eS. ee <> ea cee Osta « ay eS Se ae ae ot the Chealogirg, s : at Pips * “ey, PRINCETON, N. J. Gf iam wwe ANorarn of Wr, Oames MeCosh. ae AG es UG oe RN oT <) he Bg P Cooper, John. Christianity shown from itself to be a divine ) , ie | Liane Le i berk ce GEORGE ROBERTSON, 69 ELIZABETH STREET. MDCOCLXXIL [All Rights Reserved.| [REGISTERED IN ACCORDANCE WITH COPYRIGHT Act, 1869. | M. d , ve* ‘- ‘ ag Shp = * x i d ‘ih | | MASON, FIRTH, AND M‘CUTCHEON, PRINTERS, MELBOURNE. r ae in ; si « ; int r * * * * » ‘ * A ro 1 ; % t j wy 7 ‘—e PREFACE TO PART SECOND. » — > >——— ® In attempting to open up a new branch of Christian evidence, it does not follow that I intend to reflect upon or ignore the course ee » . argument. < pursued by others in connection with different branches of Christian evidence: far from it. And if, from a part of the teaching of Jesus Christ, I am able satisfactorily to show that Christianity is not of man, but must necessarily be from God, then, if afterwards the other parts of the teaching of the New Testament be added, that addition will not weaken, but only the more strengthen, the And if Ido not exhaust the whole of my _premise, but from a portion of it reach a satisfactory conclusion, this only the more LV PREFACE TO PART SECOND. clearly shows the correctness of the premise. It is, therefore, no valid criticism that would reflect on the character of such an argument because it does not embrace the whole code of Christian doctrine, or the ordinary received moulds of that doctrine. My object is, in as brief space as possible, to show, from the grand characteristics of Christianity, from the uncarnal nature, yet heavenly character, of Christ’s doctrine, that it cannot be of man, but necessarily must be from God. _ The chief blindness and error of the Church during the life of our Lord, and to a oreat. extent in the days of the apostles, and down to the present hour, is the not percewing the true spirit and Divine purpose of Chris- tianity. And the mistake of the world is the not discerning between the noble nature man possesses, and the base life he leads. The nature and capacities of man for the in- dwelling of the Divine are grand and glorious; but the life of the worldling, as an effort to PREFACE TO PART SECOND. V eratify self in opposition to and in conflict with the Divine, is base and degrading. And until the Church sees and rises to the high position necessary to secure the glory of the Divine in the human; and until the world sees the evils of self, loathes the bondage and conflict of the selfish, and perceives the glory of the Divine in the human—the true - Christianity of Jesus will neither be possessed by the Church nor known to the world. Ii is only in the knowledge of the Christianity of Jesus that man can perceive the glory of aiding to bring the Divine into the human, or will earnestly covet this high life of co- operating with and for the Divine—a life on - earth so glorious as to eclipse all lesser lights of human greatness, and bury in its radiance all the glory of worldly ambition. If Jesus came to found a kingdom, and to save men by bringing them into fellowship with Himself in a participation of His reign, then must He not only have had an idea of al PREFACE TO PART SECOND. His own work, but likewise of the instrumen- tality by which He was to work in man, and in the possession of which the disciple was to co-operate with Him in His work. This instrument He, from the first, announced to be His own spirit, principle, and example. And a glance at Christianity as taught by | Jesus will enable the thoughtful to perceive that the spirit, principle, and life of Jesus are the very opposite of the spirit, principle, and life of the world; and a little more reflection will enable the intelligent to know that the spirit, principle, and life of Jesus are in accordance with the order of nature, the dictates of reason, and the aspirations of the human soul. There is one aspect of self-sacrifice that has been but slightly referred to in the following pages—viz., the generous parting with external possessions for the benefit of others; and the reason is, that in this phase of self-denial the worldling as well as the PREFACE TO PART SECOND. vil Christian can take a part, and the character and worth of the deed is determined by the motive of the action. In few topics connected with religious life have more erroneous notions prevailed, and extremes met, than in connection with self-sacrifice. In this, the notions of the superstitious and the dogma of the rationalist become one, as may be seen in the recent teaching of one of the most accomplished of the rationalistic school, when he says, ‘“‘ Jesus hallowed pain and suffering as the most exalted manifestation of the Divine among men; and that ‘‘ eternal life must be won through personal voluntary renunciation of earthly good.” When such notions are entertained of self-sacrifice, it need not be matter of wonder that the Scripture teaching of Christian self-sacrifice should be totally misunderstood. The study of man’s