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From the Library of
Rev. Henry H. Washburn
19 \2

THE DOCTKINE
OF THE INCAENATION
OF OTJE LOED JESUS CHEIST.

THE DOCTEINE OF

THE INCARNATION

OUE LOED JESUS OHEIST,

Relation to lltimkmlr smtr ta fy& Cjjtojj.

BY
The late AECHDEACON WILBEEFOECE, A.M.

"Ad imaginem Dei faotus est homo, ilia imagine qua postea homo factus
est Deus." — S. Atjottstinits.

" Corpus regenerati fit caro crueifbd." — S. Leo.

LONDON :
MOZLEY & SMITH, 6, PATEENOSTEE EOW.
1879.

LONDON :
PABDON AND SON, PRINTERS,
PATERNOSTER ROW.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION.
THE YEARNINGS OF HUMANITY AFTEE A DIVINE DEMVEKEE.
The G-ospel opens with a Personal Deliverer. Previous anticipations of a
Divine Helper. The Divine Power associated by Greeks with Beauty
of Form : by Orientals with Immensity. The Incarnation the setting
forth of an external Saviour.
The subject divided into two main parts — First, the Doctrine of the In
carnation in itself ; Secondly, the Benefits which mankind receive by
it. The necessity of believing in the existence of a Saviour as an
actual object, external to our minds  Pages 1 — 6
CHAPTER I.
CHRIST THE PATTEEN MAN; THE ITEST FETJITS AND BEGINNING OF THE
NEW CEEATION.
The inquiry begins with Christ's Human Nature. Christ the Pattern
Man. The principles of humanity find their perfection in Him.
Illustration — from the feelings of loyalty, and the endowments of
genius.
Christ the Pattern of Humanity, not only through the development of its
natural powers, but also through the introduction into it of what is
supernatural. The first, the fundamental principle of Rationalism;
the second of the Church — the first built on Pantheism, the second on
the Incarnation. Christ the perfection of Manhood by Office, Nature,
and Sympathy  Pages 6 — 1 1
CHAPTER II.
THE OFFICE OF CHRIST AS THE PATTEEN MAN MARKED OUT IN
ANCIENT SCRIPTURE.
Scripture testified from the first that the restoration of man's race would
be effected through some principle working within it.
Indefinite expectations of the Patriarchal age. This inward principle,
identified with that external gift, which was to be bestowed through
the seed of Abraham. Personal character of the heir of David's
throne. The Prophets reveal more fully the coming exaltation of
man's nature through its single representative and head, the Son of
Man  Pages 11 — 21

vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
CHEIST THE PATTEEN WAN BY NATURE.
Christ the Son of Man, as no other could be, through the constitution of
His nature. This built on two considerations — First, The nature of
that Humanity which was taken by Christ : Secondly, His manner of
taking it.
I. Nature shows itself by continuity of type in animals and in men. Its
assertion not open to the charge of Realism. It depends upon the
law of organization, by which every race of animated beings is bound
together.
Limits of Traducianism and Creatianism. The whole race of man one,
through the community of nature. Testimony to its unity in Scrip
ture. This common nature taken by Christ. His consequent relation
to all mankind.
II. When Christ took our nature He became its representative, because
He was the second Adam. Adam the type of man's race — First,
because the father of all ; Secondly, because the model on which all
are formed. The same two things found in Christ.
How Adam was the type on which humanity was formed. Purity of
those principles of body, soul, and spirit which have been perverted
in his descendants. A divine light needed for their guidance. This
light connected with that image of God which supplied the whole
perfection of humanity. Three especial effects of God's image. The
principle of conscience a remnant of it. This gift of a divine light
perfectly given back to humanity in Christ.
Christ consubstantial with our nature, but without sin : — inference re
specting man's sinfulness. Christ the new Adam, because all which
was designed for humanity in the First Man is attained in the Second.
Man's nature recapitulated in Christ. The expectation of man sur-

The evil of idolatry, whether material or mental, is that God's image is
lost sight of  Pages 22 — 58
CHAPTER IV.
CHRIST THE PATTEEN MAN IN SYMPATHY.
Our Lord had a real human character — such as suited the Pattern Man —
both in body and mind.
His Body shown to sympathize with, ours by the circumstances of His
Life. That His Body was that of the Pattern Man, shown in four
things — freedom from sickness — power over animals — freedom from
death — His being the source of life to others.
The reality of His human mind shown in respect of the will and of the
understanding. — His will assailed like ours. But the only will since
Adam's which ever possessed perfect freedom. — Our Lord's manhood
not positively ignorant, but ignorant as man, or so far as concerns

CONTENTS. vii
those means of knowledge whioh men employ. The true source of
perfect knowledge — intercourse with God — was first restored to men
in Him.
The perfection of Christ's sympathy and the universality of His human
mind, the consequences of His being truly a man, and yet the Pattern
Man  Pages 58 — 78
CHAPTER V.
OUE LOED IS GOD THE WOED, VERY GOD OF VERY GOD.
Wonderful nature of this truth. The only explanation, however, of other
mysteries.
Our Lord's Deity the key to all the Creeds. To trace the manner in
which they arose out of it, the best method of appreciating it. Its
full relations communicated to the Apostles by immediate Inspiration
¦ — to their successors, by the teaching of the Spirit. The Early
Church not only a witness to facts, but possessed of authority, because
guided by the Holy Ghost. The Creeds stand on the united force of
historical testimony and divine teaching. Need of the perpetual
counterpoise of written Scripture. Advantage of profiting by the
religious growth of the Church's mind. The Church's whole system
of doctrine elicited by its defence of the truth, that Christ was the
God-man. His Manhood especially assailed in the Second Century.
His GodMad in the Third and Fourth. In the Fifth the Personal
Unity of His two natures.
Century Second. Ebionites deny Our Lord's Godhead, Gnostics His Man
hood. Justin Martyr maintains Our Lord' s Godhead — from prophecy
¦ — from the doctrine of the Logos, as the wisdom of God. Christ's
pre-existence — His independence of the Creation.
Deeper arguments of St. Irenseus, in his defence of Our Lord's Manhood.
The Logos, the representative of the moral attributes of God, as op-
fosed to the Gnostic notion, that God's essence consisted in mere
nfinity. Our Lord really a man, because the New Head of man's
race. Proofs of TTir true humanity — First, from His atoning death ;
Secondly, from His real union with men in the Holy Communion.
The elements employed in this feast bread and wine ; its object to
unite men to the manhood of Christ.
Century Third. Objections brought against Our Lord's Godhead, from
its alleged inconsistency with the Divine Unity. The arguments
which had been adduced for Our Lord's Divinity, from the relation
of the Logos to the Divine Attributes — and from His mission to create
the world — are found, if taken by themselves, to be insufficient. The
first, by allowing the Word to be supposed a, mere character of
Godhead, would leave an opening for Sabellianism — the second, by
exhibiting TTim as an inferior minister, would- leave an opening for
Arianism.
Anticipation of the right answer in St. Irenseus. The Son personally
distinguished from the Father, in Himself, and independently of the
world. The Son of one substance with the Father [Tertullian]. Bound
to the Father by eternal generation [Origen].

viii ' CONTENTS.
The Antenicene writers were not in error respecting Our Lord's nature.
Three Local Councils held in the Third Century — two which opposed
opinions having a Sabellian, one those which had an Arian tendency.
Century Fourth. Arian and Sabellian 'Heresies condemned in General
Councils of Nice and Constantinople. Teaching of St. Athanasius.
.The Doctrine of the Trinity, the. assertion of some real mystery in the
nature of God. Not a contradiction in terms, though beyond our
comprehension. One God, yet truly Three Persons. To explain away
the Doctrine of the Three Divine Persons the more prevalent danger
at present. This error was guarded against in early times, because
the Church started from the worship of Incarnate God, and the
existence of separate Personalities in the Godhead is a necessary pre
requisite to the Incarnation. But unless the discriminating condition
of such Personalities is laid in the nature of Godhead itself, their
reality will evaporate either in Arianism or Sabellianism.
The Incarnation, therefore, involves the Eternal Sonship of the Word.
That the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity should have undertaken
to become Incarnate, the result of His original nature. The Son the
natural representative of the Father's moral attributes, and His
natural object of contemplation. Hence the doctrine of the Divine
Coinherence. Its relation to the Christian notion of the moral nature
of God.
Thus the single truth of the Divine Incarnation leads up to the conclusion
that the Ever-Blessed Trinity does not exist for the sake of the world,
but in and for itself, and therefore is the ultimate cause and object of
all existence  Pages 78 — 123

CHAPTER VI.
THE UNITY OF PERSON BETWEEN GOD THE WOED AND THE SON OF MAN.
The Personal Oneness of Godhead and Manhood in Christ, not less essen
tial to His Office than the reality of each nature. The reality of
Christ's two natures assailed in the fifth century : His Godhead by the
Nestorians — His Manhood by the Eutychians. Councils of Ephesus
and Chalcedon.
Error of Nestorius to deny that the Son of Mary was truly God. By
denying the distinction between nature and personality, he excluded
the possibility of a union between God and man. This union prac
tically testified by the Holy Communion.
The Hypostatical union the real presence in one person of two distinct
natures, Godhead and Manhood. The Personality of Christ lies in the
former. But an intimate connection obtains between His two natures.
From which connection comes the ennobling of humanity. Effect
which one nature produced upon the other.
Thp exaltation which Christ bestowed upon man's nature, as God, by His
Incarnation, distinct from that which, as man, He procured for it by
His Obedience. The exaltation of Manhood in the Incarnation
limited only by the conditions of the Created nature. To omit this

CONTENTS. ix
limitation, as done by Eutyohes, entails the very same result which
was arrived at by Nestorius— the denial of a true union between God
and man. For He could not be the representative of man, if Manhood
was swallowed up in Godhead.
The Descent of Our Lord's human soul into Hell, sets forth the permanence
of His humanity. Opinion of Monothelites really involves the evils-
of the system of Eutyches. Remarkable durability of these heresies.
Honour conferred on humanity by the Incarnation . Pages 123 — 143

CHAPTER VII.
OUE LORD'S MEDIATION THE CONSEQUENCE OF HIS INCARNATION.
Our Lord's Mediation is not a work which is arbitrarily undertaken, but
results from His being the real medium through whom Godhead has-
been pleased to communicate with Manhood. Our Lord's nature
made the basis of the Creeds, because His offices are dependent upon
it. By virtue of His Mediation He is the sole channel of intercourse
between God and Man. And must so continue during His mediatorial
kingdom  Pages 144—149

CHAPTER VIII.
OUR LORD'S ACTS OF MEDIATION PREVIOUSLY TO HIS ASCENSION; OR HIS-
TEACHING, HIS EXAMPLE, AND HIS SACRIFICE.
Our Lord's Mediation may be viewed in reference either to God or to
man. Our Lord's teaching and example renders men conscious of
truths which their own hearts witness.
The characteristic of Our Lord's acts towards God was Obedience. The
crowning act of obedience, His Death. This the true ransom for
man, of which all sacrifices were typical. Burnt-offerings, Sin-offerings,
and Peace-offerings, have their completion in Him. His work of
redemption a real work, making a difference in the relations between
God and Man.
Both the Divine and Human Nature in Christ contribute to the work of
redemption. The Divine nature renders Our Lord a fitting Priest, and.
a sufficient victim. — His Human nature gives mankind a participation
in His work.
Without venturing to pronounce a priori on the necessity of Our Lord's
sacrifice, we find in it a revealed example of God's justice. The
justice of Our Lord's answering for men, as being the Head of man's-
race, with whom the whole race is actually connected. St. Anselm's
reason why fallen spirits not salvable  Pages 149 — 166

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.
¦OF OUR LORD'S ACTS OF MEDIATION, SUBSEQUENTLY TO HIS ASCENSION,
AND FIRST OF HIS INTERCESSION.
¦Christ our perpetual Advocate in Heaven, How His Godhead and His
Manhood conjoin in this service. Difficulty of realizing it as a, present
work. Yet such belief results from accepting Christ's Incarnation
as a reality. Infidelity on this subject, owing in part to a covert
Socinianism or Sabellianism.
¦Christ's Intercession in heaven, exhibited figuratively in the Book of
Revelation — argumentatively in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The
consequent oneness of that service which is offered by the whole
Church on earth. To pray for the sake of Christ is to trust to that
Intercession which He makes as the God-man . . Pages 166 — 179

CHAPTER X.
OUR LORD'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE AS MEDIATOR WITH MEN.
All Christ's acts towards man since His Ascension are summed up in His
Presence as the God-man : i.e. in such presence as implies the action
of His human as well as of His Divine nature. *
I. Christ's Presence with His people implies the Presence of His Hu
manity, because that which departed at His Ascension was thus given
back ; and because it is a presence in some places, and under certain
conditions, whereas Godhead, taken by itself, is everywhere present.
•Objections drawn, first, from the coming of the Holy Ghost ; secondly,
from God's peculiar presence under the ancient Covenant.
Answer to the first objection postponed ; answer to the second — that all
those media of intercourse, which God was previously pleased to
adopt, are superseded by the real Mediation of the God -man. The
efficacy of prayer depends upon His Presence as man, because upon
His Mediation.
II. Christ's Presence as man not carnal, or material, but spiritual.
Material substances are present in place and by contact. Spiritual
substances not subject to these laws. Our Lord's material body in
heaven. Its presence upon earth through spiritual power.
Spiritual not less real than material presence. Spiritual not the same
thing as figurative. Our Lord's spiritual presence does not depend
upon the conceptions of men, but implies a real power, resulting from
the influence of His Godhead.
III. The Presence of Christ shown to be the Presence of His Manhood,
because the office of the Holy Ghost is to unite men to it. The
coming of the Holy Ghost is the undertaking this office. Therefore,
the Holy Ghost said to be sent by the Incarnate Son.
By this means does the co-operation of the Holy Ghost in the Mediatorial
office of the Son consist with their Personal distinctness.
IV. The benefits of that union with Christ's manhood, which it is the
office of the Holy Ghost to effect, must be real, and not technical or
artificial.

CONTENTS. xi
Man's salvation dependent on those graces, which had their fountain
and well-head in the Head and Pattern of our race, the Man Christ
Jesus. The manner in which they are transmitted from Him to
others inscrutable, but parallel to the transmission of natural powers.
The last Adam a quickening spirit. His Manhood the vine in which
we are branches.
Adam the perfection of nature ; Christ, according to His Manhood, the
perfection of grace, in whom Manhood was perfected and purified.
This renders Him the continual Mediator between God and Man,
through whom the gifts bestowed by the one flow into the other.
The denial of this function of Christ's Manhood is intimately connected
either with the Arian or the Sabellian heresy. Evils of either
alternative  Pages 179 — 211
CHAPTER XI.
CHEIST IS PRESENT WITH MEN IN HIS CHUECH OE BODY MYSTICAL.
Objective nature of this inquiry. Intimate union between Christ and His
Church. As shown by Scriptural expressions respecting His Body.
A real relation between His Body Natural and His Body Mystical.
The Church's Unity the result of this relation.
Thfe assertion of the Church's Unity in Scripture and the Creed, shows it
not to be an accidental circumstance, but a fundamental principle —
the result of organization, not of enactment. Its rule and origin is the
harmony of Persons in the Blessed Trinity. The unity which exists
above is extended to mankind in Church-union, through the Mediation
of Christ.
This system no abridgment of man's liberty, because it does not pre
clude the actings of God on individual minds. But those who under
stand the nature of Christ's Mediation as the God-man cannot safely
overlook it.
Result of addressing God as the Ultimate Spirit of the Universe, inde
pendently of Sacramental system, as done by the Quakers. Since the
channel of Mediation is opened to us through the Manhood of Christ,
to leave His Manhood out of account in our approach to God, even
though we used His name, would be to pass over His Mediation. Evil
of allowing internal emotions, or anything by which we draw near to
Christ, to supersede those external ordinances by which Christ draws
near to us. Testimony of Hooker and Jackson.
The history of Fox, the founder of the Quakers, shows the manner in
which the notion of an immediate intercourse with God, through the
self -originating action of the mind, leads to a. forgetfulness of that
Mediation of Christ which He discharges as the God-man. Coin
cidence between his principle and the Sabellian theory, which destroys
the permanence of the union between the Son of God and the Son
of Man.
Other examples of the connexion between the full recognition of Our
Lord's nature and the doctrines of grace. Schleiermacher denies the
existence of any real relation between the Mystical Body of Christ and
His Body Natural. His opinion traced to his denial of that diversity

xii CONTENTS.
¦ of Persons in the Trinity, which is a necessary pre-requisite to a per
manent union between Godhead and Manhood in Christ. Archbishop
Whately's tendency to represent the Church as a technical system of
restrictions, rather than as the effect of Christ's Presence by Grace.
To recognise Christ's Mediation through His Man's nature, as the Foun
tain of Grace, is the right security against the error of putting the
Church in the place of Christ : it supplies the principle of Church-
Communion and of Church- Obedience ... . . Pages 211 — 239

CHAPTER XII.
OF COMMON WOESHIP AS A MEANS OF UNION WITH THE MYSTICAL
BODY OF CHEIST.
I. Common Worship the natural voice and action of the Christian
Community.
II. Its intimate connexion with the very essence of Christianity, shown
by its maintenance in early times, even when forbidden by law, and
not directly commanded in Scripture.
III. The advantage possessed by Israelites was that opportunity of access
to God which was maintained by their Public Ritual. In which
even those who were unavoidably absent from the Temple had an
interest.
IV. The like advantage secured for Christians through that Communion
in Church Offices whereby they participate in the Mediation of Christ.
This privilege men cannot enjoy except as members together in the
Body of Christ. Christ's Intercession is especially on behalf of His
Body Mystical.
Since Christ's Intercession is a perpetual work, the mean whereby it is
perpetually participated is essential. But the Sacrifice of the Holy
Communion, which is the act whereby it is especially participated, is
a federal act, and therefore implies participation in Common Worship.
In what Sense the Holy Communion is truly the Christian Sacrifice. This
character belongs to it in consequence of its connexion with the
offering of Christ's Body upon the Cross once for all. This Body
present materially in heaven. Christ's sacrificial acts above are parti
cipated in by Christians through the sacrificial acts of His ministers.
Objection 1st — That this is not to ascribe sufficient reality to the Sacri
fice of the Eucharist. But it is to make it as truly a sacrifice as the
Passover. The reality of its sacrificial character depends upon the
reality of those functions which Christ continues to discharge as the
God-man.
Objection 2nd — That too much reality is hereby ascribed to the Sacrifice
of the Eucharist. For it is alleged that the existence of a Sacerdotal
system in the Church is — First, inconsistent with the privileges of
Christians— and Secondly, incompatible with the prerogative of Christ.
But First, the privileges of Christians arise from that union with the
Manhood of Christ which is maintained by the Sacerdotal system —
Secondly, to suppose that a Sacerdotal system is incompatible with
the prerogative of Christ, would be to assign too little to Christ, and

CONTENTS. xiii
too much to men. For it would be to suppose that Christ's Mediation
is not real, which it is — and that men's Mediation was real, which it
was not. The Jewish sacrifices and priesthood depended for their
whole efficaoy on Christ — and the reality of the Christian Sacrifice
arises from the perpetuity of Christ's Intercession for that Mystical
Body, to which men are associated in Common Worship.
V. Scripture witnesses to the existence of » Christian Ministry, by the
agency whereof men are joined to the humanity of Christ. The nature
of this Ministry gathered from the practice of the Apostles. Apos
tolical Succession the safest course.
Abandonment of the Apostolical Succession has usually been followed by
a disbelief in the reality of those means whereby union with Christ as
the God-man is maintained. The absence of a public Liturgy has con
tributed to the same result. Consequent loss of the real dignity
of Christian privileges, as dependent on Communion with Christ, the
Incarnate Head  Pages 239 — 274

CHAPTER XIII.
OF SACRAMENTS AS MEANS OF UNION WITH THE MANHOOD OF
CHRIST.
Sacraments " the Extension of the Incarnation.'''' Their object is — First,
to be "badges or tokens of Christian men's profession ;" Secondly, to
be channels of Grace. They have the advantage of being a comfort in
doubt, without ministering to pride.
The prejudice against Sacraments as an arbitrary appointment vanishes,
if we remember that their essence is to be the means by which the
members of Christ are united to their Head. While other means of
grace result from union with Christ, they effect it. For such a work
their compound nature gives them a singular congruity. Man's whole
being requires to be united to Christ.
Graces flow into humanity, because first concentrated in the Person of
Christ. A just appreciation of what was present in Him, connected
with a true belief of what is communicated to us. The mode of com
munication spiritual and not material.
The benefit of Sacraments does not result from the inherent efficacy of
the elements themselves, either in Baptism or the Lord's Supper — for,
First, the elements would not gain more Sacramental virtue through
any material transmutation ; and, Secondly, such an opinion would
withdraw men from that reference to the Person of Christ which is the
essence of the Sacrament. Testimony of St. Jerome and St. Augustin.
We do not understand the natural, much less the supernatural effect of
the elements.
The benefit of Sacraments results from the spiritual influence of Christ,
with whom they bring us into connexion. Two senses in which the
word spiritual is used — one subjective and metaphorical, the other
objective and real. The latter sense is intended in this case, because
Christ, with whom we are brought into connexion by immaterial in
fluence, is an actual Being external to us.

xiv CONTENTS.
Baptism stated in Scripture to effect our first union with Christ. Objec
tions drawn — first, from Calvinistic Doctrine of Decrees ; secondly,
from the want of visible results. But,
First, the statement of Scripture that Baptism is the means of original
union with Christ, is not more inconsistent with Calvinistic decrees,
than its general invitations to repentance.
Secondly, the common want of effect may arise from want of faith, and is
not more than was exhibited in Adam.
The statements of the Liturgy respecting Baptism are not merely hypo
thetical — because an assertion, not a hope ; and because they speak of
its present effect, not its future consequences. Their rejection involves
the Pelagian hypothesis, that the first movement towards men's salva
tion comes from themselves. Christian education proceeds on the
supposition that grace has already been given.
The Lord's Supper a real participation of Christ. The sixth chapter of
St. John has a prophetic relation to it. It was not ministered until
the Holy Ghost had been pleased to become the means of union
between Christ's manhood and His mystical members.
To deny the reality of Sacraments is to supersede the action of Christ as
Mediator between God and man  Pages lib — 311

CHAPTER XIV.
CHRIST AS MEDIATOR THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE TO
MANKIND.
General effects of the system of Mediation upon the position of mankind.
The gifts of holiness and knowledge bestowed through this channel.
First — Civil institutions have been supposed capable of securing them.
The principles of Rationalism suppose man united to God through the
gifts bestowed on him at Creation, and by the mere exercise of thought.
Failure of the attempt, for want of some power which may recover
what in Adam was lost.
Secondly — Religious institutions looked to with the same view. But
these, so far as they are true, refer to Him who by His nature is the
only real Mediator. All gifts, therefore, of Holiness and Truth come
through Him.
I. Holiness has its source in God. Bestowed through the Mediator on
man. So far as it is perfect, it is imparted ; but the infused holiness,
which is necessary to salvation, has likewise its life from the fountain
from which it is derived.
II. Truth has its source in God. Like Holiness, it is bestowed upon
fallen man through the Mediator, and is both imparted, and infused, or
engrafted.
The imparted truth depends on that Personal Word, who has become In
carnate to instruct men. His Gospel the final system of truth. The
Holy Scriptures its written expression. St. Optatus's testimony.
The engrafted truth is that power of spiritual discernment which the In
carnate Word communicates to His mystical Body. That the external

CONTENTS. xv
record of imparted truth, i.e., Holy Scripture, cannot be understood
without that engrafted truth or internal prinoiple of spiritual illumina
tion, which God the Son bestows upon His Mystic Body, is shown —
First, by the common use of the term "Word" in both cases;
Secondly, by consideration of the revealed office of the Mediatorial
Word, whose record Holy Scripture is, in guiding the Body of Christ
into all truth by His Spirit. So that the Word engrafted, which
dwells in the Body Mystical, is essential to the understanding of that
Word imparted, which is communicated through the Scriptures.
Objection 1st— That since the Word conveys its imparted gifts through
written documents, to assert the engrafted Word to be necessary to its
understanding, interferes with the prerogative of reason. But,
First — To admit reason to be, in itself, exclusively of God's engrafted
wisdom, a competent judge of all truth, is inconsistent with belief in
any objective system of revelation. That some reference must be made
to the principle of reason is the necessary result of human responsi
bility. [Duty of Private Judgment.] But the reasoning faculty,
which claims to be independent of God's engrafted wisdom, must be
such a principle as refuses to acknowledge any authority except its
own. [Right of Private Judgment.] It rests its conclusions, there
fore, either on the senses of which it makes use [Sensualism of Locke] -r
or on the senses, together with the inward constitution of the mind,
[Intellectualism of Kant.] In either case it cannot rise to that which
is higher than itself, i.e., to God's revelation.
Secondly — The limits under which reason may be safely exercised are
found by considering that Divine things cannot enter the mind except
through 'some faculty which supplies means of communing with
external truth. Such a faculty is Faith. Faith is an original source
of knowledge, and co-ordinate with reason — it limits the authority of
reason while it increases its sphere of knowledge.
Faith depends on the laws of that common nature of man which testifies
to its authority. How this nature was ascertained by Heathen
Moralists. Natural types of excellence exhibited only what man
possessed by Creation, which ends in Rationalism. Christian faith
rests on the higher estate to which nature is elevated, because parti
cipated by that Divine type of humanity, the Second Adam. Christian
Faith therefore depends on the laws of that renewed nature, which,
through Mediation, has been bestowed upon the Mystical Body of
Christ. From union with this Mystical Body of the Church, are
derived those fundamental principles, which form the basis of Christian
reasoning respecting questions of religion.
To assert, therefore, that the Word engrafted is needful to the compre
hension of the Word imparted, or that truth is attained through the
teaching of that Spirit which dwells in the Body of Christ, is not to
interfere with the due province of reason, but to enable reason to attain
its full perfection by the aid of Christian Faith.
Respect for the engrafted Word has always been found to keep pace with
reverence for the Word imparted. The Inspiration of Scripture and
the Church's Authority have stood or fallen together. Cpmrnon
theories of Inspiration unsatisfactory. Those who would draw their

xvi .CONTENTS.
system of truth by mere logical deduction from the text of Scripture,
require to discover one which is more satisfactory. None has been put
forward by the Church, because her system of interpretation is not
built on man's logic, though not contrary to it, but on the gift of the
engrafted Word.
Objection 2nd — That to suppose the engrafted Word, dwelling in the
Church, to be essential to the understanding of the Scripture or Word
imparled, is inconsistent with the claims of individual illumination.
Preliminary admission that the excepted cases, in which God bestows an
especial gift of guidance, will be numerous. But this does not pre
clude the existence of a ride. General effect produced by the Church's
testimony in maintaining the standard of opinion. For,
First — To allow private illumination to be a sufficient judge of -the Word
imparted, without reference to that Word engrafted which dwells in
the body of the Church, is incompatible with the authority of Scrip
ture — Proof of this in the case of Semler and of Fox — for it depends
on the notion of an immediate intercourse between God and man,
which may dispense as well with the Word imparted as with the
Word engrafted.
Secondly — The due guard to private illumination is its subordination to
the system of Mediation, which supposes that gifts are bestowed
through the dwelling of the Word engrafted in the Body of Christ.
'To admit Church authority, therefore, is to allow that truth is not
derived from man's natural intercourse with his Maker, but through
the channel of the one Mediator. Its security His promise of per
petual presence with His Body Mystical. The applicability of the rule
impaired but not destroyed by the Church's divisions. Unity as
essential to the Church's perfection as holiness . . Pages 312 — 363

CHAPTER XV.
CONCLUSION.
That the Doctrine of Our Lord's Humanity is not duly appreciated,
appears,
First — From the practical forgetfulness of the doctrine of future
judgment, which will be exercised by Christ with the reality which is
suggested to us by His Man's nature.
Secondly— From the neglect of those seasons of the Christian year by
which the acts of Christ as Mediator are commemorated ; as those of
the Creator were by the Jewish Festivals. The Lord's Day a Christian
and not a Jewish Sabbath.
Thirdly — From the infrequency of Sacraments and Public Worship.
Need of some principle of union amidst the increasing turmoil of the
age  Pages 363—370

THE DOCTEINE

INCAENATION OF OUE LOED JESUS CHEIST.

INTEODUCTION.
V" THE YEARNINGS OF HUMANITY AFTER A DIVINE DELIVEEEE.
" The Boole of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David."
Thus does the later volume of Eevelation usher in the advent of
Him on whom its mysteries and blessings are dependent. The
Gospel, like the Church's year, begins with the coming of the
Son of God in the flesh. And so is it with the first-placed of
the Epistles. It begins by declaring that the Gospel of God
concerns " His Son Jesus Christ Our Lord, which was made of
the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the
Son of God with power." Thus personal is the dispensation of
the Gospel. It rests not, like the theories of Eationalistic philo
sophy, on the self-relying development of man's inherent powers,
but on the advent of an external Saviour. And herein it ful
filled the darling anticipations of man's heart, which for four
thousand years had been yearning after the expected birth of
some deliverer — of some one who might redress the miseries
which afflicted every station, age, and country, and give reality
B

2 YEARNINGS AFTER
to that golden dream, which lived in the consecrated traditions
of the past, and the inspired imaginations of the future.
Now this service, as men's natural conscience testified, could
be effected only by some one who was above themselves : for
what was witnessed by the traditions of primitive antiquity had
been confirmed by the experience of forty centuries. And hence
arose the two great systems of religion, by which the East and
West were distinguished from each other. The intellectual yet
sensitive Greek, surrounded by all the forms of natural beauty,
exalted the deified inhabitants of his Olympus into the courts of
heaven, and looked to the advocacy of these favoured represen
tatives of humanity. Lie deum vitam accipiet, divisque videbit
Permixtas heroas, et ipse videbitur illis.
Hence the Anthropomorphism of the western world. If men
had become gods, there was hope that the inferior might, in some
way, be benefited by the superior nature. And the same feel
ing, though acting in an opposite direction, possessed the more
thoughtful sages of Asia. Eor the original character of our race,
which could not be altogether effaced from men's minds, was
moulded according to the situation and habits of nations. In
the boundless plains of the East, where man seemed nothing in
the face of the immensity of nature, there was still the same
longing for the patronage of some higher being, which, by con
descending to the weakness of our race, might work its welfare.
Such help men hoped to find in those mighty principles which
lay hid in the powers of organized nature. Hence the Avatars of
Vishnoo, and the worship of every varied form, under which
were personified the principles of the physical creation. The
same thing may be seen in the purer worship of ancient Persia.
" The kingdoms of Ormusd and Ahriman are in continual contest
with one another ; but Ahriman will hereafter be conquered •
the reign of darkness will be altogether at an end ; the rule of
Ormusd will be universally extended; and an all-embracing

A DIVINE DELIVERER. 3
kingdom of light will alone remain."1 All these conceptions
imply the conviction that man's evils could not be redressed,
unless some power from above should stoop to meet him, and
they testify to the same need which was felt by the less
abstracted Greek, for union with the Most High.
This deep-rooted feeling, which had maintained its place in
the two grand branches of the family of Japheth, as their borders
had been enlarged through the East and West, was to be satis
fied only when they took up their dwelling in the tents of Shem,
and paid fealty to the God of Abraham. Hitherto " the earnest
expectation of the creature," had been waiting " for the manifes
tation of the sons of God." But " when the fulness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." 3 Through
this gift was that end attained, after which humanity had been
yearning. In Him at once it came to pass, that " truth shall
flourish out of the earth, and righteousness hath looked down
from heaven." Eor thus did a higher Being enter into relations
with mankind, and set Himself forth as their deliverer.
Thus does Our Lord's coming in the flesh lie at the very
beginning of the Gospel. It is stated in the first pages of Eeve-
lation — it answers to the first wants of men. To this truth,
then, it is proposed to draw attention in the following pages.
TJie Incarnation will be set forth as the great objective fact of
Christianity. It will be shown in what manner Our Lord's
Mediation is built upon His participation in man's nature. Eor
as such participation was essential to that one Sacrifice upon the
Cross, on which rests the efficacy, not only of His Church's per
petual services, but of His own Intercession at the heavenly
altar, so also has His human nature become the channel through
which all gifts of grace are bestowed upon men. The subject
divides itself naturally into two parts— first, the Doctrine of the
Incarnation itself; and secondly, the benefits which mankind
1 Zendavesta, quoted in Heeren's Ideen, i. 446.
a Gal iv. 4.

4 YEARNINGS AFTER
receive by it. Such an inquiry, unless the writer is mistaken,
will suit the wants of the present day. Eeligion being a divine
reality, implies the truth of certain outward facts, external to
ourselves, which have an existence independent of our thoughts,
and are the objects of our consideration. Neither can it flourish,
unless the subjective action of our thoughts be maintained by
the presence of such objective realities. Eor example, we are
justified by faith in Christ. Now, as faith is a process in our
own minds, to discriminate between a true or living faith, and a
dead or feigned one, is to inquire into the subjective part of the
doctrine of justification — into the part, that is, which belongs to
us, who are the subject matter of its operation. But, then, our
faith must have an object to rest upon — the oblation of Christ
upon the cross once for all ; and unless this event had truly hap
pened, unless this great deed, external to ourselves, had an actual
place in the world of realities, our inward feelings would be only
a delusive dream.1
When the minds of men are roused from any protracted
apathy, their first inquiries will, of course, be of a subjective
character, because they will begin by taking a survey of their
own state, before they pass into the world around. And this
accounts for the subjective tone which marked the great reaction
of the sixteenth century, as well as for the predominance of the
same temper in the last generation. In the last age, the first
object required was to provoke men to a seriousness which was
too often wanting, and thus to call them to an examination of
their own hearts. But it is time that the subjective revival of the
1 ' ' Faith receives the seeds of grace from the Spirit, and thus brings
forth the germ of a Christian life, rich in the fruit of good works ; but the
notion that faith itself, as a mere human faculty, is the creative principle
of all good, is so fascinating, from its tendency to magnify man' s heart and
mind, that we need to keep watch against every approach to it."
And again, " Such errors have often prevailed, and have prepared the
way. ultimately, for the denial of all substantial reality in the objects of
faith, converting religion, according to one theory, into a product of human
feeling — according to another, into a product of human reason." — Hare's '
Miss, of the Comforter, vol. ii. j>. 453, note H.

A DIVINE DELIVERER. 5
last age should assume also an objective character. If this be
neglected, it will gradually die out, like so many other religious
revivals ; and the real earnestness which dictated its growth will
evaporate in a system of empty phrases and party watchwords.
And the sure consequence, if men fancy themselves deluded by
a phraseology, which has no counterpart in the external world,
will be the growth of open or covert infidelity. Such has been
the result arrived at by a popular writer, who tells us, " that all
genuine faith is — other circumstances being the same — of about
equal value. The value is in the act of faith more than in the
object." And though admitting that " it is of very high import
ance that the objects of faith should be the loftiest and the
purest that in any particular age can be attained," the authoress
cited appears to consider all religions upon a par as regards their
abstract truth, and observes that " men afflict themselves need
lessly about one another's safety, as regards points of spiritual
belief."1 This were doubtless true, if man's life resembled a
mere soliloquy, in which the purpose was to give vent only to
the feelings of his own mind. But if we be truly surrounded
by a world of unseen beings, if we have actually "come unto
Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the
general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written
in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new
covenant," then, surely, it cannot be immaterial whether we
rightly apprehend those mighty realities which press upon us so
nearly, and whether our acts and language are fitted for that hal
lowed intercourse to which we have been admitted. Otherwise,
we are intruding, like unconscious dreamers, into the sacred pre
sence of the Great King. Hence the desire of the present writer,
as being bound by education and hereditary attachment to those
evangelical principles in which he was nurtured, to call attention
1 Eastern Life, by Harriet Martineau, vol. Hi. pp. 289-91.

THE PATTERN MAN.

to the external truths, on which the doctrines of grace are de
pendent. For it is no system of idle words which is made'
known by the holy Apostles, "concerning Jesus Christ Our
Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power."

CHAPTEE I.
CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN, THE FIRST FRUITS AND BEGINNING
OF THE NEW CREATION.
An inquiry respecting Our Lord's nature might be conducted in
two ways : either we might consider what He was at first, and
what He subsequently became ; or we might view Him as He was;'
manifest upon earth, and then pass from the apparent to the hidden
characteristics of His being. In the first case, we should begin
with His Godhead ; in the second, with His manhood. And the
latter is, perhaps, the most natural course, because His Incarna
tion is a central point, from which we may approach the eternity
which preceded, as well as that which follows it. In numbers,
unity is a starting-point for those infinite series which ascend
above or descend below it ; and Our Lord's taking flesh of the-
Virgin Mary, His mother, is the only thing on which our minds
can fix, which at all resembles a beginning of His being. For,
time is that middle space> from which finite spirits must track;
their way, either forwards or backwards, into the profundities!
of eternity. We begin, then, with the Apostle, that Jesus,
Christ Our Lord was " made of the seed of David according to;
the flesh."
And in this statement, what is especially material is, that Our
Lord came to be the man, not a man — to be David's offspring,
the woman's seed, the representative of the human family, the
chief among His brethren, the heir of whatever great qualities

THE FIRST FRUITS OF CREATION. 7
belonged to mortal flesh, the antagonist of Satan, the second
Adam, the new head of man's race. The disposition to look for
such a type or pattern, in which may be perfectly expressed
what each man's consciousness imperfectly witnesses, lies deep in
human nature. It expresses itself in letters as well as in institu
tions — in admiration for the poet, and in loyalty to the king.
For what is the natural root of loyalty, as distinguished from
such mere selfish desire of personal security, as is apt to take its
place in civilized times, but that consciousness of a natural bond
among the families of men, which gives a fellow-feeling to whole
clans and nations, and thus enlists their affections in behalf of
those time-honoured representatives of their ancient blood, in
whose success they feel a personal interest ? Hence the delight
when we recognize an act of nobility or justice in our hereditary
princes. Tuque prior, tu parce genus qui ducis Olympo,
Projice tela nianu sanguis meus.
So strong is this feeling, that it regains an engrafted influence,
even when history witnesses that past convulsions have rent and
weakened it; and the Celtic feeling towards the Stuarts has
been rekindled in our own days towards the granddaughter of
George the Third of Hanover.
Somewhat similar may be seen in the disposition to idolize
these great lawgivers of man's race, who have given expression,
in the immortal language of song,, to the deeper inspirations of
our nature. The thoughts of Homer or of Shakespeare are the
universal inheritance of the human race. In this mutual ground
every man meets his brother : they have been set forth by the
Providence of God to vindicate for all of us what nature could
effect, and that, in these representatives of our race, we might
recognize our common benefactors.
These are among the natural indications of that hereditary
bond of brotherhood, which attained its perfect consummation
in that supernatural advent of the Son of Man, of whom all

8 THE PATTERN MAN.
earthly excellence is typical. For it is a characteristic of the
Gospel to give a higher employment to every faculty of the
understanding, and a nobler object to every affection of the heart.
Its basis is that personal union between God and man, which
has added a diviner character to all the relations of humanity.
Manhood, with all its mysterious secrets of thought and feeling,
has been chosen to be the temple of God. And this has been
brought about, not by the natural exaltation of the inferior race,
but by the entrance of that higher seed, from whose intercom
munion it has received a supernatural elevation. For there are
two ways in which Christ might be 'set forth as that Pattern
Man, in whom our nature attained its perfection. Either He might
be the happy example in whom its native qualities found their
perfect expression, in whom all that belongs to mere humanity
obtained the utmost development of which it was susceptible ;
or the perfection of His manhood might be due to the influence
of that Divine nature, with which it was personally united.
The first of these is the system of Eationalism — the second, the
system of the Church. And it is the main purpose of the
present inquiry to show that the latter system is not only
sanctioned by the authority of revelation, and adapted to the
wants of man, but that whatever truth or reason the system of
Eationalism may promise, it could be attained only through that
perfect exhibition of man's nature, of which its supernatural
adoption by its divine participator was the cause. The system
of Eationalism, indeed, can go along with that of the Church so
far as to admit Christ in name, and to recognise in words the
necessity of divine help. For all but positive Atheists allow
the advantage of help from that creative Spirit to which they
refer the world's parentage. And there is little difficulty in sup
posing that Christ may be the channel through whom divine
gifts are bestowed, seeing that they were once exhibited with
peculiar lustre in Himself. But the characteristic distinction
between the one system and the other is, that Eationalism makes
the individual the starting-point for all improvement, whereas

THE FIRST FRUITS OF CREATION. 9
the Church's starting-point is Christ. The first is for dealing
with nature as it finds it ; it takes man such as he is, with the
powers and faculties which he possesses, and supposes that their
cultivation may enable him to shake off the evils and infirmities
which all deplore. The man himself, therefore, is the com
mencement of all renewal ; he may use God's grace, indeed — he
may invoke the name of Christ — but in himself is the ultimate
principle of renovation. For as an individual is he addressed ;
his conversion must precede that relation to Christ which, ac
cording to Christians, is the principle of the new nature. The
Church system, on the other hand, attributes the first renewal
of man's race to the entrance into its ranks of a higher and
supernatural Being. His quickening influence is the principle of
regeneration to all His fellows. In Him, and not in them, is the
original principle of movement. The restoration of the ancient
pattern of man is not attained through the natural perfection of
individuals, but because in Christ, Our Lord, was the personal
Presence of that Divine Word, which was above nature. He
came down into our lower race to ennoble it. The change, there
fore, in every individual must result from that diffusive influence
of the second Adam, by which the exertion of individual in
tellect and will must be preceded. Thus does it continue to ex
tend itself through that sacramental system, which binds all men
to the head of the race ; and the restoration of every man is due
to that great gift which was bestowed upon our common nature
through the Incarnation of Christ.
The contrast of these two systems may be traced through all
their complicated relations. The Church system of education
rests on the improvement of that renewed nature, which in
Christ, Our Lord, has been bestowed upon His brethren. But
Eationalistic education addresses itself to man as he is ; it
appeals at once to his natural gifts, and his intellectual endow
ments, as though these were a sufficient ground for his reform.
And as the Church system has its basis in that truth of the Incar
nation on which it rests the world's renewal, so Eationalism has

10 THE PATTERN MAN.
its real foundation in that theory of Pantheism which ends
in deifying the natural powers of man. Eor, put the Incar
nation out of view, and Pantheism is the natural resource of
reflective minds. The wonderful mysteries of man's nature —
the strange contrast of life and death, decay and reproduction
— all these carry us on to the contemplation of those compre
hensive laws of the physical universe, which ally themselves so
singularly with the existence of mankind. They are reflected
in the traditions of the past — they give deeper meaning to the
mythology of ancient nations. They imply, that in man's life is
a divine principle, akin to that all-embracing power which per
vades the universe. But the true explanation of this deep secret
is, not that man is naturally God, but that God has mercifully
become man. The union between these two natures is real; the
indications of what is high and holy in man's bqing need not be
questioned. The principle of life, to which all primitive mytho
logies witness, which the ancient mysteries of Egypt and Greece
were designed probably to illustrate, is truly a chain, which
links us to the Almighty. It was no vain notion which taught
men in early times, that it was a sacred principle which gave life
to organic frames. But man could not thus ascend to God, until
God the Word had first stooped to manhood. Whatever told of
the nobility of man's race, was an anticipation of that wondrous
work, which- was to be fulfilled in its season. In Christ, all that
is great in humanity finds its completion, because His coming
gives the explanation of those principles which else seemed too
large and noble for our being and state. Whatsoever visions of
beauty and excellence have floated before the poet's mind, in
Him only they have their fulfilment. "The Song of Songs"
speaks of Him who is " the chiefest among ten thousand," and
whose real kingship over all His- brethren is reflected in the
splendours of earthly royalty.
On this intimate relation between the Head and the members
— between Him who entered the human family, that He might
not only exhibit its capacities in their highest state, but bestow

CHRIST'S OFFICE IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 11
upon it gifts of which it was before incapable — depends the
efficacy of what Christ effected for man's nature in His death,
and of what He " ever liveth " to effect for it through His in
tercession. But before we pass to the consequences of this
great truth, we must set forth the truth itself, on which they are
dependent. If such was Our Lord's participation in whatsoever
belongs to humanity — if He was the Pattern Man, in whom
humanity first attained its perfection, the consequence must
have been a complete exhibition of those sympathies which
characterize mankind. Again, the completeness with which He
set forth the distinctive features of man's race would lead us to
anticipate that, regarded as a man, there was some peculiar per
fection in the constitution of His nature. And since it was the
object of prophecy to witness His approach, it would bear testi
mony to that peculiar character in which He came, to that Office
of the Pattern Man which it was His purpose to exhibit. These
things go to make up that peculiar character of the head of Man's
race, which He entered into our lower nature to maintain ; and
they require, therefore, to be severally set forth as portions of
His human being. So that we proceed to show that Our Lord
was the Pattern Man, the second Adam — first, by Office ;
secondly, by Nature ; thirdly, by Sympathy.

CHAPTEE II.
THE OFFICE OF CHRIST AS THE PATTERN MAN MARKED OUT IN
ANCIENT SCRIPTURE.
Since Christ was, by Office, the Pattern Man, the functions
which pertained to His character must have been indicated in
those records of prophecy which announced His approach. Two
points there were which required to be especially set forth —

12 CHRIST'S OFFICE
first, that the recovery of man's race must be the result of some
internal movement communicated to it ; that it was not a mere
withdrawal of those external inconveniences by which he was
environed, but an actual improvement in the race itself; and
secondly, that this movement, though existing within, must come
from without him ; that it was not the mere growth and develop
ment of his natural faculties, but some supernatural power,
introduced into his fallen race by an external deliverer. These
two conditions would be required, supposing that the deliverance,
after which humanity was yearning, was to be brought about
through the entrance into its ranks of some superior being, by
whose communion it was to be raised above itself.
In the former half of those four thousand years which pre
ceded the birth of Christ, the first of these truths was put before
men. As the Fall had given occasion to Christ's coming, so from
the very moment of the Fall was there this intimation of His
approach. The Fall had been the breaking up of natural society ;
the failure of whatever might be expected from the original
stock of mankind. His race was doomed to perish " like corn
blasted before it be grown up." Death spiritual at once asserted
its empire over the disobedient seed, and temporal death would
have followed in its appointed season. But in the meantime came
in that merciful promise, which opened a door of hope for the race
of the offender, and asserted that by the woman's seed her serpent
enemy should finally be subjugated. This promise found its
completion in Christ ; it was the first intimation that He should
be the head and representative of His brethren. Yet this first
promise was so large and general, that in itself it taught nothing
except that the deliverance promised to man should arise from
something which was bound up with the race itself, and should
connect itself, therefore, with its collective character. By attach
ing the promise to the woman's seed, its giver bound it to the
extension of society. And this is the reason, as St. Irenseus
points out, why St. Luke, who wrote especially for Gentile
readers, traces up the descent of Christ to Adam; his object

IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 13
being to show that all nations, languages, and generations, were
related to Him who is the new head of Adam's race, because
they were united to Adam by common paternity.1 But as yet
there was no full intimation, so far as we read, respecting the
nature of that deliverance, which the progress of society was to
bring along with it ; whether God's will was to save by one or
many — by a gradual renovation of the whole kindred, or through
the appearance of some selected combatant, who was to do battle
against the common enemy.
There was the less danger, no doubt, in such an omission,
because, while society was young, and while man's intellect had
gained little ascendency over the external world, the idea of a ,
self-dependent advancement, through his inward power, had no
basis to rest upon. The Eationalistic notion, that man's regene
ration may be effected through the progress of society, and the
development of his natural powers, is the delusion of a cultivated
age. In that simpler period of the world's history, the tendency
was rather to such unfounded reverence for external objects, as
issued in sensible idolatry. But there was enough to sustain
faithful hearts, while the recollection of God's first dealings with
mankind was fresh, and while the promise was so recent, that
through some unknown working of His sovereign power, there
should arise out of the race itself the means of its deliverance.
Men's expectations showed themselves in such expressions as
those of Eve at the birth of Cain ; and the same hope probably
was associated with the name of Noah, who was to comfort us
concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground
which the Lord hath cursed.
But something more was required when the lapse of two
thousand years had removed the first witnesses to God's dealings
and promises, while, at the same time, the powers of man were
strengthened by the growth of society and the advancement of
knowledge. It became essential that the second part of God's
1 S. Iren. iii. 22, 3, p. 219. Vide Sherlock on the Immortality of the
Soul^ cap. Y. sec. 5, p. 407, second edition.

14 CHRIST'S OFFICE
mystery should be unfolded ; there needed an intimation, that it
was not through the natural development of humanity, but
through the entrance into its ranks of some superior power, that
its regeneration was to be effected. This was announced through
the call of Abraham. As yet, men might still learn from Shem,
what had been delivered to him by Methuselah and other con
temporaries of Adam. Considering the advantages which the
first man had possessed, through that acquaintance with God
which was his singular privilege, it was impossible that the
blessed hope of reconciliation, with all that it implied respecting
man's original state and future prospects, should be forgotten by
those who had heard it only at second-hand. But now, through
the abridgment of man's life, this mode of instruction was about
to be lost. The childhood of the human race was to merge in
that busy manhood of crime and toil, which made up the two
thousand years of heathenism. And therefore, when the course
of events had rolled on from the Creation for about a similar
period, it pleased God to select a particular family from among
the children of men, to be the maintainors of His worship, and
the depository of His promises. With Abraham began the pecu
liar privileges of the Church. Then was the witness of an
institution substituted for that of individuals. And the promise
that through his seed should all the nations of the earth be
blessed, was an indication that man's recovery should not be
effected by the self-relying efforts of mankind, as they were
scattered throughout the earth, but through a gift, which it would
please God to bestow upon them through the one peculiar
channel of his own election. The seed of Abraham was to be
their common benefactor. Thus was it made known, that though
the renewal of man was to work inwardly through some influence
which was to express itself in the woman's seed, yet was it to
be bestowed on that seed through one particular family, as an
external gift. And this title to be the universal patron of the
human race was confirmed by special promise to Isaac.1 Now
1 Gen. xxvi. 4.

IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 15
this promise must plainly look to that peculiar office, which was
to be discharged by the coming Mediator, as the head of the human
family : unless, indeed, it could be supposed that the restoration
of man's race was to be the work of that favoured progeny,
which inherited the distinction conferred upon their parents.
For it might be alleged that the descendants of Abraham were
designed to be a seed of hereditary nobles, like the Brahiminical
caste of India, through whom the degradation of the other
children of Adam was hereafter to be redressed. Such was cer
tainly the popular feeling among the Jews, and such is really the
tendency of those carnal views of Scripture prophecy, which
apply the predictions respecting Israel to the temporal seed of
Abraham, and not to that true Israel, which is heir by grace
to the Father of the Faithful. For Scripture speaks plainly of
Israel as the salt "of the earth and the head of the nations ; and
some such earthly superiority, therefore, would still await it, were
not these predictions really applicable to those spiritual descen
dants of Abraham, "the Israel of God."1 So St. Paul especially
assures us, and he turns our thoughts therefore to that head and
representative of our race, in whom the words of prophecy have
their real fulfilment. As it was through their connection with
Him who was to come, that Israel was formerly God's people, so
does Scripture teach us that it is those who are members of Him
who at present constitute the Israel of God. Since the advent
of Christ, it is through union only with Him that men can be
heirs of the promise to Abraham. In opposition to that carnal
interpretation, which would appropriate the sayings of Scripture
to the physical descendants of the Patriarch, St. Paul points out
an express declaration in ancient prophecy, that the woiid-
1 Gal. vi. 16. To suppose that the Jewish nation will hereafter be con
verted, as St. Paul appears to intimate, Rom. xi. 26, and that its conver
sion will be productive of blessings to the world at large, is not inconsistent
with a belief that the spiritual precedency granted to the heirs of Abraham
belong to his spiritual and not to his carnal progeny. '¦ Nee hi tantum
essent Israel, quos sanguis et caro genuisset, sed in possessionem hscredit atis
fidei filiis prseparatse, universitas adoptionisintraret." — S. Leo, Ser. xxv. 2.

16 CHRIST'S OFFICE
embracing benefits of his seed would not be connected with those
many nations which were sprung from him according to the
flesh, but with that single race, which was united to him through
relation to an individual representative. " He saith not, and to
seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed,1 which is
Christ."2 And that Abraham himself had discovered the mean
ing of this deep mystery, we are expressly informed, for " Abra
ham rejoiced to see My day ; and he saw it, and was glad."
That which was understood by the Father of the Faithful,
was made still more manifest in a later generation, when it was
predicted that He who should arise in Abraham's family should
sit upon David's throne, and be the perpetual representative of
his royalty. This marked out plainly the individual character
of Him who was to come. And herein lies the fulness of that
prophetic inspiration, which asserts the continuance of David's
throne, and the perpetuity of his family. The perpetual use of
the Psalms, according to the immemorial custom of the Church,
must seem unmeaning to those who discern not the Gospel im
port of praying " for the peace of Jerusalem," and to whom the
Church's oneness, as it is asserted in the Creed, is not a com
mentary on the declaration that " Jerusalem is built as a city
that is at unity in itself." And so is it respecting those pre
dictions of the head and deliverer of mankind, which were ex
pressed in the shape of promises to David. We behold the
Pattern Man in His office as the Son of David, when we testify
that " they shall fear Thee, as long as the sun and moon endureth,
from one generation to another." Or again, "His seed shall
1 That Our Lord is in this verse identified with the members of His body
mystical is subsequently noticed. A neological objection has been urged
against St. Paul's argument, because, though the Greek word for seed is
individual, yet the Hebrew snj which is used in the original promise ia
collective, and does not, therefore, point out the single character of Christ-
as Abraham's representative. But the conditions of St. Paul's argument
are fulfilled by the fact, that the promises to Abraham were confined to one
out of the many races which were descended from him ; and this race he
affirms to consist of those spiritual descendants of the Father of the
Faithful who make up the body of Christ. 2 Gal. iii. 16

IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 17
endure for ever, and His seat is like as the sun before Me. He
shall stand fast for evermore as the moon, and as the faithful
witness in heaven." These references to material objects indicate,
that the superiority here assigned belongs to some representative
of our race who should share its created character. They claim
for Him certain rights (independently of the , co-partnership of
that deity, from which, as we are assured, He was never separate),
in that He came to be heir of David's throne, and inheritor of
the promises. In this character, " His name shall endure for
ever : His name shall remain under the sun among the pos
terities, which shall be blessed through Him, and all the heathen
shall praise Him." "All kings shall fall down before Him;
all nations shall do Him service ; for He shall deliver the poor
when he crieth, the needy also, and him that hath no helper.
He shall live, and unto Him shall be given of the gold of Arabia :
prayer shall be made ever unto Him, and daily shall He be
praised."1 To such declarations the fond expectation of the Jewish nation
still clings, and they cannot believe that sayings so express were
not designed to receive an earthly fulfilment. The mere figura
tive interpretation of such promises seems cold and meagre.
But a literal fulfilment they doubtless have, if the humanity of
the Son of God be taken account of. It is through His character
of the Pattern Man that He actually fulfils that office of Head
or King of God's chosen people, to which ancient prophecy bore
such inspiring witness. If the Church of Christ be really God's
kingdom, where the Son of David rules over the Israel of His new
election, whom He has redeemed to Himself through the waves
of baptism, and is now leading in their weary journey through
the wilderness of this world to the promised Canaan of their
heavenly rest, then have the declarations of ancient Scripture a
real accomplishment, and " Jerusalem, which is above," is the
present "mother of us all."2 If ever the light of Gospel truth
1 Psalm lxxii. 5, 17, 11, 12, IS ; Psalm lxxxix. 35, 36.
2 Gal. iv. 26.

18 CHRIST'S OFFICE
shall visit the eyes of God's earlier people, it must surely be by
their abandoning the carnal expectations of earthly greatness,
and yet adhering to the meaning of their ancient realities. If
they would thus look at God's words, neither as a mere letter
nor as an empty figure — they would discern the hidden reality
of their hallowed system, they would find their own Jerusalem
in the Church of God, the election perpetuated in her ranks,
the Divine Presence manifested in ber ordinances, the Son of
David ever with her, "even to the end of the world," and
" a new and living way into the holiest, consecrated for them
through the vail, that is to say, His flesh."1
As the individual character of man's deliverer had been
indicated by that throne, which was ascribed to Him as the
successor of David, so was it declared in still more express
words, when He was spoken of by that line of Prophets, who
were types of Him in their witness and sufferings, but whose
full object could not be attained, till He who had led them
by the secret workings of His Spirit came in personal complete
ness into the world, " a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the
glory Of His people Israel." As yet this light "shined in a
dark place,'' and those who heard them might not unnaturally
ask at times : "I pray thee, of whom speaketh the Prophet this,
of himself, or of some other man 1 " To their own spirits, how
ever, " it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us,
they did minister the things which are now reported ; " and their
words intimate clearly the personal character of Him who was
to arise as the restorer of His brethren. They had deep insight
into the great truths, that the regeneration of man's race was
not merely an outward benefit, attained through the with
drawal of physical evils, nor yet the result of the mere self-
dependent exertions of our inner being, but that some actual
power from without must enter into man's nature, and that
in Him the long yearnings of humanity should find satis
faction. 1 Heb. x. 20.

IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 19
" There shall come forth," says Isaiah, " a rod out of the stem
of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots ; and the spirit
of the Lord shall rest upon him." This comparison is repeatedly
employed, and is of singular significancy. It implies, that man's
nature is shared in common by the whole human family ; and
that He who rises up out of it, on behalf of its other partakers,
is, in some real manner, united to the parent stock, and, there
fore, to all its branches. " Behold the man, whose name is the
Branch, and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall
build the temple of the Lord : even He shall build the temple
of the Lord, and He shall have the glory, and shall sit and rule
upon His throne, and He shall be a priest upon His throne."1
Or again, " I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a
King shall reign and prosper."8
These passages look to the exaltation of man's nature, in the
person of some favoured representative, who should obtain bless
ings for his whole race. And, therefore, the right of represent
ing the root itself is attributed to this prosperous branch, in
which the parent stock is resuscitated. Eor that which had
been spoken of as a branch is immediately afterwards declared
by the Prophet to be the root itself : " In that day there shall be
a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people ; to
it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious."?
And thus was the prophecy interpreted to the beloved Disciple,
since the " Lamb as it had been slain," by which is plainly in-
.dicated Our Lord, regarded according to His human nature, is
declared to be the " Eoot of David."4 Indeed, the word which
our translators have understood stem, indicates the same con
ception ; its literal meaning is that of a stem which has been
cut .down,5 — a stool, as woodmen technically express it, which
may serve the purpose of supplying a future plant. And thus
are our thoughts led to the notion, which is otherwise given by
* Zeoh. yi. 12. 2 Jer. xxiii. 5.
3 Isaiah xi. 10. 4 Rev. v. 6.
6 " Abgehauener Stamm." — Gesenius, in loco.

20 CHRIST'S OFFICE
Isaiah, in his fifty-third chapter, where the dry ground of man's
nature is spoken of as germinant with the plant of our salvation :
" He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root
out of a dry ground."1 This is He, then, of whom it is further
spoken, " unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given."
"Weigh the words," says Bishop Andrewes— " child is not said,
but in humanis, among men."2 Here, then, we have so many
predictions of a personal inheritor of humanity, whose office
should be to redeem and restore His race. Thus are we led to
the contemplation of Him as that " Son of Man," which He is
called in the New Testament — as the representative, that is, of
man's nature, growing out of it to a glory which, in no other
instance, it had acquired, and becoming a Head and Pattern, not
only to the Jewish, but to the whole human family. For "to
it shall the Gentiles look, and glory shall be its dwelling."
To follow up this subject, as it becomes manifest in the New
Testament, would be to anticipate future parts of our inquiry,
since it is impossible to separate the statement of Our Lord's
Office from the considerations of those blessings which He con
ferred in its discharge. Here, therefore, it is enough to say,
that He is expressly declared to be " the last Adam ; " and that
what was gained in Him is set against what was lost by His
predecessor : "for since by man eame death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead."3 He is stated, according to His
earthly nature, to be " the first-born of every creature ;"4 a
passage which bears out the opinion of St. Athanasius, that the
reference to the creation of wisdom in the Book of Proverbs is
designed, among other things, to set forth the Incarnation of our
Lord, as the head or pattern of humanity. St. Athanasius,
following the Septuagint, and expressing the Hebrew with more
exactness than is done in our Translation,5 renders Proverbs
1 Isaiah liii. 2. 2 Sermon II. — Of the Nativity, p. 11.
3 1 Corinthians xv. 21, 45. * Colossians i. 15.
5 The Hebrew word, n;ij, has for its original meaning, to set upright,
and thence to build or make. This must be its signification in Deute-

IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 21
viii. 22, " The Lord created me a beginning of His ways, which
is equivalent," he observes, "to the assertion that the Father
prepared me a body, and He created me for man, on behalf of
their salvation."1 And again, "Because the Son says, when He
took on Him the form of a servant, the Lord created me a begin
ning of His ways, let not men deny the eternity of His God
head."2 By putting on our nature then did He become the
type on which it was moulded. His discharging the function of
priest, therefore, and His submitting to be our common sacrifice,
are set forth in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as consequent upon
that undertaking for mankind at large, whereby the predictions,
which had been uttered respecting the whole race, found their
completion by being concentrated in His single person. " One
in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that Thou art
mindful of him ; or the son of man, that Thou visitest him ?
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels ; Thou crownedst
him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of
Thy hands : Thou hast put all things in subjection under his
feet. Eor in that He put all in subjection under him, He left
nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all
things put under him : But we see Jesus, who was made a little
lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with
glory and honour ; that He by the grace of God should taste
death for every man."3 Thus do those things, which were
spoken of humanity at large, find their completion in Christ,
because He, who by office is the Pattern Man, has a right to
represent the rest.
ronomy xxxii. 6 ; Psalm cxxxix. 13; and probably also in Genesis
xiv. 19, 22, where our translation, following the Vulgate, renders it, as in
this case, " possess." The Greek is eierurey.
" First-born," and " Beginning of His ways," would, in this case, be
takenin the order of ideas rather than of time. PerhapsSt.Paulspeaksinthe
same way of the Fifth Commandment, as beingthe Foundation Command
ment, with a promise. The Fifth Commandment is not the first in order
which has a promise, but it 'is the foundation of our duty to our neighbour.
1 OratioII. contra Arianos, sec. 47, vol. i. p. 515; and also Athanasius' s
Epistle to the Bishops of Egypt and Lybia, p. 317.
2 Or. II. contra Ar. sec. 51, p. 518. 3 Hebrews ii. 6—9.

22

CHAPTEE III.
CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN BY NATURE.
The assertion that Our Lord was, by office, the Pattern Man,
leads to the further inquiry, whether He was so merely by title
or in reality. Might His office have been as fitly assumed by
any besides Himself, or was He marked out for it by the con
stitution of His nature? Was He any otherwise the Pattern
Man than Moses, who, in his day, was representative for his
brethren 1 Could St. Peter or St. John have been chosen, with
equal propriety, to be the new Head of man's race ; or, in that
case, could such words ever have been employed as, " Thou hast
redeemed us by Thy blood;'7 or again, "My flesh1 is meat
indeed, and My blood is drink indeed " 1
We proceed, then, to show that Our Lord was fitted, by His
man's nature, for the office which He discharged ; that as man
He had a right to the title which He bore, and was what He
passed for. The long predictions which taught that, in the
fulness of time, a man should appear, whose office should be to
restore His brethren, had their consummation in Him, because
He and He only was qualified, by the constitution of His being,
for the service which He rendered. And although this fitness
resulted from the influence of that higher nature, which was
associated with , humanity in His sacred Person, yet it was a
fitness which belonged to His man's nature in itself, and by-
reason of that peculiar manner in which He assumed it. Media
tion was not a function which the Son of Man' undertook from
arbitrary choice, but one which He was born to discharge. For
this end did His Godhead vouchsafe to mingle in our lower
1 " Ou yio ti IToiiAou tvxov, &W oliSe fi Uerpov o&p£ tovto h tiiuv
ipydarerm." — St. Cyr. in Joan, vi. 64, vol. iv. p. 376.

THE PATTERN MAN. 23
world ; and for this end His manhood was purposely adapted.
Now, the grounds of His peculiar fitness must be found by
inquiring into the nature which He took, and into the manner
in which He took it. We proceed, then, to the consideration
of these questions : — First, What is meant by that human
nature which Christ our Lord assumed 1 Secondly, What was
there in His manner of assuming it, which made Him the
peculiar pattern and representative of mankind'? The settle
ment of these two questions is intimately connected with that
which is termed by St. Paul " the mystery of God, and of the
Father, and of Christ," because they exhibit to us how " God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself," The
inquiry is one which begins with a survey of our own being, but
which speedily leads us up from God's works, as they are
manifest in creation, to His word, as revealed in Holy Writ.
The expectations of man show what is needed for the satisfac
tion of his wants, but it must be by some external agency that
these wants can be remedied. Our inner feelings, our thoughts,
views, hopes, and fears are, no doubt, an important element in
our religion — they touch on the momentous question of our
earnestness and sincerity. But all these are movements and
affections which lie within ourselves. If Christ's service, how
ever, be anything real— if there be truly a kingdom of heaven
round about us — if there be such things as heaven and hell,
angels and devils, God sitting upon His throne, the Lamb which
was slain making intercession for His people — then are we
likewise surrounded by a set of truths outside of ourselves, and
these eternal realities press closely on the transitory concerns of
this passing life. And our religious state must depend not only
on our inward feelings, but also upon our actual relation to those
external realities which are round about us.
The review of Our Lord's nature has its beginning, then, in a
consideration of those observed wants of humanity which He
came, as the child of promise, to supply; but it has its con
summation in those higher mysteries, which have been revealed

24 CHRIST, BY NATURE
to us as the method of supplying them. Out of this circum
stance arises the extreme reverence which is due to the sayings
of Scripture. Since its inspired words are our indication re
specting that other world which is all around us, we cannot
prize too highly even those occasional intimations which open
vistas into the mighty depths of God's counsels. We are actually
living in the midst of a divine and supernatural system. We
know of it only through glimpses and by shadows. What so
precious, then, as the sayings of those "whose eyes were
opened," who "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost"?
To this it is, then, that our inquiry into that human nature
which was taken by Christ our Lord, must lead us up ; in tjiis
it must terminate. We /mist imitate the great Prophet of
nature : — " Thy creatures have been my books, but Thy Scrip
tures much more. I have sought Thee in the courts, fields, and
gardens ; but I have found Thee in Thy temples."
I. We see,, then, a race of beings, extending through every
part of the world, the members whereof resemble one another
in features, organs, understanding, affections, and passions.
This race we call collectively mankind. We see also in the
world an abundance of other organized beings, which have a
greater or less relation to man, and which, from the singular
analogy which their bodily organs have to our own, are, in some
respects, plainly creatures of the same hand, and parts of the
same creation. All these obey this one singular law, that those
only which appear to be derived from the same stock will
multiply together. Consider their almost boundless number,
the close resemblance which some of them bear to others, and
the perfect subjection of so many of them to the caprice of man,
and there is something amazing in that plastic nature which can
maintain the almost imperceptible intervals between so many con
tinuous lines of animal life, and reproduce the types of every kind
in endless succession, without confusion, variety, or decay. This
is one of God's great works, whereby He blends the supremacy
of law and the prodigality of nature. From the lowest sponge

THE PATTERN MAN. ,29
to the most complex mollusk, and thence to the numerous
classes of the vertebrate kingdom, till we come to man — there is
evidently some single principle, which shows itself in nothing
so remarkably as in the perpetuation of the same type, amidst
the various classes of co-ordinate beings. Even if their divisions
were not referable, as most naturalists suppose, to the fact of a
common descent, yet the existence of some such law is evidenced
by that harmonious march which we witness in the tribes of
animated nature from day to day. There is, likewise, the
singular phenomenon, that qualities will sometimes come out
in individuals of a race for which we cannot account, except by
supposing them to have been buried, if such an expression may
be used, in the collective nature, till favourable opportunities
allowed them to reappear.1 Abundant instances of the kind
are afforded by the physical history of man. 2 To this principle
we must refer the fact, that peculiarities which were accidentally
present, as it would seem, in the heads of any particular sub
division of some natural class, are commonly, but not perpetu
ally, transmitted to their descendants. Such circumstances are
properties of particular families ; but not having been originally
bound up with the constitution of the race, they are not an
indissoluble part of it,
We find the animal kingdom, then, pervaded by a mysterious
law, which imposes unity of type upon all the classes which
constitute it. And the analogy thus supplied seems as though
intended to lead us on to the observation of the same fact, when
we come to that highest portion of the animal kingdom, which
God has endued with the faculties of reason, conscience, and
love. In the case of man likewise, we discern the fact of some
rare principle of connexion, by which the individual members
of his race are bound together, which constitutes them an actual
1 Looking lower in the scale of creation, it is often observed that from
two horses of the same colour will arise a progeny which bears no likeness
at all to the colour of its parents.
2 Vide Prichard's Researches into the Physical History of Mankind,
Book ii. c. iv. >,

26 CHRIST, BY NATURE
whole, and which shows itself in that uniformity of type which
marks the perpetual ranks of their infinite succession. This
principle of connexion is what we call human nature. Wherein
this connexion consists can no more be explained, than wherein
consists the union between the soul and the body. It depends
not, of course, on physical contact, like that which exists
between the waters of the great deep. It does not interfere
with the separate life of each man's spirit, whereby has been
assigned to him the momentous gift of that individual per
sonality, for which he must render account at the great day.
All that is asserted of it is that it is a real bond, by which
every man is tied to that primitive type, which perpetuates
itself in him and in all others. That we should have no powers
of analysis, capable of; ascertaining what this principle is,
presents no just reason for denying its existence. What do we
know of electricity except by its effects ? The constant repeti
tion of the same results, under similar circumstances, leads us
to infer the existence of some real though imponderable agent.
And the same conclusion seems justified, when we see the
.perpetual reappearance of the same type in those who are
possessors of the same nature.
This subject needs more close consideration, because it has
been supposed by some persons, that the belief in such a thing
as human nature is essentially connected with the erroneous
notions of the schoolmen, and implies that every class has, as
its counterpart, some actual thing. "Each man," it is said, " is
born with certain powers and dispositions, which constitute his
own nature ; and the resemblance of them in all his fellows
produces a general idea, or a collective appellation, whichever
we may prefer to say, called the nature of man." And, there
fore, Pascal is censured by Mr. Hallam, because he "seems
never to have disentangled his mind from the notion, that what
we call human nature has not merely an arbitrary and gram
matical, but an intrinsic, objective reality."1
1 Literature of Europe, iv. 160.

THE PATTERN MAN. 27
Before we consider the justice of this objection, it will be well
to state more exactly the position of those who believe in the
reality of that which is called human natute. It is not affirmed,
then, that we can trace the connexion by which one man is
bound to another, or analyze the mysterious principle of trans
mitted life, upon which it is dependent. Still less is it asserted
that there is any independent force in the material sub
stratum of man's being, which, by virtue of its innate efficacy,
has the power of propagating life. It is probable that matter
depends for its existence upon the constant efficacy of God's
power and presence. Were not He constantly present with
the whole creation, it would seem that " its instant annihilation
could not choose but follow." The continuity of our race does
not depend, any more than the identity of an individual, on
the sameness of the parts, which at any time make up man's
body ; indeed, one characteristic of it is, that the same portions
of matter may pass successively through the whole series -of the
animal kingdom, without affecting the transmission of that
impulse of life which is handed on from sire to son. " Why
may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander, till he
find it stopping a bunghole 1" Again, it is not implied that
there is any reality in human nature, distinct from the personal
characteristics and conditions of the individuals who bear it. It
is a principle which shows itself in many types, and exists in the
varying types in which it shows itself. We cannot separate off
anything, distinct from the constituent parts and qualities of
each man, and say that it is the nature which is common to the
race. What is it, then, that we affirm ? On the fact that the
same form continually appears we ground the probability that its
reappearance depends on some unknown principle of connexion.
Appearances lead us to imagine that the whole series of man's
1 This last is the principle of God's Immanence, as opposed to that
Deistic theory of Transcendence which supposes that the qualities of
matter having been bestowed upon it by its Maker, everything has been
left to go on by the impulse which was originally bestowed.

28 CHRIST, BY NATURE
race is in some sort an organized whole : its several possessors
having an actual relation to one another. As the life of the foot
is the same with that of the hand, because they belong to the
same body ; so, because all the children of Adam are members
of one race, they are the channels through which is transmitted
a single nature. The scriptural authority for this opinion shall
be noticed shortly ; at present let us consider its natural proba
bility. Those who deny it, object to the assertion that man's
race is to be looked upon as possessing a common organization.
Though they may admit, therefore, that all men are corrupt, yet
they appear to exclude the notion that original sin is a trans
mitted corruption. "Man's nature, as it now is," says Mr.
Hallam, "that which each man and all men possess, is the
immediate workmanship of God, as much as at his creation."
On this principle, " the corruption of human nature " is stated
to be a phrase which is "analogical and inexact." Now,
though every individual specimen of humanity be God's crea
tion, why should it not be His pleasure to exercise His creative
powers according to the law of a natural interdependency ? The
foot and the hand are His work as much as the whole body ; but
they are not endued with a separate life, but with a life which
is relative to the whole. In like manner, the preservation of the
race of man is made to grow out of that quickening impulse
which we call the life of humanity. This notion, which was
called Traducianism by the schoolmen (the system opposed to it
being termed Creatianism), has on its side an overwhelming
amount of probabilities. If men throw dice several times upon,
a table, the determination of every cast is in God's hands.; but
because there is no law of interdependency in the action, the
issue in each case is wholly uninfluenced by the case which,
preceded it. Every time they throw, the chances are the same
that they were the first time. Now, unless there be some
principle of interdependency among organized beings, why is
not the same variety apparent ? Why should not ' such
anomalies as Virgil attributes to culture be the ordinary law ?

THE PATTERN MAN. 2?
Castaneee fagos, ornusque incanduit albo
Flore pyri : glandesque sues fregere sub ulmis.
Unless some reason, therefore, can be assigned for the con
trary, there is an infinite improbability in the application of
Creatianism to the case of organized nature. And yet there is
one case in which it seems necessary to admit it. There is one
part of man's nature, the very existence of which depends so
completely on its individual, uncompounded, independent action,
that it seems impossible to refer it to the co-operating influences
of human parentage. The spirit1 of man, with its peculiar
principle of personality, is generally supposed to be an imme
diate work of God's creative will ; although it be His will, in
man's nature at large, to work according to the system of Tradu
cianism. St. Augustine,2 indeed, expresses himself as uncertain
to the last, whether even the soul was an immediate creation ;
but the great majority of later writers agree in the opinion ex
pressed by Giinther :3 "Traducianism has its function in respect
to the animal (psychische) life of man ; on the other hand, the
province of Creatianism is with his soul, and it would travel out
of its province if it extended the immediate creative action of
God to that animal life which is the principle of his body's
existence." ' It may be thought inconsistent with the general argument of this work,
to suppose that the Almighty interferes according to the law of Creatianism
by birth, as He does according to the law of regeneration by baptism. But
this principle is not contended for as respects the soul at large ; there may
be enough to maintain its traditive character, even though Personality be
supposed to be incapable of being transmitted. It is certain that He who
took our whole nature did not take the principle of Personality according
to the law of Traducianism ; but that ' ' antequam ab illo forma servi esset
accepta, nondum fuerit Christus, sed tantummodo Verbum." — Vigilius c.
Eutych. iv. 5. " Ut per se sibi assumsit ex virgine corpus, ita ex se sibi
animam assumpsit." — S. Hilar, de Trin. x. 22.
2 " Quod attinet ad animee originem, utrum de illo uno sit, qui primum
creatus est, quando factus est homo in animam vivam, an similiter ita
fiant singulis singuli ; nee tunc sciebam, nee adhuc scio." — St. Aug. Eetrae.
i. 1, sec. 3.
St. Hilary expresses the more predominant opinion, that " anima omnia
opus Dei sit, camis vero generatio semper ex carne sit." — De Trin. x. 20.
3 Vorschule zur speculativen Theologie, vol. ii. p. 181, Letter 8.

30 CHRIST, BY NATURE
Some of the most striking arguments for this view of things
are derived from the relation of man to that inferior world of
organized life, of which his creation was the conclusion and
crown. The singular identity of arrangement which pervades
the whole series of living things ; the very lowest possessing in
rudiment every part and principle which belongs to the body of
the highest, marks them out as subject to one universal law.
Let us descend the scale, then, till we reach those inferior
beings, in whom the unvaried arrangements of physical struc
ture appear under their simplest conditions. Now, in their
case we actually discern that continuity, for the existence of
which, though after a different manner, we contend in the case
of mankind. The law of Traducianism cannot be questioned
in the case of the polyp, whose body is often an actual fragment
of the body from which it is derived. The same principle may be
discerned in this case as in that of the graft or sucker, which
existed in its perfect state as a partaker of life, of which, when
transplanted, it becomes, in its turn, the parent. If we admit
this principle in the lower ranks of animal life, how can we
deny its application to the higher ? Nor can an external truth
be destroyed by the logical difficulty which may attach to its
expression. The objection brought against the actual existence
of human nature is, that since it is only an abstraction formed
by ourselves from a variety of examples, there can be no real
thing intended by it ; to give it actual existence is supposed to
be the error of the Eealists, who attributed an objective exist
ence to those universal conceptions, which were only the crea
tures of their own minds. Hence, the reality of human nature,
as a thing existing in the external world, is denied, because to
assert -reality for the idea of it in our own minds would be con
trary to that system of Nominalism, which is recognized by
logicians. But this is to abuse the principles of Nominalism on
one side, as the opposite principle of Eealism has been abused
on the other. That many objects can be united by our classing
them under a common idea does not give them any real objec-

THE PATTERN MAN. 31
tive union ; but neither does it take that union away, provided
that by other means it can be shown to exist. Yet this is the
argument of those who, on principles of Nominalism, deny the
objective existence of human nature. They pass over the dis
tinction between such classifications as men make for themselves
by an inward act of reasoning, and such as have been provided in
the external world by God's Providence. The one are only our
own internal acts ; the other have an external existence. The
error of the Eealists was encouraged, according to Archbishop
Whately,1 by observation of those organized beings, which are
bound together by the unalterable laws of nature. That in
these cases there existed a real, though unknown bond, which
maintained the perpetuity of the class, led men to attribute an
objective existence to their own abstractions. But if no real
connexion had united these external objects, the sight of them
would not have led anyone astray. When we class together
philosophers or physicians, we bestow a common name upon
those who are associated by their dispositions or employments.
There is no connexion between them, distinct from the thoughts
and actions to which the individuals described choose to addict
themselves. There is a real similarity in their doings, supposing
the class to be happily designated ; but it is a similarity only,
and at their will they may cease to resemble one another. It
would be a vicious Eealism, therefore, to assert the existence of
an objective connexion among these parties, because we can em
brace them under a common idea ; but it would be an equally
vicious Nominalism to deny an objective reality, where an in
herent law prevents the possibility of such re-arrangement, and
confines individuals to the peculiar classes to which they seve
rally belong. The first would be to claim for our own mind the
power of making its inward ideas into external realities ; the
second would be to deny the existence of external realities,
because we have not the power of making them. We have no
1 Whately's Logic, p. 260.

32 CHRIST, BY NATURE
right, therefore, to deny the existence of a common nature 1 in
those who are derived from a common origin ; whose union does
not depend upon their voluntary combination, and cannot be
dissolved by their own will. In such a case, then, it would not
be contrary to reason to suppose that the nature transmitted
was susceptible of improvement or deterioration ; so that its
collective state might be found to be the result of all those im
pulses, which had been bestowed upon it by its innumerable
possessors, since it came first from its maker's hands. Such im
pulses must, of course, be most potent, independently of higher
considerations, in its earliest stages, when as yet it was centred
in a single pair, both because it was without previous bias, and
because there could be no one whose descent was not derived
from its first possessors. But the very existence of such a
deterioration implies, of course, the reality of that common
being which links together every child of Adam.
But the community of nature must not be confined merely to
that animal side of man's being, on which he touches upon the

1 " It is certain that God created not onlpindividuals, but the several
kinds, with the differences which they have from each qther ; it is certain
that these differences do not lie in mere names or ideas : hoV comes it, then,
not to be certain that there is a Real Common Essence or Nature in the
individuals of the same kind?" — Stillingfleef s Answer to Locke's Letter.
Works, vol. iii. p. 551. Vide also Answer to Locke's Second Letter, vol. iii.
p. 605, 609. The assertion in the text is, that while we cannot claim reality
for the generalizations of our own minds, we have no right to deny the
existence of that unknown principle of connexion, which is attested by the
permanence of nature. This distinction is confirmed by Aristotle. He
divides substances, oiktIoi, into primary and secondary. By primary, he
means individuals ; by secondary, classes. The first, he observes, have
each a particular counterpart in nature, riJSe ti o-ni/iatpei. The second have
not so strictly a counterpart in nature, but yet are not mere qualities. But
respecting these secondary substances, or classes, he observes that the name
of substance does not so properly belong to the artificial genera, which men
may create by abstraction, as to those ultimate species, which cannot become
genera themselves, that is, which are incapable of subdivision. It is not
to the present purpose to inquire how far he may have designed to carry
this principle, but, so far as regards the animated kingdoms, his state
ment is identical with the assertion in the text. " To eZBos rod yhovs
fxa\Kov ovcia. Aitruy 5e 7W eidwp, haa tij\ 4ari y4yjj ov5ev p.aWoy erepov
erepov oioia iffrly." — Karrryopiai, Sec. 3.

THE PATTERN MAN. 33
brute creation. What is the meaning of all conference and
concert among men, unless there be a real unity in the higher
part of their constitution? 'The instinctive belief in such a
union lies too deep, surely, to be the mere result of observation.
There is a moral instinct, by which we feel assured that the
sentiments which live in our own heart, will be responded to in
that of our brother. The man must be cold and faithless who
could enjoy life without such confidence. Even our judgments
about the material world assume the existence of principles
common to us all. Coincidence, resemblance, and proportion,
the three keys to our knowledge of creation, require to exist
within us, in order to Jbe called forth. Anyone will discern
this who attempts to demonstrate, properly speaking, the
Fourth Proposition of the First Book of Euclid. But much
more may the same be observed respecting our judgment
on the great truths of morals. Here it is, especially, that
we bear witness continually to the possession of a common
nature. Ingratitude and oppression, justice and truth — and the
feelings of which these are the natural objects — testify clearly
to some close alliance, which binds together all the far-severed
scions of the family of mankind.
Independently of our conviction, that our opinions have such
truth and rectitude as must commend them to higher beings,
there is a principle of sympathy in our judgments, which irre
sistibly enforces upon us the kindred character of our minds.
When Milton describes Adam's intercourse with an angel, he is
compelled to seek for that principle of connexion in gratitude
to a common Creator, which some inherent law of union pro
duces of itself among mankind :
" Only this I know,
That one Celestial Father gives to all."
So that, however strong may be the arguments for Creatianism
in respect to some part of our spiritual constitution, we cannot
doubt that a connecting principle either binds together these
D

34 CHRIST, BY NATURE
more subtile parts of man's being, or that they are influenced
by the alliance of that with which they are united.1 How close
is the connexion which may often be traced, even in mental
qualities, between the inheritors of the same blood. True, they
resemble one another most closely in such parts of their mental
constitution as most border upon physical being — in memory,
for example — inhabits — in hand-writing; but such things' are
surely some reflection of what lives within. And then rising
from the family to the race, the calculations which are founded
on the acts and opinions of men indicate as wonderful an ac
cordance in the judgment of mankind, regarded as a whole, as
we find dissimilarity through the eccentricities of individuals.
By some this has been carried so far, that tables have been
drawn up, on which it is stated that considerable reliance may
be placed, with a view to estimate the probable moral conduct
of a number of individuals.2 This has been thought to mili
tate against the reality of man's spiritual nature. Yet what
does it show in reality, but that the same unity which belongs
so clearly to the animal nature, extends itself likewise to the
spiritual part of man ? Our knowledge of immaterial, like our
knowledge of material essences, is drawn only from observation ;
each has its laws and mode of action ; and those who would
materialize spirit, go no further in settling the perplexities of
our compound nature than those who would spiritualize matter.
The fact, therefore, remains where it was before; both our outer
and inner being testify to the existence of a relation between
the different members of the family of man. It may be that
our inner being is in part handed down from one to another —
in part derived from that creative impulse which gives each of
i ' ' The Pelagian can form no other estimate of humanity than as a mass
of co-ordinate independent spiritual individuals ; in virtue, as in sin,
every one stands and falls by himself. The Augustinian cannot think of
it except as a collective community, the individual members whereof are
not separate independent wholes, but integral portions of the totality."
Olshausen on Bom. v. 12.
2 Vide an extract from the Dublin Review for August, 1840 in The
Vestiges of Creation, p. 333, second edition.

THE PATTERN MAN. 35
us a personal life. But whatever theory be adopted on this
subject, the facts of the case testify to the existence of one
common life, and this common life we call human nature.1
It may be said that the preceding considerations do not
disprove the system of Creatianism; for why may not like
produce like, though no such entity as human nature be
admitted ? No attempt has been made to disprove this
system, as being incapable either of proof or of refutation.
What has been maintained has been, first, that the logical
objection to Traducianism, which is built upon the system
of Nominalism, is inconclusive ; secondly, that probability
is infinitely in favour of Traducianism, except in regard to a
certain principle of Personality, which has the appearance
of being a distinct and original essence. For if no reason is
known why like should produce like, the chances are infinitely
against such a result, and in certain other cases, of an analogous
character, an actual traduction can be discerned. To say
that for like to spring from like may be a law imprinted by
the Creator's will, would be to concede the point under discus
sion ; since what is meant by a traditive nature, except that God
has bound successive generations to the primary pair by a law of
continuity ? But for the proof that men are really associated by
this inexplicable law, we can refer only to Holy Scripture, as being
1 "In Adam the original material of humanity, in Christ the original
idea of it in the divine mind, have a personal existence. In them is
Humanity concentrated, and therefore is Adam's sin the sin of all, and
Christ's offering an universal atonement. Every leaf of a tree may flourish
and wither by itself, but all suffer from the decay of the root, and profit
by its recovery. The more superficial a man is, the more isolated will
everything seem to him, for on the surface all things are detached. In
mankind, in the nation, even in the family, he will see nothing but
individuals, whose actions are altogether distinct. The deeper a man is,
the more conscious will he be of those inward principles of unity whioh
radiate from the centre. Even the love of our neighbour is only a deep
feeling of this unity, for a man does not love those to whom he does not
perceive and feel himself bound. Unless sin could come through one,
and through one atonement, there could be no understanding the command
to love our neighbour." — Stahl's Phil, des Recht's, quoted by Olshausen on
Rom. v. 12.

36 CHRIST, BY NATURE
the sole document which professes to give us an authoritative
explanation of man's nature. Now, to what purpose is the
history of the race traced to its earliest origin— a thing towards
which all heathen mythologies were tending, but which Scripture
alone attains — unless its fortunes were regarded as a whole, and
it must stand or fall together ? Again, what means the state
ment, that " by one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin," unless there be some real connexion between the sons
of men, whereby the acts of one affect another? For the
Apostle expressly observes, that his statement is not confined to
those whose voluntary acts might have been imitations of their
predecessor. This explanation might perhaps be alleged as a
ground for the sinfulness of responsible agents. But are not sin
and death inseparably united? And how, then, do we account
for the sufferings and death of unconscious infants? "Neverthe
less, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that
had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression."1
Again, the same truth is alluded to, when the Apostle tells
us, that " as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth. tithes, paid
tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father
when Melchisedec met him."2 The introduction shows, indeed,
that the statement is used in way of illustration. Yet there
must be a reality which it is intended to illustrate. That reality
lies in the actual connexion by which the parties described
were bound together. Had there been no such actual connexion,
the expression had been forced and hyperbolical. The use of
so strong a term shows that we are dealing with the case of
things which are not only associated together, so that we can
refer them to the same class, but which are united by some
actual bond to one another. There is set before us the case of a
great family, commencing from the earliest period of recorded
time, and extending throughout all portions of the earth. It
has an actual reference to one common ancestor, and its con
nexion is analogous to that interdependency of structure which
1 Romans v. 12, 14. 2 Hebrews vii. 9, 10.

