The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-26

| He claimed to be, He could not be molly ana
good. Sinessness Is His moral character
| fstic.
| Such was Christ mentally and morally
| When | try to go deeper in His character
touch on something still more mysterious anu
superhuman than anything l have notlced
so far. He tells us that within the center OF
| His being there was an abiding guest, VINO
somehow was Himself, yet distinct from Him
self, to whom He ever had recourse, with
| whom He communed, who prompted Him IN
| all things, was the responsible agent OF His
acts, in a word, was His own personality.
Who is this guest in Christ's humanity? What
is this in-dweling within Him of some one
who is intimately His very self and yet can
be spoken of as distinct from Himself? There
is here some deep mysterious secret, and who
can tell us about it but He who is the home
bearer of the secret Well, He has plainly
told us about it; He has told us that His hu-
man nature was the bearer OF the Divine ma
ture. Boldly does He let out the word, again
and again He repeats it; He stakes His fame
and His life on it: He is God as well as man.
Son of Man is one of His titles. Son OF God
is another. There can be no mistake about
the claim i
Son of Cod 1t is the name that every one
about Him whispers without drawing from
His lips a single protest, the least sign OF
dissent. Peter kneels to Him and says
Thou are Christ, the Son of the living God"
Thomas, after feeling his wounds cries out
My Lord and my Cod" All the apostles ex-
clair, after He had laid the storm; Truly,
Chou art the Son of God" Martha says,
Yes indeed, oh Lord, 1 believe that Thou
ART C0TlSL, Son OIL the living Goa, VINO are
come into the world" Not only does He
tolerate and accept the appelation, but He
congratulates those who give it to Him, as
having learned the secret from His father
Nay, He Himself assumes the title and eX-
plains it. He is the Son of God not as other
| nen are called the sons of God; He is the
Son of God by nature, they are the sons of
God by adoption. God so loved the world,
saysIHe to Niccdemus, that He sent His
only begotten Son that every one who be-
lieveth in Him may have life everlasting. 4"
In the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of
st. john which is a luminous exposition of
His relations with the other two Divine per-
sons of the most blessed Trinity, there are
expressions which, If not true, should have
shrivelled His tongue. Not only secretly and
to the few, but openly and to the multitude, He
makes the assertion of his God-head. of His
unity of being and nature with that of the
Father; so openly and emphatically that the
Jews hearing Him quake with rage, stop their
ears and take up stones to assault Him. And
when Jesus calmly asks why they threaten
Him thus. they answer, I'VE stone Thee not
because of Thy works. bue because of Thy
makest Thyself God" When He stands
before the tribunal of His nation;
inthat solemn moment with the pros
pect of death before Him. when the question.
Art Thou the Son of God?" is put to Him
clearly. positively and directly in the name
of country and of God, by the high priest
OF the religion revealed to Moses; In that SOL
emn moment. in spite of threats, of the ap-
prehensfons OF troubled souls, He does not
WdNtT Ut HlHCQ, Dul gives DacK answer as
clear, positive and direct the question ask
ed, that He Is the Son of God and shall come
to judge mankind. 1t is because of this mon
strous claim that the highest tribunal OF
His country's judges that Jesus, the reputed
Son OF carpenter, born at Bethlehem,
simple Jewish citizen, has usurped to Himself
the name and honor of God. and condemns
Him, as guilty of blasphemy to die on the
cross The death Of Christ proves that He
made the claim for which He was condemned.
Now, to the man who will not believe in
Christs claim OF divinity, there are two es-
capes open; the first is to attack the testi-
mony Of Christ Himself; the second is to at
tack the testimony Of His apostles, and es-
pecialy the evangelists. In the first case
Gently fell into a mistake concerning Himself,
or that He designedly deceived the world as
to His nature and being; in other words,
that He was a fool or a knave. fool or
knave! Then away with Him. Why give
Him thought, why celebrate this Christmas
day why call yourself a Christian people?
Better Mahomet, better Buddha, better the
fetichism Of the Fiji is ander the voodoism
of the African. In the second case the ac-
cusation is taken from Christ and put on the
apostles and evangelists. They have invented
US Clever men, indeed, who could deceive
for nineteen hundred years the ceverest ma
tons in the world What benefit, pray. could
they get from such a deceit? They must
after Here in this life what did they get?
Labor, privations, sufferngs, persecution and
finally violent death. Men do not uphold a
lie at such a cost Heherafter, what could
they expect from the just God of heaven
whom they preached, if they were liars to
the world about Him, and substituted a man
in His place? Brethren, there are ra-
tional motives to assign for a deception prac-
ticed by the disciples of Christ and must
conclude that the knowledge and portrait Of
their Master which they gave tc the world are
the knowledge and portrait of Himself which
He gave them. They could not have mag
med and invented Him, for the character of
Jesus surpasses mans ideals and mans pow
er of thought The apostles might have i'm
agined and portrayed a human character,
Jewish rabbi or prophet, but they could not,
especially four different writers working in
dependently, have created the superhuman,
the divine Christ. The inventor of Jesus,
said the infidel Rousseau would be more
wonderful than the invented Jesus
Measure Him by His shadow: l mean by
your eyes. Before Him what was the world;
after Him what is it? At Bethlehem the old
and the new, the pagan and Christian worlds
meet and there in that crib, in that babe,
that has come between the old and the new,
the pagan and the Christian worlds. From
the birth of this babe dates the Christian
era If Christ is God, understand the change
that has taken place. If He is not God, as He
claimed to be- If He has lied or has been
duped, If His lie or illusion have regenerated
the world, then l am daZed, and must con-
clude that there is no gertrude, truth justice,
order, no cause and effect, no reality what
ever but that all is vain dream and black
est darkness. There is no God" said Ma
poleon in the calm moments Of his exile at st.
Helena, if a man has been able to conceive
and to execute with complete success the gi
gantic scheme that Christianity Is that Is to
say. Of substituting himself in Gods place, as
well as in assuming His name. The true ex-
PLANTATION is given by st. John: I'm the be-
ginning was the Word and the Word with
God. and the Word was God; and the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among u.s. The
Word made flesh is the Babe Of Bethlehem.
The birth of that babe is the coming OF God
in human form into his own world.
have said that when God came In human
form into the world He made. But He was
in the world before that in another form,
for st. Paul speaks of Jesus Christ in the
epistle 1 have read to you as the first born
Of every creature, In whom dwells the full
ness of all things by whom all things are
reconciled, the appointed heir Of ages" Be-
fore Christ was born He in the world,
as the central figure. the motive power, the
historical key of all the centuries before His
birth. He in paradise with Adam. He
was the promise made by God to our repent
ant first parents; He was the expected hope
of fallen humanity. He was the victim Of
sacrifice prefgured by Abel's lambs and Cain
fruits He was the most precious freight that
the ark bore through the waters Of the flood.
He was the one great tradition that the sons
of Noah carried with them in their dispersion
throughout the earth. He was symbolized by
the bread and wine offering Of Melchisedech.
He was with the patriarchs In their expecta-
tions their wanderings and their sacrifices
He was in the prophesies, the laws. the re-
ligion, the ceremonies, the whole chequered
existence OF the Hebrew people which have
no meaning without Him. who was destined
and called into being to preserve through the
ages and carry to all peoples through war and
captivity and commerce the news OF His COM
ing. to the fulfllment OF that great event that
nation is portentous witness these nineteen
hundred years. Alas, when in the fullness of
time the promised Redeemer, the desired OF
nations, came in human form into His own
world, His own received Him not that is to
say, many refused to see in Him the Word
H. God