THE

DOCTEINE OE THE INCARNATION

OUR LOED JESUS CHEIST,

ITS RELATION TO MANKIND AND TO THE CHURCH.

ROBERT ISAAC WILBERFOECE, A. M.,
ARCHDEACON OP THE EAST RIDING.

" Ad imaglnem Dei factua est homo, ilia imagine qua poslea homo factus
est Deus."— S. Augustinus.

( Corpus regeneraii fit caro crucifixi."— S. Leo.

First American, from the Second London Edition.

PHILADELPHIA:
H. HOOKER & CO.,— S. W. COR. OP CHESTNUT AND EIGHTH STS.
1849.

William S. Young, Priiutr.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.
THE YEARNINGS OF HUMANITY AFTER A DIVINE DELIVERER.
The Gospel opens with a Personal Deliverer. Previous antici
pations 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 SaviouT.
The subject divided into two main parts — First, the doctrine of
the incarnation in itself; Secondly, the benefits which man
kind receive by it. The necessity of believing in the exist
ence of a Saviour as an actual object, external to our minds. 17-22
CHAPTER I.
CHRIST THE PATTERN MAN; THE FIRST FRUIT3 AND BEGINNING OF
THE NEW CREATION.
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 perfec
tion of manhood by office, nature, and sympathy. 22-23
CHAPTER II.
THE OFFICE OF CHRIST AS THE PATTERN 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 re
presentative and head, the Son of Man. 28-39

IV CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.
CHRIST THE PATTERN MAN BY NATURE.
Christ the Son of Man, as no other could be, through the consti
tution of his nature. This built on two considerations — First,
the nature of that humanity which was taken by Christ ; Se
condly, 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 de
pends 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 Scripture. This common nature taken by Christ.
His consequent relation fo all mankind.
II. When Christ took our nature He became its representative,
because He was the second Adam.1 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 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 hu
manity in Christ.
Christ consubstantial with our nature, but without sin : — infer
ence respecting man's sinfulness. Christ the new Adam, be
cause 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 surpassed.
The evil of idolatry, whether material or mental, is that God's
image is lost sight of. 39-77

CHAPTER IV.
CHRIST, THE PATTERN 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.

CONTENTS. V
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 those means of knowledge which
men employ. The true source of perfect knowledge — inter
course 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. 77-99
CHAPTER V.
OUR LORD IS GOD THE WORD, 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 man
ner in which they arose out of it, the best method of appre
ciating 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 Godhead 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 Manhood. Justin Martyr maintains Our Lord's Godhead
— from prophecy — from the doctrine of the Logos, as the wis
dom of God. Christ's pre-existence — His independence of the
Creation.
Deeper arguments of St. Irenasus, in his defence of Our Lord's
manhood. The Logos, the representative' of the moral attri
butes of God, as opposed to the Gnostic notion, that God's es
sence consisted in mere Infinity. Our Lord really a man,
because the New Head of man's race. Proofs of His 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
1*

VI CONTENTS.
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 Him
as an inferior minister, would leave an opening for Arianism.
Anticipation of the right answer in St. Irenaeus. The Son per
sonally distinguished from the Father, in Himself, and inde
pendently of the world. The Son of one substance with the
Father [Tertullian.] Bound to the Father by eternal genera*
tion [Origen.]
The Anti-Nicene 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 Per
sons. 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 sepa
rate 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. 99-148
CHAPTER VI.
THE UNITY OF PERSON BETWEEN GOD THE WORD AND THE SON
OF MAN.
The Personal Oneness of Godhead and Manhood in Christ, not
less essential 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 Euty-
chians. Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon.
Error of Nestorius to deny that the Son of Mary was truly God.

CONTENTS. Vll
By denying the distinction between nature and personality,
he excluded the possibility of a union between God and man.
This union practically 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 connexion obtains
between His two natures. From which connexion comes the
ennobling of humanity. Effect which one nature produced
upon the other.
The 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 Man
hood in the Incarnation limited only by the conditions of the
Created nature. To omit this limitation, as done by Eutyches,
entails the very same result which was arrived at by Nesto
rius — 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. 148-169
CHAPTER VII.
OUR LORD'S MEDIATION THE CONSEQUENCE OF HIS INCARNATION.
Our Lord's Mediation is not a work which is arbitrarily under
taken, but results from his being the real medium through
whom Godhead has been pleased to communicate with Man
hood. 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. 170-175
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 Obe
dience. 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

Vlll CONTENTS.
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 it in a revealed example of God's jus
tice. 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 salva-
ble. 176-193
CHAPTER IX.
OF OUR LORD'S ACTS OF MEDIATION, SUBSEQUENTLY TO HIS ASCEN
SION, AND FIRST OF HIS INTERCESSION.
Christ our perpetual Advocate in Heaven. Now His Godhead
and His Manhood conjoin in this service. Difficulty of re
alizing 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. 193-208
CHAPTER X.
OUR LORD'S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE AS MEDIATOR WITH MEN.
All Christ's acts toward 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.
1 . Christ's presence with His people implies the presence of His
humanity, 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 every where 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 pre
viously pleased to adopt, are superseded by the real mediation
of the God-man. The efficacy of prayer idepends 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. Spi
ritual substances not subject to these laws. Our Lord's ma
terial body in heaven. Its presence upon earth through spi
ritual power.

CONTENTS. IX
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 In
carnate Son.
By this means does the co-operation of the Holy-Ghost in the
mediatorial office of the Son, consist with their personal dis
tinctness.
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.
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 trans
mitted 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 man
hood, the perfection of grace, in whom manhood was perfected
and purified. This renders Him the continual mediator be
tween 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. 208-241

CHAPTER XI.
CHRIST IS PRESENT WITH MEN IN HIS CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL.
Objective nature of this inquiry. Intimate union between Christ
and his church. As shown by Scriptural expressions respect
ing His body. A real relation between His body natural and
His body mystical. The Church's unity the result of this re
lation.
The assertion of the Church's unity in Scripture and the creed,
shows it not to be an accidental circumstance, but a funda
mental principle — the result of organization, not of enactment.
Its rule and origin is the harmony of Persons in ther Blessed
Trinity. The unity which exists above is extended to man
kind in Church-union, through the mediation of Christ.
This system n6 abridgment of man's liberty, because it does not
preclude the actings of God on individual minds. But those
who understand 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,

X CONTENTS.
independently 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 any thing 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. Coincidence 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 exarnples 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 of Persons in the Trinity, which is
a necessary prerequisite to a permanent union between God
head 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 Fountain 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. 241-272
CHAPTER XII.
OF COMMON WORSHIP AS A MEANS OF UNION WITH THE MYSTICAL
BODY OF CHRIST.
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 com
munion in church offices, whereby they participate in the me
diation of Christ. This privilege men cannot enjoy except
as members together in the body of Christ. Christ's Inter
cession 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

CONTENTS. XI
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
withithe offering of Christ's body upon the cross once for all.
This body present materially in heaven. Christ's sacrificial
acts above are participated in by Christians through the sacri
ficial acts of His ministers.
Objection 1st — That this is not to ascribe sufficient reality to the
sacrifice of the Eucharist. But it is to make it as truly a sac
rifice as the passover. The reality of its sacrificial character
depends upon the reality of those functions, which Christ con
tinues to discharge as the God-man.
Objection 2d — That too much reality is hereby ascribed to the
sacrifice of the eucharist. For it is alleged thaf 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 in
compatible with the prerogative of Christ, would be to assign
too little to Christ, and 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 effi
cacy 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 a Christian ministry,
by the agency whereof men are joined to the humanity of
Christ. The nature of this ministry gathered from the prac
tice of the Apostles. Apostolical succession the safest course.
Abandonment of the Apostolical succession has usually been fol
lowed by a disbelief in the reality of those means, whereby
union with Christ as the God-man is maintained. The ab
sence of a public liturgy has contributed to the same' result.
Consequent loss of the real dignity of Christian privileges, as
dependent on communion with Christ, the Incarnate Head. 272-310
CHAPTER XIII.
OF SACRAMENTS, AS MEANS OF UNION WITH THE MANHOOD OF
CHR1ST.-
Sacraments "the extension of the incarnation." "Their object
is — First, to be " badges or tokens of Christian men's profes
sion;" Secondly, to be channels of grace.- They have the ad
vantage of being a comfort in doubt, without ministering to
pride.

Xli CONTENTS.
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 Per
son of Christ. A j ust appreciation of what was present in Him,
connected with a true .belief of what is communicated to us.
The mode of communication spiritual and not material.
The benefit of Sacraments does no't result from the inherent effi
cacy 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 meta
phorical, the other objective and real. The latter sense is in
tended in this case, because Christ, with whom we are brought
into connexion by immaterial influence, is an actual Being ex
ternal to us.
Baptism stated in Scripture to effect our first union with Christ.
Objections 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 Cal
vinistic decrees, than its general invitations to repentance.
Secondly, the common want of effect may arise from want of
faithj and is not more than was exhibited in Adam.
The statements of the Liturgy respecting Baptism are not merely
hypothetical — because an assertion, not a hope; and because
they •speak of its, present effect, not its future consequences.
Their rejection involves the Pelagian hypothesis, thai ihe first
movement towards men's salvation 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. 310-348

CONTENTS. Xlii

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 ho
liness and truth come through Him.
I. Holiness has its source in God. Bestowed through the Media
tor on man. So far as it is perfect, it is imparted ; but the in
fused 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 be
come incarnate 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 incarnate Word communicates to his mystical body.
That the external record of imparted truth, i. e., Holy Scrip
ture, cannot be understood without that engrafted truth or in
ternal principle of spiritual illumination, 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 prero
gative of reason. But,
First — To admit reason to be, in itself, exclusively of God's en
grafted wisdom, a competent judge of all truth, is inconsistent
with belief in any objective system of revelation. That some

XIV CONTENTS.
reference must be made to the principle of reason is the ne
cessary result of human responsibility. {Duty of Private
Judgment.] But the reasoning faculty, which claims to be
independent of God's engrafted wisdom, must be such a prin
ciple, as refuses to acknowledge any authority except its own.
[Bight of Private Judgment.] It rests its conclusions, there
fore, either on the senses of which it makes use [sensualism
of Locke;] or on the senses, together with the inward consti
tution 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 ex
ercised, 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-ordi
nate 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 rational- <
ism. Christian Faith rests on the higher estate to which na
ture is elevated, because participated by that Divine type of
humanity, the Second Adam. Christian Faith therefore de
pends on the laws of that renewed nature, which, through me
diation, 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 Chris
tian reasoning respecting questions of religion.
To assert, therefore, that the word engrafted is needful to the
comprehension 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 to 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. Common theories of inspiration unsatisfactory.
Those, who would draw their 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 2d — That to suppose the engrafted word, dwelling in
the church, to be essential to the understanding of the Scrip
ture or word imparted, is inconsistent with the claims of indi
vidual illumination.

CONTENTS. XV
Preliminary admission that the excepted cases, in which God
bestows an especial gift of guidance, will be numerous. But
this does not preclude the existence of a rule. General effect
produced by the Church's testimony in maintaining the stand
ard 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 Scripture — Proof of this in the case of Semler
and of Fox — For it depends on the notion of an immediate in
tercourse 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 subordi
nation 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 perpetual 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. 348-403
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 comme
morated ; 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 Wor
ship.
Need of some principle of union amidst the increasing turmoil of
the age. 403-411

THE
DOCTRINE OF THE INCARNATION
% • OF
OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

INTRODUCTION.
THE YEARNINGS OF HUMANITY AFTER A DIVINE DELIVERER.
" The Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the
Son of David." Thus does the later volume of reve
lation usher in the advent of Him on whom its mys
teries 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 Rationalistic philosophy,
on the self-relying development of man's inherent
powers, but on the advent of an external Saviour.
And herein it fulfilled 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 to that golden
dream, which lived in the consecrated traditions of the
past, and the inspired imaginations of the future.
2

18 YEARNINGS AFTEK
Now this service, as men's natural conscience testi
fied, 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 ex
perience 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 representatives of humanity .
Ille deum vitam accipiet, divisque videbit
Fermixtas heroas, et ipse videbitur illis.
Hence the Anthropomorphism of the western world.
If men had become gods, there was hope that the infe
rior might, in some way, be benefited by the superior
nature. And the same feeling, though, acting in an
opposite direction, possessed the more thoughtful sages
of Asia. For the original charter 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 seejned
nothing in face of the immensity of nature, there was
still the same longing for the patronage of some higher
being, which, by condescending^ 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 Avaters 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 Or
musd will be universally extended ; and an all-embracing
kingdom of light will alone remain."1 All these con-
1 Zendavesta, quoted in Heeren's Ideen, i, 446.

A DIVINE DELIVERER. 19
ceptions 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, whieh had maintained its
place in the two grand branches of the family of Ja-
phet, as their borders had been enlarged through the
East and West, was to be satisfied 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 manifestation of the sons of God." But " when
the fulness of time w;as come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons."2 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." For thus did a higher
Being enter into relations with mankind, and set Him
self 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 Revelation — it answers to the first wants of
men. To this truth, then, it is proposed to draw at
tention in the following pages. The Incarnation will
be set forth as the great objective fact of Christianity.
The subject divides itself naturally into two parts : first,
the truth itself; and secondly, the benefits which man
kind receive by it. Such an inquiry, unless the writer
is mistaken, will suit the wants of the present day.
Religion being a divine reality, implies the existence
of certain outward facts, external to ourselves, which
have a being independent of our thoughts, and are the
objects of our consideration. Neither can it flourish,
unless the subjective action of our thoughts be main-
' Gal. iv. 4.

20 YEARNINGS AFTER
tained by the presence of such objective realities. For
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 happened, 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.3
When the minds of men are roused from any pro
tracted 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 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 dic
tated its growth, will evaporate in a system of empty
' phrases and party watch-words. And the sure conse-
3 " 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. p. 453, note H,

A DIVINE DELIVERER. 21
quence, if men fancy themselves deluded by a phrase
ology, 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 importance
that the objects of faith should be the loftiest and the
purest that in any particular age could be attained,"
the authoress cited appears to consider all religions upon
a par as regards their abstract truth, and observes,
that " men afflict themselves needlessly about one ano
ther's safety, as regards points of spiritual belief."4
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 as
sembly 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 Me
diator 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 dream
ers, into the sacred presence of the Great King. Hence
the desire of the present writer, as being bound by
education and hereditary attachment to those evange
lical principles in which he was nurtured, to call atten
tion to the external truths, on which the doctrines of
grace are dependent. For it is no system of idle words
which is made known by the holy Apostles, " con-
' " Eastern Life," by Harriet Martineau, vol. iii. p. 289 — 91 .
o*

22 THE pattern man
cerning 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."

CHAPTER 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 charac
teristics of His -being. Iii the first case, we should
begin with his Godhead ; in the second, with His man
hood. And the latter is, perhaps, the most natural
course, because His Incarnation 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 be
ginning 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 eter
nity. We begin, then, with the Apostle, that Jesus
Christ Our Lord was " made of the seed of David ac
cording 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 re
presentative of the human family, the chief among

THE FIRST FRUITS OF CREATION. 23
His brethren, the heir of whatever great qualities
belonged to mortal flesh, the antagonist of Satan, the
second Adam, the new head of man's race. The dis
position to look for such a type or pattern, in which
may be perfectly expressed what each man's con
sciousness imperfectly witnesses, lies deep in human
nature. It expresses itself in letters as well as insti
tutions — 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 recognise an
act of nobility or justice in our hereditary princes.
Tuque prior, tu parce genus qui ducis Olympo,
Projice tela manu sanguis mens.
So strong is this feeling, that it regains an engrafted
influence, even when history witnesses that past con
vulsions have rent and weakened it ; and the Celtic
feeling towards the Stuarts has been re-kindled in our
days towards the grand-daughter of George the Third
of Hanover.
Somewhat similar may be seen in the disposition to
idolize those 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 Shakspeare are the universal inheri
tance 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 repre
sentatives of our race, we might recognise our com
mon benefactors.
These are among the natural indications of. that

24 THE PATTERN MAN
hereditary bond of brotherhood, which attained its
perfect consummation in that supernatural advent of
the Son of Man, of whom all earthly excellence is
typical. For it is a characteristic of the Gospel to
give a higher employment to every faculty of the un
derstanding, 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 intercommunion it has received a super
natural elevation. For there are two ways in which
Christ might be set forth as that Pattern Manv in
whom our nature attained its perfection. Either He
might be the happy example in whom its native quali
ties found their perfect expression, in whom all that
belongs to mere humanity obtained the utmost develop
ment 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 Rationalism — 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 reve
lation, and adapted to the wants of man, but that
whatever truth or reason the system of Rationalism
may promise, could be attained only through that per
fect exhibition of man's nature, of which its supernatu
ral adoption by its divine participator was the cause.
The system of Rationalism, 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

THE FIRST FRUITS OF CREATION. 25
supposing 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 sys
tem and the other is, that Rationalism makes the indi
vidual the starting point for all improvement, whereas
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 pos
sesses, and supposes that their cultivation may enable
him to shake off the evils and infirmities which all de
plore. The man himself, therefore, is the commence
ment 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, according 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, therefore, in every individual must result
from that diffusive influence of the second Adam, by
which the exertion of individual intellect and will
must be preceded. Thus does it continue to extend
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 be
stowed upon our common nature through the Incarna
tion of Christ.
The contrast of these two systems may be traced

26 THE PATTERN MAN
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 Rationalistic edu
cation 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 Incarnation, on which it rests the
world's renewal, so Rationalism has its real foundation
in that theory of Pantheism, which ends in deifying
the natural powers of man. For put the Incarnation
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 contem
plation of those comprehensive laws of the physical
universe, which ally themselves so strangely with the
existence of mankind. They are reflected in the tra
ditions 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-embrac
ing power which pervades 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 be
ing need not be questioned. The principle of life, to
which all primitive mythologies 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 comple-

THE FIRST FRUITS OT CREATION. 27
tion, 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 humanfamily,
that He might not only exhibit its capacities in their
highest state, but bestow 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 interces
sion. 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 perfection in the constitu
tion 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 pur
pose 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 ; third
ly? by Sympathy.

28 Christ's office

CHAPTER 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 — 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 inconveni
ences by which he was environed, but an actual im
provement 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
development of his natural faculties, but some super
natural 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 preceded the birth of Christ, the first of these
truths were 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."

IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 29
Death spiritual at once asserted its empire over the
disobedient seed, and temporal death would have fol
lowed in its appointed season. But in the mean time
came in that merciful promise, which opened a door
of hope for offending mortality, 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, there
fore, with its collective character. By attaching the
promise to the woman's Seed, its Giver bound it to the
extension of society. And this is the reason, as St.
Irenaeus points out, why St. Luke, who wrote espe
cially for Gentile readers, traces up the descent of
Christ to Adam ; his object being to show that all na
tions, 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 intimation, so far as .we read, re
specting the nature of that deliverance, which the
progress of society was to bring along with it; whe
ther 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 advance
ment, through his inward power, had no basis to rest
upon. The Rationalistic notion, that man's regene
ration may be effected through the progress of society,
and the development of his natural powers, is the de-
i S. Iren. iii. 2S, 3, p. 219.
3

30 Christ's office
lusion of a cultivated age. In that simple 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 pro
mise was so recent, that through some unknown work
ing 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 mys
tery 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 contemporaries of Adam. Considering the ad
vantages which the first man had possessed, through
that acquaintance with God which was his singular pri
vilege, it was impossible that the blessed hope of re
conciliation, 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

IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 31
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 fa
mily from among the children of men, to be the main-
tainers of His worship, and the depository of His pro
mises. With Abraham began the peculiar privileges
of the Church. Then was the witness of an institu
tion substituted for that of individuals. And the pro
mise that through his seed should all 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 T>e-
stow 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.2 Now, 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 restora
tion 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 Brahminical caste of India,
through whom the degradation of the other children
of Adam was hereafter to be redressed. Such was
certainly the popular feeling among the Jews, and
such is really the tendency of those carnal views of
Scripture prophecy, which apply the predictions re-
2 Gen. xxvi. 4.

32specting 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 theearth and the head of the
nations; and some such earthly superiority therefore
would still await it, were not these predictions really ap
plicable to those spiritual descendants of Abraham,
" the Israel of God."3 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 pro
phecy have their real fulfilment. As it was through
their connexion with Him who was to come, that Is
rael was formerly God's people, so does Scripture
teach us thatit is those who are members of Him, who
at present constitute the Israel of God. Since the ad
vent 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 Patriarchs, St. Paul points out an
express declaration in ancient prophecy, that the
world-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,4 which is
3 Gal. vi. 16. To suppose that the Jewish nation will hereafter be
converted, as St. Paul appears to intimate, Rom. xi. 26, and that its con
version will" be productive of blessings to the world at large, is not incon
sistent with a belief that fhe spiritual precedency granted to the heirs of
Abraham belongs to his spiritual and not to his carnal progeny. " Nee
hi tantum essent Israel, quos sanguis et caro genuisset, sed in possessio
nem hasreditatis fidei filiis praparatoe, universitas adoptionis intraret." —
S. Leo, Ser. xxv. 2.
4 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 jni which is used in the original pro
mise, is collective, and does not, therefore, point out the single character

IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 33
Christ.5 And that Abraham himself had discovered
the meaning of this deep mystery, we are expressly
informed, for "Abraham 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 ge
neration, 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 roy
alty. This marked out plainly the individual charac
ter 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, accord
ing to the immemorial custom of the Church, must
seem unmeaning to those who discern not the Gospel
import of praying "for the peace of Jerusalem," and
to whom the Church's oneness, as it is asserted in the
Creed, is not a commentary on the declaration that
"Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity in itself. "
Arid so is it respecting those predictions of the head and
deliverer of mankind, which were expressed in the
shape of promises to David. We behold the Pattern
Man in His office as the Son of David, when we tes
tify that "they shall fear Thee, as long as the sun
and moon endure, from one generation to another."
Or again, "His seed shall 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 in
dicate, that the superiority here assigned belongs to
some representative of our race, who should share its
created character. They claim for Him certain rights,
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.
s Gal. iii. 10. 3*

34 Christ's office
(independently of the copartnership 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 posterities, 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."6
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 figurative 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."7 If ever the light of
Gospel truth shall visit the eyes of God's earlier peo-
ple> 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
' Psalm lxxii. 5, 17, 11, 19, ID; Psalm lxxxix. 35, 36.
1 Gal. iv. 'JC.

IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 35
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 per
petuated in her ranks, the divine presence manifested
in her 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."8
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 completeness
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?" To their own spirits, however, "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 withdrawal of physical
evils, nor yet the result of the mere self-dependent ex
ertions 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. "There shall come forth," says Isaiah, "a rod out
8 Heb. x. 20.

36 Christ's office
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 na
ture 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, therefore, to all its branches. "Be
hold 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."9 Or again, "I will raise unto
David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and
prosper."10 These passages look to the exaltation of man's na
ture, in the person of some favoured representative,
who should obtain blessings for his whole race. And,
therefore, the right of representing the root itself, is
attributed to this prosperous branch, in which the pafc
rent stock is resuscitated. For that which had been
spoken of as a Branch, is immediately afterwards de
clared 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."11 And thus was
the propljecy interpreted to the beloved Disciple, since
the "Lamb as it had been slain," by which is plainly
indicated our Lord, regarded according to His human
nature, is declared to be the "Root of David."12 In
deed, the word which our translators have understood
stem, indicates the same conception ; its literal mean
ing is that of a stem which has been cut down13 — a
stool, as woodmen technically express it, which may
serve the purpose of supplying a future plant. And
9 Zech. vi. 1 2. *° Jer. xxiii. 5. " Isaiah xi. 10.
12 Rev. v. 5. >* •' Abgeliauener Stam." — Gesenius, in loco.

IN ANCIENT SCRIPTURE. 37
thus are our thoughts led to the notion, which is other
wise given by Isaiah, in his fifty-third chapter, where
the dry ground of man's nature is spoken of as ger-
minant 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."14 This is He, then, of whom it is fur
ther spoken", " Unto us^ a child is born, unto us a son
is given." "Weigh the words," says Bishop Andrews
— "child is not said, but in humanis, among men."15
Here, then, we have so many predictions of a personal
inheritor of humanity, whose office should be to re
deem 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 represen
tative, 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 dwell-
ins-" 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 statements of Our Lord's Office from the conside
ration of those blessings which He conferred 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 came death,
by man came also the resurrection of the dead."16 He
is stated, according to His earthly nature, to be "the
first-born of every creature;"17 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 Incar
nation of Our Lord, as the head or Pattern of humanity.
" Isaiah, liii. 2. '• Sermon II.— Of the Nativity, p. II.
** I Corinthians, xv. 21, 45. " Colossians, i. 15.

38 Christ's office, etc.
St. Athanasius, following the Septuagint, and ex
pressing the Hebrew with more exactness than is done
in our translation,18 renders Proverbs, 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."19 And again, " Be
cause the Son says, when He took on Him the form
of a servant, The Lord created me a beginning of His
ways, let not men deny the eternity of his Godhead."20
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.
For 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,
" The Hebrew word, hup, has for its original meaning, to set upright,
and thence to build or make. This must be its signification in Deute
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 extio-ev.
"First-born,'' and "Beginning of bis ways," would, in this case, be
taken in the order of ideas rafher than of time. Perhaps, St. Paul speaks
in the same way of the fifth Commandment, as being the Foundation
Commandment, 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.
19 Oratio II. contra Arianos. sec. 47, vol. i. p. 515; and also Athana-
sius's Epistle to the Bishops of Egypt and Lybia, p. 317.
" II. contra Ar. sec. 51, p. 518.

CHRIST THE PATTERN MAN, ETC. 39
who was mads 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."21 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.

CHAPTER 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 constitution of His
nature? Was He any otherwise the Pattern Man
than Moses, who, in his day, was representative for
his brethren ? 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 ;" or again, " My flesh is meat indeed, and
My blood is drink indeed?"
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 consti-
21 Hebrews, ij. 6—9.

40 CHRIST, BY NATURE
tution of His being, for the service -which He ren
dered. 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. Mediation 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 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 pro
ceed, then, to the consideration of these questions : —
First, What is meant by that human nature which
Christ, Our Lord, assumed ; secondly, What was there
in His manner of assuming it, which made Him the
peculiar pattern and representative of mankind. —
The settlement 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 satisfaction of his wants,
but it must be hy 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 questions of our earnestness and sincerity.
But all these are movements and affections which lie
within ourselves. If Christ's service, however, be
any thing real — if there be truly a kingdom of heaven
round about us — if there be such things as heaven and

THE PATTERN MAN. 41
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 rela
tion 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 consummation in those higher
mysteries, which have been revealed to us as the
method of supplying them. Out of this circumstance
arises the extreme reverence which is due to the say
ings of Scripture. Since its inspired words are our
indication respecting that other world which is all
around us, we cannot prize too highly even those oc
casional intimations which open vistas into the mighty
depth 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 in
quiry into that human nature which was taken by
Christ Our Lord, must lead us up ; in this it must ter
minate. We must imitate the great Prophet of na
ture : — " Thy creatures have been my book^, but thy
Scriptures 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 resem
ble one another in features, organs, understanding, af
fections, and passions. This race we call collectively
mankind. We see also in the world an abundance of
4

42 CHRIST, BY NATURE
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 de
rived from the same stock will multiply together.
Consider their almost boundless number, the close re
semblance 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 continuous 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 to the most complex mollusk, and
thence to the numerous classes of the vertebrate king
dom, till we come to man — there is evidently some
single principle, whieh shows itself in nothing so re
markably as in the perpetuation of the same type,
amidst the various classes of co-ordinate beings. Even
if their divisions were not referrible, as most naturalists
suppose, to the fact of a common descent ; yet the ex
istence of some such law is evidenced by that harmo
nious march, which we witness in the tribes of ani
mated 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
re-appear.1 Abundant instances of the kind are af
forded by the physical history of man.2 To this prin-
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 like
ness at all to the colour of its parents.
2 Vide Dr, Pritchard's " Researches into the Natural History of Man."

THE PATTERN MAN. 43
ciple we must refer the fact, that peculiarities which
were accidentally present, as it would seem, in the
heads of any particular subdivision of some natural
class, are commonly, but not perpetually, transmitted
to their descendants. Such circumstances are proper
ties of particular families ; but not having been origi
nally 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, con
science, and love. In the case of man, likewise, we
discern the fact of some real principle of connexion,
by which the individual members of his race are bound
together, which constitute them an actual whole, and
which shows itself in that uniformity of type, which
marks the perpetual rank 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 indi
vidual personality, 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 analy
sis, capable of ascertaining what this principle is, pre
sents no just reason for denying its existence. What
do we know of electricity except by its effects? The
constant repetition of the same results, under similar

44 CHRIST, BY NATURE
circumstances, leads us to infer the existence of some
real though imponderable agent. And the same con
clusion seems justified, when we see the perpetual re
appearance of the same type in those who are posses
sors 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 con
nected 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, therefore, Pascal is cen
sured 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
grammatical, but an intrinsic, objective reality."3
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 hu
man nature. 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 substratum 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 exis
tence 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 anni
hilation could not choose but follow."4 The conti-
3 "Literature of Europe," iv. 160.
* 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, every thing has been
left to go on by the impulse which was originally bestowed.

THE PATTERN MAN. 45
nuity 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 bung-hole?"
Again, it is not implied that there is any reality in
human nature, distinct from the personal characteris
tics 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 any thing, distinct from the
constituent parts and qualities of each man, and say
that this 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 pro
bability that its re-appearance depends on some un
known principle of connexion.
Appearances lead us to imagine that the whole
series of man's 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 wliich is trans
mitted a single nature. The scriptural authority for
this opinion shall be noticed shortly : at present let us
consider its natural probability. 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 transmitted corruption. "Man's nature, as it
now is," says Mr. Hallam, "that which each man and
4*

46 CHRIST, BY NATURE
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 band 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 preserva
tion 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 unin
fluenced 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 ordi
nary law? Castanese fagos, ornusque incanduit albo
Flore pyri, glandesque sues fregere sub ulmis.
Unless some reason, therefore, can be assigned for
, the contrary, 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 na
ture, 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

THE PATTERN MAN. 47
influences of human parentage. The spirit5 of man,
with its peculiar principle of personality, is generally
supposed to be an immediate work of God's creative
will ; although it be His will, in man's nature at large,
to work according to the system of Traducianism.
St. Augustin,6 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 expressed by Giinther:7 "Tradu
cianism has its functions in respect to the animal (psy-
chische) 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 crea
tive action of God to that animal life, which is the
principle of his body's existence."
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 beings ; 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
5 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 ipcapable of being transmitted.
It is certain that He who took our whole nature did not take the prin
ciple of Personality according to the law of Traducianism; but that
" antequam ab illo forma servi esset accepta, nondum fuerit Christus,
sed tantummodo Verbum." — Vigilus c. Eutyr.h. iv. 5. " Ut per se sibi
assumsit ex virgine corpus, ita ex se sibi animam assumpsit" — S. Hilar.
de Trin.x. 22.
8 Quod attinet ad anima? 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. -lug.
Hetrac. i. 1, sec. 3.
St. Hilary expresses the more predominant opinion, that anima omnis
opus Dei sit, carnis vero generatio semper ex carne sit. — De Trin. x. 20.
' Vorschule zur speculativen Theologie. — Vol. ii. p. 181, Letter 8.

48 • CHRIST, BY NATURE
law. Let us descend the scale, then, till we reach
those inferior beings, in whom the unvaried arrange
ments of physical structure 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 ques
tioned in the case of the polyp, whose body is often
an actual fragment of the body from which it is de
rived. 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 applicatidn 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 hu
man nature is, that being only an abstraction formed
by ourselves from a variety of examples, there can be
no real thing intended by it; to give it actual exis
tence is supposed to be the error of the Realists, who
attributed an objective existence to those universal
conceptions, which were only the creatures 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 contrary to the theory of Nominalism, which
prevails in logic. But this is to abuse the principles
of Nominalism on one side, as the opposite principle
of Realism 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 objective
union ; but neither does it take that union away, pro
vided that by other means it can be shown to exist.
Yet this is the argument of thdse who, on principles
of Nominalism, deny the objective existence of human
nature. They pass over the distinction between such

THE PATTERN MAN. 49
classifications as men make for themselves by an in
ward 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 ex
ternal existence. The error of the Realists was en
couraged, according to Archbishop Whately,8 by ob
servation 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 ab
stractions. But if no real .connexion had united
these external objects, the sight of them would not
have led any one 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 in
dividuals 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 an
other. It would be a vicious Realism, therefore, to
assert the existence of an objective connexion among
these parties, because we can embrace them under a
common idea; but it would be an equally vicious No
minalism to deny an objective reality, where an in
herent law prevents the possibility of such re-arrange
ment, arid confines individuals to the peculiar classes
to which they severally 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 right, therefore, to deny the existence of a common
nature in those who are derived from a common origin;
whose union does not depend upon their voluntary
¦ Whately's Logic, p. 260.

50 CHRIST, BY NATURE
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 impulses, which had been bestowed upon it
by its innumerable possessors, since it came first from
its Maker's hands. Such impulses 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 brute creation. What is the mean
ing of all conference and concert' among men, unless
there be a real unity in the higher part of their consti
tution? 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 be called forth. Any one
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

THE PATTERN MAN. 51
and oppression, justice and truth — 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 irresistibly enforces upon us the
kindred character of our minds. When Milton de
scribes Adam's intercourse with an angel, he is com
pelled to seek for that principle of connexion in grati
tude to a common Creator, which some inherent law
of union produces of itself among, mankind :
" Only this I know,
That one Celestial Father gives to all."
So that, however strong may be the argument for
Creatianism in respect to some part of our spiritual
constitution, we cannot doubt that a connecting prin
ciple either binds together these more subtile parts of
man's being, or that they are influenced by the al
liance of that with which they are united.9 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 bor
der upon physical being — in memory, for example —
in habits — 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 accordance in the judgment of mankind,
regarded as a whole, as we find dissimilarity' through
9 " 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 Rom. v. 12.

52 CHRIST, BY NATURE
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.10 This has been
thought to militate against the reality of man's spiri
tual 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, there
fore, remains where it was before ; both our outer and
inner being testify to the existence of a relation be
tween the different members of the family of man. It
may be that our inner being is in part handed down
from one to other — in part derived from that creative
impulse, which gives each of 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.11
*° Vide an extract from the Dublin Review, for August, 1840, in
" The Vestiges of Creation," p. 333, second edition.
11 " In Adam the original material of Humanity, in Christ the origi
nal 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 a 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 iso
lated will every thing seem to him, for on the surface all things are de
tached. In mankind, in the nation, even in the family, he will see no
thing but individuals, whose actions are altogether distinct. The deeper
a man is the more conscious will he be of those inward principles of unity,
which 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 notperceive 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." — StaWs Phil, des Recht's, quoted
by Olshausen on Rom. v. 12.

THE PATTERN MAN. 53
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 Tra
ducianism, except in regard to a certain principle of
Personality, which has the appearance of being a dis
tinct 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 dis
cerned. 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 discussion, since what is meant
by a traditive nature, except that God has bound suc
cessive 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 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 to
wards 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 to
gether? Again, what means the statement, 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 sinful
ness of responsible agents. But are not sin and death
5

54 CHRIST, BY NATURE
inseparably united? And how, then, do we account
for tlie sufferings and death of unconscious infants?
" Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over them that had not sinned after the similitude
of Adam's transgression."12
Again, the same truth is alluded to, when the Apostle
tells us, that "as I may so say, Levi also, who re
ceived tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For he was yet
in the loins of his father when Melchisedec met him."13
The introduction shows, indeed, that the statement is
used in way of illustration. Yet there must be a rea
lity, which it is intended to illustrate. That reality
lies in the actual connexion, by which the. parties de
scribed 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 connexion is analogous to that inter
dependency of structure which unites the different por
tions 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 trans
mitted being which related Him to the rest. He not
only became like men and dwelt among them, but He
became man itself-^-an actual descendant 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 eminency, or to the depression
of some God to the level of mankind. But it was re
's Romans, v. 12, 14. » Hebrews vii. 9, 10.

THE PATTERN MAN. 55
served 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 copartnership 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 surrendered 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 condition of man
kind, 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 Him
self^" 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 work, performed by
real agents. It is not only that the Almighty was
pleased to save appearances, if we may so express it, by
conceding to th*e representations of a third party, what
He did not choose otherwise to yield or to acknowledge
(as Queen Philippa prevailed over her harsher hus
band, 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 af-

56 CHRIST, BY NATURE
fected. To deny, as is done by Bishop Hampden,14
"that we may attribute to God any change of purpose
towards man by what Christ has. done," would be to
resolve this real series of acts into a mere technical jug
gle. 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 retain
ing that divine personality, which it was impossible that
He should surrender? Since it was no new person
which He took, it can only have "been the substratum
in which personality has its existence.. For His Incar
nation, 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 man
kind 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 individual 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."15 "'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.'16 It pleased not the Word or Wisdom of
14 Bampton Lecture, V. p. 252.
" On Third Article, Works 9, 115.
18 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

THE PATTERN MAN. 57
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 common 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 original
element of our nature, before it was come to have any
personal human subsistence."17
II. We conclude, then, that there is such a thing
as that common nature of man which is handed down
through an innumerable series of personal inheritors;
and further, that He who was personally God, took
His place in this series by Incarnation, and thus as
sumed a common relation to all its possessors. It re
mains to show, in the second place, what was that pe
culiarity 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 into an earthly fraternity, has more in
fluence than his brethren; but He does n6t become their
representative, unless so constituted by their volun
tary act. What was there in Christ's manner of adopt-
shows, in the relation of effect to cause, since it was because " the chil
dren are partakers of flesh and blood,'' that " He also Himself like
wise took part of the same." And, therefore, the argument of the
text is not impaired by the mistranslation. " Eccles. Pol. ». 52 — 3.