nature, and the rela- tions of Christianity to that nature, require, Vill 4 PREFACE TO PART SECOND. and ought to receive, much more attention from the Church and the world than either have as yet given to this elevating and all- important theme of human investigation. The origin of evil is confessedly the mys- tery of mysteries, the theme of profoundest darkness—so dark as to be incapable of one ray of illumination from the brightest genius of man; no analogy to it can be found nor even conceived of by him. But from the erand facts of Christianity we may infer this much, that evil has been permitted that from it God might take occasion to illustrate, in a deed of stupendous self-sacrifice, the highest attributes of Godhead, and by such raise man to a loftier condition of glory and bliss than otherwise could have been possible to him. If so, then every opportunity em- braced and every moment spent by man in this fellowship of the gracious with God, is of inconceivable value to him. CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN, PAR LI. ‘THE Spirit, PRINCIPLE, AND EXAMPLE OF CHRIST, THE ONE AND ONLY CONDITION OF THE WORLD’S WELL BEING, PROOF OF His SUPERNATURAL MISSION. “ Ve know not what manner of spirit ye are of,’ said Jesus to His disciples, when they enquired of Him ‘“‘7f they should command Sire to come down from heaven” to consume the Samaritans for their want of courtesy and kindness to their Master. And in mak- ing this request, the disciples doubtless ima- gined that they were displaymg a becoming devotedness to the person, and a commend- able zeal for the cause, of Jesus—that they were manifesting a noble spirit, and acting a righteous part. But the reply of Jesus shows that He entertained a very different view of their conduct, and it also proves that as yet B “ts. 2% CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE . the disciples were awanting in the true spirit: of devotedness to the person, and of enlight- ened zeal for the cause, of their Master. It also shows us that the spirit of retaliation in any circumstances is inconsistent with the spirit of Jesus. And this reply of “the Master’ to His, disciples is one of the pro- foundest of His utterances, and one that contains a great deal more than at first sight appears to be in it. Man, while under the sway of a fallen spirit, is not in a condition to judge of the right or the wrong of prin- ciples, and apply them with unerring certi- tude in his judgment of the conduct of others. In order to an infallible estimate of the con- duct of men, we must possess a clear and correct view of the nature, condition, and means, the facilities and hindrances, under’ which they act. The spirit is first in the order of being and life; and the Divine Spirit is first in the order of spiritual existence—“God is a spirit.” The spiritual is the underlying in life, creation, all order of existence—“ And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of ¢ e A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 3 ¥ the sce And, as in the old, go in the new creation ; and thus it is that the disciples were commanded not to commence their work of evangelising the world till they should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost—“ Ye are witnesses of these things; and, behold, I send the pro- mse of My Father wpon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high.” And the perfec- tion of Christ’s nature, character, and work, consisted in His possessing the Spirit of God in unlimited fulness and in unqualified con- trol—‘ God gave not the Spirit by measwré unto Him; and He never deviated from, but ever acted im and by, the Spirit of God. The complete oneness of spirit with God is a late, if not the latest, attainment of the believer in acquiring the perfection of the Divine life. The incarnation, life, death, and ascension of Jesus, preceded and were necessary to the descent of “the Holy Ghost.” “The twelve’ loved “the Master,’ and were devoutly attached to Him before He “opened iad minds to understand the scriptures,” and, breathing on them, said, ‘Receive ye the Holy Ghost ;” but they were not at once “made perfect in the Spirit.” B2 4 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE The Spirit of God is the all-important Agent - in imparting and perfecting the Divine life in man. The possession of ‘‘the Sprrit’’ is the one qualification and measure of the spiritual in man’s possession and enjoyment of the Divine life. Spirits are of different principles and de- grees of life and action. It is common to speak of good and bad spirits; of generous and selfish, weak and powerful, mean and noble, Divine and Satanic, spirits; likewise of the spirit of an individual, a sect, a nation. And as is the spirit, so is the life and charac- ter of the individual, the sect, and nation. The state of the world at the appearance of Christ has already been pointed out to the attention of the reader in Part First. It is there shown that the world had sunk into the lowest possible condition of moral and re- ligious life; the