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y/young_j/christ.xml:vi.v.i-p46 | [] | The question must be renewed, and with an earnestness yet more
intense, who was this Jesus Christ? The three points of contrast just named between him and Socrates and Plato, do not exhaust his history.
The whole of the outer conditions of his earthly life, even at the risk of
repetition, must be deliberately placed before our minds. Jesus Christ was a man
of Nazareth, in Galilee of Judea, whom no hint of the learning and science of other
lands and of the discoveries and speculations of the world’s sages, could by any
possibility have reached. He was a man of humble origin his parents, his relatives,
his associates, were all poor, and he himself was poor, to the last very poor. He
was a working carpenter, and had spent his life in a workshop till he was
thirty years of age. He had enjoyed no advantages of education, of access to books,
or of introduction to superior society, but such as were open to the lowest
of the people, He was unaided by the patronage of the wise or the great. He was
a young man who died at the age of thirty-three. But this person, in a ministry
of three years, did infinitely more for mankind and for all succeeding ages,
than either Socrates or Plato, or both together were able to do, each with the labor
of thirty or forty years, with all their maturity of wisdom, and experience, and
with all the advantages of learning, and travel, and patronage. What the wisest
and brightest souls in the ancient world, what even the inspired prophets of Israel
never accomplished, was accomplished by a young, obscure, Galilean mechanic. | The question must be renewed, and with an earnestness yet more
intense, who was this Jesus Christ? The three points of contrast just named between him and Socrates and Plato, do not exhaust his history.
The whole of the outer conditions of his earthly life, even at the risk of
repetition, must be deliberately placed before our minds. Jesus Christ was a man
of Nazareth, in Galilee of Judea, whom no hint of the learning and science of other
lands and of the discoveries and speculations of the world’s sages, could by any
possibility have reached. He was a man of humble origin his parents, his relatives,
his associates, were all poor, and he himself was poor, to the last very poor. He
was a working carpenter, and had spent his life in a workshop till he was
thirty years of age. He had enjoyed no advantages of education, of access to books,
or of introduction to superior society, but such as were open to the lowest
of the people, He was unaided by the patronage of the wise or the great. He was
a young man who died at the age of thirty-three. But this person, in a ministry
of three years, did infinitely more for mankind and for all succeeding ages,
than either Socrates or Plato, or both together were able to do, each with the labor
of thirty or forty years, with all their maturity of wisdom, and experience, and
with all the advantages of learning, and travel, and patronage. What the wisest
and brightest souls in the ancient world, what even the inspired prophets of Israel
never accomplished, was accomplished by a young, obscure, Galilean mechanic. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vi.v.i-p47 | [] | Even if the teaching of Jesus Christ had been inferior in substance
and in form to that of Socrates and Plato, the overwhelming differences between
him and them which have been named. would yet have defied all the ordinary methods
and means of interpretation. But how much more must this be true, when that teaching
is not inferior, when it has been proved to be incomparably superior! It exhibits
doctrines infinitely momentous which were unknown in Athens and in Rome. What is
still more, it may be affirmed without misgiving, that of all the spiritual truth
existing in the world at this moment, not only is there not a single important idea
which is not found in the words of Christ, but all the most important ideas can be found nowhere else, and have their sole fountain in his mind. From his mind
there shone a light which neither Egypt, nor India, nor Greece, nor Rome, had ever
kindled, which no age before his day ever saw, and none since, except in him alone,
has ever seen. | Even if the teaching of Jesus Christ had been inferior in substance
and in form to that of Socrates and Plato, the overwhelming differences between
him and them which have been named. would yet have defied all the ordinary methods
and means of interpretation. But how much more must this be true, when that teaching
is not inferior, when it has been proved to be incomparably superior! It exhibits
doctrines infinitely momentous which were unknown in Athens and in Rome. What is
still more, it may be affirmed without misgiving, that of all the spiritual truth
existing in the world at this moment, not only is there not a single important idea
which is not found in the words of Christ, but all the most important ideas can be found nowhere else, and have their sole fountain in his mind. From his mind
there shone a light which neither Egypt, nor India, nor Greece, nor Rome, had ever
kindled, which no age before his day ever saw, and none since, except in him alone,
has ever seen. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vi.v.i-p48 | [] | These, then, are the simple historical facts of Christ’s state on earth, on the
one hand, and of his work among men on the other hand; and they demand interpretation. The supposition that he was merely a messenger
and a prophet of God, a man divinely selected and furnished for a Godlike work, does
not satisfy, never can satisfy, the extraordinary conditions of the case. The world
has heard the voice of many God-sent men, the organs through which imperishable truth, in various amounts, has been
conveyed; but not one of these can, on any just ground, be likened for a moment
to Jesus Christ. We have found that he is not merely different from them, but, in
the most material respects, incomparably above them all. Hence an explication which
is perfectly reasonable and adequate in their case, is palpably insufficient, is
unsatisfactory and useless, in his case. He stands unapproachably distant from all
that ever were honored with a Divine mission; he is not a link in a chain of succession,
but is absolutely alone, and has no predecessor and no successor. The multitude,
the originality, the harmony, and the grandeur of his revelations, separate him,
by an impassable line, from all that arose before his time and the fact that in
two thousand years not a single important contribution has been added to the body
of spiritual truth which he left, cuts off all succession. He is alone in that work,
immeasurably transcending all others in human history, which he achieved for the
world; alone in the unexampled circumstances amid which he accomplished it—circumstances
which, according to all human modes of judging, seemed to render the accomplishment
absolutely impossible; and therefore alone in constitution of being, in attributes
and in nature—organically, essentially alone. | These, then, are the simple historical facts of Christ’s state on earth, on the
one hand, and of his work among men on the other hand; and they demand interpretation. The supposition that he was merely a messenger
and a prophet of God, a man divinely selected and furnished for a Godlike work, does
not satisfy, never can satisfy, the extraordinary conditions of the case. The world
has heard the voice of many God-sent men, the organs through which imperishable truth, in various amounts, has been
conveyed; but not one of these can, on any just ground, be likened for a moment
to Jesus Christ. We have found that he is not merely different from them, but, in
the most material respects, incomparably above them all. Hence an explication which
is perfectly reasonable and adequate in their case, is palpably insufficient, is
unsatisfactory and useless, in his case. He stands unapproachably distant from all
that ever were honored with a Divine mission; he is not a link in a chain of succession,
but is absolutely alone, and has no predecessor and no successor. The multitude,
the originality, the harmony, and the grandeur of his revelations, separate him,
by an impassable line, from all that arose before his time and the fact that in
two thousand years not a single important contribution has been added to the body
of spiritual truth which he left, cuts off all succession. He is alone in that work,
immeasurably transcending all others in human history, which he achieved for the
world; alone in the unexampled circumstances amid which he accomplished it—circumstances
which, according to all human modes of judging, seemed to render the accomplishment
absolutely impossible; and therefore alone in constitution of being, in attributes
and in nature—organically, essentially alone. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vi.v.i-p49 | [] | The work of Christ, and the outer conditions of his life, as these have been represented by us—that is
to say, the age and place in which he appeared, his early death, and his entire
social circumstances and position—the work of Christ and the outer conditions of
his life must be capable of being harmonized, for they were combined in
fact. All admit, and are compelled to admit, that they were combined in fact. Skepticism is baseless, is impossible here. There stands the record; say nothing
of its inspiration so called, but its antiquity and general authenticity are indubitable,
are, in point of fact, undoubted by all who have the slightest pretensions to learning
or candor. There in the record, is the teaching, incomparable, alone.
It is connected with the name of Jesus, it .came from his mind; if not, whence
did it, could it come? To attribute it to the writers of the New Testament themselves
makes no alteration in the difficulty, except to increase it indefinitely by the
addition of new and more inexplicable circumstances. Among all concerned, the only
individual to whose mind, with any show of reason, the teaching can be ascribed,
is Jesus himself Certainly he was the teacher, if there was a teacher at
all; and no subtlety of criticism, and no mythical theory, and no modification
of it can set aside this fact. He, being what we have seen he was, in his
external circumstances and history, was the teacher; in other words, the
work of .Christ among men, and the outer conditions of his life, were combined in fact; and, therefore,
it can admit of no question that they must be capable of being harmonized in principle.
But we repeat, that on all ordinary and acceptable grounds they are utterly irreconcilable.
No record of history, or of individual experience, and no law of the soul, lends
us any assistance in this case; but what we have to interpret, though once realized
and presented to the senses of men, is directly in the face of history, experience
and psychology. Hence we maintain, and have no resource but to maintain, that the
principle of harmony in this instance must be sought for, in a region altogether
new and extraordinary—a region which ordinary history and experience, and psychology,
do not include. There must be some profound mystery in the very constitution of this Unique Personality, to account for such teaching as his in such circumstances
as his. He can not be merely human, because human laws and human experience
do not interpret the formation of his life.. He must be essentially and organically
separate from man, because the facts of his history transcend immeasurably all that
mere man; ever accomplished or attained. | The work of Christ, and the outer conditions of his life, as these have been represented by us—that is
to say, the age and place in which he appeared, his early death, and his entire
social circumstances and position—the work of Christ and the outer conditions of
his life must be capable of being harmonized, for they were combined in
fact. All admit, and are compelled to admit, that they were combined in fact. Skepticism is baseless, is impossible here. There stands the record; say nothing
of its inspiration so called, but its antiquity and general authenticity are indubitable,
are, in point of fact, undoubted by all who have the slightest pretensions to learning
or candor. There in the record, is the teaching, incomparable, alone.
It is connected with the name of Jesus, it .came from his mind; if not, whence
did it, could it come? To attribute it to the writers of the New Testament themselves
makes no alteration in the difficulty, except to increase it indefinitely by the
addition of new and more inexplicable circumstances. Among all concerned, the only
individual to whose mind, with any show of reason, the teaching can be ascribed,
is Jesus himself Certainly he was the teacher, if there was a teacher at
all; and no subtlety of criticism, and no mythical theory, and no modification
of it can set aside this fact. He, being what we have seen he was, in his
external circumstances and history, was the teacher; in other words, the
work of .Christ among men, and the outer conditions of his life, were combined in fact; and, therefore,
it can admit of no question that they must be capable of being harmonized in principle.
But we repeat, that on all ordinary and acceptable grounds they are utterly irreconcilable.
No record of history, or of individual experience, and no law of the soul, lends
us any assistance in this case; but what we have to interpret, though once realized
and presented to the senses of men, is directly in the face of history, experience
and psychology. Hence we maintain, and have no resource but to maintain, that the
principle of harmony in this instance must be sought for, in a region altogether
new and extraordinary—a region which ordinary history and experience, and psychology,
do not include. There must be some profound mystery in the very constitution of this Unique Personality, to account for such teaching as his in such circumstances
as his. He can not be merely human, because human laws and human experience
do not interpret the formation of his life.. He must be essentially and organically
separate from man, because the facts of his history transcend immeasurably all that
mere man; ever accomplished or attained. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vi.v.i-p50 | [] | The case with which we have to deal may still further be briefly
stated, thus—“There are difficulties which every thoughtful mind must
recognize, when we attempt to connect the teaching of Jesus Christ with the
outer conditions of his life: the difficulties are real, great,
undeniable; and the question is, how shall they be best solved—which of the
professed or possible solutions is most rational, most satisfactory? In the
outset, one thing is clear, that the Supreme Being must not be supposed to be
limited, either in his choice of instruments to work out his purposes, or in his
mode of employing their agency. Granting that there never was another such
messenger of eternal truth as Jesus Christ, it does not follow, from this alone,
that Jesus Christ was more than human. He who created the mind of man can surely
impart his revelations to it in different matters and forms, and can act upon it
in very different ways, when he pleases to use it, as the organ through which he
shall teach the world. Successive and sudden inspirations,
rising one above another in amount and in kind, in a manner which it would be hard
to limit, are in this way conceivable and possible. We can even go to the length
of imagining the mind almost passive in the Divine hand, as in a kind of intellectual
ecstasy or rapture—active, indeed, in receiving, and afterward in conveying, what
is imparted to it; but yet its powers so held down and absorbed in the state of
mere receptivity that it shall itself need, in common with others, to investigate,
in order to understand, the messages of truth which it has announced. It is believed
that in this way the ancient seers of Israel were sometimes mere organs through which inspirations passed from
God to mankind, and were sometimes themselves as ignorant as others of the
deep significance of their own utterances. Such a thing, at least, is not in itself
inconceivable, and it is not irreconcilable with the experience and the laws of
the soul; but it can afford us no help in solving the mystery of Christ’s teaching.
He was not a mere and almost passive channel of conveyance, from God
to man. He was not an instrument employed on certain special occasions, which
occasions having passed away the instrument remained the same as before, unpenetrated
by any change arising from the temporary purposes to which it had been applied.
He was not an occasional, spasmodic, or ecstatic utterer of Divine messages; but, during his whole ministry, though its period was short, he was a free,
intelligent, deliberate utterer of truth which was his own, howsoever it
had come to him. If there be one thing more certain than another, it is that Jesus
spoke from himself, out of the depths of his own being. Whoever was his teacher,
whatever was the hidden process of instruction through which he had been conducted,
and wherever might be the true source of his knowledge, that knowledge was his, truly his, dwelling in his understanding, his conscience, and his heart.
That which he uttered to men had first become his own, in woven with the very texture
of his soul, identified with its truest possessions, its freest movements, its progressive
developments. It was not imposed at the moment by another, it was not an
immediate impartation to him from without, but a true creation from within,
a produce of his own. His soul had risen to that truth which he announced, had mastered
it, had verily become it; so that not merely the glory of proclaiming it fell
to Jesus, but all the inward opulence and power which the real knowledge of it supposed
belonged to his mind. | The case with which we have to deal may still further be briefly
stated, thus—“There are difficulties which every thoughtful mind must
recognize, when we attempt to connect the teaching of Jesus Christ with the
outer conditions of his life: the difficulties are real, great,
undeniable; and the question is, how shall they be best solved—which of the
professed or possible solutions is most rational, most satisfactory? In the
outset, one thing is clear, that the Supreme Being must not be supposed to be
limited, either in his choice of instruments to work out his purposes, or in his
mode of employing their agency. Granting that there never was another such
messenger of eternal truth as Jesus Christ, it does not follow, from this alone,
that Jesus Christ was more than human. He who created the mind of man can surely
impart his revelations to it in different matters and forms, and can act upon it
in very different ways, when he pleases to use it, as the organ through which he
shall teach the world. Successive and sudden inspirations,
rising one above another in amount and in kind, in a manner which it would be hard
to limit, are in this way conceivable and possible. We can even go to the length
of imagining the mind almost passive in the Divine hand, as in a kind of intellectual
ecstasy or rapture—active, indeed, in receiving, and afterward in conveying, what
is imparted to it; but yet its powers so held down and absorbed in the state of
mere receptivity that it shall itself need, in common with others, to investigate,
in order to understand, the messages of truth which it has announced. It is believed
that in this way the ancient seers of Israel were sometimes mere organs through which inspirations passed from
God to mankind, and were sometimes themselves as ignorant as others of the
deep significance of their own utterances. Such a thing, at least, is not in itself
inconceivable, and it is not irreconcilable with the experience and the laws of
the soul; but it can afford us no help in solving the mystery of Christ’s teaching.
He was not a mere and almost passive channel of conveyance, from God
to man. He was not an instrument employed on certain special occasions, which
occasions having passed away the instrument remained the same as before, unpenetrated
by any change arising from the temporary purposes to which it had been applied.
He was not an occasional, spasmodic, or ecstatic utterer of Divine messages; but, during his whole ministry, though its period was short, he was a free,
intelligent, deliberate utterer of truth which was his own, howsoever it
had come to him. If there be one thing more certain than another, it is that Jesus
spoke from himself, out of the depths of his own being. Whoever was his teacher,
whatever was the hidden process of instruction through which he had been conducted,
and wherever might be the true source of his knowledge, that knowledge was his, truly his, dwelling in his understanding, his conscience, and his heart.
That which he uttered to men had first become his own, in woven with the very texture
of his soul, identified with its truest possessions, its freest movements, its progressive
developments. It was not imposed at the moment by another, it was not an
immediate impartation to him from without, but a true creation from within,
a produce of his own. His soul had risen to that truth which he announced, had mastered
it, had verily become it; so that not merely the glory of proclaiming it fell
to Jesus, but all the inward opulence and power which the real knowledge of it supposed
belonged to his mind. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vi.v.i-p51 | [] | We assert, without fear of contradiction by any competent and
candid thinker, that under the conditions amid which Jesus was placed, such knowledge
and such spiritual opulence and power were morally and even physically impossible
to a mere human mind. God never acts in defiance of the nature and laws of the soul,
but always in harmony with them: we speak with reverence, God could not act
in defiance of the laws of the soul which he has himself established. This is
not the region of miracle, so called and mere physical omnipotence has no place
here. Mind is not to be forced. God could destroy the soul; but, continuing to be
what it is, God can act upon it only in harmony with its laws. Now, the fact that
a young man, only thirty-three, a poor man, a Galilean carpenter, uneducated, unprivileged,
and unpatronized, rose to a profound, far-reaching, lofty wisdom, and to
an illumination and wealth of soul which are without example in history, stands in direct contradiction to all other
psychological experiences, and to all ascertained psychological laws. But it is
a fact, nevertheless; and there must be some ground on which it can be explained.
Jesus can not have been merely what he seemed to be, and his mind can
not have been merely human, and in all respects constituted and conditioned
as other human minds are. In sober reason, there is no choice left to us but to
believe in an organic, an essential, a constitutional difference between him and
all men; in other words, in an incarnation, in this unparralleled instance, of
Divinity in humanity. Admitting an original, an incomprehensible union between
the mind of Christ and God—admitting a mysterious and constant access of Christ’s
mind to the infinite Fountain of illumination, of excellence, and of power, such
as was possible to no mere human being—then, but only then, we can account
for spiritual phenomena which—all facts as they are—on no other ground are
explicable or even believable. It is only by the admission of the real union of
Divinity with the human soul of Jesus Christ that a solution can be found of historical
and psychological difficulties, which are otherwise as insurmountable as
they are undeniable. The idea of incarnation in all its meaning is, indeed, incomprehensible; but we can very distinctly comprehend, that it must
be true nevertheless., because, otherwise, facts of which
we have the fullest evidence are absolutely unbelievable. The incarnation is
a profound mystery; but intelligence and candor will allow that this is the very
region where mystery was even to be looked for. We are compelled to believe that
this mystery is a truth; because, if not, the marvelous phenomena of
the life of Jesus, which we can not deny, are not only a mystery, and one even more
inscrutable and insupportable, but a direct contradiction. | We assert, without fear of contradiction by any competent and
candid thinker, that under the conditions amid which Jesus was placed, such knowledge
and such spiritual opulence and power were morally and even physically impossible
to a mere human mind. God never acts in defiance of the nature and laws of the soul,
but always in harmony with them: we speak with reverence, God could not act
in defiance of the laws of the soul which he has himself established. This is
not the region of miracle, so called and mere physical omnipotence has no place
here. Mind is not to be forced. God could destroy the soul; but, continuing to be
what it is, God can act upon it only in harmony with its laws. Now, the fact that
a young man, only thirty-three, a poor man, a Galilean carpenter, uneducated, unprivileged,
and unpatronized, rose to a profound, far-reaching, lofty wisdom, and to
an illumination and wealth of soul which are without example in history, stands in direct contradiction to all other
psychological experiences, and to all ascertained psychological laws. But it is
a fact, nevertheless; and there must be some ground on which it can be explained.
