[43] For the materials of this paper, we are largely indebted to a
biographical sketch by Dr. W. Beyschlag, Professor of Theology in
Halle.
[44] This is the examination which every _gymnasiast_, or scholar of a
Gymnasium, who intends going to a University must pass ere quitting
school. Papers certifying that this examination has been passed have
to be laid before the University authorities prior to matriculation.
[45] F. A. Perthes, of Gotha, son of F. Perthes, has recently
published a collected and cheaper edition of the works of Ullmann.
[46] Dr. Gieseler, author of one of the most valuable Church histories
Germany has produced; Dr. Lücke, best known by his exhaustive
commentary on the writings of St. John; and Dr. Nitzsch, equally
celebrated as a theologian and practical ecclesiastic.
[47] A translation has been published by the Messrs. Clark, of
Edinburgh. The line of argument pursued by Ullmann has an important
bearing on controversies that are now arising in our midst, especially
on that relating to the Incarnation, as opened by such writers as Mr.
Hutton, in his 'Essays,' and Mr. Baring-Gould, in his work on 'The
Origin and Development of Religious Beliefs.' It is not a little
remarkable that the latter, in his discussion of the evidence for the
incarnation, should never allude to the sinlessness of our Lord--a
point on which great stress has justly been laid by some of the most
eminent of the recent apologists for Christianity. If it be true that
Christ was sinless; if it be further true that moral perfection is
impossible, save on the condition of complete fellowship and harmony
with God; if it be further true that the creature, the more intimate
its fellowship with God, the more completely it will recognise, in
word and deed, the distinction between itself and God, then, as it
seems to us, the sinlessness of Jesus, taken in connection with the
claims he advanced for himself, involves his standing in a relation to
God such as is meant by the word incarnation. Either that, or his own
very assertion of sinlessness, is one of the strongest evidences of
his sinfulness. Mr. Baring-Gould's arguments for the incarnation, in
_another form_, may be utilized by such as hold the old position; in
his hands, they seem to us a piece of caprice.