The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-05-23

ance between severity and tenderness.
Our human nature, even at its best,
can hold nothing settled. The scales
are always slipping off the balance.
The finite nature seems to exhaust it.
self in success in any one line of hui
Ia achievement. But this balance OF
the character of Jesus is never dis
turbed nor needs reimbursement. In
Him the diverse prophecies of the Old
Testament unite. In Il place He is
described as "a root out of a dry
cround;'' in another rs "the living
branch;'' as ~"despised and rejected
of men" in passage and rs THE
desire Of all nations" in another. In
His character He combines the char
acteristicI of moral excellence.
Think also Of the universally of the
character of Jesus. No nation or race,
no time or sect can claim Him as its
own. While a Hebrew, yet there does
not seem to be any particular Hebrew.
or ever Oriental, characteristic about
Him. And this is the more remark
able if we remember that the Jews
there have been no other such people
in the world-have kept the mood or
mind, the passive disposition through
all generations, and they have flowed,
like the gulf stream. through the ocean,.
yet unaffected by it. They have been
more eternal than the eternal City,
| itself. The race remains as when
| Pompey led their captive fathers to the
imperial city, 1000 years ago. Out OF
this u%nmingling race there energies
| Jesus, the cosmopolitan, the man or
| the whole world. We cannot seem to
| account for Him or bring Him into line
with His predecessors. In all centuries
He has been recognized as the type OF
human virtue. Socrates would not be
| considered an exemplary. mar today.
nor Marcus Aurelius. A good many
| saints have been canonized that ought
to have been c%annonaGed. Jesus Christ
was what He always called Himself.
1.-THE Son of Man." as if in Him hu-
mainly was complete.
Again, think of the u~niqueness OF
Jesus in His teaching. Plato has been
q dominant influence in the world. BY
comparing school with school he be-
came one of the most learned men. Not
so with Jesus. He did not sit at the
feet of any Jewish rabbi. He was only
q carpenters son in q rural district.
"How knoweth this man letters. hay
ing never learned?" was asked. He as
| sociated with those who were His mas
tiers in learning, and yet COMPOUNDED
them. Erudite lawyers and Pharisees
| Joined to catch Him, and yet He al
ways answered them Immediately n
never asked for time to consider. His
| replies were in terms so explicit that
| His teachings have settled casuistry
| for 1000 years. No nan has ever been
| able to add a single iota to the moral
and spiritual truth He taught.
Once more think Of the uniqueness OF
| His character in regard to His mighty
works, and His name of doing them.
| He never ascends to His work, but
| always descends. His efforts are with
out righteousness or strain, as II rather
q relaxation, unlike other men when
| engaged in a great performance. He
| never prepared Himself for a miracle
or studied the laws of dynamics or
| force. In the first chapter Of Genesis
1t is written, "God said, Let there be
light" That seems to indicate the way
in which Jesus performed His mira
cles. He acted as if He were accus-
| toned to doing them, as if they were
| spangles on the regalia of q king. The
disciples rejoiced that "the devils were
! subject to them. and He told them
rather to rejoice that their names were
written in heaven" That is the best
thing.
So we come back to the question,
"What think We of Christ? Whose Son
is He?" What answer are we going
to make? We have got to answer; no
man can escape it. That personal
| query stands dominant> and persistent
in front of every man alive; the one
great interrogation point facing every
generation and every individual. We
| know answers that have been given:
That He was the natural product OF
the outgrowth of the ages; the flower
| of the preceding ages, the proceed OF
the force long held in solution. That
is the explanation with which evolu-
ton accounts for Jesus Christ. Then
why does not evolution produce an
| other Jesus. or something like Him?
Some say He was a literary product,
| the ideal of inventive minds. Renan
tells us the gospels are the supreme ro-
n Of the world. My friends, it
| would seem to be as credible that a
| Zulu composed paradise Lost" as that
this superb, marvellous character
| should be simply the weaving of hui
man brains. That Interrogation point
| still stands: "What think ye of Christi"