We bold, then, that our Saviour, in his humanity, was, in both these senses, rinless; at first relatively, just as Adam before his fell, with a perfectly humsn nature to which the liability to teaiptati<m must be conceded ; otherwise no trne manhood could have ex- isted, no true example fer our race could have been preeented in his life. The doctrine of Edward Irving. however, that Christ partook of the sinful nature of Adam after the fell, cannot be allowed. It is not nec- essary at all to the true conception of his perfect ex- ample as a man for sinful men ; which, on the contrsiy, implies that the second Adam should not be placed in his human nature below the original condition of the first, and thus burdened with the sin and weakness et sullied manhood. This view would demand of hb di- vine nature so miraculous a support of the human ss to destroy the force of his example. On the contraiy, Christ, in his humanity, clothed with man's original purity of nature, lived, suflbred, '* was tempted in an points like as we are, yet without sin," and so could ** justify the ways of God to man," and riiowthstmaa was made ** sufficient to have stood, though f^ee to felL" His relative sinlessness beoame absolute hoUness io the development of his moral life, in hb fkee, yet per- fect, active, and passive obedience to the wiU of hit Father. To use the terms of the schoolmen, ihepotsB non peecare or impeccabiHtas mmor, in him, grew, through vanquished opposition and the adiieved re- sults of perfect obedience in love, into the non posts peecare or impeccabUkas major, ** into the imponibil- ity of shining, which cannot sin because it win not" (Schaff).
III. Proofs qfthe Doctrine,^!, A priori. We msy
CHRIST, SINLESSNESS OF 267 CHRIST, SDTLESSNESS OF
urgne, h priori, thst as Christ's acknowledged misden m earth was the moral elevatioii and the salvation of Mir xaee from shi, it was fitting, naj, necessary, in or- ler to accomplish these objects, that he should be sa- porior to as in these respects. To raise man from his ruin, the Prince of his salvation must be one ** who is holy, harmless, undefiled, s^>arate fW>m sinners, tnd miade higher than the heavens," while his heart, * touched by the feeling of our infirmities," would jream for the renewal of humanity. How folly Christ's perfect life meets this ideal every Christian feels ; and irith what deep and gratefhl confidence does he, when ppprcoBcd by the temptations and conflicts of his pro- bation, torn to him who " needeth not dally to offer op lacrifices first for his own sins,** and ** then for the sins of the people," as did otl^ priests.
2. Xpotteriorif we find that Christianity has exerts sd and does exert a power fer moral good upon the. world. Wherever it has taken hold of the hearts and minds of men in its purifying power, we see that they have attained a higher moral and religious state, a con- dition of life fer beyond the pagan or even the Jewish types. How shall we account for this, apart i^om the life of the founder of Christianity, imparting its renew- big power to the hearts of hb followers ? Mere theo- ries of mtnral conduct without example are not eapt^ ble of producing sndi results. Streams do not rise above the level of their sources ; no more do followers of religious systems rise above the laws and principles of religious life prescribed in the conduct as well as teachings of their founders. We may justly claim that the higher moral condition of Christian nations is due mainly to the influence proceeding firom the spotless life of Christ.
Many of the eariy as well as recent opponents of ChHstianitj as a system bear testimony to the surpass- ing moral greatness of its founder. Pilate declared that he found no fault in him touching the things whereof the Jews accused him, and thrice asked the qoestion, ** What evfl hath he done ?" (Luke xxiii, 22). The Boman centurion, who witnessed his sufferings on the cross, said, " Certainly this was a righteous man." Josephus, if the passage be authentic ^AnHq, bk. xviii, eh. iii, § iH), says of him that he " was a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure." Por- phyry (A.D. 804) says, *'But himself is pious, and gone to heaven as other pious men do. Him therefore thou shalt not blaspheme." •The celebrated tribute of Boussean to the Gospel and its author need not be ({Qoted here. A fuller view of the testimony of unbe- lievers to the person and character of Clirist is given hi the work of Schaff referred to above.
3. Biblical View of the Ihctrine,— The doctrine of the Old-Testament writers in regard to the original purity md grandeur of man^s moral and intellectual nature is shown conclusively by the language employed in de- Kribtng his creation and endowments : that he was made in the image of God ; that the dominion over tiie earth and lower animals was given to him, etc. When man by disobedience fell, the promise was given of one to eome, who should repab, by his obedience and per^ fectness, the ruin made, and through whom man might be reconciled to God. The coming of such a Redeem- er was prefigured in the worship and sacrifices of pa- triarchid times, in the separation and Temple services of the Jewish nation, and in those holy men who from time to time appeared as lights amidst the darkness of the world, llironghout all these preparatory mani- ^stations the idea of the sinlessness of the coming Messiah appears. In the spotiess victims, in the pu- rifying services, in the strains of the poets of Israel, and in the magnificent imagery and language of the prophets are found, more or less complete, the elements whose union culminates in the idea of the sinless Son of God and Bedeemer of men (Isa. ix, xl, xlii ; Jer. xzxi, 31 sq. ; Exek. xxxvi, 8 ^., etc.).