the speculative side, but death sets in from the moral side. Had the Saviour only taught 'earthly things,' not 'heavenly things,' He would have been but a greater Socrates, not the Saviour of the world. Had the Gospel been a morality without a dogma, it would have gone the way of other moralities. There is one thing weaker than a religion without a morality, and that is a morality without a religion."*

3. We may glance much more briefly at the error of those who reject this or that particular doctrine of Christianity, because it fails to secure the approval of their reason, or the sanction of their "verifying faculty."

This is but, in another form, to repeat the first error noticed above. This eclecticism which chooses and rejects at pleasure, has nothing in common with the simple faith that accepts as Divine the sayings of a Teacher come from God. Its votaries may indeed assume to be Christian philosophers, but they certainly are not disciples of Christ. The genuine disciple is too well assured of the truth of the Divine message as a whole, to be staggered by 'a hard saying" in this or that part of it. Divine revelation, though it cannot contradict true reason, must necessarily transcend it. If it did not it would be merely a revelation in which nothing is revealed. But between these two there is absolutely no incompatibility that is not seeming or temporary. It may be the result of a false interpretation. It may be an illusion of prejudice mistaken for the voice of sound reason. It may be nothing more than an imaginary opposition, where there is real harmony. "Two distinct truths may be thrown by perspective on each other, and appear to clash; when on a nearer view, there is a valley between them, and each may claim its own place among the eternal hills." To overlook these facts is to fall into a double error. It is to indulge, on the one side, our pride; on the other, our unbelief. It is to defeat the main purpose for which revelation is given, as well as to strike at the root of its authority as a message from Heaven.

II. Postponing for the present the consideration of the various questions relating to inspiration and miracles, we may conclude this chapter with an examination of the difficulty which is sometimes felt to spring from the connexion of Christianity with the Jewish History.

1. For between that History and Christianity The Very Rev. the Dean of Emly, at the York Congress,

there is unquestionably a most intimate and necessary connexion. Our Saviour does undoubtedly assume the Divine origin of the Mosaic Institution. He recognizes the Divine authority of the Jewish Scriptures. He establishes the truth of His own teaching, by appeals to "The Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms." And, independently of His authority, it is found impossible to assign any adequate cause for the Jewish religion, other than that Divine original which is claimed in the Jewish Scriptures. Those who demur to this conclusion have failed to account for the singular circumstance that while every other people slid into Polytheism, the Jews alone adhered to the Unity of God; they have failed to account "for their being men in religion, children in everything else; behind other nations in the arts of peace and war, superior to the most improved in their sentiments and doctrines relating to the Deity."*

But the old fashion, revived by Voltaire, of attacking Christianity through the sides of Judaism, is far too fascinating not to have been eagerly adopted by his more modern imitators. Particular instances shall be adduced in a subsequent chapter; meantime it is quite sufficient to observe that "some objections of this class are founded in misconstruction, some in exaggeration; but all proceed upon a supposition which has not been made out by argument, viz., that the attestation which the Author and first teachers of Christianity gave to the Divine mission of Moses and the prophets extends to every point and portion of the Jewish History ;" and so extends as to make Christianity responsible in its own credibility, for the circumstantial truth, and even for the critical exactness, of every narrative contained in the Old Testament.

2. Far removed, however, from the blasphemies of Morgan and Voltaire and the Wolfenbuttel fragments, and deserving a very different consideration, is that kind of difficulty which has been thus expressed: "The New Testament, at least, in the main, is a revelation worthy of God, and approves itself to our inmost conscience. We cannot deny the fact that it is linked closely with the Old Testament, and seems to recognize in it an origin as Divine as its own. We also admire and enjoy the greater part of the Psalms, and many passages in the prophets. But still, the book, as a whole, jars greatly with our moral instincts. We wish from our heart that Christianity * See Paley's Note, "Evidences," part III., chap. iii.

stood alone. We should love it more, and count it more worthy of its Author, if it were encumbered by no connexion with the Jewish law, and the trivial ceremonies, or stern and repulsive features, of the Mosaic economy."

