s to an infusion of Greek
Philosophy; others to the practical experience and the scientific
discoveries of the modern world. Christianity in the course of
nineteen centuries has gradually absorbed into itself many ideas from
various sources, {165} christianizing them in the process. Many ideas,
much Hellenic Philosophy, many Hellenic ideals of life, many Roman
ideas of government and organization have thus, in the excellent phrase
of Professor Gardner, been 'baptized into Christ.' This capacity of
absorbing into itself elements of spiritual life which were originally
independent of it is not a defect of historical Christianity, but one
of its qualifications for being accepted by the modern world as a
universal, an absolute, a final Religion.

It does not seem to me possible to recognize the claim of any
historical Religion to be final and ultimate, unless it include within
itself a principle of development. Let me, as briefly as I can,
illustrate what I mean. It is most clearly and easily seen in the case
of Morality. If the idea of a universal Religion is to mean that any
detailed code of Morals laid down at a definite moment of history can
serve by itself for the guidance of all human life in all after ages,
we may at once dismiss the notion as a dream. In nothing did our Lord
show his greatness and the fitness of his Religion for universality
more than in abstaining from drawing up such a code. He confined
himself to laying down a few great principles, with illustrations
applicable to the circumstances of his immediate hearers. Those
principles require development and application to the needs and {166}
circumstances of successive ages before they can suffice to guide us in
the details of conduct. To effect this development and application has
been historically the work of the Church which owes its origin to the
disciples whom he gathered around him. If we may accept the teaching
of the fourth Gospel as at least having germs in the actual utterances
of our Lord, he himself foresaw the necessity of such a development.
At all events the belief in the continued work of God's Spirit in human
Society is an essential principle of the Christian Religion as it was
taught by the first followers of its Founder. Take for instance the
case of slavery. Our Lord never condemned slavery: it is not certain
that he would have done so, had the case been presented to him. Very
likely his answer would have been 'Who made me