,,the ,,origin ,,and ,,development ,,of ,,christian ,,dogma ,,the ,,origin ,,and ,,development ,,of ,,christian ,,dogma ,,an ,,essay ,,in ,,the ,,science ,,of ,,history ,,by ,,charles ,a4 ,h4 ,,tuthill ,,london ,,kegan ,,paul1 ,,trench ,,co41 #a1 ,,paternoster ,,square #ahhh 7,the rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved47 ,,contents4 ,,chapter ,,page ,,introduction #a ,i4 ,,the ,,foundation ,,of ,,monotheism #d ,,ii4 ,,the ,,messianic ,,foundation ,,of ,,christianity #cc ,,iii4 ,,the ,,christianity ,,of ,,christ #fe ,,iv4 ,,jewish ,,christianity #ic ,v4 ,,pagan ,,christianity #aab ,,vi4 ,,catholic ,,and ,,protestant ,,christianity #adb ,,vii4 ,,the ,,permanence ,,of ,,dogmatic ,,religion #afj ,,the ,,origin ,,and ,,development ,,of ,,christian ,,dogma4 ,,introduction4 ,if we compare ,christianity with the other dogmatic religions of the world1 we are at once struck by a feature peculiar to it1 namely1 the complexity of its doctrinal system4 ,a glance at the ,athanasian ,creed is sufficient to show that this peculiarity results from the existence of fundamental inconsistencies in the dogmas of ,christianity4 ,such inconsistencies are not found in other religions1 whether1 like ,mohammedanism1 they have at once sprung into full maturity at the time of their creation1 or whether1 like ,judaism1 they have passed through a long and slow process of development4 ,the inconsistencies of ,christian doctrine clearly cannot be ascribed to the necessary tendencies of the evolution of dogmatic religion2 they must be due to special circumstances connected with the history of ,christianity4 ,what these circumstances were there is no difficulty in ascertaining4 ,the fully developed dogmatic system of ,christianity is the product of the union of two opposite streams of religious tendency4 ,from the collision of the monotheism of ,judaism with the polytheism of ,paganism the inconsistencies of its doctrines have sprung4 ,in the doctrine of the ,trinity1 which takes up so much of the ,athanasian ,creed1 we have the clearest evidence of this4 ,but1 in reality1 the whole of ,christianity is pervaded by the contradictions inseparable from the combination in it of the characteristics of monotheistic and polytheistic religion4 ,this combination is the source of its unique power2 it thus can satisfy both the higher and the lower class of religious instincts2 but its complex and confused theology is also an inevitable result4 ,the distinctive feature of the doctrinal system of ,christianity can thus be readily explained by a reference to the conditions of its origin4 ,to investigate in detail1 by the same method of historical inquiry1 the causes which produced its separate dogmas1 is the object of this essay4 ,the origin of the earlier ones must be traced through the history of ,judaism2 the later ones were ,pagan1 but they were grafted on a ,jewish stock4 ,starting from primary religious ideas1 we have to examine the growth and modification of theological dogma4 ,our study1 accordingly1 will take us over the whole period of history4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,foundation ,,of ,,monotheism4 ,at the time of the birth of ,christianity1 only in one portion of the ,roman world could a new and pure religion have arisen4 ,the fusion of the empire had1 by destroying their national basis1 fatally weakened the ,pagan religions2 so far as real feeling was concerned1 they had passed into the hands of the ignorant classes exclusively1 and had lost the vitality in which alone the higher religious forces can germinate4 ,philosophies1 resting on a common basis of contempt of the popular polytheism1 were the refuge of the more enlightened4 ,between philosophers and those who still believed in the power of the ancient gods there existed a vast mass of people who had religious instincts with no sure means of satisfying them1 ripe subjects for the new religion which they looked for but could not originate4 ,at this time1 throughout the ,pagan world1 a high and systematic morality could only be reared on an intellectual basis which destroyed sympathy with common men2 in no part of it could have been developed the pure enthusiasm needed for the founding of a great religion4 ,one region of the empire alone was free from the symptoms of religious decay4 ,in the small district of ,palestine1 with many offshoots scattered over the world1 lived a people who professed a religion of the purest type4 ,and this religion was not a lightly held philosophical theory2 its adherents clung to it with a passionate tenacity1 and were ever ready to face martyrdom in its defence4 ,it was a pure monotheism1 and morality was inculcated by it1 indeed1 maintained by it1 in the strongest and most effective fashion4 ,with justice ,josephus could assert that ,greek philosophers only followed the example of his countrymen1 and taught doctrines which the ,jewish sacred law had made practical realities4#a ,for ,judaism was not an esoteric creed which only the more cultured ,jews fully understood2 the lowest of the people grasped its principles1 abhorred the idea of polytheism1 detested even the smallest advance towards idolatry1 and regarded every sin as a violation of divine decrees4 ,such a religion1 pure and strongly held1 was fit to be the parent of a noble religious system4 ,in it originated the earliest doctrines of the religion which now sprang from it and conquered the ,roman world4 ,and as ,judaism was in a special sense a national religion1 its development must be examined in the history of the ,jewish people4 ,we cannot1 with any approach to historical certainty1 assert more respecting the social and political condition of the first known ancestors of the ,jews1 than that they belonged to a race of nomad tribes wandering in the district which1 roughly speaking1 lies between ,egypt and ,palestine4 ,in endeavouring to ascertain the religious ideas of this race1 we may safely assume that the character of their religion was determined by the circumstances of their position4 ,living in a region which is either desert or barren and unprofitable land1 the softer influences of nature could not affect them4 ,the terror of nature would fascinate them2 lightning and tempest would speak to them of their gods1 and from the harshness of their surroundings they would derive the gloomiest impressions of the powers of the supernatural world4 ,their religion would be essentially a religion of fear4#b ,having little to deify on the earth around them1 their mythology would be based on the phenomena of the sky4 ,sun and moon and stars would be their divinities1 and to these they would ascribe jealous and implacable tempers4 ,this sternness of their religion would carry with it many advantages4 ,their deities would be more majestic1 more removed from themselves1 than the gods of happier peoples1 and the humility they would feel in worship would have within it the seeds of a higher religious development4 ,a still more important feature of their mythology would be its narrowness4 ,the poverty of their environment would cause their gods to be few and limited in number4 ,no fresh divinities would discredit the older ones and reveal the weakness of their theology4 ,and this would be likely to produce a serious effect on the outward form of their religion4 ,whenever a common polytheism is professed by peoples politically separate1 there is a tendency to localise deities4 ,now a large mythology throws great difficulties in the way of this tendency4 ,if there are many gods1 each one individually is too unimportant to be the divinity of a people1 and the political divisions of course being few1 after every tribe or state has appropriated a deity1 a surplus is left with no particular duty to discharge4 ,when this occurs1 it usually results that the national deities are formed into a higher order of gods2 and probably divine oligarchies1 like that of the ,hellenic mythology1 are always created in this manner4 ,but it is obvious that if the number of gods is small at the time of the formation of political divisions1 the process of localization is greatly facilitated4 ,the fewer they are1 the more honour attaches to the gods individually2 each one is sufficiently dignified to become the god of a separate people4 ,after a system of this kind has been fully developed1 the gods form a federal council1 in which each state or tribe has a representative4 ,the quarrels and rivalries of the earthly bodies are of course transferred to their heavenly representatives2 all local patriotism expresses itself in the general religion4 ,from the evidence of the early records of the ,jewish people we may conclude that the race from which they sprang went through a process of this character4 ,in these1 ,israel1 whether as a tribe or as a people1 is often described as associating with other tribes or peoples1 and comparing its own god with theirs1 a common basis of religious belief being assumed4#c ,the god of ,israel seems to be regarded as superior to the other gods2 but this does not imply that distinctions of rank were recognized in the common mythology4 ,an intelligent ,englishman would hardly assert that his country is now the chief ,european power2 but if any other state were named as a possible enemy1 he would probably say that his own was more than a match for it4 ,in the same way1 patriotism expressing itself in religion1 the ,israelites considered their own god1 or heavenly representative1 more than a match for any other1 and this naturally involved a belief in his superiority4 ,from these conditions a spurious monotheism would necessarily result4 ,in proportion as their patriotism was strong1 the ,israelites would worship exclusively the tribal god1 though thoroughly believing in the existence of others4 ,this1 of course1 is only polytheism1 but it contains within it the possibility of monotheistic development4 ,such probably was the state of the religious ideas of the ,israelites at the time they came into connection with ,egypt4 ,previously they had been one among many cognate tribes having a common polytheistic mythology4 ,in this mythology they had a tribal god1 whom they worshipped without denying the existence of the rest4 ,while mixing and constantly coming into collision with other tribes1 each owning1 of course1 a similar deity1 tribal patriotism must have made them1 for the most part1 devote themselves to this god exclusively4 ,when they arrived in ,egypt1 they found there a system of religion utterly unlike their own1 and this would confirm them in adherence to it4 ,being then a small tribe1 they could more easily pay strict allegiance to the tribal god4 ,as they increased in numbers1 both through ordinary growth and through receiving accessions from cognate peoples outside1 this allegiance would begin to be endangered4 ,while they were a small tribe often meeting with other tribes which had different gods1 patriotism would make them cling to their own4 ,but when they became a large tribe1 and ceased to come in contact with other branches of their race1 not only would tendencies towards polytheism in actual worship be strengthened1 but the check upon them in the shape of tribal patriotism would be weakened4 ,they would thus be likely to drift back into the racial polytheism1 their tribal god being lost in the rest4 ,the opposition to the ,egyptian religion#d would rather help this tendency1 as it would throw them more on their feelings of race4 ,so1 on the whole1 it is probable that the ,israelites1 during their connection with ,egypt1 became more or less ordinary polytheists4 ,in one respect1 however1 their relations with ,egypt must have tended to maintain their adherence to the tribal god4 ,the period of struggle against ,egyptian power which preceded their departure from ,egypt must1 by stimulating their patriotism1 have prevented the remembrance of his old rank from being wholly lost4 ,patriotism could not have been completely disassociated from the divinity who had formerly been the centre round which it rallied4 ,the outburst of patriotic fervour necessarily accompanying the actual conflict with ,egypt1 as well as its ultimate success1 must have enormously increased the influence of the tribal god4 ,for a time1 we may be sure1 he regained his original distinction1 and became to the ,israelites the representative of heaven4 ,during the first serious fighting in ,palestine1 he would for the same reason retain his power4 ,but then1 as the national warfare degenerated into a series of detached tribal contests1 the old tendency towards polytheistic worship would revive4 ,to ascertain what forces counteracted this tendency1 we must consider a new question4 ,judaism may as well be said to have been founded by ,moses as ,christianity by ,christ4 ,even if we knew nothing of its founder1 there are features of ,christianity which we could only explain by referring them to the influence of a personal character4 ,there are peculiarities of ,judaism1 too1 which have to be traced back to the personality of its founder4 ,moses and ,christ1 indeed1 are inseparably connected in history4 ,one completed what the other began4 ,without ,moses1 ,christ could hardly have existed2 without ,christ1 the work of ,moses would have been of little value to the world4 ,this presumption from internal probability corroborates the traditional evidence1 and justifies us in accepting its general outline4 ,if the ,israelites migrated from ,egypt under the leadership of ,moses1 and thus began their national life1 it was very natural that he should be to some extent their legislator as well4 ,their leader1 under such circumstances1 must have had great ability1 and also enormous power4 ,his ability1 together with his power1 would lead him to consolidate the energies of his people1 in order to fit them for the difficult task lying before them2 and this could only be done by a system of legislation4 ,accordingly1 we may assume that the foundation of the ,jewish law was laid by ,moses1 though it is very hard to ascertain what that foundation actually was4 ,the ten commandments1 in their simplest form1 are generally admitted to be relics of the ,mosaic age4 ,to account for the first and most important of these we have1 in particular1 to call in the authority of ,moses4 8,i am ,jahveh thy god2 thou shalt have none other gods beside me10 is the foundation stone of the development of monotheism4 ,it implies the existence of polytheism1 but it decrees that polytheism shall be abolished4 ,if the people1 or any class of the people1 continuously obeyed it1 they had in time to become pure monotheists4 ,if they ceased to think of other gods1 these gods would ultimately pass out of remembrance1 and ,jahveh alone would occupy heaven4 ,jewish monotheism1 with all its wonderful consequences1 must be ascribed to the framer of the first commandment4 ,we have to assign its authorship to ,moses1 because of the difficulty of otherwise accounting for it4 ,that it was a spontaneous decree of the people1 produced by their confidence in the national god after their victory over the ,egyptians1 is very improbable4 ,many reasons1 however1 can be given for its having been decreed by ,moses4 ,the explanation just mentioned is more probable when applied to him4 ,he may1 as ,professor ,kuenen conjectures1#e have regarded the national success as a proof of the greatness of the national god1 and so have vowed the people to his exclusive service4 ,the connection between this hypothesis and the idea of a covenant between ,jahveh and ,israel1 to be referred to presently1 is in its favour4 ,but a stronger reason for believing the commandment to be due to ,moses might be found in his desire to secure the national unity4 ,the ,israelites had grown so numerous as to be divided into separate tribes4 ,if the people had more gods than one1 the old process would be repeated1 each tribe choosing a different god for its tribal deity2 and thus their religion would help the tendency towards disunion4 ,we know how the unity of ,greece was anything like a reality only when it was based on the worship of ,apollo at ,delphi1 ,apollo becoming practically the national god of the ,hellenes4#f ,if no rivals of ,apollo had existed1 how much more effective his worship would have been6 ,in general it may be said that1 in an early stage of political development1 national unity can be secured against tribal separation only by basing it on religion4 ,a close union was specially necessary to the ,israelites at this time1 when they had to struggle against so many peoples in order to obtain a home4 ,recognizing the impossibility of otherwise securing this union1 ,moses may well have framed the first commandment in order to give the tribes at least one bond of union in the exclusive worship of ,jahveh1 their national god4 ,we may conclude1 then1 that from the ,mosaic age it was part of the ,israelitic religion that the tribal1 or national1 god should be worshipped exclusively4 ,the people1 whatever might be their practice1 had accepted the principle4 ,the second and third commandments1 which prohibit idolatry and the misuse of ,jahveh's name1 are evidently meant to be supports of the first1 by demanding reverence for ,jahveh and by abolishing the records of his rivals4 ,the next two are merely local4 ,but the last five1 the second table of the law1 are the basis of a feature of the ,jewish religion even more important than its monotheism4 ,that the morality of the time1 so far as it existed1 should have been based on religion is natural enough2 and1 accordingly1 at first sight1 there seems to be nothing remarkable about the five moral commandments4 ,when examined closely they are found more curious4 ,the first four1 though simple rules which tribal experience might have shown to be necessary1 are still exceptional as the laws of a half-civilized people4 ,the last takes us into a region of morality with which it is impossible that the ,israelites could then have been acquainted4 ,only a highly civilized mind could have conceived the precept1 8,thou shalt not covet40 ,here again we are driven for explanation to the personality of ,moses4 ,these commandments are inexplicable as the product of a low civilization1 but they are very natural if a high civilization be assumed as their basis4 ,egypt was at this time highly civilized1 and1 as we know from the 8,book of the ,dead10 had developed a pure morality1 with which the last commandment would be thoroughly in harmony4 ,if we could assume that ,moses once belonged to the inner circle of ,egyptian civilization1 the peculiarities of ,judaism would be fully explained4 ,the early traditions represent him as brought up in the king's household1 and1 accordingly1 in a position to be acquainted with the best philosophy of the age4 ,a later tradition says he was 8instructed in all the wisdom of the ,egyptians40#g ,and probabilities are distinctly in favour of this4 ,the power and authority he exercised over the ,israelites could be readily accounted for if he was a member of their tribe who had received the highest education of the time4 ,such a training must have developed his faculties1 and marked him out as the leader of his countrymen1 ensuring their reverence for him1 and trust in his ability to rule them4 ,in a region of historical inquiry like that in which we are now moving1 we must be content to be guided by conjecture4 ,when a conjecture asserts what is intrinsically probable1 and at the same time explains a complex series of phenomena1 we may fairly consider it to be accurate4 ,the conjecture that ,moses drew his inspiration from the higher culture of ,egypt is of this kind4#h ,there was nothing strange in his stamping the principles of that culture1 if he was acquainted with it1 on his ,israelitic legislation4 ,he had an unequalled opportunity of realizing the ideals of conduct4 ,political circumstances had placed the destinies of his people in his hands4 ,commands coming from him had an authority only possible at the beginning of national life4 ,it is thoroughly in accordance with probability that he should have seized the occasion offered him1 and imposed laws on the nation he ruled which1 unless they passed utterly out of remembrance1 would ensure it a noble development4 ,from the evidence of the ten commandments it is thus almost certain that the ,israelitic religion was1 even at its beginning1 peculiarly moral4 ,the people were commanded to worship ,jahveh exclusively1 and also to practise a severe morality4 ,from this connection between ,jahvism and morality important consequences were bound to follow4 ,all ancient religions were more or less marked in practice by a sacrificial system4 ,the idea at the bottom of the custom of offering sacrifices is very simple4 ,men1 as a proof of their devotion1 give to their gods some of their possessions4 ,the immediate object may be either to win the divine favour or to avert the divine wrath4 ,when a religion is harsh and severe1 the latter is likely to be the more frequent sacrificial motive4 ,accordingly1 when the ,israelites sacrificed to ,jahveh1 it was probably for the most part to remove ,jahveh's anger1 to obtain forgiveness for their sins against him4 ,now exactly in proportion to the closeness of the connection between ,jahvism and morality would be the tendency of these sins to be real sins4 ,when sins are included among offences against a religious code1 they are pretty sure to be the offences most frequently committed4 ,hence it follows that the early sacrificial system of the orthodox ,israelites must have been largely directed to the atonement of sin4 ,if1 then1 we could accept the accounts in the ,pentateuch as an accurate description of the sacrificial customs of the ,mosaic age1#i with external evidence corroborating internal probability1 we might regard our conclusion as proved4 ,but1 as ,professor ,kuenen has shown1 the whole system of the ,jewish ceremonial law described in the ,pentateuch was1 in at least its final and consolidated form1 the result of the labours of the period of ,ezra and ,nehemiah4 ,it thus becomes a question of great difficulty to determine what portion of the law1 if any1 existed in early times4 ,a few statements of the prophets seem to imply that in the ,mosaic age no sacrifices at all were offered to ,jahveh4#aj ,but the prophets cannot be considered trustworthy authorities for the early history of ,israel4 ,they wrote under the pressure of immediate circumstances1 and with a very definite purpose4 ,this purpose1 as will afterwards be shown1 required them to cast discredit on sacrifices4 ,in doing so1 their repeated references are evidence that a full sacrificial system in connection with the worship of ,jahveh was established in their time4#aa ,here their testimony is irrefragable1 and it proves that such a system must have begun before their age4 ,no period was so likely to have originated it as the earliest1 when the foundations of the national life were laid4 ,but the strongest argument in favour of the conclusion that sacrificing to ,jahveh for the atonement of sin began in the ,mosaic age is1 that thus only can subsequent phenomena be explained4 ,the great point in the history of ,jewish religion is the magnificent period of the prophets4 ,their writings are the noblest expression ever given to religious and moral ideas4 ,we explain their pure monotheism by deducing it from the institution of the first commandment1 which necessitated in a class obeying it continuously the ultimate development of the belief that ,jahveh was the one ,god 8that made the earth and created man upon it1 that stretched out the heavens and commanded all their host40#ab ,how can we explain their wonderful morality except in the same way8 ,we know from the commandments that moral excellence was required by the religion of ,jahveh from the very first4 ,if thus from the beginning morality was impressed on ,jahveh's worshippers by a sacrificial system which declared every sin to be an offence against him that must be expiated at a personal cost1 we can understand how any class continuously adhering to him should in time have developed a morality in which sin was hated for its own sake1 and goodness made the essence of religion4 ,such vivid and constant evidence of ,jahveh's hatred of sin would naturally1 after many generations1 produce the pure morality of the prophets4 ,but otherwise it is inexplicable4 ,a mere theoretical connection between ,jahvism and morality might ultimately have made the ,jahvists better than the worshippers of other gods1 but it could not have created that marvellous passion for righteousness which made the ,jewish religion at its best the greatest the world has ever seen4 ,this conclusion does not involve the belief that in the ,mosaic age the system of sacrificing for sin was fully developed4 ,if the foundation of it was laid then1 the conditions of the problem are satisfied4 ,the system would ensure its own subsequent development4 ,once ,jahveh's hatred of sin was marked by any practical effect1 as time went on1 through the moral growth of the people who grasped the doctrine1 that hatred would seem to deepen1 to become more comprehensive and complete4 ,a conclusion which explains so much1 and has probability so greatly in its favour1 may fairly be accepted4 ,if from the age of ,moses the religion of ,jahveh was thus inseparably connected with morality1 all the best of the people would rally round it4 ,unless ,israel at any time was wholly without a remnant that loved righteousness and hated iniquity1 ,jahvism must always have had its earnest supporters4 ,the same cause1 of course1 would tend to make it unpopular with the mass of the people4 ,but for this1 it would be difficult to understand why the ,israelites1 down to the captivity1 were so persistent in their devotion to strange gods4 ,jahveh was their national divinity1 and a mere love of polytheism could hardly account for this incessant desertion of him4 ,the close connection between ,jahvism and morality fully explains the phenomenon4 ,the ,israelites in general found ,jahveh too severe for them1 and turned to gods more tolerant of evil-doing1 just as ,catholic sovereigns used to choose indulgent confessors4 ,this fact would only confirm the few more strongly in their allegiance4 ,the worshipper of ,jahveh would justly extol ,jahveh in comparison with ,baal1 as he compared himself with the worshipper of ,baal4 ,and thus through the purity of ,jahveh's adherents their religion would be saved from the contamination of baser elements1 and would necessarily develop in simplicity and truth4 ,sin1 at first hated chiefly because ,jahveh forbade it1 would at last be hated because of its own foulness2 ,jahveh1 at first reverenced merely as the national saviour1 would at last be reverenced as the lord of heaven and earth4 ,down the channel of ,jahvism flowed all the higher forces of the national life1 till at length they broke forth in the wave of moral and religious energy which finally overcame resistance in the grand struggle of the prophets4 ,though the majority of the people usually worshipped other gods1 and thus broke their own sacred laws1 we are not to suppose that they denied ,jahveh's existence1 or even his right to worship4 ,they must have been pure polytheists1 believing that many gods reigned in the heavens4 ,among these they held it to be their right to choose1 just as a lower-class ,catholic will choose his favourite saint4 ,but they fully admitted that ,jahveh was the national god2 and in periods of danger1 when patriotism was strongly excited1 it is likely that for the moment they returned to the exclusive worship of him4 ,thus the power of ,jahvism over the people at large would rise and fall with the national fortunes4 ,when ,israel was prosperous1 ,jahvism prospered too2 when ,israel declined1 ,jahvism declined as well4 ,for we may well believe that the ,israelites flourished just in proportion as they were united4 ,the book of ,judges is probably in the main historically correct4 ,the tribes would drift apart1 or even quarrel with each other1 and their enemies would overcome them and take their cities4 ,then a wave of patriotism would sweep over them2 they would reunite and become victorious in their turn4 ,from this it is easy to see what credit ,jahveh would in time acquire1 even among the entire people4 ,union brought with it national happiness and success1 but the adoption of ,jahvism was the condition of union4 ,so it would appear to them that by