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LONDON SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT, AND CO. LIMITED

NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

TORONTO: THE WILLARD TRACT DEPOSITORY

ΤΟ

THE MEMORY

OF

MY FATHER

PREFACE

THE following Lectures were prepared in fulfilment of the duty laid upon me by my appointment to the Cunningham Lectureship. They are They are now published in the form in which they were delivered in March of this year, with the addition of such passages as had then to be omitted for want of time. What appears now as the Sixth of this course, on "The Eternal Nature of Christ," is additional to those that were delivered.

The Lectures attempt to deal, in part, with what is generally regarded as the leading task of Modern Theology: to recover and present anew to the faith of the Church the New Testament picture of our Lord. An American writer has remarked that "all things seem to point to the fact that the world is getting ready for a new conception of Christ.”1 If there is truth in this forecast,-if the minds of men are indeed moving on towards a conception of Christ that will relate itself in the closest way to the problems and tendencies of modern life, and by which He will make His appeal afresh to this generation,-it becomes the more necessary to renew our study of the apostolic writings which record the original impressions of His Unique Greatness. The Gospels 1 G. A. Gordon in his Christ of To-day.

and the Christ of the Gospels must always be the basis of true thoughts regarding Him; but the faith of the apostles and their understanding of His Person and Work are also of lasting importance. The fact that the eternal significance of the life and death of Jesus for the religious life of mankind was only disclosed to those who believed in a Risen and Living Christ, warrants us in regarding the apostolic testimonies concerning the glory of their Lord as a continuation of the revelation made to us in Him of the mind and will of God. It is the more necessary to insist on this, as there is a disposition on the part of certain theologians-of whom Wendt, who has done such good service in the exposition of our Lord's teaching, may be taken as the representative—to make that teaching the one norm by which we may determine what does and what does not belong to the essence of the Christian religion. This would practically rule out of court the testimony of the apostles as an independent source of truth in the construction of Christian theology. It is not likely that men will ever consent to hold so cheaply the great leading thoughts about Christ and His Work which we owe to those who stood nearest to Him, and who may reasonably be supposed to have interpreted His mind most truly, and gauged most accurately the bearing of His mission on the great questions of religion.

The Pauline intuition of Christ, which it is the object of these Lectures to expound, is indeed but one of several that are contained in the writings of the New Testament. And to some it will appear of less value than these others. There will always be persons who are drawn more power1 See his Die Norm des echten Christentums.

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