i. The ideal is at once a reality in the present and a. promise for the fnture. — There'are those who look fur their niiiiiiiiinii honum in the present hour, anil wlioM- pliiki-npliy uf life w-as long ago summed up in the >:i\!ii-. ■ IjI us eat and drink; for to- morrow «.■ ,lii- 1 1 Cu 15^-, cf. Is 22"S)._ There are otiii-is ajaiii «lin lia\e, not unjustly, incurred the cliai'je 111 ■■illin w.nlilliness,' because they have ili'-liisril ( iu.l's j.ic-iail mercies and neglected their own urgent duties, while fixing their thoughts upon the hope of future blessings and rewards. But in the teaching of Jesus the ideal good is at once realized in the present and consummated in the future. On the one hand. He proclaims that the Kingdom of God is not merely coming, but already come (Mt 12^, cf. Mk P") ; it is set up here and now within the individual heart (IJc 17"') ; its Beatitudes are present realitirs (Mt .'■'-" ; note not only the recurring 'BlessiN I .nv I li. y, yr,' etc., but vv.s-i" 'theirs is [iaTlv] t\u- l.iir. Jmim of heaven'). On the other hand, He eiin-.tanily tan-ht His dis- ciples to look to the future for the complete and perfect form of the Kingdom and its blessedness. His use of the phrase ' kingdom of heaven ' as an alternative expression for ' kingdom of God ' (and
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the evidence of the First Gospel points to the former as being the more habitual term on His lijis), though it refers primarily, no doubt, to the spirituality of the Kingdom as coming from above and having its true home in the supersensible world, is surely not without its future reference. This Kingdom, which is heavenly in its origin and aims, is and must be heavenly also in its end. Christ's whole eschatological teaching, and especially everything that gathers round the thought of tlie Parousia, when all that is evil shall be cast out of the King- dom (Mt 13''"- ■''>'■ 2'2'^ 25^"), and the faithful servant shall enter into the joy of his Lord (25-'- ^), points to the same conclusion. And if we are not to reject the evidence of the Fourth Gospel, with re.spect even to its testimony as to the leading ideas in our Lord's teaching, the fact that in it ' eternal life ' takes the central place which in the Synoptics is held by ' the kingdom of God ' points once more to a future reference in Christ's ideal. For though futurity and everlastingness are not the funda- mental conceptions in the category of eternal life, they are certainly necessary for the completeness of that life which Je.sus promised to His disciples as their highest good.
ii. The Ideal as embodied historically in THE Person of Christ.— So far, we have been thinking of the Christian ideal as set forth in our Lord's teaching. But now we must notice the fact that Jesus not only exjjounded an ideal, but real- ized it historically in His own person. It is here that the Christian ideal differs specifically from the loftiest ideals of the philosophers and moralists ; it is an ideal which was once made actual in a human life. Jesus not only taught, but wcis. He brought down the ideal out of the region of dreams, and hopes, and words into the world of positive realities. In His owTi history He showed how blessedness might be attained tlirough moral perfection ; how the life of highest spirituality might prove to be the life of widest social beneficence ; now it was possible, while enjoying all natural blessings as gifts from the heavenly Father's hand, to place obedience to the Father's will above everything else ; how the narrow path of present duty might be illuminated by the splendours of the eternal world, while the assurance of something yet more glorious than now appeared might thrill the heart of the faithful wayfarer.
1. Jesus Christ is the Ideal Man. — His character is not merely perfect in some aspects, but perfect in all — so rounded and complete as to become an ideal for the woman as well as for the man, for the Greek as well as for the Jew, for tlie modern as well as for the ancient world. He is not merely free from flaws, but full of vital and creative forces ; His perfection is that not of a marble image, but of a living spirit. This is the verdict of history, the verdict of all who simply read and ponder the records of His life. Even those who do not believe Him to be more than man join without demur in the universal chorus of acclamation. They acknowledge that Jesus stands alone in His moral grandeur as the incarnation of personal human worth, and that the historical Christ is the ideal of humanity.
2. As an Ideal, Christ becomes an Example (wh. see). — For whatever it may be in other spheres, in the moral world, at all events, ideals, from the nature of the case, are not merely standards of an abstract perfection, but goals after which we must strive,— targets, to use Aristotle's figure, at which we aim and shoot those arrows of the soul which are the living energies of our moral being. Jesus never set Himself before men's eyes as a beautiful but impossible ideal. He claimed to be an example (Mt 11-'" 20=i'-=8||Lk 22=7, Jn IS'^-^ 15'=). As such He was taken by His first disciples (1 P 2-'). And