Jesus can not have been merely what he seemed to be, and his mind can
not have been merely human, and in all respects constituted and conditioned
as other human minds are. In sober reason, there is no choice left to us but to
believe in an organic, an essential, a constitutional difference between him and
all men; in other words, in an incarnation, in this unparralleled instance, of
Divinity in humanity. Admitting an original, an incomprehensible union between
the mind of Christ and God—admitting a mysterious and constant access of Christ’s
mind to the infinite Fountain of illumination, of excellence, and of power, such
as was possible to no mere human being—then, but only then, we can account
for spiritual phenomena which—all facts as they are—on no other ground are
explicable or even believable. It is only by the admission of the real union of
Divinity with the human soul of Jesus Christ that a solution can be found of historical
and psychological difficulties, which are otherwise as insurmountable as
they are undeniable. The idea of incarnation in all its meaning is, indeed, incomprehensible; but we can very distinctly comprehend, that it must
be true nevertheless., because, otherwise, facts of which
we have the fullest evidence are absolutely unbelievable. The incarnation is
a profound mystery; but intelligence and candor will allow that this is the very
region where mystery was even to be looked for. We are compelled to believe that
this mystery is a truth; because, if not, the marvelous phenomena of
the life of Jesus, which we can not deny, are not only a mystery, and one even more
inscrutable and insupportable, but a direct contradiction. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vi.v.i-p53 | [] | Our argument is to receive important confirmation from another
region of the life of Jesus. But, even here, that life has supplied presumptive
evidence amounting to the strongest proof, of a doctrine which, awfully deformed
and corrupted indeed, has yet somehow found its way into most of the philosophies
and religions of the world—the doctrine of Incarnation, God in man. “They shall
call his name Emanuel, which, being interpreted, is God with us.” | Our argument is to receive important confirmation from another
region of the life of Jesus. But, even here, that life has supplied presumptive
evidence amounting to the strongest proof, of a doctrine which, awfully deformed
and corrupted indeed, has yet somehow found its way into most of the philosophies
and religions of the world—the doctrine of Incarnation, God in man. “They shall
call his name Emanuel, which, being interpreted, is God with us.” |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vi.v.i-p54 | [] | This is the only other position which merits consideration for
a moment. The idea that Jesus was more than man, yet not God in man, that he pre-existed
as an angel, or as the first of creatures, we believe, has now passed away from
all sober minds. It is so purely fictitious, and so obviously encounters all the
difficulties, without having the peculiar grounds, or any of the compensating advantages
of the higher hypothesis, that we question if even a solitary supporter of it could
be found in the present day. Few or none who are convinced that Jesus was not, and
could not possibly be merely man, will hesitate to adopt the conclusion,
that he must have been God in man. | This is the only other position which merits consideration for
a moment. The idea that Jesus was more than man, yet not God in man, that he pre-existed
as an angel, or as the first of creatures, we believe, has now passed away from
all sober minds. It is so purely fictitious, and so obviously encounters all the
difficulties, without having the peculiar grounds, or any of the compensating advantages
of the higher hypothesis, that we question if even a solitary supporter of it could
be found in the present day. Few or none who are convinced that Jesus was not, and
could not possibly be merely man, will hesitate to adopt the conclusion,
that he must have been God in man. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.i-p1 | [] | THE peculiar conditions of the earthly life of Jesus have now
been examined. The time and place of his advent, his parentage, his social position
and his early death, strike the least reflecting, and give extraordinary significance
to his subsequent history. They therefore first received consideration. | THE peculiar conditions of the earthly life of Jesus have now
been examined. The time and place of his advent, his parentage, his social position
and his early death, strike the least reflecting, and give extraordinary significance
to his subsequent history. They therefore first received consideration. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.i-p2 | [] | It seemed proper, then, to look at the more prominent and public
developments of a life which formed itself under such peculiar conditions. The position
to which Christ actually rose, his own idea of that position, the commencement of
his public course, the qualities that marked his public appearances, and his teaching
itself; contrasted with the speculations and discoveries of other lands and ages,
were successively reviewed. | It seemed proper, then, to look at the more prominent and public
developments of a life which formed itself under such peculiar conditions. The position
to which Christ actually rose, his own idea of that position, the commencement of
his public course, the qualities that marked his public appearances, and his teaching
itself; contrasted with the speculations and discoveries of other lands and ages,
were successively reviewed. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.i-p3 | [] | We presume now to venture still nearer to this mysterious personality.
Advancing beyond his outward circumstances and his public life, we meditate a close
inspection of his inner spiritual being, the sphere of his conscience and his soul.
We seek to penetrate that holy place where, exposed to the eye of the Omniscient,
lie all the hidden principles of the outward life. We seek to look within the vail, into the innermost
chamber of that spiritual temple which the heart of Jesus inclosed, and with anxious
impartiality and with devout fear, we approach the secrets of this untrodden region. | We presume now to venture still nearer to this mysterious personality.
Advancing beyond his outward circumstances and his public life, we meditate a close
inspection of his inner spiritual being, the sphere of his conscience and his soul.
We seek to penetrate that holy place where, exposed to the eye of the Omniscient,
lie all the hidden principles of the outward life. We seek to look within the vail, into the innermost
chamber of that spiritual temple which the heart of Jesus inclosed, and with anxious
impartiality and with devout fear, we approach the secrets of this untrodden region. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.i-p4 | [] | The proper spiritual individuality of Jesus Christ was evinced
in his oneness with God, in the forms of his consciousness, in his manifestation
before the world as a whole, in the motive of his life, and in his calm assurance
of Triumph. | The proper spiritual individuality of Jesus Christ was evinced
in his oneness with God, in the forms of his consciousness, in his manifestation
before the world as a whole, in the motive of his life, and in his calm assurance
of Triumph. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.ii-p1 | [] | Communion between created and uncreated Mind.—Human side of the
Doctrine.—Effort to conceive God.—Faith in His Nearness to us.—In His Love.—Sense
of Dependence.—Veneration.—Trust.—God listening and responding to the Soul.—To
Christ, God the greatest Reality.—Christ alone with God.—Original, habitual Union.—Walked with God. | Communion between created and uncreated Mind.—Human side of the
Doctrine.—Effort to conceive God.—Faith in His Nearness to us.—In His Love.—Sense
of Dependence.—Veneration.—Trust.—God listening and responding to the Soul.—To
Christ, God the greatest Reality.—Christ alone with God.—Original, habitual Union.—Walked with God. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.ii-p2 | [] | COMMUNION between the uncreated and the created mind is a contested
subject in the theological schools. We mingle not in the conflict, but venture to
express the profound convict ion that, if God be the Father of minds, then the idea
is very rational and very refreshing that he should mercifully regard his intelligent
offspring, and be ready to converse with them; and, on the other hand, that they
should seek to communicate with him. But it is a hard effort for the created
mind even to conceive of God, much more to commune with him. A perfectly just conception
of God is impossible. The Infinite can never be contained within the finite. The
utmost possible to us is to strive to approach, for we can never even approach,
however distantly, toward the idea of an infinite nature, infinite excellence, infinite
duration; the idea of the uncreated, all-creating Mind, the eternal dwelling and
source of life, truth, love, and power. And even this striving after a distant
approach to the conception of God is more than we can long endure. We are
overwhelmed by our own poor thoughts, and can only bow down in helpless wonder,
before Him who is past finding out. “It is high as heaven, what canst thou do?
It is deeper than Hades, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth, and broader than the sea.” | COMMUNION between the uncreated and the created mind is a contested
subject in the theological schools. We mingle not in the conflict, but venture to
express the profound convict ion that, if God be the Father of minds, then the idea
is very rational and very refreshing that he should mercifully regard his intelligent
offspring, and be ready to converse with them; and, on the other hand, that they
should seek to communicate with him. But it is a hard effort for the created
mind even to conceive of God, much more to commune with him. A perfectly just conception
of God is impossible. The Infinite can never be contained within the finite. The
utmost possible to us is to strive to approach, for we can never even approach,
however distantly, toward the idea of an infinite nature, infinite excellence, infinite
duration; the idea of the uncreated, all-creating Mind, the eternal dwelling and
source of life, truth, love, and power. And even this striving after a distant
approach to the conception of God is more than we can long endure. We are
overwhelmed by our own poor thoughts, and can only bow down in helpless wonder,
before Him who is past finding out. “It is high as heaven, what canst thou do?
It is deeper than Hades, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth, and broader than the sea.” |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.ii-p3 | [] | To stretch toward the Infinite is the first effort the second
is to connect the Infinite with our personal sphere, our movements, interests, and
destinies. Nothing is more certain than that God is as cognizant of every human
soul as if it alone existed in immensity. The changes in our outward condition,
and all the passing shades of emotion and of volition within, must be instantly
perceived by him. His awful presence is unutterably near to us, the open Infinite
Eye gazes upon us every moment. When this faith is once reached, life becomes invested
with wondrous sanctity; but it is not enough. Does the Great Being who is so mysteriously
near, also love the creatures he hath made? Perhaps the open Infinite Eye is cold
as it is luminous, and in conducting the vast interests of the universe, God is
indifferent to what is passing in individual minds, and heeds not whether they suffer or rejoice, or how they appeal
to his throne. The conviction is indispensable, that the nature of God, in its relation
to our minds, is essentially parental. How this conviction is legitimately
reached, on what basis it must rest in order to be permanent and safe, can not be
shown in this place, but it must be reached. It must be believed that God is profoundly
interested in the human soul; that the eternal Father stands in the tenderest relation
to that soul, and that Divine sympathy and Divine love are not less but more real,
than human sympathy and human love. | To stretch toward the Infinite is the first effort the second
is to connect the Infinite with our personal sphere, our movements, interests, and
destinies. Nothing is more certain than that God is as cognizant of every human
soul as if it alone existed in immensity. The changes in our outward condition,
and all the passing shades of emotion and of volition within, must be instantly
perceived by him. His awful presence is unutterably near to us, the open Infinite
Eye gazes upon us every moment. When this faith is once reached, life becomes invested
with wondrous sanctity; but it is not enough. Does the Great Being who is so mysteriously
near, also love the creatures he hath made? Perhaps the open Infinite Eye is cold
as it is luminous, and in conducting the vast interests of the universe, God is
indifferent to what is passing in individual minds, and heeds not whether they suffer or rejoice, or how they appeal
to his throne. The conviction is indispensable, that the nature of God, in its relation
to our minds, is essentially parental. How this conviction is legitimately
reached, on what basis it must rest in order to be permanent and safe, can not be
shown in this place, but it must be reached. It must be believed that God is profoundly
interested in the human soul; that the eternal Father stands in the tenderest relation
to that soul, and that Divine sympathy and Divine love are not less but more real,
than human sympathy and human love. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.ii-p4 | [] | The mind of man in deep earnest stretching up toward the infinite
God, believing in his mysterious nearness and in his love, presumes to utter itself
before him. At such a moment, its first feeling is that of absolute dependence.
It is in the very condition to trace back existence, preservation, and all good
for the present or for the eternal life to the uncreated Source. Along with this
sense of dependence, there is deep veneration, not simply love, but such love as
finds its proper object only in God—love mingled with awe, love taking its very
highest form, the form of reverence. There is superadded simple trust, trust in
parental love commanding infinite resources, the confiding look and confiding heart
of a child. The mind of man gazing up to the Infinite Nature with mingled dependence,
reverence, and trust, opens and utters itself to Omniscience. | The mind of man in deep earnest stretching up toward the infinite
God, believing in his mysterious nearness and in his love, presumes to utter itself
before him. At such a moment, its first feeling is that of absolute dependence.
It is in the very condition to trace back existence, preservation, and all good
for the present or for the eternal life to the uncreated Source. Along with this
sense of dependence, there is deep veneration, not simply love, but such love as
finds its proper object only in God—love mingled with awe, love taking its very
highest form, the form of reverence. There is superadded simple trust, trust in
parental love commanding infinite resources, the confiding look and confiding heart
of a child. The mind of man gazing up to the Infinite Nature with mingled dependence,
reverence, and trust, opens and utters itself to Omniscience. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.ii-p5 | [] | This is the human side of communion, but there is here, as
yet, no interchange. There is outgoing from below, but no response from above.
On earth the communion of one human mind with another is profoundly mysterious,
and it is far more rare than we imagine. Intercourse by looks, words, and acts,
is universal; but real mental fellowship, communion of intellect with intellect,
conscience with conscience, heart with heart; communion of soul with soul is excessively
rare. It is always and necessarily imperfect. The real and great differences between
one soul and another, and the consequent proportional defect of sympathy between
them, mental and moral incompetence and poverty on the one side or the other, or
both in different respects, constitutional or acquired reserve, shame, pride, and
fear, necessarily prevent the entireness and the freedom of communion. But such
as it is, it is real, and there are palpable expressions and tokens of it, and a
palpable medium through which it is conducted. There is no palpable medium of intercourse
between the human soul and God, and on the side of God there are no palpable expressions
and tokens of its reality. The region belongs to pure faith; we only believe that God
is responding to us; that is literally all. But this faith is
rational, and it is purifying and exalting. If one human soul welcomes and answers the utterances of an other, it is
morally certain that the Eternal Father will meet the advances of his own child.
God must perceive every movement of the soul toward him, self, and can we doubt,
that he will greet the rising aspiration in his pity and love? The belief is in
harmony with the highest reason, that the Uncreated responds to the created mind,
pours illumination, breathes down peace, and sheds forth living and healing influences.
Divine fellowship is the selectest and most solemn of all mysteries. It is a blessed
moment in the earthly history of a soul, when it seeks an audience of God, and believes
that God is mercifully listening and responding to it. This is heaven on earth,
an earnest of the highest dignities and the noblest joys of the life to come. Communion
with God is the most exalted spiritual privilege, and the habit of communion is
the proof of the most matured spiritual excellence. | This is the human side of communion, but there is here, as
yet, no interchange. There is outgoing from below, but no response from above.
On earth the communion of one human mind with another is profoundly mysterious,
and it is far more rare than we imagine. Intercourse by looks, words, and acts,
is universal; but real mental fellowship, communion of intellect with intellect,
conscience with conscience, heart with heart; communion of soul with soul is excessively
rare. It is always and necessarily imperfect. The real and great differences between
one soul and another, and the consequent proportional defect of sympathy between
them, mental and moral incompetence and poverty on the one side or the other, or
both in different respects, constitutional or acquired reserve, shame, pride, and
fear, necessarily prevent the entireness and the freedom of communion. But such
as it is, it is real, and there are palpable expressions and tokens of it, and a
palpable medium through which it is conducted. There is no palpable medium of intercourse
between the human soul and God, and on the side of God there are no palpable expressions
and tokens of its reality. The region belongs to pure faith; we only believe that God
is responding to us; that is literally all. But this faith is
rational, and it is purifying and exalting. If one human soul welcomes and answers the utterances of an other, it is
morally certain that the Eternal Father will meet the advances of his own child.
God must perceive every movement of the soul toward him, self, and can we doubt,
that he will greet the rising aspiration in his pity and love? The belief is in
harmony with the highest reason, that the Uncreated responds to the created mind,
pours illumination, breathes down peace, and sheds forth living and healing influences.
