(2) The religious persuasion of ' being in persever- ance' is the firm assurance that we 'have tasted of the heavenly gift and the powers of the world to come' (He6''-^). The assurance of eternity in us and for all future life is not an easy assurance when we seek to present the intellectual grounds of it. It is comparatively simple when we turn to the instincts of immortality which spring from the conquest of evil in us. Nothing can rob a man of his sense of individuality, which comes upon him as he passes from a moral victory and his conscience grows. Now that growth is steadfastly maintained in the probation of faith. Every moral conquest brings fresh impulses of moral vigour and hope. Every moral conquest brings fresh revolt against
♦ See an admirable sermon of F. W. Farrar in Sermons and Addresses in America^ London, 1892, p. 15.
t Cf. Calvin's saying, ' The Christian may know thirst but not droii'^'ht.*
I Apostasy = OTTO -fffTaeriy.
§ Joiialhan Edwards' profound idea of the Divine nature : Dissertation on the End for ivhich God created the World (iVorks^ 4 vols., New York, 1S69, vol. ii. p. 193 ff.).
the old forces. Every moral conquest brings fresh certainty of ultimate success. Such results point infallibly to the besetting power being righteous. It is an inescapable environment : even in the instance when not receptivity on man's part, but hostility, is oll'ered, there follows hurt and loss. It is the same power which, obeyed, blesses ; disobeyed, blasts.
(3) Let the idea be abandoned that the Divine indwelling is something sensuously presentable or emotionally definable, and it follows that the assurance of God's operation in us is just the inner sense of reality that comes to us in moral living. Nature and grace are not so antithetic as to be incapable of mutual penetration : the step is easy to discover the need of grace to the best nature — that at least is the predestinarian's plea. Holy love or righteousness, he argues, is the root of all life. For it all Nature is foreordained, prepared. For human life it is the one true formative force. In communion with God the springs of true life are unsealed. But holy love is of a higher nature than emotion : it denotes th.at quality in the nature of God that impels Him irresistibly to give Himself to His creatures. Hence in every spiritual fact attending on communion with Him, there is a momentum to moral duty. Thus here we stand. God, besetting all, moves all. His movement invites response from every single will ; He waits on the start of our eflbrt. That is not to take away from Him the initiative in salvation. Our ettbrt is the beginning of His gift, the first stirring of ' the grace that is in us from Him, and which can be ours in no other way. And so, after the start, throughout the whole of our moral growth, every new stirring in us is of our effort and of His gift and increase (Ph 2'-). We are never from first to last simple quietistio receivers of some- thing infused. So indissolubly has God made us for Himself that we are the bearers (deo4>bpot), because incorporators, of a growing life which God quickens, as light awakes Nature and love the heart. Can such a condition be conceived of as intermittent?
LiTERATiTRE. — Besides the works referred to in the body of the article, the reader should consult theolo^cal text-books in connexion with Grace. There are articles in Schaff-Herzofj (C. A. Beclswith), CE (J. F. Sollier), HDB (G. Ferries). On modem views consult R. Eucken, Christianity and the A'ew Idealism, Eng. tr., London and New York, 1909 ; J. R. Illing- wortb. Christian Character^ London, 1904.
A. S. Martin. PERSIS (Ilepfffs, a Greek name). — Persis is a woman saluted by St. Paul in Ro 16'=. She is described as ' the beloved ' {rriv a.yairr)TTfiv), by which may be meant a personal convert and disciple of the AjKjstle (see C. von Weizsacker, Apostolic Age, Eng. tr., i.' [1897] 394) or one closely associated with him in his work. If so, it may be with inten- tional delicacy that St. Paul has so described her and not as "' my beloved,' the term which he applies to three men whom he salutes (Epoenetus [v.'*], Ampliatus [v.^], Stachys [v."]). On the other hand, ' the beloved ' may indicate not personal relationship to the Apostle but the affection in which Persis was held by the whole Church to which she belonged and in which she ' laboured much in the Lord ' (tjtis iroXXd iKoirlaaev iv Kvpliii). This further description completes our information with regard to Persis. It is noteworthy that the verb /coiria^, which suggests painstaking ettbrt, is used in Ro 16 only of women— of Mary (v.*), of Trypha-na and Tryphosa {v.''), and that the descrip- tion of Persis includes the terms used of these, viz. iroXXa ^Kowlaaev (Mary), Kotnuxras iv Knpiv (Tryplisna and Tryphosa). Elsewhere Kowtav is employed to describe the Apostle's missionary labours ('l Co 15", Gal 4", Ph 2'^ Col 1»), as well as the manual toil involved (1 Co 4'-, Eph 4=*) ;
PERSON OF CHKIST
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also the work of tlie leaders of the Churcli at Thes- saloniea (I Th 5'^), of Cliristians like tlmse who formed ' tlie household of Stephanas' (1 t'o 10'"), and of certain elders in 1 Ti 5" ' who labour in tlie word and in teaching.' It is tlierefore iiiipoSKihle to regard the work of Persisandof the other women as limited to jiractical benevolence, such as tlie showinj; of lii)S|iitality. The aorist, in contrast to the present used in the same verse of the labours of Trypha'na and Try]i)hosa, may point to some definite occasion of special importance in the past ; or we may suppose that I'ersis was an a^;ed woman whose active work was over. The sphere in which we shall picture her activities will be determined by our acceptance of the Koman or Kphcsian destination of these salutations. The name Hersis does not appear in inscriptions of the Imperial household. T. B. Allwokthy.