The semi-weekly messenger., 1900-05-15

ings Of superior men. where the pro-
gramme was cut and dried and the ad-
DIR sses were all carefully prepared.
I'll e meetings were unlike and the sub
iects varied. When open for debate af-
ter each address your man took the
floor on three occasions and offhand
made more excellent addresses than the
prepared ones. I forget his name, but
he is a wonderful fellow" DR.. Deems
replied. 81 do not know but one man of
whom that could be said-Rev DR..
Buckler, of New York" That is his
name" said the very gifted London
preacher and commentator. We refer
to him here to quote from recent ed
itorial by him, which shows his
breadth and varied study to some ex-
tent. He Is Of course an Arminian in
theology, as are all Methodists. but he
is appreciative and candid. He writes:
1.-The Caivinistic system. pure and
simple, is the greatest piece of logical
work ever done by human beings 1t is
| to be feared that many Presbyterian
ministers have never studied the sys-
tenn thoroughly. They may have gone
through it in the theological schools,
but they appear never to have compre-
| hended the strength of the links which
unite it's different parts. The conse-
uuence is that in breaking away they
have troubles peculiarly their own,
and are liable to react into Univer-
| sahsm instead of slightly modifying
their foundation processes of thought" !"
The Old Testament is full Of proph-
ecies concerning Christ Jesus. There
are two hundred, and all were fulfilled
| in the Son of God. Says Moody, The
Old Testament is a sealed book if you
take Christ out of it. He is the key of
| the word, and He unlocks the Old
Testament just as He does the New"
| Many educated and half educated
preachers in these later years are in
such a theological decay they can be
| described as rotten. The Divinity of the
| Christ is the stumbling block and Of
! fence. We have held and thought for
many years that the Gospel of John
settled that question so perfectly that
| if there were no Scriptures outside of
| it, no other teachings in the Book of
Books, that would be enough, and
1
| mind any ground for doubt. Last
| Sunday we gave some passages from
| the New Testament clearly establish
ing the Divinity of Jesus. We have
held and have often so stated that
Johns Gospel was written to establish
! held many theologians and ministers.
Eliminate the Divinity and the Bible
| has but little to commend it to intel
| ligent Christians except as mere lit
| erature. Christ averred that He was
the Son of God. He told the High Priest
| when he had been sentenced to death
that He was indeed the Son of God.
John teaches it in scores of places.
| Jesus claimed to be God and if not,
| then He violated the very first COM
| mandment of the Ten, given by God
| to Moses on Sinai. He said He was
| the resurrection and the life He af-
| firmed of Himself that He had power
| to lay" His own life down and power
to take it up He said Il and my
Father are one" My Father worketh
hitherto and I work" Il am the Son
of God."-John x:36-3S. He that hath
seen Me has seen the Father "All
things are delivered unto Me of My
Father" Where two or three are
gathered together in My name, there
am / in the midst" Try to think of an
inspired Moses or Elijah or Paul say
ing such blasphemous impossibility.
Christ never referred to ''our Father
but He said My Father" He existed
from all eternity, long before He was
born of the virgin Mary. Johns Gospel
Ephesians and Colossians. In Hebrews
you find it in 1:2, and II, 14-16. Peter
has it also. The Son has the name of
God. John and Paul show this. The at
tributes of God Almighty are ascribed
to Jesus, as the Son. He has eternity,
omnipotence, omniscience, omnipres-
ence, Immortality. You can find ample
evidence of this if you search the New
Testament. The works of God are
ascribed to Him, and divine worship is
paid him. DR.. Summers, in his mas
terly work on Systematic Theology"
says this: IF He is not God as we'll as
man, He is the most consummate i'm
postor in history. He is either God, as
He claims to be considered, or He is
the greatest knave or the most insane
fanatic that ever lived. The deniers of
our Lords divinity may take which
horn Of the dilemma they please. The
| writer's of the New Testament are
usually considered sensible men,
whether inspired or not; but they
write like idiots if Christ be a mere
| man, since they associate him with the
Father and the Holy Spirit, as of equal
| rank and dignity" We could furnish
columns of evidence to establish the
Divinity of Jesus Christ. If you will
search the Scriptures with a sincere