So it was with the idea of the Messiah which was abroad in the land, and had been for centuries, before Christ's coming; and never has he been really recognised by more than a few. Dare we not say that he is more truly recognised now than in any previous age in the history of the Church--except perhaps the very earliest? And I doubt if we need make that exception. The idea of his Messiahship gradually dawned upon him, and he made no mistake as to his mission:-- The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. As the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. The words which I say unto you I speak not of myself; the Father which dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. The Father is greater than I. But, for all that, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Yes, truly, Christ was a planetary manifestation of Deity, a revelation to the human race, the highest and simplest it has yet had; a revelation in the only form accessible to man, a revelation in the full-bodied form of humanity. Little conception had they in those days of the whole universe as we know it now. The earth was the whole world to them, and that which revealed God to the earth was naturally regarded as the whole Cosmic Deity. Yet it was a truly divine Incarnation. A deity of some kind is common to every branch of the human race. It seems to be possessed by every savage, overawed as he necessarily is by the forces of nature. Caprice, jealousy, openness to flattery and rewards, are likewise parts of early theology. Then in the gods of Olympus--that poetic conception which rose to such heights and fell to such depths at different epochs in the ancient world--the attributes of power and beauty were specially emphasised. _Power_ is common to all deities, and favouritism in its use seems also a natural supposition to early tribes; but the element of _Beauty_, as a divine attribute, we in these islands, save for the poets, have largely lost or forgotten--to our great detriment. In Jehovah, however, the Hebrew race rose to a conception of divine _Righteousness_ which we have assimilated and permanently retained; and upon that foundation Christianity was grafted. It was to a race who had risen thus far--a race with a genius for theology--that the Christian revelation came. It was rendered possible, though only just possible, by the stage attained. Simple and unknown folk were ready to receive it, or, at least, were willing to take the first steps to learn. The power, the righteousness, and other worthy attributes belonging to Jehovah, were known of old. The Christian conception takes _them_ for granted, and concentrates attention on the pity, the love, the friendliness, the compassion, the earnest desire to help mankind--attributes which, though now and again dimly discerned by one or another of the great seers of old, had not yet been thrown into concrete form. * * * * *