returning to ,jahveh and observing the precepts of their sacred law they could always secure prosperity4 ,when serving ,jahveh faithfully1 they would have good fortune2 after falling away from him1 they would quickly be plunged in calamity4 ,how soon this would create a conviction of ,jahveh's irresistible power6 ,in their misfortunes they would see ,jahveh punishing them for their apostacy2 in their successes they would see ,jahveh accepting their repentance and restoring his protection4 ,thus in time all the people would in one sense become ,jahvists4 ,they would believe that ,jahveh was their true god1 and that they ought to worship him alone4 ,when they turned to other gods1 they would do so with a distinct consciousness of evil-doing and a certain expectation of punishment4 ,jahveh's severity of moral requirement would render it impossible for them to serve him willingly2 they could never become true ,jahvists4 ,but in their hearts would always be a sullen fear of ,jahveh1 a belief that he punished terribly4 ,this was the chord of popular feeling which the prophets touched1 and to the existence of which they owed their success4 ,these conditions would naturally in time produce the belief that a covenant had been concluded at the beginning between ,israel and ,jahveh4 ,the true ,jahvists would of course eagerly proclaim that ,israel's happiness depended on obedience to ,jahveh1 that calamity was the result of his just anger1 and prosperity the consequence of his favour4 ,but that ,jahveh should have given notice of this1 and shown the ways of good and evil from the first1 would soon seem to be necessary4 ,hence in later times it would be thought that ,jahveh had formally concluded a covenant with the ,israelites1 in which he engaged to protect them and make them prosperous1 on condition that they served him and kept his law4#ac ,all the failures and misfortunes of the nation would be ascribed by the ,jahvists to the breaking of this covenant by the people1 and the consequent drawing down of the penalties of its violation on their heads4 ,from the development in ,jahvism of this idea that suffering was a divine punishment followed the most important results4 ,if national suffering was considered to be due to national breaking of the law1 equally private suffering would be ascribed to private breaking of the law4 ,sin would be looked on as the cause of suffering4 ,abstinence from sin was commanded by ,jahveh1 and so every sin would be a violation of his commands that invited punishment by him4 ,private suffering would then be regarded as the proof of sin1 as ,job's friends regarded it1 and as the divine chastisement of it4 ,but of course it would seem right that the chastisement should be proportioned to the sin1 and limited for each offence4 ,thus1 in time1 suffering would be considered the atonement of sin1 ,jahveh's punishment of it1 after which his favour would be restored4 ,but sacrifices1 as we saw before1 were the legal means of atoning for sin4 ,if a man sinned1 then1 in order to escape the suffering which otherwise would be the penalty of his sin1 he would offer a sacrifice4 ,now ,israelitic sacrifices1 as they were a pastoral people1 were mainly offerings of living beasts4 ,under these circumstances there would certainly be a tendency to imagine that the penalty of sin was laid on the sacrificial victim1 that its suffering and death were accepted as the atonement in place of the suffering of the offender4 ,professor ,kuenen1 basing his opinion on the fact that no direct mention of it occurs in the law1 believes that this idea of atonement by vicarious suffering did not enter into the ,jewish sacrificial system4#ad ,the legal permission in certain cases of a sin offering of meal or flour#ae supports his conclusion4 ,on the other hand1 vicarious punishment was clearly recognized in one great ceremony of the law4 ,the scapegoat is described as bearing away the sins of the people into the wilderness in which it was left to die4#af ,with a tendency of the sacrificial system towards the belief in vicarious punishment1 and clear evidence in one instance of its recognition1 we may safely assume that it entered to some extent into the feelings of the people when they sacrificed4 ,probably it was never consciously developed in the law1 and so it was not directly mentioned1 and1 in exceptional cases1 inanimate offerings were allowed4 ,but after the sacrificial system had been long in existence1 the constant repetition of animal sacrifices would naturally produce the belief4 ,we find the principle of vicarious punishment asserted in the prophets1 and fully developed in the sending away of the scapegoat4 ,we may safely conclude1 then1 that1 from the beginning1 it was latent in ,jahvism1 and gradually grew as ,jahvism passed into ,judaism1 until at length it reached maturity in the first great dogma of ,christianity4 ,such a principle1 growing in ,jahvism1 would tend still more to develop a hatred of sin4 ,morality exists because1 from the simple observation of social phenomena1 sin is connected with suffering1 and calamity of some kind regarded as its inevitable consequence4 ,but this connection of sin with suffering would be placed far more vividly before the worshipper of ,jahveh1 as his religion gradually forced on him the belief that 8without shedding of blood there is no remission40#ag ,in the blood of the victim sprinkled on ,jahveh's altar1 the ,israelite would see stern evidence of the inexorable severity of ,jahveh against sin--a severity so great that he could not forgive it without exacting the penalty1 though his mercy might allow the transgressor to find a substitute4 ,harsh and cruel ,jahvism thus would be1 even rooted in injustice2 but in effect it would be grandly moral1 stamped with a condemnation of sin that1 at such a stage of civilization1 was of priceless value4 ,from the ,mosaic age1 then1 on to the period of the prophets1 we can imagine the development of ,jahvism in ,israel4 ,there was always the nucleus of true ,jahvists1 who observed the law so far as it existed1 and steadily grew in spirituality and moral insight4 ,they were the national party2 for them tribal divisions could have had but little importance4 ,from among them1 in times when the national fortunes were near ruin1 always uprose the deliverers1 as the pure flame of their patriotism drew to them the nobler elements of the people4 ,they1 in fact1 were ,israel1 a continuous power representing the national life4 ,through a long struggle1 marked by many a martyrdom1 they contended against the downward tendencies of the rest of the people1 until at length1 after the final destruction of ,israel's material greatness1 they won the victory and impressed their principles on the entire nation4 ,it was no mere sense of the superiority of ,jahvism that sustained them for the longest part of this contest4 ,that could only be felt strongly towards the end1 when the chief fruit of the struggle had been gained4 ,their fierce patriotism was their real strength4 ,to them ,jahveh seemed to be ,king of ,israel1 and his law the constitution of their state4 ,in idea their government was a theocracy2 even an earthly viceroy impaired ,jahveh's prerogatives4#ah ,this was possible because ,jahveh was the national god1 universally recognized as such4 ,as the national god1 the worship of him was patriotism2 he was the ideal object of ,israel's self-love4 ,all their religious feelings flowed in a patriotic channel4 ,church and state were blended in one2 love of their country inspired their passionate devotion to their religion4 ,this close union of religious and national feeling afterwards continued with the relations inverted1 patriotic feeling flowing in a religious channel4 ,in connection with its intense patriotism1 ,jahvism from the beginning must have been distinguished by a rigid exclusiveness4 ,the greatest danger it had to face was the corruption of the ,israelites by the religions of the peoples around them4 ,to guard against this danger1 it would naturally insist on the sternest separation of ,israel from the ,gentile nations4 ,circumcision1 as well as other local customs1 it used as means of fulfilling its purpose4 ,jahvism was probably at first fiercely cruel4 ,the injunctions to extirpate the ,canaanites contained in the books of the law1 which ,professor ,kuenen considers to be the expression of the ,jewish hatred of foreigners after the captivity1 and only 8murder on paper10 in all likelihood faithfully represent the feelings of the ,jahvists in early times4 ,they must have seen their fellow ,israelites constantly deserting ,jahveh for the gods of other peoples1 and it is natural that they should have wished to remove such temptations in the most effective manner4 ,probably they did not succeed in gratifying their desires1 except in a few instances when national feeling was strongly roused4 ,the ,israelites in general1 we may be sure1 were easily corrupted1 and were in too much sympathy with foreign gods to destroy their worshippers4 ,but the ,jahvists must have been fierce haters of foreigners1 and eager in every way to build an insurmountable wall around ,israel4 ,this strict exclusiveness1 inevitable and1 indeed1 praiseworthy in early times1 afterwards came into collision with the higher tendencies of ,jahvism when it attained its maturity4 ,the subsequent ,messianic ideal1 as it existed in the noblest minds1 involved a struggle against these influences1 which1 in its youth1 had been a hard shell enclosing and protecting the ,jewish religion4 ,for the most part the battles of ,jahvism must have been with the local religions of the lands the ,israelites conquered4#ai ,intermixing with the conquered peoples1 in race kindred to themselves1 they would readily adopt the divinities they found in possession of the soil4 ,thus1 in different districts1 ,jahvism was opposed to different religions#bj--;a fact which was afterwards the subject of the bitter irony of ,jeremiah4#ba ,but its longest and most important conflict was with the religion of ,baal1 some particular deity worshipped under this generic title4 ,the history of ,elijah illustrates the severity and uncertainty of the struggle4 ,to the ,jahvists probably its fierceness was wholly due4 ,they would tolerate the existence of no other religion1 and so1 in self-defence1 other religions were bound to persecute them4 ,this long contest with ,baal must have been of great service to ,jahvism4#bb ,it strengthened the fanaticism of the ,jahvists1 and showed vividly to the people the zeal their religion inspired4 ,when actually put face to face with other gods1 the superiority of ,jahveh must have been so manifest as to gain for him many adherents4 ,during the early history of ,israel1 up to the time of the kings1 in spite of occasional interruptions1 the national fortunes were prosperous1 and the territory of the ,israelites increased in extent4 ,jahvism1 as the national religion1 would naturally share in the prosperity of the state4 ,in the golden age of ,israel1 the age of ,david and ,solomon1 it must have had great nominal power4 ,the large ,israelitish empire which then existed must have appeared convincing proof that the national deity had kept his part of the covenant1 and so the people would be more disposed to abide by theirs4 ,but ,jahvism could not have really sunk into the hearts of the ,israelites2 their devotion to it was strong in the sunshine1 but failed in the storm4 ,when the kingdom was split in two1 and the fortunes of the ,israelites steadily declined1 and great empires1 in comparison with which1 even united1 they were as nothing1 overshadowed them1 then ,jahvism seemed threatened with utter ruin4 ,only the devotion of its true adherents1 whom the days of its success had enabled to develop in appreciation of its value1 saved it from destruction4 ,still1 even during the closing struggle1 ,jahvism must have included in its ranks a large proportion of the people4 ,the language of the prophets is clear evidence of this4 ,the strong phrase1 8,i am full of the burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts10#bc which ,isaiah puts in the mouth of ,jahveh1 is a proof that many sacrifices were then being offered to him4 ,signs of only a formal adherence they probably were2 and it was not merely to extend the nominal limits of their religion1 but to change this formal adherence into a real grasp of its principles1 that the prophets fought their battle and won ,israel for ,jahveh4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,messianic ,,foundation ,,of ,,christianity4 ,by the time of the prophets ,jahvism had grown into ,judaism4 ,their religion1 with the examination of which we shall be mainly occupied in this chapter1 in all cases was a pure monotheism2 they worshipped ,jahveh as ,god1 sole maker and ruler of heaven and earth4 ,it was ,judaism1 too1 in the sense that it was universally recognized as the national religion4 ,that ,jahveh was properly the god of ,israel was now admitted by all4 ,and this the prophets unhesitatingly assumed4 ,they did not regard themselves as preachers of a religion who sought to persuade others of its truth2 they were rather1 in their own eyes1 champions of loyalty against rebels and traitors false to their parent ,israel4 ,for while they believed that ,jahveh was ,god1 the creator of all the world1 he was still much more to them the god of ,israel 8his servant1 the seed of ,abraham his friend40#bd ,patriotism was the essence of their religion4 ,even when the later prophets reached their highest exaltation in dreaming of the return of all men to the knowledge of ,god1 they were thinking of the welfare of the ,gentiles far less than of the glory of ,israel4 ,and this1 too1 inspired their passionate hatred of sin4 ,they hated it not merely for its own sake1 but as an act of civil revolt against ,jahveh1 which called down his vengeance on their country4 ,as ,jahveh was head of the state1 sin was a political offence1 and they condemned it accordingly with the fervour of condemnation so rare in moral1 so common in political questions4 ,the grand poetry of denunciation with which they enriched the literature of the world sprang from local feeling based on local requirements4 ,previous to this period no prophetical writings are found4 ,and yet there must have been prophets of ,jahveh before2 indeed1 many such are mentioned in the ,jewish historical books4 ,evidently prophetic activity was less needed before4 ,jahvism had prospered with the prosperity of the nation2 but when the national fortunes declined1 and the great ,assyrian empire threatened ,juda1 it began to lose its hold on the people4 ,to save itself1 it rallied all its strength1 and the splendid period of prophetic energy1 which has handed down to us so many noble works1 was the result4 ,the prophets saved ,judaism4 ,we owe to them an inestimable debt of gratitude1 for they were the channel through which flowed the higher religious forces of the world4 ,it was well that the crisis came no earlier1 or perhaps their religion would not have been sufficiently developed to call forth such magnificent powers in its defence4 ,intensely patriotic as the prophets were1 the chief object that engaged their attention was the depression of ,israel's fortunes4 ,however weak the allegiance of the ,israelites in general to him had been1 still they were ,jahveh's people1 his representatives on earth4#be ,in spite of much back-sliding1 he had given them prosperity1 and under the first kings had made them a powerful nation4 ,in their own time1 on the other hand1 the early prophets saw ,israel divided and weak1 and threatened with utter destruction2 and the later prophets saw this destruction fall on one kingdom after the other1 until the national existence ceased4 ,believing that all events were under the control of ,jahveh1 and that he had made the covenant with ,israel mentioned in the last chapter1 they could accept only one explanation of their country's calamities4 ,they could not imagine ,jahveh false to his promise1 and so the alternatives would be presented to them as the second ,isaiah puts them before his countrymen3 8,behold1 ,jahveh's hand is not shortened1 that it cannot save2 neither his ear heavy1 that it cannot hear3 but your iniquities have separated between you and your ,god1 and your sins have hidden his face from you1 so that he will not hear40#bf ,this is the burden of all the preaching of the prophets4 ,they were ever saying to their countrymen1 8,you have broken your covenant2 you have deserted ,jahveh2 and now he has deserted you40#bg ,the almost invariable image under which they describe ,israel is that of an adulterous woman who has forsaken her husband4 ,by their violation of the covenant1 the ,israelites had provoked ,jahveh's wrath1 and all their misfortunes were sent as a punishment by him4#bh ,compelled professionally thus to believe that ,israel had been false to ,jahveh1 the prophets were not good judges of the actual extent of this falsehood4 ,they denounced the wickedness of the people1 not so much because they saw it as because they felt it must be there as the explanation of ,jahveh's harshness4 ,hence it is very likely that their reports of the evil doings of their countrymen are exaggerated4 ,if we did not know from internal probability that the religion of ,jahveh was then in danger1 we might suspect that the prophets were fighting imaginary foes4 ,knowing1 however1 that they must have had great forces opposed to them1 we can allow for the exaggeration1 and yet admit the general truth of their statements4 ,the people they addressed could hardly have been in a position to defend themselves against the strictures of the prophets by even to this extent taking exception to their denunciations4 ,with the decline of ,israel1 ,jahvism had also declined1 and the ,israelites must have felt instinctively that the second phenomenon was the cause of the first1 and that their own exceptional sinfulness had produced the national disasters4 ,they might1 indeed1 so far as they knew the past history of their country1 complain that the people of ,israel had before transgressed as heavily without receiving such a severe punishment from ,jahveh4 ,but here the prophets met them fully on their own ground1 by denouncing their past as well as their present wickedness1 and by asserting that1 his long-suffering patience having at length given way1 ,jahveh was then punishing them for the whole course of their national sins4 ,only once in the prophetical books is there any sign that the people ever ventured to question the premisses of the prophets4 ,on one occasion they are said to have replied to ,jeremiah's denunciations by asserting that their misfortunes were really due to their having forsaken other gods for ,jahveh1 and by announcing that they would return to these divinities1 the worship of whom had been accompanied by prosperity4#bi ,it was a dangerously strong argument to use against the prophets1 and it naturally stirred ,jeremiah to a fiercer fury of malediction4 ,but1 in general1 the people could not have had either the critical power or the knowledge of their own history needed for the adoption of such a line of defence4 ,the steady darkening of ,israel's prospects must have seemed to them grim confirmation of the prophetic statements4 ,as prophet after prophet arose screaming against their wickedness1 pointing to their misfortunes as the punishment inflicted by ,jahveh1 and announcing that worse calamities would come before the completion of it1 they must have seen in every national disaster a proof that the prophets were divine envoys1 and a chill of fear must have driven them to ,jahveh's feet4 ,prophets and people stood on common ground in their patriotism4 ,the attention of all the ,israelites must have been absorbed in watching the national prospects4 ,the prophets1 necessarily including in their number the best and wisest minds1 of course saw more clearly than the rest4 ,probably most of them had the acuteness to see how inevitable was the destruction of ,israel4 ,once the group of small kingdoms fringing the eastern side of the ,mediterranean was threatened by the vast power of inland ,asia1 it was not difficult to foresee the ultimate issue4 ,still the prophets1 in their own way1 did their best to avert their country's ruin4 ,every prophetic declaration was a political pamphlet giving political advice4 ,all their counsel was simply the development of a single precept--,rely on ,jahveh only4 ,in home matters this principle of action could do no harm1 but it had a bad effect on foreign policy4 ,when the great ,assyrian empire was overshadowing ,israel and all the kingdoms around1 it did not require much wisdom to perceive the advantage of an alliance against the common danger4 ,nevertheless1 the whole prophetic influence was used to prevent it2 the states were separately attacked1 and perished one by one4 ,egypt was far the most powerful of the countries near ,palestine opposed to ,assyria1 and its protection would have been of enormous value to ,israel4 ,and yet at a time when both were threatened1 ,isaiah thundered against an alliance with ,egypt2#cj and probably prophetic advice was the cause of the almost inconceivable folly of the religious ,josiah's attack on an ,egyptian army actually invading ,assyria4#ca ,so far as the prophets thus contributed to the political overthrow of ,israel1 they served the higher interests of their religion2 but evidently a foolish fanaticism dictated their action1 a belief that ,jahveh would be dishonoured if his people allied themselves with strangers1 and that1 if they trusted to him alone1 he would finally deliver them from their enemies4 ,as the national ruin of the surviving kingdom of ,israel drew nearer1 the prophets had to fight more fiercely on behalf of their religion4 ,the people must have been as angry with ,jahveh as he was said to be with them4 ,the prophets met their anger with more savage denunciations of their wickedness1 and more severe predictions of calamity4 ,the division between prophets and people became then most strongly marked1 and the struggle between them resembled a civil war4 ,the life of ,jeremiah1 the most national of all the prophets1 was one long battle4 ,the evil doings of his countrymen he held to be the cause of all ,israel's misfortunes1 and he hated them with a bitter hatred4 ,this hatred they fully reciprocated2 he was imprisoned and almost put to death4 ,when the chief prophet of the religion of ,jahveh received such treatment at the hands of the people1 the religion itself must have been in terrible danger4 ,if this period had been prolonged1 perhaps ,judaism would have preceded the kingdom of ,judah in its fall4 ,but the destruction of the national polity of ,israel came in time to save the national religion4 ,when ,juda was merely a province of a great empire1 the nationality of the ,jews could survive only in the religion of which ,jahveh was the head4 ,the very manner in which the change took place was exceptionally favourable to ,judaism4 ,the captivity1 the carrying away of the best families of the ,jews into an inland district of the empire1 was admirably calculated to destroy ,jahveh's rivals4 ,the nucleus of the nation1 placed in such close contact with foreign religions1 by patriotism alone would have been made sincere worshippers of ,jahveh4 ,far away from the local idolatries of ,juda1 the exiles accepted the pure religion of the prophets4 ,the most imaginative and the most spiritual of the greater prophets1 ,ezekiel and the second ,isaiah1 sprang from their ranks4 ,and thus at last the prophetic became the popular religion1 and ,jahveh as ,god reigned over ,israel4 ,when the exiles returned to ,juda1 they carried with them a pure and moral monotheism4 ,the remainder of the people readily adopted their principles4 ,judaism from this time was the sole religion of the ,jews1 the expression of their national patriotism4 ,consolidated now finally into the rigid system of the law1 with a multitude of minute observances that kept it constantly before their eyes1 it was placed beyond reach of attack4 ,henceforth all ,jahveh's people worshipped ,jahveh only1 professed obedience to his precepts1 and knew him as the one true ,god4#cb ,thus1 in outward semblance1 the prophets won their battle4 ,they won it in consequence of the events they most bitterly deplored4 ,with their religion the only security of their nationality1 the ,jews never afterwards wavered in their allegiance to it4 ,persecution made them cling to it more firmly2 it inspired them in the noblest period of their history1 the crisis which produced the ,maccabees4 ,even when an empire greater than the ,chaldean conquered them1 and a severer sentence exiled them from ,juda1 dispersed over the world1 they held to their religion4 ,the moral monotheism which ,jahvism had developed was now unalterably settled4 ,new doctrines were added to it1 some of which became of the first importance1 but its primary principles were fixed for ever4 ,and yet1 at the very moment at which ,judaism was thus established1 there was sown the seed of a new religion1 destined ultimately to spring from it in defiance of its spirit of privilege4 ,the nobler prophets sought to make their religion the national glory of ,israel1 a blessing to be taken by all the world meekly from ,israel's hands2 and their efforts long afterwards produced a religion which ignored national distinctions4 ,for at the time of the full development of ,judaism the movement towards ,christianity began4 ,the expectation of a ,messiah was the most peculiar feature of the ,jewish religion4 ,it was a fundamental principle of the community of ,israel1 says ,ewald1 8that every real divine deliverance could be attained only by the instrumentality of a true prophet40#cc ,the cause of this reliance on divine envoys was probably the rigid theocratic character of their ,jahvist constitution1 which discouraged general enterprise4 ,the belief that a covenant had been originally concluded with ,jahveh tended to produce dependence on him2 his worshippers looked for help to him1 and not to themselves4 ,any great man who felt himself impelled to lead the people in times of national peril1 was sure to consider himself ,jahveh's representative1 commissioned by him for the purpose2 and1 of course1 all ,jahvists would naturally be of the same opinion4 ,in time this reliance on individuals became fixed1 and gave the ,messianic colour to the national hopes4 ,the hopes themselves were encouraged by the want of enterprise which invested them with their personal character4 ,hope is but a form of dreaming1 and the worst men of action are the best dreamers4 ,jews who believed in the power of ,jahveh were naturally hopeful4 ,as the national fortunes sank lower and lower during the prophetic period1 it was impossible for such a people not to expect an ultimate restoration of ,israel's greatness4 ,the prophets1 in particular1 were impelled in this direction4 ,being men of imagination rather than action1 whose intense patriotism was blended indissolubly with trust in ,jahveh1 they were strongly urged to hope for ,messianic deliverance4 ,israel1 after all1 was ,jahveh's people1 and ,jahveh could never forsake his people1 or allow them to be utterly destroyed4 ,for their sins they were being punished1 but the punishment could not last for ever4 ,jeremiah even expostulates with ,jahveh for permitting his people to be so degraded1 and 8the vanities of the ,gentiles0 to seem superior to him4#cd ,sooner or later ,jahveh would assert his power1 and vindicate his glory as ruler of the world4 ,though the prophets might predict immediate misfortunes1 they all believed that ultimately the deliverer would be sent to ,israel4 ,in the dreams of the prophets1 the work to be accomplished by this inspired envoy of ,jahveh had important variations4 ,the first and most natural character he assumed was that of a king and conqueror1 who should lead ,israel to victory and restore the national empire4 ,to the ,israelites of the prophetic age who looked back on the history of their country1 the period of ,david's reign seemed the brightest it had known4 ,israel had then been united1 internally at peace1 and lord of the peoples around4 ,these blessings were believed to have been obtained specially by the skill and power of ,david himself2 and so1 by a familiar process of thought1 the ,messiah became a second ,david1 coming to do the