■ The difliculty in our day is to believe in a revelation as <\ir fathers did. . . . Our minds bear a strouirer witness than the
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RELIGION
RELIGION
minds of our forefathers did to the idea of a revelation : so strong a witness, that we tliink it must have originated in them. We cannot thinli it possible that God has actually manifested Him- self to us, because the sense of a manifestation is so near to us that we think it is only our sense, and has no realitj' corre- sponding to it.'
But no good end is served by minimizing that side of religion that is ' not ourselves.' For although, as Oman so well shows [Vision and Authority, p. 81), 'the supreme religious fact is the indi- vidual whose capacity of vision is the channel of authority,' yet if truth is ultimately one, it must proceed by way of revelation from some objective source. 'Faith,' says Dorner {Syst. ofChr. Doctrine-, i. p. 133), ' does not wish to become a mere relation to itself, or to its representation and thought. That would be simply a monologue : faith desires a dialogue.' See, further, art. FACT AND Theory.
Now, revelation finds its way to the soul both mediately and immediately. And it is essential to give due consideration to both these channels of religious authority. Jesus Christ, wlio is the norm of religion as well as the focus of revelation, made use of both. It must not be overlooked that He took over without hesitation the general concep- tion of God's nature, kingdom, and law which He inherited from the teaching of home (Lk 2^^), synagogue (Lk 4^^), and Scriptures. The OT pro- vided HItu not only with illustrations of His own original thought (Mt 123»-^-, Lk \^^--''), but with canons of judgment and standards of authority (Mt 5^^), and even with personal assurance in the time of moral temptation (Mt 4^- ''• ^") and of mortal weakness (27^", Lk 23^*'). But this attitude of our Lord must not be misunderstood. In leaning on the Word of God in the Scriptures of His people. He was not compromising the Church on critical ques- tions. Moreover, it cannot be affirmed that He gave any guarantee of an infallible book. On the contrary, He handled it with perfect freedom, treating it as a guide but not as a goal (Mt 5-"^-). Its validity for Him, as for us, lay in its being the chosen testimony of those who gave the best response that was in them to the revelation they received, and so became witnesses of the truth.*
So far our Lord behaved Himself as the ' root and oflfspring of David.' But He was also 'the bright and morning star.' And religion was His by a revelation that was immediate, as well as by that which was mediated. Into the secrets of His sublime self-consciousness as the beloved Son of God and one with the Father we cannot penetrate. But His words are before us, with all their august claim : ' It was said by them of old, . . . but / say unto you ' (Mt 5-^'- etc.) ; ' Ye search the Scriptures, . . . but ye will not come to me,' etc. (Jn 5^^'*). The immediacy of revelation to Him is fully declared in Mt IP' 'All things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no one knoweth the Son save the Father ; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever tlie Son willeth to reveal him.' None has ever challenged that soli- tary claim. Yet it is notable that our Lord did not shut up His followers to a revelation that is mediated even through His own blessed words.
' Christ found men everywhere ready to receive Him as a Rabbi. On the authorit yof other people they would accept anything. But He insisted on basing what He taught on the authority of their own hearts and consciences. To this end He spoke in parables that they might not understand on any other conditions' (Oman, Vision and Authority, p. 104).
And it is for us to remember that Christ has not left us His revelation, as it were, on deposit. The partial records of His life, first in the flesh and then in the spirit, which are ours through the NT, are certainly means whereby the Divine grace and
* The communication of religion, says Schleiermacher {op. eit. p. 150), is not to be sought in books. In this medium, too, much of the pure impression of the original production is lost.
truth are mediated to us, providing, indeed, our canon of spiritual j udgment. But we are to trust also to the immediacy of Divine access to our minds, knowing that there is a Spirit to lead us into all the truth, enabling us to judge all things and approve those that are excellent ( Jn 16^^ 1 Co 2^^, Ph P°).* Thus Christianity is like an ever new commandment, being true in Him and in us (1 Jn 2^). See, further, art. Revelatiox.
2. Religion as response. — The primary response to the revelation of God may be said to run on three lines, the sense of («) dependence, (b) estrange- ment, (c) obligation.
(a) The soul's response in a sense of dependence. The soul, when it comes to itself, finds itself solitary and orphaned. The issues of life run up into eternity, and the soul first proves it is awakened by crying out for the living God. The fact that man is a spiritual being soon asserts itself in the life that is not wholly preoccupied with things temporal. In the words of St. Augustine [Confess. ), ' Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it find its rest in Thee.' Thus begins a ' commerce, a conscious and willed rela- tion, into which the soul in distress enters with the mysterious power on which it feels that it and its destiny depend' (Sabatier, Outlines, p. 27). This need of security and rest is perfectly met by Christ. He satisfies the soul's sense of de^Dendence by drawing it to Himself. In His Divine Person- ality men find their long-sought God. To the soul once awakened there is no resting-place except in the eternal Christ, ' the same yesterday and to-day and for ever.'