Now, the two features of the Old Testament which bring down upon it the dislike of metaphysical theorists and sentimental dreamers in religion, are, on the one hand, its minute ceremonial details and barren genealogies, and, on the other, the severe, awful, and alarming tone of its messages. "What can be wider apart than Kant's Treatise on the Pure Reason,' Schelling's 'Theory of the Absolute,' or Hegel's 'Scheme for the Evolution of the Universe out of the Possible,' and the first chapters of Chronicles, or the offerings of the princes in the Book of Numbers? What more opposite to that amiable, gentle, passive benevolence, which appears to sentimental worshippers the real image of Divine goodness, than the account of the plagues of Egypt, or the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire from Heaven? How can such a revelation, they ask in perplexity, have proceeded from Him whose Name is Love?"

But it is important to remember that these very features of the Old Testament which seem to contrast so strongly with the New have not been left for modern objectors to discover, but are prominently stated in the Gospels themselves. "The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Grace in contrast with the Law's judicial severity; and truth, in equal contrast with its copious historical details, and its multitude of outward rites and ceremonies. The difficulty is not eluded; on the contrary, the contrast is stated in such a manner as to imply that no real difficulty was seen in it by the apostle who had risen the highest in heavenly contemplation, and drank most deeply of the spirit of love. It is no sunken rock on which our faith may be stranded, because its first discovery is due to the ingenuity of unbelievers. It is rather a landmark on the wide sea of Divine revelation, which the New Testament itself holds up prominently to our view. It is highly important to observe also that the ceremonial features of the Old Testament, regarded as an earlier, preparing for a later revelation, are in full agreement with the favourite theories of these philosophical ob jectors themselves. They delight to represent mankind as self-educated, without any Divine interference whatever. "In their theory of progress, the race ascends through Fetichism

of the most barbarous kind, to Polytheism, then to Dualism and Pantheism, and finally to Monotheism. The history of all nations is carved into shape to suit this fancied law of human development. The interval to be tra versed then is immense; whether man is left to the hopeful task of raising himself from the worship of rags, flies, and monkeys, to the pure absolute religion; or whether, as Christians believe, it pleases God to carry on the great work by supernatural revelations of His will. The change is like the upheaving of a deep ocean-bed to form a Himalayan range, that may pierce far into the blue vault of heaven. Now, if the all-wise God undertakes this great work, may we not expect that He will do it wisely? In His messages to mankind, must He not begin by stooping to their actual state, that He may raise them above it? Will not the degree of light which He sees fit to impart depend, more or less, on the capacity of vision which has been the result of previous steps in the course of Divine revelation? If the Word of God be food, must not the milk be supplied earlier than the strong meat? if light, must not the twilight come before the daybreak, and the daybreak before the brilliance of noonday? In short, are not the words of our great poet the sketch of a truer and juster philosophy of revelation, than the monotony of spiritual effulgence, imposed by these objectors as a law to the messages of the Almighty ?"*

"So law appears imperfect, and but given
With purpose to resign them, in full time,
Up to a better covenant, disciplined
From shadowy types to truth, from flesh to spirit,
From imposition of strict laws to free
Acceptance of large grace, from servile fear
To filial, works of law to works of faith."

The other feature of the Old Testament which repels or perplexes many, is its sternness and severity. And this, too, admits of a full explanation, when we gaze with reverence on the perfections of the Most High, or look thoughtfully into the hidden depths of our own being. Benevolence, justice, and mercy, are the three contrasted, yet harmonious, elements of the Divine goodness. But of himself, man is as unable to harmonize them, as he is to quiet the fears of a guilty conscience, or to reduce the blind flatteries of hope into concord with the voice of righteousness. When the thought of God's justice has flashed out upon him, he

* Rev. T. R. Birks' "Modern Rationalism," pp. 67, 68.

has framed a creed of terror and darkness, like the dark rites of Egypt, or the Hindu worship of Siva the Destroyer. When this sterner voice has slumbered he has resigned himself to the sportive illusions of an airy creed like the Grecian Polytheism; though even here conscience has claimed its rights, and spoken to the soul of Nemesis and Tartarus, awful Fates and avenging Furies. The problem of life remained still unsolved. The mystery was too complex and too deep to be fathomed. The facts of Providence, even in this life, were confused and chequered, and there mingled with them strange and uncertain forebodings of a life to come. The soul could but utter its sorrowful complaint, "Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; on the left hand, where He doth work, but I cannot behold Him: He hideth Himself on the right hand, that I cannot see Him." Amidst the anomalies of Providence-notwithstanding countless proofs of benevolence-justice ceased to be just; and amidst the sorrows of life, it seemed as if mercy itself had forgotten to be merciful.

