system, yet without the formulas of logic or the definitions of philosophy. Hence a truly Christian theology must be derived from the interpretation of His words by the laws of exegesis, and the collation of detached sayings in their relations to the whole course of His teaching. This has been attempted in the volume which is here given to the public.

It is no easy task to withdraw one's mind from the phrases and methods of theology with which it has long been familiar, and to concentrate it upon the interpretation of words spoken eighteen centuries ago ; it is as difficult at least as to extract from Plato and Xenophon the pure words of Socrates, and to hold these apart from all later speculations, for independent investigation. This, however, the author has sought to do ; and he hopes that his book will be found as free from any unconscious bias of preconceived opinions or beliefs, as it is from the terminology of any theological system or school.

It is believed that such a development of the Theology of Christ as is here attempted is new in English literature : and only within a recent period has Germany, so prolific in every form of Biblical and Theological criticism, produced anything in this distinct department of Christian science.

PREFACE. Vll

Among the most important of these recent works are Dr. F. C. Baur, Vorlesungen uber N. T. Theologie — a work conceived in the spirit of the Tubingen school of criticism; Drs. Schmid and Weizacker, Bib. Theologie des Neuen Testaments; Dr. B. Weiss, Lehrbudi cler biblischeii Theologie des Neuen Testaments : and Dr. J. J. Yan Oosterzee, Die Theologie des Neuen Testaments, translated from the Dutch. A particular account of the last two works will be found in the Appendix. There are also isolated comments and discussions upon the doctrines of Christ in several of the recent works upon His life.

The author has assumed the genuineness of the Gospel of St. John. This has not been done, however, without a careful study of the controversy touching the fourth Gospel; and the reader who cares to investigate that question will find materials in the Appendix.

It is hoped that this treatise will commend itself to the Faith and Charity of the universal Church ; and also that it will find a specific use as a text-book for Bible Classes, and for classes in the English course in Theological Seminaries.

With the prayer that it may guide and help some in the knowledge of the Truth as declared by " the Teacher come from God," it is humbly offered unto the Head of the Church, as the fruit of years of study in His Word.

New York, Sept. 10, 1870.

Chapter I. Page

Christ a Preacher. ....... 1-6

Preaching the chief function of His life. .... 1

He preached the Doctrines of a Positive Theology. . . 2

His Words the true Christianity. ..... 3

Doctrine necessary in "preaching Christ." . . . 4-6

CHAPTER II. The Quality op Christ's Preaching. .... 6-19

Impression of His preaching on contemporaries. . . 6-8

Not due to the extent nor profundity of His discourses. . . 8-9

His doctrine of God, of Man, and the Future State. . . 9-11

The depth, simplicity and fulness of His teachings. . . 11-15

Their influence upon human thought, character and society. . 15-17

The world cannot outgrow His teachings. . . 17

CHAPTER III. The Kingdom op God. ...... 19-32

Christ preached "the kingdom of God." ... 19

Jehovah the one Deliverer, as the germ of the Theocracy. . 20-25

Hence the kingdom was internal and spiritual. . . 2 5

Christ's Presence realizes the kingdom to the soul. . . 26

Its rewards and glories spiritual. . . . .27

The Church a form of the Kingdom. .... 29

Dr. van Oosterzee's views of this Kingdom. . . 30, 31

CHAPTER IV. A Gentile Proselyte was "born again." ... 33

The mistake of Nicodemus. ..... 34

The birth psychological and divine . . . . 35

An inward change required by the nature of the Kingdom. . 36

Also by the wickedness of the human heart. ... 38

Sin universal in the race. ...... 40

Repentance and renunciation necessary. ... 41

This effected through the divine Spirit. .... 42-45

The conversion of Paul. . . . . . 45-47

Sin made necessary the coming of Christ. ... 47

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V. Salvation made possible through the Death of Christ. . 49-67