Divine fellowship is the selectest and most solemn of all mysteries. It is a blessed
moment in the earthly history of a soul, when it seeks an audience of God, and believes
that God is mercifully listening and responding to it. This is heaven on earth,
an earnest of the highest dignities and the noblest joys of the life to come. Communion
with God is the most exalted spiritual privilege, and the habit of communion is
the proof of the most matured spiritual excellence. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.ii-p6 | [] | Jesus Christ possessed this privilege in a higher degree than
it was ever possessed by man, and he exhibited this excellence in a maturity which
was never beheld on earth before or since. On reading his life, the impression is
irresistible that his soul was full of God. The selection of a few great occasions
could not convey to us an adequate conception of the constancy Sand closeness of
his union with the Invisible Father. His labors were incessant he was in the midst
of the ignorant, who needed to be instructed, the suffering, who needed to be relieved,
and the mourners; who needed to be comforted. The demands made on his sympathy,
his wisdom, and his power, were perpetual, and he delighted to meet them all. It
was not often that he could rob his public work of the hours which might have contributed
to his solitary personal joy, but he was never separated from God in thought or
in heart. The word oftenest on his lips was this, “the Father,”—“the Father”—“God!” Spontaneously, naturally, constantly, the idea rose, because it was a fixed
reality, the greatest of all realities in his mind. No being was so present to him
as God; not merely in the hours of peculiar and prolonged communion, but always
and every where God was every thing to him. Habitually he brought the Invisible
and Uncreated into the sphere of the visible and the created; in his mind the two
were one. Even amid multitudes, who had no sympathy with the movements of his inner
nature, he knew how to be alone with God, and could convert the crowded city into
a religious solitude. | Jesus Christ possessed this privilege in a higher degree than
it was ever possessed by man, and he exhibited this excellence in a maturity which
was never beheld on earth before or since. On reading his life, the impression is
irresistible that his soul was full of God. The selection of a few great occasions
could not convey to us an adequate conception of the constancy Sand closeness of
his union with the Invisible Father. His labors were incessant he was in the midst
of the ignorant, who needed to be instructed, the suffering, who needed to be relieved,
and the mourners; who needed to be comforted. The demands made on his sympathy,
his wisdom, and his power, were perpetual, and he delighted to meet them all. It
was not often that he could rob his public work of the hours which might have contributed
to his solitary personal joy, but he was never separated from God in thought or
in heart. The word oftenest on his lips was this, “the Father,”—“the Father”—“God!” Spontaneously, naturally, constantly, the idea rose, because it was a fixed
reality, the greatest of all realities in his mind. No being was so present to him
as God; not merely in the hours of peculiar and prolonged communion, but always
and every where God was every thing to him. Habitually he brought the Invisible
and Uncreated into the sphere of the visible and the created; in his mind the two
were one. Even amid multitudes, who had no sympathy with the movements of his inner
nature, he knew how to be alone with God, and could convert the crowded city into
a religious solitude. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.ii-p7 | [] | But the deep yearnings of Jesus’ soul, the Divine force
within, often drove him into literal solitude, that he might give unrestrained
and full expression to his spiritual emotions. In every one of the eventful
crises of his life, he gave affecting testimony to the reality of his oneness
with God. “He went into a desert place, and there prayed.” “He went up into a mountain to pray.” We find that he spent
days and nights also, in solitary prayer and communion with God. After
his baptism, and before entering on his public course, he went into the wilderness
and spent weeks alone with God. On one occasion, after a succession of public labors,
we are told that “rising up a great while before day, he departed into a solitary
place, and there prayed.” When the people sought to take him by force, in order
to crown him, he withdrew to pray. On the night of his betrayal, thinking more of
the sorrows of his disciples than of his own, “he lifted up his eyes to heaven
and prayed” for them. In the garden of Gethsemane, overwhelmed with agony, he prayed,
saying, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” His agony deepening,
“he prayed
more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to
the ground.” But that oneness with God, of whose depth many such testimonies were
given, was not occasional, but habitual. It was not cherished from a sense of duty,
but it governed him irresistibly as an original law of his being. The spontaneous
tendencies of his nature, and not the mere conviction or duty, or the force of outward
circumstances, drew Jesus to God. | But the deep yearnings of Jesus’ soul, the Divine force
within, often drove him into literal solitude, that he might give unrestrained
and full expression to his spiritual emotions. In every one of the eventful
crises of his life, he gave affecting testimony to the reality of his oneness
with God. “He went into a desert place, and there prayed.” “He went up into a mountain to pray.” We find that he spent
days and nights also, in solitary prayer and communion with God. After
his baptism, and before entering on his public course, he went into the wilderness
and spent weeks alone with God. On one occasion, after a succession of public labors,
we are told that “rising up a great while before day, he departed into a solitary
place, and there prayed.” When the people sought to take him by force, in order
to crown him, he withdrew to pray. On the night of his betrayal, thinking more of
the sorrows of his disciples than of his own, “he lifted up his eyes to heaven
and prayed” for them. In the garden of Gethsemane, overwhelmed with agony, he prayed,
saying, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” His agony deepening,
“he prayed
more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to
the ground.” But that oneness with God, of whose depth many such testimonies were
given, was not occasional, but habitual. It was not cherished from a sense of duty,
but it governed him irresistibly as an original law of his being. The spontaneous
tendencies of his nature, and not the mere conviction or duty, or the force of outward
circumstances, drew Jesus to God. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.ii-p9 | [] | Christ’s attendance in the temple or the synagogue, his sacrifices and offerings, and his regard to places,
rites, and days—things which in that age were thought to enter into the very essence
of religion—are little noticed in the Gospels. But in the habits of his mind, in
his words, and in his uniform example, he revealed that which alone gave worth to
outward services and sanctity to the synagogue and the temple. He revealed the soul
and God, and the reality of intercourse between them. Standing erect in his heavenward
tendencies and in his purity, he laid open the spiritual world, its occupations,
its eternity, its glory—like a majestic column, round whose base there lies an
atmosphere of pollution and darkness, but on whose summit there streams perpetual
sunshine. Jesus walked on the earth, but his soul was in the skies with God, and
in the light of that upper sphere he ever viewed the world below, and conducted
all his ministrations among men. | Christ’s attendance in the temple or the synagogue, his sacrifices and offerings, and his regard to places,
rites, and days—things which in that age were thought to enter into the very essence
of religion—are little noticed in the Gospels. But in the habits of his mind, in
his words, and in his uniform example, he revealed that which alone gave worth to
outward services and sanctity to the synagogue and the temple. He revealed the soul
and God, and the reality of intercourse between them. Standing erect in his heavenward
tendencies and in his purity, he laid open the spiritual world, its occupations,
its eternity, its glory—like a majestic column, round whose base there lies an
atmosphere of pollution and darkness, but on whose summit there streams perpetual
sunshine. Jesus walked on the earth, but his soul was in the skies with God, and
in the light of that upper sphere he ever viewed the world below, and conducted
all his ministrations among men. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p1 | [] | Nature of Consciousness.—Its Universality.—Value of its Testimony.—Christ’s
Consciousness.—Highest Development.—Expressed to the last.—Interpretation of it.—Proof
of the Validity of His Claims. | Nature of Consciousness.—Its Universality.—Value of its Testimony.—Christ’s
Consciousness.—Highest Development.—Expressed to the last.—Interpretation of it.—Proof
of the Validity of His Claims. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p2 | [] | THERE is an inward sense, the counterpart of the senses of the
body. These reveal the external, this the internal world. The eye and the ear assure
us respecting the existence of material objects; consciousness assures us respecting
the actual facts within our minds, our experiences, motives, thoughts, and aims
at every movement. In this, all mental phenomena is realized; by these all material
phenomena are perceived. Consciousness belongs to men universally; it is one of
the acknowledged attributes of the human soul, and not the least wonderful. Every
human being is distinctly conscious of what is passing in his mind at any moment,
of the evil and the good in him, his insincerity or sincerity. It is one of the
mysteries which are, nevertheless, undoubted facts of our spiritual constitution. In spite of what may be thought by others,
whether unfavorable or favorable; in spite of what a man himself may assert
and cause to be believed respecting him; in spite of what he wishes to believe,
and even sometimes persuades himself he does believe, deep under all this there
lies a clear sense of what is really within him at the moment, and to a man himself
this testimony is irresistible. The evidence of consciousness to the individual
mind is to the full as decisive as the evidence of the external senses, in their
peculiar sphere. A thousand arguments and a thousand difficulties are of no weight
in the face of what we see and hear; and a thousand arguments and a thousand difficulties
can in no degree disturb the clear testimony of the inward sense. There is, in fact,
nothing which can bear comparison with this in directness and in strength. That
of which a human soul is distinctly conscious as a present fact within it,
is of all things most indubitable, because, otherwise, its original constitution
and the Former of that constitution would be impeached. If either the outward sense
or this inward sense could not be trusted in their proper sphere, there could be
nothing certainly true in the universe; the very foundations of all certitude and
of all confidence would be overturned. The reality of that inner fact of which a
human soul is perfectly conscious, is identified with the existence, the veracity,
the sincerity, and the goodness of God. | THERE is an inward sense, the counterpart of the senses of the
body. These reveal the external, this the internal world. The eye and the ear assure
us respecting the existence of material objects; consciousness assures us respecting
the actual facts within our minds, our experiences, motives, thoughts, and aims
at every movement. In this, all mental phenomena is realized; by these all material
phenomena are perceived. Consciousness belongs to men universally; it is one of
the acknowledged attributes of the human soul, and not the least wonderful. Every
human being is distinctly conscious of what is passing in his mind at any moment,
of the evil and the good in him, his insincerity or sincerity. It is one of the
mysteries which are, nevertheless, undoubted facts of our spiritual constitution. In spite of what may be thought by others,
whether unfavorable or favorable; in spite of what a man himself may assert
and cause to be believed respecting him; in spite of what he wishes to believe,
and even sometimes persuades himself he does believe, deep under all this there
lies a clear sense of what is really within him at the moment, and to a man himself
this testimony is irresistible. The evidence of consciousness to the individual
mind is to the full as decisive as the evidence of the external senses, in their
peculiar sphere. A thousand arguments and a thousand difficulties are of no weight
in the face of what we see and hear; and a thousand arguments and a thousand difficulties
can in no degree disturb the clear testimony of the inward sense. There is, in fact,
nothing which can bear comparison with this in directness and in strength. That
of which a human soul is distinctly conscious as a present fact within it,
is of all things most indubitable, because, otherwise, its original constitution
and the Former of that constitution would be impeached. If either the outward sense
or this inward sense could not be trusted in their proper sphere, there could be
nothing certainly true in the universe; the very foundations of all certitude and
of all confidence would be overturned. The reality of that inner fact of which a
human soul is perfectly conscious, is identified with the existence, the veracity,
the sincerity, and the goodness of God. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p3 | [] | The evidence of consciousness is available only in a very limited
degree, beyond a man himself. Generally the inward testimony is anxiously concealed
from other men; through mere carelessness it may be misunderstood, or it may be
designedly mutilated and falsified. But if a faithful report of it could be obtained—if
we were able, by satisfactory evidence, to ascertain beyond doubt that what was
said to be a positive consciousness was really such, this testimony would be as
convincing and as valid to others as to the man himself, and we should reach
a species of proof than which none can be higher or stronger. The Gospels profess
to report, in Christ’s own words, the voice of his soul to himself, and it is this
report which must now be impartially examined; Christ’s own statements respecting
what he himself found and felt in his nature. | The evidence of consciousness is available only in a very limited
degree, beyond a man himself. Generally the inward testimony is anxiously concealed
from other men; through mere carelessness it may be misunderstood, or it may be
designedly mutilated and falsified. But if a faithful report of it could be obtained—if
we were able, by satisfactory evidence, to ascertain beyond doubt that what was
said to be a positive consciousness was really such, this testimony would be as
convincing and as valid to others as to the man himself, and we should reach
a species of proof than which none can be higher or stronger. The Gospels profess
to report, in Christ’s own words, the voice of his soul to himself, and it is this
report which must now be impartially examined; Christ’s own statements respecting
what he himself found and felt in his nature. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p4 | [] | This Being, then, never uttered a word to man or to God which
indicated the sense of a single defect in his whole life. The Old and New Testaments
record the lives of many godly and honored men—Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Ezekiel,
John, Peter, Paul, and others; but they all confess faults and sins, and repent
and throw themselves on the mercy of God. Religious biography leaves on the mind
an impression of the same character, only more deeply marked. Without exception, the lives of men
who feared and loved God, and who in intention and effect were workers for him and
for their race, exhibit inconsistencies and imperfections. Such men utter humiliating
confessions, and severe self-reproaches; and we are not surprised that they do;
it would create astonishment if they did not. The range of general biography includes
the illustrious men of all nations, and of all times—men distinguished for their
moral qualities, their intellectual powers, their acquirements in all the various
branches of knowledge, the positions of influence to which they have risen, and
the reputation they have won, and which, perhaps, has lived through a succession
of ages. It includes the originators of useful and sagacious schemes, the conductors
of movements which have conferred extensive and lasting benefit on the world. It
includes all the great benefactors of mankind, the instructors, examples, and guides
of their race. Now we assert, without fear of contradiction, that in each individual,
within this almost limitless range, there is found much that is wrong in the sight
of God and men, many a deficiency, many a weakness, many a false step, many a positive
sin. W hat is equally to our purpose, not one of all this vast number ever professes
to be free from errors and sins, or even seeks to be thought so. | This Being, then, never uttered a word to man or to God which
indicated the sense of a single defect in his whole life. The Old and New Testaments
record the lives of many godly and honored men—Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Ezekiel,
John, Peter, Paul, and others; but they all confess faults and sins, and repent
and throw themselves on the mercy of God. Religious biography leaves on the mind
an impression of the same character, only more deeply marked. Without exception, the lives of men
who feared and loved God, and who in intention and effect were workers for him and
for their race, exhibit inconsistencies and imperfections. Such men utter humiliating
confessions, and severe self-reproaches; and we are not surprised that they do;
it would create astonishment if they did not. The range of general biography includes
the illustrious men of all nations, and of all times—men distinguished for their
moral qualities, their intellectual powers, their acquirements in all the various
branches of knowledge, the positions of influence to which they have risen, and
the reputation they have won, and which, perhaps, has lived through a succession
of ages. It includes the originators of useful and sagacious schemes, the conductors
of movements which have conferred extensive and lasting benefit on the world. It
includes all the great benefactors of mankind, the instructors, examples, and guides
of their race. Now we assert, without fear of contradiction, that in each individual,
within this almost limitless range, there is found much that is wrong in the sight
of God and men, many a deficiency, many a weakness, many a false step, many a positive
sin. W hat is equally to our purpose, not one of all this vast number ever professes
to be free from errors and sins, or even seeks to be thought so. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p5 | [] | But Jesus Christ uniformly expressed a distinct sense of faultlessness
and perfection. He never once reproached himself, or regretted any thing
he had ever done or said. He never uttered a word, to indicate that
he bad ever taken a wrong step, or neglected a single opportunity, or that any thing
could have been done or said more or better than he had done and said. Here is a
being who was always calmly, perfectly conscious of faultlessness. “I do always
those things which please the Father.”
“Which of you convicteth me of sin?”
“If I say the truth why do you then not believe?”
“The
prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” | But Jesus Christ uniformly expressed a distinct sense of faultlessness
and perfection. He never once reproached himself, or regretted any thing
he had ever done or said. He never uttered a word, to indicate that
he bad ever taken a wrong step, or neglected a single opportunity, or that any thing
could have been done or said more or better than he had done and said. Here is a
being who was always calmly, perfectly conscious of faultlessness. “I do always
those things which please the Father.”
“Which of you convicteth me of sin?”
“If I say the truth why do you then not believe?”
“The
prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p10 | [] | There is a still more mysterious utterance of Christ’s inward
nature. We find him avowing the most extraordinary sense, not merely of personal
perfection, but of official greatness. “I am not alone, for the Father is with
me.” “I and my Father are one.”
“My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”
“He that sent me is with me; the Father hath not left me alone.”
“My meat is to
do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish his work.” We do not profess to
exhibit the full meaning of these holy texts: but it can not be disputed that they
convey this at least, a conviction on the part of Jesus that he was at one
with the Father, in some high and merciful enterprise. To his own consciousness
it was certain that he was obeying not his own will only, but the will of the
Father; that he was unfolding not his own thoughts only, but the thoughts of the
Father, and that he was carrying on, not a work of his own merely, but the work
of the Father. And on this inward sense of relation to God there was built up a
conviction of the strict individuality, the solitary grandeur of his mission. “I am the bread of life.”
“I am the light of the world.”
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine; and my
sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, but a stranger will they not follow.”
“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
“All things are delivered to me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son shall reveal him.”
“Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”
“Many prophets and
kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and
to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”
“The queen of the South shall rise up in judgment with the men of this generation,
and shall condemn them for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear
the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here. The men
of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it,
for they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold a greater than Jonas
is here.” | There is a still more mysterious utterance of Christ’s inward
nature. We find him avowing the most extraordinary sense, not merely of personal
perfection, but of official greatness. “I am not alone, for the Father is with
me.” “I and my Father are one.”
“My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”
“He that sent me is with me; the Father hath not left me alone.”
“My meat is to
do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish his work.” We do not profess to
exhibit the full meaning of these holy texts: but it can not be disputed that they
convey this at least, a conviction on the part of Jesus that he was at one
with the Father, in some high and merciful enterprise. To his own consciousness
it was certain that he was obeying not his own will only, but the will of the
Father; that he was unfolding not his own thoughts only, but the thoughts of the
Father, and that he was carrying on, not a work of his own merely, but the work
of the Father. And on this inward sense of relation to God there was built up a
conviction of the strict individuality, the solitary grandeur of his mission. “I am the bread of life.”
“I am the light of the world.”
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine; and my
sheep hear my voice, and they follow me, but a stranger will they not follow.”
“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
“All things are delivered to me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son shall reveal him.”
“Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”
“Many prophets and
kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and
to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.”
“The queen of the South shall rise up in judgment with the men of this generation,
and shall condemn them for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear
the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon is here. The men
of Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it,
for they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and behold a greater than Jonas
is here.” |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p25 | [] | But more mysterious, more awful still, were the words in which
Jesus sometimes pronounced himself. On several separate occasions he employed in
the hearing of men, language which human lips could not have uttered without impiety.
“Thy sins be forgiven thee.” “The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.”
“The hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of .the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live.”
“When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and
all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory,
and before him shall be gathered all nations.” The deep sense of his mysterious
greatness which these passages indicate, was expressed by Jesus from the first,
and it was never lost or even impaired. At the last, when darkness gathered
around him, he shrank not from the avowal. Immediately before his crucifixion, he
said to the judge who condemned him, “Thou couldst have had no power at all against me, except it were given thee from
above.” “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into this world, that
I should bear witness unto the truth. My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom
were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered unto
the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence.” From first to last, in his humiliation
and in his sufferings, and at his dying hour, just as in the outset of his career
and the freshness of his public fame, this was the same great and dread Being. | But more mysterious, more awful still, were the words in which
Jesus sometimes pronounced himself. On several separate occasions he employed in
the hearing of men, language which human lips could not have uttered without impiety.
“Thy sins be forgiven thee.” “The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.”
“The hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of .the Son of God, and
they that hear shall live.”
“When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and
all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory,
and before him shall be gathered all nations.” The deep sense of his mysterious
greatness which these passages indicate, was expressed by Jesus from the first,
and it was never lost or even impaired. At the last, when darkness gathered
around him, he shrank not from the avowal. Immediately before his crucifixion, he
said to the judge who condemned him, “Thou couldst have had no power at all against me, except it were given thee from
above.” “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into this world, that
I should bear witness unto the truth. My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom
were of this world then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered unto
the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence.” From first to last, in his humiliation
and in his sufferings, and at his dying hour, just as in the outset of his career
and the freshness of his public fame, this was the same great and dread Being. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p31 | [] | The frequent utterance of a mysterious and distinctive consciousness,
on the part of Jesus, can not be disputed. To say nothing of the inspiration of
the New Testament; unless it be utterly fabulous and false, if even in the most
loose sense it be authentic, this is certain, that Jesus often expressed without
reserve a sense of personal faultlessness and perfection; and what is more, a sense
of the incomparable dignity and sacredness of his official position. In his own
conception, he stood between man and God, in a crisis of the world’s history which
had no parallel. He was alone in the ages, bearing a burden for which no former
age was ripe, and by which no subsequent age was to be oppressed. He was doing a
work in which he could have no partner; he was alone in responsibility, in power, and in rank! | The frequent utterance of a mysterious and distinctive consciousness,
on the part of Jesus, can not be disputed. To say nothing of the inspiration of
the New Testament; unless it be utterly fabulous and false, if even in the most
loose sense it be authentic, this is certain, that Jesus often expressed without
reserve a sense of personal faultlessness and perfection; and what is more, a sense
of the incomparable dignity and sacredness of his official position. In his own
conception, he stood between man and God, in a crisis of the world’s history which
had no parallel. He was alone in the ages, bearing a burden for which no former
age was ripe, and by which no subsequent age was to be oppressed. He was doing a
work in which he could have no partner; he was alone in responsibility, in power, and in rank! |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p32 | [] | Such, supposing the Christian record to be of the smallest
historical value, is the indubitable fact. Can it be accounted for—can any
important con-elusions be founded upon it—what does it really involve? | Such, supposing the Christian record to be of the smallest
historical value, is the indubitable fact. Can it be accounted for—can any
important con-elusions be founded upon it—what does it really involve? |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p33 | [] | 1. Perhaps some of Christ’s injudicious and overzealous followers suggested to
his mind the pretensions which he avowed. This is not conceivable: for the consciousness
which he expressed comprehended far more than any of them believed, or even understood
at the time, much as they honored and loved him. | 1. Perhaps some of Christ’s injudicious and overzealous followers suggested to
his mind the pretensions which he avowed. This is not conceivable: for the consciousness
which he expressed comprehended far more than any of them believed, or even understood
at the time, much as they honored and loved him. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p34 | [] | 2. Perhaps the language of Christ originated in mere vanity and conceit. It must
have been consummate, unparalleled vanity, if it was vanity at all; but this is
plainly incompatible with the sobriety and solidity of his deportment. Besides,
the idea expressed was too lofty to have had such a despicable origin; it was too
spiritual, and too closely connected with God, with religion, with the unseen world; unless, indeed, he had been utterly reckless and profane. | 2. Perhaps the language of Christ originated in mere vanity and conceit. It must
have been consummate, unparalleled vanity, if it was vanity at all; but this is
plainly incompatible with the sobriety and solidity of his deportment. Besides,
the idea expressed was too lofty to have had such a despicable origin; it was too
spiritual, and too closely connected with God, with religion, with the unseen world; unless, indeed, he had been utterly reckless and profane. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p35 | [] | 3. Perhaps it originated in a deep-laid scheme of ambition. The prompt answer to
this suggestion is that such was not Christ’s character at all. He was no crafty
and designing hierophant or demagogue. His own declaration was simply true, and was verified by his entire course,
“My meat is to do the will
of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” Interested motives, in any form, never
once indicated their presence in him by a single token during his whole life. | 3. Perhaps it originated in a deep-laid scheme of ambition. The prompt answer to
this suggestion is that such was not Christ’s character at all. He was no crafty
and designing hierophant or demagogue. His own declaration was simply true, and was verified by his entire course,
“My meat is to do the will
of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” Interested motives, in any form, never
once indicated their presence in him by a single token during his whole life. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p36 | [] | 4. Perhaps it originated in enthusiasm. But only an enthusiasm amounting to raving
insanity could have uttered itself, in such language as his. If its origin
was enthusiasm at all, it must have been the very insanity of enthusiasm, and his
grave and meek life decisively forbids this supposition. There was nothing, either
in his sayings or his doings incoherent, contradictory, wild. Both manifested entire
self-possession and the calmest wisdom. | 4. Perhaps it originated in enthusiasm. But only an enthusiasm amounting to raving
insanity could have uttered itself, in such language as his. If its origin
was enthusiasm at all, it must have been the very insanity of enthusiasm, and his
grave and meek life decisively forbids this supposition. There was nothing, either
in his sayings or his doings incoherent, contradictory, wild. Both manifested entire
self-possession and the calmest wisdom. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p38 | [] | 5, Perhaps it originated in mere mistake. With all his excellence, intellectual
and moral, was not Jesus Christ nevertheless singularly mistaken on one point? Perhaps
he fancied himself greater and better than he really was. Without the slightest
intention to deceive, with entire sincerity and honesty, he uttered what he thought was the voice of his consciousness; but it was a mere fancy, a serious, but
not altogether unlikely, mistake. It occurs to us to ask in this connection, was
Jesus Christ also mistaken, when he uttered in the ears of men truths, which the
wisest and best souls ever sent into this world before had never imagined? Was
he also mistaken, when he bestowed on mankind a body of living, spiritual
truth, which all the systems taken together, before known, do not approach, and
to which nothing worthy to be named has since been added? In such a matter as this,
was he mistaken, who had revealed the deepest secrets of the nature of God,
or the human soul, and of the future state? Was he unable to report faithfully
a thing so near at hand as the voice of his own consciousness, and in the stead
of that voice, did he publish a groundless conceit to the world? These things do
not comport; it is impossible that they should be both true of the same individual.
