2. It gave the apostle an opportunity to view the whole church. The veteran says that when he is on the firing line he knows little of the battle save that in his immediate vicinity. It is the man who is with the commander back of the line who sees the whole conflict. The change in Paul is from one on the firing line to one with the commander. For years he had been at work seeing only those and knowing no needs save those immediately at hand. From time to time reports of schisms and false teaching reached him, and he replied in scathing terms, even pronouncing a curse on those who differed with him. But held in restraint at Cæsarea he had little to do but think. And his thinking gave him a larger view of the church. It is no longer the church in any particular place, but the church of Christ in the world and there to stay. His thinking finds expression in the "prison epistles." These are quite different from the earlier ones. There is no contradiction or inconsistency, no change of foundation. But he is building a loftier and fairer superstructure.

This enlarged vision affected him in at least three respects:

1. He has a new conception of Christ. Before it was the divine Lord of the resurrection, now it is the human Lord. Before it was the work of Christ, now it is the person of Christ. His experience had been the opposite of that of the other disciples. They had seen first the human Lord and then the divine Lord; he saw first the divine Lord and then the human Lord. As a result during these years he had been living on the mountain top, away from the world, away from man. His whole endeavor had been to get man away from the world. The spirit of asceticism was present. Now he sees Jesus Christ as human, and living among men to save them. These later epistles are Christological.

2. He has a new conception of Christ's second coming. In Thessalonians it was in the immediate future; now it is more remote. Then it was to save as many as possible before the second coming; now it is the gradual transformation of the world.

3. These brought him a new conception of the church. It is in the world to stay till Christ's second coming. It is here to be the leaven that is to leaven the whole lump. This means that it must be built up in its moral character. Its work is not alone the

saving of sinners, but the perfecting of saints. Hence more of sanctification is found in these epistles. The church must have in it "the mind of Christ." It must measure up to the "fullness of the stature of Christ." For it he prays that it For it he prays that it may be " kept pure and blameless, in readiness for the day of Christ." His changed emphasis to Christology has made the church more than an organization for services and worship. It is now a hive of activity in moral and charitable work. It is the church of God in the world representing its human Lord. As a result these later epistles are entirely different in their construction-so much so that it would be hard to connect the pastoral epistles with the earlier ones if we did not have the intermediate epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians.

1. These later epistles are less doctrinal and more ethical. And it is a morality of motives that is presented. The Jew had attempted to label everything good or bad, and to determine a man's character by the labels. But Paul teaches that that which is good to-day may be bad to-morrow because of the motive. To quote another, "It is no longer a question of what we shall do and where we shall go, but why we shall do and how we shall go." This is a great change. The Christian is not bound by any walls of prohibition, or by any attempts to observe rules and moral laws. "To the pure all things are pure." The Christian is to "stand in the freedom wherewith Christ set him free." The determining factor is his motive. To him all days are Sabbath, used unto God, and all work is religious work. Yet there is nothing of antinomianism. He is very careful to lay down a full line of principles of ethics, and at times drops from the principle to the detail. There is hardly a line of human conduct that is not treated somewhere in these prison epistles. The thought of the apostle seems to be to get away from a legalistic Christianity, and have the man measure himself not by the moral law or a moral code, but by Jesus Christ, who is in the fullness of divine perfection.

2. The need of a more thoroughly organized church is recognized. Hence much space is given to organization and pastoral theology. Public worship, prayer methods, qualifications of church officers, methods of teaching, directions to officers, are some of the

subjects treated in the first letter to Timothy. It is evident that he realizes that the simple congregationalism of the church of that day was inadequate; and his directions regarding the reorganization of the church at Ephesus may have been the beginning of what developed into the papal church a century later.