The Son of Man " lifted up ;" origin and meaning of the phrase. 49-52

This death the means of salvation. .... 53

The death in the plan of His mission. . . . 55-57

Analogy of the brazen serpent. .... 57

The plague of fiery serpents. . 57-60

Moral lessons of the plague. ..... 60

The brazen serpent a type of mercy. ... 62

Christ's death a ransom. , .... 63

Meaning of \vrpov in the Greek classics and the Septuagint. 63

Christ died for our salvation. ..... 65

CHAPTER VI. Salvation limited only by Unbelief. .... 67-79

The provision of mercy unlimited. . . . . 67

Believing, the necessary condition. .... 69

The "drawing" of the Father, not arbitrary but gracious. . 70-75

Men perish through unbelief and perversity of will. . . 75-78

CHAPTER VII. The Nature of Religion. ..... 79-93

Varieties of religious development. . . '. . . 79 The intellectual, formal, humanitary, imaginative, pietistic, all

tried before Christ. . . . . . 80-83

Christ seated Religion in the heart. .... 83

All religious acts must be spiritual. . . . . .84

The Praying-machine of Thibet. .... 85

Religion a principle of holy living. . . . . .86

This the true theocracy. . . . . . . 87

This Christ's rule of personal life. . . . . .88

An elective principle. ...:.. 89

" Good works " attest it. . . . . .90

All systems and lives to be brought to this test. . . 91

CHAPTER VIII. The Spirituality of "Worship. .... 93-104

Our idea of spirit derived from consciousness. ... 94

God a personal spirit. . . . . . .95

Christ did not abolish external worship. .... 96

He made worship the ottering of the soul to its Father. . 97-99

Such worship is rational. ...... 99

Opposed to ritualism and sentimentality. . . . 100-102

Christian worship adapted to universal man. . . . 102

CHAPTER IX. A Living Providence. .*.... 104-119

The faith of "Sojourner Truth." .... .104,117

God's hand in the overthrow of Slavery. . . . 105

Mr. Buckle's theory of events. . . . . . 106

CONTENTS.

XI

Cointe's view.

Positivism and Christianity irreconcilable.

God in the "course of Nature."

Providence universal and particular.

Special divine intervention.

Harmony of Providence with Reason.

« ' « with Free Will.

" " with General Laws.

CHAPTER X. Op Prayer

Prayer an Instinct.

Schleiermacher's definition.

Prayer based upon Providence.

A direct address to the Father.

Prayer for Temporal Things.

Prayer has positive influence with Professor Tyndall's objection.

Conditions of successful prayer.

The Power of Prayer.

God.

119-133 119 119

120, 124

120-123 123

124-130 128 130 131

CHAPTER XI. Christ's Oxeness with the Father

Christ's self-Assertion. ......

Mr. Liddon's view. ......

Christ did not openly proclaim His divinity at first.

Meaning of the title " Son of God." :

or, as used by demons, 138. b, by enemies 139. c, by the centurion 139. d, by the High Priest 139. e, by the iisciples 140. f, by Christ Himself 141.

The charge of " blasphemy " shows that Christ used this as a title of divinity. ......

His oneness with the Father not moral but essential.

Christ's divinity taught by Himself. ....

The testimony of Thomas. . .

133-150

133-136

138-146

143 146 148 148

CHAPTER XII. The Comforter, the Holy Ghost. .... 150-160

The Holy Ghost the Revealer of Truth. .... 150-153

" " Source of Supernatural gifts and powers. 153

He abides in the Church. ..... 154

The Spirit a divine person. . v 155-157

The Gospels an inspired record. .... 157

Personal uses of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. . . 158

CHAPTER XIII. Prominence of Eschatology in Christ's Teachings. . . 160

His promise to the dying thief. .... 161

Views of early Fathers touching the state of departed spirits. 162

The Rabbis on Paradise ...... 163

Egyptian doctrine of the future State. . . . 164 xu

Dante's Paradiso. .

Paradise derived from the Sanscrit.

Its use in the Septuagint. .

The Primitive Paradise.

Christ's use of the term.

Elements of happiness in Paradise.

Biblical Psychology.

Paradise distinguished from Heaven.

The final consummation.

The grandeur of Redemption.

CHAPTER XIV. The Resurrection op the Dead

Care of Christianity for the body.

Its sympathy with the heart. ....

Meaning of dvaoTao-is in the Greek classics, the Septuagint

the Apocrypha.

The raising of Lazarus.

Christ's answer to the Sadducees.

His discourse in John V. .

His conversation with Martha.

Christ Himself the Resurrection. • Miracle of His own Resurrection.

Believers exempt from Death..

The scope of Redemption.

