The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-01-07

SWeTcus Oductliy Iucu tuTOugu tuo
truth" until those sayings, so dead
as they lie upon the page, leap into life
and exert their power upon our hearts.
To read these utterances, to learn them,
to store them up in the mind,-this is
not to know Christ as a teacher it is
to be purified and guided by his teach
ings. When his words fall like Goals of
fire into our hearts, burning up the
dross and refining the gold, then do we
know him as the one who spoke with
authority and not as the scribes.
To know Christ is to be in sympathy
with him in his work for this darkened
and SHINING world to feel in our own
pulses something like the mighty throb
bings of his, as he goes forth to seek
and to save that which was lost. 1t is
to understand and to be in harmony
with his plans and desires for the up
lifting of men. So we know him, as
we rise into his experiences. Take the
outward facts of which l have already
spoken. We read that he was tempted.
But what do we know Of that tempta-
ton until we have feltupo our own faces
the scorching breath of the furnace
We say that Christ can sympathize with
us, since he has been tempted; we only
appreciate and understand him when
we are tempted. With the fierce light
of our own temptations falling upon the
page, that mountain struggle discloses
a meaning of which we never dreamed
before. We read of him going from
place to place doing good; how little
do we understand the record until we
have, in like manner, opened our hands
in benevolence, and our hearts in SYM
pathyl We read that, on one occasion,
he mourned over Jerusalem, uttering
those words that are unparalleled in the
language of sorrow: 80, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the proph-
cts and stonest them which are sent
unto thee; how often would l have
gathered thy children together, even as
hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not. Behold your
house is left unto you desolate % How
void of interest must even that affect
ing narrative be, unless the reader has
himself wept over the erring and rebel
lious Who can know the emotions
that throbbed in the Masters heart,
until the same pulsations have beat in
his own When the seventy returned
and reported that even the demons had
been subject to them in his name, he
rejoiced in spirit but who knows what
that means, unless he has also been
thrilled with Joy at the downfall of evil
and the triumph of righteousness We
know Christ, therefore, by entering into
the experiences of Christ. We under
stand the facts of the gospels, as they
become facts in our personal histories.
The fair record is not alone picture of
the past, but drama that to be under
stood must be enacted to-day. Not of
one man were those marvels written,
but of all men, of you and me, as we
come to live like that one. Only as our
own lives are represented in those pages,
do we know what is written.
To know Christ is to be like Christ.
TO understand and apprehend him, is
to become assimilated to his character.
To know Christ, we must be Christ
like, having in our own souls, in some
degree, the graces and virtues which
shone with such Respondent luster in
him. 1t is related of an aged Jew that
he dreamed he was about to enter the
future world, and that heavenly one
came to him holding a garment with
which he must invest himself ere he
could enter. He tried in vain to put it
on, but could not undo the fastenings.
On each fastening there was an inscrip-
ton. On the first, "Know God - on
the second, "Who can know God ?''
and on the third, ''None but God can
know God" In that last sentence a
mighty truth lies. That only which is
god-like in us can know God. The
more we become like him, the better
we know him. 1.-THE pure in heart
shall see God" In like manner we
may say of Christ, "None but Christ
can know Christ" He only can know
him who is already Christ in the
germ. By the rude prophecy which is
in him, he touches the glorious fulfil
ment.
There is subtle meaning in an oft
quoted passage from second Peter
"And besides this; giving all diligence,
add to your faith virtue, and to virtue,
knowledge, and to knowledge temper
ance, and to temperance patience, and
to patience godliness, and to goodness
brotherly kindness, and to brotherly
kindness, charity for if these things
( be in you and abound, they make you
that ye shall neither be barren nor I'M
fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ" Observe the exact point
here. He who has the moral qualities
named, he it is who is neither barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of
Christ. He who knows what faith is,
what virtue is, what knowledge, temp
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