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FFIRS 03/10/2012 14:31:18 Page 2
FFIRS 03/10/2012 14:31:18 Page 1
FFIRS 03/10/2012 14:31:18 Page 2
FFIRS 03/10/2012 14:31:18 Page 3

KEN SCHWABER and JEFF SUTHERLAND

John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FFIRS 03/10/2012 14:31:24 Page 4

Copyright # 2012 by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of
the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization
through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers,
MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for
permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ
07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this
book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book
and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be
created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not
be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author
shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental,
consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer
Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or
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Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard
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com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Schwaber, Ken.
Software in 30 days: how Agile managers beat the odds, delight their customers, and leave competitors in the dust/
Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-118-20666-9 (pbk.); ISBN 978-1-118-22854-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-24090-8 (ebk);
ISBN 978-1-118-26574-1 (ebk)
1. Agile software development. 2. Scrum (Computer software development) 3. Computer software–
Development. I. Sutherland, Jeffrey Victor. II. Title. III. Title: Software in thirty days.
QA76.76.D47S3223 2012
005.1–dc23
2011050969

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FFIRS 03/10/2012 14:31:24 Page 5

To Ikujiro Nonaka, Babatunde A. Ogunnaike, and

Hirotaka Takeuchi for their inspiration and guidance.
FFIRS 03/10/2012 14:31:24 Page 6
FTOC 03/05/2012 11:7:16 Page 7

Contents

About the Authors xi

Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv

Section I Why Every Business in the World Can Produce Software

in 30 Days 1
You are probably frustrated with your software organization. You would like it to
be quicker, more flexible, understand your needs better, and help you become
more profitable. We look at why you are frustrated and how to fix the problem.

1 The Crisis in Software: The Wrong Process Produces the Wrong Results 3
Many software organizations follow a development process that guarantees
waste, uncontrolled risk, unpredictability, surprises, and low value. We will
investigate why this process was chosen, how it guarantees failure, and look
and some organizations that have recovered from it.

2 Scrum: The Right Process Produces the Right Results 17

There is a process that is appropriate for software development. When you get
your developers to use it, you will immediately gain productivity, quality, value,
control, predictability, and satisfaction. We look at how this happens in
this chapter.

vii
FTOC 03/05/2012 11:7:16 Page 8

viii CONTENTS

3 Try It Yourself: The Pilot 33

You have read our assertion that there is a better way for you to get software
developed for you. However, a lot of people have made assertions and taken
a lot of your money in the past, with little or no improvement. In this chapter
we show you how to prove that our approach works for no money.

4 What Can I Do? 49

You learned how to do better and you’ve tried it yourself. You like the results
and you know what to tell the software organization to do. In this chapter, we
look at what you can do to help what you experience in the pilot project succeed.

Section II How to Produce Software in 30 Days 55

Having better software developed for your needs is not so much hard as
it is different from what you are used to. In this section, we look at a
progressively beneficial set of approaches to get you from where you are
now to organizational agility.

5 Getting Started with Scrum 57

Our secret sauce for improving your benefits from software is called
“Scrum.” Yes, this is the rugby event that keeps the ball moving down
the field. We’ll discuss Scrum, how it works, and why it works in this chapter.

6 Scrum at the Project Level 63

Most persistent improvement in software development starts at the
project level. You can use Scrum to further prove its utility, or on
critically important initiative that must succeed. We’ll explore what
you can tell your developers to do after reading this chapter.

7 Develop a Scrum Capability 75

Success often breeds success. As more software initiatives using
Scrum succeed, more people will want to get on the wagon. Rather
than changing the entire organization, let’s look at how we can set up
a software development universe separate from the disappointing,
existing department. You can increasingly reap benefits here on an
increasing number of projects and releases.
FTOC 03/05/2012 11:7:16 Page 9

Contents ix

8 Scrum at the Enterprise Level 101

Scrum at a project or release level provides initiative level agility, the ability
to rapidly respond to opportunities or rise to challenges. To gain the most
significant benefits, Scrum’s empirical approach to software development
must be fit into the organization as a whole. We’ll look at how to do this,
and why some approaches are short-lived and others persist.

9 Enterprise Transformation: Profound and Persistent Change 107

You want to make your organization leaner, more efficient, and agile
on your watch. Even more, you want these benefits and their underlying
causes to persist and become the organizational culture. We’ll look at
an enterprise change approach for achieving this in this chapter.

10 Scrumming Scrum 119

We devised Scrum for complex problem solving, like software development.
We found Scrum a useful technique for managing organizational change,
also a complex problem. The same benefits of transparency, waste removal,
risk control, and predictability occurred. We’ll look at this use of Scrum
in this chapter.

Appendix 1: Terminology 127

We slowing and progressively introduced some new terminology. This appendix
is your reference for those terms.

Appendix 2: The Scrum Guide 133

Read the canonical guide to Scrum, its roles, artifacts, and events. This is
the bible of Scrum.

Appendix 3: A Playbook for Achieving Enterprise Agility 153

This appendix presents a more detailed plan for enterprise change, as
discussed in Chapter 10.

Index 185
FTOC 03/05/2012 11:7:16 Page 10
FABOUT 03/01/2012 4:7:57 Page 11

About the Authors

Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber are the creators of Scrum, a software de-
velopment process that delivers software functionality in 30-day increments.
Scrum was born when Jeff and Ken presented a paper at the OOPSLA confer-
ence in Austin, Texas, in August 1995. This paper, “Scrum Development
Process,” was the result of their collaboration prior to that point. The works of
H. Takeuchio and I. Nonaka in their seminal works on lean knowledge cre-
ation, bottom-up intelligence, and teamwork had profoundly influenced Jeff.
Babatunde Ogunnnike had profoundly influenced Ken in his work on indus-
trial process control and the applicability of complexity theory and empiricism
to software development.
In addition to being Scrum’s creators, Jeff and Ken have also served as its
wards. With their guidance, Scrum has evolved over time; more recently, they
have developed ways to speed up Scrum’s systematic evolution based on com-
munity experience and input. In “The Scrum Guide,” found in Appendix 2 of
this book, Jeff and Ken offer the complete definition of Scrum.

Dr. Jeff Sutherland is the chief executive officer of Scrum Inc., in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, offering training, guidance, and coaching to companies across
the globe. Jeff is a distinguished graduate of the United States Military Acad-
emy and a Top Gun of his USAF RF-4C Aircraft Commander class. Jeff has
advanced degrees from Stanford University and a PhD from the University of

xi
FABOUT 03/01/2012 4:7:57 Page 12

xii ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Colorado School of Medicine. He is also a senior advisor to OpenView Ven-

ture Partners, helping them implement Scrum and agile practices in all their
portfolio companies. Jeff has extended and enhanced Scrum at many software
companies and information technology (IT) organizations over the years.