history of the nations prior to that time, correctly read, will show that amid the teeming myriads of the race there never existed even one who of himself ex- hibited a spirit, or developed a life, worthy of man’s nature, and adequate to the exigencies of his well-being. And what is the explana- tion of this melancholy fact? It is to be ~ - A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. o found in the fall of man. In and by falling, man brought himself under the power of a selfish spirit, a false principle, an unavailing life. And while he is under the power of such he cannot but descend in the scale and condition of being. Hence arose the necessity of a Deliverer—one mightier than man— able to awaken in him an unselfish spirit, supply him with the principle of unerring rectitude, and give to him the model of a perfect life. The spirit of the world is the spirit of selfishness. The desire of gratifying self in one form or another is the dominant power in the life of the natural man. The spirit of selfishness must, however, be carefully distinguished from, and not confounded with, self-love. The spirit of self-love is the divinest of all spirit. As an individual rises in the scale of existence, ascends nearer and nearer to the Divine, he must esteem and value himself the more. The spirit of self- love is the noblest that animates being, and has its perfection in God. Self-love is the love of the essence, constitution, and prin- ciple of life in their perfection, and animates all right intelligence with the determination 6 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE to abide in and act for the maintenance of constitutional life, at whatever expense such action may cost the individual. And this is the spirit that animates the Godhead and all that are godly. But the spirit of the world—z.e., of fallen humanity—is the spirit of selfishness; the spirit that seeks individual ends, personal gratification, at any and every possible cost ; at the expense of constitutional and relative well-being. The selfish seek their own ends, without considering whether such ends pro- mote their own or the true well-being of others. They seek such in the neglect of their duty to God, in disregard of their own convictions of right, and in indifference to the good of their fellow-men. Hence, the spirit of the world is not one, but legion. The spirit of the world is as manifold as the objects which captivate the desires of fallen man. It is the spirit of self-seeking in plea- sure, covetousness, ambition, vanity, egotism, | arrogance, indolence, strife, recklessness, and the like. These are the spirits which rule in the life of man, and which war against the spiritual and Divine of his being and life, withstand his reception of the Spirit of God, A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 7 and degrade and torment his whole existence. And these are the spirits of darkness which ‘sport themselves in the different spheres of human intercourse, revelling in the per- formance of direful deeds in the different scenes of popular excitement—in the spheres of fashionable life, in the halls of commerce, in the walks of ambition, and in the doings of superstition. And these are the demons which must be expelled from their thrones in the human heart, and their reign in the lite of man, ere the world can attain to a condition of true greatness and bliss. The price paid by the world for gratifica- tions, possessions, distinctions, and religious belief, under the sway of these spirits in the physical, rational, and spiritual of man, is fearful in the extreme. The spirit of self- seeking displays itself ‘in the lust of the flesh, in the lust of the eyes, and in the pride of life’ —1.e., in the love of pleasure, the ereed of gain, the eagerness of display, and the efforts of self-recommendation. And these spirits cannot rule in the individual of man but to his own injury, and that of all who come under his influence. In this declara- tion it is not meant to assert that pleasures, 8 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE possessions, positions, honours, religious ef~_ forts, or the desire of these, are in themselves. wrong and degrading: far from it. Such desires are, in themselves, godly, and neces- sary to virtue and true greatness. But it is asserted (and would that the Church and the world would lay it to heart, and ponder the solemn truth!) that the spirit of self-seeking in the individual life of those who yield them- selves up to it, is ‘evil, and only evil continu- ally.” Pleasure-seeking degrades the voluptuary, and injures the victims of his brutal lusts, who, by artful devices of diabolic ingenuity, are entrapped to minister to his passions. In- temperance ruins the drunkard, and entails suffering on all who are dependent upon him. Vanity debases the fair votary of fashion in all that is noble and truly womanly; renders her insensible to the wrongs which she inflicts on the poor needle-women, who have to work untimely hours, and for an unremunerative pittance, to enable