Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-09-06
The Supreme Miracle Of Christianity.

Among all the New Testament miracles
the character of Christ is an ever-present
and everything reality to the hearts of men.
II stands out on every page OF the gospel
history with such dstinctness of outline
and such power of reality that it is impos-
sible to read the book without behoding
the man. And yet we cannot behold the
man without feeling that God is here No
man can utter these words and do these
mighty works unless God be with him. 1t
is a true man who lives and speaks and
acts But if he is true, he is more than a
man, for he claims equality with God. Is
il too much to say that the unique charac-
ter of Jesus Christ is Gods perpetual dem
onstration, wrought out before the eyes of
all generations, of the truth of Christianity
Yes, here is one miracle which we can all
examine at our leisure-which we can in a
sense see and hear and handle, of the Word
of life. We have not seen him die on the
cross we did not see him and converse
with him after he rose from the dead. These
and other facts we receive on the testimony
of eye-witnesses who recorded them. But
can we read the New Testament without
seeing and feeling the living reality OF the
character Of Jesus in its matchless perfec-
ton, in its human tenderness in its divine
glory Is not the character there before
our eyes as truly and as wildly as if its
possessor still lived and walked among us
Can we mistake iii Can we fail to see
what it is and what it means Some one
may say, in reply We have the character
after all, only on the recorded testimony of
those who reported the facts" True but
how could they delineate such character,
if it had no existence in living man If
they had no living example to draw from,
if the real Jesus of the gospels was not be-
fore their eyes, then they created The chdrdc
ter. How could such men in such an age,
create out of nothing such a character of
absolute originality and perfection The
greatest geniuses who have appeared in
history, under the most favorable inspiration
of cline and country, have often essayed
their utmost endeavor, and accomplished no
such result. How could the isolated and
comparatively rude fishermen of Galilee
do It without living original? To say
that they did would be to account for
one miracle for which there is evidence by
taking refuge in another for which there is
none. 1t is far more rational to believe that
Christ lived and acted out before the eyes of
his disciples the character which they have
reported in the New Testament, than to be-
lieve that they could draw such picture Of
BOullke excellence WITHOUT tne living ODrlSt
before them. If, therefore, we have be-
fore our eyes to-day, in these sacred pages,
the very character which the apostles saw
and admired and adored, then has God
given to us, even as he did to them, the
most sublime of all miracles, the most COM
plete and satisfactory of all demonstrations
that Christianity is true. The miracle of
miracles, the proof of proofs, is the life and
character Of Gods Son. 1t is the one mira
Gle which both wins the heart and satisfies
the intellect. When we see it as we do in the
New testament, we are compelled to feel
that "G God has spoken by his Son." If
man cannot, or will not, receive this evil
dence of character; if he has no heart to
appreciate and admire it; if there be moth
ing within him responding in homage to
the character of this Christ of the New tes-
lament, then we fail to see what further
God could do or ought to do to convince
and save such man. Not to appreciate
the character of Christ is to disown the
highest exhibition of moral excellence the
world has ever seen. What grander mira.
Gle could God work before the eyes of men
than to give the world this perfect image of
his own moral projections in human form,
in the life and character of his own SOM
From Living Christianity, By Leroy j. Halsey,
DID,, LID.