A variety of examples are sometimes quoted to show that the ideals which have grown from the doctrines of Christ are a direct development of what is found in the teachings of the Old Testament, particularly in the Psalms and in the second part of Isaiah. But, on the other hand, it is just as certain that these ideals receive a finish and an enrichment, by the touch of the Savior, vastly beyond and above what they possessed before, and also they are placed {37} on deeper and firmer foundations. This, let it be said to begin with, is because they were his before they were ever uttered by man. Even in the five distinctive and characteristic topics generally considered by commentators original in the teachings of Jesus, we find little if anything new, except the enlargement. These are named as, the Fatherhood of God, the Kingdom of God; subjects or members of the Kingdom; the Messiah, the Holy Ghost; and the Trinity of God. But the idea of the Fatherhood of God was not unknown either to the Pagans or to Israel. Zeus, from the time of Homer, had borne the name "father of gods and men." But, both in Jewish and Pagan literature, the idea was superficial and meant little more than "originator" (Gen. 1:26); and in the old Jewish scripture God is more particularly called the "Father of his people, Israel" (Deut. 14:1; Isaiah 63:16). But in the teachings of Christ there is a fuller embodiment of revelation in the word Father, and the application which he makes of the Fatherhood of God invests his life with supreme tenderness and beauty. As an example: In the old scripture, we are told, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him" (Psalm 103:13); but by the interpretation of Jesus, the love of God as Father extends beyond these limitations even to those who are unthankful and evil: "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45). "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil" (Luke 6:35).