THE PATTERN MAN. 37
unites the different portions of an organic agent into a co
ordinate whole. Now, into this family it was that Christ Our
Lord was pleased to enter. When He took man's nature, He
vouchsafed to ally himself to all members of this extended
series, by the actual adoption of that transmitted being which
related Him to the rest. He not only became like men, and
dwelt among them, but He became man itself — an actual de
scendant from their first progenitor. He was made man. The
Heathen notions of divine succour either looked to the elevation
of some man to a divine emineney, or to the depression of some
god to the level of mankind. But it was reserved for the Gospel
to declare that God had actually become man, that He had really
entitled Himself to a share in the hereditary characteristics of
this lower being, and qualified Himself for co-partnership with
His brethren.
Now, this is the fact declared, when it is stated that Christ
took man's nature : it implies the reality of a common humanity,
and His perfect and entire entrance into its ranks. Thus did
He assume a common relation to all mankind. This is why the
existence of human nature is a thing too precious to be surren
dered to the subtilties of logic, because upon its existence depends
that real manhood of Christ which renders Him a co-partner with
ourselves. And upon the reality of this fact is built that peculiar
connexion between God and man, which is expressed by the
term Mediation. It looks to an actual alteration in the con
dition of mankind, through the admission of a member into
its ranks in whom, and through whom, it attained an unprece
dented elevation. Unless we discern this real impulse which
was bestowed upon humanity, the doctrines of Atonement and
Sanctification, though confessed in words, become a mere empty
phraseology. That " God was in Christ reconciling the world
unto Himself," implies an actual acceptance of the children of
men, on account of the merits of one of their race ; as well as an
actual change in the race itself, through the entrance of its nobler
associate. The work of man's redemption and renewal is a real

38 CHRIST, BY NATURE
work, performed by real agents. It is not only that the Almighty
was pleased to save appearances, if we may so express it, by con
ceding to the representations of a third party what He did not
choose otherwise to yield or to acknowledge (as Queen Philippa
prevailed over her harsher husband, Edward) ; but Christ's
Incarnation was a step in the mighty purposes of the Most
High, whereby all the relations of heaven and earth were truly
affected. To deny, as is done by Bishop Hampden,1 " that we
may attribute to God any change of purpose towards man by
what Christ has done," would be to resolve this Teal series of
acts into a mere technical juggle. But to the reality of this
work, the existence of that common nature is indispensable,
whereby " as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He
Himself took part of the same." Else, how would the perfect
assumption of humanity have consisted with His retaining that
divine personality, which it was impossible that He should sur
render ? Since it was no new person which He took, it can only
have been the substratum, in which personality has its existence.
For His Incarnation was not the " conversion of Godhead, into
flesh, but the taking of the manhood into God." Or how could
He have entered into a common relation to mankind in general,
unless there had existed a common nature as the medium of
union ? This nature, which exists only in individual persons,
He took for the earthly clothing of that divine personality in
which He must ever continue to exist.
What Christ associated to Himself, therefore, was no indi
vidual man, but that common nature of which Adam was the
first example. " It was not any human person in particular,"
says Bishop Beveridge, "but the human nature [which] He
assumed into His sacred person."2 "'The Word' (saith St.
John) ' was made flesh and dwelt in us.' The Evangelist useth
the plural number, men for manhood, us for the nature whereof
we consist, even as the Apostle, denying the assumption of
1 Bampton Lecture, v. p. 252.
2 On Third Article, Works ix. 115.

THE PATTERN MAN. 39
angelical nature, saith likewise in the plural number, ' He
took not angels, but the seed of Abraham.'1 It pleased not the
Word or Wisdom of God to take to itself some one person
amongst men, for then should that one have been advanced
which was assumed, and no more ; but Wisdom, to the end she
might save many, built her house of that nature which is com
mon unto all — she made not this or that man her habitation,
but dwelt in us. The seeds of herbs and plants at the first
are not in act, but in possibility, that which they afterwards
grow to be. If the Son of God had taken to Himself a man
now made and already perfected, it would of necessity follow,
that there are in Christ two persons, the one assuming, and the
other assumed ; whereas the Son of God did not assume a man's
person unto His own, but a man's nature to His own person, and
therefore took semen, the seed of Abraham, the very first ori
ginal element of our nature, before it was come to have any
personal human subsistence."2
II. We conclude, then, that there is such a thing as that com
mon nature of man which is handed down through an innumer
able series of personal inheritors ; and further, that He who was
personally God, took His place in this series by Incarnation, and
thus assumed a common relation to all its possessors. It remains
to show, in the second place, what was that peculiarity in His
manner of taking manhood, which rendered this divine partaker
of our nature the proper head and representative of the rest.
That He would be greater, wiser, purer, than others is manifest ;
but why was He their natural representative ? What fitted Him
to answer for the rest? The nobler member who is adopted
1 The marginal reading, " He taketh not hold of angels, but of the seed
of Abraham He taketh hold, " is no doubt the literal rendering of the Greek
original of Heb. ii. 16. The rendering in the text, however, which is the
traditional one, stands to the literal one, as the context shows, in the re
lation of effect to cause, since it was because " the children are partakers
of flesh and blood," that "He also Himself likewise took part of the
same." And, therefore, the argument of the text is not impaired by the
mistranslation. 2 Eccles. Pol. v. 62-3.

40 CHRIST, BY NATURE
into an earthly fraternity, has more influence than his brethren ;
but he does not become their representative, unless so con
stituted by their voluntary act. What was there in Christ's
manner of adopting our being, which marked Him out from
others ; so that when He was pleased to introduce Himself into
the family of human beings, He became at once " the first-born
of every creature," " the beginning of the creation of God " ?
Now, this question is answered in Holy Scripture, when the
name of " the last Adam " is bestowed upon Him. Hereby we
learn that those circumstances which rendered Adam the type
and head of man's race are exhibited again in more perfect
measure in the man Jesus Christ. The relation of Adam to the
race of which he was the first example, is witnessed by the use
of his name in the Hebrew language, as a generic title for the
human family. Not only is Adam the word employed, when it
is said " let us make man ;" but the article prefixed to his name
(in cases where our version gives no indication of it) implies that
he was the man, the head or representative of humanity. * The
grounds of this relation to mankind at large are twofold : First,
the tie of common parentage, on account of which " the man
called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all
living;" and secondly, that he was the type who represented
the race in its perfection. " The Lord fashioned the Adam who
was dust from the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life, and the Adam became a living soul." An ingenious
writer makes it an argument against the genuineness of the book
of Genesis "as we have it," that there is here "an obvious
attempt to biographize the protogonous and archetypal man ; " 2
but those who are content to take Scripture as they find it, will
recognize in this circumstance the real connexion between the
archetype and his descendants. And such a connexion is a
necessary preparation for the great antitype of our first parent —
the new man Jesus Christ. And if His relation to His brethren
1 Vide Genesis ii. 19, 20, 21 ; iii. 8 ; and iv. 1.
2 Vindication of Protestant Principles, p. 140.

THE PATTERN MAN. 41
is to be as perfect as that of the first Adam, it must rest on the
same conditions — He must be the stock from whom all are
descended, and the new type after which they are to be formed.
Now, the first of these grounds of connexion shall be touched
upon hereafter, when we speak of that Sacramental union
whereby men are united to Christ. "The words of Adam,"
says Hooker, " may be fitly the words of Christ concerning His
Church, ' flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bones,' a true native
extract out of mine own body."1 But what is asserted in this
chapter is, that the new Adam was as truly the type and pattern
of the renewed, as the old Adam of the first creation. Thus did
He occupy a place corresponding to our original' father, and
become, though in a different manner, the representative of the
race. Had He been only a common man, however remarkable,
He could not be placed in opposition to our first parent, who
was both the fountain of our being, and the perfect specimen on
whom the rest were moulded. Hereafter we shall trace the
principle of affinity which binds Him to His earthly brethren :
at present it shall be shown, that as Adam was the type in
which man was originally made, so Our Lord, regarded according
to His human being, was the fresh type, on which was remodelled
the nature of mankind.
The first step in this inquiry is to consider more fully how
Adam was the type in which humanity was originally made;
and thus we shall be led to discern that corresponding place
which is occupied by the purer and nobler type of manhood —
the man Christ Jesus. For adopting this course there is great
authority. " You may wonder," says St. Athanasius, " why,
when we have proposed to treat of the Incarnation, we now
discuss the origin of man. Yet to do so is nowise alien from
our purpose. For it is necessary that, in treating of Our Lord's
appearance among us, we should first consider the origin of
man."2 What was there peculiar then in Adam? Wherein
1 Eccles. Pol. v. 56-7.
2 De Incarnatione, sec. 4, vol. i. p. 50.

42 CHRIST, BY. NATURE
did the Protoplast, as Bishop Bull calls him, after St. Irenseus,
differ from us all? His constitution, like ours, consisted of
body, soul, and spirit. The first and second of these were the
seat of appetite — of that capacity of admitting material im
pulses which, in itself, is neither virtuous nor sinful. Adam
ate in Paradise ; Eve discerned what was " good for food." It
was not till an act of disobedience had separated man from God
that appetite degenerated into concupiscence. Its sinfulness
arises from its being ungoverned, as more or less it is, in all the
sinful progeny of Adam.1 " I delight in the law of God after
the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind."2 Again, the soul and spirit of
man were the seat of the various passions and affections, while
conscience and will belonged especially to the spirit. Wherein
lies that personality which makes each man a separate indivi
dual, and thus responsible for the deeds done in the body,
before the throne of God, it is vain to conjecture. Of all our
constituent parts, will seems the most to resemble it ; yet even
will it is not, for in Christ was one person, yet two wills.
Neither is it the same thing with conscience, however closely they
are combined. Enough that it is a principle unlike aught besides
in the universe, except it be found in those spiritual essences
which exist along with and around us in the creation of God.
Now, in Adam, all these parts of our nature were not only
good in themselves, but they were happily co-ordinated, the
one to the other.3 Appetite was not rebellious against reason,
1 " Concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin." — -Art. ix. —
a declaration not identical with the statements of the Council of Trent,
but opposed to the ordinary Protestant Confessions.
The words of the Augustan Confession are : " Quod hie morbus, seu
vitium originis, vere sit peccatum," &c. — Sylloge Conf. p. 123.
The Westminster Confession says : " Both itself, and all the motions
thereof, are truly and properly sin."
On the other hand, the Council of Trent says: " Concupiscentiam
EccleBiam nunquam intellexisse peccatum appellari, quod vere et proprie
in renatis peccatum sit, sed quia ex peccato est, et ad peccatum inclinat."
— Sees. v. sec. 5.
2 Rom. vii. 22, 23. s Genesis i. 31,

THE PATTERN MAN. 43
nor passion against conscience. So that not only were the parts
of his constitution excellent, as being the workmanship of God
Himself, but the man who resulted from their union was good
also. And this it is which is wanting in Adam's descendants,
and which is expressed by that corruption1 of nature, in which
they are declared to be born. Not, of course, that the consti
tuents of our nature can change their character, since they are
either indifferent, like the bodily appetites, or good, like the
moral virtues ; but they become evil in us, because the general
disorganization of our constitution diverts each of them from
their proper aim arid service. To eat is not sinful, nor the appe
tite of hunger — but gluttony, whether in will or deed. How
could the half-frozen inhabitants of Greenland have been affected,
as the Moravians witness, at the declaration of our Lord's
sufferings for the sins of men, unless there were some such prin
ciple as gratitude remaining in our constitution ? And if these
principles remain, they cannot have turned round and changed
their nature ; man's fault is, not that he feels gratitude or love,
but that his love is so weak, and that his gratitude is not proof
against temptation. The corruption of nature, then, does not
lie in these separate portions of it, but in that perversion of
man, as a whole, by which their harmony is disturbed, and their
purposes frustrated; Therefore, a woe2 is denounced in Scrip
ture against those who deny the truth of these constituent parts
of the witness of man's conscience. For if there be no truth
in such inward admonitions, what do we mean by speaking of
good or evil ; and why are we bound to adopt the one and
eschew the other 1 This was the result to which the Manichseans
were led, by supposing human corruption to lie, not in the-
actings of man as a whole, but in the constituent parts of his
nature. The source of evil was traced back from man to his
author,3 and he was alleged to be the work of that evil spirit,
1 "Psalm li. 5. 3 Isaiah v. 20.
3 11ti oSra y'ttv eri rov Ihjjjuovpyov 7i Kanjyop\a ttjs Qwreas eravfot, ii Tt
twv xepl avT^v us aio~xpbv Kai arpewis 5ia8aAAon-o." — S. Greg. Nyssen. Cat.
Orat. sec. 28, vol. iii. p. 88.

44 CHRIST, BY NATURE
whose impress was supposed to be visible in the elements of his
nature. Human corruption, then, lies in man himself, in the com
pound creature, who was created good but chose evil. Adam,
on the other hand, came from his Maker's hands in the purity
of innocence. The compound creature was good. The whole
being was in harmony with that higher part of it, which was
intended to sway; while all the propensions and appetites
moved along with it in happy subordination. He needed corro
boration, but not improvement. Yet whence was it that he had
light for the guidance of his being ? Can man, who is a crea
ture, have light in himself? Is not the light of the moral as
well as of the physical world an emanation from the fountain
of light ? The very Heathen had a conviction that man's nature
could not be developed in its fullest proportions without such
external aid : " Nemo sine aliquo afflatu divino vir magnus
unquam fuit." Conscience, that is, appears to tell us that a
moral being cannot attain to perfection without the co-operation
of that Infinite Being in whom perfection is innate. In Adam,
therefore, there must have been superadded to those natural .
qualities which have been described, some supernatural gift,
for the guidance of the whole.1 Otherwise man would have
1 In affirming that original righteousness is a supernatural gift, it seems
improper not to notice the objection taken against the assertion by so high
an authority as Dr. Jackson. His objection rests upon the belief, that
supposing original righteousness supernatural, "this grace or quality might
have been, or rather was, lost, without any real wound unto our nature."
It is obvious, therefore, that his objection attaches not to the idea, that
original righteousness was so high a gift that it transcended the inherent
efficacy even of unf alien nature, but to the notion that nature was, in itself,
something perfect and entire without such addition. Such an idea was
attributed to some of the schoolmen, who are alleged by Archbishop Lau
rence to have thought supernatural grace a " superinduced ornament, the
removal of which could not prove detrimental to the native powers." That
such was the opinion which Dr. Jackson was opposing, is obvious from his
own words, "that the righteousness wherein Adam was created was a
natural endowment in respect of the essential quality produced, albeit the
manner of producing it were somewhat more than supernatural." — [B. x.
3, 1, vol. ix. p. 9.] Now, this is all which is assumed in the present argu
ment. The purpose of Jackson was not to exalt the natural powers of man,

THE PATTERN MAN. 45
approached too near to such independent and self-originating
action, as St. Athanasius1 reminds us does not belong even to-
the angels ; he would have been an efficient cause, a sort of
demi-god. " Quicquid a Deo non pendet, ut auctore et principio,,
per nexus et gradus subordinates, id loco Dei erit, et novum
principium, et Deaster quidam."2 "Man's nature," said the-
Anti-Pelagian Fathers at the Council of Orange (Canon 19),
" even if it remained in that entireness in which it was created,
could never preserve itself without its Creator's help."3 There-
must have been some divine principle in man — some super
natural gift, superadded to the constitution of his nature. And
such we are told there was. For not only did God create "man
out of the dust of the earth," thus giving him body, and breathe
" into his nostrils the breath of life," whereby he " became a
living soul," but He also created man in His own image — " in
the image of God created he him." Now, since " God is a
but to maintain, that by the Fall he was not only deprived of a valuable
auxiliary, but that (except so far as God should help him) he lost that
which was indispensable to the practice of virtue. This seems to be con
veyed by the statement of Aquinas, ' ' homo per peccatum origiuale spoliatur
in gratuitis, vulneratur in naturalibus." And it is expressed with great
clearness by a writer, to whom, when treating on this very subject, Jack
son refers with high commendation — " that reverend and great divine,
Dr. Field, then Dean of Gloucester." — Jackson, x. 13, 7, vol. ix. p. 78.
' ' Original righteousness is said to be a supernatural quality, because it
groweth not out of nature ; because it raiseth nature above itself ; but it is
natural, that is, required to the integrity of nature.
' ' Neither should it seem strange to any man, that a quality not growing-
out of nature should be required necessarily for the perfecting of nature's
integrity ; seeing the end and object of man's desires, knowledge, and ac
tions, is an infinite thing, and without the compass and bounds of nature.
And therefore the nature of man cannot, as all other things do, by natural
force, and things bred within herself, attain to her wished end ; but must
either by supernatural grace be guided and directed to it, or, being left to
herself, fail of that perfection she is capable'of , and fill herself with infinite
evils, defects, and miseries." — Field on the Church, Book iii. c. xxvi.
1 They are not, he says, efficient causes [itohjtuc&j' ofo-iov], so as to be
able to co-operate along with God as independent beings, in the work of
man's salvation." — Or. III. cent. Arianos, sec. 14.
2 Bacon's Meditationes Sacras. — Works v. 530.
3 Harduin's Cone. ii. p. 1100. Vide Bull's Appendix, ad Examen
Animad, xvii. 6.

46 CHRIST, BY NATURE
¦.spirit," this must refer especially to the nature and constitution
of man's mind. Its essence, that is, must be in those things
which especially characterize man's spirit — the conscience,
namely, and the will. Yet the language of Scripture leads us
to give it a wider scope, as embracing all the excellencies, both
¦outward and inward, with which man's nature was endowed.
For, from the supremacy of his mind proceeds the power of
which even his lower nature is possessed. Herein lies that
rmysterious principle of Will, which renders his senses and
members its instruments. So that three effects are derived
especially from the gift of God's image : first, Lordship over the
-earth and lower animals ;l secondly, Knowledge of God's works
in creation, with which the possession of language was inti
mately connected ;2 thirdly, Intercourse with God, from whom
man received direct instructions respecting his conduct.3 Now,
¦of these three things, the last seems to have been that of which
,-sin most completely deprived him. Approach to God, the true
fountain of knowledge; the opportunity of intercourse with
Him ; the derivation of perfect wisdom from His infinite into
-our contracted nature, was the first thing which sin rendered
impossible. Hence did Adam hide himself from God's imme
diate presence; and Cain declared that its final loss was the
^consummation of his punishment : — " From Thy face shall I be
hid."4 To this source even nature points, as the ultimate origin
¦of knowledge : " Dixitque semel nascentibus auctor
Quicquid scire licet."
¦ This it is which renders the creatures worthy of our study :
they are the handiwork of Him in whose knowledge is the
perfection of wisdom. The infinite extent of His kingdom
leads our thoughts to Him who is as multiform in His works
=as He is simple in His ways. And the restoration of this
intercourse is the measure of man's recovery, for " this is life
1 Genesis i. 28. * Genesis ii. 19.
3 Genesis ii. 16. 4 Genesis iii. 8, and iv. 14.

THE PATTERN MAN. 47
eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
Thou hast sent."
This effect of God's image was lost by sin, by which that
image in general suffered detriment. Therefore it is declared,
in a marked manner, that "Adam begat a son in his own
likeness, after his image."1 Yet that God's image was not
altogether lost is plainly declared in Scripture. For when
murder was forbidden after the Flood, the ground of its enormity
is referred to that original construction of man in God's image,
which would have ceased to be a reason for his preservation,
if it had been altogether withdrawn.2 The same conclusion
may be derived from the reference to this principle, as an argu
ment against detraction,3 and as sanctioning the arrangements of
domestic life.4 This partial loss of a principle which is not
totally forfeited, led some of the ancient writers to discrimi
nate between God's Wteness, which was lost by sin, and His
image, which was still retained. The distinction is especially
maintained by the Alexandrian Fathers. And St. Cyril of
Jerusalem says, God's image man received at the Creation;
but his likeness he obscured through disobedience."5 And so
says Tertullian : " What comes from God is not so much ex
tinguished as overshadowed. It can be overshadowed, because
it is not God : it cannot be extinguished, because God gave
it."6 The image of God, therefore, remains as that principle
of conscience which St. Paul vindicates even for the heathen
world.7 And " Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of
them that sought me not ; I was made manifest unto them that
asked not after me."8 But is this "work of the law, written in
their hearts," an implanted or an imparted gift ; is it a power of
judging with which God endowed men, and then left them to
themselves ; or is it the result of His remaining presence ? It
must plainly have been from the first an indwelling, not an
1 Genesis v. 3. 2 Genesis ix. 6. 3 James iii. 9.
4 1 Cor. xi. 7. 6 Catech. xiv. 10. 6 De Anima, 41.
, Romans ii. 15. 8 Romans x. 20.

48 CHRIST, BY NATURE
implanted gift, because it is declared to have been the indwelling
of that principle of. life which is inherent in the Eternal
Word. " In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."
And to be an independent, original source of life, is an incom
municable attribute of self-existent Godhead ; for it belonged
as an especial gift to Him in whom the Spirit dwelt without
measure. " For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He
given to the Son to have life in Himself." That which was
bestowed then as a peculiar attribute on the Son Incarnate,
could belong to man only as an indwelling gift by supernatural
communication. So that our first parents, as St. Chrysostom
says, "were clothed with glory from above."1 And St. Atha
nasius speaks of the first man as " having received grace from
without, and having lost it."2 That which guided him was
an illumination from that exhaustless fountain, which has its
centre in Him before whom the angels hide their faces, and
"who dwelleth in the light which nothing can approach unto."3
The guiding light then of original humanity, was not merely
that perfection of natural understanding which resulted from the
happy constitution of man's inherent powers, but a special and
supernatural indwelling of the great Author of all knowledge.
And as this results from the general testimonies of Scripture
respecting that sole source of wisdom who dwells above, so it is
confirmed by what is taught respecting the subsequent gifts
bestowed upon mankind. For even the Heathen must have de
rived their remaining light of conscience, however darkened and
confused, from Him who is the true light which lighteth every
man."4 And it is the peculiar blessing of Christians, that by
their union with Christ they may renew that connexion
with God which Adam lost. Eor it was through the inter
vention of the Word, or Eternal Son, that man was originally
created in the image of his Maker. For it was by Him that
1 De Gen. Horn. xv. 2 Or. II. c. Arian. 68, and"0r. III. 38.
3 <pus o'ikuv &,irp6<riTov. The force of the term is hardly given by "no
man can approach unto." — 1 Tim. vi. 16. 4 1 John i. 9.

THE PATTERN MAN. 49
"the worlds were made." He was that Word or Wisdom,
"whose delights were with the sons of men."1 Especially
does St. John tell us, that it was through Him that the Light
or guidance of man was given.
Now, it is set forth in numerous places of Holy Writ, that the
peculiar purpose of that gift of the Holy Ghost, which is bestowed
in the Gospel, is that through union with the Son of God, we
may regain the perfect image of the Creator. Christ " became
the head2 of man's race," says St. Irenseus, " that in Him we
might recover the likeness of God, which in Adam we had
lost." Inasmuch, then, as the gift of union with Christ, which
is bestowed by the Holy Ghost, is plainly a supernatural bless
ing, and that through it we are to recover that likeness to God
which man originally possessed, it follows that the likeness of
God must have been some Divine presence, superadded to primi
tive nature. This presence of the superior Being was what gave
perfection to that likeness of God, in which man was created.
Now, that what is to be enjoyed in the Gospel is a likeness to
Christ, and thus to God, is a truth which had been ever pressing
upon the minds of the Apostles, from the time that our Lord
vouchsafed that wondrous declaration, " The glory, which Thou
gavest Me, have I given them." Hence St. Paul declares it the
vocation of Christians, that whom God " did foreknow, He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.''3
Hence he tells the Corinthians that " as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we must also bear the image of the heavenly."*
And again he" says, that Christians " have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that
created him."5 And "we all reflecting6 like a glass the glory of
1 Proverbs viii. 31.
2 " Recapitulavit." ' ' hvaK*<pa\ai6a was, no doubt, the original word
of St. Irenseus— iii. 18, 1, p. 209.
3 Romans viii. 29. i 1 Corinthians xv. 49.
5 Colossians iii. 10. See also Ephesians iv. 22, 23 ; 1 John iii. 2 ; 2
Corinthians iv. 4.
6 Vide Olshausen on 2 Corinthians iii. 18. E

50 CHRIST, BY NATURE
the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even
as by the Spirit of the Lord." All these passages show that the
gift of the gospel is that " knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ," which had originally, though as the Apostle
implies in inferior measure, been designed for the family of man.
When the Eternal Word created the first man in God's image,
He bestowed the beginning of this gift ; its fulness was vouch
safed when He gave Himself to be the second man in the flesh.
And this may lead us to some further appreciation of what
has been already stated, that birth-sin does not lie in the de
pravation of those individual principles of right and wrong
which constitute the witness of our conscience, but in the dis
order and disarrangement which our being, regarded as a whole,
has derived from sin. This is " the fault and corruption " of
every man's nature. For the very cause of this disorder is the
withdrawal, or at least the obscuration of that divine light,1 by
which man was originally guided. And thence arises the tur
moil and confusion of clamorous appetites warring against the
law of our mind, and bringing us into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in our members. We must be careful indeed not
to limit this rebellion of the inferior nature to that material
being, which has been united in our constitution t6 an intelli
gent soul. This is the heresy of Manes, which is for ever
appearing under various forms, and which merges the deformity
of sin in the impotence of matter. The inheritance of maris
sin extends both to his body and his mind. It follows from
the lack of that divine light which man lost through sin, and
which is not less needful for the guidance of his intellect, than
for the subjugation of his material clay. So that maris cor
ruption2 consists first, in the deprivation of the divine guidance
which' he has rejected, for "the light sliined in darkness, and
1 " Vita Deus animse est, ipsa corporis . . . noluit anima regi a Deo,
non queat regere corpus." — S. Bernard.
% " If we speak of original sin formally, it is the privation of those ex
cellent gifts of divine grace, enabling us to know, love, fear, serve, honour,

THE PATTERN MAN. 51
the darkness comprehended it not ; " and secondly, in the con
sequent rebellion of the lower principles of his body and his
soul. Now, that this is the real nature of maris sinfulness is
evidenced by the fact that Christ Our Lord took our common
nature ; and it may also be shown to be most accordant with those
principles of justice which the Most High has sanctioned in
Holy Scripture. That Christ should have taken maris nature,
shows that its corruption was not in such wise inherent in its
existence, that to assume the nature was to adopt the sin. On
this subject we may quote a remarkable admission in Baur's reply
to Mbhler's work on Symbolism. Certain expressions of some of
the German Eeformers tend, according to Mbhler, to the Mani-
chsean heresy ; because, by making maris hereditary sin & positive
part of his constitution, they exempt man himself, regarded as a
whole, from its guilt, and refer it back in reality to the being
by whom this part of his constitution was created. Baur re
plies, that whatever may be alleged against the expressions in
question, such could not have been their intention, because the
German Eeformers affirm Christ to have become by Incarnation
eonsubstantial with mankind. "That Christ's manhood was
consubstantial with the nature even of fallen man, was never
denied by the Protestants ; all that was affirmed was, that He was
free from original sin. But had the true meaning of the Protes
tant teaching respecting original sin been, as Mbhler supposes, to
reduce man to the condition of a beast, it would have been im
possible that Christ should have been consubstantial with man
kind."1 Thus, then, are we led to the conclusion, that original
sin arises from the absence of that guiding light, the lack of
and trust in God, and to do the things He delighteth in, which Adam had
and lost. If materially, it is that habitual inclination that is found in
men averse from God, carrying them to the love and desire of finite
things more than of God, and this also is properly sin, making guilty of
condemnation the nature and person in which it is found. This habitual
inclination to desire finite things inordinately is named concupiscence." —
Field on the Church, Appendix to Book iii. chap. v.
1 Baur's Gegensatz, &c, p. 78.

52 CHRIST, BY NATURE
which was followed by general confusion in man's inner nature.
By this means was a door opened to that hostile power of
evil, which had no place in maris original being. And though
it is not for us to explain the principle of God's decisions,
yet it may be observed, that to represent original sin as result
ing from the withdrawal of a divine light, and as a consequent
transmitted disorganization of the lower appetites and powers,
consists well with St. Paul's statement respecting the dealings
of the Almighty. He "endured with much long-suffering the
vessels of wrath fitted for destruction." Now, however difficult
it may be for us to discern the nature of maris trial, it will doubt
less appear at last that everyone is tried and judged according
to his opportunities. But that it should have pleased God to
withdraw the specific gift of guidance, which was originally con
ferred upon Adam, is in itself not more inconsistent with the
principles of justice than the removal of any other endowment
which man could not challenge as a right, though it had been
mercifully bestowed upon him. All that is necessary is, that
we should not so wholly identify, the sinfulness of man with that
loss of guidance on which it followed, as to destroy the indi
vidual responsibility of Adam's children. And one circumstance,
which must, of course, greatly affect this whole question, is the
perfect parallel which exists between the first man and the
second — between the type and the antitype — him in whom
humanity fell, and Him in whom it rose again ; between Adam,
in whom a divine spirit was united only for a season to our
mortal being, and Christ, in whom the same spirit dwelt per
manently and without measure. " For if through the offence of
one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift
by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many."
For that Adam should be the type and head of maris race,
leads us to appreciate the character which was assumed by that
new head of our race, Christ Jesus. The fact, however it be
accounted for, that man's race has been dealt with as an organic

THE PATTERN MAN. 53
whole,1 which was represented by the one, makes it more natural
that it should be in like manner associated with the other. Eor
it may be shown that the peculiar constitution of nature, which
existed in Adam, and whereby he was especially qualified to
be the representative of his race, re-appeared for the first time,
but in a far higher measure, in the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
So that one was fitted by His nature for that office, which
the other had, in fact, discharged. For what was His concep
tion in the Virgin's womb, save a taking of the original
elements of our being, which He moulded into a perfect man
hood, through the power of the Holy Ghost ? For the Word
was made flesh ; He clothed Himself in man's whole nature ;
He took the very same composition of parts, which remained
to Adam after the likeness of God was lost. " Because the
children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself took
part of the same." And this He did, not by the ereation of
materials which did not before exist ; the materials were drawn
from that stock for which the benefit was designed. He was
"made of a woman." The materials, therefore, which were
employed were weak and disorganized, because they were; taken
of one who naturally was heir to Adam's defects.2 But then He
1 On this subject the following passage occurs in the able work of Giin
ther [ Vorschule zur Speculativen Theohgie :~\ — " The Idea of man, as origi
nally conceived in the mind of the Creator, is not merely that of an indi
vidual or person, but at the same time that of a race. This, when properly
understood, does not imply merely a collective, but an organic being By
this Idea, as being His original thought, God's acts of creation for the
support of the race are directed. If therefore the first man, as the repre
sentative of the race because its father broke off the connection between
his spirit and the Godhead, the Creative Impulse on the part of God could
not renew that connection and take away that breach, which he had
allowed to be produced in the case of the solitary first man. And why could
it not ? Because, by such an act of alteration and renewal, God would
have been at variance with Himself, by reason of that Idea which He
had originally formed of mankind as a race." — Letter 7, vol. ii. p. 161.
2 If the Blessed Virgin had not been an inheritor of our common nature,
she would have been less suitable for that service which it was her privilege
to discharge. " Quod (de B. Virgine) assumpsit, id profecto aut susci-
piendum mundavit, aut suscipiendomundavit." — S. Aug. dePecc. Meritis,
ii. 24. The holiness, which is ascribed both by St. Austin, De Nat. and

54 CHRIST, BY NATURE
who took them was the Word of God. Into those weak and
poor elements of our nature, there flowed the very might,
wisdom, and purity of Deity itself. Thus was their weak
ness from the first corrected ; from the first moment that His
nature existed, its disorder was counteracted' by the perfect order
and harmony of God's spirit, and though made of a woman, He
was made without sin. Therefore, when the tempter assailed Him,
he did it not, as Damascene remarks, through the medium of His
inward thoughts, but, as in Adam's case, by external aggression.1
For in His constitution there were the elements of Adam's being,
together with the perfect presence of that Wisdom of God,
which had vouchsafed its influence as an indwelling gift to
our first parent. So exactly did the constitution of the one
accord with the constitution of the other. " For when the
Son of God was made man, He took the ancient mould upon
Himself."2 For He had Himself, as Methodius observes, been
the very model upon which it had been fashioned. For " God
made man after the pattern of His image, Jesus Christ."3 In
Adam was humanity, and the presence of the Word superadded
as a guiding light. In Christ was God the Word by personal
presence, who for our sakes had added to Himself human flesh.
Thus is attained that perfection of maris nature which, in the
case of our first parent, was only transiently set forth. For that
perfection lay in the intercourse with God, which Adam so soon
renounced. But in Christ is this intercourse restored per
manently and in its completeness. So that so far as He is
truly imitated, the greatest gift of primeval nature is given
back. "Although we were made after God's image," says
St. Athanasius, " and are called God's image and glory, yet we
are not called so on our own account ; but it is by reason of the
true image and glory of God which dwelt in us, namely, His
Word, which afterwards for our sakes became flesh, that we
Grat. c. xxxvi., and by the English Church, to " St. Mary the Virgin,"
was not therefore the effect of natural constitution, but of divine grace.
1 De Fide Orthod. iii. 20.
2 S. Irenseus, iv. 33-4, p. 271. s Method. Symposium.

THE PATTERN MAN. 65
have the gift of this appellation."1 Thus, as Adam was a type
of humanity in his constitution, so also is Christ. True it is,
that men are not united to the second man by that actual
paternity by which they are all bound to the first. But the
pattern form is perfectly developed; it remains only to find
some no less real means of union, whereby they may enjoy
the blessing of this higher descent. For "the first man is of
the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven."
The first is the original form on which humanity was moulded,
and with which all its inheritors have been connected by,
_ natural descent. The second is the pattern form on whieh it
was remodelled, and which was designed as a principle of
union to those who should be joined to it by grace. With Adam
all men are actually connected, for they are born his children ;
and all men who will, may by the new birth of regeneration
be united to Christ. " For the first man Adam was made a
living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit."
Thus is that object attained for which maris heart had
always longed — the union of our inferior with that superior
nature, by which his weakness might be redressed, and its
ignorance enlightened. And here it is impossible not to observe
the contrast between that gift which was bestowed by the God
of truth, and those idle dreams in which the vain imagination
of men had embodied their hopes. If the gods, says Aristotle,
take interest in human affairs, they may be expected to look
with most satisfaction on what is most akin to their own nature.2
On this principle have maris natural conceptions of Divine in
terference proceeded. Taking that notion whieh his corrupt
heart suggested of the Deity, he has reasoned from it to the
probable manifestations of Divine help. Hence with the Greeks,
in whom strength3 and beauty were the idolized qualities of our
nature, the manifestations of the Deity were
"Too fair to worship, too divine to love.''
1 Orat. III. contra Arian. sec. 10. 2 Eth. Nic. x. 8
3 So in Habakkuk, the description of a lawless warrior is (in the

56 CHRIST, BY NATURE
The favoured iEneas was "os humerosque Deo similis." On
the other hand, the notions of immensity of power and stature
which floated before the dreamy minds of the Orientals, when
they thought of the Incarnation of God, are such as Southey
delights to express, though they want the deep moral tone
which is given to them by that truly Christian poet :¦ —
' ' I take my grant, the Incarnate Power replies,
With his first step he measured o'er the earth,
The second spann'd the skies."
Or again, " In form a fiery column did he tower,
Whose head above the highest height extended,
Whose base below the deepest depth descended."
Contrast these, then, with Him whose " visage was marred more
than any man, and His form more than the sons of men."1 The
glory of His presence lies in the revelation of that image of
God which addresses itself to our inner nature : " The new
man is after God created in righteousness and true holiness."2
Therefore, though no doubt the interior must have cast some
beams of its lustre on the outer man — " the unpolluted temple of
the mind" — yet it was no splendour of external features by
which the Son of God revealed Himself : " He hath no form nor
comeliness ; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that
we should desire Him."3 He was in truth "the brightness of His"
Father's " glory, and the express image of His person," but
mortal eyes required to be purged before they could appreciate
the divine excellence. " He came unto His own, and His own
received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave
Hebrew) one " to whom his might is his God," cap. i. v. 1 1 ; and in Job
xii. 6 (according to Gesenius), " he bears his God in his hand," i.e., his
sword is his God.
It would be unjust not to notice the remarkable exception afforded by
Plato. " The temperate man," he says, " is dear to God, for he is like
Him." " Likeness to God consists in justice, holiness, and prudence." —
Vide Petavius de Opificio Sex Dierum, ii. 2, 10.
1 Isaiah Iii. 14. 2 Ephesians iv. 24.
3 Isaiah liii. 2.

THE PATTERN MAN. 67
He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on His name." Thus was there exhibited a true Pattern for the
children of men, in whom was set forth that gift, of which all
may have participation. For here is restored the true constitu
tion of our being, and man renewed takes the place of man
fallen.1 And further, we see here the great evil of Idolatry, as being a
perversion of the grand principle of maris being. For it is to
lose sight of what is duly divine and noble, that original image
of God, the traces whereof had not been altogether effaced from
the consciences of mankind. For "He left not Himself with
out witness," not only in that " He did good, and gave us rain
from heaven, and fruitful seasons," but also in that men's con
science bore witness, and their thoughts accused or excused one
another.2 Now, for this inward approach to that Word which
was the true image of the Father, men substituted the worship
of images made like to corruptible men, and to birds, and
beasts, and creeping things. But what depraved their judgment
was the corruption of their will. It was " because they did not
like to retain God in their knowledge," that God gave them over
to a reprobate mind.
And no less may be said of that more disguised idolatry of
polished times, which gives to intellectual strength or beauty the
worship which was once paid to physical powers. To search
after God by the exertion of understanding — to realize Him by
the powers of abstract meditation — to satisfy ourselves that
we are secure of His favour, because we have on our side the
witness of our private will, instead of seeking for union with
that Pattern Man, whom He has set forth as the way, the truth,
and the life — what is this but a more subtile idolatry than that of
old ? God's likeness must be first restored, before we can truly
draw near to our Creator. It lies not in strength of intellect,
more than in strength of limb, but in that divine gift, which,
1 " Neque enim mole sed virtute magnus est Deus." — S. Aug. Ep. 137.
1 Acts xiv. 17 ; Romans ii. 15.

58 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
having been forfeited by the first Adam, was more than given
back by the second. We must draw near to God, therefore,
" through that new and living way which He has consecrated for
us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh." " For not by inter
vals of space," says St. Augustine, " but by likeness, do we draw
near to God, and by unlikeness do we depart from Him."1
And those who would seek Him otherwise, in truth " worship
and serve the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for
evermore."

CHAPTEE IV.
CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN IN SYMPATHY.
It has been shown that the office of the Son of Man was to
be the Pattern of our race. For this He was marked out by
ancient prophecy ; and as such He is described in later Scripture.
Again, He has been shown to have been fitted for His office by
the constitution of His nature. He vouchsafed actually to intro
duce Himself into the line of transmitted humanity, so as to
gain a real relationship to all its inheritors ; and the character
in which this was effected corresponded so exactly with that
original type in which our nature was moulded, as to make Him
a new Head to mankind. Eegarded according to His human
nature, He was truly the second Adam ; a fresh, but glorified
specimen of that primitive type in which humanity was formed.
One thing remains, before He is exhibited on the other and
higher side of His being ; it must be shown that the conditions
of His earthly character were such that His sympathies were
truly those which His office implied, and His nature warranted.
The present inquiry does not respect those single acts which
Christ wrought for our benefit, especially that crowning act by
which He paid the price of our redemption. For these, though
1 De Trin. vii. 10.

IN SYMPATHY. 59
wrought through the intervention of that nature which He
took that He might be capable of suffering and death, were yet
wrought by one who was truly God by unity of personal sub
sistence. And therefore His acts of mercy to mankind will be
considered, when He has been set forth as " God over all, blessed
for ever." For whatsoever He did was done by the same person
— it was God who was born — His Virgin Mother was the Mother
of God ; it was God who was crucified — God who purchased
His flock " with His own blood." " By the Lord of Glory, we
must needs understand the whole person 1 of Christ, who, being
Lord of Glory, was indeed crucified, but not in that nature for
which He is termed the Lord of Glory." " Cyril contendeth,
that whosoever will deny very Cod to have suffered death, doth
forsake the faith. Which notwithstanding to hold were heresy,
if the name of God in this assertion did not impart, as it doth,
the person of Christ, who being verily God suffered death, but
in the flesh, and not in that substance for which the name of
God is given Him."2
The acts of Christ, then, as they were performed by the co
operation, or at least association of His two natures, do not
come, except by way of illustration, into our present inquiry,
which concerns His manhood considered in itself. What we are
examining is, that power of doing or suffering, by which His
manhood 'contributed to the acts or passions of that Divine
Person who was manifest in the flesh. What is to be shown
is, first, that there was a true human character in Christ our
Master; and secondly, that His manner of participating in it,
corresponded with that pattern or representative function which
it was His pleasure to discharge. And this must be shown both
as respects the body of the Son of Man, and as respects His
mind. 1 All properties or attributes, which belong either to the human or
divine nature, may be predicated in the concrete of Christ, both God and
Man ; but those which belong to the one nature cannot be predicated in
the abstract of the other.
2 Eccles. Polity, v. 53, vid. Vigilius, c. Eutych. iv. 5.

60 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
I. That there was a true human character in Our Lord's
body is too obvious to require proof ; since Scripture shows us
that it was, in fact, subjected to hunger, pain, weariness, and
death. We have evidence that food sustained, and sleep re
freshed it. As in Our Lord's immaterial nature, what needs
most attention is, to discern thafwhat is human was not wholly
effaced by personal union with Deity ; so since Our Lord's body
was obviously consubstantial with ours, our principal aim in con
sidering it must be to discern the consequences of that Godhead
by which it was never forsaken. For even the earthly body
which was taken by Christ Our Lord in the Virgin's womb,
afforded indications of His peculiar character. It was not, so far
as we read, assaulted by sickness ; man's ancient mastery over
the brute creation appears to have been given back ; it derived
such a principle of vitality from union with Godhead, that not
only was its own subjection to death a voluntary act, but it was
a source of life and health to others. These things pertained to
Our Lord's human body, by reason of that peculiar constitution
of nature which fitted Him to be the Head and Pattern of
man's race.
That Our Lord would actually suffer under human sickness,
might perhaps be expected from St. Matthew's words : " Himself
took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses."1 That no such
event is recorded has been made a ground for questioning the
vicarious nature of those acts by which He remedied the sins of
men as well as their sorrows. For the two benefits are intro
duced together in the words of Isaiah 2 to which St. Matthew
refers ; and St. Peter speaks of Christ as bearing " our sins,"3 as
St. Matthew of His bearing our sicknesses. If the second, it is
said, implies only that sickness was cured, the first need not
imply any real sacrifice of atonement. Hence it is argued that
there was no mystery in our Lord's sufferings, nor any relation
between us and Him, except that between a benefactor and those
who prpfit by His services. To avoid so monstrous a conclusion,
i St. Matt. viii. 17. * Isaiah liii. 4, 5. 3 1 Pet. ii. 24.

IN SYMPATHY. 61
we seek some real mode in which Christ can be said to have
borne our sicknesses. And what is commonly suggested is, that
His perfect sympathy with maris nature enabled Him to parti
cipate perfectly in all its griefs. This is to transfer Our Lord's
participation in mortal ills from His body to His soul. But
that this explanation may be complete, we must show that Our
Lord's actual immunity (so far as we read) from sickness was
compensated for in some other manner ; so that any defalcation
in His acquaintance with human sufferings on the side of the
body, was made up by that greater fulness with which the gift
of sympathy possessed His mind. It is commonly said, that
whatever be men's kindness of disposition, they cannot realize
bodily pain unless they have experienced it. Was it so with
Christ ? Would He have entered more fully into human sick
ness if He had Himself made trial of its bitterness? The
reason why such a circumstance would not have enhanced His
sympathy is, that it is excluded by that very condition from
which His sympathy is derived. For His sympathy resulted
from His being the Pattern Man, the very representative of our
common being, who was able to enter into all its wants, and had
fellow-feeling with all its sorrows. This subject shall be taken up
again, when we have spoken of the mental characteristics of the
Son of Man : at present His body only is spoken of. Now, by
virtue of that Headship which made Him the representative of
mankind, it belonged to His body to exhibit whatever pertained
to maris race at large, and constituted its generic qualifications.
Therefore, He submitted to fear, because it belongs to humanity ;
to pain, because none escape it ; to death, because it is appointed
for all. But when He tasted " death for all men," it was not
necessary that He should make trial of every kind of death by
which the tribes of man return to the dust. These are the acci
dental circumstances of that event whose common elements only
He came to share. And so may it be said respecting sicknesses,
which are all summed up in death as their common end. But
their individual conditions arise commonly from intemperance,

62 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
or from some original defect in the attempering of the elements
of our being. These causes could not exist in Him, who was
the Head and type of maris nature. : Eor when He introduced
Himself into the series of human being, He assumed that perfect
form of manhood which was free from the varieties of individual
eccentricity. This was what qualified Him for relationship to
collective humanity. So that the very circumstances which ren
dered His sympathy so perfect, precluded participation in the
accidental particulars of human sicknesses. Yet He bore their
collective burthen when He put on that earthly body of whose
nature they are the individual developments. And we know
not how far He may have tasted all their bitterness in that
season of temptation in which He was proof against the solici
tations of the body, as well as against the Seducer' of the mind :
' ' A thousand ways frail mortals lead
To the cold tomb, and dreadful all to tread;
But dreadful most, when by a slow decay,
Pale hunger wastes the manly strength away."
And finally, He sustained them all, not only by His inward
sympathy with His brethren, but in that actual death wherein
He summed up all the pains and evils which afflict humanity at
large. Unless this fact be discerned, we form but an imperfect
estimate of the sufferings of Him who truly sustained the weight
of afflicted humanity. He bore that collective load which none
but the God-man could undergo, and in His single burthen
supported all the woes of His fellows.
Again, the nature of the Pattern Type of manhood is indicated
by some occasional allusions to Our Lord's intercourse with the
inferior creatures. A supremacy over them had' been the result
i ' ' Hlos def ectus Christus assumere debuit, qui consequuntur ex peccato
communi totius naturae. — Quidam autem defectus sunt, qui non conse
quuntur communiter totam humanam naturam, propter peccatum primi
Parentis, sed causantur in aliquibus hominibus. — Qui quidem defectus
quandoque causantur ex culpa _ hominis, puta ex inordinato viotu;
quandoque autem ex defectu virtutis formativse. Quorum neutrum
convenit Christo." — Summa Theol. iii. 14, 4.

IN SYMPATHY. 63
of Adam's likeness to their Creator. The perfect restoration of
this likeness in the Son of Man must have given Him that com
plete control which humanity in general is not so far fallen as
altogether to have lost. Such may perhaps have been one lesson
which the Gadarenes were intended to learn from the miracle of
the swine. And so much seems indicated to us, when we read
that Our Lord was " with the wild beasts," l in that solitary
region where He triumphed 2 over the foe, by whom Adam, in
presence of the same spectators, had been worsted.
Again, That the earthly body of Our Lord was the medium
through which life and health was conveyed to other bodies,
is expressly recorded in Holy Writ. It is not our purpose to
speak of the acts of healing which were thus wrought, because
His Divine mind and will must not be excluded from partici
pation in the miracles of which His body was the medium.
Yet, when we consider the nature of His body in itself, when
we inquire whether the conditions of its existence answer to
the character of Him who assumed it, we see peculiar reasons
why virtue should flow, as we are assured it did,3 out of this
body into the bodies of others. Something of the same kind
is said to have happened occasionally, and by God's* peculiar
appointment, in the case of others : in the case of Christ, no
such external actor is referred to, as though the effect was a
natural consequence of His character.6 Now, since Christ, as
the second Adam, is that seed of life through whom the
"spiritual body"6 is to be quickened at the last day, that

1 St. Mark i. 13.
2 Teyoye yap Mpamos, 'Iva rb vuci}8\v vucijoT). — Damasc. De Fide Orth.
iii. 18. i St. Markv. 3U. * Acts xix. 11, 12.
5 It is impossible not to be struck by the contrast whieh, in this par
ticular, is presented by the Apostles and Prophets to the Son of Man ;
the conferring of a derived life seemed to task their powers to the utmost,
while this gift flowed forth at a word or a touch, from His majestio
manhood. The opposition is strikingly brought out on the day when the
Church reads » miracle of Elisha, and another of Christ, for the two
Morning Lessons [May 11 — 2 Kings iv ; St. Matthew ix.].
6 1 Cor. xv. 44.

64 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
"virtue should go out of Him"1 when He was upon earth, is
nowise, inconsistent with what Scripture leads us to expect.
For it speaks of some mysterious change as incident to the
bodies of men, and of His body as the type of their new
creation. He " shall change our vile body, that it may be like
unto His glorious body."2 Whether the influence exerted when
He was upon earth were material or immaterial, it is needless
to ask. The miracle must appear equally great to those who
believe the statement of the Apostle, that the virtue which pro
ceeded from Christ "healed them all." And that "the whole
multitude sought to touch Him," shows that His body was the
instrument through which the gift was bestowed. Bishop
Hampden thinks it necessary to offer a sort of apology for Our
Lord's statement, that " virtue had gone out of Him," as being
" a mode of speaking characteristic of the prevalent idea con
cerning the operation of Divine influence, as of something
passing from one body to another."3 But the words of Him
who spake as never man spake, could not be infected by human
errors. Now, without stating the manner in which virtue pro
ceeded from His maris body, Our Lord reveals, as a fact, that
it was the medium through which virtue was bestowed. He sets
it forth as possessed of an instrumental efficacy in that work of
renovating the race of man, which extends to the restoration of
their bodies as well as the renewal of their souls.*
Lastly : That Our Lord's body has some especial effect in this
work of regeneration, follows from the peculiar attribute of an -
innate life, with which itself is declared to have been invested.
This rendered it the type and pattern of innumerable partakers
in Adam's race, of whom its resurrection is declared to be the
first fruits. ' For the oneness with Godhead which it possessed
1 St. Luke vi. 19. 2 Philip, iii. 21.
3 Ramp. Lect. vii. p. 316.
4 ' ' Since the life-giving Word of God dwelt in the flesh, He transformed
it into that excellence which belongs to Himself, i.e., into Life, and by
His intimate and unspeakable union with it, He rendered it life-giving
as He is Himself."— S. Cyr. Alex. iv. 354.

IN SYMPATHY. 65
by nature, corrected that tendency to decay which belonged to
all other descendants of Adam. Life natural would have been
maintained in our first parents by that tree of life, which to eat
was to "live for ever."1 Therefore, death temporal would not
have befallen them, save as the effect of that death spiritual,
which was the result of sin. And so in Christ, who was Him
self the very source of life2 by virtue of His Godhead, this
Divine influence made it impossible that His body should decay.
Therefore, when His body entered the mansions of death, " it
was not possible that He should be holden of it."3 The
spiritual immutability, which belonged to Him by nature, was
a perpetual antidote to His body's death. So that when this
event befell Him, it was by His own consent : " No man taketh
My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself : I have power to
lay it down, and I have power to take it again."4 All these
things show that Christ's body is the Type and Pattern of those
innumerable frames with whom He consented to become con
substantial both in body and soul ; " for since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead."5
II. That which has been proved respecting the body of
Christ, is not' less true respecting the faculties of His mind.
In this respect also was He in character, not less than in nature
and by office, the Pattern of mankind. There are two main
parts of man's mental constitution — the will and the under
standing. Each of these was assumed by Christ according to
the fulness of man's being; and in respect of each, it may be
shown that the character under which He displayed it, expressed
the perfect type of the nature which He had adopted.
An inquiry into Our Lord's human will is facilitated by the
consideration that we are ourselves conscious of a multiform
action in this part of our nature. Besides the " video meliora
proboque, deteriora sequor" of the heathen, we have St. Paul's
1 Genesis iii. 22 ; vid. S. Aug. De. Pecc. Mer. i. 3, De Civ. Dei, xiii. 23.
2 St. John v. 26. 3 Acts ii. 24.
« St. John x. 18. 5 1 Cor. xv. 21. P

66 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
declaration, " I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
but I see another law in my members, warring against the law
of my mind." Thus are we conscious of being approached on
two sides, if we may express a mental process physically; we
can fancy opposing powers to hold one another in such exact
counterpoise, that without a self-determining will, there would
be no means of settling the preponderancy. These thoughts
prepare us for the declaration of Scripture, that Our Lord " was
in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."1 The
perfection of His maris nature implies the complete develop
ment both of body and mind, so far as they were consistent
with personal union with the nature of God. Not only was He
subject to those sensations which approach us through the body
— hunger, " thirst, weariness, f aintness, fear — but likewise to
those which especially assault the mind : " My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death." And to His disciples He says in
general, " Ye are they that have continued with Me in My
temptations." Further, we have a peculiar means of discerning
what our Lord endured on the human side of His character,
by observing what is said of those who typified Him. For it
was of Christ, as a man, that their lives were an acted prophecy.
David was a type of his great descendant, because Christ's
humanity was exalted to royal honour. For the Incarnation
was as great a debasement of Divine as it was an exaltation of
human nature ; and it must have been in reference therefore to
the last, that the Psalmist expressed himself : " The Lord said
unto My Lord, Sit thou on My right hand, until I make Thine
enemies Thy footstool." The trials, therefore, of Our Lord,
considered according to His earthly nature, are set forth in the
twenty-second Psalm : " 0 go not from Me, for trouble is hard
at hand, and there is none to help Me." And when all the
Disciples forsook Him and fled, we see how "they of Mine
acquaintance were afraid of Me, and they that did see Me
without, conveyed themselves from Me."
1 Hebrews iv. 15.

IN SYMPATHY. 67
Thus truly did Our Lord make trial of those assaults to which
man's will is incident ; and especially in that last great act of
His eartlily course, whereby He made atonement for the sins of
men. For then it was that He exclaimed : " My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me ? " This burthen of deprivation He
endured through His man's nature, when, in some manner
to us unknown, He withdrew from it for a time the Sue-
caul's of Deity. It may be that it was impossible that
perfect sympathy for man's weakness should exist, where man's
temptations had not been actually undergone. "For " we have
¦ not an High Priest which cannot be touched with a feeling
of our infirmities ;" and " in that He Himself hath suffered,
being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted."1
Thus completely, as regards the province of the will, did Our
Lord submit to the conditions of Humanity. But wherein did
He exhibit Himself as the Pattern Man of the race ? Because
in Him, first of all descendants of Adam, was will exhibited in
that complete freedom, which was its normal condition and per
fect state. By will is meant the power of choice or of refusal.
Its existence, therefore, implies freedom from external constraint.
But it is compatible with the influence of inward motives, which
cannot fail to appeal to it, according to their proper powers of
attraction. To suppose, indeed, that motives possess such
irresistible power, that it is impossible for wiU to offer resistance,
is practically to deny its reality, and thus to exonerate its pos
sessors from responsibility. But though will must be supposed
to be so far free, that men are accountable for their actions, yet
it has never been perfectly free in any of the fallen descendants
of Adam. This perfect liberty is gained only in Him, in whom
the unlimited presence of God's Spirit3 supplied the place of that
Divine guidance which had been given to our first parent ; and
counteracted the tendency to concupiscence which had been
1 Hebrews iv. 15, and ii. 18.
3 " Inclinationem solus ille immutare potest, qui virtutem volendi crea
tures contulit."— Suinuia i. Q. 106, 2.

68 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
transmitted to his progeny. Thus did the Son of Man allay the
inner storm of human passion, saying, " Peace, be still." And
thus did He set forth in its perfection that state of freedom for
which man was originally designed. This is the gift which, by
union with Him, He bestows upon His brethren. The liberty,
sought by worldly men in exemption from external restraints, can
be realized only by union with that Pattern Man, who attained
the true freedom. The conformity of man's will to the will of
Him, in whose pattern man was moulded, is that normal state of
tranquillity and happiness after which unregenerate humanity is
vainly yearning. For God's " service is perfect freedom,'- and
" if the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
We approach a more difficult subject, when we speak of Our
Lord's participation in human ignorance. But as He was
perfect man, He must have made acquaintance not only with the
infirmities of our will, but with the weakness of our understand
ing. This participation, however, could not have deprived God
head of that infinite knowledge,1 which everywhere and always
is its inalienable portion. Yet, since knowledge and ignorance
are incompatible, we understand not how in the same person
they could dwell together. Conflicting impulses may strive in
the same mind, but it is the very character of knowledge, that
by its approach, ignorance is banished. How then could there
be ignorance in that human mind, which was personally united
to Omniscience ?
There are not wanting expressions in the writings of the earlier
Fathers, which would imply that a belief of the actual ignorance
of Our Lord, regarded as man, if not positively received, was yet
not always distinctly rejected. Thus, St. Athanasius tells us,
that Our Lord " shows that He knows the end of all things as the
Word, but as man is ignorant of it. For it belongs to man to be
ignorant, especially of such things as these. So that this ex
pression arises from His goodness towards maris nature, inasmuch
as becoming man He is not ashamed, so far as His ignorant flesh
1 Fulgentius ad Tras. i. 8, Bib. Pat. ix. 44.

IN SYMPATHY. 69
goes, to say 'I know not.'"1 And again, "We who reverence
Christ are assured that He did not say He was ignorant in
that He was the Word, for in that relation He knew well ; but
showing His human nature, because it belongs to humanity to
be ignorant, and He had put on ignorant flesh — speaking in
reference to this He said, that as a man, He was ignorant."2 A
similar statement occurs in St. Ambrose, in reference to Our
Lord's increase in wisdom. " There was increase," he says, " of
age, and increase of wisdom, but it was of human wisdom." " If
He advanced as a man in age, He must have advanced as a man
in wisdom ; the advance in wisdom must have been proportionate
to that in perception, from which it is derived."3 " And in like
manner," says St. Irenseus, " the Son of God assigned a know
ledge of the day and hour of the Day of Judgment to the Father
only, saying plainly, ' of that day and hour knoweth no man, no,
not the Son, but the Father.'"4
On a closer examination, however, these passages — at least
those in both the later writers — appear to mean nothing but that
by virtue of His Humanity, Our Lord was not conversant with that
which, as matter-of-fact, was never hidden even from His human
mind. The expressions of St. Athanasius allow ignorance ¦ in
Christ, not so much in that He was a man, but in so far as know
ledge came through His manhood. When he proceeds to treat
of our Lord's increase in knowledge, though he allows His
Humanity to have admitted of accessions, yet he explains it
mainly by "an inward revelation or unveiling of the Deity
to those who beheld Him."5 And St. Ambrose declares still
more positively his dissent from those (of whom he says there
were many) " who say confidently that Our Lord could not be
ignorant so far as His Deity was concerned, but that so far as
1 Orat. III. c. Arian. xliii. vol. i. p. 593.
2 Orat. III. c. Arian. xlv. vol. i. p. 594.
3 De Incarnatione, vii. sec. 72, vol. ii. p. 720.
4 St. Markxiii. 32. Vide Iren. II. xxviii. 6, p. 158.
5 He speaks of t\ ipavipuais ttjs dedrriTos roTs oputxiv. %<rai 5e r\ Qc6ttjs
tMczKaKiirreTO, ic.t.A. — Orat. III. contra Arian. 52, vol. i. p. 601.

70 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
He shared our nature, He was ignorant before His crucifixion."
" He took our affections," replies St. Ambrose, " that He might
speak of Himself as sharing in our ignorance ; He was not
positively ignorant."1 Arid the same seems to have been the
feeling of St. Ambrose's greater disciple : " I would by no
means suppose," says St. Augustine, " that, there was the ignorance
of infancy in that infant, in whom the Word was made flesh to
dwell in us, nor would I attribute the weakness of the mind of
children to the childhood of Christ."2 And the same thing was
still more strongly stated by St. John Damascene, when the
Nestorian controversy had opened men's eyes to the possible
consequences of the opposite alternative : " Those who maintain
that Christ advanced in wisdom and grace, as though there was
a positive addition of them, cannot maintain the conjunction
between Godhead and His flesh to have commenced from its
first existence, and therefore do not really hold the hyposta-
tical union, but, inclining to the teaching of the vain Nestorius,
they are deceived by the notion of a mere union of relations,
and a bare indwelling." "For if the flesh was truly united
to God the Word from its first origin, or rather if it had
its origin in Him, and belonged to the same person with
Him, how could it but be filled full with all knowledge and
grace ? "3 And this, accordingly, has since been the received
opinion in the Church. " As there was no sinful concupiscence
in Christ through the fulness of grace, so through the perfection
of wisdom, which was in Him, was there no ignorance." " For
the nature which Christ assumed may be considered in two ways :
one, as it is in itself, and in this respect it is ignorant and slavish
— for man is his Maker's servant, and has no knowledge of
the future ; — the other, as it is united to the person of Him
who, as St. John witnesses, was full of grace and truth."*
1 ' ' Nostrum adsumsit affectum, ut nostra ignoratione nescire se diceret,
non quia aliquid ipse nesciret."— S. Ambrose de Fide, v. 18, sec. 221, 222,
vol. ii. p. 592. 2 De Peee. Mer. ii. sec. 48, vol. x. p. 65.
3 De Fide Orthodox, iii. 22, vol. i. p. 246.
4 Summa Theologim, iii. xv. 3.

IN SYMPATHY. 71
This statement of the Apostle is the more important, since it
indicates the condition of Our Lord's being, even when He was
manifest among men. The assertion that in Him " are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,"1 may be assigned to
the period since the Godhead has dwelt in His glorified body.
But St. John's words refer to what the disciples " beheld."2
And they speak of Him as having upon earth that fulness of
truth, which excludes ignorance.
And, therefore, since it would be impious to suppose that Our
Lord had pretended an ignorance which He did not experience,
we are led to the conclusion, that what He partook, as man, was
not actual ignorance, but such deficiency in the means of arriving
at truth, as belongs to mankind. Without asserting that the
man Christ Jesus was ignorant, it may be said that He was
ignorant, as man, of that which' by His other nature was known
to Him. His growth then was no delusion, but a real one ; but
the advance was in those means of intercourse by which the
human mind communicates with the external world. He mads
trial of those channels, of communication whereby the children
of men are furnished with knowledge ; He tested their uncertainty ;
He is able to pity those who are in like manner " compassed
with infirmity." And so much seems distinctly asserted in that
remarkable text, which tells us that " though He were a Son,
yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered."3
Learning is plainly relevant to knowledge, and the especial diffi
culties which are incident to man may, for what we know, have
been inappreciable, save by experience.* Therefore, He who was
1 Col. ii. 3, 9. It would be hardly safe to refer to a passage, in which
the text is so uncertain, if the same truth were not expressed in 1 Cor. i. 24.
2 St. John i. 14. 3 Hebrews v. 8.
4 This appears to be the meaning of Aquinas, who, while denying that
Christ could be said, even as man, to be positively ignorant, admits, as Le
Grand expresses it, " quod multa jam sibi per scientiam infusam cognita,
rursus novo modo, nempe experiendo, secundem varia eetatis suse incre-
menta, didicerit." — Le Grand De Incarnatione, diss. ix. cap. ii.
St. Thomas's words are: "Quod scientia Christi profecit secundum
experientiam." — iii. 12, 2.

72 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
above the Angels, even as man, in His knowledge itself, con
sented to stoop below them in His manner of acquiring it. Not
of course that His human soul can be partaker in itself of that
Omniscience which belongs only to the Godhead. Of this Christ
partakes in that He is God ; but in that He is man, He can re
ceive it only so far as His human nature is its fit recipient. His
knowledge, says St. Thomas, extends " to all things which are in
the power of a creature."1 And this, according to Bishop Bull,2
is the reason why St. Irenseus supposes Our Lord, as man, to
have been ignorant of the Day of Judgment : " The Divine
Wisdom produced its impression on Our Lord's human soul
according to the occasion, and therefore there is no absurdity in
supposing that Our Lord, during the time of His mission on
earth, when such knowledge was needless for Him, was ignorant
of the Day of Judgment."3
Now, by what means Our Lord should on the one hand have
partaken at once of all creaturely knowledge, and, on the other,
have trodden the tedious path of observation and inference, is
beyond our comprehension. Not but that we can discern how a
thing which is already known can be subsequently demonstrated.
A man might determine, by admeasurement of parts, that the
square of the hypothenuse was equal in area to the squares of the
sides, and yet afterwards come to the same conclusion by reason
ing. But in Our Lord there is something far beyond this : for
every step which He gained by those means which acquaint us
with the external world, must have been long before familiar to
Him by way of intuition. But as He saw by outward light, as
well as by the inward glory of the Godhead, and was sustained
by food as well as by Omnipotence, so He condescended to
reason on things- outward, as well as to guide Himself by in
ward inspiration. Therefore, St. Augustine refers the statement,
1 Summa Theolog. iii. x. 3.
2 Massuet, in his preface to St. Irenseus, p. cxxxiii., asserts that Our
Lord's-expressions are only a species of hypothesis — that He professes to
have no knowledge by Himself, but only as derived from the Godhead.
3 Defensio Fidei Nic. ii. 5, sec. 8, p. 82.

IN SYMPATHY. 73
that "the riches of Damascus shall be taken before the child
shall have knowledge to cry, My Father and My Mother,"1
to the offering, by the Magi, of the wealth of the East to
our infant Lord. The two kinds of knowledge are brought
together when Our Lord "lifted up His eyes, and saw
Nathanael coming to Him," yet told him afterwards that
" before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the
fig-tree, I saw thee."2
The increase then of Our Lord's " wisdom " was but the fur
ther development of those human powers, which are the means
whereby we acquire knowledge. There may probably have
been stages in their growth, and His entrance into the Temple
in His twelfth year may have been a crisis in the capacity which
was gained by His human faculties. They may then have so
far opened, as to correspond to the largeness of those truths,
which by direct intuition had already flowed into His mind.
And if these statements seem to border on a contradiction, let
it be remembered how often we ourselves can scarcely tell
whether we know a thing or are ignorant of it ; what has been
told may be stored up in our mind and forgotten, till some new
occasion calls it to light. Much of our knowledge consists of
deductions from principles, which we either possess by the
constitution of our nature, or have received so early, that we
never noted their approach; and yet these things, which we
learn afterwards to be conclusions furnished from within our
selves, address themselves to us at first as unexpected commu
nications. Why do we allow things, save from discerning
them to be true? How do we know them to be true, save
that the elements of judgment are laid up within us ? Whence
were these originally derived ? Such thoughts may prepare us
for receiving what is stated concerning Our Lord with the less
difficulty. He truly " increased in wisdom as in stature ; " and
yet, looked at according to the actual attainments of His mind,
He was full of truth.
1 Isaiah viii. 4. 2 John i. 47, 48.

74 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
So much respecting Our Lord's actual participation in the in
firmities of maris understanding. Further, it was in Him that
the understanding as well as the will of man attained its perfec
tion. For maris reason cannot attain its full proportions, till
it is shaped according to that primitive type in which, it
originated.. Now, the excellence of its normal state lay in that
complete reflection p£ God's image, the very condition of which
was uninterrupted intercourse with the Creator. For " God is
light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 1 By being a fit sub
ject for the reception of God's glory, was man distinguished
from the beasts of the field. But by seeking after knowledge
in his own way, he lost that true knowledge which cometh from
God only. He forgot that " the knowledge of The Holy is under
standing."2 Thus was man's understanding obscured, till " God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness," gave back
" the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ."3 In Him was the understanding of man restored
to its perfect state, because in Him intercourse with God was
perfectly re-opened. He became " the way," and " the truth."
In those who are conformed to His likeness, understanding re
gains its proper rights, and attains that perfection, which inter
course with God can alone produce. Thus does His character
set forth in all respects the true type and pattern of man's
nature, and by imitating Him, even His erring brethren may be
seen to have "been with Jesus."
This view of Our Lord's character, as the true Pattern of
Humanity, is further illustrated by two circumstances ; First,
the perfectness of His sympathy; secondly, the universality
of His mind. And first of the sympathy of Christ.
It has been already mentioned, that to interpret the statements
of Scripture by a reference to Our Lord's sympathy, is to transfer
His participation in human griefs from His body to His mind.
Not but that He made bodily trial of them, so far as consisted
1 1 John i. 6. 2 Proverbs ix. 10.
3 2 Corinthians iv. 6.

IN SYMPATHY. 75
with that character of the perfect Pattern of Humanity in
which He was manifested. And in the exercise of His mental
sympathy we see in like manner its human origin, and yet that
it was checked and controlled by those perfect conditions of
will and understanding, which belonged to Him as the Son of
man. His acts of mercy, when He was in the flesh, were per
formed in accordance with that law of human, sympathy, which
He took upon Him as part of the nature in which He became
Incarnate. In His hands, so far as His Godhead was concerned,,
was lodged even at that season all power in heaven and earth.
All sicknesses, which afflicted any of the sons of men, might
have been healed by Him in a moment. All the pains of
humanity might have been assuaged. But He exercised no-
such universal power of healing. His benefits were confined to
those who came before Him in the flesh. These He cured
through that divine power which was present with His manhood..
And why were not others benefited by it ? Because He allowed
it to act according to that law of sympathy which belongs to
man's nature, which time, place, presence affect, and which could.
not, regarded as a mere human feeling, be equally moved by the
mere abstract knowledge of the existence of suffering. He gave
scope, therefore, to the actings of this human principle, whether-
it led as by the grave of Lazarus to tears, or at the gates of
Nain to pity. These were indications how truly He had
adopted that common nature which He shared with His
brethren. But then His sympathy was controlled and rendered
stable by that guiding light which has been wanting both to the
will and the understanding of man ever since the Fall. Without-
such guidance, sympathy is vague, unmeaning, or even mis
chievous. So that, missing the designed end of its operation, it-
falls back not seldom in the opposite extreme of misanthropy.
Let it be given to the mere creature of human impulse to stay all
sicknesses, or to feed thronging multitudes by miraculous sup
port, and the consequence would be an inversion of the ordinary
laws of God's providence, as mischievous for its immediate objects,,

76 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
as for those who would rely on its prospective help. What
would be the sure consequence, but the growth of those still
greater moral evils, which are in a measure kept in control by
physical wants ? This tendency is seen in such alleged miracles
of the middle ages, as are founded on an exaggerated application
of what was permitted to the prophets of the Theocracy.
Now this unlimited power Our Lord possessed; but because
it was under the control of that inward light which guided His
spirit, it led in Him to no such results. His eye indeed saw
maris miseries and pitied them. But His true perception of the
Teal evils of man's nature, His estimate of the effect of guilt,
His discernment that pain was an evil so much lighter than sin —
this guided the general course of His sympathy. He gave there
fore to His human nature what was its due. He wept when -
grief overflowed its banks — He succoured those whom the provi
dence of the Great Disposer of all brought near Him. In His
path through this world He scattered round Him His favours ;
but He allowed them not to interfere with His great mission for
the common benefit of the race, which He had come to represent :
He " did not commit Himself to any man, for He knew what
was in man."
Again, the same principle is witnessed by the universality of
our Master's earthly mind. When we turn to the greatest models
of human genius, we find in their thoughts an all-adapting power,
which makes them the interpreters of our common nature. They
seem to be built upon the deepest basis of man's general being,
because there is no feeling or condition of life, which does not
find its reflection in their writings. Thus does human genius
render its possessors a sort of type of their race, by concentrating
in them those characteristics, which are dispersed through the
ordinary specimens of mortality. Now, that which is given in
its measure even to human genius, belonged in perfection only to
Him who by nature was one with God. From Him all eartlily
excellence is derived ; of Him it is typical. In Him that wis
dom has its personal abode, which " in every people and nation

IN SYMPATHY. 77
got a possession." * Therefore do His words contain such deep
and unsearchable meaning, as shows them to be the sayings of
One who discerned all the mysteries of man's nature. They are
equally fitted, therefore, for every nation ; they suit every climate,
age, or condition. And again, in His character is such " large
ness of heart," as exceeds the compass of mortal thought. Com
pare this perfect Pattern of our being with those various ministers
who attended or preceded His approach, and how partial appear
the several conditions which discriminate their nature, when com
pared with that all-embracing universality which is characteristic
of His. This is why those many types which presaged His
coming, were unable to exhaust the infinite multifariousness of
His character. For in them the choicest individual endowments
were perfected by the gift of inspiration, but in Him humanity
at large was elevated by the actual indwelling of God. That
exaltation which was offered to maris whole race, through the
power of the Holy Ghost — but of which the examples are only
, scattered, approximate, incomplete, according as men " are made
partakers of the Divine image " — was at once exhibited without
measure and in perfect type, in the great Pattern of our being.
For in others we see the single colours of a reflected lustre ; but
in Him the concentrated glory of an original radiance is all that
we can discern. How different, for example, was the practical
earnestness of St. Peter and St. Paul, from the deep contempla-
tiveness of the Beloved Apostle. How far removed are the
plaintive breathings of Jeremiah, and the picturesque visions of
Ezekiel, from the loftiness of the Evangelical Prophet. What a
contrast is there between the fervid devoutness of the Psalmist,
and the sententious majesty of his son ! But who can venture to
assign earthly limits to the universality of His character, of whom
it is enough to declare that He "spake as never man spake?"
For this reason, should His simplest acts and words be treated
with the reverence with which in ancient times were regarded
the lineaments of His outward form. For everything is great
1 Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 6.

'78 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
which comes out of the depth of His unfathomable knowledge.
Eegarded only as a man, He is the Pattern whom the residue of
His race are to adopt as their standard. For through Him is re
newed that intercourse with God, which is our life. When we
meditate upon His character, that door is opened which admits
us to the Almighty. With what awe should we contemplate our
near approach ! " Draw not nigh hither : put off thy shoes
from off thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is holy
rground."

CHAPTEE V.
OUE LORD IS GOD THE WORD, VERY GOD OF VERY GOD.
Our Lord's Human character has been set forth, in the preceding
Chapters. It remains to show, that He who was thus manifest
in the flesh was in truth " over all, God blessed for ever."1
Now, this statement implies so unutterable an amount of conde
scension, as to have been often received either with open dissent or
with concealed dissatisfaction. And yet more frequently, perhaps,
have men adopted the still less reasonable course of yielding it
only a half credence, and thus have made their doubts a ground
for questioning the opinions and practices, which, if the doctrine
be admitted at all, are its necessary consequence. " How can I
believe," said a politician of leading eminence in the last century
to the late Mr. Wilberforce, when he opened his mind in the
privacy of domestic converse, " that the Almighty Creator of all
things should have become a wailing infant, and submitted to the
weakness of our nature ? Surely, it is utterly impossible." " I
should be ready to enter into your feeling," was the reply, " if I
viewed this truth in the abstract way that you do, and did not
¦consider what difficulties there are in disbelieving it." Among
these difficulties must be ranked, in the first place, the circum-
1 Romans ix. 5.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 79
stances of Our Lord's Human character, the preparation which
had marked TTim out as the Pattern Man, and the events in His
life by which that character is indicated. How was it that a
Jewish peasant, untaught even in the simple lore of Syrian litera
ture,1 should have conceived those truths, which have enlarged
the sphere of man's knowledge, and made the one grand revolu
tion in the history of his race ? How could his designs have
been developed, with a power which shook the mightiest king
doms, overthrew all preceding forms either of faith or philosophy,
and have finally cast into a new mould the most distant countries
and generations of the earth % How was it that one who spoke
no language, save a dialect of the barbarous East, could triumph
over the pride of the Porch, and the subtilty of the Academy ?
How came the might of thirty legions to yield to the staff and
sling of the Son of David ? What compelled men to admit the
paradox of the fervid African, and allow the very strangeness of
this truth to stamp it with the character of being Divine?
" Crucifixus est Dei films : non pudet, quia pudendum est ; et
mortuus est Dei nlius: prorsus eredibile est, quia ineptum est :
et sepultus resurrexit: certum est, quia impossibile est"2
Such are some of the considerations which are suggested by
that Human side of Our Lord's character which it has been the
purpose of the preceding pages to set forth. And if we turn to
its other or Divine side, we shall find that this also allies itself
with a whole world of thoughts, to which the coming of God in
the flesh conducts us, and of which that event was the appointed
result. To this subject we now approach. For, first, the doc
trine of an Incarnate God has an immediate relation to that ulti
mate nature of Deity, in which lies the beginning of all being,
and the end of all truth — on which all knowledge is dependent
— which exists in and by itself, as the parent of all action, and
the basis of all thought ; and secondly, through this doctrine
only has the Godhead been revealed to us under that nobler cha
racter, in which we have learned to recognize Him. For it is
1 St. John viL 15. 2 TertuL De Came Christi, sec. v.

80 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
this truth which has made that mighty alteration in the opinions
of men, on which our noblest intellectual attainments are depen
dent. It is the Incarnation of Christ Our Lord, which has
raised us as well above the carnal anthropology of the Greeks, as
above the grotesque speculations ©f the Brahmins. This princi
ple it is, which has so blended justice, mercy, and truth, with the
omnipotence, omniscience, and eternity of God, as to enable man
to respond to the best aspirations of his nature. If it be true,
as the philosophic Cudworth expresses it, that " we have all of
us by nature paircvpa n (as both Plato and Aristotle call it), a
certain divination, presage, and parturient vaticination in our
minds, of some higher good and perfection than either power
or knowledge,"1 yet was this but uncertain and glimmering,
till "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."2 For "no man hath
seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father, He hath revealed Him."3
The moulding together of those mighty elements of moral
and intellectual truth, which had been revealed through the
Gospel, was the task of the Christian Church during the first
five centuries of her age-long existence — a task more arduous
far than her other work of remodelling the barbarian hordes,
which occupied the next five centuries. Her principle of action
in both cases was that indwelling power of the Holy Ghost, by
which the body of Christ was never forsaken. Thus, by an in
ward and an outward work, did the Church prepare the way
for the subsequent dawn of European civilization. The result
of this process has been handed down to us in our present
Creeds, for the perfection of which the Providence of God
made wonderful provision in that mighty outspread of the
Fourth Empire, by which communication was first widely
extended, and an opening made for the progress of Christian
1 Intellectual System, eap. iv. sec. 9.
2 2 Corinthians iv. 6. 3 John i. 18.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 81
truth. For subtile as some statements of our Creeds at first
sight appear, the whole amount of their varied instruction may
be shown to have been hold in solution, if the phrase may be
employed, in that great central truth, which was made known
respecting Jesus Christ our Lord, when He " was declared to
be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holi
ness, by the resurrection from the dead." Those parts in them
which reach highest, have been attained only by following the
ascending line of Scriptural doctrine, as it reversed that wonder
ful process by which the Son of God left His Father's glory
to clothe Himself in mortal flesh. And this circumstance sug
gests a different course of proceeding from that which was
adopted in the preceding Chapters. In treating the nature and
acts of man, even though that man be Christ Our Lord, we are
dealing with that which is projected before us, as it were on a
level surface — which may be described therefore, and measured,
as we actually discern it. But when we turn from the Human
to the Divine side of Our Lord's character, we have to do with
realities which we cannot estimate, till we have viewed them in
various relations, and ascertained, as it were, the exact shape of
those multiform bodies, of which at first we can form no accu
rate conception. Here then it will not be enough to take the
simple intimations of Scripture by themselves : we must combine
them together, as was done in the early age of the Gospel ; we
must see their reference to the acts of Our Lord's life, and build
them up into that harmonious whole which they were intended
to present. And how can this be done so effectually as by
tracing the process which was actually adopted, when, under the
guidance of the Holy Ghost, the Church's system was originally
matured? We shall thus see the relation of its several parts,
and how the central fact of Our Lord's Incarnation led to the
full expression of all Christian doctrines.
The early Church, when she was deprived of the guidance of
her inspired teachers, had not reduced the truths which she
inherited into that harmonious and connected order, which was
G

82 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
subsequently attained. A sufficient evidence is, that the word
Trinity, which afterwards assumed so important a place in her
system of belief, was first introduced into her service by Theo-
philus of Antioch, near the end of the second century. Not
that the holy Apostles had been wanting in a complete view of
the Gospel, any more than in a knowledge of its individual
truths. But their light had not come from learning, but from
Eevelation. The process of learning is first to accumulate indi
vidual facts, and then, by observing the varying relations which
they bear to one another, to gain a connected view of the whole
field of mental observation. But Eevelation, through the mys
terious communication of God's Spirit, brings the mind into the
same immediate contact with things unseen, which we have with
things visible through the organs of the body. Thus is the
inner man endowed with the gift of intuition. So was St. Paul
" caught up into the third heaven, and heard unspeakable words,
which it was not lawful for a man to utter." Thus St. John
the Divine saw a door opened into heaven. For Our Lord's
promise was, that the Spirit of Truth should guide His disciples
" into all truth : " " He will show you things to come." Truth,
therefore, properly speaking, belongs to a system or book — In
spiration to its teacher or' author. And thus possessing " the
mind of Christ," the holy Apostles had that complete insight
into the unseen world, which enabled them to comprehend the
relations of things, as fully as their individual nature. But it
was otherwise, when the truths which they had held in the
earthen vessels of perishable mortality were handed over to
their successors. To pass from St. Paul to Clement, or to
Ignatius from his master, St. John, is to descend at a step to
earthly ground from heavenly. The detached writings of the
Apostles and Evangelists were in men's hands, but the pregnant
relations which their inspired sayings revealed, were but imper
fectly apprehended. The simple facts indeed are these : Christ
is worshipped, His sacrifice is the sole ground of pardon, union
with Him is the only means of grace, the nature and offices of

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 83
the Third Person in the Blessed Trinity are recognized, but the
rich exuberance of those whose eyes were opened is departed.
It was only by gradual steps that the Christian mind gained
such practical mastery over its spiritual inheritance, that there
arose an Athanasius to contend for the " proportion of faith,"
and an Augustine to be its exponent. Why it did not please
God that the full gifts of the Apostles were continued to their
successors, it is not for us to say. But it is plain that the
Christian community grew from an infant to a mature state ;
that the truths, which from the first it firmly held, assumed an
ever-increasing consequence and meaning, as discerned by its
various generations ; that the mind of the Church appeared to
advance towards " the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ ; " and that the course which it has pleased God to adopt
respecting natural knowledge and individual minds, was not
abandoned in the case of that collective body, which was
divinely instructed. The process may be illustrated by what
befalls every young student, when he becomes acquainted with
that systematic view of Our Lord's nature1 which is given by
Hooker. At first probably he admires the majestic and har
monious flow of those weighty sentences, their prodigious grasp
of Scriptural truth, and the deep reverence with which they
touch things sacred. But though there is nothing which he
does not seem to understand, there is in some points a copious
ness which he is at a loss to account for. And it is only after
repeated perusals, and in many years, that he discerns the full
meaning of what had at first fallen idly on his incurious ear,
and finds how far this great writer has entered into the deep
things of God.
If this happens even when we peruse the writings of an
earthly thinker, how much more, when the mysteries of the
kingdom of God were proclaimed in the words of Eevelation !
Hence the numerous heresies which sprung up in the early age
of the Church, among those who had the letter of Scripture in
1 Ecel. Pol. v. c. 51-56.

84 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
their hands ; and hence likewise, the incapacity of entering into
Gospel truth, so often visible in those who have been brought
up in error. These things show us the infinite importance of
that gradual schooling of the Christian community in the truths
of the Gospel, which was completed by the publication and
general reception of the Creeds. The mere publication of these
documents indeed had been little, but they were not published
till every statement which they contain had first been verified ;
till the various relations of each had been appreciated ; till all
had been shown to stand in reality on Scriptural authority ; till
the Christian mind had been prepared by the teaching of the
Holy Ghost for their reception ; and thus, till a foundation had
been laid at once in man's nature and God's truth, on which
stands the accumulated weight of our present Christianity.
And here we must carefully distinguish between two things
of a very different nature — the authority of the early Christian
Church as a witness to facts, and as the propounder of doctrines.
Our Article, by speaking of the Church as not only " a witness
and keeper of Holy Writ," but also as having " authority in
controversies of faith," suggests to us clearly this twofold rela
tion. The early Church was a witness to facts, not only in that
she received certain books as inspired, but in that she testified
to certain practices. When disputes arose respecting the doc
trine of Our Lord's Divinity, not only were certain statements.
to be found in Scripture, but it was an admitted fact, that wor
ship had been paid to Him in all Christian congregations.
Thus the Fathers who opposed Paul of Samosata at Antioch,
witness to the singing of hymns to Christ as a God, as an acknow
ledged custom.1 Again, a second fact, which was witnessed
by the Church, was the use of Sacraments. " At the head of
the ancient Christian worship," says Professor Dorner, "must
be placed the Eucharist, in which the congregation celebrates
its at-onement with God in Christ, the Mediator between God
and mankind ; and in the perpetual celebration of this feast is
1 Eusebius, vii. 31.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 85
seen the first proof of the belief of Christendom in Christ's
Divinity." " The second proof," he adds, " is the practice of
Holy Baptism."1 A third fact of the same nature is the exist
ence of those early Creeds to which the Church required men
to give their assent in Baptism. For though less detailed than
was subsequently required, they all witness a belief in Our
Lord's Divinity. A fourth thing is the existence of Doxo-
logies, in which glory was wont to be assigned to Him, in
conjunction with the Father and the Holy Ghost. A fifth,
is the setting apart of Holy Seasons, in commemoration of
His Birth, Death, and Eesurrection. A sixth, is the use of
Emblems, by which the import of His passion was impressed
upon the mind. Here are six several particulars, independently
of the preservation of Holy Scripture, in which the early Church
witnessed to facts of great importance in the determination of
Our Lord's character. But independently of her historical testi
mony, she possessed an authority in respect to the conclusions
to which these facts conducted. That not only are there three
Persons in one God, but that the Son is "very God of very
God," " of one substance with the Father ; " — the Church, when
stating this at Nice, was discharging a different function from
that which she fulfilled, when witnessing to the facts which
have previously been noticed. In the one case, she was only
doing what, in his degree, was performed by the heathen Pliny,
when he related that the Christians sang hymns to Christ as a
God. In the other, she was certainly exercising some " authority
in controversies of faith." In the former case, her claim to
respect is to be tested by the ordinary rules of evidence. But
what ,is it in the latter ? It stands on the validity of that pro
mise, which assures us that the gates of hell shall not prevail
against her, and which assumes therefore that the Body of
Christ will never be deserted by that guiding Spirit, which is
as necessary for truth as for obedience. The help of the Holy
1 Dorner's Lehre von der Person Christi, cap. i. vol. i. p. 274 (a work
of which great use has been made in the present Chapter).

86 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
Ghost is no doubt an abiding succour, which is given according
to the wants and circumstances of the inheritance of God. In
one age it speaks by physical miracles, in another through that
moral influence which renews the life. And so too did it dis
play itself in the Church's guidance. In the Apostles there was
that original communication of all truth, which was given once
for all, for the instruction of mankind. The subsequent direc
tion of God's Spirit was for the purpose only of interpreting
what had already been delivered. Thus was it always regarded
in ancient times, and unless thus restrained, the Spirit's guidance
might be a warrant for Neology on one side, or Mahometanism
on the other. Whereas the Christian covenant was from the
first understood to be Good's final dispensation with man.
" There have been two changes in maris life," says St. Gregory
Nazianzen, " which accompanied the two Testaments, and which
from their greatness might be called shakings of the earth.
And a third earth-shaking does Scripture tell us of, when this
earthly state, namely, shall yield to that which is unshaken and
eternal." 1
The Church's " authority in controversies of faith," requires
therefore, as its constant counterpoise, the paramount authority
of Holy Writ. To adjust such varying claims may in some
cases be difficult. But no such difficulty displayed itself in that
early age, in which the system of her belief was embodied in the
Creeds. For since no division has yet impaired her unity, the
promise of Christ's presence was with her in its fulness, and the
weight of her decision was without abatement. Had her inter
pretation of the fundamentals of the Gospel been erroneous, how
had Christ's promise in her favour been fulfilled ? This circum
stance invests her judgment on these momentous .subjects with
an importance superadded to that which the fact of her testimony
naturally commands. There are those, indeed, who seem as
though they would be glad to divest themselves of the advantage
of such decisions. They would rather fall back on the unre-
1 Oratio 37, sec. 58.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 87
fleeting simplicity of that early faith, which rested only on the
single facts of the Gospel. But this is to be ignorant that the
gradual expansion of Christian doctrines was only the growth of
the religious mind, as under the moulding power of the Holy
Ghost, it compared the individual truths with which it had been
entrusted. Those truths must have resolved themselves into
wrong combinations, if they had not been resolved into right
ones. The Body of Christ must have grown up in an unnatural
and distorted shape, if the informing Spirit had not fulfilled its
appointed function of guiding it into all truth. In the earnest
obedience of the early age, when the warmth of love dispensed
with the maturity of knowledge, there was a moment indeed,
when the outward growth of the Church scarce left time to
embody what was believed in abstract formularies. But this
infant security depended either on the personal guidance of the
inspired Apostles, or on the witness of men, to whom, as to St.
Ignatius, long habits of intercourse with the first leaders had
given such confidence respecting their decisions, both in faith and
in practice, that a reference to the general principles of the
Church's existence was not yet required. And those who seek to
regain it by throwing away what was earned by the religious
impulse then given to the age, do but restore the imbecility of
childhood without its innocence.
The work, then, at present before us, is to consider by what
gradual steps the testimony of Scripture, illustrated by the
practice of the Apostles, led to that matured statement of the
doctrine of Our Lord's Divinity, to which the Church was
directed by the Holy Ghost. For though the doctrine itself had
been understood from the first, yet its expression became more
comprehensive, as through the Spirit's guidance its full relations
were more adequately appreciated. To trace the actual progress
of thought is the best exhibition, therefore, of the truth of Our
Lord's Divinity, since it shows how indissolubly this doctrine is
bound up with the whole system of the Divine nature; and

88 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
since it likewise illustrates its influence as the basis of all the
religious instincts of Christendom. For in this manner it will
appear that the whole system of the Church's faith was elicited
in the defence of this its one cardinal principle : that the vindi
cation of Christian piety led to those deep inquiries which
enlarged and exalted the conceptions of mankind. Indeed, the
primary importance of the worship of the God-man, is as mani
fest from the conduct of the Church's assailants, as from that of
her children : for during the earlier ages of her existence, no
enemies assaulted her, by whom the doctrine of His sacred
Person was not assailed as the first and most prominent part of'
her system. Their assaults may be referred in general to three
classes. In the seeond eentury, they were grounded chiefly on
a view of the nature of man, and of the impossibility of an
union between him and his Maker. During the third and fourth
centuries, on the other hand, the prevalent heresies arose from
speculations on the Divine nature, and on the want of coherence
between belief in Christ and the unity of the Godhead. And
this brings us in the fifth century to a third class of disputes.
Our Lord being admitted to be both God and man, the question
which reinained was as to the manner in which these two
natures were united.
Confining ourselves in this Chapter to disputes of the first and
second kind, we may observe that the argument advanced
through the first into the second. It was when the difficulties
which had been suggested by the thought of Christ's manhood
had been in a measure overcome, that they awoke again in rela
tion to the Unity of the Godhead. Thus did they rise from
the lower to the higher nature. And in each age the assailants
might be resolved generally into two classes, those who
questioned the Deity, and those who questioned the Humanity
of Christ. The Arians were in some sort the successors of the
Ebionites, and the Gnostics were precursors of the Sabellian
and Apollinarian school. The Ebionites were among, the first
antagonists by whom the Christian mind was called forth

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 89
to the survey and defence of the truths entrusted to it.
They formed the small and unimportant party, rather arising
from the Church than in it, which questioned the Divine
character of Our Lord. Their influence was so slight in
early times, that they would be lost sight of, but for the
diligence of Eusebius,1 and a few other ancient authors.
They rose probably out of the Jewish Christians, and had re
tained the notion, attributed by Justin to that nation, that
Christ would be only a man, and born of men.2 Hence perhaps
their name (poor), from their entertaining, says Eusebius, poor
and low notions of Christ; unless it was derived from the mean
ness and want of instruction which characterized their party.
They are remarkable only for affording the original example of that
error which afterwards displayed itself in a more dangerous shape.
The popular error of the second century lay on the opposite
side, and consisted in a denial of Our Lord's Humanity. The
works which He had wrought had been so marvellous, and His
worship was so universal among His disciples, that those who
left the middle way of truth were generally inclined to deny
that there could be any human nature in one whose Godhead was
so manifest. This error of the Gnostics was encouraged by the
prevalent philosophy of the East, where it especially extended
itself; according to which all corruption lay in the fleshly part of
man, and spirit was confounded with purity. Supposing matter
therefore to be the sole principle of evil, and ignorant that
defilement lies in reality in sin, whether of body or mind, the
Gnostics supposed Our Lord to be a Divine Spirit who came only
in the form of man, without being really united to manhood.
This was the other extreme of error ; and its earlier growth and
greater popularity is shown by the testimony which is borne
against it by the Beloved Disciple : " Every spirit that con-
fesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God :
and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have, heard
that it should come ; and even now already is it in the world."3
1 Eusebius, iii. 27. z Dial, cum Tryph. sec. 49. 3 1 John iv. 3.