Ken Schwaber is a software development professional, having spent the past

40 years of his life as a programmer, analyst, consultant, product manager, and
business owner. Early in his career, Ken tried unsuccessfully to make waterfall
software projects successful; he later developed an alternative to waterfall. Ken
has spent the past 20 years developing Scrum and working with organizations
around world to help them take advantage of it. Ken is one of the original
signatories of the Agile Manifesto and the founder of the Agile Alliance and
the Scrum Alliance. He is currently working to improve the software profes-
sion through Scrum.org. Ken and his wife, Christina, live in the Boston area.
He is a graduate of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and has
completed additional study in computer science at the University of Chicago
and in business at the University of California at Los Angeles Anderson
School of Management.
FACKNOW 03/10/2012 14:37:31 Page 13

Acknowledgments

THIS BOOK WOULD not be what it is without the excellent copyediting of

Arlette Ballew, the overall direction of Richard Narramore, and the laser focus
of Carey Armstrong.

xiii
FACKNOW 03/10/2012 14:37:31 Page 14
FCINTRO 03/07/2012 14:54:16 Page 15

Introduction

WE, JEFF AND Ken, have been in the software industry, collectively, for 70
years. We have been software developers, managers in IT organizations and
software product companies, and owners of both product companies and ser-
vice organizations. More than 20 years ago, we created a process that lets orga-
nizations deliver software better. Since then, we have helped hundreds of
organizations do the same. Our work has spread further than we have ever
imagined possible, being put to use by millions of people. We are humbled by
the extent of its adoption, and we are awed by the feats people have accom-
plished using it.
This is not the first book we have written on the topic of building software.
It is, however, the first book we have written for people who do not themselves
build software. This book is instead for leaders within organizations that de-
pend on software for their survival and competitiveness. It is for leaders within
organizations that can benefit from developing software rapidly, incrementally,
and with the best return on investment possible. It is for leaders who face busi-
ness and technological complexity that has made the delivery of software diffi-
cult. We have written this book so that these leaders can help their
organizations achieve these goals, enhance their internal capabilities, improve
their product offerings, and more.
This book is for chief executive officers (CEOs), executives, and senior
managers who need their organizations to deliver better software in less time,

xv
FCINTRO 03/07/2012 14:54:16 Page 16

xvi INTRODUCTION

with lower cost, greater predictability, and lower risk. For this audience, we
have a message: You may have had negative experiences with software devel-
opment in the past, but the industry has turned a corner. The software profes-
sion has radically improved its methods and its results. The uncertainty, risk,
and waste to which you are accustomed are no longer par for the course. We
have worked with many software organizations that have already turned the
corner; we want to help you do so, too.
In this book, we show you how to create business value using a process that
delivers complete pieces of software functionality at least every 30 days. This
book will show you how you can prioritize the functionality you want and have
it delivered a la carte. It will show you how to gain transparency not only into
business value, by tracking functionality delivered against functionality de-
sired, but also into the health of the software development process and your
organization as a whole. The tools in this book will help you work with your
software organization to get up to speed with modern practices and begin to
deliver the results you’ve been expecting all along.
This is software in 30 days.
FCINTRO 03/07/2012 14:54:16 Page 17
FCINTRO 03/07/2012 14:54:16 Page 18
PART01 02/25/2012 14:22:13 Page 1

SECTION

I
Why Every Business in the World Can Produce
Software in 30 Days

WE REACH OUT to every leader in an organization who wants to build better

software products with better value and predictability. The software industry is
turning around and radically improving. The uncertainty, risk, and waste you
are used to are no longer necessary. We have 20 years of data under our belts
from working with the many organizations that have already turned the cor-
ner. We want you to do so also. We want you to be able to build valuable,
quality software predictably with manageable risk.
We reach out to you for two reasons. First, you have been ill served by the
software industry for 40 years—not purposefully, but inextricably. We want to
restore the partnership. Second, software is no longer only in the back room.
Software is everywhere, in more and more critical operations of our society.
We want you to be able to build software that we can all reliably depend on.
We hope we achieve our goals for this book. Regardless, do not give up.
You no longer need to accept the terrible software results of the past. Move on.
In this part of the book, we investigate why software development has been
so bad. We move on to show how software has improved and the two

1
PART01 02/25/2012 14:22:13 Page 2

2 WHY EVERY BUSINESS IN THE WORLD CAN PRODUCE SOFTWARE IN 30 DAYS

underlying epiphanies that have facilitated this. We then show you how you
can pilot our approach, and what you can do to help it succeed. Section II
provides you with increasingly rigorous steps to take advantage of our new
approach, should the pilot convince you to do so.
C01 02/24/2012 15:56:26 Page 3

1
The Crisis in Software:
The Wrong Process Produces the Wrong Results

YOUR ORGANIZATION—WHETHER business, governmental, or nonprofit—likely

needs to be able to create value by building, customizing, and using software.
Without software, your ability to achieve your goals as a business leader is
inherently limited, if not impossible. But despite this need, software develop-
ment has historically been an unreliable, costly, error-prone endeavor.1 This
leaves you in a pickle: You need software, but you can’t get what you need,
when you need it, at a cost that is acceptable, at a level of quality the makes
it usable.
Indeed, the Standish Group’s 2011 CHAOS Report found that more than
half of software projects conducted between 2002 and 2010 were either de-
scribed as challenged or complete failures; just 37 percent were classified as
successful (Figure 1.1) The Standish Group modestly defined a successful proj-
ect as delivering all the requested functionality, on the expected date, for the
1
April 11, 2005, Forrester Report “Corporate Software Development Fails to Satisfy on Speed or
Quality.” Corporate development shops continue to disappoint: A fall 2004 Forrester survey of
692 technology influencers—those who hold the information technology (IT) purse strings—
indicated that nearly one-third are dissatisfied with the time it takes their development shops to
deliver custom applications, and the same proportion is disappointed by the quality of the apps
that are ultimately delivered. One-fifth of respondents are unhappy on both counts.

3
C01 02/24/2012 15:56:26 Page 4

4 WHY EVERY BUSINESS IN THE WORLD CAN PRODUCE SOFTWARE IN 30 DAYS

Figure 1.1 Traditional Software Development Is Risky

planned cost. The ability to accommodate changes, the ability to manage

risks, or the inherent value of the software weren’t considered.
The chances that a software project will be successful are not good. If you
are trying to accomplish something critical that involves developing of soft-
ware, you are probably worried. The software industry has failed you by being
slow, expensive, and unpredictable. If software weren’t so important, you
would probably stop investing in software altogether.
You are not alone. Many others are in the same boat. For example, the
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Sentinel project recently ran into
trouble. The FBI turned Sentinel around using the insights and processes
described in this book.
The information here concerning Sentinel comes from the Department of
Justice Inspector General reports, and it is publicly available. Before you dis-
miss this as a corner case, a particularity of government work, think about this:
If a large government agency can radically improve how it builds software,
then so can your organization.