work of the first by reviving the old prosperity4#ce ,with the earlier prophets this was almost the sole kind of ,messianic dream4 ,when the punishment of ,israel should be complete1 the ,messiah was to come as a prince and warrior1 and make the nation greater than it ever had previously been4#cf ,after the overthrow of the northern kingdom1 this national ,messianic ideal naturally included the restoration of its scattered captives to their native land4 ,the ,samaritan captivity seemed to the prophets to be designed by ,jahveh as a destruction of the fatal system of dualism which had undermined ,israel's strength4 ,henceforth the ,israelites were to be one people1 with ,jerusalem as their centre and capital4 ,when the kingdom of ,judah1 too1 was conquered1 and its chief classes also carried away into captivity1 of course the restoration of exiles became the most important part of the ,messiah's mission4 ,but even before this1 the prophets of ,judah1 warned by the fate of ,samaria1 and aware of the customs of the ,assyrian and ,chaldean empires1 foresaw and predicted the great captivity1 and1 in consequence1 included a subsequent restoration in their ,messianic dreams4 ,thus by nearly all the prophets the restoration of the captives to their country was regarded as the prelude to the events of the ,messianic period1 either to be accomplished by the ,messiah personally1 or to be immediately followed by his appearance4 ,in so confidently predicting the restoration1 the prophets were only giving expression to the national hopefulness1 but they might have based their expectation on stronger grounds4 ,the cohesive influence of their religion was sure to prevent the ,jewish exiles from being lost in the peoples among whom they were placed2 and if they managed to preserve their nationality1 it was likely that1 sooner or later1 they would be restored to ,juda4 ,the absence of this influence was probably the reason why no restoration followed the captivity of the kingdom of ,samaria4 ,the religion of ,jahveh was never so strong in it as in the kingdom of ,judah1 and must have been then too weak to serve as a national support4 ,when the second captivity occurred1 ,judaism was able to meet it and to save the nationality it was designed to destroy4 ,after the restoration had taken place1 fulfilling the predictions of the prophets under circumstances very different from those which they had expected1 the ,messianic ideal had1 of course1 to be disconnected from it4 ,sufficient ground still existed for looking forward to the coming of the ,messiah4 ,israel was only semi-independent1 a small state at the mercy of ,gentile masters4 ,but the disappointment of the ,messianic expectations which had been connected with the restoration must have given a blow to the spirit of prediction4 ,during the rebuilding of ,jerusalem1 the voices of the prophets grew faint and feeble2 and after the restoration was complete1 only one broke the silence4 ,the ,jews had to fall back on faith in the ultimate fulfilment of earlier prophecies1 regarding the establishment of ,judaism as the religion of all ,israel1 as the beginning of the reconciliation of ,jahveh and his people which should finally secure their prosperity4 ,so far as the ,messianic ideal of the prophets took this national form1 it greatly helped to effect their union with the people4 ,all the people were thoroughly at one with them in wishing for the national glory of ,israel4 ,if1 by proclaiming ,jahveh's anger and predicting misfortunes1 they excited popular displeasure and dislike1 equally1 by promising his favour and predicting prosperity1 they excited popular feelings of pleasure and good-will4 ,in fact1 this part of their preaching sugared the pill of their denunciations1 and probably had a large share in giving them their final success4 ,as the condition of ,israel grew more desperate1 their confidence in an ultimate revival of good fortune must have seemed a tower of strength to desponding minds4 ,during the captivity1 when their store of malediction had become exhausted1 and only that of blessing remained1 they promised nothing but happiness4 ,this1 of course1 would render the prophetic religion agreeable to the people1 and so must have contributed to make it the religion of ,israel4 ,though most of the prophets included in their ,messianic dreams the material greatness of ,israel1 they were far too highly developed to look for this alone4 ,the noble morality1 the noble conception of ,god1 which formed the essence of their religion1 made social and political prosperity seem to them of only secondary value4 ,in their ideas1 the chief result of the ,messiah's coming was to be the reconciliation of ,jahveh and his people through their abandonment of sin4 ,they expected the establishment of a new covenant1 that could not be broken like the old1 when the law of ,jahveh should be written in the hearts of ,israel4#cg ,the grandest religious language the world has ever known is the expression of this dream of a people wholly free from sin2 the heavenly new ,jerusalem of ,christianity is only a vague copy of the ideal ,jerusalem which the prophets imagined for earth4 ,this vision of a sinless age was present to all the prophets1 and is the chief feature of their prophecies4 ,it was preserved in the sacred literature of the ,jews2 and1 after forming for centuries a perpetual incentive to religious purity1 it finally produced all that is best in ,christianity4 ,back to it are traceable the forces which moulded the personal character of ,christ1 and stamped upon ,christianity its noble morality4 ,the first ,christians not only believed in the coming of this ideal age1 but struggled actually to realize it1 and made the nearest possible approach to success4 ,in the hopes of most of the prophets it was closely connected with the national ,messianic ideal1 the vision of ,israel as a prosperous and powerful state4 ,but it was also connected1 in the minds of the noblest prophets1 with another ,messianic ideal1 which ,i will call the spiritual ,messianic ideal--the vision of the whole world reconciled to ,god1 which produced ,christianity itself4 ,as pure monotheists1 the prophets believed that ,jahveh was not merely god of ,israel1 but ,god1 the creator and ruler of the world4 ,naturally1 this belief that the ,god of the universe was their national god was to them a source of intense spiritual pride4 ,amos makes ,jahveh say to ,israel1 8,you only have ,i known of all the families of the earth10#ch and give this fact as a reason for his severity1 as ,israel1 being so highly favoured1 had sinned doubly in disobedience to him4 ,such intense spiritual pride1 of course1 tended to diminish their purely political pride4 ,their race1 so greatly distinguished in religion1 could afford to dispense with material glory4 ,while1 viewed thus from a patriotic standpoint1 the belief that the ,god of the world was ,israel's ,jahveh was a source of national pride1 it also suggested a means of gratifying national vanity4 ,the homage of subject peoples constituted the chief attraction of material empire4 ,here1 however1 was a chance of receiving the homage1 not merely of a few nations around them1 but of all mankind4 ,knowing the universal ,god1 the ,israelites might become a nation of priests by leading all men to a knowledge of him their maker1 and so have a glory and authority far greater than any that could be given by political power4 ,it would not be fair to say that the prophets1 in the formation of this ideal1 were influenced only by patriotism4 ,spiritually they were too great not to feel the need of a reconciliation between the world and its ,god4 ,in the mind of the noblest of them1 ,israel was the servant of the ,gentiles1 a messenger of ,god bringing glad tidings of peace to men4 ,still1 on the whole1 the glory of ,israel was the object of their zeal for the conversion of the ,gentiles4 ,they dreamed of all the world coming to take the truth meekly from ,israel's hands4#ci ,jerusalem was to be the sacred city of the earth1 and ,juda1 as afterwards during the ,crusades1 the ,holy ,land4 ,the second ,isaiah gives the highest expression to this dream4 8,nations shall come to thy light10 ,jahveh promises ,jerusalem1 8and kings to the brightness of thy rising4 ,strangers shall build up thy walls1 and their kings shall minister unto thee4 ,thy gates also shall be open continually2 they shall not be shut day nor night2 that men may bring unto thee the riches of the nations4 ,the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee1 and they shall call thee the city of ,jahveh1 the ,zion of the ,holy ,one of ,israel4 ,i will make thee an eternal excellency1 a joy of many generations4 ,violence shall no more be heard in thy land1 desolation nor destruction within thy borders2 but thou shalt call thy walls ,salvation1 and thy gates ,praise40#dj ,as spiritual guides and teachers1 the ,israelites thus would be the ,levites of mankind1 a sacred people intermediate between the world and ,god4#da ,the spiritual ,messianic ideal of the second ,isaiah was both nobler and more vividly conceived than that of any other of the prophets4 ,but nearly all of them have given some expression to it4 ,even the fiercely national ,jeremiah1 who hated the ,gentiles so bitterly that1 though he believed them to be ,jahveh's instruments for the chastisement of ,israel1 he prayed that they might be punished for their assaults on the sacred city1 had a vision of their coming to ,jahveh4#db ,and1 indeed1 there was an inevitable pressure on the prophets which forced them in this direction4 ,in proportion as the spiritual greatness of their religion was understood by them1 they were driven to adopt the spiritual ,messianic ideal4 ,the experiences of the prophetic period1 besides1 must have shown them how impossible it was that the small people of ,israel should ever equal or surpass in material power the mighty ,gentile empires which then first came in contact with them4 ,so everything tended to make them seek the satisfaction of their patriotism in the extension of their religion4 ,so far as this ideal entered into it1 an inversion in the relations of political and religious feeling now occurred in ,judaism4 ,previously1 as pointed out in the last chapter1 ,jahveh being the national god of ,israel1 religious feeling flowed in a patriotic channel4 ,in the prophetic age1 on the other hand1 patriotic feeling began to flow in a religious channel4 ,jahveh before had been subordinate to ,israel2 then ,israel became subordinate to ,jahveh4 ,it is obvious that there was nothing exceptional in this change1 and that the circumstances of ,jewish history amply explain its occurrence4 ,here1 accordingly1 we have the historical explanation of the production of ,christianity4 ,from the beginning ,jahvism was bound to develop into a noble monotheism4 ,also from the beginning it was a national religion4 ,being a national religion1 in it patriotic was blended with religious feeling4 ,under these circumstances1 if1 after its full development1 a permanent decay took hold of the state with which it was connected1 it had1 as an exceptionally pure religion1 to become the basis of national pride1 to make proselytism its end4 ,but the history of the world during this central period of ,judaism is the history of the great empires of western ,asia4 ,the small people of ,israel could offer no effective resistance to their power1 and so1 under pressure from them1 the magnificent national religion of ,israel was compelled to become the expression of patriotism1 and to aim at the conversion of the world4 ,so far1 then1 as ,christianity was a movement towards the establishment of the ,jewish religion as the religion of the world--and at first it was nothing else--it was inevitable4 ,the conditions of ,israel's history made an expansion of ,judaism--or rather1 an attempt to expand ,judaism1 its success depending on external circumstances--a necessary occurrence4 ,a tendency to remodel the form of ,judaism was a consequence of the spiritual ,messianic ideal4 ,when struggling against rival religions1 ,jahvism1 as we saw in the last chapter1 was forced to become strongly exclusive4 ,to keep itself pure from corruption1 and also to assert its own high dignity1 it had to enclose itself in a hard shell of formal observance4 ,but when it developed into ,judaism1 and sought to become a world-conquering religion1 this formalism was a hindrance to its purpose4 ,the barriers that were so useful for defence interfered with offensive movements4 ,accordingly1 the prophets who recognized the higher ideal of ,judaism revolted against its formalism4 ,its initial rite1 circumcision1 was the chief mark of separation between the ,jews and the mass of the ,gentiles4 ,but the whole sacrificial system was also1 in its way1 an expression of exclusive tendencies4 ,sacrificing in one manner distinguished the ,jew from the ,gentile1 who sacrificed in another manner4 ,moreover1 circumstances at this time were accentuating the exclusiveness of ,judaism4 ,as ,israel fell more and more into the power of strangers1 of course the people's hatred of strangers grew stronger4 ,this feeling1 which1 by throwing the people back on the national religion1 was in one respect of service to the prophets1 naturally expressed itself in ,judaism by increasing its exclusiveness4 ,so ,judaism was tending to be narrowed just when the prophets wished it to be enlarged4 ,the prophets met this tendency with a crusade against formalism4 ,circumcision they declared to be only a symbol of obedience4 ,a people 8uncircumcised in heart0 ,jeremiah called his countrymen4 ,they pronounced sacrifices of small importance in comparison with personal righteousness4 8,wherewith shall ,i come before ,jahveh and bow myself before the high ,god80 said ,micah4 8,shall ,i come before him with burnt-offerings1 with calves of a year old8 ,will ,jahveh be pleased with thousands of rams1 or with ten thousands of rivers of oil8 ,shall ,i give my firstborn for my transgressions1 the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul8 ,he hath showed thee1 ,o man1 what is good2 and what doth ,jahveh require of thee1 but to do justly1 and to love mercy1 and to walk humbly with thy ,god80#dc ,here the regular sacrifices of orthodox ,jahvism are actually compared with the human sacrifices of corrupted ,jahvism1 and are subjected to the same condemnation4 ,the second ,isaiah even goes so far as to assert that sacrifices are offensive to ,jahveh1 as it is degrading him to suppose that such offerings can please him4#dd ,of course the high development of their religion had also some effect in making the prophets adopt this principle4 ,a system of animal sacrifices did not accord well with their noble theism4 ,a righteous life1 besides1 they felt to be the best offering to ,god1 and they knew that formal observances distracted attention from morality4 ,but still they assailed the formalism of ,judaism mainly because it imprisoned the religion of ,jahveh in nationality2 they wished ,judaism to be a purely spiritual religion to which all national customs would be equally foreign4 ,of course they expressed their desires in their ,messianic dreams4 ,they dwell upon the glories of the spiritual religion of which ,jerusalem was to be the centre1 when ,jahveh would speak face to face with all his people1 with no barrier of priestly formalism between4 ,from the time of the prophets1 all who clung to the spiritual ,messianic ideal must have shared their feelings2 and when ,christianity afterwards broke through the fetters of ,jewish ceremonialism1 its action was strictly in accordance with the principles of those who originated and continued the movement in ,judaism of which it was finally the issue4 ,the spiritual ,messianic ideal from the prophetic age necessarily formed the ideal of the best and purest ,jews4 ,in the writings of the prophets1 especially in those of the second ,isaiah1 it remained before the people1 a constant incentive to all who grasped the true principles of their pure religion4 ,it was easily blended with the additions then beginning to be made to ,judaism1 the supernaturalism which rendered ,judaism less cold and unattractive4 ,but though this ideal was sure to continue as the expression of the noblest aspirations of ,israel1 and though endeavours were certain to be made to realize it1 in its completeness it was destined to inevitable failure4 ,so far as the prophets dreamed of ,israel's glory being found in sharing the religion of the one ,god with the ,gentiles1 they dreamed an unrealizable dream4 ,from the time of the prophets down to the destruction of ,jerusalem1 the great mass of the ,jews1 as the years went by1 hated all ,gentiles with a bitterer hatred4 ,their religion became more confined within the limits of their nationality1 and ,jahveh more peculiarly the ,god worshipped by ,jews alone4 ,it is easy to see that ,judaism as ,israel's religion could not have expanded itself1 and that the national pride of ,israel could not thus have been gratified4 ,only by leaving nationality behind1 by a movement outward from ,judaism of the most spiritual ,jews1 could the ,god of ,israel become the ,god of the world4#de ,in this ,messianic ideal the conception of the ,messiah personally was vague and undefined4 ,the second ,isaiah expected that the ,messiah would simply bring the captivity to a close1 and that the ,messianic glories would then follow spontaneously as a result of the exhibition of ,jahveh's power4 ,this more indistinct picture of the spiritual ,messiah was of great service to ,christianity4 ,the belief in atonement by vicarious suffering mentioned in the last chapter was connected in a special manner with the spiritual ,messianic ideal4 ,all the prophets believed in atonement by suffering2 they all thought that ,jahveh was punishing his people for their sins1 and that the punishment was the necessary antecedent to the restoration of his favour4 ,but to those who accepted this ,messianic ideal ,israel's suffering plainly seemed to be a means of realizing it4 ,the great preacher of it1 the second ,isaiah1 writing towards the close of the captivity1 saw an obvious connection between it and the crowning misfortune of his country4 ,dispersed among the heathen1 the worshippers of ,jahveh appeared to him missionaries of the true religion1 revealers to the world of its ,god4 ,he believed that the restoration would be accomplished by the return of the ,israelites under the guardianship of the converted ,gentiles1 to be their priests in the ,holy ,land4#df ,but when the captivity was recognized as an instrument of ,gentile conversion1 it was of course regarded as a blessing to the ,gentiles4 ,beneficial to the ,gentile world1 it was not the less harmful to ,israel1 whose nationality it almost destroyed4 ,thus the hurt of ,israel was a blessing to the ,gentiles4 ,it would follow from this1 in a mind nursed in the ideas of the ,jewish sacrificial system1 that the suffering of ,israel was an atonement for ,gentile sins4 ,the ,gentiles clearly had sinned against ,god1 their ignorance of him was a sin2 but in revealing himself to them he was blessing them1 and in blessing them he was of course forgiving their sins4 ,but this forgiveness was shown by means of ,israel's suffering2 therefore ,israel's suffering was an atonement for ,gentile sins accepted by ,god4 ,we find the results of this train of reasoning clearly expressed by the second ,isaiah4 ,in the fifty-third chapter of ,isaiah1 which is the great ,messianic chapter of orthodox ,christians1 and which probably exercised an important influence over the mind of ,christ1 three kinds of atonement are described4 ,partly ,israel's sufferings are represented as an atonement offered for ,israel's own sins2 partly ,israel's sins are regarded as atoned for by the undeserved suffering of the few righteous ,israelites1 faithful adherents of ,jahveh1 on whom the national misfortunes fell as well as on the rest of the people2 while put more strongly1 and running through the whole chapter1 is the idea that ,israel's sufferings atoned for ,gentile sins4 ,the beautiful phrase at the end1 8,he made intercession for the transgressors10 means that ,israel1 though oppressed and bruised by the ,gentiles1 was still ready to be a mediator leading them to ,god4 ,in the previous chapter the astonishment of the ,gentiles at the fact that so insignificant a people possessed so great a revelation1 is described by the same method of personal illustration1 universally adopted by the prophets4#dg ,interpreted ,messianically1 in a literal sense1 these passages were afterwards of importance to ,christianity4 ,the prophetic age1 as a whole1 was thus essentially a period of transition4 ,in it ,judaism was established1 and the movement towards ,christianity begun4 ,throughout the whole course of ,israel's history we see a gradual development of religion1 religious forces steadily tending upwards and evolving higher ideas of ,god4 ,before the time of the prophets1 these forces were working out a pure and moral monotheism2 during and after it1 they were working out the release of this monotheism from the fetters of nationalism1 and preparing a religion for the civilised world4 ,the circumstances which at this time were tending to make ,judaism a proselytizing religion were also preparing it for success in its mission4 ,the religion of the prophets was too pure to become popular4 ,the absence of supernaturalism1 the freedom from dogma1 which made it in essence so superior to ,christianity1 rendered it fit only for the highest minds4 ,afterwards1 when impressed on ,israel in general1 it was identified with a rigid ceremonialism4 ,that such a religion1 deriving no strength from formalism or from national feeling1 could conquer the ,gentile world1 far lower than the ,jewish people in religious development1 was of course impossible4 ,but just at this moment it began to receive additions from foreign sources which ultimately bridged the chasm between it and the ideas of ordinary men4 ,the dispersion of the ,jews1 which completed the victory of ,judaism1 alloyed it with baser elements4 ,so far as its adherents were placed in contact with idolatrous religions like the ,chaldean1 it was rather secured against corruption4 ,in the ,persian religion1 however1 which it encountered towards the close of the captivity1 it found an enemy disguised as a friend4 ,this religion1 which was as anti-idolatrous as the ,jewish1 and which had a nominal monotheism underlying its dualism1 was marked by a supernaturalism very different from the simplicity of the religion of the prophets4 ,a large part of this supernaturalism was now transferred to ,judaism4 ,the ,persian deity of evil became the ,jewish ,satan1 with a multitude of demons under him that made man their sport and prey4#dh ,a hierarchy of angels was constructed1 completely foreign to the prophetic belief in the immediate agency of ,god4 ,but the most important doctrine at this time introduced into ,judaism1 whether from the ,persian religion or not is a matter of dispute1 was the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead1 which soon became the chief dogma of the ,jewish creed4 ,how far it tended to suit ,judaism to ,gentile requirements is shown by a curious passage of the ,apocrypha1 which reads like a description of the doctrine of ,pagan ,christianity respecting purgatory and masses for the dead4#di ,the more philosophical ,jews afterwards formed themselves into a party to resist these innovations1 but the majority of the people eagerly adopted them4 ,with the spiritual ,messianic ideal they were readily connected1 as they formed the popular elements needed for proselytism1 and as they tended to place religion on a personal rather than on a national basis4 ,we find them the chief strength of ,christianity1 which1 as the successful embodiment of the outward forces of ,judaism1 naturally laid aside the portions of it unfavourable1 and took up the portions of it favourable1 to denationalisation and expansion4 ,of course these corruptions of ,judaism were the result of its becoming a popular religion4 ,no longer confined to the best part of the people1 it paid the penalty of diffusion4 ,the rigid ceremonialism1 which henceforth was its leading feature1 was another consequence of its success4 ,utterly obnoxious as such ceremonialism was to the instincts of the prophets1 it was still inevitable if ,judaism was to be the religion of all the ,jews4 ,as ,jewish political independence faded more and more into a memory of a distant past1 the people clung more tenaciously to their religion1 more based their nationality upon it1 and made it the object of their patriotism4 ,this1 as it continued1 rendered impossible a religious union of ,jew and ,gentile4 ,a religion professed by ,gentiles by that fact alone would have seemed to the vast majority of ,jews to be sufficiently condemned4 ,it became steadily more apparent that1 in order to convert the ,gentile1 ,judaism had to leave the ,jew4 ,throughout all this period the expectation of the ,messiah's coming remained the sole consolation of the ,jewish people4 ,the expectation entered into every part of their action4#ej ,all ,jews believed that1 to obtain the ,messiah1 they needed to be reconciled to ,god1 that their sins kept alive his anger1 and delayed the sending of the deliverer4 ,many an obscure preacher probably cried in their ears1 8,repent1 repent1 that the kingdom of heaven may come10 before ,john the ,baptist1 by synchronizing with ,christ1 gained a prophetic celebrity4 ,indeed1 we may be sure that during this long time of calamity many attempts were made to realize the ,messianic ideals1 that many who claimed to be the ,messiah appeared among the ,jews1 and earned oblivion by their failure4 ,when the empire of ,rome began to overshadow them with its massive and enduring power1 so unlike that of their previous masters1 a conviction spread through the ,jews that the last days were at hand4#ea ,the expectation of the ,messiah grew stronger1 and the passionate longing of the people tended more and more to secure1 as far as was possible1 its own gratification4 ,into an age of dreams and hopes1 which seethed with restlessness and discontent1 ,christ was born4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,christianity ,,of ,,christ4 ,it is hardly necessary to say that simply from the statements of the gospels we cannot construct an historical life of ,christ4 ,strauss and ,baur have finally determined the question of their historical value4 ,in the first three1 it is true1 after making allowance for the vast growth of legend overspreading them1 useful materials can still be found2 but even these can be depended on only so far as probability is distinctly in their favour4 ,the last is simply a philosophical romance1 with the theology of the second century as its basis4 ,we see the figure of ,christ through a mist of legend1 and its real outlines are hopelessly lost4 ,characters like the hero of ,m4 ,renan's historical novel are merely the projections of imagination1 coloured undisguisedly by the medium through which they are viewed4 ,only by study of the religion he founded can trustworthy knowledge of ,christ be obtained4 ,but in this way1 as far as general results are concerned1 we can arrive at almost certain knowledge4 ,we can be sure1 for instance1 that the exceptional goodness of ,christ was no figment of the gospels4 ,the new morality which ,christianity introduced into the world of practice1 the morality which makes inward purity a test of virtue rather than outward actions1 must have been derived from him4 ,its origin must have been in personal influence1 and ,christ's alone could have permanently stamped it on ,christianity4 ,and this1 of course1 renders it likely that sayings of striking moral beauty attributed to him in the gospels1 such as 8,love your enemies10 8,judge not1 that ye be not judged10 and the perfect one not in the gospels1 8,it is more blessed to give than to receive10 were in substance actually uttered by him1 for they are in harmony with the character of exceptional goodness which he must have possessed4 ,so far1 at least1 we can have a sure knowledge of ,christ which entitles him to our willing reverence4 ,not only is it necessary to distrust the positive evidence of the gospels1 but even negatively their evidence cannot wholly be allowed4 ,they may suppress what is true as well as assert