M. Reuss) il ne s’agit pas de ce qu’on appele le culte dans le langage pra-

tique de I’Kglise. Le culte appartient ἃ Dieu le Pere, et lui sera offert désormais avec d’autant plus d’empressement qu’il est mieux révélé, et que rien ne sépare plus de lui les croyants.’ (Reuss, Théol. Chrét. ii. 455.) How inconsequent is this restriction! If the Incarnate Word has a right to de- mand for Himself the same ‘sentiments’ and ‘dispositions’ as those which men cherish towards the Almighty Father, He has a right to the same | tribute of an adoration in spirit and in truth as that which is due to the Father. What is worship but a complex act of such ‘sentiments’ and ‘ dispositions’ as faith, love, self-prostration, self-surrender before the Most Holy? If τιμᾶν (St. John v. 23), within the general meaning of due acknowledgment, includes much else besides adoration, it cannot be applied to the duties of man to God without including adoration. Our Lord’s words place Himself and the Father simply on a level; if the Son is not to be adored, neither is the Father; if the Father is to be adored, then must the Son be adored in the same sense and measure. This is certainly not interfered with by St. John iv. 20, sqq.; while the best practical comment upon it is to be found in the confession of St. Thomas, xx. 28; on which see Lect. VII.
4 This may seem inconsistent with (1) St. John xiv. 28: 6 Πατὴρ μείζων μου ἐστίν. But such a statement would be ‘unmeaning’ in a mere man. a Lect. IV. pp. 202-204; (2) St. John xvii. 3: αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἣ αἰώνιος Υ
240 Christology of St. Fohn's First Epistle.
tion; His Death is the crisis of His exaltation 8, of His glory f. Not that He can personally increase in glory. He is already the Son; He is the Word. But He can glorify and exalt that Manhood which is the robe through which His movements are discernible: He can glorify Himself, as God is glorified, by drawing towards His Person the faith and love and reverence of men. It were folly to conceive of Him as enhancing His Divinity; but He can make larger and deeper that measure of homage which ascends towards His throne from human understandings and from human hearts 8.