Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1880-02-19
&eadiua fur the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED By
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
OUR SAVIOUR DIVINE.

If Jesus Christ is divine, then IN MIN we
have divine Saviour, an omnipotent, an ON
niscent, an infinitely wise, good and just Sa-
viour He is, and must be, therefore, all we
need-able to save to the very uttermost.
There are no obstacles in the way which he is
not able to overcome, and no mysteries which
he does not comprehend. His ends are the
highest and BEST worthy ola divine being,
and the means and methods which he adopts
are worthy of the ends at which he aims. He
is Just and right as we'll as gracious and mer-
ciful Such Saviour is certainly all we
need.
If Jesus Christ is divine, then he is worthy
of the fullest confidence In trusting our
souls to him, we do not commit them to a
created being who might himself fail, or be-
tray his trust Our Saviour, being almighty,
can do as he pleases. Being infinite in wis
dom, he will make no blunders being faithful
and true, all his threatenings will be executed,
and all his promises fulfilled ; being just and
righteous, the majesty of law will be sacred in
his eyes being infinitely gracious and merci-
full, it will be in his heart to supply all our needs
We may rest with implicit confidence in this,
that he will never deny himself, or fail to be as
good as his word. For whatever he promises
us we may trust in him without reserve. All
the promises in him are yea and amen. Now,
every Christian realizes his need of strong
the Church is: "Lord, increase our faith"
But that it may grow and strengthen into per-
feet faith, it is needful, most of all, that we
study and assure ourselves of the full and COM
pete trustworthiness of our Saviour. This
we find in the great fact of his divinity.
If Jesus Christ is divine, then he is infinite
ly lovely. In him is concentrated the come
illness of perfect sinlessness He is adorned
with all the manifold beauties of holiness In
him are all the perfections of the Godhead :;
and nothing is to he found in the universe, in
any order of being, human or angelic, more
lovely than the divine Its comeliness is inap-
proachable. That it may be brought near to
us, that we may see it clearly, understand it
fully, and feel it's power in Christ Jesus, we
have the divine dwelling in the human, God
manifest in the flesh. He is indeed the chief
among ten thousand and altogether lovely.
We need intense love. We who believe, long
to experience all the warmth and glow, in our
own souls, of perfect love. We pant and pray
for the day when we shall love him with all our
heart, SOUL mind and strength. But the more
we study the divine beauty of our Saviour, and
the more completely we take in his excellency
and glory, tht hotter will burn the flame OF
love in our own hearts.
If Jesus Christ is divine, then his authority
over us is absolute. His rights cannot be dis
puted. We owe him full submission and i'm
plicit obedience. He is our Creator. He is
our King and Lord. He is our Redeemer.
We belong to him. There is no authority bet
ter grounded than that of Jesus Christ our Sa-
viour. Let us remember this, and let us al
ways and everywhere bow in submission to
him and yield him the obedience to which he
is entitled. The law which he imposes is holy,
and the commandment is holy, just and good.
We can attain no higher happiness here than
by obeying his precepts We can do nothing
that will more certainly or effectively promote
the welfare of men than leading them to sub
nit to his authority and to obey his precepts.
Rebellion against him is among the most helm
Gus of sins, and most ruinOuS to every interest
of humanity.
If Jesus Christ is divine, he has right to
our devotion. If he is God, we should not
only trust him, love him, and obey him in all
things, but we should honor and worship him
as we do the Father. The apostles worshipped
him; the martyrs worshipped him holy men
and women worship him still the saints in
heaven worship him, and the decree has gone
forth, "Let all the angels of God worship him. !"
Certainly, then, we too should bow and adore
at the throne of our Saviour. But he has a
work on his hands in the world. To promote
it he became incarnate, obeyed and died to
push it forward he is now exercising all the au-
thority of the eternal King. He orders his
people to 60 and work in his vineyard. His
commissioned servant exhorted men on this
wise: "Be ye, therefore, steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord. y
Certainly, then, we ought to be devoted to his
cause, and to spend and be spent in securing
it's prosperity.
If our Saviour is divine Saviour, then it
also follows that mistrust-a want of love, or
of submission, a rebellious or disobedient spir-
it, or an unwillingness to do what we can to
establish and build up his kingdom in the
worlds very heinous sin.
Let us mediate on these great facts, that we
may grow up into him in all things who is the
head, and sin not.-DAvID A. WALLACE, IN
United Presbyterian.
CHARITY IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN
CHURCH.-'Be Christ himself, says Cy
prian, Gin your captive brethren, and redeem
from captivity him who has redeemed us from
death. Snatch from the hands of the barba-
rians him who has snatched us from the grasp
of the demon, and purchase with money the
liberation of him who purchased us with his
blood" To such appeals no Christian could
continue insensible. The heroism of charity
was sometimes carried so far that freemen Of
fered themselves to serve instead of captives.
Such was the ferVOr of the love OF the brethren !;
but charity must not confne itself within
these limits-it must embrace all mankind,
and seek the good of every fellOw-creature.
Thus, when cruel epidemics ravaged Carthage
and Alexandria, the Christians were ever fore
most at the bedside of the dying, never asking
whether those whom they thus tended had not
been among their prosecutors While terror
reigned in the desolated villages, as their in
habitants were stricken down in multitudes,
and the unburied dead were spreading death
in the air, the prescribed Christians were the
only helpers. ''If we show kindness only to our
own,' says Cyprian to his brethren, 1--WE shall
be no better than the pagans and the publi-
cans. We, as Christiens, are called to return
good for evil, and to pray for those who perse-
cute us. Since we are the children of God,
let us be like him in compassion" The Chris
tians of Alexandria showed themselves no less
devoted during the plague which broke out in
their city, Many of them paid with their life
for the courage with which they braved the ep-
demic by the beside of their worst enemies.
When charity has reached this height Of self
abnegation, 50 that it can rise above all pri-
vate enmities and national distinctions, it is
truly rehexion of the divine and perfect love.
1t embraces in it's pity all who are embraced
by the infinite compassion, and it is truly
human, because truly divine. The old self
ish, exclusive principle is utterly subdued.
When Cyprian contrasted the parsimony
of the Church with the largesses Of the
the world to it's prince, who had shed no blood
for his subjects, nor won heaven for them, he
used rhetorical license to move the Chris
tians to greater liberality; but he knew that
the so called sacrifices OF the pagan world
were made to it's own evil passions, and cost
it very little, and he could not deny that in
that city of Carthage, where his noble example
had been so eagerly followed, charity had ap-
peared as a heavenly vision upon an accursed