The Christian faith a finality.

and

178-198 178 179

. 194 195 196

CHAPTER XV. The Final Judgment

Christ's Prerogative of Judgment.

The Judgment public and formal.

Retribution taught in Nature.

Christ's Life and Word a present Judge.

The Judgment universal.

" at a set time — " that Bay."

Our Humanity in the Judge. . -

Glory of the Incarnation.

. .

198-211

.

m .

.

m #

.

. .

208-210

CHAPTER XVI. The Blessedness of the Saints. . . . . . 211

Christ's promise of the "new wine." . .. . . 211-215

Spiritual significance of this festival of love and joy. . , 214

Saints in heaven enjoy the near presence of their Lord. . 216

They are exalted in honor. . . . . .217

They have the approbation of the Father. . . . 218

The features of heavenly bliss. ..... 219

Conditions of admission to heaven. .... 219-221

CHAPTER XVII. Future Punishment

Christ preached the condemnation of unbelief. His warnings. ....

. 222-237 222 223

Xlll

Penal consequences in Nature.

Christ taught a personal and positive retribution.

Penalty exists in fact. ....

Is recognized as just. ....

Natural evil is inflicted for moral offenses.

The higher claims of moral law.

The Justice of a personal reckoning.

Retribution duo to the grandeur of virtue.

The dignity of man requires a moral law, with penalty

Justice the strength of Society.

Christ's use of metaphor. ....

KoAao-i? denotes a literal punishment.

Aiamos means everlasting;. ....

224-225 226 227 227

Chapter XVIII

Christ's Doctrine our Spiritual Sacrament. Spirituality of Christ's teaching.

His use of strong sensible language. .

Neander on Eating His flesh.

Transubstantiation. . . .

The Friends' view of Sacraments.

Christ appointed Sacraments.

True Significance of the Supper.

237-248 237 238 240

241-243 243 243

215-247

CHAPTER XIX. The Doctrine op Christ Complete as a Revelation from God. 248

Christ spake from the Father. .... 248

Yet as a self-revelation. ...... 249

Why did not Christ reveal more?. .... 250-252

He addressed Himself not to curiosity but to necessity. . . 252

He sought to restore man to God. .... 253

For this His teaching was complete. . 254

The vast range of His teaching, as to subjects and application. 254-257

A Revelation for Higher Truths. . . . . 257

His doctrine radical and revolutionary, . . . 258

Summary of His Doctrine. ..... 259-261

Christianity cannot be outgrown. .... 262

APPENDIX I.

The Genuineness op the Gospel of John.

Characteristics of the fourth Gospel.

Views of Strauss and Baur.

Internal evidences of genuineness.

Agreements between the Synoptics and John. The miracles in John's Gospel.

The style of the Gospel.

Neander on John. ....

External evidences of genuineness.

Testimony of Ireveeus, Clement, Tertullian and Poli/crates, Testimony of Valentinus, Marcion, Basilides and Justin Martyr. Bleek's Summary of the Argument. . . .

273-275

XIV CONTENTS

APPENDIX II.

Dr. Van Oosterzee's Theology of the New Testament. 275-280

Science of Biblical Theology. ..... 276

Old Testament Foundations; Moaaiam, PropTietiam and Judaiam. 276, 277 The kingdom of God, in its subjects, blessings and consummation. 278 The Theology of the fourth Gospel. . . . .279

APPENDIX III.

Dr. "Weiss on Future Punishment. .... 280-284

Features of Hades. . . . . . 281

Punishment visited upon the soul. .... 282

No resurrection of the wicked. .... 283

Their punishment eternal in the spirit. .... 283

APPENDIX IV.

The Intermediate State. ..... 284, 285

Views of Delitzsch. ...... 284

Christ's descent into Hades. ..... 284

Body, Soul and Spirit. ..... 285

The body in the intermediate State. .... 285

Views of Lange. . ... 285

THE THEOLOGY OP CHRIST.