90 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
Either of these heretical opinions was subversive of the
Christian faith ; since the one represented the object of our hope
to be a mere creature, and the other denied Him that participa
tion with ourselves, on which rests our salvation. Those who
adopted them were, of course, excluded from the Church's
communion ; yet, though merely hovering on the verge of the
faith, they chose to call themselves Christians. But, since
they were not constituent parts of the Christian body, it was
not necessary to meet their errors by any official decree of the
Church's rulers ; it was left to single writers at their will to
oppose and confute them. Two of great consideration arose in
the middle and latter part of the second century, Justin Martyr
and St. Irenaeus. The former may be referred perhaps to the
school of St. Paul, the latter to that of St. John, though
Irenseus keeps far closer to his guide, and enters far more
deeply into the Spirit of the Gospel than the philosophic Justin.1
In his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, Justin Martyr sets
forth the ground upon which the Ebionite denial of Our Lord's
Divinity was to be confuted. His arguments rest upon a re
view of those predictions of the Old Testament respecting the
character of Messiah which are inconsistent with the notion that
He who bore it was merely a human being. From the argu
ment of prophecy he passes to Our Lord's title of the Word ;
maintaining Him to be as closely bound, as its very attributes, to
Godhead itself. " I will give you Scripture proof," he says, that
" God begot from Himself a certain intellectual form, as a be
ginning which preceded all creation, which is sometimes called by
the Holy Ghost — God's glory, sometimes His Son, sometimes
Wisdom, sometimes His Angel, sometimes God, sometimes the
Lord and the Word."2 And again, speaking of His presence
among men ; " the3 omnipotent and invisible God from Heaven
1 Mohler's Einheit der Kirche, sec. 35.
2 Dial: cum Tryph. sec. 61, p. 157.
3 Ad Diognet. sec. 7. Whether this letter be Justin's or not, it is, the.
Benedictine editors say, " S. Martyre dignissimum."

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 91
has Himself placed among men His truth and Holy Word — not
as one might suppose sending a minister or an angel — but tht
very Artificer and Maker of all things." " As a King, sending
His royal Son, has He despatched Him." This Being, Justin
speaks of as containing in Himself, as a source and centre, all
the light and reason, of which faint adumbrations are to be met
with among men. "Whatever has been well spoken or dis
covered by philosophers or legislators, has been owing to that
partial discovery and observation of the Word, to which their
labours conducted them. But because they had no complete
knowledge of the Word, who is Christ, they fell into many
contradictions."1 Thus would he account for the fact, that
Plato's teaching is in so far " not contrary to that of Christ,"2 that
he likewise believed in "those three divine hypostases, that
have the nature of principles in the Universe, viz., monad, mind,
and soul."3 Indeed, if in the secret abyss of infinite Being we
recognize the mysterious Three as the primal source of all ex
istence, what more natural, to say nothing of an original revekv
tion, than that maris heart should have such natural affinity to
this belief, as to lead deep thinkers to anticipate it? "Each
one, therefore," says Justin, " spoke well, according as through
the seminal principle of the Divine Word, he described some
thing which was akin to his nature." " And whatever they
said well belongs to us Christians. For the Word of the un-
begotten and ineffable God, we worship and love together
with God, since for our sakes He became man, that being
partaker of our sufferings He might cure them."4
Having thus declared Christ to be God's Wisdom or Word in
its completeness,6 he shows His pre-existence,6 and that He
shared the counsels7 of the Father before the world was.
Finally, he points out that Our Lord had an inherent and
1 Apol. II. sec. x. p. 95. 2 Apol. II. sec. xiii. p. 97.
3 Cudworth's Intell. Sys. iv. 36. 4 Apol. II. sec. xiii. p. 98.
5 Apol. II. sec. viii. p. 94. 6 Apol. I. sec. lxiii .p. 81.
1 Ep. ad Diog. viii. p. 238.

92 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
independent, not merely a conditional and relationary existence,
both as regards the works of Creation and the Father HimseK.
For He was "the Son of God, the only real Son, who was with
God before all creation."1 "And He it is who was seen by
Abraham, Jacob, and Moses, and who is called God — other than
the God who is the original of all things ; that is, other in
number [i.e., person] not in mind."2
The writings of St. Irenseus against the Gnostics are built
upon the same doctrine of "the Incarnate Word," which is
brought forward by Justin, but St. Irenseus is far fuller and
deeper in his view of Gospel truth, and his solutions of the
errors he refutes are far more satisfactory. On one side he has
a truer view of the character of God, on the other a profounder
sense of the wants of humanity. The teaching of Justin shows
signs of a more recent conversion from Heathenism ; and the
tendency which had been derived from the schools of philosophy,
is not so completely subordinated to the principles of the new
Eevelation. According to his system, we should be in danger of
resting the Godhead upon the mere heathen ground of intel
lectual greatness; and the Word who manifests Him, though
His goodness is not left unnoticed, would be regarded too
exclusively in His character of the " Light of men." But St.
Irenaeus discerns that what constitutes the Godhead is neither
mere immensity nor abstract substance, but that ultimate self-
originating personal existence, of which the characteristic is
Love. The words of the Beloved Apostle are thus a guiding
star to him who had sat at the feet of his disciple. The Word
of God, therefore, by whom the Divine character is manifested,
is in like manner distinguished by that attribute which is proper
to Deity. " The one God, who made and arranged everything
by His Word and Wisdom, is the real Creator, who assigned
this world to the human race, who, in regard to His greatness, is
unknown to all His creatures (for His depths, none either of
past or present men have sounded) ; but as respects His love,
1 Apol. II. sec. vi. p. 92. 2 Cum Tryph. lvi. p. 152.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 93
He is known by Him, through whom He made all things. For
this is His Word, Jesus Christ Our Lord, who in these last
times was made a man among men, that He might join the end
to the beginning — that is, man to God."1 And in another
place he says, that " the immensity of God and His substance
are things beyond human estimation, for no man has ever
measured nor handled them ; but what falls within maris per
ception is His love."3 This is his mode of answering the
Gnostic speculators, whose effort was to resolve Christianity into
a sort of Theogony, and thus to ally it to Oriental fables. And
Irenseus, after showing them the true source in which they
should seek for the knowledge of God, declares all other
inquiries respecting Him to be vain and unsatisfactory, since He
is an ultimate Personality, and not resolvable into fate3 or any
higher law. " Non enim excogitabis."4 " Canst thou by
searching find out God 1 " " He6 who seeks it, unless he repent,
will float about for ever in the ocean of incomprehensibility." 6
Having thus shown that the basis of the Gnostic errors was
an imperfect estimate of the nature of God, he passes to that
particular heresy in which these opinions manifested their effect ;
— their denial, namely, of the humanity of Christ. To suppose
Immensity to be the essence of Deity, was nearly connected
with supposing what was tangible and material to be its direct
opponent. Hence the feeling that it was impossible that the
Supreme Mind should manifest itself in the flesh. Against this
opinion St. Irenseus puts the declaration of Scripture, and the
constant belief of the Church, that " Our Lord redeemed us by
His own blood, and gave His life for our life, and His flesh for
our flesh." 7 He discriminates between mere natural limitation,
which belongs to material being, and that moral corruption,
1 S. Irenseus, iv. 20, 4, p. 254 [Massuet].
¦' Ibid. iii. 24, 2, p. 223. 3 Ibid. ii. 5, 4, p. 121.
4 Ibid. ii. 25, 4, p. 153. 5 Ibid. iv. 9, 3, p. 238.
6 ' ' Quemadmodum poterit quis intelligere aut cognoscere in corde tarn
magnum Deum?"— Ibid. iv. 19, 3, p. 252.
' S. Iren. v. 1, 1, p. 292.

94 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
which is the consequence of sin. Without the removal of the
last, he says, there was some natural impossibility in man's
salvation ; 1 whereas the admixture of material elements in man's
nature was only a part of that perfect 2 construction in which he
was originally made. And that Christ our Lord participated in
them, was shown by abundant individual indications. Why
else should He have been hungry after His fast, or weary
after His journey ? Why should He have wept at the tomb
of Lazarus, or in His Passion have shed drops of blood?3
But Irenasus goes deeper than this, and is not satisfied by
such mere incidental notices of Our Lord's Humanity. He
seems to have feared lest these signs of sympathy in one who
was also a Divine Being, should be looked upon only as
individual instances of gratuitous condescension ; as an assumed
conformity to our lot, rather than an actual co-partnership in
our nature. This was exactly what was afterwards maintained
by the Aphthartodocetse,4 a sect of Eutychians; and thus was
Christ's sympathy with ourselves divested of its reality. To
guard against such an error, Irenasus insists on that relation
between Christ and humanity at large, which is revealed in
Scripture; and thus lays a foundation for the apparent facts
of His life, in the principles which were essential to its object.
" For if He had not of man taken the substance of flesh, He
would not have been man or the Son of Man ; and if He had
not been made what we were, He would not have done so
great a thing in His sufferings."6 This relation of Christ to
man he grounds on those passages of Holy Scripture which
speak of Christ as the anti-type of Adam, "whence also, by
St. Paul, Adam is called the type of Him who was to
1 ' ' Impossibile erat ut salutem perciperet qui sub peccato ceciderat."—
S. Irenaus, iii. 18, 2, p. 209.
2 S. Iren. v. 6, 1, p. 299.
3 S. Iren. iii. 22, 2, p. 219. S. Leo, Ep. xxiv. 4.
4 " Oportebat non solum velle, sed fecisse Deum aliquid erga nos." 
Leontius, c. Nest, et Eutych. Bib. Max. Pat. ix. 688. Vide Pet de Inc x 3
5 S. Iren. iii. 22, l,p. 218.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 95
come;"1 and likewise on the declarations which it contains of a
real unity of nature between Christ and His ransomed brethren.
In this system he seems to have discerned that peculiar fitness
and harmony to which Hooker apparently refers, when he says
that " Christ's Incarnation and Passion can be available to no
man's good, which is not made partaker of Christ, neither can
we participate Him without His presence ;"2 but his conclusions
do not rest on mere natural arguments, but on the inspired
sayings of the Apostles. And to these no one could refer with
greater confidence than one who professes to have learnt the
general purpose of their teaching from their immediate disciples.
¦"It was necessary that He who began to destroy sin, and to
redeem men who deserved death, should Himself be made par
taker of that nature, which by sin had been brought into ser
vitude, and was enthralled by death, that so sin might be
destroyed by man, and man might be delivered from death.
' For as by the disobedience of one man,' who was formed
originally out of the virgin earth, ' many were made sinners,' and
lost their life, ' so by the obedience of One' who from a virgin
had His origin, many have been justified and obtained salvation.
Thus, therefore, was the Word of God made man. In the words of
Moses, it was truly God's work. For if He had only obeyed as flesh,
and not become flesh, it had been no real work. He became that
which was obedient : God, by taking the elements of manhood,
became Himself a new Head to maris original race, that He might
destroy sin, deprive death of its sting, and give mankind life."3
There are two particular points to which Irenasus refers, as
evidencing the reality of the relation, which has been thus
described : the one, Our Lord's sacrifice upon the Cross ; the
other, that real communion with Himself, which He vouchsafes
in the Lord's Supper. " If the flesh is not saved, then did not
Christ redeem us with His blood, nor is the cup of the Eucharist
the communion of His blood, nor is the bread which we break,
1 S. Iren. iii. 22, 3, p. 219. 2 Feci. Pol. v. 55, 1.
3 S. Iren. iii. 18, 7, p. 211.

96 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
the communion of His body. It could not be blood, unless there
were flesh, veins, and whatever else belongs to maris substance :
yet all this the Word must truly have taken, for He redeemed
us with His blood ; as the Apostle says, ' in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.'"1 In
referring to the Holy Communion as evidencing the truth of
Our Lord's humanity, St. Irenseus appeals to the testimony of
the eariy Church, that the gifts of grace are obtained through
union with the man Jesus Christ, in as real a manner as forgive
ness of sins was purchased by His blood. Is it, then, that as
His earthly body was nailed upon the Cross, so it is divided
into morsels, and eaten as natural food by men ? Such was the
notion of the Capharnaites ; and the same opinion, with the
addition that Our Lord's material body is capable of being dis
tributed in portions, without limit and without destruction,
and also that men's senses are supernaturally withheld from
discerning it, is denied by our Church under the name of Tran-
substantiation. What other interpretations may be given to
a word unknown to antiquity, and how far, considering the
technical nature of the term substance, a more refined construc
tion of it may harmonize with the decrees of the Council of
Trent, is a question for those who have to subscribe its formu
laries. The Capharnaite notion, however, must imply that some
supernatural effect is connected with the eating of Our Lord's
body, since naturally it would act only as common food. And
such supernatural effect is attributed to it by all who, without
holding a carnal presence, believe with our Church that " the
inward part or thing signified" in the Holy Communion is " the
body and blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and
received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper." Now this is,
all which is requisite, to give its force to the argument of St.
Irenasus. That argument turns on the belief that Our Lord's
Humanity, through spiritual supernatural influence, is in the
Holy Communion the consecrating principle of ours. It implies
1 S. Irenseus, v. 2, 2, p. 293. S. Leo. Ep. 24, 5.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 97
of course, that the participation of Our Lord's body in the Holy
Communion is not merely figurative, that it is not a mere memo
rial of His death, an acted sermon on His sufferings ; and it is a
point of no little moment, that one who had been nurtured in
the faith by St. John's disciple, and who lived within half a
century of the writing of his Gospel, should have thought this
assertion so clear, that the reality of the Atonement and the
Eesurrection could be built upon it. For he reasons back from
the reality of the gift bestowed, to the reality of the source from
which it emanates ; and considers it a sufficient argument against
the Docetas, that Christ must be truly man, since we are truly
benefited by union with His manhood. Whereas the heretical
party, believing Christ's Incarnation and Death to be only a
representation, supposed, naturally enough, that His presence in
the Eucharist was only a figurative process, by which our imagi
nation was strongly impressed, and that neither was there in
Christ any real body to produce an effect upon us, nor were the
bodies of mankind to be quickened at the resurrection. The
renewal of " body, soul, and spirit," to which the Apostle refers,
was lost sight of with the belief in Our Lord's Body. On the
reality then of the human body of Our Lord, stands, according
to Irenseus, the certainty of mankind's resurrection. That he
supposes the media through which its sanctifying agency extends
itself to the Christian, to continue to be actual elements of bread
and wine, is shown by his repeated reference to their earthly
character,1 subject, as the Gnostics supposed, to the Demiurgus
or Lord of this world, whose gifts they thought could not be
made subservient to the purposes of God. This opinion he
refutes, by showing that they are the means of communicating
that mysterious union, whereby men are bound to the Second,
as by nature they were to the first Adam. It follows, since our
whole union with the second Adam is not by natural descent,
but by supernatural alliance, that His presence therefore in the
Eucharist, however true and real, must not be by carnal interpene-
1 S. Iren. iv. 33, 2, p. 270, and iv. 18, 4, p. 251.

98 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
tration, but by spiritual power. "The mixture of [Christ's]
bodily substance with ours is a thing which the ancient Fathers
disclaim. Yet the mixture of His flesh with ours they speak of,
to signify what our very bodies, through mystical conjunction,
receive frorn that vital efficacy which we know to be in His ;
and from bodily mixtures they borrow divers similitudes, rather
to declare the truth, than the manner of coherence between
His sacred and the sanctified bodies of Saints." : Accordingly,
Irenseus says, " When the mixed cup, and the bread which
results from growth, receives2 the word of God, the Eucharist
becomes the body of Christ, and from them the substance of
our flesh receives increase and corroboration. How then can
they say that there is no capacity for that gift of God, which is
eternal life, in the flesh which is nourished by the body and
blood of the Lord, and becomes a part of Him ? as the blessed
Paul says in his Epistle to the Ephesians, ' we are members of
His body : of His flesh, and of His bones.' "3
Other passages would illustrate the same deep view of Christ's
relation to Humanity, as, for instance, the striking one in the
Fourth Book [xviii. 4], which is cited by Hooker. But what
has been adduced is sufficient proof that St. Irenseus, . with the
rest of the early Church, maintained 0\ir. Lord's Manhood as
certainly as His Godhead. The two natures were believed to be
absolutely joined together in one Person. Was there anything
which belonged of necessary right to the nature of man, it might
certainly be attributed to Him ; was there anything which could
not be separated from Godhead, it could not be denied Him.
These two widely-separated characters in one single person made
up His Being. As God He was the object of all honour and
worship : as man He had offered His body on the Cross, and
was still presenting it in heaven as the ground of intercession
and the source of graces.
1 Eccl. Pol. v. 56, 9.
2 " Accedit verbum [i.e., of consecration] ad elementum, et fit Sacra-
mentum."— St. Aug. in Joan, lxxx. 3. 3 S. Irenasus, v. 2, 3, p. 294.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 99
Thus did the first assaults upon the cardinal principle of the
Christian faith lead to a clear and full assertion that in Christ
Our Lord, two natures, Godhead and Manhood, were perfectly
manifested. The time however was now come when the influx
of educated and thoughtful men into the Church made it neces
sary to give this great truth a more adequate expression. In the
third century of the Christian sera, to the consideration of which
we now come, there arose a new set of objectors, to try men's
allegiance to the Gospel. These were no longer external to the
Church, like the Ebionites and Gnostics : they had passed within
it. Their assaults were not directed, like the errors of the second
century, against the avowed principle of Christianity, that man
was God and God man ; they had learned the more subtile and
dangerous policy of amending rather than disputing it. They
were ready to admit the Church's doctrine in name, if in reality
they might reject it. They claimed to interpret it in such wise
as should not clash with another leading doctrine of the Scripture
revelation, the Unity of God. For whereas the objections of the
preceding age had been built on a regard to the constitution of
man's nature, those which now arose were derived rather from
the nature of God. The unity of the Divine Being was one
essential point which the new revelation had to maintain against
Polytheism. With this fundamental principle of Christianity,
the real belief in Christ as God was asserted to be inconsistent.
" They charge us with setting forth two Gods or three," reports
Tertullian, " while they assert themselves to be worshippers of
but one. Wa hold, they say, to the monarchy."1 There was
plainly this difficulty, that Christ as man was one individual in
a class containing many members. If His other nature could be
dealt with in a corresponding manner — if His Divine Being
could be spoken of as, in like manner, one out of many — what
difference would there be between Christianity and the religion
of the heathen ? Hence the various attempts which were made
in "the third century to explain away the Christian doctrines
1 Adv. Praxeam, 3.

100 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
without absolutely rejecting them. These attempts were met by
no less strenuous efforts on the part of more enlightened believers,
to guard the ancient deposit of Christian truth by insisting on
the real reception of the very same belief which had originally ;'
existed. Hence the introduction of new forms of expression, to
negative those several misconceptions by which the ingenuity of
men would have perverted the great facts of revelation. " Just
as the heathen make gods with their hands," says Tertullian,
"so do the heretics by their words, while they introduce a diffe
rent God and a different Christ."1 " It was in maintaining,
therefore, the character of Christ, that there rose all those dis
putes respecting the Doctrine of the Trinity, which existed in the
early Church."2 To assert our Lord to be merely the Divine
Wisdom, as had been done by Justin Martyr, and thus to assign
Him a place among the attributes of God, was soon found to be
insufficient. On this showing, was there not a danger lest His
personality should be wholly lost in the infinite perfection of the
one God ? But suppose that to escape this difficulty His mission
to create the world was insisted on, and He was thus exhibited
as invested plainly with a personal character. Yet such a per
sonality was merely drawn from God's works ; it depended on
the visible creation ; it was not deep enough to serve for the per
sonal identification of an Eternal Being. So that two conditions
which belonged plainly to the great object of the Church's wor
ship, that He was the Word or Wisdom of the Father, and that
by Him the worlds were made, were not only insufficient, when
taken in themselves, as the determining characteristics of His
character, but, in fact, became the very germinant principles of
the great heresies of the age. For what was this denial of the
real personality of the Son of God, but the heresy which after
wards became so fatal under the names of Sabellian, Patripassian,
or Apollinarian ? while to rest Our Lord's Being on His relation
to the external world, was that more consistent heresy of Arius
1 Adv. Praxeam, sec. 18.
2 Dorner's Person Christi, vol. i. p. 940.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 101
to which the others conducted. If it pleased God to embody
the abstract attribute of His wisdom in a personal substance for
the creation of the world, the Being so employed was only a
creature, distinguished by greater responsibility from the things
which He created " Eefer Our Lord's Godhead only to His re
semblance to the Divine attributes, and His personality was lost
in the Unity of God ; prove His personality by His activity in
creation, and His Godhead was lost in the created universe. If
God be not personally distinguished from God, the principle of
discrimination is not founded in the inner nature of God, but
depends only on His relation to the world. And thus the Son
becomes only a secondary, accidental, contingent thing, like the
world of creation. So that unless the conditions which dis
criminate the Son's personality are sought for in God Himself,
Arianism must of necessity follow."1
It was essential then to meet the inquiring spirit of the age,
by laying down the precise limits of that idea under which the
worship of the God-man had existed from the foundation of the
Church. The right course had been marked out by St. Irenseus,
in a manner sufficient for the requirements of the second century.
For first he distinguishes between the Creator and the creation,
pointing out that Our Lord was not only in Himself an invisible2
power, ever present3 with the Father, but that His Being was
not dependent on the world's existence — the world having been
created in subsequent time to show forth God's glory.4 This
supplies Him not only with a safeguard against the danger of a
general Pantheism, the principle of which is to merge the per
sonality of the moral Governor in the circle of His works, but it
is a protest by anticipation against the Arian heresy, the essential
feature of which was to represent the existence of the Son as
relative only to creation. On the other hand, Irenasus makes
provision against Sabellian misrepresentations, by discriminating
the person of the Word from that of the Father. He disclaims
1 Dorner's Person Christi, i. 449. 3 Ibid., iv. 20, 1, p. 253.
2 S. Irenseus, iv. 24, 2, p. 260. * Ibid., iv. 14, 1, p. 243.

102 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
such estimate of the nature of the Word as might be drawn
from the application of the same terms to man. " When you
explain His generation from the Father, and transfer to the Word
of God ideas drawn from the utterance of words from the tongue
of man, you are clearly detected to be ignorant of what is human
as well as what is Divine."1
These explanations were sufficient, so long as the tendency
which it was necessary to oppose, showed itself in the shape of
Ebionism and Gnosticism. But more was required when they
ripened into the Arian and Sabellian heresies. That they are the
very same tendencies are obvious ; for while Arianism is the pro
fessed denial of Our Lord's real Divinity, the Sabellian notion,
that the Son is not personally distinct from the Father, but
merely one side or phase of the Father's character, is an obvious
revival of the notion of an emanation from the Godhead, and is
fatal therefore to the real permanent coherence of God and man
in the one Person of Christ. So that while Arianism tends
directly towards creature worship, the Sabellian heresy implies
the denial of any real intervention of the Son of God as the
Saviour of mankind.
There was no want of opponents to these errors when they
began to display themselves within the Church. The course indi
cated by Irenasus was followed by Tertullian, who marked out
more carefully the Son's independence of the external world, by
observing that He was one in substance2 with the Father. Thus
was He taken altogether out of the class of created beings. The
explanations of Origen were still more complete.3 He introduced
the phrase of the '• Son's eternal generation," whieh was at once
adopted by the whole Church, as expressing the exact view of
Our Lord's relation to the Godhead, which had always been
delivered to them. Thus was secured the notion of a perpetual
1 S. Irenseus, ii. 28, 5, p. 157. 2 Adv. Praxeam, sec. 4.
3 ' ' Est namque ita seterna ae sempitema generatio sicut splendor gene-
ratus ex luce. Non enim per adoptionem spiritus Filius fit extrinsecus,
sed natura Filius est." — De Pnitcipiis 1, 2, 4.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 103
generation, in which time had no part ; and since the discrimi
nating considerations of the Son's personality were thus laid
in the nature of the Deity itself, the Sabellian confusion was
t-caped, and yet the Deity was not rendered dependent upon
His works.
It is not to be supposed, indeed, that the early writers could
always use expressions incapable of being taken in a partial and
erroneous sense. While the relations of the great truths they
handed down were imperfectly apprehended, it was impossible to
foresee of what further enlargement either words or ideas were
susceptible. And this is the ground of those complaints against
them which have been made by Petavius, and more recently by
Mr. Xewman. It is not alleged that the ideas which they enter
tained were incorrect, but that in comprehending their relations,
and clothing them in language, they did not go beyond the wants
of their generation. But it is only when taken out of their place,
and applied in a sense in which they were not intended, that the
expressions of these ancient writers can be said to be erroneous.
Take them in reference to that particular stage in the progress of
opinion to which they were adapted, and the imputation is un
grounded The traveller who inclines to the right to-day is not
deviating from his course because he will incline to the left to
morrow. It must not be supposed, therefore, that the holy men
of the three first centuries were in error respecting any of the
great truths of the Gospel ; though the Church's mind was gra
dually led on by the Holy Ghost to a more complete appreciation
of all their multiform relations. And one resource was resorted
to in the third century, which in the second had been found
needless — the authority of Councils. This had not been needful
while the enemy lay without the Church. It was enough for
the Bishops to exclude those from the communion of the faith
ful who opposed her acknowledged doctrines. Marcion was first
excommunicated by his own father, the Bishop of Synope, and
when he sought the capital, he was again sentenced by the Bishop
of Eome, as the common fatheT of its citizens. But in the third

104 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
century, we find no less than three local Councils, which opened
the way for that great assembly at Nice, in which the Catholic
doctrines were fully vindicated. The first two of these were
directed against Sabellian tenets, which were propagated in the
one case by the disciples of Noetus of Smyrna ; 1 in the other
by the Arabian Bishop Beryllus. In the latter instance, Beryl-
lus, the author of the error, was himself reclaimed by the argu
ments of Origen.2 We learn from Socrates,3 that the Synod
which opposed Beryllus dwelt especially on the existence of
Christ's human soul, a fact which, though plainly implied by
earlier writers (as Irenseus and Tertullian), for they speak of Our
Lord as ignorant according to His manhood, had been first put in
a clear light by Origen. The errors of Beryllus had been those
which are commonly maintained by Sabellians, that Our Lord,
before His Incarnation, was not really discriminated by any per
sonal distinction from the Father, and that when He came upon
earth, it was not His own, but the Father's Deity which dwelt
in Him.4 The effect of this theory was to represent the Blessed -
Trinity as a mere set of relations or characters, under which the
same individual displayed himself ; and these relations were sup
posed therefore to be increased when the work of creation brought
the Deity in contact with a new set of objects. Two objections
may be made to it, independently of its inconsistency with the
statements of revelation : first, that the Godhead might as readily
have assumed any number of Persons as those three, in which it
has been its will to be revealed ; and secondly (as will shortly
be proved), that to explain away Our Lord's personality was in
consistent with the reality of His Incarnation. It was on this
side that Sabellianism was most plainly inconsistent with that
first principle of the Christian Church — its reverence for Christ
Our Lord ; and, therefore, it was by a perception of this danger
1 His opinions are recorded by S. Hippolytus — Contra Noetum i. 5. —
Vide Routh's Rel. Sac. ii. p. 374 [1st. Ed.].
2 Eus. EceL.Hist. vi. 33. 3 Hist. iii. 7.
4 Eusebius, u. s.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 105
that Beryllus was reclaimed from his errors. For when he had
learnt, through the teaching of Origen, to form a deeper estimate
of Our Lord's real and separate existence as the God-man '
(endowed not only with human flesh, but a reasonable soul),
he saw that it was essential to seek for the distinguishing
conditions of His personality within the sacred precincts of
Deity itself.
The third Council held in this century, against Paul of Samo-
sata, had no such prosperous issue ; but it was not less important,
as a precautionary guard against what was afterwards the Arian
heresy. Paul was condemned for denying that first principle of
the faith, Our Lord's real Divinity, just as Arius was condemned
afterwards. And as the Fathers who opposed Noetus declared
that they were not introducing any new theory, but only main
taining the truths which had been delivered to them — •" we say
that which we have learnt " — so the Council at Antioch, after
affirming the reality of Our Lord's Godhead against Paul, con
cludes with an assertion that " all the Catholic Churches agree
with us."1 This Council carries us on to that celebrated assem
bly at Mce, a.d. 325, for the celebration of which such provi
dential preparation had been made by the ascendency of Con-
stantine. Its creed contains the broadest possible assertion of
Our Lord's real Divinity, The second General Council, held
during this century at Constantinople, followed likewise in the
same track, and filled in certain particulars of the outline which
had already been delineated. Besides its main work, the asser
tion of the Deity of the Holy Ghost, it condemned the Apolli-
narian heresy, by which Our Lord's Humanity was called in
question. In neither of these Councils, however, was anything
concluded, except what all the Fathers declared to have been re
ceived from the beginning in their several Churches. For the
ascending line of Christian truth was only the prolongation of
that first principle of the Gospel — that Christ was perfect God
and perfect man, in the full completeness of both these relations.
1 Eus. Eccl. Hist. vii. 30.

106 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
And as it has pleased God that His Church has never been with
out a champion in its hour of need; as the expounder and
indomitable advocate of the creed of Nice, there was raised up
the great Athanasius.
From his teaching did this momentous Doctrine of our
religion receive that full elucidation, which showed the relation
of its various parts, and vindicated for revealed religion its
proper superiority. His four Orations against the Arians have
remained as a rich mine of truth for all subsequent generations.
The Trinity in Unity we must receive, according to him, as a
real mystery in the eternal Godhead, which has partially been
revealed to mankind. There are those who , deny that we
are taught anything of God's nature, and allege religion to
consist only in our relation to some Being who is incomprehen
sible. That our ideas must be infinitely inadequate is obvious ;
but unless there be an object without us, to which to direct our
thoughts, relative is as impossible as positive knowledge.
Unless we have some objective knowledge of the Deity, our
subjective knowledge of Him is only a dream. " He that
cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is the
rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."1 "He who comes
to God, or enters himself in the Church of God, must first
believe that there is a God in some intelligible sense ; and not
only that there is something in general without any proper
notion, though never so inadequate, of any of its qualities or
attributes — for this may be fate, or chaos, or plastic nature, or
anything else as well as a God." " We may say," indeed,
" that as God is infinitely above men, so is the knowledge of
God infinitely above the knowledge of men. And after this
same analogy, we must understand all those attributes to belong
to the Deity, which in themselves simply and as such denote
1 " Moral infinity as well as mathematical ; moral modes in their high
est degree, as well as modes of quantity in its unlimited extent ; are sub
ject to some rules of discourse, when we discourse of them at all ; and one
rule is, that in passing up the scale of the finite subject, in order to ap
proach the properties of the infinite, we must pursue the enlarged idea

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 107
perfection."1 But unless our faith have a counterpart in
some external reality, it is but a delusive imagination. All
explanations, therefore, respecting the Divine nature must
begin with the fact, of which revelation has assured us,
that in the Unity of the Godhead there are Three Persons, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Now, the first and most
essential condition of belief in this fact, is to acknowledge that
it is a mystery. For the Apostles speak of the nature of God
and of His relation to mankind as mysteries. The first is the
mystery of the Blessed Trinity, the second the mystery of the
Incarnation. These two are necessarily linked together, inas
much as the first is approached through the second ; and the
second can never be really accepted without the admission of
the first. They form between them " the mystery of God, and
• of the Father, and of Christ."2 It is not meant, of course, that
they involve a contradiction in terms, for did they do so, we
might deny with as much truth as we can affirm them. But, by
asserting them to be mysteries, the Apostles teach us that it has
pleased God to give us an actual external object in His own
nature, consisting of features and characteristics, which in our
present state we are unable to harmonize ; but which faith in
Him who bestows them assures us will eventually resolve
themselves into one consistent whole. Such has been the case
already in a great measure respecting the world of matter ; such
will no doubt be the case hereafter respecting the world of mind.
Various incongruities in the external universe, which perplexed
Lucretius, have been cleared up by Newton and Davy : and
those incompatibilities which were suggested by Arius and
Sabellius, will prove hereafter to be equally illusory. The
individual truths respecting God which we learn from revelation
must therefore be held as firmly as the individual phenomena
taken from the properties of the first, and not adopt the contradictory or
any alien idea, to make the approximation to the infinite in question." —
Davison on Prophecy, p. 548.
1 Minute Philosopher, Dial. iv. 18, 21. 2 Colossians ii. 2.

108 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
which we learn from observation. We cannot expect that in
our present state we can perfectly harmonize them. What we
should aim at is, to discern the limits which have been laid
down on either side, without endeavouring to draw them to
gether forcibly by the bond of a logical connexion.
In respect to the Blessed Trinity, for example, the peculiar
difficulty which is experienced in its real reception, by those
who do not discern that its transcendent nature raises it above
our ordinary laws of thought, is that our common notion of
spiritual beings is derived from that internal principle which we
call Personality. This indivisible principle in our nature, with
which consciousness is intimately connected, is what gives us the
power of speaking of ourselves. It is the " ego," the " Ich " of
our being. Here, then, there is some fixed principle, whereby
our own consciousness assures us that we are dissevered from all
other beings. So that if earthly faculties are adequate to the
complete resolution of heavenly questions, we may go on, and
deal with the principles of personality and individuality as being
always identical. We may say further, that to attribute this
principle of individuality to Godhead at large, would be to deny
its applicability to the Three Persons ; or to assert that it was
absolutely identical with that which might be attributed to the
Three separate Persons, would be to deny that it had any
relevancy to Godhead at large. And yet to deny its applica
bility to either of them, would seem on the one hand to detract
too much from the oneness of the Supreme Being j1 and, on the
other, to derogate from the actual existence of the Three Blessed
Persons.2 Of course, a solution of the perplexity may be found,
if it be admitted that the finite individuality which supplies our
1 " Cur ergo non hseo tria simul unam personam dicimus, siout unam
essentiam et unum Deum, sed tres dicimus personas, cum tres deos aut tres
essentias non dicamus, nisi volumus vel unum aliquod vocabulum servire
huic significationi, qua intelligitur Trinitas, " &c. — S. Aug. de Trin. vii 11.
2 ' ' Qusesivit quid tria diceret : et dixit substantias sive personas, quibus
nominibus non diversitatem intelligi voluit, sed singularitatem noluit,"
&c. — S. Aug. de Trin. vii. 9.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 109
Standard, is no adequate measure of the infinite. To the Infinite
and Absolute Being must be ascribed an individuality of His
own, which is above our thought ; and on the same principle
there may exist some other than that limited and relative per
sonality, by which each man is divided from all connatural
substances. But those who deny that anything is told us
respecting the Godhead, which our present powers are unable to
harmonize, must choose one side or other of the difficulty. Both
they cannot adopt, without such contradiction in terms as
would be to affirm an untruth. But what is the Catholic course,
as it was explained in ancient times, and is still maintained in
all Churches of the Saints ? Neither is one of these alternatives
affirmed nor the other.1 For no attempt is made to explain the
nature of the Divine Being. Since Eevelation is assumed to be
the entrance of Divine realities into this lower world, it is not
supposed that human conceptions can give them adequate ex
pression.2 The Church does not aim, therefore, at such logical
completeness on this subject as may be required from those who
consider that everything is brought down to the level of their
faculties. She is content to state that the Supreme Being is one
in some true and real sense. For this is revealed as the original
law of God's nature. Such is the doctrine of the Unity in
'Trinity. On the other hand, the Church teaches that in the
Blessed Trinity are Three Persons. In neither case does she
1 " Ut, quia in deitate Patris et Eilii et Spiritus Sancti nee singularitas
est nee diversitas cogitanda, vera Unitas et vera Trinitas possit quidem
mente simul sentiri, sed non possit ore simul proferri." — S. Leo adversus
Eutych. " Timuit dicere Tres essentias, ne intelligeretur in ilia summa sequalitate
ulla diversitas. Rursus non esse tria quaedam non poterat dicere, quod
Sabellius quia dixit, in hseresim lapsus est." — S. Aug. de Trin. vii. 9.
2 " Conveniens est ut hoc nomen (persona) de Deo dicatur ; non tamen
eodem modo, quo dicitur de creaturis, sed excellentiori modo." — Summa
Theol. i. 29, 3.
' ' All these expressions resolve themselves into the original mystery of the
Holy Trinity, that Person and Individuum are not equivalent terms, and
we understand them neither more nor less than we understand it." — Note
on St. Athanasius' s Select Treatises : Oxford Library of the Fathers, vol.
viii. p. 155.

110 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
affirm that the principle of existence which belongs to the
Supreme Being is identical with that which we call personality in
mankind, or that our consciousness of our own being qualifies us
to fathom the depths of that Being which is Infinite. But that
the Three Persons in the Blessed Trinity have a real existence
in themselves— that in the Deity there is an original, objective
triplicity, independently of us, and of the world of creation— she
grounds on the declarations of Holy Writ. And this is the
mystery of the Trinity in Unity.
These two, then, are the starting points from which we must
proceed ; and the firm reception of both of them maintains the
reality of our belief in God. It supplies a guard against those
assaults which are made on either side, in the attempt to explain
what is inexplicable. Such explanations are plausible enough
when viewed in relation to either of these truths singly, but
they invariably fail when we attempt to apply the theory which
has been framed with a view to one, to the elucidation of the
other. It matters not whether they begin with the Three
Persons in the Blessed Godhead, or with the Unity of Deity at
large. In the first case, the separate existence of different
Persons is seen to consist readily enough with unity of nature.
Peter, James, and John were three persons ; but they shared
in that human nature which was common to them all. But
such a mode of accounting for the existence of the Blessed
Persons in the Deity is inconsistent with the other side of the
mystery ; for it is compatible with Polytheism ; it does not
recognize the Unity of God. It is at variance, therefore, with
the whole teaching of the Old Testament, and has in con
sequence been formally condemned as heretical.1 The same
will be found to be the result if we begin with the other
side of the doctrine. That a single being might display him-
1 The notion of the Abbot Joachim that the Unity of Persons in the '
Blessed Trinity was only like that which binds together different men, was
censured by the Fourth Lateran Council. According to him, it was an
"unitas collectiva et similitudinaria, quemadmodum dicuntur multi
homines unus populus." — Hard. vol. vii. p. 18.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. Ill
self under various characters, as he came into relation to
various parties, is intelligible enough. Cicero speaks of him
self when practising for the bar as discharging the part of
three persons — the plaintiff, the judge, and the accused. Here
again is another explanation, which would maintain the Unity
of the Supreme Being, and yet render the existence of diffe
rent Persons intelligible. But as the previous solution offends
against the Unity of the Godhead, so does this against the
reality of the Three Blessed Persons which constitute it. That
which is essential to their reality — that which constitutes them
real Persons, and not a mere fictitious representation, is that the
characteristic conditions which mark their divergency should
lie in the eternal nature of Godhead itself, and not in any rela
tion to the surrounding world of Creation. For otherwise, why
should the Persons in the Blessed Godhead be limited to Three ?
Why should not their number be unbounded ? And the con
sequence of explaining away the actual Being of the Blessed
Three, would be to destroy the possibility of the Incarnation,
and the reality of the Mediation of Christ. The Three Persons
therefore in the Blessed Trinity have something more than a
mere relationary existence dependent on external things. They
have a necessary Being, dependent on that eternal law by which
the Godhead exists. As it would be impossible Tor Deity to be
other than holy and just — these being primary conditions of its
nature — so to exist in Three Persons is the law of Godhead.
Such is the barrier which the Personal Being of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, opposes to all Sabellian deductions)
from the Unity of the Supreme Being ; and thus are we turned
back again to that unfathomable mystery of the Holy Trinity
which is revealed.
These are the two principles by whose firm maintenance the
Christian mind is restrained from error on this cardinal article
of our faith. " In all things the Unity in Trinity and the
Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped." The reception of the
first secures us against Polytheism ; a barren Deism is excluded

112 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
by the second. The former error, at least in its avowed form, is
at present to be little apprehended. The only popular shape
which it assumes is that Pantheistic adoration of all existing
powers, which excludes the action of any moral Euler. For the
worship of many gods is rejected by the reason of the age; and
its inconsistency with revealed truth is indelibly impressed on
the whole system of the Old Testament. The more dangerous
error is to be found on the other side, in that surrender of the
Personal reality of the Blessed Three, which results from an
exclusive regard to the truth of the Divine Unity. The Unity
of the Divine Nature is a doctrine so true, simple, and im
portant — it has such strong hold on our nature, and is so forcibly
recommended to us in ancient Scripture, that it naturally over
bears any antagonistic principle. To this circumstance is owing
the popular tendency of the day to an unconscious Sabellianism.
Men construct their notion of the Three Blessed Persons on the
principle of a logical consistency with that system of interde
pendence, of which the Unity of the Godhead is the basis. So
that the prevalent misconceptions show the natural tendency of
the mind to harmonize the whole scheme of the Trinity with
this central idea. And if this error was guarded against in early
days, it was because the whole system of the Church was in
continual antagonism against it. For, starting from the fact of
our Lord's Incarnation, having His worship as its first object,
the support of His true objective reality as its primary function,
the Church's system as it traced its way upwards towards the
doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, was occupied all along in making
good the other side of the alternative, and in maintaining the
true existence of its Incarnate Head. The vindication of His
worship had led it to those deep mysteries which it was found
necessary to explore ; and this side, therefore, of the doctrine, it
was impossible that it should abandon. So that while the re
action against heathenism was a sufficient guarantee that the
Unity of the Godhead would never be surrendered, the opposite
truth — the real existence of the Ever-Blessed Three — was no less

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 113
deeply rooted in the instinct of Christian piety. For the
existence of the Eternal Son, as a separate Person in the Ever-
Blessed Trinity, was linked by inevitable sequence to that mani
festation of God in the flesh which was the first starting-point
for the religious mind of the Church. From the single fact of
the worship of Christ as very God, are we carried back by
necessary connexion to His personal indwelling in the bosom of
Eternal Godhead And for this reason it is that those who
either openly or unconsciously are betrayed into Sabellian
doctrines cannot receive the truth of Our Lord's Incarnation in
its fulness. For they are deprived of the substratum on which
it must rest — the existence, namely, of an Eternal Father of the
Eternal Son. The one of these notions is of necessity implied
in the other. " As the Father always existed," says St.
Athanasius, "His image must have had the same co-eternal
being. For God's image is not something which is delineated
externally to Himself, but God HimseK is the parent of that
image, in which His pleasure is to contemplate HimseK."
" Was there ever a time, then, in which the Father did not
contemplate HimseK in His own image ? Was there ever a time
in which it was not His pleasure thus to contemplate HimseK?"1
The relation then between the two Persons is, that as one is
ever Son, so is the other ever Father? As the one therefore is
eternal, so is the other. " Such as is the Father HimseK, such is
His image."3 And this likeness is not a mere matter of appoint
ment, as the heathen set up idols to represent their gods. The
Arians could allow the worship of Christ, as being authorized to
represent God ;4 but this was to degrade Him into the region of
1 S. Ath. contra Arian. i. 20.
" " Cum enim Deus et omnipotens et seternus creditur Pater, consem-
piternus eidem Filius demonstrator." — S. Leo in Eutych. Ep. xxiv. 2.
3 S. Ath. u. s.
4 On this ground it is that Archbishop Whately justifies the worship
of Christ. " We differ from the worshippers of any mere man, whether
an impostor, as Mahomet, for instance, or a Saint, as Moses or Peter ; or
of a graven image, or a fire, or of anything else that they have set up for
themselves ; — we differ from them I say in this, the essential circumstance, I

114 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
created beings, and to forget that He was in HimseK and by
nature the " brightness of His Father's glory, and the express
image of His Person." And, except through Him whose office
is to reveal Him, is the Father invisible and unapproached. For
He is not only " the King invisible," but who " dwelleth in
the light which nothing can approach unto." Scripture, says
Tertullian, points out the difference between the Persons of the
Godhead, " by discriminating between the one which is visible
and the one which is invisible." For though " the Son regarded
as God, as the Word, and as a Spirit, is in His nature invisible,
yet He manifested HimseK even before He took our flesh." So
that "the Father is invisible, the Son visible."1 Whether this
be the real distinction between these two Blessed Persons or not,
the writer who makes it must have fully recognized the fact,
that notwithstanding the oneness of their nature, they are per
sonally distinct. Now the reality of their Personal distinction
is the material point ; and that it does not depend only on the
fact of their being revealed, but is essential, primary, archetypal.
For it lies in the nature of the Trinity itself, antecedent to its
relation to any created substance. It was not that the Son was a
name which the Godhead bore for a time, in place of bearing the
name of Father — as though for the purposes of creation or govern
ment it displayed itseK in various characters — but the two titles
imply a real co-existence of discriminated Persons, and " though
God had never seen fit to make things created, yet the Word
would not the less have been with God, and the Father in Him."2
Now such real diversity of Persons it is which is a necessary
that their worship is unauthorized, presumptuous, and vain, while ours
is divinely appointed." — Whately's Sermons [1835], p. 53.
' ' If any one should choose, instead of looking to common usage, to turn
to the strict etymological sense of the word, ' Idolater,' and to ask whether
we are or are not ' worshippers of an image,' we ought without hesitation
to say that we are.— We worship God in His beloved Son Jesus Christ."—
Ibid. p. 52.
1 Tert. adv. Praxeam, sec. 14, vide S. Ath. contra Arian. i. 6. " But ac
cording to His Divine nature the Son is invisible." Vide S. Aug. Ep. 147,
48 ; Ep. 148, 10 ; De Trinit. i. 11 ; Petavius de Trin. viii. 2, 4, and 9.
2 S. Ath. contra Arian. ii. 31.

CHRIST IS GOD' THE WORD. 115
preliminary to the Incarnation of Christ. This circumstance is
suggested in a well-known letter of St. Augustine. " How," it
had been asked him, " could the Lord and Euler of the world
endure the prison of the Virgin's womb 1" — " How could He lie
concealed in the narrow limits of infancy, for whom the universe
is not sufficiently extensive ? The Ruler of all things leaves His
own abode, and He who has care of the whole world transfers
Himself into one little body."1 St. Augustine replies by distin
guishing between things material and immaterial ; maintaining
that the conditions whieh are applicable to the one cannot be
transferred to the other. " It is not true that God is so infused
into flesh, that He has abandoned the care of the world's govern
ment." And then he adds, that " The Word of God has not put
off His eternity, nor abated His power, nor abandoned the world's
government, nor departed from the Father's bosom, from the
secret place, where He is with Him and in Him."2 In this last
circumstance lies the explanation of those passages of Holy Writ
which speak of God as really united to manhood, and which yet
deal with the Father's Personality as though unaffected by the
event. Eor it was the Word which was made flesh, but not the
Father or the Holy Ghost. It was not the whole Trinity3 which
was personally united to our nature. Those who lose sight of
this circumstance cannot possibly give its due weight to the
reality of that union which was effected between God and man.
For either they must esteem what was united to manhood in
Christ to be an inferior or delegated Deity, which is the Arian
side of the dilemma, or else they must look upon the Union as
partial and transitory — as an indwelling, not an impersonation —
as the gift to manhood of such power and presence as was
bestowed in their measure on the Prophets. Without the belief
in a diversity of Persons, more than this could not be supposed,
without entrenching too far on the self-existent and indivisible
Unity of God. Now this last, which is the Sabellian alternative
1 S. Aug. Ep. cxxxv. sec. 2. 2 Ibid. Ep. cxxxvii. see. 4, 6.
3 Damasc. De Fid. Orth. iii. 6.

116 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
is as plain a denial of Our Lord's Human, as the Arian hypothesis
of His Divine nature. Those who receive it cannot believe that
really and permanently God is man, and man God. This is why
a demonstration of the truth and completeness of Our Lord's
Human nature, as evidenced by the existence of His maris soul,
was found so effectual a means (vid. p. 104) of releasing Beryllus
from Sabellian errors. The full admission of Christ's manhood,
in those who do not suppose that personally He was a mere man,
implies that there must be some Personality in the Blessed
Trinity, other than that of the Father and of the Holy Ghost,
on which this abiding and complete Union may be dependent.
Not, of course, that what is Human can be so completely iden
tified with what is Divine as to be its measure or limit : even
when Godhead and manhood were so intimately allied as to
make up one Person, the Finite nature was not lost, but com
prehended, in the Infinite. But by admitting the permanence of
Christ's lower nature, we are driven to find something which shall
discriminate His Divine Personality in Deity itseK. And since
such discriminating circumstances cannot be drawn from His
relation to the creatures ; since then He would either be a crea
ture HimseK, or else not truly other than the Father, from whom
He is personally discriminated ; therefore it must be by some
relation within Deity itself that the distinction must be main
tained. And therefore it must be an eternal relation — a relation
in the nature of things— self-originating, primary, archetypal.
The Eternal Son then it was, who in the fulness of time
became man for our sakes. " The Word was made flesh."
Having been the Eternal Son, He became the Incarnate Son
also. Even according to His man's nature, He was not, pro
perly speaking, a creature, though consisting of created elements ;
for whereas all creation was His own work, He Himself was
moulded according to His manhood, out of the created substance
which He had made, by the informing power of the Holy Ghost.1
1 "Nee ab eo genitus sed creatus." — Paschas. De Spir. Sanct.i. 2.' So
the ancient Creed, which is preserved among the documents of the Council?

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 117
Not as though He had not been the Son previous to the exist
ence of any created intelligences : nor yet as though to send Him
had been merely to bestow Sonship upon some inferior nature,
whieh God had first created. For "what was called His
mission was the uniting the Godhead to manhood, that the
Invisible nature might be discerned by man through the Visi
ble." ' And His name of Son is not derived from His gracious
Advent, but His Advent was consequent on those discriminating
characteristics in the Godhead, which are referred to when He
is called the Eternal Son. For it must be borne in mind, as St.
Basil2 reminds us, that earth and things human are borrowed
and derivative ; that which is self-existent and primary being
those heavenly realities from which things woridly have their
origin. And Holy Scripture refers us to the fact, that it was by
Him who was the " appointed heir of all things" that the " worlds
were made;" and likewise, that it was "after His likeness,"
who was "the express image of the Father," that man had been
created--as being the reason, why, to the gracious condescension
of this especial Person in the Blessed Trinity, we are indebted
for the economy of our salvation. For " He was in the world,
and the world was made by Him." " He came unto His own."
" The true light which lighteth every man was coming into the
world." For as Hooker observes, "it seemeth a thing uncon
sonant that the world should honour any other as the Saviour,
but Him whom it honoureth as the Creator."3 " And as God's
wisdom had been pleased to humble itself to the creatures, and
to give them the impress and semblance of its image,4 so does
He expressly declare in the Book of Proverbs, 'My delights
were with the sons of men.' "6 So that "it could be no other
Person of the Deity who conversed with men on earth in ancient
of Ephesus: " tKov Hktutov koi pera toO a&pMrros, oAX' o&x'i KaT& to aa/ia
&KTiaov."—Harduin, i. p. 1639. But vide also S. Ath. c. Ar. ii. 45, 47,
, with the notes to the Oxford Translation.
1 S. Ath. c. Arian. iv. 36. 2 S. Basil ado. Funomium, ii. 23.
3 Eccl. Pol. v. 51, 3. 4 S. Ath. contra Arian. ii. 78.
5 Proverbs viii. 31.

118 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
times, but the Word, who was afterwards to become flesh."1
Thus was there a peculiar adaptation for the work of maris
regeneration in Him after whose pattern man had been originally
created. For whatsoever God was going to make in the creatures,
existed beforehand in the Word, and could not have existed in
things below had it not been previously in the Word."2
It is from some natural law therefore of His Divine Being,
not from a mere temporary economy, and in reference to things
created, that the Son is the image and representative of the
Father. For " the substance of God, with the property to be of
none, doth make the Person of the Father ; the very self-same8
substance in number, with this property, to be of the Father,
maketh the Person of the Son."4 So that the distinction be
tween them, of which the work of redemption is an effect, did
not arise from that work of mercy, but lay in their own Being,
the worlds being yet unbuilt. Neither was it merely the result
of the Father's will, by which He commissioned an inferior being
to undertake what He designed to be performed, for this would
be only to fall back again upon what has already been negatived,
and to make the Son's being depend upon the works which He
was raised up to discharge. Whereas, He represents the Father
as being His equal. " Such as is the Father HimseK, such is
His image." 5 "He is God from, God, Light from Light, Very
God from Very God."6 And on this depends that higher
notion of Divine character which has been communicated to
mankind by the Gospel of Christ. For mounting up from that
which has been taught us by the natural representative and true
image of Godhead, we may attain to heights which the weakness
of humanity had been unable to reach. This it is which first
1 Tertull. adv. Praxeam, 16. 2 S. Aug. on Psalm xliv. 5.
3 Hebrews i. 3 would be more correctly rendered "the express image
of His substance." It is the Father's Godhead, not his Paternity, of
which the Son is the image.
4 Eccl. Pol. v. 51, 1. 5 S. Ath. Or. contra Arian. i. 20.
6 " 6 narfjp pi£a «"' Tnry^i toD Tlov koL tou "Ayiou TlvtvpaTos." — S. iSffs.
Horn. u. 27, Sabell. vide Def. Fid. Nic. iv. 1, 7.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 119
raises us above those carnal notions of Deity which Grecian
fable had built upon the more splendid vices of corrupted man.
And one effectual manner, in which the early Church witnessed
to that higher ideal, under which the Godhead had been ex
hibited by its true Pattern-Image, was to give the first lesson to
mankind of universal love. The acts of mercy showed by Chris
tians to the indigent heathen in time of public distress are re
corded1 to have been one main circumstance which inclined the
world to the general acceptance of Christianity. For " by this
shall all men know that ye are My Disciples, if ye have love one
to another." And, in like manner, is there a truth as well as
dignity given to our conceptions, which the grander mysticism
of the East could not attain. For so long as Infinity alone was
supposed the essence of Deity, there was no communing with
anything that could represent its nature, and bring home its
greatness to our thoughts. But the acts, not less than the com
munications of Him who is " the express Image of His Father's
Person," have taught us that the moral attributes of Godhead
make up the true "Brightness of its Glory." Therefore can we
say in the sublime words of Anselni, " I ask not, Lord, to attain
to Thy height, with which my understanding is not compatible,
but I desire in some measure to understand Thy truth, which
-my heart believes and loves."2 For as it was under this aspect
that the Godhead has been manifested by the Eternal Son, so is
it revealed respecting the self-existent Father also, that the
characteristic essence of His Being is Love. And this leads on
to that further consideration of the Coinherence of the Three
Persons in the Godhead, by which the mystery of the Trinity in
Unity is distinguished, as well from the mixture which is pro
duced by the material union of different bodies, as from the mere
harmony which attends the moral union of different minds. In
this fact probably, if we may presume to judge respecting such a
mystery, lies the secret which reconciles the existence of Three
Persons in the Blessed Trinity with the Unity of that nature
1 Eusebius, Hist. vii. 22, and ix. 8. 2 Proslogion, i.

120 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
which is common to them all. " For how," asks St. Cyril, " can
there be Unity in Godhead, K each Person is separated by a per
fect individuality; and the name of God is given to each
Person, without community of nature and substantial inherence
in the others?"1 But that which was declared to us by Our
Blessed Lord was the fact that He " is in the bosom of the
Father." " The Father therefore is in the Son, and the Son in
Him. They both in the Spirit, and the Spirit in both of Them.
The Son in the Father, as light in that light out of which it
floweth without separation ; the Father in the Son, as light in
that light which it causeth and leaveth not."2 On this subject
Athanasius refers to the words of Dionysius of Eome (in the
third century), that " with the God of the Universe the Divine
Word is one, and the Holy Ghost has in the same its resort and
converse."3 And the same truth seems to have been aimed at
in a fragment of St. Irenseus, in which the Son is said to be
" the measure of the Father." Inasmuch as there is one nature
in the Divine Three, while by personal difference they are really
discriminated, therefore, by mutual indwelling and coinherence,
they are to one another an object of contemplation, and, K it
may be so expressed, "a place of abode."4 To this it is then
that Our Lord refers, when He says that " I am in the Father,
and the Father in Me ; " and this is " the glory which He had
with" the Father " before the world was."5 And on the other
hand, thus it was that He was the " beloved Son," in whom the
Father was " well pleased." " For how should He- be truly a
Father," asks St. Hilary, " except by contemplating His own
substance as it existed in His Son?"6 And so says Athanasius,
that as "the Son is the subject of the Father's pleasure, so is the
Father the subject of the Son's love, pleasure, and honour."7
Let this thought be coupled with what has before been noticed
1 St. Cyril, as cited by Petavius De Trinit. iv. 16, 10.
2 Eccl. Pol. v. 56, 2. 3 De Decretis Nic. Syn. 26.
4 " Filius locus est Patris, sicut et Pater locus est Filii." — Jerome in
Ezec. iii. 12. 5 St. John xvii. 5. » De Trinit. ii. 3.
7 Orat. contra Arian. iii. 66.

CHRIST IS GOB THE "WORD. 121
of the nature of the Godhead, and tre may discern how the
eternal Sabbath of Divine self-contemplation enhances our con
ception of the moral Attributes of God. For it does not lead to
a mere "Rrahminiral dream of never-ending forgetfubaess, bat it
sets forth the Eternal Godhead as having, in its own self-existent
harmony, the most perfect object of thought and of affection.
" The essential happiness of God consists in the knowledge and
love of Himself ; and thfe reflected perfectly from one Person of
the Godhead to another."1 And hence can it dispense "with such
lower objects of interest as are supplied to inferior beings by the
material irarld. For " I am in the Father and the Father in
Me " speaks an eternal relation : it shows that the Word was
not dependent on oar Being : that " He was not brought into
being for ns, but that we were brought into being for Him."2
And on this topic Athanasius enlarges in the very striking
passage in whieh he comments on the declaration concerning
Out Lead in the Book of Proverbs : " For the knowledge of the
Father, which is by the Son, and that of the Son which is by
fiie Father, is aU one, and the Father delights in Him: and with
the same joy file Son delights in the Father, saying ' I was
dairy His delight, rejoicing always before Him.' This shows
that the Son is not something foreign, bat proper to file Fathers
substance. For He did not come into existence on our account,
nor was He made oat of nothing : for it was not from any ex
ternal source that God procured to Himself a cause of rejoicing,
but He is set forth as being proper to God and like TTim "When
could it be then that the Father rejoiced notl And if He
always rejoiced, then the cause of Wis rejoicing must have had
an eternal existence. And wherein does file Father rejoice, save
by beholding Himself in His proper image — that is, His "Ward I
And if after the world was made. He rejoiced also in the sons of
men, as the Proverbs witness, yet this comes to the same thing.
For fids delight was not from any joy which was additional to
1 Leslie's Steiitiwm Cto/jwaqr, Dialogue t txL p. 336.
* & Mk. a*tr* Arien. if. 12.

122 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD
His nature, but He rejoiced at seeing that the works were
created after His own image. So that His own image was here
too the cause of the Divine joy. And how again does the Son
rejoice, save as beholding Himself in His Father ; for this is the
meaning of His saying, ' He that hath seen Me hath seen the
Father, and I am in My Father, and My Father in Me.' '"
Thus have we been led on then to recognize in the Divine
nature that which is at once the highest object of contemplation
and the primary source of being. For since God is the last of
these, He must plainly be the first likewise. And whatever is
real and self-existent must be found in Him. <•'« Atos dpxapeo-da.
Our notions therefore of things human, and the conceptions of
mankind, are rather to be measured by this standard, than to
measure it. For " this is life eternal, to know Thee the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.'' As the
doctrine of the Trinity, therefore, has been shown to be essential
to the development of that first movement of piety, whereby the
Son of Man was reverenced by those who had been admitted to
His knowledge, so will all higher branches of truth be found to
rest on this reality. "When men attempt, therefore, as was done
by Plato of old, and has been done with less excuse by the
thinkers of modern Germany, to invent an intellectual Theogony
out of their own conceptions, the attempt is so far useful, as it
is looked upon as an illustration only and shadow of those
great realities, which exist around and above us, and by Eevela
tion have been made known to our minds. In this view, the
intellectual schemes which have been put forth by a series of
German writers from Kant to Hegel are not without interest.
The last of them has carried further the notion of his pre
decessors, and given shape to the idea which is thrown out by
an ancient Father : " The Monad moving forth originally into
Duality,2 at length rested in the Trinity."3 No doubt this
1 Orat. contra Arian. ii. 82, vol. i. p. 549.
2 This notion is enlarged upon by Leslie — Socinian Controversy, the
First Dialogue, viii. 1. 3 Domer, vol. i. p. 904.

GOD THE "WORD, ETC. 123
thought is capable of wide development, and since man was
originally created after his Maker's image, there will be some
appetency to admit those truths, which have their original in
Him. But all speculations on the Godhead proceed on a
fallacious ground, if they rest only on human conceptions,
and on the requirements of man's mind. For neither is this
our sole means of knowledge, nor in it consists that ultimate
object after which we seek. What were this but to " worship
and serve the creature more than the Creator1!" Unless the
reality and original of all things be fixed in the actual Being of
the self-existent Godhead, there can be no basis on which to
ground our thoughts. The real existence of the Ever-Blessed
Trinity must be received as before all creation, and as under
lying all knowledge. The mystery of its Sacred Persons must
be the beginning of our thoughts. l And this it is which Eevela
tion discloses to us. " For there is one Person of the Father,
another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the
Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost, is all One, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy
Ghost. And in this Trinity none is afore or after other — none
is greater or less than another ; but the whole Three Persons
are co-eternal together, and co-equal. So that in all things the
Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped."

CHAPTEE VI.
THE UNITY OP PBESON BETWEEN GOD THE WOED AND THE
SON OF MAN.
Our Lord's character has now been considered under its two
aspects : first, as the Son of Man ; and secondly, as God the
Word, " who is over all blessed for ever.'1 To complete this
1 " In ilia Trinitate summa origo est rerum omnium, et perfeotissima
pulohritudo et beatissima delectatio."— S. Augustine he Trin. vi. 12.

124 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
part of the subject it is essential to establish a third point,
which is no less necessary than the reality of each of Out
Lord's natures, namely, that they were truly joined together.
For " although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one
Christ." This truth is as plainly demanded by the requirements of
Christian piety as any which have preceded it. For since Our
Lord is the link between heaven and earth — the true Jacob's
ladder whereon the angels of God ascended and descended ;
since our salvation rests on the fact that He who is consubstan
tial with the Father is also consubstantial with His brethren —
a sufficient advocate because He is God, a sympathetic advocate
because He is flesh : since this is the manner in which the
higher being was brought down to the lower, and the nature
which was pure and holy entered as a renovating principle into
the corrupted line of Adam's race — therefore, unless the actual
personal unity of Our Lord's two natures is held as fast as the
reality of each, we may find ourselves unexpectedly deprived of
that which seemed to be most surely established. This feel
ing of the infinite importance of Our Lord's Mediation, has led
the Church to exercise such scrupulous watchfulness against all
theories which break that golden chain by which God and man
are bound together. For though that which hazards the real
Unity of the two natures in Christ may seem at first sight to be
only an explanation, or a dislike of explaining, as the case may
be ; yet further consideration shows it to be fatal to the very
existence of Godliness, of which the truth that the same Person
is both God and man forms the very foundation.
This fact it is, then, which must now be considered, and its
reality depends plainly on the two following conditions : — first,
that there should be a true union of Godhead and manhood in
Christ ; and secondly, that the mode of union should be such,
that neither nature should be destroyed in the conjunction. The
consideration of which subject will lead to the further inquiry,
how each nature is affected by the union, and what preparation

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 125
is thereby made for that work of Christ which both as God and
man it has been His pleasure to undertake. For this work de
pends in truth upon both His natures, and upon that peculiar
constitution of each of which its union with the other is the
cause : inasmuch as no part of that wonderful mystery of In
carnation, to which He graciously submitted for the sake of
man, is without its influence on our welfare,
Now, in considering the real union of the Divine and Human
natures in Christ, it will be best, perhaps, to follow the course
which was marked out in the last Chapter ; to inquire what
were the actual steps by which God's Providence secured for
this doctrine its full statement and perfect appreciation, and
what were the individual errors by which it was hazarded. For
the history of the three first centuries has been shown to be
a witness that the detailed statements of the Creeds respecting
the Trinity in Unity are not refinements engrafted by men's
subtilty on the simplicity of Scripture, but that they are only
the complete expression of that august truth which was en
shrined in the pious veneration of the first Disciples. The
facts of the case show that nothing less than their plenary
acceptance can either save us from fatal errors, or do justice to
the fulness of those communications which were made to the
Apostles by the Holy Ghost. And the same may be said re
specting the doctrine which is now to be considered — the Eeal
Union of Natures in Christ. For it will be found that there
was one specific period of the Church's history, when it was
brought forward with peculiar prominence, because then it was
especially hazarded ; and as the two first General Councils were
engaged in maintaining the truth of those natures which were
present in Christ, so was it the no less necessary task of the two
next (at Ephesus and Chalcedon) to maintain the reality of
their union. It has been pointed out how the doctrine of Our
Lord's Divine nature was witnessed both at Nice and Constanti
nople, and how it was illustrated by the great Athanasius. The
primary truth of the Ever-Blessed Trinity was shown by him

126 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
not only to be involved in the words of Scripture, but to be
demanded by the requirements of the Christian mind. Unless
the Word or Eternal Son existed really as a separate Person in
the glorious Godhead, neither could Christ be the proper object
of worship, nor could the redemption of mankind be truly
effected. But the existence of the Eternal Word cannot be
really admitted, unless that view and those relations of the
sacred objects of our worship which we call the Trinity in
Unity, are taken as the beginning of our knowledge and basis
of our thoughts.
It has been stated how this doctrine was opposed in the
second century by those who maintained that man's nature
could not be united to God ; and who, therefore, like the
Ebionites, denied the Godhead — or like the Gnostics, the man
hood of Christ. Again, it has been shown how in the following
ages the controversy rose to a higher level — how it was trans
ferred from the human to the Divine nature, and what argu
ments were derived from the Unity of the Godhead against
the presence of Deity in Christ. In this period, too, the Arian
school came to the conclusion that in Christ there was no real
Godhead, while the reality of His manhood was explained away
by the Sabellians. " These mists," as Hooker expresses it,
though dispelled by "the light of the Nicene Council," yet
returned in the fifth century under that different form which
must now be considered. For though Our Lord had been
recognized as both God and man, yet it was found possible to
introduce such misconceptions respecting the manner in which
these two natures were united, as in reality to deny what in
profession was admitted. Through which process we fall back
again upon the very same alternative which has before been
exhibited ; so that while the Nestorian theory issues in the
conclusion that the Son of Man was not God, His manhood
was on the other hand destroyed by the Eutychians. It was
essential, therefore, for the satisfaction of Christian piety, that
this part also of the truth should be firmly established, and it is

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 127
an instance of that Providential government by which the
Great Head has provided for His people, that the question was
decided by the voice of two of those General Synods, which
have always been allowed to express the collective judgment of
the Church, and which carry with them therefore all the weight,
whether of testimony or authority, which belongs to the Body
of Christ.
It was not denied by Nestorius that Christ might be called
both God and man; his error was the denial that these two
natures were really united in one Person, and the supposition
that they dwelt only by inhabitation, and (as it were) by
vicinity in the same mortal frame. The Son of God, therefore,
and the Son of Man, were looked upon by him as being in reality
two Beings, who were linked together in amity, because the
higher had condescended to make His dwelling in the- body of
the lower. What led Nestorius to this conclusion, seems to
have been the confusion of Man's personality ' with His nature,
and his incapacity to perceive that there are parts Of their con
stitution which men share in common, while to every individual
there, is something peculiar to himself. He was a victim to that
spurious sort of Nominalism, which asserts, that because men
are able by abstraction to class things together, which have no
real connexion, therefore there can be no such common entity as
nature in the creations of God (vide pp. 30, 31). This error has
already been noticed ; it has been shown that in all those
creatures which God has endowed either with animal or vege
table life, one condition of that life is a mysterious principle of
combination which is called their nature. Its existence may be
tested by those singular laws which govern reproduction, and
which lead to the perpetual re-appearance of the same type in
successive generations. There is something in the simplest
vegetable which the most perfect imitation of its parts is unable
to supply. But from age to age the innumerable classes of
organized beings go on transmitting the impress which was
1 Vide Pasehas. De Spiritu Sancto, Lib. II., cap. iv. Bib. Pat. viii. 815.

128 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
bestowed upon them by the Creator. And it is unphilosophical
to deny the existence of a principle, of which we see such obvious
effects, because our modes of analysis are not subtile enough to
discover on what it is dependent. Let the principles of Nomi
nalism, therefore, be confined to their proper ground — the ab
stractions namely of men, which are connected together merely
in our own thoughts — but let us not attempt to break the
chain, by which. God's Providence has united the varying
classes of His organized works. This was the error of Nes
torius, and by this speculation was he led to the fearful re
sult of denying in fact the reality of Our Lord's sacrifice,
and of the Christian covenant of grace. And it was the
truth of these doctrines which the Church Catholic vindicated
against him. " What leads to the mistake of the heretics," says
Damascene, "is that they confound substance with person."
And the ground of his objecting to what might seem only a
philosophical error is, that he might assert that " the union" of
two natures in Christ " is substantial, by which," he says, " I
mean true, and not merely imaginary."1 Now it is plain, that
unless the Son of God and the Son of Man were really and not
merely by profession one, those things which were done by the
one could not truly be participated by the other. In the suffer
ings then, which were borne for us by the one, the other would
have no proper share ; nor would the inferior person participate
really in the glory of the superior. And more than this, since
the Son of Man must first be a complete Person in Himself, and
then be joined to the Son of God, it could not be anything
which pertained to our nature at large, but this single individual,
who was so highly favoured. " The Word (saith St. John) was
made flesh and dwelt in us." The Evangelist useth the plural
number, men for manhood, us for the nature whereof we consist,
even as the Apostle, denying the assumption of Angelical nature,
saith likewise in the plural number, " He took not Angels, but the
seed of Abraham." It pleased not the Word or Wisdom of God
1 De Fid. Orth. iii. 3.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 129
to take to itself some one person among men, for then should
that one have been advanced, which was assumed, and no more ;
but Wisdom, to the end she might save many, built her hpuse of
.that nature which is common unto all ; she made not this or that
maw her habitation, but dwelt in us."1 "For He took my
whole nature upon Him, and in the fulness of Godhead was
united to it all, that the whole might obtain salvation. For if
there were anything which He did not take upon Him, it would
have no part in His saving power."3
Such was the Church's faith, therefore, as put forward in the
Anathemas of Cyril,3 which were adopted by the Third General
Council at Ephesus. It is not built upon any system or school
of philosophy, but aims only at maintaining what had been as
serted from the first, that the same" Person Jesus Christ was truly
God and truly man also. But it may be asked, can a point so
intricate be really necessary, or is it possible that the ]30or of
Christ's flock, who form its most cherished portion, should be
able to thread the mazes of so subtile a controversy ? Doubtless
they cannot. And yet the truth which is thus set forth is no
less necessary to them than to the great and noble, nor are any
1 Eccles. Pol. v. 52, 3.
2 Greg. Naz. et Cyril in Damasc. de Fide Orthod. iii. 6.
3 " The Anathemas of St. Cyril were read at the General Council of
Ephesus [Harduin, i. 1395], and, like his other statements, received a
general approbation ; they were more formally sanctioned at the Fifth
General Council at Constantinople, a.d. 553. — [Harduin, iii. 194.] His
opposition to Nestorianism led St. Cyril to the repeated employment of such
statements as the following : " The Body of Christ is life-giving, because
it is the temple and dwelling-place of that living God, the Word," &c. —
Vol. iv. 602 [in Joann]. " Because He made that Body which was taken
of the pure Virgin His own, He rendered it life-giving, and very naturally,
for it is the Body of that Life, which is the parent of life to all things."
— De recta Fide, o. 56, 5, part ii. 177.
St. Cyril is spoken of by Dr. Jackson as generally acknowledged to be
"the fittest umpire " in a controversy respecting the Real Presence. If
his statements are true — and they were countenanced by the universal
Church as represented by the Third General Council— it follows that any
school, whieh denies the Humanity of the Mediator to be the medium
through which Divine gifts are communicated to mankind (and such is
the error of all Rationalists), is theologically allied either to Nestorianism,
or to Deism, in which Nestorianism results.

130 GOD THE WORD, .AND THE
persons better prepared to accept it to the saving of their souls.
For even as our merciful Saviour, in the days of His flesh, while
the cqjfetous Pharisees derided, was ministered to by the poor
women of Galilee, so are none more ready than the poor of this
world to trust in Christ as their present God, and yet to look to
the perpetual sympathy of Him who in His poverty was their
brother. But how is this lesson to be taught them 1 A means
has been appointed for bringing it before their minds, which,
while open to the observation of all, yet raises their thoughts at
once to the most momentous mysteries of our Lord's nature.
That means is the Holy Communion1 — a rite which is not less
fitted than in the days of St. Irenaeus to teach men that Our
Lord is God, since He can make earthly instruments answer a
heavenly purpose, and that He is man also, since it is His Body
and Blood which He gives as our spiritual food in that holy
feast. The Sacraments have been from the first the natural
out-work of the Doctrine of the Incarnation ; and from recog
nizing a true presence of Christ in these ordinances, in which
He communicates Himself both as God and man, are we carried
on to a genuine belief, that two natures are really united in His
adorable Person. For if Godhead and Manhood are truly united
in Christ, both must co-operate in those offices which He dis
charges towards mankind. To this truth many are unwilling to
listen, because they suppose that the efficacy of Christ's man
hood can mean only the natural efficacy of His material body.
And this induces unbelief respecting the supernatural efficacy of
that manhood of Christ which is the principle of regeneration to
all His brethren. Now, that the Holy Communion must in
some way or other be connected with the manhood of Christ is
manifest, sjnce but for His taking our flesh, body and blood
1 " As there is a recapitulation of all in heaven and earth in Christ, so
there is a recapitulation of all in Christ in the Holy Sacrament. You may
see it clearly ; there is in Christ the Word Eternal, for things in heaven ;
there is also flesh, for things on earth. Semblably the Sacrament consisteth
of a heavenly, and of a terrene part. " — Bishop Andrews' s Sixteenth Sermon I
on the Nativity.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 131
could not in anywise have been conditions of His nature. To
declare Christ's real presence therefore by spiritual power in the
Holy Communion, is the simplest method of reminding men that
the one of Our Lord's natures is modified and advanced "by the
other. For that which renders the manhood of Christ a fountain
of graces — that which gives it glory, power, and wisdom — which
makes it the source of life — for " as the Father hath life in Him
self, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself " — all
this is effected by that hypostatical union in Christ Our Lord,
which brings the Divine into such close union with the Human
nature. To believe then in this mysterious union in Christ our
Lord, it is not needful that men should be conversant with the
errors of the Nestorian theory, but only that they receive what
the Catechism teaches, that while the benefit of the Lord's
Supper is that " strengthening and refreshing of our souls," which
can be bestowed only through the Divine power of the Saviour,
the inward part or thing signified is as plainly that which is con
nected with Christ's manhood, the " Body and Blood of Christ,
which are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful
in the Lord's Supper."
Such is the manner in which this great Doctrine addresses
itself to simple minds, who will be found not less ready than
the educated to believe the truth of an event, the manner of
which no intellect is able to divine. For the mode in which
Godhead and Manhood are united in Christ is like the conjunc
tion of soul and body in man — as impossible to explain as to
deny. And the Creed, therefore, contents itself with paralleling
the two together ; not as though they were exactly alike, but as
though they must both be referred to the class of things, the
manner of which is beyond mortal comprehension : " For as the
body and soul is one man, so God and man is one Christ." Now,
this union cannot take place by the mixing together of two
natures so as to form a third, for then the result would neither
be God nor man, but some compound nature ; it must be the
conjunction of one personality with two natures. Christ is " one

132 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person." Now,
since personality is plainly one and indivisible, it must pertain
originally to one of these natures, unless, which was far other
wise, they had been in their origin contemporaneous ; and it
could not therefore be equally related to each of them. For
though personality has been shown by Butler1 and Berkeley " to
be a primary principle, not resolvable into mere consciousness ;
yet consciousness is so intimately allied with its actings, that
since unity is the very essence of the one, it must plainly be a
condition of the other. In which, then, of His two natures did
the Personality of Christ Our Lord originally reside i Plainly
ki His Godhead. For He Himself refers to its actings, before
His human nature was assumed : " Before Abraham was I am."
Let the foundation of the hypostatic union be laid in the Doc
trine of the Trinity, and the Personality of Christ is compre
hended in that of the Eternal Son. " Christ is a Person Divine,
because He is personally the Son of God ; human, because He
hath really the nature of the children of men."3 The Word
was already in existence as a Person, before He "was made
flesh."4 For the manhood of Christ did not assume the Godhead,
but the Godhead of the Word assumed the human nature.5
Christ " was one not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but
by taking of the manhood into God."
And yet it is not meant that two unconnected natures, continu
ing in themselves wholly unrelated, were joined together by some
third substance, namely, the Personality of Christ. For though
what we call nature is some mysterious law which we observe to
bind together many individuals, yet it is only in individuals that
it has its being, and personality is that in which it subsists.
Though personality and nature may be conceived of apart, yet
they are not things which in act can be separated from one
1 Appendix to the Analogy.
3 The Minute Philosopher, Dial. vii. sec. 1 1 .
3 Fccles. Pol. v. 53, 3.
* " Verbum, prius quam caro fuerit, non erat Christus."— Fulgent. Fer*
rand, de Incarnatione, c. 10. 5 Gennadius in Suicer, i. p. 358.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 133
another ; inasmuch as the one cannot exist except in and through
the other. We cannot, indeed, attribute to Christ a human
personality distinct from His Divine, because this would be to
deny His Unity, and thus to relapse into the heresy of Nes
torius ; nor yet, in speaking of His Divine Personality, can we
undertake to limit that infinite existence of which we have only
a partial knowledge, and to affirm that it is strictly identical
with that which our experience enables us to call Personality
among men. But Our Lord's own sayings1 justify the asser
tion, that His Divine Personality is so far identical with that
with which we are conversant, as to comprehend and discharge
its functions. So that we may affirm, even of Our Lord's
human nature, that it never existed except in a Personal rela
tion.2 If Christ had not a human Person, it was "because the
Personal Being, which the Son of God already had, suffered
not the substance to be personal which He took ; although,
together with the nature which He had, the nature also which
He took continueth." 3 Now, of two natures thus manifested in
the same Person, by that law of their constitution whereby their
existence is identical with their inherence in one individual being,
it is impossible to suppose that the one is not in some degree
affected by the other. For in its relation to His Divine nature,
the Personality of Christ continues no other than it was before
the world began. And therefore since His other and inferior
nature has been attached by Personal propriety to Himself, this
union of Godhead and Manhood in one Person must have in
volved intimate action of the one nature upon the other. So
that when it is said that Godhead and Manhood were joined to
gether, it is plainly meant that the two natures were not only
allied, in that they belonged to the same person, but that they
were closely united the one to the other. And this is the great
truth which Eevelation discloses to us. For its purpose is to
1 St. John viii. 18.
2 " Natura quippe nostra non sic assumpta est ut prius creata, post
assumeretur ; sed ut ipsa assumptione crearetur." — S. Leo, Ep. 25, 3.
3 Eceles. Pol. v. 52, 3.

134 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
declare a way by which God and man may be joined together.
Now, if this had happened only by the accidental assigning of
two unconnected natures to one common possessor, what benefit
had it been to mankind at large? There needed such union,
that between Godhead and Manhood there should be a perma
nent alliance. That as God mercifully condescended to become
man, so might man be truly God. And in consequence of this
great event, as the whole Trinity condescended to participate by
interest and sympathy l in that being which was taken by the
Eternal Son into co-partnership with His own, so was there a
channel opened to the whole race of man, through regeneration
and grace, for communion with God. There flowed forth into
the lower nature of the Mediator such streams of grace, as
sufficed to enrich the whole generation 2 of His brethren. The
alliance of the elder brother ennobled the whole household from
whieh His kindred was derived.
Now, if it be asked what were the particular effects which
resulted to each nature in Christ from its union with the other,
it is plain that to the superior nature there could accrue no
proper alteration, seeing that to be unalterable belongs to the very
nature of God. All, therefore, which can be attributed in this
respect to Christ's Godhead is, that its Will was, by union with
man's nature in His one person, to exercise some new manner of
sympathy with that being with which it was personally associ
ated. And in this the whole glorious Trinity is declared to have
co-operated. For " He that loveth Me, shall be loved of My
Father."3 And "the Father Himself loveth you, because ye
have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God." *
And therefore, was " God in Christ, reconciling the world unto
Himself."6 But if it be asked, on the other hand, what effects
1 Damasc. de Fid. Orth. 3, 6.
2 " Se totum toti Adse iromiscuit, vita mortuo, ut emu servaret, in eum
totum penetrans eui unitus erat, sicut anima magni corporis, totum
animans, ettoti vitam impartiens." — Anast. Sinaita, Or. 3, Bib. Max. Patr.
9, 932. Vid. Fulg. Ferrand. de Incarnatione, e. vii. Galland. xi. 235.
3 St. John xiv. 21. * St. John xvi. 27. 5 2 Cor. v. 19.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 135
were produced by personal union with Deity upon man's nature,
we are assured that gifts greater than tongue can utter or heart
conceive were bestowed upon it. For this is thex very meeting-
place of heaven and earth, the union of glory and humiliation ;
herein the two worlds of the infinite and the finite touch upon
one another ; by this we see what God can bestow, and of what
man is susceptible. Surely the very comprehension of man is
incapable of enlarging itself to such conceptions. His ear can
not drink in the intensity of the angelic harmony, " Glory to
God in the highest, and. on earth peace, good-will towards
men." With this subject does even the fulness of Holy Scrip
ture overflow. Those who do not discern it are i untaught in
" the whole counsel of God." To put it aside as an unnecessary
portion of our faith would be, like Esau, to despise our birth
right. For through this event it is, that the gifts of regenera
tion and grace have found their way into the progeny of fallen
Adam. On this circumstance depends the truth, that salvation
rests on the supernatural gift of God, and not on the self-depen
dent exertions of human excellence. For this is the very promise
which was made to Abraham, that in his seed should all the
families of the earth be blessed. Their common nature was to
be exalted through Him who sanctified humanity by being born
into the world, as by His death He redeemed it. For this was
the true Son of David, of whom God spake by the Psalmist :
" I will make Him My first-born, higher than the kings of the
earth." His kingdom had been beheld in vision by Daniel,
when " one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven,
and came to the Ancient of Days, and there was given Him
dominion, and glory, and a kingdom — His dominion is an ever
lasting dominion, and His kingdom that which shall not be de
stroyed."1 And if it be asked when He was anointed to this
kingly office, this likewise is declared in Scripture: "The2 Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee ; therefore also that holy thing which shall be
1 Daniel vii. 13, 14. 2 St. Luke i. 35, 32, 33.

136 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
born of thee shall be called the Son of God." "And the Lord
God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and
of His kingdom there shall be no end." It was when the
Divine came in contact with the human nature, that there were
bestowed upon the latter those gifts of grace, by reason whereof
it is declared that "God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee
with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows."1 For the anointing
was the presence of that "spirit and power" which dwelt in"
Christ " without measure."2 And thus " Christ Himself," says
Damascene, " anointed Himself. As God He anointed His body
with Deity ; as Man He was the anointed One. For He was at
once both God and Man. And the Godhead was the unction of
the Manhood."3 "The gift whereby God hath made Christ a
fountain of life, is that conjunction of the nature of God with
the nature of man in the Person of Christ, which gift (saith
Christ to the woman of Samaria), if thou didst know, and in that
respect understand who it is which asketh water of thee, thou
wouldest ask of Him, that He might give thee living water."4
Now, it is no diminution of the reality of this gift, that
during Our Lord's sojourn upon earth it was so imperfectly
apprehended. For the season was not yet arrived when He
had "taken" to Him His "great power, and had reigned."6
For after that He had been " found in fashion as a man, He
humbled Himself and became obedient unto death." As His
Incarnation was the humiliation of His Godhead, so was His
death the humiliation of His earthly nature. For He consented
to serve like Jacob for His hire, and His hire was the Church,
which He purchased with His own blood. And on His hu
miliation did there follow the exalting of His man's nature.
For, "being made perfect, He became the author of eternal
salvation to all them that obey Him."6 "Wherefore God also
1 Hebrews i. 9. 2 Acts x. 38 ; St. John iii. 34.
3 De Fide Orthod. m. 3, p. 206. Vide Vigilius, c. Eutych. iv. 5. S.Aug.
de Trin. xv. 46.
.4 Fccles. Polity, v. 54, 3. 6 Revelation xi. 17, 6 Heb. v. 9.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 137
hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above
every name : that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the
earth."1 And " we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the Angels that He might taste death for every man, crowned
through the suffering of death with glory and honour."2 And
thus is He made "the Head of the body, the Church: the
beginning, the first-born from the dead ; that in all things He .
might have the pre-eminence."3 But all this is somewhat
different from that exaltation of man's nature which is now in
question. The present subject is not the glory which Christ
gained for man's nature by His obedience, but that which He
conferred upon it by His Incarnation. For by that act were
Godhead and manhood brought into contact with one another.
The question, therefore, is not what was gained for man's nature
by Christ's obedienee : but of what it was made capable by His
coming in the flesh. For from this capacity did all His acts as
man result. Adam's nature, even had it retained its early purity,
had been incompetent to support them. They were something
for which the genius of Isaiah or the love of St. John would
not have sufficed. They showed the natural exaltation of that
humanity with which Godhead had been personally united.
For, first all power had been bestowed upon it : " For it pleased
the Father that in Him all fulness should dwell." And " the
Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand."4
And secondly, in Him "were hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge."5 For He was "the power of God and the
Wisdom of God."6 Even in His humanity He was " an object
of worship to the hosts of heaven."7 Though He was crucified,
yet He was "the Lord of Glory."8 And when He somewhat
withdrew the veil, in which He commonly shrouded His lustre,
1 Phil. ii. 9. 3 Heb. ii. 9.
3 Colossians i. 18 : vide also Eph. i. 21 ; 1 Peter iii. 22.
4 St. John iii. 35 ; xvii. 2 ; St. Matt. xi. 27.
6 Col. ii. 3. 6 1 Cor. i. 24. ' Heb. i. 6. 8 1 Cor. ii. 8.

