The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-05-07
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON 6Y
Or. r CALVIN McLeLLAND.
Theme; The Divinity of Christ.

n ming on "The Divinity of Christ:
way in Which a Man May Come
70 elieve in It." The text was John
ga The word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory, glory as of an only begotten
from a Father, full of krace and
truth. DR.. McClelland said
Ny theme is THE Divinity of
Christ: One Way in Which a Man
May Come to Believe in It." What
do we mean by the divinity of Christ?
l would not be theological or meta
physical: this is a sermon for prac.
tlca! men. for men who want to be-
HeFe IN this fundamental truth Of our
religion. DO we mean by calling
Jesus divine that He Is God; that IS,
an u God? We could not mean that,
lor Jesus Himself said. My Father Is
greater than I. Jesus stands for
God. speaks for God. acts for God.
His ideas are Gods. His feelings are
Gods so much so that Jesus and God
are one. we see nothing in Jesus but
God. For all practical purposes for
religion Jesus is Cod for MS He has
the spiritual value Of God. He Is God
Ana yet IN reality Jesus is not God:
thofsh lie can say in a very true
sense. He that hath seen Me hath
seen the Father" He also saws. "The
rather is greater than l." Does not
ne apostle exactly express Il when he
writes. THE word was made flesh and
dWelt among us. and we beheld His
glory. not the Fathers glory, mark
YOU. but glory as Of an only begotten
OF the Father, full Of. " not the Faith.
ers omniprescence. omnipotence and
omnisciance. but fun Of the Faith.
er5 grace and truth" And so.
thcIsh theologically Jesus is not ali
OF God. yet practically I know that
when / fall on my knees before Jesus
an1 raw, My Lord and my Cod"
ar ling Him His true name.
% we mean by calling Jesus divine
thsu lie was something other than
mar. foreigner from some alien life
to tie country of human nature?
Were We tempted TO think that, this
sign Of Him praying with plain men,
"Our Father" would bring us to our
senses. We cannot think Of Jesus
as uanuman when we hear Him say to
plain mer. Follow Me-" which
means, You can do what I do. Won
can be what | am" Would YOU trans.
late the term "a human being" into
Jesus language, you could find no
better term than His favorite name
for Himself, "Son of Man" In so
calling Himself Jesus meant that we
should know that He was blood of our
Blood. spirit of our spirit. He was
like us not in middle life only, but in
infancy, in death and after death.
Jesus divinity makes Him not differ
ent in kind, only different in degree;
He is man, but more man than we.
The likeness of Jesus TO us is patent,
but it is the difference we need to
realize: the likness without the differ
ence were meaningless and useless.
II He were Just man, what gain? The
world is full of men. II is His differ
enca from us that counts. IL is the
difference from US which makes it i'm
possible for US to call Him Jesus the
Great, which makes Him Jesus the
only. Charles Lamb once said, IF
Shakespeare was to come into this
room, we should all rise up to meet
him; but II that Person was to come
into it, we should fall Gown and try
TO Kiss the hem OF His garment" 1t
Is the difference between Jesus and
us which makes u feel unworthy to
put our lips to the fringe Of His
cloak. IL is the difference which
makes us call Jesus divine in a way
erence to no one else.
And now what Is that difference.
what is this divinity Of Jesus? lust
this, that whatever Jesus said or did
He left on men the impression of
God; like n telescope at or through
which we cannot look without think
ing Of the heavens. Jesus always
brought God near. Always in Jesus
presenco there is this unavoidable
feeling Of God. When He spoke. con-
science heard in His voice the tones
of its Infinite author; when He looked
at one, the soul felt its eternal Judge
searching its innermost secrets; when
He acted, one knew that It was as the
great God would act; when He died
men felt that they had seen all Of
God that human hearts could appre-
hend; henceforth they knew that
there was nothing in God human
mind could grasp but Christ For all
purposes OF living Jesus is all we
know Of God; IN Him the soul meets
God, God meets the soul
Now how can q man come TO believe
that? Believe not that Jesus is the
Absolute God, breaking TO. the first
time into world from which No to
this time He had existed apart ia the
lieve not that Jesus is some unhuman
wedge driven into natur2! human
life. but believe that in Jesus the un-
seen God looks out upon us, the
moral character OF the Deity becomes
flesh, and in that flesh Is seen to be
grace and truth.
How can a man believe that? You
will not think as point out this way
tina. II is the only way in which one
can come to believe that Jesus is the
image OF the invisible God | give il
10 you as only one practical way in
when men built as | am may come to
kn9el q, the manger and say: Here
was born my Lord and my God
First, then, the man VINO would be-
lieye In the divinity OF our Lord will
bring his reason TO the study of the
Gospel. He will want TO know if the
record is the story of a real life
Here, as / have intlmated. reason Is
satisfied. Tested by the laws OF evi,
dence the Gospels are known to be a
genuine record and the facts they
account for are the best attested fact.
In history. He can begin immedi
ately with the Christ Himself. Put
ting the sayings and doings together
we get some idea OF Jesus character
And the first thing that strikes you II
Ills absolute stainlessness; He did nc
sin, the narrative does not say this
1t goes without the saying: His lif,
was lived In the open, but the spoiling
world left no spot on Him; He spen