of the Gnostic societies or associations, had been on the practices and ceremonies of the Church.1

But beyond matters of practice, it is among the Gnostics that there appears for the first time an attempt to realize the change of the elements to the material body and blood of Christ. The fact that they were so regarded is found in Justin Martyr.2 But at the same time, that the change was not vividly realized, is proved by the fact that, instead of being regarded as too awful for men to touch, the elements were taken by the communicants to their homes and carried about with them on their travels. But we read of Marcus that in his realistic conception of the Eucharistic service the white

1 For the Eastern custom, see Cyril Hier. Catech. Myst. ii. 3, 4, p. 312: the candidate is anointed all over before baptism with exorcised oil, which, by invocation of God and prayer, purifies from the burning traces of sin, but also puts to flight the invisible powers of the evil one. Cf. Apost. Const. vii. 22, 41, iii. 15, 16; the Coptic Constitutions, c. 46 (ed. Tattam), cf. Boetticher's Gr. translation in Bunsen's Anal. Ante-Nic. ii. 467; Clem. Recog. 3. 67; Chrys. Hom. 6. 4, in Ep. ad Col. xi. 342, ἀλείφεται ὥσπερ οἱ ἀθληταὶ εἰς στάδιον Eußnoóuevo, here also before baptism and all over; Dionys. Areop. Eccles. Hier. 2. 7; Basil, de Spir. Sanct. 66, vol. iv. 55. For earlier Western as distinct from Eastern thought on the subject, cf. Tert. de bapt. 6 and 7; de resurr. carnis. 8; adv. Marc. i. 14; Cyprian, Ep. 70. For the later Western usage, introduced from the East, see Conc. Rom. 402, c. 8, ed. Bruns. pt. ii. 278; Ordo 6, ad fac. Catech, in Martène, de ant. eccl. rit. i. p. 17; Theodulfus Aurel. de ord. bapt. 10; unction of the region of the heart before and behind, symbolizing the Holy Spirit's unction with a view to both prosperity and adversity (Sirmond, vol. ii. 686); Isid. Hisp. de off. eccl. 2. 21; Catechumens exorcizantur, sales accipiunt et unguntur, the salt being made ut eorum gustu condimentum sapientiæ percipiant, neque desipiant a sapore Christi (Migne, lxxxiii. col. 814, 815); Cæs. Arelat. serm. 22.

2 Apol. 1. 66.

wine actually turned to the colour of blood before the eyes of the communicants.1

Thus the whole conception of Christian worship was changed.2 But it was changed by the influence upon Christian worship of the contemporary worship of the mysteries and the concurrent cults. The tendency to an elaborate ceremonial which had produced the magnificence of those mysteries and cults, and which had combined with the love of a purer faith and the tendency towards fellowship, was based upon a tendency of human nature which was not crushed by Christianity. It rose to a new life, and though it lives only by a survival, it lives that new life still. In the splendid ceremonial of Eastern and Western worship, in the blaze of lights, in the separation of the central point of the rite from common view, in the procession of torch-bearers chanting their sacred hymns-there is the survival, and in some cases the galvanized survival, of what I cannot find it in my heart to call a pagan ceremonial; because though it was the expression of a less enlightened faith, yet it was offered to God from a heart that was not less earnest in its search for God and in its effort after holiness than

our own.

1 ap. Hipp. 6. 39.

Tert. ad Scap. 2, holds that sacrifice may consist of simple prayer.

LECTURE XI.

THE INCORPORATION OF CHRISTIAN IDEAS, AS MODIFIED BY GREEK, INTO

A BODY OF DOCTRINE.

THE object which I have in view in this Lecture is to show the transition by which, under the influence of contemporary Greek thought, the word Faith came to be transferred from simple trust in God to mean the acceptance of a series of propositions, and these propositions, propositions in abstract metaphysics.

The Greek words which designate belief or faith are used in the Old Testament chiefly in the sense of trust, and primarily trust in a person. They expressed confidence in his goodness, his veracity, his uprightness. They are as much moral as intellectual. They implied an estimate of character. Their use in application to God was not different from their use in application to men. Abraham trusted God. The Israelites also trusted God when they saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. In the first instance there was just so much of intellectual assent involved in belief, that to believe God involved an assent to the proposition that God exists.

But this element was latent and implied rather than conscious and expressed. It is not difficult to see how, when this proposition came to be conscious and expressed, it should lead to other propositions. The analysis of

belief led to the construction of other propositions besides the bare original proposition that God is. Why do I trust God? The answer was: Because He is wise, or good, or just. The propositions followed: I believe that God is wise, that He is good, that He is just. Belief in God came to mean the assent to certain propositions about God.1

In Greek philosophy the words were used rather of intellectual conviction than of moral trust, and of the higher rather than of the lower forms of conviction. Aristotle distinguishes faith from impression-for a man, he says, may have an impression and not be sure of it. He uses it both of the convictions that come through the senses and of those that come through reason.

There is in Philo a special application of this philosophical use, which led to even more important results. He blends the sense in which it is found in the Old Testament with that which is found in Greek philosophy. The mass of men, he says, trust their senses or their reason. The good man trusts God. Just as the mass of men believe that their senses and their reason do not deceive them, so the latter believes that God does not deceive him. To trust God was to trust His veracity. But the occasions on which God spoke directly to a man were rare, and what He said when He so spoke commanded an unquestioning acceptance. He more commonly spoke

1 Cf. Celsus' idea of faith: Orig. c. Cels. 3. 39; Keim, p. 39.

to men through the agency of messengers. His angels spoke to men, sometimes in visions of the night, sometimes in open manifestation by day. His prophets spoke to men. To believe God, implied a belief in what He said indirectly as well as directly. It implied the acceptance of what His prophets said, that is to say, of what they were recorded to have said in the Holy Writings. Belief in this sense is not a vague and mystical sentiment, the hazy state of mind which precedes knowledge, but the highest form of conviction. It transcends reason in certainty. It is the full assurance that certain things are so, because God has said that they are so.1

In this connection we may note the way in which the Christian communities were helped by the current reaction against pure speculation-the longing for certainty. The mass of men were sick of theories. They wanted certainty. The current teaching of the Christian teachers gave them certainty. It appealed to definite facts of which their predecessors were eye-witnesses. Its simple tradition of the life and death and resurrection. of Jesus Christ was a necessary basis for the satisfaction of men's needs. Philosophy and poetry might be built upon that tradition; but if the tradition were shown to be only cloudland, Christian philosophy was no more than Stoicism.

We have thus to see how, under the new conditions, faith passed beyond the moral stage, or simple trust in a person, to the metaphysical stage, or belief in certain propositions or technical definitions concerning Him, His

1 Philo's view of faith is well expressed in two striking passages, Quis rer. div. Heres, 18, i. 485; and de Abrah. 46, ii. 39.