what is false4 ,for instance1 they represent ,christ as obtaining great success immediately after his entrance on his ministry4 ,now nothing could be more unlikely than this4 ,he could not have been accepted as the ,messiah by even a small number of disciples without a long probation previously1 a period of struggle and unsuccess4 ,in the gospels themselves the explanation of this omission is suggested1 when ,christ is said to have been thirty years old at the time he began to preach4 ,at about this age1 after a youth of conflict and uncertainty1 he probably was first recognized as the ,messiah4 ,but naturally those who knew him only as the ,messiah could not dream of a period when none regarded him as such4 ,hence the account in the gospels1 the years of development and failure having passed out of remembrance4 ,the true historical evidence on which to found a life of ,christ consists of the statements of the synoptical gospels1 tested and interpreted by probability4 ,it is obvious that in this way only knowledge of the broadest and most general nature can be obtained4 ,if special circumstances of ,christ's life1 as reported in the gospels1 are accepted according as they appear to be probable1 the result naturally varies with the character of the student4 ,in these cases probability1 in the scientific sense1 does not exist4 ,and thus far the greater part of the statements of the gospels are properly outside the region of historical investigation4 ,some are so distinctly improbable that we can pronounce them inaccurate2 some are so distinctly probable that we can pronounce them accurate2 but the vast majority of them1 the test of probability being absent1 cannot be pronounced either accurate or inaccurate2 we simply cannot tell4 ,in endeavouring to determine the nature of the personal character and religious ideas of ,christ1 it is on this general kind of probability that ,i chiefly rely1 appealing to the gospels to corroborate it more than to it to corroborate the gospels4 ,such probability in certain cases is the surest kind of historical evidence1 and may safely be depended on1 even in the absence of written confirmation4 ,that ,christ stood exceptionally high in moral development1 was exceptionally good1 can be declared1 as we have seen1 with practical certainty4 ,the evidence of the gospels and the evidence of probability are here in thorough harmony1 and the fact has never been disputed4 ,the evidence of the gospels and the evidence of probability equally agree in declaring that ,christ was not exempt from the theological illusions of his age1 but their declaration is called in question by some4 ,as this point is of vital importance to our subject1 we must now carefully consider it4 ,mr4 ,matthew ,arnold has given the clearest expression to the belief that the religion of ,christ was wholly undogmatic in character4 ,the dogmatic assertions attributed to ,christ in the gospels1 were1 according to him1 used only in a mystical sense which the grosser-minded disciples misunderstood4 ,when ,christ1 for instance1 spoke of his resurrection1 he meant that his moral system would triumph after his death2 but his disciples understood his words in a personal sense4 ,christ1 ,mr4 ,arnold says1 spoke 8over the heads of his followers10 and1 in consequence1 they failed to understand him1 and ascribed their own ideas to him4 ,the evidence on which ,mr4 ,arnold founds his theory is extremely slight2 in fact1 he practically rests it on the few stories in the gospels where ,christ uses figurative language1 which his disciples misunderstand1 as in the case of his injunctions respecting the 8leaven of the ,pharisees40 ,now figurative language of this sort is quite distinct from the mystical language ,mr4 ,arnold attributes to him1 ,hebrew literature being full of the former and absolutely empty of the latter1 and the only resemblance between them is that they can both be misunderstood4 ,mr4 ,arnold1 indeed1 by an elaborate criticism of the last gospel1 makes it to support his theory1 its mysticism readily allowing this to be done2 but the fourth gospel has no historical value4 ,the real basis of the theory is the reverence which all men feel for ,christ1 which renders it difficult for them to believe that he held opinions differing from their own1 and which also disposes them to imagine that a vast distinction separated him from those whom he addressed4 ,the strongest argument in favour of the theory is drawn from the unquestionable fact of the greatness of ,christ4 ,his moral superiority cannot be disputed1 and the success of his system shows that he must have possessed unique personal power4 ,but does his moral superiority1 or his possession of wonderful personal power1 really prove that he was free from theological illusion8 ,it is obvious to every one that the most exalted goodness may be united with the most implicit belief in the dogmas of supernatural religion4 ,it is nearly as obvious that extreme fascination of character1 far from indicating that one who possesses it is superior to ordinary illusions1 is a clear presumption that he is peculiarly under their control4 ,the popular power which ,christ must have exercised is strong evidence that he shared the popular beliefs4 ,the essence of popularity is sympathy2 the popular man must be in sympathy with the people he meets1 and must be ruled by the same ideas1 whether they happen to be right or wrong4 ,christ's popularity1 his influence over his simple ,jewish followers1 is a fair proof that he was subject to their religious illusions1 that no difference of deep insight separated him from them4 ,people always are irritated by hearing what they do not understand4 ,had ,christ been in the habit of speaking over the heads of his disciples1 not many would have remained with him2 he might thus have acquired a reputation as a philosopher1 but he certainly would not have founded a ,church4 ,in considering this question1 we must keep the facts of experience steadily before us4 ,all who have ever been widely loved and greatly popular among average men have had characters remarkable for moral beauty1 and have also been peculiarly steeped in religious illusions4 ,st4 ,francis of ,assisi and ,st4 ,teresa resembled ,christ in spiritual goodness and in the power of fascinating others1 and they held the crudest religious ideas of their times4 ,in our own days1 men who are justly called heroes1 men like ,stonewall ,jackson and ,general ,gordon1 who win the love and reverence of all who come near them1 are sure to believe in the most absurd dogmas4 ,stonewall ,jackson feared that he would lose a battle if he fought it with powder obtained by labouring on ,sunday1 and ,general ,gordon believed an island in the ,pacific to be the private residence of the devil4 ,christ's fascination of character is additional evidence of his supreme goodness1 but it is far from proving that he rose above the religious ideas of the crowd4 ,the reverence we feel for ,christ need not in the least be impaired by recognizing that he was subject to the illusions of dogmatic religion4 ,of his moral superiority we have certain evidence2 and this1 and not wisdom1 is the true object of reverence4 ,had he been profoundly wise1 seeing with perfect clearness through the deluding phantasms of life1 he could not have been so good4 ,to be supremely good1 to rise far above the standard of negative morality1 and to be inspired by a passionate devotion to others which leaves no room for a thought of self1 is not compatible with the colder temperament which examines the foundations of belief4 ,wise men may die for a just cause1 but they are never willing martyrs2 they lack not merely the fanaticism1 but the power of forming the exaggerated estimate of the value of the sacrifice1 which martyrdom requires4 ,but we never hesitate in choosing between calm wisdom and pure enthusiasm as objects of our praise4 ,and in the same way1 ,christ's belief in much that we think unfounded should be no hindrance to our reverent admiration of him2 we ought rather to recognize that it is the inevitable accompaniment of such greatness as his4 ,only a noble fanaticism1 which leaves no guard against error1 could have inspired his life and secured his success4 ,we may conclude1 then1 that ,christ accepted the common religious ideas of his time1 that he believed in the personal ,god to whom the prophets addressed their prayers and complaints1 and in the resurrection of the dead4 ,and now1 after this unavoidable digression1 we will take up our subject at the point where we left it at the close of the last chapter4 ,in referring to the gospels1 ,i shall always mean the synoptical exclusively1 the last being put aside as hopelessly unhistorical4 ,at the time of ,christ's birth the expectation of the ,messiah was rooted more strongly than ever in the minds of the ,jewish people4 ,nothing but the ,messiah seemed able to save them from the final loss of the remains of their national independence at the hands of the irresistible power of ,rome4 ,for in ,rome they saw1 not a mere conqueror exacting tribute from subject peoples1 but an empire that steadily absorbed into its own vast mass all the nationalities of the civilized world4 ,to the ,jews1 who valued their nationality above all things1 this fact must have appeared a ground for absolute despair4 ,the lower orders might be roused to attempts at passionate resistance1 but the higher classes must have seen the hopelessness of a struggle against the ,roman power1 and must have been impelled to gloomier forebodings by the fear that at any moment the end might be precipitated by the unreasoning fanaticism of their ignorant countrymen4#eb ,the religion of the ,jews1 as ,professor ,kuenen has pointed out1#ec tended to encourage these feelings4 ,pride in their religion stimulated their patriotism1 and made it harder for them to submit to the conditions of ,roman rule4 ,thus the circumstances of the time would heighten the ordinary ,messianic hopes1 and make the people look more for the national saviour4 ,the general unrest1 too1 would deepen the sense of sin4 ,wandering preachers of the class of ,john the ,baptist1 denouncing the sins of the people1 and asserting that their wickedness was bringing on them the threatened calamity1 and calling for repentance1 in order that the ,messiah might be sent to deliver them1 such a time would be sure to produce4 ,in the midst of these ,messianic expectations ,christ grew up4 ,the agitation and unrest of the period must have powerfully stimulated a nature so impressible in its spiritual beauty4 ,exceptionally good men are always keenly responsive to the religious influences around them1 so ,christ must have passed his youth in a world of ,messianic dreams4 ,the sacred literature of his race was familiar to every ,jew2 and the spiritual predictions of the prophets1 the vision of an ,israel reconciled to ,god1 must early have enthralled his fancy4 ,national fanaticism could not have found a place in his character4 ,in both ,messianic ideals1 as we saw in the last chapter1 the distinction between ,jew and ,gentile was made to contribute either to the spiritual or to the material glory of ,israel4 ,for the glory of ,israel ,christ could not have cared2 putting aside national distinctions1 he must have lived only for the welfare of man and for the glory of ,god4 ,from the beginning1 his ,messianic desires must have been for the reconciliation of ,god and man by the conquest of human sinfulness4 ,as he watched the ceremonialism which was then the most distinctive feature of the ,jewish religion1 he must have echoed the burning words in which the prophets proclaimed righteousness to be alone acceptable to ,god1 and must have denounced all forms that tended to obscure this truth4 ,his sympathy would be sure to be with those whom the ,pharisaic rigidity of that ceremonialism shut out and degraded by exclusion1 8the lost sheep of the house of ,israel40 ,the 8inwardness0 of ,christ1 the stress he laid on the purity of the heart1 in the first instance was probably the result of a reaction against the formalism of his age1 with its minutely defined outward morality of law4 ,to restore primitive truths1 and to make goodness the essence of religion1 must have always been his aim4 ,judging simply from probability1 we should say that there were likely to be three clearly marked periods in the life of ,christ4 ,in early manhood his longing for the ,messianic times would naturally express itself in the same form in which the longing of so many of his countrymen was expressed--in the call to repentance4 ,the wickedness of the people being regarded as the cause of ,god's anger1 the best way to remove his anger and1 consequently1 to obtain the ,messiah1 was to turn the people from their sins1 ,christ's own personal hatred of sin also1 of course1 urging him in this direction4 ,thus at first probably he was simply a preacher like ,john the ,baptist1 not claiming to be the ,messiah1 but a forerunner of the ,messiah1 exhorting the people to repent1 and promising them that the ,messiah would come as soon as they had reconciled themselves to ,god4 ,gradually1 while engaged in this work1 as he reached maturity and his powers grew to their full development1 and as with them came the consciousness of his own greatness1 the conviction would force itself on him that he was himself the promised ,messiah1 to be revealed as such by succeeding in his labour1 by converting the people and banishing sin from ,israel4 ,this second period would grow naturally out of the first4 ,compared with the other preachers of repentance1 he must have seemed able to obtain success2 his preaching1 of course1 would be far more effective than theirs4 ,such being the case1 hope--and natures like his are always intensely hopeful--would lead him to imagine himself completely successful1 to believe that at his call all ,jews would turn with pure hearts to ,god4 ,this result would be sufficient glory for the ,messiah2 in the dreams of the prophets it had been the chief feature of the ,messianic times4 ,during this period he would be uniformly gentle1 without bitterness against any class1 would speak of coming 8to call not the righteous1 but sinners to repentance40 ,then as slowly but surely it became evident that his task was impossible1 that the ,jews in general cared nothing for his teaching and despised his pretensions1 he would enter on a third period1 with the end not far off1 in which1 still firmly holding himself to be the ,messiah1 he would appear as the leader of a new departure like ,moses1 and1 applying to himself the spiritual ideal of the second ,isaiah1 would open his system to the ,gentiles1 the obstinate and unrepentant ,jews being left to perish in their sins4 ,during this period he would become a bitter assailant of those who refused to accept him2 he would denounce the scribes and ,pharisees1 and1 like the prophets1 foretell destruction for ,jerusalem1 and thus finally gain for himself the death of the cross4 ,of course no evidence for the first of these three periods can be derived from the gospels4 ,for reasons already mentioned1 when ,christ was once recognized as the ,messiah all the previous part of his life must have passed into oblivion4 ,but in the gospels the second and third periods are clearly indicated2 in fact1 by referring to them we explain most of the contradictions in the sayings ascribed to ,christ4 ,as probability and tradition are so strongly in favour of them1 we may assume the existence of at least these periods to be proved4 ,the greater part of ,christ's active life probably belonged to the second period4 ,declaring that the kingdom of heaven had come1 and exhorting to righteousness as the condition of sharing in its blessedness1 he wandered through the country districts of ,galilee and ,juda4 ,to the country he would naturally keep1 as there1 where the people were less fiercely national and fanatical1 his purer conception of the ,messiah would more readily find acceptance4 ,in the towns1 and especially in ,jerusalem1 only the national type of ,messiah would be recognized2 and so the gospels are probably correct in stating that he came first to ,jerusalem in the closing days of his life4 ,the term 8,son of man10 which in the gospels is his favourite name for himself1 was1 it is likely1 the ,messianic title he claimed1 as it marks the recognition of humanity alone by the minister of ,god4 8,son of ,david0 was the accepted title of the national ,messiah1 and though his followers1 we may be sure1 often applied it to him1 he would rather shrink from it himself4 ,he must have gained many adherents during this period2 in the unrest of the age men would easily yield to the fascination of his character1 its gentleness and hopefulness being still unspoiled by failure4 ,as he extended the area of his labours and began to come in contact with the people of the towns1 he would find himself in face of serious opposition4 ,here he would meet1 not simple rustics who cared little about ritual and politics1 but legalists and nationalists prompt to condemn him as irreligious and unpatriotic4 ,the credulity of his country disciples would be challenged and his ,messianic claims subjected to a hostile scrutiny4 ,the tendency to dwell on the supernatural inseparable from such a character as his would be in sharp contrast to the spirit of worldliness he would encounter4 ,some ,sadducees even would be likely to confront him1 requiring proof of the postulates of his teaching1 and infecting others with their scepticism4 ,then would begin a time of struggle and irritation4 ,all who looked for the national ,messiah would be enemies of ,christ4 ,they would be eager upholders of the formal and exclusive elements of ,judaism1 and his disregard of these would excite their bitter opposition4 ,if he neglected traditional ceremonies or associated with the outcasts of formalism1 he would be denounced as a breaker of the law1 and the friend of publicans and sinners4 ,gradually this opposition would produce its effect4 ,as the minor customs of the law were more and more put before him as matters of sole importance1 he would be forced into hostility against them2 as the outcries of the legalists grew stronger1 the whole system of legalism would become more discredited with him4 ,but1 above all1 he would lose his expectation of converting ,israel4 ,when he realized by experience the strength of the obstacles to his ideal1 he would be compelled to reconsider his whole position as ,messiah4 ,the effect of this would be to drive him strongly towards supernaturalism4 ,from the beginning he must have been disposed to put aside the ordinary conditions of life4 ,the exaggerated and unworkable morality of the gospels is probably an accurate representation of his teaching4 ,with his attention fixed on the spiritual glories of the ,messianic age1 the worldly arrangements around him must have seemed too transient to be worthy of attention4 ,this feature of his character would now enable him to meet the difficulty of his position4 ,he would turn from earth to heaven4 ,believing in the resurrection of the dead1 he would use it to justify his claim to be the ,messiah4 ,rejected by the greater part of his countrymen1 no demonstration of his power on earth could be pointed to1 but he still could proclaim for himself the future glory of a second coming in the clouds of heaven4 ,opposition1 of course1 would only strengthen his belief in himself4 ,but this belief required that he should realize the glorious ideal of the prophets4 ,if he could not realize it during his earthly life1 he would have to realize it after his death4 ,the prophecy in the book of ,daniel of one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven1 and having everlasting dominion over all the world1#ed would now appear to him to be a manifest reference to himself4 ,connecting it with the fifty-third chapter of ,isaiah1 the chapter easily admitting of an erroneous interpretation in a personal sense1 he would readily form a new conception of his mission4 ,the failure to convert ,israel would seem part of his true glory as the suffering ,messiah4 ,despised and rejected of men1 he would only be like all ,god's envoys to the ,jews2 his rejection would fill up the measure of ,israel's guilt2 and after it the wicked would finally be swept away1 and he himself1 as ,messiah1 proved by his constancy under persecution and suffering1 would judge those who had rejected him1 and establish his everlasting kingdom4#ee ,the necessity of his own martyrdom would soon become part of his belief4 ,in the state in which ,juda was then1 the forces tending in this direction were sufficiently obvious4 ,only an increase of the opposition he had already encountered1 such as would be produced by his coming into collision with the fanatical orthodoxy of ,jerusalem1 was needed to secure his death as a criminal4 ,there must have been many reasons to make him welcome a speedy death4 ,m4 ,renan is probably right in conjecturing that ,christ began to lose ground during the later days of his life1 the irritability produced by constant controversy weakening the personal charm of his character4 ,death would seem the only remedy for this4 ,the fifty-third chapter of ,isaiah1 which ,mr4 ,arnold supposes to have been always present to ,christ's mind as the embodiment of his ,messianic ideal1 is likely to have been thus before him in this closing period4 ,there death is represented as crowning the afflictions of the righteous servant of ,jahveh1 and a glorious triumph is promised as its result4 ,christ would of course apply the passage to himself1 and would look forward to his death as the condition necessarily preceding his ,messianic glory4 ,personal shrinking from pain would count for nothing with him4 ,if he believed himself to be the divinely appointed ,messiah1 the central figure of all the world's history1 he could not have had one feeling that was not subservient to his mission4 ,as soon as this conception of his ,messiahship was developed in his thoughts1 he would at once adopt in its fulness the spiritual ,messianic ideal4 ,rejected by the vast majority of the ,jews--rejected1 moreover1 because he was not the national ,messiah1 he would be irresistibly impelled to proclaim himself the spiritual ,messiah1 in whose eyes no distinctions of race separated men from ,god4 ,failing with the ,jews1 there was the more need that he should turn to the ,gentiles2 defeated by ,jewish nationalism1 ,jewish nationalism must have become hateful to him4 ,he would look now for the establishment of a spiritual ,israel1 formed of all mankind reconciled to ,god and delivered from sin4 ,from this time1 though he probably did not preach to them himself1 he must have included the ,gentiles in his system4#ef ,he would1 of course1 impress this new ideal on his disciples as strongly as he could4 ,it was now necessary that his system should be preached by them after his death1 so that when he came again in the clouds of heaven he might find faithful adherents to share in the glories of his reign4 ,he would strive to prepare his disciples for his death1 to prevent them from being disheartened by it1 and in doing so he would promise them his return in power4 ,thus he would himself originate the dogma of his second advent1 which was the main support of the early ,christian ,church4 ,it would not be very difficult to induce his disciples to accept the doctrine4 ,they believed in the resurrection of the dead1 and he would merely have to fix in their minds a conviction that his resurrection would be immediate2 that he1 as ,messiah1 would rise at once to heaven after his death1 thence to return with unlimited powers to punish and reward4 ,to get the first part of the doctrine into their heads may not have been easy2 they would not readily understand that their lord was to die still publicly unrecognized1 with no proclamation of his greatness2 but once they did understand this1 his promised return in glory would seem best to explain it1 and would suit it to their ambitious dreams4 ,probably they never fully understood this portion of his teaching until after his death1 when1 of course1 there would be every inducement to accept it4 ,it is unnecessary to state how strongly the evidence of the gospels supports this conclusion4 ,again and again in them ,christ appears preparing his disciples for his death1 and promising his return afterwards in heavenly glory4 ,but the evidence of probability would be sufficient to establish it4 ,it solves the great problem in the history of ,christianity2 it explains the passage of ,christianity through the perilous period immediately after its founder's death4 ,being thus forced to justify himself by appealing to the supernatural elements of ,judaism1 supernatural conditions would necessarily assume more importance in his eyes4 ,the post-prophetic additions to ,judaism mentioned in the last chapter had by this time developed a complete system of salvation and damnation4 ,heaven and hell were now fully established in the creed of the ,jew1 heaven being appointed for himself and hell for the ,gentile4 ,christ would naturally accentuate this part of his religion1 and adopt the same spirit of exclusiveness4 ,heaven would be for those who accepted1 hell for those who rejected the ,messiah4 ,probably he now began to lay special stress on the salvation of the soul in his preaching4 ,and thus we can understand how ,christianity came to possess in a heightened form the more ,pagan features of ,judaism4 ,the same circumstances which were leading ,christ to exaggerate the portions of ,judaism most favourable to general proselytism1 would also cause him to lay aside the portions of ,judaism most unfavourable to it4 ,his opposition to the legal and ceremonial elements of ,judaism would now be greatly increased4 ,his worst enemies1 of course1 were those who attached most importance to these1 and in their attacks on him formalism must have supplied them with their most effective weapons4 ,this would lead him in time to reject formalism completely4 ,in doing so1 he was1 as we saw in the last chapter1 strictly fulfilling the spiritual ,messianic ideal4 ,to what extent he made the renunciation of the law an actual part of his system we cannot tell1 but we may be sure it was to a larger extent than his disciples were ready to accept4 ,the forms of ,judaism1 at least1 could not have been regarded by him as necessary elements of his religion4 ,he was forced to make his system a movement out of orthodox ,judaism1 and he could not have cared to encumber his new religion with the worn-out forms of the old4 ,the account in the gospels of the closing incidents of ,christ's life is probably in the main strictly correct4 ,sooner or later he was sure to go to ,jerusalem4 ,the need to justify his system by preaching it in the capital1 and the wish to found it securely by his death under persecution1 would alike impel him in this direction4 ,and he would naturally choose one of the great feasts as the occasion for his visit to the city4 ,though the forms of ,judaism had now probably ceased to be an essential portion of his religion1 there is no reason to suppose that he personally objected to observing the more important of them4 ,coming to ,jerusalem to keep the passover1 he would find it crowded with strangers2 practically the whole ,jewish world would be concentrated there2 and thus he would obtain the widest possible publicity1 both for his preaching and his martyrdom4 ,that the latter would necessarily follow the former he must have clearly seen4 ,in the capital of ,judaism1 at a time when a great religious festival excited the fanaticism of the people to the highest pitch1 to preach a religion that involved the overthrow of legalism and the equality of ,jew and ,gentile in the sight of ,god1 and to do this while claiming to fulfil the popular expectations1 obviously meant a speedy extinction4 ,so we may conclude that ,christ came to ,jerusalem at the time of the passover1 probably accompanied by many of his country adherents who were also going to the feast1 and that there by his preaching he provoked against himself the fanaticism of the priests and the populace1 and was put to death as an offender against the law4 ,among the incidents related as occurring now1 is one that established a great dogma4 ,in the description which the gospels give of the institution of the ,lord's supper1 we have statements which are corroborated by