Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1889-01-05
Christ Our Hope.
BY EDWIN II. NEVIN, d. d.

The question of Christ is the gues-
ton of Christianity itself. The atti-
tude person holds to the question of
Christ determines his answer to the
question of man and to the question
of God. He who rejects Jesus Christ
will also loose the right conception of
man and will have left, instead ofthe
immortal soul hungering after goods
slave of natural necessity or a tyrant
of selfshness, in whose heart no sun
shines, because he knows not the sun
of Gods grace in Christ. And he who
will know nothing Ofthe Son will soon
also loose the Father, and will have re-
manning, instead of the Father, only
an idea of the universe, which sees
not, hears not, and has no heart for
our SORROWS.
Heather writers have described no
such character as Christ; history has
none like it, tradition has none, fancy
has none, and deception and impos.
ture have none. Poetry and romance,
with all their inventive powers have
never been able to portray charac-
ter like that which the Evangelists
have given with so much simplicity
andbeauty. 1t requires no elevation
of mind, no spiritual insight, to per-
ceive that Christ is not of this world,
as his kingdom is not of this world.
He begins and ends under new con-
ditions. He meets the common hos
tile forces in his prOgress,y yet is never
worsted or conquered. He is a new
system, wheeling its spheres of
thought and light through wreck and
darkness. So high is he lifted out of
the groove of our fallen lot, that in
him the consciousness of sin sabsent.
Had Christ not died but like Enoch
or Elijah been translated, still he
would have kindled over our planet
an unsetting sun. The human fami-
ly would have been able to boast one
sinless member; and this fact alone
would have unbarred the worlds
prison gates and let in the angel OF
hope, and the fires of q new glory
would have surrounded the race. A
mind which is all alive to the percep'
ton of beauty cannot fail to be awed
by the loneliness and colossal grand
eur of the character of Christ
: Painting, poetry and music have
done their utmost to inspire the sense
of all that is sublime and beautiful
In the spotless purity, the disinterest
ed love, and the extreme suffering
which he endured.
p Gentle without weakness, firm with
, out harshness, faithful without I'm
/, charitableness, strong without intoler
| ance, with all graces, all virtues, al
1 PROJECTIONS, Christ stands before tn,
!. soul the center of the worlds wonder
y. praise and admiration. There is n,
T want, no excess, no defect, no spot
9 no blemish in Christ's character o
!. conduct. Well might distinguish
!, ed writer eXclaim: SIN Christ, OH
O. blessed Lord and Saviour, mere
% shines clearer and sounds sWeete
q than if the sun itself were the mere
seat, and all the stars cherubim {
l. glory overshadowing it, and the un
70 verse its ark, and the clouds its cul
p tains, and the thunder its trumpet,
d and the music of the spheres its ol
If Chestra."
i The name of Christ is the charm {
h every service, and the light of ever
d scene; it is the glory Of the gospe
y the life of prayer, and the balm of a
e Fiction; with it the lips Of the dyin
k saint often close, and, with the conf
IS dence and love it inspires, death j
l. welcomed and heaven begins. Tn
Il true bond sfthe unity Of the Churcl
If does not consist in all using the sam
;; liturgy, or using the same forms, o
|, WorShiping in the same manner, o