138 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
" His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white -as
the light."1
And by reason hereof there was conferred as a gift upon the
man Jesus Christ, that quickening power which pertained to
His Godhead by nature.2 For " as the Father hath life in Him
self, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself."3
And so did He declare when addressing the Father as Mediator
for His brethren : " Thou hast given Him power over all flesh,
that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given
Him."4 Thus was there bestowed upon what was human in
Him such living energy, as was evidenced while He was upon
earth, when " there went virtue out of Him, and healed them
alL"6 So that it became that "quickening spirit "6 which is
able to bestow a new life on the progeny of Adam, and that
" bread " of life, " which cometh down from heaven, that a man
may eat thereof, and not die."7 All these are indications of
Divine powers bestowed upon the Manhood of Christ, through
its union with the Eternal Word ; and we witness our belief in
their permanent connection with it, when it is through " His
body"8 that we seek to profit by their presence. For so much
has been bestowed upon the manhood through its union in one
Person with the Godhead of Christ. Thus has the one nature
received by gift what the other had by inheritance. And the
only limit which can be assigned to their perfect union is, that
the properties of each are not so transferred as to destroy the
1 St. Matt. xvii. 2.
2 ' ' Quicquid in tempore accepit Christus, secundum horoinem accepit,
ouiquee non habuit conferuntur." — S. Leo. Ep. 97, 7.
3 St. John v. 26. 4 St. John xvii. 2. 5 St. Luke vi. 19.
« 1 Cor. xv. 45. 7 St. John vi. 50.
8 " Si quis non confitetur camera Domini vivincatricem esse, tanquam
propriam ipsius Dei Verbi  quia facta est propria Verbi Dei, cui
omnia vivificare possibile est ; anathema esto." This is the Eleventh of
St. Cyril's Anathemas (Harduin's Cone. vol. i. p. 1294); and in defence of
it he adds : " Eireitify Se £»); Kara tpinv icrrtv £k ©eou IIaTp6s A6yos, (uovoibv
air&prive tV kavTov aipna. Tabrri tol yeyovw rj/uv eiKoyia faoirorfs." — Contra
Orient, ad Anath. 11, p. 192.
" Est enim hsec caro, quia est filii Dei, sic et sanguis £cgoiroufr, ut D.
Cyrillus contra Nestorium pulchre explicat." — Buceri Scrip. Aug. p. 473.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 139
reality of either. For " the glory of the Godhead, which
dwelleth bodily in Christ, is infinite. But it is not communi
cated to Christ's human body according to its infinity ; the
communication of it, or the glory communicated, is> created, and
therefore finite."1 "As the Son of God is now in the association
of flesh, no alteration thereby accruing to the nature of God ;
so neither are the properties of man's nature in the person of
Christ by force and virtue of the same conjunction so much
altered, as not to stay within those limits which our substance
is bordered withal."2
Now this was- the very point which was maintained against
Eutyches by the Fourth General Council of Chalcedon. His
error arose from the very same misconception which lay at the
root of the speculations of Nestorius. Since it was clear that
Christ was on* determinate Person, performing all which He did
with the unity of one single consciousness, it followed, if nature
and person are of necessity the same, that He must have but
one nature also. This result might be brought about either by
the swallowing up of one nature in the other, or by the coalition
of both in something compounded of the two. In the latter
case, both natures would be extinguished, and Christ would
neither be God nor man ; in the former case, one nature would
perish, and either the Godhead or the Manhood would be
wanting. The notion of Eutyches was that the Manhood was
lost in the Godhead. But this, just as much as the theory of
the Nestorians, was fatal to the reality of our oneness with
Christ. For it was in reality to revive that opinion of the
Docetae, which had been abandoned in name. Our Lord's
sufferings and death would thus become only a figurative repre
sentation, and He would have uo proper co-partnership in man's
trials. So that here again the truth of Our Lord's Being was
what the Church Catholic maintained. And its vindication was
the purpose of all that was stated respecting His nature. This
1 Jackson's Works, Book xi. c. 3, vol. x. p. 31,
2 Eccles. Pol. v. 54, 5.

140 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
it was, no doubt, which made His descent into hell a point of
sufficient moment to be introduced as a constituent Article into
the Creed. For it sets forth the reality of that human soul
which is a specific part of man's nature. " The true Doctrine
of the Incarnation against all the enemies thereof, Apollinarians,
Nestorians, Eutychians, and the like, was generally expressed by
declaring the unity of the soul of Christ 1 really present in hell,
and the unity of His Body at the same time really present in
the grave."2 The truth of these assertions was virtually involved
in the statement which had been received from the beginning,
that Christ was truly and in all respects man, even in the
Article of His death. For it belongs to man's body to rest in
the grave, and to his soul to visit the unknown abode of the
departed. And such an entrance of Christ into the unseen
world had been especially predicted by David, ^is contempo
raneous with the deposition of His body in the grave. "He
seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His
soid was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption."3
Thus did the Church's testimony respecting Christ supply the
explanation of St. Peter's words, that Christ preached after His
death to the spirits who were "in safe keeping;"4 to those, it
must be supposed, among the antediluvian Patriarchs, who,
having been disobedient in slighting Noah's warning, were yet
not so finally impenitent as to be altogether cast away.
The confession of faith therefore which was put forth at
Chalcedon, was only designed to guard the reality of those
individual points of Christian belief, which were declared in the
express words of Scripture, and which had been enshrined in
1 This action of our Lord's human soul, when separate from His Body,
is one of the most satisfactory arguments against that opinion of the sleep
of the soul between death and judgment, which is built upon the material
notion that the soul cannot act without the body. Since our Lord was the
type of man's nature, the certainty of the soul's separate action in His
case implies its possibility in ours.
2 Pearson on the Creed, Art. v. 5 Acts ii. 31.
4 " iy (pvXaitii does not in itself imply a place of punishment, but of
detention." — 1 Pet. iii. 19.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 141
the devout affection of the Apostolic age. The Church had
been brought under the guidance of God's Spirit to such ripe
ness of judgment as "by reason of use" to discern the full
meaning of various truths, which had been revealed at once to
her inspired founders. " Following therefore the holy Fathers,"
said the six hundred Bishops at Chalcedon, " we agree unani
mously to set forth one and the same Jesus Christ to be perfect
God and perfect Man, without confusion and without division."1
This was the work which was completed by what Hooker terms
the "four most famous ancient General Councils." The ques
tion which subsequently arose, whether there was one Will or
two in Christ, was in reality involved in what was already
decided. For since to will belongs to the completeness of man's
nature, had not this part of our being been taken, Our Lord
would not have been that perfect man which He consented to
become for our salvation. The single point, therefore, if traced
into its results, would have vitiated all which had been before
effected. And therefore the Monothelites, as they were called,
were in truth only a section of the Monophysites : to deny Our
Lord's two wills was in reality to deny one of His natures.
Yet it is remarkable that while the heretical parties, by
which the truth of either of Our Lord's natures was directly
denied, were of the most variable and transient nature, either
dying out altogether after a few years, or else passing into some
other form of heresy ; those which were built on errors respect
ing the manner of their conjunction have been most settled
and lasting, and continue to have their place among the Oriental
Churches even to this very day. The reasons appear to be,
first, that errors of this last sort do not lie so near the beginning
of the system of Christianity as immediately to discover their
consequences ; and secondly, that they do not destroy the belief
of that union with Christ on which all external Church coher
ence is dependent. For faith in Christ, as shown in the last
chapter, requires, as a pre-requisite, belief in the existence of
1 Actio V. Harduin's Con. ii. p. 455.

142 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
the Eternal Son as a separate Person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity.
If this be wanting, there is no opening for the permanent
Incarnation of the Son of God. And, on the other hand, when
Our Lord's manhood is lost sight of, the permanent union of
mankind under Him, as its new head, has nothing to stand upon.
These errors, therefore, prevent the formation of any abiding
party, because they destroy in its beginning the very ground of
the faith — the union, namely, between God and man j whereas
errors respecting the nature of that union itself, however fatal,
have yet their termination in themselves, and rather benumb
and deaden belief than directly destroy it. Whatsoever sepa
rates men indeed from actual union with Christ, must be fatal
to that inward life which can result only from the gift of an
external blessing ; and such seems to have been the result with
those bodies by which the Nestorian and Eutychian heresies
have severally been adopted; their protracted existence has
been marked by a perpetual decay, which has witnessed to the
viciousness of their original constitution.
The faith of the Church Catholic, on the other hand, sets
forth each part -of the mystery of the Incarnation in its
completeness. It begins with the real existence of the Eternal
Son, as a true Person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity ; not a work
of creation, nor owing His being to the Father's will, but
"begotten of the Father before all worlds/' by some eternal
and mysterious law of necessary derivation. This is the foun
dation of the Doctrine of the Incarnation ; and its superstructure
is that this same Being, when He took flesh, continued to be
"perfect God," but became likewise "perfect man," possessing
" a reasonable soul and human flesh." The first of these is the
Doctrine of the Trinity; the second, that of the hypostatical
[or personal] union. Both are necessary parts in a belief in
the Incarnation of Our Lord. Both were fully present, doubt
less, to the minds of the inspired Apostles. But it was only
through the gradual growth of the Church's" mind, and by the
teaching of the Holy Ghost, that their full relations and mutual

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 143
interdependence were seen to be involved in the individual state
ments of Scripture concerning the Son of God. And here, then, this
survey of Our Lord's nature may terminate. Let it be observed
only, that by this union with Deity there has been conferred upon
our whole race the greatest honour of which created substance
is susceptible. For that manhood should thus have been taken
into Godhead, shows that there was between them such compa
tibility and accordance as stamps the lower nature with that
truth which belongs to the very essence of the higher. It has
sometimes been disputed, whether the decisions of reason and
the decrees of conscience have any proper authority, or have
only such semblance of reality as belongs to our transitory state.
That they should have been present in Him in whom they were
matured, purified, exalted, and should thus have harmonized
with those perfect lines of truth which radiate from the throne
of God, is the best evidence of their reality. For had God been
pleased to employ the organs of some inferior animal, as is onoe
recorded in Holy Writ, for the expression of His will, such
nature had not been susceptible of that personal union with
Him which is set forth in the Incarnation of Christ. But that
man was found susceptible of it — that his faculties required to
be exalted, not destroyed — shows that the traces of that image
in which he was first created had not been obliterated from
his soul.1 And thus does the Incarnation, more than aught
beside, witness to the reality of that objective system of belief
which it has pleased the All- Wise to reveal to His reasonable
creatures. 1 ' ' Rectissime dicitur homo factus ad imaginem et similitudinem Dei i,
non enim aliter incoromutabilem veritatem posset mente conspicere." — t
S. Aug. de vera Relig. sect. 44.

144

CHAPTEE VII.
OUR LORD'S MEDIATION THE CONSEQUENCE OF . HIS
INCARNATION.
Hitherto the inquiry has respected Our Lord's nature : we
have seen that He is both God and man — " the seed of David
according to the flesh," and likewise "the Son of God with
power." More than this, it has been shown that He is the
Pattern Man, the second Adam, the representative of humanity;
and again, that He is the " Eternal Son," the coequal partici
pator of self-existent Godhead, of one substance with that
Almighty Father from whom He is personally distinct. Finally,
it has been shown that these two natures are so truly joined
together in the one Person of Christ Our Lord, that while con
tinuing to be what they were, they are yet each influenced the
one by the other.
The second part of the subject proposed was the effect which
has been produced upon the condition of mankind by Our
Lord's Incarnation. This, in other words, is the Doctrine of
Our Lord's Mediation. For His name of Mediator is not be
stowed by reason of any work in which He was occasionally or
partially occupied ; it sets forth that office, which resulted from
the permanent union in one person of God and Man. For the
benefits which He bestows upon man's nature result from His
being the link which binds it to Deity. The salvation of
Adam's race depends upon the influence of that higher nature
which has been introduced into it from above. This gift was
first bestowed upon humanity in the Person of Christ, that
from Him it might afterwards be extended in degree to all His
brethren.1 Before considering the course through which these
1 ' ' Since sure it is that the Son of God is made the Son of man, it is not
incredible but that the sons of men maybe made the sons of God." —

OUR LORD'S MEDIATION, ETC. 145
benefits have been dispensed, it will be necessary to state to
what heads they may severally be referred, and what is the
exact nature of that office of mediation through which they
are conferred upon us.
I. By Our Lord's Mediation, then, is meant that He is not a
Mediator, but the Mediator between God and man. This is the
meaning of St. Paul's assertion : "There is one God, and one Media
tor between God and men."1 The expression is equivalent to an
assertion that there is one only. And herein lies the distinction
between the Christian Church and those who, without adopting
her whole belief, profess faith in Our Lord. For Our Lord
might be a Divine Person raised up to teach — He might be a
perfect example — He might be the medium through which gifts
of grace were bestowed, and pardon of sins conferred on men ;
and yet there might be other channels opened through whom the
Godhead might bestow its blessings, and other persons who might
be its intermediate ministers. The Arians do not seem to have
generally rejected the Doctrine of Our Lord's Atonement ; nor
need it be rejected even by Socinians; though they are unlikely
to attach importance to a doctrine, the true grounds whereof
they have abandoned. Again, the Mahometans universally
allow Christ to have been a Mediator between God and man,
so that He is one among those through faith in whom they
hope to be justified. But the Christian faith is, that Christ is
not a Mediator, one out of many, but the Mediator — the real
bond by which Godhead and manhood are united. And this
arises not from any technical and artificial appointment ; He
bears this name because He is2 what it expresses. His title
follows from His nature, as effect from cause, as consequent
from antecedent. He truly is what no other is, or can be
Bishop Andrews's Sixth Sermon on the Nativity. ' ' Filius hominis est fac
tus, ut nos filii Dei esse possimus." — S. Leo, Ser. xxv. 2. Vide Fulgentius
De Incarnatione. Bib. Pat. Max. ix. v. 310. 1 1 Tim. ii. 5.
2 " Officium Mediatoris, nisi ex veritate naturse carnis, quam ex nobis
habuit, implere non potuit, quoniam per ipsam inter Deum et homines
medius apparuit." — Vigil, e. Futych. v. 15. L

146 OUR LORD'S MEDIATION
beside Him, the Pattern Man, the second Adam ; therefore no
other can take His place among the generations of mankind.
And again, He alone is fitted to represent the Father, for " no
man hath ascended up into heaven, but He that came down
from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven." The
blessing which is to regenerate man's nature must have an
external source, and it cannot be obtained, therefore, except
through one who is a real channel of intercourse with God.
This is what we speak of then as Our Lord's Mediation. We
speak of an office which belongs to Him by nature, and results
from the constitution of His Being. For this cause the Son of
God consented to become the Son of Man : " When Thou
tookest upon Thee to deliver man, Thou didst not abhor the
Virgin's womb." Moses acted as mediator, Christ became one.
II. And this, doubtless, is the reason why the universal
Church, acting under the guidance of God's Spirit, has set
forth as the distinguishing criteria of belief, not the mere acts
of Our Lord, but those conditions of His character on which
their value is dependent. It has sometimes been asked why
Our Lord's Atonement is not inserted in the Creed in such
express words as is His Incarnation. The reason is, that Our
Lord's Atonement may be admitted in words, although those
who use them attach no Christian sense to the doctrine which
they acknowledge ; whereas if the Doctrine of Our Lord's
Incarnation is once truly accepted, His Mediation follows as
its necessary result. So that the Church was guided by Divine
Wisdom to make this Article of Our Lord's real nature the
criterion of her belief, the "Articulus stantis aut cadentis
ecclesise : " it holds a leading, place in the profession which
in all ages has been required at Baptism ; and the early be
lievers gave a token of their reverence when, on declaring
that He "was made man," they were wont, with one consent,
to bow the knee and worship.
III. It must be observed, then, that the very essence of this
office is, that all functions which are discharged on God's part

THE CONSEQUENCE OF HIS INCARNATION. 147
towards man, or on man's part towards God, are gathered to
gether in His single Person. In this respect was Joseph His
type in the prison, as well as upon his seat of power, inasmuch
as "whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it." He is
the sole channel of all which is done by God towards man, or
man towards God, under the Christian covenant. For He is
the one only Mediator who unites both. He is the sole channel
through whom the graces of the new dispensation are bestowed
by God upon mankind. Therefore, He said, when promising
the gift of the Holy Ghost : " He shall receive of Mine, and
shall show it unto you."1 And so, likewise, is He the only
medium through whom our .prayers can ascend to God, for " no
man cometh unto the Father but by Me." This is the place
wherein heaven and earth are connected; the bridge which joins
them together. He is "the door,"2 "the way, the truth, and
the life."3
IV. Again, the office of Mediator, which is thus undertaken
by Our Lord, is not a transitory, but an enduring one. It lasts
as long as the Gospel kingdom. It was not merely discharged
while He was upon earth, and resigned so soon as He had
founded the Church, and commissioned His Apostles : He con
tinues "Head over all things to the Church ; "4 and as He now
bears the- office of regency, so does that of Judge await Him at
the Great Day. For the Father " hath given Him authority to
execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man."6 This
is part of His office, who" is God's perfect representative towards
mankind ; and meantime, He acts perpetually on behalf of man
kind towards God : " He ever liveth to make intercession for
them."6 For He is present continually in heaven according to
that human nature whereby He is the "Lamb that was slain;"7
while in earth also He is present through His power, for "Lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world."8 What may
1 St. John xvi< 14. 2 St. John x. 9. 3 St. John xiv. 6.
4 Eph. i. 22. 6 St. John v. 27. r' Heb. vii. 25.
' Rev. v. 12. 8 St. Matt, xxviii. 20.

148 OUR LORD'S MEDIATION, ETC.
happen in these respects in another state of things we know
not. "Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up
the kingdom to God, even the Father." " Then shall the Son
also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under
Him, that God may be all in all."1 The authority which the
Mediator now possesses, as Incarnate Son by gift, may then
perhaps be merged in that which He possessed before all worlds,
as only-begotten Son by nature.2 But till then, " all power is
given to " Him "in heaven and in earth;"3 "and He is the
Head of the Body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first
born from the dead."4
V. And yet since Our Lord's Mediation depended upon His
man's nature, and since that man's nature was capable of being
perfected, He must plainly have entered upon it by degrees.
This it is which enables us to consider it in its several parts, and
to trace those different stages into which it was divided The
acts of Godhead are in themselves eternal, like the nature of that
Infinite Being, with whom is " no variableness, neither shadow
of turning." It is only on man, to whom succession is the law
of life, and whose endurance is measured out by time, that suc
cessive events impress their several impulses. "Known unto
God are all His works from the beginning of the world."6 It
is because manhood, therefore, has been united to Godhead in
Our Lord's Person, that His acts can be arranged according to
those conditions of time, by which man's nature is limited. In
the counsels of God, Our Lord's acts were ever present ; He was
"the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."6 So far
as His death contributed to the purposes of mercy, it might ever
equally be taken account of. But since He was made " perfect "
as a man "through sufferings ; "7 since His work, that is, was
1 1 Cor. xv. 24, 28.
2 Our Lord's office as Priest, says St. Austin, will then be merged in His
office as Divine ruler : " ut in quantum Deus est cum illo nos subjectos
habeat, in quantum sacerdos nobiscum illi subjectus sit." — De Trin. i. 20
3 St. Matt, xxviii. 18. 4 Col. i. 18. s Acts xv. 18
» Rev. xiii. 8. ' Heb. ii. 10.

THE TEACHING OF CHRIST. 149
provided for by the growth of His body and the preparation of
His mind — so that " being made perfect, He became the author
of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him"1 — therefore His
Mediation may be referred to different periods, and considered
under those several conditions, in which He successively dis
played Himself. Now, that which made the most marked dif
ference in His human character was His Ascension intp glory.
For then was the obedience of His earthly life rewarded by a
heavenly crown. To this He directed the attention of the Jews,
as that which would render His man's nature the source of graces
to His brethren : " What and if ye shall see the Son of Man
ascend up where He was before?"2 Therefore, "when He
ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men."3 The consummation of His resurrection was His
session at the right hand of God. The interval was a transition
state, when He was neither present carnally, as among the Jewish
multitudes, nor, as in the ordinances of the Church, by spiritual
power : " Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My
Father."4 Thus is this event the dividing epoch in Our Lord's
history. So that His acts of Mediation may be conveniently
divided into those which preceded, and those which followed,
His Ascension into Heaven.

CHAPTER VIII.

OUR LORD S ACTS OF MEDIATION PREVIOUSLY TO HIS ASCENSION ;
OR HIS TEACHINGS, HIS EXAMPLE, AND HIS SACRIFICE.
Since Our Lord's Mediation was the natural result of that
twofold nature in which He was manifest among men, it im
plies plainly a twofold aetion, as its relation towards man is
considered, or its relation towards God. For to man He was
1 Heb. v. 9. 2 St. John vi. 62.
Ephes. iv. 8. * St. John xx. 17.

150 THE TEACHING OF CHRIST.
manifested as a teacher and an example, while He offered to God
the perfect sacrifice of our redemption.
I. And, first, to consider Him in His relation towards man.
To detail at all His actions, on this side of His character would
far exceed the limits of the present volume, since it would be to
state at large the whole lesson which is exhibited by the Evan
gelists. . The life of Christ, as Bishop Taylor has shown us, is
the best channel for communicating the precepts of the Gospel.
In this place it is enough to refer in general to God's goodness,
in having bestowed such a medium of instruction upon men.
For hereby reason has its employment, and love its pattern.
Thus are all parts of our nature called into exercise, and the
understanding learns to assent to that which the will is to per
form. Through the instructions which Our Lord bestowed, we
gain that gradual ascent from earthly things to heavenly, whereby
He conducted His Disciples, and through them all subsequent
generations, towards that higher world, with which Himself was
familiar. And then in the more exalted communications which
followed His Eesurrection, did He open the understandings of
His Disciples to " things pertaining to the kingdom of God." '
These they afterwards unfolded at large through the teaching of
the Spirit. Meanwhile their affections were no less elevated
than their reason, and the Being, before whose majesty they
trembled, they learned to love. For He who was the true
Pattern Man, "the chiefest among ten thousand," "altogether
lovely,"2 submitted to be "heard" and "seen" with their eyes,
and " looked upon."3
Such was the peculiar privilege of those who were the first to
profit by that great event whereby God and man were brought
together. And thus has the blessing been extended to all gene
rations of mankind. For through the teaching of the Gospels
have all nations been made conscious of those deep mysteries
of which man's nature is susceptible. The cold, selfish, isolated,
grovelling spirit, which bound all men to party, race, or language,
1 Actsi. 3. 2 Sol. Songv. 10, 16. 3 1 John i. 1.

THE EXAMPLE OF CHRIST. 151
and, still more, which centred each man's thoughts in his own
private ends, have yielded in a measure to that more generous
and exalted feeling, which the Pattern Man exhibited upon
earth.- Here is that in which all men have a common interest
— to which all men's sympathy responds alike — which all must
admire, love, seek, cherish — which they discern to contain the
real secret of their happiness and object of their being. Thus is
man's life made capable of higher ends — his race is discerned to
be the depository of nobler principles — he is compelled to allovv
the supremacy of better maxims, and the wisdom of rules, by
which his own practice is too often condemned. How many have
prayed for their murderers, now that the Pattern Man has en
abled our hearts to feel what, but for His example, might have
been for ever hidden in the undeveloped capacities of man's
nature — that revenge is less noble than forgiveness. Thus has
He set forth the perfect type of manhood, and through the
example of the elder brother, the lineaments of truth may be
discerned even in the corrupted nature of His brethren.
And further, by enshrining these truths in that one book,
which has thus become the common standard of all civilized
nations, literature has in some sort been made catholic, and art
been made divine ; so that they are no longer limited to indivi
dual races, but esteemed the common property of every child
of Adam ; and again, that their noblest subjects are felt to rest
no longer on mere beauty of form or strength of conception, but
to depend on that moral greatness, which, once exhibited in its
perfection upon earth, can never cease to be regarded as the true
ideal of human excellence.
II. But it is when we turn from Our Lord's actings towards
men, and consider the part which He discharged towards God,
that we approach the most wonderful side of His Mediation.
And here we must expect that our reason will speedily be' left
behind by the greatness of the subject, since what we considei'
is the function which was performed towards the Everlasting
Father by Him, who, His equal by nature, had consented to

152 THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST.
become the representative of mankind. His sayings, too, to His
brethren are given to us in abundance ; of His words to His
eternal Father but a few occasional specimens are recorded in
Holy Writ. A few expressions occur at different periods of
His ministry, and one remarkable chapter (St. John xvii.) which
declares its completion. These all reveal the same truth re
specting Our Lord's relation to the Father, that its single
characteristic was Obedience. Thus did the Pattern Man render
exactly that service, in which all His brethren had been wanting.-
" Submission to the will of God," says Butler, "may be said to
be the whole of religion." And disobedience is the very condi
tion of our sin. Now, Our Lord declares the fulfilment of His
Father's will to have been the very purpose of His being : "I
have glorified Thee on the earth : I have finished the work which
Thou gavestMe to do."1 Or again : "What shall I say? Father,
save Me from this hour : but for this cause came I unto this
hour."2 And once more, even in His hour of agony did He
exclaim, "Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done."3
This lesson of " obedience" it is declared in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, that Our Lord "learned." 4 Everything else was com
municated to His man's soul by way of inspiration from His
higher nature. This thing only it was essential that He should
acquire through the perfect road of experience. In its complete
mastery lay the signal excellence of His man's soul. The two
wills which dwelt within Him moved together in perfect and
unalterable harmony. What the Divine will prescribed, the
human will completely responded to : " For I came down from
heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
Me."5 And " therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay
down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it
from Me, but I lay it down of Myself : I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received from My Father."6
1 St. John xvii. 4. 2 St. John xii. 27. 3 St. Luke xxii. 42.
1 Hebrews v. 8. 5 St. John vi. 38. « St. John x. 18.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 153
The life of the Pattern Man, then, may be said to have been
a continual setting forth of that duty of Obedience, which His
brethren, the children of Adam, had failed to render. He
appeared once for all as the representative of mankind, and was
obedient : " Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written
of Me) to do Thy will, 0 God."1 This it is which He exhibited
from first to last — from His conception in the womb until He
was buried in the earth. In all parts of life — in childhood,
youth, and ripeness of years — as member of a family or a single
worshipper — in solitude or in company — in the wilderness or
the city — in the shop or the temple — in honour or contempt —
in penury or at feasts — His " meat " was " to do the will of
Him that sent Me, and to finish His work."2 Yet there re
mained one thing still greater : for all mortal pangs are gathered
together in that last and most fearful one, the tearing asunder
of soul and body in death. Now, from this trial also Our Lord
did not shrink. He was "obedient unto death."3 And in
this part of His course lie those especial circumstances which
are declared in Holy Scripture to be the causes of man's redemp
tion. For though He is said in general to be the " last Adam,"
the " second Man," 4 yet it is with His Death and Passion that
His sacrifice for sin is expressly connected. For " we 5 have
redemption through His blood," says the Apostle twice over,
" the forgiveness of sins." He has "made peace through the
blood of His cross," 6 and He came " to give His life a ransom
instead of many." 7
This offering of Himself on behalf of man was the true
sacrifice, which all the sacrifices of the Ancient Law served to
introduce. Not that our Lord's offering was built upon them ;
that it pleased God merely to give His sanction to an ancient
usage, and to hallow it by the sacrifice of Christ. That which
happened was exactly the reverse ; the offerings of the Law
i Heb. x. 7. 2 St. John iv. 34. * Phil. ii. 8.
* 1 Cor. xv. 45, 47. 5 Ephes. i. 7 ; Col. i. 14.
6 Colossians i. 20. ' St. Matt. xx. 28.

154 THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.
were built upon the offering of Christ ; they were the type of a
future reality, which cast its shadow beforehand on the Jewish
nation. For all the Jewish ordinances "serve unto the example
and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of
God, when he was about to make the taberna'cle." "It was
therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens
should be purified with these, but the heavenly things them
selves with better sacrifices than these."1 How the practice
first began of presenting flocks and herds as an offering to God
is not recorded, though it seems most natural to attribute it
to a Divine appointment ; but when it was made a part of the
Jewish Law, its meaning was explained to that chosen people.
For while they were allowed to retain the old custom of
presenting Burnt-Offerings as the expression of their piety, two
especial kinds of sacrifice were added, Peace-Offerings and Sin-
Offerings, as expressive of those particular relations to God, of
which they were the depositories. These three species of
sacrifices are described in the commencement of Leviticus. The
Burnt-Offering, as the representative of piety at large, had in it
some circumstances which belonged specifically to each of the
others. It was an atonement,2 like the Sin-Offering — a sweet
savour,3 like the Peace-Offering. For these are the charac
teristics of the two other sorts of sacrifice. The Peace-Offering
typified the general duties of worship — the Sin-Offering the
application for forgiveness. That which was indicative of the
first, was " a sweet savour unto the Lord ; " * that which was
characteristic of the last, was first, the prohibition of frankin
cense,5 with a view of preventing it from being a sweet savour;6
1 Heb. viii. 5 ; ix. 23. 2 Lev. i. 4. 3 Lev. i. 17.
4 Lev. iii. 5. 5 Lev. v. 11.
6 The phrase, "sweet savour," occurs thirty-nine times in the Penta
teuch, and often in such marked opposition to the Sin-Offering, as can
hardly be accidental. The single apparent exception, Lev. iv. 31, maybe
explained by supposing that the parenthesis should be extended : an
arrangement which is favoured by the repetition of the word Priest, and by
the change of the tenses. ' ' He shall take away all the fat thereof (as the
fat was taken away from off the sacrifice of Peace-offerings" — vid.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 155
secondly, the burning of the beasts so offered without the
camp ; J and thirdly, the consequent defilement of the man 2
who burnt them. These circumstances indicated that the
" blood " of the Sin-Offerings was " brought in to make atone
ment."3 And yet the very circumstance that for legal im
purities there was in each ease provided a special purification,
while the greater faults which burthened men's conscience,
except in a few cases which might lead to social disorder,4 were
not remitted, was sufficient to suggest what was subsequently
declared, that "it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of
goats should take away sins."6 What these sacrifices effected,
then, was to maintain for those who offered them, a title to
participate in the privileges of the chosen nation; and in that
collective worship, whereby it kept its hold on the true Sacrifice,
which once in the fulness of time was to be offered on the
Altar of the Cross. The Peace-Offering set forth man's allegi
ance to God when he was forgiven, and the Sin-Offering showed
that forgiveness was not to be obtained through his own deserts,
but by the substitution of some intermediate victim ; while
both together witnessed that the sacrifices of men were to be
offered, not like the Burnt-Offerings of old, by each man or
household for itself, but by an appointed servant of God, whom
He had anointed to be Priest : " No man taketh this honour
upon himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron."6
Now, Christ Our Lord is the one centre in which all these
lines have their meeting. He is the true Peace-Offering, who
" hath given HimseK for us an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet-smelling savour."7 And He is the only effectual
Sin-Offering, who, " that He might sanctify the people with
His own blood, suffered without the gate." 8 For this very
cap. iii. 3-5 : — "and [i.e. when] the priest burnt it upon the altar a
sweet savour unto the Lord), and the priest shall make an atonement for
him, and it shall be forgiven him."
1 Lev. iv. 12, viii. 17; Heb. xiii. 11. 2 Lev. xvi. 28.
3 Lev. xvi. 27. * Lev. v. 1-6 ; xix. 21. 5 Heb. x. 4.
6 Heb. v. 4. ' Eph. v. 2. 8 Heb. xiii. 12.

156 THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.
purpose it was that He clothed Himself with a mortal body;
He took that common nature which He shares with mankind
that He might "have somewhat also to offer."1 "Wherefore,
when He cometh into the world, He saith, sacrifice and offering
Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared2 Me." So
" that we are sanctified through offering of the Body of Jesus
Christ once for all." 3
Now, since this is the crisis of that great work which Christ
came to perform, its groundwork must have been laid in both of
His natures. Their separate action, indeed, is not now before
us, but that work which He wrought as God-man by their perfect
co-operation [SeavdpiKfj e'vepyeia].i But this may be better ap
preciated, if it be observed, how exactly He was fitted by the
wisdom of God for the service of mercy which He discharged.
So that we may look first to the Divine and then to the human
side of His character, and see why this was the only real sacrifice
which could be presented on man's behalf to God. For by
reason of His Divine nature, had the sacrifice of Himself such
intrinsic value, that the representative of mankind could offer it
effectually in mediation for our race. For, from Christ's Divinity"
there flowed such consecrating virtue, as made Him a fitting Priest,
and such atoning efficacy as made Him a sufficient Victim.
A Priest is explained in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to be
some one "ordained for men in things pertaining to God;" his
office being "to offer gifts and sacrifices." 5 And such is the
origin of the word in primitive languages,6 in which the notion of
1 Heb. viii. 3.
2 The quotation in the Epistle to the Hebrews is from the Septuagint ;
the Hebrew giving " mine ears hast Thou opened." " Why," asksTho-
luck, "has the translator rendered 'ears' by 'body?' If he thought
that in the original a part was put for the whole, the ground of his trans
lation was obvious. If he looked at the phrase as the Chaldean Para-
phrasts, the Rabbins, and most modern interpreters, have done, he
expressed the effect in place of the cause, in his translation," i.e., a body
was essential for that obedience which the Hebrew expresses that our
Lord rendered. — Tholuck on Hebrews x. 5. 3 Hebrews x. 10.
4 Vid. Damasc. De Fide Orth. iii. 19. 5 Hebrews'v. 1.
" From the verb jnD to be a mediator or middle person [Gesenius], comes

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 157
the setting apart those who should act on man's behalf towards
God is everywhere visible. For some peculiar sacredness seemed
to be needed for the office so soon as anything of a public
Eitual arose. Hence, while common worship was that of single
hearths, the father of each household was its Priest ; and hence
the identifying of the office with that of the chief in simple
times. All these circumstances look to some peculiar consecra
tion for the Priestly office. Yet where shall such be found 1
Who is pure enough to be Priest on behalf of his brethren?
The one Mediator between God and man is plainly the' only
being who is capable of being Priest for fallen humanity : " For
such an High Priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled"
For since He is a Mediator by nature, He is by nature fitted to
be Priest. For a Priest is a Mediator in action. So that Our
Lord's Priesthood does not arise only from His having an offer-
ins to make on our behalf ; it Hes in His constitution ; it is the
result of that personal union which binds man to God. A Priest
is consecrated, and Christ's consecration, as Damascene reminds
us, was that uniting of His Divine to His human nature,
whereby He was anointed the Son of God : " Christ glorified
not Himself to be made an High Priest, but He that said unto
Him, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." So
that He who was the Pattern Man and representative of
humanity, was qualified to execute the office of a Priest in
and by His man's nature for His brethren of mankind
But that the Mediator for men might act as a Priest, He must
"have somewhat also to offer." And what was here which He
could offer on man's behalf, which was of value before God ?
Plainly nothing, but that humanity of His own which He had
rendered of infinite value by joining it in His own Person to the
infinite. For this is the only thing pertaining to mankind,
the substantive ]ri3 Priest. So leperr from tepas, sacred. Sacerdos, from
sacrare, to set apart. In the Gothic of Ulphilas, Gudja is used for
Priest, from Guth, God.
1 Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Phaebique sacerdos.

158 THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.
which, regarded in itself, is of intrinsic value. Of what value
are all things which are possessed by men, whether in body
or in mind ? Not to mention that they are God's already, there
is the further consideration that through sin they have been
defiled. Now, " the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to
the Lord." So that no other possession or work is in itself
worth offering. We cannot go too far in detracting from the
value of all other works, if spoken of as an offering to God, in
dependently of the perfect work of Christ our Saviour. It is
not too much to say, that viewed as an independent sacrifice from
man to God, all other works are unnecessary. For if they were
necessary, no flesh could be saved. For He is the sole Mediator
between God and man. What He pleads, is the sacrifice of His
crucified humanity. He stands alone. The elder brother does
all ; His brethren do nothing. l He bears the burthen of all
offences. He offers Himself " a ransom for all." And this
ransom is of infinite value. For we were " not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold," " but with the precious
blood of Christ."2 " The Church of God " " He has purchased
with His own blood." And "worthy is the Lamb that was
slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honour, and glory, and blessing." Herein then is concen
trated that service of Obedience, which Christ rendered to the
Father. He " needeth not daily as those High Priests to offer
up sacrifices," " for this He did once, when He offered up Him
self." How far this act of sacrifice lay in the tearing asunder of
soul and body, and how far in those sufferings of body and
mind, which prepared for that event, it is needless to inquire.
That Our Lord's trial did not arise merely from His bodily
pains, but that He suffered also through those more subtile
avenues, through which grief assaults the soul, is manifest. For
1 " Acceperunt justi non dederunt coronas ; et de fortitudine fidelium
exempla nata sunt patientise, non dona justitise. Fides vera justifieans
impios et creans justos  in illo acquirit salutem, in quo solo homo
se invenit innocentem." — S. Leo, Ep. 97, 4.
2 1 Peter i. 19 ; Acts xx. 28 ; Revelation v. 12.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 159
it was during His agony in the garden, that " His sweat was as
great drops of blood." This could not arise merely from the
expectation of those bodily pains under which He suffered. We
see in it, probably, the effect of His sustaining as our representa
tive that burthen of God's wrath of which all mankind was
deserving. For though guilt cannot be transferred, yet its
punishment may be. " Now, the chastisement of our peace was
upon Him,"1 " He made Him to be sin for us, who knew no
sin;"2 and "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
Law, being made a curse for us."3 For " God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful man, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh."4 In the unknown agonies then of Our Lord's
Passion, is seen the awful struggle of the infinite victim, when
making compensation for the offences of a world.
Such is that sacrifice by which the Pattern Man consummated
His work of Obedience. He had been " made a little lower than
the Angels, that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for
every man." For this purpose it was that He had become
incarnate : " A body hast Thou prepared Me." And when this
work was over, He could exclaim, " It is finished." It was a real
work, then ; not a mere compliance with the notions of men, as
represented by Socinian writers, but an actual change in the posi
tion of mankind, effected through the unspeakable sufferings of
its Infinite Head. Therefore did the convulsions of external
nature bear witness to that mighty work which before heaven
and earth was achieved. Thus was " God in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself, not imputing unto them their tres
passes." The work was not merely a change on man's part :
The Divine reconciliation was the basis of his regeneration.
For though God's nature be love, yet He is also " of purer eyes
than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity."5 Therefore,
" blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."
Now, this blessedness it is which Christ came upon earth to
1 Isaiah liii. 5. 2 2 Cor. v. 21. 3 Galatians iii. 13.
4 Romans viii. 3. 5 Habak. i. 13.

160 THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.
bestow : " He came to give His life a ransom instead of many."1
On Him, first of the children of Adam, could the Father look
with perfect satisfaction. -For the first time since the Fall could
He say, " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."2
The Mediator was fitted for His work. Through the indwelling
of Deity, the representative of mankind was beheld with favour.
And this leads us to the other side of Our Lord's character.
What did His manhood contribute to this great work ? For we
still seem to need something, not indeed to show the value of
this sacrifice, for of that His Deity was the only cause, since it
made Him at once a fitting Priest and a sufficient Victim ; but
to show the participation of mankind in its saving power. For
man would not have an especial interest in this work unless He
who wrought it was the representative of humanity. The
promise was that salvation should be wrought through the
woman's seed. What was there in Christ's manhood which
made His sacrifice effectual?
Now this question leads somewhat further into the inquiry,
wherein lay the efficacy of Our Lord's Atonement. But if it be
asked whether it was a necessary part of the counsels of God,
the question is one which we are plainly incompetent to answer.
In inquiring into the counsels of God, our wisdom is not to go
beyond what is written. It has been asserted indeed by St.
Anselm, the great founder of the scholastic philosophy, that " it
is not fitting that God should forgive sins without punishment."3
But so far as this position is grounded on & priori views of the
Divine attributes, it is combated by later schoolmen, and it is
not sanctioned by those earlier writers, to which the English
Church is accustomed to refer. Neither does it rest on any
direct testimony of Scripture. Looking, indeed, to the place
which is occupied by Christ's Atonement in the counsels of
God, and considering that His recorded acts are built upon His
infinite perfections, there is a plausibility in the opinion, that
what God has been pleased to do, must have been prescribed
1 St. Matt. xx. 28. 2 St. Matt. iii. 17. 3 Cur Deus Homo, i. 12.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 161
by the necessary laws of His unalterable nature. And yet
perhaps, the more reverent course is to confine ourselves to
the mere consideration of what He has revealed, without
venturing to fathom His unsearehable counsels. When St.
Athanasius therefore notices the supposition, that even without
Christ's having had His dwelling among us, God might by
His mere word have freed us from the curse, His objections to
it are not founded upon a priori considerations of what was
required by God's character, but upon His observed dealings
in goodness and truth. ""We must look," he says, "at what
was beneficial for man, and not calculate only what was in
the power of God." ' And in His work on Our Lord's Incarna
tion, he refers us not to the abstract justice of God, but to His
adherence to His revealed declarations. " For it was impossible
that God should lie ; and that when He had made it a law that
man should die if he transgressed, He should afterwards allow
His word to be vain, and man to escape death, though he were
a transgressor."2 "Whether God could have saved the world
by other mean's than the death of Christ, consistently with the
general laws of His government, is a question," says Bishop
Butler,3 " rashly_ determined, and perhaps with equal rashness
1 Or. II. Con. Arian. sec. 68, vol. i. p. 536. " Quis negat Omnipotenti
ad manum fuisse alios et alios modos nostra? redemptionis, justificationis,
liberationis P . . . . Cur inquis per sanguinem, quod potuit facere per
sermonem ? Ipsum interroga. Mihi scire licet, quod ita ; cur ita non
licet." — S. Bern, de Error. Abaelardi. c. viii. — Vide S. Greg. Nyssen. Cat.
Orat. sec. 32, vol. iii. p. 92.
2 De Incarn. vi. vol. i. p. 52.
3 Butler has been censured for this statement ; and it has been stated,
that independently of God' s actual appointment, we could be sure from our
abstract notions of God's justice that except through Christ' s sacrifice man
could not be forgiven. The only Scriptural evidence adduced for this as
sertion is St. Paul' s statement, ' ' that He might be j ust, and the j ustifier of
him which believeth in Jesus." The interpretation, however, which it is '
designed to give to this verse is highly questionable. For, first, The infe
rential particle should be Kabrep and not ml : That He might be just, although
the justifier of him that believeth, &c. Accordingly, one of the writers
who attempts to put this meaning on the passage, renders it, " That He
might be just, and yet the justifier," &c. Secondly, The opposition between
just unijuslifier, evidently implies them to have a correlative meaning. M

162 THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.
contrary ways."1 But while abstaining from such rash' con
jectures, we may with confidence assert the wisdom of what it
has pleased God to do, and find in His appointment a ground for
admiration and thankfulness. " For what Christ does, this is
what is best for mankind, and what could happen in no other
manner so suitable. And what is suitable and fitting for this
His providence makes preparation."3 So that we may safely
assert with Hooker, "The world's salvation was without the
Incarnation of the Son of God a thing impossible ; not simply
impossible, but impossible, it being pre-supposed that the will
of God was no otherwise to have it saved than by the death of
His own Son."3 This is not to say " what God could or could
not have done ; " but " what God declares He has done, that
only it asserts."4 For this is what the Angelic Song revealed :
that in Christ God's glory and man's peace are united. Here,
therefore, is fulfilled the prophecy of the Psalmist : " Mercy
and truth are met together ; righteousness and peace have kissed
each other. Truth shall flourish out of the earth; and righteous
ness hath looked down from heaven."6 For this was to be
accomplished only through His coming, through whom the Lord
has " forgiven the offence '' of His " people, and covered all their
sins."6 Without pretending, therefore, to decide what abstract
justice might make necessary in the eternal counsels of the
Most High, we may accept with reverence the expression of His
will. For we have His own assurance that " it became Him in
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings."
But how is it that by this act God's hatred for sin is made so
manifest ? Wherein is the sacrifice of Our Lord such an illus-
But "justifier of him which believeth," plainly implies that holiness at
large is either given or ascribed to the believer. " Just," therefore, must
refer to God's holiness at large, and not merely to distributive justice. The
passage must mean, that as God is holy, so He will give or impute the same
character to the believer. i Analogy, p. ii. c. 5.
2 &. Athan. contra Arian. ii. 68. 3 Eceles. Pol. v. 51, 3.
4 Magee on Atonement, note 17, vol. i. p. 176.
" Psalm lxxxv. 10, 11. « Psalm Ixxxv. 2.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 163
tration of it ? Why does His obtaining forgiveness for us set
forth the Divine justice ? What meeting-place is there between
God's mercy and His truth ? This depends plainly on the con
nection between Christ and mankind. It is because He pleads
for a race of which He is the natural representative. He is not
only mediator on God's behalf towards men, but also as man is
He advocate for His brethren. He is the " one Mediator between
God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." To be man at all would
give Him an interest in our rase ; but that He is The Man, the
pattern of our race, the new type on which it is founded, the
second Adam — this makes Him the " one Mediator " for His
brethren. " For since by man came death, by man came also
the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so
in Christ shall all be made alive." The universality of death
shows that in some way we all share the consequences of Adam's
sin ; what peculiar fitness were there in our forgiveness through
Christ, unless in a manner no less real we participated in His
nature? For the application of this gift there needs indeed some
mode of union between every individual and Christ, as real as
that actual paternity by which Adam acts on all his children ;
and such a bond shall hereafter be shown to exist in sacramental
grace and Church union. But the gift itself was purchased for
humanity at large when its Head suffered in our common nature :
" For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so
by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."1
The force of Our Lord's Atonement is grounded, according to
these passages of Scripture, upon His being the representative of
man's nature. We pretend not to conjecture whether the Divine
justice might have been otherwise satisfied : it is enough that
the course which it pleased God to adopt' was to accept the
satisfaction of one of Adam's progeny. Therefore, not only was
it essential to Our Lord's Atonement that He should be clothed
in "a body,"2 but it was necessary that this body should be the
body of man. He not only became flesh, but our flesh : " For-
1 Romans v. 19. 2 Heb. x. 5.

164 THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.
asmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
He also Himself took part of the same."1 So that we may-
adopt St. Anselm's words, not grounding them, however, on
abstract reasoning, but on the appointment of God. " If God
had made a new man, who was not of Adam's race, he would
not belong to that humanity which was born of Adam, and
could not suitably satisfy for that nature to which he did not
belong. For since it was right [i.e., God's ordinance] that man
should satisfy for man's fault, therefore he who satisfied must
either be the same with the sinner, or of the same race with
him."2 But then it was not enough that He should be a mere
common specimen of the race, for which He made expiation.
Some persons speak of Our Lord's death as if it were a mere
arbitrary substitution ;3 or as we read in history of royal inter
cessors, who have sueceeded in begging off condemned parties
with whom they had mo peculiar connection. But this is to lose
sight of those especial characteristics of the Son of Man which
rendered Him the natural Mediator for His brethren. If He
had not been the Head4 of our race, in whom Manhood was set
1 Heb. ii. 14. 2 Cur Deus Homo, ii. 8.
3 " I find myself more and more attracted -towards the divines who
occupy themselves much in setting forth the depth and extent of sin, as a
fact of human nature ; though, as you may suppose, far from satisfied
with the Calvinistic theories, as to the Divine purposes and the process of
redemption. I do not find Tholuck as full or satisfactory as I could wish
on this last matter ; the Doctrine of Substitution, appearing in him with
too much nakedness. But I am in hopes it may be shown that the Doctrine
of Substitution, when connected with the cycle of ideas relating to Christ's
Headship, and to the unity of our nature as common to Him and us, issues
in the one radical and comprehensive truth which man requires, and which
Revelation on so many sides sets forth ; and so to justify and interpret
the stupendous emotions, the prodigious revolutions of character, the
altered aspect of the world, and all the oracular breathings of the Spirit,
which are found in connexion with the doctrines of Guilt and Atone
ment." — Hare's Life of Sterling, p. 75. 0, si sic omnia!
4 " Christo data est gratia, non solum sicut singulari persome; sed in
quantum est caput Eeclesise : ut scilicet ab ipso redundaret ad membra . .
Unde Christus per suam passionem non solum sibi, sed etiam omnibus
membris suis meruit salutem." — Summa Theol. iii. Q. 48, 1. " Caput et
membra sunt quasi una persona mystica : et ideo satisfactio Christi ad
onmes fideles pertinet, sicut ad sua membra." — Id. 2.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 165
forth in its widest and most universal character, He would not
have been so exactly fitted to be that perfect sacrifice in which
humanity at large finds its propitiation. A story is sometimes
adduced, as illustrating Our Lord's Atonement, of a King who
sacrificed one of his own eyes to save his son from the threatened
penalty of blindness. The cases are not exactly analogous,
since the penalty denounced was not merely the pain of present
mutilation, but the bereavement of permanent blindness. But
its force depends plainly on the voluntary submission of a party
who by natural law was qualified to represent the offender. A
parent is naturally fitted to answer for his child. For where had
been the justice of the case if the King had by bribe or violence
obtained some substitute with whom his son had no natural
connexion? It was because Christ, therefore, was the Head and
Father of man's race, that He bore in like manner not part, but
all its punishment. For "He is the propitiation for our sins,
and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
He is " the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world." And that, because "He is the first-born of every
creature,"1 " the beginning of the creation of God."2 For " if
there had been anything in our nature which He did not take
upon Him, it would not have been redeemed."3
This truth may be illustrated by a singidar suggestion of St.
Anselm,4 as to the reason why the fallen Angels could not be
redeemed. Mankind, he says, though consisting of many indi
viduals, are bound together by that common tie of nature, which
connects all with a general parent. So that there was room for
the introduction of that nobler member into their common family,
by whom compensation has been made for the deficiencies of the
rest. But the Angels, though of one general nature, have no
such common bond as could enable one individual to save others.
Whatever may be thought of this theory, it is at all events
asserted that Our Lord became incarnate in our nature, because
1 Col. i. 15. 2 Rev. iii. 14.
3 Damase. De Fid. Orth. vol. i. p. 212. 4 Cur Deus Homo, ii. 21.

166 CHRIST AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR.
it was not Angels, but mankind that He came to save.1 His
taking our flesh is stated to be the essential preparative for His
saving our nature. " He was made a little lower than the
Angels, that He might taste death for every man." So that we
may conclude, in the words of Dean Field, " as all fell in Adam,
the root and beginning of natural being, who received the
treasures of righteousness and holiness for himself, and those
that by propagation were to come of him ; so their restoration
could not be wrought but by Him that should be the root,
fountain, and beginning of supernatural and spiritual being, in
whom the whole nature of mankind should be found in a more
eminent sort than it was in Adam ; as, indeed, it was in the
second Adam, ' of whose fulness all men reeeive grace for grace.'
And this surely was the reason, why it was no injustice in God
to lay upon Him the punishments due to our sins, and why His
sufferings do free us from the same."2

CHAPTEE IX.
OF OUR LORD'S ACTS OF MEDIATION SUBSEQUENTLY TO HIS
ASCENSION, AND FIRST OF HIS INTERCESSION.
Our Lord's acts of Mediation, subsequently to His Ascension,
may be considered, according to the division employed in the
previous Chapter, as they regard God and as they regard man.
On those who share His lower nature He is ever acting by His
Presence and His Grace, while towards God the Father He acts
as their Mediator by His Intercession. This last office is the
subject of inquiry in the present Chapter.
But before entering upon it, the writer would fain express
that deepening awe with which every step in this sacred inquiry
impresses his own mind. For when, leaving that higher nature
1 Hebrews ii. 16, 17. 2 Field on the Church, v. 11.

CHRIST AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 167
of the Ever-Blessed Trinity, and those separate parts of Our
Lord's character which were first considered, we approach the
application of these great realities to the salvation of mankind,
the subject in reality to be contemplated is that wonderful
Chain by which God's goodness has united Heaven and Earth
— that condescension which could stoop from the height of
Heaven to the manger and the Cross — and that marvellous
interdependency which can bind together the eternal nature of
self-existent Godhead and the daily actions of man's common
life, and make the one of these assist and be essential to the
other. Who can meditate on this stupendous example of
power and mercy, and not exclaim with the Patriarch, to
whom in vision it was once presented, " Surely the Lord is
in this place, and I knew it not!"1 Who is there but must
desire to share in the admiration and reverence of the Angelic
Hosts ! — seeing that "God created all things by Jesus Christ, to
the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
heavenly places, might be known by the Church the manifold
Wisdom of God."2
Now it is an essential part of this great work, that He who
first bore our nature during His sojourn upon earth, was after
wards exalted with the same man's being into Heaven : " Thou
sittest at the right hand of God in the glory of the Father."
" This same Jesus," who was our Mediator upon earth, " is taken
up into Heaven."3 By this means it is that we have a Mediator
above — that our nature4 has been introduced into God's higher
courts — that as the Son of God is interested in our doings upon
earth, so are we concerned in the actings of the Son of Man in
heaven. Such a consequence did Our Lord declare would follow
from His Ascension: "I go to prepare a place for you."5
" Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with
Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast
1 Genesis xxviiL 16. 2 Ephesians iii. 9, 10. 3 Acts i. 11.
4 " Unde ergo ibi sedemus, si naturam nostram in Christo non ibi
habemus ? "—Vigil, c. Eut. iv. 9. 5 St. John xiv. 2.

168 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR
given Me."1 • And the efficacy of His interference on man's behalf
is grounded on the permanency of the office which He discharges
above : " He is able to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession
for them."2 This is the function, then, which our great Media
tor performs in heaven ; "we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous."3 And this was the completion of
that work for which He had been marked out by ancient
prophecy : for after having borne the " sin of many " He " made
intercession for the transgressors."4
Now, since Our Lord's Intercession is part of His work as
Mediator, both of those natures which pertain to Him must be
engaged in this service of mercy for mankind. For that He was
Mediator was shown not to be the mere exercise of an office
which any could undertake, but to result from that real conjoin
ing of man to God which arose from His uniting in one person
the nature of each. For there is " one Mediator between God
and men." What the manhood contributes to this work is to
speak on our behalf, to be the representative of our nature, inas
much as " we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin." Thus does Our Lord fulfil the
office of the Pattern Man, because by the constitution of His
nature He was really the Pattern of our race. Now, to act on
our behalf towards God is to discharge a Priest's5 function, and
a Priest implies an offering; but it is still His man's nature
which furnishes forth the vietim which is presented, as well as
the Priest who offers it. For what He pleads before God is that
perfect sacrifice of His own body which He offered once for all
upon the Cross for the transgressions of a world. And with
these functions of His man's nature does His Godhead per
petually co-operate, by consecrating His man's nature to be a
perpetual Priest, and by rendering His sacrifice an inestimable
1 St. John xvii. 24. 2 Hebrews vii. 25. 3 1 John ii 1
4 Isaiah liii. 12. 5 Heb. v. 1.

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 169
offering. For He is an " High Priest, separate from sinners, and
made higher than the heavens," because He is " the Son, who
is consecrated for evermore ;"x and because " through the
Eternal Spirit He offered Himself without spot to God," there
fore He " entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us."2 Thus then He who is personally
God and man acts through His manhood as the perpetual High
Priest for His brethren ; and for ever pleads that perfect sacri
fice of Himself which He shared our nature to offer. And thus
is He represented in the Book of Eevelation, where " a Lamb as
it had been slain"3 is described as standing before God's throne,
and as the perpetual object of worship to the ransomed in heaven.
So that Our Lord's Incarnation sets forth Heaven and Earth as
being the real counterpart of that which was dimly shadowed
out by the Jewish Eitual. For " of the things which we have
spoken this is the sum ; we have such an High Priest, who is
set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the
Heavens" — who "hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by
how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant ;" and
who " for this cause is the Mediator of the New Testament."
" For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us."4
But however clearly these truths are stated in. Scripture, there
is peculiar difficulty in bringing them as an existing reality before
the mind. Past and Future are great words, and the changes
which they necessarily involve are so strange and eventful, that
it seems not inconceivable that the great work of our Eedemp-
tion should have been wrought in the one, and that the awful
hour of Judgment should await us in the other. That events,
in themselves improbable, will occur at some time or other in the
infinite lapse of time, is readily admitted. But that now, at this
very moment, while the tide of events is pursuing its uninter-
i Heb. vii. 26, 28. 2 Heb. ix. 12, 14.
3 Revelation v. 6. 4 Heb. viii. 1, 6 ; ix. 15, 24.

170 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR
rupted course, there should be such great things transacting in
which we have a present part, it is almost impossible to realize.
This is one of those cases in which- to look at things invisible
as an actual object, external to the mind, is so difficult. When
we see the ordinary frivolity of man's life, we can hardly feel
his condition and interests to be in reality of such serious import.
To connect his doings with those wonders of the world unseen,
which Scripture tells us are going on at the same moment, is like
dovetailing the games of childhood into the serious business of
life. Our reason revolts at a process which " the course of this
world" so plainly contradicts. Thus does the Atheism of prac
tical life react against our Doctrinal Confessions. If prayers
were offered daily in all our churches, and if the perpetual minis
tration of holy things witnessed to a living belief in the nation's
mind, men's feelings might be more in accordance with the decla
rations of Scripture ; but at present they look at the actings of
Christ Our Lord as exerted either at the beginning or the end of
the system they live in. His present interference they limit to
that communication with man's inner thoughts which seems the
natural manner in which a Spiritual Being acts upon us ; and
that things are daily going on around us by which our position
and interests are actually affected — that Christ's intercession is
truly taking place above, and that the ordinances of the Church
are our means of participating in it — they cannot bring their
imagination to admit. Christ's interference they suppose must
respect something larger and more important than the ordinary
wants of man. It belongs to those days of wonder when heaven
and earth shall be confounded, as when His feet stood formerly
on the Mount of Olives, and when all nations shall behold Him
at the crack of doom.
When the ancient philosophers contemplated this material
firmament, its matchless beauty, its unvarying laws, its incal
culable extent, they felt unable to subordinate things so majestic
to the impotence of mankind. And their feeling certainly was
not unnatural, for " one in a certain place testified, saying, What

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 171
is man that Thou art mindful of him, or the Son of Man that
Thou visitest him?"1 Hence does Aristotle rate that knowledge
which concerns the external world, " cselique vias ac sideramon-
strat," more highly than what relates to man, because the subject
of this last is so inferior. This is in reality much the same feel
ing which has rolled back upon us in modern days through the
practical heathenism of civilized life. And its only antidote is
that which once dashed to pieces the Dagon of ancient Idolatry,
when it was enshrined in all the glory of earthly pomp in the
great temple of the Eoman Empire. For that which shows the
real dignity of man's nature, and corrects those opinions of his
insignificance which unaided reason not unfitly suggests, is the
Incarnation of Christ. And thus does it prepare us for that
truth of Our Lord's Intercession which otherwise our imagination
could hardly accept. For thus is heaven and earth set before us
as one mighty temple, wherein the Son of Man is discharging
His work of advocacy for our race. And low as men may be
fallen through sin, yet since the Son of God did not disdain to
take our nature, there is no other thing which we may not believe
that He will effect for our sakes. Thus is Christ's work of
Mediation grounded upon that self-originating nature of the Ever-
Blessed Godhead, which (p. 121) is the basis of all existence.
For this world, with its diversified contrivances and never-ending
activity, is but the shadow and reflection of that Divine Being
by whose will it exists. And in this Blessed Godhead is there
truly that diversity of Persons on which the functions of Medi
ation and Intercession depend. And for their exercise was the
world created. For " the Lord hath made all things for Him
self." And especially was this the object of man's being, " for
asmuch as he is the image and glory of God."2 For "this
people have I formed for Myself — they shall show forth My
praise." That He might exercise, then, this His Sacred Office,
did the Son take our nature. And, therefore, that the universe
should be built upon this principle — that the Eternal Son should
1 Hebrews ii. 6. 2 1 Corinthians xi. 7.

172 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR
be for ever discharging this work — that man should be thought
worthy of so much consideration — that the Second Person in the
Ever-Blessed Trinity should first sacrifice Himself for our sakes,
and then for ever act the part of our Intercessor — all this is to
be attributed not to man's deserts, but to "the depth of the
riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God : how unsearch
able are His judgments, and His ways past finding out."1
The only true reality, therefore — that which at this moment
all men ought to remember — the fact in which the whole world
has a common interest — on which those who read and he who
writes are alike dependent — which affects every age, state, and
country, which obtains for all an interval of trial and a hope of
pardon — is that the Son of God is even at this very moment
at the right hand of the Father, pleading the merits of His
death as the prevailing Intercessor for His brethren. And yet
the transitory affairs of life appear to us of overwhelming im
portance ; the achievements of individuals and the prosperity of
nations occupy every thought ; and the tide of corrupt passion
flows on in the very sight of heaven. The reason of course is
that our weak faith is insufficient to master our corrupt nature.
Yet something must be attributed also to the erroneousness as
well as to the weakness of faith ; and those two classes of error,
which re-appeared continually in ancient times as abstract mis
conceptions of Our Lord's nature, will be found to re-assert their
influence in that practical unbelief which is characteristic of
modern times. The heresies which in ancient days interfered
with the true belief in Christ were founded on a forgetfulness of
one or other of those natures, on which His Mediation depended ;
so that Jesus was not truly God according to the Arian, or the
Christ not really man, according: to- the Sabellian hypothesis.
Just the same alternation of errors may be found in the present
day, either contrasted with one another, if we consider their
speculative origin ; or agreeing, if we regard their practical denial
of that real work of Our Lord's Mediation, to which both are
1 Romans xi. 33.

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 173
equally opposed. The Socinian or Arian tendency of modern
days either looks upon Our Lord as having been always a mere
man, or supposes, at all events, that though intrusted formerly
with a Divine power for that work of Atonement which He
descended to effect, yet that His Godhead is now swallowed up
again in the Father's glory, that His work of Mediation is over,
and that our sole relation to Him at present, is to depend, and
reflect with gratitude, on His past work, to believe that it is our
ground of salvation, and to contemplate those lessons and that
example whereby He lives among us as a man upon earth. This
last species of Arianism, as entertained by those who call them
selves Christians, is nearly identical with that Sabellian heresy
which is attained by moving in an opposite direction, from a
denial of the real Manhood of Christ. So that it was truly
remarked by the late Mr. Blanco White, who made unhappy
trial of both these errors, under that practical form in which they
are at present predominant, that Sabellianism is only Socinian-
ism in disguise. For the Sabellian theory is, that there exists
no real diversity of Persons in the Ever-Blessed Trinity ; but
that for the sake of a temporary economy, and during the season
of His acting towards men upon earth, it pleased Him who com
monly calls Himself the Eternal Father, to be known under the
names of the Son and of Christ. His presence upon earth there
fore, however its particular events may be explained, must have
arisen from the mere indwelling of Divine power in some fleshly
habitation, and could not be that personal and permanent1 union
between God and man which is witnessed by the Church (p. 114).
Now this notion is manifestly inconsistent with a belief that at
this present moment man is God and God is man, and therefore,
that our Mediator is for ever pleading the merits of that sacrifice,
which in His own identical Person He effected on the Cross.
For in truth, according to this theory, there is no pleading of
1 One of the heresies condemned by S. Greg. Naz. (Ep. i. ad Cledonium,
p. 739) is, " sanctam carnem nunc depositam esse, nudamque ac corpore
vacuam divinitatem esse," &c.

174 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR
man's nature with God: the Son is merely a title substituted for
His Father's name during the mediatorial government of the
Church — the reality of His acts is evaporated — and a practical
unbelief in His operations is justified by His real non-existence
in the world of external realities. So necessary is the true
Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity to the real acceptance of the
Mediation of Christ. And that which countenances the practical
unbelief of the age is a too prevalent doctrinal unsoundness.
Where the reality of Our Lord's Mediation is firmly held, and
He is believed to be an actual Person other than the Eternal
Father, yet of one nature with Him, who is truly making Inter
cession for His brethren by the perpetual pleading of His crucified
body at the right hand of God, a ground-work is afforded for
men's belief in the objective existence of things unseen which
cannot be altogether inefficacious.
It is for the setting forth of this truth that the Scripture
statements respecting Our Lord's present work as God and Man
in His seen and unseen kingdom have been provided. For not
only has He been beheld by mortal eyes in His place of glory
— for St. Stephen saw the " Son of Man," Christ according to
His human nature, " standing on the right hand of God ;"* not
only did St. Paul hear Him declare His identity with that body
of the Church with which His manhood unites Him — " why
persecutest thou Me 1 " — but in the Book of Eevelation is dis
played at large that Christian Eitual which unites heaven and
earth. For whatever interpretation be adopted of that part of
the Book of Eevelation which relates to events on earth —
whether with the school of Mede it be supposed a continuous
narrative of the future — or whether it be regarded as a set of
pictures, repeatedly fulfilled in the successive relations of the
Church and the world — its description of things above is
plainly a vision of the same truth which in the Epistle to the
Hebrews is set forth argumentatively, that the whole Jewish
Eitual was an " example and shadow of heavenly things."2 Its
1 Acts vii. 56. 2 Heb. viii. 5.

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 175
fourth chapter, therefore, discovers to us the heavenly state,
exactly as it was typified by the presence of Jehovah in the
wilderness with the camp of Israel. The Living Beings who
represent the whole Christian congregation are described as
surrounding the Throne of God, just as the tribes of Israel,
with their corresponding emblems, encircled the Tabernacle of
the congregation. In front of the Throne, where was placed
the altar on which the lamb of the daily sacrifice was perpetu
ally presented, " stood a Lamb as it had been slain."1 Within
the Jewish Tabernacle, as afterwards within the Temple, the
first compartment was the Holy Place, where incense was per
petually offered. It was separated only by a veil from the Most
Holy Place, of which the main characteristic was the Mercy-seat,
the especial place where the Shekinah appeared. And so too
we have in heaven for the offering of incense, " the golden altar
which was before the Throne."2 The Mercy-seat, indeed, was
separated from the altar of incense which stood before it, by
the veil of the Temple. But the omission of this veil in the
description of the heavenly Temple in the Book of Eevelation
is exactly accordant with its general explanation of the Jewish
Eitual. For it separated between the outer Tabernacle, which
was a symbol of God's dwelling among men, and the inner,
which typified His heavenly presence. So they are explained
in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the first is said to be " a
figure for the time then present," that is, a type of God's
presence, as it was vouchsafed to the nation which was ap
pointed to serve Him ; while the second was a type of " heaven
itself,"3 whither Christ entered through the sacrifice of Him
self. Now, the breaking down of the separation between
heaven and earth was the very thing which was effected by
Christ's death, whereby we have " boldness to enter into the
holiest by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for
us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh." Therefore, not
only was the veil of the Temple rent at the hour of His sacri-
1 Rev. iv. 6 ; v. 6. 2 Rev. viii. 3. 3 Heb. ix. 9, 24.

176 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR
fice, as a sign of what was passing, but the graves were opened,
and many bodies of Saints which slept, arose and attended upon
His Eesurrection, as a proof that when He had " overcome the
sharpness of death," He had opened " the Kingdom of Heaven
to all believers." Thus was exhibited in fact, what in the Book
of Eevelation is shown in figure, that the prayers which are
offered on earth can ascend to heaven through the path which
has been opened for them by Christ their Intercessor. And,
therefore, when " the prayers of all Saints " were offered upon
"the golden altar which was before the Throne," no veil1
obstructed their access, but "the smoke of the incense which
came with the prayers of the Saints aseended up before
God." That the scene described in the Book of Eevelation repre
sents the collective service of God's people is affirmed by St.
Irenseus, a most adequate witness of what was understood to
be the intention of St. John's vision. " There is an altar," he
says, "in heaven, for to it our prayers and oblations are directed;
and a Temple, as St. John says in the Eevelation, 'the Temple
of God was opened in heaven ; ; and there is likewise a Taber
nacle, for 'the Tabernacle of God is with men.'"2 And the
same view appears to have been entertained by all the earliest
1 Here we see the explanation of what has sometimes been alleged to
be an error in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that the altar of incense is not
spoken of as connected with the Holy Place, but is represented as apper
taining to the Most Holy. Our translators, like the Vulgate, seem to have
designed to meet the difficulty by employing the word Censer (Heb. ix. 4)
for that which the old Italic rendered the Altar of Incense. But BvfiiaTiiptoy
is the word employed by St. Clement for. the Altar of Incense (Strom, v. p.
665), and it seems incredible that all mention of the altar should be omitted.
Now to leave out of account all higher considerations, how can it be sup
posed that a writer so conversant with the Jewish Ritual as the author of
this Epistle, could either be silent or mistaken respecting one of its most
essential features ? But let it be considered that the writer was con
templating the Jewish service through that reality which it was intended
to represent, and therefore that he viewed the offerings which were laid
upon God's altar as they might be viewed after the veil was done away in
Christ, and the altar of incense would, in truth, pertain to the Mercy-seat,
bsfore which it was placed, and not to the outer sanctuary in which it was
situate. 2 Revelation xi. 19 ; xxi. 3.— S. Irenasus iv. 18, 6, p. 252.

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 177
writers, who everywhere supposed the Holy Place, or outer
division of the Tabernacle, to have been symbolical of the state
of God's people upon earth — first, in their Jewish form, and
afterwards in their Christian character. " Midway between the
veil and the external covering, where the Priests only might
enter, lay the altar of incense, symbolical of this present world
and its state. This place lying midway between the Most Holy
Place and the external court of the people, they [i.e., the Jews]
speak of as intervening between heaven and earth." 1 Such
was the view which men would naturally take of it while the
way into the holiest of all was not yet open, and while the
Jewish worship alone kept up the hope of allying earth with
heaven. " But Christ being come, an High Priest of good
things to come, entered in once into the Holy Place." So that
" we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of
Him." And, therefore, says Origen, "that outer sanctuary I
suppose to be a type of the Church in which we are at present
placed, while we are in the flesh."2 So that the prayers of men
are perpetually ascending to God, not only for the sake of that
victim, who is ever set forth " a Lamb as it had been slain "
before God's throne, but likewise because the veil, by which
heaven and earth are naturally divided, is rent asunder in His
flesh.3 And thus a real service is continually going on, in which
our Mediator is pleading the merits of that crucified body which
He offered for our sakes.
Now, by what means we take part individually in this offer
ing shall be shown hereafter, and what are the services for which
the Intercession of Christ obtains acceptance. The thing at
present considered is that Intercession itself. It is a true
work going on from day to day, from which all human sup
plications derive their value. " The prayers of all Saints " are
effectual, because they are presented " upon the golden altar "
which is "before the throne." So that the Christian service
1 S. Clement's Stromata, v. p. 665.
2 Origen on Levit. Horn. ix. 9, vol. ii. p. 243. 3 Heb. x. 20.

178 CHRIST AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR.
throughout the world resembles the Jewish, in being a national
Eitual. " The holy Church throughout all the world doth
acknowledge Thee." But the Christian nation is not limited
like the Jewish by earthly pedigree ; neither is the one sex
debarred from the same fulness of approach which is conceded
to the other : " There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither
bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, but ye are
all one in Christ Jesus." x And this one Christian people has
likewise one mother city, where its collective offering is pre
sented on its behalf. But its capital is not on earth, but in
heaven, for " Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us
all."2 And it has one Priest, who, "because He continueth
ever, hath an unchangeable Priesthood." 3 And it has a single
victim, who has made " one perpetual sacrifice " (so should the.
words be rendered) " for sins." 4 And therefore has the Church
been directed by His express command to offer all prayers for
His sake. For thus is that Mediation maintained which con
stitutes Him the real Priest and the only victim. When He
was upon earth, those who saw Him addressed to Him requests
as one man does to another. They addressed themselves to
His man's nature, as His manhood could then be approached.
But now this mode of access is over, and yet the truth of His
Mediation implies that it is only through Him who is man that
we have access to God. Therefore we are to address God in
prayer, for God is the unseen object of our worship, but we
are to address God only through Him whose Intercession as
man is the ground of our hopes. " Whatsoever ye shall ask
the Father in My name, He will give it you." To approach
God in any other manner would be to claim such merit for
our own prayers as would imply that the Mediation of Christ
was superfluous. For if we could approach God by ourselves,
we should not need the intervention of Him who became man
for our sakes. Therefore, to believe in Christ's Mediation is
1 Gal. iii. 28. -- Gal. iv. 26.
3 Heb. vii. 24. 4 Heb. x. 12.

OUR LORD'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE. 179
to believe that through His manhood J alone can the Father be
addressed. Even what He Himself bestows on us as God, He
bestows for the sake of that man's nature, which gives Him
unity with our race : " Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name,
that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."2
.Thus it is, then, that we give effect to Our Lord's Mediation ;
that we recognize it as an actual work which He is discharging
for us both as God and Man. To this all prayer is relevant —
on this all worship depends. The Church's service goes on
from year to year, as His Intercession is perpetually made and
perpetually accepted. And we supplicate for it by our belief in
His present acts, and by our knowledge of His present nature.
Every prayer which we conclude in His name is as much an
appeal to His man's nature as though in Psalm or Litany we
were to number all His limbs, and recount all the circumstances ¦
of His Passion : " By the mystery of Thy Holy Incarnation ;
by Thy Holy Nativity and Circumcision ; by Thy Baptism,
Fasting, and Temptation; by Thine Agony and Bloody Sweat;
by Thy Cross and Passion ; by Thy precious Death and Burial;
by Thy glorious Eesurrection and Ascension ; and by the
Coming of the Holy Ghost :
"Good Lord Deliver Us."

CHAPTER X.
our lord's spiritual presence as mediator with men.
Our Lord's acts on our behalf towards God, since His Ascension
into heaven, are comprehended in Holy Scripture under the name
1 On this principle was built the practice of the African Church, which,
though addressing prayers to the Son at other times, prescribes : " Cum
Altari assistitur, semper ad Patrem dirigatur oratio." — Con. Garth. 3,
Can. 23, Hard. i. p. 963.
Mr. Maskell {Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England, p. 32) gives the
reason from Card. Bona, ." quia Missa reprsesentatio est ejus oblationis,
qua Christus se Patri obtulit." 2 St. John xvi. 23 ; xiv. 13.

180 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
of His Intercession. His actions as Mediator towards man may
in like manner be summed up in the single term of His Presence.
For so He has Himself taught us in the last words of St.
Matthew's Gospel, leaving it as a sufficient warrant and charter
for those who were commissioned to "make disciples of all
nations," that " I am with you always, even to the end of the
world." All the blessings which Our Mediator bestows, are com
prehended in this one, or consequent upon it. The efficacy of
Christian prayers is because He is in the midst ; so identified is
He with His people, that the prediction of the Old Testament
that He should receive gifts, is declared in the New to have
been fulfilled at His Ascension, because then He gave them ; ]
and the peculiar blessing conferred by the gift of the Holy
Ghost, is explained to be His own return : " I will not leave you
comfortless, I will come to you." 2 For on His Presence who is
Mediator between God and Man, is our whole life dependent ;
the winds may rage, the waters swell, but while He is in the
ship it cannot perish; those who are assured of their union with
.Him have the only pledge of safety : " My Father which gave
them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand." This great truth, then, of Our Lord's
Presence with His people, we proceed in some feeble manner to
set forth ; and like the ointment which was poured upon His
sacred body, may this service be accepted, not according to its
intrinsic value, but as a token of reverence and of worship.
Since it has been revealed to us that in Our Lord two distinct
natures have been conjoined in one Presence, to inquire what is
meant by His Presence among men, of necessity involves the con
sideration how far each nature contributes to it. For since He
is man as well as God, there must be a presence of the inferior as
well as of the higher nature ; and since it was for the very purpose
Df Mediation that He united them, so long as either is excluded, it
is impossible to estimate the full extent of His office. So that it
is necessary to ask what is meant by that peculiar Presence of
1 Ephesians iv. 8 ; Psalm lxviii. 18. 2 St. John xiv. 18.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 181
Christ, which He exercises as the God-man. It is not enough
to say that Christ is a Divine Being, who is present in some
manner or other, since this would not be to advance beyond
the simplest truth of natural religion. This might only be the
Sabellian custom of calling God by the name of Christ, without
discriminating those conditions under which the Second Person in
the Ever-Blessed Trinity has been pleased to reveal Himself. To
believe in God's existence is to believe in an Infinite Being, who
must, therefore, in some manner or other be everywhere at hand.
But this falls far short of believing in Christ as a Mediator. The
doctrines of revealed religion are those which we seek : and it
will not suffice, therefore, to rest in such thoughts of a Divine
Presence as the mere religion of nature will supply. This might
consist with a disbelief in the reality of those external gifts
of grace, on whieh man's regeneration is dependent We must
pass beyond this to " the full assurance of understanding, to the
acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and
of Christ."1 This mystery it was the very object of Scripture
to reveal, and there will be points in it, therefore, by which the
interests of the simplest Christian will be affected. Our object
is not to settie any abstract questions respecting Christ's nature,
but only to assert that there is such reality in His Presence
as the doctrine of His Mediation involves. The points to be
established are : First — That according to Scripture, Christ's
predicted Presence is His Presence as Man. as well as His
Presence as God. Secondly — That the Presence of Christ, ac
cording to His human nature, is a spiritual not a carnal Presence.
Thirdly — That to be the agent whereby Christ is thus present
is the peculiar office of God the Holy Ghost. Fourthly — That
hereby mankind receive those spiritual blessings which the Head
and Pattern of the renewed race has made His own manhood
the ehannel for communicating to His brethren.
I. Now, the promise of His perpetual Presence was not
given to Our Lord's Disciples after His Eesurrection only, but it
1 Colossdans ii. 2.

182 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
had also been communicated previously, as St. John informs us,
for their support in His season of humiliation. The promise was,
that He who was taken from them should come back : " I will
not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. " This was the
especial advantage which they were to receive through the in
fluence of the Comforter : " I will come again and receive you
unto Myself."1 And this was a promise which the residue of
the world should not share ; it was the peculiar privilege as it
was the pecular hope of Our Lord's chosen followers : " A little
while and the world seeth Me no more, but ye see Me ; because
I live, ye shall live also." Our Lord's declaration, therefore,
could not have referred to that coming as Judge in which all
men will have an equal share. Neither could it be fulfilled during
that interval of forty days which followed His Resurrection,
because He goes on to say that " we will come unto him and
make our abode with him."2 His promises look to the restora
tion of that which was about to be lost to them — the presence,
namely, of Our Lord according to His human nature. They
seem not to be adequately fulfilled by that mere presence of
Deity of which no part of space can ever be divested. In this
sense Our Lord never left them,3 and could never return.
That which went away and came again must in some way or
other have had relation to the human substance, to which
departure and restoration properly belong. And, accordingly,
when the promise of perpetual Presence was given before His
Ascension, it was directly grounded on that new authority, with
which, according to His man's nature, He was invested : " All
power is given unto Me in heaven and earth. Go ye, therefore,
and make disciples of all nations ;" " and lo, I am with vou
alway, even unto the end of the world." •
Again, that Our Lord's Presence has especial reference to His
human nature may be inferred from the limitation which binds
1 St. John xiv. 18, 3. 2 St. John xiv. 19, 23.
3 " Ibat per id quod homo erat, et manebat per id, quod Deus erat."' 
S. Aug. in Joan. 78, 1.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 183
it to places, times, and modes of action. It pertains to the very
essence of Deity to be everywhere ; and, therefore, when Our
Lord said, " where two or three are gathered together in My
name, there am I in the midst of them," His words connect
themselves with that other nature, according to which alone it
was possible that He should be absent.
But it will naturally occur as objections both to this state
ment and to that expectation which might have been budt, as
is alleged, upon the promise to the Apostles : First, that in the
gift of the Holy Ghost the coming of a Divine Person is
plainly promised ; and secondly, that under the ancient covenant
the Almighty bestowed His help in such particular places, times,
and manners, on His chosen people, as to justify the expression,
" My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest."1
These considerations, however, will be found only to substantiate
what has been advanced. Leaving the first for the present, it
is sufficient to say in regard to the second, that one essential
condition of the Doctrine of Mediation is, that whatever means
of access were afforded men in former times, either by Temple,
Prophet, or Angel, have all been concentrated under the Gospel
Covenant in the manhood of Christ. For in Him, as " the Son
of Man,"2 we see the true Jacob's Ladder, whereby the Angels
hold intercourse with earth ; so that since His Incarnation, their
ministrations have had reference either to His natural body, or
to His body mystical, the Church.3 And He is the one
Prophet4 of the New Covenant, and His flesh is " the true Taber
nacle which the Lord pitched and not man." And, therefore,
that God should have spoken " at sundry times and in divers
manners," does not interfere with the truth that in the Gospel
Covenant His promises are all centred in the Presence of that
" one Mediator, the Man Christ Jesus.'' It is not meant that
God could not connect His blessings with particular persons or
places, but that to do so was to employ created media as instru-
1 Exod. xxxiii. 14. 2 St. John i. 51.
3 Rev. xxii. 9 ; Eph. iii. 10. 4 Heb. i. 1.

184 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
ments of His mercy, and that all such media have been super
seded by the one Person of the Incarnate Son. In his day was
Moses a Mediator ; the Priests were Mediators ; the Angels
exercised an intermediate ministry. But all these only exer
cised a function by way of office, which in the fulness of time
was taken in its completeness by Him, who, by the constitution
of His nature, was the true and real Mediator between God and
Man. So that what happened beforetime was subordinate to
that which was actually fulfilled in the Incarnation of Christ ;
and it was in His Person who could say primarily, " the Father
is in Me, and I in Him,"1 that "the Tabernacle of God" was
"with men."2
And further it must be considered that those interventions
which were allowed in earlier times were through the power
and agency of the same uncreated Word who has concentrated
all the functions of Mediation in His human body, since that
day when by an Angel He announced His approach. His
previous selection therefore of places, times, and persons, is no
ground for doubting, but rather countenances that rule, which
it has been His will' to adopt since He became manifest in the
flesh. It is not of moment to the general argument whether on
those earlier occasions He spoke to men directly, or employed
the intervention of inferior beings as instruments of His will.
The first appears to have the opinion of some of the most an
cient writers ;3 since the time of St. Augustin,4 the assertion that
the law was " received by the disposition of Angels,"5 has been
taken usually in its literal sense. Perhaps both opinions may be
well founded, and the Uncreated Angel, who had appeared to
Moses at the Bush, may have given place after the transgression
of the Israelites to the Created Angel,6 who subsequently
guided them. Some such change in the manner of their direc-
1 St. John x. 38. 2 Revelation xxi. 3.
3 Tertullian ad. Marc. ii. 27 ; ad Prax. 14 and 16 ; Just. Dial, cum Try-
phone, 56 — 60.
4 De Trinitate, iii. 11 ; vide Pet. De Trin. viii. 2, 15.
6 Acts vii. 53. 6 Exod. xxxiii. 2, 3.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 185
tion is expressly recorded. That it was an Angel who sub
sequently appeared to Daniel1 is manifest, since he " speaks of
Michael as his fellow," and such was probably the leader of the
Lord's Host,2 who was beheld by Joshua.3 But, however this
point may be decided, it was plainly the Eternal Word who
was present, whether by vision or by His ministers, since He it
was, who even in former times had His " delights with men."
And since His Incarnation, He has concentrated in His man's
nature whatever opportunities of union with Him were before
possessed. To Himself, as Man, and not " unto the Angels,"
did He put in subjection that coming dispensation4 of the
Gospel which we now possess. And, therefore, whereas in
earlier time those ministering beings were received by men with
such signs of reverent salutation as the inferior might well pay
to the superior creature, as the examples of Manoah,5 and
Daniel,6 if not of Joshua7 declare ; yet was similar submission
refused by the Angel whom St. John beheld, because " I am
thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the Prophets, and of
them which keep the sayings of this book."8 So that now what
soever has the character of worship is to pass through that one
channel which through the human nature of the Eternal Word
has been opened to mankind. By God's Presence was intended
in former times whatever opportunity of intercourse was afforded
through those earthly instruments of Mediation which He was
pleased to adopt as His temporary representatives among men.
But now a new mode of Mediation has been substituted for all
other conditions either of time or place. And the efficacy of
prayer is grounded upon the assurance of that peculiar Presence
which through His human nature Our Lord vouchsafes, because
1 Daniel x. 5-14. 2 Josh. v. 15.
3 This is maintained by Dr. Mill, with his usual learning and ability,
in his Christian Advocate's Publication for 1841.
* Heb. ii. 5. 6 Judges xiii. 20. 6 Dan. x. 15. ' Josh. v. 14.
" Rev. xxii. 9. " Before, in the Old Testament [Angels] suffered David
to sit upon his knees before them (1 Chron. xxi. 16) ; since, in the New,
they endure not St. John should fall down to them." — Biihop Andrews,
Sermon I. on the Nativity.

186 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
it rests upon the reality of His Mediation : " If two of you shall
agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall
be done for them of My Father which is in heaven. For where
two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in
the midst of them." To refer this to His Divine nature alone,
would be to neutralize the efficacy of His Mediation, since it is
His character as Man which has rendered Him the counterpart
of those means of access which before existed. And since it
is as Mediator that He is present among men, His presence
must plainly be through that human nature which He has taken
as the means of union between heaven and earth.
II. But though Our Lord's Presence be the Presence of His
man's nature, it is yet a spiritual and not a carnal Presence.
Christ is present with His people and present as man, but He is
present not by material contact, but by spiritual power. Though
that human nature which is material as well as immaterial may
not be left out when we speak of His Presence as Mediator, yet
His Presence is brought about through the power of that other
nature which is wholly immaterial and Divine. For when His
Incarnation joined Manhood and Godhead together, it left the
essential properties of each undestroyed. What these properties
are we may in some measure conclude, from the experience of
our own being. For from our own nature1 we gain a knowledge
of two modes of existence, which we describe respectively as
body and spirit. We call that bodily which is present in place
and limited by outline ; and of this kind of existence our senses
either take note, or we feel a conviction that, if they were subtile
enough, they would be able to take note of it. That other kind
of existence, of the reality whereof we are equally persuaded, but
which is free from such conditions, we speak of as spiritual. And
we have a conviction respecting the modes of action, which belong
to each of these kinds of existence, which is not to be called a
consequence of the definition which has been assigned to them,
1 Vigil, c. Futych. v. 6.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 187
but is part of the original idea, which the name either of body or
spirit expresses. For respecting the first, as Tucker observes, it
is "an uncontroverted maxim and self-evident truth,'' "that
nothing can act or be acted upon where it is not."1 This appears
to be a portion of what is intended, when we say that bodies are
present in space. And therefore even in respect to such influ
ences as gravity, we feel a conviction that there must be what
he expresses as " some medium passing between the agent and
the patient." The actings of spirit on the other hand, are not
shackled, so far as we know, by any such law. To suppose
them subject to it would, in fact, be to maintain that spirit is
present in place, which is contrary to our whole idea of its
nature. And therefore when Our Lord by His word healed
persons who were at a distance from Him, none ever hesitated
to assign His actions to a spiritual power, because they were
obviously independent of any material medium. There may be
other qualities in each nature which we do not discern, but this
is what men commonly mean to express by body and spirit.
Our knowledge of either is derived from the fact that each man
is a link between these two dissimilar kingdoms. For one is as
real as the other, and though our acquaintance with them is
gained in different ways, yet it rests ultimately on the same
principle of inward consciousness. The existence of what is
material cannot, properly speaking, be proved by experiment, for
experiment only proves that certain impressions are made upon
our senses : and what is to assure us that these impressions have
counterparts in the external world ? The irresistible conviction
of our own mind is our assurance. And from the same source,
according to the saying of Descartes, cogito ergo sum, have we
the assurance of our spirit's existence.
In this manner it is, then, that we become conversant with
these two worlds of matter and of spirit, our chief knowledge of
which is, in truth, only a conviction that the one is a reality
1 Light of Nature, vol ii. p. 1, c. 5.