her on given occasions to shine in the promenade, the saloon, the opera, and the ball. The frequenting of the box, the pit, and the galleries, lowers the tone of morality in the life of the attenders upon A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 9 the theatre, and renders them careless about the true well-being of the individuals on the stage, who minister to their gratification. Gambling soon sinks the gambler in the scale of life, and, as a canker, eats out of his spirit the manly and generous, making him careless of the immoral and ruimous conse- quences of betting. The pecuniary losses and social evils, not to speak of the spi- ritual, soon tell in their baneful operations upon those who indulge themselves in these sports. Truly, pleasure-seeking is degrading to the voluptuary, and to all who minister to his selfish desires. Pleasure-seeking is neces- sarily suicidal; it cannot but pervert, de- grade, and destroy; it robs the pleasure-seeker of the pure and more lasting enjoyments he is capable of, and which he would realise in the pursuit of virtue. Nature refuses to give her sweeter joys to the mere pleasure-seeker, but lavishes them upon those who understand and obey her laws. Experience proves that licen- tiousness soon diseases and torments the body, burdens the conscience, degrades the spirit, and destroys the lives of its victims. All gratifications of mere pleasure-seeking B3 *, 10 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE are unworthy of man, and all the positions and occupations in society that are taken up and prosecuted for the mere purposes of grati- fication, or the ministering to the pleasures of others, are hurtful and degrading to the actor and to the onlooker. Whenever an individual, a community, or a nation, give themselves up to pleasure-seeking, they soon sink into degradation, and bring ruin upon themselves. This is so apparent in the past experience of mankind, as to stand in no need of proof. It is a lesson taught in almost every page of the history of the race. The love of gain, the hastening to be rich, the coveting of great possessions, degrades the idolators of wealth, and injures all who are brought under the influence of their eager search after riches. The lust of conquest has led to frightful havoc in the national and social life of man, and wrought terrible mischief among the nations of the earth. The eager desire of gain leads to fraudulent dealings and oppressive deeds among men, the wrongs of robbery and theft, the deep- laid schemes of insolvency, the many forms of adulteration in articles of commerce, and counterfeits of the genuine productions of trade, — A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 11 thus inflicting great wrong upon society, and ‘suffering upon the individual man. Fortune- making injures the employer and wrongs the employed; it fearfully oppresses the poor, and wrings many a sigh from the helpless; it has brought poverty, disease, suffering, and death upon innumerable millions of our race. Who can estimate the evils which have been inflicted upon myriads of mankind by means of over- working children in factories, of forcing men and women to toil for inadequate wages, of overtasking the strength of domestic servants, of the immoralities of slavery, and of the _false inequalities of society ¢ The heart of the invader is cruel and tyrannical. The intellect of the speculator in gain is often worn out in early life. The ‘soul of the rich manufacturer and wealthy merchant is not unfrequently mean and be- -sotted—insensible to the loss of its own power, and indifferent to the want of intel- ligence, comfort, and health in those in his employment; and while dazzling before the eyes of others in the luxuries and wealth obtained from the toil of his labourers, he thinks not of the overtasked energies, the scanty fare, the uncomfortable dwellings, of 12 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE those through whose energies he obtains his wealth. The spirit of the slaveholder is rendered despotic by the anxiety of his heart. to wring from his slaves the utmost he can get, and he has no thought of the sighs of the down-trodden reaching the ears of ‘‘ the God of Sabaoth,” or of the harrowing account he will have to render on the day of final reck- oning. A life devoted to the mere acquisition of gain is a mean and undignified life. It has ever been, and necessarily must ever be, felt to be such. The idolator of wealth is at best but a base-spirited individual, whether he be miser or millionaire. The love of display, in the many forms and different phases of ambitious efforts to shine before others, brings forth direful fruit. The self-inflicted sufferings of the many who strugele and strive to appear to be a little higher than they are, and to rank above others of their class, are great and enslaving. And these efforts are not confined to one class of society, but extend over the wide range of all conditions of human life. The eager desire to excel, the severe efforts put forth to com- mand