man's vitality is at its highest point; every sensibility is as keen as it can be; every faculty is under pledge to suffering or service. This was all that Jesus Christ required even of the man who had fallen so foully, and shown himself so helpless under pressure. Before the crucifixion he had trusted in himself: the very last element of self-conceit was to be destroyed in him, and henceforth he was to live under the inspiration and guardianship of perfect love. There is no faculty of interpretation equal to love; it has access, so to speak, to every chamber of God's heart, and can speak all languages: nor is there any capacity of suffering equal to it; it accepts suffering as a trial of reality and strength, and wrings great spoil from its unwilling grasp. This we had known before; but Jesus Christ employs a word which calls us to consideration; on being assured of Simon Peter's love, he tells him to feed the flock. How can love feed? We know how love can stimulate, defend, or soothe; but this new word startles us somewhat. Yet it need not. Love delights in the satisfaction of others. It does not care in any low sense to feed itself; it thrives best when it gives most, and does most for the lambs and the sheep. But which lambs and sheep? Is the fold defined? Yes: Feed my lambs-feed my sheep. was the command of Jesus Christ: the love was Christ's, the service was Christ's; nor does Simon Peter appear to have forgotten the charge, or the metaphor by which it was expressed, for long after he wrote, "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; . . . and when the

chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." Love must, by the force of its own nature, feed others, study them, comprehend their capacity; and satisfy them when they feel

"The curse of a high spirit famishing

Because all earth but sickens it."

Jesus Christ dealt thus with the doubter and the apostate, gently, instructively, and forgivingly. Not a harsh word was said to either of them: let the church recollect this, and consider how far the servant has followed the Master's example. There may be some standing without who should be called within.

Jesus Christ made a remarkable posthumous appearance to two of his disciples, as they walked to Emmaus. They may be regarded as representing men who have taken an incomplete view of the facts which relate to Christ. If their collation of evidence had been fuller, they would have had less trouble. They saw but a "fragment" of the case; "and as they communed one with another, they were sad." (Luke xxiv. 17.) The interview between Jesus Christ and them was remarkable chiefly for the full exposition of the case which Christ gave from what may be termed the documentary side: "Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." This puts the Old Testament in its right position. It is a Christian document. From the beginning of revelation to its close, Christ is the main subject: without him there was nothing to be revealed.

At the close of all, he breathed upon his disciples

the Holy Ghost. This, however, was but preparatory to the full gift which was shortly afterwards received. They were to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were endued with power from on high. Thus the epochs merged into one another. John pointed to Jesus, Jesus promised to send the Comforter, and so, after long ages, we have come to the rule of the Spirit. He works deeply though silently. His "going" is not heard in the thunder, or earthquake, or whirlwind. He comes as quietly as the morning, and while unobserving men are exclaiming, "Where is the promise of his coming?" he is actually filling the heavens with light and renewing the face of the earth. Of him it may be said, as was said of Jesus Christ, "There standeth one among you, whom ye know not; he it is"!

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CHAPTER XIX.

CONTROVERSIAL NOTES ON "ECCE HOMO."

HE most cursory observation cannot fail to no

THE

tice the innumerable beauties of this publication. The writer has rendered inexpressible service to the cause of free religious inquiry by his magnificently intellectual discussions of fundamental truth, and has given views of Jesus Christ's Life and Work which must be most useful in many ways. The present

writer cannot but thank the author of Ecce Homo for the intellectual stimulus and moral inspiration which he has derived from a repeated perusal of its instructive and stimulating pages. It is in no captious spirit, therefore, that the following Notes are submitted to the respectful consideration of the author and readers of Ecce Homo. The writer is most anxious that the truth should be vindicated, at what risk soever to all minor considerations. The term "Notes" is employed because what follows is little more than an arrangement of mere marginalia; the subjects themselves have been discussed, more or less, in preceding chapters; what remains is a series of running criticisms or suggestive inquiries.

I. Page 25.

"The conception of a kingdom of God was no new one, but was familiar to every Jew."

True; but Christ came to give that conception a profounder interpretation, and a more intensely spiritual bearing. The Jew had a carnal idea of a spiritual fact.

II. Page 26.

John and Christ "revived the obsolete function. of the prophet, and did for their generation what a Samuel and an Elijah had done for theirs."

This is too narrow an interpretation of the term "prophet," and too limited as applied to Christ. A prophet may teach as well as merely predict. Samuel and Elijah spoke of another, Christ spoke of himself. Christ did not work for a "generation," but for all men through all time. Christ did not 66 vive an obsolete function," he consummated the purpose of a prefigurative office.

III. Page 31.

re

"Now under which form did Christ propose to revive it (the ancient theocracy)? The vision of universal monarchy which he saw in the desert suggests the answer. He conceived the theocracy restored as it had been in the time of David, with a visible monarch at its head, and that monarch himself."