stin Martyr, the pseudo-Clement, and the
pseudo-Ignatius, down to the time of the Council of Nikaia, when the
official theories of Christ's person assumed very nearly the shape which
they have retained, within the orthodox churches of Christendom, down
to the present day. As we pointed out in the foregoing essay, while all
this voluminous literature throws but an uncertain light upon the life
and teachings of the founder of Christianity, it nevertheless furnishes
nearly all the data which we could desire for knowing what the early
Christians thought of the master of their faith. Having given a brief
account of the historic career of Jesus, so far as it can now be
determined, we propose here to sketch the rise and progress of
Christologic doctrine, in its most striking features, during the first
three centuries. Beginning with the apostolic view of the human Messiah
sent to deliver Judaism from its spiritual torpor, and prepare it
for the millennial kingdom, we shall briefly trace the progressive
metamorphosis of this conception until it completely loses its identity
in the Athanasian theory, according to which Jesus was God himself, the
Creator of the universe, incarnate in human flesh.

The earliest dogma held by the apostles concerning Jesus was that of his
resurrection from the grave after death. It was not only the earliest,
but the most essential to the success of the new religion. Christianity
might have overspread the Roman Empire, and maintained its hold upon
men's faith until to-day, without the dogmas of the incarnation and the
Trinity; but without the dogma of the resurrection it would probably
have failed at the very outset. Its lofty morality would not alone have
sufficed to insure its success. For what men needed then, as indeed they
still need, and will always need, was not merely a rule of life and a
mirror to the heart, but also a comprehensive and satisfactory theory
of things, a philosophy or theosophy. The times demanded intellectual as
well as moral consolation; and the disintegration of ancient theologies
needed to be repaired, that the new ethical impulse imparted by
Christianity might rest upon a plausible speculative basis. The doctrine
of the resurrection was but the beginning of a series of speculative
innovations which prepared the way for the new religion to emancipate
itself from Judaism, and achieve the conquest of the Empire. Even the
faith of the apostles in the speedy return of their mas