states, but he added in remarkable words:
ejn oujranw'/ i[sw" paravdeigma ajnavkeitai tw'/ boulomevnw/ oJra'n, kai; oJrw'nti eJauto;n katoikivzein
(
Resp.
ix.
s. f.
p. 592).
( c ) The Greek conception of the povli" emphasised as strongly as possible the rights and the duties of the citizen, the privileged man; but his position of advantage was purchased at a high price. It required for its attainment the subjection of all others. Those who looked at the capacities of men as men could not rest in such a state of things. The great Stoic leaders, who came at many points into contact with Jewish teaching, proclaimed a universal povli" , a city co-extensive with the world. What is man? Epictetus asks. A member of a state ( mevro" povlew" , comp. Sen. Ep. 95.52) he replies, of that primarily which consists of Gods and men (comp. Cic. de fin. 3.19, 64; Sen. de otio 4.1), and next of that which bears the name and is most near to us, a state which is a small copy of the universal state ( Dissert. 2.5, 26; comp. 3:22, 4; 85; 24, 10). Man, Marcus Aurelius says, is a citizen of that sublimest state of which all other states are (as it were) houses ( Medit. 3.11). The end of a rational being is to follow the principle and law of the state and constitution which is anterior to all beside ( id. 2.16; comp. 4:4; 23; 6:44).
This conception was adopted by Philo. The supreme state ( hJ megalovpoli" ), he writes, is this world, and it obeys one constitution and one law ( de Jos. § 6; 2:46 M.). The soul of the wise accounts in very truth heaven as its fatherland, and earth as a strange country ( de agric. § 14; 1.310 M.). Such souls after a time go back again thither whence they first started, holding that the heavenly region, in which they live their true life ( ejn w|/ politeuvontai ), is their fatherland, and the earthly, in which they sojourn, a strange place ( de conf. ling. § 17; 1.416 M.).
These three distinct conceptions of the povli" , which were widely influential in the Apostolic age, are combined in the conception of the Christian commonwealth. It is the seat of a Divine Presence which carries with it the promise of the fulfilment of a divine counsel in the fellowship of man with God. It is a community in which each citizen is endowed with the completest privileges and charged with the fullest responsibility for the general welfare. It is a world-wide organisation embracing in a communion of the largest hope all thinking things, all objects of all thought. In the Apocalypse the Jewish conception finds its most striking application. In the Epistles of St Paul the Greek conception is dominant. But in each case the idea of universality raises the particular conception to its loftiest form.
The real significance of the imagery of the Apocalypse is liable to be mistaken. This is largely derived from Ezekiel. The holy city, new Jerusalem (Eze. 21:2), is in fact not a city, made up of human dwellings, but one building, a Temple, a House of God (comp. Ezek. 40:2), which has hitherto been in heaven (chs. 4, 5; 11:19; 14:15, 17; 8:3; 16:7; comp. Heb. 8:5). It is a perfect cube (Eze. 21:16), four-square to all the elements, of absolute symmetry and strength. Angel-watches guard its gates (21:12). A single street, as in the earthly Temple, gives an approach to that manifestation of God which takes the place of the Sanctuary (21:21 ff.). The people live in a Paradise around it, and have free access to the divine throne (22:1 ff.; 14,
19); and at the same time, under another aspect, some at least among them are themselves part of the spiritual Sanctuary (3:12). The name of god, and