Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1888-01-04
the Sabbath*
CONDUCTED BY
NV. ROBERT LATHAM.
COMPOSING CHRIST.

OF a Seml-DarbarOuS people. Norm OF It
was what the Jews called the Gentiles;
and GaliIee, in which it was situated, had
"mingled with the heather and learned OF
them their way" The people spoke q
barbarous or corrupted dialect which "be,
wrayed" Peter, and in their manners ana
customs they conformed partly to the Jews
and partly to the heather. :
To this distant region, no doubt, a con-
siderable number of individuals followed
our Saviour. His constant companions
were the twelve apostles. Besides these
there were multitudes continually about
him. Some of these followed him out of
mere idle curiosity, others were prompted
by ambitious motives, while many follow
ed him because they were fed by him, no
doubt, more frequently than is recorded
in the gospels. OF these followers OF our
Saviour there were some who were lnclted
by pure and holy motives. Out OF this
last class were chosen the seventy who
were sent out to proclaim, in every house,
village and city into which they entered,
that ."the Kingdom of God is come nigh
unto YOU"
At some place near Cesarea Philippi,
either on the way thither, or on the way be-
tween some ofthe towns belonging to Cesa-
rea Philippi, our Saviour was alone. There
was 10 one with him except his disciples.
We can only conjecture as to where the
multitude of followers were. 1t may be
that it was nighta and they were all asleep,
or it may be that, melted by an idle curios-
ity, they were strolling about over the
country, or through some town or village.
Be this as it may; our Saviour and his dis
ciples were entirely alone. They were
not asleep, neither were they idle. Our
Saviour never was idle. He needed rest,
often, but he never rested. When he was
not working he was praying. So on this
occasion he was alone with his disciples
praying. What o blessed thing it would
be if we would follow the example of our
Saviour and spend the hours that we are
alone in prayer. These hours would not
be lonely and sad.
While our Saviour and his disciples were
alone he asked them two questions. The
first was, "Whom do men say that l, the
Son of Man, amp" The second was,
"Whom say We that I am" We are only
indefinitely informed as to where Jesus
and his disciples were when these ques-
tons were asked. They may have been
hid away among the rocks of some noun
tain, or they may have been in some Sc:
Guided dell, far away from the curious and
often troublesome multitude. They most
plOOoDlJ NSlS VII AS "oJ %AnA ~
some suburban town of Cesarea Philippi
to another. If this be true, and it very
probably is, we are. taught, incidentally,
another very important fact in the life
work of our Saviour. He prayed while
he walked, and walked while he prayed.
He always prayed.
The questions of our Saviour were not,
as is often the case with men, prompted
by an impertinent curiosity. Neither did
our Saviour ask questions in order that ne
might acquire knowledge. He asked
questions that he might teach others
knowledge. He knows all things.
In the first question which our Saviour,
on this occasion, asked his disciples, he
calls himself the Son of Man. 1t is re-
markable that our Saviour never direct
ly calls himself the Son of God, and his
disciples never, except on one OCCASION,
(Acts 8: 56) call him the Son of Man. Je-
sus never denied that he is the Son Of God,
but he always called himself the Son OF
Man. The expression, Son of Man, usually,
in accordance with a Hebrew ldlom,
means simply man but in this place and
wherever it is used by our Saviour, itdoes
not mean man with his imperfectlons ana
sinful defects, but the long-promised Mes
siah whom Daniel Chapter 1873 saw
UIOUlIcUlCdllYs LII N1S1oh FL ~ wv
Kingdoms pass before him. Four were
earth-born and their rulers were like fe-
rocious wild beasts. The fifth kingdom
seen in vision by Daniel was heaven-born,
afterward called by our Saviour the king
dom of heaven, or the kingdom of God,
and it's ruler was 'like the Son of Man."
Jesus Christ claims that he is man, but not
man in the ordinary sense, but the man.
whose prerogative it is to take charge OF
the kingdom which the ancient Of Days,
the Almighty God would establish upon
the ruins of all other Kingdoms. Jesus
Christ is the person whom Daniel saw in
vision, and whom he calls lone like the
Son OF Man. To him." Daniel says, "Were
given dominion and glory, and kingdom
that all people, nations and languages,
should serve him. His dominion" the
prophet adds, sis al everlastingdominion.
which shall not pass away, ard his king
dom that which shall not be destroyed"
This is the kingdom which our Saviour
constantly calls the kingdom of God, or
the kingdom of heaven, and hence ne
calls himself the Son of Man. He was not
formally and fully set over this kingdom
until after his death and resurrection.
To the Jews, God, in his grace, entrusted
his revealed will, of which the prophecy
of Daniel is a part. The Jews had for ages
been expecting a deliverer, and as they
were now the vassals of a foreign power,
they were looking forward even at this
time for his arrival. In fact not only the
Jews but many of the nations of the earth
were expecting at that time the arrival
in the world of some most remarkable
parsonage. Heather poets sung his glo-
ries in advance, and many were expecting
a glorious period in the worlds history
when the serpent would die. There was
then an appropriateness in the questions
of our Saviour. We are not Informed
which one of the disciples answered the
first question. 1t is simply stated "they
said" The answer is remarkable, not be-
cause of what is said, as because of what
it suggests. "Some," they answer, "say
that thou art John the Baptist some
Elias others, Jeremias or one of the
prophets" We need not inquire in what
sense they regarded the Son of Mar as the
persons named. John the Baptist was
dead, so were Elias or Elijah, Jeremiah
and all the old prophets. We infer that
men, that is all the people, both males and
females, in all the region of country IN
which the announcement had been made
that Jesus was born, thought about him.
This they could not avoid. tits a remark
able thing that all men in every country
in which the gospel is preached or the
Bible read, think something of Jesus. No
man who has once heard the name of Je-
sus can ever forget it. There are, no
doubt, some persons who could not tell
who are the principal officers in the coun-
try in which they live. They once knew
their names, and probably assisted in
placing them in office, but they have for
gotten their very names and never think
of them. Another thing suggested by the