the seas of upturned faces—whether in connection with the different places of public x A DIVINE ‘REVELATION TO MAN. Bey resort, of popular amusements, of fashion- able display, on the hustings, in the courts of law, the seats of learning, the halls of science, the senate houses of the nations, or the worshipping congregations—lead to sad re- sults, in irregularities of life and strain of individual effort. The bribes and allurements that are held out to youth and manhood to overtask the brain, and exhaust the energies of life, produce in far too many cases sickness of body, intemperance of habit, and lead to early graves, premature superannuation, in- sanity; and deprive society of the numerous advantages which might be reaped from the healthy exercise of high and matured talent, ripened by experience, in the proper cultiva- tion of the human mind. When the mind of man is trained for selfish ends, the ener- gies of the gifted are prostituted and pev- verted from the noble objects of human existence. The eager efforts of fallen man to acquire merit in the sight of Heaven, to commend himself to God, and rise superior to the evils of his inner and outer life, have led to the different phases of idolatry, superstition, as- ceticism, speculation, and rationalism, which 14 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE only the more enslave the mind, burden the conscience, and torment the life of de- praved man; not to speak of the miseries which tirades against witcheraft, the perse- cutions of religion and heresy, as well as the conflicts with superstition and error in their various phases, have cost the different com- munities of men. And it is much easier to sit in judgment on and to condemn these evils, than to escape from their power. The victims of these spirits are more to be pitied than blamed. Man having violated the law of his God, and broken from the fellowship of the Divine Spirit, must voluntarily come under the sway of these spirits, which rule in his mind, burden his l'fe, and lead him captive “at his will.” These spirits, though the chief, are not the only demons which rule in the heart, and display themselves in the life, of fallen man. If we look closely at these spirits from be- neath, we will soon perceive what monsters they are in themselves, and what dread ‘tyrants and tormentors they are in the lives of their victims; we will see what perversion of disposition, power, method, opportunity, means, they make to the injury of man. All A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 15 evil is the perversion of spirit, power, method, opportunity, and means; and no perversion is so direful in its nature, operations, and results, as the perversion of spirit. The great enemy of man is a perverted spirit and the spit of perversion; and wherever it reigns in a human heart it works only evil (in perverting the life of the individual) to himself and to all who are influenced by him. What a calamity to a people is a Nero, a Cesar or Lucrezia Borgia, a Cardinal Wol- sey, a George the Fourth, and such lke; and what a calamity to the race is Satan! Truly the spirit of self-seeking, in whatever manner it moves or acts, is a spirit that se- cures only degradation and misery to man. Wherever the love of gratification, of gain, of ambition, of display, of party—in one word, of self—rule in the life of man, evil 2s, and only can be, the result. ‘And these spirits are not only dreadful evils in themselves and in their immediate operations in man, but likewise in their necessary exclusion of the true spirit of human well-being. Antagonistic spirits can- not reion in the same heart at one and the same time. The indwelling of these 16 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE depraved spirits causes man to lose sight of the true end and inherent dignity of his na- ture, and the proper cultivation of the Divine principle of his life. It is not so much the form as the spirit of selfish life; not so much the open dmmorality of the action as the un-Divine of the man that is degrading; neither is it so much the wnworthiness of the public display as the inhumanity of the heart of the individual who can glut himself in witnessing such, that proves the mean and grovelling character of the in- terested onlooker. Nor is it so much the overtaxing of the energies of the labourer to get out of him all that he can produce, as the sordidness of the spirit, the insensibility and indifference of the heart to the well- being of fellow-men, and the neglect of favourable opportunities of benefiting im- mortal souls, that displays the deep and deepening selfishness of the enslaver of his brother. Surely it is unmanly to pass through lite in thoughtless frivolity, like a stage-player, ever appearing to be what the individual is conscious he is not; and certainly it is humi- liating to glory in what is the proper object - A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. te and befitting occasion of shame, instead of luxuriating in the true elevation and bliss of life. It is beyond