What we see in Christian history, as in tlie personal history of Christ upon earth, is the pro- gressive development of a Divine Thought unfold- ing itself in spite of virulent opposition, under pressure of extreme difficulties, struggling against the misrepresentations of false friends and imprint- ing its likeness upon most unpromising and un- satisfactory material. When it first appeared on the earth, embodied in the Person and tlie Work, as well as the teaching, of Jesus Christ, the Divine Idea shone with the brightness of a new sun in the spiritual firmament. It was not developed out of Judaism, the Jews were its bitterest opponents : it was not indebted to Greek philosophic thought or to Roman political science, though afterwards it made use of and powerfully influenced both ; it had nothing in common with the current super- stitions of Oriental religions ; it did not owe its origin to some cunningly devised religious syncret- ism, such as was not uncommon at the time when Christianity began to infuse life into the declining Roman Empire. A new idea of God, of man, and of the true reconciliation of man to God, formed the core and nucleus of the new faith. In the earliest records this idea appears as the germ of a nascent religion, a sketch in outline wliicli rt'iiiains to be filled up. In the lii^lciy ..f „inr|.,.,, run- turies its likeness is to lir ili^'MiirJ .ml;, ,■!> ;tn image reflected in a dimly Imini^li..! iiiii",i in
a troubled and turbid j I. N<'nr tlir ^ --• Ibe
doiuinant idea remains ; as St. Puul eNprc^iscs it,
322
CHRISTIANITY
CHRISTIANITY
the light of tlie knowledge of the glory of God is seen in a face— the face of Jesus Christ (2 Co 4"). Lecky, writing simply as a liistorian of European morals, ilescribes it thus [Hist. Eur, Mor.^^ (1894) ii. 8f.)-
' It was reserved for Christianity to present to the world an ideal character, which through all the changes of eighteen cen- turies has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love ; has shown itself capable of actnn; on all ages, nations, tempera- ments, and conditions ; has been not only the highest patteru of virtue but the strongest incentive to its practice ; and has exer- cised so deep an influence that it may be truly said that the simple record of * 5 regenerate and
life has done ;ind than all the disquisitions of philosophers, and all the exhortations of moralists.'
Whether the spectacle of an ideal human char- acter alone has done this remains to be seen, but it is possible with care to distinguish between the glory of the Divine Thought and the iniperfect medium through which its light has filtered. We see truth manifested amidst crudities and insin- cerities, amidst falsehoods which are bad and half-truths which are often worse ; a pure and lofty character struggling, mostly in vain, for adequate expression ; a kingdom not come but coming, of which we cannot say ' Lo here ' or ' Lo there,' for it floats only in the midst of men as they move, in their hearts as they ponder and feel and hope— not as an achievement, not as a posses- sion, but as a magnificent conception, an earnest longing, and a never fully attained, but ever to be attained, ideal.
In wliat, then, lies the perennial and imperish- able essence of the ever changing phenomenon called Christianity? The unknown writer of the Ejiis-f/r fn n;„r„i^f'ux wrote in the 2nd century—
'Wli, III.' body, this the Christians are in the
worM [ u I through all the members of the body,
and I lii- 111- III i^ii the divers cities of the world. The soul IkiMi iL- .i:, ,J'. .11 Lhe body, and yet it is not of the body. So Christians have their abode in the world, and yet they are not of the world.'
If for ' Christians' we read ' Christianity,' where is tlie soul, or vital spark, of the religion to be found ? Nearly all are agreed that the centre of the Christian religion is, in some sense, the Person of its Founder. De Pressense closes an article on the subject by saying, ' Christianity is Jesus Christ.' But it is the sense in which such words are to be interpreted that is all-important. The relation of Christ to the religion called by His name is certainly not that of Moses to Judaism, or that of Confucius to Confucianism. But neitlier does He stand related to Christianity as do Buddlia and Mohammed to the religions named after them. Not as a prophet of Nazareth, a re- ligious and ethical teacher, however lofty and inspiring, does Christ stand at the centre of history. As Dr. Fairbaim has said, ' It is not Jesus of Nazareth who has so powerfully entered into history ; it is the deified Christ who has been believed, loved, and obeyed as the Saviour of the world. ... If the doctrine of the Person of Clirist were explicable as the mere mythical apotheosis of Jesus of Nazareth, it Avould become the most in- solent and fateful anomaly in history.' And as the secret is not to be found in the ethics, neither does it lie in the 'religion of Jesus.' Harnack is the modern representative of those who take this view when he says :