Chapter I. Christ A Preacher

Christ was a Preacher. lie began His public life by preaching in the synagogues of Galilee; He closed it by preaching in the porch of the Temple at Jerusalem. He who was Himself the matter of the Gospel in the preaching of the apostles, and is now the constant theme of evangelic preaching, was the first preacher of His own Gospel, and made preaching the chief function of His life. That He manifested God by works of power, that He exhibited a perfect Humanity through a sinless life of love, that He constituted a new community to be known as His Church, that He suffered and died for a testimony unto the truth and for the redemption of mankind — all this does not exhaust nor embody the story of the mission of Christ as given in the Gospels. From first to last He is there the Preacher.

Baptism was appointed by Him as the rite of initiation into His kingdom; but "Jesus himself baptized not." 1 John had insisted hardly less upon baptism than upon repentance ; but after that John was put in prison, Jesus, taking up the work of reformation, came into Galilee, not baptizing with water, but "preaching the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand ; repent ye, and believe the

1 John iv. 2. 1

Z THE THEOLOGY OF CHEIST.

Gospel." 1 The priestly office was exalted by Him into a spiritual mediatorship, when He made direct personal intercession with the Father for His disciples/ yet He neither offered sacrifices nor founded a priesthood, but Himself preached and commissioned others to preach, "the Gospel of the kingdom." 3 A king He was, with authority to give laws and to change customs and institutions in religion, in society, in the state — in all this demanding the homage of the souls of men, — yet He wore no semblance of royalty, but rested the evidence of His kingship in that He "came into the world that He should bear witness unto the truth," 4 and the evidence of His Messiahship upon the fact that "the poor have the Gospel preached unto them." 5 "While He founded a Church, and made provision for its officers, its sacraments and its discipline, 6 He enjoined it upon His apostles to teach His commandments, and "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations." 7

Preaching being the characteristic feature of the life of Christ, no true understanding of His mission can be had without a knowledge of what He preached as the truth of God. The Gospels which give us the record of His life contain also a Gospel which He preached ; and this Gospel comprises not only the rules of practical morality, the lessons and precepts of humanity and religion, but the Doctrines of a Positive Theology. It is sometimes alleged that Christ taught personally none of those doctrines which are commonly set forth by the Church in her creeds as distinctive of the Christian faith, but directed His teachings to practical life, inculcating the virtues, graces and charities that would reform, adorn and bless society, and elevate mankind : — that the doctrines of regeneration and atone-

1 Mark i. 14, 15. 2 John xiv. 16, and c. xvii. 3 Mat. ix. 35, x. 7, xi. 1. 4 John xvii. 37. 5 Mat, xi. 5. 6 Mat. xvi. IS, 19.

7 Mat. xxviii. 20 : Luke xxiv. 47.

HIS WORDS THE TRUE CHRISTIANITY. 3

ment, of the divinity of Christ and the personality of the Holy Spirit, were woven out of His sayings by speculative minds among His followers, after Jesus had finished His personal testimony of truth and goodness, — that such doctrines owe more to St. Paul and St. Augustine than to Christ, and belong not to the original substance of the Gospel, but to a philosophical theology that has grown up around it. This notion is somewhat favored by a common method of teaching theology — stating doctrines in technical terms and with scientific nicety, tracing their development in the history of the Church and of schools of philosophy, and finally authenticating them by citations from the Scriptures used mainly as proof-texts. For this purpose the writings of Paul, as the logical expounder of the Christian faith, are drawn upon more largely than other portions of the New Testament ; — the Pauline conception being taken as the basis of the Christian dogmatics, and the words of Jesus being used to verify the statement of His doctrines in the form of theological propositions. To reverse this method is to derive the Christian Theology primarily and directly from the words of Christ — a process in which we have to do not with the creeds of the Church nor the formulas of the theologians, but simply with the principles of interpretation. So far as the very words of Christ have been preserved, these form the essence of Christianity, just as the original sayings of Socrates as preserved by his disciples are the substance of the Socratic wisdom. To the first preacher of Christianity must we look for the freshest, truest, best conception of the system. In His words we find a proper theology — not formulated, indeed, nor systematized, yet expressed in doctrines to be severally believed, — doctrines set forth with a certain gradation of time and thought, or in a certain order of development — and these doctrines interwoven with the whole texture of the precepts and promises of the Gospel.

