The la-st of these heads is not really so disparate as it may seem from the rest. The ultimate object that we have in view is to bring home — or to suggest lines on which it may be possible to bring home — what Christ really v/as and is to the Individual believer. In order to do this we en- deavour to collect (1.) what He was to those among whom He moved during His life on earth ; (ii.) what He was to His disciples, and primarily to the apostles after His departure ; (iii.) what the still undivided Church apprehended Him as being. It will thus be seen that there is no real antithesis, as though the appeal were in the one Citse to history and In the other to experience. For our present purpose history may be regarded as the collective experience of the past, which we are seeking to put into line with the individual or collective experience of the pre.sent. Our historical survey, so far as it goes, simply emboilies so many superimposed .strata of experience.
i. The Christ of the Gospels. — We should thus be inclined to deprecate the attempts which are from time to time made to set in contrast some one or other branch of the .appeal that we are making as against the rest. In this country we are accus- tomed to the oiiposition between tlie Christ of the (Synoptic) Gospels and the Christ of ' Dogma ' or of the Church. And in (iermany of late tiiere has been a tendency to oppose the Christ conceived and preached by the apostles to the bingraphical Christ of the Gospels, and the experience of faith to any external and objective standards. (See especially the works of Kiihler and Herrmann men- tioned below.)
The disparagement of the Gospels .^s biographies seems to us, so far as it goes, — and neither writer is really very clear on the subject, — to rest upon a somewhat undue ilegree of scepticism as to the critical u.se that can be maile of the tiospels. It does not follow that all that is iloubted Is really doubtful. For a more detailed testing of the his- torical character of the Gos]K'Is we mttst content ourselves with referring to the previous part of this article, only adiling to it the two points which will be more appropriately introduceil .it the end of the next section, — the peculiar kind of conllrma- tion which the two pictures (the evangelic and the apostolic) KU|>ply to each other, the difference l«'lween them showing that the teaching of the Episiles has not encroached upon the historical truth of the Gospels, while the less obvious like-
ulrf
JESUS CHRIST
JESUS CIIUIST
ness shows that they are in strict continuity. We sliitll alsii have to state once more in that context (uir reasons lur beheviiig tlie fourth Gospel to be nally the work of an eye-witness.
liul the ))oinl tliat concerns us most at the prisenl nioiuent is that, even if we make to nega- tive criticism larger concessions than we have any rifiht to make, there will still remain in the tjospel picture ineffaceable features which presup- pose anil ilenianil that estimate of the I'erson of ("lirist which we can alone call in the strict sense Christian.
Take, for instance, that central pa,«sa<:e Mt U-s-as ' Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy lailen, ami I will iiive you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is li?;ht.' Could we conceive such words i)Ul into any other lips, even the loftiest that the history of mankind has produced ? They are full of delicate si-lf-iiortrailure. They present to us a character which we may say certainly iras. because it has been so described. No mere artist in words ever ])ainted such a canvas without a living model before him. The portrait is of One who is ' meek and lowly in heart.' whose yoke is easy and His burden li^ht ; and yet He speak.s of both yoke and burden as • His' in tlie sense of being imposed by Him ; He invites men to 'come' to Him, evidently with a deep significance read into the phrase; He addresses His invitation to weary souls wherever such are to be found ; and (climax of all !) He promises what no Alexander or Napoleon ever dreamt of promising to his followers, that He would give them the truly supernatural gift of rest— the tranquillity and serenity of inward peace in spite of the friction of the world; that all this should be theirs by 'coming' to Him.
And then how easy is it to group round such a passage a multitude of others ! ' I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil : but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also ' (Mt M9). 'The Son of Man came not to be minis- tered unto, but to minister' (Mk K)-""!!). 'Suffer the little children to come unto me ; forbid them not : for of such is the kingdom of God' (i6. v.'<||). 'Whosoever would save his life shall lo.se it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's shall save it' (Mk 8^^). 'The Son of .Man came to seek and to save that which was lo.st ' (Ijk 1!)". comp. the three parables of Lk lo). ' Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these lea.st, ye did it unto me' (Mt 25'").