1849.] Development of the Church. 415 his revealed word is the everlasting truth and the absolute rule of faith and practice, which the Christian world may never transcend or leave behind. The doctrine of an improvement of Biblical Christianity, of an advance on the part of man beyond revelation or beyond Christ himself, is entirely rationalistic and unchristian. Such a so-called improvement were only a deterioration, and a falling back into the old Judaism or Paganism. But from this idea of the church in the divine mind, we must distinguish her actual manifestation upon the earth; from the objective revelation itself, the subjective apprehension and appropriation of this in the consciousness of humanity, at a given time. This is progressive. As little as the single Christian may at once become a perfect saint, can humanity as a whole at once appropriate to itself the fulness of life which is in Christ. On the contrary, this can take place only by a gradual process, with much trouble and toil. As in the case then of every individual believer, and indeed of Christ himself in his human nature, we must speak of the church also, under her historical form, as passing through the different stages of infancy, childhood, youth, and mature age. She advances from one measure of truth, knowledge, holiness, to another; struggles victoriously through the opposition of an ungodly world; overcomes innumerable foes within and without; surmounts all manner of obstructions and diseases; till finally, made free from all sin and error, at the general resurrection, she shall exchange her militant for the triumphant state, and appear thus everlastingly complete. This whole process however is nothing more than the realization of the idea of the church as presented in Christ from the beginning, the appropriation and impression of his spirit and life on all sides. Christ is thus the beginning, middle, and end, of the entire process of church history. This process of growth is in part an outward extension over the face of the globe, until all nations come to walk in the light of the gospel. In this respect mainly our Lord compares the kingdom of God to a grain of mustard, which is the least among all seeds, but grows to be a great tree, in whose branches the birds of heaven make their nests (Matt. 13: 31, 32). In part again it is an inward development of the idea of the church, in doctrine, life, worship, and government, or a more complete impress continually of the new life principle which has appeared in Christ, and is destined to pass over from him to the human race, so as gradually to transform the whole world into 1 Comp. Luke 2: 52, " And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." Heb. 5: 8, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered and being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." a glorious and blessed kingdom of God. To this refer the numerous passages in St. Paul's epistles, in which mention is made of the growth and edification of the body of Christ, " till we all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children," etc. (Eph. 4: 12—16. comp. 3: 17-19. Col. 2: 19). This development moreover is organic, that is, not an outward mechanical heaping together of facts that stand in no living connection with one another, but a process which springs from within, out of the vital energy implanted in the church, and continues in its course identical with itself, as the man through all stages of his life still remains a man. The untrue and imperfect in an earlier stage is overcome by that which follows, while what is true and essential is preserved, and made the living germ of further development. The history of all Christian nations, and of all times from Christ to the final judgment, forms a connected whole, and represents only in such totality the entire fulness of the new creation. Since the church on earth stands in perpetual conflict with the unbelieving world, and even believers themselves are still entangled with sin and error, it follows that the development in question is not regular and quiet, but a constant struggle; it proceeds through all sorts of obstructions, diseases, and extremes, through innumerable heresies and schisms. But even these disorders themselves, in the hand of Him who can bring good out of evil, are made to serve in the end the cause of truth and piety. There is no pause, strictly speaking, in history. Single lateral streams of it may indeed dry up; small sects, for instance, which have fulfilled their course, or even large divisions of the church that have once played a highly important part, may fall into stagnation, congeal into dead formalism, when they close themselves wilfully against all historical progress, as is the case with most of the Oriental churches. But the main stream of the church moves uninterruptedly onward, and must finally reach the mark which is proposed for it of God. Along with the wheat, however, according to the comparison already quoted, ripen at the same time also the tares, for the harvest of the last judgment; in connection with the development of the good, of truth and Christianity, advances the development of the evil, falsehood, and antichrist, and the two processes are often in such close contact that it requires the sharpest eye, rightly to discriminate between light and shade, the work of God and the work of Satan, who as we know not unfrequently transforms himself into an angel of light. Even here indeed we see the hand of righteous retribution, turning wicked thoughts and deeds to shame, and punishing the enemies of God; but 1849.] The Church and the World. 417 in the present world, this is only partially and imperfectly the case. The famous word of Schiller, "Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht," must accordingly be so far corrected: "Die Weltgeschichte ist Ein Weltgericht, Und Fluch und Segen fällt aus ihren Händen, Wo erst sich Fluch und Segen wird vollenden."1 5. The Church and the World. The church, like Christianity itself of which it is the bearer, is at supernatural principle, a new creation of God through Christ Jesus, far exalted above all that human intelligence and will are able of themselves to produce. In this character, her relation to the natural world, as fallen from God and lying in wickedness, is in the first place one of direct hostility; in which view, church history and the history of the world, (here taken as profane history), stand in conflict with one another. Since however Christianity is ordained for men, and aims to raise them to their proper perfection, the hostility now mentioned cannot regard nature itself as it has come from the hands of God and belongs to the true essence of man, but only the corruption of nature, that is sin and error; so that it must come to an end, when these ungodly elements are overcome. Christianity proposes not to annihilate human