The study of the doctrines preached by Christ may exhibit the Christian faith in a phase differing somewhat from that presented through any sect or school ; especially will it give to that faith a life and warmth, a power of renewing and edifying, that is too much suppressed under the technicalities of creeds. To many the very word "doctrine" brings up reminiscences of the Catechism as a school-boy task, or of a formal text-book in theology, of dry, stiff propositions, having neither spiritual warmth nor practical utility. But the doctrines that Christ preached have as direct a bearing upon our lives as His precepts ; and, if we will but suffer it, will come home to our hearts with the emphasis of positive practical duties. Indeed the duties of the Christian life derive their obligation from the doctrines that make up the Christian faith. There is a good deal of cant now-a-days about "preaching Christ." In a great Christian Convention it was said lately, " the churches are dying of Theology ; ministers must preach Christ," and the sentiment was received with applause. But Christ Himself preached theology, and it is not possible to preach Christ except one shall preach the doctrines that He taught and that are the substance of His gospel. Shall one preach that Jesus is the Saviour of mankind ? But this is a doctrine, to be illustrated from His life and death, and confirmed by His own words. Shall one preach that men must repent and believe, that they may be saved ? But this again is a doctrine, to be expounded, proved, enforced. Shall the preacher, with Paul "determine not to know anything, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified ?" l But the relation of Christ's death to our salvation, of all doctrines most requires clearness of statement and cogency of proof. If the Church is languid and feeble in face of Rationalism, Ritualism, and Materialism, it is for lack of a vigorous grasp of the doctrines of the gospel. Preaching has run

HOW TO PREACH CHRIST. 5

too much to the superficial, the fanciful, the sensational ; men go to Church that they may be pleased and excited rather than instructed, for some transitory play upon the imagination and emotions rather than the lasting conviction of the understanding; whereas what most they need is that the intellectual and moral nature be lifted up to the great thoughts of Christ, and so filled with His Spirit. Christ is best preached in the grand doctrines whereby He Himself preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. l

1 On Christ as a teacher of Theology, see Dr. L\ Weiss, Lchrbuch der BiLliacJicn Thcologie des Kcuen Testaments ; and Dr. J. J. Van Oosterzee, Die Thcologie des Neuen Testaments. A good abstract of this latter work, with translations, is given in the American Presbyterian Review for July, 1870. This author says, " To the teaching of the Lord we must ascribe a definite soteriological character. In other words, all that the Lord announces respecting God and man, sin and grace, the present and the future life, all, especially that Ho testifies respecting Himself, stands in direct relation to the salvation that Ho came to reveal and bestow. It is not so much religious truth in general as specifically saving truth that is brought to light by Him. The possibility of exhibiting the instruction of our Lord, with all its riches, as one whole lies just here, that it manifests from beginning to end the character of Gospel. Luke iv. 1G, 22 ; John vi. OS."

Chapter II. The Quality Of Christ's Preaching

"Never man spake like this man," * said the officers who being sent to arrest Jesus were themselves arrested by the spell of His words. This spontaneous testimony of His contemporaries is also the deliberate verdict of history. All the ages since have not produced a competitor nor even a successor of Jesus as a teacher of wisdom and truth. His preaching always made upon His hearers the impression of something extraordinary in its character and peculiar to Himself. At His first discourse at Nazareth, the home of His youth, " all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth." 2 Nor was this the novelty of a first appearance, for the surprise was none the less when, a year later, after His preaching was widely known, He again taught at Nazareth " insomuch that they were astonished and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty words? Is not this the carpenter's son ? Whence hath this man all these things ?" 3 At Capernaum, where He preached so constantly, "they were astonished at His doctrine, for His word was with power." i The same effect was produced by the sermon on the mount, at the close of which it is said "the people were astonished at His doctrine ; for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." 5

Once, for the purpose of entrapping Jesus, the most adroit and learned among the Jews concocted questions of casuistry, touching politics, theology, and morality, to be

i John vii. 46. 2 Luke iv. 22. s Matt. xiii. 54.

