Year: 1873

11os''"ct % sermon 0y Il. NJ. Wcb-


ster; April 20, .73.


IF aIy man serve me let him follow me-


AS men and women, we shall never
be better than our ideal man or woman.
AS Christians, we shall never be bet
ter than our ideal Christ.


1t is very important therefore that
our ideal be a correct one-that we
think of Christ as he was and is that
We have Him before our thought and
not some caricature of him.
No doubt you have a general notion
that Jesus is a perfect being-that if
you were like him you would be all
right; but the question is what partic-
ulars enter into this general idea.
Though you may say truly, "were l a
hundreth part as good as l think him
to be, 1 should be glad !" yet your
ideal of him may be so imperfect in
many things-so unlike, in some par
ticulars, the real Jesus, that in those
things and particulars he is no check,
or no encouragement-no Saviour to
you at all.


Indeed it is so great and grave a
thing to have full--a complete ideal
of Jesus Christ it is so blessed thing
to have him before our minds eye, and
in our hearts, as he really is, that few
have even Appropriated to it in this
life


To some he is Lord, Master. King,
Ruler, Judge, and almost nothing else
Such, will likely, be either slaves or
tyrants, according to natural DISPOSE
tion and circumstance.


Others think of him as friend, broth
er, lover, leaving out of their ideal, al
most entirely, his kingly authority and
his judicial position. Such are very
apt to be mere sentimentalists. they
cannot be strong symmetrical chris
tians.


To some, he is chiefly an e1piatory
sacrifice, or atoning priest, removing
legal difficulties from the way of their
salvation; while many other precious
things he is not; such are apt to make
more Of Offering and sacrifice than of
obedience.


Others make him simply teacher of
fine morality, leaving out of their
thought of him everything pertaining
to sacrifice, at least so far as it relates
to the government Of God. Such are
sure to be careless concerning the doc.
trine of Christ Their spiritual diet be-
ing mostly "the milk Of the word, -
they cannot be strong as those who are
nourished by the strong meat of the
truth.


To some Christ is chiefly the foun-
der of a church, himself the head Of it,
and caring very little for any who do
not come into it such are likely to be
much more Churchly than Christly.


Some have him in their thought as a
man and nothing more +; of course he is
not to them an ever present helper.
Others, again, leave out his humanity,
except as sort of miraculous manifes-
tation, and hence loose the whole pow
er of human sympathy and brother
hood which touches the former class so
closely.


Still others, while be is to them the
man in whom dwells all the fulness Of
God, yet figure him to their minds as
one altogether outside of, and apart
from the common routine and circum-
stance of our ordinary life. He is to
them supernatural man and not nat
ural one, whereas, in truth. he is both.
As a son, brother, a citizen, neigh
Dor, a workman at his trade :; as hun
cry, or weary, or sad, or cheerful, or
tried, he is natural man, like all 9TH
er men but he is more also !; he is
above nature; the divine spirit fills
him. In his origin and in many of his
manifestations he is supernatural, to
leave out either idea is to fail to get a
true ideal of him.


Then, some think of him as friend
only of the good, as having very little
regard for sinners until they repent.
Others fancy that sinners are his pecul-
lar people, that the very riches of his
nature is poured out to them, that one
must almost be a sinner, and keep on
SHINING in order to have his gracious
notice at ALL Of course both are par
tial. Perhaps none of us have an idea
that in all things perfectly corresponds
u -. ii