and causing the miraculous to appear to be the element of His being? Miracles were to prove Jesus to be the Messiah; the more miracles and the greater they are, the more likely that God has destined Him for the highest honour. One craves for something a little more substantial than hope in the uncertain future. The miracles of Jesus are the sure pledge that through Him the kingdom of heaven shall come, and that "He it is that shall come." Thus the foundation is laid for the strange and fantastic picture presented to us in the Gospels. St Mark gives us the first outlines, and even he often approaches very near to the limits of docetism, and afterwards this tendency knew no bounds. One specially noticeable feature in the picture is the story of the Transfiguration. Jesus' most intimate apostles are represented as once in His life beholding the Master in His Messianic glory and as hearing the divine confirmation of His claims, "This is My beloved Son; hear Him." We are expressly told that this story only became known after the resurrection.

Thus, then, one was at the same time brought to the ultimate question, What is the foundation for this element of mystery and miracle in the personality of Jesus? The answers to this question are exceedingly instructive, although their date is entirely a matter of conjecture. One thing is evident. Jesus was man and as man Messiah. This firm conviction could never be abandoned amid Jewish surroundings. With this presupposition the answer that appealed most convincingly to the early Church and its enthusiasm was the story of the reception of the Spirit. Thereby Jesus completely came into line

with inspired men.

the Spirit of God

with the Christian prophets, and, generally speaking, Dating from one certain moment, descended upon Him, to dwell in Him and to be the source of all His miracles. This particular moment was connected with Jesus' baptism, the earliest event known in His life. The Spirit works in Jesus just as He does in all Christians, only Jesus is the leader of all inspired men, for He is the Son. Just because of this connection of ideas this theory seems to be the oldest.

But was not the Messiah David's son? Curiously enough the very passage of Scripture accepted by the Scribes but rejected by Jesus, is quoted in confirmation of the Messiahship. St Paul is already familiar with it as something that needs no proof. The genealogies of our first and third Gospels must be ascribed to the earliest community. One is almost inclined to believe that it flattered the family of Jesus to be raised thus suddenly to the rank of a Davidic and Messianic dynasty. They certainly did not refuse the honour, as we can see from their confession to the Emperor Domitian. For us there is something that almost provokes a smile in this attempt to found the majesty of Jesus upon a royal genealogy.

The next attempt to explain the mystery of Jesus -the story of the conception by the Holy Ghost which later won its way to general acceptation-no longer belongs to the earliest brotherhood. Many of the Jewish Christians themselves rejected it. But, on the other hand, Jewish teachers began from very early times to bring the idea of pre-existence into connection with Jesus. Strictly speaking, the Jewish theory

was contained only in the affirmation that the name of Messiah lay hidden with God before the creation of the world. Now this name was Jesus. The new thought was very naturally inferred that Jesus Himself lay hidden with God from of old. The same goal was reached as soon as Jesus' words about His being sent by God were taken literally, and the conclusion was drawn that if God sent Him Jesus must have been with God before. Although the first three Gospels as yet nowhere give expression to the pre-existence and the heavenly origin in Jesus' own words, these theories are for all that to be ascribed to a much earlier date than theirs. The course of history is by no means such that that which is logically posterior should likewise always appear last in point of time. There was then a ferment in men's thoughts, a crop unparalleled for its richness, and one consequence of this was that dissimilar and even contradictory explanations appeared simultaneously.

Speaking generally, all this theological activity betrays a certain dilettantism. There is a want of creative power in these early Christians. They have experienced something altogether abnormal in Jesus, but in order to express it their own words fail them. So they turn to the Jewish categories nearest at hand and attempt to confine the indefinable within these definitions. After all, how very petty are these first Christian thoughts about Jesus compared with the deeds of Jesus Himself and His own inner life. The real superiority of the new religion over the old is rather concealed than expressed by the earliest Christology.

No one will blame these early Christians because

of their transference of Jewish ideas to Jesus. The same hero-worship, the same faith which moved them to speak with tongues and enabled them to face the martyr's death, likewise impelled them thus to formulate their creed. The great picture presented by this first Jewish Christology, quaint and extravagant as it is, is inspired by pure love and enthusiasm.

The theology of the early Christian Church has, however, yet one other fruit to show-and therein consists its true greatness. It was the collection and the arrangement of the most important sayings of Jesus, the handing down of the Gospel itself. It is a mistaken view to look upon this work as one that was merely receptive. The power to recognize the essential and to adapt it to the needs of the brethren was also requisite. The first in the field was the author of the Collection of Logia, perhaps the Apostle Matthew, who grouped the most important words of the Master under different headings from a practical point of view for catechetical purposes. Above all, he brought together the principal sayings in which God's will is clearly taught to all men by Jesusthese formed the nucleus of the later Sermon on the Mount. It began with the gracious promises of the Beatitudes, and ended with the judgment upon all those who know God's will but do it not. Still to this day the passage relating to the true standard of judgment expresses the clear consciousness that the kernel of the Gospel is contained in this sermon. All depends upon the fruits: and what they are is just what the whole sermon tells us. Then a second address brings together the duties of the missionaries. Controversial collections of Logia are attached to this;

the relation of the Christians to John's disciples, to slanderous fellow-countrymen seeking for a sign, to Scribes and Pharisees—all this is made clear by words of Jesus. Finally, light is in like manner thrown upon various aspects of the Christian life-prayer, the question of riches and of anxious poverty, the forgiving spirit, hope, and confession of sins. The man who made this collection had a wonderful grasp of the essential elements in the message of Jesus. At the same time he gives us the best picture of the early Church in its greatness. From his writings we can see what the hope of heaven and expectation of the judgment to come meant for the life of these Christians. The advent of the kingdom and of the Lord Himself in the immediate future is the presupposition of the whole of this Christianity. Then he leads us into the midst of the actual battle, he shows us the pride of the Christians towards the disciples of John, their fierce anger against the Pharisees, the official patterns of piety, their fidelity to their Master even unto death, stronger even than family affection and the fear of man. But above all he understands the awful seriousness for the individual of the claim which Jesus makes. He knows that the sum of the Gospel is something absolutely simple and practical, but for that very reason that which decides for heaven or for hell. For all that, however, he climbs the heights of joy and of childlike confidence. And so he achieved this result. Without any additions of his own, merely by selecting the words of everlasting life, he has bequeathed to us a picture of all that is essential in Christianity which is striking in its grandeur.