58 CHRIST, BY NATURE
ing 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 an
swered 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 riame 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 indica
tion of it) implies that he was the man, the head or
representative of humanity.18 The grounds of this re
lation 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 mo
ther 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 fo biographize the protogo-
nous and archetypal man;"19 but those who are con
tent to take the Scripture as they find it, will recog
nise in this circumstance the real connexion between
the archetype and his descendants. And such a con
nexion is a necessary preparation for the great anti
type of our first parent — the new man Jesus Christ.
And if His relation to His brethren is to be as perfect
,B Vide Genesis ii. 19, 20, 21 ; iii. 8 ; and iv. 1.
" Vindication of Protestant Principles, p. 140.

THE PATTERN MAN. 59
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."20 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 cor
responding to our original father, and become, though
in a different manner, the representative of the race.
Had He been only a common man, however remark
able, 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 all men: at present it shall be shown,
that as Adam was the type in which man was origi
nally made, so Our Lord, regarded according to His
human being, was the fresh type, on which was re
modelled 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 autho
rity. " 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,
"Eccles. Pol. v. 56-7.

60 CHRIST, BY NATURE
we should first consider the origin of man."81 What
was there peculiar then in Adam? Wherein did the
Protoplast, as Bishop Bull calls him, after St. Irenaeus,
differ from us all? His constitution, like ours, con
sisted of body, soul, and spirit. The first and second
of these were the seat of appetite — of that capacity
of admitting material impulses, which, in itself, is nei
ther virtuous nor sinful. Adam eat 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 sin
fulness arises from its being ungoverned, as more or
less it is, in all the sinful progeny of Adam.22 " I de
light in the law of God after the inward man, but I
see another law in my members warring against the
law of my mind." 23 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 individual, 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, ex
cept it be found in those spiritual essences, which exist
along with and around us in the creation of God.
21 De Incarnatione, sec. 4, vol. i. p. 50.
22 "Concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin." — Art.
ix. — an intermediate declaration between the statements of the Council
of Trent and 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, say s : " Both itself, and all the motions
thereof, are truly and properly sin."
On the other hand, the Council of Trent says: Concupiscentiam
Ecclesiam nunquam intellexisse peccatum appellari quod vere et proprie
in renatis peccatum sit, sed quia ex peccato est, et ad peccatum inclinat."
— Sess. v. sec. 5. " Rom. vii. 22, 23.

THE PATTERN MAN. 61
Now, in Adam, all these parts of our nature were
not only good ih themselves, but they were happily
co-prdinated, the one to the other.24 Appetite was
not rebellious against reason, nor passion against con
science. So that not only were the parts of his con
stitution 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 jn
Adam's descendants, and which is expressed by that
corruption25 o i nature, in which they are declared to
be born. Not, of course, that the constituents 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 and service. To
eat is not sinful, nor the appetite of hunger — but glut
tony, 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 principle as gratitude remaining in our con
stitution? And if these principles remain, they can
not 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 wo% is denounced in Scripture 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? This was
the result to which the Manicheeans were led, by sup
s' Genesis, i. 31 . M Psalm, li. 5. ¦ Isaiah v. 20.

62 CHRIST, BY NATURE
posing human corruption to lie, not in the actings of
man as a whole, but in the constituent parts of his na
ture. The source of evil was traced back from man
to his author, and he was alleged to be the work of
that evil spirit, whose impress was supposed to be vi
sible in the elements of his nature.
Human corruption then lies in man himself, in the
compound 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 crea
ture 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
corroboration, but not improvement. Yet whence was
it that he had light for the guidance of his being?
Can man, who is a creature,. 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.27 Otherwise, man would
S1 In affirming that original righteousness is a supernatural gift, it
seems improper not to notice the objection taken against the assertion
by so high 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, wifhout 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 unfallen nature, but to the notion that na
ture 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 Lawrence to have thought supernatural grace a "super-

THE PATTERN MAN. 63
have approached too near to such independent and self-
originating action, as St. Athanasius !h 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 subordinatos, id loco Dei erit, et novum prin-
cipium, et Deaster quidam. "a9 " 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 with
out its Creator's help."30 There must have been
some divine principle in man — some supernatural gift,
induced 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 some
what more than supernatural." [B.a. 3,1, vol ix- p 9.] Now, this is all
which is assumed in the present argument. The purpose of Jackson was
not to exalt the natural powers of man, 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 conveyed by tlie statement of
Aquinas, " homo per peccatum originate spoliutur in groluitis, wine-
ralur in nnturalibus.,i And is expressed with great clearness by a
writer, to whom, when treating on this very subject, Jackson 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 grow
ing out of nature, should be required necessarily for the perfecting of
nature's integrity ; seeing the end and object of man's desires, know
ledge, and actions, 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 capa
ble of, and fill herself with infinite evils, defects and miseries." — Field
on the Church, Book iii. c. 26.
M They are not, he says, efficient causes [noniTwv airiov], so as to
be able to co-operate along with God as independent beings, in the work
of man's salvation. — Or. III. cont. Arianos, sec. 14.
33 Bacon's Meditationes SacrsB. — Works, v, 530.
KHarduin's Cone. 2, p. 1100.

64 CHRIST, BY NATURE
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 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- mysterious 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;31 secondly, Knowledge of God's works
in creation, with which the possession of language
was intimately connected ;32 thirdly, Intercourse with
God, from whom man received direct instructions
respecting his conduct.33 Now, of these three things,
the last seems to be" 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 in
finite into our contracted nature, was the first thing
which sin rendered impossible. Hence did Adam
hide himself from God's immediate 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 :
"Genesis i. 28. "Genesis ii. 19.
" Genesis ii. 1 6. 3* Genesis iii. 8, and iv, 1 4.

THE PATTERN MAN. 65
" Dixitque primum 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 eter
nal, 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."35 Yet
that God's image was not altogether lost, is plain
ly declared in Scripture. For when murder was for
bidden 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.36
The same conclusion may be derived from the refer
ence to this principle, as an argument against detrac
tion,37 and as sanctioning the arrangement of domes
tic life.38 This partial loss of a principle which is not
totally forfeited, led some of the ancient writers to
discriminate between God's likeness, 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."39 And so says
Tertullian: " What comes from God is not so much
extinguished as overshadowed. It can be oversha
dowed, because it is not God: it cannot be extin-
"' Genesis v, 3. *• Genesis ix. 6.
"James iii, 9. w 1 Cor. xi, 7. ""Catech. xiv. 10,

66 CHRIST, BY NATURE
guished, because God gave it."40 The image of God,
therefore, remains as that principle of conscience,
which St. Paul vindicates even for the heathen world.41
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."12 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
implanted, gift, because it is declared to have been the
indwelling of that principle of life, which is inherent
in the Eternal Worb. " In Him was life, and the
life was the light of men." And to be an indepen
dent, original source of life, is an incommunicable at
tribute of self-existent Godhead ; for it belonged as an
especial gift to Himyin 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."43 And St. Athana-
sius speaks of the first man as " having received grace
from without, and having lost it."44 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."45
The guiding light then of original humanity, was
not merely that perfection of natural understanding,
which resulted from the happy constitution of man's
« De Anima, 41 . « Romans H, 15. " Romans x. 20.
«De Gen. Horn. xv. "Or. H. t. Arian. 68, & Or. III. 38.
B*o)S oixmv cnrfetrirov. The force of the term is hardly given by
"no man can approach unto," — 1 Tim, vi. 16.

THE PATTERN MAN. 67
inherent powers, but a special and supernatural in
dwelling of the great Author of all knowledge. And
as this results from the general testimonies of Scrip
ture 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 derived their remaining
light of conscience, however darkened and confused,
from Him who is " the true light which lighteth every
man."46 And it is the peculiar blessing of Christians,
that by their union with Christ, they may renew that
connexion with God which Adam lost. For it was
through the intervention of the Word, or Eternal Son,
that man was originally created in the image of his
Maker. For it was by him that " the worlds were
made." He was that Word or Wisdom, "whose de
lights were with the sons of men."47 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 gift of the Holy Ohost, 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 head48 of man's
race," says St. Irenaeus, " that in Him we might re
cover 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 blessing, and that through it
we are to recover that likeness to God which man ori
ginally possessed, it follows that the likeness of God
must have been some divine presence, superadded to
primitive nature. This presence of a superior Being
was what gave perfection to that likeness of God in
which man was created. Now, that what is to be
" 1 John i. 9. " Proverbs viii. 31 .
" " Recapitulavit." 'AtaxiQakaiou was, no doubt, the original word
of St. Irenaus,— iii. 18, 1, p. 209.

68 CHRIST, BY NATURE
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 the,m."
Hence St. Paul declares it the vocation of Christians,
that whom God "did foreknow, He also did predesti
nate to be conformed to the image of his Son."49
Hence he tells the Corinthians that as "we have
borne the image of the earthy, we must also bear the
image of the heavenly.50 And again he says, that
Christians "have put on the new man, which is re
newed in knowledge after the image of Him that cre
ated him."51 And "we all reflecting52 like a glass the
glory of 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 vouchsafed
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 depravation of those individual principles
of right and wrong, which constitute the witness of
our conscience, but in the disorder 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 di-
48 Romans viii. 29. » I Corinthians xv. 49.
" Colossians iii. 10. See also Ephesians iv. 22, 23; 1 John iii. 3;
2 Corinthians iv. 4,
M Vide Olshausen on 2 Corinthians iii. 18.

THE PATTERN MAN. 69
vine light, by which man was originally guided. And
thence arises the turmoil 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 mate
rial being, which has been united in our constitution
to an intelligent 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 man's 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 intel
lect, than for the subjugation of his material clay. So
that man's corruption53 consists first, in the depriva
tion of the divine guidance whieh he has rejected, for
"the light shined in darkness, and the darkness com
prehended it not;" and secondly, in the consequent
rebellion of the lower principles of his body and his
soul. Now, that this is the real nature of man's sin
fulness 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 Scrip
ture. That Christ should have taken man's nature,
shows that its corruption was not in such wise inhe
rent 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 Mohler's work
" " If we speak of original sin formally, it is the privation of those
excellent gifts of divine grace, enabling us to know, love, fear, serve,
honour, 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 concu
piscence." — Field on the Church, Appendix to Book 3, Chap. 5.
6*

70 , CHRIST, BY NATURE
on Symbolism. Certain expressions of some of the
German Reformers tend, according to Mohler, to the
Manichaian heresy ; because, by making man's here
ditary sin a positive part of his constitution, they ex
empt 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 replies,
that whatever may be alleged against the expressions
in question, such could not have been their intention,
because the German Reformers affirm Christ to have
become by Incarnation consubstantial 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 Protestant teaching respecting original sin been,
as Mohler supposes, to reduce man to the condition of
a beast, it would have been impossible that Christ
should have been consubstantial with mankind."54
Thus then are we led to the conclusion, that original
sin arises from the absence of that guiding light, the
lack of 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
man's 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 resulting
from the withdrawal of a divine light, and as a con
sequent transmitted disorganization of the lower ap
petites and powers, consists well with St. Paul's state
ment 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 man's trial, it
will doubtless appear at last, that every one is tried
and judged according to his opportunities. But that it
" Baur's Gegensatz, &c , p, 78.

THE PATTERN MAN. 71
should have pleased God to withdraw the specific gift
of guidance, which was originally conferred upon
Adam, is in itself not more inconsistent ^with the prin
ciples of justice, than the removal of any other endow
ment 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 individual respon
sibility of Adam's children. And one circumstance,
which must, of course, greatly affect this whole ques
tion, 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 permanently
and without measure. "For if through the offence
of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God,
and the gift by grace, whieh is by one man Jesus
Christ, hath abounded unto many."
For that Adam should be the type and head of
man's 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 whole/5
ss On this subject, the following passage occurs in the able work of
Giinther [Vorschule zur Speculativen Theologie:] " The Idea of man,
as originally conceived in the mind of the Creator, is not merely that of
an individual 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 H is original thought, God's acts of crea
tion for the support of the race are directed. If therefore the first man,
as the representative of the race because its father, broke off the connex
ion between his spirit and the Godhead, the Creative Impulse on the
part of God could not renew that connexion and take away that breach,
which He had allowed to be produced in the case of the solitary first
man. And why could it notl 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.

72 CHRIST, BY NATURE
which was represented by the one, makes it more na
tural that it should be in like manner associated with
the other. For it may be shown, that the peculiar
constitution of nature, which existed in Adam, and
whereby he was especially qualified to be the repre
sentative 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 conception in the Virgin's womb, save
a taking of the original elements of our being, which
He moulded into a perfect manhood, 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 re
mained 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 creation 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, be
cause they were taken of one who was heir to Adam's
defects.56 But then He 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 weakness from
the first corrected; from the first moment that His
nature existed, its disorder was counteracted by the per
fect order and harmony of God's Spirit, and though
made of a woman, He was made without sin. There
fore, when the tempter assailed Him, He did it not, as
" " Quod (de B. Virgine) assumpsit, id profecto aut suscipiendum
mundavit, aut suscipiendo mundavit." — £ Aug. de Pecc. Mentis, ii. 24.
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 privi
lege to discharge,

THE PATTERN MAN. 73
Damascene remarks, through the medium of His in
ward thoughts, but, as in Adam's case, by external
aggression.57 For in His constitution there were the
elements of Adam's being together with the perfect
presence of that Wisdom of God, which had vouch
safed His 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."58 For He had Him
self, 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."59 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 man's 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 inter
course restored permanently 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. Athana-
sius, "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 have the gift of this
appellation."50 Thus, as Adam was a type of hu
manity 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
" De Fide Orthod. iii. 20.
" S. Irenaus, iv. 33—4, p. 271. M Method. Symposium.
00 Orat. III. contra Arian. sec. 10.

74 • CHRIST, BY NATURE
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
which 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 con
nected, 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 Adam was made a
living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening
spirit." Thus is that object attained for which man's heart
had always longed — the union of our inferior with
that superior nature, by which its weakness might be
redressed, and it's 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 imaginations
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.61 On this prin
ciple have man's natural conceptions of Divine inter
ference proceeded. Taking that notion which his cor
rupt heart suggested of the Deity, he has reasoned
from it to the probable manifestations of Divine help.
Hence with the Greeks, in whom strength62 and beau-
" Eth. Nic. x. 8.
62 So in Habakkuk, the description of a lawless warrior is (in the He
brew,) 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," that is,
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.

THE PATTERN MAN. 75
ty were the idolized qualities of our nature, the mani
festations of the Deity were
" Too fair to worship, too divine to love.' '
The favoured jEneas was "os humerosque Deo simi-
lis." 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 In
carnation of God, are such as Southey delights to ex
press, 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."d3 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."64 There
fore though no doubt the interior must have cast some
beams of its lustre on the outer man — " the unpol
luted 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."85 He was in truth " the bright
ness 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
He power to become the sons of God, even to them
" Isaiah, Iii. 14. "' Ephesians iv. 24. " Isaiah liii. 2.

76 CHRIST, BY NATURE
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 constitution of our being,
and man renewed takes the place of man fallen.66
And further, we see here the great evil of Idolatry,
as being a perversion of the grand principle of man's
being. For it is to lose sight of what is truly divine
and noble, that original image of God, the traces
whereof have not been altogether effaced from the
consciences of mankind. For " He left not Himself
without witness," not only in that " He did good„and
gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons," but
also in that men's conscience bore witness, and their
thoughts accused or excused one another.67 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 ex
ertion 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 subtle 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,
" Neque enim mole sed virtute magnus est Deus.— S. Aug. Ep. 137.
"Acts xiv. 17; Romans ii. 15.

CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN, ETC. 77
more than in strength of limb, but in that divine gift,
which, 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 intervals
of space," says Saint Augustin, "but by likeness do
we draw near to God, and by unlikeness do we depart
from Him."68 And those who would seek Him other
wise, in truth, " worship and serve the creature more
than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore."

CHAPTER 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 consti
tution of His nature. He vouchsafed actually to in
troduce 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 corres
ponded so exactly with that original type in which
our nature was moulded, as to make him a new Head
to mankind. Regarded according to his human na
ture, 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
" De Trin. vii. 10.

78 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
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, bywhich He paid the price of our re
demption. For these, though wrought through the in
tervention 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 subsist
ence. And therefore His acts of mercy to mankind
will be considered, when he has been- set forth as
"God over all, blessed forever." 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 person1 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 contend-
eth, that whosoever will deny very God to have suf
fered death, doth forsake the faith. Which notwith
standing 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
1 All properties or attributes, which belong either to tlie 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 predi
cated in the abstract of the other.
2 Eccles. Polity, v. 53, vid. Vigilius c. Eutych. iv. 5.

IN SYMPATHY. 79
power of doing or suffering, by which His manhood
contributed to the acts or passions of that Divine Per
son who was manifest in the flesh. What is to be
shown is, first, that there was a true1 human character
in Christ our master; and secondly, that His manner
of participating 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. 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 evi
dence that food sustained, and< sleep refreshed it. As
in Our Lord's immaterial nature, what needs most
attention is, to discern that what 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 considering 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 from human
sickness, might perhaps be expected fromSt. Matthew's
words: "Himself took our infirmities and bare our
sicknesses."8 That no such event is recorded, has
3 St. Matt, viii. 17.

80 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
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 bene
fits are introduced together in the words of Isaiah4 to
which St. Matthew refers ; and St. Peter speaks of
Christ as bearing "our sins,"6 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. H nee it is
argued that there was no mystery in Our Lord's suffer
ings, nor any relation between us and Him, except
that between a benefactor and those who profit by his
services. To avoid so monstrous a conclusion, 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 man's
nature enabled Him to participate 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 sym
pathy possessed His mind. It is commonly said, that
whatever be men's kindness of disposition, they can
not realize bodily pain, unless they have experienced
it. Was it so with Christ ? Would He have entered
more fully into human sickness, 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
* Isaiah liii. 4, 5. « 1 Pet. ii. 24.

IN SYMPATHY. 81
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 man's 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
accidental 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, 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 man's nature." For
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 eccen
tricity. This was what qualified Him for relationship
to collective humanity. So that the very circum
stance which rendered His sympathy so perfect, pre
cluded participation in the accidental particulars of
human sicknesses. Yet He bore their collective bur
den when He put on that earthly body, of whose
nature they are the individual developments. And
5 " lllos defectus Christus assumere debuit, qui consequuntur ex
peccato communi totius natUTag. — Quidam autem defectus sunt, qui non
consequuntur communiter totam humanam naturam, propter pecrntum
primi Parentis, sed causantur in aliquibus hominibus — Qui quidem
ilefectus quandoque causantur ex culpa hominis, puta ex inordinato victu ;
qn andoque autem ex defectu virtutis formativje. Quorum neutrum con
venit Christo."— Sum ma Theol. iii. 14, 4.
7*

OZ CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
we know not how far he may have tasted all their
bitterness in that season of temptation, in which He
was proof against the solicitations 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 His
single burden 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 of Adam's Hkeness to
their Creator. The perfect restoration of this like
ness in the Son of Man must have given Him that
complete control, which humanity in, general is not so
far fallen as altogether to have lost. Such may per
haps 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,"7 in that
solitary region where He triumphed8 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 were conveyed
to other bodies, is expressly recorded in Holy Writ.
' St. Mark i. 13.
"T^T-ove -yaf apAoai.TOf, u* to nxiidiv rixiiov. — Damasc.de Fide
Orth. iii. 18.

IN SYMPATHY. 83
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 participation 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 ihe 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,9 out of this body into the
bodies of others. Something of the same kind is
said to have happened occasionally, and by God's10
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.11 Now, since Christ as the second Adam
is that seed of life, through whom the "'spiritual
body"13 is to be quickened at the last day, that
" virtue should go out of Him"13 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."14 Whether the influence exerted
when He was upon earth were material or imma
terial, it is needless to ask. The miracle must appear
equally great to those who believe the statement of
the Apostle, that the virtue which proceeded from
Christ "healed them all." And that "the whole
multitude sought to touch Him," shows that His body
' St. Mark v. 30. '° Acts xix. 11. 12.
" It is impossible not to be struck by the contrast which, 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 touch, from His majestic man
hood. The opposition is strikingly brought out on the day when the
Church reads a miracle of Elisha, and another of Christ, for the two
Morning Lessons [May 1 1 — 2 Kings iv.: St. Matthew ix.]
u 1 Cor. xv. 44. " St. Luke vi. 19. " Philip, iii. 21.

84 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
was the instrument through which the gift was be
stowed. 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 some
thing passing from one body to another. "Js 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 proceeded from
His man's 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 effi
cacy 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.18
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 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."17 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 Himself the very source of life'8 by
virtue of His Godhead, this Divine influence made it
"Bamp. Lect vii. p. 3Ki.
10 " Since the life-giving Word of God dwelt in 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. Ci/r Alex. iv. 354.
" Genesis iii. 22, vid. S. Aug. de Pecc. Mer. i. 3, De Civ. Dei,
xiii. 23. ,s St. John v. 27.

IN SYMPATHY. 85
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."19
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."20 All these
things show that Christ's body is the Type and
Pattern of those innumerable frames, with whom he
consented to become consubstantial both in body and
soul, " for since by man came death, by man came
also the resurrection of the dead."21
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 charac
ter, 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 understanding.
Each of these was assumed by Christ according to
the fulness of man's being ; and in respect to each, it
may be shown that the character under which He dis
played 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. Be
sides the "video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor"
of the heathen, we have St. Paul's 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
18 Acts ii. 24. M St. John x. 17. 21 1 Cor. xv. 21.

86

CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN

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."a2 The perfection of His man's nature
implies the complete development 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, faintness, 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- 1 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 : " O 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 thev that did see Me without, conveyed themselves
from Me."
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 earthly course, whereby
22 Hebrews iv. IE.

IN SYMPATHY. 87
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 burden, of depriva
tion He endured through His man's nature, when in
some manner, to us unknown, He withdrew from it
for a time the succours of Deity. It may be that it
was impossible that perfect sympathy for man's weak
ness should exist, where man's temptations had not
been actually undergone. For "we have not a 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.""3 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
perfect state. By will is meant, the power of choice
or of refusal. Its existence, therefore, implies free
dom 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 pos
sess such irresistible power, that it is impossible for
will to offer resistance, is practically to deny its reality,
and thus to exonerate its possessors from responsi
bility. 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 it gained
only in Him, in whom the unlimited presence of God's
Spirit24 supplied the place of that Divine guidance
which had been given to our first parent ; and coun
teracted the concupiscence which had been transmitted
53 Hebrews, iv. 15, and ii. 18.
" " Inclinationem solus ille immutare potest, qui virtutem volendi
creatures contulit"— Summa. i. Q. 106, 2.

88 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
to his progeny. Thus did the Son of Man allay the
innerstorm 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.
Thisis 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 re
alized only by union with that Pattern Man, who at
tained 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 happi
ness 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 a perfect man, He must have made
acquaintance not only' with the infirmities of our will,
but with the weakness of our understanding. This
participation, however, could not have deprived God
head of that infinite knowledge, which every where
and always is its inalienable portion. Yet, since
knowledge and ignorance are incompatible, we under
stand 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 be
lief 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

IN SYMPATHY. 89
as these, so that this -expression arises from His good
ness towards man's nature, inasmuch as becoming man
He is not ashamed, so far as His ignorant flesh goes,
to say 'I know not.'"85 And again, "We who reve
rence 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. "i8 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."27
" And in like manner," says St. Irenaeus, " the Son of
God assigned a knowledge 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.'"28
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 igno
rance in Christ, not so much in that He was a man,
but.in so far as knowledge 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
" Orat. IK. c. Arian. xliii. vol. i. p. 593.
"• Orat. III. c. Arian. xiv. vol. i. p. 594.
a* De Incarnatione, vii. sec. 72, vol. ii. p. 720.
» St. Mark xiii. 32. Vide Iren. II. xxviii. 6, p. 158. ;
8

90 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
those who beheld Him."29 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 He shared our na
ture, 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."30 And the same
seems to have been the feeling of St. Ambrose's great
er disciple: "I would by no means suppose," says
St. Augustin, " that there was the ignorance of infan
cy 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."31 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 conseqviences 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 hypostatical union, but, inclining
to the teachings of the vain Nestorius, they are de
ceived 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?"32 And this, accordingly, has
since been the received opinion in the Church. "As
29 He speaks of tr\ tpavepuxris vys BioTyrogTois OQaOiv* 'offw Ss irj^sojrti
ancx&XvmeTO x.t.*.. — Orat. III. contra Arian. 52, vol. i. p 601.
™ 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.
31 De Pecc Mer. ii. sec. 48, vol. x. p. 65.
" De Fide Orthodox, iii. 22, vol. i. p. 246.

IN SYMPATHY. 91
there was no sinful concupiscence in Christ through
the fulness of grace, so through the perfection of wis
dom, which was in Him, was there no ignorance."
"For the nature which Christ assumed may be con
sidered in two ways : one, as it is in itself, and in this
respect it is ignorant and slavish — for man is his Ma
ker'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."33 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. This assertion that in
Him "are bid all the treasures of wisdom and know
ledge,"34 may be assigned to that period since the
Godhead has dwelt in His glorified body. But St.
John's words refer to what the diseiples "beheld."35
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 a 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 com
municates with the external world. He made trial
of those channels of communication whereby the chil
dren 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
33 Summa Theologire, iii. xv. 3. M Col. ii. C, 9. "St. John i. 14.

92 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
learned He obedience by the things which He suffer
ed."38 Learning is plainly relevant to knowledge,
and the especial difficulties which are incident to man
may, for what we know, have been inappreciable,
save by experience.37 Therefore, He who was 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 par
taker 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 receive 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."38 And this,
according to Bishop Bull,39 is the reason why St. Ire
naeus supposes Our Lord, as man, to have been igno
rant 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 Judg
ment."40 Now, by what means Our Lord should on the one
hand have partaken at once of all creaturely know
ledge,' and, on the other, have trodden the tedious path
38 Hebrews v. 8.
31 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, secundum varia gratis
sure incrementa, didicerit." — Le Grfinde de Incarnatione, diss. ix.
cap. ii.
St. Thomas's words are: "Quod scientia Christi profecit secundum
experientiam." — iii. 12, 2.
M Summa Theolog. iii. a. 3.
83 Massuet, in his preface to St. Irenaeus, p. exxxiii., asserts that Our
Lord's expressions are only a species of hypothesis— that He professes
to have no knowledge t>y Himself, but only as derived from the God
head. 40 Defensio Fidei Nic. ii. 5, sec. 8, p. 82.

IN SYMPATHY. 93
of observation and inference, is beyond our Compre
hension. Not but that we can discern how a thing
which is already known can be subsequently demon
strated. A man might determine, 'by admeasurement
of parts, that the squares of the hypothenuse was equal
in area to the squares of the sides, and yet afterwards
come to the same conclusion by reasoning. 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 Godhead, and was sustained by food as
well as by Omnipotence, so He condescended to
reason on all things outward, as well as to guide Him
self by inward inspiration. Therefore, St. Augustin
refers to the statement, that " the riches of Damascus
shall be taken before the child shall have knowledge
to cry, My Father, and My Mother,"41 to the offer
ing, 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
Nathaniel coming to Him," yet told him afterwards
that "before Philip called thee, when thou wast under
the fig-tree, I saw thee."42
The increase then of Our Lord's "wisdom" was
but the further 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
" Isaiah viii. 4. « John i. 47, 5 1 .

94

CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN

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 re
ceived so early that we never noted their approach ;
and yet these things, which we learn afterwards to be
conclusions furnished from within ourselves, address
themselves to us at first as unexpected communications.
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 less difficulty. He truly " increased
in wisdom as in stature ;" and yet, looked at accord
ing to the actual attainments of His mind, He was
full of truth.
So much respecting our Lord's actual participation
in the infirmities of man's understanding. Further, it
was in Him that the understanding as well as the will
of man attained its perfection. For man's reason can
not attain its full proportions, till it is shaped accord
ing to that primitive type in which it originated. Now
the excellence of its normal state lay in that complete
reflection of 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."43 By
being a fit suhject 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."44 Thus was man's understanding obscured,
till " God, who commanded the light to shine out of
" 1 John i. 5. " Proverbs ix. AO,

IN SYMPATHY. 95
darkness," gave back "the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."45 In
Him was the understanding of man restored to its per
fect 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 regains its proper rights, and
attains that perfection, which intercourse 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 pat
tern of Humanity, is further illustrated by two cir
cumstances ; 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 with that
character of fhe perfect Pattern of humanity, in which
He was manifested. And in the exercise of his men
tal 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 be
longed to him as the Son of man. His acts of mercy,
when He was in the flesh, were performed in accord
ance with that law of human sympathy, which He
took Upon Him as part of the nature in which He be
came incarnate. In His hands, so far as His Godhead
was concerned, was , lodged even at that season all
power in heaven and earth. All sickness, which af
flicted 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
** 2 Corinthians iv. 6.

96 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN
universal power of healing. His benefits were con
fined 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
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 mischievous.
So that, missing the designed end of its operation, it
falls back not seldom into the opposite extreme of mis
anthropy. Let it be given to the mere creature of
human impulse to stay all sicknesses, or to feed throng
ing multitudes by miraculous support, and the conse
quence would be an inversion of the ordinary laws of
God's providence, as mischievous for its immediate
objects, 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 mid
dle ages, as are founded on an exaggerated applica
tion of what was permitted to the prophets of the The
ocracy. 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 sueh re
sults. His eye indeed saw man's miseries and pitied

IN SYMPATHY. 97
them. But His true perception of the real 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 sympathies.
He gave, therefore, to His human nature what was
its due. He wept when grief overflowed its banks —
He succoured those whom the providence 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 mis
sion 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 uni
versality 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 ge
neral 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 pos
sessors 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 ge
nius', belonged in perfection only to Him who by nature
was one with God. From Him all earthly excellence
is derived ; of Him it is typical. In Him that wisdom
has its personal abode, which " in every people and
nation got a possession."45 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 " largeness of heart," as exceeds the compass of
" Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 6.

98 CHRIST, THE PATTERN MAN IN SYMPATHY.
mortal thought. Compare this perfect Pattern of our
being with those various ministers who attended or pre^
ceded 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 per
fected 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 man's
whole race, through the power of the Holy Ghost —
but of which the examples are only scattered, approxi
mate, incomplete, according as men " are made par
takers 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 concen
trated glory of an original radiance is all that we can
discern. How different, for example, was the prac
tical earnestness of St. Peter and St. Paul, from the
deep contemplativeness of the Beloved Apostle. How
far removed are the plaintive breathings of Jeremiah,
and the -picturesque visions of Ezekiel, from the lofti
ness of the Evangelical Prophet. What a contrast is
there between the fervent devotedness 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
shouM His simplest acts and words be treated with
the reverence, with which in ancient times were re
garded the lineaments of His outward form. For
every thing is great which comes out of the depth of
His unfathomable knowledge. Regarded only as a
man, He is the Pattern whom the residue of His race
are to adopt as their standard. For through Him

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 99
is renewed that intercourse with God, which is our
life. When we meditate upon His character, that
door is open 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
ground."

CHAPTER V.
OUR 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 condescension, 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 ne
cessary 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 Al
mighty 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
1 Romans ix. 5.

100 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
do, and did not consider what difficulties there are in
disbelieving it." Among. these difficulties must be
ranked, in the first place, the circumstances of Our
Lord's Human character, the preparation which had
marked Him 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 literature,2 should have conceived
those truths, which have enlarged the sphere of man's
knowledge, and made the one grand revolution in the
history of his race? How could His designs have
been developed, with a power which shookrthe mighti
est kingdoms; overthrew all preceding forms either of
faith or philosqphy, and 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 the dialect of the barbarous East, could triumph
over the pride of the Porch and the subtilty-of Ihe
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 fer
vid African, and allow the very strangeness of this
truth to stamp it with the character of being Divine?
"Cruxifixus est Dei films: non pudet, quia pudendum
est; et mortuus est Dei filius: prorsus credibile est,
quia ineptum est: et sepultus resurrexit: certum est,
quia impossible est."3
Such are some of the considerations, which are sug
gested by that Human side of Our Lord's character,
which it has been the purpose of the preceding pages
to §,et 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 ap
proach. For, first, the doctrine of an Incarnate God
2 St. John vii, 15. 3 Tertull, de Came Christi, sec. v.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 101
has an immediate relation to that ultimate nature of
Deity, in which lies the beginning of all being, and
the end of all truth — on which all knowledge is de
pendent — which exists in and by itself, as the parent
of all action, and the basis of all thought; and se
condly, through this doctrine only has the Godhead
been revealed to us tinder that nobler character, in
which we have learned to recognise Him. For it is
this truth that has made that mighty alteration in the
opinions of men, on which our noblest intellectual at
tainments are dependent. 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 of 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 aspi
rations of his nature. If it be true, as the philo
sophic Cudworth expresses it, that "we have all of
us by nature puvtivtia a, (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^"4 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."5 For
" no man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begot
ten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath
declared Him."8
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 re-modelling the barbarian, hordes, which oc-
4 Intellectual System, cap. iv. sec. 9.
* 2 Corinthians iv. 6. ' John i. 18.
9

102 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
cupied 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 for
saken. Thus, by an inward 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 truth. For subtle as some state
ments of our Creeds at first sight appear, the whole
amount of their varied instruction may be shown to
have been held in solution, if the phrase may be em1
ployed, 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, ac
cording to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead." Those parts in them which reach
highest, have been attained only by following the as
cending line of Scriptural doctrine, as it reversed that
wonderful process by which the Son of God left His
Father's glory to clothe Himself in mortal flesh.
And this circumstance suggests a different course of
proceeding from that which was adopted in the pre
ceding 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 accurate conception. Here then
it will not be enough to take the simple intimations of

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 103
Scripture by themselves ; we must combine them to
gether, 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 seve
ral parts, and how the central fact of Our Lord's In
carnation 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 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 The-
ophilus of Antioch, near the end of the second century.
Not that the holy Apostles had been wanting in a com
plete view of the Gospel, any more than in a know
ledge of its individual truths. But their light had not
come from learning, but from Revelation. The pro
cess of learning is first to accumulate individual 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 Revela
tion, through the mysterious 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 un
speakable 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

104 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
"into all truth:" "He will show you things to
come." Truth, therefore, properly speaking, belongs
to a system or book — Inspiration 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
relation 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 imperfectly apprehended. The simple facts indeed
are there : 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 the Third
Person in the Blessed Trinity are recognised, 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 Augus-
tin to be its exponent. Why it did not please God
that the full gifts of the Apostles were continued to
their successors, 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 collect
ive body, which was divinely instructed. The process

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 105
may be illustrated by what befalls every young student,
when he becomes acquainted with that systematic
view of Our Lord's nature7 which is given by Hooker.
At first probably he admires the majestic and harmo
nious flow of those weighty sentences, their prodi
gious 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 copiousness which he is at a
loss to account for. And it is only after repeated pe
rusals, and in many years, that he discerns the full
meaning of what had at first fallen idly on his incuri
ous 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 mys
teries of the kingdom of God were proclaimed in the
words of Revelation! Hence the numerous heresies
which sprung up in the early age of the Church,
among those who had the letter of Scripture in 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 docu
ments indeed had been little, but they were not pub
lished 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. 'Eccl. Pol. v.o. 51— 56.
9*

106 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
And here we must carefully distinguish between two
things of a very different nature-r-the authority of the
early Christian Church as a witness to facts, and as
the propounder of doctrines. Our Article, by speak
ing of the Church as not only " a witness and keeper
of Holy Writ," but also as having " authority in con
troversies of faith," suggests to us clearly this twofold
relation. 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 doctrine of Our Lord's
Divinity, not only were certain statements to be found
in Scripture, but it was an admitted fact, that worship
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 acknowledged custom.8 Again, a second
fact, which was witnessed by the Church, was the use
of Sacraments. "At the head of the ancient Chris
tian worship," says Professor Dorner, " must be placed
the Eucharist, in which the congregation celebrates
its atonement with God in Christ, the Mediator be
tween God and mankind ; and in the perpetual cele
bration of this feast is seen the first proof of the belief
of Christendom in Christ's Divinity." " The second
proof," he adds, " is the practice of Holy Baptism."0
A third fact of the same nature, is the existence of
those early Creeds to which the Church required men
to give their assent in Baptism. For though less de
tailed than was subsequently required, they all witness
a belief in Our Lord's Divinity. A fourth thing is the
existence of Doxologies, 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,
8 Eusebius, vii. 31.
8 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.)

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 107
and Resurrection. A sixth, is the use of Emblems, by
which the import of His passion was impressed upon
the mind. Here are six several particulars, inde
pendently of the preservation of Holy Scripture,
in which the early Church witnessed to facts of great
importance in the determination of Our Lord's charac
ter. But independently of her historical testimony,
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 pre
viously been noticed. In the one case, she was only
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 promise,
which assures us that the gates of hell shall not pre
vail against her, and which. assumes therefore that Ihe
Body of Christ will never be deserted by that guiding
Spirit, whieh is as necessary for truth as for obedience.
The help of the Holy Ghost is no doubt an abiding
succour, which is given according to the wants and cir
cumstances of the inheritance of G.od. In one age it
speaks by physical miracles, in another through that
moral influence which renews the life. And so too
did it display 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 direction 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

108 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
guidance might be a warrant for Neology on one side,
or Mahometanism on the other. Whereas the Chris
tian "covenant was . from the first understood to be
God's final dispensation with man. " There have
been two changes in man's 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."10
The Church's " authority in controversies of faith,"
requires therefore, as its constant counterpoise, the pa
ramount authority of Holy Writ. To adjust such vary
ing 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 . as yet impaired her
unity, the promise of Christ's presence was with her
in its fulness, and the weight of her decision was with
out abatement. Had her interpretation of the funda
mentals of the Gospel been erroneous, how had
Christ's promise in her favour been fulfilled? This
circumstance 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 de
cisions. They would rather fall back on the unre
flecting 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
intrusted. Those truths must have resolved them
selves into wrong combinations, if they had not been
resolved into right ones. The Body of Christ must
'" Oratio 37, soc. 58.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 109
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 de
pended 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 de
cisions, 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 im
pulse then given to the age, do but restore the imbe
cility of childhood without its innocence. -
The work, then, at present before us, is to consider
by what gradual steps the testimony of Scripture, il
lustrated by the practice of the Apostles, led to that
matured statement of the doctrine of Our Lord's Di
vinity, to which the Church was directed by the Holy
Ghost. For though the doctrine itself had been un
derstood 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 exhi
bition, 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
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 vindication of Chris
tian piety led to those deep inquiries which enlarged

110 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
and exalted the conceptions of mankind. Indeed, the
primary importahce of the worship of the God-man, is
as manifest from the conduct of the Church's assail
ants, as from that of her children: for during the ear
lier ages, of her existence, no enemies assaulted her, by
whom the doctrine of His sacred Person was not as
sailed as the first and most prominent part of her sys
tem. Their assaults may be referred in general to
three classes. In the second century, they were
grounded chiefly on a view of the nature of man, and
of the impossibility of a union between him and his
Maker. During the third and fourth centuries, on the
other hand, the prevalent heresies arose from specula
tions on the Divine nature, and on the want of co
herence 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 remained,
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 ar
gument 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 mea
sure overcome, that they awoke again in relation to
Unity of the Godhead. Thus did they rise from the
lower to the higher nature. And in each age the as
sailants might be resolved generally into two classes,
those who questioned the Deity, and those who ques
tioned the Humanity of Christ. The Arians were in
some sort the successors of the Ebionites, and the
Gnostics, were precursors of the Sabellian and Apolli-
narian school. The Ebionites were among the first
antagonists by whom the Christian mind was called
forth 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 ques-

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. Ill
tioned the Divine character of our Lord. Their influ
ence was so slight in early times, that they would be
lost sight of, but for the diligence of Eusebius,11 and a
few other ancient authors. They rose probably out of
the Jewish Christians, and had retained the notion, at
tributed by Justin to that nation, that Christ would be
only a man, and born of men.12 Hence perhaps their
name, {poor) from their entertaining, says Eusebius,
poor and low notions of Christ; unless it was derived
from the meanness and want of instruction which cha
racterized 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 uni
versal 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 extenaed itself; according
to which all corruption lay in the fleshy 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 confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is not of God ; and this is that spirit of anti
christ, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and
even now already is it in the world."13
" Eusebius, iii. 27. a Dial, cum Tryph. sec. 49. ,s 1 John iv. 3.

