The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-05-01


man, delighting to call the meanest of
mankind His brother ?......An eternal
glory has been shed upon the human
race by the love Christ bore to it.
And it was because the edict of uni
versal love went forth to men whose
hearts were In no cynical mood, but
possessed with the spirit of de-
votion to a man, that words which at
any other time, however grandly they
might sound, would have been but
words, penetrated so deeply, and along
with the law of love the power of love
was given. Therefore, also, the first
Christians were enabled TO dispense
with philosophical phases, and, IN
stead of saying that they loved the
ideal of man, could simply say a1d
feel that they loved Christ in every
man" (Pp. 175-l79)
The great objection to this trans
ceudental philosophy is, that 1t is an
true. The first Christians did not
profess to love Christ IN eUery man,
but every man for Christ's sake.
Nor did they profess to love Christ
himself as the ideal of humanity
the perfect man. but as their Saviour.
They did not call their religion "hu
mainly" but christianity; nor pro-
claim that the aim of the Church was
to improve morality. They spoke in
another dialect, which they learned
not In the schools of philosophy, but
from the angels of glory: "Unto you
is born a Saviour which is Christ the
Lord" He shall save his people
from their sins" God sent His Son
ito bless you In turning away every
one of you from his iniquities.
Here, therefore, the supposed disciple
must part company with his instructor.
The inidel, supposing him to be IN
duced to fuller study of the New
Testament, would find very marked
difference between the Go pei records
and Ecce Homo Ia another respect,
namely, that the salvation of msn is
| connected In Scripture with the suf-
ferings and death of Christ. OF the
death Of Christ, indeed, our author
| speaks eloquently. lie says Christ
| taught the art of self devotion as a
master teaches, not sparing words but
resting most on deeds; by the Sermon
| on the Mount, but also by the Agony
and the Crucifxion. P. 1881 The
cross of Christ, of which St. Paul
speaks so often as the only thing
worth glorying in, was the voluntary
submission to death of one who had
| the power to escape death. What
Paul constantly repeats, the other
| Apostles echo. This sacrifice, which
they regard as made for them,
demands to be requited by an abb
solute devotion on their part to
Christ" 60. 81 "As in the will of
God this unique man was elected to u
unique sorrow, and holds as undis-
puted sovereignty in suffering as in
| self devotion, all lesser examples and
lives will for ever hold a subordinate
place, and serve chiefly to reflect light
on the great central and original ex-
ample. In His wounds all human
human self denials support themselye,
against His cross" (p. 1869
ALI this is both true and beautiful !;
but one thing to which the Gospels
| give great prominence is either art
fully omitted or willlully suppressed,
aud, that is, that the Son of
Man is come to seek and to save
that which was lost" The Son Of man
came......to give His life a ransom for
many" . 1t behooved Christ TO suffer,
..-.....and that repentance and re
mission of sins should be preached
in His name among all nations"
The author can quote from the fourth
Gospel few words of the Baptist,
showing how he called Jesus the
Lamb of God" He paraphrases
the expression most beautifully, on
the understanding that it describes
Christ's personal character. But he
omits, if he does not suppress, the
ever memorable words in which the
Baptist announced the Lamb of God
as bearing away the sins of the world.
Nor is there anything in the whole
book that fairly and scripturally pre-
sents the vicarious Messiahship of
Christ; and this is all the more sur
prising when we remember that the
author undertook to write "A Survey
of the Life and Work of Jesus
Christ"
We notice third point on which
an inquirer would find this book to
differ from the sources from which it
processes to be drawn. Christ, as a
Lawgiver, gave great prominence to
the penal sanctions of His law. He
threatened the Seribes and Pharisees
with the damnation of he'll; He
warned the self-indulgent that it was
better to lose limb or an
eye than to have their whole bodies
cast into hell. No prophet or preach
er In the Bible speaks so much on
this subject as Christ. It is one Of
the most marked peculiarities of His
moral teaching. But our author,
while protesting to give a complete
outline of Christian morality, has not
| single sentence on this subject. La
this connection we may add that the
first three Gospels speak of the devil
or satan as coming TO CHRIST, tempt
ing Him, repulsed by Him, and de-
parting from him. Our author speaks
of Christ as self-tempted, and says
that ach IS called His temptation is
the excitement of His mind which was
caused by the nascent consciousness
of supernatural power" page 49,
Here again the learner, as instructed
by Eccs Homo, will have to unlearn
his lesson when he came to be taught
by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
On the character and composition
of the Christian Church; the divine
Sonship of Christ; and on Christian
law, the believer In Ecce Homo will
have something to unlearn, and much
to add, when he comes to study the
first three biographies" of Christ
for himself.
We are thus conducted to the con-
clusion that this method Of endeavor-
ing to present the morals of Chris
tianity apart from its doctrines, is falla-
cious and unsatisfactory. Either the
questions postponed must make the
discussion incomplete, or, if complete,
the method is departed from. 1t is
unphilosophical, also; for it assumes
that men can judge of the superstruc-
ture, when they know nothing of the