TESTIMONY OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES. 7

put to Him in presence of the people. First the politicians tried Him with the question of paying tribute to. Cesar ; but when they got His answer, " they marvelled, and left Him, and went their way." x Next, the Sadducees sought to embarrass Him upon the doctrine of the resurrection, but He put them also to silence, and the multitude, hearing His reply, " were astonished at His teaching." 2 Last of all, a lawyer demanded a categorical answer to the question " "Which is the great commandment," but after the reply of Jesus, followed by His own questions touching the Messiah, " no man was able to answer Him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth, ask Him any more questions." 3 "When Jesus stood before Pilate, the Governor was so awed by the words and bearing of his prisoner, that he sought to escape the responsibility of condemning Him. Some such impression of the extraordinary, the marvellous, and even of the divine, was a common effect of the preaching of Jesus among all classes of hearers. So strong was this impression upon the disciples who heard Him in every kind of address — parables, proverbs, set discourses, public disputations — and also in the freedom of familiar conversation, that they said to Him, "Thou hast the words of eternal life : and we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God." 4

"What were the qualities of the preaching to which such effects were ascribed by the contemporaries of Christ we are not left to conjecture, since we can measure their impressions by our own, and by the accumulated testimony of the ages since. Of the eloquence of Pericles, who was said to carry upon his tongue the thunderbolts of Jove, not a fragment survives to certify his fame as the greatest of Athenian orators. The fragmentary remains of other orators of antiquity do not always sustain their reputation in their time. There is in the printed page so little of

i Matt. xxii. 22. 2 Matt. xxii. 33. 3 Matt. xxii. 46. * John vi. 63, 69.

strength or fire that one marvels wherein lay the charm that gave such effect to the spoken words, and feels that much which is ascribed to the wisdom and eloquence of the speaker lay in the feelings of the hearer, or the circumstances of the hour. A few, like Demosthenes and Cicero, have left orations that justify their fame, and serve as models for modern eloquence. And here and there, in the literary history of the world, is one whose words of wisdom and beauty have gathered fame with the ages, and are even more appreciated now than they were in their time. Plato and Shakespeare have a wider audience of mankind, and a higher repute with men of thought and culture than in their own generations ; — their penetrative and comprehensive wisdom is not dimmed by contrast with any of their successors. Now in respect of the words of Jesus Christ, which so wrought upon the minds of His contemporaries, and have so ruled the thought and life of aftertimes, it is possible to measure and weigh their significance, to compare them with the utterances of any other teacher, and to analyze the sources of their power. His preaching remains upon record to testify that " never man spake like this man."

This impression of the transcendent worth of the sayings of Christ does not arise in any degree from the extent of His discourses. There are authors whose works are a library of themselves; and as we look upon the shelves where twenty, thirty, forty volumes represent a Dickens, a Scott, a Schiller, a Thiers, a Voltaire, an Owen, a Bacon, Ave are amazed at the prolific genius, the patient industry, or the vast erudition that such works display. But all that is recorded of the sayings of Christ, together with the history of His life, is contained in a duodecimo of eighty pages; — less than one half of the New Testament is the total of what Jesus said and did, — less than one fourth is all that is preserved of what He himself spake.

Neither is the superiority of Jesus as a preacher due to an air of learning or of profundity in His utterances. A few names — but only the selectest few — are accepted as authorities in their several departments of literature or science, because of the accuracy of their knowledge and the solidity of their attainments; others, by an encyclopaedic acquaintance with the results of science, win a more transient reputation of universal knowledge ; while others — more commonly in schools of metaphysics — are taken to be wise because they seem to be profound. But this New Testament preacher makes no show of learning, and deals with no subject that calls for book-knowledge. Science, physical or metaphysical, He does not touch upon j political and social questions He alludes to only incidentally or by way of inference ; but of truths that concern one's spiritual nature, and of duties between man and man and from man toward God, He speaks as never man spake, before nor since. This is true equally of the Matter of His speech, of the Manner of it, and of its Effects upon human thought, character, and society.

For the Matter of His teaching — to anticipate in part what will be fully brought out in future chapters — take for instance His doctrine of God : — a Spirit to be approached with spiritual worship and with sincerity of heart; so pure, so holy, so good, that absolute perfection is to be perfect as our Father in heaven; governing the world with a Providence so minute that the hairs of our heads are numbered, so gentle that not a sparrow falleth to the ground without our Father; so kind that one can have no cause for anxiety in temporal things, if he will but trust in God; a Moral Governor also, who makes the law of holy love the absolute rule of life and blessedness, who searches the heart by this law, who estimates character by its standard, and who will hereafter judge all men by it in their motives and their deeds; — but while thus supreme as Ruler and Judge,