9 42 -- -thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers. Hence, the apostle says, "If any man be in Christ," that is, in this new kingdom, in which Christ has made all things new, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.' "For in Christ Jesus"- another instance of the use of his name for his spiritual dominion — " neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." The believer himself passes through this palingenesia. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works."" "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." 45 99 46 44 This new creation was a favorite theme with St. Paul; hence in his earnest exhortations to steadfastness, we find it so often alluded to, and sometimes dwelt upon at length. In this new creation, Christ is set "far above all principality, and power, and might, and every name that is named, not only in this world [age] but also in that which is to come; and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power."" These passages illustrate each other. The thought is identical, and the language very similar. No one, we think, can study them in connection with each other, without being convinced that the creation so often attributed to Christ in which he is head, chief, principal, heir, and Lord of all things-is the new, spiritual creation, by which his kingdom was established upon the ruins of both Paganism and Judaism; in which his authority is above all other, whether temporal or spiritual, and the name of him who died upon the cross has become more glorious than any title of honor ever known on earth. Another class of texts represent Jesus as coming from heaven, coming from God, being sent of God, and other similar expressions, meaning the same thing. At first view, these 44 Eph. ii. 10. 47 Col. ii. 10, 11–15. 99 48 might seem to imply his pre-existence, and that he had voluntarily left the sphere of his celestial life, to undertake the work of saving the world from sin. It may be well, therefore, to devote a few moments to one or two of the more important texts of this class. Take the following: "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. We cannot understand this literally. The words indicating locality have doubtless contributed to the misinterpretation of this text, no less than others. If we understand heaven to mean some celestial abode in the distant realms of space, it would follow that Jesus had ascended thither, descended thence, and, while conversing with Nicodemus, was still in that distant abode. That would require him to be omnipresent. He could not, at the same moment, be conversing with his timid, midnight visitor, and be in heaven, unless we understand heaven to be either the locality in which he then was, or the spiritual condition in which he was then and always. To come down from heaven to come from God. and to be sent of God, mean simply to come with a message from God to man. It has no reference to the locality from which the messenger sets out, or the region through which he travels, but to the divine origin of his message. Those come from God whom God sends; those who execute his will or bear his message. He sent Joseph into Egypt to prepare for the preservation of the chosen family." He sent Moses and Aaron to deliver the oppressed people," and afterward the prophets to warn and instruct them." "There was a man sent from God whose name was John.' The form of expression seems too familiar to need further illustration. Jesus speaks of coming from heaven, because he brings heavenly or spiritual truth, of ascending to heaven, and being in heaven, to denote his constant familiarity with divine things; of being in the 49 Gen. xlv. 7, 8; Ps. cv. 17. 48 John iii. 13. 51 99 52 50 Ex. iii. 12-15; v. 22; Josh. xxiv. 5; Ps. cv. 26; Micah vi. 4. 51 Isa. xlviii. 16; lxi. 1; 2 Chron. xxiv. 19; 2 Kings xvii. 13; Jer. vii. 25; xxvi̟, 5; xxxv. 15; xliv. 4. 52 John i. 6. bosom of the Father, to signify his intimacy with the divine counsels, and the unity of purpose between himself and God." It is an instance of that accommodation which we so often find in the Saviour's teaching, using the popular language to express the higher and more spiritual truth which he came to reveal. There are one or two other passages that ought, perhaps, to have been examined in this connection, and to which we intended to devote a few lines. But the careful reader, familiar with what has already been offered, will find no serious difficulty, we think, in the interpretation of any other text that has usually been referred to this subject. ARTICLE XXV. Rome, Paganism, and the Church, in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries. In an article a number of years ago, in the "Quarterly,” we attempted to depict the effects of Christianity on the civilization of imperial Rome. In this essay, we shall attempt to carry out the subject to the time of the subversion of the Empire by the Barbarians under Odoacer, in a. D. 476. Then, we considered the action of Christianity as a new religious faith and spirit, and as much as possible, apart from the church into which it was built. Let us look at it now, as, embodied in the church, it becomes an acknowledged power in the State, confronts paganism, absorbs much of its spirit, but overthrows it, assuages the severities of the first invasion by owning the invaders as at least its natural children,' and delivers itself and the world from the last desperate effort of 63 John i. 18; vi. 33, 38, 46, 50, 51, 57, 58. 1 The Goths were Arians, and so, in the best sense, the natural sons of Christianity. heathenism under Attila, by the Christian heroism of the first real Pope of Rome. We must confine our survey to the Western Empire. In considering the effects of Christianity on the civilization of old Rome, we separated the religion from the ecclesiastical framework in which it was girt, because, till it was incorporated with the State, it relied on the force of its own truth for its success in its action on the world, and leant on no external help. But throughout the period over which we are now to glance, it had become one of the recognized and conspicuous institutions of the secular power. In the year A. D. 313, Constantine acknowledged Christianity as a religion of the empire, and although he maintained toward it, almost to the close of his life, the position rather of a gracious protector than of a sincere believer, yet, with the exception of Julian, unjustly called the Apostate, no succeeding emperor, to the close of the long line, professed paganism. The recognition by Constantine was the initiatory act of the subsequent alliance between the church and the world, which Christianized the government, and secularized the church, and constituted it a member and agent of the State. The majesty of the State, in the persons of the emperors, took sides in the controversies of the church; and the power of its law enforced their opinions on their subjects, as the tenets of orthodoxy. Constantine sat as assessor at the first great Council at Nice, A. D. 325. One of his sons presided at the Council at Antioch in A. D. 341, which condemned Athanasius. And in A. D. 380, almost the first act of Theodosius, on his assumption of the purple, was a proclamation imposing Trinitarianism on his subjects, and branding as infamous, and open to the penalties of law, all who oppugned it. In noting, then, the effects of Christianity on the world after the downfall of pagan Rome, we are constrained to identify it with the church; for the church was the only visible form through which it operated on the world, and the church was in intimate alliance with the world. What, then, was the condition of the church, and what were its capabilities for action on the world? It was an imperium in imperio, a State within the State. No longer a democratic body of believers, combined by a common faith, and united by an active and personal love for one another, each giving his voice and vote for the election of deacon, presbyter, and bishop, it had gradually grown to an episcopacy with a methodized system of doctrine, of rules and discipline, and a regular body of magistrates of its own. Its presbyters were its officiating priests; its episcopoi, or bishops, overlooked and inspected its congregations; and its deacons distributed its alms among the poorer brethren. Toward the fifth century these classes were rapidly forming into a caste above the people, and not only by the legitimate influence of their sacred offices, but by the assistance of the temporal power, were governing the people. Guizot tells us of them: "A clergy was formed, distinct from the people, — a body of priests having riches, jurisdiction, a constitution of their own, in a word, a complete government, being in itself a regular society, furnished with all the means of existence, independent of the society for whose behoof it was intended, and over which it extended its influence." Then, again, aside from its compact and self-sustaining organization, the church possessed another arm of great power by, which it operated on the world. In the wreck of the dissolution of the empire, the municipal system struggled hard to preserve itself. It was saved to civilization chiefly by the action of the Christian clergy. And in saving it, they at once secured a mighty source of power to the church, and a vehicle, through which the church operated with immense benefit upon the world. The civilization of ancient Rome had been a civilization resident in cities. The country was owned by the patricians, and cultivated by their slaves. It was barbarous. To us, the word pagan means a man ignorant of true religion; to the Romans, it meant one ignorant of the civility that is bred |