<- Previous   First   Next ->

Christian Society enters most fully upon the inheritance of earlier life. Three distinct elements contribute to the fulness of the conception of the Christian povli" , ( a ) the Jewish, ( b ) the Greek, and ( c ) the Stoic.

( a ) The Jewish idea of the povli" is centred in the thought of a divine sovereignty, of privileges answering to complete devotion to a Heavenly King. From the first the blessings which were assured to a chosen family were held to be capable of extension to those who accepted the obligations of the Covenant. The natural principle of birth was recognised, but it was subordinated to the principle of a common faith. Stated gatherings of the whole race were enjoined, but they were designed to keep fresh the vigour of institutions which were fixed once for all.

‘The city of the Great King’ (Ps. 48:2; comp. Matt. 5:35) was ideally the home of every member of the commonwealth of Israel, and by the necessity of the case it tended to create a sense of spiritual fellowship offering the hope of an indefinite enlargement (Ps. 87). If slavery found a modified acceptance, it was treated as a transitory condition, and not allowed to destroy the spiritual rights of the slave.

The prophets looked forward to a time when Zion should be the seat of a holy kingdom, of which the Davidic kingdom was a symbol; when the restoration of ‘the people’ should be the prelude to the gathering of ‘the nations’ to the mountain of the LORD; when the Redeemer of Israel should be ‘the God of the whole earth’: when Jerusalem should become a universal centre of worship (Joel 3; Amos 9:11 ff.; Is. 54; 66:20 [LXX.]; Ezek. 40 ff.; Zech. 12, 14). In this larger view of the divine povli" nothing was lost of the original conception of a community of worshippers, ideally citizen-priests; but it was recognised that the privileges which belonged to Israel corresponded with the destiny of humanity and must therefore be at last presented in a form which was able to bring them within the reach of all men (comp. Tob. 13:9 ff.).

( b ) The povli" of Judaism was in its conception the most comprehensive in the old world. So far from the Jews deserving the reproach of illiberal narrowness, as long as they remained true to their Scriptures, they offered a unique example of a nation most definite in its organisation, which admitted freely the incorporation of new members and looked forward to a world-wide religious communion in one faith. The Greek conception of the povli" was sharply contrasted with the Jewish. The Jewish was essentially universal because it was the embodiment of the One Divine will: the Greek was limited, because it was the affirmation of personal rights. It was designed to realise as fully as possible the powers of man in the best and not in all. It rested on a community of blood, religion, law. It assumed the inherent superiority of the Greek race, and was founded upon slavery (Arist. Pol. 3.5). It tended to develop in the privileged few the immediate sense of privilege, of responsibility, of individual freedom, in the highest degree; but it excluded the possibility of wide extension. Each citizen exercised his power directly. The power therefore could not be extended to more than might be supposed to be able to meet for counsel. Thus while it has been maintained that the povli" was anterior to the citizen, it was also maintained that the povli" could be no greater than sufficed for the fullest development of the citizen. In the face of facts Plato admitted that the end of civic life was not reached in existing


<- Previous   First   Next ->