The Jesus of the Evangelists: His Historical Character Vindicated; or, an Examination of the Internal Evidence for our Lord's Divine Mission, with reference to Modern Controversy. By the Rev. C. A. Row, M. A. [pp. 586-612]

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~rd, ii~ a ~v~y which exalts hnn~an reason ill mattcrs of relgion,
verv n~ncli as rationalists ai'e acci~ston~ed to exalt it. At least
so it appears to us ii) reflecting upon tbe manner in ~~1jich he
handles the topics of soi~e of il~e chapters ~vhose titles ~ve Ii ave
just given. Ilis idea seems to he that at first the profoundest
ignorance prevaiied in re~ard to certain truths in morals alid
religiou }~nt that this darkness disappeared little by little,
ai~d tbus ~ithout the aid of any supeinatural revelation, the
doctrine of the~soul~s immortality, and oil~cr trufl~s which
caine to be received, gradually developed ilicinselves, a~d
tii~il}y,some time before tlie advent, constituted a part of the
p~~pnlar bclicf. This concession on tlie part of ~1r. Row to
Naturalism we cannot but regret. Our conviction is that certaiii fundamental truths`vei'e early revealed to in an, and that
they are assumed from tlie beginning of Scripture, and that
these fundamental ideas of faith and morality, " constitute il~e
basis ai~d ba&groni~d of pAinary truth, from which the special
revelitions stand out as they come successively into view."
Ilis erroneous assumptions touching these matters do not,
ho~ever, iiiaterialiy weaken the effect of his argnn~ent. ~1ost
clearly does he show liow iu~mense the interval is ~vhich lies
betweeii the state of thought out of which, as it is alleged,
Christia'iity grew, and Christianity itself The chapter on
` The 4evelopi~~ents of Tudaism between tlie propl~~tic period
and tl~e advent~' is, ~vith ~vhateverfanlts it iiiay have, able and
iliteresting. It treats of the tendencies of Jewi4i thought and
feeling as represented by the three great sects of Pliarisecisin,
Saddnceeis'n, aud i~sseneism; and which wcre rapidly developing themselves in tl~e direction of Rahbinism. In these tenden ci es we see the last phase of ~udaisi~, wl~ich, although it
was intensely adverse to the religion and morality exl~ii~ited
in the person and teaching of our Lord, yet constituted tlie
atinospi~ere iii the midst of ~vliich Christianity ori~iiiatcd.
Ilow can it be maintained that wiil~in a period of a few years
the one grew out of the other in conformity with the action of
the laws of huiiian thought?
But in considering —-f~r ti~e purpose of sho'viu~ the vast
interval which separates Judaism from tlie ~esns of tl~e Gospels-what tiie starting-point was from which tlie Lvaugelical