If the Gospels and the Epistles are compared as to their form, further light is shed on the wisdom of our Lord in using the imaginative style of speech as a vehicle for His oral teaching. St. Paul'.s involved literary style, full as it is of technical terms, long sentences, and abstract trains of reasoning, could not possibly have served as the vehicle of a spoken Gospel, though, as a supplementary commentary and exposition of the truths enshrined in that Gospel, it is admirably adapted for its purpose ; and the same is true, with qualihcatioiis, of the other NT writers.
3. A lesson fi.r ///c,,/,, ,-,v.— The example of the Great Teachei' still :i]i|ilies to those wliose business it is to carry on I he ( lni-ii.ui function of jireach- ing. In more illileiate periods, preachers naturally followed this method of putting their discourses into :: eonerete, illustrative, and vivid style; but ,is hooks have spread, and the habit of reading lias heeonie general, there has been a gi'owing ten- dency tip tliiow sermons into a more literary form. While this hns lieen |i;iii ly inevitable and is so far justiliulde, it is eertain I hat the pulpit has lost much of its inllueiiec lieeause of this unconscious change of method. All sjjokcn discourse should aim at tlie qualities of simplicity, concreteness, \i\idness, and brevity of expression, which are so remarkalJe a feature in the discourses and parables of Christ. The very plethora of books makes this specially needful in an age when the human mind is overbmdened with the rushing details of daily experience, and the c\anesi-ent apiical of ephemeral literature. Unique as are many of the qualities that belong to Christ as a [.rea. her, and makin^ due allowance for the coll I rasi hcdwcen the Oriental environment in which He lived and that of our own clay, there is nothing that more needs to be liiiilt into our training of young preachers than a close study of the method of the Master with a view to adapt it to our own day and circiun- stances.
IMITATION 1. Christian Ethics was roughly
constituted in the early centuries by the reco^i- tion of two moralities— common morality, requiring
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IMITATION
IMITATION
a iiiiuimum of obedience to law from those living in the world, and first-class morality, the super- legal or supererogatory goodness of those who practised asceticism. Into the service of the latter, with its 'counsels of perfection' (1 Co 7°^ with Mt 19-' — these texts are very early applied in this fashion), all Christian enthusiasm tended to pour itself. This more exacting life is praised as makinq men resemble the angels. Christ had de- scribed the angels as unwedded (Mt 22^ ||) ; an age, preoccupied with problems of sex, fastened upon this as the leading truth in regard to those exalted beings. But it is in point of fact a mere external— and therefore, of course, it is imitable ! The essential thing is, that angels ' fulfil God's word' (Ps 103="). To our Lord Himself this was the essential about them : ' Thy will be done, fts in heaven, so on earth' (Mt 6^"). And, when we think of that truth, we see that our proper pattern is not the angels, but the Son. About angels we know little, if anything, that is certain. They are supernatural, almost unnatural beings. The Son came into this world that we might know Him, and has obeyed God's will under our own conditions, in their extremest and most burden- some type.
2. This reinterpretation — imitation of Christ rather than of angels— took place within Catholic ethics, \vitli a great gain in the direction of living Christian truth. The most conspicuous leader was St.Francisof Assisi(1182-1226), 'thatchild of nature and child of God, half an^el and half nightingale ' (C. Bigg). Long before his time, the pattern of asceticism had been summed up in tliree virtues. Poverty, Chastity (i.e. celibacy), and Obedience. There may have been pre-Chnstian influences at work in so moulding Christian monasticism. But the pattern of Christ could also be recognized in these virtues. He had ' become poor ' (2 Co 8') ; He had 'made himself a eunuch /or the kinr/dom of heaven's sake ' (Mt 19'-) ; He had been ' obedi- ent even unto death, yea, the death of the cross ' (Ph 2*). Of course, historical knowledge and Chris- tian insight— but the Middle Ages were weak in both — see difterences as well as similarities. Above all, Christ, who was persecuted and .slain as a revolutionary, can hardly serve in fairness as a pattern of blind obedience to constituted human authorities. But, to St. Francis, the requirements of obedience — a rule for his ' Order,' and unhesitat- ing submission to the Pope— were established con- ditions, which he never thought of criticising. Much the same may be said in regard to ' chastity.' The really important features of St. Francis' char- acter, and of the movement it gave rise to, were as follows. ( 1 ) By the idea of imitating the behaviour of Jesus Christ, St. Francis cut liis way direct to the centre of things, unhindered, if unhelped, by the overgrown and oftfln corrupt Cliurch sys- tem of his time, and restored new life to personal religion and personal Christianity. (2) His en- thusiasm for poverty was a living contribution to religious progress. Poverty to him was no in- herited conventional %-irtue. He joyed in it. And, in this J03', he penetrated beyond externals, and showed that he had drunk from deep and full fountains. Poverty may be aciiuircd liy imi- tation ; joy cannot. If there ".is ^ tliiii.; i.f