Case Study: The FBI’s Sentinel Project

Every FBI investigation has a case file that contains all of the records that were
either created or obtained as part of an investigation. In 2003, the FBI decided
to digitize cases and automate the related processes . . . Agents would then
C01 02/24/2012 15:56:26 Page 5

The Crisis in Software: The Wrong Process Produces the Wrong Results 5

rapidly compare cases and discover connections between them. The name of
the project was Sentinel.
In March 2006, the FBI initiated development of Sentinel, targeting an
end-user base of more than 30,000 FBI agents, analysts, and administrative
employees. Original estimates for Sentinel were $451 million to develop
and deploy by December 2009. According to the FBI’s original plan, Sentinel
was to be developed in four phases. The FBI contracted the work to
Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin proposed using a traditional software
development process.
But by August 2010, the FBI had spent $405 million of the $451 million
Sentinel budget but delivered the functionality for only two of Sentinel’s four
phases. Although these deliverables did improve the FBI’s case management
system, they did not deliver much of the value that was originally envisioned.
Because of the cost and timeline overages, the FBI issued a stop-work order in
July 2010 that directed Lockheed Martin to halt all work on the two remain-
ing phases of Sentinel.
To this point, the FBI had been using a traditional development process,
and it now chose to adopt a new approach to see if it could obtain better
results. We developed this new process, called Scrum, in the early 1990s. The
same Standish Group CHAOS Report that classified just 37 percent of proj-
ects as successful demonstrated how different the results of a traditional
approach are versus those of using an agile, or Scrum, approach (Figure 1.2);

Figure 1.2 Agile Projects Are 3 times as Successful

 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
accounts which had long circulated among the people, before they
were put together in their present form. But even so, the result is all
the more striking. The identity and self-consistency of the central
object, the person of Christ, is the more remarkable. Such qualities
lead us safely to the conclusion that one and the same Original, one
great and commanding personality, was the true source from which
all were more or less remotely derived. Hence, even the imperfect or
fragmentary character of the Gospel history becomes of itself a
positive evidence for the reality of the life, and the peculiar nature of
the influence, of him whose career it so rapidly, and it may be
inadequately, places before us.
It is, however, to be distinctly remembered that we reach the mind
of Christ only through the medium of other minds. So far as can now
be known, no words of his writing have been transmitted to our
time, or were ever in the possession of his disciples. To some extent,
therefore, it would appear, the thoughts of the Teacher[20] may have
been affected, colored and modified, by the peculiar medium
through which they have come down to us. Under all the
circumstances of the case, this inference is natural and justifiable. It
is one too of some importance, inasmuch as it directly suggests that,
in all probability, the actual Person whose portraiture is preserved for
us by the Evangelists must have surpassed, in his characteristic
excellences, the impression which the narratives in fact convey. The
first generation of disciples were evidently men who were by no
means exempt from the influence of the national feelings of their
people, or of the peculiar modes of thought belonging to their class.
In the same degree in which this is true, they would be unable
rightly to understand, and worthily to appreciate the teaching and
the mind of Christ. This remark applies perhaps more especially to
the first three Gospels, but it is not wholly inapplicable to the Fourth.
Indeed, the fact referred to comes prominently out to view at
several points in the Evangelical narrative,—as in the case of Peter
rebuking his Master for saying that he must suffer and die at
Jerusalem; in that of the request made by the mother of Zebedee's
children; and in the anticipations ascribed by the first three
Evangelists to Jesus himself, of his own speedy return to the earth,—
anticipations which are recorded very simply, and without any
corrective observation on the part of the writer.[21]
[20] The term Teacher is constantly used of Christ in the Gospels, though usually
disguised in our English version under the rendering "Master." Comp. e.g. Mark ix.
17, 38; Luke x. 25.
[21] Matt. xvi. 22, xx. 20, xxiv. 24-36; Mark viii. 31-33, x. 35-45, xiii. 24-30; Luke
xviii. 31-34.
But, whatever the hindrances of this kind in the way of a perfectly
just estimation by the modern disciple, the portrait of Christ
preserved for us by the Evangelists is, in a remarkable degree, that
of a great Religious Character. The Christ of the Gospels is, before all
things, a Spiritual Being, unpossessed, it may even be said, of the
personal qualities which might mark him off as the product of a
particular age or people. He is, in large measure, the opposite of
what the disciples were themselves, free from the feelings and
prejudices of his Jewish birth and religion. This he evidently is,
without any express design of theirs, and by the mere force of his
own individuality. He is thus, in effect, the Christ[22] not merely of
his immediate adherents, or his own nation, but of all devout men
for all ages. He stands before us, in short, so wise, and just, and
elevated in his teaching, so upright and pure in the spirit of his life,
so engaging in his own more positive example of submission to the
overruling will, and touching forbearance towards sinful men, that
innumerable generations of disciples, since his death, have been
drawn to him and led to look up to him even as their best and
highest human representative of the Invisible God Himself.
[22] That is to say, "anointed," or King,—in other words, Leader, Teacher, Saviour
from sin, as the Gospels also expressly term him.
It is very probable, however, that all this was not so fully seen by
those who stood nearest to Jesus during his brief and rapid career,
as it has been since. At least many, even the vast majority of his day,
failed to perceive it. And yet, to a Hebrew reader of the Gospels, the
greatness of his character could be summed up in no more
expressive terms than by claiming for him that he was the Christ;
that he embodied in himself the moral and intellectual pre-eminence
associated with that office. In this light he is especially represented
in the first three Gospels. In John, too, we have substantially the
same thing, though very differently expressed. In that Gospel, he is
also the Christ, but he is so by the indwelling of the divine Word.
"The Word became flesh and dwelt among us," and the glory which
had been seen among men, "full of grace and truth," was the glory
even "as of the only-begotten of the Father." Probably no language
could have been used that would have conveyed to a reader of the
time a higher idea of the moral and spiritual qualities of any human
being. And this corresponds entirely with the impression given by
other writers of the New Testament, to some of whom Jesus was
personally known,—by Peter, for example, by James, by Paul, and by
the writer to the Hebrews. They evidently looked back to their
departed Master, and up to the risen Christ, as a person of
commanding dignity and spiritual power, and this not merely on
account of the official title of Messiah which, rightly or wrongly, they
applied to him, but for the lofty moral virtues with which his name
was to them synonymous.[23] He "who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth," was, without doubt, the most perfect example
which they could cite of all that was acceptable in the sight of God.
"The spirit of Christ," without which we are "none of his," could be
nothing else, and nothing less, than a participation in Christ-like
goodness; nor can it therefore possibly be wrong, if we too lay the
main emphasis of the Christian profession precisely here, where it is
laid by the apostles; if, in other words, we pass over, or leave out of
sight, as altogether of secondary importance, or of none, those
various and often conflicting dogmas and forms and "diversities of
administration," about which the Christian world is so sorely, and for
the present, so irreparably divided.
[23] 1 Pet. ii. 21, seq.; iv. 1-5, 13-16; James ii. 1, seq.; Gal. vi. 22-24; Eph. iv. 13-
15 and passim; Phil. i. 27, seq.; ii. 1-11; Rom. xiii. 14; 2 Cor. iv.