112

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 participation with ourselves, on
which rests-our salvation. Those who adopted them
were, of course, excluded from the Church's commu
nion; 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 er
rors 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, Jus
tin Martyr and St. Irensus. The .former may be re
ferred perhaps to the school of St. Paul, the latter to
that of St. John, though Irenaeus keeps far closer to
his guide, and enters far more deeply into the spirit of
the Gospel, than the philosophic Justin.14
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 ar
guments rest upon a review 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 Him
self a certain intellectual form, as a beginning which
preceded all creation, which is sometimes called by the
Holy Ghost — God's glory, sometimes His Son, some
times Wisdom, sometimes His Angel, sometimes God,
sometimes the Lord and the Word."15 And. again,
" Mohler's Einheit der Kirche, sec. 35.
"* Dialogus cum Tryphone, sec. 61, p. 157.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 113
speaking of His presence among men;" the18 omnipo
tent and invisible God from heaven has Himself placed
among men His truth and Holy Word — not as one
might suppose sending a minister or an angel — but the
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 discovered
by philosophers or legislators, has been owing to that
partial discovery and observation of the Word, tb which
their labours conducted them. But because they had
no complete knowledge of the Word, who is Christ,
they fell into many contradictions."17 Thus Would he
account for the fact, that Plato's teaching is in so far
" not contrary to that of Christ,"18 that he likewise be
lieved in "those three divine hypostases, that have the
nature of principles in the Universe, viz., monad, mind,'
and soul."19 Indeed, if in the secret abyss of infinite
Being we recognise the mysterious Three as the primal
source of all existence, what more natural, to say no
thing of an original revelation, than that man's heart
should have such natural affinity to this belief, as to
lead deep thinkers to anticipate it? " Each one, there
fore," says Justin, " spoke well, according as through
the seminal principle of the Divine Word, he descried
something which was akin to his nature." "And what
ever they said well belongs to us Christians. For
the Word of the unbegotten and ineffable God, we
worship and love together with God, since for our
sakes He became man, that being partaker of our suf
ferings He might cure them."20
Having thus declared Christ to be God's Wisdom
16 Ad Diognet. sec. 7. Whether this letter be Justin's or not, it is, the
Benedictine editors say, " S. Martyre dignissimum."
11 Apol. II. sec. x. p. 95. '" Apol. II. sec. xii. p. 97.
13 Cudworth's lntell. Sys. iv. 36. =° Apol. II. sec. xiii. p. 98.
10

114 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
or Word in its completeness,21 he shows His pre-exist-
ejg§e,22 and that He shared the counsels23 of the Fa
ther before the world was. Finally, he points out
that Our Lord had an inherent and independent, not
merely a conditional and relationary existence, both
as regards the works of Creation, and the Father Him
self. For He was " the Son of God, the only real
Son, who was with God before all creation."24 . " And
He it is, who was seen by Abraham, Jacob, and Moses,
and who is called God1 — other than the God who is
the original of all things; that is, other in number
[i. e. person,] not in mind."25
The writings of St. Irenaeus against the Gnostics
are built upon the same doctrine of " the Incarnate
Word," which is brought forward by Justin, but St.
Irenaeus 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 Revelation.
According to his system, we should.be in danger of
resting the Godhead upon the mere heathen ground
of intellectual 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 beloyed Apostle are thus a guiding
star to him who had sat at the feet of his disciple.
¦" Apol. II. sec. viii. p. 94. "Apol. I. 6ec. Ixiii. p. 81.
33 Ep. ad Diog. viii. p. 238. " Apol. II. sec. vi. p. 92.
" Cum. Trypho, Ivi. p. 152.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 115
The Word of God therefore, by whom the Divine cha
racter is manifested, is in like manner distinguished
by that attribute which is proper to Deity. " The one
God, who made and arranged every thing "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, 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."26
And in another place he says, that " the immensity of
God and His substance are things beyond human esti
mation, for no man has ever measured nor handled
them ; but what falls within man's perception is H is
love."21 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 Irenaeus, 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 fate28 or any higher
law. "Non enim excogitabis."29 "Canst thou by
searching find out God?,? " He30 who seeks it, unless
he repent, will float about for ever in the ocean of in
comprehensibility."31 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 opi
nions manifested their effect; — their denial namely of
56 St. Irenams, iv. 20, 4, p. 254 [Massuet.]
B1 Ibid. iii. 24, 2, p. 223. « Ibid. ii. 5, 4, p. 121.
23 Ibid. ii. 25, 4, p. 153. » Ibid. iv. 9,3, p. 238.
81 " Quemadmodum poterit quis intelligere aut cognoscere in corde tam
magnum Deum V Ibid. iv. 19, 3, p. 252.

116 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
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 im
possible that the Supreme Mind should manifest itself
in the flesh. Against this opinion St. Irenaeus puts
the declaration df 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."32 He discriminates between mere natural
limitation, which belongs to material being, and that
moral corruption, which is the consequence of sin.
Without the removal of the last, he says, there was
some natural impossibility in man's salvation ;33 Whereas
the admixture of material elements in man's nature
was only a part of that perfect34 construction in which
he was originally made. And that Christ Our Lord
participated in them, was shown by abundant indivi
dual indications. Why else should He have been hun
gry 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 ?35 But Irenaeus
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 Aphthartodocetffi,36
a sect of Eutychians ; and thus was Christ's sympathy
^S. Iren. v. 1,1, p. 292.
11 " Impossible erat ut salutem perciperet qui sub peccato ceciderat." —
S. Irenseus, iii. 18, 2, p. 209.
¦ "S. Iren. v. 6, l,p 299.
3S S. Iren. iii. 22, 2, p. 219. S. Leo, Ep. xxiv. 4.
""' Oportebat non solum velle, sed fecisse Deum aliquid erga nos." — ¦
Leontius, c. Nest, et Eutych. Bib. Max. Pat. ix. 688, aid. Pet., de
Inc. x. 3.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 117
with ourselves divested of its reality. To guard
against such an error, Irenaeus insists on that relation
between Christ and humanity at large, which is re
vealed 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. "J7 This relation of Christ
to man, he grounds on those passages of Holy Scrip
ture which speak of Christ as the antitype of Adam,
" whence also, by St. Paul, Adam is called the type
of Him who was to eome;"sS and likewise pn the de
clarations 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;"39 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 learned the general purpose of their teaching
from their- immediate disciples. r"It was necessary
that He who began to destroy sin, and to redeem men
who deserved death, should Himself be made partaker
of that nature, which by sin had been brought into
servitude, and was enthralled by death, that so sin
might be destroyed by man, and man might be deli
vered 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
" S. Iren. iii. 22. 1 , p. 218. " Ibid. iii. 22, 3, p. 219.
"Eccl. Pol. v. 55, 1. IO*1

118 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
His origin, many have been justified and obtained sal
vation. 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 man's ori
ginal race, that He might destroy sin, deprive death
of its sting, and give mankind life."40
There are two particular points to which Irenaeus
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, the communion of His body. It could not be
blood, unless there were flesh, veins, and whatever
else belongs to man's 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 redemp
tion through His^blood, the forgiveness of sins.V41
In referring to the Holy Communion as evidencing
the truth of Our Lord's humanity, St. Irenaeus ap
peals to the testimony of the early Church, that the
gifts of grace are obtained through union with - the
man Jesus Christ, in as real a manner as forgiveness 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 distributed in por
tions, without limit and without destruction, and also
that men's senses are supematurally withheld from dis-
40 S.Irenteus, iii. 18, 7, p 211.
« S. Irenes, v, 2, 2, p. 293. S. Leo, Ep. 84, 5,

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 119
cerning it, is denied by our Church under the name of
Transubstantiation. What other interpretations may
be given to a word unknown to antiquity, and how
far, considering the technical nature of the term sub
stance, a more refined construction of it may harmo
nize with the decrees of the Council of Trent, is a
question for those who have to subscribe its formula
ries. 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 ef
fect 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 Commu
nion is " the body and blood of Christ, which are ve
rily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in
the Lord's Supper." Now this is all which is requi
site, to give its force to the argument of St. Irenaeus.
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, of course, that the participation of
Our Lord's body in the Holy Communion is not merely
figurative, that it is not a mere memorial of His death,
an acted sermon on His sufferings; arid 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 Resurrection 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 argu
ment against the Docetae, 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 repre
sentation, supposed, naturally enough, that His pre-

120 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
sence in the Eucharist was only a figurative process,
by which our imagination was strongly impressed, and
that neither was there in Christ any real body to pro
duce 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 Irenaeus, the certainty of man
kind'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,42 subject, as the Gnostics sup
posed, 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 show
ing that they are the means of communicating that mys
terious 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 interpretation, but by
spiritual power. " The mixture of [Christ's] bodily
substance with ours, is a thing which the ancient Fa
thers disclaim. Yet the mixture of His flesh with
ours they speak of, to signify what our very bodies,
through mystical conjunction, receive from that vital
efficacy which we know to be His, and from bodily
mixtures they borrow divers similitudes, rather to de
clare the truth, than the manner of coherence between
His sacred and the sanctified bodies of Saints."43 Ac
cordingly Irenaeus says, " when the mixed cup, and
the bread which results from growth, receives44 the
*» S. Iren. IV. 33, 2, p. 270, and iv. 18, 4, p. 851.
" Eccl. Pol. v. 56,9!
44 " Accedit verbum [i. e. of consecration] ad elemcntum, et fit Sacra-
mentum. "— >S. Aug. in Joan. Ixxx. 3.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 121
word of God, the Eucharist becomes the body of Christ,
and from them the substance of our flesh receives in
crease 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 Hiin? as
the blessed Paul says in his Epistle to the Ephesians,
'we are "members of His body: of His flesh, and of
His bones.' ""
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 suf
ficient proof that St. Irenaeus, with the rest of the
early Church, maintained Our Lord's Manhood as
certainly as His Godhead. The two natures were
believed to be absolutely joined together in one Person.
Was there any thing which belonged of necessary
right to the nature of man, it might certainly be attri
buted to Him ; was there any thing 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.
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 how
ever was now come, when the influx of educated and
thoughtful men into the Church, made it necessary to
give this great truth a more adequate expression. In
the third century of the Christian era, to the consi
deration of which we now come, there arose a new
set of objectors, to try men's allegiance to the Gospel.
" S. Irenams, v. 2, 3, p. 294.

122 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
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 Chris
tianity, that man was God and God man; they had
learned the more subtle and dangerous policy of amend
ing 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 wor
shippers of but one. We hold, they say, to the mo
narchy."46 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 could 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 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 insist
ing 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 mis-
" Adv. Praxeam, 3.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 123
conceptions 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 different God and a different Christ."47
"It was in maintaining, therefore, the character of
Christ, that there arose all those disputes respecting
the Doctrine of the Trinity, which existed in the early
Church."48 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 per
sonal character. Yet such a personality 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 worship, 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 prin
ciples 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 afterwards 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 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,
" Adv. Praxeam, sec. 18.
41 Dorner's Person Christi, vol. i. p. 940.

124 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
the Being so employed was only a creature, distin
guished by greater responsibility from the things which
He created. "Refer Our Lord's Godhead only to
His resemblance to the Divine attributes, and His per
sonality was lost in the Unity of God ; prove His per
sonality by His activity in creation, and His Godhead
was lost in the created universe. If God be not per
sonally distinguished from God, the principle of dis
crimination 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 discriminate the Son's per
sonality are sought for in God Himself, Arianism must
of necessity follow."49
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. Irenaeus, iii a manner suf
ficient 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 invisible50 power, ever present51 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.52 This
supplies him not only with a safeguard against the
danger of a general Pantheism, the principle of which
is to merge the personality of the moral Governor in
the circle of His works, but it is a protest by anticipa
tion against the Arian heresy, the essential feature of
which was to represent the existence of the Son as re
lative only to creation. On the other hand, Irenaeus
makes provision against Sabellian misrepresentations,
48 Dorner's Person Christi, i. 449. m S. Irenteus, iv. 24, 2, p. 260.
" Ibid. iv. 20, 1, p. 253. ¦ Ibid. iv. 14, 1, p. 243.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 125
by discriminating the person of the Word from that of
the Father. He disclaims 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 ig
norant of what is human as well as what is Divine."53
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 Sabel
lian notion, that the Son is not personally distinct from
the Father, but merely one side or phase of the Fa
ther'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 indicated by Irenaeus was fol
lowed by Tertullian, who marked out more carefully
the Son's independence of the external world, by ob
serving that He was one in substancesi with the Fa
ther. Thus was He taken altogether out of the class
of created beings. The explanations of Origen were
still more complete.55 He introduced the phrase of
the " Son's, eternal generation," which was at once
M S. Irenseus, ii. 28, 5, p. 157. '4 Adv. Praxeam, sec 4.
" "Est namque ita oeterria ac sempiterna genera tio sicut splendor ge-
neratus ex luce.- Non enim per adoptionem spiritus Filius fit extrin-
secus, sed natura Filius est." — De Principiis, 1, 2, 4.
11

126 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
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 se
cured the notion of a perpetual generation, in which
time had no part; and since the discriminating consi
derations of the Son's personality were thus laid in
the nature of the Deity itself, the Sabellian confusion
was escaped, and yet the Deity was not rendered de
pendent 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
weee irnperfectly 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. Newman. It
is not alleged that the ideas which they entertained
were incorrect, but that in comprehending their rela
tions, 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 ungrounded. The traveller who in
clines 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 first three centuries were in error respecting any
of the great truths of the gospel; though the Church's
mind was gradually led on by the Holy Ghost to a
more complete appreciation of alltheir multiform rela
tions. 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 need-

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 127
ful, while the enemy lay without the Church. It was
enough for the Bishops to exclude those from the com
munion of the faithful, 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
Rome, as the common father of its citizens. But in
the third century, we find no less than three local Coun
cils, which opened the way for that great assembly at
Nice, in which the Catholic doctrines were fully vin
dicated. The first two of these were directed against
Sabellian tenets, which were propagated in the one
case by the disciples of Noetus of Smyrna,50 in the
other by the Arabian Bishop Beryllus. In the latter
instance, Beryllus, the author of the error, was him
self reclaimed by the arguments of Origen.57 We
learn from Socrates,58 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 Irenaeus and Tertullian,) for they
speak of Our Lord as ignorant according to His man
hood, had been first put in a clear light by Origen.
The errors of Beryllus had been those which are com
monly maintained by Sabellians, that Our Lord, be
fore His incarnation, was not really discriminated by
any personal 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.59 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 supposed 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 state-
88 His opinions are recorded by S. Hippolytus — Contra Noetum, i. 5.
—Vide Routh's Kel. Sac. ii. p. 374. [1st Ed.]
" Eus. Eccl. Hist. vi. 33. M Hist, iii. 7. a Eusebius, u. s.

128 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
ments 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 ex
plain away Our Lord's personality was inconsistent
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, that Beryllus was re
claimed from his errors. For when he had learnt,
through the teaching of Origen, to form a deeper es
timate 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 Samosata, 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 maintaining the truths which had been delivered
to them — "we say that which we have learned"' — so the
Council at Antioch, after affirming the reality of Our
Lord's Godhead against Paul, concludes with an asser
tion that " all the Catholic Churches agree with us."B0
This Council carries us onto that celebrated assembly
at Nice, a. d. 325, for the celebration of which such
providential preparation had been made by the ascen
dency of Constantine. 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,
80 Eus. Ecc. Hist. vii. 30.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 129
and filled in certain particulars of the outline which
had already been delineated. Besides its main work,
the assertion of the Deity of the Holy Ghost, it con
demned the Apollinarian heresy, by which Our Lord's
Humanity was called in question. In neither of these
Councils, however, was any thing concluded, except
what all the Fathers declared to have been received
from the beginning in their several Churches. For
the ascending line of Christian truth was only the pro
longation of that first principle of the Gospel, that
Christ was perfect God and perfect man, in the full
completeness of both these relations. And as it has
pleased God that His Church has never been without
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 re
vealed religion its proper superiority. His four Ora
tions 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 any thing of God's nature, and al
lege religion to consist only in our relation to some
Being who is incomprehensible. 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. Un
less 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."61 He who comes to God, or enters himself in
81 "Moral infinity as well as mathematical; moral modes in their
highest degree, as well as modes of quantity in its unlimited extent; arc
11*

130 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
the Chtfrch 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 no
tion, though never so inadequate, of any of its quali
ties or attributes — for this may be fate, or chaos, or
plastic nature, or any thing 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 perfection."62 But unless our faith have a
counterpart in some external reality, it is but a delu
sive imagination. All explanation therefore respect
ing 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 ac
knowledge 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 to
gether, inasmuch as the first is approached through
the second; and the second can never be really ac
cepted without the admission of the first. They form
between them " the mystery of God, and of the
Father, and of Christ."83 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 mys-
subject 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 approach the properties of the infinite, we must pursue the enlarged
idea taken from the properties of the first, and not adopt the contradic
tory or any alien idea, to make the approximation to the infinite in ques
tion." — Davison on Prophecy, p. 548.
'" Minute Philosopher, Dial. iv. 18, 21. 63 Colossians ii. 2.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 131
teries, 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
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, with
out endeavouring to draw them together 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 re
ception, by those who do not discern that its transcen
dent nature raises it above our ordinary laws of thought,
is that our common notion of spiritual beings is de
rived from that internal principle which we call' Per
sonality. 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 conscious
ness 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

132 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
further, that to attribute this principle of individuality
to Godhead at large, would beto deny its applicabili
ty to the Three Persons; or to assert that it was ab
solutely 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 applicability to either of them, would seem,
on the one hand, to detract too much from the oneness
of the Supreme Being;64 and on the other, to derogate
from the actual existence of the Three Blessed Per
sons.65 Of course, a solution of the- perplexity may
be found, if it be admitted that the finite individuality
which supplies our 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
personality, by which each man is divided from all
connatural substances. But those who deny that any
thing 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.06
" "Cur ergo non haec tria simul unam personam dicimus. sicut unam
essentium et unum Deum, sed tres dicimus personas, cum tres deos aut
tres essentias non dicamus, nisi volumus vel unum' aliquod vocaliu'.um
servire huic significationi, qua intelligitur Trinitas,''. &c. — S. Aug. de
Trin. vii. ] I.
" "Qusesivit quid tria diceret: et dixit substantias sive personas, qui
bus nominibus non diversititcm intelligi voluit, sed singularitatem no-
luit," &c. — S. Aug. de Trin. vii. 9.
" "Ut, quiii in deitate Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti nee singula-
rit.is est nee divcrsiias covitonda, vera Unitas et vera Trinitas possit
quidam mente simul sentiri, sed non possit ore simul proferri." — S. Leo
adoersus Eaiych,
" Timuit diccre Tres essentias, ne intelligeretur in ilia summa sequa-
litate ulla diversitas. Rursus non esse tria qusedam non poterat dicera,

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 133
For no attempt is made to explain the nature of the
Divine Being. Since Revelation is assumed to be the
entrance of Divine realities into this lower world, it is
not supposed that human conceptions can give them
adequate expression.67 The Church does not aim,
therefore, at such logical completeness on this subject,
as may be required from those who consider that every
thing 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 doc
trine 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 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 Bless
ed 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 inex
plicable. Such explanations are plausible enough,
quod Sabellius quia dixit in heeresim lapsus est." — R. Aug. de Trin.
vii. 9.
8' " Conveniens est ut hoc nomeh (persona) de Deo dicatur : non ta
men 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,- Orford Library of the
Fathers, vol. viii. p. 155. _

134 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
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
pf nature. Peter,. James and John, were three per
sons; 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 recognise
the Unity pf God. It is at variance, therefore, with
the whole teaching of the Old Testament, and has, in
consequence, been formally condemned, as heretical.68
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 himself under various characters,
as he came into relation to Various parties is intelligible
enough. Cicero speaks of himself, 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
different Persons intelligible. But as. the previous so
lution offends against the Unity of the Godhead, so
does this against the reality of the Three Blessed Per
sons^ which constitute it. That which is essential to
their reality — that which constitutes them real Per
sons, and not a mere fictitious representation, is, that
the characteristic conditions which mark their diver
gency should lie in the eternal nature of Godhead
68 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. 135
itself, and not in any relation 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
consequence 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
"for 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 main
tenance the Christian mind is restrained from error on
this cardinal article df 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 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 Panthe
istic adoration of all existing powers, which excludes
the action of any moral Ruler. For the worship of
many gods is rejected by the reason of the age; and
its inconsistency with revealed truth is indelibly im
pressed . 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 resujts from an exclusive regard
to the truth of the Divine Unity. The Unity of the

136 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
Divine nature is a doctrine .so true, simple, and import
ant — it has such strong hold in our nature, and is so
forcibly recommended to us in ancient Scripture, that
it naturally overbears any antagonist principle. To
this circumstance is owing the popular tendency of
the day to an unconscious Sabellianism. Men con
struct their notion of the Three Blessed Persons on the
principle of a logical consistency with that system of
interdependence, pf 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 dayss 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 maintain
ing 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 impossi
ble that it should abandon. So that while the reaction
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 deeply rooted in the in
stinct 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 per
sonal indwelling in the bosom of Eternal Godhead.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 137
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 Himself is the parent
of that image, in which His pleasure is to contemplate
Himself." "Was there ever a time, then, in which the
Father did not contemplate Himself in His own image?
Was there ever a time in which it was not His pleasure
thus to contemplate Himself?"69
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 Himself, such is His image."70 And
this likeness is not a mere matter of appointment, as
the Heathen set up idols to represent their gods.
The Arians could allow the worship of Christ, as
being authorized to represent God ; 71 but this was to
degrade Him into the region of created beings, and
to forget that He was in Himself and by nature the
" brightness of His Father's glory, and the express
image of His Person." And, except through Him
88 S. Ath. contra Arian. i. 20. *> S. Ath. u. u.
" 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 any thing else that they have set up
for themselves; — We differ from them, I say, in this, the essential cir
cumstance, 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.
12

138 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
whose office is Jo 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 Ter-
tullian, 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 manifest
ed Himself even before He took our flesh." So that
'•' the Father is invisible, the Son visible."72 Whether
this be the real distinction between these two Blessed
Persons or not, the writer who makes it must have
fully recognised the fact, that notwithstanding the
oneness of their nature, they are personally 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, pri
mary, 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 crea
tion or government, it displayed itself in various cha
racters — 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."73 Now such real diversity of Persons it is, which is a
necessary preliminary to the Incarnation of Christ.
This circumstance is suggested in a well known letter
of St. Augustin. " How," it had been asked him,
" could the Lord and Ruler of the world, endure the
prison of the Virgin's womb?" — "How could He lie
concealed in the narrow limits of infancy, for whom
,a Tert. adv. Praxeam, sec. 14, vide S. Ath. contra Arian. i. 6.
" S. Ath. Contra Arian. ii. 31.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 139
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."''* St. Augustin replies by distinguishing
between things material and immaterial; maintaining
that the conditions which are applicable to the one,
cannot be transferred, to the other. " It is not true
that God is so infused in flesh, that He has abandoned
the care of the world's government." 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."75 In this last circumstance lies the ex
planation 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 unaffect
ed by the event. For it was the Word which was
made flesh, but not the Father or the Holy Ghost.
It was not the whole Trinity7* 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 dilem
ma, or else they must look upon the Union as partial
and transitory — as an indwelling, not an imperson
ation — as the gift to manhood of such power and pre
sence, as was bestowed in their measure on the Pro
phets. Without the belief in a diversity of Persons,
more than this could not be supposed, without intrench
ing too far on the self-existent and indivisible Unity
of God. Now this last, which is the Sabellian alter
native, is as plain a denial of Our Lord's Human, as
the Arian hypothesis of His Divine nature. Those
" S. Aug. Ep. cxxxv. sec. 2. " Ibid, cxxxvii. sec. 4, 6.
" Damasc. de Fid. Orth. iii. 6.

140 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
who receive it cannot believe that really and perma
nently God is man, and man God. This is why a de
monstration of the truth and completeness of Our Lord's
Human nature, as evidenced by the existence of His
man's soul, was found so effectual a means {vide p. 127)
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 Hu
man can be so completely identified with what is Di
vine, as to be its measure or limit : even when God
head and manhood were so intimately allied as to
make up one Person, the Finite nature was not lost,
but comprehended, in the Infinite. But, by admitting
the permanence of Christ's lower nature, we are dri
ven to find something which shall discriminate His
Divine Personality in Deity itself. And since such
discriminating circumstances cannot be drawn from
His relation to the creatures ; since then He would
either be a creature Himself, or else not truly other
than the Father, from whom He is personally dis
criminated ; 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 be
came the Incarnate Son also. Even according to His
man's nature, He was not, properly speaking, a crea
ture, 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

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 141
of the Holy Ghost.77 Not as though He had not been
the Son previous to the existence of any created in
telligences; nor yet as though to send Him had been
merely to bestow Sonship upon some inferior nature,
which 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 Visible.'"* 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 Soil. For it must be borne in mind,
as St. Basil79 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 worldly have their origin. And Holy Scrip
ture 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 pf the
Father," that man had been created — as being the
reason, why, to the gracious condescension of this es
pecial 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 unconsonant
that the world should honour any other as the Saviour,
but Him whom it honoureth as the Creator."80 And
as God's wisdom had been pleased to humble itself to
the creatures, and to give them the impress and sem-
" " Nee ab eo genitus, sed creatus." — Paschas. de Spir. Sand. i. 2.
So the ancient Creed, which isi preserved among the documents of the
Council of Ephesus: "o\ov amio-ov y.ai jusra tov {tujllhtos, eew' oo^-z
xn.ru. to a-aiftn ax.n'rov. — Harduin, i. p. 1639. But vide also S. Ath.
c. Ar. ii. 45, 47, with the notes to the Oxford Translation.
™ S. Ath. c. Arian. iv. 3G. ™ S. Basil. Adv. Eunomium, ii. 23.
'"Eccl. Pol. v. 5 1,3. 12*

142 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
blance of its image,81 so dpes He expressly declare in
the Book of Proverbs, "My delights were with the
sons of men."82 So that "it could be no other Person
of the Deity who conversed with men on earth in an
cient times, but the Word, who was afterwards to be
come flesh."83 Thus was there a peculiar adaptation
for the work of man's regeneration in Him, after whose
pattern man had been originally created. " For what
soever God was going to make in the creatures, existed
beforehand in the Word5 and could not have existed
in things below, had it not been previously in the
Word."84 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-same85 sub
stance in number, with the property to be of ihe
Father, maketh the Person of the Son."80 So that
the distinction between them, of which the work'of
redemption is an effect, did not arise from that work
of mercy, but lay in their own Beingj 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 Himself,
such is His image."87 " He is God from God, Light
81 S. Ath, contra Arian. ii. 78. m Proverbs viii. 31.
83 Tertull. Adv. Praxeam, 16. 84 S. Aug. on Psalm xliv. 5.
81 Hebrews i. 3, would be more correctly rendered "the express iinage
of His substance." It is the Fatlier's Godhead, not His paternity, of
which the Son is the image.
80 Eccles. Pol, v. 51, 1. » S. Ath. Or. contra Arian. i, 20.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 143
from Light, Very God from Very God."88 And on
this depends that higher notion of Divine character,
which has been communicated to mankind by the Gos
pel 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 raises us above those carnal no
tions of Deity, which Grecian fable had built upon the
more splendid vices of corrupted man. And one ef
fectual manner, in which the early Church witnessed
to that higher ideal, under which the Godhead had
been exhibited by its true Pattern-Image, was to give
the first lesson to mankind of universal love. The
acts of mercy showed by Christians to the indigent
Heathen in time of public distress, are recorded89 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 man
ner, 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 commu-
"ning with any thing that could represent its nature,
and bring home its greatness to our thoughts. But
the acts, not less than the communications 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." There
fore can we say, in the sublime Words of Anselm : " 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 be
lieves and loves."90 For as it was under this aspect
88 "o na.-tr\o gita Kai vr^r{ Tot/ vuv xai tov 'ayiov -ntw/mroc." —
S. Bas. Horn. 27, c. Sabell. vid. Def. Fid. Nic. iv. 1, 7.
88 Eusebius' Hist. vii. 22, and ix. 8. ¦" Proslogion, i.

144 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
that the Godhead has been manifested by the Eternal
Son, so is it revealed respecting the self-existent Fa
ther 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 of the God
head, 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 pre
sume to judge respecting such a mystery, lies the se
cret which reconciles the existence of Three Persons
in the Blessed Trinity with the Unity of that nature
which is common to them all. " For how," asks St.
Cyril, " can there be Unity in Godhead, if each Per
son is separated by a perfect individuality ; and the
name of God is given to each Person, without com
munity of nature and substantial inheritance in the
others?"91 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."92 On this subject
Athanasius refers to the words of Dionysius of Rome
(in the third century,) that " with the God of the Uni
verse the Divine Word is one, and the Holy Ghost
has in the same its resort and converse."93 And the
same truth seems to have been aimed at in a fragment
of St. IrehEeus, 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 differ
ence they are really discriminated, therefore, by mutual
indwelling and coinherence, they are to one another
s' St. Cyril, as cited by Petavius, de Trinit. iv, 16, 10.
" Eccl, Pol. ». 56, 2. SI De Decretis Nic. Syn. 26.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 145
an object of contemplation, and, if it may be so ex
pressed, " a place of abode."94 To this it is then that
Our Lord refers, when he says that " I am in the Fa
ther, and the Father in Me;" and this is "the glory
which He had with " the Father " before the world
was."95 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 Fa
ther," asks St. Hilary, " except by contemplating His
own substance as it existed in His Son?"95 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."97 Let this
thought be coupled with what has before been noticed
of the nature of the Godhead, and we may discern
how the Eternal Sabbath of Divine self-contemplation
enhances our conception of the Moral Attributes of
God. For it does not lead to a mere Brahminical
dream of never-ending forgetfulness, but 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 this re
flected perfectly from one Person of the Godhead to
another."98 And hence can it dispense with such
lower objects of interest as are supplied to inferior be
ings by the material world. For " I am in the Father
and the Father in Me" speaks an Eternal relation; it
shows that the Word was not dependent on our Being ;
that " He was not brought into being for us, but that
we were brought into being for Him."99 And on this
topic Athanasius enlarges in the very striking passage,
in which he comments on the'declaration concerning
88 " Filius locus est Patris, sicut et Pater locus est Filii." — Jerome in
Ezek. iii. 12.
88 St. John xvii. 5. x De Trinit. ii. 3.
** Orat. contra Arian. iii. 66.
58 Leslie's Socinian Controversy, Dialogue I. vii. p. 236.
88 S. Ath. contra Arian. iv. 12.

146 CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD.
Our Lord in the Book of Proverbs: " For the know
ledge of the Father which is by the Son, and that of
the Son which is by the Father, is all one, and the
Father delights in Him; and with the same joy the
Son delights in the Father, saying ' I was daily His
delight, rejoicing always before Him.' This shows
that the Son is not something foreign, but proper to
the Father's substance. For He did not come into
existence on our account, nor was He made out of no
thing ; for it was not from any external source that
God procured to Himself a cause of rejoicing, but He
is set forth as being proper to God and like. Him.
When could it be then that the Father rejoiced not ?
And if He always rejoiced,' then the cause of His re
joicing must have had an eternal - existence. . And
wherein does the Father rejoice, save by beholding
Himself in His proper image — that is His Word?
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 this delight was not
from any joy which was additional to 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 thatJiath
seen Me hath seen the Father, and I am in My Father,
and My Father in Me.' "I0°
Thus have we been led on then to recognise in the
Divine nature what 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. ex A1.05 apx^toea. Our no
tions 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
"» Orat contra Arian. ii. 82, vol. 1, p. 549.

CHRIST IS GOD THE WORD. 147
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, there
fore, 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
Revelation 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 farther the notion of his predecessors, and
given shape to the idea which is thrown out by an an
cient Father: "The Monad moving forth originally
into Duality,101 at length rested in the Trinity."102
No doubt this 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 Creator?" 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
101 This notion is enlarged upon by Leslie; Socinian Controversy, the
First Dialogue, viii. 1 .
101 Dorner, vol. L p. 904.

148 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
Trinity must be received as before all creation, and as
underlying all knowledge. The mystery of its Sacred
Persons must be the beginning of our thoughts.103 And
this it is which Revelation 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."

t CHAPTER VI. 3
THE UNITY OF PERSON BETWEEN GOD THE WORD AND
THE SON OF MAN.
Our Lord's character has now been considered
under its two aspects: first, as the Son of Man ; aiid
secondly, as God the Word, " who is over all, blessed
for ever." To complete this part of the subject it is
essential to establish a third point, which is no less ne
cessary than the reality of each of Our Lord's natures,
namely, that they were truly joined together. For
" although He be God and Man, yet He is not two,
but one in Christ."
This truth is as plainly demanded by the require
ments 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
103 " In ilia Trinitate summa origo est rerum omnium, et perfectissima
pulchritudo et beatissima delectatio."— S. Augustin de Trin. vi. 12.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 149
rests on the fact that He who is consubstantial 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 es
tablished. This feeling, 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 considera
tion shows it to be fatal to the very existence of God
liness, 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 conside
ration of which subject will lead to the further inquiry,
how each nature is affected by the union, and what
preparation is thereby made for that work of Christ,
which both as God and man it has been His pleasure
to undertake. For this work depends 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.
13

150 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
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 first three centuries has been shown to
be a witness, that the detailed statements of the Creeds
respecting the Trinity in Unity are not refinements in
grafted by men's subtlety on the simplicity of Scripture,
but that they are only the complete expression of that
august truth, which was enshrined in the pious vene
ration 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 respecting the doctrine which is now to
be considered — the real 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 espe
cially hazarded; and as the first two General Councils
were engaged in maintaining the truth of those natures
which were present in Christ, so was it the no less ne
cessary task pf the next two (at Ephesus and Chal-
cedon,) to maintain the reality of their union. It has
been pointed out, how the doctrine of Our Lord's Di
vine nature was witnessed both at Nice and Constan
tinople, and how it was illustrated by the great Atha
nasius. The primary truth of the Ever-Blessed Tri
nity was shown by him not only to be involved in the
words of Scripture, but to be demanded by the require
ments of the Christian mind. Unless the Word or
Eternal Sori existed really as a separate Person in the
glorious Godhead, neither could Christ be the proper
object of worship, nor could the redemption of man-

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 151
kind be truly effected. But the existence of the Eter
nal Word cannot be really admitted, unless that view
and those relations of the sacred objects of our wor
ship, 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 manhood of Christ. Again, it has
been shown how in the following ages the controversy
rose to a- higher level — how it was transferred from
the human to the Divine nature, and what arguments
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 dis
pelled by " the light of the Nicene Council," yet re
turned in the fifth century, under that different form
which must now be considered. For though Our Lord
ha.d been recognised as both God and man,- yet it was
found possible to introduce such misconceptions re
specting 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 satis
faction of Christian piety, that this part also of the
truth should be firmly established, and it is 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

152 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
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 Per
son, and the supposition that they dwelt only by in
habitation, 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 Nesto
rius to this conclusion, seems to have been the confu
sion of man's personality with his nature, and in his ca
pacity to perceive that there are parts of their consti
tution which men share in common, while to every in
dividual there is something peculiar to himself. He
was a victim to that spurious sort of Nominalism,
which asserts, that because men are able by abstrac
tion to class things together, which have no real con
nexion, therefore there can be no such common entity
as nature in the creations of God (vide p. 47, 48.)
This error has already been noticed ; it has been shown
that in all those creatures which God has endowed
either with animal or vegetable 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 imi
tation 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 bestowed upon
them by the Creator. And it is unphilosophical to

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 153
deny the existence of a principle, of which we see such
obvious effects, because our modes of analysis are not
subtle enough to discover on what it is dependent.
Let the principles of Nominalism, therefore, be confined
to their proper ground — the abstractions 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 Nestorius, and by this speculation was he led to
the fearful result 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 sufferings, 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 Him
self, and then be joined to the Son of God, it coulifnot
be any thing which pertained to pur 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 num
ber, 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 num-
' Dc Fid. Orth. iii. 3.
13*

154 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
ber, 'He took. not Angels, but the seed of Abraham.'
It pleased not the Word or Wisdom of God 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 house of that nature which is common
unto all; she made not this or that man her habita
tion, but dwelt in us."2 " For he took my whole na
ture upon Him, and in the fulness of Godhead was
united to it all, that the.whole might obtain salvation.
For if there were any thing 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 for
ward in the Anathemas of Cyril,4 which were adopted
by the Third General Council of Ephesus. It is not
built upon any system or school of philosophy, but
aims only at maintaining what had been asserted 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 poor of Christ's flock, who form its most che
rished portion, should be able to thread the mazes of
so subtle 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
2 Eccles. Pol. v. 52, 3.
3 Greg. Naz. et Cyril in Damasc. de Fide Orthod.iii. 6.
• His opposition to Nestorianism led St. Cyril to the repeated employ
ment 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 recia Fide, c. 56, 5, part 2, 177.
St. Cyril is spoken of by Dr. Jackspn,,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 which 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,

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 155
are any persons better prepared to accept it to the
saving of their souls. For even as our merciful Sa
viour in the days of His flesh, while the covetous Pha
risees 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 Gpd, 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? 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 Communion5 — a rite which
is not less fitted than in the days of Saint 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 outwork of the Doctrine of the Incarnation ;
andfromj-recognising 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 be
lief 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 discharges towards mankind. To this truth
many are unwilling to listen, because they suppose
that the efficacy of Christ's manhood 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 rege
neration to all His brethren. Now, that the Holy
6 " As there is a recapitulation of all in heaven aniearth in Christ, so
there is a fecapilulation of all in Christ in the holy sacrament. You may
see it clearly: There is in Christ the Word Eternal, for things in hea
ven; 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 of the Nativity.

