The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-02-12

Jesus Christ !
a fest pinions. from profound schai-
ar-, leaving out many points that
3night possibly be profitably present
Ell the great diyiues. the men OF
WIDE and ample learning. have cox
erred the entire field from the p~re-eX4S-
t.ute of Jesus Cn-Ist as the son oi
cod. Including Of ours His Divinity.
me attributes ~ Deity Wed upon
9r attributed IT, Him. tile works as
ribbed. the worship gwen him, ana al
that grew out of MS being the only
l~segottcn Son. Those who should eA-
ploTt This great subject. n see the
amplitude. thor ughness ana concIu-
IXeneSs of the discussion must con
suit the most inspiring and ablest Of
the theologians. The writings along
this line are very full. convincing. i'm
pre~sive. | first cite a few b.ief pas
~8ge- from the chief tandard author
ity in southern Methodism-an Eng
lI~hman by birth-WhC was the most
SATISFYING bI tHt litpiPSldil~. L 1
To Rev. Thomas o. Summers, D.. -.
IL. d. Professor Of Systematic Theo-
logy in Vanderbilt University in 1888.
: read his two large, admirable vol
umes Of Lectures" delivered in that
leading Methodist institution Of learn
ing. 1t is an excellent study of a
complete body of Wesleyan American
Divinity" II nchly deserves the atten-
lion of intelligent readers and ecker
after truth. on page 49,, volume J.,
he writes.
-socinians and deists speak of
Jesus Christ as @ man of cOnsummate
moral excellence; but if He is not God
as we'll as man, He is the most con
summate impostor in history. He is
either God, as He claims to be, and
allows himself to be considered, or
He is the greatest knave or the most
insane fanatic hat ever lived. The de-
nicrs OF our Lords divinity may take
which ever horn of the dilemma they
please. The writer's Of the New Tesla
ment are usually considered sensible
men. whether inspired or not: but they
write like idiots if Christ be It mere
man. since they associate Him with
the Father and the Holy Ghost, as
# equal rank and dignity. The fif5t
converts to Christianity realized the
divinity of Christ; and the writings Of
the Fathers bound with testimonies
to this point"
DR.. Summers referring to the point
urged by cavillers and unbelieVers as
to the inferiority of Christ to the
Father,-that He is inferior to the
Father in that His divinity is united
with his humanity" says it is not abb
solutely true, but is true only in view
Of His humiliation on the earth: ana
that His inferiority ceased with His
humanity" which was glorified and
exalted to Heaven" He cites the opin-
ion and explanation of one of the very
r,..a..at tAaalaa;naI I'D tL;. yrn,IJ
has known-John Calvin. He quotes
as follows at this point: Christ does
not here compare the Godhead Of His
Father with his own, nor his human
nature with the diVfne essence of the
Father; but rather his present condi-
ton with that Heavenly glory into
Which he was soon to be received"
Or. summers adds: "Meizon-greater
in this place, therefore means
beati~r-a more glorious state" SO
Storr and Bengel interpret the pas
sage
The phrase-only Begotten Son
is ascribed to Christ by John alone
one TO the great theological works
much read q half century ago by
lawyers. believers and theOl0gistS was
by John Pearson. born in 1912, who
was afterwards Bishop of Chester in
the Church of England, and a noted
divine, and the author of an English
classic. In his great work-"Exposi-
ton of the Creed'-Bishop Pearson
discusses deliberately the passages that
bear on n prove the pre-existence of
Christ. | quote from him, in a sum-
mary:
4 conclude from the u~ndeniable
testimony Of st. John. that at the be
ginning, when the heave and the
earth and all the hosts of them were
created, all things were made by the
Word, who is Christ Jesus being made
flesh; and consequently, by the meth
Cd of argument, as the apostle ante
cedently by the method of nature, that
in the beginning Christ was. He then
n was in heaven, n descended
from thence before that which was
begotten of the Virgin assembled thith-
er: he who was before JOIN the Bap-
fist, and before Abraham; he who was
at the end of the first world and at
the beginning of the same-he had a
real being and existence before Christ
was conceived by the Virgin Mary.
But all these we have already shown,
belong unto the Son of Cod" In a
mastery way he establishes the essen
tial Deity of Christ-that He was God,
had a being before Christ was con-
ceived by the Virgin Mary-that He
was not any created but the Divine
Essence. not any creature, but the true
eternal Cod ! could cite 4 great deal
from Summers. Pearson and others,
but space will not allow it. The Con-
stantinopOlitan Creed gives the true
belief of Christendom: I'VE believe in
our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begot-
ten Son of God, begotten of the Faith
e" before all worlds. God of God.
Light of Light, Very God of Very God.
begotten not made. being Of one sub
stance with the Father, by whom all
things We're q OF that Creed
that old deliverance, DR.. Summers.
says: Here the divine fliation is
shown to consist by the First Person
Of the Trinity to the Second-so that
the First is properly called the Father.
and the Second is properly called the
: Son-and in that sense the latter is
Monogenes, unigenitus. only begotten.
9 : . The Son of God is conSubstan-
tlal With the Father-ornOuSeOS, of the
same substance, not OmOiOuSiOS. of a
! like Gil distance aS the ArinnS oxnrorcnI