The ground neither of injudicious foreign influence, nor of vanity, nor of deep-laid
ambition, nor of enthusiasm, nor of honest mistake, can be taken in this case. The
wickedness or weakness, or both, which these grounds would involve are utterly irreconcilable
with the acknowledged character of Jesus; and none of the principles which are
found to account for similar phenomena in the case of other historical personages,
nor all of these principles together, are adequate or applicable in his case. But
whether unexplained or explained, the fact remains, that he repeatedly expressed
a sense of personal perfection and of extraordinary relation to God. He found and
felt this as a fact of his inward nature; he uttered it as a distinct consciousness.
A conviction is founded on evidence, and is reached by a process of reasoning. The foundation may be unsound, the reasoning may
be false. and the conviction may be an error; but a consciousness is an immediate
and independent act, like seeing by the eye, or hearing by the ear. It is its own
evidence, and none can be more satisfying, more sure. By the very constitution of
the soul, this is the highest proof possible of the reality of that which
it presents. | 5, Perhaps it originated in mere mistake. With all his excellence, intellectual
and moral, was not Jesus Christ nevertheless singularly mistaken on one point? Perhaps
he fancied himself greater and better than he really was. Without the slightest
intention to deceive, with entire sincerity and honesty, he uttered what he thought was the voice of his consciousness; but it was a mere fancy, a serious, but
not altogether unlikely, mistake. It occurs to us to ask in this connection, was
Jesus Christ also mistaken, when he uttered in the ears of men truths, which the
wisest and best souls ever sent into this world before had never imagined? Was
he also mistaken, when he bestowed on mankind a body of living, spiritual
truth, which all the systems taken together, before known, do not approach, and
to which nothing worthy to be named has since been added? In such a matter as this,
was he mistaken, who had revealed the deepest secrets of the nature of God,
or the human soul, and of the future state? Was he unable to report faithfully
a thing so near at hand as the voice of his own consciousness, and in the stead
of that voice, did he publish a groundless conceit to the world? These things do
not comport; it is impossible that they should be both true of the same individual.
The ground neither of injudicious foreign influence, nor of vanity, nor of deep-laid
ambition, nor of enthusiasm, nor of honest mistake, can be taken in this case. The
wickedness or weakness, or both, which these grounds would involve are utterly irreconcilable
with the acknowledged character of Jesus; and none of the principles which are
found to account for similar phenomena in the case of other historical personages,
nor all of these principles together, are adequate or applicable in his case. But
whether unexplained or explained, the fact remains, that he repeatedly expressed
a sense of personal perfection and of extraordinary relation to God. He found and
felt this as a fact of his inward nature; he uttered it as a distinct consciousness.
A conviction is founded on evidence, and is reached by a process of reasoning. The foundation may be unsound, the reasoning may
be false. and the conviction may be an error; but a consciousness is an immediate
and independent act, like seeing by the eye, or hearing by the ear. It is its own
evidence, and none can be more satisfying, more sure. By the very constitution of
the soul, this is the highest proof possible of the reality of that which
it presents. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p39 | [] | We can come only to one conclusion, that the words of Jesus were
a faithful and genuine expression of his consciousness—a consciousness which creates
an impassable distinction between him and all men. In that true voice of his
soul, there is the strongest evidence of indubitable reality. He spoke what
he felt, and he felt what he truly was. His nature was conscious of the profound
mystery which belonged to it, and he simply uttered this consciousness, and no apparent
inconsistency between what he claimed and what he seemed to be, troubled him for
a moment. | We can come only to one conclusion, that the words of Jesus were
a faithful and genuine expression of his consciousness—a consciousness which creates
an impassable distinction between him and all men. In that true voice of his
soul, there is the strongest evidence of indubitable reality. He spoke what
he felt, and he felt what he truly was. His nature was conscious of the profound
mystery which belonged to it, and he simply uttered this consciousness, and no apparent
inconsistency between what he claimed and what he seemed to be, troubled him for
a moment. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iii-p40 | [] | A young man who had not long left the carpenter’s shop, who at
the moment he spoke was in a condition of poverty, and was associated only with
those who were obscure and poor like himself, calmly declared his sense of perfect
faultlessness and of extraordinary relation to God. Is it possible, that any candid
mind can reflect on the plain facts of this history, and on the principles which lie beneath them, on the seeming of this marvelous life,
and on the reality which the seeming does but vail—ay, often unvail—and
not be filled involuntarily with wonder and with awe? | A young man who had not long left the carpenter’s shop, who at
the moment he spoke was in a condition of poverty, and was associated only with
those who were obscure and poor like himself, calmly declared his sense of perfect
faultlessness and of extraordinary relation to God. Is it possible, that any candid
mind can reflect on the plain facts of this history, and on the principles which lie beneath them, on the seeming of this marvelous life,
and on the reality which the seeming does but vail—ay, often unvail—and
not be filled involuntarily with wonder and with awe? |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p1 | [] | True Man.—Peculiar Susceptibility.—Sufferings and Provocations.—Unconquerable Patience.—Absolute spiritual Perfection.—Simplicity and Freshness.—Uniform
Perfection.—Jesus a Manifestation, not an Effort.—A pure Original, and not an Imitation.—Alone
in History. | True Man.—Peculiar Susceptibility.—Sufferings and Provocations.—Unconquerable Patience.—Absolute spiritual Perfection.—Simplicity and Freshness.—Uniform
Perfection.—Jesus a Manifestation, not an Effort.—A pure Original, and not an Imitation.—Alone
in History. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p2 | [] | CHRIST’S original and constant oneness with God prepares us to
expect in him, an extraordinary elevation and purity of character. His mysterious
consciousness, also, is the proof of moral greatness which never belonged to. man.
But in addition to these, there is a proof of his spiritual individuality, which
comes home more directly to the consciences and hearts of men, and is fitted to
move them more powerfully. It is found in his life, as a whole, in
the entire unfolding of his character before the world from first to last. | CHRIST’S original and constant oneness with God prepares us to
expect in him, an extraordinary elevation and purity of character. His mysterious
consciousness, also, is the proof of moral greatness which never belonged to. man.
But in addition to these, there is a proof of his spiritual individuality, which
comes home more directly to the consciences and hearts of men, and is fitted to
move them more powerfully. It is found in his life, as a whole, in
the entire unfolding of his character before the world from first to last. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p3 | [] | His identification with universal humanity can not fail
to be recognized at once. He belonged to no privileged class, and as an inhabitant
of the world, he enjoyed no protection or advantage of any kind which was not common
to all other human beings. Real moral excellence and holy force of character
are admirable, whatever may have been the history of their production; but they
are certainly less impressive when peculiar advantages have been enjoyed for their
cultivation, and when peculiar measures have been adopted for their acquisition.
If a man withdraw himself from the duties, trials, and snares of the world, retire
to solitude, and devote his life to the pursuit of virtue, it is felt, however elevated
his character may become, that the methods to which he has resorted are impossible
to men in general, and indeed are at variance with the constitution of things which
God has ordained. Even the example of an individual in the higher walks of society,
or belonging to some privileged order, or in any other way placed in circumstances
more than usually favorable to mental and spiritual development, protected against hinderances and evils which beset other men, and possessed of encouragements and
helps which they can not reach, can never act effectively and permanently on the
world. | His identification with universal humanity can not fail
to be recognized at once. He belonged to no privileged class, and as an inhabitant
of the world, he enjoyed no protection or advantage of any kind which was not common
to all other human beings. Real moral excellence and holy force of character
are admirable, whatever may have been the history of their production; but they
are certainly less impressive when peculiar advantages have been enjoyed for their
cultivation, and when peculiar measures have been adopted for their acquisition.
If a man withdraw himself from the duties, trials, and snares of the world, retire
to solitude, and devote his life to the pursuit of virtue, it is felt, however elevated
his character may become, that the methods to which he has resorted are impossible
to men in general, and indeed are at variance with the constitution of things which
God has ordained. Even the example of an individual in the higher walks of society,
or belonging to some privileged order, or in any other way placed in circumstances
more than usually favorable to mental and spiritual development, protected against hinderances and evils which beset other men, and possessed of encouragements and
helps which they can not reach, can never act effectively and permanently on the
world. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p4 | [] | But Jesus Christ was man in the wide sense of that term,
and was placed altogether in the ordinary circumstances which attend the lot of
humanity on earth. He belonged to the masses and was brought up with them,
unprivileged and undistinguished. His associations, all his outward relationships,
his speech and his dress, were of the same kind with theirs; so that there was every natural ground of
sympathy between them and him. We read of his weariness, hunger, and thirst—of his
tears and his groans—of his friendship with his disciples, and with John in particular—with
Lazarus, Martha, and Mary; we read of him weeping at the grave of his friend;
we read of his love to little children, taking them in his arms and blessing them.
Whatever else he was, he was man, a true man, and his was a true and warm human
heart. No reader of his life can doubt that he was a sharer to the full in the common
circumstances, occupations, susceptibilities, trials, and wants of universal humanity. | But Jesus Christ was man in the wide sense of that term,
and was placed altogether in the ordinary circumstances which attend the lot of
humanity on earth. He belonged to the masses and was brought up with them,
unprivileged and undistinguished. His associations, all his outward relationships,
his speech and his dress, were of the same kind with theirs; so that there was every natural ground of
sympathy between them and him. We read of his weariness, hunger, and thirst—of his
tears and his groans—of his friendship with his disciples, and with John in particular—with
Lazarus, Martha, and Mary; we read of him weeping at the grave of his friend;
we read of his love to little children, taking them in his arms and blessing them.
Whatever else he was, he was man, a true man, and his was a true and warm human
heart. No reader of his life can doubt that he was a sharer to the full in the common
circumstances, occupations, susceptibilities, trials, and wants of universal humanity. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p5 | [] | Thus conditioned, Jesus had to encounter a difficulty of overwhelming
force, altogether peculiar to himself and arising out of the constitution of his
soul. In his own idea, whether true or false it matters not, he was born to a Godlike
work. A. mysterious purpose lay in his mind; it was to redeem and reclaim a world,
to recover man to God and to immortal perfection. This was the passion of his heart,
and the very nature of this passion, this purpose would necessarily render him more
keenly susceptible and more dependent on grateful appreciation. But he was unappreciated
and unsupported. Even his disciples, instead of fortifying him by their enlightened
sympathy, vexed him with their low and earthly thoughts, and without intending of even knowing it, they often obstructed instead of
helping him. This was not all. He encountered designed resistance and unrelenting
and cruel persecution. He never injured a single being, in his heart lay
only intense love, but it was basely requited. His actions were decried, his motives
suspected, his character maligned, his spirit, too unselfish and pure for that age,
misconstrued and misunderstood. Because he was holy and denounced all evil, the
workers of evil conspired against him, and moved an entire people in their wickedness
and blindness to put him to death. The forms of justice were violated, the name
of religion was prostituted, and he was surrendered to the unrestrained revenge
and power of his enemies. But even then, he was absolutely unmoved in the deep love
of his heart, and in all his gracious thoughts of man and for man’s salvation. Never,
amid cruel provocation and persecution, was his soul excited to anger. Once in the
narrative of his life, the word anger is connected with his name—“he looked round
upon them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.”
But the passage itself sufficiently proves that it is not anger which is meant,
but strong emotion, indignation perhaps, or amazement; for the same persons could
not possibly be the objects of grief and of human anger at the same time. No; of
one being in human form, but of one only, it can be said that he never spoke an
angry or unkind Word, and never indulged for a moment an angry
or unkind feeling. Ingratitude, injustice, hatred, pierced his soul; but his forgivingness,
patience, meekness, and measureless love, were never disturbed. He bore in silence
“the contradiction of sinners against himself,” “he was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross;” “when he was reviled he reviled not again, when he
suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to Him who judgeth
righteously.” “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” was
the prayer with which he died, and it breathes the spirit which pervaded his
whole life. | Thus conditioned, Jesus had to encounter a difficulty of overwhelming
force, altogether peculiar to himself and arising out of the constitution of his
soul. In his own idea, whether true or false it matters not, he was born to a Godlike
work. A. mysterious purpose lay in his mind; it was to redeem and reclaim a world,
to recover man to God and to immortal perfection. This was the passion of his heart,
and the very nature of this passion, this purpose would necessarily render him more
keenly susceptible and more dependent on grateful appreciation. But he was unappreciated
and unsupported. Even his disciples, instead of fortifying him by their enlightened
sympathy, vexed him with their low and earthly thoughts, and without intending of even knowing it, they often obstructed instead of
helping him. This was not all. He encountered designed resistance and unrelenting
and cruel persecution. He never injured a single being, in his heart lay
only intense love, but it was basely requited. His actions were decried, his motives
suspected, his character maligned, his spirit, too unselfish and pure for that age,
misconstrued and misunderstood. Because he was holy and denounced all evil, the
workers of evil conspired against him, and moved an entire people in their wickedness
and blindness to put him to death. The forms of justice were violated, the name
of religion was prostituted, and he was surrendered to the unrestrained revenge
and power of his enemies. But even then, he was absolutely unmoved in the deep love
of his heart, and in all his gracious thoughts of man and for man’s salvation. Never,
amid cruel provocation and persecution, was his soul excited to anger. Once in the
narrative of his life, the word anger is connected with his name—“he looked round
upon them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.”
But the passage itself sufficiently proves that it is not anger which is meant,
but strong emotion, indignation perhaps, or amazement; for the same persons could
not possibly be the objects of grief and of human anger at the same time. No; of
one being in human form, but of one only, it can be said that he never spoke an
angry or unkind Word, and never indulged for a moment an angry
or unkind feeling. Ingratitude, injustice, hatred, pierced his soul; but his forgivingness,
patience, meekness, and measureless love, were never disturbed. He bore in silence
“the contradiction of sinners against himself,” “he was obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross;” “when he was reviled he reviled not again, when he
suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to Him who judgeth
righteously.” “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” was
the prayer with which he died, and it breathes the spirit which pervaded his
whole life. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p6 | [] | The Rev. T. H. Horne, in his “Introduction to the Study of
the Scriptures,” vol. i. p. 422, puts into English a magnificent eulogy of the character
of Jesus, by J. J. Rousseau. The piece, in itself, is surpassingly beautiful and
eloquent, but considering who its author was, it is beyond measure astonishing.
The original passage will be found in the “Emile, on de l’Education,” liv. 4. Œuvres,
tom. ii. p. 91, 92.—Frankfort, 1762. | The Rev. T. H. Horne, in his “Introduction to the Study of
the Scriptures,” vol. i. p. 422, puts into English a magnificent eulogy of the character
of Jesus, by J. J. Rousseau. The piece, in itself, is surpassingly beautiful and
eloquent, but considering who its author was, it is beyond measure astonishing.
The original passage will be found in the “Emile, on de l’Education,” liv. 4. Œuvres,
tom. ii. p. 91, 92.—Frankfort, 1762. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p7 | [] | Was ever man like this? Was such a manifestation of a
human soul ever even imagined? Certainly never, except in this instance, was such
a manifestation described. | Was ever man like this? Was such a manifestation of a
human soul ever even imagined? Certainly never, except in this instance, was such
a manifestation described. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p8 | [] | Greatness, in the sense which most commends itself to many minds,
can not be claimed for Jesus. His name is not associated with the philosophy,
the literature, or the science of the world. He occupied a position far above them.
The good sense and the good taste of candid men will pronounce unhesitatingly, that formal connection with any or all of them
would have degraded, and not exalted. him. It is not that they are not unspeakably
important to the world, and it is not that he, or the religion which he founded,
in its principles or its spirit, was hostile to them. But he was personally apart
from them, and his greatness belonged to quite another sphere—one infinitely higher.
We have shown that transcendent opulence, and power, and grandeur of soul were his; we have shown that he dealt as a master with things which the greatest of men
thought it their highest office, even distantly, to approach. Unknown to philosophy,
literature, and science, in him shone a light which they never kindled, and in him
were the universal principles of all beauty and all truth. | Greatness, in the sense which most commends itself to many minds,
can not be claimed for Jesus. His name is not associated with the philosophy,
the literature, or the science of the world. He occupied a position far above them.