156 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
Communion must in some way or other be connected
with the manhood of Christ is manifest, since but for
His taking our flesh, body and blood could not in any
wise 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
Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in
Himself" — this is 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 refresh
ing 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 connected
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 ad
dresses 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 di
vine. For the mode in which Godhead and Manhood
are united in Christ, is like the conjunction of soul and
body in man — as impossible to explain as to deny.
And the Creed, therefore, contents itself with paral
leling the two together; not as though they were ex
actly 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

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 157
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 not by confusion of
substance, but by unity of person." Now, since per
sonality is plainly one and indivisible, it must pertain
originally to one of these natures, unless, which was far
otherwise, they had been in their origin contempora
neous ; and it could not therefore be equally related to
each of them. For though personality has been shown
by Butler8 and Berkeley7 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 con
dition of the other. In which, then, of His two
natures did the Personality of Christ Our Lord origi
nally reside ? . Plainly in His Godhead. For He Him
self 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
comprehended 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."
"For the manhood of Christ 'did not assume the God
head', but the Godhead of the Word assumed the hu
man nature."9 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 na
tures, continuing in themselves wholly unrelated, were
joined together by some third substance, namely, the
" Appendix to the Analogy. ' The Minute Philosopher, Dial. vii. sec. 11.
8 Kccles. Pol. v. 53, 3. " 8 Gennadius in Suicer, i. p. 358.

158 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
Personality of Christ. For though what we call na
ture 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 another ; inasmuch as
the one cannot exist, except in and through the other.
We cannot, indeed, attribute to Christ a human per
sonality distinct from His Divine, because this would
be to deny His Unity, and thus to relapse into the
heresy of Nestorius; 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 what our experience enables us to call Personality
among men. But Our Lord's own sayings10 justify
the assertion, 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 relation.11 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."12
Now, of two natures thus manifested in the same Per
son, by that law of their constitution whereby their
existence is identical with their inherence in one indi
vidual 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
'"St. John viii. 18.
111 " Natura quippe nostra non sic assumpta est ut prius creata, post
assumeretur; sed ut ipsa assumptione crearctur."— S, Leo, Ep. 25, 3.
•2 Eccles. Pol. v. 52, 3.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 159
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 involved intimate action of the one
nature upon the other. So that when it is said that
Godhead and Manhood were joined together, 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 Revelation discloses to
us. For its purpose is to 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 Man
hood there should be a permanent alliance. That as
God mercifully condescended to become a man, so
might man be truly God. And in consequence of this
great event, as the whole Trinity condesce»ded to par
ticipate by interest and sympathy13 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 generation and grace, for com
munion with God. There flowed forth into the lower
nature of the Mediator such streams of grace, as suf
ficed to enrich the whole generation1* of His brethren.
The alliance of the elder brother ennobled the whole
household from which his kindled 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 is the very nature of God. All, there-
13 Damasc. de Fid. Orth. 3, 6.
" " Se totum toti Ada3 immiscuit, vita mortuo, ut cum servaret, in eum
totum penetrans cui unitus erat, sicut anima magni corporis, totum
animans, et toti vitam impartiens." — Anast. Sinaita, Or. 3, Bib. Max.
Pair. 9, 932.

160 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
fore, 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 man
ner of sympathy with that being with which it was
personally associated. And in this the whole glorious
Trinity is declared to have co-operated. For "he
that loveth Me, shall be loved, of My Father."15
And "the Father Himself loveth you, because ye
have loved Me, and have believed that I came out
from God."16 Arid, therefore, was "God in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself."17 But if it be
asked, on the other hand, what effects 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
the 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 sus
ceptible. Surely the very comprehension of man is
ineapable of enlarging itself to such conceptions. . His
ear cannot drink in the intensity of the angelic har
mony, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good-will towards men." With this subject
does even the fulness of Holy Scripture overflow.
Those who do not discern it, are untaught 'in " the
whole counsel of God." To put it aside as an un
necessary portion of our faith, would be like Esau to
despise our birthright. For through this event it is,
that the gifts of regeneration 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-
dependent 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 bless
ed. Their common nature was to be exalted through
" St. John xiv. 21. « St. John xvi.27. » 2 Cor. v. 19.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 161
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 destroyed."13 And if it be asked when He was
anointed to this kingly office, this likewise is declared
in Scripture: "The19 Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee ; therefore, also, that holy thing which shall be
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 then 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."20
For the anointing was the presence of that " spirit and
power," which dwelt in Christ "without measure."21
And thus " Christ Himself," says Damascene, " anoint
ed 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."22 " The gift where
by God hath made Christ a fountain of life, is that con
junction 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
18 Daniel vii. 1 3, 1 4. " St. Luke i. 35, 32, 33.
20 Hebrews i. 9. 21 Acts x. 38; John iii. 34.
22 De Fide Orthod. iii. 3, p. 206. Vid. Vigilius, c. Eutych. iv. 5.
14

162 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
thee, thou wouldest ask of Him, that He might give
thee living water.""3
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."24 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 con
sented to serve like Jacob for His hire, and His hire
was the Church, which He purchased with His own
blood. And on His humiliation did there follow the
exaltirjg of His man's nature. For " being made per
fect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all
them that obey Him."25 "Wherefore God also 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."26 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 ho
nour."27 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."28 But all this is somewhat different from
that exaltation of man's nature, which is now in ques
tion. 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, there
fore, is not what was gained for man's nature by Christ's
23 Eccles. Polity, v. 54, 3. M Revelation xi. 17.
88 Heb. v. 9. « Phil. ii. 9. a' Heb. ii. 9.
=8 Colossians i. 18; vide also Eph. i. 21 ; I Peter iii. 22.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 163
Obedience : 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 sup
port them. They were something for which the genius
of Isaiah or the love of St. John would not have suf
ficed. 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."29 And secondly,
in Him " were hid all the treasures of wisdom and know
ledge."30 For He was " the Power of God and the Wis
dom of God."31 Even in His humanity He was an ob
ject of worship to the hosts of heaven.32 Though He
was crucified, yet He was "the Lord of Glory."33
And when He somewhat withdrew the vail, in which
He commonly shrouded His lustre, "His face did shine
as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light."34
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.35 For
" as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given
to the Son to have life in Himself."36 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."37 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."38 So
that it became that "quickening spirit"39 which is able
28 St. John iii. 35; xvii. 2; St. Matt. xi. 27. "° Col. ii. 3.
8' 1 Cor. i. 24. "' Heb. i. 6. " 1 Cor. ii. 8. " St. Matt. xvii. 2.
88 "Quicquid in tempore accepit Christus, secundum hominem accepit,
cui quse non habuit conferuntur." — S. Leo, Ep. 97, 7.
:8 St John v. 26. 81 St John xvii. 2. " St. Luke vi. 19.
88 1 Cor. xv. 45.

164

GOD THE WORD, AND THE

to bestow a new life on the progeny of Adam, and
that "bread" of life "which cometh down from hea
ven, that a man may eat thereof and not die."40 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 per
manent connexion with it, when it is through " His
body "41 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 najture received by gift, what the
other had by inheritance. And the only limit which
can be assigned to their perfect union is, that the pro
perties of each are not so transferred as to destroy the
reality of either. For "the glory of the Godhead,
which dwelleth bodily in Christ, is infinite. But it is
not communicated to Christ's human body according
to its infinity; the communication of it, or the glory
communicated, is created, and therefore finite."42 "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 per
son of Christ by force and virtue of the same conjunc
tion so much altered, as not to stay within those limits
which our substance is bordered withal."*3
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 mis-
40 St. John vi. 50.
41 " Si quis non confitetur carnem Domini vivificatricem esse, tanquam
propriam ipsius Dei Verbi  quia facta est propria Verbi Dei, cui
omnia viviificare 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: Fmadri Ss tiurj xcra cpu<riv eoiv i% $eou noirQos Aoyoc,
^woiroiov a.7rstpnv8 Trjv 'savtov a-apxec. ruvrij to/ ytyovsv 'i]/uiv suKoyia
CacOTcHoj. — Contra Orient, ad Anath. 11, p. 192.
" Est enim luce caro, quia est filii Dei sic et sanguis tteoneios, ut D.
Cyrillus contra Nestorium pulchre explicat." — Buceri Scrip. Ang.
p. 473." Jackson's Works, Book xi.e. 3, vol. x. p. 31. 43 Eccles. Pol. v. 54, 5.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 165
conception, which lay at the root of the speculations
of Nestorius. Since it was clear that Christ was one
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 na
ture in the other, or by the coalition of both in some
thing 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 na
ture 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 tnis, 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 Do-
ceta?, which had been abandoned in name. Our Lord's
sufferings and death would thus become only a figura
tive representation, and He would have no proper co
partnership in man's trials. So that here again the
truth of Our Lord's Being was what the Church Ca
tholic maintained. And its vindication was the pur
pose of all that was stated respecting His nature.
This 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 Incar
nation against all the enemies thereof, Apollinarians,
Nestorians, Eutychians, and the like, was generally
expressed by declaring the unity of the soul of Christ44
really present in hell, and - the unity of His Body at
44 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
I our Lord was the type of man's nature, the certainty of the soul's sepa
rate action in his case implies its possibility in ours.
14*

166

GOD THE WORD, AND THE

the same time really present in the grave."45 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, as contempo
raneous with the deposition of His body in the
grave. " He seeing this before, spake of the re
surrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in
hell, neither His flesh did see corruption."46 Thus
did the Church's testimony respecting Christ, supply
the explanation of St. Petec's words, that Christ
preached after His death to the spirits who were "in
safe keeping;"47 to those, it must be supposed, among
the antediluvian Patriarchs, who having been disobe
dient in slighting Noah's warning, were yet not so far
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 Scrip
ture, and which had been enshrined in the devout af
fection of the Apostolic age. The church had been
brought under the guidance of God's Spirit to such
ripeness of judgment, as "by reason of use" to dis
cern the full meaning of various truths, which had
been revealed at once to her inspired founders. "Fol
lowing therefore the holy Fathers," said the six hun
dred Bishops of Chalcedon, "we agree unanimously
to set forth one and the sajne Jesus Christ to be per
fect God and perfect Man, without confusion and with
out division."48 This was the work which was com-
45 Pearson on the Creed, Art. v. * Acts ii. 31.
41 " so yvlax-i] does not in itself imply a place-of punishment, hut of
detention."— 1 Pet. iii. 19.
48 Actio V. Harduin's Con. ii. p. 455.

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 167
pleted by what Hooker terms the "four most fa
mous ancient General Councils." The question 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. This single point, therefore, if traced into
its results, would have vitiated all which had been be
fore effected. And therefore the Monothelites, as
they were called, were in truth only a section of the
Monophy sites : to deny Our Lord's two wills was in
reality to deny one of His natures. Yet it is remark
able, that while the heretical parties, by which the
truth of either of Our Lord's natures was directly de
nied, 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 respecting 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 se
condly, that they do not destroy the belief of that
union with Christ, on which all external Church-co
herence is dependent. For faith in Christ, as shown
in the last chapter, requires, as a pre-requisite, belief
in the existence of the Eternal Son as a separate per
son 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

168 GOD THE WORD, AND THE
in its beginning the very ground of faith — the union,
namely, between God and man. Whereas errors re
specting the nature of that union itself, however fatal,
have yet their termination in themselves, and rather
benumb and deaden behef, than directly destroy it.
Whatsoever separates men indeed from the 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 mys
terious law of necessary derivation. This is the foun
dation of the Doctrine of the Incarnation ; and its su
perstructure is that this same Being, when He took
flesh, continued to be " perfect God," but became like
wise "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 pre
sent, doubtless, 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 interdependence
were seen to be involved in the individual statements
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

SON OF MAN ONE PERSON. 169
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 compatibility and accordance,
as stamps the lower nature with that truth which be
longs to the very essence of the higher. It has some
times been disputed, whether the decisions of reason
and the decrees of conscience have any proper autho
rity, 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 harmonised 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 infe
rior animal, as is once recorded in Holy Writ, for the
expression of His will, such nature had not been sus
ceptible 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.49 And thus does the Incar
nation, more than aught beside, witness to the reality
of that objective systehi of belief, which it has pleased
the All- Wise to reveal to his reasonable creatures.
48 " Rectatissime dicitur homo factus ad imaginem el similitudine Dei :
non enim aliter incommutabilem veritatem posset mente conspicere." —
S. Aug. de vera Relig. sec. 44.

170

CHAPTER VII.

OUR LORD S MEDIATION THE CONSEQUENCE OF HIS
INCARNATION.
Hitherto the inquiry has respected Our Lord's na
ture: we have seen that He is both God and man —
" the seed of David according to the flesh," and like
wise, "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 co-equal par
ticipator of self-existent Godhead, of one substance
with that Almighty Father, from whom He is person
ally 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 continuing 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 bestowed 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 Hie being the link which binds it to Deity.
The salvation of Adam's race depends upon the influ
ence 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

THE CONSEQUENCE OF HIS INCARNATION. 171
brethren.1 Before considering the course through
which these 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 Ood and one Mediator between God
and men."2 The expression is equivalent to an as
sertion 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 Per
son raised up to teach — He might be a perfect exam
ple — 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 mi
nisters. 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
1 '* Since sure it is that the Son of God is made the Son of Man, it
is not incredible that the sons of men may be made the sons of God." —
Bishop Andrews's sixth Sermon on the Nativity. " Filius hominis est
factus, ut nos filii Dei esse possimus." — S. Leo Ser. xxv. 2.
2 1 Tim. ii. 5.

172 OUR LORD'S MEDIATION
He is3 what it expresses. His title follows from His
nature, as effect from cause, as consequent from ante
cedent. He truly is what no other is, or can be be
side Him, the- Pattern Man, the second Adam; there
fore no other can take His place among the genera
tions of mankind. And again, He alone is fitted to
represent the Father, for " no man hath ascerided 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 me
diator, Christ became one.
II. And this, doubtless, is the reason why the uni
versal 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 con
ditions of His character on which their value is de
pendent. 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 re
sult. So that the Church was guided by Divine Wis
dom, to make this Article of Our Lord's real nature
a " Officium Mediatoris, nisi ex veritate naturae carnis, quam ex nobis
habuit, implere non potuit, quoniam per ipsam inter Deum et homines
medius apparuit" — Vigil, c. Eutyck. v. 15.

THE CONSEQUENCE OF HIS INCARNATION. 173
the criterion of her belief, the " Articulus stantis aut
cadentis ecclesiav." it holds a leading place in the pro
fession which in all ages has been required at Baptism;
and the early believers 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 towards man, or on man's part towards
God, are gathered together in His single Person. In
this respect was Joseph His type in the prison, as
well as upon his seat of power, inasmuch as " what
soever 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 cove
nant. 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."4 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 to
gether. He is " the door,"5 " the way, the truth, and
the life."6
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 king
dom. 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 ;"7 and
as He how bears the office of regency, so does that of
Judge await Him at the Great Day. For the Father
4 St. John xvi. 14. > St. John x. 9. 8 St. John xiv. C. ' Eph. i. 22.
15

174 OUR LORD'S MEDIATION
"hath given Him authority to execute judgment
also, because He is the Son of Man."8 This is part
of His office who is God's perfect representative to
wards mankind ; and meantime, He acts perpetually
on behalf of mankind towards God; " He ever liveth
to make intercession for them."9 For He is present
continually in heaven according to. that human nature,
whereby He is the " Lamb that was slain ;"10 while
in earth also He is present through His power, for
" Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the
world."11 What may happen in these respects in
another state of things we know not. " Then cometh
the end, when He shall have delivered up the king
dom 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 In
carnate Son by gift, may then perhaps be merged in
that which He possessed before all worlds^as only-
begotten Son by nature. But tiff then, "all power
is given to " Him " in heaven and in earth;"13 " and
He is the Head of the Body, the Church, who is the
beginning, the first-born from the dead."14
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

THE CONSEQUENCE OF HIS INCARNATION. 175
world."15 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 coun
sels 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
purpose of mercy, it might ever equally be taken ac
count of. But since He was made " perfect " as a man
"through sufferings;"17 since His work, that is, was
provided for by the growth of His body and the pre
paration of His mind — so that " being made perfect,
He became the author of eternal salvation to all them
that obey Him " 1R — 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 difference in His human character, was His
ascension into 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."19 There
fore, " when He ascended up on high, he led captivity
captive, and gave gifts unto men."20 The consumma
tion 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."21 Thus is this
event the dividing epoch in Our Lord's history. So
that His acts of Mediation may be conveniently di
vided into those which preceded, and those which fol
lowed, His Ascension into Heaven.
'" Acts xv. 18. >s Revelation xiii. 8. " Hebrews ii. 10. " Heb. v. 9.
18 St. John vi. 62. *» Ephes. iv. 8. ' 21 St. John xx. 1 7.

176 THE TEACHING OF CHRIST.

CHAPTER VIII.
OUR LORD'S ACTS OF MEDIATION PREVIOUSLY TO HIS
ASCENSION J OR HIS TEACHING, 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 implies plainly a twofold action, as its
relation towards man is considered, or its relation to
wards God. For to man He was 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 Evangelists. 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 genera]
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 under
standing learns to assent to that which the will is to
perform. Through the instructions which Our Lord
bestowed, we gain that gradual ascent from earthly
things to heavenly, whereby He conducted His Dis
ciples, and through them all subsequent generations, to
wards that higher world, with which Himself was fa
miliar. And then in the more exalted communications
which followed His Resurrection, did He open the un
derstandings of His Disciples" to things pertaining to
the kingdom of God."1 These they afterwards un-
1 Acts i. 3.

THE TEACHING OF CHRIST. 177
folded 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 thou
sand " "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 generations of mankind.
For through the teaching of the Gospels have all na
tions 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, and, still more, which cen
tred each man's thoughts in his own private ends,
has 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 re
sponds alike — which all must admire, love, seek, che
rish — 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 allow 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 ena
bled 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 dis
cerned even in the corrupted nature of His brethren.
2 Sol. Songv. 10, 16. MJohni. 1.
15*

178 THE TEACHING OF CHRIST.
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 individual races, but esteemed
the common property of every child, of Adam; 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 re
garded as the true ideal of human excellence.
II. But it is when we turn from OursLord's actings
towards men, and consider the part which He dis
charged 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 consider is
the function which was performed towards the Ever
lasting Father by Him, who, His equal by nature, had
consented to 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 mi
nistry, and one remarkable chapter (St. John Xvii.)
which declares its completion. These all reveal the
same truth respecting Our Lprd's relation to the Fa
ther, that its single characteristic was Obedience.
Thus did the Pattern Man render exactly that ser
vice, 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 disobe
dience is the very condition 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 gavest Me to do."4 Or again ; " What
4 John xvii. 4.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 179
shall I say ? Father, save Me from this hour: but for
this cause came I unto this hour."5 And once more,
even in His hour of agony did He exclaim: "Never
theless, not My will, but Thine be done."6 This les
son of " obedience " it is declared in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, that Our Lord "learned."7 Every thing
else was communicated to His man's soul by way of
inspiration. 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 har
mony. 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."8 And "therefore doth My Fa
ther 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 command
ment have I received from My Father."9
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, O God."10 This it is which He ex
hibited 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 pe
nury or at feasts — His "meat" was "to do the will,
of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work."11 Yet
8 John xii. 27. 8 Luke xxii. 42. ' Hebrews v. 8.
8 John vi. 38. 8 John x. 18. "> Heb. x. 7. " John iv. 34.

1§0 THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.
there remained one thing still greater; for all mortal
pangs are gathered together in that last and most fear
ful one,vthe tearing asunder of soul and body in death.
Now, from this trial also Our Lord did not shrink.
He was " obedient unto death."12 And in this part
of His course lie those especial circumstances, which
are declared in Holy Scripture to be the causes of
man's redemption. . For though He is said in general
to be the "last Adam," the "second Man,"1J yet it
is with His Death and Passion that His sacrifice for
sin is expressly connected. For "we14 have redemp
tion through His blood," says the Apostle twice over,
"the forgiveness of sins." He has "made peace
through the blood of His cross,"15 and He came " to
give His life a ransom instead of many." :6
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 of
fering was built upon them ; that it pleased God merely
to give His sanction to an ancient usage, and to hal
low it by the sacrifice of Christ. That which hap
pened was exactly the reverse; the offerings of the
Law 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 tabernacle." " It
was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in
the heavens should be purified with these, but the hea
venly things themselves with better sacrifices than
these."17 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
12 Phil. ii. 8. " 1 Cor. xv. 45, 47. " Ephes. i. 7; Col. i. 1 4.
." Colossians i. 20. '8 Matthew xx. 28. " Heb. viii. 5; ix. 23.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 181
people. For while they were allowed to retain the
old custom of presenting Burnt-Offerings as the ex
pression of their piety, two especial kinds of sacrifice
were added, Peace-Offerings and Sin-Offerings, as ex
pressive of those particular relations to God, of which
they were the depositories. These three species of
sacrifices are described in the commencement of Levi
ticus. The Burnt-Offering, as the representative of
piety at large, had in it some circumstances which be
longed specifically to each of the others. It was an
atonement,18 like the Sin-Offering — a sweet savour,19
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;"20 that which was character
istic of the last, was first, the prohibition of frankin
cense,21 with a view of preventing it from being a swreet
savour ; secondly, the burning of the beasts so offered
without the camp;22 and thirdly, the consequent de
filement of the man23 who burnt them. These cir
cumstances indicated that the "blood" of the Sin-
Offerings was " brought in to make atonement."24
And yet the very circumstance, that for legal impuri
ties there was in each case provided a special purifica
tion, while the greater faults which burdened men's
conscience, except in a few cases which might lead to
social disorder,25 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."26 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
18 Leviticus i. 4. a Ibid. i. 1 7. " Ibid. iii. 5. !£ Leviticus v. 1 1 .
22 Ibid.iv. 12; viii. 17; Heb. xiii. 1 1 T -*- " Leviticus xvi. 28.
M Ibid. xvi. 27. M Ibid. v. 1-6; xix. 21. " Hebrews x. 4.

182

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.

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 allegiance 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 interme
diate 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."27 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 Himself for us an
offering and a sacrifice to God , for a sweet-smelling
savour."28 And He is the only effectual Sin-Offering,
who, "that He might sanctify the people with His
own blood, suffered without the gate."29 For this
very 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."30 " Wherefore, when He cometh into
the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou
wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared31 Me."
So " that we are sanctified through the body of Jesus
Christ once for all."32
Now, since this is the crisis of that great work
*' Hebrews v. 4.. " Eph. v. 2. ¦ Hebrews xiii. 12. » Heb. viii. 8.
81 The quotation in the Epistle to Hie Hebrews is from the Septuagint;
the Hebrew giving " mine ears hast thou opened." " Why," asks
Tholuck, " 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
translation was obvious. If he looked at the phrase as the Chaldean
Faraphrasts, 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.
" Hebrews x. 10.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 183
which Christ came to perform, its ground-work must
have been laid in both of His natures. Their sepa
rate action, indeed, is not now before us, but that work
which He wrought as God-man by their perfect co
operation [_9eavSpi,xri svepyna.'] But this may be better
appreciated, 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 charac
ter, 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 Him
self 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."33
And such is the origin of the word in the primitive
languages,34 in which the notion of the setting apart
those who should act on man's behalf towards God,
is every where visible. For some peculiar sacredness
seemed to be needed for the office, so soon as any thing
of a public Ritual arose. Hence, while common wor
ship was that of single hearts, the father of each house
hold was its Priest; and hence the identifying of the
office with that of the chief35 in simple times. All
these circumstances look to some peculiar consecration
for the Priestly office. Yet where shall such be found?
Who is pure enough to be Priest on behalf of his
brethren? The one Mediator between God and man
88 Hebrews v. 1.
" From the verb jro to be a mediator or middle' person [Gesenius,]
comes the substantive jro Priest. So '<sgsu? from 'ujoc, sacred, Sa-
cerdos, from sacrare, to set apart. In the Gothic of Ulphilas, Gudja is
used for priest, from Guth, God.
88 Rex Anius, rex idem hominum Pheehique saccrdos.

184 THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.
is plainly the only being who is capable of being Priest
for fallen humanity; "For such a High Priest be
came us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled;" For since
He is a Mediator by nature, He is by nature fitted to
be a Priest. For a Priest isa Mediator in action.
So that our Lord's Priesthood does not arise only from
His having and offering to make on our behalf; it lies
in His constitution ; it is the result of that , personal
union which binds man to God. A Priest is conse
crated, and Christ's consecration, as Damascene re
minds us, was that uniting of His Divine to His hu
man nature, whereby He was anointed the Son of God:
"Christ glorified not Himself to be made a 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 quahfied to execute the office pf a Priesf 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 there 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 in
finite value by joining it ih His own Person to the in
finite. For. this is the only thing pertaining to man
kind, 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 con
sideration 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 spo
ken of as an offering to God, independently 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.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 185
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 hu
manity. He stands alone. The elder brother does
all ; His brethren do nothing.36 He bears the burden
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."37
"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 concentrated 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 Himself."
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 suf
fered also through those more, subtle avenues, through
which grief assaults the soul, is manifest. For 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 representative that burden 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."38 "He made Him to be sin for us, who
88 " Acceperunt justi non dederunt coronas ; et de fortitudine fidelium
exempla nata sunt patientiffij non dona justitise. Fides vera justificans
impios et creans justos .... in illo acquirit salutem, in quo solo homo
se mvenit innocentem." — S. Leo, Ep. 97, 4.
81 1 Peter i. 19; Acts xx. 28 ; Revelation v. 12. " Isaiah liii. 5.
16

186 THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.
knew no sin;"39 and " Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us."40
For " God sending His own Son in the likeness of sin
ful man, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh."'11
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 incar
nate: "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 position of mankind, ef
fected through the unspeakable sufferings of its Infinite
Head. Therefore did the convulsions of external na
ture bear witness to that mighty work, which before
heaven and earth was achieved. Thus was " God in
Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not im
puting unto them their trespasses." The work was
not merely a change on man's part : The Divine re
conciliation 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,"42
Therefore, "blessed is the man to whom the Lord
will not impute sin." Now, this blessedness it is
which Christ came upon earth to bestow : •" He came
to give His life a ransom instead of many."43 On Hirn,
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 pleaseaY'44 The Mediator was fitted for
88 2 Cor. v. 21. " Galatians iii. 13. " Romans viii. 3.
*> Habak. i. 13. a Matt xx. 28. "' Matt iii. 17.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 187
His work. Through the indwelling of Deity, the re
presentative 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
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 then in Christ's manhood, which made His sacri
fice effectual?
Now, this question leads somewhat further into the
inquiry, wherein lay the efficacy of Our Lord's Atone
ment. 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 be
yond what is written. It has been asserted indeed by
St. Anselm, the great founder of the scholastic philoso
phy, that "it is not fitting that God should forgive
sins without punishment."44 But so far as this posi
tion is grounded on a priori views of the Divine attri
butes, 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. Look
ing, 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 per
fections, there is a plausibility in the opinion, that
what God has been pleased to do, must have been pre
scribed by the necessary laws of His unalterable na
ture. And yet, perhaps, the more reverent course is
" Cur Deus Homo, i. 12.

188

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.

to confine ourselves to the mere consideration of what
He has revealed, without venturing to fathom His un
searchable 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."46
And in his work on Our Lord's Incarnation, he refers
us not to the abstract justice pf God, but to His adhe
rence to his revealed declarations. " For it was im
possible 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."47
"Whether God could have saved the world by other
means than the death of Christ, consistently with the
general laws of His government, is a question," says
Bishop Butler,48 "rashly determined, and perhaps
,8 Or. ii. con. Arian. sec. 68, vol. i. p. 536.
" De Incarn. vi. vol. i. p. 52.
48 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 sacri
fice man could not be forgiven. The only scriptural evidence adduced
for this assertion is St. Paul's statement, " that he might be just, and
the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." The interpretation, how
ever, which it is designed to give to this veise is highly questionable.
For, first, The inferential particle should be xaincq and not jtai : 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 and justifier, evidently implies
them to have a correlative meaning. But "justifier of him which be
lieveth," plainly implies, that holiness' at large is either given or ascribed
to the believer. " Just," therefore, must refer to God's hohness 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.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 189
with equal rashness contrary ways."49 But while ab
staining from such rash conjectures, we may with con
fidence assert the wisdom of what it has pleased God
to do, and find in his appointment a ground for admi
ration and thankfulness. " For what Christ does,
this is what is best for mankind, and what could hap
pen in no other manner so suitable. And what is
suitable and fitting, for this His providence makes pre
paration."50 So that we may safely assert with
Hooker, " The world's salvation was without the In
carnation of the Son of God a thing impossible; not
simply impossible, but impossible, it being presupposed
that the will of God was no otherwise to have it
saved, than by the death of His oWn Son."51 This
is not to say " what God could or could not have
done;" but "what God declares He has done, that
only it asserts."52 For this is what the Angelic Song
revealed ; that in Christ God's glory and man's" peace
is 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 righteousness
hath looked down from heaven."53 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."54 Without pre
tending, therefore, to decide what abstract justice
might make necessary in the eternal counsels of the
Most High, we may accept with reverence the ex
pression 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
*8 Analogy, p. ii. c 5. x S. Athan. contra Arian. ii. 68.
81 Eccles.Pol.v.51,3. "Mageeon Atonement, note 17, vol. i. p. 176.
• M Psalm lxxxv. 10, 1 1. M Psalm Ixxxv. 2.
16*

190

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.

Lord such an illustration of it ? Why does His obtaining
forgiveness for us set forth the Divine justice? What
meeting-place is there between God's mer-cy and His
truth ? This depends plainly on the connexion between
Christ and mankind. It is beeause 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 race ; 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 ap
plication 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 right
eous."55 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 sa-
88 Romans v. 19.

THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST. 191
tisfaction 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,"58 but it was ne
cessary that this body should be the body of man. He
not only became flesh, but our flesh : " Forasmuch as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also
Himself took part of the same. "57 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
withhim."58 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 sub
stitution ; 59 or as we read in history of royal intercessors,
who have succeeded in begging off condemned parties
with whom they had no peculiar connexion. But
this is to lose sight of those especial characteristics of
the Son of Man, which rendered Him the natural Me-
88 Heb. x. 5. « Heb. ii. 14. M Cur Deus Homo, ii. 8.
88 " 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 feet 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 re
lating 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 revo
lutions 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 atonement." — Hare's Life of Sterling, p. 75. 0, si sic
omnia !

192 THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST.
diator' for His brethren. If He had not been the
Head of our race, in whom Manhood was set 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 pre
sent mutilation, but the bereavement of permanent
blindness. But its force depends plainly on the vo
luntary submission of a party, who by natural law was
qualified to represent the offender. A parent is natu
rally fitted to answer-fof 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 punish
ment. 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,"60 " the beginning
of the creation of God."51 For " if there had been any
thing in our nature which He did not take upon Him,
it would not have been redeemed."62
This truth may be illustrated by a singular sug
gestion of St. Anselm,63 as to the reason why the
fallen Angels could not be redeemed. Mankind, he
says, though consisting of many individuals, 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
80 Col. i. 15. " Rev. iii. 14.
80 Damasc. de Fid. Orth. vol. i. p. 212. 8' Cur Dens Homo, ii, 21,

CHRIST AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 193
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 it was not Angels but mankind
that He came to save.64 His taking our flesh is stated
to be the essential preparative for His saving our na
ture. " 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 holi
ness 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, in
deed, it was in the second Adam, ' of whose fulness
all men receive grace for grace.' And this surely was
the reason, why it was no injustice in God to lay upon
Him the punishment due to our sins, and why His suf
ferings do free us from the same."65

CHAPTER 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, accordmg to the division
employed in the previous chapter, as they regard God
and as they regard man. On those who share His
81 Hebrews ii. 16, 17. 88 Field on the Church, v. 11.

194 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR
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 las,t 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 of the Ever-Blessed
Trinity, and those separate parts of Our Lord's charac
ter which were first considered, we approach the ap
plication of these great realities to the salvation of
mankind, the subject in reality to be contemplated is
that wonderful chain, hy 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-ex
istent 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 pre
sented, " 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 pow
ers 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 afterwards 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 Me-
' Genesis xxviii. 16. a Ephesians iii. 10. 8 Acts i. 11.

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 195
diator 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 con
cerned in the actings of the Son of Man in heaven.
Such a consequence did Our Lord declare would fol
low 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 given Me."8
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."7 This
is the function, then, which our great Mediator per
forms in heaven: "We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."8 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."9
Now, since Our Lord's Intercession is part of His
work as Mediator, both of those natures which per
tain 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 conjoining
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 contri
butes to this work is to speak on our behalf, to be the
representative of our nature, inasmuch as " we have
not a High Priest, which cannot be touched with the
feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
4 " Unde ergo ibi sedemus, si naturam nostram in Christo non ibi
habemus." — Vigil, c. Eut. iv. 9.
8 John xiv. 2. 8 John xvii. 24, ' Hebrews vii. 25.
8 1 John ii. 1. 8 Isaiah liii. 12.

196

CHRIST THE MEDIATOR

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's'0 function, arid a Priest im
plies an offering ; but it is still His man's nature which
furnishes forth the victim which is presented, as well
as the Priest who offers it. For what He pleads be
fore 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 perpetually co
operate, by consecrating His man's nature to be a per
petual Priest, and by rendering His sacrifice an inesti
mable offering. For He is a " High Priest, separate
from sinners, and made higher than the heavens," be
cause He is "the Son, who is- consecrated for ever
more;"11 and because "through the Eternal Spirit He
offered Himself without spot to God "-^He " entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us."12 Thus then He who is personally
God and man, acts through His manhood as the per
petual High Priest for His brethren, and for ever
pleads that perfect sacrifice- of Himself, which He
shared our nature to offer. And thus is He repre
sented in the Book of Revelation, where " a Lamb as
it had been slain"13 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 In
carnation, sets forth Heaven and Earth as being the
real counterpart of that which was dimly shadowed
out by the Jewish Ritual. For " of the things which
we have spoke, this is the sum ; we have such a
High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne
of the Majesty in the heaven " — who " hath obtained
a more excellent ministry, by how much also He is the
80 Heb. v. 1. " Heb. vii. 26, 28.
" Heb. ix. 12, 14. "> Revelation v. 6.

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 197
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 hea
ven itself now to appear in the presence of God for
us."14 But however clearly these truths are stated in Scrip
ture, 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 neces
sarily involve are so strange and eventful, thatit seems
not inconceivable that the great work of our Redemp
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 un
interrupted 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 dove-tailing
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 practical life re-act against our Doctrinal
Confessions. If prayers were offered daily in all our
churches, and if the perpetual ministration of holy
things witnessed to a living belief in the nation's mind,
mens feelings might be more in accordance with the
declarations of Scripture; but at present they look
" Hebrews viii. 1, 6; ix. 15, 24.
17 '

198 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR
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 com
munication 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 im
portant 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 be
hold Him at the crack of doom.
When the ancient philosophers contemplated. this
material firmament, its matchless beauty, its unvarying
laws, its-incalculable extent, they felt unable to suborn
dinate things so majestic to the impotence of mankind.
And their feeling certainly was not unnatural, for
" 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?"15 Hence does Aristotle rate that
knowledge which concerns the external world, " ca>
lique vias ac sidera monstrat," more highly than what
relates to man, because the subject of this last is so in
ferior. This is in reality much the same feeling 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
Roman Empire. For that which shows the real dig
nity of man's nature, and corrects those' opinions of
his insignificance which unaided reason not unfitly
" Hebrews il 6.

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 199
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 Me
diation grounded upon that self-originating nature of
the Ever-Blessed Godhead, which {p. 146) 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 the- Blessed Godhead is there
truly that diversity of Persons, on which the functions
of Mediation and Intercession depend. And for their
exercise was the world created, For " the Lord hath
made all things for Himself.'' And especially was
this the object of man's being, "forasmuch as he is
the image arid glory of God."16 For " this people
have I formed for Myself — they shall show forth My
praise." That He might exercise, then, this His sa
cred office, did the Son take our nature. And there
fore, that the. universe should be built upon this
principle — that the Eternal Son should 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 sacri
fice 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!"" The only true reality, therefore— that which at this
'* 1 Corinthians xi. 7. " Romans xi. 33.

