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brothers and sisters because they are children of the same parents. And Christians are brethren because of their intimate relation to Christ; and this relation of itself, without anything further, determines their relation to one another. This is true logically as well as chronologically. Christ is the centre and the light of the world. Those who approach him also approach one another. When they recede from him, but few rays of his light beaming on them, they also separate from one another. But when their minds are illuminated by the truth emanating from the Saviour, and their hearts are warmed by his love, then they are near him and near one another, the circle being drawn nearer to Christ; and then, too, Christians are made conscious of the bonds that unite them, while they forget the minor differences which separate them.

In this genesis of Christian society, the position given to Christ, and his relation to the believer, are indeed unique. Other great teachers have been loved and revered; but it was merely their doctrine, or their doctrine and character, which gave them their influence; it was not a spiritual oneness between themselves and their followers. Moses was a great lawgiver and prophet, through whom the theocracy received its organization, and through whom the worship of Jehovah was firmly established. For him, as well as for Abraham their ancestor, the Jews had the profoundest reverence, which bordered on adoration. But even to them no one has ever ascribed that relation to the Hebrews which Jesus sustains to his followers. One can be a Jew without being acquainted with Abraham or Moses. But no one can be a Christian without a personal acquaintance with Christ and

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an intimate union with him. By adopting the law one becomes a disciple of Moses; but if the doctrines of Christ could be separated from his person, then the adoption of those doctrines would not make one a disciple of Christ. The same contrast is seen, but it is still more striking, when Jesus is compared with other Jewish prophets and leaders, and with the lawgivers and philosophers and religious teachers of the heathen. The relation of Jesus to his followers was, in fact, the introduction of a new and inimitable element into history. And to this day, in his person and in his relation to his followers, Jesus is as solitary in history as the sun is in the heavens.

The advantages which accrue to religion from this personal element are of inestimable value. While the Gospel presents doctrines to be believed, rules to be obeyed, and promises that cheer, it also brings the Christian into fraternal relations with a divine-human person as the source, as well as the object, of faith and affection. Back of all its dogmatics and ethics and speculation, Christianity places a person who contains more than all dogmatics and ethics and speculation, whom we cannot analyze, but whose power we can feel, whose communion we can enjoy, and whose life and spirit must be the life and spirit of Christian society. This personal element vitalizes all the doctrines and commands and promises. Christ's person is to these what the living principle is to the seed containing it. In that person the Gospel has its source; it is, in fact, the embodiment, in words, of that person. And when that Gospel accomplishes its intended work on the heart, Christ communicates himself, a person to a person, thus making religion thoroughly

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personal. In John 6, where Jesus speaks of his flesh. and blood, which are to be eaten and drunk, this communication of himself to the believer is taught in a striking manner. That eating his flesh and drinking his blood is the same as appropriating him, the personal Saviour, is evident from the entire discourse, especially from a comparison of the 47th with the 54th verse. "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life." "He that believeth That is, eating his

In the

on me hath everlasting life." flesh and drinking his blood is the same as believing on him. The condition of eternal life is the appropriation of Christ as the soul's nourishment. 56th verse the true idea is made still plainer: "He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him." That is, by appropriating Christ he dwells in the believer, and the believer in him, which constitutes the very heart of the Christian religion. This mutual indwelling is the characteristic of every genuine member of Christian society.

It is its personal element which makes Christianity such a heart-power. In bringing the heart into immediate communion with a personal Saviour, it supplies a deep need of man's nature. The heart needs a person who is above it and yet of like sympathies, to whom it can cling, and from whom it can receive help and inspiration. In our day many feel the need of such a person. Niebuhr, the historian, says: "I have often said that I do not know what to do with a metaphysical God, and that I want no other than the God of the Bible, who is heart to heart with me." In Christ we have one who is heart to heart with the believer, and who brings him in contact with the very

heart of the Father. This fact makes Christ such a mighty attraction for profound yearning souls. Such a person is more a need of the heart than an intellectual system is of the head. Mere doctrine can never supply this need. And Christian society will be perfect in proportion to the closeness of the attachment of its members to Christ. But this personal attachment must not ignore or depreciate the word and work of Jesus. Unless these are included in the person, there is danger of sentimentalism and fanaticism. While Christ himself is more than his doctrines and deeds, these are necessarily included in a full view of his person. And they cannot be rejected without the rejection of his person. Indeed, these doctrines and deeds are the revelation of that person, and are the means of knowing that person.

When, therefore, Christ is here viewed as the creator of Christian society, he is viewed in that fullness which includes in his person all that is in him and all that emanates from him. Viewed in this light, we have in him doctrine, and ethics, and person, and life-in fact, all the conditions necessary for the creation and development of Christianity. From him Christian society takes its start, in him it must ever live, and to him it must ever tend. He is its Alpha and its Omega.

The genesis of Christian Sociology must correspond with the genesis of Christian society. Christ, in that fullness which embraces all that inheres in him and emanates from him, is the creator of Christian society and the starting-point of Christian Sociology. This starting-point furnishes a basis sufficiently broad and deep and potent. It has the advantage over mere

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doctrine, in that it contains all the principles that enter into Christian social science, and also has the personal element and the life, which are wanting in abstract principle or mere doctrine. But besides this, our starting-point is the actual beginning of Chirstian Sociology in real life; and thus we have the advantage of having the same source for the theory and for the practice. And in Christ's example we also have the first practical application of the principles of Christian Sociology and the model for all future applications of the same.

It may be objected that, in making Christ the starting-point of Christian Sociology, we have nothing distinctive, but that he might as well be made the starting-point of every department of Christian theology, since he is the source of everything that is distinctively Christian. In a certain sense this is true. The sciences of Christian Dogmatics and Ethics begin and end with Christ. This fact is being more fully recognized than formerly. But there is an important difference between Christian Sociology and the other departments of systematic theology. In Dogmatics, Christ is viewed only in a doctrinal aspect; in Ethics, he is viewed only in a moral aspect; so that in each of these Christ is viewed, not in his totality, but only in a part of his being and only in some of his relations. Christian Sociology does not, however, take so partial a view.

It does not treat of

doctrines and morals in the abstract, but as they are in living union with the Christian in his social relations, and as they are in their totality in Christ. What is the great aim of Christ? With respect to the Father, his aim is to glorify

God; but with