The character of Christ stands in very intimate relations with the

miraculous powers attributed to him by the Gospels. Those powers,
it is needless to say, have been seriously called in question, as actual
facts of history, by the critical investigations of recent times. Many
persons, it may be, cannot see, and will not admit, that their value
has been affected by the inquiries alluded to. To such persons the
miracles will naturally retain whatever efficacy they may be
conceived to possess as evidence of the divine, that is, supernatural,
claims of him who is recorded to have wrought them. They are
entitled to their own judgment in the case, as well as to whatever
support to Christian faith they think they can derive from such a
quarter. At the same time other inquirers may be permitted to think
differently. If the lapse of time and the increasing grasp and
penetration of critical knowledge necessarily tend to lessen the
certainty of the miraculous element of the Evangelical history, may
not this too be a part of the providential plan—contemplated and
brought about for great and wise ends? May it not be that now the
spiritual man shall be left more entirely free to discern for himself
the simple excellence of the Christian teaching and example? left
increasingly without that support from the witness of outward
miracle which has usually been deemed so important, and which is
unquestionably found to be the more commonly thus estimated, in
proportion as we descend into the lower grades of intelligence and
moral sensibility.[24]
[24] In illustration of this remark, it is scarcely necessary to mention the "miracles"
of the Roman Catholic Church in all ages.

But, on the other hand, if this be true, one who may thus think need
not of necessity also hold that the miracles of the Gospels did not
take place, but that the history relating to them is the mere product
of weak and credulous exaggeration. For, in truth, the ends which
might be subserved by such manifestations are easily understood.
Occurrences so unwonted and remarkable could not fail both to
secure the attention of the spectator, and make him ponder well
upon the words of the miracle-worker, and also to awaken in him
new feelings of reverence towards the mysterious Being who had
given such power to men. Thus it is readily conceivable, that a
miracle might be a thing of the highest utility to those who
witnessed it and to their generation. But then, on the other hand, it
is not to be alleged that such occurrences are needed now to show
us that God is a living Spirit in the world; or, consequently, that
religious love and veneration are in any way dependent upon them,
either as facts beheld by ourselves, or as incidents recorded to have
been seen by others who lived many centuries ago. And, if this be
so, surely we may look with indifference upon the most destructive
operations of literary or scientific criticism, being anxious only, and
above all things, for the simple truth, whatever it may be.
Again, however, it is not to be denied that the possession of
miraculous power may have been for Christ himself, not less than for
those who saw his works, of the deepest spiritual import. The
formation of a character like his would seem peculiarly to require the
training that would be afforded by such an endowment. We know
how, with ordinary men, the command of unlimited power is, in fact,
a test of rectitude, self-government, unselfishness, of the most
trying and, it may be, most elevating, kind. The temptations which
necessarily accompany it are proverbial. Was Christ exempt from
that kind of moral discipline, that supreme proof of fidelity to God?
Allowing, for a moment, what the narratives directly intimate, that
he felt within himself the force of miraculous gifts, and the capacity
to use them, if he had so willed, for purposes either of personal
safety or of political ambition;[25] in this, we may see at once, there
would be an end to be served of the greatest moment both to
himself and to the future instruction of his disciples. By such an
experience, the moral greatness of his example might be doubly
assured. It would be made possible to him to deny and humble
himself,—even, in apostolical phrase, to "empty" himself of his
Messianic prerogatives, in order the better to do the Heavenly
Father's will, and, preferring even the cross to a disobedient refusal
of the cup which could not pass from him, to be "made perfect
through suffering," thus showing himself worthy to be raised up at
last to be, as he has been, the spiritual Lord of the Church.
[25] Matt. iv. 1, seq.
This idea was, in fact, a familiar one to Paul, as to others of the
Christian writers.[26] Its literal truth is enforced by the consideration
of the strange improbability that one by birth a Galilean peasant,
without any special gifts or powers to recommend him to the notice
of his people, should yet be acknowledged by many of them as the
promised Messiah; should, in spite of an ignominious death, be
accepted in that character by multitudes; and finally, in the same or
a still higher character, should acquire the love and reverential
homage of half the world.
[26] 2 Cor. viii. 9; Eph. i. 20-23; Phil. ii. 5-11; Heb. ii. 9, 10, 18; 1 Pet. ii. 21.

And yet it may remain true that, as time passes, this consideration
shall lose much of its weight, in the judgment of increasing numbers
of earnest inquirers. They, accordingly, will cease to place reliance on
the outward material sign. Jesus, nevertheless, may still be to them
as an honored Master and Friend, whose name they would gladly
cherish, for what he is in himself. To those who thus think his
character and words will appeal by their own intrinsic worth. He will
be Teacher, Saviour, Spiritual Lord, simply by the inherent grace and
truth spoken of by the Evangelist of old.
If this be the destined end, we may gladly acknowledge the
providential guiding even in this; and we shall certainly guard
ourselves against judging harsh or uncharitable judgment in
reference to those who on this subject may not see as we see, or
feel as we feel;—who, nevertheless, in thought and deed and
aspiration, may not be less faithful to Truth and Right, or less loyally
obedient to all that is seen to be highest and best in Christ himself.

III.
Christ, then, I repeat, thus standing before us in the Evangelical
records of his ministry, is the impersonation of his religion. What we
see in Him is Christianity. Or, if it be not so, where else shall we look
with the hope to find it? Who else has ever had a true authority to
place before us a more perfect idea, or to tell us more exactly what
the Gospel is? The Church, indeed, some will interpose, has such
authority! But examine this statement, and its untenable character
speedily appears. The Church at any given moment is, and has
been, simply a body of fallible mortals, like ourselves. If the Christian
men of this present day cannot suppose themselves to be preserved
from intellectual error in matters of religion, neither can we think the
Christian men of the past to have been more highly privileged. In
fact, it must be added, as we ascend into the darker periods of
Church history, we come upon the most undeniable traces of
ignorance, misunderstanding, worldliness and folly, on the part of
the ecclesiastics of the early and the middle ages, such as deprive
their judgments on the subject before us of all right or claim to
unquestioned acceptance. Let any one read, for example, the
accounts given by trustworthy historians[27] of that great assembly
of the Church which produced the Nicene Creed. Will any one allege
that in the passion and prejudice, the smallness of knowledge, the
subtlety of speculation, and narrowness of heart, pervading the
majority of that assembly, the Divine Spirit was peculiarly present to
dictate or guide the decision arrived at, and make it worthy of the
blind adhesion of future Christian generations? And, if we cannot
thus admit the peculiar idea of Christianity there approved, it will
surely be in vain to look to any similar quarter, either of the past or
of the present, for what shall supersede the living "grace and truth,"
seen in Christ himself.
[27] E.g., in Dean Stanley's History of the Eastern Church.