To disentangle the web, and bring out in full relief that Divine character which sin had shrouded, each voice required a separate utterance. Revelation, to fulfil its great end, must be parted into two main portions, of which the

respective voices should be, severity to the sinner in his rebellion, and mercy to the sinner in his return. It is true that the separation could not be complete. For, united as are these three perfections in the Divine Mind, they must all co-exist in every part of the Divine Revelation. Still, each part has its predominant feature. Even the Gospel has its revelation of "the worm that dieth not," and of God as a consuming fire. And, in the stern voice of the Law, the thunders of Sinai are not unmingled with undertones that speak of God's universal benevolence, and deeper notes, resounding first in types from the mercy-seat, then struck more clearly from the harp of prophecy, which tell of rich mercy still in reserve, and shortly to be revealed to the sons of men.

And thus we are brought to the conclusion that the very feature of the Old Testament which revolts the proud heart, and staggers the sentimental and the timorous, is the very secret of its Divine wisdom; and that the Law, with all its severity, given by Moses, as well as the grace and truth which have come by Christ Jesus, are alike from the Lord of Hosts and the Father of Mercies; and are varied, but har monious, exhibitions of His character, who is "wonderful in counsel and excellent in working."

HOUSE.

Yea, it might fill a stranger with disgust,
For miry feet full oft have trod it o'er.

The windows that Thou mad'st like diamonds pure,

So to admit unchanged the spotless light, Alas, are dim, and clouded, and obscure"Tis hard sometimes to know the day from night.

I have no guest-chamber to offer, Lord,

No furnished upper room to bid Thee to; Unless Thou wilt Thyself the power afford To sweep its floor, and deck its walls anew. Earth's meanest hovel would with glory shine If Thou wert there-would be with splendour gilt;

Filled with Thy Presence it would grow Divine, Then how much more this house which Thou hast built!

to

|UTHER loved an innocent jest; his conscious sincerity enabled him to afford it. "God made the priest," said he; "the devil set about an imitation, but he made the tonsure too large, and produced a monk." But pensive, and even melancholy broodings were the more customary food of his over-burthened mind. "Forty years more life!" said he, "I would not purchase Paradise at such a price!" Yet with all this lassitude of the world, his contemplations of death were solemn, even to sadness. "I preach, write, and talk about dying,” said he, "with a greater firmness than I really possess, or than others ascribe to me."

Luther's enemies have made food for their mirth in the wild visions and fantasies and hauntings of devils, which at times disturbed him. Intense study deranging the digestive organs of a man whose bodily constitution required vigorous exercise, and whose mind had been early stored with the wild poetical myths and legends of German literature, at once accounts for, and almost demands, such mental phantasmagoria, the presence of which would be more natural than their absence. German education was like suckling a child with drams.

So far from abating our estimate of Luther's mental powers, his hallucinations serve to raise it. The infirmities of our nature are the real measure of its moral strength. It was easier for a Samson to break the cords of the Philistines, than to tear himself away from the tresses of Delilah; had he done the latter, the victim would have become the victor, and greater glory would have distinguished his conquest of self, than all his victories over the uncircumcised. Luther did so. He overcame the fiends which, to him at least, were no imaginary terrors, for he had been taught to believe în

them; and thus "out of weakness came forth

strength," the credulous folly of the superstition being the gauge of the mental energy that subdued it.

In like manner, the same spirit which led him to bow with Oriental prostration before the analogous farce of the pontifical majesty, supremacy, and hereditary glories of Rome, is the index of the amount of resistance to be overcome, before he could brave the vengeance of a dynasty which, in his view, kept the keys of heaven and hell. For a man of Luther's constitutional habits of reverence, to hush at once the superstitious and ecclesiastical terrors of his infancy and age to sleep-to stand out in the mystic Babylon, like the three youths at the historical one, and refuse to fall down before the golden idol to which "all kinds of music" allured, and the terrors of the furnace or the stake constrained the worship of all nations -to isolate himself, like an iceberg, from all sympathy, communion, or even contact with his fellow-kind, and infallibly to know before hand the too probable fate of the ringleader in such a breach upon the bristling ramparts of the Popedom,-indicated an antecedent conquest of self, to which the annals of hero-craft present few parallels, and to which no human gallantry is equal, apart from the sustaining arm of an invisible Omnipotence.

