174 REV. p. p. FLOURXOY, D.D.^ ON BEARIIsG OF AKCH^OLOGICAL 



As we know, monuments of stone and more simple documents 

 speak of kings and emperors in terms which represent them as 

 embodying Divine characteristics. What those rulers did not 

 possess in actuality was nevertheless claimed for them in pride of 

 heart ; and there were ever courtiers and others who ascribed to 

 such dignitaries virtues which were unreal and fantastic. Hence we 

 find among the appellatives employed with reference to emperors, 

 not only such words as King and Euler, but also Saviour and Son 

 of God. Indeed, in connection with the Imperial cult of Eome 

 there were other conceptions, such as Justification, Redemption, and 

 Adoption, which we have come to apply almost exclusively to the 

 work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, the word Farausia, 

 implying the presence, and the word Epiplianeia, implying the 

 manifested splendour of the Lord, were in use at the same time, for 

 the description of the movements and manifestations, real or sup- 

 posed, of gods and heroes of the heathen ! 



These forms of speech, as I need hardly say, go to the roots of 

 Messianic dignity and glory ; and we find them in these researches, 

 not merely in some strange equivalent, but in the very words that 

 are familiar to the student of New Testament Greek. Does it give 

 us a shock to find (say) the Emperor Augustus spoken of as a Son 

 of God 1 We should also remember that this custom has prevailed 

 in other lands and ages ; the Assyrian kings made similar claims, and 

 the latest Emperor of Japan is spoken of as a Son of Heaven. In 

 view of the facts now mentioned, we cannot but see how startling, 

 how severe, was the impact made by Christianity when it touched 

 the Imperial cult ; and it is not difiicult, in the circumstances, to 

 understand the determination with which the Christian challenge 

 was met. The issue, moreover, furnishes a new argument for the 

 irresistible character of the claims made by and on behalf of our 

 Lord. In face of the most fierce antagonism, the words of dignity 

 and grace, which had been employed with reference to the emperors 

 and the gods, were all claimed as the proper and unique right of 

 Him whom the Christians worshipped as " the Prince of the kings 

 of the earth " ; and, of course, the acknowledgment of Christ 

 involved a denial of principalities and powers which, by reason of 

 their claims to divinity, were of the spirit of Anti-Christ. 



" Christ and the Emperor were worshipped under synonymous titles, 

 wd)ich established identical claims upon the adoration and devotion of 



