Preface and Introduction
“ps occur to you,” says a gifted writer,
I K j” count the number of times in St. Paul’s
i Epistles, in which the phrases ’ m Christ,’
and its equivalents * in Him,’ and * in the Lord ’ are to
be found?” ’
With singular, and very notable iteration, no less indeed than on thirty-three occasions, do the words “IN CHEIST” alone, independent of these equivalents, occur.^
This Volume is an attempt to gather the characteristic expression (or occasionally where the Apostle’s thought and meaning are more suggestive, the latter), as themes of meditation.^
I have used the word “Monogram” on the title-page and throughout, from the difficulty of finding any
Dean Howson’s Hulsean Lectures.
Besides these, as we shall aftenvards find, our translators in their rendering have occasionally adopted the preposition “through,” when it is “in” (iv) in the original.
3 In case any may care to employ them as daily readings, they are numbered so as to extend over a month.
other that would better describe the favourite phrase. This IN Christo is the cor cordium of his writings: the key-note, — the one master-chord which vibrates and pulsates through the whole divine symphony; recalling, as an Old Testament parallel, the watchword of the Great Elijah — “Jehovah liveth.”
Are his Epistles a temple of living stones? IN Chkisto is the superscription on the portico. Does he speak of running the Christian race? in Christo is the sacred torch he holds aloft in pressing towards the goal, and which he hands down to his successors in all ages. Is the badge assigned to him by the early Church — the sword of conquest entwined with a garland of victory? IN Christo, if we can venture to employ a modern term to the acknowledged chief of the spiritual aristocracy, is the heraldic motto encircling it. “Thou hast given a banner,” says the Psalmist, “to them that fear thee:” — in Christo was the banner-device of this illustrious champion of the faith. Like a clarion-note, it rises clear and loud above * the shout and shell of battle.’ It was solely in the mystic, but very real significance of the grand spiritual verity therein expressed, that
Favourite epithets and phrases occur in the %mtings of more than one of the sacred penmen, suggested by some special incidents in their lives. Note (for example), St. Peter’s frequent reference to hi-y Divine Master, as “the Shepherd,” “the Chief Shepherd,” “the Shepherd and Bishop of Souls:” — emblems which the memories of the Lake-shore — “Feed my sheep,” “Feed my Lambs,” are surely sufficient very naturally to account for. The In Christo of the other Apostle does not require to be explained by any similar suggestion or association.
PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION. ix
he would have accepted the otherwise -unauthorised ’ nimbus ’ and ’ halo ’ with which the devout painters of early and mediaeval ages cinctured his brow. If, like a second Moses on the Heavenly Mount, his countenance shone, he would allow it to be only with a borrowed, reflected lustre: — “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in” (from) “the face of Jesus Christ.” All the above and similar comparisons, indeed, fall short of his own comprehensive epigrammatic utterance — “The life hid with Christ in God” (Col. iii. 3). Well may the gilded lettering gleam on the baldacchino of the Roman Basilica which tradition claims for his tomb — “Mihi, vivere, Christus est”
On two other occasions alone are St. Paul’s distinguishing words used in the I^ew Testament. One of these is in a historical reference to the Apostle, defining the topic of his preaching before Felix. But even that is coupled with an allusion to the familiar phrase,” concerning the faith IN Christ ‘* (Acts xxiv. 24). The other occurs in the ist Epistle of St. Peter (iii. 16). And may not this latter claim, too, a similar
According to the strong and emphatic meaning of the original, he made his ’ boast ’ in Christ. Although rendered by the same in our translation, there are two different words in the Greek, when he speaks in the commencement of Phil. iii. of *’ rejoicing in the Lord “(xatpere ev KvpicS) (ver. i): and “rejoicing in Christ Jesus” {Kaxrxjuyevoi. ev Xpcarifj ‘ItjctoO), lit. ’ making our boast in Christ Jesus ’ (ver. 3), rising in the latter to the more exultant term. It is the same word which is employed in his great Galatian motto- verse — “God forbid that I should glory (or boast), save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. vi. 14).
pedigree? Is it not more than probable that, like a strain of music, it may have lingered in the memory of the Apostle of the circumcision, as a relic of the hallowed converse enjoyed more than once with “his beloved Brother Paul “: more especially during those never-to-be-forgotten days, when they abode together under the same roof at Jerusalem, and spake together of “the things touching the King” (Gal. i. 1 8)?
