Martineau  defends  the  thesis  that  the  fundamental  idea  of
Christendom  is  "  the  ascent  through  Conscience  into  com-
munion with  God,"  and  "  to  this  sentiment,  conveyed  with
living  realisation  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  may  be
referred  whatever  is  distinctively  great  in  Christian  ethics."
But  though  it  vindicated  itself  in  the  scheme  of  applied
morals,  these  are  so  mixed  up  with  the  errors  of  a  particular
time  that,  when  they  are  distorted  into  a  rigid  code,  the
original  idea  is  often  entirely  reversed.  The  expectation
of  the  immediate  end  of  the  world  imposed  upon  the  first
age  certain  lines  of  conduct  which  are  purely  mischievous
when  transferred  to  our  own;  and  the  effort  of  Protestant-
ism to  take  the  apostolic  age  as  an  exact  model  for  all  time
has  led  to  the  co-existence  of  two  codes,  the  religious  and
the  secular,  in  the  same  social  body,  and  even  in  the  same
man.     His  views  in  regard  to  the  legitimacy  of  force  are


1  Both  reprinted  in  "Essays  Philosophical  and  Theological"  (2d  series),
1869,  and  in  Essavs,  III.
2  Reprinted  in  "  Studies  of  Christianity,"  from  the  "  Westminster  Review,"
January,  1852.
HOPE    STREET  [185^

strongly  expressed.  The  non-resistance  of  the  first  disciples
only  meant  that  they  were  not  to  anticipate  the  hour,  fast
approaching,  of  Messiah's  descent  to  claim  his  throne.