dispute degrading to any man to engross himself with deceptions, to toil might and main to satisfy the deep and indestructible cravings of his immortal spirit with the husks on which swine feed. And, as the spirit of the natural man is groyelling in its disposition. so is the prin- ciple of his life downward in its progressive career. The principle of fallen man is to prefer the selfish to the Divine, the sentient and material to the spiritual and rational, the near and temporal to the remote and eternal. His aim is to vanquish his foe in war, to get the start of his neighbour in business, to outwit and gain an advantage over his fellow- tradesman, and by every conceivable device and possible artifice to become successful in the execution of his schemes; and he defends such courses of action on the ground of patriotism, the necessity of emulation in the cultivation of his nature, and securing the advantages of civilisation and the promotion of the social good of man. But in all this he perceives not that he is perverting the very order of life, violating the primary 18 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE requirements of universal well-being, and, consequently, losing the substance for the shadow of existence. The living for self instead of God, for the sentient instead of the spiritual, for the present in the neglect of the future, for individual in disregard of general good, necessarily involves the attempt to live in a manner which is essentially opposed to the constituted order of God’s universe, and to - the fundamental principle of universal well- being. And the individual who strives so to live must necessarily isolate himself from God and from all fellowship of conscious rec- titude, shrivel up his soul in the narrowness of selfishness, and fail of the true end of his existence. The living for self, as distin- euished from self-love, is the endeavour to obtain individual ends in individual ways for individual gratification ; and as the indi- vidual end, way, and gratification are the mere ideals of the seeker, an imaginary good of his diseased heart, which have no exist- ence but in the vain conceptions of the in-. dividual himself, the pursuit of all such must necessarily disappoint him, strengthen the perversion of his life, increase the dislikes of \ A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 19 his heart, and inveterate his opposition in - the struggles of life with other men. The individual who strives to live on the principle of the world, must of necessity neglect the true end of his existence, and pursue a false one, to his ultimate ruin. He inverts the order of nature, prostitutes the powers of life, and acts in discordance with the laws of universal well-being. We must be careful, however, in observing that it is only the selfish ends, the selfish ways, and the selfish gratification of the sel- fish individual, that are antagonistic to the will of God, the well-being of creation, and the constituted order of life and blessedness. Sense is by no means necessarily antagonistic to spirit, or the temporal to the eternal good of man. They are essentially one; and when rightly understood and properly pursued, the one will ever be found to be in perfect har- mony with, and productive of, the other. The seen and temporal have only to be subor- dinated and made subservient to the spiritual and eternal, to be found to be as really a part of the human as the spiritual and divine, and as necessary to the true and permanent well-being of man. It is only superstition, 20 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE asceticism, and hypocrisy, that make the one clash with the other, or would either ignore or depreciate the seen and temporal as un- important, or opposed to the unseen and eternal. And if the spirit of fallen man, and the principle of the man of the world, be essen- tially false and necessarily wrong, the example and life of the natural man can neither be perfect nor right. Hence, among all the philanthropists, patriots, reformers, philoso- phers, and priests that have ever lived and laboured on the earth, there never has been one of perfect life, or one worthy of being looked up to as a perfect example for the euidance of others. However virtuous the heroes and sages of the world have been, or however much regarded and lauded on account of their virtues, when their lives are carefully scrutinized and correctly understood not one of them is found to be without serious defects and positive vices. When we contemplate the spirit and prin- ciple both of the aim and action of the world- ling, we need not wonder that mankind, dur- ing the first four thousand years of the world’s. existence, fell from all that was true, noble, A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. yi and elevating, in the spiritual of man’s being and life. The older races, because of the spirit and principle that actuated them, could not but have failed in regard to the true end of human existence; they could not but de- scend in the scale of dignified