If the Monogram, as I have thus ventured to call it, was peculiarly St. Paul’s own in Gospel times, it was not so afterwards. He seems, at all events, to have bequeathed the words as a precious souvenir to those who in a subsequent age followed his steps and shared his crown. To the writer, it is one of the most touching and interesting remembrances of a sojourn in the city of the Apostle’s later years and martyrdom, how, in the Roman Catacombs, with their computed six millions of buried Christians, the mourners and survivors of the martyred dead had served themselves heirs to the same divine “graffito” of the greatest of the Fathers! How remarkable to trace, ever and anon, inscriptions in rude lettering of the In Christo, either found within, or else taken from, these strangest of burial grounds.^ I quote the following, not from
The slabs and inscriptions are chiefly to be seen in the singular collection in the Vatican. Some in the Museum of St. John Lateran, or that of the Capitol. (See note at end of Preface.) Moreover, while the Catacombs have thus largely contributed, it may be well also to state that many of these slabs and sculptured sarcophagi were discovered in the Vestibules or under the pavement of the early Basilicas.
memory, but from the accurate pages of those who have had leisure to transcribe the tracings, often incomplete, and to a hurried visitor, difficult to decipher.
“ViCTORiNA, IN PACE ET IN Christo” (Victorina — in peace, and in Christ).^
“Fortunatus, in his lifetime, made this for himself, in order that when he should rest in peace, IN Christ, he might have his grave prepared.”
“Marius Vitellianus, to his most faithful wife Primitiva... mayest thou live” (vivas) “in Christ.”
“Ursula, thou art accepted IN Christ” (Ursula,
ACCEPTA SIS IN ChRISTO).
This latter is followed by a double * Chrism ’ (the word now generally employed to describe the Christian monogram). An accurate explorer has noted, as a formula common on the sepulchral stones of the primitive Christians — “Spes IN Christo.” “Spes in Deo.” “Spes in Christo Deo.” This, in conjunction not unfrequently with the symbolic Anchor (as in the crypt of St. Lucina). “Which hope” (spes) “we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus:” (the hope IN Christ, — the anchor cast in the Rock of Ages), (Heb. vi. 19, 20). A seal found among other smaller articles (see p. XV. of Preface) bears the similar legend — “Spes IN Eo” (Hope IN Him). The following inscription is
See note, end of Preface.
from a sarcophagus of the fourth or fifth century: — “Here lies Paulina in the place of the blessed. Pacata, to whom she was nurse, buried her. A lovable, and holy person, in Christ.” On a slab or “tabula” in a wall of the Vatican Library, we have — “Yitalis, buried on Saturday. Kalends of August. In Christ, the Pirst and the Last:” — (The Chrism being added to this, with the Greek Alpha and Omega). “Aselus sleeps IN Christ.” “Irene, in peace. Her mother Agape set up this. In Christ.” Touching testimony, first of all, as to how fondly they treasured the name, character, and inspired teaching of him, whom Chrysostom, in one of his golden phrases, calls “the heart of the world.” But a testimony also, equally strong,
1 “On the slabs of the earlier loculi, e.g., in the cemeteries of Priscilla and Domitilla, the name is only painted in red and black pigment, not cut or scratched.... When engraved, the letters are often coloured with vermilion.” — Canon Venables.
