He justly required an answer from His Apostles because He had previously given it Himself. He had already said, "The works that I do, bear witness of Me." He appealed to these as the evidence of His oneness with "the living Father" who had sent Him. "For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will." It is quite true that He said to His disciples, "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My Father." It is not a judgment on the essential value of miracles that He is here expressing; but a declaration of the relation of the material to the spiritual, and of the intrinsic superiority of the latter. The material works of healing and of raising the dead, He wishes them to understand, are illustrations of the greater work of the restoration of the souls of men to spiritual soundness and life. The accomplishment of those "greater" miracles, He declares, would be the result of His going to His Father. From Himself, in His essential union with His Father, they would receive "power from on high "-that power which obtained its manifestation in the demonstrations of Pentecost; in which we have the commencement of that work of soulconversion which is the standing miracle of His Church, and the evidence of His presence in it. He alone is the revealer of the Father to men, because He alone in the unity of nature knows the Father. The Father "hath committed all judgment unto" Him; and He claims "that all men should honour" Him, "even as they honour the Father."

There is no explanation of this unique Personality to be found in our modern humanitarian philosophies. On such principles Christ is a mystery, a contradiction, and much more which we decline to state. There is but one solution that satisfies all the requirements of the case: He is "the Son of Man;" but He is also "the Son of the living God." As "the Son of Man" He is human; as "the Son of God" He is Divine. In the union of natures in His one Personality He is the God-man, "Christ Jesus." He is "the brightness" of the Father's "glory, and the express image of His person." To His ever-recurring inquiry, we must reply, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." It is then we shall" view Him in His own light;" and in the clearness of that light shall enter into the knowledge of His relation to our humanity, and of His great redemptive work. Thus are we to be brought in Him to the fellowship of God, and in that fellowship to realize the consummation of our existence.

"Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona." Jesus does not ask by what process His disciples had arrived at the point of spiritual apprehension at which they could recognize His Divine-human

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character. He accepts the confession in all the breadth of its meaning; and responds by a declaration in favour of His future Church at once explicit and deep. There may be an intended antithesis between this designation of the Apostle and his future spiritual one. Son of Jona" may "denote the carnal birth and descent in opposition to the new name Peter." "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee." The Apostle's conception of Jesus was not derived from any Jewish notion of the Messiah that was then prevalent. Neither was it the product of his own natural powers, employed in forming a judgment from what he had seen and heard. The carnal nature in and of itself does not pass through the natural to a discernment and realization of the spiritual. It is only in connection with Divine illumination that this process can ever take place. The heart of man must yield itself to the Father's influence before it can rise to a right apprehension of the Son. By the regenerated soul Christ is clearly seen, and confidently known. It was an approach, at least, to this condition that enabled the Apostles to make their great confession, that avowal of belief regarding Him which called forth their Master's approval, and obtained for them His benediction.

"Thou art Peter." It is impossible for us here to enter into the controversy which these and the following words have originated: we can do no more than briefly indicate our estimate of their meaning. They were spoken, no doubt, as the construction requires us to understand, to Peter personally, with reference to those elements of character which he already possessed, and which in the future would be more fully developed in him. He is to have the honour of being the first stone of the new structure laid by the great Master Builder; and of taking the lead in the Apostolic circle in the work of establishing the visible organization which Christ here terms "My Church." The Church of the future is spoken of; and is not to be identified with "the kingdom of God." On New Testament principles these are never to be regarded as identical. Christ Himself teaches that "tares" will be found in the visible Church down to the time of the end; but "the kingdom of God" is composed of regenerated souls only. The visible exλŋoría is the representative in the world of the spiritual kingdom; and by its agency that kingdom is to obtain its ever-widening diffusion. On the day of Pentecost, under the impulse of the new "power" which had just descended upon them, Peter is the first of the eleven to open the great commission with which they had been intrusted, and to proclaim the Gospel message to men. Of the converts on that signal occasion the Church of Christ is openly formed, against which, notwithstanding all the infirmity and evil that may unhappily be found in it, "the gates of hell shall not prevail."

"The kingdom of Satan" is here presented in its hostility to "the kingdom of God's dear Son." The most violent opposition to the new institution is predicted; but in the maintenance of the Petrine spirit of firm confession, and of the foundation-truth which that confession expresses, it shall survive, and triumph over all the subtlety, malignity, and power of its enemies. In its practical adherence to the great central truth of Christ and His redeeming work, it will be indestructible: it will rise from the flames of persecution with renewed life and power. Peter has the honour of being, not the founder, but the first builder of that which Christ emphatically declares to be "His Church."

