Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-02-11
&eadiua fur the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATH AN.
lOriglnal.]
THE INCARNATION.

q Tim. 8: 16) among other things, says:
"Without controversy great is the mystery
of godliness." The word godliness often
means piety or reverence directed toward
God. In the New Testament Scriptures the
word is frequently used to denote spon-
taneous feeling Of reverence in the heart to-
ward God Itisproperly defined when it is
said to be Righteousness, or the quality or
state of being religious. In this sense the
word is used in Acts 3: ~, where it is trans
lated holiness. In this same sense it is used
in Tim. 2:2, where it is translated godli-
ness. 1t will be admitted that in the rever-
ence of the heart toward God there is great
mystery. 1t is the result of the quickening
and life-supporting power OF the Holy Spir-
it. 1t is an unmistakable evidence of the
new birth. Men dead in trespasses and sins
fear and quail before God, but they do not
reverence him in their heart. 1t is a mar
vel of grace that they can be so operated
upon that they will cease to hate God in
their heart.
The apostle, however, did not use the
word godliness in this sense, when he wrote
to Timothy, saying that "without contro-
versy great is the mystery of godliness."
In the succeeding clause, he defines what he
means by godlinsss, by stating that God was
manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit,
believed on in the world, and received up
into glory" 1t is evident that godiness in
this place means the gospel scheme in which
is embodied a number of particulars, the
first of which is "God was manifest in the
flesh" The mystery which the apostle de-
clares to be great is the incarnation Of God.
This is beyond controversy great mystery,
and must forever remain great mystery.
No finite mind can comprehend it, and to
make this frank acknowledgement is an evil
dence of greater wisdom than is an effort to
explain it on philosophical, principles.
While unassisted reason is wholly unable
either to understand or explain the incarna-
tion of God, it is most clearly taught in the
Scriptures. Mysterious as the doctrine of
the incarnation, confessedly is, it is one of
the most important doctrines of the Bible.
The incarnate God is Jesus Christ. The
doctrine of the incarnation, as held by what
is known as orthodox Christians, is briefly
stated thus: 1.-THE Son of God became man,
by taking to himself true body and reas-
enable soul, being conceived by the power
of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Vir-
gin Mary, of her substance, and born of her
yet without SIM" This is a brief and clear
statement, and the only question to be de-
termined is whether it is Scriptural.
The doctrine of the incarnation is one of
the first things taught in the Scri ptures. In
the third chapter of Genesis, after narrating
with great minuteness the transgression of
Adam, the inspired historian states that
Adam and Eve "heard the voice Of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool of the
day." The words walking in the garden"
warrant the conclusion that the person
whose voice they heard had form which
connection, that it was not the voice of God
| (E2ohem) that they heard, but the voice of
the Lord God (Yehovah Elohem). A name
which, in New Testament times, become
Jesus Christ, or the Goldman Saviour. The
facts connected with the meeting of Adam
and Eve with the Lord God after they had
eaten the forbidden fruit are very minutely
stated, and all favor the notion that the
Lord God appeared in human form.
Adam and Eve "hid themselves from the
presence of the Lord God among the trees
of the garden" The plain reader of the
Scriptures readily concludes that Adam and
Eve made the effort to escape the notice of
being having human form. The cause
of their flight seeHsto have been the fact
that they were both naked.
It is manifest that our first parents inter-
preted the curse which God pronounced
upon the serpent to contain promise of
deliverer. Between the seed of the woman
and the seed of the serpent eternal enmity
was predicted, and it was specially predict
ed that, while the seed of the serpent would,
during all time, bruise the heel of the seed
of the woman, the seed of the woman would
bruise the head of the seed of the serpent.
Not only did they interpret this to mean
promised deliverer, but they interpreted it
to mean that the deliverer would be in hu-
man form. After Adam and Eve had been
driven out of the garden of Eden, Eve gave
birth to Cain. She said, according to the
King James translation of the Scriptures,
"I have gotten a man from the Lord"
This is an Interpretation not translation.
A literal translation is, II have gotten
man, the Jehovah" Eve was mistaken, in
that she hastily concluded that Cain was the
promised deliverer who would bruise the
head of the deceiver; still her conclusion
shows that from the earliest period OF the
human family Jehovah incarnate was ex-
pected to come as the deiverer OF his people.
When the Old Testament Scriptures are
carefully examined, it will be found that
they contain great many references to the
| incarnation, and some of them are very re-
markable. Their remarkable feature con-
sists of in the fact that the Lord appeared
in human form long prior to the time that
Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. The
Lord appeared to Abraham in the plains of
Mamre, and he, in human form, Wrestled
with Jacob at the brook of Penuel. He ap-
peared to Joshua, man with drawn
sword in his hand and announced his name
to be 'the captain of the Lords host" and
Joshua worshipped him. AS man of God
| he appeared to Manoah and his wife and to
MANY others he appeared in human form,
| So often is the incarnation spoken of in
the New Testament that it can scarcely be
regarded as necessary to make single quo
tation to prove it. John in his gospel de-
clares that "the Word was made flesh and
dWelt among us'' He had previously
stated that "the Word was in the beginning
with God and that the Word was God"
Paul says of Jesus Christ that he was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh
and declared to be the Son of God, with
power.
The humanity of Jesus Christ was never
called in question. : The Jews admitted
this. 1t was his divinity that they denied.
In the New Testament Jesus is styled some
times the Son of God and sometimes the
Son of Man. 1t is remarkable fact that
he never, except on one single occasion,
John 1913, appropriated to himself the
is called obique discourse, does he speak of
himself as the "Son of God" The only
places in which he took to himself the title
ssSon of God" will be found in Matthew
11:27, John 8: 35 and 11:4. When in the
hands Of his enemies they asked him II ne
was the Son of God, he replied, We say that
l am. The title by which he generally
styled himself was "the Son of Man." This
is the title by which he speaks of himself