It was started in the first instnnco by the ari;iiinent from our Lunl's use of the »)T lu its bearing upon the t|ue!itlon of OT eritleisni. This leil to a closer exanilnnlion of the text. Mk IS" ||r(f/-./c(*. That.iu^ain.exjiaiided Into udincussion of ttie technical tSoetrine of the AVuojtMtsee the art. if.r.\, an episode In whieh was renewed study of the exegesis of I'll "J^". And that In turn, in Its later pllase (II. C. Powell's Principle of the Im-itr- nation. ItsyC). has opened u[) the whole question of the Two Natures, whIeh in derniany for some time past has been far inf>re freely handleil than In Great Britain.
These disi-usslons have produced one little work of classical value. Dr. K. II. (Jilford's stuily of Ph i'-". entitled The Itu-ar- nation, a moilid tif careful and .'iclentitic exetjosis, which a|ipears to leave hardly anythl[i|^ more to be said on that head. It is also ripht to note the special activity on this sub- ject of the diocese of Salisbury, larjiely due to the itdtiatlve atul ericoura:reMient of its bishop (Mr. W. S. Swayne's Our Ijn'd'H Kiiinrlt^itye an Man, with a preface by the Up. of Salisbury, IS'.M. and .Mr. Powell's elaborate work, mentioned above). Weitrlily contributions have been made to the subject by l>r, Hrii.'ht in ^Vaymarks t^/' Church Z//*Mry (181)4), Canon darv (/tisHfrfationn, lirO^'), and In arts, in the t'h. Quarterly, Oct. 1S9I, and .Inly lS9i.
On tho Continent special views of the Kenonia are connected with the names of Dorner, Thomasius, Gess. Godet, and others nither more incidentally. Tracts upon the smaller questions ha.'e recentlv appeared bv Schwartzkoptf (A"on«(« Jesus irren t ISQC), and Kahler {Jesus u. das A T, 1890).
In spite of all this varied activity, it may be doubted wliothor the last word has yet quite been said (Dr. (iifford's treatment of the exegetical question seems to us to come nearest to this). The first concern of the historian is that the f.tcts shall be taken canditlly as they are. It is more probable that our inferences will be wrong than the data from which they are drawn. And for the rest, we should not be surprised if a yet further examiuittiou of the subject should result rather in a list of tacctida than of prcvdicanda.
('. T/ZK WdUA- OF ClluisT.— In regard to the Work of Christ also it is best for us to state problems. Of these the most important are the two that meet us first ; they have not been much discussed ; and complete agreement upon them has not yet been attained.
i. The I'lare in the Cosmical Order of the Ethicnl Tfnchiiuj of Christ. — It is almo.st a ques- tion of names when it is ;i.skeii whether Christ brought into the world a new ethical ideal. The question would be what constituted a new ideal, 'i'he Christian ideal, properly so called, is a direct development of what is found in OT, esp. in I'.ss. anil the Second Part of Isaiah. But it receives a finish and an enrichment beyond what it ever possessed before, and it is placed on deeper fouiiclations.
The chief outstanding question in regard to it wouUl be the relation in which it stood to the older ideals of the best pagan life and philosophy in regaril to the civic virtues, and to the newer ideals put forward in modern times in the name of science, art, and industry. The Christian ideal, it must be confessed, rather leaves these on one side. That it should do .so would be quite as explicable if we adopt the Christian estimate of the Person of Christ as if we do not. If we do not adopt it, then the omission (so far as there is an omission) would be one of the limitations for which we were prepared. But if we take St. .John's view of the relation of the Son to the Father, and see in His action the action willed by the Father, we shall .see it as part of the great
w:)iid-movement, presupposing so much of that movement as had proved itself to be of permanent value in the past, and leaving room for further (levelopmenUs, corresponding to altered states of society, in the future. The teaching of Christ was nid intended to make a tiilnila rfi.ta of all that had gone before in Greece or Koine any more than in .luda-a; nor was it intended to absorb into iuself absolutely all the threads of subsei|uenl evolution, where those threads work back to ante- cedents other than its own. It was intended so to work into the course of the world-movement as ultimately to recast and reform it. Its action has about it nothing violent or revolutionary, but it is none the less searching and effective. It is a force 'gentle yet prevailing.'
Some remarks have been made aV)ove (p. Cril f . ) on the way in which the Christian ethical ideal operates ami has operated. It is not thought that they are really sullicient ; but they represent such degree of insight lus the writer has attained to at present, and lie would welcome warmly any new light on the subject.
ii. The Si(iiii.tirnure nf the Permnnl E.fumple of Chri.it in mjard to His Ethirnl Teitihimi. — When once It is realized that the root principle of the ethics of Jesus is Life thromjh IJcuth. the death of the lower self with a view to the more assured triumph of the higher, it must needs break in upon us that the Life of Christ bears to His teaihing a wholly dilferent relation from that which the lives of ordinary teachers bear to theirs. An honest man will no doubt try to practise what he preaches, but that will be just a matter of maxims of conduct. The Life of Christ, we can see, was something very much more than this. It was a .systematic working out of the (Christian principle on a conspicuous and tran- scendent scale. The Death and lU'surrection of Je.sus were the visible embodiment of the law of all spiritual being that death is the true road to the higher life.