The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-06-06

lean city are SIduuluS DOiOIy Dy the
Word of God. the blessed Bible.
Turning for the mornings study to
the fifth chapter Of Johns Gospel we
have been considering, we find in verse
Is thai the healed man was an impru-
dent man. He told enemies Of Jesus
who it was who had healed him, had
made him whole" This SO aroused the
hatred OF the Jews that they "perse-
cuted'' the Saviour land sought to slay
Him because He had done these things
on the Sabbath Day" What did the
Master say to his enemies and perse-
cutors? He said in answer-"My Faith
er worketh hitherto and I work" What
does He mean? A judicious cohnmenta-
tor, Warren, says: God is ever active,
upholding, preserving, and blessing his
creatures on the Sabbath as well as on
But He meant this and much more
and the Jews we'll understood Him.
He set up a direct, a positive claim that
He was for more than man in curing
and healing on the Sabbath. He meant
to be understood as asserting that He
was entitled and held the same pre-
negatives that the Father possessed.
His Difference for His course as to the
Sabbath, is that He and the Father are
one He draws his argument solely
from the equality and unity with His
Father which He held. Burkitt says:
/ Here he speaks of himself not as a
servant, or instrument in the Fathers
hands, but as the fellow-worker with
the Father, both in the works of Gre
alton, and in the works of providence
and preservation" Now if Christ was
not indeed what He claimed here and
on a dozen other occasions, as co-equal
| with God, as verify one with the Faith
err, as truly Divine, what a gross pre-
tender and fraud he would nave been.
Some people try to understand the
Bible by leaving Jesus Christ out of
the count, as making Him but man
only. No man Of sense can possibly
understand the Gospel of John if he de-
MES the Divinity of the Christ. He
reads an e~masculated Gospel. He leaves
out the central figure, he dismisses the
ma of guilt and redemption, and seeks
to comprehend a book that was mainly
written to establish that in truth the
Lord Jesus was indeed the o OF
God, Himself the creator of worlds.
The Jews were present. How did they
| 11ndorcfop nd -Toc11c9 Mot c,1ro1y nc Tho
class of modern teachers who deny the
Divinity and make the Saviour a NOR.
tai man, without the power of God. The
Jews comprehended Him rightly. They
clearly understood His claim-that He
meant to assert and declare with al
the. emphasis of truth, that~verily God
was His Father and that He was equal
with God. Is there any thing that God
can do Or may do, that I, the Son, may
not do, cannot do likewise? This still
farther angered the Jews n led then
to seek "the more to kill him." and the
reason for it is given in the 18th verse
because he not only had broken the
Sabbath, but said also that God was
the Father, making himself equal with
God" Did the lord and Saviour apol
ogize or endeavor to explain away what
He a been saying? Did He say to the
angered, threatening Jews-"You mis-.
represented me. I do not mean what
you think. Far from it. 1 am only Z
man like yourselves, and I only work
by the permission of God. Not so. He
does not retract an iota nor explain
away his words. He does not deny thu
charge Of making himself equal with
God. He declares He does whatsoevel
the Father does. He and the Fathe,
work together in perfect union ant
harmony. The Fathers will is thu
Sons will. The Son has dwelled from
eternity in the bosom OF the Father
There is therefore "a necessary an(
eternal nenes in whatever they do.
(Warren.) For the Father loveth tn,
Son, and showeth Him all things tina
Himself doeth." That is the Fathe
freely communicates to the Son chi
counsels Of wisdom and grace" VIII,
can resist the plea of the Son of Coz
that He possessed both the Divine ma
ture and prerogatives of the Godhead
God raises the dead. SO does the Son
God judges the world. So does tn
eternal Son.. A things that himsel
doeth" are the words of the Master
God honors the Son, and so would hav
men to honor Him. Do we honor Hir
in our lives, by faithful, consecrate
service n by constant, sincere fait
in Him, in His Divinity. in His suffer
lngs and death, in the Atonement II
made on Cavalry? Let US not wear
in well doing.