The Penn's Grove record., 1906-04-27

desire of all nations in another. In
His character He combines the char.
acteristics 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 even 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 of
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 of
the whole world. We cannot seem tc
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 all exemplary man to-day.
nor Marcus Aurelius. A good many
saints have been canonized that ought
to have been cannonaded. Jesus Christ
was what He always called Himself.
''The Son of Man." as if in Him hu.
mainly was complete.
Again, think of the ~uniQueness of
Jesus in His teaching. Plato has been
a dominant influence in the worlo. By
M no vi cohnA1 with school hn hn
came one of the most learned men. Not
so with Jesus. He die not sit at the
feet of any Jewish raboi. He was only
a carpenters son in a rural district
"How knoweth this mar letters, hav.
ing neyer learned?" was asked. He as.
ISOLATED with those who were His mas.
ters in learning, and yet COMPOUNDED
them. Erudite lawyers and Pharisees
joined to catch Hin, and yet He al.
ways answered them Immediately and
never asked for time to consider. His
replies were in terms so explicit that
His teachings have settled casuistry
Tor 20OO years. No mar. has ever been
able to ado & single iota to the moral
and spiritual truth lie taught.
Once more think of the uniqueness of
His character in regard to His mighty
works, and His manner of doing them.
He never ascends to His work, but
always descends. His efforts are with
out righteousness or strain, as if rather
a 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
it 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 a king. The
disciples reioiced 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 Goes 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 TO.
mances 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: "NNhat think We of Christ ?"