The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-05-03
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. DR.. H. c. SWENTZEL.
Subject: The Divinity OF Christianity.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-For the first of q
series of sermons on 1.-The Religion OF
Jesus Christ" the Rev. DR.. Henry c.
Swentzel, rector of st. Luke's Church.
Clinton avenue, near Fulton street,
preached Sunday on THE Divinity OF
Christianity" The text was from l
Timothy i'll: The Glorious Gospel
Of the Blessed God" DR.. SwentZel
said in the course of his sermon:
Christianity shows the credentials
Of divinity. It is not q set of doctrines
and principles which men or even the
best Of them have invented, but it
processes to come directly from the in
finite Jehovah Himself. 1t is not sim
ply one among the worlds religions.
1t stands alone and is unique in the
manner and method of its origin. 1t
was not whispered into the ear OF a
seer by the Almighty; it is lot the
result of visions; it is not the product
of learning and piety. 1t comes Greet
" from the infinite God, who actually
adopted human nature in order that He
might talk with mankind face to face.
It is UNNECESSARILY more divine than
the religion of Moses and the prophets
because it was delivered personally by
the incarnate Lord Himself. Inc
themes Of which He treats are OF such
tremendous moment that any solution
of them ought to be carefully scrutln-
lied. Who and what is God? Who
and what is man? What is the true
ideal for the present? What is the
outlook for the future? What Of i'm
mortality and heaven? To these in
terrogatories the Lord speaks with
tones of infallibility which popes and
synods have not dared to initiate or
even to claim. The author Of the Ser
mon on the Mount was the eternal Son
Of God and His religion is nothing less
than 1.-The glorious gospel Of the blessed
God"
To say that Jesus of Nazareth is a
divine Being is not synonymous with
the error which calls Him q divine
man. There have been many divine
men-men who had a mission and g
message from the Most High, men who
were called to lead humanity to better
and nobler things; sons of men who
were filed with Gods spirit, and
counted not their life dear If it were
spent in His service, prophets OF re-
form, prophets of liberty, prophets OF
philosophy or literature or art. In
the hall Of fame stand the images Of
the vast army of divine souls who
have been the champions Of Gods
cause and the captains Of His hosts
in every cline. In a far loftler sense,
in a literal which warrants no
jugglery of words and no legerdemain
of metaphysics, was Jesus Christ,
Gods Son, His only Son. The Chris
tan Scriptures propose this sublime
truth which should be hailed with uni
yersal acclaim. 1t is constantly as
sumed in the four gospels, even as it
was by Himself, that, though He was
born Of the Virgin Mary, He was still,
in the later language of the Nicene
Greed, "God of God, Light Of Light,
Very God of Very God"
In one way or another Our Lord de-
clared His divinity time and again.
He made Himself Gods equal with
such p~lainness that ever His enemies
could not mistake it. They accused
Him of sacrilege so strongly that they
;wrung from Him the well-remembered
reply: "Say ye to Him whom the Fa-
Their hath sanctifed and sent into the
world, Thou blasphemer, because l
said I am the Son Of God" 1t is true
that He loved to speak Of Himself as
'the Son Of Man." but that title really
was His assertion of deity. He might,
have been q son of nan without being
q divine parsonage, but He could not
be truly the son of man unless He
were, more than all, the Son of God.
1t is no wonder than when the people
beheld His moral perfection and saw
His works and listened to the truths
as they seemed to come from the
mouth of God, they asked, who is
this Son Of Man," The record Of the
memorable interview, which has often
been conspicuous in the church's re-
gard, should not lightly be put aside.
The Lord said to His disciples, Whom
do men say that I, the Son of. Man,
am? Whom say ye that am? Then
it was that Simon Peter made the great
confession, Thou are the Christ, the
Son Of the living God" In advance of
His birth the archangel gave this as
surance to the Virgin Mother, THAT
holy thing which shall be born Of thee
shall be called the Son Of God" And
when the end came and Jesus had
breathed out His life on the Calvary
cross, the words of the Roman Centu-
rion were q fitting finale for the record
of His mortal career. Truly this man
was the Son Of God"
The divinity of the Founder Of Chris
tianity justifies the gertrude of His
disciples. This absolute gertrude
should be appreciated. We should will
ingly take the Lord at His word. And
yet He does not demand that the dis
ciples shall enslave themselves-He
who came to make them free, to give
them "the liberty of the glory of the
children of Goo" That liberty is sure
~ not a dead letter. The Divine Mas
ter would not put shackies on the
human intellect. He does not dis
courage the conservatism which dis
dams to consider the present or to
look for a golden age in the future.
If He be heard Alright He will stimu-
late thought and investigation. Bet
ter than ourselves did He know that
tie real advancement Of the multi
tudeS is in harmony with His plans
and that the period Of the finest piety
will be a time of the greatest enlight-
eminent. The divinity of Christ should
not be treated as a brutum flmen.
Rather is it a truth-a ~fact-which
should steady and hold Christian peo-
pie amid the growth of ideas and the
struggle Of theories. Whatever truths
may be discovered, whatever thinkers
may say or print, whatever conclusions
may ensue in the intellectual world,
the Christian religion is forever true,
because it is nothing less than 1.-The
glorious gospel of the blessed God" L.