"He, who from the Father forth was sent,

Came the true Light, light to our hearts to bring; The Word of God, - the telling of His thought;

III

THE UNVEILING OF THE FATHER

He

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

The shallowness of this view.

II. The Doctrine of a Future Life, improved by every additional circumstance which could give weight and efficacy to that important truth. III. The Miraculous Powers ascribed to the primitive Church. IV. The Pure and Austere Morals of the Christians. V. The Union and Discipline of the Christian Republic, which gradually formed an increasing and independent state in the heart of the Roman empire.1

Now this is a very fair, we may even say a brilliant, example of the kind of work which was done by the shallow and complacent scepticism of a century ago. But the moment we subject it to the more searching analysis of the scepticism of the present age, it dissolves into a thin and incoherent absurdity. For it is evident that, so far from giving an explanation of the growth of Christianity, Gibbon is simply describing some of the phenomena which accompanied that growth. What, for example, is "the zeal of the Christians" but an unilluminating name for a contagious and irresistible enthusiasm which spread through the world in connection with faith in Christ? What is

1 Edward Gibbon, Esq., A History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (London, John Murray, 8th Edition, 1854), vol. ii., p. 152.

"the union and discipline of the Christian republic" but a description, without explanation, of the organic unfolding of a new, mysterious principle of fellowship. These alleged causes," more closely examined, are in fact the very things that require to be accounted for. Instead of clearing up the mystery, they increase it.

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The "explanation" needs to be

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

which de

By what means, human or divine, was the Questions zeal of the Christians' purified from the narrow mand an and unsocial spirit of the Jews'? The natural answer. history of sects and schisms teaches us that their invariable tendency is to intensify rather than to eliminate bigotry and exclusiveness. Through what influence was the doctrine of a future life ‘improved by every additional circumstance that could give it weight and efficacy'? The inevitable course of its human development under the guidance of abstract philosophy has been towards vagueness, cold

ness, and uncertainty; under the guidance of concrete superstition, towards puerility and crass sensualism. On what grounds were miraculous powers ascribed to the early Church? They must have been ascribed truly or falsely. If truly, there must have been some basis of fact for them to rest upon. If falsely, the Christians themselves were either ignorant, or cognizant, of the falsehood. Take the former supposition, and you present yourself with the inexplicable theory that what Pliny the Younger called superstitio prava immodica, and imagined would be easily and certainly extirpated, was able to hold its own against all the assaults of learning and philosophy. Take the latter supposition, and you are forced to the incredible assumption that a conscious deception was the fountain of highest and strongest moral force that the world has ever felt.1 How then did the "pure and austere morals of the Christians" come into existence? From a lie, or from a truth? If from a truth, what was the nature of that truth, in what form was it expressed, and how did it win credence?

1 Carlyle, Heroes and Hero-Worship, sect. ii.: "A false man found a religion? Why, a false man cannot even build a brick house! If he do not know and follow truly the properties of mortar, burnt clay, and what else he works in, it is no house that he makes, but a rubbish heap."