- Those who are curious in such matters, can consult, in the British Museum Library (in addition to De Rossi’s gigantic work, “Roma Sotteranea”), the folio volume of Marco Boldetti (Rome 1720), with its quaint but faithful reproductions. The most remarkable of these inscriptions have been well rendered by Mr. Maitland in his more accessible Volume, “The Church in the Catacombs,” along vaih. much valuable material of his own. It may be interesting to add that the most assiduous — we may well say the most extraordinary collector of Christian Inscriptions, was a young scholar who lived at the close of the last century, by name G?etano Marini. The result of thirty-five years devotion was bequeathed to the Vatican Library, and afterwards compiled by De Rossi, in his 31 volumes, containing no less than 8600 inscriptions in Latin, and 750 in Greek, gathered from all countries. Among other epitaphs deciphered by Marini bearing on our theme, are — “Accepta sis in Christo.” “Aeterna tibi lux in Christo” (450- 454). — See Die. of Christian Antiquities. Art. Inscriptions.^^ as to the wealth of import which was deemed to be included in the phrase itself; meeting, as it did, alike present experiences and aspirations, and boundless future hopes: comprising, in one glorious, emphatic, all-comprehensive word, assurances of peace in life, peace in trouble, peace in death, peace in eternity.
From these slumbering ashes of the Catacombs of St. Calixtus, that requiem comes down to us, if we can so express it, in its own dumb and silent significance, — its own unimpaired majesty of comfort and peerless privilege. Civis Eomanus Sum, was a proud claim and assertion of the ancient Roman. What is it to the In Christo of the humblest of God’s children? “In Christ:” — You in Christ, and “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. i. 27). Let us aspire to realise the infinite fulness treasured up IN Sim. He is the same this day as he was to Paul; the same as He was to the loyal band who loved to grave His name, and their sacred interest in that name, as a conspicuous portion of the epitaph on the tombs of their sainted dead. There are those who would travestie the words and meaning of a great poet; those who, false to all the sacred traditions and beliefs of the past, would
“Ring in the Christ that is to be.”
“The Christ that is to be,” is the Christ that is, and the Christ that was, to the glorious company of the Apostles and the noble army of martyrs: the Christ, regarding whom this is the ambition of His xiv PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION.
noblest follower — “That I may win Him, and be found IN Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is, through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. iii. 9).
St. Paul (and remember he was no mystic, but the most intensely practical of men) speaks of “all spiritual blessings IN Christ” (Eph. i. 3). Some of the more prominent of these, as suggested by his own inspired pen, are to be traced in the pages which follow: although I can truly say, in the words of Luther — “I have scarcely been able to bring to light more than a few little fragments and broken pieces from this most rich and precious mine.”
After what has just been said, it need hardly be added (though it may be well at once to state on the
1 A distinguished living scholar thus lucidly adverts to the salient article in St. Paul’s writings which is to occupy us in the sequel. Speaking of the false ethical teachings which had crept into a particular Church, and which were deceiving many who were honestly striving after truth: — “It was,” says he, *’ the one purpose of Christianity to solve that very problem which had exercised their minds. In Christ they would find the answer which they sought. His life, His cross, and resurrection was the guarantee; His Person, the Word Incarnate, was the solution.... They had attempted to fence themselves about, and to purify their lives by a code of rigorous prohibitions. Their energy was expended in battling with the physical conditions of human life. Their whole mind was absorbed in the struggle with imaginary forms of evil. ... St. Paul sets himself to combat this false tendency. For negative prohibitions he substitutes a positive principle; for special enactments, a comprehensive motive. He tells them that all their scrupulous restrictions are vain, because they threshold), that the treatment of the ensuing chapters is mainly, if not entirely, practical. I beg the reader also not to expect in these any adherence to chronological sequence. The title of the Book having guided and indeed restricted in the selection of themes, the meditations could not well be linked together by systematic arrangement or consecutive thought. The order adopted, therefore, is entirely arbitrary; each portion being independent of what precedes or follows.
Yet another and more needed observation must be made in summing up these prefatory remarks. It is one of a purely personal kind.
The author can most truly aver, that more than once in the course of composing this Volume, has he laid down his pen and hesitated to commit its pages to the
fail to touch the springs of action..., They must transfer themselves into a wholly new sphere of energy. This transference is nothing less than a migration from earth to heaven, from the region of the external and transitory to the region of the spiritual and eternal. For a code of rules, they must substitute a principle of life.... This principle they have in Christ. With Him, they have died to the world; with Him, they have risen to God. Christ, the Revelation of God’s holiness, of God’s righteousness, of God’s love, is light, is life, is heaven. With Him they have been translated into a higher sphere; have been brought face to face with the Eternal Presence. Let them only realise this translation. It involves new insight, new motives, new energies. They will no more waste themselves upon vexatious special restrictions, for they will be furnished with a higher inspiration which will cover all the minute details of action. They will kill the whole body of their earthly passions, through the strong arm of this personal communion with God in Christ.” — (Bishop Lightfoot on the Epistle to the Colossians.)
press, from feeling the loftiness of the ideal which constitutes its theme, and the humbling sense of howfar he himself falls short of it. Haud pari passu has been the reflection present in many a line and meditation: — the ever-deepening conviction — “I count not myself to have apprehended” (Phil. iii. 1 3).
