Delaware gazette and state journal., 1899-05-04
TBD DIVINITY OF JESUS.

d EIarander 4. Bowser repeated his
.ermon Of tho previous Sunday on the
Vicinity of Jesus. The discourse is
rrntrd in full below.
iIow Unitarians believe in the
Divinity of Jesus.
nGod, who at sundry times and in
Divers manners spahe in times past unto
,he fathers by the prophets, hath in
these last days spoken unto us by his
AN. who was tho brightness OF his
rlory, and the express image of his
,crson. - Hebrews l, 1-3.
Two radically different views of the
nature and character of Jesus are found
running all through the history Of tho
Christian Church. One may be called
thc supernatural, and the other the
natural view of his divinity. Tho
supgrnatural view is that held by
lrinitarians, aud the natural view by
Unitarians But can Unitarians rightly
say that Jesus was divine, when they
. do not believe that he was God? Yes;
| because in word divine" is an nd
jectiye expressing godlike qualities,
and there are degrees of divinity, us OF
other qualities. Thus We speak of an
sction rs divine in its character, or Of
thing as having divine beauty. Or
| We lllbY Shy bIttb tlBTd 10 tuDTb dlf1LltN
| In goodness than in power--the work Of
0 missionary more divine than that Of
a soldier But we cannot qualify the
nature of the Deity. God is absolute
| ip wisdom, power, love, knowledge. 1t
. Is well, however, to remember that
when Trinitarians say they believe
. Jesus was divine, they usually mean
that he was God in the absolute sense;
/ but when Unitarians speak of his
/ divinity, they mean that he was god
like in life and character he
manifested divine qualities under
human limitations. And this use of
the word is perfectly right, and should
lead to no confusion of thought regard
ing the nature and mission of Jesus.
When we perceive the presence Of God
in the outward world--in its beauty,
bounty, harmony-we correctly say that
nature is divine; and no one supposes
that we are confusing nature with God.
Moreover, if we see godlilie qualities
in the character and teaching of Jesus,
We may think and speak of him as
divine without identifying him with
the Deity in any unique or special
sense whatever.
We have no evidence that the Chris
,ian Church held any particular theory
regarding the divinity Of Jesus during
the first two hundred years Of its his
tory. But in the third century discus
sions about his supernatural origin
began to appear; and it was not until
the year 325 that the great Council at
Nicca was held to determine tho true
doctrine. Then from that date on, for
several hundred years, controversies
concerning the nature Of the Christ fill
al important place in nearly every
chapter of Church history. These dis
cussions had no reference whatever 10
the practical life and teaching of the
Master, they referred only to what he
was in the mysterious depths of being
Not what his friends and disciples
thought about him while he was still
among them, nor how he became con-
scious of his fiial relation to God, and
was able to impart his convictions to
his followers, leading them to believe
that they too were the sons and daugh-
turs Of the same God whom he called
Father; but what constituted him the
Supreme Being in human form was tho
object Of every debate, the end of all
controversy. And then, whatever the
majority decided to be the true doctrine
WIS put into the creed; and this creed
the people must accept rs the confess
n sion Of the Church, or bo condemned
as heretics. And to be heretic in
those days meant to be an outlaw, with
no standing IN Church or State. In
this way tho followers of Sabellius were
condemned for teaching that tho
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were
three different forms of the same Being ;
and the Arians, because they believed
that Jesus was not the same in sub
stance with God, but was created by
God of similar substance; and others,
for doubling that he had two distinct
natures-the human and the Divine ;
and still others, because they thought
he had only one will. Then, when all
the various heresies had been con-
demned, one alter another, the opinions
OF the majority were summed up in
what is called the Athanasian Greed. in
which the Christ is declared to be CO.
eternal and coegual with God. This
creed, however, was not written by
~ Mhanasus himself, as is generally
supposeed, but by some unknown person
ndndreds of years afterwards. In his
history of the Eastern Church, Dear
Stanley speaks of it as hymn, and
says that sit is Of French or Spanish
Urigin.n
The supernatural view of the divinity
Of Christ maintains that the grea
Teacher of Galilee who lived as maj
among men, was tempted as they We're
prayed as a man prays, struggled tt
bring his will into harmony with thu
divine will, even as men Of God hay,
striven in all ages and lands, and ther
At last died the shameful death of th,
cross, this view ascribes to this MAJ
of Nazareth all the attributes of Deity
that he was the infinite and eterna
things, within all things, the Creator
Sustainer, and Guide OF tho who'll
vast universe of life and thought ant
activity. This theory of his mature
asserts that he was Divine because o
his miraculous birth and supernatural
power, because he gave his life sacri
Ace for sin and then rose from the deat
on this third day, because in SOM
strange and unexplained manner tn
Divine and the human were SO unite'
IN him that as God he became man il
order to suffer and die for the sins O
the world.
Though in brief outline, | thin
that this is fair presentation OF tn
Unitarian view of the Divinity G
Christ. Moreover, to deny this doc
tFlne is not simply regarded as beresy
II is considered disloyalty to Jesus
and iniidelity to his religion; while l
accept and believe it is the only mean
Of obtaining everlasting salvation.
But to my mind. to think Of Jesu
as Deity destroys the noblest exampl
of manhood tho world has over known
Without adding anything 10 the idea {