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Again, the hope of the Psalmist f that his soul would not be given over to the place of the dead, had not only a temporary ftilfilment for himself in long life, but a visible and permanent one in the taking again of life by Christ, the Holy One, when He saw not corruption. Here also notice, that things spoken in hyperbole, or with eastern inflation of words, to earthly kings in Zion, become literally true when applied to Christ. So that, if in some respects we translate the letter into spirit, yet in others we make it more literally true. For, if any one addressed Solomon, calling him, as some think, in the 45th Psalm, ' fairer than the children of men,^ and a god, and one whose * sceptre is a right sceptre,' and one whose * arrows are sharp in the heart of enemies;' these things would have something of figure when so applied : but when we turn them to Christ, they require no shading away; for in Him is that unearthly fairness which men's deepest desires have cried out for, and a rule which sways our love because it is right, and arrows of truth which pierce to the dividing asunder of the thoughts. '^ So much greater becomes the frOfilment of prophecy, when we read Christ's life in the four Gospels. And if we glance at the effects of His resurrection, the same fulfilment continues. * Hosea xi. i ; v. 15 ; and yi. i, 1 ; Exodus iv. 22; Jeremiah xxxi. 9; Psalm Ixxxix. 37. t Psalm xvL 10; Acta il. 5 414 INSPIRATION FORETOLD. HARMONY OF EVIDENCES. For the prophets of old had spoken* of an outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh. They meant, that when God was truly known to His people, no caste or priesthood should come ex- clusively near Him ; but wise and simple, old men and maidens, should alike know, and love, even as they are known of Him. We need not deny that, even in the greatest dulness of the Jewish people, the Divine Spirit strove with them; for just before Christ we itiad of men, such as Simeon, inspired, or * ftiU of the Holy Ghost ;' but it was only when Christ's disciples came together, thinking of all His life, and awaiting His pro- mise, that the fulness of the Divine Spirit took possession of them. From that day of Pentecost, though they still learnt earthly things by means, the irresolute became bold, and the simple clear in wisdom. Then by their preaching, suffering, and living, they built up the kingdom, in which the Holy Spirit dwells for ever. From henceforth God and man cannot be put asunder. " Here then is that joining of the hands together, which different parts of a proof require, to be complete. First, you have the stretching forward of the Hebrew nation and prophets under the impulse of some idea, which their mind could not be easy without fulfilling ; and if even the instincts of lower animals and plants reach some fruitful end to which they are destined, we can hardly think the spiritual forebodings of man's better nature, especially on so large a scale, and in so growing a system, would be given to mock him. Then comes out in the body of Christendom that temple of living minds, to which the fabric for prayer and offering at Jerusalem, however unconsciously, pointed ; and thus the holiest instinct of what is immortal in a nation has found a fulfilment for mankind. But thirdly, you have intervening between this germ and flower, a history of no less than Divine interposition, by which the change is both brought about and ratified. In this intervening stage we find an interpretation of what might be doubtfiil in the older, an * Joel ii. aS — 31 ; Hosea i. lOj ii. 19 — ^3. HARMONY OF EVIDENCES. 415 authority abolishing the old, no less than that which imposed it, and justifying its own wisdom in giving, by its very method of taking away. For the law, you see, is not abolished without having been fulfilled ; it is not transgressed without finding a victim ; it does not die in the letter without being glorified in the spirit. "If the Old Testament is wonderful, the New is divine. The first has law and history, with providence and prophecy; the second has grace and a power of life, with fulfilment and truth. The second is implied in the first, and the first unveiled in the second. Nor is it easy to see how Almighty God Him- self could more strongly persuade us to embrace a religion, than by thus giving proof to all readers of history, that it has come of the Grovemor of the world, and by making its experience satisfy the best conscience of every one who tries it. Surely the human shortcomings of men who have taught or professed it, are no sound argument against the divinity of the truth itself. For how much worse would they have been without it? Earthly acts never fully bring out the heavenly thoughts ; and the very fact of a divine healing presupposes that human souls are diseased. The question of experience turns on whether the fruits of Christianity have been good, according to the soil it was planted in, or the materials it worked with. It finds igno- rance, passion, sin, sufiering, and strife. It brings enlighten- ment, peace, and with holiness either comfort or patience ; and all these strangely combined in the power of the one cross of Christ, whose figure gleams through the world, standing above our highest pomp, and going down into the depth of sorrow. See briefly how our £uth is justified in its histoiy. Before the Apostles passed away, Jerusalem fell, but the city of the mind rose in its place, and the believers in Christ began building a new kingdom. Ignatius, the companion of the Apostles, desired the wreath of martyrdom, and was torn by wild beasts. Poly- carp, the disciple of St John, gave his body to the flames rather than deny the Saviour who had carried him to grey hairs. 416 CHURCH HISTOBT. Justin Martyr, after in vain seeking peace among the specula- tions of men, joined his wisdom, like Moses, to a better faith, and after proclaiming the one God who by all-embracing wis- dom had taught Jews and Gentiles, sealed his faith with his blood. The great fathers of the Alexandrine school followed in a like track. Irenseus exhorted men to be at peace, and shews the rightftil unity of the Creed throughout the world. The martyrs of Lyons suffered without boasting, and disclaimed in humility the eminence which they won ; for they had read how Christ was not greedy of that which was His right. St Cj^prian, without pride for himself, strengthened the order of tlie Church, yet opened the gates of forgiveness to the fallen who repented. All these, and many men like them, built up in the Church a home of severe holiness of thought and act, with tenderness to want and sorrow. They shut out the profligate, but received the slave. They restored to marriage that sanctity which it had once in the better days of Home, and made life more precious, as a trust from God. As their numbers extended, their princi- ples passed into the laws of the world. But they received such power of moulding things seen, only from their faith in things eternal. Origen and Jerome with patient learning collected the Holy Scriptures, and distinguishing the Hebrew from later additions, gave versions in Greek and Latin. The spread of like versions in many languages is one of our great securities for the integrity of our text. Li the fourth and fifth centuries the great architects of the larger fabric of the Church lengthened her cords, and strengthened her stakes, that she might be a tent holding many nations. Athanasius and others in the great councils contended earnestly for what seemed the truest state- ment of the faith felt of old. Some of their debates may have been carried with human passion ; yet we see in them men not bent on selfish or earthly victory. We do not therefore blame the later councils, any more than the first at Jerusalem, for say- ing that what seemed good to them, seemed also good to the Holy Spirit. For God who gives treasure in earthly vessels, CHUSCH HISTORY. 417 can breathe the unity of His troth through many sore conten- tions and prophesyings in part. In about the same age the Liturgies of the Church grew up, partly out of an old Jewish inheritance, partly out of the fresh accents of the Spirit in- dwelling in the whole Church, and partly out of a combination of things sacred among the Oentiles, which the large wisdom of our fathers in the faith was not a&aid to adopt, having that freedom wherewith Christ has made us free.