188 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
existing without and within our body and our mind, just as much
as the other. Now, we learn from Holy Writ, that in Christ our
Mediator there' is that man's nature in which these two principles
of matter and spirit exist together, and also that nature of God
which is wholly immaterial. For " God is a Spirit." And in
Christ these two natures retain each their perfect essence, though
each co-operating towards the execution of His Will. For
though glorified, it is yet with a man's body that He has risen
and ascended. So He assured His Disciples after His Eesurrec
tion : " Handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones
as ye see Me have." "We nothing doubt," says Hooker, "but
God hath many ways, above the reach of our capacities, exalted
that body, which it hath pleased Him tp make His own."1
And what may be within the capacity of human bodies we
know not. St. Paul was caught up into the third heaven ;
whether it was in the body or out of the body, as he knew not,
others cannot affirm. The miraculous appearances, therefore, of
Our Lord's body to His Disciples after His Eesurrection, are not
inconsistent with the reality of His corporeal frame. But we are
expressly told that at His Ascension Our Lord's body went up
into heaven, as into a place which it will inhabit, subject to the
conditions of material existence, till the Last Day : " This same
Jesus which is taken up from you, shall so come in like manner
as ye have seen Him go into heaven." For "the heaven must
receive " Him, "until the times of restitution of all things." In
this abode accordingly was He beheld by St. Stephen in his hour
of martyrdom. To assert of this Body which ascended into
heaven that it had no material conditions different from those
which belong to simple Deity, would be the error of Eutyches,
who maintained that the properties of Our Lord's Manhood were
altogether lost in His Godhead. Now, " there is no proof in the
world strong enough to enforce that Christ had a true body,
but by the true and natural properties of His body. Amongst
1 Eecl. Pol. v. 54, 9.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 189
which properties, definite or local presence is chief." For if His
material presence could be in heaven and also upon earth, then,
as Hooker expresses it, "hath the majesty of His estate extin
guished the verity of Hia nature." x And to this our Church
refers when she asserts that to be in " two places at once " is
against the "truth of Christ's natural Body." She does not
enter into the metaphysical properties of substance ; but since
Our Lord is declared to have a natural body consubstantial with
ours, to fix the place of that body in heaven is the same thing as
to declare that its material presence is removed from earth.2
" Make thou no doubt or question of it," saith St. Augustin,
" but that the Man Christ Jesus is now in that very place from
whence He shall come in the same form and substance of flesh
which He carried thither, and from which He hath not taken
nature, but given thereunto immortality. According to this form
He spreadeth not out HimseK into all places. For it behoveth
us to take great heed, lest while we go about to maintain the
glorious Deity of Him which is man, we leave Him not the true
bodily substance of a man."3 Since Our Lord's Body then is in
heaven, and since it belongs to the truth of His manhood that, in
regard to its material operations, it should be subject to the con
ditions which discriminate body from spirit — one of which is to
act where they are — it follows that though Our Lord's presence
upon earth as Mediator is not independent of His nature as man,
yet that it is brought about by His Divine and immaterial
nature ; that its medium of operation is not material contact, but
spiritual power.
We are assured moreover by Our Lord Himself, that the
removal of His bodily form into heaven would be a step
which should lead to that spiritual Presence whieh He has since
vouchsafed. After declaring the fact that His man's body
1 Eecl. Pol. v. 55, 6.
- ' ' Quando in terra fuit caro, non erat utique in coelo. Et nunc quia in
ccelo est, non est utique in terra." — Vigil, c. Eutych. iv. 14.
3 St. Augustin, in Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. 55, 6.

190 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
would be the medium through which He would convey heavenly
gifts-^("for My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink
indeed ; " " this is the bread which cometh down from heaven ")
— He proceeds to represent His spiritual Presence as consequent
on His Ascension into heaven : " What and if ye shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where He was before. It is the Spirit
that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." "When the Son
of Man," says St. Leo, "betook Himself to the glory of His
Father's Majesty, He began in some ineffable manner to be
nearer by His Divine power, for the very reason that, according
to His humanity, He was removed further off." And therefore
it was, he adds, that Mary Magdalen might not touch Him
before His Ascension : " I would not have you come to Me in
bodily wise, nor recognize Me by carnal touch : I put you off to
something higher, I prepare for you something greater : when I
am ascended to My Father, then you shall touch Me in a more
true and perfect manner, when you shall lay hold of that
which you do not touch, and believe that which you do not
behold."1 Whether we look, then, to the declarations of Scripture
respecting the departure of Our Lord's body from earth to
heaven, or to what He tells us of the source of that influence
which He there exerts, we must conclude that the Presence of
Our Mediator, though not independent of His fleshly nature, is
brought about by the intervention of that Divine nature which
is irrespective of material contact and of contiguity of place.
It only remains to observe further, that such spiritual Presence
is not less real than that which is material, depending only on
another mode of existence, which has its own being and its own
laws. Some persons suppose that nothing is real, except what
is sensible; and, therefore, that Christ's real Presence is not
identical with His spiritual Presence — that those who assert the
one, deny the other. Their mistake arises from the circumstance,
that language is founded upon terms which are supplied to us
1 S. Leo, Sermon lxxii. 4.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 191
by our observation of the world of sense, so that the operations
of mind can only be expressed by analogies and figures. But
what is figurative is the expression — not the thing expressed.
The word spirit is derived from "spiro," to "breathe or blow,"
in consequence of the' analogy, pointed out by Our Lord Him
self,1 between the more subtile part of the material world and
that world which is immaterial. But because the word " spirit "
is a metaphorical term, derived in the Latin and Greek languages
from the action of the breath, we are not to infer that there is
no such principle in man as an immaterial soul. The necessary
deficiencies of language do not derogate from the certainty of
those existences to which our consciousness witnesses, and which
lead us up by the shortest track to the very throne of God.
" For God did not make our spirits and depart from them, but
they are of Him and in Him."2 And unless spirit be something
less real than body, spiritual presence is not less real than
bodily presence. All that can be asserted of it is, that it is of
a different nature and regulated by a different law. Bodies are
present by contiguity of place — spirits by a different law.
When we speak, therefore, of Our Lord's spiritual Presence, the
word Presence which we employ is a figurative term certainly,
because it is borrowed from the world of matter : but it is not
the less a reality, that some peculiar influence or power of our
Mediator, the God-man, is exerted through the intervention of
His Deity, in those places, times, and manners, to which His
Presence is pledged in the Kingdom of Grace.
Neither is this Presence merely that He is an object to men's
thoughts, as Jerusalem was present to David from the Land of
Hermon. The reality of Christ's Presence depends on Himself,
not on those He visits. It had been an unmeaning promise to
His Disciples, that His Presence should return to them through
the power of the Holy Ghost, had He designed only that
through the exertion of their mental faculties they might think
1 St. John iii. 8.
2 S. Aug. Con. iv. 12, 1.

192 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
of Him who was departed. In this sense how is Christ present
more than any Angel in light ? We are speaking not of men's
actings towards Him, but of His actings towards them, since
His Ascension into heaven. As He acts for them by interces
sion with the Father, so are we assured that He acts towards
'them by His Presence with Power. What is meant by His
office as Mediator, unless through the annexation of the Divine
to the Human nature, the latter has in itself some real influence
independently of our thoughts ? And this is the answer to the
assertion, that since a body must either be present in any place,
or not present in it, therefore Christ's body must either be
materially present in the consecrated elements at the Holy
Eucharist, or we must allow that His Presence is merely figura
tive. Doubtless it were so, if His body were a human body
alone ; but because He is Divine also, it has likewise that other
medium of communication which does not depend upon local
contiguity, but upon spiritual power. Even the sun, because
its influence is more wide than its actual limits, while it is at
rest in its place in the sky, is present upon earth by the effluence
of its beams. But that Sacred Manhood which was created for
the service of the Mediator between God and men, in which
were stored up " the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," that
from it " grace and truth " might flow forth into the whole race
of man, has a real medium of presence through the Deity which
is joined to it : so that it can be in all places and with all per
sons — not figuratively, but in truth — not by material contact,
but by the power of a spiritual presence. And while its material
place is among the armies of heaven, its spiritual presence is
among the inhabitants of the earth, when, how, and whereso
ever is pleasing to His own gracious will.
III. It has been asserted, then, that the Presence of Christ
is the Presence of His man's nature ; and again, that this
Presence is brought about not by material contact, but by
spiritual power. Now, it was for the very purpose of uniting
men in this wise to their great Mediator the man Christ

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 193
Jesus, that the gift of the Holy Ghost was bestowed.1 It
is His especial office that those in whom He takes up His
dwelling are joined by grace to that man's nature which by
personal union is one with God. This point it is which must
next be considered.
The gift of the Holy Ghost is declared in Holy Scripture to
proceed directly from that Blessed Mediator, who, " when He
ascended up on high, led captivity captive, and gave gifts
unto men." What He received in that He was human, the
same He had power to give, because He was Divine. The
consecration of His man's nature made it the fountain from
which grace should flow forth into His brethren. So soon
as that exaltation of humanity, which it gained by His In
carnation, was perfected by His consequent Obedience, He
bestowed as Mediator that renewing power which the Third
Person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity was the willing agent to
convey. And this is why God the Holy Ghost can be spoken
of as coming to men, who otherwise, like each Person of the
Almighty Three, leaves no portion of space or duration of time
unoccupied by His Presence. Now this gift, as the Psalmist
predicts, Christ as Mediator was to receive, that afterwards,
according to the saying of the Apostle, He might bestow it upon
men.2 For, " being by the right hand of God exalted, and
having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." And
therefore is this Blessed Person of the co-equal Trinity spoken of
as sent by the Mediator, because through His exaltation does the
Mediator participate by gift in that universal dominion, which
as the Eternal Son He participated by nature : " If I go not
away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I
will send Him unto you." " He shall glorify Me, for He shall
1 "The flesh of the Lord," says St. Athanasius, meaning thereby His
Humanity, " is a quickening Spirit, because it -was engendered by the
quickening Spirit ; for that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." — De
Incarnat. et c. Arian. 16, vol. i. p. 883.
2 Compare Psalm lxviii. 18 and Ephesians iv. 8. 0

194 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that
the Father hath are Mine." It is as a result therefore of Our
Lord's Mediation that we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,1
which He who shares the Eternal Godhead bestows on those to
whom He has condescended to be a brother.
And the purpose for which this gift is bestowed falls entirely
within the limits of the Mediation of Christ, since its object is
that those whom He elects to be His own may be joined to that
manhood which He has consecrated. The office of the Holy Ghost
in the Gospel Kingdom is that men may become the sons of
God by grace — by their union with that man who is the Son of
God by nature. For as we are men by natural alliance with that
¦ first man Adam, who by reason of his creation is called God's
son, so we are renewed men only if we are joined by supernatural
union to that Second Man, the new Adam, who is God's Son, by
nature. Through this means do spiritual graces descend from
God, the fountain of life, into man's being. And in this
gracious work it has been the pleasure of God the Holy Ghost
to co-operate. " Although the Holy Ghost or Third Person in
the Trinity," says Dr. Jackson, " doth immediately and by
personal propriety work faith and other spiritual graces in our
souls, yet doth He not by these spiritual graces unite our souls
or spirits immediately unto Himself, but unto Christ's human
nature."1 And so says St. Athanasius, that " the Spirit is the
Unction and the Seal, whereby the Word anoints and seals all
things."2 And for this we have Our Lord's express assurance,
in that the perpetual Presence which He promised to His
servants, and which has been shown to be the Presence of His
man's nature, is declared by Him to be the immediate con
sequence of the coming and work of the Holy Ghost. For this
perpetual Presence is declared to be the result of that departure
^according to the flesh, whereby He ascended to His Father's
1 Jackson's Com. on Creed, xi. 3, 12.
2 Ep. I. ad Scrap. 23.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. • 195
glory to receive gifts for men. Christ is perpetually present,
because, being raised to the right hand of power, He is perpetu
ally conferring those spiritual gifts of which His manhood has
become the fountain to His brethren. And this He promised to
His Disciples as the result of His temporary departure : " A
little while and ye shall not see Me ; and again a little while,
and ye shall see Me, because I go to the Father." "All the
best interpreters are decided that the reference is not to Our
Lord's bodily Eesurrection, with which the words, 'because I go to
My father,' are inconsistent ; we must rather understand the
' seeing again,' as in St. John xiv. 19, of the inward and spiritual
working of Christ."1 And hence we have the interpretation of
the tenth verse of the same chapter : " When He (the Com
forter) is come, He will convince (or instruct)2 the world of sin,
and of righteousness, and of judgment."' " Of righteousness because
I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more." The instruction
concerning righteousness is made to depend on that exaltation of
the Mediator into heaven whereby His man's nature has become
the fountain of grace. Thus are the lessons- of righteousness con
veyed to mankind by the Holy Ghost. This Blessed Spirit
becomes the agent through which that sanctified humanity of
the Son of God exerts its renewing influence upon the defiled
humanity of His brethren. " The Spirit testifies as of sin, so
of righteousness, because it reveals how the Saviour, though
departed in body, works unseen in the renewal of the inner
life."3 That it should be the office of the Holy Ghost to unite
men in this manner to the humanity of Christ is the result
therefore of His co-operating in that Mediatorial function which
the Eternal Son became Incarnate to undertake. To regard the
actings of the Holy Ghost as directed into any other channel,
1 Olshausen on St. John xvi. 16.
2 4\4yx*iv. Tholuck observes in loco, implies the allied significations of
xonviction, blame, instruction.
3 Olshausen on St. John xvi. 10.

196 • CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
would be to suppose that there was some other name than that
of Christ given under heaven, whereby we might be saved. Its
real tendency would be to substitute the Holy Ghost in place of
the Son, or rather to maintain, that whereas the work of men's
government and salvation was at one time discharged by God
under the name of Christ, at a later period there was a new
title adopted, and the same Being reappeared under the name
of the Holy Ghost. And thus we should be led back into the
same system of Sabellianism which has been before exhibited,
and the real existence of the Three Persons in the Blessed
Trinity would be lost sight of. True it is that it has been the
will of God the Holy Ghost to co-operate with the Word in the
work of man's salvation, without always explaining to us what is
due to one of these Blessed Persons, and what to the other.1 At
the Incarnation of the Son of God, it was the Holy Ghost
who overshadowed His Virgin Mother ; and yet "Wisdom hath
builded " itself a house out of the materials of man's nature.
Again, Christ "by the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot
to God." And there is a perpetual co-operation between these
Divine Persons, in that while Christ is the " one Mediator be
tween God and men," the Holy Ghost is that "one and the
self-same Spirit,"2through whom His Mediation becomes effectual.
Christ is the one "name under heaven given among men, whereby
we must be saved." But in this salvation men have part through
"the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in My name." So that while Christ is the Head of
the body, the Holy Ghost is that living soul by which all its
parts are bound together. " For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body." As Christ was "quickened by the
Spirit,"3 so it is asserted of ourselves, that " if we have been
planted together in the likeness of His Death, we shall be also
in the likeness of His Eesurrection." So that St. Austin asserts,
1 Vide Preface to St. Hilary, 57-68.
2 1 Cor. xii. 11.
3 1 Peter iii. 18.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 197
" what our spirit or life is to our limbs, such is the Holy Ghost
to the members of Christ, that is, to His body the Church."1
And therefore, whether we regard the influence of the Second
Person in the Ever-Blessed Trinity, or the co-operation of the
Third, it is the purpose alike of each to join us to that manhood
of Christ Our Lord whereby He has become Mediator for our
race. And St. Gregory complains of it as an error of the Apol-
linarians, that they interpreted the words, " we have the mind of
Christ," as though they referred to His Deity alone, whereas
they have reference, he says, to that purified humanity of the
Son of God which was set forth as a model to His brethren.2
For if this principle of interpretation be forgotten, the Second
Person in the Blessed Trinity must needs be confounded with
the Third, as by the Sabellians both the Second and the Third
are confounded with the First. Now, the distinction between
the offices of these two Blessed Persons is real, and not merely
technical or artificial, because it proceeds from that Personal
diversity by which they are really distinguished. And there
fore to neglect it, as St. Athanasius3 complains, would be to
make the Blessed Trinity a mere trick [axpi iraiSias], a
system of names without truth. And since the proper diversity
of Persons in the glorious Godhead is the real beginning of all
creaturely existence, and the basis of all thought, the final result
of this error would be to resolve everything into a mere abstract
Theism, and to absorb all existence into its primary source.
IV. We come now to that point on which this whole Chapter
1 In Preface to St. Hilary, sec. 78. 2 Ep. II. to Cledonius, sec. 6.
3 ' ' For the name of the Son and of the Spirit would be put an end to,
when their purpose was fulfilled. And the whole system of the Gospel
would be a mere trick, exhibited in name and not in truth. And since
according to this theory the name of the Son would be lost, the grace of
Baptism would be lost along with it. For it is a Baptism in the name of
the Son. And what will follow but the destruction of the whole creation P
For the "Word came forth that we might be created, and through His
coming forth we exist. And, therefore, if He is lost again in the Father,
as the Sabellians represent, we too shall cease to be. For on this principle
all is to return to its original estate, and with the office of the Son, they
must annihilate His Creation." — Or. IV. c. Arian. 25.

198 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
is dependent — What is the especial end and purpose of that
union with the man's nature of the Son of God, which it is the
office of the Holy Ghost to bestow ? Such union has been
shown to be the real meaning of that Presence with men
which was promised as the result of Our Lord's Ascension to
the Father. For this Presence is not irrespective of His man's
nature ; yet not a Presence in place or by material contact ; its
medium of operation is that spiritual power which the manhood
derives from personal union with Deity. But yet the question
recurs, what is the object of this Presence ? And unless this
point be clearly understood, every other part of the inquiry is
useless. The mere technical assertion of such a dogma, irre
spective of any influence upon man's condition and conduct,
would be arbitrary and artificial. So that it would partake of
the repulsiveness which naturally attaches to all doctrinal asser
tions, when they are put forth merely for the purpose of com
pleting a theological system, or of supporting established
institutions. In a case so serious as this, men cannot yield
their assent to the mere child's play of logical subtilty; and
still more are they indignant if sacred considerations are made
subservient to mere worldly ends. Conscience and the unseen
world ought not to be dealt with as legal fictions. Man's indi
vidual account is so much more important than the mere
perpetuation of the best scheme of government, that if this be .
all which is aimed at in authorized formularies, they are of
trivial moment when put in competition with the realities of
grace and holiness. Men are perfectly right in feeling more
interest in what concerns personal religion than in any doctrinal
considerations, so long as our salvation depends upon the first,
and the second only contribute to the quiet administration of
the Church and the country. Such is the case respecting many
disputes whieh unhappily divide Christians. And this it is
which makes what are called Church and State questions
offensive to serious minds. They are naturally averse to sacri
fice the eternal interests of Christ's Kingdom to its mere

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 199
temporal organization. No doctrines, therefore, or usages, can
be felt to be really important, which do not rest immediately
upon what is sacred and Divine. And if the truth of our
union with the manhood of Christ Our Lord be worth attend
ing to, it must be in consequence of its connection with the
individual hopes and interests of men.
Now, this connection depends upon that leading feature in
Our Lord's human character, that He was not a man, but the
man ; the Son of Man, that is, in whom the collective character
of the race found its representative ; the Pattern of our Being ;
its new Head ; who came onee in the fulness of time " to gather
together all things" in Himself. For through Him was that
higher nature 1 introduced into our fallen race, by which its
ancient deterioration may be corrected. From which circum
stance it follows that salvation is not attained by human efforts,
but by the gift of God. For it was not only that Christ
exhibited the natural qualities of manhood in their most perfect
state, but that He conferred upon it a power which was above
nature. Through the union of Godhead and Manhood in His
single Person, there was infused into that humanity, which He
shared with us, such grace as sufficed for the whole generation
of His kindred.2 That so we might be "made the sons of God,
as He the Son of Man ; we made partakers of His Divine, as
He of our human nature."3 For this reason the work of Media
tion depends upon that union with the Manhood of Christ to
which " by one spirit " we are admitted. For the union of
mankind with Christ is not a mere imitation — the following a
good model — the fixing our thoughts upon One who has shown
in the clearest manner how God may be served and men bene-
1 "Non enim superare possemus peceati et mortis auctorem, nisi
naturam nostram ille susciperet, et suam faceret, quern nee peccatum
contaminare, nee mors potuit detinere." — <S. Leo, Ep. 24, 2.
2 ' ' Ti^oiItoi «al xpl*™ Kal ayi£(enu &' rip-as, Iva St' avrov Tpi%V «'s
ir&VTas i] X^Ptst ®s ffiv SoBe'io-a Trj (pvffei, nal \oLirbv o\(p aw^op.4yn T<p yeyei."
— S. Cyril Thesaurus, xx. vol. v. p. 197.
3 Bishop Andrews's Fourth Sermon on the Nativity.

200 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
fited — it is an actual and a real union, whereby all renewed men
are joined to the Second, as they were by nature to the first
Adam. This union cannot be explained away in the kingdom
of grace, unless it is first explained away in the kingdom of
nature. Unless " sin standeth " only " in the following of
Adam, as the Pelagians do vainly talk," holiness must involve
not the mere imitation, but the putting on, of the man Christ
Jesus. By what means the relation is maintained, is in each
case an inexplicable mystery ; the natural alliance which takes
place by descent being not less wonderful than that supernatural
alliance which is brought about by regeneration. To analyze
the law of family affinity is as much beyond our powers as to
understand how "as many as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ." The first is that transmission of the
nature of our common ancestor which causes us to be what we
are ; the second is that spiritual Presence of the manhood of
Christ, by union with which we become what it is given to us
to be. The one of these is in Holy Writ set against the other,
" for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive." As the one has its influence both on soul and body, so
has the other. The phenomenon which is presented by nature
is, that it has pleased God to make the race of mankind de
pendent on the maintenance of a perpetual succession of beings,
in each of whom the original type re-appears under one or other
of innumerable modifications, while yet that normal limit is
never overpassed, by which the race is separated from other
organized forms of existence. This unity of form we refer to
that law of descent from a single parent, which appears to
extend throughout the whole animal kingdom. That it applies
to mankind we are assured on Scriptural authority, since we
read that "God has made of one blood all nations of the
earth." And that principle on which depends the sameness
of forms in transmitted life we call nature. It is not meant
that in the individuals of the series there is anything distinct
from that which makes up their separate personality ; but

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 201
whereas in the artificial combinations of -human thought, "all
classifications," as Dugald Stewart1 observes, " are to a certain
degree arbitrary ; " the forms of organized life, on the other
hand, are fixed by an unvarying external rule, and their
classification therefore is not arbitrary. The Nominalists ap
pear to be right in asserting respecting the mere results of
human abstraction, that " it does not follow that the distinc
tive quality of a class is more essential to the existence of each
individual, than various other qualities which we are accustomed
to regard as accidental." In the case of those things which
possess organized life, on the contrary, that which gives [or ought
to give] its distinctive name to the class is really essential to
the existence of each individual. Our ignorance of the hidden
nature of being may render it impossible for us to pronounce
what this characteristic condition is ; but we can at least go so
far as to refer it to that law of descent which preserves the
uninterrupted succession of every primary pair. So that the
principle of nature owes its existence to the fact that every
tribe is set forth in its leader, that all races have their type,
"that the limits of the class are expressed in its model, and that
throughout God's world there is a law of hereditary transmis
sion and family headship.
Now, this rule which God has made the law of nature, is
transferred by Eevelation to the Kingdom of Grace. For here
too we see a Pattern Man, who comes in as the type of restored,
as our earthly father of fallen, manhood. He brings with Him
from above a pure and perfect, as the other transmitted a corrupt
and debilitated nature. And in this case, likewise, the character
of the race is dependent upon its Head. For He is " the first-
begotten of the dead," "the first-born of every creature." For
" the first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was
made a quickening spirit." " As is the earthy, such are they
also that are earthy ; and as is the heavenly, such are they also
1 Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, p. i. c. 4, sec. 2 ; vide
supra, pp. 43 and 186.

202 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
that are heavenly." Through Him is given back that perfect
image of God wherein man was originally made. " As we have
borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the
heavenly." " For the form of God," says St. Basil, " is not like
that of man ; it is a living form, a truly moulding form, and it
fashions everything which receives it into the image of God."1
Our salvation therefore does not depend merely on our own
efforts, on the self-dependent exertions of men to cure their
inherent evils, but on the external influence of that Head of our
race who mercifully conforms His brethren to His own likeness.
So that it is only by a real union with this New Man, that we
can eradicate those evils which attached themselves to our race,
through the transgression of the old. As true, certain, and ex
tensive as our inherence in the one, must be our adherence to the
other. Upon this union depends our right as well in that work
of redemption which He effected on the Cross, as in that work
of Intercession whieh He is performing in heaven. For though
Christ's death sufficed for the sins of the whole world, yet what
right can we claim in Him, unless we are of the number of those
for whom he shall hereafter say, " Behold I and the children
whom God hath given Me." For however widely the benefits of
His death may be extended, yet " they which are called receive
the promise of eternal inheritance." It is for His sheep that
" the Good Shepherd giveth His life." There may be unknown
effects upon the whole race of man, which may attend this great
event, but that which is revealed looks especially to those who
are fashioned into a new race, through the overflowing into their
nature of that inexhaustible stream of grace which wells forth
from the humanity of Christ their Head. For " of His fulness
have all we received, and graee for grace." Now, this reality of
union with Christ is further evidenced, because He not only "was
delivered for our offences," but " was raised again for our justifi
cation." Our salvation, that is, depends upon the gifts which
He bestowed, and the Intercession whieh He has ascended on
1 Ad. Eun. v. p. 3^2 [Gamier].

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 203
high to present. And this Intercession is especially offered for
His people. So it was expressly declared just before He entered
upon this part of His work of Mediation. " I pray for them :
I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given
Me." "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on Me through their word." And therefore Christ's
acts of Mediation are connected throughout the Epistles with
" the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth
all in all." For He " loved the Church, and gave Himself for
it," and He is " the Saviour of the body." These passages indi
cate that our share in the benefits whieh Christ attained depends
on that union with Himself which He has bestowed upon us.
And this union does not mean merely the union which He has
with our nature, but the union whieh we have with His. It
depends not merely upon His being a man, but the Head of that
family of men who are joined to Him by grace. It does not
arise from His having enabled humanity to put forth all its
strength, but from His having endowed it with those higher
powers which Deity bestowed. The whole seed of man had
fallen, when He came into it with that pure and perfect being,
which by reason of His being God He never tarnished, and thus
formed a new raee out of the ruins of the old. So that when He
declares Himself to be the vine,1 He speaks of that human nature
into which all Christian men are engrafted.

1 VideS. Athan. Sermo Major de Fide. Mont. Coll. Nova, ii. 18. S.Aug.
in Joan. 80, 2. "St. Cyril reproveth their speeches, which taught that
only the Deity of Christ is the vine, whereupon we by faith do depend as
branches, and that neither His flesh nor our bodies are comprised in this
resemblance. For doth any man doubt but that even from the flesh of
Christ our very bodies do receive that life, which shall make them glorious
at the latter day, and for which they are already accounted parts of His
blessed body ? Our corruptible bodies could never live the life they shall
live, were it not that here they are joined with His body, which is incor
ruptible, and that His is in ours as a cause of immortality — a cause by
removing through the death and merit of His own flesh, that whioh hin
dered the life of ours. Christ is therefore both as God and as man that
true vine, whereof we both spiritually and corporally are branches." —
Eccles. Pol. v, 56, 9.

204 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
The assertion then of Our Lord's presence according to His
human nature, and of our real union with the manhood of Christ,
is no technical or unnecessary dogma, but that pregnant fact on
which is built our present regeneration and our future hope.
Herein is revealed to us the mysterious truth, that He whose
counsels were unalterably fixed before the worlds began, has
been pleased in the kingdom of grace to adopt that precedent,
which His wisdom had sanctioned in the kingdom of nature.
For as the creation of the sons of men was not simultaneous or
immediate, but one was chosen to be their common parent, so is
the world's renewal committed to a common Head, into whom all
the children of grace must, one after another, be incorporated.
Thus, as St. Paul expresses it, was Adam "the figure of Him
that was to come." And as the perfection of nature was dis
played in the one, so was the perfection of grace exhibited in
the other. For " the first man is of the earth earthy, the second
man is the Lord from heaven." The principle of such mode of
action is, that in the model1 or type those things should be dis
played in their completeness, which are afterwards to be trans
ferred in their degree to the transmitted forms which are derived
from it. Therefore, in Christ's manhood dwelt the fulness of
grace, as the plentitude of nature in Adam. For what reach of
observation could be wanting to him to whom the knowledge of
all animal life was intuitive ; and what power of intellect could
be deficient in him, in whom the gift of language was an original
endowment 1 The words of the poet do but go along with our
natural feeling —
" Adam the goodliest of his sons since born."
And the records of antiquity express the same conviction, for
" Seth and Sem were in great honour among men, and so was
Adam above every living thing in the creation."2 If we look
i " Tlpbs fip-as fi Beia Kara/left-nice xap's, uij/oCtro koi ayid£ovaa Kal 5o|a£oii(ra
KaJ BzoiTOiovaa tV <pt(riv 4v Trpd>Ttp Xpurry." — S. Cyril Thesaurus, xx. vol.
v. p. 197. 2 Ecclesiasticus xlix. 16.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 205
accordingly to the mere gift of physical strength, we find him
to have withstood, longer than any other who is on record, the
approach of bodily decay. Taking sixty-five as the period of
that ripeness of age in which Adam was created — and none of
the antediluvian Patriarchs became more early a father — Adam's
life would be equivalent to nearly one thousand years. Thus
was nature set forth in its perfectness in a single type, before it
was multiplied in its feebler possessors.
But far more is the same principle exhibited in the Kingdom
of Grace. " For if through the offence of one many be dead ;
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by
one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." It was to
set forth a perfect pattern of renewed humanity that Our Lord
became incarnate, " for with power He created the world, but
restored it by obedience." By this means was perfected that
example of human nature which from the time of its conception
was without weakness or defilement. But this perfection it had,
not like Adam from the mere absence of guilt, but from the
presence of that Deity with which it was personally one. That
exhaust-less grace, which was to be the principle of life to the
whole renewed family, had its fountain and well-head in the
manhood of the Son of God, before it was portioned out to
the innumerable generations of His spiritual progeny. And
thus " being made perfect, He became the author of eternal
salvation unto all them that obey Him." To this end was His
man's nature so sorely exercised, that it might be the seed of
life to all His members. So much He Himself tells us respect
ing His human nature, declaring that He purified it, that it
might be a fit source of grace for all men : " For their sakes I
sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the
truth." And this sanctifying truth is no other than that Divine
Being, who applies the virtue of His own manhood to His
servants : " Sanctify them through Thy Truth, Thy Word is
truth." So that by union with His humanity does He bestow
upon all the members in their degree, that which pertains per-

206 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
fectly to the Head of the body by nature. As St. Athanasius
expresses it, the Eternal " Word was not weakened by taking a
body, as though for Himself He needed to receive grace, but
rather He deified that which He put on — nay, He graciously be
stowed it upon the family of men."' Thus did His humanity
become " the leaven of the whole lump," that through itself it
might "sanctify the whole race of man."2 It was the city set
on a hill,3 in which all the kindred of the renewed aire inhabit
ants. For this reason is " the fellowship of the Holy Ghost ''
the very- consummation of the Church's blessing, as implying
that through His power all renewed men have communion with
the body of Christ and with one another. " Through spiritual
food," says St. Leo, " is this blessing received and taken, so that
by that heavenly nourishment we are transformed into the very
flesh of Him who by His Incarnation adopted ours,"4 It seems
scarcely needful to put in the caution, that the benefits of
election to be one with Christ are forfeited by those whose
individual will is not conformed to the influence of the Divine
nature. The caution, however, is well expressed in a passage
ascribed [unduly] to St. Cyprian : " The Sacraments in them
selves cannot lose their virtue, nor does the Divine majesty
withdraw itself in any way from its mysteries. But though
the Sacraments allow themselves to- be taken and handled by
unworthy men, yet such persons cannot be partakers of the
Spirit. Therefore are these gifts the savour of life to one, of
death to another."6 What is needful therefore is expressed by
the holy Apostle : seeing that " our life is hid with Christ in
God," let us " kill our members which ' are upon the earth,"
that "when Christ which is" our "life shall appear," we "also
may appear with Him in glory."
The necessity then of Christ's Presence according to His
1 Con. Arian. i. 42.
2 S. Gregor. Naz. Horn, xxxvi. 89.
3 St. Hilary, on Matt.iv 12, p. 624.
4 St. Leo, quoted in Poynet's Diallact, p. 101.
8 De Cosna Domini,

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 207
humanity, rests upon Hi? being that Pattern man; in whom re
newed manhood shone forth in its brightest colours, by reason
of those supernatural endowments with which it was invested.
So that it is essential that we should be as truly united to Him
by grace, as we were to the first Adam by nature. And this
supernatural perfection of the human character was set forth in
His whole earthly pilgrimage. If Adam showed the strength
of our nature by multitude of days, the new man "in a few
years fulfilled a long life." His childhood was " wiser than His
teachers;" as He passed through every age, He sanctified each;1
He glorified every relation of man's life ; and purified that
material world which man had polluted2 Was there in Adam
the undiminished strength of natural life — in the man Christ
there was the gift " to have life in Himself," even for the
quickening of others. His miracles were but the outbreak of
that innate vitality which will quicken the bodies of all men at
the Last Day. Diseases, those mimic likenesses of death, fled
before Him even in His passage through the world: "I must
do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be per
fected." This mastery over the enemies of life was a natural
indication that in Him was its principle of conservation. And
even more wide than the rational kingdom was His exercise of
power, as though, perhaps, to harmonize with that mysterious
law which has bound man to the inferior as well as the superior
creation, and which shows the relation which matter has to
mind. Those miracles which are least accordant with our
1 S. Iren. ii. 22, 4 ; iii. 18, 7. S. Greg. vol. iii. pt. 2, p. 6.
2 "Our conception being the root (as it were) , the very groundsill of our
nature — that He might go to the root, and repair our nature from the very
foundation, thither He went : that what had been there denied and decayed
by the first Adam, might by the second be cleansed and set right again.
He was not idle all the nine months He was in the womb ; but then and
there He even ate out the core of corruption that cleft to our nature and
us, and made both us and it an unpleasing object in the sight of God.
And what came of this ? We that were abhorred by God were by this
means made beloved in Him. He cannot, we may be t?ure, account evil of
that nature, that is now become the nature of His own Son — "Hia now no
less than ours." — Bishop Andrews's Sermon ix. on the Nativity.

208 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE
expectation, such as affected the animal or vegetable world,1 may
have been designed to prove that, as corruption can spread
upwards from the lower forms of being, even till it mingle itself
with the life of man, so in Him was there a contrary principle,
which could spread downwards from its seat of empire into the
lowest stage of existence, and which (though 'used indeed for
purposes of punishment) would not be less powerful to preserve
than to destroy.
And now, therefore, may we draw the conclusion to which this
whole Chapter conducts us,' and affirm that Our Lord's acts of
Mediation towards men, as well as His intercession with the
Father, are a present fact in the world of life, and not a mere
fictitious representation. To be accounted the bond of union
between different natures is to discharge the part of a Mediator
— to be their real bond of union is to be one. Now, Christ did
not undertake this office as a legal fiction ; He is the " One
Mediator," because in Him Godhead and Manhood were really
united. And if He has stili the same character, it must be in
fact and not in name — Godhead and Manhood must still be
connected by His actual intervention. While He is one by
nature with the Everlasting Father, He must be one also by
grace with those inferior members to whom He has vouchsafed
to become Head, that He might be the " Saviour of the body."
For the gifts of grace do not become less necessary through the
lapse of ages : every generation of Adam's children has equal
need of that external principle of supernatural renewal, which
flows from the humanity of the Son of God into His brethren.
The acts of His human must continue therefore as certainly as
those of His Divine nature, and consequently that Presence of
His manhood, whereby " we are members of His body, of His
flesh, and of His bones." Thus does the truth of His Mediation
imply our actual union with His man's nature. We may
employ the argument by which St. Paul shows that the intrusion
of the Jewish Law could not supersede the more comprehensive
1 St. Matthew viii. 32 ; xxi. 19.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 209
Covenant which had been already pledged to Abraham. "A
mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one." Mediation
i.e. implies of necessity the presence of two parties ; if God's *
holy nature consents to be joined to ours, the very terms imply
that the actual union of our inferior being must be included.
So that if Christ be still Mediator, there must be the perpetual
presence' among us of His man's nature, whereby He who is
one with the Father becomes one also with His brethren.
The chain is not complete, unless as certain as His union
with the one is His communion with the other. And if this
truth be forgotten, there awaits us the danger of those two
alternate heresies, between which, no less than in ancient
days, the Church's doctrine is our road of safety. For if
Christ's manhood be not truly present with us, then does our
reference to Him become a mere union with Deity at large,
and not a specific relation to Him who was crucified. And why
can it be thought that He whom we serve does not now
employ towards us the intervention of man's nature, save
because it is maintained that He does not now act as man — is
not as really man, as He was in the days of His humiliation?
His manhood is supposed to be something which we read of
in books, and remember as a proof of His condescension, but
which is not now acting upon us through the world of spirit.
And what then must be thought of that body which suffered on
the Cross, but that either it was a created substance, invested by
God's mercy with more than mortal power and goodness, that it
might accomplish that sacrifice which was needed for mankind —
which is the Arian hypothesis — or else that the Father of all
displayed Himself in man's form by a transient and occasional
manifestation, and (that work being over) has again retreated
into the abyss of His unapproachable Godhead? And this is
the more subtile heresy of Sabellius. On either hypothesis
Christ might indeed be nominally an object of worship, because
set forth by the Eternal Father as an image (p. 114) in which
man might reverence His perfections, as the heathen adored the
p

210 CHRIST'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE, ETC.
representations of their gods. But the worship which on the
Arian or Sabellian supposition is due to Christ, would only be
that secondary honour which was assigned Him by the will and
appointment of the Father — not such primary allegiance as is
due by nature to the co-equal image of God. So that He who
in the body of a man suffered on the Cross, would not be the
very same Being who reigns by His own right in heaven. And
thus the reality of our Lord's Mediation would be lost. For
this depends on that personal diversity in the Ever-Blessed
Trinity which allows of a personal union between God and man.
Unless this be conceded, He who died for us on the Cross is not
truly the self-same Being who makes intercession for us in
heaven. " It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is -risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh inter
cession for us." This truth is our only safeguard, as well against
the refined infidelity of an intellectual heathenism, as against the
superstition of a vulgar idolatry. For to what would the Arian
supposition lead men, save to trust in the Mediation of a created
being, and thus to reverence the creature rather than the
Creator ? And this was the very stain of Pagan worship. And
what is the tendency of Sabellian error, save to lose sight of any
mode of Mediation, and in the pride of intellect to betake itself
to the abstract contemplation of God ? And the result in this
case would be the bare Theism of the philosophic, or the dreamy
Pantheism of the poetic mind. Against such errors, then, the
Church opposes that truth of Christ's Presence as man, which
results from the reality of a Divine Mediator. Christ is truly
present with His people both as God and man : the Presence of
the one nature is secured by the power of the other. Thus has
man's nature been raised above itself, because endowed in His
Person with a grace which is supernatural. And, therefore, can
the child of the Church Catholic look with confidence in the
hour of trial to the Presence of its Head. His supplications are
not offered to any created Mediator, nor yet to any mere Spirit
of the Universe — an indefinite abstraction of fancy — for God is

CHRIST PRESENT IN HIS CHURCH. 211
in Christ, reconciling to Himself the world. To Him can prayer
ascend with confidence : — Come, Thou Lord of life, Thou lover
of souls, in the truth of Thy man's nature, with the perfectness
of Thy man's sympathy, come and join Thyself to my soul, that
I also may be joined for ever to Thee. "As for me, I will
behold Thy presence in righteousness, and when I awake up
after Thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it."

CHAPTEE XI.
CHRIST IS PRESENT WITH MEN IN HIS CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL.
The nature and importance of Christ's presence have been
exhibited in the preceding Chapter. He is present with His
people through His man's nature ; not, however, by material
contact, but by spiritual power. And through this Presence
does He act as the Head of the renewed race — as the second
Adam of restored humanity. The question which next suggests
itself is, by what means man may profit through this great
blessing ; how each individual may obtain a part in that work
of Mediation, which was wrought in Expiation on the Cross ;
which is still discharged by Intercession in heaven ; and whose
sphere of operation is as extensive as that Presence upon earth,
which the God-man vouchsafes through spiritual power. For this
end something is wanting plainly on our part, as well as something
on the part of God. But the qualifications which are required on
our part — the efficacy of faith, the importance of love — will not
be touched upon in this place, because they belong to a different
inquiry. For these pertain to man, who is the subject in whom
religious feelings exist ; though they be God's gift yet they are a
gift which exists within and not without us ; their nature and
importance follow from consideration of our inward constitution.
On the circumstance that each man has a true personal exist-

212 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
ence, and that to each is committed the awful power of choosing
or refusing Christ, depends the necessity of individual faith
and love for each man's salvation. But on this question we are
not at present occupied : what is said here refers to what is done
without, not to what is done within us ; to Christ as a real being
external to our thoughts, as the object of our faith who exists
outside of our minds. For it was at first proposed to treat the
objective not the subjective part of religion ; not to inquire what
* changes were necessary in man, who is the subject of religion,
but to show that there was an object above and around man, the
reality of whose existence it was essential to believe. This object
is Christ our Lord : " Christ who died, yea, rather who is risen
from the dead, who is also at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us." And since His Intercession
and the Presence of His man's nature are realities existing out
side of ourselves — not mere fancies, but actual objects external
'to us — it is necessary to ask in what way these general advan
tages are so consigned to individuals that they may be the
separate portion of single souls. The question is, not what is
necessary on our part, whether faith or love, but what is the
condition or quality in these external realities themselves, which
renders them available for our individual apprehension.
Now, on this subject it may be said in general, that our union
with the manhood of Christ, or our participation in His Pre-
•sence, is brought about in our union with the Church, which
is His body mystical. It is not that one of these is a means or
channel through which we approach the other, but that since
the two processes are identical it is impossible to divide them.
For that which joins men to Christ's mystical body the Church,
is their union with His man's nature ; and their means of union
with His man's nature is bestowed in His Church or body mys
tical. This will become more evident, when it is shown that
the Sacraments, which are the means of binding us to the
mystical body of Christ, derive their efficacy from the influence
of His body natural. And hence the impossibility of answering

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 213
a question which is sometimes asked, whether men are joined to
Christ by being joined to His Church, or joined to His Church by
being joined to Him. It would be a parallel question to ask, whe
ther we were sharers in Adam's nature because we were men, or
men because we were sharers in Adam's nature. The two relations
hang inseparably together. By the mystical body of Christ, is
meant the whole family of those who by the Holy Ghost are
united in Church ordinances to His man's nature. Our real
union with eaeh is what gives us a part in the other.
This intimacy of union between Christ and the Church may
be gathered in the first place from the direct words of Scripture.
Why should the Church be called a body, and especially
why should it be called the body of Christ, did not some
relation bind it to that body of Christ, which came into exist
ence at His Incarnation ? It may be answered, that the Church
is spoken of as a body, because thought of as a whole through
the abstracting power of reason. Yet why should it be called
the body of the Lord? The subjects of an earthly Prince
might be spoken of as making up together the body of his
realm, but who would eall them the body of their King ? Yet
such language is repeatedly employed, and under various forms,
respecting Christians in Holy Scripture. The very harmony of its
metaphorical expressions implies that they rest upon some real
relation. When Christ declares Himself the Vine, and His
people the branches, this is because the trees of the field have
an organized life. If the Church is His bride, this is because
the marriage bond savours so strongly of an actual union. So
that a real and not merely a metaphorical conjunction must be
designed, when we read " ye are the body of Christ, and
members in particular."
Now, since the mention of " body" leads us plainly to the
human part of Our Lord's being (for God is a spirit), therefore
whatever relation is implied in the application of . this term to
the Church, must plainly connect it with Our Lord's human
nature. And the manner in whieh St. Paul transfers what is

214 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
applicable to Our Lord's actual body to His body mystical;
implies that the one of these is truly dependent on the other.
Thus does the natural affection which each man bears to himself,
pass on into Our Lord's affection to His people : " No man ever
yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even
as the Lord the Church. For we are members of His body ; of
His flesh, and of His bones." " This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the Church." And, therefore,
He is "the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands"
has "nourishment ministered." And so identified are the man
Christ Jesus and His spiritual members, that the name which
belongs individually to Him, is used for them in their collective
character. Hence He who, as the Apostle tells us, " gave gifts
unto men," was Himself, as the Psalmist expresses it, their
receiver. When St. Paul is arguing that the promise to Abra
ham was not pledged to all the races which descended from him,
but to one only of the families of which he was parent, he
comprehends the spiritual progeny of Abraham under the mame
of Christ i1 " For as the body is one and hath many members,
and all the members of that one body being many are one body,
so also is Christ." It seems unquestionable, therefore, that
some real relation must bind together that body natural which
He took by His Incarnation, and His body mystical the Church,
so that our union with the one must be a ground of union
with the other.2
' Vide supra, p. 19. The same interpretation is given to Galatians iii.
16, by St. Augustin on Psalm cxlii. 3.
' " The Church is in Christ, as Eve was in Adam. Yea by grace we are
every of us in Christ and in His Church, as by nature we are in those our
first parents. God made Eve of the rib of Adam. And His Church He
f rameth out of the very flesh, the very wounded and bleeding side of the
Son of Man. His body crucified and His blood shed for the life of the
world, are the true elements of that heavenly being, which maketh us
such as Himself is, of whom we come. For which cause the words of
Adam may be fitly the words of Christ concerning His Church, ' flesh of
my flesh, and bone of my bones,' a true native extract out of mine own
body. So that in Him, even according to His manhood, we, according to
our heavenly being, are as branches in that root out of which they grow. ' '
Fceles. Pol. v. 56, 7.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 215
The intimate connexion by which the natural body of Christ
is bound to His body mystical, becomes still more evident if
we advert to one peculiar characteristic, which the one derives
from the other. What is the cause and import of that unity of
the Church, which is directly asserted in Holy Writ, and which
has been delivered to us as so fundamental a doctrine of our
faith, as to be made an Article of the Creed ? " There is one
body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling." Unless St. Paul's words are to go for nothing, there
must plainly be some reason why this unity in the Church's
external form is put forth in so emphatic a manner. Or again,
" we, being many, are one body in Christ." And this unity of
the Church's body has in all ages been esteemed essential to
Christian belief. The assertion of it, as an original Article of
the Creed, is the testimony of that universal community, which
Christ Our Lord promised to guard from fatal error. It would
have been to corrupt the principles of the Gospel, if the collec
tive voice of Christians had proclaimed among its fundamental
verities what was either false or futile. Yet if the unity of the
Church were nothing but that those who bear the same name
may be classed together, as we bestow the name of Platonists
on those who followed the disciple of Socrates, its assertion as a
doctrine would be altogether unmeaning. But suppose that
something further is designed : on what can it be dependent ?
Was it merely an arbitrary rule, imposed as a technical restraint
upon the extension of the Christian body ? Could it be meant
to shackle its advance by subjecting it to such restricting con
ditions as at present interfere with the growth of the Church of
Christ, in many countries where it receives State assistance 1 If
such a thing could be thought possible, yet the absence of any
original rules for the Church's general government, shows that
it was not attempted. By a noiseless and simultaneous growth
did it spring up like Solomon's temple in the beauty of holiness,
till it filled the mighty precincts of the Eoman Empire. For
three centuries at least, there was no reference for purposes of

216 CHRIST IS PRESENT LN HIS
government to any earthly head, while yet the Church's body
seemed as though it were instinct with a single soul. From
whence could come this marvellous co-operation? Its incon
sistency with the acts of men bespeaks at once its Divine parent
age. The Church is one because it is the body of -Christ, and
because it is quickened by His Spiritual Presence. Through
spiritual life does His Body natural act upon mankind, and
become germinant of that which is called His Body Mystical,
from its relation to Himself. It was predicted that " He shall
see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of
the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the
travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied." In this manner it
was that He should " divide the spoil with the strong." Thus
has God made Him " the firstborn among many brethren."
Christ's Humanity, that stone1 cut out of the mine of man's
nature without his co-operation, has swelled up into a mountain.
Its cementing principle is that quickening influence of the second
man, by which He lives in aU His members. Thus do they
trace to Christ's manhood their spiritual life, as to Adam their
natural parentage.2
We need not wonder then that the Church's unity is declared
to be a fact, and that its confession is a fundamental doctrine. .
That the Church is one body results from organization, not
from enactment ; it is Christ's body, wrought out through the
sacrifice of that manhood, which He offered on the Cross. From
the oneness of His body which is slain, results the oneness of
His body which is sanctified. Neither is the profession of the
Church's unity the mere admission of an external appearance,
1 Vid. S. Aug. in Joann. Trac. iv. 4. S. Basil on Isaiah, cap. vii. vol.
i. p. 604.
2 " The only sure anchor of all our hopes for a joyful resurrection unto
the life of glory, is the mystical union which must be wrought here
on earth betwixt Christ's human nature glorified, and our mortal and
dissoluble nature. The Divine nature, indeed, is the prime fountain of
life to all, but though inexhaustible in itself, yet a fountain whereof we
cannot drink, save as it is derived unto us through the human nature of
Christ." — Jackson's Comment on Creed xi. 3, 10.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 217
but the belief in an inward verity. It is to recognize the
presence of that spiritual power, which spreads itself from Christ
Our Lord throughout all members of His mystical body. In
this presence consists their life : " If any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." " But if the Spirit of Him
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." From this central
source, then, flows all the life of renewed humanity. And that
its being and harmony might have their origin in the highest of
all perfections, and be truly the reflection upon earth of what is
heavenly and divine, therefore its principle of connexion is a
counterpart here below of that primary union which existed
before all creation, and which is the grand type and cause of
concord and law. For the Mediator promised to be in His ser
vants, even as He Himself is the seat of that mysterious in
dwelling of the Eternal Father, whereby the whole Blessed
Trinity is united in the never-ending perfection of an actual one
ness : " I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made
perfect in one." And again, "that they all may be one; as
Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be
one in Us." Not, of course, that we can speak of that union
in which men partake, as the same with that ineffable union
which binds together those Three Blessed Persons who are
numerically one.1 We can affirm only that the union in Christ
which exists among men, has borrowed something from the in
effable union of the Divine nature.2 As the perfection of God's
Being is the true cause and source of everything perfect which
the world exhibits, so in the oneness of the renewed family in
Christ we discern traces of that mysterious unity which under
lies all things. " At that day ye shall know that I am in My
Fatherj and ye in Me, and I in you." And therefore " our
fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."
1 Vide Fourth Lateran Council, Can. ii. — Hard. vol. vii. p. 18.
2 St. Ambrose De Fide, iv. 10, 128.

218 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
For the whole Three Persons of the Blessed Godhead take part
in that work of mercy for which the Mediator became Incarnate.
For the Holy Ghost, as St. Augustin expresses it, " acts through
the whole Church, as the soul in all the members of one body."1
And " the Father Himself loveth you "; while the Son is " Head
over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness
of Him that filleth all in all.'' Thus does unity stoop down
from the higher to the lower nature, and the Church on Earth
is the true and real manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Not that our union in spirit with God has superseded or taken
the place of that personal oneness, whereby in Christ Our Lord
the manhood is united to God. This were the Sabellian heresy,
which would represent the Deity as manifesting -Himself only
in three relations, whereof each succeeded and superseded its
predecessor. For the union of Godhead with manhood in
Christ, is a real, perfect, and lasting union, of which the union of
Christ with men is the appointed effect. So that these mysterious
relations are cumulative and not consequent only, leading down
by successive steps to things on earth from things in heaven.2
Thus does the impulsive wave of heavenly concord extend
itself to the race of man, from its primary source in the bosom
of incommunicable Godhead. To assert the truth of Christ's
Presence — the reality of that union which binds the whole
mystic body of His Church to the manhood of the Incarnate
1 Sermo cclxvii. 4.
2 This wonderful chain of connexion is set forth by Lord Bacon in his
Confession of Faith : " The "Word did not only take flesh, or was joined to
flesh, but was made flesh, though without confusion of substance or nature :
so as the Eternal Sou of God and the Ever-Blessed Son of Mary was one
Person — so one, as the Blessed Virgin may be truly and catholically called'
Deipara, the Mother of God — so one, as there is no unity in universal
nature, not that of the soul and body of man so perfect ; for the Three
Heavenly Unities, whereof that is the second, exceed all natural unities :
that is, the unity of the Three Persons in the Godhead ; the unity of God
and man in Christ ; and the unity of Christ and the Church— the Holy
Ghost being the worker of both these latter unities ; for by the Holy Ghost
was Christ Incarnate, and quickened in flesh ; and by the Holy Ghost was
man regenerated and quickened in the spirit." — Works, vol. iii. p. 123.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 219
Word — is to maintain the reality of His Mediation, and the
absolute necessity of that bond by which heaven and earth are
united. For it is a necessary result of the cardinal truth of the
Christian system— the truth, i.e. that all gifts and blessings are
introduced into our race through the intervention of that nobler
member, who connects it with the Almighty. And herein is
the Christian scheme of Mediation opposed to that theory of
Eationalism, which rests upon the capacities of nature. The
principle of Eationalism is, that man's improvement may be
effected through those gifts which God bestowed upon him by
creation, inasmuch as sufficient means of intercourse with the
Supreme Spirit were provided by the law of his nature. Whereas
the Church deals with man as a fallen race, whose original
means of intercourse with God have been obstructed, and which
needs a new and supernatural channel for the entrance of
heavenly gifts. And this channel has been provided through
the Man Jesus Christ. In His person did Godhead enter man
hood, that through this one perfect type of humanity, it might
" leaven the whole lump." Thus does the law of grace supersede
the law of nature. If man had never fallen, to inherit the
nature of the first Adam had been a sufficient means of com
munion with God. But because the natural means of communi
cation have been cut off, that supernatural union is requisite
which we obtain by participating the nature of the second Adam.
Now, it is for the diffusion of this renewed and renewing man
hood, that those media have been provided, whereby the Son of
Man communicates Himself to His brethren. All the ordinances
of 'the Church, its hallowed things, places, and persons — its
worship and Sacraments — are a series of instruments whereby
the sanctified manhood of the Mediator diffuses itself as a life-
giving seed through the mass of humanity. Thus does He
continue to effect that work through His man's nature, which
He avowed to be the very object of His earthly being : "for
their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth." And for this office are external media as

220 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
requisite, as were body and limbs to the truth of His human
being. As He could not be a man without that substantial
existence which revealed Him to the senses of mankind, so He
could not be the Head of the Body Mystical, without the use of
those actual media of intercourse, whereby He unites His living
Members to Himself.
The importance, then, of external ordinances results from that
fact on which Christianity is dependent, that through the Incar
nation of the Mediator, the corrupted race of man has been
regenerated by a heavenly nature. ' Yet this gracious provision
is often received with repugnance by those for whose benefit it is
intended. Many who are called Christians, and who profess to
value above all things the Mediation of Christ, consider them
selves actually injured, because this " new and liying way " has
been opened to them " through the veil, that is to say His
flesh." The opportunity of approaching God through the Man
Christ Jesus, which is given to them through the ordinances of
His mystic body, seems an encroachment on that right of access
which they before had, through the free exercise of their own
thoughts. Before a country is marked out by roads, any one
may make his own way through woods and over commons to the
royal dwelling ; but the institution of highways abridges the
previous liberty of approach. This seems to be the feeling of
many in regard to the Mediation of Christ. They wish to
approach God in their own way, as mind speaks to mind, without
resorting to that circuitous method, which requires their union
with the Church. But the appointment of a Mediator with the
Father does not diminish men's means of access, unless the oppor
tunity of approach, which existed before, is denied them. Now,
since the Gospel is offered only to those to whom it is communi
cated (for "how shall they hear without a preacher?"), the
condition of persons to whom Mediation is unknown remains
unaffected by its announcement. Wherever graces appear in
the children of men, we know that they come down only from
the " Father of Lights," and we rejoice that

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 221
" Light can find its way
To regions furthest from the fount of day."
Such influence was visible in former times among men who were
blinded by ignorance, and it may be found at present among
men who are blinded by prejudice. And yet it is impossible to
deny that those who reject the Doctrine of Mediation, now that
it is revealed, are in danger of rejecting Christ. For what is
their conduct in reality but the very crime which is forbidden in
the Second Commandment 1 The First Commandment inhibited
the substitution of other gods, Baal or Ashtaroth, in place of
Jehovah. The Second forbade to worship Jehovah in other
ways than that which was " ordained by Angels in the hand of
a Mediator." It was the place of this Mediator, Moses, which
the Golden Calf was intended to supply. The crime of Israel
was that when the Most High had appointed a mode of access,
men thought that they could approach Him better through their
own inventions. And what else is the result, when men think
that they can reach over the God-man, the one channel of inter
course between earth and heaven, and address themselves by a
shorter and more direct approach to God 1 This course may be
adopted without professed disbelief in Christ, if men neglect
that channel of approach which He has opened to the Father.
For the notion of communing with God, the Eternal and Infinite
Spirit, through the immediate action of our own spirits, inde
pendently of that mode of coming to Him which has been
provided through the manhood of Christ, tends to a denial of
the whole principle of His Mediation. What does it matter
whether men call the object of their worship Christ, and profess
belief in Him, if the only thing to which they direct their
thoughts is the ultimate and incommunicable Godhead ? What
more remarkably distinguishes the Mediator from the Father,
and the Holy Ghost than that they are not, whereas He is,
personally united to manhood? So that in approaching Him we
cannot overpass His man's nature — it is our natural channel of
communion with Him. What is addressed directly by man's

222 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
spirit to the Ultimate Spirit of the Universe, is not addressed to
Christ, or if addressed to Him in name, it is not addressed to
Him as Mediator, but only through His general participation in
the nature of Godhead.
Here then lies the error of those who, , like the Quakers,
reject, or at least undervalue those external means, whereby the
Son of Man unites Himself to His spiritual members. The
disuse of Sacraments is only one point in that general system
which looks rather to the actings of our own mind than to the
agency of an Incarnate Mediator. Now, without judging indi
viduals who must stand or fall to their own master, it may safely
be affirmed that the ultimate tendency of this system, however
it may retain the phraseology of the Gospel, is to substitute
natural religion for revealed. Our irresistible conviction
respecting the acting of spirits leads us to conclude that the
thought, wish, and conviction of our own minds is at all times
present as an object to the all- wise Spirit of God. Do our souls
then desire to hold intercourse with the great primary Spirit of
the Universe, there needs, so far as nature tells us, no inter
vening link : that which exists as an intellectual reality in us, is
a real object to the knowledge of the Most High. But to build
on such intercourse as this, is to rest only on those principles
which belong to us by creation. It is to employ mere natural
means for intercourse with God. So that to make it an objec
tion against the Church system, that its media of communion
are not simple, natural, and immediate — that they do not com
mend themselves to human judgment, but tax our faith, and
introduce something external between us and God — is in reality
to complain that the system of nature has been superseded by
the system of Mediation. For when Christ's manhood was made
a bridge : between heaven and earth, whereby the purity and
exaltation of the Divine nature might be brought into contact
with the infirmity and defilement of ours, an external channel
1 ' ' 2b, 5 rty yMv K0^ T^I/ ovpavbv yetpvpttiffas t£ ayfy <rov a(&p.a.Ti."
— S. Greg. Thaum. in Pet. de Inc. ii. 9, 3.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 223
of communication was substituted for the immediate intercourse
of mind with mind. So long as man's mind speaks immediately
to the Universal Mind which pervades all things, its inner
actions are realities in themselves, which are contemplated at
once by the Supreme Essence ; but if there be a Being external
to us, through whom all intercourse must pass — a single Being,
characterized by all the reality which depends on material
existence — then must something be superadded to those mere
inward actions of faith and love, which are all that nature could
point out as the means of intercourse between one spirit and
another. This new medium of intercourse, this channel of
communication between earth and heaven, has been provided
exclusively by His gift, who of His free mercy undertook to be
Mediator between God and Man. The road of access which is
opened to us in the system of the Church's ordinances is not in
any degree of our making : we need to use, but we do not con
tribute at all to prepare it. The work of Mediation is Christ's
work from beginning to end : when He took our nature He did
it by actual union — when He joins His members to Himself,
they are really, though by immaterial and spiritual influence,
engrafted into His purified humanity. His members have
actually "put on the new man," and "as many as have been
baptized into Jesus Christ have put on Christ."
It would be unjust, of course, to attribute to the whole body of
Quakers any conscious design of rejecting Christ : their notion no
doubt is that He is present, to their thoughts, and in this way
they suppose that they make Him their means of access. But
this is to forget that the principle of His Mediation is not that
His man's nature is the ultimate object of worship, but that it is
the sole road of approach to the Father. His manhood is "the
door " through which we are admitted to His Godhead. When
the Church system is opposed to that of Eationalism, the actions
of His Manhood are in reality opposed to those of our own spirits.
The channel of union which has been provided through grace is
opposed to that which existed by nature. What is needed,

224 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
therefore, is some real agency on His part, whereby this merciful
intervention may be effected. He must actually stretch forth
the hand of His humanity towards us, before we can effectually
stretch forth the hand of faith towards Him. Adam is not merely
an object to men's thoughts, like the Angels of God : he is bound
to his descendants by the true but unknown tie of paternity : if
Christ our Mediator be the second Adam, there must be as real
an influence, by which all His members must hold to His man's
nature. And if this union is not brought about, as Eationalists
suppose, through those means which had their existence through
Creation, it must be effected through media which are beside
and foreign to nature. That spiritual power, whereby His hu
manity becomes the seminal principle of His body mystical, must
act through such supernatural agency as it pleases Him to adopt.
So that the ancient writers, as Bishop Taylor says, speak of " the
Blessed Sacrament" as " the extension of the Incarnation." -No
wonder, then, that in the palmy days of the Quaker sect, when
its principles were fully developed, their denial of those ordinances
whereby the God-man discharges His office of Mediation should
have led them into expressions1 inconsistent with any belief in His
real existence. The characteristic doctrine of the Gospel, that
God and man were permanently made one in the Person of Christ,
was superseded by a dreamy notion of the abstract intercourse
between the minds of faithful men, and the governing Mind of
the Universe. The tendency of such a system is to substitute
Eationalism for the Gospel ; in place, that is, of the Eevelation
through a Mediator, to fall back upon the Universal revelation of
nature. And since the Doctrine of the Incarnation for the first
time revealed the personal character of God, Eationalism itself
is but the entrance to that deeper abyss of Pantheism, towards
which the rejection of the Sacramental system has a tendency to
conduct. 1 ' ' George Fox says that if there be any other Christ but He that was
crucified within, He is the false Christ. This Christ that was risen and
crucified within — devils and reprobates make a talk of Him without." 
Leslie's Snake in the Grass, <Jc., sec. 10, p. 67.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 225
The custom, therefore, of putting inward acts of faith and love
in place of those external means whereby Christ vouchsafes to
join men to His manhood, is in reaHty to make these the channel
of mediation instead of Him ; it is to set up idols in our hearts,
and thank them for our deliverance from the house of bondage.
Those who do not go so far as directly to abandon the appointed
means of grace, must be on their guard lest a measure of the same
evil should be incurred by undervaluing them.1 For whatever
derogates from the Sacramental system, has the effect of depre
ciating that union with God which we have by grace, and there
fore of casting us on that union which existed by nature. This is
the virtual tendency, when inward seriousness — the necessity of
which in itself cannot be too earnestly maintained — is supposed
to dispense with those external means whereby Christ allies
Himself, to His members. The remark applies of course not to those
1 An instance may be afforded by the ordinance of Confirmation. Among
its benefits must be ranked the opportunity afforded, at a most critical
period of life, for confirming the promises of childhood. Such an act,
conscientiously discharged, in the presence of many witnesses, has no little
tendency to strengthen good resolutions ; and since all good acts must be
suggested as well as favoured by God, we may safely speak of the inward
resolution as dependent on His spiritual succour. Now, this account of
Confirmation, if regarded as a partial view of the service, would be fitting
enough ; but if considered to be the whole of its benefits, it would resolve
an ordinance of the Gospel into a mere Rationalistic act. For, according
to this view of things, the candidates come to confirm themselves in the
Bishop's presence [or, perhaps to confirm the Bishop in the belief of their
good intentions], instead of being brought, as the Prayer-book directs, " to
be confirmed by him." The sole object is the ratification of their vows ; the
added assurance of their intention to perform what at Baptism was pro
mised. The efficacy of the service rests altogether upon the acceptableness
of their previous prayers, and the sincerity of their present purpose, which,
according to God's natural mode of dealing with men, are met by a cor
responding blessing. What converts this act of natural religion into a
Christian rite is, that through the instrumentality of His minister, the New
Head of man's race receives His younger members into closer union, and
confirms those graces, which at Baptism have already flowed into them from
Himself. Thus is a natural mode of converse with God exalted into a mean s
of supernatural union. Unless this truth be admitted, unless Christ be
discerned to be truly present through the agency of His servants, to bless
in the laying on of hands, and to communicate through external means that
supernatural life, of which His humanity is the source, wherein does this
act differ from any other, whereby responsible agents pledge themselves to
serve God, and what especial benefit is there in Christian Confirmation?

226 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
who are debarred the use of such means, but to those by whom
they are deemed superfluous. It was a sublime exhortation of
the ancient Platonist, "to fly to the solitary Deity in the solitude
of our own spirit." But that which in a Heathen was a pious
reaching forth after light, would be an impious rejection of it in
a Christian. For that which renders man's responsibility so great,
is the greatness of the gift which is offered to his acceptance. To
careless men this is the great argument against the Church system ;
they would rather live at a lower stage of accountableness — they
shrink with horror from the real indwelling of this Holy God.
But it will be otherwise with devout minds. Let them once feel
the reality of Christ's Presence, and they will not again take up
with a religion of shadows. All which is needful for such persons,
is to understand that to admit the Church or Sacramental system,
is only to believe the reality of those acts whereby the God-man
discharges His work of Mediation. However jealous they are of
the formalism of their own hearts, and however watchful against
spiritual carelessness, they cannot be afraid of resting too much on
the Mediation of Christ, and of esteeming too highly His Presence
by the Spirit. For the Holy Ghost, as He came at Pentecost
with power, and as His dealings by grace are discriminated from
the general actings of the Great Spirit of the Universe, has a
peculiar function and office in the Gospel Covenant. And since
it has been His will that those gracious strivings whereby He re
news all hearts should be consequent on the Mediation of Christ,
therefore to leave out of account that perfect manhood whereby
the new' Head of our race acts upon His members, is to dispense
.also with the specific operations of the Blessed Comforter. So
that the whole system of Mediation would be passed by in this
method of approach, as though the spirit of man could by direct,
self-originating, immediate impulse commune with the Almighty.
If men say, that what they trust is not their own spirit, but some
thing bestowed upon them by God, yet still it is, something
within themselves — something,
"Which if Heaven gave it, may be termed their own."

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 227
For they look to some chain of intercourse, which, starting from
themselves, communicates directly with the Most High. What
is this in truth but to fall back upon those endowments of man's
spirit which he has by creation — upon the natural powers of the
soul — and thus to pass by Christ the Mediator in our access to
God ! " There were of the old Valentinian Heretics," says
Hooker, " some, which had knowledge in such admiration, that
to it they ascribed all, and so despised the Sacraments of Christ,
pretending that as ignorance had made us subject to all misery,
so the full redemption of the inward man, and the work of our
restoration,- must needs belong unto knowledge only. They draw
very near unto this error who, fixing wholly their minds on the
known necessity of faith, imagine that nothing but faith is ne
cessary for the attainment of all grace."1 " We are to believe and
acknowledge that as God the Father doth neither forgive nor
vouchsafe reconciliation, but for the merits and satisfaction of
His only Son ; so neither will He vouchsafe to convey this
or any other blessing unto us, which His Son hath purchased
for us, but only through His Son : not only through Him as our
Advocate or Intercessor, but through Him as our Mediator — that
is, through His humanity, as the organ or conduit, or as the only
bond by which we are united and reconciled unto the Divine
nature."2 The views of these two great writers, always esteemed among
the highest authorities in the English Church, have been strik
ingly illustrated since they wrote,, by some circumstances in the
history of the sect which has been referred to. In the case of
the Quakers, whose opinions were avowed with greater consist
ency than is found in many of their partizans, may be seen by
what sure steps a forgetfulness of Our Lord's office as Mediator,
and of those Sacramental ordinances, whereby He unites men
to Himself, leads persons who least design it to errors respecting
His nature. If this result is not always reached, it is because
those who live in the atmosphere of a Christian country, derive
1 Eccles. Pol. v. 60, 4. 2 Jackson's Comm. on the Creed, xi. 3, 12.

228 CHRIST IS PRESENT LN HIS
a large portion of their opinions from the standard which
obtains around them. No one seems to have less anticipated
such consequences than George Fox, when he first yielded to the
impulse to head a party. It was among the fermentations
which issued in the Great Eebellion, when, as he complained in
his last moments, " the outward Christians " were " broken up
into many sects," 1 that he was impelled to look within himself
for the principle of unity. The times pecidiarly inclined
earnest men to such a course. Never was religion more overlaid
by hypocrisy, or truth more lost in contentiousness. The
Puritan Divines had explained away the meaning- of Gospel
ordinances, while they insisted zealously on their formal observ
ance. Now, it is so contrary to the genius of Christianity, to
attach primary weight to what is purely technical, that Fox 2
1 Sewel's History of Friends, vol. ii. p. 492.
' Fox' s mode of argument was the same with that of all persons who deny
that God' s grace is a guide to the collective Body of Christ — a firm per
suasion, namely, that it was vouchsafed to himself in preference to others.
" As he was walking in a field on a First-day morning, it was discovered
unto his understanding, that to be bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not
enough to make a man to be a minister of Christ, At this he wondered,
because it was the common belief of people : but for all this, he took this
to be a Divine revelation, and he admired the goodness of the Lord,
believing now the ordinary ministers not to be such as they pretended to be.
This made him unwilling to go any more to Church." — Sewell's History, i.
p. 17. He now threw himself with effect on that principle of sympathy,
which is equally conducive to the growth of truth, or the extension of error ;
and which renders earnestness and confidence no less contagious than bodily
diseases. At Sedberg ' ' he preached for several hours, showing that the
Lord was come to teach His people Himself, and to bring them off from all
the world's ways and teachers to Christ, the true teacher and the true way
to God. Moreover, he showed the declining state of the modern doctors
and teachers, and exhorted the people to come off from the temples made
with hands, and wait to receive the Spirit of the Lord, that they might
know themselves to be the temples of God." " Having refreshed him
self at noon with a little water out of a brook, he went and sat down on
the top of a rock hard by the chapel, intending to have a meeting there.
At this people wondered, because they looked upon the Church as a holy
place, requisite for worship. But George Fox told them afterwards that the
ground whereon he stood was as good as that of the steeple-house ; besides,
we find that Christ Himself did preach on a mountain, and also at the sea
side. In the afternoon, he spoke about three hours, directing all to the
Spirit of Godin themselves."- — Sewel's History, vol. i. pp. 88 89.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 229
can hardly be censured for supposing that if the Sacraments and
public worship were merely forms, they could not be essentials
of the Gospel. Is it less unlikely that the command to observe
the Eucharist should be metaphorical, than the ordinance itseK?
Doubtless this earnest man did not discern that his teaching
would turn men away from Christ, or interfere with the " one
Mediator between God and men." Yet that such was the real
tendency of his system is apparent even from the report of his
friendly historian, whose object is to show that he maintained
the common truths, which are received among Christians. The
basis of his instruction is stated to have been, " that every man
is enlightened with the Divine light." 1 And in corrobora
tion of this assertion (though their real proof could be only
their own inward consciousness), he and his followers perpetu
ally referred to the declaration, "that was the true light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world"2 This passage,
which refers in reality to the Incarnation of Christ, and conse
quently to the gifts bestowed upon His brethren through
participation in Him as Mediator, they interpreted of an imme
diate indwelling of Godhead in the whole body of mankind.
But the true light, which at the creation of man's race had
bestowed on Adam the perfect light of His own image, the faint
remains of which make up that light of nature which has shone
since in every man's bosom, had, in the fulness of time, come
Personally into the world, the Son of God. To confound this
1 Sewel's History, ii. 575.
2 St. Augustin shows that such an interpretation of St. John i. 9 (as
maintained by the Pelagians), interferes with the reality of Christ's Medi
ation. The Greek, he observes, might be rendered : " That was the true
light, which lighteth every man by coming into the world. ' ' — De Pecc. Mer.,
i. 25. The translation of Tholuck and Olshausen is equivalent in effect,
but less exact perhaps ; " the true light, which lighteth every man, was
coming into the world."
The erroneous interpretation . of Fox was approved by Blanco White,
when a Socinian. " Christianity must carry its own proof in its reason
ableness, in its agreement with the light within us, as the original Quakers
very properly asserted  This light of the conscience is what Christ
and the original Apostles called the Spirit, which was to lead the Disciples'
into all the truth." — Life, vol. ii. p 230.

230 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
peculiar gift, which was bestowed on humanity through the
Incarnation of Christ, with that general influence of the Divine
Spirit which all men inherit from their creation, is virtually a
form of Eationalism. For it is to merge the gifts of grace in the
gifts of nature. But suppose that to escape this danger the name
of the Holy Ghost is introduced ; that His present influence is
represented as the fulfilment of God's general promises to
humanity. Yet even then, unless the manhood of the' one Medi
ator is regarded as the fountain and well-head of those gifts,
which the Comforter distributes to Christ's members, Eationalism
is only disguised under the kindred heresy of Sabellianism.
For in this case the work of the Holy Ghost is represented as
something which supersedes the work of Christ, as though the
same Being, who once dwelt in Christ's manhood, dwells instead
thereof in the manhood of individual Christians. The Doctrine
of Our Lord's Mediation is, that through the communication of
His human nature, its quickening gifts are bestowed according
to their measure upon His members below : to suppose these
gifts therefore to be obtained by God's immediate indwelling,
without such communication, is to pass Him by in our approach
to God. This is the exact result of the Sabellian heresy, which
usually represents the Almighty as having had three successive
modes of dwelling upon earth : first, in His ancient worship,
then in the humanity of Christ, and, that mode of dwelling
being terminated, in the minds of men. These are supposed by
the Sabellians to be three successive economies : three several
temples, as it were, in which the same Person has been pleased
to display Himself. Thus is the real action of the Three Persons
in the Blessed Trinity explained away, and the mystery of
the Godhead evaporates in three successive relations of the same
Being towards mankind. On this principle the Sacraments, as
Fox asserted, may well be dispensed with, " because Christ the
substance " is " come : " l the purpose, that is, of His Incarna
tion, is supposed to be completed, and the dispensation of the
1 Sewel's History, ii. p. 580.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 231
Spirit is alleged to leave nothing for His man's nature to perform.
Neither need we wonder at what otherwise would seem the
strange delusion, that James Naylor should declare himself to be
actually Christ, and that many of his brethren should so regard
him. There seems little reason for doubting that the opinions,
a few years later attributed to them by Leslie, were not un
common among the early Quakers. " The Quakers," he asserts,
" say Christ took flesh, but no otherwise, as they explain it,
than as angels assumed bodies, or as He (Christ or the Word)
did inspire or dwell in Prophets or holy men of old ; though
they allow (not always) that Christ did inspire the person
of that man Jesus in a higher measure than other men. But
they deny any proper Incarnation of Christ, that is, that He was
made flesh, or that He and Jesus were one Person. Yet they
allow Jesus to be called Christ, from the dwelling of Christ in
Him ; but for the same reason they take the name of Christ to
themselves, and say that it belongs to them as well as to Jesus."1
These statements show that the Quakers had already adopted
the Sabellian2 hypothesis respecting Our Lord's nature ; and
the prevalence of avowed Socinianism among them in later days
is a still more manifest indication of the result which attends
the abandonment of the Sacramental system.3
The example of the Quakers shows by what inevitable
sequence the neglect of Our Lord's office as Mediator leads to
heresies respecting His nature. Two writers of the present age,
each the head of a theological school, may be cited as an evidence
that inadequate views respecting His nature have a corresponding
connection with a low estimate of the gifts of grace. The senti
ments of Professor Schleiermacher are apparent from a state-
1 The Snake in the Grass, sec. x. Leslie's Works, vol. ii. p. 67.
?- Mr. Clarkson attributes direct Sabellianism to the Quakers. After
stating what are the offices of the Holy Ghost, he says, as the result of their
hypothesis : ' ' Christ, as He held the offices contained in the proposition,
was the Spirit of God." — History of Quakerism, ii. 224.
3 That Socinian opinions predominated among the Quakers was com
monly affirmed by the late Mr. Gurney, himself a member of their body,
though an able and zealous opponent of that form of error.

232 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
ment, for which its antithetical form probably has gained the
wider acceptance, that " Catholicism is that system which repre
sents the relation of the individual to Christ to be dependent on
his relation to the Church; Protestantism, that which represents
the relation of the individual to the Church to be dependent on
his relation to Christ."1 This contrast is put forward by.
Schleiermacher as containing the characteristic distinction be
tween the two leading parties who call themselves Christians.
But the very statement of such a contrast involves a virtual
denial of the spiritual nature of the Church. For if the Church
be really Christ's " body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in
all," then its spiritual or invisible action is inseparable from the
right use of its visible ordinances, and it becomes impossible to
contrast things, which are actually identical. It would be an
analogous question, as was observed, to ask whether we were
men by being joined to Adam, or were joined to Adam by being
men. It is Christ's manhood which binds men through sacra
ments to His mystic body. So that to give effect to this contrast,
the Church must be supposed to be only a human system, de
vised for the more convenient working of religion among men,
and not the presence of Christ's manhood, acting spiritually on
all who are engrafted into Himself. How is it then that a
writer who enters so deeply into some parts of the Christian
system, and is regarded as their chief authority by a large
portion of what are considered the more orthodox Germans,
should have adopted a principle which implies a complete de
nial of the spiritual life of the Church ? The answer may be
learned from the account of Schleiermacher's opinions given
by his countryman Dorner. Schleiermacher, he 'says, finds
fault with the expression, that the Son of God has taken
man's nature into the unity of His Person. For this would
be to make the Personality of Christ dependent on the
Personality of the Second Person in the Divine Godhead,
and consequently on the Doctrine of the Trinity. Such a
' ' Per Christliche Glaube, i. 24, p. 132.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 233
notion accordingly would be inconsistent with the Sabellian
theory.1 Here, then, we see clearly to what we must attribute Schleier
macher's low estimate of the spiritual nature of the Church.
He could not suppose it to be the mystical body of the Eternal
Son, united by spiritual presence to His glorified humanity,
because there was wanting in his system that substratum for
such a doctrine which the truth of the Trinity could alone supply
(p. 113). If the same tendency is to be found in the teaching
of Archbishop Whately, his probity and public spirit, as well
as his high station, are a sufficient guarantee that it is not from
any intentional rejection of the authorized declarations of the
Church. Neither does the writer pretend to conjecture how far
the Archbishop may be conscious of the tendency of that system,
the results of which are visible in his works. But though it
would be unfair to charge individuals with holding the logical
consequence of their assertions, there can be no injustice in
showing how one peculiarity in a school or writer involves
another as its natural complement. This may be seen in the
case of Archbishop Whately, whose views of the Church are in
exact accordance with what might be anticipated from his
opinions respecting the Blessed Trinity,2 and respecting Christ
1 " The Christians' inward consciousness " (for this, and not the presence
of the Holy Ghost with the body of the Church, is Schleiermacher's
criterion, whether for proving the truth of Scripture, or for explaining it)
— " this inward consciousness," he says, " does not compel us to think of
the acting of the Redeemer in any other way, than as His Spirit more
and more, by organizing and influencing humanity, diffuses in an ever-
increasing sphere its action and its life. Christ, as a historical person,
has, according to his view, no other significance, than as His example is
the means of propagating that spirit which He has infused into the com
munity." " In this manner, then, the personal existence in which Christ
appeared, loses all its importance so soon as it has transplanted itself
into others." — Dorner' s Person Christi, first ed. pp. 503, 523.
2 God, says the Archbishop, is ' ' revealed to us in three characters
(which was anciently the ordinary sense in our language of the word
'person'), as standing in three relations to us." — Sermons on various
Subjects, 1835, p. 203.
. ' ' The Latin word ' persona ' signified originally a mask, which actors
wore on the stage ; the word came to signify the character itself, which the

234 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
Our Lord. For the word Person, as used in respect to the
Blessed Trinity, means merely, according to the Archbishop,
some new relation or character assumed by the same Being. He
says, accordingly, that " in respect of the sacrifice of Christ, and
of the spiritual gifts poured out on the Disciples, it was the same
thing in relation to them as if there had been really three distinct
Beings."1 And again, "Our Lord took care to indicate that
the Comforter the Disciples are to expect is no other than Him
self under another character."2
It is not here inquired how far these assertions accord with
the statements of Scripture, or the teaching of the 'Church of
England.3 But they account clearly enough for the view which
is adopted by Archbishop Whately respecting the Church of
Christ. His respect for the declarations of Scripture leads him
actor played ; and afterwards any character, real or assumed, which any
one sustained : as, e.g., in a passage of Cicero, where he is describing the
process by whieh he composed his pleadings, by imagining himself in the
place of his opponent, and of the judge, as well as his own : ' Tres personas
unus suscipio — meam, adversarii, judicis.' We should render this by say
ing, ' I assume these three characters,' or ' I place myself in these three
situations.' " " Persona, in its classical sense, was naturally adopted by
Theologians to distinguish the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the
Blessed Trinity, so as to imply the unity of the Divine Being, who is all
and each of these ; and the word Person was adopted by our Divines in the
same sense. In this sense its difference from Person as commonly employed
is most important." — Whately's Logic, first ed. 1826, p. 292.
In later editions this note is considerably lengthened, so that its state
ments appear in a less concentrated and naked form. But nothing- indicates
that Archbishop Whately designs to recall his previous assertions, which
indeed he has virtually repeated in subsequent sermons.
1 Sermons, 1835, p. 202. 2 Ditto, p. 197.
3 The sentiments of Sabellius are recorded by Theodoret, Dial. ii. , on
Heretical Fables (cited in Ratcliffe's Creed of St. Athanasius Illustrated, p.
85) : " Sabellius the African, of Pentapolis, introduced this heresy. He
said that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost were one Person, and
one Person bearing three names ; and he calls on the same, sometimes as
the Father, sometimes as the Son, and sometimes as the Holy Spirit ; and
that in the Old Testament He gave laws as the Father ; but in the New
He was incarnated aB the Son ; and that as the Holy Spirit He sat upon
the Apostles.' '
The Sabellian tenets are not only denied in the Athanasian Creed, but
are censured by name in the first Canon of the Council of Constantinople,
one of the four General Councils, whose decrees by our present law (1 Eliz.
c. i. s. 36) afford a criterion of heresy.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 235
to assert strongly its claim to authority : what is wanting in
his system is a due estimate of its ordinances as means of grace.
Now, if God's Presence as Mediator has been succeeded by His
Presence as the Holy Ghost, the Church can no longer be
characterized by its relation to Christ, as His mystic body united
by the spiritual action of His man's nature to Himself. So that
those who do not, as did the Quakers, deny its existence, are
thrown upon the fact that it is a social system for the advance
of religion, established under God's sanction, and conducive
in various ways to those purposes of improvement for which
God bestows His help on individuals among men. Thus is the
present action of the one common Mediator lost sight of, and
the Church, instead of being a means of grace, becomes simply
a scheme of government. The consequence, when men are led,
like Archbishop Whately, by the plain words of Scripture to
take a high view of Church authority,1 is to infuse harshness
and technicality into the Gospel system. The Kingdom of
Christ seems as though it was designed to limit the gifts of His
grace rather than to extend them. The Church assumes the
austerity of a Sabine mother rather than the affectionate loving-
kindness of the daughter of Zion. Since its ordinances are not
coincident with the means of grace, but something besides and
beyond them, the question naturally arises, " Is not the life
more than meat, and the body than raiment ? " So that men's
natural instinct testifies against the maintenance of- authority,
while the precepts of Scripture forbid its abolition.
Such are some of the evils of forgetting the real nature of the
Church's being — our union, namely, with the manhood of
Christ in His mystic body, together with His true Presence and
continued Mediation. These doctrines, it may be observed in
conclusion, are also our right security against substituting the
Church as a formal system in place of its Head ; and they afford
the best answers to the intricate questions respecting Church
i Vide the passages quoted from Whately's Kingdom of Christ in the
next Chapter.

236 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
communion and Church obedience. So long as the Church is
regarded as an external system, based on certain laws, and ad
ministered by certain leaders, it can never fail to enlist a measure
of that party spirit whieh belongs to man's nature, and thus to
draw away attention from the holy purposes for which it was
instituted. The only safeguard against this danger is the due
subordination of its external framework to its internal principle ;
and the constant recognition that its life depends, not on the
gifts of government but on the gifts of grace. If the essence of
the Church's existence be that certain men have a right to rule,
and teach and minister, whether they be chosen by the free voice
of the congregation, imposed by government, or delegated by
the Apostles, there is such large opening for cabal and dispute,
that love and peace and Christ's presence will soon be lost in
the din of party strife. The Presbyterian platform offers as
good footing to the spirit of partisanship as the system of
Episcopacy ; and the Pilgrim Fathers of Massachusetts were as
ready to persecute as Boniface or HUdebrand, But let the
essence of the Church's existence be felt to be Christ's presence
— let it be remembered that His manhood is the true seed of the
renewed race, and that through spiritual presence it bestows its
life-giving power on all the members of His mystic body — let
every other question be dependent upon these — let them take
their place, as of subordinate importance, and as merely con
tributing to this great result — and what room is there for discord
between Christ and the Church, when the Church is Christ
Himself manifest in His mystic body 1 " For no man ever yet
hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as
the Lord the Church." The theorist may be unvisited by the
sun's warmth while he discusses its nature, or the poet while he
describes its brilliancy ; but how can we lose sight of his glorious
beams by going forth to walk in the sunshine ? And so long as
this Divine principle is kept fully in view, it can hardly fail to
soften and elevate those whom it influences. So that if the
harshness of party spirit be not cured, it may at least be abated.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 237
There are those indeed who forget that by Christ is meant
that " one Mediator between God and men," who unites these
two natures, and is to be approached therefore through that
manhood whereby He allies Himself to our race. Their wish
is for such communing with the Spirit of the Universe as may
be maintained by each individual spirit in the separate temple
of the heart. To set forth Christ the Mediator as our only road
of access to the Most High is supposed by them to encumber
our approach. This is to renounce Christianity for Eationalism,
and to prefer the system of nature to the system of grace. For
if the doctrine of Mediation be accepted at all, the results which
it involves must be accepted also. And, therefore, to maintain
that the outward means of grace, whereby we are united to the
manhood of Christ, are not less necessary than those emotions of
our own, which have their seat within, is not to put the Church
in stead of Christ, but to protest against men's putting them
selves in the place of their Eedeemer. To speak of inward
seriousness as necessary, is only to testify the truth of each
man's separate responsibility ; but to speak of it as superseding
outward means, is to do away with the office of the " one
Mediator." The individual life of each man's spirit, as opposed
to the carelessness of a thoughtless walk, is the very treading
down of Satan under our feet ; but to contrast it with the value
of Gospel ordinances is to deny Christ — to depose Him from
His office of a Mediator — and to set up idols of intercession in
our own hearts.
Again, the recollection that Christ's Spiritual Presence is the
Church's life, is the answer to all questions respecting Church
Communion. For the Church's being depends on union with
Him ; its well-being on union with all His members. The
latter is as essential to its perfect state as that holiness of life
which Christ likewise entreated for all His members; the
Church's completeness, therefore, cannot be attained without
both the one and the other. But as we see holiness of life to
be too often wanting in its present season of warfare, so also is

238 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS CHURCH.
the perfect unity of the whole Christian body. That which
cannot be dispensed with — the loss of which would be its death
— is that union with Christ on which depends its claim to be
the Lord's Body. While this continues, the several members of
Christ are in truth united to one another, whether they discern
it or no ; because they are united to the common Head of the
Body. So that "if one member suffer, all the members suffer
with it ; and if one member rejoice, all the members rejoice with
it." And the same principle must be our guide respecting all
questions of Church-obedience. For Church-obedience depends
on the authority to bless, not on the power to govern. Its rule
is not coercive, but parental ; it stands on the communication of
gifts, not the enactment of penalties. This is what makes per
secution alien to its nature ; so that such harshness is abhorred
by men's instinct, even if their reason does not condemn it.
Thus in the world of grace, as in that of nature, is affection the
root of duty ; and men's relation to the Church of their Baptism
is built on that fundamental law which is the basis of social
life. Our Catechism, therefore, rests religious as well as tem
poral authority on the Fifth Commandment, and deduces from
it the obligation to obey spiritual as well as temporal masters.
For " Jerusalem which is above is the mother of us alL" Hence
the rule of Church-obedience is limited only by that ori
ginal duty of obedience to God, which cannot be superseded
by any subsequent obligation. Such considerations suggest at
once what are men's relations to Christ's body in that state or
place where God's Providence has fixed them, and also what
they owe to the more extended system, in which it is their
blessing to have an individual share. Towards their own mother
Church they owe not only obedience in things lawful, but also
reverence and thankfulness. So long as she 'continues to bless,
they may not cease to obey. There are those who speak of
themselves as the Church's friends, forgetting that a term, which
might be appropriate if employed by the holy Angels, is the ex
treme of irreverence, when employed by sinful men respecting

WORSHIP A MEANS OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 239
the Mystical Body of Christ their Saviour. For it implies
ignorance of their filial relation to the Church of Christ. Hence
the common opinion that men are at liberty to join any religious
community where statements are propounded, and where prac
tices are pursued, which harmonize with their feelings. And
hence men's attachment to their own part of the Church's body
is measured less by their obedience to its rules than by their
professed aversion to other systems.
All these errors result from a forgetfulness of the central
truth, that the Church of Christ is His body ; His presence
its life ; its blessing the gift of spiritual union with His man's
nature. Where this is given, there is opened for men the gift
of life and state of salvation. Our duty towards that portion
of it in which our lot is cast arises from love itself, not
from hatred to others ; the lines of our heritage are marked
out by affection and not by antipathy. For in' it lies our
actual participation in the Mediation of Christ. Through Him
only who is both God and man is there access to the Father.
For such has been the appointment of His sovereign wisdom,
" that so in the person of a Mediator the true ladder might be
fixed, whereby God might descend to His creatures, and His
creatures might; ascend to God."1

CHAPTEE XII.
OP COMMON WORSHIP AS A MEANS OP ONION WITH THE
MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST.
The actings of Christ our Lord since His Ascension have been
stated to be : first, His Intercession on man's behalf with God
the Father, and secondly, His Spiritual Presence through His
man's nature with His brethren. And this Spiritual Presence
1 Bacon's Confession of Faith, u. s.