The good sense and the good taste of candid men will pronounce unhesitatingly, that formal connection with any or all of them
would have degraded, and not exalted. him. It is not that they are not unspeakably
important to the world, and it is not that he, or the religion which he founded,
in its principles or its spirit, was hostile to them. But he was personally apart
from them, and his greatness belonged to quite another sphere—one infinitely higher.
We have shown that transcendent opulence, and power, and grandeur of soul were his; we have shown that he dealt as a master with things which the greatest of men
thought it their highest office, even distantly, to approach. Unknown to philosophy,
literature, and science, in him shone a light which they never kindled, and in him
were the universal principles of all beauty and all truth. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p9 | [] | The difficulty which we chiefly feel in dealing with the character
of Christ, as it unfolded itself before men, arises from its absolute perfection.
On this very account, it is the less fitted to arrest observation. A single excellence
unusually developed, though in the neighborhood of great faults, is instantly and
universally attractive. Perfect symmetry, on the other hand, does not startle, and
is hidden from common and casual observers. But it is this which belongs emphatically
to the Christ of the Gospels;, and we distinguish in him at each moment that precise
manifestation, which is most natural and most right. It is wonderful, that the unpretending and brief annals of his life, by four different
hands, have not failed in this respect, have not failed in any part of the delineation,
or in a single touch or tint: the more wonderful it is, since the character was
utterly unlike what the writers could have imagined, by the aid either of experience
or of history. | The difficulty which we chiefly feel in dealing with the character
of Christ, as it unfolded itself before men, arises from its absolute perfection.
On this very account, it is the less fitted to arrest observation. A single excellence
unusually developed, though in the neighborhood of great faults, is instantly and
universally attractive. Perfect symmetry, on the other hand, does not startle, and
is hidden from common and casual observers. But it is this which belongs emphatically
to the Christ of the Gospels;, and we distinguish in him at each moment that precise
manifestation, which is most natural and most right. It is wonderful, that the unpretending and brief annals of his life, by four different
hands, have not failed in this respect, have not failed in any part of the delineation,
or in a single touch or tint: the more wonderful it is, since the character was
utterly unlike what the writers could have imagined, by the aid either of experience
or of history. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p10 | [] | In human beings, there never is an approach to sustained, proportioned,
and universal goodness. The manifestation in one direction is so high as
to be unnatural, while in another direction, it falls perhaps below the standard
of our conceptions. This wondrous Person always is, and acts up to the
idea of perfect humanity—never unnaturally elevated so as to be out of fellowship
with men, and never below the highest human excellence, conceivable in the particular
circumstances at the time. If men possess a virtue in an unusual degree, the probability
is, that they will be found to exhibit a defect or fault in the opposite direction.
The virtue itself shall pass into a fault, and shall occasion the injury or the
neglect of other qualities equally essential. A man is remarkable for sagacity and
decision, but he shall be coldly unsusceptible; or he is tender and ardent, but
he shall be wanting in resolution and in judgment. He is remarkable for dignity of deportment, but he
shall be reserved and proud; or he is communicative and accessible, but he shall be wanting in becoming self-respect. The high development of the intellect is rarely combined with
the due cultivation of the affections, and the cultivation of the affections is
rarely combined with full development and force of intellect. Jesus Christ possessed
the tenderest heart, overflowing with generous and warm feelings, but, at the same
time, his wisdom was profound, and his decision of character was invincible. He
was accessible to all without exception, and no circle of exclusiveness was at
any time drawn around him in order to guard his presence; but he was always self-possessed,
and self-sustained, and his dignity was commanding.. Intellectually and morally,
socially and personally, in relation to his kindred or his disciples, to the followers
or the enemies of his ministry, he always rises up to the highest idea that can
be formed of perfect man. And then, there is thrown over all his intercourse with
men, the charm of freshness and genuine simplicity. Nothing is artificial, nothing
assumed, nothing forced; but we behold the natural, honest, free development of
a true soul. He is never trying to impress, never laboring to sustain a character.
He is not aiming to seem, but he. seems what he really is—no more,
no less, no other. Nor does this Being come before us only on a few special occasions,
carefully selected, in order to exhibit conspicuously the best aspects of his character.
We behold him in every conceivable variety of positions, mingling with all sorts of persons, and with all kinds of events; we
follow the steps of his public life, and we watch his most unsuspecting and retired
moments; we see him in the midst of thousands, or with his disciples, or with a
single individual; we see him in the capital of his country, or in one of its remote
villages, in the temple and the synagogue, or in the desert, or in the streets;
we see him with the rich and with the poor, the prosperous and the afflicted,
the good and the bad, with his private friends and with his enemies and murderers; and we behold him at last in circumstances the most
overwhelming which it is
possible to conceive, deserted, betrayed, falsely accused, unrighteously condemned,
nailed to a cross! But wherever he is, and however placed, in the ordinary circumstances
of his daily life, or at the last supper, or in Gethsemane, or in the judgment
hall, or on Calvary, he is the same meek, pure, wise, god-like Being. | In human beings, there never is an approach to sustained, proportioned,
and universal goodness. The manifestation in one direction is so high as
to be unnatural, while in another direction, it falls perhaps below the standard
of our conceptions. This wondrous Person always is, and acts up to the
idea of perfect humanity—never unnaturally elevated so as to be out of fellowship
with men, and never below the highest human excellence, conceivable in the particular
circumstances at the time. If men possess a virtue in an unusual degree, the probability
is, that they will be found to exhibit a defect or fault in the opposite direction.
The virtue itself shall pass into a fault, and shall occasion the injury or the
neglect of other qualities equally essential. A man is remarkable for sagacity and
decision, but he shall be coldly unsusceptible; or he is tender and ardent, but
he shall be wanting in resolution and in judgment. He is remarkable for dignity of deportment, but he
shall be reserved and proud; or he is communicative and accessible, but he shall be wanting in becoming self-respect. The high development of the intellect is rarely combined with
the due cultivation of the affections, and the cultivation of the affections is
rarely combined with full development and force of intellect. Jesus Christ possessed
the tenderest heart, overflowing with generous and warm feelings, but, at the same
time, his wisdom was profound, and his decision of character was invincible. He
was accessible to all without exception, and no circle of exclusiveness was at
any time drawn around him in order to guard his presence; but he was always self-possessed,
and self-sustained, and his dignity was commanding.. Intellectually and morally,
socially and personally, in relation to his kindred or his disciples, to the followers
or the enemies of his ministry, he always rises up to the highest idea that can
be formed of perfect man. And then, there is thrown over all his intercourse with
men, the charm of freshness and genuine simplicity. Nothing is artificial, nothing
assumed, nothing forced; but we behold the natural, honest, free development of
a true soul. He is never trying to impress, never laboring to sustain a character.
He is not aiming to seem, but he. seems what he really is—no more,
no less, no other. Nor does this Being come before us only on a few special occasions,
carefully selected, in order to exhibit conspicuously the best aspects of his character.
We behold him in every conceivable variety of positions, mingling with all sorts of persons, and with all kinds of events; we
follow the steps of his public life, and we watch his most unsuspecting and retired
moments; we see him in the midst of thousands, or with his disciples, or with a
single individual; we see him in the capital of his country, or in one of its remote
villages, in the temple and the synagogue, or in the desert, or in the streets;
we see him with the rich and with the poor, the prosperous and the afflicted,
the good and the bad, with his private friends and with his enemies and murderers; and we behold him at last in circumstances the most
overwhelming which it is
possible to conceive, deserted, betrayed, falsely accused, unrighteously condemned,
nailed to a cross! But wherever he is, and however placed, in the ordinary circumstances
of his daily life, or at the last supper, or in Gethsemane, or in the judgment
hall, or on Calvary, he is the same meek, pure, wise, god-like Being. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p11 | [] | It must be most distinctly noted, that the character of Jesus
was a manifestation not an effort. Men rise to spiritual excellence; but
it is from the imperfections and errors of first efforts, it is after repeated
failures, and as the result of a long and hard struggle with evil; and whatever
triumph be achieved, the struggle, not unattended with frequent defeat, is prolonged
to the last. This is the unqualified testimony of individual experience and of universal
observation. But, in the case of Jesus Christ, there were no indications
of struggle or even of effort, and not a single failure or defeat. His soul was
deeply moved by the darkness and the evil around him; but he was personally
untainted with either. We behold the gradual unfolding of an inward power, which did not need to
contend, but meekly
and at once put aside whatever resistance was offered to it. By the words and the
acts of his life, Jesus rebuked all that was ungodly, impure, and false among
men; but invariably it was as one who himself was innocent of sin, and who was sent
to renovate and bless the world. His life was a triumph from the first—the manifestation
of a soul that stood invincible in its native spiritual force. | It must be most distinctly noted, that the character of Jesus
was a manifestation not an effort. Men rise to spiritual excellence; but
it is from the imperfections and errors of first efforts, it is after repeated
failures, and as the result of a long and hard struggle with evil; and whatever
triumph be achieved, the struggle, not unattended with frequent defeat, is prolonged
to the last. This is the unqualified testimony of individual experience and of universal
observation. But, in the case of Jesus Christ, there were no indications
of struggle or even of effort, and not a single failure or defeat. His soul was
deeply moved by the darkness and the evil around him; but he was personally
untainted with either. We behold the gradual unfolding of an inward power, which did not need to
contend, but meekly
and at once put aside whatever resistance was offered to it. By the words and the
acts of his life, Jesus rebuked all that was ungodly, impure, and false among
men; but invariably it was as one who himself was innocent of sin, and who was sent
to renovate and bless the world. His life was a triumph from the first—the manifestation
of a soul that stood invincible in its native spiritual force. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p12 | [] | The character of Jesus, besides, was a pure original, not an imitation. The
model existed not, and had never existed, from which it could have been copied.
There is no record, in the writings of all nations and of all times, of a life
for which absolute perfection is claimed from its beginning to its close. But the
character of Christ drawn in the Gospels, though undesignedly on the part of the
writers, is human perfection, in which we can discover no defect, and which we can
imagine nothing beyond. Nor is it the concentration in a single life of attributes
which, though they never all existed in combination before, had all existed
separately, in different proportions, in other lives and other times. There are single elements of character and combinations of elements
here, which are perfectly new; appreciated and admired, having been once disclosed,
but no trace of which had before appeared. The entire personality, as it rose up
before the world, was a fresh living original—a stream from its native fountain,
not the accumulation of many tributary waters. | The character of Jesus, besides, was a pure original, not an imitation. The
model existed not, and had never existed, from which it could have been copied.
There is no record, in the writings of all nations and of all times, of a life
for which absolute perfection is claimed from its beginning to its close. But the
character of Christ drawn in the Gospels, though undesignedly on the part of the
writers, is human perfection, in which we can discover no defect, and which we can
imagine nothing beyond. Nor is it the concentration in a single life of attributes
which, though they never all existed in combination before, had all existed
separately, in different proportions, in other lives and other times. There are single elements of character and combinations of elements
here, which are perfectly new; appreciated and admired, having been once disclosed,
but no trace of which had before appeared. The entire personality, as it rose up
before the world, was a fresh living original—a stream from its native fountain,
not the accumulation of many tributary waters. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p13 | [] | The suspicion is very groundless that that manifestation which
is delineated with great artlessness in the Gospels, was not real, but ideal—a creation
of the writers’ own minds, not a simple account of what they had actually witnessed.
We need only refer to the intellectual and moral condition of Judea, with its known
principles, habits, and tastes, to the position and character of the evangelists,
and then to the representation itself which they have executed, in order to show
convincingly that such a suspicion is the most groundless which can be imagined.
That country and these men could never have conceived or described such ideal spiritual excellence, as that which they have attached as a reality
to the person of Jesus; least of all was it possible, that this idea could have
been connected with the name and the office of the promised Messiah. This was not
their idea at all, especially in this connection. In several most important
respects, it was exactly the opposite of their idea; and by no possibility could
it have originated merely in their minds. Such a character as that of Jesus,
they were not the persons to have ever imagined; and that it has been delineated
by them, is the unassailable proof that it was actually seen. | The suspicion is very groundless that that manifestation which
is delineated with great artlessness in the Gospels, was not real, but ideal—a creation
of the writers’ own minds, not a simple account of what they had actually witnessed.
We need only refer to the intellectual and moral condition of Judea, with its known
principles, habits, and tastes, to the position and character of the evangelists,
and then to the representation itself which they have executed, in order to show
convincingly that such a suspicion is the most groundless which can be imagined.
That country and these men could never have conceived or described such ideal spiritual excellence, as that which they have attached as a reality
to the person of Jesus; least of all was it possible, that this idea could have
been connected with the name and the office of the promised Messiah. This was not
their idea at all, especially in this connection. In several most important
respects, it was exactly the opposite of their idea; and by no possibility could
it have originated merely in their minds. Such a character as that of Jesus,
they were not the persons to have ever imagined; and that it has been delineated
by them, is the unassailable proof that it was actually seen. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p14 | [] | Never passed before the imagination of man, and never but once
alighted on this earth so heavenly a vision. Once, in all human history, we meet
a being who never did an injury, and never resented one done to him, never uttered
an untruth, never practiced a deception, and never lost an opportunity of doing
good, generous in the midst of the selfish, upright in the midst of the dishonest,
pure in the midst of the sensual, and wise far above the wisest of earth’s sages
and prophets, loving and gentle, yet immovably resolute, and whose illimitable meekness
and patience never once forsook him in a vexatious, ungrateful, and cruel world. | Never passed before the imagination of man, and never but once
alighted on this earth so heavenly a vision. Once, in all human history, we meet
a being who never did an injury, and never resented one done to him, never uttered
an untruth, never practiced a deception, and never lost an opportunity of doing
good, generous in the midst of the selfish, upright in the midst of the dishonest,
pure in the midst of the sensual, and wise far above the wisest of earth’s sages
and prophets, loving and gentle, yet immovably resolute, and whose illimitable meekness
and patience never once forsook him in a vexatious, ungrateful, and cruel world. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.iv-p15 | [] | If the New Testament had contained only the character of Jesus,
as it unfolded itself in his intercourse with men, it had deserved a place above
all human productions, it had been a mine of spiritual wealth, and a fountain of
holy influence unknown to every other region, and to all the ages of time. | If the New Testament had contained only the character of Jesus,
as it unfolded itself in his intercourse with men, it had deserved a place above
all human productions, it had been a mine of spiritual wealth, and a fountain of
holy influence unknown to every other region, and to all the ages of time. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.v-p2 | [] | THE recorded life of Christ proves that he neither sought to
gain, nor, in point of fact did gain, power, wealth, or fame, for himself, or for
any connected with him. He had frequent and fair opportunities of gratifying ambition,
had his nature been tainted with that passion. Occasions were even thrust upon him,
and the amplest means were ever ready to his hand. The Jews expected in their Messiah
a king, and were burning with impatience for his advent. Jesus needed only to have
announced himself, and the country would have hailed him with enthusiasm, and would
have enthroned and crowned him. As a matter of fact, such was the state of the public
mind, that on more than one occasion, the people were about to take him by force
to make him a king, but he quietly withdrew till the excitement had passed away. Throughout his public life, though
announcing the sublimest truths, and performing the noblest works, he never stepped,
or sought to step, out of the humble sphere in which he had been brought up. It
has been shown that he was at first, and he continued to the last, a poor man. He
does not seem to have ever possessed for himself to the value of the smallest
coin, and, when he died, he had no means of providing for his mother, and could
only commend her to the care of one of his disciples. | THE recorded life of Christ proves that he neither sought to
gain, nor, in point of fact did gain, power, wealth, or fame, for himself, or for
any connected with him. He had frequent and fair opportunities of gratifying ambition,
had his nature been tainted with that passion. Occasions were even thrust upon him,
and the amplest means were ever ready to his hand. The Jews expected in their Messiah
a king, and were burning with impatience for his advent. Jesus needed only to have
announced himself, and the country would have hailed him with enthusiasm, and would
have enthroned and crowned him. As a matter of fact, such was the state of the public
mind, that on more than one occasion, the people were about to take him by force
to make him a king, but he quietly withdrew till the excitement had passed away. Throughout his public life, though
announcing the sublimest truths, and performing the noblest works, he never stepped,
or sought to step, out of the humble sphere in which he had been brought up. It
has been shown that he was at first, and he continued to the last, a poor man. He
does not seem to have ever possessed for himself to the value of the smallest
coin, and, when he died, he had no means of providing for his mother, and could
only commend her to the care of one of his disciples. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.v-p3 | [
"Bible:Matt.4.23 Bible:Matt.4.24"
] | The entire absence of selfishness, in any form, from the character
of Christ, can not be questioned, and not less undoubted was the active presence
of pure and lofty motives. His life was not only negatively good, it was filled
up with positive and matchless excellence, and was spent directly and wholly in
blessing the world. A large portion of it was occupied with teaching, and both in
its design and its native tendency, Christ’s teaching was only restorative and healing,
and itself at once reveals the motive in which it originated—love of man, profound,
unselfish love. This reigning spirit was yet more apparent, though not more really
present, in another region of Christ’s life. He lived not merely to announce spiritual
truth, but to relieve and remove physical suffering. The supernatural character
of this portion of his work among men, we do not urge; but apart from this, it is quite certain that much of his life was occupied in healing
the sick, and comforting the sorrowing and the poor. The substance of the record
on this head, is condensed in a few beautiful sentences by Matthew, 4th chapter,
23d and 24th verses. “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and
all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria:
and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and
torments, and those that were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic,
and those that had palsy, and he healed them.” Make what deductions we will, it
is perfectly certain, if any thing of history remain in the Gospels, that multitudes
in that age experienced the effect of Christ’s merciful interposition. “He went
about doing good.” He wiped away many a tear; he made many human hearts glad; and
many others connected with them felt the benignant and genial influence of his earthly
ministry. He relieved and removed a great amount of physical suffering; he created
and planted in the world a great amount of physical happiness. He devoted himself
to the work of blessing man; and in both regions of his life, in his acts and in
his words, in the healing spiritual truths which he imparted, and in the unnumbered
material kindnesses which he bestowed, we discover one reigning motive—love of man, deep, enduring, redeeming love. | The entire absence of selfishness, in any form, from the character
of Christ, can not be questioned, and not less undoubted was the active presence
of pure and lofty motives. His life was not only negatively good, it was filled
up with positive and matchless excellence, and was spent directly and wholly in
blessing the world. A large portion of it was occupied with teaching, and both in
its design and its native tendency, Christ’s teaching was only restorative and healing,
and itself at once reveals the motive in which it originated—love of man, profound,
unselfish love. This reigning spirit was yet more apparent, though not more really
present, in another region of Christ’s life. He lived not merely to announce spiritual
truth, but to relieve and remove physical suffering. The supernatural character
of this portion of his work among men, we do not urge; but apart from this, it is quite certain that much of his life was occupied in healing
the sick, and comforting the sorrowing and the poor. The substance of the record
on this head, is condensed in a few beautiful sentences by . “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and
all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria:
and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and
torments, and those that were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic,
and those that had palsy, and he healed them.” Make what deductions we will, it
is perfectly certain, if any thing of history remain in the Gospels, that multitudes
in that age experienced the effect of Christ’s merciful interposition. “He went
about doing good.” He wiped away many a tear; he made many human hearts glad; and
many others connected with them felt the benignant and genial influence of his earthly
ministry. He relieved and removed a great amount of physical suffering; he created
and planted in the world a great amount of physical happiness. He devoted himself
to the work of blessing man; and in both regions of his life, in his acts and in
his words, in the healing spiritual truths which he imparted, and in the unnumbered
material kindnesses which he bestowed, we discover one reigning motive—love of man, deep, enduring, redeeming love. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.v-p4 | [] | We are entitled to assert that compassion for humanity held the
place of a master-force in the soul of Jesus Christ. The man is worse than blind
who does not perceive the charm of a subduing tenderness streaming fresh from his
heart, and shed over his whole public life. It is related that, once as he looked
upon the multitudes that lead assembled to listen to his teaching, “he had compassion
on them, because they were as sheep that had no shepherd.” We hold that this short
sentence descends to the deepest depth of his being, and lays open the chief spring
of all his movements, he had compassion on the multitudes. Spiritual truth
was precious to him he felt also the burden of a great mission, and he was tenderly
alive to all the rights and claims of God. But he pitied and loved the multitude
their spiritual condition, their destinies, their necessities, and their sorrows
oppressed his heart. In addition to all the force of fidelity to God, to himself,
and to truth of which he was conscious, there were impulses of love and pity that
gushed up ever warm and fresh in his bosom, and imparted a subduing tone to all
his ministrations. Jesus saw an inexpressible worth in human nature. It is fallen
and ruined, but it is a precious ruin. The wonderful powers yet left to the soul,
and the amazing destiny before it, ineffably bright or unutterably dark,
were present to his mind, and were the source of that yearning affection
which ruled his life. He loved man as man. The attachment of the members
of the same family, or the natives of the same country, of companions in suffering,
and of disciples of the same faith, to each other, is easily understood. But when
the circle is widened, the attachment is proportionally impaired, and love to man,
simply as man, is scarcely intelligible. To Christ this was not only an intelligible,
but a profound reality. Neither natural relationship, nor condition, nor even character,
nor country, nor creed, determined the movement of his heart. It was man he loved,
the nature, the race, for its own sake, and because of its solemn relations to eternity,
and to God. Himself man, he felt an inexpressible nearness to humanity, and his
whole life, and still more his death, were an expression of his unmeasurable love.