This conclusion is greatly strengthened by the briefest reference to

the negative results of unbelief and irreligion, so prevalent in those
countries which have been the longest under the influence of the old
ritualistic idea of the Church and the priesthood. Positively speaking,
this idea, it is needless to add, has largely failed in almost every
thing except the encouragement among the people of the grossest
superstitions[28]—superstitions of which there is no trace whatever
in immediate connection with the Christian Master. Not, however, to
dwell in detail on this unpromising theme, let us rather turn to the
considerations by which our leading position may be confirmed; from
which too we may learn that a better future is yet in store for us.
[28] A good authority has recently observed, "Catholicism, substituted for Christ,
has turned the thought of Southern Europe to simple Infidelity, if not to Atheism;
let us take heed that Protestantism does not bring about the same thing in
another way in the North."—Bishop Ewing, in a Letter to the Spectator newspaper,
April 8, 1870. The remark here quoted is of much wider application than the
Bishop himself would probably admit!
The experience of past ages, the existing sectarian divisions of
Christendom, the errors and superstitions involved in the grosser
assumptions of Church authority, all unite to compel us to the
conclusion of the essentially erroneous character of the old ritualistic
and dogmatic conceptions of the nature of the Gospel. They show us
not only that dogmas and rites about which the most earnest men
are so utterly at variance cannot possibly be of the essence of
Christianity, but further that the latter is nowhere to be found except
in Him whom in spite of diversities all alike agree to hold in honor.
And, in truth, his life, brief and fleeting as it was, may well be said to
constitute the Christian revelation. That it does so, and was intended
to do so, may, as already observed, be seen better in our day, than it
was by the earliest disciples. Their thoughts were preoccupied, their
vision obscured, by various influences which prevented them from
clearly discerning the one thing needful. The temporal kingdom of
their Master for which they were, many of them, so eagerly looking;
his speedy return to judge the world,—an expectation of which there
are so many traces in Gospels and Epistles alike; the great and
urgent question of the Law and its claims, with that of the admission
of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ without the previous adoption of
Judaism;—such thoughts and such cares as these largely engaged
and filled the minds of the disciples, within the limits of the period to
which the origin of the principal New Testament books must be
assigned. After the close of that period, fresh subjects of
controversial interest continually arose, until these were gradually
overshadowed by the rising authority of the Church and the later
growth of sacerdotal power, followed in due course of time by the
grosser corruptions of the primitive Gospel which marked the
Christianity of the darker ages, and which have by no means as yet
spent their power. Thus has it pleased the Great Disposer that men
should be led forward to truth and light through error and darkness.
Even as the Hebrews of old were gradually brought by many
centuries of experience, and in the midst of imperfections and
backslidings innumerable, to their final recognition of the One
Jehovah, so have the Christian generations been slowly learning and
unlearning according as their own condition and capacities allowed.
Thus the great development has been running its destined course,
and will doubtless conduct us eventually to yet better and truer
ideas of what the Almighty purposes had, in Christ, really designed
to give to the world.
To vary the form of expression, the life of Christ itself constitutes the
revelation of His will which the Almighty Father has given to man by
His Son. And that life does constitute a revelation, in the most full
and various import of this term. It shows us, in a clear and engaging
light, the One God and Father of all, the Just and Holy One, who will
render to every man according to his deeds. It shows us the high
powers and capacities of man himself; for, while and because it tells
him to be perfect even as the Father in Heaven is perfect, it not only
recognizes in him the capability to be so, but also abundantly affords
the spiritual nutriment by which the higher faculties of his nature
may be nurtured and strengthened within him. It shows us how to
live a life of religious trust and obedience to the commands of duty,
and, amidst many sorrows and trials, still to preserve a soul
unstained by guilt. It shows us that this high devotion to the sacred
law of Truth and Right is that which is well pleasing to God; and that
His will is that man should thus, by the discipline of his spirit, join
the moral strength and sensibility in this world which shall fit him, if
he will, to enter upon the higher life of the world to come. All this
we see plainly expressed and announced in Christ, constituting him
the Revealer in the best sense of this term. All this we do see, even
though it may be very hard to find any doctrinal creed laid down in
definite words, or any system of rites and ceremonies of worship, of
Church government, or of priestly functions and dignities, placed
before us as constituting an indispensable part of our common
Christianity.
And it is here an obvious remark that, while Christian men have so
often questioned and disputed with one another about the essentials
of their religion; while they have sometimes, again, been forgetful of
its spirit, in their controversies as to its verbal and written forms,—all
this time they have been substantially agreed as to the matters
which are the greatest and weightiest of all. About the Gospel as
embodying and expressing man's faith in God and in heaven, and as
setting forth the highest moral law with its exemplification in an
actual human life; about the Gospel in these, which are surely its
most serious and interesting aspects, there has been no dispute.
The great spiritual principles taught by Christ, and the power of his
practical exhibition of human duty, have been constantly admitted
and—may it not be added?—constantly felt in the world, among all
the sects and parties of Christendom, in spite of the differences of
forms and creeds which have separated men from each other.
This fact suggests a further consideration of obvious interest.
Regarded as a dogmatic or an ecclesiastical system, the Gospel is
one of the greatest failures which the world has seen, no two sects
or churches, scarcely any two congregations, being agreed as to
some one or other of what are deemed its most essential elements.
Regarded as a moral and spiritual energy and instructor among men,
it is and always has been a quickening power,—tending directly, in its
genuine influences, to support and to guide aright, and, even amidst
the worst distractions or perversions of human passion and error,
whispering thoughts of hope, comfort, and peace, to many troubled
hearts. This should not be forgotten in our estimates of the part
played by Christianity in past times, or in the judgments sometimes
so lightly uttered by a certain class of its critics, who show
themselves so ready to confound the religion with its corruptions,
and to include it and them in one indiscriminate condemnation. It
should help to call us back to juster views of the nature and the
function of Christ's religion, and lead us the better to see that these
consist, not in its capacity or its success as an imposer of dogmas or
of ceremonial acts to be received and carefully performed by either
priests or people, but in its power to strengthen with moral strength,
to guide in the path of duty, to save us from our sins, to breathe into
us the spirit of Christ, and so to bring us nearer to God. Such is the
true function and the real power of the Gospel, even though it may
constantly have had to act in the midst of gross ignorance, or of
false and exaggerated dogmatic conception; nor is it too much to
say that this its highest character has not been altogether wanting to
it, even in the darkest periods of man's intellectual experience,
during the last eighteen centuries.
And not only is this so; but, further, it is evidently not through the
peculiar doctrines of his church or sect that a man is most truly
entitled to the name of Christian, but rather by his participation in
what is common to all the churches and sects which are themselves
worthy of that name. For let us call to mind, for a moment, some of
the more eminent Christian men and women of modern times, to
whatever sectarian fold they may have owned themselves to belong.
Recall the names of a Fénelon, an Oberlin, a Vincent de Paul, a
Xavier, a Melancthon, a Milton, a Locke, a Chalmers, a Clarkson, a
Wilberforce, a Mrs. Fry, a Keble, a Heber, a Wesley, a Lardner, a
Priestley, a Channing, a Tuckerman, with innumerable other true-
hearted followers of him who both bear witness to the truth, and
"went about doing good." In such persons we have representatives
of nearly all the churches, with their various peculiarities of doctrinal
confession. And must we not believe that such men and women
were true Christians? If so, will it not follow that in every one of their
differing communions true Christians are to be found? Probably no
man, unless it be one of the most bigoted adherents of Evangelical
or high Anglican orthodoxy, would venture to deny this. There are,
then, good Christians, let us gladly admit, in all the various sects and
parties of Christendom; men whom Christ himself, if he were here,
would acknowledge and welcome as true disciples. But what is it
that entitles such persons all alike to the Christian character and
name? It cannot be any thing in which each differs from the rest,
but rather something which they all have in common. It cannot be
any thing that is peculiar to the Roman Catholic alone, for then the
Protestant would not have it; nor any thing that is peculiar to the
Protestant alone, for then the Roman Catholic would not have it; nor
any thing that is peculiar to the Trinitarian alone, for then the
Unitarian would not have it. It must be something apart from the
distinctive creed of each. It is then something which all must
possess, otherwise they would not be truly Christian; which they
must have in addition to their several distinguishing doctrines,—in
company with which the latter may indeed be held, but which is not
the exclusive property of any single church, or sect, or individual,
whatever.
What then do all the Christian sects and parties, of every name, hold
in common, and never differ about? Is it not simply in this, that they
receive and reverence Jesus as the beloved Son in whom God was
well pleased? that they hold the Christian faith in the Father in
Heaven, with all that this involves of love to God and love to man?
that they accept the law of righteousness, placed before us in the
"living characters" of Christ's own deeds and words, and strive to
obey it in their conduct? that they hold the same common faith as to
the presence and the providence of God, the future life and the
judgment to come? This Christian allegiance, it is true, is expressed
under the most different forms of statement, and in many a case it
may hardly be definitely expressed at all; but yet even this, and such
as this, is, by belief and practice, the common property of every
Christian man; and so far as he lives in the spirit of this high faith is
he truly a disciple and no further whatever may be the church or
sect, or forms of doctrine and worship, to which he may attach
himself. And all this, I repeat, is most plainly revealed to us in the
spirit and the life of Christ,—insomuch that we feel the statement to
be incontrovertibly sure, that he is the truest Christian of all whose
practical daily spirit and conduct are the most closely and constantly
animated and governed by the spirit and precepts and example of
the Master Christ.
It seems strange, when we think about it, that men should have
gone so far astray, in times past, from the more simple and obvious
idea of Christianity thus laid before us. We may have difficulty in
explaining how this has come to pass; how it is that so much of the
weight and stress, as it were, of the Christian religion should have
been laid upon obscure metaphysical creeds and dogmas, the
obvious tendency of which is, and always has been, to divide men
from each other, to degenerate into gross superstition, and destroy
the liberty "wherewith Christ has made us free," and which,
moreover, are nowhere contained in the Scriptures, and cannot even
be stated in the language of the Scriptures; how it is, again, that so
little emphasis should be laid in these dogmatic formulas upon that
obedience which is better than sacrifice, even that doing the
Heavenly Father's will, which—strange to tell!—is the only condition
prescribed by Christ for entering into the kingdom.
Truly this question is not without its perplexities. But some
explanation may be found. It is the obvious law of Divine
Providence, it is and has been a great law of human progress, that
Truth shall not be flashed upon the mind at once, either in religion or
in any other of the great fields of interest and occupation to man;
but that it shall be conquered and won through the medium of slow
and gradual approach, even in the midst and by the help of
misunderstanding and error. It is thus, doubtless, that men are
trained to appreciate rightly the value of the truths and principles
which they ultimately gain. In other words, past experience goes far
to show us that moral excellence and the apprehension of truth, by
such a being as man, can only be acquired by means of previous
conflict with evil and untruth, in some one or other of their manifold
forms; or, if not by an actual personal conflict for each of us
individually, at least by means of the observed or recorded
experience of others, more severely tried than ourselves.
Thus it has doubtless been with the reception and gradual
prevalence of Christian truths and principles. Men have had slowly,
by a varied and sometimes painful experience, to learn that it is not
by saying, Lord, Lord, by confessing some formal creed, or being
included within the limits of some visible church; not by forms and
ceremonies of any kind, such as baptism at the hands of a priest, or
the confession of sin into his ear, that we may become truly
recipients of the light and strength of the Gospel of Christ; but much
rather by personal communion with the Spirit of God, by doing the
things which the Lord hath said, by striving to be like Christ, in heart
and in life, active in goodness, submissive to the Heavenly Father's
will, and ready to the work of duty which He has given us to do.
In proportion as this conception of Christianity comes forward into
view, and assumes the pre-eminence to which it is entitled, and
which is either implied or expressly declared in the principal writings
of the New Testament, in the same degree must the merely
dogmatic and sacerdotal idea sink into insignificance. It will be seen
that moral and spiritual likeness to the Christian Head is what is all-
important; and, consequently, that within the limits of the same
communion, bound together by the common principle of Christian
faith,—the principle of love and reverence for the one Master, Christ,
—there may exist the most complete mental freedom, and even, to
a very large extent, the most diverse theological beliefs.