240 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
of the man Christ Jesus has been shown to be vouchsafed in
His Church, whereby " we are members of His body ; of His
flesh, and of His bones." For men are joined to His body
natural which was slain, in His body mystical which is sanctified.
The question which next arises respects the means of union with
that mystical body in which men have title to the privileges of
the Gospel. Of these the first and most comprehensive is com
mon worship. This point must now be established. The con
siderations which lead to it are :
First — The nature of common worship.
Secondly — The grounds of its necessity.
Thirdly — The place which it occupied in the Jewish system.
Fourthly — Its connexion with the Doctrine of Mediation.
And hence follows,
Fifthly— The necessity of an ordained Ministry and public
Eitual. L The very nature- of common worship shows its efficacy in
maintaining our connexion with the mystical body of Christ.
For what is it but the voice and action of the Christian Com
munity, which, if it has life, must by such symptoms show that
it lives ? Every organized body has some mode of giving ex
pression to that pervading principle, which renders it a Whole.
A tree puts forth leaves ; animal life discovers itself by sound
and motion. This is that simple method of rendering homage
to God which the Psalmist ascribes to the whole visible creation.
And if the Church be not a mere aggregation of men, who meet
by accident within the same precincts, but the living exponent
of a spiritual power, which renders it Christ's mystical body,
then that quickening energy, with which it is instinct, must
have some means of utterance. And since its office is not only
towards men — whom it gathers for their own benefit into its
fostering bosom — but likewise towards Him, whose " praise is
in the great congregation ;" therefore its first object must be that
the inhabitants of this lower world, '• with Angels and Arch
angels, and with all the company of heaven " should " laud and

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 241
magnify His glorious name, saying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God
of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of Thy glory." Now,
if this be the Church's chosen function, to partake in it must
be our first means of exercising our Christian privilege, and of
claiming our portion in that Mystical Body of Christ wherein
we are members.
II. How deeply this feeling was implanted from the first in
the Christian Community, appears from the grounds on which
the importance of public worship has always rested. Its indis
pensable necessity must have arisen from the nature of the case,
inasmuch as it did not arise from positive enactment. No
positive command to meet for united worship occurs in the New
Testament, except that incidental one in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, which cannot have been relied upon in the Western
Church, by wbich in early times the Epistle to the Hebrews
was not received ; and yet the first Christians not only encoun
tered every danger, but, what was a still stronger proof of their
conviction, they violated those civil laws to which they usually
paid such prompt obedience, rather than forego the privilege of
that common worship whereby each man maintained his part
in the fellowship of his Saviour. How could they be justified
in disobeying Csesar, unless their duty to God had been peremp
tory and unquestioned ? But it stood on no direct command of
Scripture. It must have rested, therefore, on the very nature
of the case — on the connexion of this service with those general
duties and privileges which are set forth as the first principle of
the Christian life — on the necessity of union with Christ as the
new Head of the redeemed race — on the common obligation to
honour God more than man — it must have been the very act by
wbich men professed themselves Christ's servants, and claimed
membership in the mystical body of the Crucified. The very
publicity and danger of the deed makes the weight which was
attached to it the more manifest. Instruction could be given by
books or by single conference. The consecrated elements might
be carried round singly to those who desired to partake them.

242 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
But when the Eoman Law J had expressly forbidden the
meeting of religious bodies, the common worship of the Chris
tians became, as Pliny expresses it, the very "sum of their
crime."2 It was forbidden therefore during the Diocletian per
secution, even under the mild rule of Constantius ;3 and its
permission is the main point expressed in the tolerating edict
issued by Galerius4 just before his death. Yet in the face of
all this opposition, the Christian Church never intermitted its
united worship ; the duties which it could not perform in public
and during the day, were discharged secretly and during the
hours of darkness ; it retreated into the heart of the earth, and
maintained itself in catacombs and the abodes of the dead, that
it might issue forth when its season was come, and publish
in the face of the sun those benedictions in which it calls on
heaven and earth to partake.
III. The importance of common worship as our means of
union with the body of Christ is further manifested, if we con
sider wherein lay the peculiar privileges which were enjoyed by
the Jews. Their peculiar blessing was plainly that covenanted
access to God which was allowed to them alone of ancient nations.
" What nation is there," said Moses, " who hath God so nigh
unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon
Him for?" The wide distance which separates man from his
Maker was not bridged over indeed so effectually as since God
has become man and man God, but a foundation was laid for this
wonderful bond of union. For the first time in God's dealings
with mankind was there a nation chosen to receive the privilege
of accepted prayer. Private prayer there had been, doubtless,
from the first ; the instinct which leads men to pray in time of
distress seems a sufficient sanction for it. And family prayer
had probably commenced in the household of Seth, when " men
began to call on the name of the Lord ;" and had since continued
1 The proofs are collected by Gieseler, i. 12, notes C & D, vol. i. pp. 31,
32. Trajan renewed the law against eraipeiai, a.d 99
2 Epis. lib. x. 97.
3 Laotantius, De morte Persecutorum, c. 15. 4 Ibid. c. 34.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 243
in the tents of the Patriarchs. But this usage had rested on
natural instinct or individual communication ; it was personal or
family ; it was not relevant to any peculiar promise, or any pub
lic institutions ; it belonged to that Patriarchal state in which
the Most High was pleased to favour His dutiful followers by
single and especial manifestations. Under this rule did Enoch,
Job, and Abraham, walk with God. But this, rule waxed in
sufficient when, with the increasing extension of mankind, those
lights which they possessed in early times were withdrawn.
Hence the censure passed by Our Lord upon the Samaritans,
who thought their practice justified because their " fathers wor-
* shipped upon this mountain:" "Ye worship ye know not
what ; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews."
It was not in the doctrines of a pure Monotheism that the Sama
ritans of that age were wanting. Their habit was to address
themselves to the Father of all, through the unaided service of
their own devotion. But they worshipped they knew not what,
because they had no certainty of acceptance. " Salvation is of
the Jews." To them only belongs the assuranee that the Father
of all will hear them. This means of access no other nation pos
sessed. They had the " lively oracles " which afforded an inter
course with the Almighty.
Now, on what was this intercourse dependent 1 It could not
rest only on a conviction of the existence of Jehovah ; in this
respect' they were not superior to their Fathers, the Patriarchs,
even if they surpassed their contemporaries. That which marked
them out as God's people was the national Eitual, by which they
were assured of access to Him. The road indeed was narrow,
painful, and circuitous ; and yet it was a road of approach to God.
All right of drawing near Him was through their nation. Their
family union conferred on each individual in their tribes a pre
eminence which was enjoyed by no other people. " All the earth
is Mine," declared Jehovah, but " ye shall be unto Me a kingdom
of Priests, and an holy nation." Eoyalty lies in high descent,
and Priesthood in that peculiar consecration which marks men

244 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
out to draw near to the presence of God ; and both these qualities
centred in that whole society, all whose members were so much
more favoured than the residue of mankind. The consciousness
of this pre-eminence was felt when the High Priest was observed
to bear on him the symbols of the whole world, when he entered
into the holy place, because he was the representative of the whole
creation.1 If this were so, he was the type of Him who stretched
out His sacrificing arms upon the Cross, that He might in truth
embrace the Universe. In this wise were the Jews favoured
above the rest of men. And this privilege they enjoyed through
their participation in those public acts which were the especial
privilege and work of their nation. It was not that each "in
dividual Jew found his way to God through his individual
excellency ; but he had a claim to participate in that public ser
vice by which His nation was brought nigh to the Almighty.
The national Eitual was a bond of union which gave the in
dividual a vantage ground in his approach to God. That general
communing of his spirit with the Great Author of the universe,
which was all that the Heathen man enjoyed, was sanctioned and
exalted by the mediatorial character of the public Eitual, in
which the Jewish nation had a common interest. The priest
hood of Aaron did not derogate from the general privilege, which
made Israel at large a royal Priesthood ; it was the very basis on
which their blessing rested — it was the provisional appointment
of that mediatorial office, by which God and man were bound to
gether ; the typical representation of that true High Priest, who
is the perfect Mediator between earth and heaven. Therefore to
reject the Jewish Eitual during that period, when it was the ap
pointed means of foreshowing Him who was to come, would have
been in reality to reject Christ, and to slight the efficacy of His
Mediation. So that when Korah maintained that the separate
priesthood of every individual Israelite dispensed with the ne
cessity of that national Eitual, which anticipated the Mediation
of Christ, it pleased God by immediate judgments to show who
' Philo quoted in Dorner's Person Christi, vol. i. p. 48.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 245
should " come near to offer incense before the Lord." Thus was
it plainly seen what was that channel of Mediation through which
individual prayers should ascend to heaven. And as such the
holiest and most spiritual Israelites used it. Their ardent as
pirations to God were grounded always on that peculiar privilege
of approach, which had its central and consecrating point in their
national Eitual. Such as voluntarily neglected those means of
confederation, whereby men maintained their portion in the
public service, were cut off from God's people. But those who by
involuntary hindrances were precluded from actual association
with their brethren, were not left to that mere feeling after an
unknown helper, which was all that the Heathen possessed;
their thoughts travelled to their native land, they associated them
selves in spirit to that national worship which God had made the
channel of heavenly gifts, and thus they claimed their part in the
collective privilege of the nation. Thus did David in spirit go
"with the multitude" from the "land of Jordan and the hill
Mizar." Thus did Daniel pray, " his windows being open in his
chamber towards Jerusalem." This was the very principle of the
Jewish service, which extended to those who were in distant
lands, as well as to those who, being gathered in the Temple's
courts, " were praying without at the time of incense." " They
knew much better than the Heathen that God's throne of Majesty
was in heaven, and yet were to tender their devotions unto Him
as extraordinarily present in His temple or sanctuary. " 1 For the
principle of a public Eitual does not depend on the actual presence
of men, whieh may be interrupted by the accidents of our weak
ness, but on that actual presence of God, which He vouchsafes
through His appointed means of intervention. The voluntary
neglect of such opportunities on our part would be to despise the
privilege of intercourse with God. It would be to prefer our own
means of access to those which the appointed Mediator bestows.
If we have a true belief that the privilege of union with God is
bestowed through those especial channels of intercourse which
1 Jackson's Works, xi. 3, 1 1.

246 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
He has Himself ordained, we shall make such efforts as were made
by the early Christians to use them. For the whole value of such
a service depends on the reality of those blessings which God
bestows, as He unquestionably bestowed them in former times, on
those who worshipped towards His mercy-seat, and as since the
Incarnation of Christ they have been pledged in fuller measure to
those who make up together the mystical body of the Lord.
IV. Now, this leads us to discern why such especial import
ance should be attached to common worship in the Church of
God. For since Christ Incarnate is the real priest, through
whom all Jewish service was effectual — His body the real vic
tim, His members the true temple — -therefore to suppose that
individual piety dispenses with the necessity of participation in
the Church's collective acts, is the same thing as if a Jew had
maintained that it superseded the necessity of participation in
the ancient Eitual. Communion with the Church in its united
acts of worship brings men into the same relation to Christ,
the one true and abiding Mediator, which was gained in their
degree for the men of old time, by participation in that typical and
imperfect service which was maintained .through the continual
offering of the Levitical sacrifices. As a Jew could not approach
God save through the intervention of the expected Messiah, so
cannot a Christian save through the mediation of the Messiah
who has been manifested. The single prayers which were
offered by the pious Jew in the solitary temple of his heart,
ascended to God because, through the privilege of the nation,
heaven and earth were bound together. And the solitary wor
ship of the fervent Christian is not effectual through its private
merit, but by virtue only of that intercession which is offered
for the elect at large, and of that sacrifice, in whieh the whole
Christian Body has common interest. To rest therefore on the
mere separate intercourse of man with his Maker, on the private
aspirations of the individual soul, would be to pass by the
intervention of Christ as something unnecessary, and to set up
our own spirit as the Mediator through whom the Father of all

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 247
could be approached. And this would be an idolatry which all
Christian men would abhor. Yet is this virtually the effect
when personal devotion, the importance of which cannot in
itself be too much enforced, is represented as a rival to that
participation in the public ordinances of His Church, whereby
God is approached through Christ. True it is that all Christian
men are Kings and Priests, and thus have immediate access to
God. But then this access must be in Christ — it depends on
their character as members of His body — it is because that
Mediation is complete which in Jewish times was imperfect—
because God and man have been made one in Christ. The Jews
likewise were all a royal priesthood, but this did not neutralize
the necessity of that public Eitual, whereby every individual
had privilege of approach. Neither does the privilege of single
Christians interfere with the necessity of that Mediation of
Christ on which it is dependent. " Albeit the Temple of Jeru
salem, wherein God's people only were to worship, were long
since demolished ; yet the sanctuary, wherein they were to
worship God, is rather translated or advanced from earth to
heaven than destroyed ; for it was God's presence that made the
temple, and that is more extraordinary in Christ's body, than
ever it had been in Solomon's temple."1
But then the question recurs, why is this reference to Christ
Our Lord especially connected with His public service 1 Why
is it not satisfied by that mere regard which is paid to Him
singly, by those who do not choose to associate themselves with
their fellow-creatures ? Cannot men's hearts travel forth towards
Him as their God in privacy and seclusion ? There have been
many who have professed to worship Christ singly, through the
mere exercise of their private faith ; and this is the real principle
of all those Separatists, who, like the Quakers, have no Sacra
mental union, and by whom common worship has been exchanged
for simple teaching. Now, the reason why such a system is
a disparagement of Our Lord's Mediation, is because His Medi-
1 Jackson's Works, u. s.

248 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
ation does not depend merely on our calling ourselves by His
name, or on our entertaining certain feelings, towards Him ; but
results from that actual relation, which He condescended to
assume towards us, when He took our nature into abiding union
with His own. His Mediation is a reality, external to ourselves,
and not a mere matter of our own imagination. It is not
enough to say that we gain certain blessings by resorting to that
Divine Being, who happened once to be upon earth — as though
He accidentally undertook the office of speaking in our favour ;
but His Mediation is the consequence of that permanent cha
racter, which He was pleased to adopt by assuming manhood.
He thus became the Head of the renewed family, who offered
Himself a sacrifice on behalf of the whole, and through whom
all graces devolve upon the rest ; and, therefore, by a certain
singular fitness was He marked out to be the representative of
His brethren. So that towards the completeness of His work,
it was essential that those for whom He spoke should be as truly
bound to His manhood, as by descent they were to their
original parent. For this work was expressly declared to be
undertaken on behalf of His mystical body. It is for those
who believe on Him through His Apostles' words, and who are
" one as we are one," that He intercedes with His Father. His
advocacy results from His being " Head over all things to the
Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in
all." Would we have part, then, in His Intercession as Medi
ator, we must be members in that "family in heaven and
earth," which is called after His name. This membership
involves federal union with the collective Church : to be a
member is to be a part of a body, because the existence of parts
implies the existence of a whole. And, therefore, the notion of
a mere individual relation to our Lord, independently of that
social tie which binds us to Him as a part of His mystic body,
would lead, when followed into its results, to the virtual denial
of that office, which He discharges as a man ; Christ would be
viewed, according to the Sabellian theory, as a mere name or

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 249
relation, under which in this present Dispensation the Father of
all has pleased to reveal Himself; and His actual intervention
as a Person, other than the Father and the Holy Ghost, and as
co-operating through that nature which He took of the Virgin,
in the great work of bringing many sons unto salvation, would
be practically forgotten.
The permanency, therefore, of Christ's Mediation, together
with the importance of His present interference, is the true
point which is asserted when the necessity of the Church's office
is maintained. But if a present work is transacted on our behalf
in the Gospel Kingdom, through the merit of Christ's ascended
manhood, some means must be appointed, through which His
brethren may partake its benefits. A system of worship upon
earth is the necessary correlative to a work of intercession in
heaven. The one implies the other. And, therefore, in that
early age of the Church, when Our Lord's Mediation was felt
to be the life of the Christian community, there was a universal
and unqualified assertion, that as certainly as Christ's sacrifice
was pleaded effectually above, it was likewise truly participated
in Gospel ordinances, and that those things which were done on
earth in the Church's united acts, made part of that grand sacrifice
which has its consummation in heaven. So that while all other
parts of the Christian Eitual were spoken of as sacrificial in
their character, that service by which men especially participated
in the Mediation of Christ, because they are most truly bound
by it to His mystic body, i.e., the Eucharist or Lord's Supper, was
called emphatically the Christian sacrifice. And this is an act
which, by its federal character, involves the necessity of that
united worship, whereby men partake in the collective privileges
of the Church of God. "Irenasus1 tells me," says our own
Mode,2 " there were offerings there, i.e., in the Old Testament ;
there are also offerings here, i.e., in the New Testament ; there
' S. Irenseus iv. 18, 2.
2 " That the Christian Service is an Oblatiou proved by the Fathers."
— Mede's Works, b. ii. u. iv. p. 361.

250 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
were sacrifices among the people, i.e., the Jews ; there are sacri
fices also in the Church." And after mentioning that the Holy
Communion was commonly called a sacrifice ; " it would be
infinite," he adds, " to note all the places and authors where and
by whom it is thus called." He contents himself therefore with
citing those authors by whom it was so described in the life
time of the Apostles. In justification of this mode of speaking,
St. Irenaeus adduces that prophetic description which had been
given by Malachi of the services of the Christian Church: "From
the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My
name shall be great among the Gentiles ; and in every place in
cense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering."
Now, the one of these things, incense, is explained by St. John
to typify the prayers of Saints ;l the pure offering, therefore,
must on its part have something to indicate. Accordingly, it
was understood to be the " new oblation of the New Testament,
which the Church receiving from the Apostles offers throughout
the whole world to God."2 An oblation which is thus explained
by Mede : " We are wont to conclude our prayers with, Through
Jesus Christ Our Lord. And this is the specification whereby
the worship of a Christian is distinguished from that of the Jew.
Now, that which we in all our prayers and thanksgivings do
vocally, when we say through Jesus Christ Our Lord, the Ancient
Church in her public and solemn service did visibly, by repre
senting Him, according as He commanded, in the symbols of
His body and blood. What time, then, so fit and seasonable
to commend our devotions unto God, as when the Lamb of God
lies slain upon the holy table ; and we receive visibly, though
mystically, those gracious pledges of His blessed body and blood ?
This was that sacrifice of the ancient Church the Fathers so much
ring in our ears — the sacrifice of Praise and Prayer through Jesus
Christ, mystically represented in the creatures of bread and wine."3
1 Rev. v. 8. St. Augustin calls the Lord's Prayer " quotidianum spiri-
tale quodam modo incensum." — De Nat. et Grot. 33.
2 S. Iren. iv. 17, 5. 3 Mede, ubi sup. ii. 2, p. 357.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 251
These assertions respecting the Holy Communion involve the
two following conditions : First, that this ordinance should be
allowed to be as truly a sacrifice as any of those ancient rites to
which that term was commonly applied either in Scripture or
by men ; secondly, that its efficacy should be rested wholly upon
that sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross once for all, which forms
the basis of His Mediation. The first of these conditions is im
plied in the language of the early Church respecting the Blessed
Eucharist : it follows from the fact that " we have an altar,"1 and
that " this" is "our sacrifice."2 The second results from the reality
of that system of Mediation, whereby man is reconciled to God.
The principle of this Mediation was, that He who undertook it
partook truly of both natures, so that He was at once God's
representative among men, and man's advocate with the Creator.
And in this character, what valuable thing could He offer to
God but the sacrifice of Himself? His sanctified humanity
was the only pure thing which could be gathered out of the
mass of corrupted mortality. And, therefore, no earthly acces
sions could increase its amount or enhance its value. If its
value were not infinite, it would not suffice to atone for all sins ;
if its amount were not unbounded, it would not take in all
offenders. To this sacrifice, therefore, no acts of ours can con
tribute anything; our hundred pence, if we could offer them,
would add nothing to the value of His ten thousand talents.
So that the only ground on which the Holy Communion can have
that character of a sacrifice, which has been assigned to it, must
be through its participation in the central work of Mediation,
the offering, i.e., of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
But how can the Eucharist or Christian sacrifice bo an " offering
of the body of Jesus Christ ;" since " Christ dieth no more," but
" hath entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us?" So that the body of Jesus Christ which He
took of the Virgin, that through its sanctification3 He might sanc
tify the mass of humanity, has its material place in heaven, "until
1 Hebrews xiii. 10. * Communion Service. 3 St. John xvii. 19.

252 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
the restitution of all things." This body, therefore, cannot die
again, nor can its material place be other than at God's right hand ;
yet must this be the very body which we present to the Father;
for were it aught besides, our dependence would not be on that
anointed first-fruit1 of man's nature which, that it might be the
instrument of Mediation, was made personally one with God.
The offering must be made, then, in a manner not incompatible
with the truth that the thing offered "ever liveth;" and again,
that according to its material place, it " is ever at the right hand
of God." Now, this is the exact manner in which the sacrifice
of Christ is declared to be presented before God : as in reference
to time past He was " the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world," so there " stood a Lamb, as it had been slain " before the
throne, in the vision of the utmost future. So that our offerings
derive their value from the same source which gave their efficacy
to the ancient sacrifices. Theirs were not less truly sacrifices
than ours, but with this difference, that the thing offered among
them was the type, whereas the thing offered in our services is
the reality. For thus is Christ consecrated " a Priest for ever,"
and His offering is " a perpetual sacrifice."2 " The substance or
matter of the sacrifice " of Christ, says Dr. Jackson, " is of the
same force at this day to remit sins, that it was of whilst it was
offered ; for His human nature was consecrated by death and by
His bloody passion, to be a sacrifice of everlasting virtue, to be
the continual propitiation for our sins."3
Now, it is because what is pleaded above as the ground of our
acceptance is that true manhood which was taken for the purpose
of Mediation by the Son of God, that the Eucharist, rather than
any other part of the Church's Eitual, is declared to be the Chris
tian sacrifice. For " as often as ye eat this bread and drink this
cup, ye do show the Lord's death till He come." Through its
1 ' ' Totam nostra m massam  assumpsit, factus primitive nostrse
naturae." — Anas. Sin. Or. Z,Bib. Max. Pat. ix. 932. Vide S. Athan. De
Inc. et c. Ar. 12, vol. i. 879.
2 Hebrews x. 12. 3 Works, x. 55, 6.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 253
character of a Sacrament, as shown in the next Chapter, does the
Holy Communion connect us with that slain Humanity of the
Incarnate Word, which is present by spiritual power in holy
ordinances. Through this bread and this cup, that which is
offered as a true sacrifice in heaven, is present as a real though
immaterial agent in the Church's ministrations. So that what is
done by Christ's ministers below, is a constituent part of that
general work which the one great High Priest performs in heaven :
through the intervention of his heavenly Head, the earthly
sacrificer truly exhibits to the Father that body of Christ, which
is the one only sacrifice for sins ; each visible act has its efficacy
through those invisible acts of which it is the earthly expression ;
and things done on earth are one with those done in heaven.
But though the body of Jesus Christ, present materially in
heaven, and bestowed in holy ordinances through spiritual pre
sence, supplies the Christian sacrifice with its whole intrinsic value,
yet those things which are contributed by His brethren obtain
acceptance by union with Him. To this circumstance the prayer
and praise of Christians owe all their right to be admitted as a
portion of the Christian sacrifice.1 For the virtue of the Me
diator's service extends itself to that of all His brethren. And so
is it likewise with those elements of bread and wine, which are
presented to God as a sample and first-fruits of His creation, that
they may afterwards be set apart by consecration to be the means
whereby that Mediator who has sanctified this whole defiled
universe, may distribute Himself to men. These elements, there
fore, like the prayers of men, cannot be an acceptable offering,
1 The only way in which men can make part of a valuable sacrifice is,
that they are regarded as parts of Him through whom only they are ac
cepted. On this ground does St. Augustin speak of the Christian sacrifice
as consisting of " multi unum oorpus in Cluisto." But then it is because
the Church is a part of that victim which is truly acceptable : " quod in ea
re quam offert ipsa off eratur.' ' And this offering is presented by our High
Priest above, as a part of His continual Intercession : " Efficitur, ut tota
ipsa redempta civitas, hoc est congregatio societasque sanctorum, univer
sale sacrificium offeratur Deo per sacerdotem magnum, qui etiam se
ipsum obtulit in passions pro nobis, ut tanti capitis corpus essemus."— -
De Civitate Dei, x. 6.

254 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
except so far as they have received His hallowing presence, who
corrects the evils of the Fall. But when Malachi described the
sacrifice of the Christian Church he looked plainly to some higher
object than the mere material value of these preliminary offerings.
For as incense typifies, but is not prayer, so the " pure offering"
could not be the literal Mincha, or meat-offering, but that true
sacrifice of which it was typical. And to what did all Jewish
rites refer but to the one real Mediator ? So that the oblation
which Malachi contemplated, must have been that true Mincha,
that hidden Manna, the body of Jesus Christ which was offered
once for all. This it was which He declared should be presented
in every place from the rising to the setting of the sun, by those
priests and Levites whom the Gentile1 Church should substitute
for the ancient ministrants.
The account which has been given of the Eucharist will seem
to some to make it too real a sacrifice, while to others it will seem
wanting in reality. The latter will say that if the efficacious part
of the Eucharistic offering is performed by our great Mediator in
heaven — if the thing of value which is presented before God has
already been brought into the heavenly temple — then that which
remains to be done upon earth can only be a symbolical, and not
a real offering. And they fear, therefore, that no great importance
will be attached to that portion of the work, in which Christ's
earthly servants are ministrants. But the statements which have
been made are involved immediately by the central fact of the
Doctrine of Mediation, that no perfect offering can be found
among men except that manhood which was personally united to
God. And that Christ's human body should have its material
place in heaven, does not interfere with that presence which it
has by spiritual power ; or diminish therefore the sacredness of
those elements or means whereby men participate it. For if to
rest its efficacy on Christ's work above is incompatible with the
opinion that the Eucharist is a true sacrifice, then must this name
be denied to the Passover also. What was the real virtue of the
1 Malachi i. 11 ; Isaiah lxvi. 21.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 255
Passover, but that through its participation men had part in that
acceptance which the Mediator effected t The lamb slain upon
earth was not of intrinsic value, but that " Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world," in whose effectual atonement it gave
Israel participation. To the heavenly temple, therefore, do those
ancient writers direct our thoughts, who speak most strongly of
the reality of the Christian sacrifice. " There is an altar in
heaven," says St. Irenaeus, " for to it our prayers and oblations
are directed."1 And therefore he speaks of "the Word"2 —
Christ, according to His man's nature- — as the oblation which is
offered to God. A similar statement is made by St. Ambrose :
" On one side is the shadow, on another the representation, on a
third the truth. The shadow is in the Law, the representation
¦ in the Gospel, the truth in heaven. In former times sacrifices
consisted of lambs and calves : now Christ is offered, but He is
offered according to His man's nature, according to that being in
which He is receptive of suffering ; and as Priest He offers up
Himself as the ransom of our offences; He does it here in
representation, He does it in truth there, where He mediates in
the Father's presence as our Intercessor."3
The real point in dispute, therefore, supposing all verbal
questions excluded, is whether that which is done in common
worship and especially in its crowning act, the Holy Communion,
is done merely within the man himself, in the region of his own
feelings and intellect, or whether, besides this, it be something
which belongs to the whole Church, which extends not only to
earth, but to heaven, of which the agent is not only the man
who supplicates on earth, but the Church's Head who supplicates
in heaven. And this turns on the point whether man's salvation
depends on a real work, external to ourselves, which our great
Advocate is still carrying on by His Intercession, and through
the pleading of His slain humanity.* So that we fall back
i S. Iren. iv. 18, 6. 2 S. Iren. iv. 18, 4.
3 S. Ambros. De Officiis Ministrorum, i. 48, 248. S. Chrys. on Hebrews,
cap. x. Horn. xvii. 3.
4 " Besides the infinite value, we are to acknowledge," says Dr. Jackson,

256 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
upon the original matter of controversy, whether we are to
accept the Church's Doctrine, that Our Lord's Incarnation is a
truth, or the Sabellian opinion, that it is a fictitious representa
tion. Let Christ be believed to be truly God and man, pleading
for us the merits of that human nature, which He has conse
crated through His Godhead, and there must be reality in those
means whereby we are continually associated to that sanctified
humanity, in union with which is all our hope. It is the
certainty of this communion — the truth that on its media is our
life dependent, because the thing with which we are thus
connected is our life itself — which was so zealously contended
for by those contemporaries of the Apostles, to whom Mede
refers, when they asserted the reality of a sacrifice and therefore
of a priesthood in the Church of Christ. For if there be such
importance and reality in the work which is done by Christ, then
the means whereby we participate it must be real and important.
Through fear of a different error, many persons in later times,
who never doubted the reality of this work, have used different
language.1 Their anxiety has been merely to exclude the
notion, that human acts have any value, except through the
sacrifice of Christ. But this truth is so far from being incom-
' ' the infinite or everlasting efficacy or operative virtue of this bloody sacri
fice of the Son of God. Suppose the Son of God, immediately after He
lad paid the ransom for our sins, or in that instant in which He said Con-
•ummatum est, ' all is finished,' had deposed or laid aside the human nature
in which He was conceived and born to the end and purpose that He might
lie in it (or according to it), His offering or sacrifice had been of value in
finite, in that it could purchase so universal a pardon at God' s hands for all
sinners and for all sins. Yet if He had laid aside the human nature
immediately after His suffering, the everlasting efficacy of this infinite
sacrifice had been cut off." — Works, x. 55, 6.
1 This is Waterland's explanation of the fact, that Hooker says " sacri
fice is now no part of the Christian ministry, "and that we have ' ' properly
now no sacrifice." " I presume he meant by proper sacrifice, propitiatory.
In such a sense as that he might justly say, that sacrifice is no part of the
Church ministry, or that the Christian Church has no sacrifice. But I
commend not the use of such new language, be the meaning' ever so
right: the Fathers' never used it."— The Christian Sacrifice Explained—
Waterland's Works, viii. 169.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 257
patible with the assertion of a priesthood and sacrifice by the
primitive Fathers, that it is the very ground upon which they
based its importance. They maintained the reality of those
means whereby we are joined to Christ, for the purpose of
showing that we cannot be saved, except through His " per
petual sacrifice." Now, since Christ's work is the work of the
Great Head of renewed humanity for all His brethren, therefore
the means whereby we hold to Him are an actual participation
in His sacrifice. A sacrifice is not participated only by the
sacrificing Priest, but by all those who through his intervention
have a right in the action l which is performed, and a hope
through the offering which is accepted. " Behold Israel after
the flesh : are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of
the altar ? " Both laity, therefore, and priesthood 2 have a
share in the Christian sacrifice — the one as participating in the
virtue of the gift, the other as further contributing by their
ministry to its common participation. Therefore, though it be
a necessary result of our acceptance through the work of a
Mediator, that the same party should be both Priest and
Victim 3 — though looking at that meritorious act, on which man's
acceptance is dependent, there is but one Priest and one sacri
fice in Heaven and Earth — we yet may fitly apply the name
both of Priests and sacrifices to those media, whereby that act
which is continually pleaded in the Heavenly sanctuary is partici
pated by surrounding multitudes. Neither can we speak too
highly of the value of what is effected by Christ's earthly
ministers, provided we render them subservient to that perfect
sacrifice of Himself which can receive no augmentation,
1 " Indubitatum est ... . ipsos fideles prsesentes una cum sacerdote
offerre." — Van Fspen, quoted by Mas/cell, Ancient Liturgy, p. 69. Perrone's
Lectures, vol. vi. p. 377.
2 " As Christ, in virtue of His sacrifice on the Cross, intercedes for us
with the Father — so does the minister of Christ's priesthood here ; that
the virtue of the eternal sacrifice may be salutary and effectual to all the
needs of the Church, both for things temporal and eternal." — Taylor's
Worthy Communicant, i. iv. 4.
3 S. Aug. De Trin. iv. 14. S

258 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
Why then is it that the existence of a Christian Priesthood
and a Christian sacrifice has been questioned by those who
never doubted the reality of Christ's Intercession and Atonement
as an actual work external to ourselves? Two things have
been principally alleged : first, that their assertion is inconsistent
with the privilege of Christians; and secondly, that it is
incompatible with the prerogative of Christ. These objections
shall be considered in their order.
To be " Kings and Priests" has been declared in Scripture to
be the privilege of individual Christians. For to them more
signally than to Israel of old has been given that right of access
to God which is at once a royal privilege and a priestly function.
This is the meaning of that " sacerdotium laicorum " which was
claimed in primitive times for all Christians. But on what
does this title depend ? It results solely from the fact that all
members of the family of Christ are associated in their degree
in those privileges, of which the Pattern Man was perfectly
possessed. The abundance of supernatural grace which belonged
to Him by right was sufficient to ennoble all His brethren.
Their title, therefore, is no individual birthright — no natural
superiority to the residue of mankind — but that those privileges,
which belonged to the Head of the Church by right, belonged
to His Members1 by favour. On this ground similar titles were
bestowed even upon the Jewish people, because their prospective
participation in the promised Mediator gave them some portion
in His honours. Now, if this be the ground of that claim
which is made for individual Christians, how can it be interfered
with by that medium of intercourse with Christ, on which its
very existence is dependent? For it is to Christ, as man, that
the title belongs of right, in which all Christians claim to parti
cipate. Now, it is for the very end of providing a channel of
intercourse with the man's nature of Christ, that all Church
ordinances have been provided. Their professed purpose is to
add members to His body. So long, then, as the Christian
1 Vide Bede on Revelation xx. 4 ; S. Aug. De Civit. Dei, xx. 10.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 259
Sacrifice and Priesthood are merely made a means of union with
the manhood of Christ, they cannot interfere with the privilege
of individual Christians. As the same terms of royalty and
Priesthood, when applied in their degree to the Jewish nation,
were rendered available through the efficacy of that national
Eitual, whereby the whole people was united to God, so the
existence of such common worship as involves the reality of a
Christian Priesthood, is the very mean's of their maintenance
in the Church of Christ. The simple name of a Christian
Priesthood cannot be objected to as incompatible with the right
of Christians, for otherwise, to monopolize the title of king
would be equally inconsistent with their kingly honour. So
that such Priesthood and such sacrifices in the Church of Christ
as are the means of maintaining the connexion between Christ
and His brethren, are no disparagement to their birthright, but
supply the very basis on which it is dependent.
We come then to the other objection. Is the continuance of
a sacerdotal system incompatible with the prerogative of Christ ?
Those who deny that a priesthood and sacrifice exist under the
Gospel, suppose that they interfere in some way with the pro
pitiatory office, which is admitted on all hands to belong exclu
sively to Christ. But why are they supposed to interfere with
it ? If, indeed, Christ's work was entirely concluded when He
was upon earth — if when He had removed certain disabilities
which attached to man's position, He left men to find their way
to heaven as they could, with the help perhaps of that general
influence of the Great Spirit of the Universe, in which all age's
and nations have believed — then indeed no place is left for the
present action of a sacerdotal system. But this would-be to
renounce belief in Christ's " continual sacrifice '' — to explain
away the reality of His Intercession, and the truth of His
nature — and to forget that He retains that manhood whereby
He has become the new Head of our race. Now, if Christ is
still maintaining a real intercession — if He still pleads that sacri
fice, in the merit whereof we must partake if we would be truly

260 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
joined to His man's nature — then is there ample place for that
sacerdotal system by which some actual thing is to be still
effected, and in which some agents must be still employed.
Now, this it is which is asserted by St. Ignatius and St. Irenasus,
when they maintain that there exists an altar and a sacrifice in
the Church of Christ. They maintain the reality of those acts of
Christ in which we participate through the intervention of His
ministers. So that the real dispute is whether anything is still
done by the God-man in His Gospel Kingdom ; or whether, as
the Sabellians maintain, His work is over, and His office at an
end. For if anything is still transacted, so that for its par
ticipation there need certain acts, and the service of certain
agents, we have an exact precedent in the Jewish system for
bestowing the name of sacrifice and priesthood upon the media
which are thus employed.
Now, to this it may be replied, that the Jewish system was
a temporary provision, which was superseded by the Gospel.
The High Priest, it may be said, stood formerly in the place of
Christ ; and therefore now that the true Priest is come, a typical
Priest would not only be superfluous but intrusive. Such is
the common argument : but such is not the argument employed
by the writer to the Hebrews. His assertion is, not that the
Levitical Priesthood was so real and efficacious, that had it
continued, the Priesthood of Christ would have been superero
gatory ; but on the contrary, that had Christ's Priesthood, like
the Levitical, been only earthly and typical, there would have
been no use in the transition from the one system to the other.
" If He were upon earth He should not be a Priest, seeing that
there are Priests, that offer gifts according to the law." Christ
is asserted, therefore, to be a Priest, not after the order of Aaron,
but after the order of Melchizedec. And the reason why the
Jewish Eitual has passed away, is because now that the True
Sacrifice is offered, the media of commemoration have taken the
place of the media of prediction. Had there been more than
this in the Jewish Eitual, how could the Apostles have con-

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 261
tinued to observe it ? Had it interfered with the work of Christ,
it would not have been enough to leave it to die away under
the light of the Gospel. It would not have been sufficient for
St. Paul to teach men not to trust, he must have forbidden any
to practise it. But every privilege, which has been bestowed
in God's two great Dispensations, has flowed into them from
that central fact of the Mediation of Christ, which has been the
quickening principle of both. For on it alone both the Old
and New Testament were dependent, and in its blessings the
old and new Election, though in different degrees, have been
partakers. Neither could inferior officers or means in either
Covenant supersede that Mediation of Christ, to which they
were subordinate. Their sole purpose was to carry it out, to
turn men to it, to unite them into such system and harmony,
that they might profit by the blessings which it conveys. This
is all which can be done by the ministers of Christ's Church ;
and all which can be done by the ministers of God's temple.
And the very reason why we put the priestly office under the
Law in a line with the ministerial office under the Gospel — why
we assert that if the title of Priest could be given fitly to the
first, it belongs also to the second — is, that otherwise we should
place men on the same level with Christ, and derogate from His
peculiar character. For to allow this distinction would be to
assign too little to the Mediation of Christ, and too much to
the priesthood of men. It were to assign too little to Christ
to say merely, that when earthly priests had been long offering
their insufficient sacrifices, He appeared in the fulness of time
to offer that which was perfective and complete. Christ's office
as Priest is the consequence of His nature : it differs in kind
from the same work or title as discharged by others ; it cannot
be referred to the same rank, or compared with things which
are incommensurable with it. Any persons who discharge an
office which has reference to God, and who present to Him what
is offered by men, may be called Priests (as was Melchizedec,
because a type of Christ), but this no more places them in the

262 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
same class with Christ, than the title of Son as bestowed upon
Him, assimilates Him to the partakers in earthly sonship. That
He is called Son and Priest in Seripture is no reason for de
grading Him to the class of earthly Priests, or earthly children.
For His priestly office flows directly from that conjunction of
two natures, whereby He is- Mediator between God and man.
This rendered Him by nature such a real representative of our
race towards God, as earthly Priests can be only by office and
appointment. Except for this true conjunction of Godhead aud
manhood, no acceptable offering could be rendered by man to
God. As He is the only channel through whom graces flow
from God to man, so is He the only medium through which
worship ascends from man to his Maker. This is the very
cause for that system of the Church, whereby men axe truly
united to Him, and have a real share in His Intercession. Now,
to assert that if Priests existed under the second as under the
first Covenant, His sole and inalienable office would be impaired,
is to allow that the Aaronic Priests are to be put in the same
class with Him, and that they executed a function which He
afterwards discharged. The perpetuation of a corresponding
office could not interfere with, the work of Christy unless the
priesthood of the sons of Aaron would have interfered with
Him. And thus is He degraded to a mere functionary who
exercised a certain work by appointment, instead of being that
great High Priest who is our Mediator by nature.
And as this is to assign, too little to Christ, so it is to assign
too much to men. For if the Aaronic Priesthood is looked at
in itself, and independently of Him, how could it do anything
towards man's salvation ? It is a general declaration that it is
" not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins." The importanee then which was assigned to the
Jewish law, and the benefits which were derived from it, show
that it was only relevant to Christ — that its force depended on
the constant application of Christ's merits — that its object was
to bring men into union with Him — and that except with this

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 263
reference it was a splendid fiction.1 This assertion is as true
respecting those media of communion which were used before
the time of Christ, as respecting those which have been em
ployed since His Advent ; for it is only through " the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world," that the offerings of
men, whether before or since, could be acceptable. If it be said
therefore that a Christian priesthood is needless, because the
work of Mediation is discharged by Christ alone; the answer is,
that such an argument proves a Jewish priesthood to have been
useless also. If it be added that a Christian priesthood inter
feres with the sole merits of Christ, by providing another way
of approaching God, why then did not the Jewish priesthood
the same? If men answer that the latter was specially appointed
to show beforehand the Lord's death, is not a system of minis
tering equally required to fulfil the allotted office of showing
"the Lord's death till He come?"2 But in truth, neither the
1 The contrary notion has led to the opinion adopted by some German
Rationalists, in order to get rid of the predictions of Christ in the Old Tes
tament, that all which the Prophets had in their minds in their description
of the Christian covenant, was that the purer system of Monotheism was to
be diffused among the Heathen by the Jewish nation. " Rosenmiiller,"
says Gesenius, on Isaiah xlix. , ' ' finds here the expansion of the idea that
the people of Israel was hereafter to be the Instructor of the Heathen, and
to spread true religion in the earth. He cites Isaiah lxi. 5,6, according to
which all Israelites were hereafter to be Priests, and Joel iii. 1, which im
plies that in the golden age, they were all to be Prophets." — Comment, vol.
iii. p. 123. The mistake has arisen from forgetting that the office of Pro
phet or Priest, whether under the old or new Covenant, is not distinct from
the true exercise of these offices by the Pattern Man, but is included in it,
and is its earthly expression. All Priests and Prophets are mediators by
office so long as He acts and speaks in them who is Mediator by nature.
2 Sacrifice, " as practised before the time of Christ, may justly be con
sidered as a Sacramental memorial showing forth the Lord's death till He
came ; and when accompanied with a due faith in the promises made to the
early believers, may reasonably be judged to have been equally acceptable
with that Sacramental memorial, which has been enjoined by our Lord
Himself to His followers for the showing forth His death until His coming
again." — Magee on Atonement, i. 61. This statement is no doubt correct,
in that it puts the sacrificial system under the law in the same line with
that under the Gospel ; but to speak of the former as ' ' equally acceptable "
with the latter is to forget that the Jewish sacrifices were types, while the
Christian sacrifice is a reality. The " burnt-offerings " of the Law can

264 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
one nor the other office has any tendency, when rightly viewed,
to lead men away from Christ, their only object being to conduct
men to Him. The Manichees indeed, who thought the ancient
law a mischievous obstruction, which shut men out from the
Good Spirit of the Universe, might entertain similar notions of
the system whereby men are united to the body of Christ.1
But those who admit the divine authorship of that law under
which the ancient Priests ministered to Christ by type and
sacrifice, need not doubt that the ministration of public officers
in His Church, may in like manner enable men to profit by His
Mediation. There is nothing in the privilege of Christians, nor
in the work of Christ Our Lord, inconsistent with such inter
vention. It is an intervention which unites, and does not
separate. For it is obviously essential to that common and
united worship, which has been shown to be the appointed means
of union with the mystical body of Christ. So that an ordained
ministry and public Eitual may be concluded to be required of
necessity in the Church of God.
V. It has been shown that it is nowise inconsistent with the
Doctrine of our Lord's Mediation, that the Christian ministry
no more be paralleled with the " one perpetual sacrifice for sins" (Heb.
x. 12), than "the ministration written and engraven in stones" with
"the ministration of the Spirit."
1 That which Rationalists dislike in the Old Testament is, that it
represents the system of Mediation as an advance on the system of nature.
Now, if man had access to God through the natural intercourse of mind
with mind, as Adam had before the Fall, any step towards the' system of
Mediation would b'e a derogation from the prerogative of nature. For what
would Priest and Altar be, but an intrusion which obstructed the natural
intercourse of the mind with its unembodied Creator ? Hence Socinians
represent the Law, together with the whole system of Mediation to which
it conducted, as a concession to the infirmities of an uncivilized age, which
could not rise to the level of an intellectual religion. And even those
Christian writers who reject the Sacramental system of the Church, are led
to speak of "the Law and Levitical arrangement" as "introduced in
God's anger" [Bunsen's Kirche der ZuJcunft, p. 77], as though it were a
diminution of that means of intercourse with God, which men before
possessed. For since the Sacramental system is the complete and full
expression of that presence of an Incarnate Mediator, of which the
Levitical scheme was the preliminary shadow, it is impossible bhat those
who reject the one should do justice to the other.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 265
should equally with the Jewish be called a priesthood, and that
its service should equally be styled a sacrifice. And it has
been stated what is that true and only sacrifice, on the pleading
whereof depends the office of both systems ; the one by typical
representation — the other by Sacramental union. As yet, how
ever, nothing has been adduced but reasons for expecting a
Christian ministry to exist ; it is necessary to show further the
fact of its existence. Now, it is essential to notice what it is
which Scripture declares on this subject, and on what it is silent.
The existence of a public Eitual and Ministry it declares either
expressly or by implication : their nature, order, and mode of
appointment are less clearly expressed. The existence of a
public ministry follows (independently of various historical
and incidental statements in Scripture) from that central portion
of the Christian Eevelation with which we are particularly
engaged. For the Doctrine of Our Lord's Incarnation, which
is the beginning and end of the Gospel, declares to us that the
renewal of man's nature is effected through union with the
manhood of Christ. All the supernatural gifts of grace were
first concentrated in this representative of the human race and
Head of the Christian family [vide cap. 10], that from His
manhood they might afterwards flow forth for the replenishment
of His brethren. Again, this union is declared to be vouchsafed
to us in that mystical body of Christ Our Lord, in which all
Christians are engrafted [vide cap. 11]. Again, our means of
partaking in the mystical body of Christ has been shown (in
the present Chapter) to be participation in its common actions.
Those common actions, therefore, are essential to the effect of
the Incarnation of Christ. And if there be public acts, there
must be public agents ; a ministry or system of some sort or
other must be essential to the existence of that collective order
whereby individuals become members of the body of Christ.
What is asserted then as a Scriptural truth and necessary doctrine
is, that some public order and worship, with all which it im
plies, must for ever exist in the Church of God. And by

266 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
common worship is not to be understood that Christians have
the right of meeting together, and those who please' the right
of uttering their minds (a thing which here is neither affirmed
nor denied), but that of the Church of Christ, regarded as a
whole, has certain duties incumbent on it towards God — that
those duties involve united worship, common action, a public
service, and arise from that collective character, which is stamped
on the whole Christian community by its spiritual union with
the body of its Incarnate God. To forego this relation is to
leave the high ground of the Christian Eevelation, and to
descend to the uncertainty of mere natural religion. It is to
rest on that immediate relation to God through the intercourse
of mind with mind, which belonged to unfallen man, but
which since the Fall can only be restored through the inter
vention of a Mediator. So that to suppose the individual duties
of religion to be anterior to common worship or independent
of it, is virtually to abandon the Mediation of Christ. For all
the private prayers, thoughts, actions of Christians, depend on
that union with Christ Our Lord, which is attained through the
communication of His man's nature. And He communicates it
through those public acts, whereby the Great Head of the
Christian body joins all its members to Himself.
Now, when it is further demanded by whom are these public
acts done, in what circumstances, under whose presidence and
authority, we can only refer to the practice of the Church, as
she has been guided " into all truth " by the Holy Ghost, and
to the example which was set by the Apostles. It has been
God's will that in this as in many other cases, the New Testa
ment should not comprise such an exact code of laws as was
afforded by the Old. That the several Books which compose
the New Testament are inspired, and that they contain the rule
of our faith, are facts of which we are assured, because it was
always so held by the Apostles and their successors, although no
such statement occurs in Holy Writ. That worship should be
solemnized especially on the first day of the week, so that we

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 267
are authorized to depart from the letter of the Fourth Com
mandment, rests on the same authority. We have no other
proof that children are fit partakers of Baptism, or women of
the Holy Eucharist. In all these cases we take as our guide the
example of the Apostles. In like manner must we act in
regard to the nature and mode of that public agency, whereby
the united acts of the Christian community have their expression.
That such united action exists, and that there must be a public
system of worship, we believe on the authority of Scripture,
and because they are indissolubly bound to the highest doctrines
of religion. And the existence of such a system, even in the
opinion of those who are least inclined to rest the Church's
being on any doctrinal basis, involves the necessity of agents
by whom it may be conducted. " Any one who sanctions a
society," says Archbishop Whately, " gives, in so doing, his
sanction to those essentials of a society, its government, its
officers, its regulations. Accordingly if Our Lord had not ex
pressly said anything about ' binding and loosing,' still the very
circumstance of His sanctioning a Christian community, would
necessarily have implied His sanction of the institutions, min
isters, and government of a Christian Church."1 Since the
existence, then, of a system of common worship is a truth of
Scripture, and since it implies the existence of a ministry, all
that remains is to ask the nature and constitution of that min
istry ; and if on this subject Scripture has given us no express
rule, yet as in the other cases mentioned, some guidance may be
derived from the example of the Apostles.
This accordingly has been the course adopted by the English
Church. She prefaces her enforcement of the rule of Episco
pacy by declaring that " it is evident unto all men diligently
reading the Holy Scripture and ancient authors, that from the
Apostles' time there have been these orders of ministers in
Christ's Church : Bishops, Priests, and Deacons." As we trace
back from the present time, we find this rule to have universally
1 Kingdom of Christ, p. 151.

268 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
prevailed among the spiritual predecessors of our present minis
try. Each generation has professed to receive its commission
from Christ through the intervention of the preceding one.
Even Archbishop Whately allows, that " The existence of such
an order of men as Christian ministers, continuously from the
time of the Apostles to this day, is perhaps as complete a moral
certainty as any historical fact can be."1 And when we draw
near, its fountain, we have the direct testimony of Tertullian,
who lived shortly after St. John, that its first rank had its
commission handed on to it by that Apostle of Christ;2 and
St. Ignatius, St. John's contemporary, declares its intervention
essential to the validity of sacred ordinances. This is sufficient
ground for justifying the English Church in her assertion of the
Apostolical descent of the three orders of ministers. It is a
further question whether this Apostolical succession is so essen
tial, that any break in it would impair the validity of sacred ,
rites. Without entering upon the higher considerations of which ''
the subject admits, it is sufficient to reply that such an inquiry
is as needless, as to ask whether the Church could safely reverse
the appointment of the Lord's Day, or unsettle the observance
of infant Baptism. In all such cases to follow the Apostolic
example is plainly the right, because it is the safest course.
Since the purpose of a ministry is to keep up that public order,
whereby we hold perpetual communion with the Lord's Body,
any departure from its constituted usage is a needless risk. It
is alleged, indeed, that to rest anything on the perpetuation of
a chain, which contains so many links, is to subject our religious
hopes to a painful uncertainty. This is to forget that the Apos
tolical succession only supplies those who believe it with an
additional security, over and above what others possess. Since
each Bishop has commission from three of his brethren, its effect,
if traced back a few generations, is to identify his individual
authority with that of the whole Episcopate of the Church.
Were it not that the same parties repeatedly consecrate, every
1 Kingdom of Christ, p. 222. 2 Tert. adv. Marcionem iv. 5.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 269
Bishop would have two hundred and sixteen spiritual prede
cessors in the fifth degree ; and it can scarcely be doubted, there
fore, that by going back a few years, his commission must have
been transmitted by the whole body of his forerunners. The
feeling thus engendered may be illustrated by that which pre-
vaded among pious Israelites, from the hope that Our Lord
would descend from them according to the flesh. Considering
the vast number of ancestors which each individual had in the
twenty-seventh generation, there can scarcely have been a Jewish
parent in the time of David, if we except those whose progeny
became absolutely extinct, who was not, according to the flesh,
a predecessor of Our Lord. So truly was He the heir of the
nation. And in like manner there can scarcely have been a
Bishop in the Primitive Church — much less could there be one
among the Apostles — through whom every individual inheritor
of the Episcopal office may not trace his commission. Surely
such a fact is not calculated to weaken the feeling of the Church's
unity, or to relax that bond whereby all the members of the
Lord's Body are united to Himself. And if it be said that
there may in some case have been a secret failure, which may
have impaired some one of the many parallel threads by which
this bond is rendered continuous, such a circumstance, instead
of being fatal to the general law, seems the very exception for
which some great Divines have contended — that an involuntary
breach of this Apostolical rule is not fatal to the Church's
existence. If we saw persons whose descent we were unable to
trace to Adam, but whose acts and character showed an exact
congruity with those of his chddren, we shoidd suppose that it
had pleased God in some way to us unknown, to amalgamate
them with mankind. It would not be an unnatural exercise of
faith, to believe that God is pleased in like manner to supply
the involuntary deficiencies of those who desire to be identified
with His Church's existence.
But why, it may be asked, do we refer to this Apostolical
commission, if it be not expressly affirmed to be essential ? It

270 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
ought not to be assumed, however, because Christ Our Lord
might have adopted a different rule in the perpetuation of His!*
Church, that therefore the rule of Apostolical succession is not
essential, now that He has been pleased to adopt it. Those
who feel how much depends on the reality of the ordinances,
whereby we participate in the Mediation of Christ, will think
every step in such a series essential. But independently of the
higher ground upon which this question might be rested, it
would be a sufficient reason for vindicating the commission of
Christian ministers, that it contributes to a reverent estimate of
those public acts of the Christian Body, from which the contrary
tendency proportionably detracts. The thing of moment is the
truth that common worship is a real work, whereby the whole
Christian community preserves its right as the collective body
of the Lord. Its claim to a true life in Him is thereby asserted,
just as the privileges of Israel belonged to all who had a part in
its united Eitual. By this means are we led to appreciate those
external actions of the God-man, on which His character of
Mediator is dependent. Nothing hinders, indeed, but that the
like results might have attended common worship, though it
had been God's pleasure that the public officers, by whom it is
directed, instead of being set apart for their work, had been
chosen out of the mass for the occasion; But if common wor
ship be really of the moment which has been described, such
manner of selecting those who guide it could not be esteemed so
suitable as that which has been handed down from the Apostles.
Even on natural grounds, then, we need not wonder that those
who have adopted such an expedient, have either begun or ended
by depreciating the work itself. Instead of being an office which
has reference to God, and may therefore be properly called sacred
or 'divine, the task of ministering has before long been looked
upon only in its reference to man, and as little else than that of
an instructor. Thus the notion of common worship passes
away. The collective sacrifice of the people's prayers is lost
sight of. So that, beginning by neglecting the example of the

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 271
Apostles, men have ended by disbelieving their doctrines. The
life of the Christian community as the Body of Christ has been
destroyed. His Mediation, whereby God and man are united,
has been explained away into a mere natural religion. The ne
cessity of being joined to His man's nature has been forgotten.
Such has been the actual result in very many of those com
munities where the line of a living ministry has been broken.
And to add to this tendency, where the ancient system of the
ministry has been abandoned, the ancient Eitual and Liturgy
have commonly been renounced. Here too the practice of early
times, so far as it can be attained, affords a useful example ;
especially in points of such leading moment as the ministering
of Sacraments. But the material point is that such form of
service should be maintained as may testify to the collective
character of the Church's supplications. This is the very pur
pose of a public Liturgy, which, by calling on the people to
bear their part, finds place for the service of the whole com
munity. Where this responsive system of worship is lost, the
nature of a public service will soon be forgotten. Instead of
regarding the minister as a public servant, whose office is to
provide a centre of union for their collective prayers, men will
look to him mainly as a teacher, whose office is not to address
God, but themselves. The very place of assemblage, instead of
being known as God's "House of Prayer,'' will be associated
with the recollection of some favoured preacher. And the sure
consequence will be a f orgetfulness of the peculiar relation which
men gain in common worship to Christ the Mediator, to whom
at that moment they should address themselves as members of
the one mystical body in heaven and earth, for which He is
interceding at His Father's right hand.1
1 It must have been because this united system of worship witnesses in
so striking a manner to the collective existence of Christ's body, that it was
so early complained of by the enemies of the English Church. Witness the
objection made at Frankfort to the sy'stem of responding. The Church
people, it was said, " began to break that order which was agreed upon,

272 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
Nothing has more contributed to the growth of that unbelief
which has overspread many parts of the Continent, than the
evU which has been described. For with the collective character
of worship, that real lifev of the Church has been lost, which
depends on Christ's presence. The preservation of this among
ourselves has not been owing merely to our attachment to great
names or orthodox expressions, however important ; for Christ
only can maintain that quickening spirit which He bestows
through the ordinances of His grace. From Himself must come
the power which is sought through those federal acts which unite
men in His mystical body. A neglect of those especial means
by which this union is effected, issues in a practical under
valuing of the union itself. The Incarnation of Christ ceases
to be looked upon as the source of His continual presence among
men, and a system of self-mediation grows up in its place. The
glowing words in which Scripture describes the privileges of
Christians, are regarded as something bestowed on them as indi- .
viduals, as a re-assertion of the claims of nature, and as though
by themselves they had access to God ; whereas it is only
through their great Head that these blessings devolve on them.
The royal and priestly nature has been shown not to belong to
them in themselves, but by union with Him who by His
Mediation has joined them to God. As fallen humanity was
in answering aloud after the minister.'' — Phenix, vol. ii. 72. See also the
irreverent remarks of Knox on the affecting appeals to the man Christ Jesus
in our Litany. — Vide Letter to Calvin, Phenix, ii. 65. The evil of yield
ing to such objections is acknowledged by the Lutheran Olshausen. " The
worship of the Church," he says, "is an enduring sacrifice of thanks,
which, for His enduring sacrifice of atonement, is offered to Our Lord. To
this element of Prayer, the Romish Church had unduly given an exclusive
predominance : the Lutheran Church has as unduly made it subordinate
to the personal acts of the preacher, and to his sermon ; whereas the minister
ought not to be considered merely as a preacher, but also as a real Liturgist,
i.e., as the organ through which the devotion of the congregation is con
veyed. Public worship accordingly consists of two different parts, the
preaching of the Gospel, whether to convert the unbeliever or instruct
the Christian ; and the service of supplication, the crowning act whereof
is the Holy Eucharist, the Church's great thank-offering, in which
Christ's sacrifice of Mediation is symbolically set forth."

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 273
first re-consecrated by union with the divine nature in Christ
our Head, so all consecrating virtue is bestowed upon His
servants through that union with Him which belongs to them
as members of His mystical body. So that to abandon the
connexion which is maintained by the public ordinances of His
grace, is to renounce that highest birthright of man's race,
which is bestowed upon it through the Mediation of Christ.
It is a bold statement of Dr. Bisse, in relation to the importance
of daily service, that the " mother Churches, the sure resting-
place for the Ark of the Covenant, before which the daily
offering never ceaseth to be offered morning and evening — these
are our strength and salvation, and are of far greater use and
security to our people and to our land, than all the watchfulness
of our senators, or policy of our ambassadors, or valour of our
mighty men."1 What was present to his mind was, that by
this collective service is maintained our connection with that
Mediation of the Son of God from which flow the highest
privUeges of humanity. This no doubt is the Church's reason
for requiring the public ministration of daily service, except
when " reasonably hindered," of all her clergy. And well were
it if all who take part in public prayer, and especially all who
worship in those central Churches, wherein the whole diocese
has a common interest, would remember how high and respon
sible is the office which they undertake. For not only those
who officiate, but all who take part in public prayer, are thereby
uniting themselves to that great work, of which the Head and
Leader is the Son of God Himself. This belongs to the laymen
who present prayers, as well as to the Priest whose office is to
give them united voice and utterance. If the High Priest in
ancient times bore with Him into God's presence the symbols of
the whole world, and claimed to be its common minister, much
more so does the Christian, the heir of the world, for whose
sake were the dispensations which are past, and on whom the
"ends of the world have come." On this account is man
1 Rationale of Catliedral Worship, pp. 53, 64. T

274 WORSHIP A MEAN'S OF UNION WITH CHRIST.
emphatically called " the creature " 1 in Holy Writ, because he
is the heir and representative of God's creation. A lofty title
— but whereto One Only Individual has right in Himself, and
which, if others attempt to claim it for themselves, will but;
minister to their more signal overthrow. Those who seek to
rule the world by themselves, or who claim for themselves its
possession, do but demonstrate the imbecility of worldly talents,
and the instability of worldly success. The heir of the world,
the ruler of the creation of God, is that Man only whom a
nature which was above humanity marked out to be the " first
born of every creature." In the elder son, all the prerogatives
of birthright were exclusively inherent. To Him only do those
titles belong of right, which He bestows upon all His brethren
by favour. He is the sole King, the only Priest ; but they are
all heirs, so far as they are one with Him, in a Kingly and
Priestly line. That sacerdotal system, whereby we maintain
communion with His man's nature, instead of derogating, as
some have imagined, from the privilege of individual Christians,
is the very circumstance on which their tenure rests. On the
maintenance of their federal union with Him depends their pre
eminence. To let go this connexion is to fall back into the
imbecility of their natural state. Those public ordinances
therefore, through which as Mediator He unites them to His
own manhood, are the very life of theirs. To be found in
Him their representative is to share His honour, because it is to
share His nature. " For Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation. And hast made us, unto our God Kings
and Priests, and we shall reign on the earth."
1 When God made the world He impressed the seal of Creation upon
man, as on a scrap of parchment one writes the name and number of a
whole year. Therefore is man called in God's words "all Creation." — St.
Hildegard, as quoted in Olshausen on St. Mark xvi. 15.

275

CHAPTEE XIII.
OP SACRAMENTS, AS MEANS OP UNION WITH THE MANHOOD
OF CHRIST.
The actions of Christ towards men since His Ascension have
been said to be involved in the truth of His Presence. His
Presence has been explained to be that spiritual presence of
His manhood whereon all the functions of His Mediation
depend. It is vouchsafed in His body mystical, the Church ;
and the offices of common worship, speaking comprehensively,
are the means whereby men partake it. But there is one
means of partaking it, so specific, peculiar, and signal, as to
need separate notice — namely, Sacramental grace.
Something has already been said respecting the Holy Com
munion as a sacrifice, a view, however, of this sacred ordinance,
of which its character as a Sacrament is the root. For it is by
virtue of the connexion into which it brings men with Christ
that it forms the leading feature of our public service, so that
its relation to worship arises from that which is the characteristic
and original distinction both of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist.
There are other purposes which they serve, and other views
which may be taken of them, but that circumstance on which
all the rest depend, and which especially connects itself with the
present inquiry, is that Sacraments are "the extension of the
Incarnation ; " l that through these means we are united to the
man's nature of Christ. Other particulars which distinguish
them are, First, that in Sacraments there is the performance of a
definite and peculiar act, which is likely to engender in us
peculiar preparation. Hence as our Article observes, they are
"badges or tokens of Christian men's profession." Christian
1 Taylor's Worthy Communicant, i. 2. He says, p. 30 : " The Fathers,
by an elegant expression, call the blessed Sacraments the extension of
the Incarnation."

276 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
burial consequently is not allowed except to those who have
been partakers of Baptism, and who have not been formally
excluded from the Holy Communion. Now, this circumstance
may not unfitly suggest the cautious preparation with which
we should approach rites by which we are especially dedicated '
to God's service. But this is only a first, and as our Artiple is
careful to observe, only a partial estimate of Sacraments ; it
rests their use on our act only, not on that of God; it is merely
subjective, human, tentative, and though useful as a direction to
ourselves, falls far short of the sublime views which Scripture
opens respecting these "holy mysteries." It is such conception
as a Socinian might entertain, but with which the Christian
mind could never be satisfied.
We pass on then to the second purpose which our Article
assigns to Sacraments, i.e., that they are "not only badges of
profession," " but rather " " certain sure witnesses and effectual
signs of grace." Here, then, we have a divine, as before a
mere human meaning in these sacred ordinances. They are not
only subjective, as implying a feeling in ourselves, but objective
likewise, as implying an act external to us on the part of the
Almighty. " Christ and His Holy Spirit, with all their blessed
effects, though entering into the soul of man we are not able to
apprehend or express how, do notwithstanding give' notice of
the times when they use to make their access, because it pleaseth
Almighty God to communicate by sensible means those blessings
which are incomprehensible."1 This then is no doubt the
peculiar end of Sacraments, that they are channels to the
faithful of those supernatural gifts, whereby God renews the
soul. And herein their tangible nature has this peculiar advan
tage, that it turns men's minds more completely to their
Almighty Author, so that in times of doubt they are a stable
comfort, and yet in times of steadfastness do not minister to
pride. Their advantage in time of doubt is, that their ground
is God's promise and not man's confidence : so that they supply
1 Eccles. Pol. v. 57, 3.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 277
some fixed external standing-place in those hours of dejection,
when men's own feelings are in most need of succour. In such
seasons comfort must come from without, for how are inward
doubts to be solved by the mind, whose very complaint is
doubtfulness? In such moments, then, how inestimable that
gift, whereby " Thou dost assure us of Thy favour and good
ness towards us." And yet such succour contains this antidote
to pride, that whereas all - inward movements of man's soul,
even though we admit them to be God's works, may yet blend
and confuse themselves with our own agency ; on the contrary,
" where God doth work and use these outward means, wherein
He neither findeth nor planteth force and aptness towards His
intended purpose, such means are but signs to bring men to the
consideration of His own omnipotent power, which without the
use of things sensible would not be marked."1 This then being
the inain purpose of Sacraments, and there being some peculiar
advantages in the very simplicity of the vehicles which God
has chosen for the communication of His gifts, we may yet go
further, and inquire how far they connect themselves with His
general dealings with mankind, and whether this connexion
supplies any circumstances which explain what appears at first
sight their anomalous nature. For what indisposes the minds
of many to the doctrine of Sacramental grace, is that it seems
so completely a matter of arbitrary appointment. They require
to discern greater congruity between the effect attained and the
means of obtaining it. We are used to see cause and effect
linked together by a chain of interdependent circumstances ;
and the gap between a slight external act and a momentous
internal alteration is intolerable to our fancy. Say what men
will, the judgment revolts at it ; man's faith is not strong
enough for such a trial. This is why all the learned works
which have been written on the Sacraments fail to give confi
dence in their efficacy; the unbelief which is vanquished in
the study re-appears in the world, and men acquiesce in the
1 Eccles. Pol. vi. 6, 11.

278 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
formularies of the Church, but their reason remains unsatisfied.
What they need, as Hooker expresses it after St. Augustin, is
some "answer, such as not only may press them with the bare
authority of custom, but also instruct them in the cause
thereof." Now such a cause seems to be supplied by that particular
subject with which we are at present occupied. The import
ance of Sacraments rests on the Incarnation of Christ, and on
their being the means through which His man's nature is com
municated to His brethren. Let this be apprehended, and what
offends men in their arbitrary appointment will pass away. For
since this is a wholly supernatural work, we could not expect to
see it effected, except through some means specifically provided
by God's peculiar appointment ; and the visible means employed
are so far from appearing to be less suitable than any other,
with which the wisdom of ,God could have connected the secret
working of His power, that in several respects we can discern
them to be singularly appropriate. If man's connexion with
the Supreme Being were the mere natural intercourse of mind
with mind— if man were stdl, as Adam was before the Fall, the
perfect image of his Maker, then indeed to introduce such
media of communication at all would be superfluous. And on
this account the Sacramental system is inconsistent with that
Eationalistic theory., which supposes that the divine principle of
holiness and truth is sufficiently possessed by nature. But
allow the scheme of Mediation to be essential to man's recovery,
let it depend on union with that Personal Being in whom
holiness and truth became incarnate, and the Sacramental
system follows of course. In the mere intercourse of mind with
mind, Sacraments would be an unnatural interruption : but they
are exactly suited to effect that union whereby the Divine Head
of man's race is bound to His fellows. Since this union is
itself foreign to the course of nature, so must the media be by
which it is effected ; the work cannot depend on their natural
influence, but on that influence with which they are super-

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 279
naturally endowed And that those outward means which we
call Sacraments are truly attended by an inward effect, that
what is done on earth in holy mysteries effects a real change in
the whole nature of those who are acted upon, is known to us
by the distinct declarations of God's Word We are told in
plain and indubitable terms that Baptism and the Lord's
Supper are the means by which men are joined to the body of
Christ, and therefore by wbich Christ Our Lord joins Himself
to that renewed race of which He has become the Head. So
that, as St. Leo expresses it, " He that is received by Christ,
and that receives Christ, is not the same after the laver of
baptism as he was before it, because the body of the regenerate
person becomes the flesh of tlie crucified one."1 Now, these
facts we learn from the express statements of St. Paul. " For
by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." 2 And again,
" We being many are one bread, and one body : for we are all
partakers of that one bread" 3 Herein it is expressly declared
that the one and the other of these Sacraments are the peculiar
means by which union with the body of Christ is bestowed
upon men. They are the ''joints and bands" whereby the
whole body in its dependence on its Head has nourishment
ministered So that it is in the Church that union takes place
with Christ, the new Adam or representative of our race, and it
is by this actual union with the New Adam, that the whole
family of renewed men have that collective being, whereby is
derived to them their spiritual life.
And this, then, is the circumstance which puts the main
difference between Sacraments and those other means of grace,
wherein also we draw near to God. The profit of all other
means of grace depends on that right of access to God, which
Christ the Mediator has dispensed. But the purpose of Sacra
ments is to bind us to Him on whom this right of access is de
pendent. Our prayers and praises avail not, unless we are part
1 S. Leo, Serm. xiv. De Pass. Dom. c. 6.
2 1 Corinthians xii. 13. 3 1 Corinthians x. 17.

280 , , SACRAMENTS A MEANS
of that renewed race which our great High Priest has been
pleased to identify with Himself, covering the infirmity of their
actions with the perfection of His own. But it is through that
union of His man's nature with ours, which is compacted
through the Sacraments of His grace, that the Head of the
body is identified with its members. Thus it is that the whole
body is "fitly joined together, and compacted by that which
every joint supplieth." So that Sacraments differ from all other
means of grace in that whereas other things result from union
with Christ, they on the contrary conduct to it.1 Their pre
eminence depends on a real diversity between their office and
that of any other things appertaining to divine service, because
through them Christ, the Head of mankind, joins Himself to
His brethren.
Sacraments, then, differ in purpose from other means of grace,
in that through them the Head is united to its members. But
why are they especially employed for such an office 1 What is
that congruity which fits them for the work, and what the
suitableness which may be found in such external portions of
them as address themselves to our sense 1 It is not for us, of
course, to lay down rules for the Omniscient, and yet we may
contemplate with reverence what it has been His pleasure to
appoint. Now, since the peculiarity of Sacraments is that they
are not merely inward actions, but that they touch likewise
upon the external world — that they have, in fact, both "an
outward visible sign," and " an inward spiritual grace '' — this
compound nature marks them out as a singularly appropriate
medium of intercourse between things, which are themselves
compound, i.e. man who is to be renewed, and the Mediator
1 Sacraments, therefore, are not merely an acted prayer ; neither is it
their main function to teach by example, in which case ' ' where the word
of God may be heard, which teacheth with much more expedition and
more full explication anything we have to learn, if all the benefit we
reap by Sacraments be instruction, they which at all times have oppor
tunity of using the better mean to that purpose, will surely hold the .
worse in less estimation." — techs. Pol. v. 57, 1.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 281
whose presence renews him. For thus it is that all graces are
communicated to mankind, flowing into them from that man
hood wbich has been made the fountain of grace through its
personal oneness with Deity. Now, man consists of a material
as well as an immaterial nature, and in body, soul, and spirit,
does he require to be renewed after the image of Him that
created him. It has not been an uncommon feeling that in the
material clay of man's composition lies all his vileness ; let
him be emancipated only from this, and the pure spirit would
expatiate in the freedom of its native refinement. This was the
inherent vice of the Gnostic system (p. 93) ; it resulted from
that erroneous philosophy which represented simple immensity
as the essenee of Godhead, forgetful of those moral conditions,
whereby both through conscience and revelation the Father of
all has been pleased to declare that His character is most
adequately expressed Thus are men blinded to the deformity
of sin, and to the hatefulness of that rebellion against a holy
God, which is the real degeneracy of our state. An error this,
wbich is best corrected by remembering that Christ Our Lord
took our whole nature, and that our whole nature is to be
renovated in Him. " For if our flesh had not admitted of
redemption, the Word of God would not have become flesh."1
And because the terms which are to be united are of this
complex character, it is not unnatural that the Sacraments
which are appointed to unite them, should show by their very
constitution that even the material part of manhood is not to
be forgotten. " Hadst thou been incorporeal," says St. Chry-
sostom, " God would have given thee His gifts in a naked and
incorporeal manner. But since thy soul is joined to thy body,
the garb of sense is used in conveying a gift to thy mind"2
Therefore does our Chureh remind us, that by the baptism of
Christ " in Jordan," water was consecrated " to the mystical
washing away of sin." The whole element, in all its multi
form variety, was freed by this single use of it from the impu-
1 S. Irenaeus v. 14, I. 2 Horn, lxxxiii. on St. Matt. xxvi.

282 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
tation of being naturally impure. So does Irenseus1 maintain
that all the simple ingredients of man's life were purified
through their employment by that Head of our race who could
not be defiled. To esteem man's spirit something so much
purer than his animal nature, that its acts may in themselves
find an access to the Deity, which his material nature is un
worthy to share, is not very unlike the fanciful heresy of the
Gnostic Valentinus. The man Christ, he supposed, having
been moulded by the Demiurgus, or maker of the world, with
his utmost skill, had received, unknown to his Creator, the seeds
of a superior nature from the ultimate author of all, which
discovered themselves as he grew up to the astonishment of
the being who had produced him, and supplied the point of
contact with that divine spirit which descended upon Him at
His baptism.2 There is something almost analogous to this
conception in the belief that a part of our nature has in itself
a right of access to the holy God, independently of that means
of approach which He has bestowed through Christ upon the
whole of it. For Christ Our Lord vouchsafed to come in the
perfection of our nature, that all might be renewed. The
representative of our race took our being in its completeness,
that it might be wholly sanctified. " For we could not taste of
incorruption and immortality, unless we had first been united
to that which is immortal and incorruptible. But how should
we be united to that which was incorruptible and immortal,
unless He who was personally incorruption and immortality had
first been made the same with ourselves, that so what was cor
ruptible might be swallowed up by incorruption, and what was
mortal by immortality, that we might receive the adoption of
sons?"3 The course then which God's infinite wisdom was
pleased to adopt was, that since " the children were partakers
of flesh and blood, He also Himself" (in the Person of the
Eternal Son) " took part of the same." " He summed up the
1 S. Iren. iii. 11, 5. 2 Dorner's Person Christi, i. p. 377.
3 S. Iren. iii. 19, 1.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 283
lengthened series of mankind in Himself, affording us salvation
in that epitome of our being ; that what we had lost in Adam,
i.e., to be after God's image and likeness, we might recover in
Christ."1 Thus then was there "one Mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus." There was one common bond'
by which these two infinitely distant parties might be united.
And this common term of union required to be truly and really
joined to each of the extremes, which it was to couple to one
another. It was truly joined to Godhead by that Personal
union whereby Christ our Lord was very God, of very God.
The very nature of Godhead — whole God — was in the Person
of the Son of Mary united to our flesh. " God was manifest
in the flesh." All glory, purity, perfection, power, of which
Godhead could not be emptied, were enshrined in a human
frame. Thus there was sown a seed of life and immortality,
which was to interpenetrate and pervade the whole nature of
mankind. For this end, as the man Christ Jesus was joined to
Deity by Personal union, so is He allied to His brethren of
mankind by Sacramental grace. For " we are members of His
body ; of His flesh; and of His bones." " This is a great
mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church." Now,
this union of the Mediator with men, whereby are transmitted
to them those beams of glory which were centred in His flesh,
needs to be as true and certain as that other union which He
has with Godhead, whereby its self-originating excellencies were
transferred into Himself. As the fountain has its source in
those unknown waters which issue from the throne of God,
so from the fountain do the streams descend to water the earth.
In the union, then, of God's nature with manhood in the Person
of Christ lies the cause of our union with the man Christ Jesus
by Sacramental grace. If the first be received as a true, real,
abiding fact, such as can be founded on that diversity of
Persons in the Ever-Blessed Trinity, which forms the basis of
the Christian system, the second also will be looked at not as a
1 S. Iren. iii. 18, 1.

284 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
mere figurative expression, but as an actual operation. But let
the first be denied, as by Socinians, or by Sabellians be resolved
into a mere nominal transaction, and the reality of the second
must evaporate. Therefore does St. Athanasius observe, that a
denial of the Personality of God the Son, of necessity involves
a denial of the grace of Baptism.1 Or on the other hand, let
our hold on that union which couples men with Christ be for
gotten, and the functions of the Mediator will become an office
discharged by some manifestation of the Divine Power, rather
than the result of God's actual oneness with our nature. So
essential is each link in this golden chain to the integrity of
the rest.2
1 Or. iv. in Arian. u. 25.
2 The intimate connexion between Our Lord's humanity and the Sacra
mental system has been repeatedly evidenced by the inclination of these
who disparage the one to explain away the other. So that in a belief
of the Sacramental system lies the guard against that Rationalistic tendency j
which was so solemnly denounced by the beloved Apostle, as characteristic I
of Antichrist : ' ' Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God." For it was long ago observed by St. Irenseus,
that the reality of the Mediator's influence in the Holy Communion
involved the reality of that manhood which it has been His gracious
pleasure to share with ourselves. Thus did he answer the Docetse, who,
with the reality of Our Lord's body, denied not only the truth of His
sacrifice and efficacy of His atonement, but also the future resurrection of
mankind. The line of argument adopted by St. Irenasus has lately been
employed by Archbishop Whately, but his contrary premises land him
unhappily in a contrary result. In the passage alluded to, the Archbishop
makes no reference to the actions of our Lord in time past ; he refers only
to that present influence of the God-man, which no one can be expected to
admit, who resolves the mystery of the Blessed Trinity into mere terms of
relation. [Compare p. 116 and'p. 233.] In speaking of this present in
fluence of the God-man, Archbishop Whately mounts up from a denial of
His efficacy to a denial of His existence. If the Sacraments be merely signs
of spiritual power at large, then, he argues, those things on which their
peculiar influence as Sacraments is grounded, are only emblematic of the
general efficacy of that Being on whom all spiritual action is dependent.
Therefore he says, ' ' the bread and wine not only are merely a sign, but are
a sign of a sign ; that is, they represent Our Lord' s flesh and blood, and His
fief hand blood again are a sign of something else" (Sermons, -p. 265). So
ihat Oar Lord's flesh and blood, even if they existed formerly , have now at
i 11 events no real existence. His actions as a partaker of our nature have
1 een suspended ; He is no longer the ' ' one Mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus." And the Spirit is spoken of as that " of which His

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 285
Now, as the mean of this union between Christians and Christ,
the wisdom of God has employed the system of Sacraments.
Visible things have been taken, that with them might be associ
ated that inward energy and grace which is the living principle
whereby the one of these is bound to the other. The union of the
outward and visible sign and the inward and spiritual grace make
up the Sacrament. "Neither is it ordinarily" God's "will to
bestow the grace of Sacraments on any but by the Sacraments."1
And besides other advantages which have been stated to accrue
from this appointment, there results from it this peculiar conse
quence, that the intervention of a means of grace which borrows its
vehicle or organ from the external world, is adopted in a case where
that which consists both of body and soul, namely each individual
of the family of men, is to be joined to that Head or Eepresenta-
tive, who consists both of soul and body. Now, because the first
effect of union with Christ is the removal of that defilement of our
whole being which sin had engendered, this process commences
with a rite, which speaks to the outward eye of cleansing and
purification. Again, because our subsequent life results from the
continual influx of grace from Him whose manhood has become
its storehouse, therefore our further acts of union are through a
means whereby our souls are strengthened and refreshed " by the
body and blood of Christ, as our bodies are by bread and wine."
Thus significant is the sensible part of that process, which having
its beginning in the truth, " The Word was made flesh," has for
its conclusion, " that we might be made partakers of the divine
nature." Not that the connecting principle which binds together
mankind and their Head is any material derivation. The things
flesh and blood are themselves the sign " (Id. p. 250). So that the especial
efficacy of that nature which He assumed with a view to the work of
Mediation is resolved into the mere general influence of the Great Unem-
bodied Spirit. Such is the result of denying the efficacy of that Sacramental
system through which the Humanity of the Incarnate Son is the medium
of bestowing spiritual gifts. As its belief led the disciple of Polycarp to
maintain the truth of Christ's nature, so does its rejection involve those
errors against which Polycarp' s instructor testified.
1 Eccles. Pol. v. 57, 4.

286 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
united, indeed, are on one side the whole constitution of man as
it exists in each individual, and whole Christ on the other.' But
that whereby they are joined is the spiritual energy by which it
has been shown that Christ acts upon His brethren. This energy
has been shown to be immaterial, both by reference to what it is
and by reference to what it is not. (Cap. x. ) For it was to be
the mysterious agent in this union, that the Third Person in
the Ever-Blessed Trinity vouchsafed His gracious concurrence on
man's behalf. He came to join men to Christ, to supply the loss
which would else have attended Our Lord's Ascension, that He
who was withdrawn according to His carnal propinquity might
be brought more near by spiritual presence. And the same thing
follows from considering what it has been shown that Our Lord's
mystical or Sacramental presence is not. It is not that local
presence of a material body which He maintains in heaven.
" Christ as man according to the body is in a place and goes
from a place, and when He comes to another place, is not in the
place from whence He came."1 That this local presence, there
fore, of Christ's material frame is not upon earth, is the very
thing which is asserted, when it is stated to be in heaven.
Here, then, it may be well to pause for a moment, in order to
notice what is the exact point which is, and what that which is, '
not stated respecting the blessed Sacraments.
I. It is not affirmed then that their external or sensible parts
are so raised above their natural nothingness, as by their own effi
cacy to produce a spiritual result. In each Sacrament the outward
sign is produced by combining an appointed matter with certain
chosen words. Unless the words and matter are properly com-,
bined (and hence arises the occasion for such caution and heed-
fulness2 in their ministration), there is no Sacrament. But
1 St. Aust. in Taylor's Real Presence of Christ, xi. 15.
2 Baptism requires that the element of water should be applied at the
same time with the words of administration. " Detrahe verbum, et quid
est aqua nisi aqua." — S. Aug. in Joan. 80, 3. Vide Maskell's Holy
Baptism, p. 136. The same principle may be extended to the ordinance
of Confirmation ; the validity of which depends on the simultaneous,
concurrence of certain words and of a certain action.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 287
neither are" these things aught by themselves but sounds or
elements, nor when duly combined, though of course hallowed
by being consecrated to a holy use, do they cease to be in them
selves elements and sounds. For " Sacraments are not physical
but moral instruments of salvation."1 This is more readily
admitted, perhaps, in the Sacrament of Baptism than in that of
the Lord's Supper. Yet " the orthodoxal ancients use the same
language for expressing Christ's Presence2 in Baptism and in
the Eucharist : they stick not to say that Christ is present or
latent in the water, as well as in the elements of bread and wine.
Their meaning is, that neither of these elements or sensible
substances can directly cleanse us from our sins, by any virtue
communicated into them or inherent in them, but only as they
are pledges or assurances of Christ's peculiar presence in them
1 Ecel. Pol. v. 57, 4. An able Reviewer objects to these words of Hooker's,
and observes, " It is difficult to see what sense can be applied to the word
moral, which will make it include the whole alternative opposed to physical
iu this case." — Christian Remembrancer, No. 64, p. 330. The expression
is open to misconception in the present day, since the efficacy of Sacra
ments is rested by Rationalists on the action of the human receiver ; so that
the work of the Divine Giver is practically superseded. Hooker'^ inten
tion, however, was only to affirm with Lombard that grace cannot be sepa
rated from the pergonal action of its divine author ; that it is neither em
bodied in mind nor matter, so as to have any influence independently of
Himself. It is as though he asserted that without the sun there can be no
sunshine. " Where the instrument is without inherent virtue, the effect
must necessarily proceed from the only agent's adherent power."  Eccl.
Pol. vi. 6, 11. This view is defended by Estius, in Lib. 4, Sent. Dist. i. 5
(quoted by Dr. Pusey on Bapt. p. 127, Ed. 1st), as being that of Scotus,
Bonaventura, and others." Sacraments, he says, have not, "phvsicam
instrument! rationem," nor yet " virtutein aliquam creatam eis inesse"; ' ' but
"divina virtus saeramentis ad producendum gratiae effectum certo et
infallibiliter ex Christi promissione assistit ; " and therefore he describes
them as " causa instrumentalis," or " instrumentum morale." This state
ment is separated from that of Aquinas only by a technical and meta
physical distinction, for if he asserts that "gratia est in saeramentis
novte legis instrumentaliter ; sicut forma artificiati est in instrumentis
artis," he adds, " Missio Divinse Personse non fit ad sacramenta, sed ad
eos, qui per sacramenta gratiam suscipiunt." — Summa, 1. Q. 43, 6.
2 Fulgentius quotes a Sermon of St. Augustin, Sermo. 272, as proving
41 tunc unumquemque fidelium corporis sanguinisque Dominici participem
fieri, quando in Baptismate membrum corporis-Christi efficitur." — Bib.
Max. Pair. ix. 178.