The higher purposes of the cross are not now before us; but it must not be overlooked
that, at last, Jesus could have saved his life if he would have sacrificed his mission.
But that mission was dearer to him than life; man was dearer to him, man’s redemption
and restoration to God were dearer to him than life. He could not, would not, abandon
these; but his life he could and did surrender, a true and holy sacrifice on the
cross! | We are entitled to assert that compassion for humanity held the
place of a master-force in the soul of Jesus Christ. The man is worse than blind
who does not perceive the charm of a subduing tenderness streaming fresh from his
heart, and shed over his whole public life. It is related that, once as he looked
upon the multitudes that lead assembled to listen to his teaching, “he had compassion
on them, because they were as sheep that had no shepherd.” We hold that this short
sentence descends to the deepest depth of his being, and lays open the chief spring
of all his movements, he had compassion on the multitudes. Spiritual truth
was precious to him he felt also the burden of a great mission, and he was tenderly
alive to all the rights and claims of God. But he pitied and loved the multitude
their spiritual condition, their destinies, their necessities, and their sorrows
oppressed his heart. In addition to all the force of fidelity to God, to himself,
and to truth of which he was conscious, there were impulses of love and pity that
gushed up ever warm and fresh in his bosom, and imparted a subduing tone to all
his ministrations. Jesus saw an inexpressible worth in human nature. It is fallen
and ruined, but it is a precious ruin. The wonderful powers yet left to the soul,
and the amazing destiny before it, ineffably bright or unutterably dark,
were present to his mind, and were the source of that yearning affection
which ruled his life. He loved man as man. The attachment of the members
of the same family, or the natives of the same country, of companions in suffering,
and of disciples of the same faith, to each other, is easily understood. But when
the circle is widened, the attachment is proportionally impaired, and love to man,
simply as man, is scarcely intelligible. To Christ this was not only an intelligible,
but a profound reality. Neither natural relationship, nor condition, nor even character,
nor country, nor creed, determined the movement of his heart. It was man he loved,
the nature, the race, for its own sake, and because of its solemn relations to eternity,
and to God. Himself man, he felt an inexpressible nearness to humanity, and his
whole life, and still more his death, were an expression of his unmeasurable love.
The higher purposes of the cross are not now before us; but it must not be overlooked
that, at last, Jesus could have saved his life if he would have sacrificed his mission.
But that mission was dearer to him than life; man was dearer to him, man’s redemption
and restoration to God were dearer to him than life. He could not, would not, abandon
these; but his life he could and did surrender, a true and holy sacrifice on the
cross! |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.v-p6 | [] | A single act of pure generosity fails not to touch the human
heart; all men bow down instinctively before it. There are some human names which
the world can never forget, the names of those who, in different departments, perhaps
for a course of years, exhibited wonderful devotion to the good of others. What
then shall be said of Him, whose entire life was spent in benefiting, not
a single class, but all classes of men, and in originating, not one form, but endless
forms of good, from the lowest up to that which relates to the immortal nature and
to its highest destinies? Christianity, and Christianity alone, is the revelation
of a pure and perfect love the unavailing of the solitary living model of this grace
which humanity has furnished. A profound secret of God, the unfathomable mercy of
his nature was to be divulged to the world. It was pronounced in words, in words
of deep significance; but it was also expressed by a sign; and there stood before
men an impersonation of perfect love, a life which disclosed and embodied intense,
inextinguishable, self-sacrificing love. | A single act of pure generosity fails not to touch the human
heart; all men bow down instinctively before it. There are some human names which
the world can never forget, the names of those who, in different departments, perhaps
for a course of years, exhibited wonderful devotion to the good of others. What
then shall be said of Him, whose entire life was spent in benefiting, not
a single class, but all classes of men, and in originating, not one form, but endless
forms of good, from the lowest up to that which relates to the immortal nature and
to its highest destinies? Christianity, and Christianity alone, is the revelation
of a pure and perfect love the unavailing of the solitary living model of this grace
which humanity has furnished. A profound secret of God, the unfathomable mercy of
his nature was to be divulged to the world. It was pronounced in words, in words
of deep significance; but it was also expressed by a sign; and there stood before
men an impersonation of perfect love, a life which disclosed and embodied intense,
inextinguishable, self-sacrificing love. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vi-p1 | [] | His Foreknowledge of his Death.—Solitariness—Never himself disappointed.—Truth,
a Provision for Wants, Cure for Evils of World.—Attributes of God.—Expressions and
Proofs of Christ’s &ate of blind.—Institution of the Supper.—Interpretation of Facts. | His Foreknowledge of his Death.—Solitariness—Never himself disappointed.—Truth,
a Provision for Wants, Cure for Evils of World.—Attributes of God.—Expressions and
Proofs of Christ’s &ate of blind.—Institution of the Supper.—Interpretation of Facts. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vi-p2 | [] | IT is one of the marvelous facts in Christ’s history that he
distinctly foreboded the calamities which were to befall him. Evil did not come
upon him unawares; its pressure and its bitterness were aggravated by anticipation.
No explanation is here offered of this fact, and nothing will be built upon it in
the way of argument, but it stands with great distinctness in the narrative. “From
that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto
Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes,
and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” In harmony with this he forewarned
his disciples: “Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.”
“They shall
put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you
will think that he doeth God service.” In the garden of Gethsemane, he said to
those who were with him, “Behold, the hour cometh, and the Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold he is at hand that cloth
betray me.” When Judas with the band of soldiers drew near,
“Jesus knowing all
things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he.” If Christ
was gifted, whether naturally or supernaturally, with any thing of the insight into
the future which these passages suppose, at least no one will doubt that its effect
must have been to render the burden of calamity many times more crushing. But, leaving
this debated ground, we must repeat the fact already referred to for a different
purpose—that Christ was literally alone in his sufferings, unsupported by a single
human mind. Courage and faith are not unusual, when the principles that call them
forth have been adopted by others, and have received this decisive proof of their
adaptation and their truth. That which is true, indeed, is not more true by being
understood and admitted, and what a man believes is not really more worthy of his belief than before,
when it is accepted by others as well as himself. But mind leans on mind, nevertheless,
and the enlightened convictions of one impart increased stability and strength to
the enlightened convictions of another. What we could not effect or endure alone,
we can effect and endure when supported by other kindred souls. Jesus knew no such
support as this. He was followed indeed by multitudes, but it was not because they
understood and embraced his principles; and hence when these principles were more
fully disclosed, “many went back and walked no more with him.” Even his own relatives
had no intelligent faith in him, and his chosen disciples gave to him their affections
rather than their judgments. They devotedly loved his personal character, they believed
in his greatness, but they did not comprehend it; the new principles struggled in
their minds with the old faith, but they never succeeded, while he lived, in completely
displacing it. Hence, when he died, the disciples at the first spoke as if their
hopes were overthrown forever. The plain fact is, that Jesus at the last disappointed
his disciples, disappointed his own relations, disappointed the masses of the people,
disappointed every one except himself. He was never disappointed, from the
first to the last moment of his course. Without a single complete example of
success while he lived, amid constant discouragement and apparent
discomfiture, he calmly believed in the omnipotence of spiritual truth and in the
divinity of his own mission. | IT is one of the marvelous facts in Christ’s history that he
distinctly foreboded the calamities which were to befall him. Evil did not come
upon him unawares; its pressure and its bitterness were aggravated by anticipation.
No explanation is here offered of this fact, and nothing will be built upon it in
the way of argument, but it stands with great distinctness in the narrative. “From
that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go unto
Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders, and chief priests, and scribes,
and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” In harmony with this he forewarned
his disciples: “Ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.”
“They shall
put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you
will think that he doeth God service.” In the garden of Gethsemane, he said to
those who were with him, “Behold, the hour cometh, and the Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold he is at hand that cloth
betray me.” When Judas with the band of soldiers drew near,
“Jesus knowing all
things that should come upon him, went forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye?
They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he.” If Christ
was gifted, whether naturally or supernaturally, with any thing of the insight into
the future which these passages suppose, at least no one will doubt that its effect
must have been to render the burden of calamity many times more crushing. But, leaving
this debated ground, we must repeat the fact already referred to for a different
purpose—that Christ was literally alone in his sufferings, unsupported by a single
human mind. Courage and faith are not unusual, when the principles that call them
forth have been adopted by others, and have received this decisive proof of their
adaptation and their truth. That which is true, indeed, is not more true by being
understood and admitted, and what a man believes is not really more worthy of his belief than before,
when it is accepted by others as well as himself. But mind leans on mind, nevertheless,
and the enlightened convictions of one impart increased stability and strength to
the enlightened convictions of another. What we could not effect or endure alone,
we can effect and endure when supported by other kindred souls. Jesus knew no such
support as this. He was followed indeed by multitudes, but it was not because they
understood and embraced his principles; and hence when these principles were more
fully disclosed, “many went back and walked no more with him.” Even his own relatives
had no intelligent faith in him, and his chosen disciples gave to him their affections
rather than their judgments. They devotedly loved his personal character, they believed
in his greatness, but they did not comprehend it; the new principles struggled in
their minds with the old faith, but they never succeeded, while he lived, in completely
displacing it. Hence, when he died, the disciples at the first spoke as if their
hopes were overthrown forever. The plain fact is, that Jesus at the last disappointed
his disciples, disappointed his own relations, disappointed the masses of the people,
disappointed every one except himself. He was never disappointed, from the
first to the last moment of his course. Without a single complete example of
success while he lived, amid constant discouragement and apparent
discomfiture, he calmly believed in the omnipotence of spiritual truth and in the
divinity of his own mission. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vi-p9 | [] | Speedy triumph he did not and could not anticipate. With that
profound and calm wisdom which we have already seen distinguished him, he could
not fail to know, when he thought of the insidious and mysterious working of sin,
and its almost indestructible force, that it must be long before it could
be forever extirpated. When he saw human nature fallen from God, and darkened and
diseased, he could not fail to know that its restoration, purification, education
for immortality, and complete cure, must be a slow and protracted process. When
he looked upon the vast empire of evil, the growth of thousands of years, its foundations
strong and deep, and its ramifications innumerable, he could not fail to know that
its entire and final overthrow must be the work of ages. Tremendous conflicts
must precede such a triumph as he anticipated; centuries of darkness and struggle must intervene. But
he knew, at the same time, and was calmly assured of the perfect adaptation of spiritual
truth to the spiritual condition of the world; and he saw in that truth, if the only,
yet the sure provision for all the wants of men, if the only, yet the infallible,
remedy for all the evils that preyed upon them. | Speedy triumph he did not and could not anticipate. With that
profound and calm wisdom which we have already seen distinguished him, he could
not fail to know, when he thought of the insidious and mysterious working of sin,
and its almost indestructible force, that it must be long before it could
be forever extirpated. When he saw human nature fallen from God, and darkened and
diseased, he could not fail to know that its restoration, purification, education
for immortality, and complete cure, must be a slow and protracted process. When
he looked upon the vast empire of evil, the growth of thousands of years, its foundations
strong and deep, and its ramifications innumerable, he could not fail to know that
its entire and final overthrow must be the work of ages. Tremendous conflicts
must precede such a triumph as he anticipated; centuries of darkness and struggle must intervene. But
he knew, at the same time, and was calmly assured of the perfect adaptation of spiritual
truth to the spiritual condition of the world; and he saw in that truth, if the only,
yet the sure provision for all the wants of men, if the only, yet the infallible,
remedy for all the evils that preyed upon them. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vi-p10 | [] | “The spiritual nature within man, the spiritual world around and over him, the Uncreated Father of all, pardon
of sin, ere long to receive all the elucidation and all the evidence of the cross,
the regeneration of the soul. and its reconciliation to God.”—These were the living,
holy truths which Jesus announced; and in these, in their adaptation, their mighty
force, and their certain triumph, his confidence was unmovable. But higher even
than this he was able to ascend. From spiritual truth he rose to its author and
fountain, God. He believed that his mission was of God, the purpose which he was
unfolding and executing was God’s, and the infinite resources of God were pledged
to its realization. He looked to that universal providence which includes mind
as well as matter, and to all its mighty combinations and agencies; he
looked to the ever-flowing and inexhaustible fountain of spiritual influences, and
to him whose knowledge, wisdom, and power are illimitable, and his confidence was
untroubled and serene. In his whole life, no indication of doubt, even for a moment,
can be discovered. Not a word of hesitation ever escaped his lips. When his last
hour was approaching, his voice to his disciples was the voice of calm assurance.
“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome
the world.”
“Ye now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall
rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”
“The world seeth me no more: but ye see
me; because I live, ye shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I am in
the Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I
give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your hearts be
troubled, neither let them be afraid.” With respect to the infallible success of
his own mission, this was his language, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men unto me.”
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world, for a witness unto all nations.” At the Last Supper, when Judas Iscariot
had gone out to confer with the Pharisees and Scribes, Jesus said, “Now is the
Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God
will also glorify him in himself, and will straightway glorify him.” When he stood
before the council which condemned him, and when the high priest adjured him to
tell if he were the Christ, he answered, “Hereafter ye shall see the Son
of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
At that awful moment his faith was unconquered, unconquerable. | “The spiritual nature within man, the spiritual world around and over him, the Uncreated Father of all, pardon
of sin, ere long to receive all the elucidation and all the evidence of the cross,
the regeneration of the soul. and its reconciliation to God.”—These were the living,
holy truths which Jesus announced; and in these, in their adaptation, their mighty
force, and their certain triumph, his confidence was unmovable. But higher even
than this he was able to ascend. From spiritual truth he rose to its author and
fountain, God. He believed that his mission was of God, the purpose which he was
unfolding and executing was God’s, and the infinite resources of God were pledged
to its realization. He looked to that universal providence which includes mind
as well as matter, and to all its mighty combinations and agencies; he
looked to the ever-flowing and inexhaustible fountain of spiritual influences, and
to him whose knowledge, wisdom, and power are illimitable, and his confidence was
untroubled and serene. In his whole life, no indication of doubt, even for a moment,
can be discovered. Not a word of hesitation ever escaped his lips. When his last
hour was approaching, his voice to his disciples was the voice of calm assurance.
“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome
the world.”
“Ye now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall
rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”
“The world seeth me no more: but ye see
me; because I live, ye shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I am in
the Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I
give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your hearts be
troubled, neither let them be afraid.” With respect to the infallible success of
his own mission, this was his language, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men unto me.”
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world, for a witness unto all nations.” At the Last Supper, when Judas Iscariot
had gone out to confer with the Pharisees and Scribes, Jesus said, “Now is the
Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God
will also glorify him in himself, and will straightway glorify him.” When he stood
before the council which condemned him, and when the high priest adjured him to
tell if he were the Christ, he answered, “Hereafter ye shall see the Son
of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”
At that awful moment his faith was unconquered, unconquerable. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vi-p19 | [] | This, then, is the state of the case, as a mere matter of history:—A young man destitute of resources, of patronage, and of influence, commits himself to an
enterprise which, so long as he lives, is not appreciated or even understood. He
is persecuted and scorned, deserted by his friends, betrayed by one of his disciples,
falsely accused and condemned to a disgraceful and torturing death. But, alone,
with death before him, and without one earthly support, he calmly believes that
the enterprise shall triumph, and that he shall reign in the minds and
hearts of men! | This, then, is the state of the case, as a mere matter of history:—A young man destitute of resources, of patronage, and of influence, commits himself to an
enterprise which, so long as he lives, is not appreciated or even understood. He
is persecuted and scorned, deserted by his friends, betrayed by one of his disciples,
falsely accused and condemned to a disgraceful and torturing death. But, alone,
with death before him, and without one earthly support, he calmly believes that
the enterprise shall triumph, and that he shall reign in the minds and
hearts of men! |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vi-p20 | [] | Can this have been only human? Was there ever a manifestation
of mere humanity like to this. Can any thing short of the union of
divinity with this humanity account for the acts and states of Christ’s mind? | Can this have been only human? Was there ever a manifestation
of mere humanity like to this. Can any thing short of the union of
divinity with this humanity account for the acts and states of Christ’s mind? |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vi-p21 | [] | This is not all; the narrative offers some additional facts.
At the Last Supper Jesus told his disciples, as they sat around him, that the time
of his death was near at hand. Were his confidence and courage shaken by the prospect?
Did no fear disturb him—fear of the effect which his death might produce on the
opinion of the world? Did no feeling of uneasiness rise within him as if after
all he might fail? At all events, was he not anxious that the ignominious termination
of his course might be concealed after he was gone? No, he was not; but, with
perfect composure, he made provision that not only his death itself, but all its
agony and its shame should never be forgotten while the world lasted.
“He took bread and gave it to his disciples,
saying, this is my body broken for you this do in remembrance of me. In like manner
he took the cup, saying, this is my blood shed for you; this do in remembrance
of me.” | This is not all; the narrative offers some additional facts.
