The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-07-07
ONLY JESUS.

amount OF theory, ana doctrine, ana duty,
and suffering and tribulation, and mere
victory at last The simplest, sublimest,
and most perfect view of the whole mat
ter is covered in single word That
word is Jesus.
Christianity has many facts, and many
doctrines, with thousands of influences
and forces acting powerfully here and
there upon one object and another. All
these converge from one centre they
have their root in Jesus. Yea, more,
they are but the very Christ himself,
in all his spiritual powers, accomplishing
what he will, and performing, until the
time of his second coming, the purposes
of his great salvation
Christianity is the religion of person.
1t is not abstract reasoning. 1t is not a
system of abstract doctrines. 1t is not a
series of truths forming perfect circle
in which each depends mutually upon
the other. 1t has one great centre, one
simple, sublime, all-controlling, all-con-
quering truth. The whole is in one word
one person-Jesus Accept him in all
his divine fulness, and eternal life is
yours. Cast him aside, and all hope for
salvation in Christianity is rejected.
The Bible is filled with truth given us
in fragments. Its historical statements,
it's poetic utterances, its far-reaching pro-
phecies, are all filled with a thousand
forms of truth. These rise in the realm
of religious literature like myriads of an
gels on sweetest, hottest pinions They
sparkle like stars of eternal light and
beauty in the armament above the won
dering eye of the soul. Yet behind them
all there is one supreme Spirit, in whose
strength they fly; there is one intimate
Sun, whose light they give That Spirit
that Sun, is none but Jesus The Old
Testament, with its hottest rites, with it's
vast ceremonies, with its inspired and
rapturous songs, and with its prophecies
undimmed by the ages, all present but
one great fact, about which all others
cluster as satellites. They draw one SUBJ
lime portrait they sing one seraphic
song: they breathe the life of One who is
God over all, blessed for evermore. That
portrait, that song, that person is only
Jesus.
The new Testament gives us one life,
and the history of others only. as they
mingle in that one. Its thoughts, its
truths, its testimonies, its counsels, it's
hopes, its promises, are the emanations of
one Spirit-one person. It's heroes are
those who have lost themselves in the
life of Christ, and, like flying miracles of
love for a ruined race, and carelessly en-
gagged in bearing to his bosom manGled
and wrecked souls You cannot look
upon the pages of this book without be-
holding the face of the one person. That
person is only Jesus.
The heart, awakened in its tenderest
and deepest spiritual sensibilities, asks
whether this supreme personality is con-
tinued in the experience of salvation
Precisely so, and with simplicity and
power which we can scarcely appreciate.
A system of doctrines to be believed I!
Very well. A system of duties to be per-
formed To be sure it is so. Much
more, a mighty reformation to be wrought
in the heart, and subsequently in the life
But all this, and these, you may write
down in majestic order and prominence.
Above the worthy record we write one
name which covers and embraces all. 1t
is the name of person. That one is
only Jesus. Christ freely, fully, and for
tNeI ISCSlN0u luOO Ju6 SOUL Dy IdlJu, Is TO
receive, and be, and do the whole. He
can not be SO accepted, and anything
omitted None of these can be received,
and Christ left out In the deepest and
highest experience of the soul, in the
broadcast and most boundless sense of holy
realization and rapture, there is one ex-
perience, one joy. 1t is only Jesus.
Christian, brother, whose thought al
most becomes a bewilderment in the pre-
sence of the vastness Of religious oppor-
tunity, Of divine expectation, of human
possibility, and Of human weakness,
whose spirit is well-nigh appalled, at the
sight Of the orbit Of the expanding and
saved soul, and who trembfes, knowing
not how to rise from such dust to such
glory, remember, there is but one step
ping-stone, one foundation That corner.
stone is a person. Behold, it is only Je-
sus. There is one person to love su.
premely there is one person to trust i'm.
plicitly; there is one person to serve with
an undivided loyalty. 1t is Jesus Christ
Religious Telescope.