and without the common infirmities belonging to sinful man. It is alleged that this body was truly united to his soul again, and that Christ rose in this composite form by his own power on the third day, thus declaring himself to be the Son of God as well as Son of man, and by this victory over death manifesting himself to be the true Lord of quick and dead. And it is comprehensively added, that all this he did as a public person, the head of his church, for their justification, their quickening in grace, and their support against enemies, and to assure them of their resurrection from the dead at the last day.

Similar details are given as to the ascension and enthronement, and to the two heavenly and continuous functions of intercession and judgment. It is said that, having in our nature and as our head triumphed over all our enemies, Christ visibly went up into the highest heavens, there to receive gifts for men, to raise up our affections hither, and to prepare a place for us where himself is and shall continue till his second coming at the end of the world. It is said that in this sublime condition he is not only endowed with all fullness of joy, glory and power over all things so that he can defend his church and subdue its enemies, but also is enabled to furnish gifts and graces for his ministers and people, and to make continual intercession in their behalf. It is noticeable that the Catechism sets forth this intercession, not so much as a part of the priestly function, as is done in most later theology, but rather as one feature or function of his royal estate-the intercession of a prince. The nature and efficacy of this princely intercession are described (55) in the loftiest terms. The ground of it is stated to be the merit of his obedience and sacrifice upon earth as applicable to all believers; in it as a function he answers all accusations against them in the tribunal of justice, and procures for them peace of conscience notwithstanding their daily failings; through it they are said to have access with boldness to the throne of grace, and to find acceptance in person and service before God.

Christ is also represented in various places in the Symbols as the proper and only judge of men according to their individual characters and lives. In the chapter under special examination (VIII), he is said to be not only heir of all things but judge of the world,-of both the righteous and the wicked; and in chapter XXXII, it is declared that this particular judgment occurs at death, and is therefore a continuous function consequent upon the work of mediation. More frequently and fully he is represented as the final judge of quick and dead at his second coming, which is to occur at the end of time. It is said (87) that the bodies of

HIS ASCENSION AND TRIUMPH.

349

the wicked are then to be raised up in dishonor by him as an offended judge; that angels as well as men (88) shall share in that final adjudication; and (89) that upon clear evidence and full conviction of their own consciences, they shall receive from him the fearful but just sentence of condemnation. He is (90) appointed judge of the righteous as well as the wicked; and being openly acknowledged and acquitted by him, they shall share with him in the judging of reprobate angels and men, and shall by his grace and authority enjoy an eternity of holiness and of bliss.

This vision of the Mediator thus exalted and glorified in heaven, and vested with such transcendent offices there in the interest of his Church, is one in which the creeds are essentially agreed, though with variations in form and in fullness of statement. Thus the Augsburg Conf. (III) sets forth specifically the death and burial, the rising and ascension, the enthronement at the right hand of the Father, the heavenly dominion over all creatures for the benefit of his people, and the final judgment. While the Formula of Concord comments (IX) on the Descensus ad Inferos as representing a sublime yet mysterious fact, respecting which we are not to inquire too curiously in this life, but are rather to wait for the revelations of the life to come, it affirms with emphasis the triumphant ascension of the Mediator into heaven, his glory there, and his final judgment at the end of the world. Zwingli in his Articles declares that Christ is not only the supreme priest and unique mediator, but also the only availing intercessor in heaven for the saints. The first Helvetic Conf. (XI) speaks in eloquent terms of him as victor duxque ac pontifex vere summus, our mediator and intercessor and Lord, living forever at the right hand of the Father as the source of all blessing to his people. Similar statements, more or less complete, may be found in other continental symbols,-some of them, as the Belgic, specially emphasizing the kingly advocacy and intercession of Christ, as in contrast with the Roman dogma of priestly intervention and propitiation before God. The Scotch Conf. devotes three Articles to the death and sepulture, the resurrection and the ascension respectively, emphasizing in the last the celestial advocacy and the final judgment and eternal triumph of the Redeemer. And the Thirty-Nine Articles tersely affirm (III-IV), not only that he died and descended into the place of departed spirits, but that he rose again with flesh, bones and all things appertaining to the ⚫ perfection of human nature; wherewith he ascended into heaven, and there sitteth, until he return to judge all men at the last day. At this point we may fitly close our study of this remarkable

17. Final summary: mysteries involved: faith requisite.

In

chapter, with the cognate teachings found elsewhere in the Symbols respecting Christ as our one and only and perfect Mediator. Much more, covering his redemptive work, will present itself for earnest consideration as we turn to contemplate the great plan of salvation for which his mediation provides the sufficient and sublime basis, the processes of grace involved in that plan, and the precious outcome of this mediation in spiritual experience and life. But we shall do well to carry with us throughout all our further studies in the Symbols a devout sense of the regulative and illumining presence of this theanthropic Person on whose offices and functions we have been meditating, and without whose gracious and vicarious intervention there could be no salvation for our fallen race. all such studies, we shall assuredly fail unless we walk continuously in the light, and are guided by the tender hand of Christ the Mediator. For herein lies the grandest peculiarity of Christianity as distinguished from all the natural faiths of the world,— that it rests fundamentally, not on ceremonies or dogmas, nor on professions or organizations, but on just such a Person as Jesus Christ is seen to be in his salvatory mediatorship,-not on myths or traditions respecting him, but on the historically verified facts concerning his incarnation, mission, teaching, suffering, death and resurrection, as at once the anointed prophet and priest and king of mankind. Whatever of value there may be or may not be in the current suggestions of a Christocentric theology, as distinct from other modes of constructing theologic systems, there can be no question as to the actual concentration in Scripture of everything else in the form of doctrine, around the person of this divine Mediator, as being at once the ordained center, the illuminating principle, the organizing life of the entire Revelation.