At the Last Supper Jesus told his disciples, as they sat around him, that the time
of his death was near at hand. Were his confidence and courage shaken by the prospect?
Did no fear disturb him—fear of the effect which his death might produce on the
opinion of the world? Did no feeling of uneasiness rise within him as if after
all he might fail? At all events, was he not anxious that the ignominious termination
of his course might be concealed after he was gone? No, he was not; but, with
perfect composure, he made provision that not only his death itself, but all its
agony and its shame should never be forgotten while the world lasted.
“He took bread and gave it to his disciples,
saying, this is my body broken for you this do in remembrance of me. In like manner
he took the cup, saying, this is my blood shed for you; this do in remembrance
of me.” |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vi-p23 | [] | Was ever serenity like this? Can any thing more touching, more
sublime than this be conceived? Was it ever heard of, before or since, that a person,
in the position of a malefactor, took pains to preserve the memory of his disgraceful
death? Jesus Christ, about to be crucified as a felon and a slave, commanded and
provided that the fact should be remembered to the end of time—did so in the full
confidence that he should at last triumph. And the fact has been remembered.
This is the mystery—if he be not all that he claimed to be—this is truly more miraculous
than any thing ever so called, more inexplicable on all natural principles. The
fact has been remembered for eighteen hundred years it is remembered at this day;
and it has been and is remembered, not as a form, a time-honored custom, but minds
have been won to Christ—human hearts have been and are inviolably attached to him. | Was ever serenity like this? Can any thing more touching, more
sublime than this be conceived? Was it ever heard of, before or since, that a person,
in the position of a malefactor, took pains to preserve the memory of his disgraceful
death? Jesus Christ, about to be crucified as a felon and a slave, commanded and
provided that the fact should be remembered to the end of time—did so in the full
confidence that he should at last triumph. And the fact has been remembered.
This is the mystery—if he be not all that he claimed to be—this is truly more miraculous
than any thing ever so called, more inexplicable on all natural principles. The
fact has been remembered for eighteen hundred years it is remembered at this day;
and it has been and is remembered, not as a form, a time-honored custom, but minds
have been won to Christ—human hearts have been and are inviolably attached to him. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vi-p24 | [] | Christ’s assurance of triumph is a historical fact; his actual
triumph for nearly two thousand years is no less historically certain: the two
combined lead to one conclusion only. It is this—he was, as he claimed
to be, divine: his religion is divine, the only religion which contains the indubitable
proof, and presents to the world a real incarnation of divinity—God in man. | Christ’s assurance of triumph is a historical fact; his actual
triumph for nearly two thousand years is no less historically certain: the two
combined lead to one conclusion only. It is this—he was, as he claimed
to be, divine: his religion is divine, the only religion which contains the indubitable
proof, and presents to the world a real incarnation of divinity—God in man. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vii-p1 | [] | Moral Aspects and outward Facts of Christ’s History.—A Character
such as his not once-realized.—Interests of Truth and Virtue.—Moral Condition of
Mankind charged on God.—Humanity in Christ peculiarly conditioned.—Idea of Incarnation universal.—A primitive Revelation.—A universal want.—Provision for this Want made
once for all.—Higher Nature in Christ, not higher Office merely.—Absolute Divinity.—This
secured Aids and Influences incommunicable to others. | Moral Aspects and outward Facts of Christ’s History.—A Character
such as his not once-realized.—Interests of Truth and Virtue.—Moral Condition of
Mankind charged on God.—Humanity in Christ peculiarly conditioned.—Idea of Incarnation universal.—A primitive Revelation.—A universal want.—Provision for this Want made
once for all.—Higher Nature in Christ, not higher Office merely.—Absolute Divinity.—This
secured Aids and Influences incommunicable to others. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vii-p2 | [] | THE spiritual individuality of Christ, we have found, is striking
as it is manifest. Whether we look to his oneness with God, to the marvelous forms
of his consciousness, to the totality of his manifestation, to the motive of his
life, or to his unconquerable faith, his character, take it all in all, must be
confessed to stand alone in the history of the world. But this character, in its
unapproachable grandeur, must be viewed in connection with the outward circumstances
of the being in whom it was realized—in connection with a life not only unprivileged,
but offering numerous positive hinderances to the origination, the growth, and,
most of all, the perfection of spiritual excellence. In a Jew of Nazareth—a
young man—an uneducated mechanic—moral perfection was realized. Can this phenomenon
be accounted for? There is here, without doubt, a manifestation of humanity; but
the question is, was this a manifestation of mere humanity, and no more?
Can this be interpreted on the common principles, which in other cases explain the
facts of history, observation, and experience? It is not maintained, in any quarter
worthy of regard, that ordinary principles of interpretation are sufficient here.
But, if not, what are the extraordinary principles that are sufficient in this singular case? | THE spiritual individuality of Christ, we have found, is striking
as it is manifest. Whether we look to his oneness with God, to the marvelous forms
of his consciousness, to the totality of his manifestation, to the motive of his
life, or to his unconquerable faith, his character, take it all in all, must be
confessed to stand alone in the history of the world. But this character, in its
unapproachable grandeur, must be viewed in connection with the outward circumstances
of the being in whom it was realized—in connection with a life not only unprivileged,
but offering numerous positive hinderances to the origination, the growth, and,
most of all, the perfection of spiritual excellence. In a Jew of Nazareth—a
young man—an uneducated mechanic—moral perfection was realized. Can this phenomenon
be accounted for? There is here, without doubt, a manifestation of humanity; but
the question is, was this a manifestation of mere humanity, and no more?
Can this be interpreted on the common principles, which in other cases explain the
facts of history, observation, and experience? It is not maintained, in any quarter
worthy of regard, that ordinary principles of interpretation are sufficient here.
But, if not, what are the extraordinary principles that are sufficient in this singular case? |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vii-p3 | [] | This question is met by the suggestion that Jesus needed and
received for the mission with which he was charged, extraordinary protection from
God—protection for his intellect, his conscience, and his heart; and not only protection,
but extraordinary divine influence, in the illumination, invigoration, guidance,
and entire culture of his spiritual nature. It is suggested that, by the holy power
and under the sheltering care of God, his character was preserved faultless, and
rose to the highest perfection of which humanity is capable. Certainly, special
powers are demanded for special functions, and it is fitting that unusual honors
should attend unusual responsibilities. It is obvious, also, that God has a right
to withhold or bestow his own gifts, and to bestow them on whom
and in what measure he pleaseth. But the
question arises, if Jesus was no more than man, why have there not been other men
like him? why has there not been one man like to him in the whole course of time? The question is unanswerable, we humbly maintain. If by the spiritual protection
and influence of God, Jesus in his peculiar circumstances—with his youth, his want
of education, his poverty, and all his hinderances and exposures—reached moral
perfection, it is unaccountable that, in far happier combinations of circumstances,
such an attainment has never been approached. What God did for one man, God certainly
could have done for other men. It is unaccountable that it has never been
done, and that not a single individual known to history has risen to the glory of
this youthful, untaught, unprivileged Galilean mechanic. The question here, it must
be remembered, does not respect merely adaptation to an extraordinary sphere;
it does not respect merely official qualifications and endowments it relates
to personal excellence, to moral education and culture, to inward goodness; and it
is, therefore, vitally connected with the great cause of virtue and truth in the
world. If Jesus was man only, and if, therefore, the invigorating and quickening
influences of God bestowed on him, could have been bestowed on others, it
is impossible without deep injury to the divine character, without impeaching either the benignity, or the purity of God,
to account for their being withheld in other cases. All is intelligible and consistent
if Jesus was essentially separate from men, separate in the very constitution of
his person—a being raised up once in all time for a crisis which never could
again arise, and for a work never to be repeated. But if not, if he was
man only, we ask in the name of that holiness which is the life of the intelligent
universe, and in the name of God with whom the interests of holiness are paramount,
how it has come to pass, that of all men he alone has risen to spiritual
perfection? What God did for piety and virtue on the earth at one time and in one
case, God certainly could have done at other times and in other cases. If Jesus
was man only, God could have raised up, in successive ages, many such living examples
of sanctified humanity as he was, to correct, instruct, and quicken the world.
But he did not; and the guilt of the moral condition of mankind is thus charged
at once upon God; and the real cause of the continuance of moral evil, and of the
limited success of holiness and truth in the earth is thus declared to be in God—that cause is the withholding of his merciful influences. | This question is met by the suggestion that Jesus needed and
received for the mission with which he was charged, extraordinary protection from
God—protection for his intellect, his conscience, and his heart; and not only protection,
but extraordinary divine influence, in the illumination, invigoration, guidance,
and entire culture of his spiritual nature. It is suggested that, by the holy power
and under the sheltering care of God, his character was preserved faultless, and
rose to the highest perfection of which humanity is capable. Certainly, special
powers are demanded for special functions, and it is fitting that unusual honors
should attend unusual responsibilities. It is obvious, also, that God has a right
to withhold or bestow his own gifts, and to bestow them on whom
and in what measure he pleaseth. But the
question arises, if Jesus was no more than man, why have there not been other men
like him? why has there not been one man like to him in the whole course of time? The question is unanswerable, we humbly maintain. If by the spiritual protection
and influence of God, Jesus in his peculiar circumstances—with his youth, his want
of education, his poverty, and all his hinderances and exposures—reached moral
perfection, it is unaccountable that, in far happier combinations of circumstances,
such an attainment has never been approached. What God did for one man, God certainly
could have done for other men. It is unaccountable that it has never been
done, and that not a single individual known to history has risen to the glory of
this youthful, untaught, unprivileged Galilean mechanic. The question here, it must
be remembered, does not respect merely adaptation to an extraordinary sphere;
it does not respect merely official qualifications and endowments it relates
to personal excellence, to moral education and culture, to inward goodness; and it
is, therefore, vitally connected with the great cause of virtue and truth in the
world. If Jesus was man only, and if, therefore, the invigorating and quickening
influences of God bestowed on him, could have been bestowed on others, it
is impossible without deep injury to the divine character, without impeaching either the benignity, or the purity of God,
to account for their being withheld in other cases. All is intelligible and consistent
if Jesus was essentially separate from men, separate in the very constitution of
his person—a being raised up once in all time for a crisis which never could
again arise, and for a work never to be repeated. But if not, if he was
man only, we ask in the name of that holiness which is the life of the intelligent
universe, and in the name of God with whom the interests of holiness are paramount,
how it has come to pass, that of all men he alone has risen to spiritual
perfection? What God did for piety and virtue on the earth at one time and in one
case, God certainly could have done at other times and in other cases. If Jesus
was man only, God could have raised up, in successive ages, many such living examples
of sanctified humanity as he was, to correct, instruct, and quicken the world.
But he did not; and the guilt of the moral condition of mankind is thus charged
at once upon God; and the real cause of the continuance of moral evil, and of the
limited success of holiness and truth in the earth is thus declared to be in God—that cause is the withholding of his merciful influences. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vii-p4 | [] | If such be the inevitable conclusion to which these premises
lead, we have no alternative except to abandon them as false and impious. Jesus
Christ can not have been merely man. No mere man, especially under the outward conditions that environed him—not
the most venerable and gifted sage, in circumstances incomparably more favorable
than his—ever rose to his moral stature; and unless all analogy and the unbroken
testimony of all history are to be set aside, we must believe that Jesus
was not merely man. It is morally impossible that the spiritual perfection of his
character can have been owing to divine influences, which could have been
bestowed as well on others as on him. If they could have been bestowed,
we can not doubt, looking to the benignant and holy character of God, that they
must have been bestowed. Since they were not bestowed on others, but only on him, there must have been something in him some real and great difference
to account for the fact, something which rendered that possible to him which
was not possible to any other. Between him and all men there must have been a separation—though there was also as certainly a community—of nature;
a separation not incidental and relative only, but constitutional and organic. Humanity
in him must have existed under conditions, essentially distinct from those which
belong to the universal humanity of the world. Incarnation, but incarnation alone,
helps us to the solution of the overwhelming difficulties of this case. It is perceived
at once that this involved access to God, and reception from him—involved illumination,
protection, guidance, and power absolutely and necessarily incommunicable
to all others. Man, Jesus certainly was, but not man merely, but God in man. | If such be the inevitable conclusion to which these premises
lead, we have no alternative except to abandon them as false and impious. Jesus
Christ can not have been merely man. No mere man, especially under the outward conditions that environed him—not
the most venerable and gifted sage, in circumstances incomparably more favorable
than his—ever rose to his moral stature; and unless all analogy and the unbroken
testimony of all history are to be set aside, we must believe that Jesus
was not merely man. It is morally impossible that the spiritual perfection of his
character can have been owing to divine influences, which could have been
bestowed as well on others as on him. If they could have been bestowed,
we can not doubt, looking to the benignant and holy character of God, that they
must have been bestowed. Since they were not bestowed on others, but only on him, there must have been something in him some real and great difference
to account for the fact, something which rendered that possible to him which
was not possible to any other. Between him and all men there must have been a separation—though there was also as certainly a community—of nature;
a separation not incidental and relative only, but constitutional and organic. Humanity
in him must have existed under conditions, essentially distinct from those which
belong to the universal humanity of the world. Incarnation, but incarnation alone,
helps us to the solution of the overwhelming difficulties of this case. It is perceived
at once that this involved access to God, and reception from him—involved illumination,
protection, guidance, and power absolutely and necessarily incommunicable
to all others. Man, Jesus certainly was, but not man merely, but God in man. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vii-p5 | [] | We can not hope to discover, in the religions of mankind, the
method of solving the deepest problem of Christianity, but it is quite possible
that they may illustrate, perhaps confirm, the only satisfactory solution which
has yet been suggested. In these religions, almost without exception, the idea of
incarnation will be found under one form or another. It is related that Paul and
Barnabas in the city of Lystra were about to receive divine honors; Barnabas was
to be worshiped as an incarnation of Jupiter, and Paul as an incarnation of Mercury.
The people of Lycaonia cried, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of
men.” The noticeable fact is, that this was not a new and strange thought
to them, but one apparently familiar, and generally received, and which, therefore,
at once occurred to them as affording an easy interpretation of what
they had seen and heard in connection with the two foreigners. The numberless metamorphoses
of the gods of ancient Greece and Rome, and in the eastern world the incarnations
of Brahm, the avatars of Vishnu, and the human form of Kreeshna, and its
reappearance in successive ages, are significant and demonstrative on this subject.
Among almost all nations, and from the earliest period of which any authentic record has been preserved,
down to our own times, the idea of God incarnating himself is found. But mankind
do not universally, and for successive ages adopt that which is
wholly false. On the most philosophical grounds it may be argued, that the continued
and wide acceptance of the notion of incarnation in the world is decisive proof
that it must have some basis of truth. The idea, indeed, if admitted by men
at all, was manifestly for conscience and reason, in their most reverent and subdued
exercise, and not for imagination. It was too awfully sacred for imagination, even
in its most chastened movements, to have approached. But imagination unchastened,
irreverent, impure, coarse, and wild, dared to violate this sanctity. The result
we behold in the contradictions, absurdities, blasphemies, and offenses against
all faith and all religious feeling and taste, of which the world is full. But in
spite of the humiliating and revolting facts of this kind which abound, it may be
argued incontrovertibly, that the idea itself of incarnation must, from its universality,
have some basis of truth. One of two things, or both, may be legitimately
presumed. Either this idea is the traditionary vestige of some primitive revelation,
or there must be some grand necessity of universal human nature which, it is felt,
can be met only by the doctrine of incarnation in one form or other, The deep sense
of such a necessity, all nations and all times have proclaimed. And does
not Christianity reveal the only actual provision which has been made to meet this
universal want? It was a promise in the beginning, it was a hope and a faith in
successive ages, and in the fullness of the times the promise was fulfilled,
the faith and the hope were realized. Once for all, a response worthy of God was
given to the cry of humanity; once for all, to meet a grand necessity, to achieve
what no otherwise could have been achieved, for the redemption of man, God incarnated
himself. The union of divinity with humanity is the only principle which harmonizes
the outward facts and the moral aspects of the life of Jesus Christ. Disgusted by
the absurdities, and shocked by the impurities and impieties of mythological incarnations,
conscience and reason find rest in one incarnation for all time. | We can not hope to discover, in the religions of mankind, the
method of solving the deepest problem of Christianity, but it is quite possible
that they may illustrate, perhaps confirm, the only satisfactory solution which
has yet been suggested. In these religions, almost without exception, the idea of
incarnation will be found under one form or another. It is related that Paul and
Barnabas in the city of Lystra were about to receive divine honors; Barnabas was
to be worshiped as an incarnation of Jupiter, and Paul as an incarnation of Mercury.
The people of Lycaonia cried, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of
men.” The noticeable fact is, that this was not a new and strange thought
to them, but one apparently familiar, and generally received, and which, therefore,
at once occurred to them as affording an easy interpretation of what
they had seen and heard in connection with the two foreigners. The numberless metamorphoses
of the gods of ancient Greece and Rome, and in the eastern world the incarnations
of Brahm, the avatars of Vishnu, and the human form of Kreeshna, and its
reappearance in successive ages, are significant and demonstrative on this subject.
Among almost all nations, and from the earliest period of which any authentic record has been preserved,
down to our own times, the idea of God incarnating himself is found. But mankind
do not universally, and for successive ages adopt that which is
wholly false. On the most philosophical grounds it may be argued, that the continued
and wide acceptance of the notion of incarnation in the world is decisive proof
that it must have some basis of truth. The idea, indeed, if admitted by men
at all, was manifestly for conscience and reason, in their most reverent and subdued
exercise, and not for imagination. It was too awfully sacred for imagination, even
in its most chastened movements, to have approached. But imagination unchastened,
irreverent, impure, coarse, and wild, dared to violate this sanctity. The result
we behold in the contradictions, absurdities, blasphemies, and offenses against
all faith and all religious feeling and taste, of which the world is full. But in
spite of the humiliating and revolting facts of this kind which abound, it may be
argued incontrovertibly, that the idea itself of incarnation must, from its universality,
have some basis of truth. One of two things, or both, may be legitimately
presumed. Either this idea is the traditionary vestige of some primitive revelation,
or there must be some grand necessity of universal human nature which, it is felt,
can be met only by the doctrine of incarnation in one form or other, The deep sense
of such a necessity, all nations and all times have proclaimed. And does
not Christianity reveal the only actual provision which has been made to meet this
universal want? It was a promise in the beginning, it was a hope and a faith in
successive ages, and in the fullness of the times the promise was fulfilled,
the faith and the hope were realized. Once for all, a response worthy of God was
given to the cry of humanity; once for all, to meet a grand necessity, to achieve
what no otherwise could have been achieved, for the redemption of man, God incarnated
himself. The union of divinity with humanity is the only principle which harmonizes
the outward facts and the moral aspects of the life of Jesus Christ. Disgusted by
the absurdities, and shocked by the impurities and impieties of mythological incarnations,
conscience and reason find rest in one incarnation for all time. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vii-p7 | [] | In the New Testament this awful doctrine stands apart from all
the additions which the fancy, or folly, or corrupt taste of men have in other cases
introduced. Here is not a baseless invention, but a thing for which numerous and
extraordinary proofs can be advanced. This also, instead of creating perplexity,
which had not otherwise existed, relieves and removes perplexity, the existence
of which is indubitable, and the removal of which by other means is impossible.