But neither, on mature reflection, does he think such ought to operate as a deterrent in the attempt to give prominence to an elevating view of the believer’s standing and covenant privileges, and one which, so far as he knows, has not before been made topic of special consideration. He can only hope, that light thrown on truths of transcendent import and value may be found helpful to others as they have been to himself. The very consciousness of being so immeasurably beneath the standard of the Great Apostle, may prove the means of leading both reader and writer more fervently to cherish the resolve — “But, I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Phil, iii. 12).^
1 It is alike a duty and a pleasure here to state, that I was originally indebted for the suggestion of this Book to some incidental remarks I heard from the lips of an earnest and accomplished layman. The topics embraced being entirely practical, do not to any extent require the investigation of critical and textual difficulties. In any such that seemed to demand a passing reference, I have to acknowledge help derived from the invaluable commentaries of Bishops Lightfoot, Wordsworth, Ellicott, and Dean Alford ;, and though last not least, the late respected and learned Professor Eadie of Glasgow: besides the more trustworthy of the German commentators.
Like the above, the most of the other mottoes and monograms in the small woodcuts inserted at the close of each chapter, are copied from those found in the Romxin Catacombs. The greater number of the originals, as already stated, are now in the Lapidanan Gallery, confronting a rov) of Pagan Epitaphs on similar sepulchral stones. The circular woodcut with the inscription SPES DEI and the Chrism (the two combined being rendered “My hope is in God, Christ “), is from a stamp about an inch and a half in diameter. The P {Greek r) of the monogram is made to serve for the Latin P in the word * Spes ‘; [given in Boldetti). The one with the crown and palm conjoined, and an olive wreath encircling the Chrism, was taken from the tomb of Flavia Jovina, a child of three years, referred by Baronius to A.D. 367. A similar one with the same inscription (In Pace) is over the tomb of Faustina. The palm-branch is a symbol constantly” incised on the slab or scratched on the mortar.” The square cube-like box suspended by a chain, with the Chrism and Alpha and Omega on either side, is also in the Vatican Gallery, and is supposed to have been used for containing the communion elements (see Maitland, p. 219). The simple monogram with the inscription above — “In Hoc ViNCES In Christo” (’ in this thou shalt conquer, in Christ ‘), was discovered by Bosio, and is supposed to be of the time of Constantine. As is well known, it is the Latin rendering of the Greek inscription on his famous Labarum — ‘E;/ TovT(p viKq,. The epitaph on the grave beneath was to Sinfonia and her sons.’* SiNFONiA et Filiis {See lb. in loc). There is a curious device which I have not ventured to rendej’ in woodcut, from the difficulty of doing so. It may possibly represent the furnace on which the female martyr, ViCTOEiNA, already referred to, was consumed, with an instrument of torture above. It is of triangular form tvith the rude
indication of flames at the top {see this last copied and described in Boldetti, p. 318). lam aware, however, that recent archceologists question, in this and other similar devices, any reference to a martyr-symbol.
It may not he out of place to add, that in addition to the vnany ’ tahulce,^ either of mortar or marble, which hear the Christian monogram, the latter appears under a variety of treatment in vast numbers of lamps, principally of terra-cotta, hut some made of bronze, silver, and amber, which have been unearthed in the course of excavations. The same writer (” Dictionary of Christian Antiquities “) to whom I am indebted for this reminiscence of the Lapidarian Gallery, adds the interesting fact, that {in appropriate contrast with the symbol of the new economy), “the lamps found in the Jewish Catacombs almost universally bear the seven-branched candlestick.^’