In concluding this survey, we may well bear in memory the fact that there is ever a solemnizing and subduing mystery of godliness, as Paul describes it, enveloping this conception of Him who was thus God manifest in the flesh for human redemption. We cannot measure the heights and depths of the kenosis, the grounds and reasons of the incarnation, the combination of the divine personality with the human nature, the strange blending of divine energies and capabilities with the limitations common to mankind, and the other insoluble mysteries which at least in this life must envelop him who was at one and the same time God and Nor can we at all estimate at its true value any one of his sublime offices, or know with any adequate degree of fullness what

man.

he was and is and will continue to be as the prophet, priest, king and judge of mankind. Least of all can we follow him into his transcendent place at the right hand of the Father, or estimate adequately the multiplied ways in which, though ascended corporeally into heaven, he is still enlightening, empowering, guiding and ruling his church and people on the earth, and ordering all things in the majestic sweep of his providence for good to them that love him. These enveloping mysteries no finite hand can push aside-no mortal eye can penetrate. Yet they are proper and inevitable concomitants of just such a gracious disclosure as the Mediator came to make,-of just such a work as he came to do in and for our lost world; and the heart of faith can only bow down in their presence and adore.

It is a memorable fact that as early as A. D. 1555, an English congregation or church was organized at Geneva, composed chiefly of persons who had been driven out from Britain by the persecutions under Queen Mary; and that John Knox who in the previous year had been prosecuting his studies in Geneva, under the personal direction of Calvin, was one of its associate pastors. He had received an urgent call from a similar congregation of exiles at Frankfort, and at the commandment of Mr. Calvin, that notable servant of God, as he says, he had entered on his work as their minister. But he soon returned to Geneva, and remained there from A. D. 1555 to 1559, when he went back to Scotland and began his grand work in Britain as a reformer. One among the most interesting minor creeds of the period is the short and simple Confession, adopted by this Genevan congregation, and afterwards received and approved by the Church of Scotland, doubtless through the influence of Knox. We may well appropriate to ourselves in closing this Lecture, the substance of that venerated symbol. The second and main Article in it is a declaration of belief in Jesus Christ, the only Savior and Messias, the only Son of God, who took on him the shape of a servant and became man in all things like unto us, sin excepted, to assure us of mercy and forgiveness, ... who, giving us by grace that which was his by nature, made us through faith the children of God, . . . who of his free mercy, without compulsion, offered up himself as the only sacrifice to purge the sins of all the world, . . . and who, because he would accomplish all things and take possession for us in his kingdom, ascended into heaven to enlarge that kingdom by the abundant power of his Spirit, by whom we are most assured of his continual intercession toward God the Father for us; . . . yet is he present with us as his members even unto the end of the world.

LECTURE SEVENTH-THE PLAN OF SALVATION.

SALVATION DEFINED: THE DIVINE PLAN: COVENANT OF REDEMPTION: COVENANT OF GRACE: THE GOSPEL: ELEC

TION: REPROBATION.

C. F. CH. VII: III, v-vii: L. C. 12-13, 30-35; S. C. 16-20.

While the supreme purpose of the creeds of the Reformation was to set forth the redemptive work of Christ the Mediator, in contrast with the doctrinal errors and sacerdotal superstitions of Rome, it was natural that they should commence, as they generally did, with an exposition of the Mediator himself in his constitution, his qualities inherent and official, and his distinctive functions or offices as exercised in that redemptive work. The first answer in the Heidelberg Catechism, setting forth the faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, as the only comfort of the soul in life and in death, illustrates the general tendency of spiritual Protestantism, first to describe and extol Him who saves, and then in the light that shines from his person to describe and magnify his great salvation. So the Second Helvetic Confession, the most technical and theological among the continental symbols, brings in the strong chapter (XI), De Jesu Christo . . Unico mundi Salvatore, before it discusses the great Evangel, with all its blessed experiences and results. And though the Westminster Confession prefaces its remarkable presentation of the Mediator divine and human, with the chapter (VII) on God's Covenant with Man, it still postpones the full development of the truths which that title represents until, as we have seen, it portrays before our delighted eyes the Immanuel himself, who represents God in every covenantal relation, and through whose vicarious intervention God and man are graciously reconciled. A truly spiritual and quickening theology must always follow this order, since the work of the Mediator can be comprehended only in the illuminating instructiveness of his Person, and since it is the Person on whom our faith must really be fixed-the Person in whose hand our hands must be clasped, before we can comprehend or enjoy experimentally the salvatory work which he has wrought out for us and for mankind.

Following the order quite generally preferred in Protestant