The Irish standard., 1898-01-01

NASs" .1dt no COulu IuTu stones lQlO
bread; saw Him suffer and die, yet
they knew He could call legions to His
protection and that His life was in His
own power. Indeed, He had predicted
that He would be most powerful when
weakest, that the cross was the lever
with which he would move the world.
Love, not might, is the keynote of His
life.
Living in the midst Of a world Of
sin, clothed with this human nature,
which in every child of Adam is deeply
tainted with evil, Jesus is stainless and
holy. His holiness has one thing which
is not human. do not find in Christ's
holiness the sense Of personal sin. The
summit of holiness is there, the founda-
tion seems to be wanting. St. John de-
clares that he who thinks he is without
Sin is under the greatest illusion.
Imagine any man saying, l am without
sin. He at once ceases to be holy,
humanity turns on him, tears him from
his pedestal, strips him of his crown
and tramples him in the dust. Yet
Jesus Christ says, who of you will
convince me of sin," and retains His
throne amid the best nations Of man
kind. His enemies, who are ever
watching Him, find in Him no weak
ness and because they cannot convict
Him of sin they end with falsehoods
and violence. Even His enemies today,
though they deny Him to be God, ad-
NIT Him to be the best and holiest man
the world has ever seen, forgetting
that, as he claimed to be God, if lie
was not what He claimed to be, He
could not lie holy and good. Sinless-
ness is His moral characteristic.
Such was Christ mentally and NOR
ally. When 1 try to go deeper in His
character l touch on something still
more mysterious and superhuman than
anything have noticed SO far. He
tells us that within the center of His
being there was an abiding guest, who
somehow was Himself, yet distinct
from Himself, to whom He ever had
recourse, with whom He cummuned.
who prompted Him in all things, was
the responsible agent of His acts, in
word, was His own personality. Who
is this guest in Christs humanity?
What is this in-dwelling within Him of
some one who is intimately His very
self and yet can be spoken of as dis
tinct from Himself? There is here
some deep mysterious secret, and who
can tell us all about it but He who is
the home bearer of the secret. Well,
He has plainly told lis about it; He
has told that His human nature was
the bearer of the divine nature. Bold
ly does He lot out the word, again and
again He repeats it; He stakes His
lame and His life on it; He is God as
we'll as man. Son of Man is one of
His titles. Son of God is another,
There can be no mistake about the
claim.
Son OF God! It is the name that
everyone about Him whispers without
drawing from His lips single protest,
the least sign of dissent. Peter kneels
to Him and says, "Thou are Christ.
the son of the living God" Thomas.
a1ter feel1ng his wounds, cries out: MY
Lord and my God" All the APOSTLES
exclaim, after He had laid the storm:
truly thou art the son of Cod"
Martha says, "Yes, indeed oh Lord, I
Delleve that Thou art Christ, son IF
the living God, who art come into the
world" Not only does He tolerate
and accept the appellation, but He con-
graduates those who give it to Him,
as having learned the secret from Ills
father. Nay, He Himself assumes the
title and explains it, He is the son of
God, not as other men are called the
sons of God; He is the son of God by
nature, they are the sons of God by
adoption. God 80 loved the world :"
says He to Nicodemus, ''that He sent
His only begotten SON that every one
VINO Dellevcth in Him may have life
everlasting" In the fourteenth chapter
~ o SoHpSA VI NJ. JOHll, WHICH is z
luminous exposition of His relations
with the other two divine persons of
the most blessed Trinity, there are OK
presslons which, if not true, should
nave shrivelled His tongue Not only
secretly and to the few, but openly
and to the multitude He makes the as
sertion 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 I'D
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, bu.
because. of Thy blasphemy; that being
man Thou makest Thyself Cod" He
stands before the tribunal Of His ma
ton; in that solemn moment with the
question, cart Thou the son Of
God?' is put to Him, clearly, positively
and directly in the name of the country
and of God, by the high priest of the
religion revealed to Moses; in that
solemn moment, in spite of threats, of
the aInrehensionS of tr01,h1ed sou1s