200 CHRIST THE MEDIATOR.
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 depen
dent — 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 importance ; the achieve
ments of individuals and the prosperity of nations oc
cupy every thought ; and the tide of corrupt passion
flows on in the very sight of heaven. Tne reason of
course is, that our weak faith is insufficient to master
our corrupt nature. Yet something must be attributed
alsP to the erroneousness as well as to the weakness
of faith ; and those two classes of error, which re-ap
peared 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 accordmg 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 effect, as a denial
of that real work of Our Lord's Mediation, to which
both are equally opposed. The Socinian or Arian ten
dency 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 descend
ed to effect, yet that His Godhead is now swallowed
up again in the Father's glory, that His work of Me-

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 201
diation 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 themselves Christians, is nearly identical with
that Sabellian heresy which is attained by moving in
an opposite direction, from a denial of the real Man
hood 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 Socinianism in disguise. For the Sabellian the
ory 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 act
ing 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 therefore, however its particular events may
be explained, must have arisen from the mere indwell
ing of Divine power in some fleshly habitation, and
could not be that personal and permanent'8 union be
tween God and man, which is witnessed by the Church
{p. 139.) 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 man's nature with God : the Son is merely a title
substituted for His Father's name during the mediato
rial government of the Church — the reality of His acts
is evaporated — and a practical unbelief in His opera-
18 One of the heresies condemned by S. Greg. Naz. (Ep. i. ad Cle-
donium, p. 739,) is, " sanctam carnem nunc depositam esse, nudamque
ac corpore vacuam divinitatem esse," &c.
17*

202 .CHRIST THE MEDIATOR
tions 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 what countenances the prac
tical unbelief of the age, is a too prevalent doctrinal
unsoundness. Where the reality of Our Lord's Me
diation is firmly held, and He is believed to be an ac
tual Person other than the Eternal Father, yet of one
nature with Him, who is truly making Intercession for
His brethren by the perpetual pleading of His cruci
fied body at the right hand of God, there is a ground
work for -men's behef in the objective existence of
things unseen, which cannot be altogether ineffica
cious. 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 king
dom 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;"19 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;"
— but in the Book of Revelation is displayed at large
that Christian Ritual which unites heaven and earth.
For whatever interpretations be adopted of that part
of the Book of Revelation 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 argurnentatively, that the whole Jewish Ritual
was an " example and shadow of heavenly things."20
Its fourth chapter, therefore, discovers to us the hea-
18 Acts vii. 56. m Heb. viii. 5.

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR^ 203
venly 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 corres
ponding emblems, encircled the Tabernacle of the con
gregation. In front of the Throne, where was placed
the altar on which the lamb of the daily sacrifice was
perpetually presented, " stood a Lamb as it had been
slain."21 Within the Jewish Tabernacle, as after
wards within the Temple, the first compartment was
the Holy Place, where incense was perpetually offered.
It was separated only by a veil from the most Holy
Place, of which the main characteristic was the Mer
cy-seat, the especial place where the Shekinah ap
peared. And so too we have in heaven for the of
fering of incense, " the golden altar which was before
the Throne."22 The Mercy-seat, indeed, was sepa
rated 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 Revelation, is exactly accordant, with its
general explanation of the Jewish Ritual. 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 appointed to serve Him;
while the second was a type of "heaven itself,"23
whither Christ entered through the sacrifice of Him
self. Now, the breaking down of the separation be
tween heaven and earth was the very thing which was
effected by Christ's death, whereby we have "bold
ness to enter into the holiest by a new and living way,
which He hath consecrated for us through the veil,
21 Rev. iv. 6; v. 6. 82 Revelation viii. 3. M Hebrews ix. 9, 24.

204 - CHRIST THE MEDIATOR
that is to say, His flesh." Therefore, not only was
the veil of the Temple rent at ,the hour of His sacri
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 Resurrection, as a proof
that when He had " overcome the sharpness of death,"
He had opened " the Kingdom -of Heaven to all be
lievers." Thus was exhibited in fact, what in the
Book of Revelation is shown in figure, that the prayers
which are offered on ea . can ascend to heaven,
through the path which ha.s 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 Veil24 obstruct
ed their- access, but "the smoke of the incense which
came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up be
fore God."
That the scene described in the Book of Revela
tion represents the collective service of God's people,
is affirmed by St. Irenaeus, 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 John says in the Revelation, 'the Tem-
M Here we see an 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
appertaining 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.
flu,«/aTijg;ov 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 considera
tions, how can it be supposed that a writer so conversant with the
Jewish ritual as the author of this Epistle, could either be silent or mis
taken respecting one of its most essential features'! But let it be con
sidered that the writer was contemplating 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 tliey might be viewed'
after the veil was taken away in Christ, and the altar of incense would,
in truth, pertain to the mercy-seat before which it was placed, and not
to the outer sanctuary in which it was situate.

AN ABIDING INTERCESSOR. 205
pie of God was opened in heaven ; ' and there is like
wise a Tabernacle, for ' the Tabernacle of God is with
men.' "26 And the same view appears to have been
entertained by all the earliest writers, who every where
supposed the Holy place, or outer division of the Ta
bernacle, to have been symbolical of the state of God's
people upon earth — first, in their Jewish form, and af
terwards in their Christian character. " Midway be
tween the veil and the external covering, where the
Priests only might enter, lay the altar of incense, sym
bolical 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."28
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, a 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."27 So that the prayers of men are perpetually
ascending to God, not only for the sake of that vic
tim, 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.28 And thus a real ser
vice 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 offering shall be shown hereafter, and what are
38 Revelation xi. 19; xxi. 3.— S. Irenseus, iv. 18, 6; p. 252.
x S. Clement's Stromata, v. p. 665.
* Origen on Levit. Horn. ix. 9, vol. ii. p. 243. " Heb. x. 20.

206

CHRIST THE MEDIATOR

the services for which the Intercession of Christ ob
tains 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 supplications
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 throughout the world resembles the
Jewish, in being a national Ritual. " The holy Church
throughout all the world doth acknowledge Thee."
But the Christian nation is not limited, likethe 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 fe
male, but ye are all one in Christ Jesus."29 And this
one Christian people has likewise one mother city,
where its collective offering is presented on its' behalf.
But its capital is not on earth, but in heaven, for " Je
rusalem which is above, is the mother of us all."30
And it has one Priest, who " because He continueth
ever hath an unchangeable Priesthood."31 And it
has a single victim, who has made " one perpetual sa
crifice" (so should the words be rendered) "for
sins."32 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
constitutes Him the real Priest and the only victim.
When He was upon earth, those who saw Him ad
dressed 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
18 GaL iii. 28. » Gal. iv. 26. M Heb. vii. 24. » Heb. x. 12.

AN ABIDING INTERQESSOR. 207
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 to believe that
through his manhood33 alone can the Father be ad
dressed. 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 Fa
ther may be glorified in the Son."3*
Thus it is, then, that we give effect to Our Lord's
Mediation ; that we recognise 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 per
petually 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 na
ture, as though in Psalm or Litany we were to num
ber all His limbs, and recount all the circumstances
of His Passion : "By the mystery of Thy Holy Na
tivity and Circumcision ; by Thy Baptism, Fasting,
and Temptation; by Thine Agony and Bloody Sweat;
83 On this principle was built the practice of the African Church,
which, while addressing prayers to the Son at other times, prescribes :
"Cum Altari assistitur, semper ad Patrem dirigatur oratio." — Con.
Carth, 3, Can. 23, Hard. 1, p. 963.
Mr. Maskell (Ancient Liturgy of the Church of England, p. 32,)
gives the reason from Card. Bona, " quia Missa reprasentatio' est ejus
oblationis, qua Christus se Patri obtulit."
84 John xvi. 23; xiv. 13.

208 Christ's spiritual presence
by Thy 'Cross and Passion ; by. Thy precious Death
and Burial; by Thy glorious Resurrection and' Ascen
sion; 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 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 alway, even to the end of the world." All the
blessings which Our Mediator bestows, are compre
hended 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 Ascen
sion, because then He gave them;1 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
1 Ephesians iv. 8; Psalm lxviii. 18. 2 John xiv. 18.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 209
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 re
verence and of worship.
Since it has been revealed to us that in Our Lord
two distinct natures have been conjoined in one Person,
to inquire what is meant by His Presence among men,
of necessity involves the consideration 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 of 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 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 ad
vance 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 every where 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 which
man's regeneration is dependent. We must pass
18

210
beyond this to " the full assurance of understanding,
to the acknowledgment of the mystery of Godj and of
the Father, and of Christ."3 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 settle 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 as Man, as
well as His Presence as God. Secondly — That the
Presence of Christ, according 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 receives those spiritual blessings,
which the Head and Pattern of the renewed race has
made His own manhood the channel for communicating
to His brethren.
I. Now, the promise of His perpetual Presence was
not given to Our Lord's Disciples after His Resurrec
tion only, but it 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 theywere to receive through
the influence of the Comforter: "I will come again
and receive you unto Myself."4 And this was a pro
mise which the residue of the world should not share ;
it was the peculiar privilege, as it was the peculiar
hope of Our Lord's Chosen followers: " Ahttle while,
and the world seeth Me no more, but ye see Me ; be
cause I live, ye shall live also." Our Lord's decla
ration, therefore, could not have referred to that
coming as Judge, in which all men will have an equal
' Colossians ii. 2. • John xiv. 1 8, 3.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 211
share. Neither could it be fulfilled during that inter
val of forty days which followed His Resurrection, be
cause He goes on to say, that "we will come unto
him and make our abode with him."5 His promises
look to the restoration of that which was about to be
lost to them — the presence, namely, of Our Lord ac
cording 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,6 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 per
petual Presence was given before His Ascension, it
was directly grounded on that new authority, with
which, accordmg to His man's nature, He was in
vested: ",A11 power is given unto Me in heaven and
in earth. Go ye, therefore, and make disciples of all
nations ;" " and Lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world."
Again, that Our Lord's Presence has especial re
ference to His human nature, may be inferred from
the limitation, which binds it to places, times, and
modes of action. It pertains to the very essence of
Deity to be every where; 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, ac
cording to which alone it was possible that He should
be absent.
But it will naturally occur as objections both to
this statement and to that expectation which might
have been built, as is alleged, upon the promise to the
Apostles : First, that in the gift of the Holy Ghost
8 John xiv. 19,23.
8 " Ibat per id quod homo erat, et manebat per id, quod Deus erat." —
S. Aug, in Joan. 78, 1.

212

CHRIST S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE

the coming of a Divme Person is plainly promised ;
and secondly, that under the ancient covenant the Al
mighty bestowed His help in such particular places,
times, and manners, on His chosen people, as to jus
tify -the expression, "My presence shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest.".7 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,"8 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.9 And He is the one Prophet10 of the New
Covenant, and His flesh is "the true Tabernacle 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 is 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 bless
ings with particular persons or places, but that to do
so, was to employ created media as instruments 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 Me
diators ; the Angels exercised an intermediate minis
try. And all these only exercised 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
' Exodus xxxiii. 14. 8 John i. 51.
8 Rev. xxii. 9; Eph. iii. 10. ,0 Heb. i. 1 .

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 213
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,"11 that "the Tabernacle of God" was "with
men."12 And further, it must be considered that those inter
ventions which were allowed in earlier times, were
through the power and agency of the same uncreated
Word, who has concentrated all the functions of Me
diation 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 has been His will to adopt since He be
came manifest in the flesh. It is not of moment to
the general argument, whether on those earlier occa
sions He spoke to men directly, or employed the in
tervention of inferior beings as instruments of His will.
The first appears to have been the opinion of some of the
most ancient writers;'3 since the time of St. Augustin,
the assertion that the law was "received by the dis
position, of angels,"14 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,15
who subsequently guided them. Some such change
in the manner of their direction is expressly recorded.
That it was an Angel who subsequently appeared to
Daniel16 is manifest, since he " speaks of Michael as
his fellow," and such was probably the leader, of the
Lord's Host,17 who was beheld by Joshua.18 But,
" John x. 38. ,2 Revelation xxi. 3.
18 Tertullian ad. Marc. ii. 27; ad. Prax. 14 & 16; Just. Dial. cum
Tryptione, 56-60. " Acts vii. 53.
18 Exod. xxxiii. 2, 3. ,8 Daniel x. 5-14. " Josh. v. 1 3.
" This is maintained by Dr. Mill, with his usual learning and ability,
in his "Christian Advocate's Publication," for 1841.
18*

214 Christ's spiritual presence
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 coining dis
pensation19 of the Gospel which we now possess. A nd,
therefore, whereas in earher time those ministering
beings were received by men with such signs of reve
rent salutation, as the inferior might well pay to the
superior creature^ as the examples of Manoah,20 and
Daniel,21 if not of Joshua,22 declare ; yet was similar
submission refused by the Angel whom St. John be
held, because "I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy
brethren the Prophets, and of them which keep the say
ings of this book."33 So that now whatsoever has
the character of worship is to pass through that one
channel, which through the human nature of the Eter
nal Word has been opened to mankind. By God's
Presence was intended in former times whatever op
portunity 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 prayers is grounded
upon the assurance of that peculiar Presence, which
through His human nature Our Lord vouchsafes, be
cause it rests upon the reality of His Mediation: "If
two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing
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
" Heb. ii. 5. M Judges xiii. 20. 21 Dan. x. 15.
22 Joshua v. 14. B Rev. xxii. 9.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 215
alone, would be to neutralize the efficacy of His Me
diation, since it is His character as Man which has
rendered Him the counterpart of those means of ac
cess 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 Pre
sence 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 Me
diator, yet His Presence is brought about through the
power of that other nature, which is wholly imma
terial and Divine. For when His Incarnation joined
Manhood and Godhead together, it left the essential
properties of each undestroyed. What these proper
ties are, we may in some measure conclude from the
experience of our own being. For from our o*n na
ture3* 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 subtle 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 exist
ence, which is not to be called a consequence of the
definition which has been assigned to them, but is part
of the original idea, which the name either of body or
spirit expresses. For respecting the first, as Tucker
» Vigil, c. Eutych. v. 6.

216 Christ's spiritual presence
observes, it is "an uncontroverted maxim and self-
evident truth," " that nothing can act or be "acted
upon where it is not."25 This appears to be a portion
of what is intended, when we say that bodies are pre
sent in space. And therefore even in respect to such
influences as gravity, we feel a conviction that there
must be what, he expresses as " some medium passing v
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 pre
sent in place, which is contrary to our whole idea pf
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, hut 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 dissi
milar kingdoms. For one is as real as the pther,- and
though our acquaintance with them is gained in dif
ferent ways, yet it rests ultimately on the same prin
ciple 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 exist
ence. In this manner it is, then, that we become con
versant with these two worlds of matter and of spirit,
our chief knowledge of which is, in truth only a cpn-
" '• Light of Nature," vol. ii. p. 1, c. 5.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 217
viction that the one is a reality, 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 na
tures 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 Dis
ciples after His Resurrection : " Handle Me and see,
for a spirit hath not flesh and hones 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 to make
His own."26 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 hot, others cannot af
firm. The miraculous appearances, therefore, of Our
Lord's body to His Disciples after His Resurrection,
are hot inconsistent with the reality of His corporeal
frame. But we are expressly told that at His As
cension 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 martyr
dom. 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
88 Eccl. Pol. v. 54, 9.

218 Christ's spiritual presence
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 which properties, definite or local presence
is chief." For if His material presence coukTbe in
heaven and also upon earth, then as Hooker expresses
it, " hath the majesty of His estate extinguished the
verity of His nature."27 And to this our Church re
fers, when she asserts that to be " in two places at
once" is against the " trut h of Christ's natural
Body." She does not enter into the metaphysical pro
perties 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.28 " 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 car
ried thither, and from which He hath not taken nature,
but given thereunto immortality. According to this
form He spreadeth not out Himself 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."29 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 sub
ject to the conditions which discriminate bodily from
spiritual substance — 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.
* Eccl Pol. v. 55, 6.
58 " Quando in terra fuit caro, non erat utirme in ccslo. Et nunc quia
in ccelo est, non est utique in terra." — Vigil, c. Eutych. iv. 14.
18 St. Augustin, in Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. 55, 6.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 219
We are assured moreover by Our Lord Himself,
that the removal of His bodily substance into heaven
would be a step which should lead to that spiritual
Presence which He has since vouchsafed. After de
claring the fact that His man's body would be the me
dium 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
Magdalene might not touch Him before His Ascension :
"I would not have you come to Me in bodily wise, nor
recognise Me by carnal touch : I put you off to some
thing 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."30
Whether we look, then, to the declarations of Scrip
ture 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 con
clude 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 irre
spective 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
30 S. Leo, Sermon lxxii. 4.

220 Christ's spiritual presence
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 identi
cal with His spiritual presence — that those who assert
one, deny the other. Their mistake arises from the
circumstance, that language is founded upon terms,
which. are supplied to us 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 Himself,31 between the more subtle 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."32 And unless spirit be
something less real than body, spiritual presence is not
less real than bodily presence. All that can be as
serted of it is, that it is of a different nature and regu
lated by a different law. Bodies are present by con
tiguity of place — spirits by influence or power. 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 nature; 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. " St. John iii. 8. " S. Aug. Con. iv. 12, 1.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 221
Neither is this Presence merely that He is an ob
ject 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 dis
ciples, 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 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 intercession
with the Father, so are we assured that He acts to
wards 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 that we must allow that His
Presence is merely figurative. 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 pre
sent upon earth by the effluence of its beams. But
that Sacred Manhood which was created for the ser
vice of the Mediator between God and men, in which
were stored up the " treasures of wisdom and know
ledge," 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 persons—-
19

222 Christ's spiritual presence
not figuratively, but in truth^-notby material contact,
but by spiritual power. And while its material place
is among the armies of heaven, its spiritual presence is
among the inhabitants of the earth, when, how, and
wheresoever is pleasing to its 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 Jesus, that the gift of the
Holy Ghost was bestowed.33 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 per
sonal 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 Me
diator, who " when He ascended up on high, led cap
tivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." What He
received in that He was human, that 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
Incarnation, was perfected by his consequent Obe
dience, 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,
88 " 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
Incarnal. et c. Arian. 16, vol. i. p. 883.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 223
that afterwards, according to the saying of the Apos
tle, He might bestow it upon men.84 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 hot. come unto you; but if I depart, I
will send Him unto you." " He shall glorify Me, for
he shall 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, 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 — Lby their union with that man who is
the Son of God by nature. For as we are men by na
tural alliance with that first man, Adam, who by rea
son of His creation is called God's son, so we are re
newed 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
" Compare Psalm lxviii. 18, and Ephesians iv. 8.

224 or spirits immediately unto Himself, but unto Christ's
human nature."33 And so says St. Athanasius, that
" the Spirit is the Unction and the Seal, whereby the
Word anoints and seals all things.'*36 And for this
we have Our Lord's express assurance, in that the per
petual 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
consequence 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 glory to reeeive gifts for men.
Christ is perpetually present, because, being raised to
the right hand of power, He is perpetually 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 depar
ture : "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 Resur
rection, 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 in
ward and spiritual working of Christ."37 And hence
we have the interpretation of the tenth verse of the
same chapter : "When He (the Comforter) is come,
He will convince (or instruct)38 the world of sin, and
of righteousness, and of judgment." " Of righteous
ness, 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 righteous-
88 Jackson's Com. on Creed, xi. 3, 12. m Ep.i. ad Serap.23.-
!" Olshausen on John xvi. 16.
88 iliy ft iy, Tholuck observes in loco, implies the allied significatioos
of conviction, blame, instruction.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 225
ness conveyed to mankind by the Holy Ghost. This
Blessed Spirit becomes the agent through which that
sanctified humanity of the Son of God exerts its re
newing influence upon the defiled humanity of His
brethren. " The Spirit testifies as of sin, so of right
eousness, because it reveals how the Saviour, though
departed in body, works unseen in the renewal of the
inner life."39
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,
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 sub
stitute the Holy Ghost in place of the Son, or rather
to maintain, that whereas the work of men's govern
ment 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 re-appeared
under the name of the Holy Ghost. And thus we
should be led back into the same system of Sabellian
ism, which has been before exhibited, and the real ex
istence 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.40 At the Incarnation
of the Son of God, it was the Holy Ghost who over
shadowed 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 per
petual co-operation between these Divine Persons, in
89 Olshausen on John xvi. 10. 40 Vide Preface to St. Hilary, 57-68.
19*

226that while Christ is the "one Mediator between God
and men," the Holy Ghost is that "one and' the self
same Spirit,"41 through 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,"42 so it is asserted of our
selves-, that "if we liave been planted together in the
likeness of His Death, we shall be also in the likeness
of His Resurrection." So that -St, Austin asserts,
" what our spirit or life is to our limbs, such is the Holy
Ghost tP the members of Christ, that is, to His body
the Church.' '4S 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 pur
pose 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 Apollinarians, 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, td that purified humanity of the Son of God,
which was set forth as a model to His brethren.44 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 distin-
" l Corinthians xii. 11. w 1 Peter iii. 18.
" In Preface to St. Hilary, sec. 78. " Ep. II. to Cledonius, sec. 6.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 227
guished. And therefore to neglect it, as St. Athana
sius45 complains, would be to make the Blessed Tri
nity a mere trick [o^pi rtcu8«x,;,] 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 every
thing into a mere abstract Theism, and to absorb all
existence into its primary source.
IV. We come now to that point on whieh this
whole chapter 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 plaGe or
by material contact; its medium of operation is that
spiritual power, which the manhopd derives from per
sonal 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 in
quiry is useless. The mere technical assertion of such
a dogma, irrespective of any influence upon man's con
dition and conduct, would be arbitrary and artificial.
So that it would partake of the repulsiveness which
naturally attaches to all doctrinal assertions, when
48 " For the name of the Son and of the Spirit would be put an end
to, when their purpose was fulfiUed. And the whole system of the gos
pel 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 1 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.

228 Christ's spiritual presence
they are put forth merely for the purpose of completing
a theological system, or of supporting established in
stitutions. In a qase so serious as this, men cannot
yield their assent to the mere child's-play of logical
subtlety ; 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 individual ac
count is so much more important than the mere per
petuation 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 per
fectly right in feeling more interest in what con
cerns personal religion, than in any doctrinal con
siderations, so long as our salvation depends upon the
first, and the second only contributes to the quiet ad
ministration of the Church and the country. Such is
the case respecting many disputes which unhappily
divide Christians. And this it is which makes what
are called Church and State questions offensive to se
rious minds. They are naturally averse to sacrifice
the eternal interests of Christ's Kingdom to its mere
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 attending to, it must be in
consequence of its connexion with the individual hopes
and interests of men.
Now, this connexion depends upon that leading fea
ture 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 re
presentative : the Pattern of our Being ; its new Head
who came once in the fulness of time "to gather to
gether all things" in Himself. For through Him
was the higher nature46 introduced into our fallen raee,
48 " Non enim superare possemus peccati et mortis auctorem, nisi

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 229
by which its ancient deterioration may be corrected.
From which circumstance it follows, that salvation is
not attained by human efforts, but by the gift, of God.
For it was not only as 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 huma
nity which He shared with us, such grace as sufficed
for the whole generation of His kindred. 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."47 For this reason the work of Me
diation 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 benefited —
itris an actual and real union, whereby all renewed men
are joined to the second, as they were by mature 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 stand
eth" only "in the following of Adam, as the Pela
gians 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 al
liance which takes place by descent being not less
wonderful than that supernatural alliance which is
brought by the 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
naturam nostram ille susciperet, et suam faceret, quem nee peccatum
contaminaire, nee mors potuit detinere." — S. Leo, Ep. 24, 2.
" Bishop Andrews's Fourth Sermon on the Nativity.

230

CHRIST S SPIRITUAL PRESENCE

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 dependent on the
maintenance of a perpetual succession of beings, in each
of whom the original type reappears under one or other
of innumerable modifications, while yet that normal
limit is never overpassed, by which the race is sepa
rated 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 any thing distinct from that which makes up
their separate personality; but whereas in the artificial
combinations of human thought, "all classifications,"
as Dugald Stewart48 observes, "are to a certain de
gree 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 appear- to be right in asserting respecting
the mere results of human abstraction, that "it does
not follow that the distinctive quality of a class is more
essential to the existence of each individual, than va
rious other qualities which we are accustomed to re
gard as accidental." In the case of those things
*' " Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind."— P. i. c. 4,
sec. 2; vide supra, p. 43 & 186.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 231
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 in
dividual. 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 pre
serves the uninterrupted succession of every primary
pair. So that the principle of nature owes its exist
ence 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
transmission and family headship.
Now, this rule which God has made the law of
nature, is transferred by Revelation 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 that are heavenly." . Through Him is given
back that perfect image of God, wherein man was ori
ginally 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 every thing which receives it into the
image of God."49 Our salvation therefore does not
depend merely on our own efforts, on the self-de
pendent exertions of men to cure their inherent evils,
48 Ad. Eun. v. p. 302, [Garnier.]

232 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 at
tached themselves to our race, through the transgres
sion of the, old. As true, certain, and extensive 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 which 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 pf the num
ber of those for whom He shall hereafter say, " be
hold I and the children whom God hath given Me."
For however widely the benefits of His death may be
extended, yet " they who are called received the pro
mise 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 fashipned
into a new race, through the overflpwing 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 grace
for grace." Now, this reality of union with Christ
is further evidenced, because He not only " was de
livered for our offences," but " was raised again for
'our justification." Our salvation, that is, depends
upon the gifts which He bestowed, and the Intercession
which He has ascended on 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

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 233
their word." And therefore Christ's acts of Media
tion 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 indicate that our share in the
benefits which 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 which 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 race out
of the ruins of the old. So that when He declares
Himself to be the vine,50 He speaks of that human na
ture into which all Christian men are engrafted.
The assertion then of Our Lord's presence accord
ing 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
B Vide S. 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 hfe, which shall
make them glorious at the latter day, and for which they are already
accounted parts of His blessed bodyl Our corruptible bodies could
never live the life they shall live, were it not that here they are joined
with his body, which is incorruptible, 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 which hindered the life of ours. Christ is, therefore,
both as God and as man, that true vine, whereof we both spiritually and
corporally are branches." — Eccks. Pol. v. 56, 9.
20

.234 revealed to us the mysterious truth, that He whose
counsels were unalterably fixed before the worlds*be-
gan, 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 displayed 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 model or type
those things should be displayed in their completeness,
<which are afterwards to be transferred in their degree
to, the transmitted forms which are derived from it.
Therefore, in Christ's manhood dwelt the fulness pf
grace, as the plenitude 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 endow
ment? 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 con
viction, for " Seth and Sem were in great honour
among men, and so was Adam' above every living
thing in the creation."51 If we look 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
81 Ecclcsiasticus xlix. 16.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 235.
created — and none of the antediluvian Patriarchs be
came more early a father — Adam's life was equivalent
to nearly one thousand years. Thus was nature set
forth in its perfectness in a single type, before it was
multiplied in its feeble 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 Gpd, 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 exhaustless 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 " be
ing 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 respecting His human na
ture, 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
fectly to the Head of the body by nature. As St.

236 Christ's spiritual presence
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 bestowed
it upon the family of men."52 Thus did His humanity
become " the leaven of the whole lump," that through
itself it might " sanctify the whole race of men."53 It
was the city set on a hill,54 in which all the kindred
of the renewed are inhabitants. For this reason is
"the fellowship of the Holy Ghost" the very con
summation 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."55 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 themselves cannot
lose their virtue, nor does the Divine majesty with
draw 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."56
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
82 Con. Arian. i. 42. M S. Gregor. Naz. Horn, xxxvi. 89. -
"St. Hilary, on Matt. iv. 12.
85 St. Leo, quoted in Poynet's Dialled, p. 101. " De Ca?na Domini. ¦

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 237
to His humanity, rests upon His being that Pattern
Man, in whom renewed manhood shone forth in its
brightest colours, by reason of those supernatural en
dowments 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 ;il
He glorified every relation of man's life; and purified
that material world which man had polluted.58 Was
there in Adam the undiminished strength of natural
life — in the Man Christ there was the gift "to have
v life in Himself," even for the quickening of others.
His miracles were but the outbreak of that innate vi
tality 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-mPrrow, and
the third day I shall be perfected." 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 exer
cise of power, as though, perhaps, to harmonize with
that mysterious law which has bound man to the in-
" S. Iren. ii. 22, 4; iii. 18, 7. S. Greg. vol. 3, pt 2, p. 6.
88 " 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 defiled
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 eat 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'! VVe that were abhorred
by God were by this means made beloved in Him. He cannot, we
may be sure, account evil of that nature, that is now become the nature
of His own Son — His now no less than ours." — Bishop Andrews,
Sermon ix. on the Nativity.
20*

238 Christ's spiritual presence
.*
ferior as well as the superior creation, and which
shows the relation which matter has to mind. Those
miracles which are least accordant with our expecta
tion, such as affected the animal or vegetable world,59
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 stages 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
Jx) which this whole chapter conducts us, and" affirm
ll^t Our Lord's acts of Mediation towards men, as
well as His Intercession with the Father, are a pre
sent 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 still 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 hils 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,
18 St. Matthew viii. 32; xxi. 19.

AS MEDIATOR AMONG MEN. 239
whereby " we are members of His body, of His flesh,
and of His bones." Thus does the truth of His Me
diation 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 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 mast be included. So that if Christ ta still
Mediatoi", there must be the perpetual presencllrmong
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- be
come a mere union with Deity at large, and not a spe
cific 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 na
ture, 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 sup
posed 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 thentfnust 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

240 Christ's spiritual presence, &c.
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 unapproach
able Godhead? And this is the more subtle 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. 137) in which
man might reverence His perfections, as th.e Heathen
adored the representations of their gods. But the
worship which on the Arian or Sabellian supposi
tion is due to Christ, would only be that secondary
honour which was assigned Him by the will and ap
pointment 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 de
pends 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 interces
sion 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

CHRIST PRESENT IN HIS CHURCH. 241
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 en
dowed in His Person with a grace which is superna
tural. And, therefore, can the ehild of the Church
Catholic look with confidence in the hour of trial te»
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 in Christ, reconciling to Himself
the world. To Him can prayer aseend with confi
dence: — Come, Thou Lord of Life,. Thou lover of
souls, in the truth of Thy man's nature, with the per
fectness of Thy man's sympathy, come and join Thy
self 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 like
ness, I shall be satisfied with it.**

* CHAPTER XI.
CHRISTBgS PRESENT WITH MEN IN HIS CHURCH OR BODY
MYSTICAL.
The nature and importance of Christ's* presence has
been exhibited in the preceding Chapter. * H e is pre
sent 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

242 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
blessing; how each individual may obtain a part in
that work of Mediation, which was wrought in Ex
piation, on the Cross; which is still discharged by Inter
cession 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 quali
fications 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 cir
cumstance that each man has a true personal exist
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
pn 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 outside of our
selves — not mere fancies, but actual objects external
to us — it is necessary to ask in what way these general
advantages are so consigned to individuals, that they

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 243
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 partici
pation in His Presence, 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 mystical. 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 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,
whether 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 each 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 ex-

244

CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS

istence 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 call them the body of their
King? Yet such language is repeatedly employed,
and under various forms, respecting Christians in Holy
Scripture. The ver,y 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 savouis
so strongly pf an actual union. So that a real, and
not merely a metaphorical conjunction must be, deT
signed, 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 which St. Paul transfers what is applicable
to Our Lord's actual body to Hisy 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 is the man Christ Jesus and His
spiritual members, that the name which belongs indi-

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 245
vidually 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 Abraham was not pledged to all
the races which descended from him, but to one only
of the families of which he was parent, he compre
hends the spiritual progeny of Abraham under the
name of Christ :' " 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.3
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 character
istic, 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
' Vide supra, p. 23. The same interpretation is given to Galatians
iii. 16, by St Augustin on Psalm cxlii. 3.
2 "The Church is in Christ, as Eve was in Adam. Yea, by gr;ice
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 frameth out of the very flesh, the very wounded and bleed
ing 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 Hiin, even according to His manhood, wc,
according io our heavenly being, are as branches in that root out of whkh
they grow."— Eccles. Pol. v. 56, 7.
21

246 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
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." Andthis 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
collective 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 fol
lowed the disciple of Socrates, its assertion as a Doc
trine 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 Chris
tian body? Could it be meant to shackle its advance
by subjecting it to such restricting conditions as at
present interfere with the growth of the Church of
Christ, in many countries where it receives State as
sistance? 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 Roman Empire.
For three centuries at least, there was no reference for
purposes of government to any earthly head, while
yet the Church's body seemed as though it were in
stinct with a single soul. From whence could come
this marvellous co-operation ? Its inconsistency with
the acts of men bespeaks at once its Divine parentage.
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

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 247
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 first-born among many
brethren." Christ's Humanity, that stone 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 all His members. Thus do they trace to
Christ's manhood their spiritual life, as to Adam their
natural parentage.3
We need not wonder then that the Church's unity
is declared to be a fact, and that its confession is a fun
damental doctrine. That the Church is one body re
sults 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 pro
fession of the Church's unity the mere admission of
an external appearance, but the belief in an inward
verity. It? is to recognise the presence of that spiri
tual 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 hone of His." " But if the Spirit
of Him thatjaised up Jesus from the dead dwell in
you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
8 " 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 dis
soluble nature. The Divine nature, indeed, is the prime fountain of life
to all, but though inexhaustible in itself, yet a fountain whereof we can
not drink, save as it is derived unto us through the human nature of
Christ." — Jackson's Comment, on Creed, xi. 3, 10.

248 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
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 crea
tion, and which is the grand type and cause of con
cord and law. For the Mediator promised to be in
His servants, even as He Himself is the seat of that
mysterious indwelling of the Eternal Father, whereby
the whole Blessed Trinity is united in the never-end
ing perfection of an actual oneness; "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.4 We can
affirm only that the union in Christ which exists among
men, has borrowed something from the ineffable union
of the Divine nature.5 As the perfection of God's
Being is the true cause and source of every thing per
fect which the world exhibits, so in the oneness of the
renewed family in Christ we discern traces of that
mysterious unity which underlies all things. "At
that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and
ye in Me, and I in you." And therefore " our fel
lowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus
Christ." 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."15
* Vide Fourth Lateraii Council, Can. ii. — Hard. vol. vii. p. 18.
8 St. Ambrose de Fide, iv. 10, 138. 8 Sermo cclxvii. 4.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 249
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
Jower 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, pf ^fhich the union
of Christ with men is the appointed "effect. So that
these mysterious relations are cumulative and not con
sequent only, leading down by successive steps to things
on eart^from things in heaVen.7
Thus does the impulsive wave of heavenly'concord
extend itself to theface 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 Wofd — is to
maintain the reality of His Mediation, and the abso
lute necessity of that bond by which heaven and earth
are united. For it is a necessary result of the cardi-
1 This wonderful chain of connexion is set forth by Lord Bacon in
his Confession of»iFaith: " The Word did not only take flesh, or was
joined to flesh, but was made flesh, though without confusion of sub
stance or nature : so as the eternal Son 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 per
fect; 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. 21*

250 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
nal 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 Rationalism, which rests upon the capacities of na
ture. The principle of Rationalism is, that man's
improvement may be effected through those gifts which
God bestowed upon him by creation, inasmuch as suf
ficient 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 ob
structed, 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 manhood,
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 communion with God.
But because the natural means of communication 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 manhood, that those media have been
provided, whereby the Son of Man communicates Him
self 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 dif
fuses 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

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 251
media as 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, re
sults from that fact on which Christianity is dependent,
that through the Incarnation of the Mediator, the cor
rupted 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 in
tended. Many who are called Christians, and who
profess to value above all things the Mediation of
Christ, consider themselves actually injured, because
this " new and living way" has been opened to them
" through the veil, that is to say His flesh." The op
portunity 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 . coun
try is marked put 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 opportunity of approach, which existed be
fore, is denied them. Now, since the Gospel is
offered only to those to whom it is communicated [for
" how shall they hear without a preacher;"] the con
dition of persons to whom Mediation is unknown re-

252 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
mains unaffected by its announcement. Wherever
graces appear in the children of men, we know that
they come down only frPm the " Father of Lights,"
and we rejoice that " 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 itris revealed, are
in. danger of rejecting Christ. For what is their con
duct in reality, but the very crime which is forbidden in
the Second Comma«dment? The First Commandment
inhibited the substitution of other Gods, Baal or Ash-S
taroth, 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 modftof access, men thought that they could a p-
pro^acnHim 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 them
selves by a shorter and more direct approach to God?w
This course may be adopted without professed dis
belief 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,
independently 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 Me
diation. What does it matter whether men ctjll the
object of their worship Christ, and profess belief in
Him, if the only thing. to which they direct their

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 253
thoughts, is the ultimate and incommunicable God
head? What more remarkably distinguishes the Me
diator from the Father and the Holy Ghost than that
they are not, whereas He is, personally united to man
hood? So that in approaching Him, we cannot over
pass His man's nature — it is our natural channel of
communion with Him. What is addressed directly by
man's 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 individuals, 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 re
ligion for revealed. Our irresistible conviction respect
ing 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 intervening link :
what 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
(hose principles which belong to us by creation. It is
to employ mere natural means for intercourse with
God. So that to make it an objection against the
Church system, that its media of communion are not
simple, natural, and immediate — that they do not com-

254

CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS

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 na
ture has been superseded by the system of Mediation.
For when Christ's manhood was made a bridge3 be
tween heaven "and earth, whereby the purity and ex
altation of the Divine nature might be brPught into
contact with the infirmity and defilement of ours, an
external channel 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 ex
ternal 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 com
munication between earth and heaven, has been pro
vided 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 contribute at
all to prepare it. " The work of Mediation is Christ's
work from beginning to end : when He took our Ma
ture, He did it by actual union — when He joins His
members to Himself, they are really, though by immar
terial and spiritual influence, engrafted into His puri
fied 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
8 u2u 'o t»/v yu.v k*/ tov 'ov^avov yt<$vpuffO,q Tcu layun ff"ou fftaftart."
S, Greg. Thaum. intfPet. de Inc. ii. 9, 3.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 255
whole body of Quakers any conscious design of reject
ing 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 ad
mitted to His Godhead. When the Church system is
opposed to that of Rationalism, the actions of His
manhood are in reality opposed to those of our own
spirits. The channel of union which has been pro
vided through grace is opposed to that which existed
by nature. What is needed, therefore, is some real
agency on His part, whereby this merciful interven
tion 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 Rationalists 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

256

. CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS

them into expressions9 inconsistent with any belief in
His real existence. The characteristic doctrine of the
Gospel, that Gpd and man were permanently made
one in the Person of Christy 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 sub
stitute Rationalism for the Gospel;' in place that is, of
the Revelation through a Mediator, to fall back upon
the universal revelation of nature. And since the doc
trine of the Incarnation for the first time revealed the
personal character of God, Rationalism itself is but
the entrance to that deeper abyss of Pantheism, to
wards which the rejection of the sacramental system
has, a tendency to conduct.
The custom, therefore, of putting inward acts of
faith and love in place of those external means where
by Christ vouchsafes to join men to His manhood, is
in reality to make these the. channel of, mediation in
stead of Him ; it is to set up idols in our hearts, and
thank them for our deliverence 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.10 For whatever de-
8 " George Fox says, that if there be any other Christ but He that
was crucified within, He" is tlie false Christ This Christ that was
risen and crucified within— devils and reprobates make a talk of Him
without." — Leslie's Snake in thq Grass, fyc, sec. 10, p. 67.
10 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 cdnfirmation, 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

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 257
rogates from the sacramental system, has the effect of
deprecating that union with God which we have by
grace, and therefore 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 hot to those who are debarred the use of
such means, but to those by whom they are deemed su
perfluous. It was a sublime exhortation of the an
cient Platonist, " to fly to the solitary Deity in the
solitude of our own spirit." But that which in a Hea
then was a pious reaching forth after light, would be
an impious rejection of it in a Christian. For what
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 riot
again take up with a religion of shadows. All which
prayer-book directs, "to be confirmed by him." The sole object is the
ratification of their vows; the added assurance of their intention to per
form what at baptism was promised. The efficacy of the service rests
altogether upon the acceptableness of their previous prayers, and the
sincerity of their present purpose, which, according lo God's natural
mode of dealing with men, are met by a corresponding 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 re
ceives his younger members into closer union, and confirms those jsraces
which at baptism have already flowed into them from Himself. This is
a natural mode of converse with God exalted into a means of super-
natural^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 difler from any other, whereby responsible agents pledge themselves
to serve God, and what especial benefit is there in Christian confirma
tion 1
22

258

CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS

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 jea
lous 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 Me
diation 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 func
tion and office in the Gospel Covenant. And since it
has been His will that those gracious strivings where
by He renews 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 operatiPns 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 im
pulse commune with the Almighty. If men say, that
what they trust is not their own spirit, but something
bestowed upon them by God, yet still it is something
within themselves — something,
" Which, if Heaven gave it, may be termed their own.' '
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

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 259
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 necessary for
the attainment of all grace."11 "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 Ad
vocate or Intercessor, but through Him as our Me
diator — 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."12
The views of these two great writers, always es
teemed among the highest authorities of the English
church, have been strikingly 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
consistency than is found in many of their partisans,
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 Chris
tian country, derive 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 im
pulse to head a party. It was among the fermenta
tions which issued in the great rebellion, when, as he
complained in his last moments, "the outward Chris-
" Eccles. Pol. v. C0, 4. 12 Jackson's Comm, on the Creed, xi. 3, 13.