288 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
and of our true investiture in Christ by them."1 And as the
element in Baptism is on all hands allowed to continue water, so
the element in the Holy Eucharist is expressly called bread by
St. Paul, even when its Sacramental use is referred to. And,
indeed, why should aught else be expected ? The only ground
for questioning it must be, that Holy Scripture declares the
body and blood of Christ to be our food in the Lord's Supper.
Now, when we speak of Our Lord's body and blood, the very
words lead us of necessity to His manhood, to that same bodily
substance which was born of the Virgin, and ascended into
heaven after its sufferings on the Cross. It being admitted,
then, by all believers that this body is present after some real
manner in the Holy Eucharist, those who deny that the con
secrated elements continue to be' materially bread and wine, must
do so under the idea, that without derogating from the local
presence of Our Lord's body in heaven, the elements when
consecrated become a portion of His material body and blood.2 :
1 Jackson's Works x. 55, 9. " It may suffice to believe," says Dr. Jack
son, in reference to the water of Baptism, ' ' that this Sacramental pledge
hath a virtual presence of Christ's blood, or some real influence from His
body, concomitant, though not consubstantiated to it, which is prefigured
or signified by the washing or sprinkling the body with water." — Ibid. x.
50, 4. Vide Innocentii Ep. in St. Austin's Lett. Ep. 182, 5, vol. 2, p. 640.
Not of course that the modes in which the receiver is brought into relation
to Our Lord's Humanity in Baptism and in the Holy Eucharist are
identical : for the latter depends for its validity upon the consecration of
the elements, which is not essential to the former. So that Christ's Body
may be said to be present in Baptism, because He is present, whereas
He is present in the Holy Communion, because of the presence of His
Body. 2 This passage, remarks a reviewer (Christian Remembrancer, No. 64, p.
330), "would seem to imply that according to the view of the Roman
Church, the elements when consecrated become a part of Our Lord'.s
material body and blood. There is no such doctrine in her formularies.
It is intended that in every portion of the consecrated elements, whole
Christ, body, soul, and divinity, is present." The remark is quoted with
a view of guarding against the supposition that the opinion opposed in
the text, is designed to be attributed to the Church of Rome. For it is not
intended in this work to say anything respecting her. The sole object
proposed is to show that Christ's real presence under the forms of broad
and wine, is something wholly distinct from that notion, which is popu
larly understood among ourselves by the term Transubstantiarion.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 289
Their reason for maintaining it, if such an opinion is ever really
maintained, must be, first, the letter of Scripture, which however
all believers accept; and secondly, an impression that unless
such transmutation is admitted, there can be no true belief in
the efficacy of Sacraments. But it follows from what has been
already stated respecting the nature of Our Lord's presence —
First, that the consecrated elements, even if they undergo a
material change, have no more tendency than without such
change to produce the real end which results from Sacraments ;
and secondly, that to rest on such a change is incompatible with
a reference to Our Lord's ascended manhood as that Head of the
renewed race with whom it is the purpose of Sacraments to
unite us. For in the first place, suppose the consecrated elements
to undergo some such change, that they should be found to be,
we know not how, the material body of Christ. This would no
doubt give them great sacredness ; but how would it minister
towards the purpose of a Sacrament ? Why should we be the
better for the carnal devouring of Our Lord's body? What
spiritual efficacy would result from such a feast ? A spiritual
efficacy, indeed, Our Lord's body has on all those with whom
according to its proper laws of action it is brought into connexion ;
but would this action attend its material consumption ? Is there
any relevance between union with the flesh of the Son of Man
and the carnal devouring Him ? We are united to Adam by one
means, to Christ by another. The first is by the law of paternity,
the second by that of regeneration. Why should we increase
our relation to Christ by this carnal banquet, any more than we
should to Adam by the eating of his flesh ? " As is our eating,"
says Taylor, "so is the nourishing, because that is in order to
this."1 A spiritual effect of the manhood of our Great Head
must proceed through spiritual action from His purified humanity.
Sacraments have been appointed as its medium of communication:
but if Baptism does not depend on the natural effect of the
elements which it employs, why should the Lord's Supper?
1 Of the Real Presence of Christ, vii. 8. TJ

290 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
Such a supposition at all events is not essential to a belief in the
Sacramental system, and to a true acceptance of its divine results.
But further, it may be observed in the second place, that to
rest on a material transmutation in the consecrated elements is,
so far forth, to detract from the influence of Our Lord's ascended
manhood as Head of the renewed race. For its consequence
would be to turn our minds to the natural effect of those sacred
elements which we partake, instead of budding on the super
natural presence of that ascended manhood, with which it should
be our object to be united The blessing in the one case would
be to be fed with heavenly food— in the other to be united to a
Divine Person.1 The first of these would, according to the
supposition, be a blessing in itself, independently of the other.
So that the main object of Sacraments, their real life, that
which separates them from all other means of grace — that in
and through them we are joined to the true Head of man's
race, and receive those blessings which through a spiritual me
dium He communicates in holy mysteries to all His members —
would become a secondary consideration. Accordingly, those
ancient writers who most insist on the real presence and action
of Christ's manhood in holy mysteries, declare plainly that the
human body and blood which are ascended into heaven are not
carnally consumed. And a single definite denial of this kind is
more decisive in such a controversy than a hundred passages in
which Our Lord's Eeal Presence in His Supper is asserted;
because these last consist as well with the spiritual, whde the
first is incompatible with the carnal presence of Christ. Such
1 " We are really joined to our common divine principle, Jesus Christ
Our Lord ; and from Him we do communicate in all the blessings of His
grace and the fruits of His passion." — Taylor's Worthy Communicant,!. 4,2.
It requires to be added, that Our Lord's Humanity, supernaturally present
in the consecrated elements, is the medium through the reception of which
we are united to Him in the Holy Eucharist. For there is this difference
between Baptism and the Holy Eucharist (as is witnessed by the fact that
consecration is essential to the validity of the one, but not of the other),
that the office of the Holy Ghost, in the former is to join men to Christ,
but in the latter to bestow His Spiritual Presence.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 291
are two quotations made by Bishop Poynet from St. Jerome
and St. Augustin.1 Tho celebrated letter of the latter to
Dardanus has already been cited (p. 189).
This reference to the real manhood of Christ, as opposed to
the conception that Sacraments produce their effect through
any efficacy inherent in their elements, is warmly supported
by our own Hooker : " For of Sacraments the very same
is true, which Solomon's wisdom observeth in the brazen
serpent — ' He that turned towards it was not healed by the
thing he saw, but by Thee, 0 Saviour of all.'"2 That which
we commonly discern in the course of nature is a certain orderly
series, wherein like results follow habitually from like premises.
Hence arises the instinctive belief, that in the construction of
this material universe, the Author of our being works in
constant reference to the laws which He has Himself ordained.
Thus we say that food has a natural tendency to support life ;
not that we understand the secret mechanism by which it does
so, but from observation of the facts, we discern that the
i " Of this victim, which is offered in a wonderful manner in comme
moration of Christ, men may eat ; but of that which Christ offered on the
altar of the Cross in itself no man can eat " (St. Hierom. in Poynet' s Dial-
lacticon, p 28). And again, St. Augustin says, " It seemed to them a hard
saying, Except a man eat My flesh, he shall not have eternal life. Thev
took it foolishly, they understood it carnally, and supposed that Our Lord
was going to cut off some portion of His flesh and give it them. Therefore
they said it is a hard saying. But if their hearts had not been hard, they
would have said, This cannot be uttered without reason, there must be in it
some secret mystery ; they would have stayed with docility with Him, and
have learned what was learnt by those who remained. For when His twelve
Disciples had remained with Him after their departure, they suggested
to Him, as though grieving at the fate of the others, that they were
offended at His words, and were gone away. But He instructed them
nnd said, it is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing.
The words which I. have spr ken to you are Spirit and life. Understand
spiritually what I have spoken. This Body wh icli you see, i/oh are not to cot,
nor to drink that blood, ivhich shall be shed by those who shall crucify Me.
I have entrui-ted you with a certain mystery. Understood spiritually it
will give you life. Its celebration indeed will be manifest to the senses,
but its meaning will address itself to the inner mind." — St. Aug. in
Psalm 98. 2 Pedes. Pol. v. 57, 4 ; vi. 6, 9.

292 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
Almighty Dispenser has been pleased to connect certain material
agents with certain physical effects. This is what we mean by
the' course of nature. But we have no right to assume that
material substances when once created are left to themselves, or
that their action is the effect of their inherent principles. All
that we can affirm is, that for material agents' to produce
material effects is the natural order of things. And on the
same principle, that material agents should be attended by
spiritual effects belongs to an order of things which must be
supernatural. But why should any one assert that in this case
the result is the effect of the agent itself, seeing that even in that
class of subjects which are most strictly natural, no such asser
tion can be safely made ? To affirm the truth of Christ's real
presence, at all events, is not to attribute the efficacy of Sacra
ments to the effect produced by the elements which are employed,
in themselves, but to trace it to the immediate and supernatural
action of that glorified Humanity with which Sacraments bring
us into connexion.
II. The other of the two questions which have been raised
requires to be no less guarded than that which has been con
sidered. We must remember not only what is not asserted
respecting Sacraments, but what is. That there is in them some
real influence and immediate power, results from the actual pre
sence of that Divine Being, who in these sacred ordinances
binds men by holy instruments to Himself. This is the very
reason for asserting that the benefit of the Holy Communion
does not result from the natural fruitfulness of the means
employed, but from the actual presence of the Being, with whom
those means unite us. Much less can we rest in the belief that
these ordinances are merely a lesson addressed to the senses, or
that the expressions used respecting them are only metaphorical.
For they rest on a basis external to ourselves — they depend on
that which has a real, tangible, objective existence, i.e., Christ
Our Lord, as He has been exalted into heaven, and by spiritual
agency has become the Head of the redeemed race.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 293
For when spiritual presence is spoken of, there are two
notions which may suggest themselves. Such presence may
either be supposed to result from the action of the mind, which
receives an impression, or from the action of the being who
produces it. The first would be a subjective and metapho
rical, the second is an objective and real presence. We might
think of a spectacle in Greece or Asia, and lay hold of it
by internal impulse, as though it were present to our sight
But this would only be a figurative and visionary presence,
because the movement would come altogether from within, and
would be wholly irrespective of any action on the part of the
objeet thought of. A real presence, on the contrary, is when
there is some object external to ourselves, which produces
upon us those effects which result from its propinquity (ride
pp. 186-190). And such presence maybe said to be spiritual as
well as real, when the medium of communication, by which
this external object affects, or is present with us, is not material
contact, but spiritual efficaey. Our reason, therefore, for assert
ing that spiritual presence in Sacraments is a presence of the
second and not of the first kind; that it is aetual not meta
phorical — real not visionary — is because it is the presence of
Christ, and results from what is revealed as the result of His
Incarnation. For though the two natures, wbich dwell in Him,
retain the truth of their separate being, yet they so far concur
in His actings towards mankind, that the inferior has received
from the superior that property of having " life in itself," wbich
renders it the source of life to others. And this life results
from that spiritual presence of Our Lord's manhood, which has
its medium of communication in the power of the Holy Ghost.
When we speak, therefore, of spiritual presence in Sacraments,
what we refer to is not the vivacity of our spirits, which are
able to fancy what is not truly near, but that spiritual energy
which was bestowed upon Christ's manhood, when it was
Personally united to God And therefore to disbelieve this
spiritual presence, to resolve it into a figure of speech, to trans-

294 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
fer it to the action of our own minds, would be equivalent to
the denial of Our Lord's real manhood ; it would be to explain
away His existence, and substitute a Sabellian fancy instead of
the Catholic truth. And what would be the result, but that
the life-giving principle of holiness must have its seat, not in
Christ, but in our own minds ; and therefore in effect that we
should be our own Saviours ? It may be asserted then respect
ing Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, that their efficacy results
from that spiritual action by which Christ's manhood is truly
present ; that in both of them some real external gift is be
stowed upon mankind. That such is the teaching of Scripture
shall be shown by what is said respecting each of them, as well
as by reference to their common character.
Baptism, then, is " a Sacrament which God hath instituted in
His Church, to the end that they which receive the same might
thereby be incorporated into Christ, and so through His most
precious merit obtain as well that saving grace of imputation
which taketh away all former guiltiness, as also that infused
divine virtue of the Holy Ghost which giveth to the powers of
the soul their first disposition towards future newness of life."1
So that it is the especial purpose of Baptism, that from that per
fect fountain of grace and holiness which is vouchsafed in the
manhood of Christ Our Lord, the blessings of forgiveness and
strength should be attained by every individual. Thus by con
junction with the purity of the second Adam, may be regained
what was lost by the transmitted defilement of the first. How
should this be sought for, but by union with Him from whom
was derived the guiding principle which shone originally in
man's breast? The image of God, in which man was made,
and whieh was impaired by sin, has been shown to have resulted
from that illuminating power of God the Word, which in ful
ness of time took up its personal dwelling in our flesh. What
means are there then of recovering that which was lost, save by
union with Him, in whom the light which was intended for
1 Eccles. Pol. v. 60, 2.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 295
each man in his degree has its perfect inhabitation 1 We come
to the fountain-head of light, that our extinguished lamps may
each one be replenished1 The soul's regeneration, like the
body's growth, is of course a protracted process, which the
whole of life is not too long to complete. But what gives to
Baptism its especial character is, that in that holy rite this pro
cess is begun. For then are men joined by heavenly agency to
Christ, that the life of their souls may from that day forth have
its development. Holy Scripture speaks everywhere of union
with Christ, as that new creation in man's being, whereby the
forfeited likeness of the Word is given back. For " if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature." And "in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision avails nor uncircumcision, but the new
creation." " In Christ, that is in His Communion or Church,"
says Olshausen, " the ancient divisions are unimportant ; every
thing there depends on the new creation, upon that true regenera
tion, whereby Christ the New Man is born within us." There
fore St. Paul tells the Ephesians, " that ye put off concerning
the former conversation the old man, and that ye put on the
New Man, which, after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness."2 To be created after God, is further explained
to be the recovery of the impaired image of Christ : "Ye have
put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the New
Man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him
that created him."3 This perfect recovery of Christ's image is
stated to be the very purpose of God's dealings with men in His
Church : " For whom He did foreknow, He also did predesti-
1 "As the first man Adam was made a living soul, so the last Adam
was made a quickening spirit ; a spirit of life to revive the relics of God's
image in men's souls, and by the reviving of them to expel or blot out the
expressions of Satan's image in them. All this He doth in part even in
this life in such as fear and love Him. And in these two, to wit, in the
reviving of God s image in us, and in the expunction and wiping out the
stain of sin (which is no other than the image of Satan), doth our
regeneration consist." — Jackson's Works, xi. 21, 10.
2 Eph. iv. 22, 24. ' Col. iii. 9, 10.

296 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
nate to be conformed to the image of His Son."1 And "we
are all changed into the same image."2
But how is this restoration to be effected ? How can God's
image be created anew in the soul ? If man had never fallen, it
had been sufficient to inherit it : fallen as he is, there must be
the gift of a new life.3 And this new life had its commence
ment in the fact of the Incarnation. For by it was a beginning
made in the person of Him who was to be "the first-born
among many brethren." Then did Divine gifts take up their
abode in humanity, that from the Head they might be distri
buted to all His brethren. For in the new as in the old creation
is He "the first-born of every creature," "the beginning of the
creation of God."4 All its subsequent ramifications are but the
result of the impulse which in His Incarnation was bestowed.
For, " He is the Head even Christ, from whom the whole Body
fitly joined together, maketh increase to the edifying of itself in
love." Whereof, that men "might be made partakers of the
divine nature," is the wonderful result. This work, therefore,
follows from union with Him, in whom originated5 the new
creation of God. It began with the Head, it extends itself to
His members ; it began with the new Adam, it reaches on to
all His brethren. Thus is He in truth "made a quickening
spirit." Thus are we all "complete in Him."6 To suppose,
then, that such a work could commence from a spontaneous,
1 Romans viii. 29. 2 2 Cor. iii. 18.
3 ' ' That every thing in the process of salvation depends ultimately on
God's operation, which man on his part can only in faith receive, depends
on the very nature of the process of regeneration. It is like a new crea
tion ; the regenerate are God's making, created in Christ Jesus." —
Olshausen on Ephesians ii. 10.
4 So far as such terms refer to our Lord's Godhead, they do not relate
to priority of time, as though He were a created being, but they set forth
the truth that He was Himself the type and pattern of the beings which
He created. And so too when His human nature is spoken of as the
beginning of the new creation, the order of causation, rather than the
order of time, is the condition contemplated.
6 " Originem quam sumsit in utero Virginis posuit in fonte baptismatis ;
dedit aquse, quod dedit matri," &c. — S. Leo. Serm. xxiv. 4.
6 Col. ii. 10.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 2y7
inherent action, would be the very heresy of Pelagius. The
flame requires to be kindled from without, that it may burn
within. There must be an external action to which the inward
movement must respond Eenovation must have its root in
Eegeneration. There must be a gift antecedent to our efforts.
This gift is that first union with Christ, whereon all communica
tion of graces from Him to us depends. Out of this beginning
arises the whole system of the Christian life. And this heavenly
impulse is expressly declared in Scripture to be extended to us
in Baptism : "As many of you as have been baptized into
Christ," says St. Paul, "have put on Christ."1 For "by one
spirit are we all baptized into one Body."2 And in Baptism,
as the Apostle asserts twice over, that death to the old nature
takes place, whereby the new creation in Christ is commenced.
"We are buried with Him by Baptism into death,"3 " wherein
also ye are risen with Him." 4 So that St. Peter says,5 that
" Baptism doth also now save us." 6 For Our Lord Himself
had taught that in this ordinance lies the beginning of the
spiritual life — " Except a man be born of water and of the
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God : " — a passage
whereof Hooker reminds us, " that of all the ancient, there is
not one to be named, that ever did otherwise either expound
or allege the place than as implying external Baptism." 7
Since the statements of Scripture on this subject are so
precise, how comes it then that any persons should have dis
sented from this universal opinion of our Lord's first disciples ?
The grounds of men's objection appear to be two : First, an
attachment to the idea introduced, or at least systematized by
Calvin, that grace is not given to any except those who will
1 Gal. iii. 27. '1 Cor. xii. 13.
3 Romans vi. 4. 4 Col. ii. 12. 5 1 Peter iii. 21.
6 It is not of course, sayB Dr. Jackson, " the virtue or efficacy of the
consecrated water in which we were washed, but the virtue of His blood,
which was once shed for us, and which by baptism is sprinkled upon us,
or communicated unto us, which immediately cleanseth us from all our
sins." — Works x. 5c, 8. 7 Eccles. Pol. v. 59, 3.

298 ' SACRAMENTS A MEANS
finally be saved; and secondly, the assertion that no visible
results attend on Baptism. The difficulties which these con
siderations involve induce men to refer to such passages1 of
Scripture as express the full effect and ultimate consequence of
regeneration, i.e., victory over sin, and final perseverance ; and.
they infer that no gift has really been bestowed in Baptism,
unless these ultimate consequences are discerned to be its effect.
They deny in effect that any seed has been sown, where fruit
is not brought forth. They deny that there can be dead
branches in the Christian vine. And the language in which
Scripture and the Church speak of something as actually done
in Baptism, they consider to be merely a charitable hope that
something will be done hereafter — a hope which, in the majority
of instances, they say is not borne out by the result. Now, the
passages of Scripture which they cite have in themselves no
tendency to show that in Baptism occurs no real work : for they
only speak of this work as one, the completion whereof is the
extinction of sin; and which must therefore spread itself
through man's whole life. But all that is asserted of Baptism is
that since it is our first means of union with the manhood of
Christ, the basis of our spiritual growth must be laid in it.
(' Baptism doth challenge to itself but the inchoation of those
graces, the consummation whereof dependeth on mysteries
ensuing." 2 The denial therefore that in Baptism, as rightly
and worthily participated, there is any real change made in the
recipient of the ordinance — the assertion that the benefits
ascribed to it are merely figurative, contingent, occasional— that
they are spoken of prospectively as something to be hereafter
attained, and not positively as something actually possessed — all
this does not follow from any scriptural authority ; the grounds
for supposing it are men's antecedent difficulties. And as to the
first of them, it is surely matter of surprise, that any traditional
attachment to the opinions of Calvin should interfere with the
direct assurances of God's Word. For it has been shown by
' 1 John iii. 9 ; v. 18. 2 Eccles. Pol. v. 57, 6.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. • 299
Bishop Butler that the predestinarian theory is never carried out
so rigidly as to preclude all the practical inferences to which it
is intellectually opposed. This is far from being undesirable,
considering how imperfect an instrument is man's understanding,
and how much safer in many cases is the appeal to conscience
than to argument. But those who can reconcile the doctrine of
arbitrary decrees with the general invitations of Scripture to re
pentance and faith, need not object surely to allow that the gifts
of grace may be co-extensive with the ordinances of the Gospel.
For do not faith and repentance need grace as an unavoidable
pre-requisite? Why, then, should men deny the reality of
Baptism, even if on their theory it be " a seal perhaps to the
grace of election before received," seeing it is declared to
be " to our sanctification here a step that hath not any before
it?"1 Neither is there reason why men should grpund their disbeliei
in the reality of Baptism on the small results which they see it
effect. The very principle of faith is to admit that which sense
does not discern : "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
have believed." And it is hard to say how much of the in-
efficacy of Baptism is due to the popular unbelief which prevents
men from doing justice to it. When children are not instructed
in the nature of the gift which they have received, we cannot
wonder if it be allowed to be inoperative. Its result might be
very different if they were accustomed to expect those effects
which St. Cyprian assures us resulted from his own baptism.
He speaks of his former difficulties ; and how powerless he felt
to escape those evil habits which adhered to his nature. " But,"
he says, " after that the stain of former sins being washed away
through the water of the new birth, a light from above infused
itself into my acquitted and purified bosom ; and after that,
through a spirit drawn from above, a new birth had made me a
new man — what was doubtful began immediately in a wonderful
manner to receive confirmation ; what was shut to be opened ;
1 Eccles. Pol. v. 60, 3.

300 • SACRAMENTS A MEANS
what was dark to be enlightened ; what was impossible to be
attainable."1 But with this disbelief in the reality of Baptism
is joined an unreasonable estimate of the results, which, if real,
it might be expected to effect. For the gifts of grace do not in
any case supersede the responsibility of mankind. Those who
think most highly of Baptism regard it only as the appointed
means for that union with Christ whereby men may obtain
strength to serve Him. Baptism neither exempts devout men
from the necessity of a watchful life, nor careless men from the
necessity of conversion. It is a reason why the watchfulness
of the one should be more unvaried, and the conversion of the
other more complete. To receive gifts of grace is in itself no
security against losing them. In Adam himself, the image
of God did not preclude the possibility of disobedience. Much
less can this be expected in his descendants, on whom the con
cupiscence of the will has been entaded by his failure. It is
sometimes forgotten that Baptism does not determine what shall
be men's future state, but what is their present position. And
herein lies the defect of all hypothetical interpretations of the
language used respecting this holy ordinance. For their purpose
is to transform that which is essentially an assertion respecting
a present fact into a supposition about the future. It is
asserted, for example, respecting every chdd who is received into
the Church after private Baptism, " that this child is by Baptism
regenerate." As in such cases no sponsors have been employed,
the validity of the ordinance cannot be attributable, as has some
times been imagined, to their faith. The Church, of course,
supposes it to result from that reality of union with Christ's2
manhood, whereby those who were heirs of Adam's sinfulness
become heirs of grace. But what signification is assigned to
the words, by those who deny that Baptism is the appointed
1 Ep. ad Donatum, statim a Baptismo conscripta, Ed. Rigalt. p. 2.
2 " Take the case of any child : if it is one with Christ already, why is
it baptized ? But if (as really happens) it is baptized that it may be one
with Christ, therefore until baptized it was not one with Christ." — S. Aug.
De Pece. Mer. i. 28.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 301
channel of grace ? Some children, say the parties in question,
are no doubt regenerated at Baptism; it may be so in any
individual instance, and it is charitable to affirm that which it
is impossible to deny. And this, they observe, is the course
adopted by the Church respecting the departed, concerning
whose future condition, because unable to predict it, we express
a charitable hope. But to confound conjecture with assertion, is
to destroy the whole meaning of speech. Things future, being
from their nature uncertain to us, do not admit of a positive
affirmation. And in the case of such present things as we feel
to be dubious, we cannot do more than express a hope, leaving
it to the result to clear up what is uncertain. Since hope, then,
is in its nature conversant with things which are future or
contingent, its expression is compatible with the highest degree
of uncertainty. In the most unpromising morning we may hope
that the sun will shine at noon. And respecting the departed,
supposing them to die in the Church's communion, we can
hardly do less than declare them our brethren, and express hope
that they sleep in Jesus. And this, with thanks for their
deliverance from this world's miseries, is all that is expressed by
our service. What countenance is there here for the positive
assertion of a present fact, concerning which we have no know
ledge ? It is obvious what would be said respecting a man who
asserted unequivocally that the sun was shining at present, and
who afterwards justified himself on the ground that he hoped it
was, but possessed no means of informing himself. And what
else can be thought of those who assert respecting every baptized
child, that " this child is regenerate," when they believe in their
consciences that in all probability it is not ?
But to leave the Church's language, and come to the positive
effect of this system. It rests plainly on the notion that the
benefits of Baptism do not depend upon the present act, but on
the future results which attend a devotion to God's service.
These no doubt are many and great. They associate the party
with Christians — they suggest such feelings as should attend

302 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
an early dedication to God, and thus lead to those efforts on the
part of man which God's grace will doubtless meet with a
proportionable blessing. But in all this there is one radical
defect — the need of some predisposing grace on the part of
God, whereby the first movement may be made towards holiness.
For this the Church Tefers us to Baptism. It considers this
first gift of life to be derived from that union with Christ,
which He originally bestows. What was said to the disciples,
not excluding the one on whom the gift was conferred ineffee-**
tually, is" in Baptism uttered to all Christians : " Ye have not
chosen Me, but I have chosen you." The enslaved will of man
was first restored to its perfect freedom in the great representa
tive of our race, in whom that tendency to concupiscence, which
Adam entailed upon his descendants, was counteracted by the
full influx of God's spirit. The first of Adam's progeny who
possessed that perfect liberty in which our original parent was
created was the second Adam Jesus Christ. Now, it is only
through union with our disenthralled representative that we
also can escape bondage. " If the Son shall make you free, ye
shall be free indeed." Unless the beginnings of the spiritual
life are laid in this- antecedent gift of union with Christy we
pass over of necessity to the Eationalistic principle, which
would attribute them to that natural relation of the soul to
God which it had by creation. A new birth, then, is needed
as preliminary to the first actings of the will, because upon it
depends our admission into " the glorious liberty of the children
of God." And, therefore, regeneration does not merely imply
the second birth of every individual, as opposed to his primary
birth by nature (though this doubtless is referred to) ; but it
also points to that state of freedom in which man was originally
created, but into which every heir of Adam's sin requires to be
readmitted. This birth lack again into the condition in which
man was made when he was fashioned after God's likeness, is
not complete till his will has laid full hold on that freedom into
which he was admitted by God's grace. Therefore, the complete

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 303
and general development of the Christian Covenant is described
by Our Lord as " the Eegeneration, when the Son of Man shall
sit upon the throne of His glory." For then shall the ancient
state be again perfectly possessed by those who " being made
free from sin " have become " servants of righteousness." But
the beginning of this work in every individual must be through
God's act, and not through the act of man, because its very
object is to give man the power of acting, by the enfranchise
ment of the will from its hereditary bondage. And the act
whereby God bestows this blessing is especially connected by
St. Paul with that Sacrament of Baptism, which Our Lord
Himself appointed : " According to His mercy He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost."
But such a preliminary act on the part of God is negatived,
when the real, objective influence of Baptism is denied, and it
is asserted not to be the appointed channel of grace. Hereby
everything is thrown on man's part; and thus the Pelagian1
doctrine is in reality introduced, and man's salvation is made to
depend originally upon his own exertions. This is not the
meaning of many who deny that a new birth is conferred in
Baptism ; their intention is to refer regeneration to the imme
diate act of God, and they exhort the young to ask and desire
it. But on what are prayers and good desires to be built ? To
say that it is on natural goodness, were Pelagianism. Yet if we
are referred to God's grace, by what event except Baptism2 are
1 " Every mother hastening piously up with her infunt son says, ' Let
it be baptized, that it may be saved. ' Pelagius objects, ' How should it be
saved? There is nothing in it which needs salvation.' " — S. Aug. Serm.
clxxxiii. 8. St. Augustin points out that the real tendency of this system
is to represent Infant Baptism as unnecessary. " Die mihi obsecro te,
Parvulis baptizatis Christus aliquid, an nihil prodest ? Necesse est dicat
prodesse ; premitur mole matris Ecclesiae. Forte quidem vellent hoc
dicere ; nam ratiocinationes eorum ad hoc videntur compellere ; sed
auctoritate reprimuntur Ecclesise." — Serm. cexciv. 17.
2 " Quod " (i.e., illuminari) " per sacramentum baptismatis in parvulis
fieri non dubitat mater Ecclesia, quse cor et os maternum eis prsestat, ut
sacris mysteriis imbuantur, quia nondum possunt corde proprio credere ad
justitiam, nee ore proprio confiteri ad salutem." — S. Aug. de Pecc. Mer. i. 25.

304 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
those who are born in sin entitled to it, previously to the first
actings of their understanding? What we are speaking of is
the case of those who have not yet been able, by any act of
their own, to take part in that which is necessary to their will's
freedom. Yet what Christian parent but would associate prayers
to God with the very first lispings of infant speech?1 Either
men must be prepared, then, to adopt the Pelagian hypothesis,
or their conduct to the young assumes the presence of that very
gift which Baptism has been appointed to convey. And the
only alternative is such rigid adherence to the Calvinistic theory
as, by declaring Christian education needless and impossible,
would go counter to the instincts of nature and the Word of
God. But it may be objected, are not the Heathen exhorted to
prayer as a preliminary to Baptism ? They doubtless are ; and
in their case the appeal rests upon that universal presence of
the Word, by which every man is in a measure enlightened. \
Unless there were some remnant of that original influence,.
which the Word exercised over His creatures, no basis would
exist for their first conversion [vide pp. 90-92]. But their
prayers and efforts are not built upon that union with Christ,
which is the principle assumed in Christian education. To deal
with Christians as beathen men should be dealt with is. to shut
our eyes to the freedom and fulness of the Gospel ; it is to treat
the "joint-heirs with Christ" as though they were bondmen.
The principle of Christian education is avowed in the Church
Catechism, wherein every child is taught to declare at the outset
that in Baptism it was made " a member of Christ." And after
praying for them that they "may ever remain in the number
of" God's "elect children," we teach every child to affirm that
the Holy Ghost " sanctifieth me, and all the elect people of
. J " The freedom of the will, which suffered detriment in the first man,"
say the Fathers at Orange, in their decrees against Semi-Pelagianism,
' ' cannot be repaired, except by the grace of Baptism ; what was lost cannot
be restored, except by Him who was able to bestow it." — Harduin ii. 1099.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 305
God." This principle is consistently carried out by the Church,
for she limits the use of Christian burial to those children
whose bodies have been consecrated in Baptism by union with
the Body of Christ. And even those who have not the advan
tage of her guidance proceed usually upon an analogous system.
For their plan of education is professedly built on the plan of
the Gospel, and on the expected succour of the Comforter.
And yet how are men entitled to His help, save by virtue of the
Mediation of Christ? And what right have we to Christ's
Mediation, unless we have been brought into the same relation
to the new man into which our birth brings us to the old one ?
It were contrary to the whole theory of the Gospel to assume
the existence in man of Christian graces antecedently to their
participating in the Mediation of Christ. And yet that Christian
principles are to be acted upon is the very foundation of the
Gospel scheme, seeing that it begins by assuming a belief, the
practical effect whereof is afterwards to be developed. The
existence, therefore, of an external and objective mean, whereby
we may in the first instance be united to Christ, is the very
basis of subsequent obedience. And this is why its denial is
more plainly inconsistent with our Eitual and Catechism, than
with the Articles, in which doctrines are abstractedly exhibited.
For the evil to which it leads is a practical denial of the Gospel
— an undervaluing of that union with Christ Our Lord which
is consequent upon His Incarnation — an over-estimate of human
efforts — and such a tendency will conflict more plainly with
those parts of our established formularies, in which our depend
ence upon Christ Our Lord and our constant adherence to Him
are actually exhibited.
In respect to the Lord's Supper, it may be doubted whether
the same amount of belief is entertained on all hands as in
Hooker's days was universally prevalent. " It is on all sides,"
he says, " plainly confessed, first, that this Sacrament is a true
and a real participation of Christ, who thereby imparteth Himself,
even His whole entire Person, as a mystical head unto every
z

306 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
soul that receiveth Him, and that every such receiver doth
thereby incorporate or unite himself unto Christ as a mystical
member of Him; and secondly, that to whom the Person of
Christ is thus communicated, to them He giveth by the same
Sacrament His Holy Spirit to sanctify them, as it sanctifieth
Him which is their Head."1 In these words the union with
Christ's manhood by mystical participation is put forth as the
leading characteristic of this holy ordinance. But since the
time of Hoadley a different system has become prevalent.
The mere human side of this Sacrament has been mainly thought
of: it has been considered to be a sermon preached to the senses
— an act whereby we commemorate the death of Christ, and
testify our reverence for His memory. This account of its
uses, to the exclusion of that deeper view, which is founded
on the application of Our Lord's Incarnation to the wants of
men, and on the necessity of external grace, having been intro
duced by Socinian writers, has since found advocates in the
Church. As Baptism is explained away into the mere expression
of a charitable expectation, so the Lord's Supper into a simple
commemoration. How are we to decide whether this holy
service is to be considered a divine rite or a human ordinance ;
whether it is the supernatural means by which whole Christ
gives Himself to His people, or a mere accommodation to the
taste for acted services ? The letter of Scripture surely repre
sents the eating and drinking of Christ's Body and Blood to be
a mystical means of obtaining heavenly benefits. But those
who question the apparent meaning of such passages of Scripture,
deny that the sixth chapter of St. John can refer to an ordin
ance which was instituted after the narrative which it records.
It is not here affirmed that the spiritual communion of His
members with Our Lord's manhood is confined to that holy feast,
which is the signal and peculiar means of maintaining it;
but if the participation of Christ in His Holy Supper be not at
all referred to in the sixth chapter of St. John, then it is hard
1 Eccles. Pol. v. 67, 7.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 307
to see how Holy Scripture could be intended for the instruction
of ordinary readers. For surely no simple persons, whose minds
were not pre-occupied by some theory, could ever read that
chapter without the most palpable misconception. And how
could St. John have delivered it to the Church, when the Holy
Communion had been habitually celebrated for half a century,
without taking care to guard it from such obvious misapprehen
sion ? But, in fact, that this dialogue should have been prophetic
of what was to come is so far from an objection, that it is in
exact consistency with other parts of Our Lord's instruction.
How much did it contain which even "His Disciples under
stood not at the first?" He spoke of being "lifted up from
the earth" — He promised "living water" — He declared the
necessity of taking up the Cross and following Him : in all
these cases His prophetic words received their interpretation
from the event.1 And the sixth chapter of St. John contains a
direct assurance that its meaning would not be apparent till Our
Lord's Ascension. " What and if ye shall see the Son of Man
ascend up where He was before?" So that we have express
authority for interpreting it by events which were to come.
Hooker accordingly points out to us how exactly what the
Apostles had " learned before — that Christ's flesh and blood are
the true cause of eternal life " 2 — was explained by Our Lord's
institution of the Holy Communion. And as this is the
natural conclusion which would be adopted by untaught readers
1 It is the especial characteristic of St. John's Gospel, that with a pious
care it gathers up those remaining fragments of Divine teaching which
inspired Meditation revealed to be the most real and pregnant secrets of that
Gospel Kingdom, the mysterious treasures whereof he had longer time upon
earth than his fellows to survey. Take, for instance, the repeated declara
tions that He who came in ' ' fashion as a man,' ' because the Personal Word
of God, was the " true light " of man's nature — a fact which Our Lord's
hearers can hardly have understood at the time, but which opens to us
the secret things of His kingdom in a manner which adds wonderfully
to the view supplied by the other Evangelists. For it connects itself with
that whole system of truths respecting the Incarnate Word, which is the
peculiar revelation of the Theological Gospel. Vide St. John i. 4, 5 , 9 ; iii.
19 ; viii. 12 ; ix. 5 ; xii. 35, 36, 46. * Eccles. Pol. v. 67, 4.

308 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
of Scripture, so is it supported by the unanimous testimony of
early writers. " Both the Greek and Latin Fathers," says Bishop
Poynet, " refer the words of Our Lord in the sixth chapter of
St. John with great unanimity to the Sacrament of the Eucha
rist."1 Our Church sanctions the same interpretation in her
Eitual— "then We eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
His blood, then we dwell in Christ and .Christ in us." As Dr.
Jackson expresses it, " This present efficacy of Christ's body and
blood upon our souls, or real communication of both, I find
as a truth unquestionable amongst the ancient Fathers, and as a
Catholic confession. They all agree that we are immediately
cleansed and purified from our sins by the blood of Christ ; that
His human nature, by the inhabitation of the Deity, is made to
us the inexhaustible fountain of life." 2
One further argument for the reality of that union with the
body of Christ which is bestowed in the Holy Eucharist, is
supplied by the circumstances under which its observance was
commenced. On Our. Lord's Ascension, His Disciples returned
to Jerusalem to wait for that gift of the Holy Ghost which was
shortly to be dispensed. It had been declared to be the work
of the Blessed Comforter to provide some new and closer means
of union with that manhood of the Son which was to be with
drawn from mortal sense. By this means He who in appear
ance departed was in reality to be brought more near. The
new Head of the renewed race, the second Adam of reformed
humanity, was about to provide that principle of supernatural
union whereby all His members were to be engrafted into Him
self. Now, it is through the Holy Communion that this
connexion is especially maintained. Its great purpose is to bring
the members of Christ into mystic union with their Head.
Thereby does the manhood of Christ act upon His brethren.
In this circumstance surely we have the reason why, during that
first assemblage at Jerusalem, no mention is made of an observ-
1 Diallacticon, p. 9. By J. Poynet, Bishop of Winchester, and Chaplain
to Archbishop Cranmer. 2 Works, Book x. 55, 12.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 309
ance, which so soon as the Holy Ghost had bestowed the fulness
of His gifts, became the main act of Christian worship. "These
all continued in one accord with prayer and supplication."
But no sooner had the life-giving medium been bestowed, than
"they continued in breaking of bread, and in prayer." The
Holy Communion, it seems, could not have effect till the pour
ing out of that quickening Spirit1 by which the members of
Christ mystical are attached to their Head. "The one Holy
Catholic Church and Communion of Saints did not begin to be in
esse or bear true fruit untd the effusion of the Holy Ghost, which
is the soul of the one Holy Catholic Church, or of the mystical
body of Christ."2 But how different had it been if the Com
munion of Saints were only a figurative expression, and the
Holy Communion a mere commemoration ! When were the
Disciples more united by natural bonds than in this hour of
their desertion ? When were they more likely to commemorate
their Lord, than while His departure was so fresh ? The Holy
Eucharist cannot, therefore, have been a merely human rite ;
its force was not that it addressed their senses, and set forth
what they had lost ; it depended for its efficacy on that new
gift of the Holy Ghost, whereby Christ their Head came back
to them with power; it was their perpetual means of union
with His glorified humanity, their souls' food, the medium of
the body's immortality.
It remains only to recall that which has been already stated
as applicable to both the sacred ordinances which have been con-
1 It may be alleged that the two disciples at Emmaus were admitted to
the full participation of that Eucharistic presence which is here affirmed to
have been consequent upon the gift of the Holy Ghost. But whatever it
was to which they were admitted, the case is plainly an excepted one,
since it was the act of Him in whom the same gift dwelt personally which
was about to possess a new medium of presence through the power of the
Holy Ghost. Before Our Lord's death, He told His Disciples that the
same presence had already been bestowed through the Incarnation of the
Word, which was afterwards to be maintained through the Advent of the
Comforter. " He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
2 Jackson's Works, ix. 41, 3.

310 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
sidered. The reality of both of them has been maintained : it
has been affirmed that Baptism is not merely the expression of
a charitable hope ; that the Lord's Supper is not a bare act of
pious recollection. The essential principle of each of them has
been shown to be union with the perfect manhood of Christ
Our Lord. Let it be remembered only in conclusion, that to
deny their reality is to assail the great principle of the Mediation
of Christ. For the Doctrine of Our Lord's Mediation does not
rest only on the Divine power of Christ, as a partaker in the
nature of self-existent Godhead ; it implies also that, by assO'
ciating man's nature to His own, He has made created substance
the channel of His gifts. Now, as the media through which
these gifts are dispensed to His brethren ; as the ramifications,
whereby His Divine nature distributes itself on the right hand
and the left, these two Sacraments go together — their importance
is equal — their effect alike — and to disparage them is to derogate
from that principle of action which the wisdom of God has seen
fitting to adopt. Every attempt to explain them away, every
contrivance for extenuating the real import of what they effect,
is a virtual detracting from the reality of that objective and
actual influence, which Christ the Mediator is pleased to exert.
Its tendency is to resolve His actions into a metaphor, and His
existence into a figure of speech. His specific and personal
agency as the Eternal Son, who in the fulness of time conjoined
Himself to man's nature for the recovery of a fallen race, is
merged in the general action of that ultimate Spirit, whom none
but Atheists professedly reject. For the real objection against
the Sacramental system does not arise from any deficiency in its
Scriptural authority, which has been shown to be ample, but
from the abstract improbability that external ordinances can be
the means of obtaining internal gifts. Now, this improbability
rests on the circumstance that the natural mean of connexion
with God is the intercourse of mind with mind, and consequently
that the intercourse through Sacraments is supernatural. The
connexion with God, i.e., which man received by creation, and

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 311
which Eationalism affirms to be sufficient for his wants, is more
compatible with men's natural position, than that new system of
Mediation which has been revealed in the Gospel. But let the
Doctrine of Mediation be admitted, and it ceases to be an argu
ment against the Sacramental system that it does not accord with
that scheme of nature, which the Gospel professes to supersede.
And the Eationalistic argument against these means of grace, is
of equal avad against that whole scheme of Mediation upon
which they are dependent. If the natural intercourse of mind
with the Unembodied Mind of the Creator supersedes the neces
sity of Sacramental ordinances, does it not supersede equally the
humanity of Christ ? If man has still that immediate com
munion with God of which Scripture affirms that the Fall
deprived him, what need is there of a Mediator between them ?
Thus does the objection mount up from earth to heaven — from
Christ feeding men below through Sacraments, to Christ me
diating above by His Atonement and Intercession. For " if we
have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye
believe if we tell you of heavenly things ? " If the Sacraments
be thus emptied of their meaning, it is because the present
actings of Christ as the Son of Man are not appreciated ; and
the purposes of His Incarnation are forgotten. And this forget-
fulness again may be traced to unbelief in that real diversity of
Persons in the Blessed Trinity, in which all creaturely existence
has its ultimate root. Thus does a practical Sabellianism re
specting Christ's Person coincide with that Eationalistic theory,
by which the reality of His Sacraments is disputed. And their
surrender is fatal to the true doctrine concerning Himself, even
as the true doctrine of His nature sets the importance of these
instruments in a proper light.

312 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

CHAPTEE XIV.
OHBIST AS MEDIATOR THE SOURCE OP HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE
TO MANKIND.
We have now surveyed two stages in the wonderful economy of
man's salvation. The first was that God became man ; the
second, that the God-man became one with His brethren. The
first was the union of two widely different natures by personal
alliance ; the second, the union of many brethren with their con
natural head by Sacramental grace. "God was in Christ re
conciling the world unto Himself "^-here is the first ; and the
second is — "Christ in us the hope of glory." It remains only
to notice some consequences entailed on mankind at large by i
this great event. Its full effects would be too wide to speak of, .
and they blend themselves with that subjective part of religion
on which it is not designed to enter in this place. For what is
meant by all personal and individual religion, but that men
receive, lay hold of, and rest upon that Mediation of Christ
which has been set forth as the central truth of the Gospel — as
an actual object external to our souls? Here then nothing
further can be done than to touch upon that common influence
of this fact upon mankind at large, which may in some sort be
regarded also as an objective and external truth ; since, like
Mediation itself, it assumes a collective character, and reacts, as
an outward mean of efficacy, upon individual minds.
Looking then at the effect of Christ's Mediation on mankind
at large, it may be affirmed to be the producing principle of
holiness and of knowledge. These blessings might be bestowed
upon men by individual gift, as Abraham was called by peculiar
summons to be Father of the Faithful, or St. Paul to be the
Apostle of the Gentiles ; or they might come like the Apostleship
of St. Matthias, or the royalty of Solomon, through the instru-

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 313
mentality of others. Now the second of these is the mode
which is adopted respecting the gifts of the Gospel. They come
from the Head 1 to the members : they are procured by Christ
Our Lord for His earthly brethren ; they are the privdeges which
He purchased through the infinite desert of His perfect obedience.
We have no original right in them ; but by virtue of our being
engrafted into the Body of Christ, we participate in them from
Him. And since it is by aggregation to the body of the faithful
that we become members of Christ, therefore our personal
blessedness is the result of that famdy union which gives us a
share in its collective rights. " H children, then heirs : heirs of
God and joint heirs with Christ." Thus do Gospel blessings
proceed from that which is general to that which is particular :
first in the series is Christ the Mediator — then that family of
mankind whom He associates to Himself — and lastly, each in
dividual claimant of those infinite privileges, which having been
purchased by our representative on behalf of manhood at large,
have become the right of its meanest participators. The three
stages in this wonderful process are summed up in those myste
rious words wherein the Mediator, as the Head of mankind,
addressed Himself to the Almighty : " I in them, and Thou in
Me, that they may be made perfect in one." God's presence in
Christ is the beginning of our regeneration : the union of all
believers in the one Body of Christ is its second stage : the
third is that influence of the Word on every individual heart
which is bestowed through the public ordinances of the Gospel.
This process is not set down, of course, according to the order
of time, but according to the order of causation. God calls in
dividuals to enter His Church before they are members of it :
but when they are thus called, His gifts proceed downward from
that which is collective to that which is individual: "Thou
bearest not the root, but the root thee."
And here, therefore, we have an example, how " the earnest
1 " IUuminatio quippe nostra participatio Verbi est, illius scilicet vitse,
quse lux est hominum." — S. Aug. De Trin. iv. 4.

314 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the
sons of God." For what is this but the fulfilment of those
darling expectations of man's heart which were noticed at the
beginning of this inquiry 1 What has man been reaching after,
ever since his history commenced, but such a regeneration ? He
has looked for it on the side of this world and on the side of
the next — in politics and in religion — in the social reconstruction
of civil Communities, and in the formation of societies affecting
the divine life ; and if he has failed to find it, the ground of his
disappointment has not been the want of earnestness or of intelli
gence, but because from God only can descend power to renew
the earth. He only who made the world is able to restore it.
Yet these successive attempts witness man's conviction that
collective must ever be the basis of individual improvement —
that as each man owes the gift of speech, the fruits of experience,
the softening influences of civilization, and all the other lights
of this world, to the race of which he is a co-heir — so the higher
blessings of a perfect existence are not to be acquired by in
dividuals through their single strength, but are God's gift to His
chosen family throughout the earth.
1. Those who reject revelation have often anticipated such
results from the mere development of civd society. Its growth
and advancement promise, as they say, such unlimited improve
ments, that its prospective state may be regarded as that blissful
condition of mankind which has been anticipated by prophets and
recorded by chroniclers. Here, they allege, is the Mdlennium of
the one and the Golden Age of the other. And from this reformed
and exalted society there will flow to individuals every blessing
which their heart desires. Thus does Strauss maintain that " the
union of the divine and human nature has its completion in the
collective race of mankind." "This," he says, "is the key of
the whole Christian system ; and as the subject of all its assertions
we must take not an individual, i.e., Christ, but an idea— a
realized and actual idea." x " This idea is humanity viewed col-
1 Strauss, Leben Jesu, sec. 149, vol. ii. p. 767.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 315
lectively : humanity is the union of two natures — it is God
incarnate."1 " The history of man," says a writer of our own, " is
truly the word of God."2 This is but a more strong expression
of that error which lies at the root of every system, in which the
regeneration of mankind is expected from mere social attempts.
For since God only can effect man's regeneration, to look for it from
human efforts is to suppose that in man himself lies the principle
of Deity. Such an opinion is closely allied to the characteristic
feature of Eationalism, the substitution namely of that relation
to God which we have by creation and nature, in place of that
which is given to us through Mediation and Grace. Thus are
men looked upon as able to hold intercourse with God through
the mere communing of mind with mind ; and the Sacramental
system, whereby the Mediator associates man to himself, is alleged
to be a needless interruption. But with what success has the
system of Eationalism been tried ? Has not one experiment mis
carried after another ? Are not social renovations of mankind
invariably defeated by the corruption of man's heart ? A defective,
disappointing, uncertain condition is proved to be the necessary
state of every society, which is made up of those who are heirs
to Adam's sin. There is a barrier between them and perfection
which cannot be displaced : and " though they toss themselves,
yet can they not prevail ; though they roar, yet can they not pass
over it." For man natural cannot get beyond that head and type
of his nature in whom were summed up its virtues and defects.
In all forms of thought and action, under every condition and sky,
he is still but the old Adam, and bears the burthen of his parent's
deficiencies and faults. And how then shall he go beyond the
normal representative of his race? He was born in Adam's
image — how shall he escape it ? How shall he rise to a higher
nature than that in which he was begotten ? Every race of animals
1 On the other hand, says St. Austin : " Deus natura non sumus ;
homines natura sumus." "Deus itaque factus homo Justus, intercessit
Deo pro homine peccatore." — De Trin. iv. 4.
2 Martineau's Eastern Life, iii. 72.

316 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
admits of improvement within its natural limits, but the limits -
of the race may not be overleaped. Adam must still reproduce
himself in those who are born his chddren. Only by the inter
vention of some new nature could there be an exaltation of the
old one. And therefore all attempts at a social regeneration of
mankind have but witnessed to man's wants, but not redressed
them. 2. There seems more reason in the expectation, that the religious
associations of men might effect the improvement of their race.
For this is a testimony to the conviction, to which false as well as
true systems of religion witness, that from God alone must come
man's recovery. Hence the consecration of a peculiar-class of men
to the especial service of God, that thereby they might exercise a
purifying and hallowing influence on their worldly brethren. This
system, which prevailed among most heathen nations, found its
true expression in that favoured family which was selected by
God Himself to be to Him "a kingdom of Priests and an
holy nation." But favoured as the Jewish people really were,
they over-rated their privilege, and over-estimated what it was
given them to effect. Their grand object was to witness to Him
who was to come, and to keep up the memory of His approach.
But they supposed the object of their calling to be those services
which themselves should render in the earth ; and Isaiah's pre
dictions respecting Gospel times, they interpreted of the future
glories of their own nation. Herein they did but fall into the
error by which many Christians are still possessed, who, in
opposition to St. Paul's words, interpret the predicted supremacy
of Israel of some future exaltation of the carnal seed of Abraham,
and not of that true Israel of the new election — the members of
Christ. Such a notion, prevalent in ancient as well as recent
times, led the Jews to apply the prophecies of the Old Testament
to their collective nation, and not to Christ.1 This error is men-
1 Perhaps some countenance for the notion has been derived, however
unreasonably, from the Book of Ecclesiasticus. Compare, for example,
EcclesiasticuB, chap, xxiv., with Proverbs, chap. viii. Wisdom, which in
the Book of Proverbs is a Personal attribute of Deity, is set forth in

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 317
tioned by Origen : the prophecies of Isaiah, a learned Jew assured
him, " did not refer to one individual, but to the whole people."1
The fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah was interpreted to mean, that
" Israel was not punished for its own offences, but for the faults
of the rest of the world, and that the sins of all other nations
were laid upon it."2 And the benefit which this much-enduring
people was expected to effect, was, that at some future day
" Monotheism should by its means gain a glorious victory over
the Heathen, and the knowledge of the one God should be spread
abroad by Israel and its inspired prophets."3 Thus did a work,
which the nation at large was to effect, absorb every thought.
Israel was to achieve a regeneration in the popular religions of
the earth.4 Thus did they forget the Great Head and Eepre
sentative of Mankind, to whom it was the true honour of Israel
to minister. They looked to the influence of their own tribes for
a result which was to follow only when that Shdoh came, to whom
should be the gathering of the nations. All instruments were in
truth to be gathered together in Him ; His people's honour was
but to be a part of Him : the privilege of Israel was that of it,
according to the flesh, " Christ came who is over all, God blessed
for ever."
And herein also lay the distinction of that race of Prophets
to whom some later sceptics6 would apply those declarations
Ecclesiasticus as embodied in His chosen people : ' ' Let thy dwelling be in
Jacob, and thine inheritance in Israel; " " I took root in an honourable
people, even in the portion of the Lord's inheritance." And we look vainly
for the personal manifestation of the Word, when it is said of wisdom, ' ' The
first man knew her not perfectly ; no more shall the last find her out " (8,12,
28). Susceptible as this beautiful Chapter is of a sound interpretation, it
may yet have been associated in the minds of Jews with their popular error.
1 Orig. cont. Celsum. 1, in Gesen. on Isaiah, vol. iii. 165.
2 Vide Kimchi and Jarchi, as cited by Gesenius iii. 166.
3 Gesenius iii. p. 164.
4 To this expectation, though prepared, of course, to rest it on its
proper basis, St. Peter probably referred, when he exhorted the Jews to
repent, in hope that the anticipated glories of their nation might be
realized, and " that the times of refreshing may come from the presence
of the Lord." — Acts iii. 19.
5 Isaiah, according to Gesenius, speaks in the name of that class of men

318 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
which the carnal Israelites interpreted of their nation. For the
office of Prophets, like that of Priests, derives its importance
from the influence of that real Mediator who formerly as now
was present with and for His people through the intervention
of His earthly ministers. And it was as shadows of Him, and
as united to Him, that all the Prophets " testified beforehand the
sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto
whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they
did minister the things which are now reported" Thus was
grace to descend from the Mediator upon the collective race.
In Him alone were " all families of the earth " to be blessed.
The fulfilment of the ancient promise to Abraham was reserved
for Him. Whatever renovation was expected for society at large
was not to be attained through the religious influence of any
priestly caste, any more than through the natural influence of
any civd institutions. In Him and through Him only could it
arise, in whom God and man were united ; who succoured our
race by the infusion of a new and higher principle ; who was
the " one Mediator " to bring down to us a divine life, and
thereby to revivify the putrid mass of corrupted mortality.
to whom he belonged, and the commentator alleges it as a striking indi
cation of the truth of his interpretation, that the Hebrew word which
expresses the persecuted object in the important passage, " for the trans
gression of my people was he stricken," is neither singular nor plural, but
a poetical form, employed usually to express some collective object. He
would translate- the passage, therefore, " for the transgression of my
people was the stroke upon them" i.e., the prophets. "The word io1! for
Drrt I refer," he says, " to the Servant of the Lord, as a collective appli
cation, and consider it as a fingermark for this interpretation. ID1) is usually
employed with collective words." — Gesenius on Isaiah liii. 8, vol. iii. p. 183.
But why was Isaiah a representative of the prophetic race more than any
of his brethren ? Or how was his death an atonement for the transgression
of others ? H this word is significant of anything, it surely points out
how the real representative of mankind was to die on behalf of all Hia
brethren. In Him, whether for life or death, are all gathered together.
He was by nature that " anointed servant " of God, which others were
only in type and by office. He is Abraham's " seed," by whose single
name the collective race is designated : " For as the body is one. and hath
many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are
one body, so also is Christ."

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 319
Only in Christ the Mediator, therefore, can be fulfilled the
hope of men's regeneration ; and the failure of all other attempts,
whether on the side of polity or of religion, leads us back
finally to Him. From Him proceed all the blessings of the
Gospel covenant ; for " Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
The gifts, i.e., of holiness and knowledge — the first resulting
from His grace, the second from the communication of that
truth which has its fountain in Him — are through His Mediation
imparted to His brethren : " For this cause," He says, " came I
into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth.
Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice." And com
munion with Him is the very gift of righteousness, for "if
Christ be in you, the body is dead, because of sin ; but the
spirit is life, because of righteousness." These then are the two
gifts, proceeding from the Mediator, which are the renewing
principles of human society ; so far as they go, they effect the
regeneration of man, and accomplish those ends for which
nature is yearning. How far these gifts of Holiness and Truth
extend themselves, through what media, and with what result,
must be shortly noticed.
, I. In God only is Holiness. To be the Holy One is em
phatically His name. " Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts,"
is what Angels and Saints especially declare Him. From this
natal source does the principle of holiness extend itself through
the creation. " Ye shall be holy," is the command addressed to
Israel, " for I the Lord your God am holy." But this blessing
descends from heaven to earth through Him alone, by whom
everything Which is good is communicated from the one to the .
other. " He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him
up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things ?" Therefore, " as by one man's disobedience many were
made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made
righteous." Thus from its primary fountain in eternal Godhead
does the blessing of holiness flow forth through the "one
Mediator," into the Mystical body of Christ. It diffuses itself

3J0 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
as widely as the subjects of that mediatorial empire which He
came to estabUsh in the earth. All have the promise of sharing
it, who belong to that spiritual kingdom, for which we daily
entreat Him in the words of His own prayer. Here, then, is
the real regeneration of man's society. Thus is planted the -
root of happiness, because thus is gained the favour of God.
Here is the "kingdom of God among men;'' "the days of
heaven upon the earth." Thus is fulfilled the Blessed Virgin's
promise : " He shall reign over the House of Jacob for ever, and
of His kingdom there shall be no end." This is no earthly
kingdom, because its principle of combination is the invisible
though living power of grace : yet there results from it a real,-
lasting, operative, indivisible society — in part visible here on
earth, though reaching also into the unseen world — extending
through all countries, though subject to none— indifferent as to
lineage, speech, or political institutions — its sole means of union
being that the Manhood of Christ Our Lord makes one body of
all His members. For God " hath made Him to be Head over
all things to the Church, which is His Body, the fulness of Him
that filleth all in all."
The effect of this work is as wide as the family of Christians,
to say nothing of those innumerable ways in which the stream
of God's mercy may overflow and extend beyond the appointed
channel of His promises. For as Sodom would have been saved
by fifty righteous, so do we hear of a time, when " but for the
elect's sake," "no flesh should be saved." Yet what is the merit
of the elect save their inherence in Him, whose perpetual
Mediation delays the execution of the sentence passed on our
common progenitor, which, by undertaking the office of Mediator,
He interfered to arrest ? -For all the holiness of His Saints
depends upon Him. But though the effects of Our Lord's Media
tion are wide enough to take in all inheritors of the nature to
which He united Himself, its proper reference is to those who
are united to Him. The work of His Mediation has been
shown to consist first of that Sacrifice and Intercession whereby

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 321
He once suffered on man's behalf, and whereby He continually
pleads for His people. On these acts depends that holiness of
the Body of Christ, on account whereof the name of the Holy
Church especially belongs to it. For that holiness which is
perfect must be the imparted holiness of Christ Our Lord,
whereby He is "the Saviour of the Body." Whereas the
infused holiness of grace, though perfect in itself, is a " treasure
in earthen vessels." But Christ " loved the Church, and gave
Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the
washing of water by the Word : that He might present it to
HimseK a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any
such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish."
This, then, is that perfect righteousness of Christ's Atone
ment, which He imparts to His Body. To this only St. Paul
trusted, praying that he might "win Christ and be found
in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ." But
a further gift is needed to render men " meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the Saints in light." For to retain an
unbelieving heart and impure affections in the midst of this
holy brotherhood, would be to defile the temple of the living
God. Its proper members are those who are "rich in faith,
heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that
love Him." To what purpose are men " translated into the
kingdom of His dear Son," if they are found at last to be of
those " chddren of the kingdom," who " shall be cast out into
outer darkness ? "
Besides, therefore, the imparted holiness, which belongs to
true members of the Mystical ' Body of Christ, through His
Intercession and Death, there needs that infused holiness which
is produced in it by His Presence through the Spirit. For as the
first part of our Lord's Mediation depends upon the reality of
His Death and Intercession, so does the second upon the reality
of His presence. In this manner does the Mediator work upon
mankind : indwelling in the Church by grace through His

322 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
Sacraments. As an imparted holiness is the indispensable cause
of our acceptance, so is an indwelling holiness also needed,
because, without its influence, none profit by the former. As
the imparted holiness of Christ obtains for men that " feast of
fat things," which was the predicted blessing of the Gospel, so is
His indwelling holiness that "wedding garment," without which
they are not worthy guests. The first, therefore, is in every
sense an external or objective blessing : the second is an internal
or subjective qualification of the Body of Christ, which requires
to be participated by all its members. For thus it is that the
whole Church as a "budding fitly framed together, groweth unto
an holy temple in the Lord." And the reason why the Baptism
of Infants has ever been esteemed so signal and indispensable a
blessing is, that it is God's appointed means for their first
admission to the privileges of this mystic body. Its virtue does
not depend on the prayers of the sponsors, whose attendance in
private Baptism is not required, but on the life of Christ's
Church, into which they are admitted. For no men, however
faithful, can obtain salvation for others through the merits of
their prayers: "no man can deliver his brother;" but the merits
of Christ are large enough to extend saving efficacy through
every living portion of His mystical body. These two, then, an
imparted and an infused holiness, are communicated x " through
the appointed means and channels of grace," as Bishop Andrews
expresses it, to every living Christian, who, by " holding the
head," "by joints and bands, has nourishment ministered." The
first is that in which all the ransomed trust, saying, " Thou hast
redeemed us by Thy Blood ; " the second is that by which they
obtain such " hope " as " maketh not ashamed." To follow out
the last, as it becomes the internal and subjective life of every
individual believer, would exceed the limits of this inquiry, to
show how it assumes the forms of faith and obedience — faith
1 " Legimus justificari in Christo qui credunt in eum, propter occultam
communicationem et inspirationem gratia? spiritahs, qua quisquis hseret
Domino unus spiritus est." — S. Aug. De I'ecc. Mer. i. 10.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 323
which is " given "l to us, and " obedience " to. which men are
"chosen through the Spirit."2 But that which gives such
importance to the agency of these inward principles ; — the reason
why they contribute, each in its degree, to our salvation, is not
their inherent excellence, but that they are exalted through the
holiness of Him to whom they unite us. s From Him alone
flows all the indwelling as well as all the imparted holiness
which pervades His mystical body. When we offer Him the
service of faith, obedience and love, we offer that which is not
only derived from Himself, but is only pure, if it is absorbed in
the infinite amount of His perfect sacrifice. This union the
Holy Ghost secures by maintaining our fellowship with Him.
Therefore did the Apostle desire " that the offering up of the
Gentdes might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy
Ghost."4 For our actions have their consecrating virtue from
Him : our prayers are hallowed by Him : " all things come of
Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee."
II. As God is the source of holiness, so is He likewise the
fountain of knowledge. To be the simple and original depository
of all truth is among the mysterious laws of His inscrutable
existence. Therefore, did He declare Himself to His ancient
people as " a God of Truth." By this character do the Prophets
describe Him : " Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth."
And in like manner has He been pleased to reveal Himself in
the Gospel Covenant, for " this is the message which we have
heard of Him, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at
all." And this light it pleased God to introduce into our lower
world, when He created man as the image of His own perfec
tions. The very chiefest excellence of which character was that
1 Philip- i. 29. 2 1 Peter i. 2.
3 " Ea porro justitia qua vivit in seipsa, proculdubio Deus est, atque
incommutabiliter vivit. Sicut autem hsec, sum sit in seipsa vita, etiam
nobis fit vita, cum ejus efficimur utcunque participes : ita cum in seipsS
sit justitia, etiam nobis fit justitia, cum ei cohserendo juste vivimus, et
tanto magis illiminusve cohaeremus." — S. Aug. Ep. cxx. 19.
4 Rom. xv. 16.

324 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
immediate intercourse which man's mind possessed with the
Divine Unembodied Mind, of which it was the earthly reflection
(p. 55). The .loss of this direct irradiation from the fountain of
light, was the greatest of those evils, which befell men through
the Fall — an evd 'which could not have been remedied, save
through the mercy of that Being, who restored our forfeited in
heritance, by bestowing it on us again in Himself. For " this is
life eternal to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom Thou hast sent." Thus hath " God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, shined in our hearts to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God " — that glorious light
of Deity, which God bestowed — through the image of it, which
is reflected " in the face of Jesus Christ." When God, therefore,
mercifully revealed Himself to fallen man, it was through that
same Mediator, through whom the gift of holiness had originally
been bestowed upon His creatures. The one Mediator, who had
been the primary cause of all Divine light to humanity,, by
whom, and in whose image mankind was made, condescended to
become their instructor. " The true light, which lighteth every
man, was coming into the world." For this purpose it was
necessary that He should first receive as man what He afterwards
transmitted to His brethren. " My doctrine," He says, " is not
Mine, but His that sent Me." Thus does the Incarnation form
the basis of every portion of the Mediator's office. The un
bounded store of Divine truth was transfused into His man's
nature : in Him were " hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge."1 This belonged to Him by reason of His oneness
with that centre of light, wherein truth has its fountain. And
it was bestowed upon Him, that He might be a light to man's
nature ; that His body mystical might be filled with that light,
1 Colossians ii. 3. As I have referred to this verse several times, it is
proper to mention that if the critical arguments for supposing that it
should be referred to our Lord are not entirely satisfactory, there i« yet
the strongest historical evidence for supposing that it ought to be attri
buted to Him. — Vide S. Aug. De Trin. i. 3, p. 751, and S. Cyril Alex. vol.
v. p. 784, and vol. vi. p. 382.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 325
through grace, which belonged to Himself by nature. " I am
come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me
should not abide in darkness."
This gift of knowledge, like that of holiness, is both an
imparted and an infused or "engrafted"1 gift: bestowed from
without upon the faithful, as an object of contemplation ; and
communicated likewise to the body of the Church, as an internal
principle of teaching and guidance. With both these is the
mystical Body of Christ filled — that as man's acceptance is
through that holiness which he has by union with the Head, so
from the same source may he be " renewed in knowledge after
the image of Him that created him." For Divine knowledge is
the impress and reflection of Him who is personally " the truth."
The imparted knowledge which the Son of God has bestowed
upon His Church is that whole system of the Gospel, which
formed the subject matter " of all that Jesus began both to do
and teach." This "Gospel of the kingdom of God" — "the
Gospel" which St. Paul afterwards "received not after men,
nor of men, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ," which he
declares so irrevocable, that what was contrary to it might not be
admitted, though it was avouched by himself, " or an angel from
heaven " — was not any of those four written histories which now
bear the name of Gospels. For none of these documents were
in existence, until after that system was fully matured, which is
at present conveyed to us through all of them. " The Gospel "
then, which St. Paul affirms that he " received " and " preached,"
is that complete system of the Christian faith, respecting which
he reminds the Thessalonians, that " ye received it not as the
word of men, but as it is, in truth, the word of God." This is
the external, objective, imparted knowledge, " the Mystery of the
Kingdom of God," which it has pleased the Mediator to make
known either by His own immediate agency, or through the
intervention of His servants. The infinite and unsearchable
Truth which had its original being in the Person of the Word,
1 St. James i. 21.

326 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
was set forth for the contemplation of mortals. By those who
"know in part and prophesy in part," such an object must of
course be imperfectly understood and thought of defectively.
Yet is this the only means whereby the unattainable glory of the
Great King can be communicated to His creatures. " The only-
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath
revealed Him." It is as a Personal Being, therefore, communicating
with us through those functions of soul and body, which He
has vouchsafed to share with ourselves, that the Eternal Word
discovers Himself. But so far as the knowledge which He
communicates is clothed in earthly words, it is as capable of
being conveyed to those to whom it comes in books, as it was to
those to whom it addressed itself through their hearing. There
fore were men who "had perfect understanding of all things
from the very first " moved to " write in order,'' that subsequent
generations might " know the certainty of those things, wherein ''
they had " been instructed." Thus did it please Him, who made
Himself visible only to the men of one generation, to " pour out
doetririe as prophecy, and leave it to all ages for ever." The fact
that this treasure of objective truth is enshrined in Holy Writ,
is proved, independently of internal witness, by the same
evidence which assures us of the existence of such persons as Our
Lord's Apostles. For those who speak of them as the witnesses
from whom they received the Christian faith, and as their guides
to its practices and institutions, refer also to the written depository
of their sentiments, as containing that body of Divine truth for
which they contended. A consecutive line of testimonies might
be adduced, in proof that Holy Scripture was understood to have
been handed down by Our Lord's Disciples to their successors,
as that complete system of external truth, which through the one
Mediator was delivered from God to man. It thus contains the
objective body of Divine teaching, and the final1 scheme of
Eevelation. 1 A single testimony only shall be cited out of the innumerable list, both
on account of its distinctness, and because it occurs in an author, whose

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 327
Thus has the permanent deposit of Christian truth been
consigned to us by Him, who brought it to us from heaven.
Having concentrated all knowledge in His own manhood, He
afterwards diffused it among His brethren. Thus were the
striking words of Ecclesiasticus illustrated ; the " brook became
a river," and the "river became a sea." He who took our
nature was mercifully pleased to impart that knowledge of
which He was the well-head. He might say in its fullest sense,
respecting the merciful labours of His Human economy, " Behold
that I have not laboured for Myself only, but for all them that
seek wisdom." Those holy words, which we know by the
name of Scripture, were either spoken directly by Himself, in
that body which He took to be one of ourselves, or they were
uttered by men whose faculties were exalted through that
spiritual power which by His Mediation He procured from

words have been sometimes supposed to have a different tendency. ' ' It
has been a matter of grave dispute," says St. Optatus to the Donatists,
" whether Baptism in the name of the Trinity admits of being repeated.
Tou say it may ; we say, it may not : between your may, and our may not,
the minds of men waver and are at sea. Let no one pin his faith on you
or on us ; we are both partizans. Let us refer to a judge. And yet if the
judge be a Christian, he will not be free from partiality. We ntust look
abroad, then, for a judge ; but if we take a Pagan, he will not be conversant
with Christian mysteries ; if we take a Jew, he will be an enemy to Christian
Baptism : we shall hardly find a judge, therefore, upon earth — we must
look to heaven. And yet why should we knock at the gates of heaven,
when we have a testament in the Gospel ? For in this instance we may
rightly illustrate heavenly by earthly things : the case is like that of a
person who has several sons ; as long as the father is present, he himself
gives directions to each of them ; as yet no testament is necessary. So
Christ, as long as He was present upon earth (although there is a sense in
which He is still present) , gave every necessary command, according to the
occasion to His Apostles. But [it happens now] as though the earthly
father, when he felt himself on the verge of death, fearing lest after his
removal disputes should arise between the brothers, should call for
witnesses, and transfer. his will from his dying breast to enduring tablets ;
then if a dispute should arise among the brethren, there would be no need
of going to his tomb, but the testament would be referred to : he who lay
tranquil in the grave would speak without voice from his tablets. The
living Father, whose disposition we are inquiring after, is in heaven;
therefore as you would learn a man's will from his testament, so let His
be sought for from the Gospel." — St. Optatus De Schis. Donat. v. 3.

328 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
God for man. So that He is both " the power of God, and the
wisdom of God." Those secret depths of the Divine wisdom,
which are unfathomable to finite thought, were always within
the range of His personal knowledge. " And of His fulness
have all we received, and grace for grace." By virtue, therefore,
of His Mediation, have those Divine truths, which were present
to the mind of God, been presented through the medium of
speech to the minds of mortals. This they still are, since they
have been written in a book, just as much as when they sounded
in men's ears. So " the Fathers of Nice," says St. Leo, " live
throughout the world in their constitutions."1 Much more then
is He, through whom Divine Truth came down among men,
to be looked upon as the present source of that external ob
jective system of knowledge, to which His inspired Prophets
"and Disciples have given expression in Holy Writ.
But His gift of knowledge was not confined to an external
truth : truth, like holiness, required also to be infused into the
inner nature of mankind. Not only was the body of Christ
enriched with that imparted treasure of truth, the Holy Scrip
tures ; but likewise with the engrafted principle whereby it was
able to comprehend them. The first was an object committed
from without to the Church's keeping : the second was a gift
of wisdom, bestowed along with other graces on that collective
body, which the Head of the renewed race enlightened by His
presence. The first, therefore, was an objective gift : something
offered to the Church's contemplation, which it has to maintain,
defend, and treat about ; the second is a subjective gift to the
Church, that internal and guiding principle of understanding,
which it has to exercise upon the external truth committed to
its care. And these two gifts must never be separated from one
another. For they come from the same source, and each of
them is essential to the full life of the other. Without the
external system of truth in Holy Writ, the Church's mind
would not have the advantages which are derived from a written
1 St, Leo, Ep. lxxx. p. 299.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 329
authority : without the internal Word which enlightens the
Body of the Church, the sayings of Scripture would not be
fully comprehended. Both kinds of knowledge are the result
of that economy of Mediation, whereby the Incarnate Son has
exalted humanity, by uniting it into one Body in Himself;
and they contribute between them to the complete acquisition
of whatsoever man's nature has capacity to attain.
This close connexion between the external gift of God's
Word, and the inward gift of a spiritual discernment — between
the Word, that is, as presented objectively in Holy Writ, and
as acting subjectively throughout the Body of Christ — is evi
denced as well by the name bestowed upon the Mediator in
Scripture as by the account of His office. For why should He
be called the Word, save with a view of showing how intimate
is the relation between those written oracles, in which God's
will is declared to us, and that Personal Word which abideth1
in us ? Thus do we learn that the Word by which believers
are " bom again " is identical with that " which by the Gospel
is preached."2 When we read that "the Word of God is
quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,"
"a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," we
are not unnaturally reminded of that mysterious depth of Holy
Scripture which adapts it to all circumstances and times, so
that none can read it without perceiving how it searches the
conscience. And yet the meaning of the passage is not ex
hausted by such an interpretation : it passes on into the
Personal acting of the great Being, whose spiritual presence
enlightens men respecting the purpose of His own sayings, and
reminds us, that there is no " creature that is not manifest in
His sight, for all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of
Him with whom we have to do."
The same truth is discernible if we turn from the name of
Mediator to the consideration of His office. For why has Holy
Scripture its peculiar adaptation to man's nature, save because
i 1 John ii. 14. 2 1 Peter i. 23, 25.

330 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
it is His Word, after whose image man was originally fashioned,
and who is Himself the " true light, which lighteth' every man."
Therefore, when we read it, we recognize the higher rule of our
original composition. And His present office is declared in
Holy Writ to be the extension of that informing and enlighten
ing power, which He originally bestowed upon our nature.
Thus only may man become capable of comprehending God's
truth. The perpetual agency of the Living Word is needed to
give effect to His written declarations. " I am come," He says,
"a light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Me should
not abide in darkness." "As long as I am in the world, I am
the light of the world." This enlightening office the Word was
to exercise in perpetuity through the power of the Holy Ghost.
"The Spirit of Truth will guide you into all truth :" "for He
shall receive of Mine, and shaU show it unto you." And there
fore, writes St. John, " the anointing which ye have received of
Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you :
but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is
truth, and is no lie." Here, then, we have a part of that
Mediatorial function, which belongs to Him, who condescended
to take our nature. And since His office of Mediator has
immediate reference to His mystical Body, to those whom,
through the spiritual presence of His man's nature, He unites
to HimseK; to them, therefore, and for their benefit, must be
this enlightening influence: the inward or subjective principle
of perception, which is derived from Him who is " the way, the
truth, and the life," must be infused into that collective society,
through which individuals are associated to the manhood of
Christ ; and their portion in this inward teaching of the Word
must be brought about through their inherence in His Body.
And so does St. Paul teach us, referring the growth, stability, and
knowledge of individual Christians, to their adherence to that
Body of Christ, whereby the engrafted Word attains its matu
rity. " He gave some, Apostles ; and some, Prophets ; and
some, Evangelists ; and some, Pastors and Teachers ; for the

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 331
perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the
edifying of the body of Christ : till we all come in the unity of
the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect
man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ ;
that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of
men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive ;
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all
things which is the Head, even Christ." It is the same Eternal
Word, whose Spirit inspired the Apostles and spake by the
Prophets, who still condescends to guide into truth the whole
Body of the Church; He dwells in it subjectively through
grace to. renew and purify its spiritual perceptions ; He infuses
an engrafted principle of knowledge, so that His written word
becomes a real light to its else darkened understanding. The
Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the root of David, prevails to open
the Book and to loose the seals. Thus is an engrafted brought
to bear upon an imparted knowledge — both derived to us from
that Mediator whose immediate presence supplies the one, as
through the ministry of His servants He has bestowed upon us
the other.
Though the view which has been taken is fully set forth in
God's Word, it may, to some minds, seem open to objection.
That the external and imparted Word of Scripture may be duly
understood, there needs, it is said, that infused influence of its
Divine author, which He communicates to the Body of His
Church. Scripture, therefore, cannot be understood without a
divine light : that divine light is obtained for individuals through
their inherence in the Christian community. Now, the privdeges
of reason may, perhaps, be alleged to be infringed by the first
assertion : those of individual enlightenment by the second.
To assert the necessity of a divine guidance may be thought to
derogate from reason ; to suppose that its light is communicated
through Christ's collective Body may be supposed fatal to the

332 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
liberty of individuals. Such are the two objections which may
be adduced. It wUl be seen in each case how dangerous is their
tendency if admitted without limitation, and that their legitimate
admission is not inconsistent with the truth which has been
asserted. And first to consider the claims of reason. It is
alleged, that since Scripture consists of words and propositions,
its interpretation faUs of necessity within the domain of reason.
When we speak of Our Lord's body as material, we mean that
it was an object to the senses of men : it might be seen and
handled : and to express the will of God in language, is to
submit it in like manner, it is contended, to the reasoning
faculties of mankind. So that it is represented to be a sort of
contradiction in terms, to speak of a revelation which does not
appeal to the faculty of reason as the judge of its contents.
Let us first observe how far this principle will lead, with a view
of discerning, secondly, by what limitations it is necessary to
guard it.
1. To admit the exclusive authority of human reason will be
found to be fatal to the claims of revelation : so that along with
the inward and subjective influence of an engrafted principle of
divine guidance, the imparted and objective truth of Scripture
would also be overthrown. That some such guide as reason
must always be employed, follows of necessity from the fact,
that men are liable to various impulses, which need, therefore,
the direction of a controlling principle. Hence arises the duty
of private judgment — the obligation, that is, of weighing seriously
the contending impulses, by which the will is affected. Without
such restraint, men will be perpetually vacillating between
conscience and appetite. And their judgment of Holy Scripture
would be decided by the principle which at the moment pre
ponderated in themselves. To maintain the due authority of
reason, therefore, is identical with an assertion of the responsi
bility of mankind. But such authority as this is, on all hands,
attributed to reason. The Ultramontanist who disobeys his
sovereign's law, and the soldier who slays his brethren at ita

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 333
bidding, act in conformity with the results, to which their
judgments of Holy Scripture severally conduct : — the latter
looks to the order to obey the King, whereas the former supposes
that he is commanded to obey the successor of St. Peter.
Whether their interpretations of Scripture be good or bad, they
are at least commended to each of them by their individual
reason. To respect the Church's authority, in like manner, does
not imply any rejection of the claims of reason ; all whieh it
assumes is, that men suppose the Church's judgment of truth to
be entitled to their confidence.1 The notion of reason then,
with which the admission of Church authority is inconsistent,
must be something beyond this — something which not only
assigns to each the duty of judging, but asserts his absolute in
dependence. This is what appears to be designed by the right
of private judgment. To be free from all deference for the
opinion of others — to be entitled to disregard any motives or
arguments, the force whereof he does not himself appreciate —
to stand entirely alone, an individual essence, responsible only
for such conclusions as find their way to him through intel
lectual processes, which are understood and approved by his own
mind : — this may be claimed for each intelligent being as a right.
If men's notions interfere with the external security of others,
human laws will, of course, interpose for the protection of
society ; but mere opinions— the inward processes of the mind —
may be supposed to be left so completely to each man's own
discretion, that he is not called upon to pay any attention to the
notions of others.
No doubt such a principle as this is inconsistent with the
admission of Church authority. For though the Church has no
earthly power of enforcing obedience, yet if she has " authority
in controversies of faith," there must be an authority in her
external judgments, which it must be the duty of individuals to
respect. But to what result does the opposite system of ab-
1 " Contra rationem nemo sobrius, contra Scripturas nemo Christianus,
contra Ecclesiam nemo paoificus senserit." — S. Aug. De Trin. iv. 10.

334 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
solute independence conduct ? Since the office of reason is to
draw conclusions from premises, the nature of its conclusions
must be determined by that of its premises. Whence are its
premises derived ? The school of Locke replies that they owe
their existence to the senses. The simple impressions, which
the senses supply, together with the multifarious combinations
which are derived from them, make up those complex ideas,
which, when drawn out into a series through the active power
of the mind, are called a process of reasoning. Now if this be
the origin of our knowledge, and if the mind may discard all
considerations, which its own reason cannot appreciate, what
place is left for revelation ? As the vessel cannot be lifted above
the water which floats it, so Holy Scripture cannot consist of
things which are above the reach of the faculty, which is its
competent judge. Such is the result of that theory, which,
matured by Locke's subtiler and more consistent disciple, Hume,
may be caUed the system of Sensualism. For by what sense do
we admit the knowledge of God and things divine ? They do
not enter by touch or sight, by hearing or smelling. It is evident
that on this hypothesis, the absolute independence of reason is
fatal to revelation, and the attempt to' subject God's Word to
man's judgment results in the denial of His existence. So that
along with the inward and subjective influence of an engrafted
principle of divine guidance, the imparted and objective truth
of Scripture would also be overthrown.
Even the opposite system, which may be called Intellectualism,
though more promising, will conduct in the end to a simdar
result. The profounder Leibnitz, unsatisfied with the poverty
of Locke's hypothesis, suggested that besides the. ideas which
flow in upon us from the senses, we must take account of the
constitution of that agent which receives them. To Locke's
principle, " nihd in intellectu nisi quod prius fuerit in sensu,"
he added, " nisi ipse intellectus." On this basis rests the far
deeper and more comprehensive school of Kant. The prnlo-
.sopher of Konigsberg, following in a measure in Plato's steps,

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 335
took the laws of man's inner nature as an axiomatic foundation
in his search after truth. Yet here again the difficulty recurs,
how are we to find God and things divine ? A metaphysical
proof of God's existence may no doubt be derived from the
inward laws of man's constitution ; and there is such a thing,
according to Kant, as " religion within the bounds of pure
reason." But let it be admitted that man is not bound to believe
anything whieh his own reason does not apprehend, and what
place remains for revelation? Whence is it to be derived — how
understood — in 'what manner authenticated ? If the only prin
ciple of truth lies within ourselves, whence shall an outer rule
approach us : if our inner powers are supreme, how shall it
supersede their action; and since a system of miracles lies
whody beside those inward laws of thought which are the
ultimate criterion, how is it to be believed?1 It is not necessary
to trace the effects of this system in Kant and his successors,
or to refer to the well-known fact, that they reduce revelation to
the statement of such truths as man's reason admits on other
grounds : the recent words of an able and earnest-minded coun
tryman of our own, by whom this system had been adopted,
afford a sufficient specimen. " Imagine," he says, " a man pre
tending to survey the world, and aU its wisest men, and to
reconstruct the age, and writing down .... that external, his
torical testimony of God's revealed wdl is the only true basis
of moral science. As if all science is not within, and all morality.
And as if anything external could be the basis of anything
within." 2
The last words show the effect of this system on one, whose
' Mr. Trench, on the Miracles of our Lord, pp. 66, 68, 2nd edition, has
shown that there can be no satisfactory evidence for them, unless men
possess that predisposition to believe the fitness of the Gospel scheme,
which is among the first gifts bestowed by preventing grace upon the
soul. This gift is bestowed through natural conscience in such measure
as to supply the first step towards God : its subsequent development,
through union with the true fountain of light, grows in the renewed
man into the fulness of a spiritual understanding.
2 Sterling's Life and Remains, vol. i. p. 158.

336 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
national instincts must have rebelled against the total abnegation
of a fixed external standard of belief. But let the control of
individual reason be unchecked and unconditional, and it must
necessardy involve all the results which are deduced from it by
German phdosophy. Each man's inner judgment becomes the
only truth, and the divine realities which exist externally to us
melt away. And yet this conclusion is at variance with those
convictions of man's heart of which he cannot divest himself.
For the eternal laws of nature reassert an influence, which the
subtilties of logic in vain oppose. So that the testimony of our
nature and the wants of society, bring back upon us those ex-i
ternal realities which abstract reason would discard, and compel,
us to deny its unrestricted influence.
2. But how can we find a limit to the principle of reason,
which without doing violence to its unquestionable authority, may
yet supply an opening for those higher truths, which itself for
bids us to reject ? For on what does reason stand but the
principles of our nature, and how can nature sanction conclu
sions abhorrent to itself ? Now there can be no responding to
the aspirations of humanity, unless we have some power of
going out of ourselves. Our individual reason is not large
enough to satisfy the cravings of our hearts. Each man must
pass beyond the narrow precinct of his own thoughts — he must
come forth and commune with heaven and earth, if he would
appease the true longings of his nature. Such communion with
things external to us is called Faith. This is its definition in
Holy Scripture : " Faith is the realizing things hoped for, the
putting to the proof things not seen." x Even our acquaintance
with the material world depends on that conviction of the truth
of our senses, which is a species of faith."2 But its main function
1 Hebrews xi. 1.
2 " When a stone lies before me, I am conscious of certain sensations,
which I receive from it ; but when I say that these sensations come to me
from an external object, which 1 perceive, the meaning of these words is,
that receiving the sensations, I intuitively believe that an external cause of
these sensations exists." — Mill's Logic, vol. i. p. 70.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 337
is in the regions of the moral and of the unseen. For it is the
recognition of that external law, which has its dwelling in the
bosom of God. It is not merely the tracing out those conclu
sions which are derivable from the intellectual constitution of
every individual, but the actual communing with that external
truth1 which was pleased to have its reflection originally in man's
mind. Now, since it was the will of Almighty Wisdom to form
the first man after the model of Himself, some traces of this
perfect truth wiU be found even in his fallen descendants. But
faith is not employed merely in the discovery of these faint
resemblances ; it is that divine principle of which man has never
been wholly deprived, whereby the great Author of our nature
restores to us communion with Himself. 2 As a mirror does not
show us outward forms, because they existed previously in itself,
though they may happen to have been originally delineated on
its surface, so Faith's office is to admit that higher light, whereby
man may again give back the Divine image. And thus is it a
principle beside and co-ordinate with reason3 — a principle by
which the authority of reason is limited at the same time that
the stock of its knowledge is enlarged, because a new and inde
pendent condition is introduced into the conclusions to which
reason conducts.
But this principle of faith must itself be under some control.
It does not justify every one in believing as he wdl. Unless
there be some rule and order in its operation, it wdl lose itself in
1 " Knowledge properly is but our natural desire, or implanted blind
love restored to sight ; and nature doth as it were first grope after that
which at length she comes to see, and having seen desires to embrace."
" As the seed since the first creation doth still in order of nature go before
the tree, so doth knowledge always presuppose instinct or desire." —
Jackson's Works, v. 51, 7.
2 " Supra animam intellectivam humanam necesse est ponere aliquem
superiorem intellectum, a quo anima virtutem intelligendi obtineat. . . .
Plato intellectum separatum, imprimentem in animas nostras, comparavit
Soli  Sed intellectus separatus, secundum nostrse fidei documenta
est ipse Deus." — Summa. i. Q. 79, 4.
3 "Rationale eBt ut fides prsecedat rationem." — S. Aug. Ep. 120, 3.
"Credant ut intelligant." — Id. in Joan. xix. 15. S. Anselm, Proslog. I.

338 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
the vague and changeable lawlessness of individual eccentricity.
What, then, is its criterion ? By what ruling principle is it
directed ? Its limits must be determined by that law which gives
it birth. Now its origin is that community of our nature
whereby it is enabled to prescribe bounds to each man's individual
reason. If it be asked, why men are not justified in adopting
those conclusions to which their single consciousness conducts —
why they should admit more than by processes within themselves
they can ascertain and accept— the answer is, that they do not
stand alone, that they are parts of a race, that He who made
them has established certain laws, which find a response in their
common nature, and has thus fixed His impress on their coUective
being. Let men be instructed in this community of mankind,
and they could have no difficulty in admitting that those results,
of which Faith assured them, were the voice of the Creator.
Starting from the fact that they were all " the offspring of him
that was first made from the earth," they must conclude that
wisdom was " the breath of the power of God, and a pure
influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty."1 And Ee
velation witnesses that men's natural power of appreciating
moral truth is the gift of that Eternal Word who never totally
forsook the beings whom He had created. " In Him was life,
and the life was the light of men." This is the deeper and
divine2 cause for that community and connexion of the souls
of men, the natural and apparent grounds of which have been
already stated (p. 36). But till this truth was revealed, there
existed only those arguments for the community of mankind,
which observation suggested. Yet these were enough to satisfy
men of the existence of certain general laws, as speaking out of
the deeper recesses of a common nature. The rule whereby each
man's individual faith was to be regulated was prescribed by the
1 Wisdom vii. 1, 25.
2 "Ilia communicatio hominum in primis intelligibilibus demonstrat
unitatem intellectus separati, quern Plato comparat Soli." — Summa Theol.
i. 795.'