nature, but to redeem and sanctify it from the power of evil. Revelation seeks not to destroy reason, but to enlighten it and to inform it with its own spirit. The church must subdue the whole world finally, not with an arm of flesh, but with the weapons of faith and love, the Spirit and the Word, bringing it in captivity to the feet of the crucified One. The supernatural passes over thus into the natural, and becomes more and more at home upon the earth and among men; the Word, in this sense also, becomes flesh, and dwells among us, in such way that we can see, feel, taste and enjoy his glory. Nor is it, in this view, a single department of the world, that the kingdom of God proposes thus to pervade and master, but the world as a whole. Christianity is absolutely catholic or universal in its character; that is, it is designed for all nations, for all times, and for all spheres of our human existence; the church is humanity itself, A more full exposition of the idea of development, which falls in properly with that of history itself and is indispensable to the cultivation of it with any liv ing spirit, has been attempted at least in our small work entitled: What is Church History? A Vindication of the idea of Historical Development. Philadelphia: Lippincott & Co. See especially p. 80 sq. made perfect and complete. The whole creation groans after redemption and the glorious liberty of the children of God. The moral order of the world can never become complete, without being permeated in full by the life of the God-man. Nay, the very body itself, and the surrounding earth, are to be comprehended in the all-pervading and transforming process; since the new creation finds its end in the resurrection, and in new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Whence our Lord compares the kingdom of God with leaven, which is to pervade the entire human mass, that is our human life as a whole, in spirit, soul, and body (Matt. 13: 33). The several spheres of the world in its good sense, or the essential forms of human life ordained of God himself for its proper evolution, are particularly the family, the State, science, art, and morality. On all these Christianity exerts, in the course of history, a purifying and sanctifying influence, and lays them under service to the glory of God and the establishment of his kingdom, till God may be all in all. It recognizes in the family a divine order, but raises it at the same time to a far higher character than it ever had before, by conforming it to the law of monogamy, placing the relative duties of husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, on their highest religious ground, and consecrating the whole institution by the reference in which it is made to stand to the sacred union of Christ with the church. Marriage meets us accordingly under its happiest forms, and reveals its richest fruits of domestic bliss, in the history of Christianity. In the same way, the State is regarded here also as a divine institution, for the maintenance of order in human society, for the encouragement of good, for the punishment of evil, and for the promotion generally of the public weal; while however the magistrate himself is again made dependent on the absolute sovereignty of God and responsible to it, and subjects are required to obey for the Lord's sake. Thus arbitrary despotism is counteracted, obedience is shorn of its slavish spirit, cruel and hurtful institutions are gradually abolished, and room is made for the introduction more and more of wise and wholesome civil laws. The end of history in this respect is a theocracy, in which all dominion and power shall be given to the saints of the Most High, and all nations shall joyfully yield themselves to his will as their only law. Christianity owns no opposition in principle to science, imparts to it rather a new impulse, and itself gives birth to the most lofty of all sciences, theology; but it is ever active in separating error and egoism from science, leads it to the highest source of all wisdom and knowledge, to God as revealed in Christ, and rests not till all sciences are finally transformed into theosophy, and so carried back to the ground from 1849.] Definition of Church History. 419 which originally they take their rise. What Bacon says of philosophy holds good of science in general: Philosophia obiter libata abducit a Deo, penitus hausta reducit ad eundem. The arts in general the church takes into her service, and produces herself the noblest creations in architecture, painting, music and poetry. The scope of history in this direction, is the spiritualization of all arts in worship, or divine service. Lastly, Christianity tranforms the whole moral life, both of individuals and of entire nations, infuses into morality its proper soul, namely, love to God, and rests not till all sin is banished from the earth, and holiness as it belongs essentially to the idea of the church is fully realized in the life of redeemed humanity. § 6. Church History. We have now opened the way to a definition of church history. It is nothing else than the gradual actualization of the plan of the kingdom of God in the life of humanity, the outward and inward development of the church; that is, her extension throughout the earth, and the introduction of the spirit of Christ into all spheres of human existence, the family, the State, arts, sciences, and morality, to form them into organs and expressions of this spirit, for the glory of God and the advancement of man to his proper perfection and happiness. It is the sum of all the utterances and deeds, experiences and fortunes, all the sufferings and conflicts and victories, of Christianity in general, as well as of all manifestations which God has made of himself in it and by its means. As the church militant lives in the midst of the ungodly world, which also forces itself into it in manifold ways, it follows of course that in church history also all kinds of sinful passions, perversions and caricatures of divine truth, heresies and divisions, will come into view; as we find indeed to have been the case extensively, in the age of the New Testament itself. For, in proportion as the kingdom of light causes itself to be felt, the kingdom of darkness also shows itself more active, and whets its weapons on Christianity itself. Judas not only stood in the sacred circle of the apostles, but wanders also as Ahasuerus through the ecclesiastical sanctuary of all centuries. The most dangerous and hateful forms of human and diabolical perversion, are called forth in direct opposition to the highest manifestations of the Spirit of God. But church history shows, in the first place, that this opposition, that all errors and divisions, even where they may have come for a long time to almost universal prevalence, must still in the end serve only to assist the church to a sense of her true calling, to |