3. At first a seemingly secondary matter is his changed attitude toward marriage. But on consideration this will be found quite fundamental. He tells the Corinthians that, while it is not unlawful to marry, yet it is an occasion of tribulation and is likely to lead them from God. So he advises all unmarried persons to remain single. This he distinctly states is simply his judgment and not a commandment. In Ephesians he compares marriage to the union between Christ and the church-"an honorable estate." He tells Timothy that young women ought to marry and that he who teaches otherwise is a schismatic and false teacher. This change is due to his changed view of the second advent and larger view of the church. As he now sees it Christ is the head of all things. He exists, not alone for the church, but for the world. And he has an unconscious influence upon it. This larger theoretical dominion of Christ pointed to a larger actual dominion. All things must be brought under the conscious influence of Christ. But if this world is to be Christianized a Christian society becomes necessary. So Paul rises to defend the home. He wants its Christian influence. He defends it against evil attacks, giving as his reason why young women should marry "that there be no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully." He defends it against an encroachment of the spirit upon the flesh. Christianity was becoming popular. Young men were leaving home to become missionaries. He wants them to show piety at home and requite their parents. Some were giving to the church at the expense of the home. Such, he says, are worse than infidels. The home was being neglected and destroyed for the church, so he defends the home.

4. There is a changed attitude toward heretics. In the earlier epistles he has been unscathing in his denunciation of them. But in these later ones his attitude is different. In Rome certain persons are preaching Christ with the purpose of annoying the

prisoner. Possibly it is a legalistic Christianity. Whatever it may be, he has no anathemas to hurl at them. Rather he is rejoicing that Christ has been preached even if it be in an imperfect manner. The big thing is that Christ is being preached. More distinctly is this shown in Second Timothy. Two men, Hymenæus and Philetus, have been teaching a heresy regarding the resurrection with the result that some have backslidden. Paul is instructing Timothy how to deal with them. Love, not excommunication, is the principle. What a man believes with his head is of small importance provided his heart is all right. It is not theology, but morals, that is to determine. "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his," and "Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity." The house of God is large and has a firm foundation. All large houses have vessels of honor and of dishonor. God knows them that are his, let him do the excommunicating. Only, Timothy, be sure you are a vessel of honor. In other words, Paul now determines a man's right to church membership not by what he thinks but by what he does. Let him alone for a time. If his life prove true, then lovingly attempt to lead him to a true mental attitude. But if his wrong thinking leads him to wrong acting and his heresy of mind becomes a heresy of heart, then he should be excommunicated. He would let every man who professed to be a Christian be a Christian unless his acts showed he was not. Such is Paul's charitable stand toward the heretic in the last extant epistle written by him.

GA Baldwin

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENTS

NOTES AND DISCUSSIONS

SOME men who have been educated in schools founded and maintained by men of faith and piety turn and kick down the ladder by which they have climbed, and try to persuade their fellows to live without God and die without hope. They have reason to be thankful that they were born in a land where the gospel they reject has tamed the ferocity of men who but for Christianity might long ago have eaten their carcases as did the South Sea Islanders or cut off their heads and tanned their hides as did the monsters of the French Revolution. An Englishman visiting the Fiji Islands told a converted chief that he was foolish to listen to the missionaries, who wanted to impose their religion on him and his people. This was the old chief's answer: "Do you see that great stone over there? On that stone we smashed the heads of our victims to death. Do you see that native oven over yonder? In that oven we roasted the human bodies for our great feasts. Now you, you!-if it had not been for these missionaries, for that old Book, and the great love of Jesus Christ which has changed us from savages into God's children, you, you, would never leave this spot! You have to thank God for the gospel, as otherwise you would be killed and roasted in yonder oven, and we would feast on your body in no time.”

LIFE'S SEASONS

IN Luccardi's studio, in Rome, were four marble busts representing the seasons. Spring was a delicate girl, with rosebuds at her breast, flowers in her smooth, silky hair, and a wistful look of the future. Summer was a woman with full lips, face, and figure, flushed with vigorous, lusty life, headed wheat in her hair, and a satisfied look of the present. Autumn was the same face later, crowned with clustered grapes, wearing a look of pensive retrospect, half-mournful satiety, and disenchantment, a sober afternoon look of reality, and seeing things as they are. Winter, with rigid, shrunken face and blown hair, wore pine cones in her thin locks, and her rheumy, uncertain eyes seemed to face a driving storm. This last bust was as effective artistically as the others, but too grim and stern to be pleas