From the whole strain of New Testament teaching, and espe cially from the statements of Peter himself, it is obvious that his pre-eminence amongst the Apostles consisted in his taking the initiative in the Pentecostal proclamation, and in his thus laying the first stones upon which, in its historic development, the future Church was to be built up. In all other respects he is in no sense superior to his fellow-Apostles, and in some decidedly inferior to them. From the very character of his distinction a successor was necessarily impossible; and equally, from the nature of their office, the Apostles could have no successors. Christ Himself is the Head-stone of the corner; and the united body of Apostles, following up the work so auspiciously commenced by Peter, were to place the Church in their own persons and teaching upon its firm and eternal foundation. While the Lord Jesus Himself ever remains the great Master Builder as well as the "Cornerstone," they were thus intrusted with the formation and preservation of the visible body, which should bear the name of their Divine-human Lord and Saviour. The power of the keys was placed in their hands: the solemn obligation of admitting into, and of expelling from, the visible fellowship was imposed upon them; and through them upon the "faithful men " to whom they should commit the trust. The Church, in its representative agency, at all times possesses the power to declare who shall, and who shall not, be admitted to its fellowship. This is very manifest from the further statement of Christ Himself; (Matt. xviii. 17, 18;) and for the reason that, wherever there is a church,wherever "two or three are gathered together in His name," there Christ Himself is with it, and in it, as the only Source of all authority and power. The administration of discipline for the preservation of the Church's purity is essential to its spiritual life; and this is to be in the hands of the Divinely-constituted authorities of the Church. We must further hold that when this discipline is administered in harmony with the laws of "the kingdom," it is ratified in heaven by the Lord Himself. All priestly and Papistic

assumptions are utterly foreign to the Saviour's teachings, and have been superadded by human pride and ambition.

The confession of faith in Christ as "the Son of Man" and "the Son of God," is a point of vital importance to the Christian Church. All true religious life is based upon and is the product of doctrinal truth. It is apparent that this confession will only be preserved by the maintenance of the Petrine spirit. It was not the carnal "Simon" who rose to the correct apprehension of the Lord's person, but the spiritually-enlightened "Peter." The safety and honour of the Church largely depend upon its acquisi tion of “faithful men " to whom it may commit the sacred deposit of sound doctrine; and who, from their personal consciousness of its saving power, will earnestly contend for its preservation. The preaching and diffusion of this essential truth, that Jesus is "the Christ," will ever be the pledge of spiritual vigour and purity; and also of the administration of a wise and godly discipline. To the Church so ordered, times of fiery conflict with the powers of darkness will come; but it will renew its strength in the conflict. The pride of fallen intellect will expend its resources in the attempt to establish a Religion of Humanity; but the work of Christ will be glorified by the contrast. Christ is imperishable; and because He lives, His people, His "body," will live also. Its ultimate victory over all "principalities and powers" that shall place themselves in opposition to His "kingdom," is a Divinely-appointed issue of its fidelity to its living Head. "He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet." EGIDIUS.

"THE DECAY OF THEOLOGY.” *

THE subject of the Address delivered from the Chair of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, at its Autumnal Meeting, has an interest far wider than the particular denomination which that Union represents. Every branch of the universal Church of God stands related, in some degree, to all the other branches. The spiritual state of any one religious community, the tendencies of thought and feeling which distinguish it, and the efforts which it puts forth, can never be matters of indifference to thoughtful Christians of other communions, since they have a bearing, more or less important, on the prospects of

"The Decay of Theology: an Address from the Chair of the Congregational Union of England and Wales, at its Autumnal Meeting, held at Ipswich, in October, 1873. By Eustace R. Conder, M.A." London: Hodder and Stoughton.

that "kingdom of God" which comprehends us all, and the interests of which claim our solicitude and devotion.

At the first view, there is something startling in the very title of this Address. If it were supposed to imply that, while science is commanding the attention of many noble minds, and is cultivated with increasing assiduity, theology—the system of truth that relates to God and His government of man-is cast into the shade, and the interest felt in it is declining, it would indeed indicate a melancholy state of things. This, however, is not, we believe, the exact state of the case; nor is this the view which Mr. Conder places before us. However much we may have to deplore a want of profound study of the great truths which are comprehended in theology, and an impatience of theological systems, there never was a period, perhaps, in which religious questions awakened more general interest, or more powerfully agitated society. Still, this interest is too much limited to the particular questions which are brought into prominence, and which affect the immediate action of Churches, or of the subordinate organizations for benevolent purposes which the Churches foster. The Decay of Theology, in the sense in which Mr. Conder employs the phrase, means "that there is a decline or cessation of interest in the study of Divine truth as a whole; in the logical arrangement and harmonious adjustment of its several portions; and in the patient study of those profound questions which are to the Gospel what science is to art, what the tide-waves, air-currents, deep-sea soundings, and problem of the longitude, are to the mariner's prescribed course across the ocean."

The treatment of this subject by the esteemed Chairman of the Congregational Union is very suggestive. Without endorsing every sentiment which the Address contains, and feeling constrained, indeed, to qualify some of its representations, we regard it as presenting many important views, and as conveying timely admonitions both to ministers and congregations.

Some of Mr. Conder's remarks apply specially, if not exclusively, to his own denomination, and refer rather to the decay of Calvinism, than to the decay of Theology in its wider sense. In this Mr. Conder himself sees no ground for lamentation, and we, of course, sympathise with him. The rigid system of Calvinism fails to exhibit the Gospel in some of its most attractive features, and weakens immeasurably the force of the appeals which the ambas sadors of Christ are charged to address to men. The change which has come over Congregational ministers and Churches within the last thirty years, in respect to Calvinism, is very clearly and graphically traced in this Address :-"The repressive force of Calvinism was severe. In the theological lectures of my great

VOL. XIX.-FIFTH SERIES.

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