The misgivings which, for ten successive years, deferred his irreconcilable war with Rome, clung to him to the last moment of the rupture, as he wrote to Erasmus : "On their side are arrayed learning, genius, numbers, dignity, station, power, sanctity, miracles, and what not. On mine, Wycliff and Laurence Valla, and, though you forgot to mention him, Augustine also. ... For ten years together I hesitated myself. Could I believe that this Troy, which had triumphed over so many

assaults, would fall at last! I call God to witness, that I should have persisted in my fears .. if Truth had not compelled me to speak!"

But when the sword was once drawn, the scabbard was flung away, as never more to be sheathed. Mark the glowing heroism of words, any syllable of which was excommunication, prison, and death to the speaker :

"To the language of the Fathers, of men, of angels, and of devils, I oppose neither antiquity nor numbers, but the single Word of the Eternal Majesty, even that Gospel which they are themselves compelled to acknowledge. Here is my hold, my stand, my resting-place, my glory, and my triumph. . . . . At Leipsic, at At Leipsic, at Augsburg, and at Worms, my spirit was as free as a flower of the field."

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Those whose fastidious taste, or sickly love of God's truth, would not let them scotch a serpent in the sanctuary lest its blood should defile the pavement, were offended with Luther's devastating torrents of invective; but they animated the courage, and won the confidence of the multitude. A timid leader would have raised timid followers (if any), who might be afraid either of his leaving them in the lurch, or as a blind leader of the blind, lest both should fall into the ditch together. No halfmeasures would do. The voice which commands in a tempest must battle with the roar of the elements." Luther could say with David, "My soul is among lions;" and, if he opened his mouth at all, it must "roar with a voice like them." The princes of Germany and their ministers, Henry VIII. and Lee his chaplain, the sacramentarians and anabaptists, the universities of Cologne and Louvain, Charles and Leo, Adrian and Clement, papists, Jesuits, and Aristotleians, and, above all, the devils whom his creed assigned to each of these formidable opponents, as so many inspiring or ministering spirits,-these were the hosts against whom Luther had single-handed to contend.

The earlier history of Pagan Rome immortalises the name of Horatius Cocles-a man with one eye-who alone opposed the whole army of the Etrurians at the head of a bridge, while his comrades behind him were cutting off the communication with the other shore. When the bridge was destroyed, Cocles, though

wounded with the darts of his enemies, leapt into the Tiber, and swam across it with his arms in his hand.

Luther, with a single eye to the glory of God, kept the powers of Papal Europe at bay, while his fellow Reformers were completing the separation that should cut off for ever com. munion with the Papacy; and when the work was completed, harnessed in the whole armour of God, he threw himself into the " river of life" that divided them, and though wounded with the floating fragments of the demolished hierarchy, he buffeted the billows, till he landed on the opposite bank of an achieved religious freedom.

Still Luther was no coarse spiritual demagogue. He advocated the cause of social order, assailing the Illuminati, the Iconoclasts, or Image-breakers, and fire-and-sword-regenerators, with the same artillery with which he had breached the Romish garrison. "It will never do," said he, "to jest with Herr Omnes [with Mr. All-the-World]. To keep that formidable person quiet, God has established lawful authority. It is His pleasure that there should be order amongst us here." They cry out the Bible, the Bible-Bibel! Bubel! Babel!"

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When the peasants throughout West Germany rose in fierce revolt against their lords, the nobles arraigned Luther as the author of the calamities, but the people invoked him as an arbiter in their dispute. A poor untitled monk responded to the appeal with more than pontifical dignity. He exerted over the national mind of Germany, at that crisis, a power more absolute than that of her thousand princes and their Imperial Head. Europe now first heard from his lips those great social maxims, which, elementary truisms now, were strange and unknown as mysteries then-viz., that power is confided to rulers not to gratify their caprice, but as a sacred trust for the common good; and he enjoined their compliance with the just claims of their oppressed subjects. He then exhorted insurgents not to dishonour their religion by rebellion, because subordination in human society was a Divine ordinance, designed to promote in different ways the moral improvement of every rank, and the general happiness of all.

That Luther's advice was not immediately followed, was their misfortune, not his fault.

Luther's last intercourse with the Court of Rome was to present the Pontiff with his book on Christian Liberty, accompanied with a letter

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