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all things appertaining to the perfection of Man's nature; wherewith he ascended into Heaven, and there sitteth, until he return to judge all men at the last day.' It is scarcely requisite to repeat that this dogma of the Church' is in direct opposition to the teaching of St. Paul in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, as already shown in the preceding Chapter *."

It was, however, not on this account alone that the Apostle was in such disfavour among the orthodox' Gentile Christians, but also because he was a Jew, who preached the advent of the Messiah precisely as his master, Rabbi Gamaliel, might have preached it, had he been a believer like his gifted and favoured disciple, instead of being only a doubter, which he is represented as having been †, and as King Herod Agrippa evidently was ‡. This is the real cause of the eclipse which, as M. Renan points out in his 'Saint Paul,' the memory of the great Apostle of the Gentiles appears to have undergone, not only in Asia Minor, but also in Corinth, and in fact everywhere among the Gentile Congregations, to whom he had preached the spiritual nature of his Lord's Resurrection. The earliest post-Apostolic writers never mention him; no legend attaches to his name, like as to those of the other Apostles; in the countries surrounding the Archipelago, which were the scenes of his ministration, it is not Paul, but the pseudo-John, the writer of the fourth Gospel, the inventor of the miracle of the raising of the body of Lazarus from the dead §, who is traditionally looked up to as the great historical link connecting them with 'Christ.'

It was not till after the sting had been taken out of Paul's preaching by the dogmatical teaching of the Gentile priesthood (of whom the fourth Gospel was the text-book and supreme authority, as it has continued to be of the Catholic Church unto this day), that the great Apostle was partially readmitted into favour. Still he never acquired so firm a footing as the other Apostles; and to the present day he is the least popular Saint in Catholic countries. It may be it doubtless was-on account of

* Page 274 sq. + See Acts v. 34-39. See above, Chapter V. page 66. § See above, Chapter XV. pages 181-183.

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his heterodoxy' in this respect, that at Rome, which was really his own Church, Paul has been superseded by Peter, who never was there at all!

The fate that the memory of St. Paul has experienced at Malta is, perhaps, the most extraordinary of all. It might have been expected that the Apostle would have been revered there even more than at Rome; and yet, within the last few years, the ecclesiastical authorities there have, with one accord, withdrawn their island from his patronage, and placed it under that of 'the Mother of God.'

When the light resulting from a thorough investigation of St. Paul's testimony respecting the spiritual Resurrection of the Messiah from the dead shall come to be reflected on his writings generally, that is to say, such as are unquestionably his, without regard to those others which improperly bear his name,—the same will necessarily receive a very different construction on several essential points from that which has hitherto been put upon them. Such an investigation must, however, be based upon the fact, which seems not to have been taken sufficiently into account, that Paul was a Jew by birth, by education, and in feeling, differing only from the generality of his co-religionists in the belief in the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, and in teaching, after his Master's example, that the observance of the ceremonial law of Moses was no longer essential to salvation, but that the Good Tidings of the Kingdom of Heaven were to be preached to all men alike, whether they be Jews or Gentiles, whether they be bond or free.

How fully the Apostle comprehended his Master's doctrine, and interpreted it in his Master's spirit, is convincingly proved by his own words in the Epistle to the Romans:- Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide to the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, as it is written *. For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law : but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God' †.

Thus did this Jew of the straitest sect, a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, brought up at the feet of Rabbi Gamaliel the aged, the grandson of the orthodox Hillel,--who described himself as being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his fathers above many his equals ‡,-teach that even though the Mosaic law was not necessarily to be dispensed with as concerns those born under the law, it was in no sense binding on others; but that every human being, not of the house of Israel, stands in the same relation to the One and Universal Lord, here and hereafter, as the most orthodox Jew; in which he held to the capital truth, taught likewise in the Talmud, that the truly pious of every religious belief will enjoy everlasting bliss in the world to

come.

In other words, Paul was a Reformed Jew ;' and the principles of the Reformed Jews of the present day, as expounded by one of *Is. lii. 5; Ezek. xxxvi. 20-23. + Rom. ii. 17-29, iii. 1-2. + Gal. i. 14.

their most learned and esteemed ministers, correspond, as it is only natural and reasonable they should do, with those of their great co-religionist, the Apostle of the Gentiles; the main, if not the sole, difference between them being, that he believed our Lord Jesus to be the Messiah of prophecy, whereas they have not yet come to perceive and acknowledge this great truth. The Reverend Professor Marks, in a lecture delivered at the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh on December 5th, 1871, when explaining why the Jews do not seek to make proselytes, is reported to have said :— On being applied to, as is the case more frequently than it is supposed, by persons of other persuasions, to be received as converts to the Synagogue, the Rabbi meets the application by stating that it is not held by Jews necessary for the salvation of the non-Israelite that he should formally become a member of the Synagogue. "If," the Rabbi says, “if you believe in and worship the One and Only God, refrain in thought and deed from idolatry, observe the moral law of the Pentateuch, and act towards mankind like one who believes himself to be always under the eye of God, you will be regarded by Him that sees all hearts in the same light, and you will meet with the same eternal reward, as the most exemplary Israelite. Do not, then, impose on yourself our ritual obligations, which are binding on the sons and daughters of Israel only

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:- Hear, O Israel! Surely the hour is repeated :- Comfort

To Jews who entertain such sentiments as these all true Christians must heartily hold out the hand of fellowship and brotherly love, under the conviction that the belief in our Lord Jesus as the Messiah is all that is wanting on their part to crown their sublime confession of faith; which, revealed to Moses, was avowed and taught by the Messiah himself:the Eternal is our God, the Eternal alone. come when the words of the Prophet may be ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her appointed time is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the hand of the Eternal double for all her sins. The voice of * 'Jewish Chronicle,' (N. S.) No. 143, December 22nd, 1871.

him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Eternal, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; and the glory of the Eternal shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Eternal hath spoken it'*.

CHAPTER XXII.

CONCLUSION.

As long as unity of doctrine prevailed throughout the early Christian Church, there was no need of any formula that might properly be called a Confession of Faith. The belief in the One Eternal God professed by the Jews was necessarily that of the primitive Christians, who simply added to it the conviction that our Lord Jesus was the Messiah, or Anointed King of Prophecy.

But as soon as differences arose within the bosom of the Church, not so much of rites and practices as of doctrines and opinions, the dominant party, arrogating to itself the attribute of orthodoxy, presumed to draw up and enact Creeds, which, whilst professing to be confessions of faith, were in reality tests of unbelief, intended to detect and eradicate heterodoxy and heresy.

Of these dogmatic symbols the earliest is that generally known as 'the Apostles' Creed,' which, however, by no means expresses the belief of the Apostles themselves, but is the production of the period when the Resurrection of the Body' had been adopted as a dogma of the dominant party in the Church.

By the beginning of the fourth century of the Christian era the doctrines of the 'orthodox' party had become more 'developed,' and the history of our Lord's life and teaching loaded with Is. xl. 1-5.

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