an important external authority4 ,the first epistle of ,st4 ,paul to the ,corinthians is unquestionably genuine1 and accordingly it ranks as one of the earliest documents of the ,new ,testament4 ,in it ,christ1 on the occasion of his passover feast in ,jerusalem1 is said to have broken bread and distributed it among his disciples1 and to have poured out wine and given it to them1 asserting that the bread was his body and the wine his blood1 and ordering them to continue the practice as a memorial of him4 ,taking this passage in conjunction with the corresponding passages of the gospels1 we have in all four statements so much distinctly expressed2 while equally in all four it is either expressed or clearly implied that this distribution of his body and blood meant that his body was broken and his blood shed for the remission of sins2 the only variation in the passages being the omission by the first two gospels of the injunction to repeat the ceremony4 ,putting this point aside for the moment1 we have in the rest of the description an account in which the three gospels agree1 and in which they are corroborated by a trustworthy external authority4 ,unless probability is decidedly against it1 this concurrence of evidence is sufficient to establish its truth4#eg ,the account1 however1 has probability distinctly in its favour4 ,if ,christ was alive on the day of the passover--and there is every reason to suppose that the gospels are correct when they assert that he was--he would naturally keep the passover supper with his disciples1 as otherwise his presence in ,jerusalem would be inexplicable4 ,but keeping the passover1 with the expectation of his immediate death vividly before him1 the celebration must have seemed to him to possess a strange significance4 ,he believed that the first passover feast had been celebrated in the time of ,moses1 that the blood of the victim sprinkled on their doorways had preserved the ,israelites from harm on the eve of their departure from ,egypt1 and that this had been the earliest rite of the ,jewish law4 ,now he1 of course1 must have regarded his system1 which was to be fully established by his death1 as the fulfilment of ,judaism4 ,the ceremonies of ,judaism1 of which the passover1 as first1 was chief1 belonged only to the old unfulfilled religion1 and not to the mature ,judaism founded by him4 ,so this passover he was keeping would seem to him1 not merely a commemoration of the first1 but1 in a proper sense1 actually the last ceremony of the ,jewish ritual4 ,and as it was the last rite of the old1 so it was the first of the new ,judaism4 ,his disciples now1 like the early ,israelites1 were leaving old ways and beginning a new life as wanderers on strange paths4 ,as the first ceremony of ,judaism had sanctified its commencement1 so this first ceremony of ,christianity might well appear to him to sanctify its commencement1 and to mark the transition from the old religion to the new4 ,but where was the victim of this ,christian passover8 ,the ,jewish passover was essentially a sacrifice1 and the idea of vicarious atonement was clearly stamped on it4 ,the ,jews believed that1 when the first-born sons of the ,egyptians had been destroyed1 the first-born sons of their ancestors had escaped1 through the sprinkling on their doorways of the blood of a first-born lamb or kid of their flocks4#eh ,sacrificial substitution is unmistakable here4 ,now1 as mentioned above1 ,christ at this time had probably taken as his ideal the suffering ,messiah thought to be referred to in the fifty-third chapter of ,isaiah4 ,there the supposed ,messiah is spoken of as becoming 8an offering for sin10 and as bearing 8the sin of many40#ei ,to ,christ's mind1 we must remember1 the idea of atonement for sin by sacrifice was thoroughly familiar1 rooted as it was in the ,jewish law4 ,if1 then1 he believed that for him as ,messiah a death at the hands of others was ordained1 he would at this moment naturally see in his death an atonement offered for sin4 ,though he must have regarded the sacrificial system of the law as only decreed for a time1 he would still feel that underlying it there was a divine principle4 ,recognizing this principle1 with the passage of ,isaiah pressing on him a sense of a connection between it and his death1 he would be sure to find in himself the victim of the ,christian passover4 ,the idea that his death was an atonement for sin may have occurred to him before4 ,but whether it did or not1 it must have been fully developed in his mind by the circumstances under which he kept this passover4 ,it fitted like a key into the peculiarities of his religion4 ,as already explained1 his object as ,messiah was to found a system which should secure the happiness of those who accepted him2 on his second coming1 they were to enjoy the felicity of the ,messianic period on earth1 as well as the everlasting joys of heaven4 ,if they were to enjoy felicity1 to escape punishment1 through his death1 which necessarily preceded his second coming1 how readily would that death appear to him1 as a ,jew1 an atoning sacrifice for their sins6 ,just as the lamb of the passover had borne1 as a substitute for the ,israelites1 the penalty that had fallen on the ,egyptians1 so he1 as their substitute1 would bear for his followers the penalty that would fall on the rest of the world1 the time at which his death was to take place heightening the parallel and making it seem to be providentially designed4 ,as the victim of the passover1 part of it having been used sacrificially as an expiation1 had then been eaten as food by those whom its sacrifice was meant to benefit1 so here ,christ would wish his body thus to be partaken of sacramentally after it became an atonement for sin4 ,sacrifice is usually followed by sacrament2 the victim1 being accepted by the deity1 becomes divine1 and those who partake of it are purified by receiving divine elements into their natures4 ,the sacramental side of the passover sacrifice was particularly marked4 ,to complete the parallel1 ,christ1 as the new passover victim1 needed to make his body a sacrament4 ,but in his case such a sacrament had necessarily to precede1 and not to follow the sacrificial death4 ,it could only be symbolical4 ,he had1 as the parables of the gospels show1 a natural tendency to use symbolism to express his thoughts4 ,symbolically1 the sacrament1 to prevent coarse misconception1 would best be celebrated by himself4 ,and so at this passover supper1 after the victim appointed by the law had been partaken of1 ,christ probably distributed bread and wine as his body and blood1 the symbolical sacrament of his approaching sacrificial death1 the new passover feast of the new ,christian ,church4 ,and as the first passover feast had been commemorated in ,judaism1 so he probably commanded his disciples to commemorate this second one1 which fulfilled and abrogated the first1 even as his system fulfilled and abrogated the system to which the first belonged1 making it thus the only rite of ,christianity1 which should symbolise in purity the coarse sacrificial ritual of ,judaism4 ,though1 of course1 there is no certainty in this conclusion1 probability is so much in its favour that we may assume it to be proved4 ,the positive evidence alone is sufficient to establish the fact1 and still stronger is the evidence for it arising from its being an indispensable link in a great chain of development4 ,and so we may conclude that the first distinctive dogma of ,christianity was actually originated by ,christ himself4 ,the ,church started with belief in the ,atonement1 in the sacrificial death of ,christ1 the 8,lamb of ,god10 for the sins of men4 ,the further explanation of this doctrine belongs to our next chapter4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,jewish ,,christianity4 ,so far in the course of our inquiry we have traced the development of ,christian doctrine simply through the religious ideas of the ,jewish people4 ,but from this point we shall have to consider the relations of opposite tendencies1 the collision between ,judaism and ,paganism in ,christianity to which ,i have referred in the ,introduction4 ,and in dealing with this subject1 it is a fair canon of historical criticism to say that so far as any dogma is distinctly ,jewish1 its origin should be assigned to the earliest period of the ,christian ,church1 and so far as any dogma is distinctly ,pagan1 its origin should be assigned to a later period1 after the conversion of the ,gentiles had begun4 ,the justice of this canon is evident when we remember that ,christianity at the time of ,christ's death had none but ,jewish adherents1 and that thenceforth it grew to be more and more accepted by ,pagans1 until at last its ranks were filled with ,pagans alone4 ,the ,atonement is the chief ,jewish dogma1 and the ,incarnation the chief ,pagan dogma of ,christianity1 and they obviously conform to the requirements of the canon4 ,for the present we shall be occupied with the doctrines of ,christianity which are mainly ,jewish in form4 ,though the ,christian ,church started with belief in the ,atonement1 the dogma at the beginning could not have been fully grasped and understood4 ,for a time it was probably only latent in the doctrines of the ,church4 ,his disciples were not likely at once to recognize the significance of what ,christ did at the passover supper2 up to the last they could hardly have been prepared for his death4 ,but even with a blind obedience they would naturally obey their lord's commands4 ,as they commemorated the ,christian passover and repeated its forms1 the meaning of it would gradually dawn on their minds4 ,this repetition must have been from the first the centre of the early ,church1 a distinctive ceremony which brought the ,christians together and marked them off from the ,jews around them4 ,while thus incessantly repeating the form of sacramental communion with the body of ,christ1 sooner or later they would be sure to recognize what this sacramental communion implied1 the sacrificial character of his death4 ,then the latent dogma of the ,atonement would be fully understood4 ,as ,jews1 they would readily accept it2 indeed1 it would be to them an explanation of their strange position as disciples of a crucified ,messiah4 ,as soon as the first ,christians recognized that ,christ's death had been an atonement offered for their sins1 a feeling of lightness and joy must have arisen in their hearts4 ,circumstances like those in which they were placed always tend to develop strongly a sense of sinfulness and of alienation from ,god4 ,but here appeared a means of reconciliation to ,god and of escape from the burden of sin4 ,and1 accordingly1 it is likely that now their missionary activity began4 ,the dogma supplied them with a vindication of their lord's greatness4 ,jesus1 as the ,messiah1 had borne the sins of men1 and had become the representative of men with ,god4 ,the ,jews1 who had so unjustly slain him1 were in special need of divine forgiveness2 and we may be sure that the watchwords of the preaching of the early ,christians1 when they preached only to ,jews1 were 8,jesus and the remission of sins40 ,though the commemoration of the passover supper was probably the means of impressing the doctrine of the ,atonement on the minds of the early ,christians1 there is no reason to suppose that at first they attached to it an actual sacramental value4 ,they would naturally repeat the forms of the sacramental feast they were commemorating without considering the repetition also to be sacramental4 ,but before long1 as we know from ,st4 ,paul's words1#fj the repetition did become sacramental itself4 ,the ,christians then believed that the elements of ,christ's body were present in the bread and wine of their ,lord's ,supper4 ,at first this presence may have been regarded as symbolical only4 ,it is obvious1 however1 that the delicate symbolism habitual in ,christ's language was sure in this instance sooner or later to be misunderstood by the grosser minds of his followers4 ,the passage of ,st4 ,paul just referred to shows that he believed the flesh and blood of ,christ to be actually present in the bread and wine of the ,eucharist--that is1 present in them by an act of faith1 not changed into them by a formula of consecration4 ,when the common feast of the early ,christians had thus become a sacramental commemoration of the sacrifice of ,christ's death1 their conception of that sacrifice must have been strengthened and made definite4 ,and with this clearer conception of ,christ as the victim that atoned for the sins of man1 whose body was spiritually present in the food they ate at their sacred supper1 would come a greatly enhanced reverence for him4 ,he would seem to them more than human2 his ,messiahship would gather round it all the highest attributes ever dreamed of in the ,messianic ideals of their race4 ,their full missionary energy would then be displayed4 ,probably the recovery of the ,church from the paralysis that must have fallen on it after ,christ's death began with the recognition of the doctrine of the ,atonement1 and was finally completed when the ,eucharist became a sacrament1 a solemn and mysterious ceremony1 the central expression of ,christian belief4 ,the preaching of ,christianity must have been far easier after its founder's death4 ,reverence for ,christ could rise to greater heights4 ,supernatural powers could be attributed to him without any fear of too dangerous a challenge4 ,and1 besides1 the preachers could disperse themselves4 ,so long as ,christ lived he alone could properly preach his system1 for all ,christians would gather closely round him as their living head4 ,but now every body of ,christians was equally near him1 no matter where they might be1 and had the assurance of his spiritual presence in the elements of the ,eucharist4 ,henceforth the mission of the ,church was proselytism2 growth became its evidence of life4 ,that proselytism began immediately after ,christ's death is1 of course1 very unlikely4 ,the ,church probably took some years to recover from the shock of its loss4 ,during this period it could barely have managed to survive as a small body containing the most faithful of those who had followed ,christ4 ,among these picked disciples the development of latent doctrine went on1 until the primary principles of ,christianity were established on a sure basis4 ,then1 proselytism beginning1 every member of the original body probably became more or less a missionary4 ,as a select few they were the preachers and authorities of early ,christianity4 ,the commands of ,christ1 as well as the nature of their religion1 impelled them to preach with vigour4 ,at first they would naturally address themselves to ,jews alone4 ,with the ,jews of ,palestine they were not likely to make much way4 ,but when they extended their activity to the synagogues in foreign countries they would be more successful4 ,here1 as the fanaticism of race was less1 the spiritual ideal of ,christianity would have fewer obstacles to overcome4 ,still in all their dealings with ,jews they probably met with little success4 ,to the ,jews ,christ crucified was indeed a stumbling-block which even the promise of his second advent could not remove4 ,but as soon as the preachers of ,christianity touched the ,gentiles1 they must have reaped an abundant harvest4 ,such was the disorganization of religion at this time in the ,roman world that1 notwithstanding the harsh exclusiveness of ,judaism1 ,gentiles in large numbers were becoming proselytes to it4 ,under these circumstances ,christianity1 which had dropped all the harsh features of ,judaism1 and had added to the remainder much that was in harmony with ,gentile ideas1 must have easily made converts among them4 ,though probably very soon the majority of ,christians were ,gentiles1 all the heads of the ,church still were ,jews1 and its principles remained wholly ,jewish4 ,this period of ,jewish ,christianity may fairly be said to have lasted in full vigour until the death of ,st4 ,paul4 ,for more than the second half of this time the missionary activity of the ,church centred in ,st4 ,paul4 ,after ,christ himself1 no man influenced the circumstances and doctrines of ,christianity more than he4 ,the stress laid upon faith as a means of salvation in early ,christianity was largely the result of his personal character4 ,a renegade from the most rigid legalism of ,judaism1 he naturally1 as a ,christian1 passed to the other extreme1 and exalted faith above the righteousness of works4 ,the same recoil from ,judaism made him the apostle of the ,gentiles4 ,but though ,st4 ,paul was as little ,jewish as an unhellenised ,jew could be1 and strained the doctrines of ,christianity greatly in the direction of ,gentile ideas1 his religion was still essentially ,jewish4 ,in his epistles--putting aside his references to the resurrection of the dead1 made because he was writing to ,gentiles who were not familiar with the doctrine--as well as in the other books of the ,new ,testament that belong to this period1 we find stress laid chiefly on two dogmas1 the ,atonement and the second advent4#fa ,these two dogmas were closely connected1 and were the strength of the early ,church4 ,the doctrine of the ,atonement was that ,christ had died for the sins of the world4 8,god was in ,christ10 says ,st4 ,paul1 8reconciling the world unto himself1 not imputing their trespasses unto them40#fb ,the term 8world10 as used in this and kindred passages1 can only be understood by keeping the doctrine of the second advent steadily in view4 ,all the glories predicted by the prophets for the ,messianic times were transferred in the expectation of the early ,christians to the period of the second coming of ,christ4 ,they believed that when their lord returned there would be literally 8new heavens and a new earth40#fc ,this new world1 then to be established in fulness1 they held to have been actually founded by the death of ,christ1 which had rendered it possible by relieving man from the burden of sin4 ,but in their case only had sin been thus put away1 and accordingly they were the foundation of the world reconciled to ,god1 which after the second coming of ,christ would remain alone1 the old world of sin and alienation from ,god which still survived beside the new being then finally destroyed4 ,christ had left them to preach the gospel1 that is1 to snatch souls from the perishing to the permanent world4 ,the latter seemed to them the real world1 and the other1 which existed for a time beside it1 only a vanishing shadow4 ,for this real and permanent world1 then represented by the ,church1 they believed ,christ to have died4 ,the more hopeful ,christians might expect that the two worlds would yet become identical1 through the conversion of all men before the second advent4 ,then ,christ would come1 not in wrath1 but simply in love2 not to punish1 but simply to reward4 ,this1 however1 could only have been a rare belief4 ,in general the expectation of the ,church was that ,christ would come speedily1 and sweep away all men outside it1 and leave it alone on an earth renewed and glorified4 ,faith in him was the pass that procured admission to the felicities of his ,messianic reign2 to those outside ,christianity his coming could only bring confusion and ruin4#fd ,this new world1 the creation of which was begun by ,christ's death1 and was to be completed by his second coming1 the early ,christians regarded as a kingdom of light girdled on every side by the old world or kingdom of darkness4 ,it was their mission1 they held1 to extend its frontiers1 and continuously to encroach on the region given over to night4 ,every inch of ground they gained they believed to be saved from an imminent destruction4 ,for the fervour of proselytism which possessed them rested on the dogma of the second advent4 ,to it they looked forward as a blessing to themselves and a terror to the rest of mankind4#fe ,all men outside the ,church seemed to be walking on the brink of a precipice1 over which they were shortly to be hurled4 ,naturally to save as many as possible of these from a danger so immediate and so vividly conceived was to most ,christians the chief object of life4 ,some of the sterner of them1 as we know from the book of ,revelation1 which was written at the close of this period1 expected with gladness the coming of ,christ to take vengeance on his enemies4 ,but the harsh and exclusive spirit of that characteristically ,jewish work could not have been general2 and we may be sure that the ,christians1 as a whole1 felt only pity when they thought of the impending destruction of the proud non-,christian world4 ,many strange ideas entered into the expectation of the coming of ,christ4 ,it was even thought that at the last moment he would convert and save those who had been unreached by his earthly envoys4 ,st4 ,paul believed that then1 8after the fulness of the ,gentiles had come in10 ,israel would at length be saved4#ff ,as to what was to follow the second advent1 opinions slightly varied4 ,according to ,st4 ,paul1#fg ,christ would establish after it an eternal and heavenly kingdom of the ,christian living and risen dead2 but according to the book of ,revelation1#fh he would then reign for a thousand years on earth1 afterwards beginning his everlasting rule4 ,from the new world then to be completed the ,christians believed sin to have been put away by the death of ,christ4 ,the doctrine of the ,atonement1 as they understood it1 meant actual deliverance from sin1 and not mere deliverance from its penalty4 ,nothing could be clearer than ,st4 ,paul's statement of this4#fi ,all ,st4 ,paul's epistles are pervaded by a tone of grieved surprise that sin should be found existing within the ,church4 ,sin in his eyes was essentially the mark of the old world4 ,if1 then1 a ,christian sinned1 he showed that he did not really belong to the new world2 he was under the law1 and not under grace1 and by the law he would be condemned2 he would perish with the perishing world4 ,probably1 under the pressure of such a belief1 the ,church at this time was the purest society of men that has ever existed4 ,considering the moral condition of the period1 it is likely that the distinction then made between believer and sinner almost corresponded to actual fact4 ,practically within all was good1 and without all was evil4 ,in modern evangelical ,protestantism language of the same kind is often used1 but only as the shadowy semblance of what was once substantial reality4 ,the belief in the second advent of ,christ in another way must have helped to maintain the purity of the early ,christians4 ,living in the constant expectation of his immediate coming1 worldly pleasures seemed too transient and unsure to be worthy of attention4 ,their belief too1 was invested with a vivid sense of reality4 ,they expected to see their lord in all his heavenly majesty1 not under strange and unknown conditions only to be experienced by passing through the gate of death1 but in the midst of the familiar associations of earth4 ,they awaited his appearance 8in the very world which is the world of all of us10 and the shadow of his coming lay on all the thoughts and actions of their lives4 ,with the fading of so beautiful a dream the real corruption of ,christianity began4 ,as the years passed by1 and ,christ did not appear1 the hopes of the ,church gradually died away4 ,the doctrine of his speedy coming at length became the last refuge of fanaticism4 ,with it 8the freshness of the early world0 of ,christianity finally perished2 the ,church never knew again the simplicity and purity which marked this period of its youth4 ,the expectation of the immediate coming of ,christ was the sustaining principle of ,jewish ,christianity4 ,the loss of it threw the ,church completely into ,pagan hands4 ,while it prevailed1 ,christians cared little about the explanation of their theology2 existing conditions were regarded as too provisional4 ,but afterwards1 when a long life seemed to lie before the ,church1 theological 8pseudo-science0 was born4 ,new and complex doctrines were needed to engage the thoughts of ,christians1 and these ,pagan ,christianity supplied4 ,though the ,christianity of this period was thoroughly ,jewish in the character of its doctrines1 the preaching of it was addressed chiefly to ,pagans4 ,st4 ,paul was their representative among the heads of the ,church1 and preached almost exclusively to them4 ,in turning to them1 ,christianity had to a certain extent to adapt itself to their ideas4 ,the nature of this adaptation is clearly visible in the writings of ,st4 ,paul4 ,i have said that1 in preaching to ,jews1 the watchwords of ,christianity probably were 8,jesus and the remission of sins40 ,in preaching to ,pagans1 these watchwords would not have been worth much4 ,pagans looked for no ,messiah1 nor were they likely to be inconveniently conscious of sin4 ,the great doctrine of the ,church on which stress was laid when it preached to ,pagans1 as we have clear evidence in ,st4 ,paul's epistles1 was the resurrection4 ,christianity attracted ,pagans mainly by promising them the resurrection of the dead4 ,this was naturally the case1 as to them1 unlike ,jews1 it was a novel doctrine4 ,but the strength of ,christianity in dealing with ,pagans lay not merely in its assertion of the resurrection of the dead1 but in the proof of the resurrection it professed to give4 ,this1 again1 is plainly evident in the epistles of ,st4 ,paul4 ,he dwells so much on the resurrection of ,christ that we might suspect him to have been tainted originally with the scepticism of the ,sadducees4 ,by this peculiarity1 however1 he was exactly fitted to be the apostle of the ,gentiles4 ,with his writings before us1 we may be sure that he preached to ,pagans1 as he is made to do in the ,acts of the ,apostles1 8,jesus and the resurrection40#gj ,to him the resurrection of ,christ was the evidence for the general resurrection of the dead2 while his conviction that ,christ had risen from the dead rested on the belief that he as well as others had seen ,christ after his death4#ga ,and so ,st4 ,paul could preach the resurrection to ,pagans in a very effective manner1 declaring that the dead would rise again1 and giving as proof of this the fact that one man1 ,jesus1 was known thus to have risen1 as after his death he had been seen by many credible witnesses1 including ,st4 ,paul himself4 ,if ,god had raised ,jesus1 why should he not also raise other men8 ,christ had risen from the dead1 and become the first-fruits of them that slept4 ,thus while the watchwords of the ,church in preaching to ,jews were 8,jesus and the remission of sins10 its watchwords in preaching to ,pagans were 8,jesus and the resurrection40 ,that the evidence on which this preaching was founded should have existed is natural enough4 ,the disciples of ,christ1 as ,jews1 necessarily believed that he1 after his death1 had ascended to heaven1 and was living there with ,god4 ,such being the case1 there is nothing strange in their fancying that he occasionally appeared to them4#gb ,the death of ,christ must have immediately weeded out of the ,church all but his most faithful followers4 ,it is not surprising that these1 in the midst of the disturbance and excitement of those early days1 should have seen visions of their lord1 should have imagined that he came sometimes from heaven to console them and strengthen them in their weakness4 ,people so superstitious1 in a period of so much supernaturalism1 were almost certain to see such visions4 ,st4 ,paul's own particular vision1 which played so important a part in the history of early ,christianity1 of course can only be explained by referring to the peculiarities of his personal character4 ,this basing the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead on the resurrection of ,christ had nothing to do with the subsequent belief that he rose on earth and stayed there for a time4 ,st4 ,paul evidently believed that ,christ appeared to others as well as to himself by coming straight from heaven1 and that his resurrection had been his entrance into heavenly glory4#gc ,in another and a more important respect the influence of its ,pagan proselytes affected the principles of ,jewish ,christianity4 ,in preaching to ,pagans it was necessary to determine the nature of ,christ4 ,for ,jews it was enough to call him the ,messiah2 their imagination supplied the rest4 ,but ,pagans1 who had no ,messianic