on the
building of Babel or on the gift of the law on Sinai. Herder disliked
the theories of Kant with cordial aversion. Of course the Koenigsberg
sage had nothing in common with the Weimar rhapsodist. Had Herder only
given a prominence to his belief in the _fact_ of inspiration equally
with an admiration of the _method_ of it, his service to the cause of
practical religion would have been incalculable. Yet, in his views of
the person of Christ, he was far in advance of the times. He conceived
Christ not as a mere innovating teacher, but as the great centre of
faith. His belief in the sufficiency of the atonement stands out in bold
contrast with the barren faith of his Weimar associates, who had such
lofty ideas of human excellence that they thought man needed only one
thing more to complete his perfection,--his emergence from ignorance
into taste and knowledge. But Herder could see an abyss of depravity in
the heart along with the germ of excellence. He held that Christ alone
was able to annihilate the former and develop the latter. He believed
that the first three evangelists gave the human side of Christ's
character, and that it was John who revealed his divinity. With these
four accounts before us we cannot be at a loss to form a sound opinion
on the mission of the Messiah. He came to seek and save the lost. What
he accomplished could have been effected by no other agency. Herder's
own words are: "Jesus must be looked upon as the first real fountain of
purity, freedom, and salvation to the world." Of the Lord's Supper he
said, on his entrance upon his pastoral duties at Weimar, "The Lord's
Supper should not be a mere word and picture, but a fact and truth. We
should taste and see what joys God has prepared for us in Jesus Christ
when we have intercourse with him at his own table. In every event and
accident of life we should feel that we are his brethren and are sitting
at one table, and that, when we refresh ourselves at the festival of our
Saviour, we are resting in the will and love of the great King of the
world as in the bosom of the Father. The high, still joy of Christ, and
the spirit which prevails in the eternal kingdom of heaven should speak
out from ourselves, influence others, and testify of our own love." It
is a lamentable reflection, however, that Herder's lofty views of the
mission of Christ, which had been formed in the paternal home, were, in
common with many other evangelical views, doomed to an un