What is still more, this is not gratuitous mystery, the only purpose of which is to embellish or hallow a system. It is not a grand and useless
dogma, but a necessity, in order to the solution of facts profoundly interesting,
and all-important—a necessity, to which both the course of history, and the laws
and experiences of the human mind compel us to bow. | In the New Testament this awful doctrine stands apart from all
the additions which the fancy, or folly, or corrupt taste of men have in other cases
introduced. Here is not a baseless invention, but a thing for which numerous and
extraordinary proofs can be advanced. This also, instead of creating perplexity,
which had not otherwise existed, relieves and removes perplexity, the existence
of which is indubitable, and the removal of which by other means is impossible.
What is still more, this is not gratuitous mystery, the only purpose of which is to embellish or hallow a system. It is not a grand and useless
dogma, but a necessity, in order to the solution of facts profoundly interesting,
and all-important—a necessity, to which both the course of history, and the laws
and experiences of the human mind compel us to bow. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vii-p8 | [] | The mystery of incarnation, notwithstanding the considerations
which have been advanced, remains as dark as ever. The union of divinity with humanity
in the person of Jesus Christ, we can not explain, can not comprehend; but that
such union existed, we must believe, because it rests on evidence which can
not be set aside; and some, at least, of the consequences that follow from the
mysterious fact are perfectly intelligible to us. It is clear, for example, as we
have sought to prove, that incarnation is sufficient to create, and alone can create, that amount of difference between Jesus Christ and all men, which
the facts of his history, otherwise irreconcilable, demand for their solution. Humanity
in him, existing under conditions which are found nowhere else, we do not wonder
at moral peculiarities which would otherwise be confounding. His spiritual perfection,
inexplicable on every other principle, on this principle is intelligible and consistent. | The mystery of incarnation, notwithstanding the considerations
which have been advanced, remains as dark as ever. The union of divinity with humanity
in the person of Jesus Christ, we can not explain, can not comprehend; but that
such union existed, we must believe, because it rests on evidence which can
not be set aside; and some, at least, of the consequences that follow from the
mysterious fact are perfectly intelligible to us. It is clear, for example, as we
have sought to prove, that incarnation is sufficient to create, and alone can create, that amount of difference between Jesus Christ and all men, which
the facts of his history, otherwise irreconcilable, demand for their solution. Humanity
in him, existing under conditions which are found nowhere else, we do not wonder
at moral peculiarities which would otherwise be confounding. His spiritual perfection,
inexplicable on every other principle, on this principle is intelligible and consistent. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vii-p9 | [] | In the personal character of Christ, then, we have the evidence
not only of a higher office, but of a higher nature, than ever belonged
to man; the evidence of an essential, constitutional separation from all men. | In the personal character of Christ, then, we have the evidence
not only of a higher office, but of a higher nature, than ever belonged
to man; the evidence of an essential, constitutional separation from all men. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:vii.vii-p10 | [] | In him who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; in Jesus, the son of Mary, the words of the ancient oracle received their beautiful
fulfillment—“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the
government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” | In him who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners; in Jesus, the son of Mary, the words of the ancient oracle received their beautiful
fulfillment—“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the
government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” |
y/young_j/christ.xml:viii-p1 | [] | Incarnation of Jesus throws light on all the wonders of his history.—Supernatural
Birth.—Resurrection and Ascension.—His Miracles.—Spiritual meaning.—Typical character.—Sophistry
of Strauss.—Extraordinary tokens of Divinity demanded.—The Voice of God.—World summoned
to listen and believe. | Incarnation of Jesus throws light on all the wonders of his history.—Supernatural
Birth.—Resurrection and Ascension.—His Miracles.—Spiritual meaning.—Typical character.—Sophistry
of Strauss.—Extraordinary tokens of Divinity demanded.—The Voice of God.—World summoned
to listen and believe. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:viii-p2 | [] | THE argument which it was proposed to construct, is completed..
We have found, first, that the public ministry of Christ, and second, that his spiritual
character is incapable of being reconciled, on any natural and known principles,
with the outer conditions of his life. In the one case and in the other, and much
more when the two are taken together, there is no escape from the conclusion, that
the secret of harmony here is altogether preternatural, and is nothing less than
the union of Divinity with humanity, in his sacred person. The argument, by means
of which this conclusion is reached, we have sought to show is based on an ample,
a relevant, and an impartial induction of facts. | THE argument which it was proposed to construct, is completed..
We have found, first, that the public ministry of Christ, and second, that his spiritual
character is incapable of being reconciled, on any natural and known principles,
with the outer conditions of his life. In the one case and in the other, and much
more when the two are taken together, there is no escape from the conclusion, that
the secret of harmony here is altogether preternatural, and is nothing less than
the union of Divinity with humanity, in his sacred person. The argument, by means
of which this conclusion is reached, we have sought to show is based on an ample,
a relevant, and an impartial induction of facts. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:viii-p3 | [] | The doctrine of Incarnation is simply true. It is the darkness,
but it is also the glory of the spiritual history of mankind. It is the central fact in the scheme
of moral providence, its unity, harmony, and fountain of power. It is the
realization of the highest purposes of God, the discovery of the depth. of his wisdom,
love, and might. “Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in flesh.”
“The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
“The
Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto
you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us.” | The doctrine of Incarnation is simply true. It is the darkness,
but it is also the glory of the spiritual history of mankind. It is the central fact in the scheme
of moral providence, its unity, harmony, and fountain of power. It is the
realization of the highest purposes of God, the discovery of the depth. of his wisdom,
love, and might. “Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in flesh.”
“The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
“The
Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto
you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us.” |
y/young_j/christ.xml:viii-p7 | [] | Having reached this conclusion a flood of light is reflected
back on the Christian records; and many of their announcements, before scarcely
credible, become luminous and consistent. These records are separated at once and
forever from all mythologies, whether of Egypt, India, Greece, or Rome. Their
foundation is not fable, but fact—a fact, profoundly mysterious, indeed, but
also incomparably glorious. The combination of mystery and glory at the very basis,
and on the very threshold of the Gospels, not only prepares the mind for all the
peculiarities of their structure, but demands, and even necessitates, discoveries
in harmony with this primal characteristic. | Having reached this conclusion a flood of light is reflected
back on the Christian records; and many of their announcements, before scarcely
credible, become luminous and consistent. These records are separated at once and
forever from all mythologies, whether of Egypt, India, Greece, or Rome. Their
foundation is not fable, but fact—a fact, profoundly mysterious, indeed, but
also incomparably glorious. The combination of mystery and glory at the very basis,
and on the very threshold of the Gospels, not only prepares the mind for all the
peculiarities of their structure, but demands, and even necessitates, discoveries
in harmony with this primal characteristic. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:viii-p8 | [] | If Jesus be the Incarnation of Divinity, it is no longer hard to believe that both his entrance into the world
and his departure from it were supernatural. So far from being anomalous, this is
altogether necessary and natural. Any thing else would not have been in keeping
with the history. His virgin-mother is a beautiful and simple reality. It would
have been incongruous, even offensive, had he not been thus physically separated
from all of human kind. His resurrection also, and his ascension to heaven,
are transparencies as pure as his miraculous birth. It was most meet that,
having lain in the grave and “tasted death for every man,” he should rise again
and pass into the skies. Thus has he become a glorious prophecy and type
of the destiny of all good, which, though struggling hard with evil, and often seemingly
overborne, shall ultimately exhibit and assert its indestructible vitality—a prophecy
and type of the destiny of all the good, who, though despised, persecuted, and slain,
shall rise again unhurt, emancipated and glorified, to immortal life. | If Jesus be the Incarnation of Divinity, it is no longer hard to believe that both his entrance into the world
and his departure from it were supernatural. So far from being anomalous, this is
altogether necessary and natural. Any thing else would not have been in keeping
with the history. His virgin-mother is a beautiful and simple reality. It would
have been incongruous, even offensive, had he not been thus physically separated
from all of human kind. His resurrection also, and his ascension to heaven,
are transparencies as pure as his miraculous birth. It was most meet that,
having lain in the grave and “tasted death for every man,” he should rise again
and pass into the skies. Thus has he become a glorious prophecy and type
of the destiny of all good, which, though struggling hard with evil, and often seemingly
overborne, shall ultimately exhibit and assert its indestructible vitality—a prophecy
and type of the destiny of all the good, who, though despised, persecuted, and slain,
shall rise again unhurt, emancipated and glorified, to immortal life. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:viii-p9 | [] | Again, such an entrance into the world, and such a departure
from it, could comport only with a life-course full of testimonies and tokens of
Divinity. The miracles of Jesus are in strict harmony with the commencement and
the close of his career, and, like them, have their ground in the unexampled constitution
of his personality. They are indeed essential to that mysterious existence of his, in which both human and Divine perfections had their place. Without
them, the beautiful proportions of a unique biography, the undesigned but very manifest
symmetry of a Divine life on earth, would be destroyed. Nor must the character of the miracles of Jesus be overlooked. With him they were chiefly a method
of teaching. Every one of them contained a wide and deep spiritual meaning; and
the whole together were an exposition, in a most intelligible and impressive
form, of the nature and design of his mission. They were not mere signs of power,
but lessons of wisdom and acts of mercy; they were not simply attestations of a
Divine Presence, but subduing expressions and expositions of the Divine character.
The bountiful and loving God, in the form of man, came to bless the world; the
incarnate one—then how truly godlike—is seen giving bread to the poor, sight to
the blind, health to the diseased, life to the dead! And how significant, how eloquent,
were these material types of his higher spiritual powers and gifts. He was the bread of life to the world, he came to do for the soul what he thus did
for the body; came to supply spiritual wants as he had supplied natural wants,
to provide a remedy for spiritual evils as he had cured physical evils; came to
abolish death, to put away sin, and to reveal and bestow eternal life! Literally
and spiritually alike, he could apply to himself the words of the ancient oracle—“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the
Lord path annointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he bath sent me to
bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison doors to them that are bound.” | Again, such an entrance into the world, and such a departure
from it, could comport only with a life-course full of testimonies and tokens of
Divinity. The miracles of Jesus are in strict harmony with the commencement and
the close of his career, and, like them, have their ground in the unexampled constitution
of his personality. They are indeed essential to that mysterious existence of his, in which both human and Divine perfections had their place. Without
them, the beautiful proportions of a unique biography, the undesigned but very manifest
symmetry of a Divine life on earth, would be destroyed. Nor must the character of the miracles of Jesus be overlooked. With him they were chiefly a method
of teaching. Every one of them contained a wide and deep spiritual meaning; and
the whole together were an exposition, in a most intelligible and impressive
form, of the nature and design of his mission. They were not mere signs of power,
but lessons of wisdom and acts of mercy; they were not simply attestations of a
Divine Presence, but subduing expressions and expositions of the Divine character.
The bountiful and loving God, in the form of man, came to bless the world; the
incarnate one—then how truly godlike—is seen giving bread to the poor, sight to
the blind, health to the diseased, life to the dead! And how significant, how eloquent,
were these material types of his higher spiritual powers and gifts. He was the bread of life to the world, he came to do for the soul what he thus did
for the body; came to supply spiritual wants as he had supplied natural wants,
to provide a remedy for spiritual evils as he had cured physical evils; came to
abolish death, to put away sin, and to reveal and bestow eternal life! Literally
and spiritually alike, he could apply to himself the words of the ancient oracle—“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the
Lord path annointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he bath sent me to
bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison doors to them that are bound.” |
y/young_j/christ.xml:viii-p11 | [] | Strauss, in one of his minor pieces, argues against the value
of miracles in some such manner as this (without quoting the express words,
we give the spirit of his argument):—“Jesus is said on one occasion to have fed
five thousand persons miraculously; but God, every day, supplies the wants of unnumbered
myriads. Jesus is said to have given sight to the blind and even life to the dead; but sensation and vitality are the daily gifts of God to the world in cases past
all reckoning. Which is the greater wonder? and what wisdom can there be
in placing a lesser miracle before those who will not be moved by the greater miracle?” We admit the principle and maintain it against him. His argument is a palpable,
we are tempted to say a paltry and wicked, because known, sophism. The question
is not, whether the laws of nature and their constant operation be or be not more
truly wonderful than any special departure from them; the question is not whether
there be or be not really more of God, in the one than in the other. But the question
is this, whether, as a matter of simple fact, men are or are not more impressed by the ordinary operation
of natural laws, than by a sudden deviation from it. To this question, all experience,
all observation, and all history return a decisive reply. Men who never recognize
God in his universal and constant agency within and around them, are immediately
arrested and forced to admit the thought that there is a God, even by a seeming,
and still more by a real and startling, deviation from the course of nature. | Strauss, in one of his minor pieces, argues against the value
of miracles in some such manner as this (without quoting the express words,
we give the spirit of his argument):—“Jesus is said on one occasion to have fed
five thousand persons miraculously; but God, every day, supplies the wants of unnumbered
myriads. Jesus is said to have given sight to the blind and even life to the dead; but sensation and vitality are the daily gifts of God to the world in cases past
all reckoning. Which is the greater wonder? and what wisdom can there be
in placing a lesser miracle before those who will not be moved by the greater miracle?” We admit the principle and maintain it against him. His argument is a palpable,
we are tempted to say a paltry and wicked, because known, sophism. The question
is not, whether the laws of nature and their constant operation be or be not more
truly wonderful than any special departure from them; the question is not whether
there be or be not really more of God, in the one than in the other. But the question
is this, whether, as a matter of simple fact, men are or are not more impressed by the ordinary operation
of natural laws, than by a sudden deviation from it. To this question, all experience,
all observation, and all history return a decisive reply. Men who never recognize
God in his universal and constant agency within and around them, are immediately
arrested and forced to admit the thought that there is a God, even by a seeming,
and still more by a real and startling, deviation from the course of nature. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:viii-p12 | [] | We return to the position, that, since Jesus was verily an Incarnation
of the Godhead, miraculous works in his life were only becoming and natural. This
does not in the least exclude the application of the severest criticism, to the
historical accounts of the Christian miracles. But the unbroken course of nature,
in the presence of a fact so stupendous as Incarnation, had been of all things unnatural
and incredible. The Divinity within Jesus must have flashed forth through many outlets; and, on the other hand, the world could not but thrill responsively, when it felt
the very touch of God. Necessarily, there must have been at such a time extraordinary
appearances and movements. It was only reasonable, indeed inevitable, that an age
in which the profoundest mystery of all time was unvailed, and in which Divine religion
was to reach its full development, should be distinguished by unwonted signs from
heaven. It was only reasonable, indeed inevitable, that such an age should be pre-eminently creative,
as of new powers, so of novel and astonishing facts; and that there should be an
almighty influence among men, not invisible and mental only, but palpable, and embodied
in material forms. Still further, is it not plain that a mystery so inscrutable
as Incarnation, and a religion based on this mystery, and claiming to be alone Divine,
a religion which professed to rise to the grandest truths of God, and to pierce
to the deepest secrets of the human bosom—both needed the fullest confirmation,
and merited the glory of supernatural signs? The world, so often deceived
by counterfeits of Divinity, was entitled to have the amplest assurance given to
it, that at last, in very deed, God had descended upon it. The world in the midst
of its corruptions, its false religions, and its darkness, needed extraordinary
means for awakening and sustaining its attention, for arousing its slumbering intellect,
and summoning its torpid conscience to life and power. At such a crisis, it was
meet, it was indispensable, that the hand of God should be made bare, and that the
voice of God should be uttered, as it had never been before. | We return to the position, that, since Jesus was verily an Incarnation
of the Godhead, miraculous works in his life were only becoming and natural. This
does not in the least exclude the application of the severest criticism, to the
historical accounts of the Christian miracles. But the unbroken course of nature,
in the presence of a fact so stupendous as Incarnation, had been of all things unnatural
and incredible. The Divinity within Jesus must have flashed forth through many outlets; and, on the other hand, the world could not but thrill responsively, when it felt
the very touch of God. Necessarily, there must have been at such a time extraordinary
appearances and movements. It was only reasonable, indeed inevitable, that an age
in which the profoundest mystery of all time was unvailed, and in which Divine religion
was to reach its full development, should be distinguished by unwonted signs from
heaven. It was only reasonable, indeed inevitable, that such an age should be pre-eminently creative,
as of new powers, so of novel and astonishing facts; and that there should be an
almighty influence among men, not invisible and mental only, but palpable, and embodied
in material forms. Still further, is it not plain that a mystery so inscrutable
as Incarnation, and a religion based on this mystery, and claiming to be alone Divine,
a religion which professed to rise to the grandest truths of God, and to pierce
to the deepest secrets of the human bosom—both needed the fullest confirmation,
and merited the glory of supernatural signs? The world, so often deceived
by counterfeits of Divinity, was entitled to have the amplest assurance given to
it, that at last, in very deed, God had descended upon it. The world in the midst
of its corruptions, its false religions, and its darkness, needed extraordinary
means for awakening and sustaining its attention, for arousing its slumbering intellect,
and summoning its torpid conscience to life and power. At such a crisis, it was
meet, it was indispensable, that the hand of God should be made bare, and that the
voice of God should be uttered, as it had never been before. |
y/young_j/christ.xml:viii-p13 | [] | In nature, its scenery, processes, productions, and very
silence, God speaks to his rational offspring, and speaks intelligibly and
impressively. In spiritual providence, its operations, ordinary and extraordinary, its history
and its laws, God speaks. In man, the products of his intellect, his imagination and his taste,
in the achievements of science and art, in the creations of human genius, and in
all the utterances of human wisdom and piety, God speaks! | In nature, its scenery, processes, productions, and very
silence, God speaks to his rational offspring, and speaks intelligibly and
impressively. In spiritual providence, its operations, ordinary and extraordinary, its history
and its laws, God speaks. In man, the products of his intellect, his imagination and his taste,
in the achievements of science and art, in the creations of human genius, and in
all the utterances of human wisdom and piety, God speaks! |
y/young_j/christ.xml:viii-p14 | [] | But once, only once, in all time, the Godhead tabernacled
in flesh, and from within this marvelous vail gave forth its holy and grand announcements.
The first, the lowest, but yet also the last and highest, duty of the world, is
to listen and believe. The command to all ages and to all men is,
listen and believe. That command was given of old in Palestine, from the
opened sky, beneath which Jesus of Nazareth stood—“This is my beloved Son,
hear ye him.” | But once, only once, in all time, the Godhead tabernacled
in flesh, and from within this marvelous vail gave forth its holy and grand announcements.
The first, the lowest, but yet also the last and highest, duty of the world, is
to listen and believe. The command to all ages and to all men is,
listen and believe. That command was given of old in Palestine, from the
opened sky, beneath which Jesus of Nazareth stood—“This is my beloved Son,
hear ye him.” |