260

CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS

tians" were "broken up into many sects,"13 that he
was impelled to look within himself for the principle
of unity. The times peculiarly inclined earnest men
to such a course. Never was religion more overlaid
by hypocrisy, or truth more lost in conscientiousness.
The Puritan divines- had explained away the meaning
of gospel ordinances, While they insisted zealously on
their formal observance. Now, it is so contrary to
the genius of Christianity, to attach primary weight
to what is purely technical, that Fox14 can hardly be
censured for supposing that the sacraments and public
worship were merely forms, they could not be essen
tials of the gospel. Is it less unlikely that the com
mand to observe the Eucharist should be metaphorical,
18 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
persuasion, namely, that it was vouchsafed to himself in preference to
others. "As he was walking in a field on a Tirst-day morning, it was
discbvered unto his understanding, that to be bred at Oxford or Cam
bridge 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 good
ness of fhe Lord, believing now the ordinary ministers ijot to be such.as
they pretended to be. This made him unwilling to go any more to
church." — S(wel'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 ljours, 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. More
over 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 them
selves to be the temples of God." " Having refreshed himself 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 tlie 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 God in themselves." — Sewel's History,
vol. i. p. 88, 89.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 261
than the ordinance itself? Doubtless this earnest man
did not discern that his teaching would turn men away
from Christ, or interfere with the " one Mediator be
tween God and men." Yet that such was the real
tendency of his system is apparent even from the re
port of his friendly historian, whose object is to show
that he maintained the common truths, which are re-
ceived'among Christians. The basis of his instruction
is stated to have been, " that every man is enlightened
with the Divine light."15 And in corroboration of
this assertion (though their real proof could be only
their own inward consciousness,) he and his followers
perpetually referred to the declaration, " that was the
true light, which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world."16 This passage, which refers in
reality to the incarnation of Christ, and consequently
to the gifts bestowed upon His brethren through par
ticipation in Him as Mediator, they interpreted of an
immediate indwelling of Godhead in the whole body
of mankind. But the true light, which at the crea
tion 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 con
found this peculiar gift, which was bestowed on hu
manity through the incarnation of Christ, with that
18 Sewer's History, ii. 575.
18 St; Augustin shows that such an interpretation of St. John i. 9,
(as maintained by the Pelagians,) interferes with the reality of Christ's
mediation. The Greek, he observes, might be rendered : " That was the
true light, which iighteth every man by coming into the world." — De
Pecc. Mer. i. 25. The translation of Tholuck and Olshausen is equi
valent 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 rea
sonableness, 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. 330.
22*

262 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
general influence of the Divine Spirit, which all men
inherit from their creation, is virtually a form of Ra
tionalism. 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 fulfil
ment of God's general promises to humanity. Yet
even then, unless the manhood of the one Mediator is
regarded as the fountain and well-head of those gifts,
which the Comforter distributes to Christ's members,
Rationalism is only disguised under the kindred heresy
of Sabellianism. For in this case the work of the
Holy Ghost is represented as something which super
sedes 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 commupication of His human nature, its quicken
ing gifts are bestowed according io their measure upon
His members below: to suppose these gifts therefore
to be obtained "by God's immediate indwelling, with
out such communication, is to pass Him by in our ap
proach to God. This is the exact result in the Sa
bellian heresy, which usually represents the Almighty
as having had three successive modes of dwelling upon
earth : first, in His ancient worship, then in the huma
nity of Christ, and, that mode of dwelling being ter
minated, 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 God
head evaporates in three successive relations of the
same being towards mankind. On this principle; the
Saeraments, as Fox asserted, may well be dispensed
with, " because Christ the substance" is "come:"11
" Sewel's History, ii. p. 580.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 263
the purpose, that is, of His Incarnation, is supposed
to be completed, and the dispensation of the Spirit is
alleged to leave nothing for His man's nature to per
form. 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 uncommon 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."18 These statements show that the
Quakers had already adopted the Sabellian19 hypo
thesis respecting our Lord's nature; and the preva
lence of avowed Socinianism among them in latter
days is a still more manifest indication of the result
which attends the abandonment of the Sacramenal
system.20 The example of the Quakers shows byr what inevi
table sequence the neglect of Our Lord's office as Me-
>s "The Snake in the Grass," sec. x.— Leslie's Works, vol. ii p. 67.
18 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 propo
sition, was the Spirit of God." — History of Quakerism, ii. 224.
*' That Socinian opinions predominated among the Quakers was
commonly affirmed by the late Mr. Gurney, himself a member of their
body, though an able and zealous opponent of that form of error.

264

CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS

diator, leads io heresies respecting His nature. Two
writers of the present age, each the head of a theologi
cal school, may be cited as an evidence that inadequate
views respecting His nature, have a corresponding con
nexion with a low estimate of the gifts of grace. The
sentiments of Professor Schleiermacher are apparent
from a statement, for which its antithetical form proba
bly has gained the wider acceptance, that " Catholicism
is that system which represents the relation of the indi
vidual to Christ to be dependent on his relation to the
Church ; Protestantism that which represents the re
lation of the individual to the Church to be dependent
on his relation to Christ."21 This contrast is put for
ward by Schleiermacher as containing the character
istic distinction between 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 be
comes 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, devised 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 im
plies a complete denial of the spiritual life of the
*' Der Christliche Glaube, i. 34, p. 132.

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 265
Church? The answer may be learned from the ac
count of Schleiermacher's opinions given by his coun
tryman, 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 notion accordingly woald be incon
sistent with the Sabellian theoiy.22
Here, then, we see clearly to what we must attri
bute Schleiermacher's low estimate of the spiritual na
ture of the Church. He could not suppose it to be
the mystical body of the Eternal Son, united by spi
ritual 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. 136.) 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 suf
ficient guarantee that it is not from any intentional re
jection 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 in
dividuals 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
22 " The Christian's inward consciousness" (for this, and not the pre
sence of the Holy Ghost with the body of the church, is Schleiermacher's
criterion, whether for proving the tralh of Scripture, or for explaining
it,) — " this inwanl consciousness," he says, "does not compel Oslo 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 sen ever-
increasing sphere its action and its life, Christ, as a historical person,
lias, according to his view, no other significance, than as H is example
is the means of propagating that spirit which he has ihfnsed into the
community." " In this manner, then, tlie personal existence in whieh
Christ appeared, loses all its importance so soon as it has transplanted
itself into others."— Dorner's Person Christi, first ed. p. 503,523.

266

CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS

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,23 and respecting Christ Our Lord. For the
word Person, as used in respect to the Blessed Tri
nity, 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."24 And
again, " Our Lord took care to indicate that the Com
forter the Disciples are to expect is no other than
Himself under another character."25
" It is not here inquired how far these assertions ac
cord with the statements of Scripture, or the teaching
of the Church of England."26 But they account
58 " God," says the Archbishop, is " revealed to us in three charac
ters (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 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 which 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 saying, ' 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 per
son, as commonly employed, is most important." — Whately' s Logic,
first ed. 18-26, 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 in
dicates that Archbishop Whately designs to recall his previous assertions,
which indeed he has virtually repeated in subsequent sermons.
84 Sermons, 1835, p. 202. a8 Ditto, p. 197.
* The sentiments Of Sabellius are recorded by Theodoret, Dial, ii., on
Heretical Fables (cited in Radcliffe's Creed of St. Athanasius Illustrated,

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 267
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
to assert strongly its claim to authority : what is want
ing 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 re
lation to Christ, as His mystic body united by the
spiritual action of His man's nature to Himself. So
that those that 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 pre
sent 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 conse
quence when men are led, like Archbishop Whately,
by the plain words of Scripture to take a high view
of Church authority,27 is to infuse harshness and tech
nicality 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 ra
ther than the affectionate loving-kindness of the daugh
ter of Zion. Since its ordinances are not coincident
p. 85:) " Sabellius the African, of Pentapolis, introduced this heresy.
He said that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost were one per
son, 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 as 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 Constan
tinople, one of the four General Councils whose decrees, by our present
law (1 Eliz. c. 1, s. 36,) afford a criterion of heresy.
81 Vide the passage quoted from Whately 's " Kingdom of Christ," in
the next chapter.

268

CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS

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 Scrip
ture forbid its abolition.
Such are some of the evils of forgetting the real na
ture 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 answer to the intricate questions re
specting Church communion and Church obedience.
So long as the Church is regarded as an external Sys
tem, based on certain laws and administered by cer
tain leaders, it can never fail to enlist a measure of
that party spirit which 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 ex
ternal frame-work 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 Boni
face or Hildebrand. 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

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 269
of the renewed race, and that through spiritual pre
sence it bestows its life-giving power on all the mem
bers of His mystic body — let every other question be
dependent upon these — let them take their place, as
of subordinate importance, and as merely contributing
to this great result — and what room is there for dis
cord between Christ and the Church, when the Church
is Christ Himself manifest in His mystic body ? " 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.
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 com
muning with the Spirit of the Universe as may be main
tained 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 re
nounce Christianity for Rationalism, 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, there
fore, 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
instead of Christ, but to protest against men's put
ting themselves in the place of their Redeemer. To
23

270 CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HIS
speak pf 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 Pre
sence is the Church's life, is the answer to all ques
tions respecting Church Communion. For the Church's
being depends on union with Himj 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 pre
sent season of warfare, so also is 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 not ; 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 respecting1 all questions of Church-obedience.
For Church-obedience depends on the authority to
bless, not on the power to govern. Its rule i§ not
coercive, but parental ; it stands on the communication
of gifts, not the enactment of penalties. This is what
makes persecution alien to its nature; so that such
harshness is abhorred by men's instinct, even if their

CHURCH OR BODY MYSTICAL. 271
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 Bap
tism is built on that fundamental law, which is the
basis of social life. Our Catechism, therefore, rests
religious as well as temporal authority on the fifth
Commandment, and deduces from it the obligation to
obey spiritual as well as temporal masters. For " Je
rusalem which is above is the mother of us all."
Hence the rule of Church-obedience is limited only by
that original duty of obedience to God, which can
not 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 extreme of irreverence, when employed by sin
ful men respecting the Mystical Body of Christ their
Saviour. For it implies ignorance of their filial re
lation 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 practices 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,

272 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
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 to itself, not from
hatred to others ; the lines of our heritage are marked
out by affection and Dot 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 appoint
ment of His sovereign wisdom, " that so in the person
of a Mediator the true ladder might be fixed, where
by God might descend to His creatures, and His crea
tures might ascend to God."28

CHAPTER XII.
OF COMMON WORSHIP AS A MEANS OF UNION 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 Spi
ritual Presence through His man's nature with His
brethren. And this Spiritual Presence 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 mysti
cal 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 common worship. This point must now be esta
blished. The considerations which lead to it are :
First — :The nature of common worship.
Secondly — The grounds of its necessity.
88 Bacon's Confession of Faith, u. s.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 273
Thirdly — The place which it occupied in" the Jew
ish system.
Fourthly— Its connexion with the Doctrine of
Mediation. And hence follows,
Fifthly — the necessity of an ordained Ministry and
public Ritual.
I. 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 Community, which, if it has hfe, must
by some symptoms show that it lives? Every organ
ized body has some mode of giving expression 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 spirit
ual 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 always towards men — whom it gathers for
their own benefit into its fostering bosom — but likewise
towards Him, whose "praise is in the great congrega
tion ;" therefore its first object must be that the inha
bitants of this lower world, "with Angels and Arch
angels, and with all the company of heaven" should
" laud and 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
23*

274

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

has always rested. Its indispensable 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 whieh in early times the
Epistle to the Hebrews was not received; and yet the
first Christians not only encountered 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 Caesar,
unless their duty to God had been peremptory 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 which 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. But when the Roman Law1 had expressly
forbidden the meetings of religious bodies, the common
worship of the Christians became, as Pliny expresses
it, the very "sum of their crime."2 It was forbidden
* The proofs are collected by Gieseler, i. 12, notes C & D, vol, i.
p. 31, 32. Trajan renewed the law against 'sratgeiai, A. d. 99.
2 Epis. I.ib.Tc. 97.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 275
therefore during the Dibclesian persecution, even under
the mild rule of Constantius ;3 and its permission is the
main point expressed in the tolerating edict issued by
Galerius" 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 per
form 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 consider 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 in the tents of the
Patriarchs. But this usage had rested on natural in
stinct or individual communication; it was personal or
family; it was not relevant to any peculiar promise,
8 Lactantius de morte Persecutorum, c. 15. 4 Ibid. c. 34.

276

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

or any public institutions; it belonged to that Patri
archal state, in which the Most High was pleased to
favour His diftiful followers by single and especial
manifestations. Under this -rule did Enoch, Job, and
Abraham, walk with God. But this rule waxed insuf
ficient 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 jus
tified because their tf fathers worshipped 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 Samaritans 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 assurance
that the Father of all will hear them. This means
of access no other nation possessed. They had the
"lively oracles " which afforded an intercourse with
the Almighty.
Now, on what was this intercourse dependent? 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 Ritual, 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-emi
nence 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 a holy nation."
Royalty lies in high descent, and Priesthood in that

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 277
peculiar consecration, which marks men 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 sym
bols of the whole world, when he entered into the holy
place, because he was the representative of the whole
creation.5 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 individual Jew found his way to God
through his individual excellency ; but he had a claim
to participate in that public service by which His na
tion was brought nigh to the Almighty. The national
Ritual was a bond of union which gave the individual
.a vantage ground in his approach to God. That ge
neral 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 mediato
rial character of the public Ritual, in which the Jew
ish nation had a common interest. The priesthood 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 together; the
typical representation of that true High Priest, who
is the perfect Mediator between earth and heaven.
Therefore to reject the Jewish Ritual during that pe
riod, when it was the appointed means of foreshowing
Him who was to come, would have been in reality to
reject Christ, and to slight the efficacy of His Media-
8 Philo, quoted in Domer's Person Christi, vol. i. p. 48.

278 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
tion. So that when Korah maintained that the sepa
rate priesthood of every individual Israelite dispensed
with the necessity of that national Ritual, which anti
cipated the Mediation of Christ, it pleased God by im
mediate judgments to show who 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 aspirations to God were ground
ed always on that peculiar privilege of approach, which
had its central and consecrating point in their national
Ritual. 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 hinderances were pre
cluded 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 as
sociated themselves in spirit to that national worship
which God had made the channel of heavenly gifts,
and thus they claimed their part in the collective pri
vilege 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 win
dows 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." 6 For the prin
ciple of a public Ritual does not depend on the actual
presence of men, which may be interrupted by the ac-
8 Jackson's Works, xi. 3, II.

* OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 279
cidents of pur weakness, 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 pri
vilege of intercourse with God. It would be to pre
fer our own means of access to those which the ap
pointed Mediator bestows. If we have a true belief
that the privilege of union with God is bestowed
through those especial channels of intercourse which
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
importance 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 effec
tual— His body the real victim, His members the true
temple — therefore to suppose that individual piety dis
penses 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 par
ticipation in the ancient Ritual. 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 in
tervention of the expected Messiah, so cannot a Chris
tian save through the mediation of the Messiah who
has been manifested. The single prayers which were

280

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

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 worship 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 which the whole -
Christian Body has common interest. To rest there
fore 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 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
whieh cannot in itself be too much enforced, is repre
sented as a rival to that participation in the public or
dinances 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 de
pends on their characters as members of His body —
it is because that Mediation is complete which in Jew
ish 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 Ritual, whereby every indivi
dual had privilege of approach. Neither does the
privilege of single Christians interfere with the neces
sity of that Mediation of Christ, on which it is depend
ent. " Albeit the temple of Jerusalem, wherein God's
people only were to worship, were long since demo
lished ; yet the sanctuary, wherein they were to wor
ship 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

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 281
in Christ's body, than ever it had been in Solomon's
temple."7 But then the question recurs, why is this reference
to Christ Our Lord especially connected with His
public service? 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 sacramental union, and
by whom common worship has been exchanged for
simple teaching. Now, the reason why such a sys
tem is a disparagement of Our Lord's Mediation, is
because His Mediation 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, ex
ternal 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 character 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 de
volve upon the rest; and, therefore, by a singular fit
ness 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
' Jackson's Works, u. s.
24

282 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
descent they were to their original parent. For this
work was expressly declared to be undertaken on be
half 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 Mediator, we
must be members in that " family in heaven and earth,"
which is called after His name. This membership in
volves federal union with the collective Church: to be
a member is to be a part of a body, because the ex
istence 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 mystiG body, would
lead, when followed into its results, to the virtual de
nial of that office which He discharges as man : Christ
would be viewed, according to the Sabellian theory,
as a mere name or relation, under "which in this pre
sent Dispensation the Father of all has pleased to re
veal 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 inter
ference, 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 Gos
pel Kingdom, through the merit of Christ's ascended
manhood, some means must be appointed, through
which His brethren may partake of its benefits. A
system of worship upon earth is the necessary corre
lative to a work of intercession in heaven. The one
implies the other. And, therefore, in that early age

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 283
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 certain
ly 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 Ritual 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,*, 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 neces
sity of that united worship, whereby men partake in
the collective privileges of the Church of God. "Ire
naeus" tells me," says our own Mede,9 " there were
offerings there, i. e. in the Old Testament; there are
also offerings here, i. e. in the New Testament ; there
were sacrifices among the people, i. e. the Jews; there
are sacrifices also in the Church." And after men
tioning 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.10 In justification of
this mode of speaking, St. Irenasus adduces that pro
phetic 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 incense shall be offered unto My
8 S. Irenaius, iv. 18,2.
8 That the Christian service is an oblation proved by the Fathers."
Mede's Works, B. ii. c. iv. p. 361.
10 Rev. v. 8. St. Augustin calls the Lord's Prayer " quotidjanum
spiritale quodam modo incensum." — De Nat. et Grat. 33.

284

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

name, and. a pure offering." Now, the one of these
things, incense, is explained by- St. John, to typify the
prayers of saints; 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 tb God."'1
An oblation which is thus -explained by Mede : " We
ate 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 representing 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."12
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
wTas 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 implied in the language of
the early Church respecting the Blessed Eucharist: it
follows "from the fact that " we have an altar,"13 and
11 S. Iren. iv. 1 7, 5. '2 Mede, ubi sup. ii. 2, p. 357.
18 Hebrews xiii. 10.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 285
that " this" is " our sacrifice."14 The second results
from the reality of that system of Mediation, whereby
man is reconciled to God. The principle of this Me
diation was, that He who undertook it partook truly
of both natures, so that He was at once God's repre
sentative 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 mor
tality. And, therefore, no earthly accessions 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 contribute any thing ; 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 be
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 sanctification15 He
might sanctify the mass of humanity, has its material
place in heaven, " until the restitution of all things."
This body, therefore, cannot die again, nor can its ma
terial 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-fruit16 of man's
14 Communion Service. " John xvii. 19.
18 " Totam nostrara massam .... assumpsit, factus primitiaj nostra
24*

286

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

nature which, that it might be the instrument of Me
diation, was made personally one with God. The of
fering must be made, then, in a manner not incom
patible 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 de
clared to be presented before God : as in reference to
time past He was " the Lamb slain from the founda
tion 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. For thus is Christ conse
crated " a Priest for ever," and His offering is " a per
petual sacrifice."17 " 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."18
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 Ritual, is declared to be the Christian
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 character of a Sacrament, as shown
in the next chapter, does the Holy Communion con
nect us with that slain Humanity of the Incarnate
Word, which is present by spiritual power in holy or
dinances. Through this bread and this cup, that
which is offered as a true sacrifice in heaven, is present
nature."— Anas. Sin. Or. 3. Bib. Max. Pat. ix. 932. Vide S. Athan.
de Inc. et c. Ar. 12, vol i. 879.
" Hebrews x. 12. " Works, *. 55, 6.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 287
as a real though immaterial agent in the Church's
ministrations. So that what is done by Christ's mi
nisters 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 Fa
ther that body of Christ, which is the one only, sacri
fice for sins; each visible act has its efficacy through
those invisible acts of which it is the earthly expres
sion; and things done on earth are one with those
done in heaven.
But though the body of Jesus Christ, present mate
rially in heaven, and present in holy ordinances through
spiritual power, 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 ad
mitted as a portion of the Christian sacrifice.19 For
the virtue of the Mediator'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 sanc
tified this whole defiled universe, may distribute Him
self to men. These elements, therefore, like the
prayers of men, cannot be an acceptable offering,
except so far as they have received His hallowing
18 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
accepted. On this ground does St. Augustin speak of the Christian
sacrifice as consisting of " multi unum corpus in Christo." But then it
is because the church is a part of that victim which is truly acceptable:
" quod in ea re quam offert ipsa offeratur." And this offering is pre
sented by our High Priest above, as a part of his continual intercession;
" Emcitur,ut tota ipsa redempta civitas. hoc est congregatio societasque
sanctorum, universale sacrificium offeratur Deo per sacerdotem magnum,
qui etiam se ipsum obtulit in passione pro nobis, ut tanti capitis corpus
essemus." — De Civitate Dei, x. 6.

288

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

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-of-
fering, but that true sacrifice of which it was typical.
And to what did all Jewish rites refer but 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 Gentile20 Church should substitute for the
ancient ministrants.
The account which has been given of the Eucha
rist 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 Eu-
charistic 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 the 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 imme
diately by the central fact of the Doctrine of Media
tion, 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
influence which it has by spiritual power ; or diminish
therefore the sacredness of those elements or means
whereby men participate its presence. For if to rest
80 Malachi i. 1 1 ; Isaiah Ixvi. 21.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 289
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 Passover, but that
through its participation . men had part in the accept
ance which the Mediator effected? The lamb slain
upon earth was not of intrinsic value, but that "Lamb
slain from, the foundation of the world," in whose ef-
fectualatonement 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."21- And therefore he
speaks of "the Word"22 — 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 a 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 Inter
cessor."23 The real point in dispute, therefore, supposing all
verbal questions excluded, is whether that which is
done in common worship, and especially in its crown
ing act, the Holy Communion, is done merely within
man himself, in the region of his own feelings and intel
lect, 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
21 S. Iren. iv. 18, 6. * 8. Iren. iv. 18, 4.
M S. Ambros. de Officiis Ministrorum, i. 48, 248.

290 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
the man who supplicates on earth, but fhe Church's
Head who supplicates in heaven. And this turns on
the poirit 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 pkading of His slain humanity.24 So that we fall
back 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 opi
nion, that it is a fictitious representation. 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 as
sociated to that sanctified humanity, in union with
which is all our hope. It is the certainty of this com
munion—the truth that on its media is our life depen
dent, because the thing with which we are thus con
nected is our life itself — which was so zealously con
tended 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.25' Their anxiety
M "Besides the infinite value, we are to acknowledge,'' says Dr.
Jackson, " theinfinite or everlasting efficacy or operative virtue of this
bloody sacrifice of the Son of God. Suppose the Son of God, imme
diately after He had paid the ransom for our sins, or in that instant in
which He said, Consummatum 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 die in it (or according to it,) His offering
or sacrifice had been of value infinite, in that it could purchase so uni
versal 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.
88 This is Waterland's explanation of the fact, that Hooker says,

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 291
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 incompa
tible with the assertion of a priesthood and a sacrifice
by the primitive Fathers, that it is the very ground
upon which they based its importance. They main
tained the reality of those means, whereby we are
joined to Christ, for the purpose of showing that we
cannot be saved, except through His "perpetual sa
crifice." Now, since Christ's work is the work of
the Great Head of renewed humanity for all His bre
thren, therefore the means whereby we hold to Him
are an actual participation in His sacrifice. A sacri
fice is not participated only by the sacrificing Priest,
but by all those who have a right in the action23
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 priesthood27 have
a share in the Christian sacrifice—the one as parti
cipating in the virtue of the gift, the other as further
contributing by their ministry to its common partici
pation. 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 Victim28 —
though looking at that meritorious act, on which man's
acceptance is dependent, there is but one Priest and
"sacrifice 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 sacri
fice is no part of the church ministry, or that the Christian church has
no sacrifice. But I commend Hot the use of such new language, be the
meaning ever so right: the Fathers never used it." — The Christian
Sucrifice Explained — Waterland's Works, viii. 169.
38 " Indubitatum est ... . ipsos fideles prsesentes una cum sacerdote
offerre." — Van. Espen, quoted by Mashell, Ancient Liturgy, p. 69.
31 "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. " S. Aug. de Trin. iv. 14.

292

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

one sacrifice in Heaven and Earth— we yet may fitly
apply the name both of Priests and sacrifices to those
media, whereby that aet which is continually pleaded
in the Heavenly sanctuary is participated by surround
ing multitudes. Neither can we speak too highly of
the value of what is effected by Christ's earthly minis
ters, provided we render them subservient to that per
fect sacrifice of Himself which can receive no aug
mentation. Why then is it. that the existence of a Christian
Priesthood, and a Christian sacrifice, have been ques
tioned by those who never doubted the reality of
Christ's Intercession and Atonement as an actual work
external to ourselves? Two things have been prin
cipally 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 bre
thren. Their title, therefore, is no individual birth
right — no natural superiority to the residue of mankind
— but that those privileges, which belong to the Head
of the Church by right, belong to His members by
favour. On this ground similar titles were bestowed
even upon the Jewish people, because their prospect
ive participation in the promised Mediator gave them

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 293
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 me
dium of intercourse with Christ, on which its verv
existence is dependent? For it is to Christ, as man,
that the title belongs of right, in which all Christians
claim to participate. Now, it is for the very end of
providing a channel of intercourse with the man's na
ture 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 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 Ritual,
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 means of
their maintenance in the Church of Christ. The
simple name of a Christian Priesthood cannotbe ob
jected 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 connex
ion between Christ and His brethren are no dispa
ragement to their birthright, but supply the very basis
on which it is dependent.
We come then to the other objection. Is the con
tinuance of a sacerdotal system incompatible with
the prerogative of Christ? Those who deny that a
priesthood and sacrifice exist under the Gospel, sup
pose that they interfere in some way with the propi
tiatory office, which is admitted on all hands to belong
exclusively to Christ. But why are they supposed
to interfere with it? If, indeed, Christ's work was
25

294 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
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 ages and nations have believed — then
indeed no place is left for the present action of a sa
cerdotal system. But this would be to renounce be
lief 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 sacrifice, in the merit whereof
we must partake if we would be truly joined to His
man's nature — then is there' ample place for that sa
cerdotal 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. Irenaeus, when they maintain that
there exists an altar and a sacrifice in the Church of
Christ. They maintain the r&ality of those acts of
. Christ, in which we participate through the interven
tion of His ministers. So that the real dispute is whe
ther any thing is still done by the God-man in His Gos
pel Kingdom; or whether, as the Sabellians maintain,
His work is over, and His office at an end. For if any
thing is still transacted, so that for its participation
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 priest
hood upon the media which are thus employed.
Now, to this it may be replied, that the Jewish sys
tem 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 com-

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 295
mon 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 ( hrist would
have been supererogatory ; 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 Mel
chizedec. And the reason why the Jewish Ritual
has passed away, is because now that the True Sacri
fice is offered, the media of commemoration have
taken the place of the media of prediction. H ad there
been more than this in the Jewish Ritual, how could
the Apostles have continued 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 for
bidden 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 could be done by the ministers
of God's temple. And the very reason why we put

296 COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS
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 priest
hood 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 per
fective and complete. Christ's .office as Priest is Ihe
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 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 Scrip
ture is no reason for degrading 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 repre
sentative of our race towards God, as earthly Priests
can be only by office and appointment. Except for
this true conjunction of Godhead and 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, where
by men are truly united to Him, and have a real share

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 297
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 func
tion, which He afterwards discharged. The perpe
tuation of a corresponding office could not interfere
with the work of Christ, unless the priesthood of the
sons of Aaron would have interfered with Him. And
thus is He degraded to a mere functionary who exer
cised 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 A aronic Priest
hood is looked at in itself, and independently of Him,
how could it do any thing 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 importance then which was assigned to the Jew
ish 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 reference it was
a splendid fiction.29 This assertion is as true respect-
89 The contrary notion has led to the opinion adopted by some Ger
man Rationalists, in order to get rid of the predictions of Christ in the
Old Testament, that all which the prophets had in their minds in their
description of the Christian covenant, was that the purer system of Mono
theism was -to be diffused among the Heathen by the Jewish nation.
11 Rosenmiiller," says Gesenius, on Isaiah xlix., "finds here the ex
pansion 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 implies 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 prophet 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 ex
pression. All priests and prophets are mediators by office so long as
He acts and speaks in them, who is Mediator by nature.
25*

298

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

ing those media of communion which were used before
the time of Christ, as respecting those which have been
employed 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 Chris
tian priesthood interferes 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 mi
nistering equally required to fulfil the allotted office of
showing " the Lord's death till He come."30 But in
truth, neither the one nor the other office has any ten
dency, 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.31 But those who admit the divine
88 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 en
joined by our Lord himself to His followers for ihe 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 they
without us" were "not made perfect." " The. ministration written and-
engraven in stones,'j_was not so favoured doubtless as " the ministra
tion of the Spirit."
31 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

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 299
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
( hristians, nor in the work of Christ Our Lord, incon
sistent with such intervention. It is an intervention
which unites, and does not separate; for it is obvi
ously 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 Ritual 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 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, however, nothing has been adduced but reasons
for expecting a Christian ministry to exist ; it is neces
sary to show further the fact of its existence. Now,
it is essential to notice what it is which Scripture de
clares on this subject, and on what it is silent. The
system of mediation would be 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 in
firmities 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, afe led to speak of " the law and
Levitical arrangement," as "introduced in God's anger," [Bunsen's
Kirche der Zukunft, 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 pre
sence of an incarnate Mediator, of which the Levitical scheme was the
preliminary shadow, it is impossible that those who reject the one should
do justice to the other.

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existence of a public Ritual 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 (independ
ently of various historical and incidental statements in
Scripture) from that central portion of the Christian
Revelation, 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 ..he renewal of man's nature is effected through
union with the manhood of Christ. All the super
natural gifts, of grace were first concentrated in this
representative of human race and Head of the Chris
tian 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 tody of Christ Our
Lord, in which all Christians are engrafted [vide cap.
11.] Again, our mean 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
implies, must for ever exist in the Church of God.
And by 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 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

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 301
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 Revelation, and to descend to the un
certainty 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 intervention of a Mediator. So that to suppose
the individual duties of religion to be anterior. to com
mon worship or independent of it, is virtually to aban
don 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, where
by 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 exam
ple which was set by the Apostles. It has been
God's will that in this as in many other cases, the
New Testament 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 faitli,
are facts of which we are assured, because it was al
ways 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 are authorized to
depart from the letter of the Fourth Commandment,
rests on the same authority. We have no other proof
that children are fit partakers of the one, or women of
the other sacrament. In all these cases we take as

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our guide the example of the Apostles. In like man
ner 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 exist
ence 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 sanc
tions a society," says Archbishop Whately, "gives in
so doing his sanction to those essentials of a society,
its government, its officers, its regulations. Accord
ingly, if Our Lord had not expressly said any thing
about ' binding and loosing,' still the very circumstance
of His sanctioning a Christian community, would ne
cessarily have implied His sanctioning of the institu
tions, ministers, and government of a Christian
Church. "Ja 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 ministry ; and
if on this subject Scripture had given us no express
rule, yet as in the other cases mentioned, some gui
dance may be derived from the example of the Apos
tles. This accordingly has been the course adopted by
the English Church. She prefaces her enforcement of
the rule of Episcopacy, by declaring that " it is evi
dent unto all men diligently reading the Holy Scrip
ture 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 prevailed among the spiritual predecessors
88 " Kingdom of Christ," p. 151.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 303
of our present ministry. Each generation has pro
fessed to receive its commission from Christ through the
intervention of the preceding one. Even Archbishop
Whately allows, that " The existence of such an or
der 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."33 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 com
mission handed on to it by that Apostje of Christ ;34
and St. Ignatius, St. John's contemporary, declares
its intervention essential to the validity of sacred or
dinances. 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 essen
tial, and whether any break in it would impair the
validity of sacred rites. Such a question, however,
seems as needless as to ask whether the Church could
safely revise 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 pur
pose 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 any
thing 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 genera
tions, is to identify his individual authority with that
of the whole Episcopate of the Church. Were it not
a " Kingdom of Christ." p. 222. M Tert. adv. Marcionem, iv. 0.

304

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

that the same parties repeatedly consecrate, every
Bishop' would have two hundred and sixteen spiritual
predecessors in the fifth degree;1 and it can scarcely be
doubted, therefore, that .by going back a few years,
his commission must have been transmitted by the
whole body of his fore-runners; The feeling thus .en
gendered may be illustrated by that which prevailed
among pious Israelites, from the hope that Our Lord
would descend from.them according tothe flesh. Con
sidering the vast number of ancestors which each in
dividual 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 ab
solutely 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 Epis
copal office may not trace ' its 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 Him
self. 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, in
stead of being fatal to the general law, seems the very
exception for which, some great Divines have contend
ed — 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 children, we should sup
pose that it had pleased God in some way to us un
known, 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 involun-

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 305
tary deficiencies of those who desire to be identified
with His Church's existence.
But why, it may be asked, do we refer to this Apos
tolical commission, if it be not expressly affirmed to be
essential ? For the same reason that we assert Chris
tian ministers to be as truly Priests as those of the
first Temple, and that their offering is as truly a sacri
fice. It is possible that these particulars might not
¦ be essential to the existence of worship, and there
fore to the reality of those acts, whereby Christians
claim their part in the Body of Christ Our Lord. But,
independently of the fact that we have good authority
for their assertion, they contribute to a reverent esti
mate of those public acts of the Christian Body, from
which the contrary tendency proportionably detracts.
The thing of moment is 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 Ritual. By this means are we led
to appreciate those external actions of the God-man, on
which His character of Mediator is dependent. No
thing hinders, indeed, hut 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 worship 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. Accord
ingly, 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
26

306

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

than that of an instructor. Thus the notion of com
mon worship passes away. The collective sacrifice
of the people's prayers is lost sight of. So that be
ginning by neglecting the example of the 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 necessity of being joined
to His man's nature has been forgotten. Such has
been the actual result in very many of those commu
nities, where the line of a living ministry has been
broken. ^ And to add to this tendency, where the an
cient system of the ministry has been abandoned, the
ancient Ritual and Liturgy have commonly been re
nounced. Here too the practice of early times, so far
as it can be attained, affords a useful example ; espe
cially in points of such leading moment as the minis
tering of Sacraments. But the material point is that
such form of service should be maintained as may tes
tify to the collective character of the Church's suppli
cations. This is the very purpose of a public Liturgy,
which, by calling on the people to bear their part,
finds place for the service of the whole community.
Where this responsive system of worship is lost, the
nature of a public service will soon be forgotten. In
stead 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 them
selves. The very place of assemblage, instead of be
ing known as God's " House of prayer," will be asso
ciated with the recollection of some favoured preacher.
And the sure consequence will be a forgetfulness of
the peculiar relation which men gain in common wor
ship to Christ the Mediator, to whom at that moment
they should address themselves as members of the one

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 307
mystical body in heaven and earth, for which He is
interceding at His Father's right hand.35
Nothing has more contributed to the growth of that
unbelief which has overspread many parts of the Con
tinent, than the evil which has been described. For
with the collective character of worship, that real life
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 un
dervaluing 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 Chris-
88 It must have been because thr united system of worship witnessed
in so stiilcing 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 tlie objection- made at Frankfort to the system of responding.
The Church people, it was said, " began to break that order which was
agreed upon, 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 io Calvin, Phenix, ii. 65.
The evil of yielding to such objections is set forth by the Lutheran 01-
shausen. " 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, ;'. e. as tlie organ through which
the devotion of the congregation is conveyed. Public worship, accord
ingly, 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 sym
bolically set forth."

