of law (Ro 13'") and solves the complicated prob- lems of social life (Ro 14"*).
The three provinces of religious manifestation correspond with the tlnee primary sensibilities of the religious life. The religious i)liiloso])her seeks to rationalize the consciousness of dependence on some theistic basis. The priest couies into being through tlie urgent need of reconciliation. The scribe meets the desire for some authorit.v amid the taTigled questions of practical life. Thus Christianity, wiiich is essentially a life hid with Christ in (iod, is always in danger of being drawn down to the level of those who would reduce religion to a ritual of worship, a system of thought, or a fashion of life. But the fact that Jesus Christ is His own religion is the one guarantee of religion arriving at perfection. For it may truly be said that religion is in its essence the consciousness of personal being under the eye of the eternal Personality. It is surely too vague to define it, with Max Miiller, as a 'perception of the infinite,' or, with Schleierniacher, as the ' inunediate consciousness of the eternal in the temporal.' Lotze gives the following pro- positions as the characteristic convictions of the religious mind : (1) Moral laws embody the will of God ; (2) individual finite spirits are not products of nature, but are children of God ; (3) reality is more and other than the mere course of nature, it is a Kingdom of God. In each of these propositions the note of per- sonality is sounded, both subjectively and objectively. And Ritschl states one side of this truth strongly when he explains religion out of ' the necessity which man feels of maintaining his personality and spiritual independence against the limita- tions of Nature.' But surel.v the religious man is at equal pains to assure himself of an all-embracing Personality at the heart of things, to which his own soul can return and be at rest (F's 116"). That being so, we can see that only through Christ, the God- man, can this twofold consciousness be securely maintained, and the balance kept true between the objective and subjective elements in religion.
In Christ is perfected both the revelation and the response. He is the focus of revelation and the norm of religion. In fact, ' He reveals most because He awakens most' (Matheson, Growth of Spirit of Christianity, p. 8). He enables us to see in God our Father, because He quickens in us a filial consciousness and behaviour. As for His revelation of Godhead, men have seen in Him that interwoven authority of love and law, of truth and grace, which gives fulness of meaning to the con- ceptions of a Father in heaven, free will and human immortality. As for the response which He has awakened in men, they have been won to His ideal through His fulfilment of filial and fraternal obligations in His sacrificial life. The authority and the obedience were alike pre-eminent in the Cross. Thence came the kindling spark which made the Person of Christ a vital religious fact for humanity. Man had thought of himself as being in .some sense on a cross because of the presence of suffering, sin, and death ; and, so far as he was religious, tried by ritual to propitiate the Al- mighty, by philosophy to vindicate His ways, by methods of conduct to reduce the mischief of evil. But in Christ crucified man has found God Himself on the cross ; and with Him there, there can be no injustice in suHering, no victory for sin, no sting in death.
i. Characteristics of Christ's religion. — Having set this corner-stone, it only remains to mention seven characteristics of the religion which is de- rived from Jesus Christ and lives upon Him still.
(1) Christ has made religion jyersonccl in its authority. He is the only and absolute Lord. His spirit has broken and broken again the bands of ecclesiastical .systems which multiply the scruples of conscience. The authority whicli is not as that of the scribes has been in more or less ettectual operation through all the history of Cliristendom. Unlearned men, the weak and foolish of this world, have more than held their own in the name of Jesus of Nazareth (Ac 4, cf. 1 Co l'-**"' ). His people have gone forth, indifl'erent to praise or blame, favour or i)ersecution, and even suspending their judgment of one another on the ground that to their own Master they stand or fall, before whose judgment-seat all must appear (Ro 14^- '"'•)• Heroic exploits have been undertaken and meanest duties l)erformed by those whose one desire is to be well- pleasing unto Him (He 13-') whom not having seen
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tliey love (1 PP). Christianity loses its secret when it forgets the glorious egotism of the Master, who not only made Himself a law to tiie disciples who accompanied His ministry (Mt 23^"), but gave Himself back to them as more than ever theirs after death (Mt 28-", Jn 2U. 21). Christian mysticism is not only in place, it is imperative for the believer. Though he may not rise to the full height of St. Paul's 'Not I, but Christ' (Gal 2^°), he must be in conscious touch with his Lord.
(2) Christ made religion htcman in its sympathy. It was stamped upon the remembrance of His disciples that He went about doing good. Jesus presented to a world much given to religiosity the problem of One who reserved His devotions for the solitude of night, and filled His days, including the Sabbaths, with helping the needy and the outcast. True, He went up to the national Feasts (Jn 2^^ etc. ), but He was most Himself when He provided a miraculous meal of His own (Mk Q^^^-\\). True, He revered the Temple ; but the occasions of His triumphs, and the moment of His transhguration, were in secular places (Mt IT^'^'ll). True, He was subject unto the Law ; but He made its require- ments a secondary consideration when the cause of humanity was at stake (Mk 2-^*''- 3"*'). These inci- dents are typical of the attitude of Jesus towards religious duty. He denounced the advocates of ' Corban,' and those who ' devoured widows' houses and for a pretence made long prayers ' ; demanded ' mercy instead of sacrifice, and reconciliation rather than ritual ' (Mt Q'^S^^f.) . and declared that the ser- vice of the ' little ones,' the least of His brethren, was the true way of honouring the Father in heaven (Mt 10^» 25^0, Jn 13"). Slowly the dis- ciples were weaned from their contempt for the multitude, their disparagement of women and children (Mk 10'^*^-)> their vexation with men like Bartimreus and Zacchaeus who interfered with their religious plans (v.***, Lk 19'). At last they deserved the name of ' League of Pity.' Their first social experiment was to have all things in common (Ac 4^*). Their first economic problem was how to distribute alms most wisely to the widows (Ac 6'). They invented a new virtue called ' brotherly love,' in which all shared who were of the faith, Avhatever their status or nationality. The revolu- tion which Christ effected in humanizing the con- ception of religion may be clearly seen in a study of words. There were three Greek words for ser- vice : diaKovia, which was used for service from man to man, chiefly reserved for slaves ; Xeirovpyia, which was used for the service of a man to the commonwealth; and Xarpeia, for the service rendered to the gods.