[280] Mark xii. 13-17.
[281] Mark x. 35-45.
[282] For the connexion of Jesus with the Messiah idea, see E. F. Scott’s Kingdom of the Messiah.
[283] Hirth, The Ancient History of China. Chap. viii.
[284] “St. Paul understood what most Christians never realize, namely, that the Gospel of Christ is not a religion, but religion itself in its most universal and deepest significance.”—Dean Inge in Outspoken Essays.
[285] Authorities vary considerably upon this date, and upon most of the dates of the life of Jesus. See Encyclopædia Biblica, art. “Chronology.”
[286] See Judaism and St. Paul, by C. G. Montefiore, for some interesting speculations on the religion of Paul before his conversion. See also the very interesting paper on St. Paul in Dean Inge’s Outspoken Essays already quoted in a footnote. An excellent book widely divergent from the opinions expressed in the text is W. Morgan’s Religion and Theology of St. Paul.
[287] Paul’s Greek is very good. He is affected by the philosophical jargon of the Hellenistic schools and by that of Stoicism. But his mastery of sublime language is amazing.—G. M.
[288] The spirit of Jesus, the animating spirit of Christianity, which breathes through the gospels, was flatly opposed both to private property and slavery, but the attitude of the Christians was never so definite. Generally they ameliorated rather than abolished.—H. G. W.
Patristic theory justified slavery as a result of the Fall. See Carlyle, Medieval Political Theory in the West.—E. B.