THE DIVINE UNITY. 191 one the possession of one spirit, pervading its multifarious operations, and binding its various members into " body; "1 for the nations, the acknowledgment of a human brotherhood, since the one God must be God of Jew and Gentile alike.2 We must further observe that this doctrine of the Divine Unity is nowhere qualified or guarded against the interpretation which a Jew, or indeed any plain man, would have put upon it. It is impossible within our limits to discuss the ecclesiastical dogma of the Trinity. We need not necessarily regard that doctrine as false, even if we fail to find it in the primitive records of Christianity, for certain implications of spiritual truth might require centuries to impart to them the clear outlines of an intellectual system. But if we attempt to judge the New Testament as we would the original documents of any other religion, we cannot but be struck with the fact that the very phraseology which is necessary to express the doctrine of the Trinity is absent, that such statements as that "there is one God and Father of all" 3 are made 1 1 Cor. xii. 4 sqq.; Eph. iv. 3 sqq. 2 Acts xvii. 26; Rom. iii. 29 sq. 3 Eph. iv. 6. without any reserve or explanation, and that at most there are a few passages which might be explained as references to this doctrine if we knew upon other grounds that it existed when these writings were composed; and we are forced to the conclusion that, whether it be true or not, it formed no essential part of the primitive Gospel, and that in its whole form and complexion it stands in marked opposition to the kind of teaching which Jesus himself preferred. But there is hardly anything which official Christendom has valued less than the teaching of its Master. As God is one, he is the "Lord of heaven and earth," in whose will men ought devoutly to acquiesce.1 "Of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things," and he works out his great designs in human history according to the counsels of his own wisdom.2 Here it is worth noticing that Paul, from whom the last quotation is made, although he is compelled by the exigencies of controversy, and by mental habit and training, to be far more theological than Jesus, nevertheless does not forget the latter's practical aim. After his vindication of the sole sovereignty of God, 1 Matt. xi. 25 sq.; Luke x. 21; Matt. xxvi. 39, and parallels. 2 Rom. xi. 33 sqq. OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE. 193 and the burst of praise with which he concludes his argument, he at once proceeds to an exhortation founded on the intimacy of communion between man and God, and the mercy of the Sovereign Ruler towards his erring children: "Present your bodies a living sacrifice," and follow "the perfect will of God."1 The same ethical tendency is apparent when Christ alludes to God's omnipotence. "All things," he says, "are possible with God," and therefore he is able to effect a moral renewal which, to mere human strength, might seem impossible.2 The doctrines of the Divine omnipresence and omniscience are more impressive in their bearing upon human conduct. God is Father of each man, whom he sees in secret; and he knows the deed of charity, which hardly betrays itself even to the consciousness of the doer, the silent prayer which is offered in the lonely chamber, the contrition of heart which assumes before men a cheerful countenance. Therefore men ought to be perfectly simple in their actions, hiding them from human praise, and receiving no reward but that which the Father gives in the secret consciousness 1 Rom. xii. 1 sqq. 2 Mark x. 27; Matt. xix. 26; Luke xviii. 27; with the context. of pleasing him.1 This simple independence of human applause must also give courage when men are hostile. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without God, and the very hairs of our head are all numbered; so that instead of being afraid of men, with their limited power, we should rather fear him on whom we entirely depend, and who, though he cares even for the sparrow, cannot receive the faithless.2 The same doctrine is taught by the disciples. Without any pantheistic confusion, they still assert in the strongest way the nearness of God to man, and the intimate blending of the Divine life with ours. "He is not far from any one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being." He is "above all, and through all, and in us all." 4 The forces of nature, then, are God's perennial activity. The laws that guide the sparrow's fall keep suns and planets in their course. The light that glistens in the dewdrop trembles across immeasurable space, and makes one glory in the universe. The 1 Matt. vi. 1 sqq. The objection that Christ here teaches men to work selfishly, for the sake of a reward in heaven, seems to me to rest on an extraordinary perversion of the general tenor of the passage. 2 Matt. x. 28 sqq.; Luke xii. 4 sqq. 3 Acts xvii. 27 sq. 4 Eph. iv. 6. GOD THE BEARER OF PRAYER. 195 powers which knit together this corporeal frame into a home for a conscious spirit bespeak the living energy of the ever-present God. We miss God because we seek him amid cold abstractions, and think the universe is undivine: Christ beheld him in bird and flower, in rain and sunshine, and in the beating heart of man. As ever present and knowing all things, God is the hearer of prayer. This is universally assumed in the faith and practice of the early Christians. God sees in secret, when the chamber-door is shut, and needs no words to interpret the silent prayer of the heart.1 He requires not the temple of Samaritan or Jew, but seeks those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. He regards not the distinctions of race, but is "rich unto all who call upon him." The subject of prayer will be further considered when we deal with Christian ethics, and have to view it upon its human side. On the Divine side, Christian doctrine and practice rest upon the statement that "God is Spirit," and therefore, in order to be acceptable to him, prayer, worship, sacrifice, must be spiritual. The answer to prayer and the reward of well-doing 2 John iv. 21 sqq. 1 Matt. vi. 6 sqq. 3 Rom. x. 12. |