expectations1 required an explanation of his position as founder of the ,church4 ,this influence naturally was most felt by ,st4 ,paul1 and through him it had a considerable effect in shaping the development of ,christian doctrine4 ,st4 ,paul believed that ,christ 8was born of the seed of ,david according to the flesh1 and declared to be the son of ,god in power by the resurrection from the dead40#gd ,thus ,st4 ,paul1 as ,strauss says1 began the deification of ,christ4 ,of course1 as ,strauss also points out1 this was due to the fact that he had never personally seen ,christ4 ,entering the ,church some years after its founder's death1 when already legendary influences must have been active in exalting him1 ,st4 ,paul had no knowledge of ,christ to check his natural tendency to glorify the master whom he believed to have appeared to him in a blaze of heavenly light4 ,the other ,christians who saw visions of ,christ had probably all known him during his life1 and this must have interfered with their impulses to magnify him4 ,naturally1 then1 ,st4 ,paul went further than the other leaders of the ,church1 and1 having seen ,christ only in a heavenly vision1 thought of him only as a heavenly being4 ,the conception he ultimately formed of ,christ in consequence of this tendency to exalt him is somewhat obscure4 ,the term 8son of ,god0 in the mouth of a ,jew might have only a vague meaning applicable to any man4 ,as employed by ,st4 ,paul1 it evidently has a special significance4 ,he seems to have believed that ,christ was the true ,man1 ,man as he ought to be4 ,adam was the first and imperfect man1 ,christ was the second and perfect man4 ,thus ,god was the father of ,christ in a fuller sense than that in which he was the father of ordinary men1 as he had imparted to ,christ more of his own nature4 ,through this possession of elements of the divine nature1 ,christ was able to represent and redeem mankind fallen under the power of sin4 ,all faithful followers of him were to be made partakers of his divine characteristics1 were to become children and heirs of ,god and joint-heirs with ,christ1 were to suffer and be glorified with him4#ge ,christ was evidently regarded by ,st4 ,paul as made thus peculiarly the son of ,god by his possession of ,god's spirit4 ,no idea of his having had a miraculous human birth entered into this belief4 ,god in the fulness of time sent forth his son in the likeness of sinful flesh1 born under the law1 that he might redeem those who were under the law4#gf ,st4 ,paul1 however1 seems to have believed vaguely in ,christ's pre-human existence2#gg but the pre-existence he assigned to ,christ was potential rather than actual1 ,christ existing from the beginning of time as the destined deliverer of mankind4#gh ,so the extent of ,st4 ,paul's deification of ,christ may be thus generally described4 ,he believed that ,christ was in a peculiar sense the son of ,god--that is1 something more than ordinary man4 ,intermediate between ,god and man1 he was at once ,god's agent and man's representative4 ,but ,st4 ,paul clearly makes him inferior to ,god as well as superior to man1 and allows him no power except what is delegated to him by ,god4#gi ,thus as yet there was no sign of the doctrine of the ,incarnation1 though a path for it was being prepared4 ,for the doctrine of the ,incarnation1 it must be remembered1 is not a mere deification of ,christ4 ,it is important1 not because it deifies man1 but because it humanizes ,god4 ,st4 ,paul undoubtedly1 so far as he deified--it would be better to say divinised--,christ1 helped the ,pagan tendencies of later ,christianity1 but there was nothing actually ,pagan in his belief4 ,the death of ,st4 ,paul marked the beginning of the end of ,jewish ,christianity4 ,as the ,jewish leaders died off1 the vast ,pagan majority seized upon power and impressed their ideas on the doctrines of the ,church4 ,between the undiluted ,jewish ,christianity of its origin and the ,pagan ,christianity of the second century1 ,paulinism served as a link which enabled them finally to remain in nominal connection4 ,in the spurious epistles attributed to ,st4 ,paul we can trace the steps of advancing ,paganism1 and observe the struggle for reconciliation which his followers inherited from him4 ,paulinism was ultimately lost in the ,paganism with which its ,jewish opponents had identified it4 ,but it bridged the interval between the ,jewish and ,pagan periods of ,christianity1 and so saved the ,church from a rupture it could not have survived4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,pagan ,,christianity4 ,while the movement within ,judaism with which hitherto we have been mainly occupied was tending to create out of it a world-religion1 outside of it circumstances were preparing to make this tendency succeed4 ,the later additions to ,judaism1 the supernatural system of dogma which formed the basis of ,christianity1 were1 as ,i have already said1 favourable to its expansion by reason of their harmony with ,pagan ideas4 ,about the time at which they entered strongly into ,judaism1 began a steady break-up of the religions of the ,pagan world4 ,the material power of ,rome attacked them from below1 by destroying the national foundations on which they rested1 while ,greek culture and philosophy1 advancing under the protection of that power1 assailed them from above4 ,under the double pressure they faded away4 ,in the age of the apostles1 over the greater part of the ,roman empire religion was a matter of sincere belief only with the lower orders of the people4 ,a few men of thought and learning put it utterly aside4 ,between these two classes there was the great body of ordinary persons mentioned at the beginning of our first chapter1 who had lost faith in the popular religions1 but were themselves thoroughly religious4 ,the credulity which always characterizes periods of religious change1 when some form of religion is destroyed1 though the religious spirit retains its energy1 was universal4 ,besides this break-up of the old religions in consequence of the extension of ,roman power1 in another way that extension of power more directly prepared a path for a great proselytising system4 ,as national limits were overthrown1 of course a religion that ignored national distinctions could more easily overspread the world4#hj ,thus when ,christianity touched ,paganism everything promised it success4 ,in fact1 the critical period in the life of ,christianity was that which immediately followed its founder's death4 ,while it existed only in ,palestine1 it was in great danger4 ,when it spread among the synagogues of ,jews in foreign countries1 it had a surer footing4 ,and when from these1 which served as a means of introducing it to them1 it turned to ,pagans1 it was placed beyond possibility of failure4 ,it is interesting to note that ,christianity failed to conquer the ,judaism from which it sprang1 while the ,paganism seemingly foreign to it everywhere succumbed to it4 ,a few centuries after this time every part of the ,roman empire professed ,christianity as its religion1 while the ,jews remained still the same4 ,paganism was overcome and absorbed by ,christianity1 but ,judaism shook it off as an excrescence without suffering harm4 ,in this fact there is nothing surprising4 ,judaism was too strong for ,christianity to subdue it1 while ,paganism was a ready prey4 ,the ,roman empire1 outside ,judaism1 lay before ,christianity like a body without a mind2 it needed a unifying religion to match its political unity1 and this ,christianity supplied4 ,the general effect likely to be produced on ,christianity by its reception of ,pagan disciples may now be considered4 ,it is obvious that ,pagans1 who were steeped in religious ideas very different from those with which the ,jews were familiar1 would carry with them into ,jewish ,christianity different principles of religion4 ,to ascertain the extent of this difference1 we must compare ,judaism and ,paganism4 ,as a pure monotheism1 ,judaism stood alone in the world4 ,a purely monotheistic religion tends to produce humility and stress on faith4 ,the two great principles of human action1 which ,mr4 ,lecky names as the alternative forces that underlie every important movement of mankind1#ha a sense of human dignity and a sense of sin1 are distinctive marks of polytheism and monotheism4 ,monotheism1 with its one ,god so far removed from man1 inspires a feeling of human nothingness in comparison with him4 ,polytheism1 with its far more anthropomorphic and less awful gods1 does not dwarf man thus1 but enables him freely to compare himself with the divinities he worships4 ,and monotheism1 by making man appear nothing beside ,god1 necessarily exalts faith above good works as a means of pleasing him2 for when the distance between them is so immense1 the best that man can do appears a trifle4 ,both these tendencies of ,judaism1 as a monotheism1 were more than counterbalanced by other circumstances connected with it4 ,the humility the ,jews might feel when conscious of the difference between themselves and ,god was more than outweighed by the pride they felt in their superiority to the rest of mankind as his chosen people who alone had the knowledge of him4#hb ,their superiority to other men naturally affected them more than their inferiority to ,god4 ,the strict legalism of ,judaism also prevented stress on faith from being developed in it1 as a multitude of petty observances made it peculiarly a religion of works4 ,but both these principles were latent in ,judaism1 and were only checked by special circumstances attending it as a national religion4 ,these circumstances being removed1 the latent principles were sure to be developed4 ,and1 in fact1 in ,jewish ,christianity1 which was neither formal nor exclusive1 their development was unmistakable4 ,early ,christianity was essentially distinguished both by humility and stress on faith1 as a glance at the ,new ,testament is sufficient to show4 ,simplicity of thought also characterized ,judaism4 ,mysticism was abhorrent to a pure ,jew1 though a hellenised ,jew like ,philo might be steeped in it4 ,simplicity of worship1 too1 was a feature of ,judaism2 for the splendid ritual connected with the temple at ,jerusalem was not properly a part of it1 but was merely the expression of national pride4 ,when away from ,jerusalem1 the ,jew worshipped in the simplest and purest manner4 ,and1 most of all1 morality was closely bound up with ,judaism4 ,josephus justly boasted that his religion made virtue an indispensable part of itself4#hc ,the ,jews as a whole were certainly far more moral than the ,pagans as a whole4 ,the opposite of all these qualities characterised ,pagan religions4 ,pagans felt no religious humility1 for there was no great difference between their gods and themselves4 ,pride1 a sense of human dignity1 distinguished them as men4 ,they had not to lay stress on faith1 for this pride made them fully recognize the value of their own good works4 ,mysticism marked their religious thought1 and sensuousness their religious worship4 ,between morality and their religions there was only the loosest connection4 ,keeping these facts in view1 we can easily understand the change in ,christianity which now began4 ,all the characteristics of ,judaism just mentioned distinguished ,jewish ,christianity4 ,humility1 stress on faith1 simplicity of thought and worship1 and the closest connection with morality clearly marked the religion of the early ,church4 ,this was evidently the case because the first ,christians were ,jews4 ,when1 then1 the ,pagans came in1 having wrapped up in their religious ideas pride1 trust in good works1 mysticism1 a love of sensuous worship1 and a loose regard for morality1 and when before long they alone made up the ,church1 ,christianity could not remain unchanged4 ,christianity became ,pagan because ,pagans became ,christians4 ,and this is the full explanation of its corruption4 ,the ,jews1 in a religious sense1 were more highly developed than the ,pagans1 and so when it passed from ,jews to ,pagans it necessarily deteriorated4 ,as ,christianity was preached in the ,pagan world1 it continually reached lower strata of ,paganism4 ,at first only the best ,pagans could have entered the ,church1 but afterwards1 as it grew in influence1 ,pagans of a constantly inferior type must have joined it4 ,thus the corruption of ,christianity proceeded1 not merely because ,pagans in larger numbers professed it1 but because1 as time went by1 a lower1 a more ,pagan class became included within its ranks4 ,all during the period we are now examining probably belonged to the great middle order of society before mentioned1 philosophers and peasants equally being absent4 ,christianity clung to the cities1 and the restlessness of city life contributed to the growth of its theology4 ,we will now trace the results of the direct influence of ,paganism on the dogmas of the ,church4 ,this influence naturally showed itself in a tendency towards the exaltation of ,christ4 ,he would seem to ,pagans the real god of ,christianity4 ,god1 the purely ,jewish divinity1 the national deity of ,judaism1 must have been from the beginning unattractive to ,pagans1 who disliked ,jews1 and were accustomed to gods that differed but little from men4 ,the identification by ,marcionite ,gnosticism of the ,jewish god with the malignant creator of matter showed how strong this feeling could become4 ,but for the most part ,pagans would simply put ,god aside1 and fix all their attention on ,christ4 ,they would honour and exalt him1 and regard him as the representative of heaven4 ,thus ,paganism must have tended to develop still further the ,christology of ,paulinism4 ,the first result of this probably appeared in connection with the ,pauline phrase 8son of ,god40 ,a ,jew could not misinterpret the phrase and give it a literal meaning1 but a ,pagan might do so easily4 ,familiar with ideas of extremely anthropomorphic gods1 ,pagans would naturally consider ,christ to be the son of ,god in the sense in which ,herakles was the son of ,zeus4 ,as the proportion of ,jews in the whole number of ,christians grew less1 the increasing ,paganism of the ,church developed this tendency1 until finally it resulted in the belief in the miraculous conception of ,christ1 the first distinctly ,pagan dogma of ,christianity4 ,the gospels supply us with almost certain evidence that this was the way in which the dogma originated4 ,the genealogies in ,matthew and ,luke are clear proof that the earlier traditions of the ,church made ,joseph the father of ,christ1 and of course the ,church was less ,pagan then than it was in later times4 ,the doctrine1 as ,dean ,milman points out1 is utterly un-,jewish4#hd ,the ,jews always expected the ,messiah to be born in the ordinary manner1 and they reverenced ,god too much to put him in the place of a human father4 ,so the dogma shows plainly that it was the first triumph of ,christian ,paganism4 ,jewish ,christianity was only able slightly to spiritualize it1 and to found it in appearance upon an absurd misinterpretation of a passage of ,isaiah4#he ,while the beginning of the gospel narratives was being constructed by one influence of ,pagan ,christianity1 the end of them was being constructed by another4 ,when the expectation of the second coming of ,christ was abandoned1 the ,church had to assign a different meaning to his resurrection4 ,originally1 and especially by ,st4 ,paul1 this was closely connected with the second advent4#hf ,st4 ,paul evidently regarded the appearances of ,christ to him and to others as preliminaries of the second advent1 but now they seemed to stand in another light4 ,examining the traditions which preserved the remembrance of the visions of ,christ seen by the early ,christians1 the ,church found them1 of course1 clustered most thickly in the period immediately after his death1 when the conditions likely to produce them were strongest4 ,visions seen after that time were probably only occasional and rare1 and1 with the exception of ,st4 ,paul's1 they were sure to have little importance4 ,finding1 then1 that nearly all the appearances of ,christ had occurred within a short period after his death1 the ,church would naturally make a distinction between this period and subsequent times4 ,christ obviously seemed to have been more present then than afterwards4 ,it would not be long before the belief would follow that he had actually stayed on earth during this period1 before he had ascended to heaven4 ,with his second coming no longer expected1 that he should have done so would seem quite natural4 ,the ,church having to face a long life without ,christ1 it was reasonable that1 before leaving it to its lonely struggle1 he should have stayed with it for a time to sustain its immaturity and to strengthen it for its work4 ,a solemn ascension of ,christ in presence of his disciples would seem to be demanded as a suitable close to this period1 and with the addition of it the dogma was complete4 ,as we can see by comparing ,luke's gospel with the ,acts1 this stay on earth was made shorter by an earlier than it was by a later belief4 ,it was probably fixed finally at forty days1 in order to include different reports of visions with places other than ,jerusalem as their scene1 and possibly1 through the influence of expiring ,christian ,judaism1 to match the forty days of ,moses on ,mount ,sinai4 ,that ,christ rose on the third day after his death was a dogma of older times accepted by ,st4 ,paul1#hg founded1 it is likely1 on a passage of ,hosea1#hh and there was no difficulty in connecting it with the belief in his stay on earth4 ,so the final doctrine of the ,church was that ,christ rose again on the third day after his death1 stayed then forty days on earth1 and afterwards ascended to heaven1 not to return till the day of judgment and the end of mortal things4 ,the evidence in favour of this explanation of the origin of the orthodox doctrine of the resurrection of ,christ is exceptionally strong4 ,the accounts in the gospels1 so confused and contradictory even in comparison with the rest of them1 and telling only of occasional appearances of ,christ to his disciples1 show us clearly the underlying basis of dreams and visions on which the legend was founded4 ,the belief in the resurrection of ,christ on earth1 we may conclude with almost historical certainty1 arose from the late combination of the early traditions of ,christ's appearances from heaven to his disciples4 ,thus at the time to which we have now come the ,church in general believed ,christ to be the divinely begotten and humanly conceived son of ,god1 who had risen after his death on earth1 and then had finally ascended to heavenly glory4 ,pagan principles had triumphed1 and ,paganism was every moment growing stronger in ,christianity4 ,the tendency to exalt ,christ1 already far advanced1 had now nothing to check it4 ,forces were at work which were inevitably destined fully to deify ,christ1 to lift him to the level of the ,jewish ,god4 ,the ,jewish elements of ,christianity1 including monotheism1 were thus in great danger of utterly perishing4 ,christianity1 in fact1 was tending to become a purely ,pagan polytheistic religion1 with a human being as its most important god1 when it was saved by the influence on it at this critical period of a fortunate development in ,jewish hands of ,pagan philosophy4 ,philosophy1 from the moment of its first existence1 has always by an irresistible pressure been driven towards monotheism4 ,the consciousness in the thinker of his own unity1 and the inevitable conditions of thought1 alike force him to imagine one power as the cause of all the phenomena of life4 ,philosophy1 when it arises in the midst of polytheism1 at first allows the orthodox gods to be the subordinate instruments of this power1 but it soon develops a tendency to sweep them utterly away4 ,then1 having shaken itself free of popular religion1 it builds up a new religion of its own1 in which it asserts the existence of one supreme intelligence1 the creator and governor of the world4 ,when philosophy has got thus far1 and has constructed its eternal ,god1 certain difficulties confront it4 ,god1 as the great first cause1 has to be made perfect1 for if he were imperfect thought would have to ascend higher to find a cause of his imperfection4 ,but as the creator of all things1 ,god at one time must have existed alone1 an absolute being simply self-contemplative4 ,when he began to create1 he ceased to be absolute1 and became a relative being contemplative of his own creation4 ,if as an absolute being he was perfect1 how did he remain perfect when he became a relative being8 ,the study of this problem has generally driven philosophy into pantheism1 but where it has maintained its hold on theism1 it has been forced to suppose that a change occurred in ,god at the time of creation1 by which he remained absolute in regard to himself1 though he became relative in regard to that which he created4 ,two ,gods had thus to be imagined1 one absolute and eternal1 the other relative and existing from the beginning of created things4 ,but these two had to be one1 or else the first or absolute ,god would have been relative to the second1 and so the old difficulty would have been revived4 ,hence there was need of a mystery2 ,god was one and yet two1 two persons and one substance4 ,the first was ,god as he was through all eternity1 the second was ,god as he was manifested in creation1 his representative with everything but himself4 ,thus the second was a mediator between the first and the world4 ,while for purely philosophical reasons philosophy was thus compelled to dualise ,god1 other reasons also impelled it to this conclusion4 ,holding him to be pure mind1 it had to explain his action on matter4 ,here1 too1 it was necessary to suppose1 a mediator between the material world and ,god4 ,and in proportion as philosophy advanced in its theism1 it extended the attributes of ,god and raised him to a loftier height above created things2 and hence1 to connect him with what was so far inferior1 a mediator again was needed4 ,but in all cases this mediator had to be a part of ,god himself1 or no difficulty was met2 and thus in every way philosophy tended towards a divine dualism in mystery4 ,all ,greek philosophy1 except where it drifted into pantheism or pure materialism1 was more or less influenced by this tendency4 ,in ,platonism especially it is clearly marked4 ,the ideal world of ,plato fills the place of the second or relative ,god1 and acts as a mediator between ,god the absolute and the material world4 ,god1 according to ,plato1 is not the creator of matter1 which1 so far as it is recognized in his system1 is given an eternal existence4 ,the action of ,god is confined to the ideal world1 of which material phenomena are a distorted reflection4 ,at the time of the beginning of ,christianity these features of ,platonism were strongly developed in the theology of an ,alexandrian ,jew4 ,outside ,palestine the most important centre of ,jewish thought was ,alexandria4 ,there from the time of the captivity a large colony of ,jews had been established4 ,this colony became in many respects almost independent of ,jerusalem in religion2 it formed and translated its own canon of sacred writings1 and even set up a temple of its own4 ,speaking the ,greek language and living in the most cosmopolitan city of the world1 the meeting-ground of eastern and western thought1 the ,jews of ,alexandria were naturally affected by the speculative activity of ,greek philosophy4 ,the high development of ,judaism encouraged speculation in its adherents4 ,the ,jewish philosopher had not1 like the ,pagan1 to cast his religion aside when he began to seek out the causes of things2 on the contrary1 his religion seemed to cover a great part of the philosophical path4 ,under these circumstances1 it is not strange that a philosophy should have arisen among the ,alexandrian ,jews4 ,for us this philosophy is represented by ,philo1 who was born about twenty years before ,christ4 ,a ,jew by birth1 and nominally always one in religion1 ,philo was so steeped in ,pagan thought that he really ranks as a ,greek philosopher4 ,the chief object of his life was to reconcile ,judaism and ,hellenism1 to give a philosophical reason for every feature of the ,jewish religion4 ,in fulfilment of this purpose1 he handled ,judaism with considerable freedom1 and bent its simple theology into a mystical ,platonism4 ,the tendency which inevitably characterized philosophy to push ,god back from contact with creation1 and to preserve his shadowy glory as an absolute being1 of course influenced ,philo1 who simply as a philosopher was bound to be a pure theist4 ,but as a ,jew also1 ,philo was bound to be a pure theist1 with the most reverent conception of ,god4 ,thus two forces acted on him1 as a ,jew and as a ,greek philosopher1 driving him to the most refined theism1 and this double pressure produced what ,professor ,huxley calls ,philo's agnosticism4 ,he was compelled to form a conception of ,god utterly inconsistent with his character as creator of the world4 ,philo could not imagine that ,god had any relations with matter1 or that he contemplated anything except the world of his own ideas4 ,so philosophy1 helped by his monotheistic religion1 forced ,philo to pursue the path of theological development which ,i have described above1 to leave ,god in his pure essence absolute and unknown1 and to attribute all the phenomena of creation to a mediator between this pure essence and created things4 ,in ,judaism1 language had already been used which1 taken literally1 almost described such a mediator4 ,wisdom had been spoken of as ,god's companion before creation and his assistant or agent in all that he had done4#hi ,in a passage of the ,psalms the word of ,god had been called the maker of the heavens4#ij ,language of this kind probably was merely the result of the inveterate tendency of the ,jewish mind to express itself by means of personification and symbolism1 and had no mystical significance4 ,but the passage last referred to1 derived of course from the formula of creation in the first chapter of ,genesis1 seems to have guided ,philo in his difficulty4 ,he made the 8,word0 of ,god the required mediator1 ,god's agent and representative in all his actions4#ia ,philo's conception of the ,word is shrouded in the deepest mysticism4 ,in language worthy of the ,athanasian ,creed1 he asserts that it is neither created nor uncreated4#ib ,at one time he makes it distinct from ,god1 at another a simple manifestation of ,god4 ,these contradictions reveal his meaning only the more plainly4 ,he regarded the ,word as the modification of ,god which necessarily preceded creation1 ,god the relative1 while ,god the absolute remained outside it and yet not separate from it4 ,contradiction1 of course1 was inevitable4 ,as a monotheist1 for him there could be but one ,god2 as a theistic philosopher1 he had to push this ,god back from contact with the world4 ,hence he was compelled to imagine a manifestation of ,god1 distinct from him and yet mystically one with him1 to bear the burden of creation1 and to represent the divine nature with all outside itself4 ,on the theological system of ,philo1 which was widely diffused at the period of its greatest danger from the pressure of ,paganism1 ,christianity now drew largely to avert its ruin4 ,this product of ,pagan mysticism was exactly what it needed at the time4 ,it was in danger1 through its deification of ,christ1 of losing its monotheism and of worshipping a human ,god4 ,by identifying ,christ with ,philo's ,word1 every difficulty was overcome4 ,the doctrine of an incarnation of a divine being in a human form had already entered into ,asiatic religion1 and1 in a more familiar shape1 was a common feature of western ,paganism4 ,christ1 as the ,word made flesh1 could be raised to the level of ,god without destroying monotheism2 the ,jewish ,god1 as the absolute and unknown1 could be reduced to the position of a constitutional sovereign2 by a mystery the impulses of the ,church could be satisfied1 and yet the purity of ,christianity be preserved4 8,philo10 says ,professor ,kuenen1 8gave the ,church a formula commensurate with her ideas of her founder40#ic ,but ,philo really did much more4 ,he gave the ,church a means of reconciling conflicting tendencies within it1 of satisfying at once the higher and the lower class of religious instincts4 ,and by doing so he saved ,christianity4 ,if this means of reconciliation had not been provided1 ,christianity would have sunk to the level of ,paganism1 and would have fallen among the ruins of the empire4 ,still we must not conclude that the doctrine of the mystic union of the persons of the ,trinity was1 except in a secondary sense1 derived from ,philo4 ,primarily it was derived from the necessities of ,christianity4 ,by deifying ,christ1 the ,church prepared the way for that doctrine and the dogma of the ,incarnation depending on it4 ,before ,philonism entered into ,christianity1 ,christ was man made ,god2 afterwards he was ,god made man2 but before and after alike he was the object of ,christian worship4 ,the ,church adhered closely to the philosophical basis of the doctrine4 ,christ1 as the ,word1 was made the sole instrument of creation1 ,god the relative2 ,god the absolute1 the ,jewish ,god1 was left in lonely supremacy1 unnoticed except in the theological philosophy of ,christianity4 ,we can see the doctrine in its early shape best in the fourth gospel1 which was written about the middle of the first half of the second century1 in order to give it a basis in the life of ,christ4#id ,the gospel was probably composed in ,asia ,minor1 where ,gnosticism and the ,asiatic fondness for mystery would naturally facilitate the development of the doctrine4 8,in the beginning was the ,word1 and the ,word was with ,god1 and the ,word was ,god4 ,all things were made by means of him1 and without him was not anything made40#ie ,that is1 at the beginning of creation1 the ,word existed with and as ,god1 and became the agent by whom all things were created4 ,but of course to the ,church the ,incarnation was the most important fact4 8,the ,word became flesh20#if ,christ was ,god incarnate4 ,the ,church might now safely worship its founder4 ,as ,god1 the human ,christ could be adored1 while nominally monotheism was maintained4 ,it was long before the doctrine was finally settled4 ,not until early in the fourth century1 at the ,council of ,nica1 did the ,church define the dogma in its fulness4 ,during this period different opinions prevailed respecting it1 until at last1 on the question of ,arianism1 two great parties made it their battle-ground4 ,in the controversy the orthodox contention was philosophically justifiable4 ,christ1 as ,god the relative1 had to be of one substance with ,god the absolute1 or no absolute ,god remained2 while if in substance also he was not eternal1 he ceased to be ,god at all4 ,arianism1 in fact1 was simply ,christian rationalism2 it endeavoured to explain the relationship of ,god the ,father and ,god the ,son4 ,but the essence of the dogma is pure inexplicable mystery1 and rationalism could not touch it without destroying it4 ,in the ,nicene ,creed it is stated in its proper form4 8,i believe in one ,god1 maker of heaven and earth1 and in one ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 the only-begotten son of ,god1 begotten of his father before all worlds1 very ,god of very ,god1 begotten1 not made1 being of one substance with the ,father1 by whom all things were made40 ,here the philosophical basis of the dogma is shown in the clearest manner4 ,god was modified and ,christ produced before creation began1 and by means of ,christ the work of creation was performed4 ,we must carefully remember that the ,nicene ,council did not assert the eternal existence of ,christ as a distinct being4 ,he existed eternally1 but in ,god the absolute before the creation of things4 ,this is declared plainly in the damnatory clauses attached to the original creed by the ,council1 one of which anathematized him who should say that ,christ had not existed before he was begotten4 ,it was not until long afterwards1 in the ,athanasian ,creed1 that the eternal existence of ,christ as a person of the then fully developed ,trinity was made a dogma of the ,church1 notwithstanding the absurd contradiction in terms involved in its statement4 ,as expressed in the ,nicene ,creed1 putting aside the misleading words 8,father0 and 8,son10 inherited from an earlier belief1 there is no such direct contradiction in the doctrine4 ,god as one existed eternally2 ,god as two persons only from the beginning of things4 ,thus the mystery of one ,god in two became a part of ,christianity4 ,the ,church believed in ,god1 and worshipped him as manifested in ,christ4 ,the incarnation of ,god was henceforth the doctrine dearest to the ,christian4 ,his ,god was thus brought near to him1 and presented to him in a form he could readily grasp4 ,and1 besides1 the love felt by the ,church for its founder was strengthened by the belief that he had renounced divine glory to come to the assistance of men4 ,the ,god who had become man in his love for men1 and for their sakes had endured suffering and shame1 inspired the passionate devotion which1 in the darkness of medieval ,christianity1 shone with a blaze of light4 ,as the figure of the human ,christ faded away in the dim distances of the past1 the figure of the divine ,christ was able to replace it1 and to kindle anew the flame of zeal which had marked the beginning of the ,church4 ,the second great dogma of ,christianity had now been developed4 ,the ,incarnation took its stand beside the ,atonement in the doctrines of the ,church4 ,henceforth ,christian theology was a mixture of ,judaism and ,paganism4 ,for when this new essentially ,pagan dogma of the ,incarnation was added on1 the old essentially ,jewish dogma of the ,atonement had entered too deeply into the life of ,christianity to be laid aside4 ,both had to be accepted by the ,christian4 ,and1 unfortunately1 they happened to be utterly inconsistent4 ,the doctrine that ,christ had borne the penalty of human sins1 and had died as an atoning victim1 did not harmonize with the doctrine that ,christ was ,god4 ,that ,god has forgiven human sins and laid the penalty on a victim chosen for the purpose1 is a doctrine strange indeed1 but perfectly natural when viewed from a ,jewish standpoint2 but that ,god has forgiven human sins and laid the penalty on himself is a doctrine which1 viewed from any standpoint1 cannot be other than a hopeless puzzle4 ,incompatible as the two dogmas are1 ,christian theologians of course have endeavoured to reconcile them4 ,only one explanation of the difficulty has been seriously offered4 ,this is1 that an absolutely sinless victim was required to become an atonement for human sins1 and that such a victim could not be found outside the person of ,god himself4 ,a reference to ,pauline ,christianity at once disposes of this explanation4 ,even if ,christ as merely a man could not be sinless1 he might be more than man without being actually ,god4 ,from its very beginning1 the ,church regarded ,christ1 as the ,messiah1 as one greater than ordinary men1 though still thoroughly human4 ,long before the dogma of the ,incarnation was in existence1 ,christians looked on ,christ as sinless1 and connected his sinlessness with the ,atonement4#ig ,nevertheless1 the explanation is the best available4 ,it has created the doctrine of the 8contract in the council of the ,trinity10 as ,mr4 ,arnold calls it4 ,god the ,father's sense of justice could be satisfied only by the self-sacrificing love of ,god the ,son1 and hence the death of ,christ upon the cross4 ,it is certainly a characteristic example of a theological explanation4 ,the two great dogmas remained really irreconcilable4 ,the ,jewish dogma of the ,atonement and the ,pagan dogma of the ,incarnation entered into ,christianity as the results of opposite religious tendencies1 and they could never be brought into harmony4 ,the inevitable attempt to reconcile them is chiefly responsible for the formation of the complex mass of theology which so greatly distinguishes ,christianity4 ,one or the other can strongly influence individual ,christians1 but it is impossible for both at once to occupy the same mind4 ,now that we have examined the chief consequences of the transition from ,jewish to ,pagan ,christianity1 and dealt with the greater part of the doctrine of the ,trinity1 we must investigate the means by which that doctrine was completed by the inclusion of the third person1 the ,holy ,spirit4 ,throughout the earlier books of the ,new ,testament we find constant references to the ,spirit as a presence abiding with the ,church4 ,as used most frequently1 the term simply means inspiration1 the influence of ,god on individual ,christians4 ,this sense was derived directly from the ,old ,testament4 ,jahveh's messengers to his people are there often described as filled with his spirit1 as inspired by him for their mission4 ,naturally the early ,church believed that this inspiration was continued under the new dispensation1 and that the apostles1 its leaders1 were filled with the spirit of ,god to enable them to perform their work4 ,but a new feature was introduced into the belief2 the ,church held that not merely leading ,christians but all ,christians were thus filled with the spirit of ,god4 ,this was the natural consequence of the ,messianic prophecies4 ,among the glories of the ,messianic times1 the prophets often included1 as the result of the reconciliation of ,jahveh and ,israel1 the resting of the inspiration of ,god on all his people1 all being his servants just as they were themselves4 ,of course the early ,jewish ,christians applied these prophecies to themselves1 and believed that the spirit of ,god rested on all the people of his true ,israel1 the ,christian ,church4 ,but in the early books of the ,new ,testament we also find the term 8spirit0 used in a sense applicable only to a distinct being4 ,st4 ,paul1 in a remarkable passage1 speaks of the ,spirit as interceding with ,god for man4#ih ,in order to understand the origin of this belief of the early ,church that the spirit of ,god1 as a distinct being1 sustained it in its struggle with the world1 it must be remembered that the ,jewish ,christians regarded ,christianity as a movement from among the unconverted ,jews similar to the movement of ancient ,israel from among the ,egyptians4 ,they continually looked for analogies between their circumstances and what was related of the exodus from ,egypt4 ,an angel was believed to have led the ,israelites against their enemies1#ii and the ,church would naturally expect a corresponding representative of ,god to watch over its progress4 ,but by the prophets the name 8spirit0 had been given to this angel2#ajj and so the early ,christians1 believing that the spirit of ,god rested on the ,church1 personified it vaguely and made it a divine representative abiding continually with them4 ,they regarded it as the substitute for the personal presence of ,christ which had come to them immediately after his death4 ,and thus the belief in the ,holy ,spirit was connected with the expectation of the second advent2 it had come when ,christ had left the ,church1 and when he returned its mission would be ended4 ,when the expectation of the second advent was abandoned1 and a stay on earth after his death was assigned to ,christ1 the ,church's ideas of the ,spirit underwent a further development4 ,as it was the substitute for his presence1 it could only have come after his ascension4 ,just as the ascension had been imagined as a suitable close of ,christ's stay on earth1 so now a solemn ceremony was imagined to mark the entrance of the ,spirit on its mission4 ,the day of ,pentecost1 the recognized anniversary of the delivery of the law on ,mount ,sinai1 appeared the fittest time for this ceremony4#aja ,as the founding of the law was regarded as the true beginning of the life of ,israel1 the coming of the ,spirit seemed to match it and to form the true beginning of the life of the ,christian ,church4 ,the construction of this tradition1 as we have it in the ,acts of the ,apostles1 was one of the last results of the influence of ,judaism on ,christianity4 ,at about the same time this influence was shown in another doctrine in connection with the belief in the ,holy ,spirit4 ,i have already said that1 when the mainly ,pagan dogma of the miraculous conception of ,christ was created1 ,jewish ,christianity was able slightly to spiritualize it4 ,by making the ,spirit the agent on the divine side of that conception1 the dogma was as far as possible purified from its taint of grossness4 ,until after the time of the ,nicene ,council1 the general belief in the ,holy ,spirit remained in this vague undefined form4 ,the ,church regarded it as a personified influence1 and gave it little attention4 ,in the ,nicene ,creed there is no dogma of the ,trinity2 only two persons of the ,trinity as yet existed4 ,in the fully developed ,creed merely vague language is applied to the ,spirit2 it is spoken of as a distinct being1 but its union with the ,father and the ,son is not asserted4 ,the phrase1 8,who proceedeth from the ,father and the ,son10 shows1 as ,feuerbach points out1#ajb how loose an idea of personality was attached to it1 and is very different from the precise terms in which the ,creed defines the production of the ,son4 ,the subsequent dispute between the ,eastern and ,western ,churches in reference to the 8filioque0 of the ,latin form of this ,creed rendered it impossible for ,christian theology to remain satisfied with the ,nicene definition of the ,spirit4 ,always regarded as divine1 there was now a natural tendency to declare it to be ,god4 ,a mystery of three in one was a puzzle no more perplexing than a mystery of two in one4 ,and so the ,holy ,spirit was included in the divine ,government1 and the dogma of the ,trinity was complete4 ,the full doctrine of the ,trinity1 philosophically expressed1 is this4 ,god the ,father is ,god the absolute1 incomprehensible and unapproachable by created things4 ,god the ,son is part of ,god the relative1 the creator and saviour of the world4 ,god the ,holy ,spirit is the rest of ,god the relative1 the sustainer and guide of the world4 ,thus it is evident that the third person of the ,trinity philosophically has no existence2 its functions are only carved out of those of the second4 ,and this philosophical non-existence of the third person has its reflection in theology4 ,in spite of the ,athanasian ,creed1 the ,holy ,spirit is only a shadow in ,christian belief4 ,intellectually the sincere ,christian is convinced of the existence of ,god the ,father2 emotionally he is convinced of the existence of ,god the ,son2 but of the existence of ,god the ,holy ,spirit he is not convinced at all1 and he asserts it merely in the empty forms of traditional dogma4 ,we have now dealt with all the chief dogmas of ,christianity4 ,the ,atonement1 the ,incarnation1 the full doctrine of the ,trinity1 and the more important of the circumstances believed to be connected with the life and death of ,christ--in fact1 all the dogmas of the ,creeds1 have passed under our review4 ,only minor doctrines1 in regard to which there are differences of opinion among ,christians1 remain to be noticed4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,catholic ,,and ,,protestant ,,christianity4 ,from the time of the completion of the doctrine of the ,incarnation1 ,christianity steadily advanced towards ,paganism4 ,gradually all the characteristics of polytheism crept into the ,church4 ,idolatry1 embodied specially in an important doctrine to be mentioned presently1 was embodied generally in the worship of images4 ,the great principle of local government in religion which distinguished ,pagan polytheism became ,christian by the worship of saints4 ,this was soon the chief feature of ordinary ,christianity4 ,to the average ,christian the local saint appeared the representative of heaven1 the appointed agent through whom heavenly blessings were to be obtained4 ,the ,christian doctrine of the soul's immortality1 originally derived from ,judaism1 was ,paganised into a resemblance to the ideas on the subject which had vaguely entered into most forms of ,paganism4 ,the old belief of the ,jewish ,church that dead ,christians 8slept0 until the resurrection had become heretical by the middle of the third century4#ajc ,the doctrine of purgatorial penance was introduced into ,christianity4 ,for this1 indeed1 quite apart from ,pagan influence1 there was a very good reason4 ,in the early days of the ,church1 with the moral influence of ,judaism still strong on it1 and the danger of persecution keeping it pure from unworthy members1 probably almost all ,christians were fairly good4 ,being good1 they were fit for heaven or the heavenly reign of ,christ2 and so there was no difficulty in making the simple acceptance of ,christianity the test of salvation4 ,but when the ,church became popular1 and especially when it became the acknowledged religious system of the empire1 it was plain that a large proportion of its members were by no means fit for heaven4 ,and yet1 with its looser ,pagan hold on morality1 it did not care to consign to damnation faithful believers in its doctrines4 ,the old ideas1 latent generally in ,paganism1 and given special expression in the mysteries1 of penal purification from evil exactly met the difficulty1 and accordingly they were incorporated in ,christianity4 ,as before in the case of the ,incarnation1 it was the need of the ,church that really created the doctrine2 ,paganism only determined its form4 ,christianity took all its supernaturalism of evil from ,judaism1 that is1 from the later developments of ,judaism1 with hardly the slightest change4 ,the belief in a chief devil1 having subordinates under him1 in hell or some such kind of irrevocable punishment1 characterized late ,judaism as much as ,christianity4 ,in general1 this supernaturalism of evil was less strongly developed in ,pagan religions1 or rather1 to speak more precisely1 it was a feature of eastern far more than of western theology4 ,still ,christian ,paganism1 though mainly western1 had no difficulty in accepting it1 and it afterwards became the chief support of medieval superstition4 ,the decline and final ruin of the empire of ,rome transformed the outward structure of ,christianity4 ,the empire died under the hands of northern barbarians1 but it attained a resurrection in the shape of the ,papal ,church4 ,after the separation of the ,eastern and ,western ,churches1 the line of ,christian development passed through the latter alone1 the former remaining stagnant in consequence of its union with political despotism4 ,the free ,church of the west1 becoming the real representative of ,christianity1 gradually embodied in itself all the attributes of imperial power4 ,the ,pope succeeded the ,emperor2 bishops succeeded the provincial legates2 the religious tyranny of ,catholicism succeeded the political tyranny of ,cesarism4 ,the pomp and ceremonial of the empire were transferred to the ,church4 ,the spirit of sensuous worship latent always in ,christian ,paganism of course was encouraged by this1 and expressed itself in a complex ritual4 ,but most of all ,catholic imperialism exalted the clergy above the laity4 ,this exaltation of the clergy was the direct result of the transference of the imperial power to the ,church4 ,the long reign of despotism in the empire had unfitted the people of it for any approach to freedom4 ,just as formerly they had submitted to the material power which had had its centre in ,rome1 so now they submitted to the spiritual power which had its centre in ,rome4 ,only by the slow training of many centuries was part of the population of ,europe prepared for resistance to clerical tyranny4 ,the ,reformation rested on the political development of the peoples among whom it was successful4 ,the clergy were the guardians1 for good or for evil1 of the childhood of the modern world4 ,the complicated system of sacraments which now arose in ,christianity was largely the expression of priestly power4 ,the distinction made between clergy and laity in the celebration of the ,eucharist showed this in its clearest form4 ,but most of all the power of absolution gave the priest an unlimited supremacy4 ,holding the keys of heaven and of hell1 he was the master of the ,christian's soul4 ,the foundation of this doctrine1 as well as that of the general recognition of an authority peculiar to the clergy1 was laid in the willing reverence felt by the early ,church for the apostles1 for the men who had actually seen its founder4 ,clerical despotism cannot be ascribed to the spirit of ,paganism as distinguished from the spirit of ,judaism4 ,but still1 in its extreme development under the pressure of changes in the ,pagan world1 it was a ,pagan feature of ,christianity4 ,a most important distinctly ,pagan doctrine was connected with this idea of clerical sanctity4 ,i have already referred to the belief of the early ,church that the body and blood of ,christ were really present in the elements of the ,eucharist4 ,it is quite clear from the language of ,st4 ,paul that this belief in the real presence was not a belief that the elements were actually changed into ,christ's body and blood4#ajd ,by the faith of the communicant the sacrament was accomplished1 and without faith it had no existence4 ,the ,eucharist was evidently then regarded as a constantly recurring sacrament of the once offered sacrifice of ,christ's death1 which it commemorated and declared until he came again4 ,that this was an exceedingly delicate doctrine which could be easily misinterpreted is obvious4 ,it naturally developed into a grosser form when ,paganism1 with its leaning towards idolatry1 became paramount in the ,church4 ,the elements were then formally consecrated1 and were regarded as the actual flesh and blood of ,christ4 ,as his body1 they were laid on the altar and made an object of worship4 ,this1 of course1 was simple idolatry4 ,united with the dogma of the ,incarnation1 it enabled the ,christian to adore ,god as visibly present in a material shape4 ,the doctrine was connected with the exaltation of the clergy1 as the power of consecration was confined to them4 ,thus the sacrament of the ,eucharist became the sacrifice of the mass4 ,the elements being actually changed into his flesh and blood1 ,christ was again made a victim2 his sacrificial death was repeated as often as the ceremony2 and so the ,jewish dogma of the ,atonement was linked with ideas utterly antagonistic to ,judaism4#aje ,the deification of the ,virgin ,mary was another wholly ,pagan development of ,christianity4 ,female divinities were common in ,pagan polytheism1 and female saints replaced them in ,christian ,paganism4 ,after ,christ1 as man1 had been made the ,god of ,christianity1 this tendency to give both sexes divine representatives produced the exaltation of the ,virgin as his female correlative4 ,she became the goddess of ,christianity1 the real third person of the ,trinity1 as ,feuerbach calls her4#ajf ,as mother and wife of ,god1 she satisfied the human instincts of ,pagan religion2 and so the ,church ultimately put all heavenly power into her hands4 ,the asceticism of later ,christianity at the same time created the dogma of her perpetual virginity4 ,at last1 as a divine being1 she was encircled with an atmosphere of miraculous privilege even from before her birth4 ,the most striking feature of ,pagan ,christianity1 monasticism1 was due to a variety of causes4 ,in part it had its origin in the personal character of ,christ4 ,his insistence on inward purity was not far removed from asceticism4 ,but though monastic asceticism may have had some of its roots in later developments of ,judaism1 it was foreign to ,judaism as a whole4 ,judaism was remarkable for its clearness and balance2 it pushed nothing too far4 ,monasticism in reality was chiefly derived from eastern ,paganism1 from the tendency towards asceticism so common in ,oriental religions4 ,the same tendency produced another important effect on western ,christianity1 namely1 the celibacy of the regular clergy4 ,when this became an accepted doctrine1 the finishing touch was given to clerical power4 ,henceforth the ,roman ,church was the most highly organized ecclesiastical system the world has ever seen4 ,with no recognized interests outside his calling1 every priest belonged body and soul to a vast disciplined mass which moved and acted like one man4 ,thus highly organized1 the ,church plunged into the darkest period of the ,middle ,ages4 ,for the evils of this period ,christianity cannot fairly be held responsible1 except in so far as it contributed to the ruin of the ,roman empire4 ,throughout it1 on the whole1 the ,church was a centre of light1 keeping alive the embers of civilization1 and softening the barbarous tendencies of the time4 ,but in passing through it ,christianity suffered fearfully4 ,the ignorance and harshness and corruption of the age were stamped ineffaceably upon it4 ,and this was inevitable4 ,in every civilized country at almost every time there are sure to be two forms of the general religion1 one popular1 the other that of the more educated classes4 ,the popular religion1 resting on ignorance1 is always a mere superstition2 the other religion1 kept clear by partial knowledge from offensive crudities1 is the recognized form4 ,but during the worst period of the ,middle ,ages there was no such distinction2 all religion was popular2 even the highest classes were hopelessly lost in superstition4 ,the gloom of this superstition1 the shadow of the wretchedness of the age1 left a lasting mark on ,christianity4 ,the terror of life was transferred to death2 death was associated with the most repulsive images1 and closely connected with hell4 ,the fear of hell became the motive power of religion2 to escape hell was to the ,christian the end of life4#ajg ,the superstitious elements from which ,christianity is now struggling to release itself were mainly developed in its passage through this period4 ,during it the moral corruption of ,christianity was enormous4 ,the ,church laid stress1 not on righteous conduct1 but on orthodox thinking4 ,heresy was irremediably damnable1 but crimes and sins could be easily compounded for4 ,the immorality of the clergy1 due partly to the general corruption of the time1 and partly to their legal celibacy1 was closely connected with the toleration of sin shown in the action of the ,church4 ,rotten itself1 the ecclesiastical power was ever ready1 in return for material benefits1 to open the gates of heaven to secular sinners4 ,the whole course of medieval ,christianity was a progress towards the doctrine of indulgences which immediately provoked the ,reformation4 ,the moral decline of ,christianity was the mark of its progress towards ,paganism4 ,it receded further from its original basis in ,judaism as its dogmas became more complex and its hold on morality more uncertain4 ,the complexity of doctrine encouraged the decline in morality1 religious attention being drawn by it from practical conduct to the consideration of nice points of theology4 ,a reaction against this tendency was inevitable4 ,christianity had shared in the descent of ,european civilization1 and when ,european civilization began to ascend1 ,christianity had to ascend along with it4 ,but the reaction1 as it was against a corruption which was inextricably linked with the ,paganism of the ,church1 could not fail to oppose itself to ,paganism1 that is1 to recoil back to ,judaism4 ,and this is the explanation of the ,reformation4 ,it was the revival of ,judaism in ,christianity4 ,as the revival of ,jewish ,christianity1 it was sure to occur sooner or later2 once the thought and knowledge of ,europe awakened from their medieval slumber1 the revolt against ,paganism was bound to begin4 ,the renewal of intellectual life involved the renewal of moral life4 ,the restored conscience of ,europe would protest first against the later corruptions of ,pagan ,christianity2 but these were inseparably connected with earlier ones1 and so step by step reformers would have to ascend along the line1 until at last they would find themselves the champions of ,jewish ,christianity1 contending against the forces of ,paganism4 ,thus the great schism which the ,reformation caused in ,christianity was inevitable from the first4 ,paganism could not be eradicated by the revival of ,judaism4 ,the more ignorant and backward races were sure to cling to it in opposition to the progressive spirit which revolted from it4 ,the schism in ,christianity was as inevitable as the schism which it occasioned in ,judaism1 the necessity of which was