Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-05-18

il. He took not on Him the nature of an
gels, but the seed of a braham Amont
the tens of thousands of this earth he wa
chief; He was altogether lovely. lie wa
Q the lily of the valley; He was the ros'
! of Sharon If we gaze steadily at bis per
fections. we must admire, and, admIrlng
we must love, and say with Peter, LORD
thou knowest all things, and Thou knoWes
that love Thee" Angels look into IN Il
mystery and wonder and admire: W.
: look into it and unite with the great mui'
: titude in saying, Unto him that loved Us
and washed us from our sins in His own
blood, and hath made us kings and priests
unto God and His father; to Him be glory
and dominion forever and ever. Amen. .
Second. We come now to the second
part of our discourse, in which we propose
showing that the doctrine contained IN this
great mystery Of PsuPs, is not peculiar
entirely to the Bible, but Is found IN
shadows and in dark hints, scattered
through out all the sacred books and religions
ofthe world. The idea of the incarnation
was divine, il came from God. But once
given to man, so important was 1t, so adapt
ed to his wants, so full of hope was it To
every aspiration and longing of the human
soul, that he never lost sight of it. In some
form, by means of legend and tradition, 1t
| spread through all the world, until, as
the prophet expresses 1T, the fulhllment OF
| that promise, or the embodiment, In flesh,
of that grand idea, became the desire Of ali
| nations the hope Of the world, as well as
| that of the Jewish tribes. We affirm of
| this doctrine therefore, that it is founded In
| the very mature of man that 1t is one of
| the primary and universal beliefs of the
| race. The incarnation of Deity is lead
| ing thought in ali the religions of The
world. And, strange as it may appear, the
| idea is to this day alive in the religions of
! the heather world. The Jews held the
doctrine in its purity and could account for
it, and show that it came from God. The
| poor pagan, also held il in great corrups
| ton and looked for a Messiah, of his
own blood and race, who both God and
man, was to deliver him from the evils of
this life and introduce him into an Eden
that was once his, but had been lost he
knew not how. For, be it remem bered
that the pagan world. though deeply fallen,
was still Gods world, and was never aban-
doned to despair. They ever hoped fer a
mighty one who was to come and do for
them what they could not do for them>
selves. In the pagan heart there has ever
throbbed the hope of Divine deliverer, 1
and their arms have ever been outstretched
for Redeemer. They have never subs
mitted, without protest. to the evils that
crush humanity; they have never looked
on death as the natural order of things,
but as a monstrous invasion and perver-
sion; and ever as they hide their dead
away in the bosom of the earth have they
Deen crying W no sualL COIIlo anu TOII
the stone away from the door Of The sep |
ulchre." They were weak and helpless |
themselves, but one was to be sent to them |
who could, in their behalf, cope with /
Death himself, and bring back their lost I
ones to the light of day.
Let me now give you an Illustration of |
this drawn from the mythology of the /
Greeks Look at #Hercules. You find /
embodied in that man the Greek |
notion of a Savior. The legends
and traditions handed down to
them are all depicted in him
In Him dwelt all the fullness of manhood, +
and he was to them the fullness of the
same time God, for he was the son of Jupi-
ser, the God of al. the Gods. While in the
cradle he slew the serpent that came to de-
stroy him. His education brought him up
to the station of a perfect man. He was
perfect in every accomplishment of his
day. He voluntarily devoted himself to
life ST labor and sacrifice for others, that he
might rise to a high place among the i'm
mortal Gods.
He put on the whole armor of God for
this work of love- All the Gods, as it were,
sent him help. Minerva sent him helmet
and coat eff arms; Mercury, a sword; Nep-
tune, horse; Jupiter, a shield; Apollo,
or his shoes, &c. And so equipped, he
went forth to his work, for he was to war,
not simply with flesh and blood but with
and powers" and evils of
character.
lst Labor.-Slaughter Of the Nem@ln
Lion-Our champion destroyed the devil .
'Oaring lion.
2nd Labor.-He crushed the head of the ]
Hydra, but his heel was bruised in the
light; Christ crushed the head eff the old
eTpent, but His heel was bruised also.
3rd Labor.-(But ycu can read them
md RIM the OaTallel Yourselves
Finally, he went down into hell and
conquered there. and came forth unhurt
gain TO man. !
Then he went to the garden of the
(Eden), slew the dragon 6
the gate, and opened the garden C
o man.
Then he sacrificed himself, and in fire S
vent up TO dwell with the gods 2
One can see in Hercules the Greek idea :,
f the incarnation. They longed for {
savior, and the result of that was the ;
'ainting for themselves this phantom man, c
n whose composition they worked up all
heir traditions and legends on this won
lerful mystery-G Goldman. ALL their c
lotions on this subject budded and bios Z
omed out in this creation Of Hercules
Ind the Greek that did lot honor Hercu- Z
es was lost TO all honor, and from the ma
ure OF the case was necessarily an accursed l
aan.
And now in conclusion, allow me to say,
hat such is the nature of man, such the in
Yard bias and gravitatiOn of his soul, that z
g must look up for some one to help him.
he does not find the true, such are the =
IMPULSES from within, that he will find the .
llse and cling to that. Moore's Yelled B
'rophet is an illustration of this. He YVES
ne Goldman to his duped followers. But
hen the veil was lifted it was the face of d
ell and not of heaven they saw p
Thus men must look for q Savior But
hy be deceived when the true one stands q
efore you, pointed out not only by the G
ible, but by all the traditions and histo- =;
es of the past? For the tendency of every r,
ge has been to produce a man, who was 9,
lie acknowledged head of his race, and to q
homsmen began to look up as to the COM y
lg one. But all of them were only shad- II
VS. of the promised one.
Thus the first universal kingdom produc- II
its Nimrod. 1t seemed to exhaust it.
IF in that production, and then faded
way from the earth. E
The second kingdom brought forth its F.
yrus. He was all the fullness &C man
pod to them. But he and his kingdom
assed away. The third kingdom brought :,
nth its Alexander, claiming for himself IL
,nship to Jupiter. But he passed away
hen came the Roman Empire and it
Fought forth the Colossus of this world, ~,
easar Augustus, claiming and receiving ~
vine hOnors. Men turned to him as a dc
avior. But their Savior persisted and his re
npire with him. France gathered all her
lergies up into one flower and NAPOLEON