IV.
But here I may be met by certain objections which will hardly fail to
occur to different classes of readers.
In the first place, it may be said, the idea of the Gospel above
presented is itself dogmatic; and indeed that the conception of
Christianity as involving definite forms of doctrine is not to be got rid
of. This remark I am by no means concerned wholly to escape.
Doubtless the Gospel, as it is given in the words of Christ, includes
various clearly stated truths respecting the Divine Providence and
Will, and the retributions of this world and the next,—truths, I may
add, which are not only level to the apprehension of the human
faculties, but also in harmony with the highest dictates of the natural
conscience and reason of man. But these great truths are not
dogmatically laid before us in the Gospel. The mind of each reader is
left free to gather them for itself. They are so stated as to quicken
and elevate, not to stupefy or render useless, the religious and moral
sense of the disciple. They serve thus, in the result, to arouse in him
the strength of deep individual conviction, without which they could
have little practical value. The teaching function of the Gospel is of
this kind, rather than dogmatic and denunciatory, in the manner of
the creeds. It does not attempt to put before us a ready-made body
of doctrine, in such a way as to save the disciple the trouble of
inquiry and reflection for himself, as though it would make him the
mere recipient of what is imposed upon him from without. Not in
this mechanical way, either in the world of outward nature, or in the
Gospel of His Son, does the Great Parent speak to the hearts of His
children; but chiefly by awakening their higher, devouter sensibilities,
and letting them feel the force of truth and right within their own
secret spirits. No imposition from without could fitly accomplish this
divine work; and we may be well assured that no man living, and no
church or sect on earth, has a legitimate authority to define exactly
the limits within which Christian belief shall confine itself, or beyond
which belief shall not extend, without ceasing to be Christian.
Obviously and unquestionably Christ himself has nowhere attempted
to dictate his religion in such a way; neither has any of his apostles,
not even the ardent and impetuous Paul. On the contrary, the latter,
like his Master, constantly attaches the greatest importance to the
practical virtues, and to a devout spirit,—in no case making his
appeal to a dogmatic statement, or giving us to understand that he
had the least idea of any dogmatic system whatever, similar, in spirit
or in form, to the creeds of modern orthodoxy.
A second objection may be urged by a defender of the prevailing
forms and dogmas of the churches. Such a person may say that, in
taking Christ as the measure and representative of his own religion,
we leave out of sight all that may have been contributed to its
development by the Apostles, to say nothing of their successors, and
that the Epistles of the New Testament contain much that is not met
with in connection with him. In reply, let it be observed in what
terms the Apostles speak of their Master, and of the obedience, the
faith, and veneration due to him. Paul, for example, in various forms,
tells them to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ;" to let his mind be in
them, his word dwell in them richly, to acquire his spirit, to follow
him in love and self-sacrifice. He will know nothing, he says, "save
Jesus Christ, and him crucified;" and we know how closely he treads
in his Master's steps, in the absolute preference which he gives to
the Love which, he declares, is greater than faith, and the very
fulfilling of the law itself. The same strain is held by others of the
Apostles; and there can be no doubt that Christ, under God, was
constantly looked up to by them as the great object of the faith, the
love, and the imitation of every disciple. It is true, indeed, that there
are many things in the Apostolical writings other than we find in
connection with Christ's personal life; but these will be found to
belong, almost exclusively, to the peculiar circumstances and
controversies of the times succeeding his death. In truth, they
belong so entirely to them as to have little of practical reference, or
utility, beyond. Paul's Epistles, for instance, are full of the long
debated question as to the claims of the law upon Gentiles, and the
mystery which, he says, had been hidden "from the foundation of
the world," that the Messiah should be preached even to those who
were not of the fold of Israel. But these are only temporary incidents
of the early career of Christianity. They have no intimate connection
with the permanent influence of Christ; and we of modern times
have little concern with them, except only to be on our guard
against letting them unduly sway our judgment and turn us away
from subjects of greater consequence,—as too often has happened
to the ingenious framers of theological systems. Christianity, in a
word, has been only perplexed and impeded in its course, by those
thoughtless or over-zealous expounders who have insisted upon
constructing schemes of orthodoxy out of the antiquated disputes of
Jews and Gentiles.[29]
[29] See, e.g., the Essay on the Death of Christ, in Aids to Faith.

