Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-03-13

Jesus Christ.
II you were to separate the books of
the Bible from the personality of Je-
ses they would be as meaningless as
one of the novels of Wilkie Collins
separated from fits central hero or hero
Inc or, as we sometimes say, ''the play
Of Hamlet with the part OF Hamlet
left out" As DR.. Saphir says: ''If the
Bible were like a collection of stones
we might select some and put aside
others as less valuable and beautiful,
and, although I'm such selections we
might make great mistakes, we should
still be in possession of something more
or less complete, but the Bible is like
plant, and all its parts are not me-
chanically or accidentally connected.
but organically united, and hence u law
of life rules here. He who reveres life
will neither add nor take away from
the beautiful plant which the Father
hath planted In and through Christ by
the Spirit Nobody asserts that a man
would be killed II you cut or his hair
and his nails. but there Is vital union
Of all his members. II you cut off my
little finger i shall survive 1t, but It IL
~
loss, disagreement So with the
Bible. 1t is not like piece OF cloth
you can clip and cut. 1t is q body ami
mated by one spirit" That is true.
Thus. as all the different parts of the
physical body find their life action in
the throbbing heart, all the different
parts of the Bible find their potency
and their life giving force in the per-
sonality of Jesus Christ. He Is the
great hero of this book He is the cen
ter. the circumference, the all i'm all of
the Scriptures. Whenever a man reads
any chapter of the Bible without find
ing Jesus there he has failed to find
out the chief purpose for which that
chapter was written.
The Origin of Jesus.
Now, who is this Bible hero? Where
was he born? How was be born?
Who were his ancestors? These are
the questions which every author of a
biography or of q novel which is only
fictitious biography answers. There
the author Introduces you to his hero
or heroine. he finds the cradle Of his
hero In the Indian wigwam OF Pow
hatan, AZ d6es the biographer or Poca-
hontns. or he -surTcuuds you with the
rivalries aud plots Of Queen Anne's
time, as does william Makepeace
Thackefay when be introduces to you
Henry Esmond, or he tells you how
King James vi. of Scotland became
King James I. OF England because he
was the direct descendant of Margaret
Tudor, sister OF Henry VIII. of Eng
land. All books Of biography natural
~ give to us the genealogical history
of their heroes or heroines. They tell
how they were born and what blood Is
flowing in their veins. So does the
Bible In reference to Jesus Christ
His nativity had divine origin. His
conception was miraculous. He was
and is omnipotent In power. All the
prophecies foretold it. All history
A. ID. has proved 1t.
oh, that you and I might find q di-
vine and an omnipotent Christ in every
part of that old Biblei May we do as
did John Randolph, the great Virginia
orator. One day he was entertaining
q family friend at dinner and he said
to him: 81 was raised by u pious moth
er-God bless her memory!-who taught
me the Christian religion In all fits re-
quirements. But, alas, l grew up an
infdel-if not an infidel completely, yet
decided skeptic. But when ] be-
came a man in this as well as In polit-
ical and other matters / resolved to
examine for myself and never pin my
faith TO any other mans sleeve. So
bought n Bible. / pored. over 1t and
examined it carefully. / sought and
procured books for and against it, and
when my labors were ended came 70
this irresistible conclusion: The Bible
Is true. 1t would have been as easy
for an ignorant rustic to have written
Sir Isaac Newton's Principal as for
uninspired men to have written the
Bible" SO may we study the Bible In
reference TO the divinity OF Jesus
Christ. May we read all the Messiah
ic prophecies May we read all Christs
miracles. ,iay we stand at the cradle
and ut the riyen tomb OF Christ. And
in every chapter OF every book may
we see divine and omnIpotcnt Christ
% the tAief hero OF this book. May
Ne Hhd Christ the center, the circums
-fsrerics. the an M an OF the HOY Scrip
lures. ~Then Philip opened his mouth
and began Mt the same Scripture and
preached unto him Jesus
Why Christ Came.
Having asserted the divinity and om-
nipotcnt power of Christ, what next
does the Bible do? 1t tells us the chief
motives which actuated that divine
life. AS the biographer OF Simon Boil
var slowly and irresistibly leads You
along In the study OF his hero until nj
last you find the great Venezuelan lis
orator dedica ting his life to the free
dom Of his adopted land; as the bIog-
rapher of Handel tells about the tri-
umphs, the struggles and the defeats
OF the grand old musician, clinging to
his high ideals of sacred oratorio long
after the tickle multitudes of London
had turned their backs upon him In de.
rision and scorn; as the biographers of
King Alfred and Robert Bruce and OF
Napoleon and Wendell Phillips and
Florence Nightingale and Catherine
Booth and Frances Willard tell what
were the chief principles which con-
trolled and inspired their lives, SO the
Bible distinctly and clearly tells us why
Christ Mss bon. Why Ne lived. why he
was cructfsd ana why he rose from
the dsad. He came 20 earth not to win
Throne. He came 70 earth not, as
Moses. to lift from the nscks OF tbs
Hebrew people the hated and tyran-
nieal yoke Of a Roman pharaoh. He
came simply for one purpOse-to seek