308

COMMON WORSHIP A MEANS

tians, are regarded as something bestowed on them as
individuals, 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 them
selves, but by union with Him who by His Mediation
has joined them to God. As fallen humanity was 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 tp our people arid to our land, than all the
watchfulness of our senators, or policy of our am
bassadors, or valour -of our mighty men."36 What
was present to his mind was, that by this . collective
service is maintained our connexion with that Medi
ation of the Son of God, from which flow the highest
privileges of humanity. This, no doubt, is the Church's
reason for requiring the public ministration of daily ser
vice, except when " reasonably hindered," of all her
clergy. And well were it if all who take part in pub
lic prayer, and especially all who worship in those
central churches, wherein the whole diocess has a com
mon interest, would remember how high and responsi
ble is the office which they undertake. For not only
those who officiate, but all who take part in public
88 Rationale on Cathedral Worship, p. 53, 54.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 309
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 pre
sent 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 pre
sence the symbols of the whole world, and claimed to
be its common minister, much moreso does the Chris
tian, 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 emphatically called "the creature"37 in Holy
Writ, because he is the heir and representative of God's
creation. A lofty title, but which One Only Indivi
dual bears 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 posses
sion, 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 hu
manity 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 commu
nion 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
81 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." —
Si. Hildegard, as quoted in Olshausen on St, Mark xvi. 15.
26*

310

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

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, there
fore, 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."

CHAPTER XIII.
OF SACRAMENTS, AS MEANS OF UNION WITH THE
MANHOOD OF CHRIST.
The actions of Christ towards men since His As
cension, 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, sacramen
tal grace.
Something has already been said respecting the Holy
Communion as a sacrifice, a view, however, of this sa
cred 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 rela
tion to worship arises from that which is the charac
teristic and original distinction of both Sacraments.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 311
There are other purposes which they serve, and other
views which may be taken of them, but that circum
stance on which all the rest depend, and which es
pecially connects itself with the present inquiry, is
that Sacraments are "the extension of the Incarna
tion,"1 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 bu
rial consequently is not allowed except to those who
have been partakers of the one, and who have not
been formally excluded from the other Sacrament.
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 Article is
careful to observe, only a partial estimate of Sacra
ments; 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 Chris
tian 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 mean
ing in these sacred ordinances. They are not only
subjective, as implying a feeling in ourselves, but ob
jective 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
1 Taylor's Worthy Communicant, i. 2.

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SACRAMENTS A MEANS

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."2
This then is no doubt the peculiar end of Sacraments,
that they are channels to the faithful of those super
natural 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 some fixed ex
ternal 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 goodness 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 plant-
eth force and aptness towards His intended purpose,
such means are but signs to bring men to the conside
ration of His own omnipotent power, which without
the use of things sensible would not be marked."3
This then being the main purpose of Sacraments, and
there being some peculiar advantages in the very sim
plicity 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 con-
2 Eccles. Pol. v. 57, a. ' Eccles. Pol. vi. 6, 1 1 .

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 313
nexion 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 attaining it. We are used to see
cause and effect linked together by a chain of inter
dependent circumstances ; and the gap between a slight
external act and a momentous internal alteration is in
tolerable to our fancy. Say what men will, the judg
ment 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 confidence in their efficacy : the unbelief which
is vanquished in the study reappears in the world, and
men acquiesce in the formularies of the Church, but
their reason remains unsatisfied. What they need, as
Hooker expresses it after St. Augustin, is some " an
swer, 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 oc
cupied. The importance of Sacraments rests on the
Incarnation of Christ, and on their being the means
through which His man's nature is communicated 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 re
spects we can discern them to be singularly appropri
ate. If man's connexion with the Supreme Being

314 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
were the mere natural intercourse of mind with mind —
if man were still, as Adam was before the Fall, the
perfect image of his Maker, then indeed to introduce
such media of communication at all would be super
fluous. And on this account the Sacramental system
is inconsistent with that Rationalistic 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 supernaturally 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 declarationsof 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 which
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 the crucified
one.,u Now, these facts we learn from the express
statements of St. Paul. "For by one spirit are we
all baptized into one body."5 And again, "We being
' S. Leo, Serm. xiv. de Pass. Dom. c 6. 8 1 Corinthians xii. 13.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 315
many are one bread and one body, for we are all par
takers of that one bread,."5 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 Sacraments is to bind
us to Him on whom this right of access is dependent.
Our prayers and praises avail not, unless we are part
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 na
ture with ours, which is compacted through the Sa
craments 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.7 Their pre-eminence depends
8 1 Corinthians x. 1 7.
' 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 any thing we have f o learn, if all the benefit we reap
by sacraments be instruction, they which at all limes have opportunity of
using the better mean to that purpose, will surely hold the worse in less
estimation.— Eccles. Pol. v. 57, 1.

316

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

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? 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? 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 ac
tions, but that they touch likewise upon the "external
world — that they have, in fact, both "an outward vi
sible sign," and "an inward spiritual grace" — this
compound nature marks them out as a singularly ap
propriate medium of intercourse between things, which
are themselves compound, i. e., man who is to be re
newed, and the Mediator whose presence renews him.
For thus it is that all graces are communicated to
mankind, flowing into them from that manhood, which
has been made the fountain of grace through its per
sonal 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 he 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. 115;] it re
sulted from that erroneous philosophy, which repre
sented simple immensity as the essence of Godhead,
forgetful of , those moral conditions, whereby both
through conscience and revelation the Father of all

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 317
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 rebel
lion against a holy God, which is the real degeneracy
of our state. An error this, which 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 re
demption, the Word of God would not have become
flesh." 8 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. Chrysostom,
" 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."9 Therefore does our Church 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 multiform variety,
was freed by this single use of it from the imputation
of being naturally impure. So does Irenaeus10 main
tain 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 unworthy 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
8 S. IrenaBus, v. 14, 1. 8 Horn. 83, on St. Matt. xxvi.
10 S. Iren. iii. 11,5.
27

318

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

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."11 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, inde
pendently 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 re
presentative of our race took our being in its complete
ness, that it might be wholly sanctified. "For we
could not taste of incorruption and immortality, un
less we had first been united to that which is immor
tal 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 corruptible might be swallowed up by in
corruption, and what was mortal by immortality, that
we might receive the adoption of sons?"12 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 lengthened series of mankind in Himself, afford
ing 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."13
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 re
quired to be truly and really joined to each of the ex
tremes, which it was to couple to one another. It
was truly joined to Godhead by that Personal union
11 Dorner's Person Christi, i. p. 377. 12 8. Iren. iii. 1 9, 1.
18 S. Iren. iii. 18, 1.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 319
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
was there 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 foun
tain 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 Chris
tian system, the second also will be looked at not as
a mere figurative expression, but as an actual opera
tion. But let the first be denied, as by Socinians, or
by Sabellians be resolved into a mere nominal transac
tion, 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.14 Or on the other
hand, let our hold on that union which couples men
" Or iv. in Arian. c. 25.

320 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
with Christ be forgotten, and the functions of the Me
diator will become an office discharged by some mani
festation 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.15 Now, as the means of this union between Christians
and Christ, the wisdom of God has employed the sys-
18 The intimate connexion between our Lord's humanity and the sa
cramental system ljas been repeatedly evidenced by the inclination of
those 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 which was so solemnly denounced by the beloved apostle as
characteristic of Antichrist : " Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." For it was long ago ob
served by St. Irenaeus, 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 Irenaeus
has lately been employed by Archbishop Whately, but his contrary pre
mises 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. 139 and p. 266.] In
speaking of this present influence 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 flesh and blood again
are a sign of something else." (Sermons, p. 265.) So that our Lord's
flesh and blood, even if they existed formerly, have now, at all events,
no real existence. H is actions as a partaker of our nature have been
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 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 a mere general influence of the great
unembodied 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 tlie disciple
of Polycarp to maintain the truth of Christ's nature, so does its rejection
involve those errors against which Polycarp's instructor testified.

OF .UNION WITH CHRIST. 321
tem of Sacraments. Visible things have been taken,
that with them might be associated that inward power
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 ordi
narily" God's "will to bestow the grace of Sacra
ments on any but by the Sacraments."10 And besides
other advantages which have been stated to accrue
from this appointment, there results from it this pecu
liar consequence, that the intervention of a means of
grace which borrows its vehicle or organ from the ex
ternal 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
Representative, 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 sub
sequent 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 re
freshed " by the body and, blood of Christ, as our bodies
are by bread and wine." Thus significant is the sensi
ble 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 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 power
by which it has been shown that Christ acts upon His
'" Eccles. Pol. v. 57, 4.
27*

322

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

brethren. This power has been shown to be immate
rial, 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 pre
sence is not. It is not that local presence of a mate
rial 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."17 That this
local presence, therefore, 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 efficacy to
produce a spiritual result. In each Sacrament the out
ward sign is produced by combining an appointed mat
ter with certain chosen words. Unless the words and
matter are properly combined (and hence arises the oc
casion for. such caution and needfulness18 in their minis
tration,) there is no Sacrament. But neither are these
11 St. Aust. in Taylor's Real Presence of Christ, xi. 15.
18 Baptism requires that the element of water should be applied at ihe
same time with the words of administration. '" Detrahe verbum, et quid
est aqua nisi aqua." — iS. Avg. in Joan. 80, 3. Vide Maskell's Holy
Baptism, p. 136. The same principle maybe extended to the ordinance
of confirmation; the validity of which depends on the simultaneous con
currence of certain words and of a certain action.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 323
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 themselves elements and sounds. For " Sacra
ments are not physical but moral instruments of sal
vation."19 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 presence20 in Bap
tism 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, and of our true investiture in Christ
by them."21 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.
18 Eccles. Pol. v. 57, 4.
80 Fulgentius quotes a sermon of St. Augustin, Sermo. 272, as
proving " tunc unumquemque fidelium corporis sanguinisque Dominici
participem fieri, quando in Baptismate membrum corporis Christi effi-
citur."— Bib. Max. Patr. ix. 178.
21 Jackson's Works, x. 55, 9. " It may suffice to believe," says Dr.
Jackson, 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.

324

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

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 consecrated ele
ments 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 ele
ments when consecrated become a part of His mate
rial body and blood. Their reason for maintaining it,
if such an opinion is ever really maintained, must be
first, the letter of Scripture, which however all be
lievers accept ; and secondly, an impression that un
less such transmutation is admitted, there can be no
true belief in the efficacy of Sacraments. But it fol
lows 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 pur-pose 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 mate
rial 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

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 325
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, be
cause that is in order to this."22 A spiritual effect of
the manhood of our Great Head must proceed through
spiritual action from His purified humanity. Sacra
ments have been appointed as its medium of communi
cation ; but if Baptism, does not depend on the natu
ral effect of the elements which it employs, why should
the Lord's Supper? 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 conse
crated elements is, so far forth, to detract from the in
fluence 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 building on the
supernatural presence of that ascended manhood, with
which it should be our object to be united. The bless
ing in the one case would be to be fed with heavenly
food — in the other to be united to a Divine person.23
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 medium He communicates
in holy mysteries to all His members — would become
a secondary consideration. Accordingly, those ancient
22 Of the real Presence of Christ, vii. 8.
88 " 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,
l 4, 2.

326 saOraments a means
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 Real Presence in His Supper is asserted ; be
cause these last consist as well with the spiritual,
while the first is incompatible with the carnal presence
of Christ. Such are two quotations made by Bishop
Poynet from St. Jerome and St. Augustin.24 The
celebrated letter of the latter to Dardanus has already-
been cited, (p. 218.)
This reference to the real manhood of Christ, as
opposed to the conception that Sacraments produce
theireffect through any efficacy inherent in their ele
ments, is warmly supported by our own Hooker:
" For of Sacraments the very same is true, which So
lomon's wisdom observeth in the brazen serpent — 'He
that turned towards it was not healed by the thing he
M " Of this victim, which is offered in a wonderful manner in com
memoration 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 eter
nal life. They took it foolishly, they understood it carnally, and sup
posed 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, and said, it is the
Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words which
I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. Understand spiritually what
I have spoken. This body which you see you are not to eat, nor
to drink that blood which shall be shed by those who shall crucify
Me. I have intrusted you with a certain mystery. Understood spi
ritually, 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.)

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 327
saw, but by Thee, O Saviour of all.'"25 That which
we commonly discern in the course of nature, is a cer
tain orderly series, wherein like results follow habit
ually from like premises. Hence arises the instinctive
belief, that in the construction of this material uni
verse, the Author of our being works in constant re
ference to the laws which He has Himself ordained.
Thus we say that food has a natural tendency to sup
port life; not that we understand the secret mechanism
by which it does so, but from observation of the facts,
we discern that the 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 them
selves, or that their action is the effect of their inhe
rent principles. All that we can affirm is, that for
material agents to produce material effects is the na
tural 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, see
ing that even in that class of subjects which are most
strictly natural, no such assertion can be safely made ?
To affirm the truth of Christ's real presence, at all
events, is not to attribute the efficacy of Sacraments
to the effect produced by the elements which are em
ployed, in themselves, but to trace it to the immediate
power of that Divine Being, with whom 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 considered. We must remember not only
what is not asserted respecting Sacraments, but what
is. That there is in them some real influence and im
mediate power, results from the actual presence of
88 Eccles. Pol. v.57, 4; vi.6, 9.

328

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

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 fruit
fulness 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, tan
gible, 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.
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 ac
tion of the mind, which receives an impression, or from
the action of the being who produces it. The first
would be a subjective and metaphorical, the second is
an objective and real presence. We might think of a
spectacle in Greece or Asia, and lay hold of it by in
ternal impulse, as though it were present to our sight.
But this would only be a figurative and visionary pre
sence, because the movement would come altogether
from within, and would be wholly irrespective of any
action on the part of the object 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 (vide p. 219.)
And such presence may be said to be spiritual as well
as real, when the medium of communication, by which
this external object effects, or is present with us, is
not material contact, but spiritual power. Our reason,
therefore, for asserting that spiritual presence in Sa
craments is a presence of the second and not of the
first kind; that it is actual, not metaphorical — real, not
visionary — is because it is the presence of Christ, and

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 329
results from what is revealed as the result of His In
carnation. For though the two natures, which dwell
in Him, remain within those limits, by which they are
severally bordered, yet they so far concur in His act
ings towards mankind, that the inferior has received
from the superior that property of having " life in it
self," which 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 com
munication in the power of the Holy Ghost. When
we speak, therefore, of spiritual presence in Sacra
ments, what we refer to is not the vivacity of our
spirits, which are able to fancy what is not truly near,
but that spiritual power which was , bestowed upon
Christ's manhood, when it was Personally united to
God. And therefore to disbelieve this spiritual pre
sence, to resolve it into a figure of speech, to transfer
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 prin
ciple 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
respecting both Sacraments, that their efficacy results
from that spiritual power by which Christ's manhood
is truly present ; that in both of them some real ex
ternal gift is bestowed 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
28

330

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

virtue of the Holy Ghost, which giveth to the powers
of the soul their first disposition towards future new
ness of life."26 So thatit is the especial purpose of
Baptism, that from that perfect 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 which
was impaired by sin, has been shown to have resulted
from that illuminating power of God the Word, which
in fulness 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 each man in his degree
has its perfect inhabitation? We come to the fountain^
head of light, that our extinguished lamps may each
one be replenished.27 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 process 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 deve
lopment. Holy Scripture speaks every where of
union with Christ, as the new creation in man's being,
whereby the forfeited likeness of the Word is given
S! Eccles. Pol. v. 60, 2.
21 " 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.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 331
back. For "if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature." And " in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth any thing 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 regeneration, whereby Christ
the New Man is born within us." Therefore 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 righ
teousness and true holiness."^8 To be created after
God, is further explained to be the recovery of the im
paired 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."29 This perfect recovery of Christ's
image, is stated to be the very purpose of God's deal
ings with men in His Church: "For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to
the image of His Son."30 And " we all are changed
into the same image."31
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.32
And this new life had its commencement 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 distributed to all His brethren. For in the
new as in the old creation is He " the first-born of
88 Eph. iv. 22, 24. =" Col. iii. 10.
88 Romans viii 29. M 2 Cor. iii. 18.
83 " 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 creation ; the regenerate are God's mak ing, created in Christ Jesus."
— Olshausen on Ephesians ii. 10.

332

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

every creature," "the beginning of the creation of
God."33 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, there
fore, follows from union with Him, in whom origi
nated3'1 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."35 To suppose,
then, that such a work could commence from a spon
taneous, 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. Renovation must have its root in Regene
ration. There must be a gift antecedent to our efforts.
This gift is that first union with Christ, whereon all
communication 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 :
88 So far as such terms refer to our Lord's Godhead, they do not re
late 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 fie new creation, the order of causation, rather than
the order of time, is the condition contemplated.
lEgo? lW*-S 'r\ &sia naraSe^KS Xa^ 'vipautrx xai 'ayeaSouff-st xai
Sotjatova-a y.zi Qsonotovoa' tijv tputrtv sv 7T£wtco Xgi<rT«. — S.Cyril
Thesaurus, xx. vol. v. p. 197.
T^ourai Kai xgtvrai xai 'aytaccTc/ eft8 lVfiag, liva. h' avrou TQtx'l
e/c rra.vrag '« X*e,ic, 'w?*ty<5w Sc&sitrtt. Tw <puff&, xal KQinov coA«
o-wtoptitri Taj ytvst. — /(/.
'¦* " Originem quam sumsit in utero Virginis posuit in fonte baptisma-
tis: dedit aquae, quod dedit matri," &c. S. Leo, Serm. xxiv. 4.
»• Col. ii. 10.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 333
" As many of you as have been baptized into Christ,"
says St. Paul, "have put on Christ."36 For "by one
spirit are we all baptized into one Body."37 And in
Baptism, as the Apostle asserts twice oyer, that death
to the old nature takes place, whereby the new crea
tion in Christ is commenced. " We are buried with
Him by Baptism into death,"38 "wherein also ye are
risen with Him."39 So that St. Peter says,-0 that
"Baptism doth also now save us."4' For Our Lord
Himself had taught that in this ordinance lies the be
ginning 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 re
minds us, " that of all the ancient, there is not one to
be named, that ever did otherwise either expound or
allege the place than implying external Baptism."42
Since the statements of Scripture on this subject are
so precise, how comes it then that any persons should
have dissented from this universal opinion of Our
Lord's first disciples ? The grounds of men's objec
tion 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
finally be saved; and secondly, the assertion that no
visible results attend on Baptism. The difficulties
which these considerations involve, induce men to re
fer to such passages43 of Scripture, as express the full
effect and ultimate consequence of regeneration, i. e.,
victory over sin, and final perseverance ; and they in
fer that no gift has really been bestowed in Baptism,
unless these ultimate consequences are discerned to be
88 Gal. iii. 27. '" 1 Cor. xii. 13. * Romans vi. 4.
88 Col. ii. 12, ,0 1 Peter iii. 21.
41 It is not, of course, says 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. 55, 8.
48 Eccles. Pol. v. 59, 3. " 1 John iii. 9; v. ie.
28*

334

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

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 Bap
tism, 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 as
serted 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."44 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 an
tecedent difficulties. And as to the first of them, it
is surely matter of surprise, that any traditional at
tachment to the opinions of Calvin should interfere
with the direct assurances of God's word. For it has
been shown by 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, consi
dering how imperfect an instrument is man's under-
" Eccles. Pol. v. 57, 6.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 335
standing, and how much safer in many cases is the
appeal to conscience than to argument. But those
who reconcile the doctrine of arbitrary decrees with
the general invitations of Scripture to repentance 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."45 Neither is there reason why men should ground
their disbelief 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
inefficacy 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 results 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 man
ner to receive confirmation ; what was shut to be
opened; what was dark to be enlightened; what was
48 Eccles. Pol. v. GO, 3.

336

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

impossible to be attainable."46 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 corrfplete. To re
ceive 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 concupiscence of the will has been entailed 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 lan
guage 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, respect
ing every ehild who is received into the church after
private Baptism, " that this child is by Baptism re
generate." As in such cases no sponsors have been
employed, the validity of the ordinance cannot be at
tributable, as has sometimes been imagined, to their
faith. The church, of course, supposes it to result
from that reality of union with Christ's47 manhood,
whereby those who were heirs of Adam's sinfulness
48 Ep. ad donatum, statim a Baptismo conscripta, Ed. Rigalt. p. 2.
4" " Take the case of any child : if it is one with Christ already, why
is it baptized 1 But if (as really happens,) it is baptized that it may he
one with Christ, therefore until baptized it was not one with Christ."—
S. Aug. de Peer.. Mer. i. 28.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 337
become heirs of grace. But what signification is as
signed to the words by those who deny that Baptism
is the appointed 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 impos
sible to deny. And this, they observe, is the course
adopted by the church respecting the departed, con
cerning whose future condition, because unable to
predict, we express a charitable hope. But to con
found 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 na
ture conversant with things which are future or con
tingent, 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 knowledge? It is ob
vious what would be said respecting a man who as
serted unequivocally that the sun was shining at pre
sent, 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

338

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

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
an early dedication to God, and thus lead to those ef
forts 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 refers us to Baptism. It consi
ders 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 ineffectually, is in Bap
tism 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 that
great representative of our race, in whom the concu
piscence 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 per
fect 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 antece
dent gift of union with Christ, we pass oyer of neces
sity to the Rationalistic principle which would attri
bute 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, regenera
tion does not merely imply the second birth of every

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 339
individuals 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 re
quires to be readmitted. This birth back 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 com
plete and general development of the Christian Cove
nant is described by Our Lord as " the Regeneration,
when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His
glory." For then shall the ancient state be again per
fectly 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, be
cause its very object is to give man the power of act
ing, by the enfranchisement of the will from its heredi
tary bondage. And the act whereby God bestows this
blessing is especially connected by St. Paul with that
Sacrament of Baptism, which Our Lord Himself ap
pointed: "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 ap
pointed channel of grace. Hereby every thing is
thrown on man's part ; and thus the Pelagian48 doc
trine 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 immediate act of God, and
48 " Every mother hastening piously up with her infant son says, ' Let
it be baptized that it may be saved.' Pelagius objects, ' How should it
be saved 1 There is nothing in it which needs salvation.' " — St. Aug.
Serm. clxxxiii. 8.

340 SACRAMENTS A MEANS
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 Baptism49 are those who are born in sin enti
tled to it, previously to the first actings of their under
standing ? What we are speaking of is the case of
those, who have not yet been able, by any act of theij
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 ?50 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 ex
horted 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 p. 112-14.] But
their prayers and efforts are not built upon that union
with Christ, which is the principle assumed in Chris
tian education. To deal with Christians as heathen
48 " Quod " (i. e. illuminari) " per sacramentum baptismatis in parvu-
lis fieri non dubitat mater Ecclesia, qua? cor et os maternum eis praestat,
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.
88 "The freedom of the will, which suffered detriment in the first man,"
say the Fathers at Orange in their decrees against SemiPelagianism,
" cannot be repaired, except by the grace of baptism; what was lost can
not be restored, except by Him who was able to bestow it." — Harduin,
ii. 1099.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 341
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 bond
men. 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 God." This principle is consistently carried
out by the Church, for she limits the use of Christian
burial to thQse children, whose bodies have been con
secrated in Baptism by union with the Body of Christ.
And even those who have not the advantage 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 Me
diation of Christ. And yet that Christian principles
are to be acted upon is the very foundation of the Gos
pel scheme, seeing that it begins by assuming a belief,
the practical effect whereof is afterwards to be de
veloped. The existence, therefore, of an external
and objective mean, whereby we may in the first in
stance be united to Christ, is the very basis of sub
sequent obedience. And this is why its denial is more
plainly inconsistent with our Ritual and Catechism,
than with the Articles, in which doctrines are abstract
edly exhibited. For the evil to which it leads is a
practical denial of the Gospel-r-an undervaluing of
29

342

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

that union with Christ Our Lord, which is conse
quent 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 dependence upon Christ Our Lbrd 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 preva
lent. " It is on all sides," he says, " plainly confessed,
first, that this Sacrament is a true and a real partici
pation of Christ, who thereby imparteth Himself, even
His whole entire Person, as a mystical head unto every
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 ."" 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 introduced by Socinian writers, has since
found advocates in the Church. As Baptism Js ex
plained away into the mere expression of a charitable
expectation, so the Lord's Supper into asimple com
memoration. How are we to decide whether this holy
service is to be considered a divine rite or a human
" Ecclea Pol. v. 67, 7.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 343
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 represents 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 pas
sages of Scripture, deny that the sixth chapter of St.
John can refer to an ordinance 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 Sup
per #be not at all referred to in the sixth chapter of St.
John, then it is hard to see how Holy Scripture could
be intended for the instruction of ordinary readers.
For surely, no sirnple persons, whose minds were not
pre-oecupied by some theory, could ever read that
chapter without themost palpable misconception. And
how could St. John have delivered it to the Church,
when the Holy Communion had been habitually cele
brated for half a century, without taking care to guard
it from such obvious misapprehension? 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 in
struction. How much did it contain, which even " His
Disciples understood 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 pro
phetic words received their interpretation from the
event.52 And the sixth chapter of St. John contains
88 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 Mediation 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 in-

344

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

a direct assurance that its meaning would not be ap
parent 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 in
terpreting 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"53 — was ex
plained by Our Lord's institution of the Holy Com
munion. And-as this is the natural conclusion which
would be adopted by untaught readers 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 Eucharist."54 Our Church sanc
tions the same interpretation in her Ritual — " 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
o'f 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."55
One further argument for the reality of that union
with the body of Christ which is bestowed in the Holy
stance, the repeated declarations that He who came in " fashion as a
man," because the Personal Word of G°d, was the "true light" of
man's nature — a fact which our Lord's hearers can hardly have under
stood at the time, but which opens to us the secret tilings of His king
dom in a manner which adds wonderfully to the view supplied by die
other Evangelists. Por 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. IS};
ix. 5; xii. 35, 36, 46. 88 Eccles. Pol. v. 77, 4.
64 Diallacticon, p. 9. By J. Poynet, Bishop of Winchester, and chajt-
lain to Archbishop Cranmer. si Works, Book x. 55, 12;

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 345
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 withdrawn from mortal
sense. By this means He who in appearance de
parted, 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 princi
ple of supernatural union, whereby all his members
were to be engrafted into Himself. Now, it is through
the Holy Communion that this connexion is especially
maintained. Its great purpose is to bring, the mem
bers of Christ into mystic union with their Head.
Thereby does the manhood of Christ act upon His bre
thren. In this circumstance surely we have the reason
why, during that first assemblage at Jerusalem, no
mention is made of an observance, 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 supplica
tion." 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 pouring out of
that quickening Spirit,56 by which the members of
™ It may be alleged that the two disciples at Emmaus were admitted
to the full participation of thatEucharistic presence which is here affirmed
to have been consequent upon the gift of the Holy Ghost. But what
ever it was to which they were admitted, the case is.plainly an except
ed one, since it was the act of Him, in whom the same gift dwelt per
sonally, 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."
29*

346

SACRAMENTS A MEANS

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, until the
effusion of the Holy Ghost, which is the soul of the
one Holy Catholic Church, or of the mystical body of
Christ."37 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 Eucha
rist 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 effi
cacy 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 al
ready stated, as applicable to both the sacred ordi
nances which have been considered. The reality of
both of them has been maintained : it has been affirmed
that Baptism is not merely the expression of a charita
ble 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 man
hood 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 associating man's nature to His own, He has made
created being the channel of His gifts. Now, as the
media through which these gifts are dispensed to His
" Jackson's Works, ix. 41, 3.

OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 347
brethren; as the ramifications, whereby His Divine na
ture 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 dero
gate from that principle of action which the wisdom of
God has seen fitting to adopt. Every attempt to ex
plain them away, every contrivance for extenuating
the real import of what they effect, is a virtual de
tracting from the reality of that objective and actual
influence, which Christ the Mediator is pleased to ex
ert. Its tendency is to resolve His actions into a me
taphor, 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 na
ture 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 im
probability 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 which
Rationalism 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 argument against the
Sacramental system that it does not accord with that
scheme of nature, which the Gospel professes to su
persede. And fhe Rationalistic argument against
these means of grace, is of equal avail against that
whole scheme of Mediation upon which they are de
pendent. If the natural intercourse of mind with the

348 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
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 communion with God, of which Scripture
affirms that the Fall deprived him, what need is there
of a Mediator between them? Thus does the Objec
tion mount up from earth to heaven — from Christ
feeding men below through Sacraments, to Christ
mediating above by His Atonement and Intercession.
For " if we have told you earthly things/and ye be
lieve not, how shall ye believe if we tell you of hea
venly 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
forgetfulness 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 respecting Christ's
Person coincide with that Rationalistic theory, by
which the reality of His Sacraments is disputed. And
their surrender is fatal to the true Doctrine con
cerning Himself, even as the true doctrine of His na
ture sets the importance of these instruments in a pro
per light.

CHAPTER XIV.
CHRIST AS MEDIATOR THE SOURCE OF 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

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 349
.second, the union of many brethren with their conna
tural head by sacramental grace. " God was in Christ
reconciling 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 this great event. Its full ef
fects 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
eentral truth of the Gospel — as an actual object ex
ternal 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 pro
ducing 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 Apos
tle of the Gentiles ; or they might come-like the Apos-
tjeship of St. Matthias, or the royalty of Solomon,
through the instrumentality of others. Now the se
cond of these is the mode which is adopted respecting
the gifts of the Gospel. They come from the Head1
to the members ; they are procured by Christ Our Lord
for His earthly brethren; they are the privileges which
He purchased through the infinite desert of His per
fect obedience. We have no original right in them ;
but by virtue of our being engrafted into the Body of
1 " llluminatio quippe nostra participatio Verbi est, illius scilicet vitas,
quoe lux est hominum."-^-'?. Aug. de Trin. iv. 4.

350

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

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 family union, which
gives us a share in its collective rights. " If 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 be
half of manhood at large, have become the right of
its meanest participators. The three stages in this
wonderful process are summed up in those mysterious
words wherein the Mediator, as the Head of mankind,
addresses 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 rege
neration : 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 individuals 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 expectation of the creature waiteth for the ma
nifestation 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 in
quiry? What has man been reaching after, ever since
his history commenced, but such a regeneration ? He
has looked for it oh the side of this world and on the

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 351
side of the next — in politics and in religion — in the so
cial 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 disappointment
has not been want of earnestness or of intelligence,
but because from God only can descend power to re
new 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 soft
ening influences of civilization, and all the other lights
of this world, to the race of which he is a coheir— sO
the higher blessings of a perfect existence are not to
be acquired by individuals through their single strength,
but are God's gift to His chosen family throughout
the earth.
1. Those who reject revelation have often antici
pated such results from the mere development of civil
society. Its growth and advancement promise, as they
say, such unlimited improvements, 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 Mil
lennium 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 indivi
dual, i. e. Christ, but an idea — a realized and actual
idea."2 " This idea is humanity viewed collectively :
humanity is the union of two natures, it is God incar
nate."3 " The history of man," says a writer of our
2 Strauss Leben Jesu, sec. 149, vol. ii. p. 767.
8 On the other hand, says St Austin: " Deus natura non sumus;

352

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

own, "is truly the Word of God."4 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 Ration
alism, 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 Me
diator associates man to Himself, is allegedto be a need
less interruption. But with what success has the sys
tem of Rationalism been tried? Has not one experi
ment miscarried after another ? Are not social renova
tions 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 de
fects. In all forms of thought and action, under every
Condition and sky, he is still but the old Adam, and
bears the burden of his parent's deficiencies and faults.
And how then shall he go beyond the normal repre
sentative 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?
homines natural sumus." " Deus itaque factus homo Justus, intercessit
Deo pro homine peccatore." — De Trin. iv. 4.
4 Mai tineau's " Eastern Life," iii. 72.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 353
Every race of animals 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 children. Only by the inter
vention of some new nature could there be an exalta
tion 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 sys
tems 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 hal
lowing 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 a 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 predictions respect
ing 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
30

354

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

Testament to their collective nation, and not to Christ.5
This error is mentioned by Origen : the prophecies of
Isaiah, a learned Jew assured him, "did not refer to
one individual, but to the whole people."6 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,"? And the be
nefit 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."8
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.9
Thus did they forget ihe great Head and Representa
tive 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 Shiloh came, to whom should be the gather
ing of the nations. All instruments were in truth to
be gathered together in Him; His people's honour
8 Perhaps some countenance for the notion has been derived, how
ever unreasonably, from the Book of Ecclesiasticus. Compare, for ex
ample, Ecclesiasticus, chap, xxiv., with Proverbs, chap. viii. Wisdom,
which, in the Book of Proverbs, is a Personal attribute of Deity, is set
forth in 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 the Jews with their popular error.
8 Orig. Cont. Celsum. 1, in Gesen, on Isaiah, vol. iii. 165.
' Vide Kimchi and Jarchi, as cited by Gesenius, iii. 166.
8 Gesenius, iii. p. 164.
8 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
«f the Lord."— Acts iii 10.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 355
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 skeptics10 would apply
those declarations, which the carnal Israelites inter
preted 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 in
tervention 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 collectiverace. 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 in-
10 Isaiah, according to Gesenius, speaks in the name of that class o
men to whom he belonged, and the commentator alleges it as a strikini
indication of the truth of his interpretation, that the Hebrew word whicl
expresses the persecuted object in the important passage, " for the trans
gression of my people was lie 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. u The word irj?
for Drh I refer," he says, " to the Servant of the Lord, as a collective
application, and consider it as a finger-mark for this interpretation.
id9 is usually employed with collective words." — Gesenius on Isaiah,
liii. 8, vol. iii. p. 183. But why was Isaiah a representative of the pro
phetic race more than any of his brethren 1 Or how was his death an
atonement for the transgression of others 1 If this word is significant of
any thing, it surely points out how the real representative of mankind
was to die on behalf of all his 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 desig
nated: " 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.'

356 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
fluence of any priestly caste, any more than through
the natural influence of any civil institutions. In Him
arid 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. Only in Christ -the Mediator, therefore, can be ful
filled 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
communion 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 hu
man society ; so far as they go, they effect the rege
neration 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 emphatically His name. " Holy, Holy, Holy,
Lord God of Hosts," is what angels and Saints es
pecially declare Him. From this natal source does
the principle of holiness extend itself through the
creation. " Ye shall be holy," is the command ad
dressed to Israel, " for I the Lord your God am holy."

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 357
But this blessing extends from heaven to earth through
Him alone, by whom every thing 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 Fie not with Him also freely give us
all things." Therefore, " as by one man's disobedi
ence 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
as widely as the subjects of that mediatorial empire,
which He came to establish 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 ful
filled 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 institution — 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.
30*

358

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

For as Sodom would have been saved by fifty right
eous, 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 sen
tence 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
Mediation are wide enough to take in all inheritors of
the nature to which He united Himself, its proper re
ference 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 He once suf
fered 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 im
parted 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 " trea
sure in earthen vessels." But Christ "loved the
Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanc
tify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
Word : that He might present it to Himself 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 righteous
ness, 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

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 359
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 " children
of the kingdom," who " shall be cast out into outer
darkness ?"
Besides, therefore, the imparted holiness, which
belongs to true members of the Mystieal 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 Sacraments. As an
imparted holiness is the indispensable cause of our ac
ceptance, so is an indwelling holiness also needed,
because, without its influence, none profit by the for
mer. As the imparted holiness of Christ obtains for
men that "feast of fat things," which was the pre
dicted 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
"building fitly framed together, groweth unto a holy
temple in the Lord." And the reason why the Bap
tism 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 that portion
of Christ's Church, into which they are admitted. For

360

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

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 communica
ted11 "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
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 which is "given"12 to us, and "obedience" to
which men are "chosen through the Spirit."13 But
that which gives such importance to the agency of
these inward principles; — the reason why they con
tribute, each in their degree, to our salvation, is not
their inherent excellence, but that they are exalted
through the holiness of Him, to whom they unite us.
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, obe
dience, and love, we offer that which is not only de
rived 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 Gentiles might be acceptable,
being sanctified by the Holy Ghost."14 For our ac-
11 " Legimus justificari in Christo qui credunt in eum, propteo occul-
tam communicationem et inspirationem gratiae spiritalis, qua quisquis
hreret Domino unus spiritus est." — S. Aug. de Pecc. Mer. i. 10.
"• Philip, i. 29. 18 1 Peter i. 2. " Rom. xv. 16.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 361
tions 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 like
wise the fountain of knowledge. To be the simple
and original depository of all truth is among the mys
terious 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 perfections. The very chiefest excellence of
which character was that immediate intercourse which
man's mind possessed with the Divine Unembodied
Mind, of which it was the earthly reflection (p. 64.)
The loss of this direct irradiation from the fountain of
light, was the greatest of those evils, which befell men
through the Fall — an evil which could not have been
remedied, save through the mercy of that Being, who
restored our forfeited inheritance, 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 be
stowed — 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

362 ' CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
whom, and in whose image mankind was made, con
descended to become their instructor. " The true light,
which lighteth every man, was coming into the world."
For this purpose it is 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 of
fice. The unbounded store of Divine truth was trans
fused into His man's nature: in Him were "hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge." This belonged
to Him by reason of His oneness with that centre of
light, wherein truth has its fountain. And it was be
stowed upon Him, that He might be a light to man's
nature; that His body mystical might be filled with
that light, 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 dark
ness." This gift of knowledge, like that of holiness, is both
an imparted and an infused or " engrafted"11 gift : be
stowed from without upon the faithful, as an object
of contemplation ; and communicated likewise to the
body of the Church, as an internal principle of teach
ing 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 reve-
88 St. James i. 21.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 363
lation of Jesus Christ," which he declares so irrevoca
ble, that what was contrary to it might not be ad
mitted, 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 Chris
tian faith, respecting which he reminds the Thessa-
lonians, 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 Me
diator to make known either by His own immediate
agency, or through the intervention of His servants.
The infinite and unsearchable Truth which had its ori
ginal being in the Person of the Word, 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 com
municated 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, commu
nicating with us through those functions of soul and
body, which He has vouchsafed to share with our
selves, 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 con
veyed to those to whom it comes in books, as it was
to those to whom it addressed itself through their
hearing. Therefore were men who "had perfect un
derstanding of all things from the very first" moved
"to write in order," that subsequent generations might
"know the certainty of those things, wherein" they

364 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
had " been instructed." Thus did it please Him, who
made Himself visible only to the men of one genera
tion, to "pour out doctrine 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 Chris
tian faith, and as their guides to its practices and in
stitutions, refer also to the written depository of their
sentiments, as containing that body of Divine truth for
which they contended. A consecutive line of testimo
nies 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 Me
diator was delivered from God to man. It thus con
tains the objective body of Divine teaching, and the
final16 scheme of Revelation.
'¦ 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 words have been sometimes supposed to have a different tendency.
" It has been a matter of grave dispute," says St. Optatus to the Dona-
tists, " whether baptism in the name of the Trinity, admits of being re
peated. You 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 partisans. Let us refer to a judge.
And yet if the judge be a Christian, he will not be free from partiality.
We must 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 1 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 isa sense in which He is still present,) gave
every necessary command, according tb 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

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 365
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 Ec
clesiasticus illustrated; the "brook became a river,"
and the "river became a sea." He who took our na
ture 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 hu
man 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 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 unfa
thomable to finite thought, were always within the
range of His personal knowledge. " And of His ful
ness 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 constitu
tions."17 Much more then is He, through whom Di-
from his dying breast, to enduring tablets: then if a dispute should arise
among the brethren, there would be no seed 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 from the
gospel." — St. Optatus de Schis. Donat. y. 3.
" St. Leo, Ep. Ixxx. p. S99.
31

366

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

vine Truth came down among men, to be looked upon
as the present source of that external, objective 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 im
parted treasure of truth, the Holy Scriptures; but like
wise with the engrafted principle whereby it was able
to comprehend them. The first was an object com
mitted from without to the Church's keeping : the se
cond 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 ex
ternal 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 ex
ternal system of truth in Holy Writ, the Church's
mjnd would not have the advantages which are de
rived from a written 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 eco
nomy of Mediation, whereby the Incarnate Son has
exalted humanity, by uniting it into one Body in Him
self; 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 discern
ment—between the Word, that is, as presented objec-

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 367
tively in Holy Writ, and as acting subjectively through
out the Body of Christ — is evidenced 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 Per
sonal Word which abideth13 in us ? Thus do we learn
that the Word by which believers are "born again"
is identical with that, "which by the Gospel is
preached."19 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," wre 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 exhausted
by such an interpretation : it passes on into the Per
sonal-acting of the great Being, whose spiritual pre
sence enlightens men respecting the purpose of His
own sayings, and reminds us, that there is no "crea
ture 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 it is His Word, after whose
image man was originally fashioned, and who is Him
self the "true light, which lighteth every man?"
Therefore, when we read it, we recognise the higher
rule of our original composition. And His present
office is declared in Holy Writ to be the extension
of that informing and enlightening power, which He
originally bestowed upon our nature. Thus only may
man become capable of comprehending "God's truth.
u 1 John ii. 14. ,s 1 Peter i. 23, 25.

