St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-22
DEATH OF JESUS
Is the Subject of an Interesting
Sermon by DR.. Daniel, OF Mem

Is the Subject of an Interesting
Sermon by Dr.. Daniel, of MEM
phis.
The congregations of the Central
Presbyterian and Plymouth Congrega-
tiOnal churches united in services at the
church of the latter last evening to
listen to a sermon by Rev. Eugene
Daniel, of the First Presbyterian church
of Memphis, Tenn, who has, together
with Mrs. Daniel. been sojourning in
st. Paul for ~recreatiO II.
The preacher selected two parts of
the word of God as the texts upon
which his sermon was based. The one
was Matthew XVI, 80, 20, my father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me-" and the other was II. Timothy,
w., 6, For L am now ready to be Of
fered." The former was the language
of Jesus Christ; the latter, that of the
apostle Paul. BY way of exordium, re-
ference was made to the fact that in the
theological world there are two widely
different views respecting the nature of
the death of Jesus Christ and the ends
it was intended to SubSerye in Gods
plan of redemption. According to the
one, Christ died as a mere martyr and
eXemplar, and the efficacy of His death
consists merely in its power of example
and in the sentimental impression
which it is fitted to produce upon
the heart and will of the SIN
ner. According to the other, the
death of Christ is not merely exemplary
and sentimental, but is also strictly and
properly vicarious, Jesus taking the
death bearing the penalty which was
one of that laws essential and immu-
table elements.
Having stated these two views, the
speaker denied the scripturalnesS of the
former and affirmed the truth of the
latter, holding that Christ died as the
~Sln-bearer, the Just for the unjust. And
this view of the case he proposed to eS-
tablish by a line of argument based
upon a contrast of Christ's death with
the death of the best of martyrs, from
this contrast
Drawing the Conclusion
that there must have been an element
in the death of Jesus Christ which could
not have been in mere philosopher or
martyr, and that no hypothesis save
that of the righteousness OF the atone
mentc could explain the existence of that
element, TO develop this argument,
concrete cases were chosen, and Christ'S
death vas contrasted with PauI's. The
80, my Father, if it be possible let this
cup pass from me-" was set over against
the Il am ready to be offered"
The speaker then entered fully %
into ChriSt'S views and feelings respect
ing his own death as far as these might
be ascertained from Christ'S own utter
anceS and his mysterious agony in
Gethsemane and Oh Calvary; (2) into
Paul'S views and feelings respecting his
death. as far as these might be discov-
cred from PauI's writings and his con-
staDtly death-defying conduct. 1t was
shown that i'll the II case there was an
unutterable and horrible shrinking from
the dreaded hour, while in the other
there was an exultant readiness and an
eager longing to be absent from the
body and present with the Lord. The
contrast was complete.
From this point the speaker intro
duced another element of comparison,
namely, tllatof personal character. The
immaculate purity of Christ, His admit
ted righteousness, His title to being
'the incompatible Jesus" were fully
depicted. From manger to dying breath
upon the cross this II was SpOtleSS.
Paul, on the other hand, before his con-
version and after that event, through
all his life bewailed his W sinfulness.
These premises established, the
speaker then sprang the inquiry: Why
did the sinlesS Jesus dread to die, while
the sinful Paul could shout, 30 death,
where is thy sting; o grave, where is
thy vlctory?" On what hypothesis
could this anomaly be explained?
The speaker then showed that the
substitutionary nature of the atone
ment, being the hypothesis which per-
fectly met all the facts and fully salts
fed all the conditions of the case. was
the one which must be adopted. Christ
died in untold agony because he died in
Paul's place; and Paul died in triumph
because Christ had borne for him the
penalty of the law.