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 339,
verdict of that collective being to which it owed its existence.
Thus did men " show the work of the law written in their hearts,
their conscience also bearing, witness, and their thoughts the
meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another."1
The breadth and importance of the rule thus provided are
shown by the works of heathen moralists. And yet how was
the verdict of natural conscience to be ascertained ? For since
men in general are swayed by passion rather than principle, the
conduct of the majority can be no criterion of truth. The
problem was to find the perfect pattern of humanity, the repre
sentative of those deep principles which were imprinted in the
constitution of the race. Such an example, when practically set
forth, must command the respect even of those against whose
defects it testified. For it is the nature of a race to put forth
here and there some peculiar type of its characteristic qualities,
to which its less distinguished examples are gradually assimdated.
Jn this respect the works of genius illustrate the moral advance
ment of mankind. Every man is not capable of originating
those sublime conceptions by which Newton unfolded the
mechanism of the sky. The fervid imagery of Mdton has
added thoughts which but for him might never have formed
part of the inteUectual heritage of men. These and such
prophets of humanity have opened to us secrets which it belongs
to ordinary faculties to comprehend, but which they would have
been unable to discover. Now, the same rule is applicable to
man's moral state. When Plato says that if virtue could be
personally exhibited, all men must delight in her ; and when
Aristotle2 makes it dependent on the imitation of those who
1 When Mr. Hume quotes approvingly the sentiment, that adultery
need not be considered a crime, unless it be felt to be an evil by the party
in jured, the judgment of mankindcondemns himf or neglecting that natural
standard which, independently of any higher sanction, is provided by the
inherent conviction of his race. He is setting up his private judgment
against a truth which had commended itself to the faith of humanity.
2 When Aristotle speaks of virtue in the abstract, he attributes it rather
to the race than to individuals, because each individual is but an imperfect
type of the principles which lie hid in the race at large (Politics, iii. 7) ;

340 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
have an intuitive perception of her principles, they assume the
existence of some pattern and type of the race, which its other
members have capacity to recognize. To be conformed to such
models, to associate themselves to such standards of excellence,
is the duty of ordinary men. Thus do they appreciate those
principles of right and wrong which they would have been unable
to originate. But it is on Faith only that such a rule of duty
can depend. Those who wdl, may always represent it as a mass
of contradictions. It presents no such distinct set of precepts
as can control the unwilling mind. It satisfies none but those
who possess that principle of belief, which prepares them to
admit the existence of an external law. Such prepossession is a
necessary condition for the acceptance of revelation, " for He
that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is the
rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." But to reach forth
in this manner after the Creator's will, with an antecedent per
ception that some rule of right has a real existence, is to make
Faith an original source of knowledge ; and, therefore, to limit
the supremacy of individual reason, by assuming the existence
of higher truths than are attainable through the senses or intellect
of mankind.
The mere existence of Faith, therefore, as a necessary pre
requisite to the acceptance of revelation, or even to the admission
of the moral government of God, implies that some limit must
be assigned to individual reason. But is such natural faith as
is our guide in unfolding the laws of Providence a sufficient
guide also to the understanding of that imparted Word which is
communicated in the Scriptures ? Is it sufficient for every one
to study God's Word by the light of his own conscience, without
but his practical mode of attaining it is in every case the imitation of those
in whom the intuitive perceptions of moral faith have been strengthened
by good conduct. " &s fa> S <pp6vifios bpleeie." — Eth. Nic. ii. 6. He supposes
the moral eye of the <pp6vip.os to be an original source of knowledge, through
its inward intuition. " Se? irpooex^y twv. . . . eppovlfiajy tols avairotdnTOis
tpJuretti /ca! $6£ais. Sib. yap Tb Jfx«» ^« ttjs iuveipias Suua, ioHaw opxds." —
Eth. Nic. vi. 11.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 341
the aid of that engrafted Word which is communicated to the
Body of the Church?
Now, here must be borne in mind the characteristic distinction
between Christianity and Eationalism ; namely, that the second
rests on that knowledge and those means of intercourse with
God, wbich we have by Creation, whereas the former looks to
the Mediation of our Incarnate Head For in Him we have
the full expression of that principle after which Heathen
teachers were reaching in vain. He is the true pattern of our
race, the real type of humanity, the complete exemplification
of all those excellences which were reflected in the pure nature
of our original parent. This perfection He exhibited, not
merely, as Eationalism would have it, through the happy tem
pering of His natural qualities, but because in Hi> Person there
entered into our race a supemarzral power. For thus was
humanity made perfectly partaker of the Divine nature : in Hia
Person were " hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
The faculties which. God gives to every one in such inferior
degree as is needed for the affairs of this life, dwelt in such
sublimated intensity as our understanding is capable of esti
mating, in Him to whom God gave the Spirit without measure.
And as in Him was the only perfect partem of humanity, so in
union with Him is the only real source of knowledge.1 For
not only did He give to Faith a higher object in the revealed
truths of the Gospel, but He exalted the principle of Faith itself
through that higher nature which He communicated to His
earthly members. " For by grace ye are saved, through Faith,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" Thus are
Christian Faith and Christian Beason no longer the natural
judgment of the chfldren of creation, but the inspired judgment
of the children of grace. Through the union of each individual
with, the Pattern of Humanity, are bis natural qualities exalted.
His inferior faculties are re-moulded on the perfect type of
1 "Apprenons de la verite incree et incamee notre veritable nature.'' —
Paseafi Thoughts. [Faugere} toL ii. 104.

342 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
manhood. If the influence of natural excellences could minister
to the first birth of Faith, and thus extend the conclusions of
reason, what may not be expected from real oneness with Him
in whom Faith was swallowed up in sight, and reason matured
into intellectual intuition?
And yet here too, as in the province of natural faith, indivi
dual judgments must be regulated by some controlling principle.,
For even the conclusions of holy and good men are liable to be
influenced by private eccentricity. The Scriptures may be
misunderstood as well as the laws of Providence. Yet the
truth itself is one and unalterable, however variable and falla
cious are the opinions of men. Its reflection must be sought
for, then, in the judgment of the regenerate race, as the verdict
of natural conscience in the sentiments of collective humanity.
But since this higher reason is not budt upon the mere develop
ment of those faculties, which by creation were imparted to our
race, but on the communication of grace from Him who is the
fountain upon earth of heavenly knowledge, therefore its
principle of reference is not to any human exemplifications of
goodness, but to that source itself from which man is made
participant of the Divine wisdom. So says the Apostle, referring
the gift of Christian perception to that mind of the Spirit,
which the natural man does not partake. It is because "we
have the mind of Christ" that he claims a power of "compar
ing spiritual things with spiritual ; " for himself, and for those
who shared with him in the fellowship of the Lord's Mystic
Body. The heathen had no further test for natural conscience,
than as individuals exhibited a fainter or clearer example of
that gift which had been bestowed originally upon man ; but
the Christian looks to that storehouse which has been provided
in the manhood of our Divine Head, as the medium through
which wisdom must be expected, as well as graces. It is from
union, therefore, with that collective body, through which Christ
vouchsafes His presence, that he anticipates the one as well
as the other. The gift of faith, the power of understanding, the

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 343
inward light of a higher reason — these are among the blessings
which Mediation obtains, and which flow in perfection from
Incarnate Godhead into the members of His Mystical Body.
So that we come back to the very position from which we
started, and find the proper limitation of reason, in its exercise
on things Divine, to be its subordination to that engrafted gift
of heavenly guidance, which the Mediator bestows upon the
body of His Disciples. For the authority of reason is limited
only by that principle of faith, which at the same time enlarges
its sphere of vision. The existence of an infused, subjective
gift of truth in the body of Christ's Church, as the fit correlative
and expositor of that objective truth of God's Word, com
mitted to it in writing, turns out to be the exact condition which
gives full scope to individual minds. The general action of
the collective body on the external truth to which it witnesses,
provides the limits within, and by help of which the individual
thought can be profitably exercised. For the security of indi
vidual judgment depends upon the constant influence of that
guiding principle whieh comes from a higher power ; and this
influence is derived from the efficacy of that Mediatorial system
wbich extends through the collective body of Christ into
individual minds.
This is what is meant, then, when the Church system is
opposed to that of individual reason. The ultimate reference is
to the great representative of man's race, as the only channel
through whom truth descends from God to man. In Him alone
is the perfection and standard of wisdom, which as a Divine
gift can be only obtained perfectly from a Divine giver. And
the gift of truth being bestowed through His Mediation, must
extend itself like His other blessings, to that body of the
Church, which is the seat of His life-giving presence. Through
union with this collective body is the benefit communicated, to
individuals. The guidance thus exercised over the Church at
large, the engrafted efficacy of the Word, supplies each man
with a fixed guide, which adds intensity and confidence to his

344 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
private meditations. Were Scripture designed to teach worldly
truths, the capacities which were bestowed on men by Creation
would render them competent students of its pages — especially
if they sought that wisdom from a higher Being, which, accord
ing to the principles of nature, must be looked for from their
Creator ; but this would be only a Eationalistic study of Scrip
ture, which could not be expected to open the deeper mysteries
of the Word. The higher truths of the Gospel, like its larger
graces, are among the gifts which are bestowed upon man
through Mediation ; and it is only through those means which
associate us with the Body of Christ that we can discern and
appreciate them. Thus is man's spiritual eye opened to those
fundamental principles, which form the basis of all reasoning
respecting questions of Faith, and which occupy the same place
in the interpretation of Scripture, which is held by the
cardinal truths of morals in respect to the practical affairs
of life.
It is the absence of these primary principles which renders so
many persons incapable of discerning the beauty and reality of
the Church system, and thus leads them to wander in the un
satisfying paths of private speculation. But since the system
of Mediation is an advance upon that of Creation, the Church's
judgment respecting the meaning of Scripture, which is built
upon the first, must be preferred to that of private reason, which
is budt upon the second. Its authority rests upon the fact, that
it is His mode of instructing us, from whom only issues true
light. And yet the Church's mind does not proceed on rules
alien to the course of private reason, but only higher and more
comprehensive. The preceding pages have marked out the course
by which the wisdom of God guided her from a recognition of
the single facts of revelation to " the full assurance of under
standing, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of
the Father and of Christ." In all this is there an exact progress
from cause to effect, which the highest reason may admire, but
which Faith refers not to the mere process of human deduction,

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 345
but to that infused Spirit of Truth, to which pertains guidance as
well as sanctification. Thus does the line of truth ascend from
the single fact of our Lord's worship, till it loses itself in that
primary doctrine of the Trinity in Unity, which is the basis of
knowledge. And from this point does it again pass downward,
tiU the operations of the interceding Word and sanctifying Spirit
are recognized as underlying the whole scheme of our thoughts.
This system, collected into Creeds, is what gives fixedness and
guidance to individual minds. To enshrine such truths in Creeds
is a claim on the part of that collective body which propounds
them, to the engrafted influence of that guiding Word by which
only the Word written can be surely elucidated. And the evils
which result from their neglect are a sufficient proof how essential
is the one of these principles to the maintenance of the other.
In those parts of Christendom, and among those individuals by
whom the Church's judgment as expressed in Creeds is lightly
thought of, the paramount authority of God's Word as an
objective ground of truth is equally endangered. The inspiration
of Scripture, on which depends its existence as the imparted
record of objective truth, is found to depend practically
on the recognition of that infused principle of judgment
which has been asserted to belong to the Mystical Body of
Christ. A few words are needed respecting this remarkable proof of
connexion between the written and the living Word. It has
been matter of observation and surprise that our formularies
should dwell so much on the importance of the Holy Scriptures,
yet say not a word respecting their inspiration. What is meant
when we speak of them as inspired ? Various theories are afloat
on the subject, yet neither the collective Church, nor our own
branch of it, has thought it necessary to offer an explanation.
These theories, moreover, are found to prevail exactly in those
quarters in which the Church's authority as a " keeper " as well
as " witness " of Holy Writ is denied ; as though to invent some
scheme of inspiration was the necessary correlative of denying

346 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
the existence of that living Word which guides men through
Creeds, and has been engrafted in the body of the Church.
One theory would hold Scripture to be good authority for things
divine, but not for things human. But by what criterion we
are to discriminate between things human and things divine is
not determined. Another supposes that conclusions were re
vealed to the Apostles which it was left to themselves to develop
and ascertain by the uncertain resources of human reason. But
how are we to separate between the wheat and the chaff 1 be
tween the Divine conclusions which we must believe and re
verence, and the human arguments, which we may scoff at and
reject? Again, the notion that the sacred writers were me
chanical agents, whose words were dictated by the Holy Ghost,
has the advantage at ad events of promising to effect what a
theory of inspiration might be expected to attain. Its main-
tainers, however, besides demonstrating its truth, should show
how it harmonizes with what history tells us of the formation
of the Sacred Canon. For since the Apostles were not always
mechanical agents, the cases in which they obeyed so singular a
law would require to be distinguished by some unquestionable
criterion from their usual actings ; and what was thus cut off
from their common teaching would need to be guarded by an
authority as distinct as that which originally discriminated it.
How far is this compatible with the gradual admission of dis
puted books into the Canon during a period of more than three
centuries ? It is not to the present purpose, however, to question
the accuracy of these theories of inspiration, but to inquire why
no theory at all is offered to us by the Church. Now the object
of aU such theories is of course to maintain important truths,
which might otherwise be caUed in question. Some article
essential to man's salvation is rested upon a particular text or
expression, and unless this expression or text can be shown to be
inspired, and unless inspiration imply the truth of what is com
municated, it is feared that the whole superstructure of Faith
may be overthrown. When Bishop Hampden is pressed by

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 347
St. Paul's authority, "I appeal," he says, "from Paul phdoso-
phizing to Paul preaching."1 Allow this principle, and since
St. Paul was arguing against Jews, who were schooled in
the system of atonement, why might not his references to
Our Lord's Mediation have been only an argument ad hominem
designed to prove that on their own theory Jesus was the
Messiah ? How does this writer discriminate therefore between
those assertions of St. Paul which we must admit, and those
which we may disbelieve ? Any logical proof then of the fun
damentals of religion requires that its basis should be laid in a
consistent theory of inspiration. Unless this foundation is sound,
the superstructure wdl be precarious. If it be not fixed, equable,
and coherent, it must be bound together by such artificial con
cretion as may promise the solidity of a rock. And the reason
why the Church has never put forth any theory of inspiration,
is because building on the rock itself, she stands in no need of
such factitious expedients. For when has she rested her belief
in the fundamentals of truth on any logical deduction from
individual expressions ? Unfold the record of her public asser
tions, the decrees of those four Councils of Nice, Constantinople,
Ephesus, and Chalcedon (to say nothing of that original one at
Jerusalem), to which the English law refers as her criterion of
heresy, and in which of them is any reference made to indi
vidual expressions, as though the Church supposed that the
logical sequence of her doctrines was to be demonstrated argu-
mentatively to the intellect of men? To do so would have
been to assign to human reason the exact office, which has been
shown already to be inconsistent with the very principles of
revelation. Or to pass to our own eighth Article, by which the
authority of the three Creeds is asserted . Is this article designed
to be a conclusion from admitted premises, or an appeal to sub
sequent demonstration ? If it be the latter, why is no demon
stration offered ? Why are not the passages adduced, by which
1 Bampton Lectures, 8th, p. 375.

348 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
the Church hopes to concUiate the intellectual acquiescence of
those whom she desires to gain? Her principle therefore is
plainly the same with that of the Church universal in all her
determinations. The principles which she lays down are ac
cordant with Scripture ; and her ground of confidence in her
conclusions is their consistency with that objective system of
truth which was once for all imparted to her by the Holy Ghost.
But she does not attempt to establish them by deduction from
individual expressions, because her appeal is not to human logic,
but to God's Spirit. The imparted objective truth of the Word
written, requires the engrafted subjective influence of the living
Word as its expositor. Such an endowment was always asserted
for that company of faithful men to whom was " revealed "
" the wisdom of God in a mystery," and in whose name the
Apostle asserts, that " we have the mind of Christ." We see
an example of its mode of acting when a dispute arose whether
it was expedient that women should act as ministers. St. Paul
decides it by referring not only to his own judgment, but to
that of the collective body, on which was bestowed the grace
of spiritual comprehension : "If any man seem to be contentious,
we have no such custom, neither the Churches of God." There
fore does the Church refer to testimony, as showing what was
that view of the truths of Scripture, which this living witness
has always taken ; and to grace, as guiding the collective mem
bers of Christ in the exposition of His Word. Not of course
that this higher medium of truth interferes with such intellectual
study of Holy Writ as may show its deep truth and perfect
harmony. But what supersedes the necessity of dependence on
mere human logic, is that efficacy of the Mediator's Presence,
which alone is an adequate guide to the comprehension of His
imparted Word. So that individuals are successful in the eluci
dation of Scripture, not merely through the native shrewdness
with which God has blessed them, but because their natural
powers are elevated by connexion with ' that supernatural sys
tem through which they participate in Christ. Hence those

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 349
many writers by whom the marvellous richness of Scripture has
been illustrated : thus are the individual testimonies to Our
Lord's nature enforced by the dialectic vigour of Athanasius
and Bull, and the deep truths respecting His presence in Sacra
ments expounded by the profound sagacity of Hooker and
Augustin. Yet these writers refer constantly to the " Analogy
of the Faith ; " they have no confidence in mere human logic
when dlustrating God's Word written : their conviction is plainly
avowed that they need that teaching of His living Word, which
dweUs through grace in the body of those who are united to
Him. And among their many rich legacies to the Church, no
theory of inspiration is included. They were contented with
believing Scripture to be God's imparted Word, leaving unde
termined that which He has not been pleased to reveal, namely,
what are the exact inteUectual limitations by which we may
discriminate His indestructible truth from the perishable clay of
His earthly instruments. The settlement of this question,
absolutely essential to those who would budd their faith on
mere logical inference from the text of Scripture, was wholly
unnecessary to men who looked to a Divine interpretation of its
sacred words. For all such theories of inspiration are devices
for budding up a system of Divine truth by man's reason.
They are bulwarks, erected in the weU-meaning but ineffectual
hope of rendering God's Word an available auxdiary, in battles
which are to be waged with the mere weapons of human logic.
But Scripture, like the ark in the camp of Israel, has been
found to give smaU advantage to those who thus employ it.
Such bulwarks have rather prejudiced revelation than secured it.
For its strength rests on another principle. The Word written
implies the Living Word as its constant correlative : the one
receives, applies, interprets the other : the settlement what
questions are fundamental, and on what basis they depend, lies
too deep for man's unaided understanding, and must be referred
therefore to the teaching of that Divine power which is the
appointed guide into all truth.

350 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
And if this statement seems to any one a disparagement from-
the authority of Holy Writ, let it be observed that its contrary
tendency may be shown, not by argument only, but by expe
rience. For by whom is Holy Scripture treated with that
reverence which belongs to a divine revelation? And in what
quarters, on the other hand, has it either been curtailed or
rejected? Have not such attempts been made in the most
flagrant and pertinacious manner by those very parties by
whom the Church has been denied to possess that " authority
in controversies of faith " which our Article ascribes to her ?
With a belief in the engrafted Word dwelling in the Body of
Christ, all fitting reverence for the imparted Word has almost
invariably been abandoned. What Book of Scripture has not
been rejected in some part or other of Protestant Germany?
And the only bodies which have retained that deep reverence
for Holy Writ so conspicuous in the early Church, have been
such portions of those who bear the Christian name, as like it
profess to recognize that influence of the Living Word which
dwells in His body Mystical.
And here we may pass to the other objection which it was
proposed to notice : the assertion, i.e., that God's Ulumination is
wholly an individual gift, and has no relevancy to that Body
Mystical of Christ Our Lord, through which its benefits are
said to be derived But before entering upon this subject, it
will be wed to pause for a moment, and reiterate with somewhat
more fulness what is the exact point which in the preceding
pages has been maintained. For there may be readers whom
the foregoing argument fails to convince, because it seems at
variance with their personal observation. And when this is
the case, demonstration may silence men, but cannot satisfy
them. And yet that which has been asserted is, in truth,
nothing more than is declared by St. Paul, that " the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can
he know them, because they are spirituaUy discerned." Now,
if we are to look to grace for the gift of understanding, it must

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 351
needs flow in the channel of those blessings which the Mediator
has brought down from heaven ; and its appointed course, there
fore, will be through that Body Mystical which He unites to
Himself through the efficacy of His Body natural. But against
this statement rises up the phdosopher on one side, and the
earnest-minded Christian on the other; and they point out
numerous individuals, not united, as they say, to Christ through
His Mystical Body, by whom the Word of God has been
studied, commented upon, and illustrated, not only by their
writings, but (which is far more important) by their lives. The
case of individual enlightenment by God's Spirit shall be spoken
of shortly : at present let it only be observed, that the existence
of an infinite number of such cases is freely admitted, and that
the fact is not inconsistent with what has been asserted in
the foregoing pages. To the phdosopher it may be said that
such measure of dlumination as may suffice for the first under
standing of Holy Writ, was bestowed according to the law of
their creation upon all men ; and if such great progress was
made even by Heathen moralists both in understanding and
virtue, how much more may be expected from those who
possess also the invaluable records of inspired Scripture. But
the Christian wdl look far higher than this : he wdl assert, what
no man can deny, that love, faith, and obedience are found in
large measure among those who have never enjoyed the advan
tage of being joined to Christ, through the Sacraments of His
Grace ; that their virtues often put to shame the vices of those
who by adoption are members of Christ's body ; and also that
their excellences must be the result of grace, because they are
professedly referred to Christ and His Holy Spirit. And as he
wdl infer from this circumstance that they possess the gift of a
spiritual understanding, so he wdl assert that their words and
writings often exhibit it. Yet what is there in this, with what
ever latitude it is admitted, which negatives those distinct state
ments of Holy Writ, wherein Christ the Mediator is stated to
bind men to Himself in His Body Mystical, through the efficacy

352 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
of that body natural, whereby He united Himself to us ? Is it
to be denied that God has appointed a channel for His graces,
because the flood of His mercy overflows its banks ? Doubtless
these graces flow from that one Mediator, who is expressly de
clared in Holy Writ to be the one only name through whom
comes salvation. And wheresover they are found, we thank
God for their effect. We recognize it as well in the under
standing, whereby such persons enter into Scripture, as in' the
holiness, whereby they obey it.
Now here, probably, men's objection will turn round ; if you
admit, they say, what is sufficient for our argument, you admit
what is too much for your own. Such an admission as this,
it is asserted, is in reality the substitution of a new principle ;
it is like those collateral streams, which in short space change
the bed of the great rivers of the West. It may be replied,
in the first place, that to object on this ground to the plain
testimony of God's Word is one of those arguments from man's
ignorance, which, as Bishop Butler has proved, are in their
nature inconclusive. Many reasons may exist, beyond the reach
of our short-sighted vision, why God may have seen fit to
provide an appointed mean of union with Christ, with which
in cases innumerable it may please Him to dispense. But the
existence and blessing of the Divine System, of which Scripture
tells us, may in this case be discerned, however large our
aUowance of co-existent exceptions. Nothing shad be said at
present of the gift of holiness, on account of the difficulty of
finding tests indicative of coUective morality ; and because what
is under consideration is the. gift of truth. Now this blessing
is in fact maintained even in those exceptional cases which have
been adduced, through the medium of that coUective Body of
Christ, to which the gift of spiritual understanding has been
promised. For whence come that belief in God's imparted
Word, and those first notions respecting the scheme of Chris
tianity, with which such persons start on their independent
march ? They get these things from the general Body of Christ,

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 353
though ignorance, prejudice, or the scandal of the Church's
permitted sins, unhappily prevent them from obtaining all the
benefits which it is intended to dispense. Hence the partial,
self-conflicting, uncertain views which the best men of this class
commonly take of Scripture. That simple goodness is no
barrier against this uncertainty, is sufficiently shown by the
continual conflicts in which such men are engaged with one
another. Their conflicts differ essentially from those of Church
men, because while the latter admit the authority of that
spiritual sense, into which the Church has been guided by the
Spirit (whatever difficulty may exist at times in determining it),
the disputes of independent expositors of Scripture are with
out umpire and without end. And yet the Church's testi
mony supplies the very groundwork on which they base their
discussions ; for aU Christian interpreters must start of necessity
from an admission of Scripture's inspiration. But till it is
explained what is meant by the term Inspiration (and no such
solution has yet been found as may supply the basis of a mere
logical system of religion), all private interpretations contain
within them the inevitable seed of unbelief. They suffice
probably for those who, in a pious but limited view of things,
have first adopted them ; but no sooner do they pass into the
hands of the next generation, than their consistency is put to
the proof, and they are found wanting in coherence. Hence it
happens almost invariably that such parties as began by separat
ing from the Church on one principle, work their way to the
opposite extreme of error. The Puritan Nonconformists who
accused the Church of not resting sufficiently on Christ, were
the ancestors of the present Socinian school, by whom the
Church is asserted to rest on Him too exclusively. Germany,
where men complained so loudly because Scripture was not
duly appreciated, is the only country probably in the world
where its authority has not only been denied, but the very
existence of its authors has been publicly disputed. Against
such errors what has made head, but that inward belief in
A A

354 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
Scripture, and that objective system of truth, which has lived in
the Church and through the Creeds ? What a basis have these
things supplied even to those who were least conscious of their
obligation^ ! How often have the words of the Church sounded
forth in her public confession, while those who heard them from
the lips of the minister knew not that the Creeds thus promul
gated were, in fact, the living truths on which the faith of the
whole land was unconsciously dependent, and that many a
private speculator who fancied himself guided only by his in
dividual spirit, was thereby withheld from errors, which would
else be fatal to his peace. How much greater has been the
advance of heresy, how much bolder the irreverent rejection of
God's imparted Word, where such testimony of His Word
engrafted has not been a present witness. For thus has the
Church, in her raiment of sackcloth, been testifying for centuries
in the streets of that busy and unbelieving world, which cannot
Turing itself altogether to reject what its concupiscence wdl not
aUow it to obey. But then, it is asked, why may not this
witness be merely inward and personal ? Suppose it admitted
that reason is not competent without grace to master things
divine, why has that grace any connexion with Christ's Body ?
In this case, then, as before, the full tendency of the notion of
individual enlightenment must first be exhibited, and it must
afterwards be shown under what qualifications it may safely be
admitted. 1. To assume the existence of an individual illumination has
not been an unfrequent or unnatural reaction against that un
satisfying system which professes to subject God's Word to mere
reason. Earnest minds are disgusted by the cold, hard, critical,
irreverent manner in which Scripture is treated. Its dogmas are
drawn out as logical deductions by human intellect, and a respect
is demanded for them which is only due to the wisdom of God.
This system has prevailed to a certain extent even in our own
country : for its unchecked predominance we must look to what
was caUed the orthodox Lutheranism of the seventeenth century.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 355
Against it there rose up George Fox in England and Sender in
Germany. The argument of Fox and of all the early Quakers,
was that the letter of God's Word was nothing without that
guiding Spirit by which it was originaUy indited. " Writing
paper and ink," said Fox to Baxter, " is not infaUible." In like
manner did Sender protest, that a body like the German Pro
testants could recognize no paramount authority in its original
founders, which could shackle in perpetuity the minds of men.
The formulas of Luther and Calvin might be good, but it was
for every individual to judge of their goodness. He therefore
agreed with Fox in looking for an individual guidance, which
both expected must come from above. But what was the result
of their theory ? In both cases it led to the denial or deprava
tion of that objective and imparted truth of Holy Scripture for'
which both in the first instance seemed most anxious. " The
only evidence," says Semler, " for the divinity of a book is
inward conviction through the truths contained in it : this is
divine faith, which, by a somewhat obscure scriptural expression,
is caUed the testimony of the Holy Ghost in the reader's mind."
" In conformity with this rule be expunged from the Canon,
Solomon's Song, Euth, Ezra Nehemiah, Esther, Chronicles," &C.1
If the conduct of the Quakers was not quite so arbitrary, the
result was nearly the same.2 It foUowed naturaUy from the
1 Tholuck's Vermischte Schriften, vol. ii. p. 56.
2 "What other sort of men that call themselves Christians," writes
Leslie, " have abused the Scriptures by the contemptible names of Beastly
Ware, Dust, Death, Serpent's Meat," &c. — Snake in the Grass, 7, vol. ii. p.
57. And if this be said to refer to the letter of the Scriptures as opposed
to their inward meaning, yet how is any great respect for them compatible
with the statement of Barclay, recorded by their friendly historian ? ' ' We
utterly deny," he says, " that in true Christians the Scriptures, or outward
history in the Scriptures, is the principal motive, foundation, or principal
rule of that historical faith, much less of saving faith, to the producing of
whioh the letter of the Scripture doth very frequently (as to many of its
acts, if not all) not concur or co-operate." — Sewel's Hist, of Quakers, vol.
ii. p. 350. This accords with a maxim which Leslie attributes to them :
" That which is spoken by the spirit of truth in any, is of as great
authority as the Scriptures and Chapters are, and greater." — Snake in the
Grass, sec. 7, vol. ii. p. 60.

356 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
supposition that Divine enlightenment did not flow forth into
humanity through that channel which has been opened through
the Mediation of Christ, but was bestowed immediately by God
on man. Let this be admitted to be God's ordinary mode of
imparting spiritual gifts (the possibUity of special and extra
ordinary communications has already been admitted), and the
consequences deduced by Sender and the Quakers must inevitably
foUow. The notion is akin to that which would assert reason
to be a final arbiter respecting things Divine. Those who claim
this province for reason, consider that it is the voice of the
Great Spirit of the Universe, speaking according to that system
of natural religion which only they aUow. And individual
inspiration is in like manner an immediate reaching forth to that
ultimate Governor between whom and man's spirit nothing is
supposed to interfere. Those who call themselves Christians, it
is true, use the name of Christ, when speaking of the Being
they refer to. And their affections, we may hope, are likely to
be quickened by the narrative of sufferings patiently undergone,
and of graces supernaturally predominant. But Christ the
Mediator bestows the blessings which He confers through union
with His man's nature : this union is obtained through His Body
Mystical ; it results from that peculiar oneness with Himself
which renders individual dependent on collective blessings, and
joins all the members of His Church into one spiritual whole.
If these circumstances, characteristic of the Son, are left out of
sight, the name of Christ becomes a mere title of Sovereign
Deity, and the Being whom men reverence ceases to be that Son
Incarnate who has vouchsafed to become the Head and Eepre-
sentative of mankind. So that the direct reference to the Great
Spirit of the Universe, which is independent of these considera.-.
tions, harmonizes with a Sabellian view of Christ's nature, and
not with that reality of His Mediation which is taught by the
Church. And however large the peculiar communication to
individuals of special mercy, yet to make this the ordinary
course of Gospel graces, would be to set aside the Mediation of

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 357
Christ Our Lord. And the depreciation of Holy Scripture is an
immediate consequence. For whether we take reason or in
dividual inspiration as the principle of union, what is there in
either case which can stand between God and the soul ? Ac
cording to the Church's teaching, a scheme of mediation has
been appointed between God and man. Christ's manhood
bridges over the gulf between them. It communicates truth
objectively through the gift of the Scriptures, and at the same
time bestows the faculty of comprehending them on those who
are united in one Body to Himself. The one of these cannot
interfere with the other, because the medium which communicates
them is the same. But of what use are such intervening steps
to those who by immediate access can draw nigh to God ? If
their own private feeUng be the test of that inspiration, which
drinks at once from the primary fountain of truth, why not
when it sets aside Scripture, as much as when it respects it ?
The same circumstance, then, which supersedes the engrafted
Word, supersedes the imparted Word also. Every act of com- •
munication to those who are thus favoured is as good as Scrip
ture. When Fox heard a minister at Nottingham teU the people
that " they were to try all doctrines, religions, and opinions, by
the Scripture, he felt such mighty power and godly zeal working
in him, that he was made to cry out, ' 0 no, it is not the Scrip
ture, but it is the Holy Spirit, by which the holy men of God
gave forth the Scriptures, whereby opinions, religions, and judg
ments are to be tried.' "l Thus, from rejecting that living Word
which is engrafted in the Body of Christ, he passed by obvious
transition to the rejection of the Word imparted, which is its
natural correlative. The same process which overleaped one
barrier overleaped the other.
2. This leads us then, secondly, to the necessary caution by
which the doctrine of individual enlightenment requires to be
guarded. True, without an individual inspiration of God's
Spirit we are unable to understand His words. But this
1 Sewel's History of Quakers, vol. i. p. 36.

358 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
Inspiration must rest upon the intervention of Christ Incarnate,
instead of being independent of it. It is not immediate, but
derivative from the Mediation of Christ. First comes that gift
which Our Lord has purchased for coUective humanity, whereby
He unites all His true members into one body in Himself. De
pendent on this is that communication of Himself to individual
souls, whereby the blessings of knowledge, as weU as those of
grace, are conferred upon them. To consider these a gift which
Comes from God, independently of Christ, is to deny our par
ticipation in His office of Mediation. We cannot speak too
highly of this enlightening blessing, so long as we maintain that
due subordination which keeps up the recollection of its source.
It is ever relevant to Christ as the engrafted Word dwelling in
the Body of His Church, as weU as to Christ the imparted Word
teaching in His Scriptures. WhUe we reverence the one of these,
we shaU pay due deference to the other. So long as we respect
Christ teaching us by the general guidance of His Church, we
shaU be in no danger of the error of those who set " their light
within above the Scriptures, by refusing to let their light within
be judged by the Scriptures."1
To maintain Church authority, then, is to assert the empire of
grace as opposed to that of nature ; to make the gift of divine
knowledge a consequence and portion of the Mediation of Christ,
and Christ Incarnate the sole cause of man's enlightenment. It
is a result of the truth that God is wiser than man. Other views
would throw men either upon the competency of nature, or upon
gifts obtained from God independently of Christ and His Gospel ;
but the Church system is equivalent to the system of Christ's
Mediation : knowledge is bestowed by Him upon His Body
Mystical, and the gift of individual erdightenment is subordinate
to men's general relation to Him. But are there not difficulties,
it may be asked, in this system, and in particular, does it not
give the coUective Church an authority inconsistent with the
1 Leslie, ibid. p. 57.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 359
ultimate supremacy of God's Word? For if the Church be
guided by the engrafted Word, is not the imparted Word super
seded by its power ? Does not the same difficulty recur which
was found to attach to individual inspiration — that every act of
it was a virtual superseding of all previous communications ?
Do not those who begin by idolizing Scripture, end commonly
by idolizing themselves ? And what guarantee have we, that
the Church at large shaU not faU into the error, of which ex
perience has convicted every enthusiast from Montanus to Nay lor?
Now to this it may be replied, in the first place, that the body
for which an infused power of guidance is claimed, is the very
same whose witness is appealed to on behalf of the Word im
parted For what proof have we of the authority of those
books which pass by the name of Scripture, unless some con
fidence can be placed in the spiritual discernment of that Body
of the Church by which they were at first acknowledged to be
God's Word ? And this acknowledgment having been once
made, the Church cannot decide anything which is inconsistent
with its own decision. It cannot supersede that imparted Word
which it has once adopted as the truth of God. This objective
body of truth, no set of men, no generation, not the collective
Church in aU time, has power to dispense with. It is fixed once
and for ever. And if it be asked further, what proof we have
that the collective Church will not attempt to get rid of it, the
answer, besides our general trust in God's Providence, is, that
against this danger Christ Our Lord has promised us protection.
* For such an act would be an apostasy on the part of the Uni
versal Church, into which He has promistd that she shaU never
fall. His declaration is that the gates of HeU shaU not prevail
against her. He assures us of His presence with her to the end
of the world. Such an attempt, therefore, as would endanger
her witness to the Word imparted, need never be feared, because
such a desertion as would imply the removal of the Word en
grafted can never happen. Indeed, what but this has insured
such measure of discretion, amidst the innumerable collisions of

360 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
eighteen hundred years, that the Body, with which dweUs the
Living Word, should stiU be the witness and keeper of written
Scripture ? That the Church, therefore, will not attempt to dis
pense with Scripture — that the coUective Body of Christ will be
faithful to its trust — this is matter of belief to those to whom
Christ's promise is a ground of confidence.
There have been times, it is true, when the use of such a guide
was more apparent than at present. The miserable divisions
which have distracted the Church interfere with the applicabdity
of the principle, and weaken its effects. We live, Uke Israel, in a
land of promise, the blessings whereof we only partiaUy possess.
This is doubtless a punishment for our sins, as theirs were
scourged by the stubborn lingering of what was inimical to their
rest. Yet no little benefit actually accrues to us from that
indwelling principle of knowledge which the presence of Christ
communicates to His Church. The assertion of any common
faith, the education of the young in any fixed principles, the
correction of individual waywardness by the public sentence of
that portion of the Church with which we are in communion —
from whence come all these blessings, but from the principle that
through union with the Body of the Church individuals obtain
the gift of knowledge ! How else could there be any validity in
the imposition of creeds, or how could men pretend to set forth
articles whereby others should be bound in their interpretation
of Scripture ? These things imply a claim to be guided by that
Divine Spirit whose teaching is the only source of truth. The
claim may, under present circumstances, be incomplete and pro
visional ; but there is enough of decisiveness in the judgment
of the English Church 1 to warrant the assertion that it is not
1 To enter in detail upon the question of Church authority would be
to wander from the immediate subject. All wbich has been here attempted,
is to show that the claim to authority advanced by the English Church, in
her 20th Article, stands upon a Christian and not a Rationalistic basis : that
it is an appeal, not to the wisdom of men, but to the Word of God. It may
be observed further, that since the Church's " authority in controversies
of faith " depends upon the relation between the Word engrafted and the
Word imparted, its office as a "witness and keeper " does not extend to all

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 361
abandoned. If we compare the position of her chddren with
that of the members of any dissenting sect, or even with that of
the Protestants of Germany, we see the immense difference which
results from her claiming to possess a fixed principle of judgment.
In the Protestant bodies in all parts of the Continent, subscrip
tion to Articles is always understood to be subordinate to the
principle of private interpretation : those who sign, i.e. profess
to express their accordance, so far as what they subscribe agrees
in their judgment with Scripture. The individual interpretation
of each man is the fixed principle : the Body which requires
subscription has no external authority. There are as many faiths,
therefore, as there are subscribers. For these formularies, having
been originally dictated only by individuals, can have no authority
to bind the consciences of others. The words of one of the
Eeformers, however learned and holy, cannot be set up as a per
manent barrier against the progress of truth. What one man
has asserted, another may question. There can be no permanent
authority except from God. Subscription, therefore, as it is
required in the Church of England, implies a belief in the
guiding care of that Divine Spirit, to whose decisions individual
consciences are bound to defer.1 What God has been pleased to
subjects, but only to those points on which it is essential to maintain the
" faith onoe delivered to the Saints." The existence, therefore, of opposing
usages in the Church at different times and in different places, however
objectionable some of them may be, or the prevalence of contradictory
judgments on points which the Word imparted has not decided, do not
prove her devoid of an engrafted power of spiritual judgment. And even
if the rule of Church authority should be open to a measure of the same
uncertainty with the general laws of human obligation (vide p. 340) , it may
still be a guide to the faithful on essential questions. Those who observe
how much mankind is influenced by the faith which prevails around them
— how large a portion of national character is owing to the habits and rules
of life — how impossible it is even to introduce political institutions among
a people which is not fitted to receive them — will not attach little import
ance to that education which it has pleased God to bestow upon Christen
dom through His Church, and to those essential principles, which His
presence has preserved through the countless errors of eighteen centuries.
1 Those Lutheran Divines who maintain the authority of confessions of
faith, argues Kant, say to us, " Draw your conclusions from the source
itself, the Bible, whence you may derive it pure and uncontaminated ; but

362 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR, ETC.
teach is received because He has taught it. Without His
guidance there can be no permanent creed, and no plenary sub
scription. The measure therefore of accordance which exists in
the EngUsh Church is a perfect recognition of that Divine
power without which there could be neither holiness nor concord.
Every Minister who declares his " unfeigned assent and consent "
to the Book of Common Prayer is in fact ratifying the spiritual
authority which prescribes it. He is asserting that God is wiser
than man, and that through His teaching, as conVeyed through
the Body of His Church, an assurance is bestowed upon us
which could not be attained through so weak and uncertain an
instrument as human reason. He is affirming the principle of
Christianity as opposed to that of Eationalism.
Thus then does a rule exist among us, which, though it might
be more complete, is yet far from being illusory. We can discern
the track, when looked at as a whole, and see that it reaUy
serves as a guide amidst most of our perplexities ; though, like
traveUers tracing the vestiges of an unfrequented path, we can
scarcely detect each successive portion as it is occupied by our
footsteps. And it belongs to the very nature of moral rules to
be subject to this uncertainty. Where the contest is between
private caprice and the pubUc sentence of the Christian Body,
the decision must be the same as when any single portion of the
Church opposes the collective testimony of the Christian com
munity. Thus is a criterion provided, which it is the duty of
individuals to accept and apply. And most of all it is thus that
we have the inestimable benefit of those three Creeds for which
the wisdom of God made provision before the East and West
were finally disunited. To His Providence we doubtless owe it,
take care that you do not discover anything in the Bible except what we
find there." "My good friends," is his reply, " you had better tell us
what you find in the Bible, that we may not search in vain, and be told by
you at last, that what we fancied that we had found there is our own
misinterpretation." His conclusion, therefore, is that no external standard
of dogmatic truth can be maintained in a Church which does not claim
authority in the interpretation of Scripture. — Kant's Streit der Falcultaten.

CONCLUSION. 363
that these fundamental questions were decided before sin had
destroyed the blessing of unity. If such blessings are to be
extended, it must be through the arrival of that more perfect con
dition of the Church, of which unity is as plain a characteristic
as holiness. For its Great Head, in His dying prayer, included
the one of them as distinctly as the other. Both, therefore, should
find equal place in the petitions of Christians. When Ephraim
shad not envy Judah, and Judah shaU not vex Ephraim, may these
things be. For knowledge and holiness, coming to us through
Christ Our Lord, are attributes of Hia Body Mystical by grace, as
to His Sacred Person they pertain by nature. Now division in
this Body is sin ; and sin being the privation of the one of these
is fatal to the other. And their blending and commingling nature
is evidenced by their perfect union in Him, in whom alone either
dwells completely. For knowledge is not perfect, save in Him
whose nature is love. And if in man it is to be completely
manifest, it can only be through the acquisition of that state of
which man's first dwelling-place was an anticipation, when the
Tree of Knowledge stands by the Tree of Life in the midst of
the Paradise of God

CHAPTEE XV.
CONCLUSION.

The Doctrine of Our Lord's Incarnation has been considered, and
how it rendered Him the representative of that inferior race, whose
nature in wondrous mercy He vouchsafed to partake.1 Again,
His method of union with the individual members of the new
famdy, which He redeemed from the ruins of the FaU, has been
shown to depend on that Mediatorial character which belonged
to His compound nature ; 2 and the outline of its effects upon
humanity at large has been sUghtly traced.3 The characteristic
1 Cap. 1-6. a Cap. 7-13. 3 Cap. 14.

'364 CONCLUSION.
distinction between Eationalism and Christianity has also been
touched upon. The first has been shown to rest the connexion
between God and man on that natural relation of mind to mind
which was the law of Creation ; and to estimate Christ, therefore,
merely as an individual, in whom the inherent powers of manhood
attained that perfect development of which they were always
capable. But Christianity starts with the supposition that in
Christ the forfeited privileges of our race were given back, through
the supernatural presence of Godhead. Hence arises that law of
Mediation, which impUes that aU the blessings which the higher
Being bestows upon the lower were centred in the Humanity of
the Incarnate Son, that so from His manhood they might be
communicated to the successive generations of His brethren.
Thus to that old Creation, the ends whereof were frustrated
by man's Fall, is opposed the regeneration of his race through
its new Creation in the second Adam. , '
It remains, in conclusion, to make some brief inquiry, whether
due importance is ascribed to this great event ; whether the habits
and opinions of our age imply a consciousness where and how our
common nature was truly ennobled ; whether humanity at, large
has been adequately impressed by that most momentous of
all its vicissitudes — " the taking of the manhood into God."
In the earUer ages of the Church's History, the manhood of Our
Lord was often questioned by those- whose object was to reduce
religion to an abstract philosophy, and who, therefore, rejected
whatever brought it into actual contact with the life of men. The
same evil seems- in the present day to be attained in a different
order : those who are impatient of that large influence which the
manhood of Christ must needs exercise upon the life of men, caU
in the aid of a philosophical religion to justify their practical
unbelief. A few instances of this tendency shall be noticed.
1. The doctrine of a future judgment is rested in Holy Writ
upon the Incarnation of the Eternal Son. God "hath appointed a
day, in the which He wiU judge the world in righteousness,by that
Man whom He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance

CONCLUSION. 365
Unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." Now
surely this great truth is not sufficiently remembered in the present
day. It is not only forgotten in the market-place, but it is not
adequately enforced in the pulpit. This may in part arise, because
ordinary pastoral instruction in the Church of England is not
backed by any systematic agency for the conversion of the care
less. The calm and orderly course which is required for the one is
whoUy different from the occasional and stimulating measures
which are needed for the other. Such a view of judgment-to-come
as might bring it practically before the minds of men, would need
to be accompanied by other steps, which can hardly be taken so
long as the jealousy of the civil power deprives the Church of those
opportunities of common deliberation, without which it is im
possible for her to adopt such measures as are required by the
exigency of the times. This may contribute to a result which it is
more easy to account for than to justify. The tendency is greatly
increased by that loose view of human responsibility, which sup
poses that repentance not only avails for the obtaining of pardon,
but that it renders all past actions indifferent. This notion may be
grateful to careless men, but it derives no countenance either from
revelation or philosophy. The last should remind men that their
final character is the result of aU the previous impulses by which
they have been actuated, and that however hidden from themselves,
it is plainly conceivable that the whole mysterious thread of their
complicated existence may be traced by an Omniscient Judge
through aU its tangled multipUcity. And the same infallible
Soriptures which declare salvation to the penitent, through the
blood of the Incarnate Mediator, declare that God " hath given
Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of
Man." Except for His gracious intervention in the world of
created beings, our race had perished in its birth ; it had been
incapable of trial and glory. The Incarnation of the Son of God
involves examination, and makes acquittal possible. But then it
teaches the certainty of the trial. The very office of a judge is to
examine into actions ; and to assign this function to one who is

366 CONCLUSION.
characterized by participation in our material nature, if it shows thei
leniency with which we may hope that judgment wiU be exercised,
shows also its reaUty and literal truth. The forgetfulness then of
an actual, certain, individual judgment — the attempt to explain
it away into a mere act of reflex thought — shows a forgetfulness
of our place in that delegated Kingdom of the Son of Man whereby
"all power in heaven and earth" has been assigned to Him. The
different feeling of the Apostles led to their continual reference to
that day1 when "we shaU all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ."2 2. The distribution of the Christian year has the same reference
to the renewal of our race through the Incarnation of the Son of
God, which the Jewish seasons had to the Creation. As it was
the purpose of the old Covenant to vindicate God's creative power,
as a preparation for His coming, through whom creation should
re-enter upon its forfeited inheritance, so the new Covenant is
built upon the new creation of humanity in Christ Our Lord.
Now every division of time under the Mosaic law testified to its
purpose. The weekly observance of the Sabbath Day was a per
petual testimony to the Creator. The Feast of Tabernacles attested
the yearly bounty of His Providence. The Passover and Feast
of Weeks showed how He had taken a single family out of the ido
latrous world to obey His law and be the depository of His promises.
The whole Christian year is budt in like manner upon the Medi
ation of Christ. Its weekly day of solemn worship is the memorial
of the Eedeemer's triumphant rest after the more stupendous
labours of His new Creation. In like manner its three yearly
seasons, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, teU of His Birth, Sacri
fice, and Spiritual Legislation. If we foUow the matter more into
detail, we find the anniversary of Our Lord's Birth preceded by
that Feast of the Annunciation which witnesses when He became
Incarnate in the flesh. It is followed by His Circumcision, and
Announcement to the GentUes. Then come the Forty Days of
Humdiation, which precede His Sufferings and Triumph. The
1 2 Tim. i. 12, 18 ; 2 Thess. i. 10. * Rom. xiv. 10.

CONCLUSION. 367
last portion of them is characterized by reference to His daily
recorded actions, as the Eepresentative and Eedeemer of our race.
They conclude with that Feast of Easter which forms the birth
day of the new Creation. Afterwards are there Forty Days of
Eejoicing, whde we approach the hour when, ascending up into
Heaven, He " received gifts for men," which, on the approaching
Festival of Pentecost, He bestowed upon them. And the whole
series is closed with the recollection of that ultimate mystery of
the Blessed Trinity in Unity, to which Our Lord's Incarnation
leads up the wondering mind — a mystery which is at once the
beginning of aU being and the end of aU thought. Now, can the
prevalent neglect of such a system as this be compatible with
any practical beUef in that real Manhood of Christ Our Lord,
which binds Him at this moment to coUective humanity ? Surely
there are not wanting affections in man's nature ; and his habits
witness to the cherished feelings of the heart. Were men duly
sensible of their nearness to Christ, their master — did they feel
the reaUty of that man's nature, whereby He binds Himself to all
His brethren — these public birthdays of our race could not be
passed by with an indifference which is not betrayed in the case
of national solemnities, or respecting the Eeras of our private life.
It would be of Uttle purpose to point to those national
changes which have been ordained by Parliament, because the
Legislature has for some years been selected on a principle of
indifference to religion, which it is safer and more honest that it
should openly avow. Otherwise those recent changes might be
instanced, which require the opening of Courts of Justice at that
solemn season of our own deliverance, when the universal feeling
of the Christian world had pronounced it unseemly to be passing
judgment on our erring brethren. That our Quarter Sessions
should be held in the week before Easter, is the renunciation
of a public homage to our Lord's Humanity, which commenced
so soon as Christianity became the faith of the empire. But it is
more to the purpose to ask why the arrangements of the Christian
year are so little regarded by those who profess reverence for the

368 CONCLUSION.
Christian Faith ? Can it be felt how truly humanity at large
has been exalted in Him ? Is the place of His man's nature in
the work of Mediation and Intercession duly estimated ? Do
men perceive that a real belief in their union with Him would
give them a personal interest in every incident which teUs upon
His earthly life? Whereas, to say nothing of the prevalent.
neglect of these seasons by well-intentioned persons — of the
closed doors of our Churches — of the banquets by which
Christians can celebrate the mourning of Christ — marrying and
giving in marriage — -besides these instances in which the love of
pleasure preponderates over associations which cannot but be
admitted, the neglect of the great act and principle of our new
Creation shows itself in that singular error which degrades the
weekly anniversary of Christ's Eesurrection into a mere Jewish
observance. It is not, of course, disputed that the Lord's Day
is founded upon that weekly division of time which commemo
rates the original Creation. But to call it the Sabbath without
adding that condition of its being the Christian Sabbath, which
raises it from the old to the new Creation, to rest it merely upon
the Fourth Commandment, is to derogate from its Christian
character, and to destroy its weekly testimony to the renewal of
man's nature in its regeneration through Christ. The effect of
such a Judaical error is that the spiritual nature of this great
' feast is obscured, and with it the reality of that momentous
change, whereby the whole family of mankind was reconstructed.
3. Such circumstances are, of course, intimately connected
with that prevalent neglect with which those aU-important
ordinances which bind us to the Body of Christ, and that collec
tive union which is bestowed upon us in Him, have come to be
treated. How can the Church's rule, that the daily service of
intercession should be offered by all her priests, be reconcded
with the closed doors of our sanctuaries and their sUent altars ?
Is it practically believed that the perpetual sacrifice of our great
High Priest has its operation through the Ministry of His earthly
Servants ? What can be expected also, so long as there continue

CONCLUSION. 369
to be numerous parishes in our land where the opportunity of
fellowship with Christ through the Holy Communion is only
offered quarterly to the people ? What Ufe can be anticipated in
the Christian society — what doctrinal perception of the nature
of its being — while this enforced obedience to the letter of our
Canon shows that the quickening principle of the Church's
vitaUty is so Uttle appreciated? What a departure this from
that early precedent, when the Disciples at Troas came together
weeklyto break bread !
Now, how can such a defalcation be justified ? The offering
of Our Eedeemer's sacrifice is not impaired by time. The reality
of His Intercession is not suspended. But a chiUing apathy has
withdrawn attention from that principle of life in Him, which
should quicken aU His members. This may be traced partly to
those interferences of the temporal power which have obscured
men's perception of the nature and origin of spiritual jurisdiction.
The Church's power has been grasped at and used by the State
for worldly purposes, tdl the very name of Church authority
stinks in men's nostrUs. To this we must attribute the strange
jealousy expressed in the late trivial disputes on rubrical matters
because a few Clergymen professed themselves bound in con
science to act according to their promises. But surely every
thing indicates that the time is coming when that living spirit
Which animates the Body of Christ cannot any longer be dis
pensed with. The strange aspect of falling monarchies, the
increasing commotions of daily life, show how perishable are the
forms of natural society. They testify then to the importance of
those binding principles by which, out of the mouldering ruins
of the Eoman Empire, was originally reared the fabric of Euro
pean civilization. When everything established is crumbling
away, the elements of order cannot re-adjust themselves, save by
reference to the internal laws of their being. Yet where shall
there be found a principle which may rest not on force but on
love, and yet be strong enough to bridle the violence of indi
vidual appetite? It must be so comprehensive that it may
B B

370 CONCLUSION.
teach the great the extent of their responsibUities, and yet reveal
to the humble the real dignity of their state. It must preach
humdity in the palace and self-respect in the lowly hovels of the
poor. In the first it must enforce such lessons of self-denial as
may mitigate the glare of earthly splendour, while it compensates
the afflicted for the necessary privations of their lot. It must
demonstrate to phdosophy the existence of a law above its reach,
yet be a guide to the unlettered along the busy paths of practical
life. AU this must come from some simple, single, irresistible
influence, such as may give peace amidst the collisions, and one
ness amidst the distractions of the public mind. Yet where in
nature may we look for such a remedy ? We can find it only in
that power whereby nature is elevated above itself. "I, if I
be Ufted up from the earth, wiU draw aU men unto Me." None
save man's Creator can guide him amidst the uncertainties of his
present state. " They will not be learned nor understand : all
the foundations of the earth are out of course." To Him, then,
the Pattern and representative of our being, the New Man, the
second Adam of redeemed mortality, we bring those wants
and difficulties which we have inherited from the first. Amidst
earth's distractions we seek peace : we ask guidance amidst the
perplexities of earthly reason. So long as we are one with
Thee we are at rest. Though neither sun nor stars have for
many days appeared, and no small tempest lies upon us, yet
we have assurance that Thy presence is in our bark.

371

NOTE TO CHAPTEE X.
These are three sets of terms, which in ordinary language appear to be
used as though nearly of equivalent force : material and immaterial —
substantial and unsubstantial — bodily and spiritual. But by theological
-writers these terms are not usually employed as equivalent. When it is said
that "the Son is of one substance (bp.ooia <os) with the Father," substance
is supposed to be immaterial. Again, that which is material could not be
spoken of as immaterial also, but we read "there is a spiritual body.'' If
we would avoid misconception, therefore, we must define in what sense we
use terms, and we must abide by the signification which is assigned to them.
Now, a different meaning will usually be assigned to these words by those
who adopt the Baconian, and by those who adopt the Aristotelian habit of
thought. For while Lord Bacon made experiment the source of all know
ledge, Aristotle's view of the world was drawn in great measure out of the
ideas respecting it, which are inherent in man's nature. Both systems
have their use : it is true, as Lord Bacon says, that the sensible proper
ties of things are only to be known by such experiments as enable us to
scrutinize and compare them ; and yet those laws of thought, which the
Creator has rendered essential to the exercise of our inner nature, are as
much to be trusted as any other medium of knowledge with which He has
supplied us. But when anything is proposed for our consideration, the
Baconian will turn his attention to its physical parts, to the materials of
which it is composed ; while the Aristotelian will resolve the complicated
idea, which it excites in the mind, into those simple ideas which are
implied in it. Let the object proposed for consideration be man. The
Baconian will observe that he consists of body and soul : the one con
sisting of matter, which the senses can discern ; the other of spirit, which
is discerned only by consciousness. Again, his body may be divided into
its separate limbs, distinguished by their shape, size, colour, solidity, or
any other circumstance which the senses of the anatomist can detect. The
Baconian will not profess to know more about it than can be gained from
the observation of its sensible qualities ; for he will speak of that which
is material in man as equivalent with that which the senses can discern ;
or he will define matter to be that of which our senses are fitted _ to take
cognizance. He will admit that some material bodies are so subtile, that
they may in fact elude our observation ; but even if he supposed with
Lucretius that the soul was material, he would in that case imagine that
it acted upon the body through material particles of the finest con
struction : — "  his igitur qusedam natura necesse est
Attribuatur (ea est omnino nominis expers) :
Qua neque mobilius quicquam, neque tenuius extat.
Neo magis e parvis aut lsevibus ex elementis ;
Sensiferos motus, quae didit prima per artus."— iii. 242.
The Baconian, however, would not be likely to consider the soul material.

372 NOTE TO CHAPTER X.
On the contrary, he would refer it to a different order of being, to the
existence whereof his own consciousness testifies, and which he feels to
be exempted from those laws by which material bodies are governed.
The Aristotelian will approach this whole subject in a different manner.
In the first place he will consider to what class man should be referred.
Again, as respects man's body, he will discriminate between those ideas
which such a thing as the body necessarily implies, and those which are
only accidentally connected with it. Thus he will refer the body to the
class of substances, while he will discriminate it from other substances by
those accidents which belong to it, and do not belong to them. Thus
does Damascene tell us : " corpus substantia est, color vero aecidentalis "
(vol. i. p. 10). So that the meaning attached to the word matter, and
that attached to substance, are arrived at in wholly different ways ; the
ideas have no relation to one another ; by matter is meant that of which
the senses take note : by substance an abstract notion which the intellect
obtains by disregarding those accidents by which one individual of a class
is distinguished from others.
Now it is true that the word matter might be used, and is used by
Aristotelians, who will of course employ it, as they do other terms, in an
abstract sense ; but as this is not the most common, so it does not appear
to be the most appropriate use of the expression. For the word substance,
with those which are related to it, is pre-eminently a metaphysical term,
and was introduced by the Greek philosophers with a view of expressing
the notion, that while different things were discriminated by accidental
peculiarities, they must yet possess some common basis, on which their
distinctions might be supposed to be built. This common basis, there
fore, was called t& VTroKelp.evov, or \m6araais, and hence were formed the
words suppositum and substantia. Now, the terms which are employed
for spirit, body, matter, &c, have not this decidedly metaphysical origin,
even though we may be unable to trace the visible analogies from which
they are derived. In the case of spirit, indeed, different nations seem to
have discerned an analogy between the action of man's inward principle,
and that volatile and subtile agent, the wind, which produces motion
while itself unseen, and is the author of sudden and unaccountable
impulses. And no doubt the relation between breath and life draws
attention to the justness of the analogy. Thus niD3 is derived from an
unused verb, which means to breathe, nvi wind, and also breath. TrveSjUo
from irvia. i/oxh from i/vx">, to breathe or shiver. Animus from &i>e/tos,
wind. Hence Gothice Ahma. Spiritus from spiro. Gheist from geisten,
to blow, whence our "gust." The derivation of "materies" from
" mater," which is given by Facciolati, is less certain, but the parallel
word, both in Greek and German, is plainly derived from the idea that a
utensil is formed out of a block of wood by shaping it. Hence S\>) is the
matter of anything. The same is the origin of the German Staff. Stofn
in Anglo-Saxon is the trunk of a tree. Stcef a staff. Hence " buchstab,"
a letter. Hesychius gives crnJirij, truncus. These derivations are physical,
not metaphysical. Their history is the reverse of that of such words as
substantia, or again of essentia, ovo'ia, being, wesen, terms which are derived
by abstraction from the infinitive of the verb to be.
These considerations supply a reason for adopting that which seems to
be the common custom in our language, that when the word "material"

NOTE TO CHAPTER X. 373
is opposed to the word " spiritual," it should not be used as a meta
physeal term, but should be taken to imply merely that the things spoken
of are objects, of which man's senses are fitted to take cognizance. This
of course is a wholly different meaning from that which the word matter
would bear when used by Aristotelians ; by whom it would be designed
to be, as Aquinas explains it, the "principium individuationis," by
which common forms are individualized. — Summa Theol. i. Q. 3, 2.
It has been stated therefore (p. 186), that in this Chapter the words
material or bodily are employed to express things, which are of such a
nature as to be taken note of by the senses. And with a view of avoiding
those mistakes which are produced when words are understood in a dif
ferent sense from that in which they are employed, the use of the term
substance and substantial, however appropriate in itself, has commonly
been abstained from.
. It haB been objected, however, by a reviewer, that to speak of Our
Lord's glorified body as material is an unusual mode of expression ;
that it implies Our Lord's body to be corruptible, or at least liable to
change, and is incompatible, therefore, with the truth that His body is a
glorified body. — Ecclesiastic, No. 47, Nov. 1849, p. 307. But if the term
material be supposed to mean cognizable by the senses, there is no reason
why it should involve the corruptible nature of the things to which it is
applied. The ultimate portions of matter may very possibly be im
perishable. And though the ancient writers do not speak of Our Lord's
glorified body as b\ut6v or materiale (for such phrases were unusual with
them), yet they attribute to it the thing which is expressed by the term
material, i.e., that it is fitted to be taken cognizance of by men's senses.
They speak of four different modifications under which the body may
exist : —
First — As it did in Adam before the Fall. Subject to want, because
sustained by food, but not to pain or concupiscence. This is called
tyvxucbv awfrn, 1 Cor. xv. 46 : " animale corpus." — De Civitate Dei xii. 20.
Secondly — As in Adam after the Fall. Subject to pain and concu
piscence, as well as want.
Thirdly — As Christ's body did before His resurrection. Subject to
pain and want, but not to concupiscence.
Fourthly — As the glorified body, at present possessed by Christ, and
hereafter to be possessed by His servants. aa/m TrysvfiuTinov. Not subject
either to pain, want, or concupiscence.
Now, that they supposed this last kind of body to be material, in
the sense in which that term is used in this Chapter, is evident both
from the particulars in which it is spoken of as though it were purely a
spirit, and from the particulars in which it is supposed to differ from a
spirit. It is like a spirit, first, in being free from suffering and
corruption. " araflb xal aiaipaToy." — Theophylact on 2 Cor. v. 16.
" i.Bdva.Toy koj. &<p0aproy." — Theodoret in Suieer,on'Av6.aTaffis. Secondly,
in being more subtile than other bodies. A«rr<V. — Uamasc. de Fid. Orth.
iv. 28. " \eirrofi.(p4o-Tepov icai Kovcpoy, oToy 4ir' a.4pos bx^oBai." — Theophylact
on 1 Cor. xv. 44. Thirdly, in being under the peculiar influence of the
ennobling Spirit by which it is possessed. "eV i^ovoii} ical <pbaei
TrycifuiTos." — Athan. contra Apollinarium, i. 8, vol. ii. p. 928. It is this
last circumstance which prevents it from being an object to the senses of

374 NOTE TO CHAPTER X.
men, except when Our Lord Himself so pleases. He is not merely with
drawn from our sight by the distance to whieh he is removed, but by
the circumstance that a glorified body, though in its nature a suitable
object for men's senses, yet is not in fact obvious to them, except when
they are rendered capable by Divine power to discern it. Such a
quality •will belong, according to St. Thomas, to the glorified _ bodies
of the Saints: " Secundum naturam palpabile est corpus gloriosum ;
sed ex virtute supernaturali hoc ei competit, ut cum vult, non palpetur
a corpore non glorioso : et ideo Gregorius dioit, quod Dominus palpan-
dam camera praebuit, quam clausis januis introduxit, ut profecto osten-
deret, post resurrectionem corpus suum esse et ejusdem naturae et alterius
gloriae." — Summa, Supp. ad iii. Q. 83, 6.
To express this peculiar mode of existence, at once suitable to be beheld
by the senses, and yet not commonly obvious to them, the Fathers
speak of Our Lord's body as, " ovk %ti p.iv a&pita, ovk aaiijiaTov Se." —
Greg. Naz. Or. xv. p. 671. But more commonly they say, as St.
Ignatius does, " p.ira tV hviaraaiv iv aapxl avTbv olSa koi iruTTeba ira." —
Ad Smyrnceos. And Theophylact says (on 2 Cor. v. 16), that when Our
Lord was upon earth, He may be said to have lived according to the
flesh ; because He was subject to its wants, though not to its sins. But
now, though He has ascended in the flesh, He is not subject to either.
And in proof that Our Lord's body is not simply a spirit, they refer
constantly to the fact that it is an object to men's senses, considering
His own words (St. Luke xxiv. 39) a sufficient proof that this cannot
properly be said to be the case with a spirit. — Vide S. Athan. ad Epict.
sec. 7, vol. ii. p. 906, and Contra Apoll. i. 6, p. 926. Thus the Second
Council of Nice asserts Christ's body to be " bparbs Ka\ irepiypairTOS Kal
KaTaki)TiT&s." — Hard- iv. 426. And S. Austin in Joan, Trac. xix. 16 :
"Quomodo ergo non ipse venturus est? Quia non ipse videbitur in
j udicio ? Videbunt in quern pupugerunt. Forma ilia erit judex ; quae
stetit sub judice : ilia judicabit, quae judicata est : judicata est enim
inique, judicabit juste. Veniet ergo forma servi, et ipsa apparebit.
Etenim forma Dei quomodo appareret justis et injustisP Nam si judicium
non fieret nisi inter solos justos, appareret tanquam justis forma Dei," &o.
Two conditions are involved in the idea that a thing should be a true
object to men's senses — first, that it should be limited by outline;
secondly, that it should be present in place. These accordingly are stated
by Aquinas to be properties which can belong only to bodies : " Nihil
potest esse terminus localis a quo, vel ad quern, nisi sit corpus." —
Summa, i. Q. 3, 1. This is the notion expressed by Lucretius : —
" Quad tamen omnia corporea constare neeesse est
Natura; quoniam sensus impellere possunt:
Tangere enim et tangi nisi corpus, nulla potest res."
Now both of these conditions are affirmed to belong to Our Lord's
glorified body. Theodoret calls it " aS>na Se ip.us, t^v omdav Ix0"
ireptrypaipiiv." — Suicer on ' Avdoratris. Vigilius says : " Quando in terra fuit
caro, non erat utique in ccelo. Et nunc quia in coelo est, non eBt utique
in terra." — Contra Eutych. iv. 14. And both considerations were
adduced by the Second Council of Nice, in a statement which met with
no opposition: " B\aa<pinp.la.s ir\?ipes to airtptypatpov p.eT& t}jv odpicwaw

NOTE TO CHAPTER X. 375
Siayopevo-ai Thy <?irl irivra Kvptov Vntrovv Xpiorbv Tbv a\^Bw6v Bebv ypubv."
Then after mentioning what occurred before His resurrection : " ral 'Iva
tA irpb toD irdBovs irepl tovtov ebayye\iKas \ex64yTa idcrwpev, to pera r\v
avaarairiv etiroipi. rah yvvai£iv ip<pavt<ras eavrbv, aireplypaTrros %v ovSapas.
Tb iavrbv <pavepa<rai Sval paBr\rah, irepiypaipris ear!!/ XSiov. rb ray Bvpav
KtKXdansvaiv dffsKBelv, Kal {mb @wpa. i//))\o$r)87)ca[, r\ 'irepov ^ irepi-ypaip^ ; «ol
to voptvBrivai tpvs paBrjras els r))v TaMXatav, KCtKei avr&v !m' avrav btpftyjvai
Kal irpoaKweTaBai, avrby tovt6 iart. r6 5e {5\en6vTuv ray p.aBr\rS)v
ava\r]<pBqvai ets rby ovpavbv, Kal rov ayy4\ov avroh iirurrdyros Kal eiA-oV-ros,
avdpes . '. . ofrVws e'A.eiio'eTat . . . Spa ovk effri irfpiypafyiis ravra ; Kal irdvuye.
oStius yap Kal irdj/Tes ol 8eO(p6poi irarepes iifiHv e/c5i5aV/couo'l. Kal irp6$T)\6v
iarl to?s s3 (ppovovniv, 8ti KaBb ply ©eor ical \6yos rov 0eav Kal narpbs,
early bAparos, uirGplypairros, aKardKyjiTTOs, Kal iv iravrl r6rr<p eVri rris
SeffwoTctas avrov- KaBbSz avBpairov (pvatv ave\d@eTo, Kal bparbs Kal irepiypairrbs,
KaBus avjbs Tols paBifrals Striy6peva€, p.)) elvat iK€i, Kal KaTaXTiirrbs, iis 6
Qupas rjpas imffT&ffaTo." — Harduin, iv. 426.
The preceding statements throw some light upon the inquiry, What is
meant by Our Lord's sacramental presence ? The questions of most real
moment upon this subject would seem to be — first, whether Our Lord is
truly present, as is affirmed in this work, or whether the transaction is a
mere appeal to our imagination. Secondly — If Our Lord be truly present,
is it under those conditions in which He is an object to the senses of men,
i.e., as above defined, materially, or in some other manner ? The Church
of England in denying Transubstantiation means apparently to deny a
material presence, for she explains the subject by saying that there is no
' ' Corporal Presence of Christ' s natural flesh and blood ; and she states as
her ground for this assertion, that " the truth of Christ's natural body"
requires it to be in one place ; i.e. , that it is subject to those conditions which
render it a suitable object for the senses of mortals. She means to deny,
therefore, that Our Lord's natural body is in such sort present as that we
should discern those things of which we partake to be flesh and blood, were
not the senses of men supernaturaUy withholden from discerning a glorified
body. How far it is correct to say that this notion is affirmed by others, it
forms no part of the present work to inquire.
But to consider somewhat more particularly what is meant by the Pre
sence of Christ. Since He is partaker of two natures, His presence may be
referred either to the one or to the other. Now as He is God, Christ par
takes all Divine attributes ; and according to this nature He pervades all
being— essentid, as the cause of its existence, pratsentid, as conscious of its
state, potentid, as upholding it by His power.— Summa Theol. i. Q. 8, 3.
But this presence, as God, does not account for those scriptural statements
of the presence of Our Lord's flesh and blood, which are connected with
His man's nature. How is He present as man ? There is first His natural
presence as man, that mode of presence, namely, which results from the
properties which He retains in thatHis bodyisfittedto be the object of men's
senses — that it is present, namely, in place, and limited by outline. That
it retains such properties has been shown to be stated in Scriptuf e, and to
be the general belief of the Church. This is all which is here meant when
Christ's body is said to be material ; and to this the English Church refers
when she says that Christ's "natural body" is in heaven. But though Our
Lord's Divinity could admit of no change, yet His humanity underwent

376 NOTE TO CHAPTER X.
a change which was all but infinite, through that exaltation which it
received by being taken into God. So that we have a second set of
properties, which may be affirmed to belong to Our Lord's body ; and
the' only caution which is necessary in speaking of them, is that nothing '
be admitted which is incompatible with the conditions of man's nature,
or which implies the Eutychian error that the truth of His humanity
is lost. But that His body is become Spiritual, that while remaining a
human body it has acquired properties which are usually connected with
spiritual being, is expressly affirmed in Scripture and by the Church. This
is stated by St. Athanasius, even when contending that it retains its
human qualities. " avrtp rrp ayBpamytp trypan rrpoaB^Kti peydht) yeyovev
4k ttjs rod A6yov irpbs avrb Koivavias re Kal eywaeas. airb yap Bvtjtuv
y4yovev uBdvarov Kal rj/uxiKby %v y4yove irvevpartKbv, Kal 4k yijs yevopevov, >
ras ovpaviovs biej&n irb\as." — Ad Epictetum, sec. ix. vol. ii. p. 908.
And again, when writing against Apollinarius, ii. 16, vol. ii. p. 952 :
" itrovpdvios avBponros b K&pios, oux1 ^1 ovpavov tt)V odpKa 4iri$e£dpevos,
oAAa rfyv 4k yrjs iirovpdviov ffvartio'dpevos." And still further. " iryevpa
faoiroiovv % adp\ 4ffrl rov Kvpiov Si6ri 4k irvevparos rov faoTrotdv avye\-fi^>B7i.
to yap yeyevTjpevov 4k rov irvebparos -jrvevpa iori." — De Incarn. et c. Arian.
xvi. vol. ii. p. 883. Now, what are those spiritual qualities which Our
Lord's Humanity has received ? The very first, to which His own words
lead us, is a new mode of presence : St. Matt, xxviii. 20 ; St. John xiv.
18, 28, &c. What is meant by a spiritual presence ? If to speak of such a
thing is not a mere delusion, there must be some definite idea which is
expressed by it. Now it is laid down by all writers that when spiritual
presence is spoken of, it is not meant that spirit is subject to the con
ditions of bodily existence, i.e., to be present in place and denned by out
line, but only that the energy of the spiritual object which is present is in
some specific place exerted and perceived, "\4yerai &ebs 4v rimy
etvai, Kal \4yerai t6ttos 0eoC, %v8a <ek8t]\os t] 4vepyeia avrov ylverat." — ¦
Damasc. de Fid. Orth. i. 16. " Incorporalia non sunt in loco per con-
tactum quantitatis, dimensivae, sicut corpora, sed percontactumvirtutis."
— Summa, i. Q. 8, 2. When we speak then of the spiritual presence of
Our Lord's body, we are treating of an order of things which, so far as He
is concerned, is wholly irrespective of considerations of locality. So far as
such considerations come in at all, it is by reason only of the earthly
object with which He is present. For though spirits are not in them
selves present in place, yet they may acquire local position through the
-nature of the objects with which they are present. The Angels must be
supposed to be independent of the conditions to which bodies are subject,
yet the Angel who went down to trouble the waters of Bethesda executed
his office in a certain place. Whereas on the other hand, if one spiritual
being is present with another, the considerations of locality are wholly ex
cluded. Almighty God is present by grace in His saints, " sicut objectum
cognitionis in cognoscente."- — Summa, i. Q. 8, 3. And St. Chrysostom
(Horn. xvi. in epist. ad Hebrceos) and Theodoret (in Psalm cxiv.) speak of
God as present in heaven, because His illimitable nature dwells with pe
culiar satisfaction in the praises of His saints : " 4irei5av rots &vu irvevpaaiv,
<os aytois iiravairaberai, ra^irv roi <pap)v 8p6vovre Kal oIkov avrov rbv
obpaviv." — S. Cyril Alex, in cap. lxi. Jesaice.
Now, there are some who look upon the presence of Our Lord's body as

NOTE TO CHAPTER X. 377
though it were only of this last kind ; as though it were only in the minds
of men, and as if the relations of plaoe were as little to be taken account of
'in respeot of the object in whioh Christ takes up His dwelling, as they are
in respeot to the nature whereby He dwells there. This notion requires
the more attention, because it has been adopted by some who would fain
retain a belief in Our Lord's Presence, without acoepting the doctrine of
the anoient Churoh in its simple truth. It was favoured by Hooker, who
hoped in this way to find a standing-ground for the Sacramentaries within
the limits of the Catholio Church. And it promises to get rid of two dif
ficulties—For first, it may be pretended that all, whether good or bad,
equally receive their Maker in the Holy Communion ; and secondly, if
Christ's presence be in the conseorated elements, it does not very clearly
appear how it is again withdrawn from them ; and therefore how it is ex
empted from the dissolution to which they are liable. In reBpect, however,
to the first difficulty, it must be remembered that Christ's presence is not
according to the natural order of things, but according to a supernatural
one ; it is a presence, that is, by grace. Now the same thing is true of
God's gifts by grace, wbich is true in a measure even of His gifts by nature
— they need for their reception those peculiar faculties which He has Him
self provided. Light were useless without eyes, and that presence of Christ,
which is truly bestowed in the consecrated elements is inoperative without
faith on the part of the receiver. On this is built the statement that ' ' the
mean whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is
faith." " De fide interioris hominis procedit divini gustus saporis, dum
certe per salutaris Eucharistiae inf usionem influit Christus in viscera animae
sumentis, quern diva mens oastis penetralibus in ea videlicet forma suscipit,
qua sub ipsarecordatione mysterii Spiritu re velante sibi praesentem intuetur,
infantem, aut ara crucis immolatum, aut sepulchro quiescentem, aut certe
calcata morte resurgentem, sive supra ccelos evectum in gloria Patris
sublimem. Juxta quas species Christus gratum communicantis intrans
habitaculum, tot ut ita dicam suavitatis odoribus mentem reficit, quot
formis intimce revelationis oculum meditantis eum meruerit intueri." —
Fulberti Carnutensis, Ep. i. ; Bib. Pat. Max. xviii. 5. It is not that the
receiver's faith makes bread become Christ's body, but that without faith,
as the instrument for apprehending things unseen, men cannot receive
Christ to the sanctification of their souls. Again, as respects the second
difficulty, it was the notion of the ancient Church that the consecrated
elements continued to be that which they had been made, even when they
were reserved with a view to their participation. The Church of England
lias thought it expedient to order their immediate consumption ; but sup
posing them to be kept as long as they were suitable for distribution, _ it
would still be in this peouliar relation that they would be the depositories
of Christ's presence. As to the ground on which Hooker advocated the
idea of a mere presence in the receiver ; the union of various parties— its
recommendation has long passed away ; for those who adopt the Zuinglian
theory have discardedthe truth of the real Presence, under anymodification.
And it is wholly impossible to reconcile it in any way with that uniform
judgment of the early Church, with which the Church of England professes
to agree. Let any one take the commentary on the sixth chapter of St.
John, by that great witness to Our Lord's Incarnation, St. Cyril of
Alexandria, and he will find it a continual witness against such a notion.

378 NOTE TO CHAPTER X.
"Not unwisely, says Our Lord, have you denied to the flesh the power of
giving life. For if the nature of flesh be looked at in itself, it is not life-
giving. It 'will give life to nothing, but rather needs a power to give life
to itself. But if you take the mystery of the Incarnation into acoount,
and learn who it is who dwells in this flesh, you will by all means, He says,
be disposed to allow, unless you speak against the Divine Spirit itself,
that it is able to give life, even though the flesh by itself profit nothing.
For when it is united to the life-producing Word, it becomes itself wholly
life-producing, mounting up to the level of that which is better than
itself, and not bringing down to itself that which cannot be debased." —
Comment, on St. John, xi. v. 64, vol. iv. p. 376. " And if theflesh of our
Saviour became life-giving, as being united to that which is naturally
life, that is, to the Word of God ; then we too, when we shall taste it, have
the life in ourselves by being one with it, even as it is one with the
indwelling Word. For on this account, even when He raised 'the dead,
the Saviour is observed not to have acted only by word, or divine com
mands, but He took especial care to employ the co-operation of His sacred
flesh, that He might show it to be able to give life, and to be truly rendered
one with Himself  And if by the mere touch of His sacred flesh, that
which is dead is made to live, how can it fail to be a yet richer gain, which
we shall receive in the life-giving Eucharist (ev\oylas), when we shall even
taste it."— Id. v. 54, p. 361.
These are only specimens of a mode of speaking, which runs through all
the ancient Fathers, and which it is impossible to neglect, unless we are to
abandon their doctrine, that man's renewal is bestowed by theHoly Ghost
through participation in the sanctified manhood of the Incarnate Mediator,
, and not through the efficiency of our individual exertions. Neither will
anything else accord with the words of Scripture, or of our own Church.
For "the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ ?' ' The bread which we break, is it not the communion
of the body of Christ ?" Or how else can it be said, that ' ' Christ's Body
is given, taken, and eaten in the Supper ?'' And no other supposition con
sists with the perfect maintenance of those two natures, human and
divine, whereby the Incarnate Mediator continues to act. For if Christ's
presence be in any sense real, to suppose that it has its actual dwelling
exclusively in the minds of men, is to refer it to a mode of existence
which belongs pre-eminently to Deity ; and thus to leave the actions of
Our Lord's manhood out of sight. As it has been objected, therefore,
to the carnal notion of our Lord's presence, that it is to ascribe the attri
butes of Deity to His man's nature, so would this supposition be such an
omission of the conditions which characterize His Humanity, as would
lead, not less surely, to the system of Eutychianism.
In respect, then, to the two points which have been especial subjects
of discussion, it may be said, first, that the presence of Our Lord's Body
and Blood is not a material presence, that so far as Christ's body is a
fitting object for the senses, or a natural body, it is in heaven. This is
understood to be the truth asserted by the Church of England, when she
denies the doctrine of Transubstantiation ; she is using the term substan
tial as equivalent to material or natural, and not referring to any meta
physical sense, which may be given to it. But, secondly, Our Lord's
Body and Blood, though not materially, are yet truly and really present

NOTE TO CHAPTER X. 379
in the consecrated elements. They are not present in place or by outline,
as though His body were a mere body, but by reason of those spiritual
properties which render His flesh fuoiroioj, as St. Cyril expresses it, and
which belong to it because it is aapa Trvtvparm6v. So that without.
adoring the elements or recognizing any corporal presence of Christ, men
may fully concur in the words of Bishop Andrews: "Nos vero, et in
mysteriis Camera Christi adoramus, cum Ambrosio : et non id sed Eum,
qui super altare oolitur. Nee Camera mandueamus, quia adoramus prius
cum Augustino. . . . Et Saeramentum tamen nulli adoramus." —
Responsio ad Apol. Bellarm. p. 195.

INDEX.

Adam's natural perfection, 204.
Anselm's, S., theory respecting Atonement, 164 , and the non-salvability
of angels, 165.
Aphthartodocetae, 94.
Apostolical succession, the safest course, 268 ; traced by Tertullian to
St. John, 268 ; connexion with Our Lord's Mediation, 270 ; foundation
of Christian education, 304.
Athanasius, S., 41, 106, 197.
Atonement, God's appointment, 160.
Baptism the foundation of Christian education, 304 ; its validity depends
on the life of the Church, 322 ; its essential condition, 287 ; its object,
294 ; why its blessings disbelieved, 297 ; such disbelief leads to Pela-
gianism, 303.
Baptismal service, hypothetical, interpretation of inadmissible, 300.
Beryllus, 104.
Body, what it is, 186.
Bull, Bishop, 42.
Bunsen's Church of the Future, 264.
Chalcedon, Council of, 141.
Christ's Temptation, 54 ; He did not suffer sickness, 60 ; TTia Body the
medium of healing virtue, 63 ; His character gradually understood,
103, 126 ; not really ignorant, 69 ; His sympathy, how limited, 75 ;
His universality of mind, 76 ; TTi« Body created, 116 ; but not wor
shipped as a creature, 114, 209 ; title of Son not derived from His
Advent, 117 ; naturally the image of God, 118 ; real union of His two
natures, 124 ; His Personality in His Godhead, 133.
Christ's manhood, how affected by hypostatic union, 131, 134, 137, 145 ;
the channel of grace to men, 135, 193, 199, 219, 283, 308, 320, and the
channel of knowledge, 324 ; the material of His sacrifice, 156 ; the
stone cut without hands, 216 ; the vine, 203 ; anointed in Incarnation,
136, 155.
Christ's ascension an epoch in His history, 149 ; His teaching, 150 ; ex
ample, 151 ; sacrifice, 153 ; a priest, 156 ; a victim, 158 ; the only real

INDEX. 381
priest under both covenants, 261; His Atonement, 160; His media
tion a real work, 38, 168, 208 ; its meaning, 145 ; the medium of-
intercourse between man and God, 222 ; His worship the germinant
principle of Christian faith, 88 ; His acts the foundation of the Creed,
146 ; His miraoles the natural result of His constitution, 208
Christ, the second Adam, 7 ; the new type of mankind, 40, 163, 199, 201,
204, 341.
Christ of one substance with the Father, 102 ; His eternal generation,
102 ; why called the Word, 329 ; His natural Body in Heaven, 188 ;
four states under which His Body existed, 373 ; oneness of His Body
leads to Church's unity, 216.
Christ's presence the presence of both His natures, 180, a real presence,
375, brought about through the Holy Ghost, 193, 286 ; an objective
presence, not dependent on our thoughts, 191 ; consequent on His
Ascension, 189; His intervention through angels' before His Incar
nation, 184 ; His holiness imparted or infused, 321.
Christian Tear, its seasons not appreciated, 367 ; meaning of its festivals,
366.
Church began with Abraham, 14 ; the true Israel, 15 ; its teaching
office in production of Creeds, 80 ; its guidance necessary to the under
standing of Scripture, 331, 343, and its authority to that of inspiration,
345, 350, 359 ; its authority in controversies of faith twofold, 84 ;
does not rest upon logical argument, though accordant with it, 347,
348 ; but derived from divine promise, 359 ; and the belief that God
is wiser than man, 362; as shown by subscription required by the
Church of England, 359, 360 ; regarded by Whately, not as a means of
grace, but a scheme of government, 235 ; called Christ's Body from its
relation to His Body natural, 213 ; to be united to it and to Christ
identical, 213, 232 ; thus viewed it cannot obscure Christ, 237 ; typified
by Holy Place in Temple, 176 ; in what sense its ritual national, 177 ;.
the especial object of Our Lord's intercession, 203 ; obedience to it-
rests on affection, 238 ; why called holy, 321 ; no restriction to the
gifts of God's grace, 352 ; partially a guide even to those who are not
its members, 353 ; Church authority to be preferred to private caprice,
362.
Civil Society not the principle of man's renewal, 314.
Confirmation, its real character, 225, 286.
Conscience, 48 ; its limitation, 338.
Corruption of nature, 43, 44.
Council of Orange, 45.
Creatianism, 29.
Creeds, importance of, 86 ; rest on the authority of the Church, 347 ;
cannot be really maintained, unless the Church's authority is admitted,
364.
Cyprian's, S., account of the effect of baptism, 299.
Cyril's, S., Anathemas, 129, 138.
Daily Service, its importance, 273.
Doctrine, its gradual growth, 142.
Dorner on the Person of Christ, 84.

382 INDEX.

Ebionites, 88.
Eucharist, S. Irenseus's view of it, 95 ; the Christian sacrifice, 249 ; ground
of its sacrificial efficacy; 253 ; a real work, 255 ; the elements said to
be only a sign of a sign, 284 ; difference between it and baptism, 287,
289 ; its object, according to Hooker, 305 ; referred to in St. John vi.,
307 ; why not solemnised till after the Holy Ghost was given, 309.
Eutychians, effect of their error, 139.
Faith, its nature, 4 ; regarded as a foundation of knowledge, 337.
Fox, George, 228.
Gnostics, 89.
God, not mere Infinity, 92, 118.
Gospel of St. John, its characteristic, 307 ; its sixth Chapter refers to the
Holy Eucharist, 307 ; the Gospel of which St. Paul speaks, unwritten,
325.
Glorified body not an object to senses, 373.
Hampden, Bishop, 64.
Holy Ghost, the soul of the Church, 196 ; He co-operates in the work
of Mediation, 196; His office to join members to Our Lord's Body,
194, 197 ; to suppose His office to supersede that of the Son leads to
Sabellianism, 196.
Holy Place, type of Church on earth, 176.
Idolatry, its evil, 56 ; considered in reference to second commandment,
221.
Image of God, 45.
Incarnation, great objective fact of Christianity, 3, 212 ; guard against
Rationalism, 224 ; brought about both by Son and Holy Ghost, 196 ;
connected with Trinity, 107 ; restored the image of God, 296.
Inspiration, 82 ; theories respecting it, 346 ; why now suggested by the
Church, 351.
Intercession of Christ a part of His Mediation, 168.
Irenseus, Saint, 90.
Jews, no promise of their national restoration, 15, 316; their national
ritual, 243 ; their nation substituted for a personal Saviour, 263, 316.
Joachim, Abbot, 110.
John, S., vi., refers to Holy Eucharist, 306.
Judgment to come not appreciated, 364.
Justification through imparted righteousness, 321.
Justin Martyr, 89.
Kant, 334, 362.
Knowledge comes from God, 323 ; either infused or engrafted, 325.
Laity partake in the Christian sacrifice, 257, 258.
Locke, 334'.
Lord's Day, substituted for Jewish Sabbath, 368.

INDEX. 383
Man, why called the creature, 274.
Mankind, its collective judgment referable to oommunity of nature, 338.
Matter, how its existence known, 187 ; how defined in Baconian philo
sophy, 371 ; how defined by Aristotelians, 372, 373.
Mediation of Christ, its meaning, 145 ; and permanence, 147 ; depends
on His relation to mankind, 164 ; a real work, 168; requires a belief
in Blessed Trinity, 174 ; supposed by some impediment in our approach
to Christ, 221.
Methodius, S., 54.
Mbhler, 51.
Monarchia, tendency of the doctrine, 99.
Monothelites, 141.
Nature, human, what, 26, 200 ; how taken by Christ, 37 ; the Incarna
tion its greatest honour, 142 ; effect on it of union with Godhead, 137.
Nominalism, abuse of, 30, 127, 201.
Nestorius's errors, 127.
Personality, what, 42, 108, 132.
Prayer, why addressed particularly to the Father, 177.
Priest, its meaning, 156 ; belongs to Christian as much as Jewish cove
nant, 258 ; Christ a priest by virtue of His nature, 157, 261.
Private Judgment a duty, not a right, 333.
Public worship rests on nature of case, rather than positive command,
241, forbidden to Christians by Roman Law, 242 ; depends on Media
tion of Christ, 247.
Quakers, used expressions which denied Christ's existence, 224, 230 ;
their principles led to Rationalism or Sabellianism, 229, 230, and
superseded the Scriptures, 355-357.
Rationalism, how opposed to Christianity, 9 ; leads to Pantheism, 10 ; its
principle, 219 ; flows from a denial of Christ's Mediation, 237, 310,
318 ; why opposed to the Old Testament, 263.
Reason, limits to its authority, 332, 342.
Religion needs objective realities, 4, 24.
Responses, essential to the maintenance of common worship, 271 ;
opposed by the Puritans, 272.
Revelation of St. John exhibits Christian Ritual, 174.
Righteousness, infused and imparted, 321 ; original, a supernatural gift,
44.
Sabellian heresy, present tendencyto it, 112, 196, 209, 230.
Sacraments, the means of union with the manhood of Christ, 278, 310 ;
Our Lord's presence in them depends on His human nature, 293 ; the
outwork of the Incarnation, 283, and its extension, 275, rendered
needful by our material nature, 282 ; a remedy against doubtfulness,
276 ; moral not physical agents, 287.
Sacrifice, its different kinds, 154.
Schleiermacher, 232.

384 LNDEX.
Scripture's authority, 86, the final revelation, 327 ; the living word,
which dwells in the Church, its interpreter, 329, 343.
Spirit and Body, how distinguished, 186.
Spirit, origin of word, 372. ¦
Subscription among Protestants neutralized by private judgment, 361.
Substance, a metaphysical term, 372.
Tertullian, 102.
Traducianism, 30.
Transubstantiation, 96.
Trinity, 83, a mystery, 107 ; the foundation of all being, 123 ; essentially
connected with the incarnation of Christ, 112, 116, 140, 210, 284; why
the Second Person Our Saviour, 117 ; coinherence of Persons, 119.
Unity of Church, its principle, 215 ; its origin in the unity of the Divine
nature, 218, a necessary condition of the Church's existence, 363.
Valentinian heretics, 227.
Veil of Temple, why omitted in Revelation and Epistle to Hebrews, 175.
Virgin Mary, 53 ; the Mother of God, 59.
Whately, Archbishop, 113, 233, 234, 284.
Worship, common, maintains our connection with Christ, 240.

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