The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-04-14
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON eY
TIE REV. DR.. n. c. SWeNTzEl.
subject. Tn. Divinity Of Christianity

4
of the Blessed God" DR.. Swentzel
said in the course Of his sermon:
Christianity shows the credentials
/ OF divinity. Ii is not a set of doctrines
! and principles which men or even the
best of them have invented, but IL
| processes 10 come directly from the in
\ finite Jehovah Himself. Ii is not sim
I ply one among the worlds religions.
II stands alone and is unique in the
manner aud method OF its origin. II
! was not whispered into the ear Of q
seer by the Almighty; il is not the
/ result Of visions; IL is not the product
/ OF learning and piety. IL comes direct
/ " from the infinite God. who actually
l adopted human nature in order that He
/ might talk with mankind face 10 face.
/ 1t is immea asurably more divine than
I the religion Of Moses and the prophets
because il was delivered personally by
the incarnate Lord Himself. The
themes Of which He treats are Of such
tremendous moment that any solution
4 of them ought to be carefully scrutin-
lied. Who ard 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
terrogatorics the Lord speaks with
tones of infallibility which popes and
synods have not dared 10 initiate or
even 10 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
divine Being is not synonymous with
the error which calls Him a divine
man. There have been many divine
men-men who had mission and a
message from the Most High, men who
were called 10 lead humanity 10 better
and nobler things; sons OF men who
were filled with Gods spirit, and
counted not their life dear if il 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 God $
cause and the captains of His hosts
in every cline. In far loftier sense,
/ in a literal sense which warrants no
Jugglery of words and no legerdemain
OF metaphysics, was Jesus Christ,
Gods Son. His only Son. The Chris
tian 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 ~ lth
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 10 Him whom the Fa-
ther hath sanctified and sent into the
world. Thou blasphemer because
said i am the Son Of GodT' II 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 a son of man without being
n divine parsonage, but He could not
he truly the son of man unless He
were, more than all, the Son of God.
IT is 10 wonder than when the people
beheld His moral perfection and saw
His works and listened 10 the truths
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 10 His disciples, Whom
do men say that /, the Son Of Man,
ann Whom say ye that | amP Then
il was that Simon Peter made the great
A.
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 h.d
breathed out His life on the Calvary
cross the words OF the Roman Centu-
rion were n 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 certitude OF His
disciples. This absolute certitude
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 10 make them free. 20 give
children Of Cod" That liberty is sure
ly not a dead letter. The Divine Mas
ter would not put shackles on the
human intellect. He does not dis
courage the conservatism which dis
dains 10 consider the present or 10
look for a golden age In the future.
IL lie be heard Alright He will stimu-
late thought and investigation. Bet
ter than ourselves did He know that
the real advancement OF the multi
tudes is in harmony with His plans
and that the period OF the finest piety
will be O time of the greatest enlight-
enment. The divinity OF Christ should
not be treated as a brutum filmen.
Rather is liz 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 10 is nothing less than "the
glorious gospel OF the blessed God"
It is on this basis that the honest
doubter may take bis stand. Doubts
are not necessarily sinful. People
who never think will never doubt
II could scarcely be expected that
Christiacity would not cause intellect
ual disturbances II has 90 DO largely
with mysteries incomprehensible and
unfathomable. IL presents doctrines
which il is not always easy 90 recon
cile even with the best ideals OF good
men. Ordinarily people have poor