The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-01-30
TIE METHODIST PREACHERS.

What the Saviour Know About Himself and
What Rev. Or. Curry Knows About Him
Christ Not God Until He Was hirty Years
Of Age.
One OF the most interesting essays lectures ever
read or delivered before the Methodist Preachers
Association was that delivered yesterday. by their
unanimous request, by the Rev. DR.. Curry. The
Doctor has the reputation among his ministerial
brethren OF being first rate analytical theOlogan.
and his lecture yesterday was decidedly suggestive.
1t treated mainly Of the character OF Christ IN
reference to His humanity and His cvinity-a sub
Ject which has been made SO prominent recently by
Mr.. Beecher's ellie OF Christi aud Mr.. Hep
worth's secession from the Unitarian fold for
His sake. The Doctor gave utterance to
some new and strange thoughts which fell
on the ears and hearts OF good many OF his
brethren with some little suddenness and surprise.
Among other things he said he believed that
JESUS KNEW NOTHING ABsTRAcTLy
about His own divinity until He was baptized by
John in Jordan. some have asserted that when the
Saviour lay babe in the manger He knew that He
was the Almighty God, but the speaker did not be.
lieve It. Tradition also relates Of Him that when
making clay birds with other little boys He would
make Ills fly, while theirs renamed immovable.
But sucn thing would be too degrading to the
Saviour to believe.
This knowledge OF his Messianic character came
too not by intuition but by revelation and this
eIation was made TO Him when, at the baptism,
sthe Spirit descended ike dove and abode upon
Him." Satan knew Him then as the right man. lie
1.-THE evil One) had been looking for Him before, but
now had iOund Him and prepared his TEN ptations
with special reference to Cnrlsts Messiahshlp. How
did satan come 70 Tempt the Lo;d Jesus By special
great deal OF the supernatural In these temptations
he Curry saw great deal that was natural. And
as boy or up TO this time there was no manifest
difference between Him and other boys and men.
1t Is SAID that this evil manifestation was spiritual,
but In the Doctors opinion 1t might have been psy
geological. The spiritual overcame the oh yscal as
IT sometimes does with believers in prayer. In dis
sectlng the character OF the temptations Dr. Curry
saw -
Jesus had been forty days without food, and upon
recovering from HIS splr tual or psychological IA
tigue AIS first question would naturally be, where
should He find food. The devil knew and Christ
bread, and II He mad done so 10 appease his own
hunger 1t might have been excusabe. He alter
ward red multtudes WIN lew ioa l ana hsnes,
been. But In all His history there IS no evidence
that Christ ever wrought miracle for HIS own ben.
eft. He never sought OF used his ecclesiastical
Office for selfish or secular purposes as some OF Ills
followers do. tMurmurs That's sou There is not
single instance where He used HIS divine power
Himself. This was Satan's first attempt to secular
lze religion. He never wrought prodigy TO crafty
curiosity; though the second temptation, to
throw Himself down from pinnacle OF the Tenn
pie or tower would, no doubt, have secured His
recognition as the Messiah among the Jews, who
constantly clamored for sign from Heaven. The
third temptation-Satan taking Christ up to a high
mOuntain-was manilestly a psychological one.
There Is no mountain from which all the kingdoms
or the world can be seen; and some have declared
that because devil promised to give all these 70
Jesus If lie would fall down anu worship MN,
therefore the devil lied. But he did not lie. and he
owns this world to-day almost as completely as he
dld !, 500 years ago. This was
sATAN'S LAST CARD,
and, finding Jesus lnfexiDle the devil went away
vowing ceaseess hostility TO Christ and His Church.
IL Is evident from these temptations that CHRIST
was as liable 10 them and to SIN as Otner
men. But IT does not follow, therefore,
that God was trying experiments to undo by the
second Adam the wrOngdOing OF the first Adam.
On the contrary. they prove that God knew from
the beginning mat Jesus would successfully resist
those temptations, and thus give an impulse ami a
power TO all other men TO resist and triumph over
them, too.
THE RESULTS OF CHRIsTs REJECTION
OF these prO1ers VI service Of the wicked one were
briefly pointed out, and stress was laid upon tue
statement that "Jesus returned in the power OF the
SPIRIT into Galilee," which was divine exaltatiOn
OF soul. a holy enthusiasm for the great work that
was before Him.
The lecture occupied one hour and half I'm its
delivery and was listened TO with profound atten
zion. A sceptic might easily draw the inference
from II that God was IN Christ rec0nciling the
world unto HIMSELF for not more than three OF the
thirty years OF His life, and might, with good
reason, reject His divinity. AT It's close a special
committee reported resolutions in regard to the
death OF the Rev. A. L. Fields, member OF the New
York Conference, winch occurred ten days ago.
The resolutions were UNANIMOUSLY adopted ana en-
tered on the minutes.