vi The first steps towards Equality. 81 



Gentile has been abolished ; " the Gentiles are 

 fellow-heirs " of the blessings of the race of Abraham. 

 Abraham and his family were called apart from the 

 rest of the nations in order to qualify them for becom- 

 ing a blessing to all nations ; but it is evident that 

 this separation could be no more than temporary and 

 provisional ; when the blessing was matured and com- 

 plete, it was time for the separation to end. In 

 Christ there is no distinction between the Jew and 

 the Gentile, none between the Greek and the bar- 

 barian; not even between the Greek and the Scythian, 

 the most barbarous of all barbarians; 1 or, to use 

 corresponding modern language, no distinction be- 

 tween the European and the African. And the 

 institution of hereditary priesthood, which was so 

 deeply rooted in the religions of antiquity, and was 

 adopted into Judaism, has found no place in Chris- 

 tianity ; there is not, I believe, any church whatever 

 calling itself by the name of Christ, in which the 

 ministry is hereditary. 



We have now to consider the teaching of Revela- 

 tion on the subject of hope for the rejected of the 

 present dispensation ; but before we examine par- 

 ticular passages, there are some general remarks to be 

 made. First, as to principles of interpretation. The 

 most obvious interpretation is not necessarily the true 



1 Col. iii. 11. Although /3d/>j3a/>os has not exactly the same 

 connotations as our word " barbarian," it is obvious that Saint 

 Paul has here such a climax in his thought. 

 G 