368

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

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 be
lieveth 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.shall show it unto
you." And, therefore, writes St. John, " the anoint
ing 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 con
descended 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 Himself; to them,
therefore, and for their benefit, must be this enlight
ening 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 asso
ciated 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 fhe growth, stability,
and knowledge of individual Christians, to their adhe
rence to that Body of Christ, whereby the engrafted
Word attains its maturity. " He gave some, Apostles ;
and some, Prophets ; and some, Evangelists ; and some,
Pastors and teachers; for the 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 chil-

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 369
dren, tossed to and fro, and earried 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 con
descends 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 writ
ten word becomes a real light to its else darkened un
derstanding. 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 be
stowed 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 diffused 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 privileges of reason may, per
haps, 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 liberty of individuals. Such
are the two objections which may be adduced. It will
be seen in each case how dangerous is their tendency,
31*

370

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

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 falls of ne
cessity within the domain of reason. When we speak
of Our Lord's body as a material substance, 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 fa
culty 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 rea
son will be found to be fatal 'to the claims of revela
tion : so that along with the inward and subjective in
fluence 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 ob
ligation, that is, of weighing seriously the contending
impulses, by which the will is affected. Without such
restraint, men would be perpetually vacillating between
conscience and appetite. And their judgment of Holy
Scripture would be decided by the principle which at
the moment preponderated in themselves. To main
tain the due authority of reason, therefore, is identical •
with an assertion of the responsibility of mankind.
But such authority as this is, on all hands, attributed
to reason. The Ultramontane who disobeys his so
vereign's law, or the soldier who-slays his brethren at

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 371
its 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, where
as the former supposes that he is commanded to obey
the successor of St. Peter. Whether their interpreta
tions of Scripture be good or bad,. they are at least
commended to each of them by their individual rea
son. To respect the Church's authority, in like man
ner, does not imply any rejection of the claims of rea
son ; all which it assumes is, that men suppose the
Church's judgment of truth to be entitled to their
confidence.20 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 ab
solute independence. This is what appears to be de
signed by the right of private judgment. To be free
from all deference for the opinion of others — to be en
titled to disregard any motives or arguments, the force
whereof he does not himself appreciate — to stand en
tirely alone, an individual essence, responsible only for
such conclusions as find their way to him through
intellectual processes, which are understood and ap
proved 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 Tie 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 obe
dience, yet if she has "authority in controversies of
faith," there must be an authority in her external
80 " Contra rationem nemo sobrius, contra Scriptnras nemo Christianus,
contra Ecclesiam nemo pacificus senserit."— S, Aug. de Trin. iv. 10.

372

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

judgments, which it must be the duty of individuals to
respect. But to what result does the opposite system
of absolute independence conduct? Since the office
of reason is to draw conclusions from premises, the na
ture 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 know
ledge, 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 sub-
tiler and more consistent disciple, Hume, may be
called 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 th,e attempt to subject God's Word to man's judg
ment 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 pf Scripture would also be over
thrown. Even the opposite system, which may be called In-
tellectualism, though more promising, will conduct in
the end to a similar 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 consti-

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 373
tution of that agent which receives them. To Locke's
principle, "nihil 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 philosopher of Konigsberg,
following in a measure jn Plato's steps, 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 Cod'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 "re
ligion within the bounds of pure reason." But let it
be admitted that man is not bound to believe any thing
which his own reason does not apprehend, and what
place remains for revelation? Whence is it to be de
rived — how understood — in what manner authenti
cated ? If the only principle of truth lies within our
selves, 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 wholly be
side those inward laws of thought which are the ulti
mate criterion, how is it to be believed ?21 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 country
man of our own, by whom this system had been adopt
ed, afford a sufficient specimen. "Imagine," he says,
"a man pretending to survey the world, and all its
21 Mr. Trench, on the Miracles of our Lord, pp. 66, 68, sedond 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.

374

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

wisest men, and to reconstruct the age, and writing
down.. ..that external, historical testimony of God's
revealed will is the only true basis of moral science.
As if all science is not within, and all morality.
And as if any thing external could be the basis of
any thing within."*2
The last words show the effect of this system on
one, whose national instincts musthave rebelled against
the total abnegation of a fixed external standard of be
lief. But let the control of individual reason be un
checked and unconditional, and it must necessarily in
volve all the results which are deduced from it by Ger
man philosophy. Each man's inner judgment becomes
the only truth, and the divine realities which exist ex
ternally 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 external 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 unques
tionable authority, may yet supply an opening for
those higher truths, which itself forbids us to reject ?
For on what does reason stand but the principles of
our nature, and how can nature sanction conclusions
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 rea
son is not large enough to satisfy the cravings of our
hearts. Each man must pass beyond the narrow pre
cinct 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
22 Sterling's Life and Remains, vol. i. p. 158.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 375
its definition in Holy Scripture : " Faith is the rea
lizing things hoped for, the putting to the proof things
not seen."33 Even our acquaintance with the material
world depends on that conviction of the truth of our
senses, which is a species of faith. But its main func
tion 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 conclusions, which are
derivable from the intellectual constitution of every in
dividual, but the actual communing with that external
truth,34 which was pleased to have its reflection ori
ginally in man's mind. Now, since it was the will of
Almighty Wisdom to form the first man after the mo
del of Himself, some traces of this perfect truth will
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.25 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-ordi
nate with reason26 — a principle by which the authority
of reason is limited at the same time that the stock of
28 Hebrews xi. 1.
34 " 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.
88 " 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 nostra? fidei documenta
est ipse Deus." — Summa. i. Q. 79, 4.
36 " Rationale est ut fides prascedat rationem."— -S. Aug. Ep. 120, 3.

376

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

its knowledge is enlarged, because a new and indepen
dent 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 will. Unless there be some rule and order in its
operation, it will lose itself in the vague and change
able 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 commu
nity 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 con
ducts? — why they should admit more, than by pro
cesses 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 esta
blished certain laws, which find a response in their
common nature, and has thus fixed His impress on
their collective being. Let men be instructed in this
community of mankind, and they could have no diffi
culty 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 con
clude that wisdom was " the breath of the power of
God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of
the Almighty."27 "And Revelation witnesses that
men's natural power of appreciating moral truth is
the gift of that Eternal Word, who never totally for
sook the beings whom he had created. " In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men." This is the
deeper and divine cause for that community and con
nexion of the souls of men, the natural and apparent
grounds of which have been already stated (p. 50.)
*• Wisdom, vii. 1, 35.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 377
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 common na
ture. The rule whereby each man's individual faith
was to be regulated, was prescribed by the 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."'8
The breadth and importance of the rule thus pro
vided is 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 imprint
ed 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 as
similated. In this respect the works of genius illus
trate the moral advancement of mankind. Every
man is not capable of originating those sublime con
ceptions, by which Newton unfolded the mechanism
of the sky. The fervid imagery of Milton has added
thoughts, which, but for him, might never have
58 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
injured, the judgment of mankind condemns him for neglecting that
natural standard, which, independently of any higher sanction, is pro
vided by the inherent conviction of his race. He is setting up his pri
vate judgment against a truth which had commended itself to the faith
of humanity.
32

378 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
formed part of the intellectual heritage of men. These
and such prophets of humanity have opened to us se
crets, which it belongs to ordinary faculties to com
prehend, 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 Aristotle29 makes it dependent on the imitation
of those, who have an intuitive perception of her prin
ciples, they assume the existence of some pattern and
type of the race, which its other members have capa
city to recognise. To be conformed to such models,
to associate themselves to such standards of excellence,
is the duty of ordinary men. Thus do they appre
ciate 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 will, may always represent it as a mass of con
tradictions. 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 re-
warder of them that diligently seek Him." But to
reach forth in this manner after the Creator's will,
with an antecedent perception that some rule of right
has a real existence, is to make Faith an original source
of knowledge ; and, therefore, to limit the supremacy
08 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;) but -his practical mode of attaining it is in every case
tlie imitation of those in whom the intuitive perceptions of moral faith
have been strengthened by good conduct, 'tat '*» o fQovifto; odious.
— Eth. Nic. ii._6. He supposes the moral eye of the <p{on,uof to be an
original source of knowledge, through its inward intuition. Ssi tvqo-
uiXitv Tw8 • • • tpgovi/xuv Ttxig avaxofsiHTOig yao-tTl x*t Sojjatg. Slot
ya$ to sxsiv ex. t>)t tyi7ing/ac 0PP*, 'ogvio-tv co^as. — Eth. Nic. vi. 11.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 379
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 neces
sary 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 suf
ficient for every one to study God's Word by the light
of his own conscience, without the aid of that en
grafted Word which is communicated to the Body of
the Church?
Now, here must be borne in mind' the characteris
tic distinction between Christianity and Rationalism;
namely, that the second rests on that knowledge and
those means of intercourse with God, which we have
by Creation, whereas the former looks to the Media
tion of our Incarnate Head. For in Him we have
the full expression of that principle, after which Hea
then teachers were reaching in vain. He is the true
pattern of our race, the real type of humanity, the
complete exemplification of all those excellencies,
which were reflected in the pure nature of our original
parent. This perfection he exhibited, not merely, as
Rationalism would have it, through the happy temper
ing of His natural qualities, but because in His Person
there entered into our race a supernatural power.
For thus was humanity made perfectly partaker of the
Divine nature; in His Person were "hid all the trea
sures 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 incapable
of estimating, in Him to whom God gave the Spirit
without measure. And as in Him was the only per-

380

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

feet pattern of humanity, so in union with Him is the
only real source of knowledge.30 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 -communi
cated to His earthly members. " For by grace are
ye saved, through Faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God." Thus are Christjian Faith and
Christian Reason no longer the natural judgment of
the children of creation, but the inspired judgment of
the children of grace. Through the union of each in
dividual with the Pattern of Humanity, are his natu
ral qualities exalted. His inferior faculties are re
moulded on the perfect type of manhood. If the in
fluence of natural excellencies 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, individual judgments must be regulated by some
controlling principle. For even the conclusions of
holy and good men are liable to be influenced by pri
vate eccentricity. The Scriptures may be misunder
stood as well as the laws of Providence. Yet the
truth itself is one and unalterable, however variable
and fallacious are the opinions of men. Its reflection
must be sought for, then, in the judgment of the re
generate race, as the verdict of natural conscience in
the sentiments Of collective humanity. But since this
higher reason is not built upon the mere development
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 know
ledge, therefore its principle of reference is not to any
human exemplifications of goodness, but to that source
80 " Apprenons de la verite' increfee et incarnee notre veiitable nature."
— Pascal's Thoughts. [Faugere] vol. ii. 104.

THE*SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 381
itself, from which man is made participant of the Di
vine 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 be
cause " we have the mind of Christ," that he claims
a power Of "comparing 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 in
dividuals exhibited a fainter or clearer example of that
gift which had been bestowed originally upon man ;
but the Christian looks to that store-house, 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 understand
ing, the inward light of a higher reason — these are
among the blessings whieh 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
tilings 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 ex
positor of that objective truth of God's Word, com
mitted to it in writing, turns out to be the exact con
dition 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 indivi3ual thought can be
profitably exercised. For the security of individual
32*

382

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

judgment depends upon the constant influence of that
guiding principle which comes from a higher power ;
and this influence is derived from the efficacy of that
Mediatorial system, which - extends -through the col
lective body of Christ into individual minds.
This is what is meant, then, when the Church sys
tem is opposed to that of individual reason. The ul
timate 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, beingbestowed through His Media
tion, 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 gui
dance thus exercised over the Church at large,, the en
grafted efficacy of the Word, supplies each man with
a fixed guide, which adds intensity and confidence to
his private meditations. Were Scripture designed to
teach worldly truths, the capacities which were be
stowed on men by Creation would render them com
petent students of its pages — especially if they sought
that wisdom from a higher Being, which, according to
the principles of nature, must be looked for from their
Creator; but this would be only a Rationalistic study
of Scripture, 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 Media
tion; and it is only through those means which asso
ciate 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.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 383
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 unsatisfying paths of pri
vate 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 built 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 understanding, to
the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of
the Father and of Christ." In all this is there an ex
act progress from cause to effect, which the highest
reason may admire, but which Faith refers not to the
mere process of human deduction, 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, till the operations of the
interceding Word and sanctifying Spirit are recog
nised as underlying the whole scheme of our thoughts.
This system, collected into Creeds, is what gives fixed
ness 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 main-

384

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

tenance 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 objec
tive ground of truth is" equally endangered. The in
spiration 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 be
long 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 im
portance 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, have 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 " wit
ness " of Holy Writ is denied ; as though to invent
some scheme of inspiration was the necessary correla
tive of denying the existence of that living Word,
which guides men through Creeds, and has been en
grafted 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 con
clusions were revealed to the Apostles, which it was left
to themselves to develop and ascertain by the uncer
tain resources of human reason. But how are we "to
separate between the wheat and the chaff; between
the Divine conclusions which we must believe and reve
rence, and the human arguments, which we may scoff
at and reject? Again, the notion that the sacred

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 385
writers were mechanical agents, whose words were
dictated by the Holy Ghost, has the advantage, at
all events, of promising to effect what a theory of in
spiration might be expected to attain. Its maintain-
ers, 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 dis
criminated it. How far is this compatible with the
gradual admission of disputed 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 all such theories is of course to
maintain important truths, which might otherwise be
called 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 communicated, it is feared that the whole super
structure of Faith may be overthrown. When Bishop
Hampden is pressed by St. Paul's authority, " I ap
peal, he says, "from Paul philosophizing to Paul
preaching."31 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 theo
ry Jesus was the Messiah? How does this writer dis
criminate therefore between those assertions of St. Paul
which we must admit, and those which we mav dis-
81 Bampton Lectures, Plh. p. 375.

386

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

believe? Any logical proof then of the fundamentals
of religion require that its basis should be laid in a
consistent theory of inspiration. Unless this founda
tion is sound, the superstructure will be precarious.
If it be not fixed, equable, and coherent, it must be
bound together by such artificial concretion, as may
promise the solidity of a rock. And the reason why
the Church has never put forth any theory of inspira
tion, is because building on the rock itself, she stands
in no need of such fictitious 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 assertions, the decrees
of those four Councils of Nice, Constantinople, Ephe
sus, 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 individual expressions, as though
the Church supposed that the logical sequence of her
doctrines was to be demonstrated argumentatively 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 subsequent
demonstrations ? If it be the latter, why is no demon
stration offered? Why are not the passages adduced,
by which the Church hopes to conciliate the intellec
tual 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 accordant with
Scripture; and her ground of confidence in her con
clusions 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

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 387
them by deduction from individual expressions, be
cause 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 endowrnent
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." Therefore 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 members 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 com
prehension of His imparted Word. So that individuals
are suacessful in the elucidation of Scripture, not merely
through the native shrewdness with which God has
blessed them, but because their natural powers are ele
vated by connexion with that supernatural system,
through which they participate in Christ. Hence
those many writers, by whom the marvellous richness
of Scripture has been illustrated: thus are the indivi
dual testimonies to Our Lord's nature enforced by the
dialectic vigour of Athanasius and Bull, and the deep
truths respecting His presence in Sacraments expound
ed by the profound sagacity of Hooker and Augustin.

388

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

Yet these writers refer constantly to the " Analogy of
the Faith;" they have no confidence in mere human
logic when illustrating God's Word written : their con
viction is plainly avowed that they need that teaching
of His living Word, which dwells 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 undetermined that which He has not been
pleased to reveal, namely, what are the exact intellec
tual limitations by which we may discriminate His in
destructible truth from the perishable clay of His
earthly instruments. The settlement of this "question,
absolutely essential to those who would build their
faith on mere logical inference from the text of Scrip
ture, was wholly unnecessary to men who looked to
a Divine interpretation of its sacred words. For all
such theories of inspiration are deviees, for building
up a system of Divine truth by man's reason. They
are bulwarks, erected in the. well-meaning but ineffec
tual hope of rendering God's Word an available aux
iliary, 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 small ad
vantage 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 cor
relative : 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.
And if this statement seems to any one a disparage
ment from the authority of Holy Writ, let it be ob
served that its contrary tendency may be shown, not

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 389
by argument only, but by experience. 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 re
jected? 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 pos
sess that "authority in controversies of faith," which
our Article ascribes to her? With a belief in the en-
f rafted Word dwelling in the Body of Christ, all
tting reverence for the imparted Word has almost
invariably been abandoned. What book of Scripture
has not been rejected in some part or other of Pro
testant Germany? And the only bodies which have
retained that deep reverence for Holy Writ so con
spicuous in the early church, have been such portions *
of those who bear the Christian name, as like it pro
fess to recognise 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
illumination 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 well 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 con
vince, because it seems at variance with their personal
observation. And when this is the case, demonstra
tion may silence men, but cannot satisfy them. And
yet what 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 spiritually dis
cerned." Now, if we are to look to grace for the
gift of understanding, it must needs flow in the chan-
33

390 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
nel of those blessings, which the Mediator has brought
down from heaven, and its appointed course, therefore,
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 philosopher 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 philosopher it may be said,
that such measure of illumination as may suffice for
the first understanding 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 will look far higher than this: he will assert,
what no man can deny, that love, faith, and obedience
are found in large measure among those who have
never enjoyed the advantage of being joined to Christ,
through the Sacraments of His Grace; that their vir
tue^ often put to shame the vices of those who by
adoption are members of Christ's body ; and also that
their excellencies must be the result of grace, because
they are professedly referred to Christ and His Holy
Spirit. And as he will infer from this circumstance
that they possess the gift of a spiritual understanding,
so he will assert that their words and writings often
exhibit it. Yet what is there in this, with whatever
latitude it is admitted, which negatives those distinct

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 391
statements of Holy Writ, wherein Christ the Media
tor is stated to bind men to Himself in His Body
Mystical, through the efficacy of that body natural,
whereby He united Himself to us ? Is it to be denied
that God has. appointed a channel for His graces, be
cause the flood of His mercy overflows its banks?
Doubtless these graces flow from that One Mediator,
who is expressly declared in Holy Writ to be the one
only name through whom comes salvation. And
wheresoever they are found, we thank God for their
effect. We recognise it as well in the understanding,
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 Di
vine System, of which Scripture tells us, may in this
case be discerned, however large our allowance of co
existent exceptions. Nothing shall be said at present
of the gift of holiness, on account of the difficulty of
finding tests indicative of collective morality; and be
cause 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 collective Body of Christ,1 to which

392 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
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 inde
pendent march? They get these things from the ge
neral body of Christ, 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-con
flicting, uncertain views which the best men of this
class commonly take of Scripture. That simple good
ness 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 churchmen, because while the
latter admit the authority of that spiritual sense, into
which the church has been guided by the Spirit (what
ever difficulty may exist at times in determining it,)
the disputes of independent expositors of Scripture
are without umpire and without end. And yet the
Church's testimony supplies the very ground-work
on which they base their discussions ; for all 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 ge
neration, 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 separating from the church on one principle, work
their way to the opposite extreme of error. The Pu
ritan Nonconformists who accused the Church of not
resting sufficiently on Christ, were the ancestors of
the present Socinian school, by whom the Church is

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 393
asserted to rest on Him too exclusively. Germany,
where men complained so loudly because Scripture
was not duly appreciated, is the only country pro
bably 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 Scripture, and
that objective system of truth, which have 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 con
fession, 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 him
self guided only by his individual 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, wThich cannot bring itself altogether
to reject, what its concupiscence will not allow it to
obey. But then, it is asked, why may not this wit
ness be merely inward and personal? Suppose it ad
mitted that reason is not competent without grace to
master things divine, why has that grace any con
nexion with Christ's Body? In this case then, as
before, the full tendency of fhe notion of individual
enlightenment must first be exhibited, and it must after
wards be shown under what qualifications it may
safely be admitted.
1. To assume the existence of an individual illu
mination, has not been an unfrequent or unnatural re-
33*

394 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
action against that unsatisfying system, which pro
fesses to subject God's word tcrmere reason. Earnest
minds are disgusted by the cold, hard, critical, irreve
rent manner in which Scripture is treated. Its dog
mas 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 pre
vailed to a certain extent even in our own country :
for its unchecked predominance we must look to what
was called the orthodox Lutberanism of the seven
teenth century. Against it there rose up George Fox
in England and Semler 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 originally indited. "Writing
paper and ink," said Fox to Baxter, "is not infallible."
In like manner did Semler protest, that a body like
the German Protestants could recognise no paramount
authority in its original founders, which could shackle
in perpetuity the minds of men. The formulas of Lu
ther 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 depravation 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 scrip
tural expression, is called the testimony of the Holy
Ghost in the reader's mind." " In conformity with
this rule he expunged from the Canon, Solomon's Song,
Ruth, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Chronicles, &c."32
If the conduct of the Quakers was not quite so ar-
81 Tholuck's Vermischte Schriften, vol. ii. p. 56.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 395
bitrary, the result was nearly the same.33 It followed
naturally from the supposition, that Divine enlight
enment 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 possibility of special
and extraordinary communications has already been
admitted,) and the consequences deduced by Semler
and the Quakers must inevitably follow. 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 accord
ing to that system of natural religion, which only they
allow. 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 super-
naturally predominant. But Christ the Mediator be
stows the blessings which He confers through union
with His man's nature ; this union is obtained through
88 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. A nd if this be said to refer to the letter of 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 which the letter of the Scripture doth very fre
quently (as to many of its acts, if not all,) not concern or co-operate." —
Sewefs 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.

396

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

His Body Mystical; it results from that peculiar one
ness with Himself, which renders individual dependent
on collective blessings, and joins all the members of
His Church into one spiritual Whole. If these circum
stances, 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 Representative of mankind. So that the
direct reference to the Great Spirit of the Universe,
which is independent of these considerations, harmo
nizes 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 com
munication to individuals of special mercy, yet to make
this the ordinary course of Gospel graces, would be to
set aside the Mediation of Christ Our Lord. And the
depreciation of Holy Scripture is an immediate conse
quence. For whether we take reason or individual
inspiration as the principle of union, what is there
in either case which can stand between God and
the soul ? According 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 feeling 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 communication to

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 397
those who are thus favoured, is as good as Scripture.
When Fox heard a minister at Nottingham tell 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 : ' O no, it is not the Scripture, but it
is the Holy Spirit, by which the holy men of God gave
forth the Scriptures, whereby opinions* religions, and
judgments are to be tried.' "34 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 over
leaped the other.
2. This leads us then, secondly, to the necessary
caution by which the doctrine of individual enlighten
ment requires to be guarded. True, without an indi
vidual inspiration of God's Spirit we are unable to
understand His words. But this 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 collective
humanity, whereby He unites all His true members
into one body in Himself. Dependent on this is that
communication of Himself to individual souls, where
by the blessings of knowledge, as well as those of
grace, are conferred upon them. To consider these a
gift which comes from God, independently of Christ,
is to deny our participation in His office of Mediation.
We cannot speak too highly of this enlightening bless
ing, 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 dwell
ing in the Body of His Church, as well as to Christ
the imparted Word teaching in His Scriptures. While
we reverence the one of these, we shall pay due deference
84 Sewel's History of Quakers, vol. i. p. 3C.

398

CHRIST AS MEDIATOR

to the other. So long as we -respect Christ teaching
us by the general guidance of His Church, we shall
be in "ho 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.*5'5
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 por
tion 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 na
ture, 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,: know
ledge is bestowed by Him upon His Body Mystical,
and the gift of individual enlightenment 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 Collective Church an
authority inconsistent with the ultimate supremacy of
God's Word? For if the Church be guided by the
engrafted Word, is not the imparted Word superseded
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 shall nOt fall into the error of which
experience has convicted every enthusiast from Mon-
tanus to Naylor ? Now, to this it may be replied,
in the first place, that the body for which an in
fused power of guidance is claimed, is the very same
whose witness is appealed to on behalf of the Word
imparted. For what proof have we of the authority
88 Leslie, ibid. p. 57.

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 399
of those books, which, pass by the name of Scripture,
unless some confidence 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 any thing, which is inconsist
ent 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 all
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 apostacy on the part of the Univer
sal Church, into which He has promised that she shall
never fall. His declaration is that the Gates of Hell
shall not prevail against her. He assures us of His pre
sence with her to the end of the world. Such an at
tempt, 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
engrafted can never happen. Indeed, what but this
has ensured such measure of discretion, amidst the in
numerable collisions of eighteen hundred years, that
the Body, with which dwells the Living Word, should
still be the witness , and keeper of written Scripture ?
That the Church, therefore, will not attempt to dis
pense with Scripture: — that the collective 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 applicability of the princi-

400 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR
pie, and weaken its effects. We live like Israel in a
land of promise, the blessings whereof we only par
tially 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 bene
fit actually accrues to us from that indwelling principle
of knowledge, which the presence of Christ commu
nicates to His Church. The assertion of any common
faith, the education Of the young in any fixed princi
ples, 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
provisional; but there is enough of decisiveness in the
judgment of the English Church36 to warrant the as-
88 To enter in. detail upon the question of Church authority would be
to wander from the immediate subject All which has been here at
tempted is to show that the claim to authority advanced _by the English
Church, in her 20th Article, stands upon a Christian and not a Ration
alistic basis; that it is an appeal not to the wisdom of men, but to the
Word of God. It may be observed, farther, 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 subjects, but only to those points on
which it is essential to maintain the "faith once 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. 478,) it may still be a guide to the faithful on
essential questions. Those who observe how much mankind is influ
enced by the faith, which prevails around them — how large a portion ol

THE SOURCE OF HOLINESS AND KNOWLEDGE. 401
sertion that is not abandoned. If we compare the po
sition of her children with that of the members of any
dissenting sect, or even with that of the Protestants
of Germany, we see the immense difference which re
sults from her claiming to possess a fixed principle of
judgment. In the Protestant bodies in all parts of the
Continent, subscription to Articles is always under
stood to be subordinate to the principle of private in
terpretation : those who sign, i. e. profess to express
their accordance, so far as what they subscribe agrees
in their judgment with Scripture. The individual in
terpretation of each man is the fixed principle; the
Body which requires subscription has no external au
thority. 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 Reformers, however learned and holy,
cannot be set up as a permanent barrier against the
progress of truth. What one man has asserted, an
other may question. There can be no permanent au
thority except from God. Subscription, therefore, as
it is required in the Church of England, implies a be
lief in the guiding care of that Divine Spirit, to whose
decisions individual consciences are bound to defer.3'
national character is owing to the habits/and rules of life— how impos
sible it is even to introduce political institutions among a people which
is not fitted to receive them — will not attach little importance to that
rducation which it has pleased God to bestow upon Christendom through
His Church, and to those essential principles, which His presence has
preserved through the countless errors of eighteen centuries.
8' Those Lutheran divines who maintain the authority of confessions
of faith, argues K ant, say to us, " Draw your conclusions from the source
itself, the Bible, whence you may derive it pure and uncontaminated ;
but take care that you do not discover any thing in tlie Bible, except
what we find there." " JVIy 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 ex
ternal standard of dogmatic truth can be maintained in a Church, which
does not claim authority in the interpretation of Scripture. — Kant's
Streit der Facultatcn.
34

402 CHRIST AS MEDIATOR, &C.
What God has been pleased to teach is received be
cause He has taught it. Without His guidance there
can be no permanent £reed, and no plenary subscrip
tion. The measure therefore of accordance, which ex
ists in the English Church, is a perpetual 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 Com
mon 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 be
stowed 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 op
posed to that of Rationalism.
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 really serves as
a guide amidst most of our perplexities; though, like
travellers 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 un
certainty. Where the contest is between private ca
price and the public sentence of the Christian Body,
the decision must be the same as when any single por
tion of the Church oppose the collective testimony of the
Christian Community. 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 inestima
ble 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, 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

CONCLUSION. 403
the arrival of that more perfect condition of the Church,
of whieh 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 shall not erivy Judah, •
and Judah shall not vex Ephraim, may these things be.
For knowledge and holiness, coming to us through
Christ Our Lord, are attributes of His Body Mystical
by grace, as to His Sacred Person they pertain by na
ture. 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 evi
denced by their perfect union in Him, in whom alone
either dwells completely. For knowledge is not per
fect, 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.

CHAPTER XV.

CONCLUSION.

The Doctrine of Our Lord's Incarnation has been
considered, and how it rendered Him the representa
tive 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 fa
mily, which He redeemed from the ruins of the Fall,
has been shown to depend on that Mediatorial cha
racter which belonged to His compound nature ;a and
the outline of its effects upon humanity at large has
'Cap. 1—6. 2Cap. 7— 13.

404

CONCLUSION.

been slightly traced.3 The characteristic distinction
between Rationalism and Christianity has also been
touched upon. The. first has been shown to rest the
connexion between God and man on that natural re
lation of mind to mind, which was the law of Creation ;
, and to estimate Christ, therefore, merely as an indi
vidual, in whom the inherent powers of manhood at
tained that perfect development of which they were
always capable. But Christianity starts with the sup
position that in Christ the forfeited privileges of our
race were given back, through the supernatural pre
sence of Godhead. Hence arises that law of Mediation,
which implies that all the blessings which the higher
Being bestows upon the lower, were centred in the
Humanity of the Incarnate Son, that so from His man
hood they might be communicated to the successive
generations of His brethren. Thus to that old Cre
ation, 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 conclu
sion, to make some brief inquiry, whether due impor
tance 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 im
pressed by that most momentous of all its vicissi
tudes — "the taking of the manhood into God."
In the earlier age 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, call in the aid of
a philosophical religion to justify their practical un-
8 Cap. 14.

CONCLUSION. 405
belief. A few instances of this tendency shall be no
ticed. 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 will
judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom
He hath ordained, whereof He hath given assurance
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 for
gotten 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 con
version of the careless. The ealm and orderly course
which is required for the one, is wholly different from
the occasional and stimulating measures which are
needed for the other. Such a view of judgment-to-
come as might bring it praetieally 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 op
portunities of common deliberation, without which it
is impossible for her to adopt such measures as are re
quired by the exigency of the times. This may con
tribute 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
supposes that repentance not only avails for the ob
taining 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 reve
lation or philosophy. The last should remind men
that their final character is the result of all the pre
vious impulses by which they have been actuated, and
that however hidden from themselves, it is plainly con
ceivable that the whole mysterious thread of their com
plicated existence may be traced by an Omniscient

406 CONCLUSION.
Judge through all its tangled multiplicity. And the
same infallible Scriptures which declare salvation to
the penitent, through the blood of the Incarnate Me
diator, 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 characterized by participation in our
material nature, if it shows the leniency with which
we may hope that judgment will be exercised, shows
also its reality 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 day,4 when " we shall
all stand before the judgrnent-seat of Christ."5
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 crea
tion 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
perpetual testimony to the Creator. The feast of
Tabernacles attested the yearly bounty of His Pro-
4 2 Tim. i. 13, 18; 2 Thess. i. 10. ' Rom. xiv. 10.

CONCLUSION. 407
vidence. The Passover and Feast of Weeks showed
how He had taken a single family out of the idolatrous
world to obey His law and be the depository of His
promises. The whole Christian year is built in like
manner upon the Mediation of Christ. Its weekly
day of solemn worship is the memorial of the Re
deemer's triumphant rest after the more stupendous la
bours of His new Creation. In like manner its three
yearly seasons, Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost, tell
of His Birth, Sacrifice, and Spiritual Legislation. If
we follow the matter more into detail, we find the an
niversary 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 Circum
cision, and Announcement to the Gentiles. Then come
the Forty Days of Humiliation, which precede His
Sufferings and Triumph. The last portion of them is
characterized by reference to His daily recorded ac
tions, as the Representative and Redeemer 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 Rejoicing, while we approach the
hour when, ascending up into Heaven, He "received
fifts for men," which, on the approaching Festival of
'entecost, 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 all being,
and the end of all thought. Now, can the prevalent
neglect of such a system as this be compatible with
any practical belief in that real manhood of Christ
Our Lord, which binds Him at this moment to col
lective humanity? Surely there are not wanting af
fections in man's nature ; and his habits witness to the
cherished feelings of the heart. Were men duly sen
sible of their nearness to Christ, their master — did
they feel the reality of that man's nature, whereby

408 CONCLUSION.
He binds Himself to all His brethren — these public
birth-days of our race could not be passed by with an
indifference which is not betrayed in the case of na
tional solemnities, or respecting the eras of our pri
vate life.
It would be of little purpose to point to those na
tional changes, which have been ordained by Parlia
ment, 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 uni
versal feeling of the Christian world had pronounced
it unseemly to be passing judgment on our erring bre
thren. 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 fame of the empire.
But it is more to the purpose to ask why the arrange
ments of the Christian year are so little regarded by
those who profess reverence for the 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 in
cident which tells 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 can
not but be admitted, the neglect of the great act and
principle of our new Creation shows itself in that sin
gular error, which degrades the weekly anniversary
of Christ's Resurrection into a mere Jewish observance.

CONCLUSION. 409
It is not, of course, disputed that the Lord's Day is
founded upon that weekly division of time, which com
memorates 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 Com
mandment, 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 na
ture 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 all-important ordinances which bind us to the
Body of Christ, and that collective union which is be
stowed upon us in Him, have come to be treated. How
can the Church's rule, that the daily service of inter
cession should be offered by all her priests, be recon
ciled with the closed doors of our sanctuaries and their
silent altars? Is it practically believed that the per
petual sacrifice of our great High Priest has its opera
tion through the Ministry of His earthly Servants?
What can be expected also, so long as there continue
to be numerous parishes in our land, where the oppor
tunity of fellowship with Christ through the Holy
Communion is only offered quarterly to the people ?
What life 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 vitality is so little appreciated? What a
departure this from that early precedent, When the
Disciples at Troas came together weekly to break
bread !
Now, how can such a defalcation be justified? The
©ffering of Our Redeemer's sacrifice is not impaired
35

410 CONCLUSION.
by time. The reality of His Intercession is not sus
pended. But a chilling apathy has withdrawn atten
tion from that principle of life in Him, which should
quicken all His members. This may be traced partly
to those interferences of the temporal power, which
have obscured men's perception of the nature and ori
gin of spiritual jurisdiction. The Church's power has
been grasped at and used by the State for worldly
purposes, till the very name of Church authority stinks
in men's nostrils. To this we must attribute the
strange jealousy expressed in the late trivial disputes
on rubrical matters, because a few Clergymen pro
fessed themselves bound in conscience-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 monar
chies, the increasing commotions of daily life, show
how perishable are the forms of natural society. They
testify then to the importance of those binding princi
ples, by which, out of the mouldering ruins of the
Roman Empire, was originally reared the fabric of
European civilization. When every thing 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 in
dividual appetite ? It must be so comprehensive that
it may teach the great the extent of their responsi
bilities, and yet reveal to the humble the real dignity
of their state. It must preach humility 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 philosophy the
existence of a law above its reach, yet be a guide to

CONCLUSION. 411
the unlettered along the busy paths of practical life.
All this must come from some simple, single, irresist
ible influence, such as may give peace amidst the col
lisions, and oneness 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
lifted up from the earth, will draw all 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.

the end.

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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