The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-04-13
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. DR.. II. c. SWENTZEL.


Subject: The Divinity of Christianity.
Brooklyn, n. Y.-For the first Of a
series of sermons on The Religion or
Jesus Christ" the Rev. DR.. Henry e.
Swentzel, rector of st. Luke's Church,
Clinton avenue, near Fulton street,
preached Sunday on The Divinity OF
Christianity" The text was from i!
Timothy ill: 1.-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 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.
It 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 direct
ly from the infinite God, who actually
adopted human nature in order that he
might talk with mankind face to face.
It is immeasurably more divine than
the religion of Moses and the prophets
because it was delivered personally by
the incarnate Lord Himself. The
themes of which He treats are OF sucn
tremendous moment that any solution
of them ought to be carefully scrutln-
ized. 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
ferrogatories 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 '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 a divine
man. There have been many divine
men-men who had a mission and
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 II 1t 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 loftier sense,
in a literal sense which warrants no
1ugglery of words and no legerdemaln
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 It is constantly as
sumed in the four gospels, even as 1t
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 plainness that even 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 when the Fa-
ther hath sanctified and sent into the
world, Thou blasphemer, because I
said 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. BE might
have been a son Of man 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.
It 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
IL was ludI S361OA ClCA Aa0C lAS g. Ses y
confession, 'Thou are the Christ, the
Son Of the living Cod" 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 fitting finale for the record
Of His mortal career, "Truly this man
was the Son Of God"
The divinity Of the Founder Of Chris
tian1ty justifes the certitude Of His
disciples. This absolute ceritude
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 '1the liberty of the glory Of the
children Of God" That liberty is sure
" NOT q dead letter. The Divine Mas
ter would not put shackles on the
human intellect. He does not dis
courage the conservatism which dis
dains to consider the present or to
1Nn1- foys oro1Aar II, tho f,Yfr1ro