In all his Epistles St. Paul, in the true spirit of his Master, gives us
clearly to know what is of chief importance. After treating, as he
usually does, of the local and passing concerns and disputes which
engaged many of his correspondents, he never fails to turn at last to
speak of the practical goodness, the purity of heart and life, the
kindly affections towards one another, the reasonable service of love
and duty, by which the Christian disciple may be known, by which
alone he can present himself as a "living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God." In such qualities as these, the attainment or the practice
of which he so earnestly urges upon his friends, we have precisely
what constitute the most marked features in the life and the
teachings of Christ. Thus we are brought once more to the old
conclusion that in faithful loyalty to Christ, to the highest ideal
presented to us of his spirit and character, are to be found the true
light and joy and peace of the Christian Gospel.
A third objection is of a different character. There are some things, it
will be said, in immediate connection with him whom we term
Teacher and Lord, some things in his words and ideas, if not in his
actions, which are far from being in perfect harmony with the
highest truth, as known to men in these later times. For example,
when he speaks as though he believed diseases and insanity to be
caused by the presence of a devil, or demon, in the afflicted person,
are we to attach importance to this, so as ourselves to think that
such disorders are (or were) so produced?—or shall we not rather
follow the guidance of modern science, and believe that the various
infirmities which, in ancient times, were attributed to evil spirits
arose from natural causes, and that the manner in which such things
are spoken of in the New Testament is a product simply of the
imperfect knowledge of those days?
In reply, there need be no hesitation in saying that we are bound, as
beings of thought and reason, to follow the best guidance which God
has given us, in these and all other subjects; and by the term best
can only be understood that which commends itself most forcibly to
our rational intelligence. It can in no way be claimed for Christ that
he was intellectually perfect; that he did not share in the prevailing
beliefs of his countrymen, and partake even of their ignorance. Such
a claim as this is certainly nowhere advanced in the New Testament,
but the contrary; and those who, in our time, would bring it forward
should ask themselves whether, by so doing, they are most likely to
benefit, or to injure, the cause which doubtless they would desire to
support. Jesus himself makes no pretension to intellectual infallibility,
but lets us see, in no uncertain way, that he was not unconscious of
the limitation of his own knowledge.[30]
[30] Mark xiii. 32.

