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record of his life until his character is more real and vivid to us than that of brother or friend. We must imagine him with ardent soul, until his figure glows before our inward sight, and his words sound in our ears as a living voice. We must love with his love, and sorrow with his grief, and rejoice with his joy, and offer ourselves with his sacrifice, so truly, so intensely that we can say, as St. Paul said, that we are crucified by his cross and risen in his resurrection.1 We must trace the power of his life in the lives of our fellow-men, following and realizing his triumphs in souls redeemed and sins forgiven, until we know the rapture that thrilled the breast of St. Bernard, St. Francis, Thomas à Kempis, Samuel Rutherford, Robert McCheyne; the chivalrous loyalty that animated Henry Havelock, Charles Kingsley, Frederick Robertson, Charles Gordon; the deep devotion that strengthened David Brainerd, Henry Martyn, Coleridge Patteson. We must become the brothers of these men through brotherhood with Christ. We must kindle our hearts in communion with him, by meditation, by prayer, and by service, which is the best kind of prayer. No day must pass in which we do not do something distinctly in Jesus' name, for Jesus' sake.

1 Gal. 2:20.

We must go where he would go if he were on earth. We must try to do what he would do if he were still among men. And so, by our failure as well as by our effort, by the very contrast between our incompleteness and his perfection, the image of our Companion and our saving Lord will grow radiant and distinct within us. We shall know that potent attraction which his person has exercised upon the hearts of men, and feel in our breast that overmastering sense of loyalty to him which alone can draw us to follow him through life and death.

"If Jesus Christ is a man,

And only a man,-I say

That of all mankind I cleave to him,

And to him will I cleave alway.

If Jesus Christ is a God,

And the only God, I swear

I will follow him through heaven and hell,
The earth, the sea, and the air." 1

1Richard Watson Gilder, “Song of a Heathen, sojourning in Galilee, A. D. 32."

III

THE UNVEILING OF THE FATHER

IN N the famous fifteenth chapter of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Gibbon, who was but a superficial sceptic though a profound historian, introduces an account of the rise and spread of the Christian Religion. He attributes its remarkable triumph over the established religions of the earth to a series of causes which he ironically describes as secondary, and uniformly treats as primary. He exhibits them as in themselves sufficient to explain the peculiarly favourable reception of the Christian faith in the world, and sets aside the question of a possible divine origin as unnecessary. With serene self-satisfaction he traces the rapid growth of the Christian Church to the five following causes: I. The Zeal of the Christians, derived from the Jews, but purified from that narrow and unsocial spirit which, instead of inviting, had deterred the Gentiles from embracing the law of Moses. II. The Doctrine of a Future Life, improved by every additional circumstance which could

give weight and efficacy to that important truth. III. The Miraculous Powers ascribed to the primitive Church. IV. The Pure and Austere Morals of the Christians. V. The Union and Discipline of the Christian Republic, which gradually formed an increasing and independent state in the heart of the Roman empire.

Now this is a brilliant example of the kind of work which was done by the shallow and complacent scepticism of a century ago. But the moment we subject it to the more searching analysis of the scepticism of the present age, it dissolves into a thin and incoherent absurdity. For it is evident that, so far from giving an explanation of the growth of Christianity, Gibbon is simply describing some of the phenomena which accompanied that growth. What, for example, is "the zeal of the Christians" but an unilluminating name for a contagious and irresistible enthusiasm which spread through the world in connection with faith in Christ? What is "the union and discipline of the Christian republic" but a description, without explanation, of the organic unfolding of a new, mysterious principle of fellowship? These alleged "causes," more closely examined, are in fact the very things that require to be accounted

for. Instead of clearing up the mystery, they increase it.

By a singular fatality of language, the sceptical historian has embodied in the statement of his position the demonstration of its insufficiency. In each of his causes, and in the relation that subsists between them, he has practically suggested a difficulty which demands another and a higher solution of the whole problem. Examine his words carefully.

By what means, human or divine, was the zeal of the Christians "purified from the narrow and unsocial spirit of the Jews"? The natural history of sects and schisms teaches us that their invariable tendency is to intensify rather than to eliminate bigotry and exclusiveness. Through what influence was the doctrine of a future life "improved by every additional circumstance that could give it weight and efficacy"? The inevitable course of its human development under the guidance of abstract philosophy has been towards vagueness, coldness, and uncertainty; under the guidance of concrete superstition, towards puerility and crass sensualism. On what grounds were miraculous powers ascribed to the early Church? They must have been ascribed truly or falsely. If truly, there must have been some basis of

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