The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-11-28

Mr.. schwab goes on to consider separately the
question Of the supernatural, which requires n
distinct line Of investigation in the historical
reconstruction Of the life of Christ. 1t was, he
points out. tho fault OF tho old conception that
It found the entire significance OF Christ's life
in the miraculous. Jesus was nothing more
than the conventional figure of a man; tho ono
element in his life In which religious interest
centred was the supernatural. 1t Is, says our
author. undeniable that We have passed beyond
that view. We are conscious of n decided
change In tho direction Of our religious inter
ests. Tho change, 80 far as the life OF
Jesus is concerned. lies in tho %appreci-
alton We have learned to give 10 his
character. I'VE now SEQ in his life not q tale
of magic powers. but rather the exhibition of q
human sublimity which makes him unique
among men. of that beauty which wrung from
tho unbeliever Renan tho eloquent tribute at
the close Of his Life of Jesus" The final
sentence Of that work is quoted in q %footnote,
and we reproduce it here: Mails Qucls que puts
sent etre les ph6nonencs inattcndus dc iarcnir,
JtSus ne sern pas surpaSsG. Son cutie Sc rajeu-
Mira sans ce$sc: sa i6Gende proroQuero des
Iurmes sans I'm; Scs Soufranccs dttendriront les
meilleurs c9urs tous les sieclcs proclameront
Qu'entre les Ills des honncs, IL men est pas ne
de plus grand que JSsus: But, whatever may
BIO the unexpected phenomena of the future,
Jesus will not DO surpassed. His worship will be
necessarily rejuvenated; His legend will draw
tears without end; His sufferings will melt the
nobler hearts: all the ages to come will proclaim
that, among the sons OF men, there wac not one
born greater than Jesus" Mr.. Schwab reminds
us that. on the other hand. there are those who
arc so much impressed with the moral grandeur
Of Christ's life that they have pushed the
miraculous aside as unesscntial. At the one end
Of the scale We have the NATURALIZATION of re.
liRion. where the ethical is nothing, tho miracle
everything, and religion becomes superstition.
At the other end, we have the extreme spiritual.
ization of Christianity. Here the tendency is
to abstract religion from physical conditions.
"Thls sort OF spiritualized faith is dangerous. Its
fault is that it fails to realize tho nature and
object Of Christianity, and. therefore, deceivcs
itself with the pretcnsion of being above the
physical. We are, as human beings. subject to
Observation-Disclosures, and it Is on account of these
very limitations that we need n God. If it were
| not that I feel the stress OF that contradiction in
my own being; tho spirit with its aspirations
for the highest freedom. walled up and hemmed
in by this battling and pcrverting carnal mesh;
II 1t were not for that contradiction between the
spiritual and the physical in me-, l should not
Msn5 q sqd' an eSe2 to z Sn iSn1 asa the PLY Rbhysi Soin is
whose body | have seen lowered into the earth.
now no moro than a mass Of dead matter like
the stones and tho Garth around 1t, then
there must be somewhere a very different
world from this. There must bo laws
of which we can form no conceptions: there must
be n secret, now closely yelled. which, when
revealed. will shed new light over the world"
A little later the author asks: rs there any
other than this material universe that we
know Is there nowhere u point of transition
from the spiritual TO the natural Has the God
to whom we look up nowhere proved His power
over the physical We find that Christianity
offers an answer to these questions. This answer
Is furnished in the miraculous element of our
Gospel" Atthe same time. Mr.. Schwab is careful
to give no more than its due weight to tho
miraculous. He Ii inclined to differentiate tho
supernatural elements In the narratives OF the
Eyangelists. 1t may be questioned, he thinks,
whether some OF the miracles of Jesus do not
receive a more satisfactory explanation on a
natural than on q supernatural hypothesis. He
has Eere In mind such stories as that of the
turning Of the water into wine and the feeding Of
the multitude with a few loaves and fishes. He
deems it not dcrogatory to the Gospel narrative
to nllOw the miraculous nature of such Incl.
dents AS these to remain on open question. 1t Is
further pointed out that theminute examination
and comparison OF the synoptic Gospels reveals
an charging tendency in the later, compared
with tho earlier version OF one and the same in.
cident:. The story Is amplified by the later writ
ers. This Is true of the baptism OF Jesus. where
the vision of tho dove in the original account Is
transformed into IN actual physical occurrence
in st. Luke. Nevertheless, when all allowances
for a tendency to application and to superna-
tural explanation have been made, Mr.. Schwab
holds II to be impossible to eradicate the mirac.
ulous from the story of Jesus.