The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1872-03-01

culously conceived. Bot the tain
is not removed, we must trace tn
/ pedigree of Jesus back o the begin
ming, proving q series of miraculOu
conceptions up to the first woman
and declaring her to be immacOl ate
This course of reasoning prove
that mankind is divine. The ser
les of miracles necessary TO settl
the Deity of Jesus, proves tn
Deity of all men. Two, only, of tn
Evanglists have anything 10 sa,
about the miraculous birth, and tn
passages containing the account ar
wanting In many of the oldes
manuscripts of Matthew and Luke
Jesus never mentions the. fact, no
do the Apostles alIude to it. Ii
connection with the account botl
Matthew and Luke give genealogi
cal tables to prove the descent o
Jesus from David, und how do the!
trace the descent !? Through Josepl
and not through Mary. In no 9th
er argument would we allow TIVE
passages to outweigh q hundred
and we should not in this. If thu
miraculous birth be the only argu
ment to sustain the Deity of Christ
we may dismiss it as Of no value.
There Is not one text quoted b,
Trinitarians in proof of the Deitl
Of Christ, which has not been de
clared by other Trinitarians writer
to be Insufficient and inspplicable
DR.. Jelf, in his hampton Lectures
Goulbnrn, in Farewell Counsels
DIR. Irons, in the Bible and its In
terpreters, all Trinitarian ministers
in good standing, declare that the
Bible is inadequate to prove this
doctrine. Canon Liddon, q few
years since, published a book OF
lectures on the Deity of Christ
which was generally confessed to
be the strongest Affirmative argu-
ment ever presented. In q recent
work by a Trinitarian clergyman
Of the church of England, Liddon'G
Lectures are entirely refuted, and II
is asserted that ''The Unitarians are
perfectly right In their position as
Protestants, and cannot be reputed
from Protestant grounds, for the
Bible does not teach the Deity OF
Christ" This critic of Liddon,
however, accepts the Trinity as a
doctrine taught by the infallible
church of Rome. Are those anx-
ious to retain this doctrine as part
of Christianity, willing to join the
Papal church? Only by accepting
the infallibility of the church can
they support this doctrine.
Surprising the doctrine is taught
by the Bible, aohtch it plainly IS not,
it is a mystery, absolutely incom-
prehensible; if it means anything,
it means two Gods. Did all the
world accept the Deity of Christ,
it would be no better; only when
it is inspired by the spirit of Jesus,
and its heart is united to his, does
any change take place. Trinitar-
ians say we are surrounded with
mysteries which we cannot under
stand. True! But no change is
made in our lives, whether we be-
Iieve or disbelieve the mysteries of
nature. The mystery of the God
man must be accepted by the intel
Iect before it affects our character.
Only through the mind does this
mys terious doctrine reach the heart.
Beliere and you are saved. A mys-
terry is however imperative on the
mind. Though we cannot under
stand how the brain acts upon the
body, we use it none the less, but
unless we understand religious
mysteries we do not use the relig-
ion. 1t is not by virtue of the dog
ma of the Trinity that the popular
church has a vital religion, but rath-
or in spite Of it. Orthodoxy COM
pels its followers to accept the
Trinity as a portion of their faith.
They call Jesus God, and worship
him. It's not the Deity of Christ,
however, which wins souls, but the
love of God as manifested in the
life and death of Jesus, this softens
the hardest heart.
Jesus never says that he is God.
The Apostles, while entertaining
exalted ideas of the person and Of
fees of Jesus, '1oachere hint 1T His
Deity. IL the companions of Jesus,
his disciples, who walked with him,
heard his word and saw his works,
believed him to be God, why do
they not teach this dogma? If the
acceptance of Jesus as God is neces-
sary to salvation, what became of
the Christian church up to 1926 A.
D.? Whatever Jesus conceived
himself to be, whatever his disciples
believed of him, neither he or they
believed that he was tacGYnate God.
And / do not think that we now, or
any pope, or any Ecumenical coun-
Gil know more about the matter
than Jesus and his disciples.
Has the phrase, Son of God, any
meanings / think it has. No
chance caused the use of these
words, they meant something; the
whole history of Christianity for
bids us to dismiss them as meaning
less. Admit with me, that all men
are divine, Sons Of God, and / find
q vast fund of meaning in this title,
so often applied to Jesus. As well
as others call Jesus The Son of
God or the Christ, these phrases be-
ing interchangeable. No one can
hold to the Divinity of Christ more
pertinaciOusly than myself. And
here let me observe that the church
always speaks of the Divinity of
Christ, not of Jesus. The phrase
used IN the New Testament is Christ
the Son of God; Jesus the Christ,
the annointed one, by virtue of his
special mission, being sent and con.
secrated by God, is called The Son
of God. His Office was to repre-
sent God to man, the Father espec-
tally selected him for that work,
and he becomes God manifest in
the flesh.
look to Jesus as the head of the
church, the divinely commissioned
Messiah, The Son of God, because
the Christ or aanointed one, the
Great Teacher, the Savior, the Mas
ter of humanity. And this is ali
which Jesus claimed for himself, in
!