In general terms it may be added, the Gospel, when first preached

in the world, was necessarily adapted to the people to whom it was
addressed. It conformed, in many respects, to their ideas and modes
of expression, and also made use of these for its own ends. Had it
not done so, how could it have touched and moved them as it did,
and as, through them, it has touched and moved the world ever
since? Jesus, therefore, himself, and those who took up his work
after him, were, in a large degree, men of their own day, imbued
with prevailing ideas and feelings, and employing these in their
speaking and preaching in the most natural manner. Is it not even so
with ourselves at the present moment? For how, indeed, can it be
otherwise? And if many of the primitive Christian ideas were more or
less erroneous and ill-founded, it is easy to understand that, while
the overruling Providence made them its instruments for leading
men on by degrees to something better, still it can have been no
part of the great design of God that misunderstanding and ignorance
should be removed by any other process than by the natural growth
of knowledge among men. They were not to be supernaturally
refuted, but left to be corrected in due course of time; and the
needed correction was and is to come even as men grow wiser and
more thoughtful and able to bear it.
Hence, it is not to be questioned, many errors, chiefly of the
intellectual kind, attached to the early preaching of the Gospel, and
some certainly did to the words of Christ himself; just as very much
of human ignorance and prejudice has since and continually been
involved in the ideas prevailing as to the character and purposes of
his religion. As before observed, man has been made by his Creator
to find his way up to light and truth from the most imperfect
beginnings, and by a prolonged conflict against and amidst darkness
and manifold error. Such is our human nature, and the position
which the Divine Will has assigned to us. And so in the early ages
after Christ there sprung up the idolatrous worship of the Virgin
Mary and of innumerable saints; nor is the world yet free, though it
is slowly freeing itself, from the influence of these superstitions and
their related errors of thought. Successive generations inherit much
of the evil as well as the good, the ignorance as well as the
knowledge, of those who have been before them. Thus does the
Almighty Father exercise and discipline his human family in patience,
in self-control, in the search after truth, even by letting us suffer and
work for the good fruits of knowledge and righteousness, instead of
giving them to the world at once without thought or effort of our
own. This is eminently true in connection with the whole course of
Christian development. In Christ's own teachings and those of the
Apostles, as time has amply shown, erroneous ideas were not
wanting. Peter denied his Master, and thought at first that only Jews
could be disciples. Both he and Paul, as well as James, with probably
all the early Christians, long cherished the hope of their Master's
return to the earth within that generation; a belief which is to be
traced also, equally with that in demoniacal possessions, in the
recorded words of Jesus himself. Other instances of a similar kind
might easily be mentioned.
But, while all this seems perfectly undeniable, has not Divine
Providence so ordered that what is really wrong and false in men's
ideas of Christian truth shall sooner or later be seen in its real
character, in the advancing progress of human knowledge?—and
therefore, if we are ourselves only patient and faithful, each of us, to
what we see, or think we see, to be right and good, that the untrue
in our ideas shall be eventually separated from the true, however
close may be the connection which at any time may subsist between
them? Such is, doubtless, the Almighty purpose, such the all-
sufficient process provided in His wisdom for securing the training
and growth of the races and generations of men in the knowledge of
Divine things. It follows, again, that whatever in the Christian
teaching, as in other teaching, shall stand the test of advancing
knowledge, and still approve itself as true and honest and just and
pure and lovely and of good report[31] to the purified conscience and
practised intellect of man, that shall be God's everlasting Truth; that
too He must have designed not only by the word of Christ, but
through the living souls of His rational children, to proclaim to the
world with the mark of His Divine approval.
[31] Philip. iv. 8.

It is not necessary here to ask in detail what it is in existing schemes

of Christian theology, or in the outward forms and arrangements of
priesthoods and of churches, that will bear this test of advancing
knowledge, and this scrutiny of the educated intellect and
conscience. Doubtless much in the popular creeds of our day will do
so; but much more will only be as chaff before the wind, or stubble
before the devouring flame. Among the perishable things will surely
be the ecclesiastical systems which vary with every different country
and church, and along with these the claims to priestly and papal
authority and infallibility, about which we again hear such angry
contention. Truly, none of these will bear the test and strain of time
and knowledge; but only those great and unchangeable principles of
spiritual truth, and those deep-lying sentiments of moral right, which
are common to all the different sects and parties of Christendom.
These will retain their place among the great motive forces of the
world, even because their roots are firmly planted by the Divine
hand itself in the very nature of man, and made to be a part of the
constitution of his mind; while, also, it is true, and the Christian
disciple will ever gratefully acknowledge, they owe their best and
highest expression and exemplification to Jesus the Christ, the
"beloved Son," in whom God was "well pleased."
We may conclude then, as before, that in the mind and life of Christ,
—in his unshaken trust in the Heavenly Father, and in the heaven to
be revealed hereafter,—in his readiness to obey the call of Duty,
wherever it might lead him, even though it might be to the shame
and the agony of the cross,—in his faithful adherence to the right,
and earnest denunciation of falsehood, hypocrisy, and wrong-doing,
—in his gentle spirit of forgiveness and filial submission even unto
death,—we have the lessons of Christian truth and virtue which it
most of all concerns us to receive and to obey. In this high "faith of
Christ" we have the true revelation of God's will for man; the Gospel
speaking to us in its most touching and impressive tones,—either
reproaching us for our indifference and calling us to repentance, or
else aiding and encouraging us onward in the good path of
righteousness.
So long as Christianity shall be thus capable of speaking to the
world, so long will it, amidst all the varieties of outward profession,
be a living power for good; and vain will be the representation which
would tell us that it is now only a thing of the past, unfitted for the
better knowledge and higher philosophy of these modern times.
Surely not so!—but, rather, until we have each individually attained
the moral elevation even of Christ himself, and can say that we too,
in character and conduct, in motive and aspiration, are well pleasing
in the sight of Heaven, until we are this, and can feel and say this
with truth, the religion of Christ will be no antiquated thing of the
past to us; but from its teaching and its spirit—the teaching and the
spirit of Christ—we shall still have wisdom and truth to learn.
May the time speedily come, which shall see Christ's spirit ruling the
individual lives of all around us,—more truly inspiring the thoughts
and efforts of our lawgivers,—teaching men everywhere to be just
and merciful towards each other; and thus making Christianity, in
deed and in truth, the "established religion," the guiding and
triumphant power of this and all other lands! Then, indeed, will the
daily prayer of all Christian hearts be answered, and the "kingdom of
heaven" on earth be truly come.
 THE AIM AND HOPE OF JESUS.
By OLIVER STEARNS.
A learned Historian of the Christian Theology of the Apostolic age
observes that what most distinguishes the Jewish religion, at least in
its last centuries, is not so much monotheism as faith in the future.
While elsewhere we see the imagination of men complacently
retracing the picture of a golden age irrecoverably lost, Israel,
guided by its prophets, persisted in turning its eyes towards the
future, and attached itself the more firmly to a felicity yet to come,
the more the actual situation seemed to give the lie to its hopes.[32]
[32] Reuss, History of the Christian Theology of the Apostolic Age.
What these hopes were in relation to the future of that people and
of the world, what the Messianic ideas and expectations were, we
learn from the New Testament, particularly from the Gospels. And
we find our impressions from this source made more clear in some
points, and in all confirmed, by a study of the Apocalyptic literature,
—of those writings of which it was the object to give both shape and
expression to the Hebrew thought of the kingdom of heaven, and of
the brilliant and miraculous events which would introduce and
establish it.
Jewish Theology in the age of Jesus Christ divided the whole course
of time into two grand periods; one, comprehending the past and
the present, was that of suffering and sin; the other, embracing the
future, a period of virtue and happiness. The last years of the former
period formed the most important epoch in the History of Humanity,
the transition to a new order of things, and was designated by a
peculiar phrase,—the consummation of the age and the last days. It
would be introduced by the appearance of the great Restorer or
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