shown in our second chapter4 ,and just as the expansion of ,judaism which ,christ made a practical success was in its main features quite independent of the influence of his personal character1 so the main features of the ,reformation were determined apart from the personal influence of the ,reformers4 ,from the time of the ,reformation ,jewish and ,pagan ,christianity stood side by side4 ,protestantism revived the principles of the early ,church2 ,catholicism retained the principles of ,paganism4 ,within the lifetime of ,luther the change was accomplished4 ,he himself1 because he assailed one immoral doctrine of the corrupt ,roman ,church1 was forced to travel back along fourteen centuries of religious development4 ,of course ,protestantism cannot be exactly the same as the religion of the ,jewish ,church4 ,just as ,pagan ,christianity was compelled to retain ,jewish dogmas1 so ,protestantism was compelled to retain ,pagan dogmas4 ,it had nothing to rest on except the ,canon of ,scripture1 and part of the ,new ,testament is ,pagan in spirit4 ,accordingly1 the dogmas of earlier ,paganism1 which were developed while it was still mixed with ,judaism in the ,church1 were preserved in ,protestantism4 ,it kept1 for instance1 the great ,pagan dogma of the ,incarnation4 ,still1 so far as general principle is concerned1 ,protestantism fairly represents ,judaism1 and ,catholicism ,paganism in ,christianity4 ,this is evident if they are fully compared with each other4 ,the ,pagan character of ,catholicism has already been shown4 ,as ,catholicism--and this term covers more than the ,roman ,church--has retained all the doctrines which we have examined as representative of ,paganism in ,christianity1 this is obvious4 ,similarly the non-,pagan character of ,protestantism is clear from its rejection of all the later of these doctrines1 from the worship of saints to the immaculate conception4 ,its ,jewish character must be shown by a reference to the principles of our comparison of ,judaism and ,paganism4 ,the chief distinctive doctrine of ,protestantism is justification by faith alone4 ,that in this it resembles ,jewish ,christianity1 a glance at ,st4 ,paul's epistles is sufficient to show4 ,it is also plain that this doctrine is closely connected with the great ,jewish dogma of the ,atonement4 ,according to it1 sins are washed away by the blood of ,christ1 the victim offered to ,god4 ,but the benefits of the sacrifice are obtained solely by faith2 the merits of the ,christian cannot enhance its value4 ,still more closely1 however1 is the doctrine connected with the feature distinctive of ,protestantism as of ,judaism1 its loftier conception of ,god4 ,this1 as was pointed out in our last chapter1 is the peculiarity of monotheism1 and it shows the monotheistic character of ,protestantism4 ,catholicism1 having inherited polytheistic ideas from ,paganism1 naturally recognizes the value of man's good works4 ,in the saints whom he worships the ,catholic sees beings who1 though they were once fallible like himself1 have yet obtained heavenly authority2 and1 as he is thus conscious of no important difference between his divinities and himself1 he is not disposed to underestimate the worth of his virtue4 ,as a necessary consequence of its distinctive doctrine1 ,protestantism is characterized by humility4 ,it depresses human excellence and heightens the sense of sin4 ,in this it develops what were1 as we saw before1 the essential tendencies of ,judaism4 ,and1 curiously enough1 the phenomenon which appeared in ,judaism--theological humility more than counterbalanced by exclusive pride--appears also in the extreme forms of ,protestantism4 ,the religion of the ,puritans was ultra-,protestant in its insistence on the utter sinfulness of human nature and the need of faith2 and yet no class of men were ever prouder than they4 ,like the ,jews1 they felt their pride as the people1 the elect of ,god1 who were honoured by him above the rest of mankind4 ,the same phenomenon can be observed at the present day among the extreme ,evangelical sects which keep the far frontier of ,protestantism4 ,in them we also find theoretically religious humility1 and practically the most intense religious pride4 ,and1 indeed1 both in these sects and in ,puritanism we see ,protestantism fully developed in its likeness to its parent ,judaism1 with the harshness and exclusiveness of ,judaism thinly veiled under a nominal ,christianity4 ,again1 ,protestantism resembles ,judaism in its higher morality4 ,protestants as a whole are certainly more moral than ,catholics as a whole4 ,at first sight this seems remarkable1 as morality is not encouraged by the ,protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone4 ,but1 as a matter of fact1 the priestly absolution of ,catholicism is a much more immoral doctrine4 ,in practice1 as might be expected1 the belief in justification by faith alone does less mischief than the belief that sins can be got rid of by a visit to the nearest church4 ,of course1 in addition to this1 the higher theology of ,protestantism favours morality1 just as the higher theology of ,judaism did4 ,so far as it is purer and more rational than ,catholicism1 it naturally is more moral1 and allies itself less easily with ignorance and animalism4 ,protestantism1 too1 is like ,judaism in having for its basis a written revelation4 ,the ,bible is to ,protestants what the law and the prophets were to ,jews4 ,this feature of ,protestantism is obviously connected with its depreciation of human excellence4 ,it makes men simply vessels for the reception of a finished system of religious truth4 ,catholicism1 on the other hand1 by its assertion of a continuously inspired ,church1 which in every generation may develop new dogmas1 plainly assigns a higher position in religion to man4 ,as regards simplicity of thought and worship1 there is clearly the same opposition between ,protestantism and ,catholicism that there was between ,judaism and ,paganism4 ,catholicism is remarkable more than ,protestantism for complexity of doctrine and sensuousness in worship4 ,we will now consider how far this opposition shows itself in their treatment of the great dogmas which nominally are common to them both4 ,the ,atonement being the chief ,jewish dogma of ,christianity1 we should expect it to be more prominent in ,protestantism than in ,catholicism4 ,and this is strictly the case4 ,catholicism lays no stress on the doctrine4 ,in a very able work by ,mr4 ,s4 ,baring-,gould1 which presents the religion of ,catholicism in its truest form1 the ,atonement is made simply symbolical1 and the death of ,christ is regarded as hardly necessary to his work4#ajh ,protestantism1 on the other hand1 makes the ,atonement its primary dogma4 8,the blood of ,jesus10 is its central cry4 ,it links the dogma with its distinctive doctrine2 justification by faith in the reconciling death of ,christ is the essence of its theology1 and sums up its multitudinous preaching4 ,we also find the great ,pagan dogma of ,christianity1 the ,incarnation1 more prominent in ,catholicism than in ,protestantism4 ,that ,god became man is the central assertion of ,catholicism1 on which it bases its higher estimation of human dignity4 ,this can plainly be seen in the work last referred to1 where the ,incarnation is regarded as the condition of theistic religion4#aji ,but it is still more evident in the tendency of ,catholic theology to exalt the divinity at the expense of the humanity of ,christ1 for manifestly the doctrine of the ,incarnation is expanded and made more important in proportion as the difference between it and the original ,jewish belief in the simple humanity of ,christ is increased4 ,the ,athanasian ,creed is thoroughly ,catholic1 and its definition of the nature of ,christ involves the destruction of his human personality4 ,catholic theologians have boldly adopted this conclusion1 and assert that his personality is wholly divine4#aaj ,instinctively the ,catholic always thinks of ,christ as ,god4 ,protestantism1 on the contrary1 never dwells on the ,incarnation4 ,the extreme ,evangelical sects1 in which its principles are fully developed1 are perpetually drifting towards ,unitarianism4 ,but1 as in the case of ,catholicism1 its interpretation of the doctrine best reveals its tendencies4 ,it exalts the humanity at the expense of the divinity of ,christ4 ,it holds him up as an example in a manner which implies his human personality4 ,instinctively the ,protestant always thinks of ,christ as man4 ,in their treatment of the ,eucharist the respective characteristics of ,catholicism and ,protestantism are also evident4 ,we have already seen the ,paganism of the ,catholic doctrine of the real presence4 ,equally the two ,protestant doctrines show the influence of ,judaism on ,christianity4 ,the first1 the ,evangelical doctrine1 which allows the ,eucharist no sacramental value1 and makes it simply a commemoration of the sacrament which accompanied the sacrifice of ,christ's death1 was probably the belief of the ,jewish ,church at its very beginning2 the second1 and more general one1 which asserts the real presence1 but only in a spiritual sense through the faith of the communicant1 we know to have been the belief of the later ,jewish ,church in the time of ,st4 ,paul4 ,if it were not for the pressure of ,catholicism1 it is likely that the second would be the doctrine of all forms of ,protestantism4 ,but when ,catholics have so exaggerated the real presence1 ,protestants1 by a natural reaction1 are tempted to deny it altogether4 ,thus the two systems of religion which ,christianity seemed to unite have plainly parted again4 ,the ,judaism in which it was born1 and the ,paganism in which it reached its maturity1 stand once more side by side4 ,and not merely does ,christianity reveal so manifestly that great opposing forces met in its history1 but in reality every important feature of the long course of development which has been the subject of our survey1 is recorded as clearly in its present structure as the chief conditions of the past evolution which has produced it are recorded in the structure of an animal organism4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,the ,,permanence ,,of ,,dogmatic ,,religion4 ,in the course of our inquiry1 one fact has been made strikingly manifest1 namely1 the persistence of religious ideas4 ,we found that ,christianity at its beginning was only the result of a tendency long latent in ,judaism1 that its doctrines were wholly ,jewish while its adherents were chiefly ,jews1 and that afterwards1 when ,pagans in large numbers entered the ,church1 they carried with them and made ,christian the principles of their ,pagan religions4 ,similarly we saw that no new religion was created by the ,reformation1 that it was merely an instance of reversion1 of the falling back of part of ,christianity to an older type4 ,in fact1 from our study of this subject1 we might conclude that religious ideas are practically indestructible1 or1 at least1 that they can only be modified by gradual processes working during long periods of time4 ,this conclusion would be unquestionably correct1 and it especially needs to be insisted on at the present moment4 ,a conviction is general among enlightened men that we are on the threshold of a great religious revolution1 which is to be effected by the speedy destruction of ,christianity and the consequent abolition of supernatural religion4 ,there seems to be some reason for this belief4 ,within the last half-century ,christianity has declined considerably4 ,thought and culture have broken loose from it4 ,fifty years ago the vast majority of the men of letters and science of ,europe professed some form of it2 now only a small minority do so1 and even this minority is steadily growing smaller4 ,we might predict with almost absolute certainty that fifty years hence hardly a single believer in dogmatic ,christianity will be found among the leading men of ,european literature and science4 ,christianity is dying at the top4 ,there is a certain resemblance between this state of things and the condition of the ,roman world at the time ,christianity was beginning to conquer it4 ,pagan religions then were dying at the top4 ,philosophers despised them and wits laughed at them2 the thought of the age was as completely agnostic as the thought of our own day is tending to become4 ,a thinker1 studying the phenomena of the period1 might then have reasonably concluded that supernatural religion was destined speedily to perish1 that1 as men of learning had abandoned it1 after a short time their views would spread downwards1 and be adopted by all classes of the people4 ,how exquisitely this conclusion would have been exposed by the irony of history6 ,ten centuries later the religious ideas then current among the populace were common to every class1 and the descendants and representatives of the philosophers who rejected super-naturalism were employing their philosophical powers in determining exactly the nature of angels4 ,perhaps the future is preparing a similar exposure for the philosophers of our own day1 who are confident that supernatural religion will soon be a curiosity of the past4 ,a few centuries hence1 if esoteric ,buddhism shall take the place of ,christianity1 perhaps philosophy will be engaged in explaining the meaning of 8karma10 and science will be occupied in ascertaining the exact nature of an astral body4 ,supernaturalism has just as much vitality now as it had a century after ,christ4 ,even if within the next few hundred years ,christianity were to become wholly extinct1 the ideas underlying it would simply be transferred to some other form of dogmatic religion4 ,the decline of ,christianity now1 like the decline of the ,paganism of the ,roman empire1 so far as it is real1 is the prelude to the formation of new religions4 ,if the support to which the religious ideas of a generation have attached themselves is overthrown1 they soon find another system to sustain them4 ,the fall of an old religion is the signal for the rise of a new4 ,signs of this transfer of religious allegiance are distinctly visible at present4 ,there is the same mixture of credulity and scepticism now that there was in the first century of the ,christian era4 ,we1 too1 have a philosophical class intensely sceptical1 but we also have a class of people who are eager votaries of new religions and excessively credulous4 ,the credulity of the many is the consequence of the scepticism of the few1 and is the mark of religious change4 ,it now characterizes those whose faith in ,christianity is shaken1 but in whom religious ideas are as strong as ever4 ,the religious ideas now embodied in ,christianity and stamped on the general mass of mankind come under the head of dogmatic supernaturalism2 they are most of them concerned with ,god1 personal immortality1 heaven1 and hell4 ,this dogmatic supernaturalism began with the earliest illusions which created religion thousands of years ago4 ,since then1 with every step of his upward progress1 man has been more and more the slave of religious dogma4 ,the higher religions of historical times have multiplied assertions about unknown phenomena2 ,christianity1 the highest of religions1 has done so most of all4 ,having inherited1 then1 this vast inheritance of belief in supernatural dogma1 which began to accumulate in the remotest ages1 and has since been enlarged and made sure by the great religion which for fifteen hundred years has been identified with the main civilization of the world1 how can men of our own day lightly shake off supernaturalism6 ,a few here and there1 as variations from the general type necessarily limited in number1 may manage to put it aside after a severe contest with the irrational instincts which they have inherited4 ,but so far as the mass of mankind are concerned1 ages must elapse before the work of ages can be undone4 ,just as in the first century the disbelief of philosophers had discredited the ,pagan religions1 so now the disbelief of men of thought is discrediting ,christianity4 ,and as a certain class of ,pagans then turned from the discredited religions to find another basis for their religious ideas1 so now a certain class of people are seeking a basis for their religious ideas apparently surer than discredited ,christianity4 ,there is a difference of degree between the two periods2 ,christianity is not yet as much discredited as the ,pagan religions were when it attacked them4 ,we have not yet reached the condition of the time when the mysteries were the last props of ,paganism1 and the importation of foreign religions was one of the recognized industries of ,rome4 ,but the seeds of the development of such phenomena are plainly visible4 ,spiritualism and the ,psychical ,research ,society are the rudiments of ,christian mysteries1 and certainly attempts on a small scale are being made to import religions into ,london from ,syria and ,india4 ,here in ,england between the large class of those who still believe in ,christianity and the small class of those who put the supernatural wholly aside lies the class1 continually increasing in numbers1 of those who have lost faith in ,christianity1 but have not lost faith in the ideas which form the essence of it4 ,books like 8,esoteric ,buddhism0 and ,mr4 ,laurance ,oliphant's 8,sympneumata0 are written for and by members of this class4 ,the absurd weakness of such attempts to give the supernatural a natural basis does not in the least detract from their popular power4 ,life is full of inevitable illusions1 and only a few are in a position to detect their illusive character4 ,in regard to these illusions1 the belief of the great majority of mankind must be determined by authority2 they can only choose between alternative authorities4 ,and their choice cannot rest on strong grounds of personal conviction4 ,the class of people just mentioned1 for instance1 who have lost faith in ,christianity1 for the most part could give but poor reasons for their refusal to accept its dogmas4 ,they simply feel that it is discredited1 and they do not like to be on the losing side4 ,any system which embodies their religious ideas1 and does not appear to be discredited1 they will believe in readily1 even though it has not a particle of evidence to support it4 ,moreover1 when men in general have to choose between authorities whose real weight they are not in a position to determine1 their wishes naturally affect their choice4 ,if one alternative is pleasanter than the other1 they are sure to decide in its favour4 ,take1 for instance1 the belief in personal immortality4 ,this rests on an illusion which can be seen through only by the exercise of a certain amount of philosophical imagination1 namely1 the impossibility of conceiving its own extinction inherent in the mind's consciousness of life4 ,as every one wishes to be immortal1 that is1 shrinks from the return to his pre-natal non-existence2 and as nearly every one1 besides1 has lost some loved relative or friend whose death he cannot bear to think of as a final effacement1 most people are quite ready to accept this illusion as valid evidence of the truth of the belief4 ,thus a religious system which asserts the immortality of the soul so far has mankind on its side4 ,and the long influence of ,christianity1 which from the beginning has been built on the doctrine of personal immortality1 has of course co-operated with its primary attractiveness in stamping it deeply on the nature of men of our times4 ,life seems unbearable to many people unless it is assumed to be true4 ,it is a prominent feature of all our new religious growths4 ,the ,psychical ,research ,society seeks to confirm it by the evidence of ghost-stories4 ,many generations will have to pass away before mankind in general can renounce it1 and till then1 if only to supply it with an apparent basis1 dogmatic religion must survive4 ,if the decline of ,christianity continues with the rapidity of the last half-century1 a perilous crisis lies before the population of the civilized world4 ,old religious ideas seeking a new basis will produce new upheavals of religious imagination1 and a period of intense superstition will ensue4 ,whatever might result from such a period1 in itself it could be nothing but evil1 a time of darkness and disquiet1 of relaxed morality and charlatan prophets4 ,fortunately the fall of ,christianity is not likely to be so rapid in the future2 the great mass of mankind may cling to it long after it has parted from the world's intellectual life4 ,the religion of the future certainly will not be the curious system of ,comte4 ,positivism is only a philosophy masquerading in the garb of a religion4 ,its fundamental principle is hopelessly at variance with the craving for supernatural dogma which has possession of ordinary men4 ,equally1 of course1 a refined ,christianity1 with the juice of dogma squeezed out1 cannot become the religion of mankind4 ,religious ideas need a dogmatic system1 and in some form or other their need is sure to be supplied4 ,indeed1 it is probable that dogmatic religion will always be a phenomenon of human life4 ,man framed it in the beginning1 and man is likely to preserve it to the end4 ,the conditions of existence secure it an assured tenure4 ,the actual business of living must occupy all the thoughts of the vast majority of men4 ,in regard to the matters which lie beyond this they can only walk by faith1 and the illusions of life furnish ample material for faith to work on4 ,a few may have the leisure to examine phenomena themselves1 and thus may attain freedom from the influence of illusion1 and may see things as they really are4 ,but they can never be more than an infinitesimal minority4 ,and so1 from generation to generation1 with the shadows of their hopes and fears1 their loves and hates1 men will people the impenetrable darkness which closes around the mystery of life4 ,,footnotes3 #a ,against ,apion1 ii4 #dj4 #b ,see ,kuenen's 8,religion of ,israel10 i4 #bbf 7,eng4 trans474 #c ,see ,gen4 xxxi4 #ec2 ,josh4 xxiv4 #ae2 ,judges xi4 #bd2 cf4 ,exod4 xv4 #aa4 #d ,ezekiel 7xx4 #h7 says they were corrupted by the ,egyptian religion1 but this is very improbable4 #e 8,religion of ,israel10 i4 #bha 7,eng4 trans474 #f ,see ,curtius1 8,hist4 of ,greece10 bk4 ii4 ch4 #d4 #g ,acts vii4 #bb4 #h ,see an article by ,professor ,huxley1 ,nineteenth ,century1 ,april1 #ahhf1 p4 #dih4 #i ,see1 in particular1 ,lev4 vi4 #a-g4 #aj ,jer4 vii4 #bb2 ,amos v4 #be4 #aa ,isa4 i4 #aa2 lxvi4 #a-d2 ,hos4 vi4 #f2 ,micah vi4 #f-h4 #ab ,isa4 xlv4 #ab4 #ac ,exod4 xix4 #e1 #f2 ,lev4 xxvi4 ,for correlative covenant1 see ,gen4 xxviii4 #bj1 #ba4 #ad 8,religion of ,israel10 ii4 #bfg 7,eng4 trans474 #ae ,lev4 v4 #aa1 #ab4 #af ,ibid4 xvi4 #ba1 #bb4 #ag ,heb4 ix4 #bb4 #ah #a ,sam4 viii4 #g4 #ai ,josh4 xxiv4 #ae4 #bj ,judg4 x4 #f4 #ba ,jer4 ii4 #bh4 #bb ,see ,kuenen1 8,religion of ,israel10 i4 #cfj 7,eng4 trans474 #bc ,isa4 i4 #aa4 #bd ,isa4 xli4 #h4 #be ,see ,exod4 xix4 #e1 #f4 #bf ,isa4 lix4 #a1 #b4 #bg ,see ,isa4 xlviii4 #ah1 #ai4 #bh ,for an endeavour to secure future obedience to the covenant1 see #b ,kings xi4 #ag4 ,from this idea that all ,israel's calamities were due to the violation of a divine covenant1 probably arose the ,jewish explanation of the 8origin of evil40 ,calamities in general falling on mankind they would naturally ascribe to the same cause1 namely1 the disregard of the commands of ,god4 ,hence the story of the fall of man as we have it in the opening chapters of ,genesis4 #bi ,jer4 xliv4 #ae-ai4 #cj ,isa4 xxx41 xxxi4 #ca #b ,kings xxiii4 #bi4 #cb ,for the influence of the captivity on ,judaism1 see ,ewald1 8,hist4 of ,israel10 v4 #bd1 seq4 7,eng4 trans471 and ,kuenen1 8,religion of ,israel10 ii4 #aci 7,eng4 trans474 #cc 8,history of ,israel10 ii4 #ce 7,eng4 trans474 #cd ,jer4 xiv4 #ai-bb4 #ce ,see ,ezekiel xxxvii4 #bd1 #be2 and cf4 ,micah v4 #b-i4 ,bethlehem1 as ,david's birthplace1 was to be the birthplace of ,david the ,messiah4 #cf ,ibid4 #cg ,jer4 xxxi4 #ca-cd4 #ch ,amos iii4 #b4 #ci ,isa4 ii4 #b-d2 xi4 #i1 #aj4 #dj ,ibid4 lx4 #c1 #aj1 #aa1 #ad1 #ae1 #ah4 #da ,ibid4 lxi4 #e1 #f4 #db ,jer4 xvi4 #ai4 #dc ,micah vi4 #f-h4 #dd ,isa4 lxvi4 #a-d4 #de ,see ,kuenen1 8,religion of ,israel10 iii4 #bgf 7,eng4 trans474 #df ,isa4 lxvi4 #ah-bc4 #dg ,isa4 lii4 #ad4 #dh ,see ,tobit iii4 #h4 ,how different from ,isa4 xlv4 #f1 #g4 #di #b ,macc4 xii4 #dc-de4 #ej ,see #a ,macc4 xiv4 #da4 #ea ,see ,ewald1 8,hist4 of ,israel10 v4 #cfj1 seq4 7,eng4 trans471 and ,kuenen1 8,religion of ,israel10 iii4 #bgg 7,eng4 trans474 #eb ,see ,milman1 8,hist4 of ,christianity10 i4 #hb4 #ec 8,religion of ,israel10 iii4 #bgc 7,eng4 trans474 #ed ,dan4 vii4 #ac1 #ad4 #ee ,see ,strauss1 8,new ,life of ,jesus10 sects4 #ch1 #ci4 #ef ,see ,strauss1 8,new ,life of ,jesus10 sect4 #cf4 #eg ,see ,matt4 xxvi4 #bf-bh1 and ,mark xiv4 #bb-bd2 ,luke xxii4 #ai1 #bj1 and #a ,cor4 xi4 #bc-be2 cf4 #a ,cor4 x4 #af4 #eh ,see ,exod4 xii4 #c-cj4 #ei ,isa4 liii4 #aj1 #ab4 #fj #a ,cor4 x4 #af4 #fa ,rom4 iii4 #bd1 #be2 v4 #f-aa2 viii4 #c2 #a ,thess4 iv4 #af1 #ag2 cf4 #a ,pet4 ii4 #bd4 #fb #b ,cor4 v4 #ai4 #fc ,isa4 lxv4 #ag2 cf4 ,rev4 xxi4 #a4 #fd ,see ,milman1 8,history of ,christianity10 i4 #cgh4 #fe #a ,thess4 v4 #a-aj4 #ff ,rom4 xi4 #be-bg4 #fg #a ,cor4 xv4 #fh ,rev4 xx41 xxi42 cf4 #b ,esdras vii4 #bh-cc4 #fi ,rom4 v41 vi4 #gj ,acts xvii4 #ah4 #ga #a ,cor4 xv4 #a-bj4 #gb ,see ,strauss1 8,new ,life of ,jesus10 section #di4 #gc ,see ,strauss1 8,new ,life of ,jesus10 section #ih2 #a ,cor4 xv4 #e-h4 #gd ,rom4 i4 #c1 #d4 #ge #a ,cor4 xv4 #de-di2 ,rom4 viii4 #af1 #ag4 #gf ,rom4 viii4 #c2 ,gal4 iv4 #d1 #e4 #gg ,see ,baur1 8,church ,history10 part iv41 and 8,life of ,paul10 part iii41 chaps4 vi4 and viii4 #gh #a ,cor4 viii4 #f4 #gi ,of course no importance can be attached to the 8,god blessed for ever0 of ,rom4 ix4 #e1 which either1 as is generally thought1 does not refer to ,christ at all1 or1 if it does1 is obviously a late interpolation suggested to the copyist by ,rom4 #a4 #be4 #hj ,see ,renan1 8,les ,aptres10 chap4 xvi4 #ha 8,history of ,rationalism10 ii4 #bjc4 #hb ,see ,kuenen1 8,religion of ,israel10 iii4 #bga 7#a-b474 #hc ,against ,apion1 ii4 #ag4 #hd 8,history of ,christianity10 i4 #id1 note4 #he ,matt4 #a4 #bc4 #hf ,see ,strauss1 8,new ,life of ,jesus10 section #ih4 #hg #a ,cor4 xv4 #d4 #hh ,hos4 vi4 #b4 ,it may also have been founded on the accepted date of the earliest vision4 #hi ,prov4 viii4 #bb-cj4 #ij ,ps4 xxxiii4 #f4 #ia ,there can be little doubt that in ,philo means the word rather than the reason of ,god4 ,he evidently used the term as a ,jew1 with the language of ,genesis in his mind4 ,this language itself is an interesting product of eastern anthropomorphism1 which naturally conceived ,god as working like a despot by simply issuing his commands4 #ib ,quis 444 ,heres1 #db4 #ic 8,religion of ,israel10 iii4 #bjb 7,eng4 trans474 #id ,the gospel being written in order to satisfy a need of the ,church1 it is obvious that this need would ensure its immediate acceptance4 ,the ,church was not likely to question the genuineness of a document which contained exactly what it required4 ,so we may safely assign the composition of the gospel a date immediately preceding that of the first trustworthy evidence of its existence4 #ie ,john i4 #a1 #c4 #if ,ibid4 i4 #ad4 #ig #a ,pet4 ii4 #bb-bd4 #ih ,rom4 viii4 #bf1 #bg4 #ii ,exod4 xxiii4 #bj-bc4 #ajj ,isa4 lxiii4 #i1 #aj2 ,haggai ii4 #e2 cf4 ,neh4 ix4 #bj4 ,it was probably with reference to the storm as the most destructive phenomenon of nature that the name 8breath of ,god0 was given to the angel commissioned by him to destroy the enemies of his people4 #aja ,milman1 8,history of ,christianity10 i4 #ceb4 #ajb 8,essence of ,christianity10 chap4 xv4 #ajc ,see ,eusebius1 8,ecclesiastical ,history10 bk4 vi4 chap4 #cg4 #ajd #a ,cor4 xi4 #bi4 #aje ,the origin of this doctrine must not be confused with the scholastic defence of it4 #ajf 8,essence of ,christianity10 chap4 vi4 #ajg ,before the beginning of this period1 ,christianity was inspired chiefly by the hope of gaining heaven2 since the beginning of it1 ,christianity has been inspired chiefly by the hope of escaping hell4 #ajh 8,the ,origin and ,development of ,religious ,belief10 ii4 #cjg seq4 #aji 8,the ,origin and ,development of ,religious ,belief10 vol4 ii4 ch4 #g4 #aaj ,see ,liddon's 8,bampton ,lectures10 p4 #bei seq41 #gth edit4 ,,the ,,end4 ,,printed ,,by ,,william ,,clowes ,,and ,,sons1 ,,limited1 ,,london ,,and ,,beccles4