being and life; their descent was necessitated by the degree in which the law of selfishness actuated their lives. In all the operations of the spirit and principle of the world, there is of necessity a disappointing, darkening, and conflicting in the spirit of man. And thus it is that even the representative men of the world have all exhibited lives beneath the standard of the world’s own conception of true character and worth. Nor should this fact be any matter of sur- prise: perfection in life from such a spirit and principle of action is an utter and ab- solute impossibility. Nor should it astonish us that the whole race, while ignorant of . any other than the selfish, and destitute of the true spirit of humanity, should, under the dominion of depraved passions and the short-sighted ends of fallen humanity, sink into the immorality, superstition, and scepticism of the old world. Nor need 2 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE we wonder that all the eager, earnest, and persevering efforts of philanthropy, patriotism, legislation, morality, and natural religion, failed to set one single example of human life before the eye of man worthy of his imitation, and adequate to the necessi- ties of human well-being. The great want of the world in “the fulness of the tumes”’ was the want of a spirit, principle, and ex- ample of life different from its own; a power that would expel its own selfish spirit, and animate it with the spirit of self-sacri- fice. : And this is a power which the world could not supply; it is a power which none but the Spirit of the livmg God could give. The spirits of evil—the demons of the fallen life of man—can be cast out of him by no effort of the negative, nor by any attempt of the finite. They can be expelled by no endea- vour of self-reformation, asceticism, monas- ticism, pietism, puritanism, creedism, sab- batarianism, or revivalism. Man can be raised by nothing that robs him of his true dignity, disturbs or interferes with the ge- nuine relations of his existence, the necessary activities and true enjoyments of his life. He A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 23- will be permanently benefited by nothing that does not meet the deep cravings of his spirit, and draw forth the full aspirations of his soul. No effort to elevate the individual or the social condition of a community will be successful, that is put forth in an attempt to put down the evils of their lives by ex- posing, denouncing, scorning, or sneering at their peculiar habits or particular defects. It is common to hold and to teach that the true benefactor of his age is the individual who shall expose its evils to view, and express it to itself. But this is fallacious and inju- rious doctrine; itis at best. but half of a truth, and a half that is useless, and worse than use- less by itself. It rests upon a false assump- tion—viz., that man has in and from himself the power of his own reformation; for if he has not this power in himself, why expose to him his weaknesses, errors, and wrongs ? for by so doimg you only torment and lacerate his spirit, throw him into remorse and de- spair, or cause him to turn upon you and rend you. It is said of Byron, that he could never forgive the individual he observed gazing upon his club foot. And in this Byron was unconsciously illustrating a principle of fallen 24 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE humanity. Even Paul, when he preached before Felix of temperance, righteousness, and judgment to come, failed to make a con- vert of him; he could only by such preach- ing awake in him trembling and thought of after-reformation. In order to make expo- sure serve any good end, there must along with it, and more prominently, be the exhibi- tion of the power adequate to touch the heart with contrition, and fire the spirit with pure and ennobling emotions. The modern at- tempts to moralise man, both within and with- out the pale of the Christian Church, by such efforts, are worse than useless. They fail in accomplishing any real and permanent good, and end in producing a state of things worse than what they found when they began their efforts; and they show that all those who adopt them have but obscure and inadequate views of Christian truth, if they do not dis- believe init altogether. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, NoT IM- PUTING THEIR TRESPASSES UNTO THEM. ” : The attempt to effect the elevation of an individual, or to raise any community of the race, by the mere suppression of the flesh, has been the great mistake of all mere human A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 25 teaching, and of the moralising asceticism of all times. A corpse, in order to live, must be quickened with life; life, to be invigorated, must be fed, and fed upon its own aliment; health, in order to be enjoyed, must be exer- cised,-and exercised in accordance with the constitution of the individual and the measure of strength he possesses. Ienorance and error can be expelled from the human mind only by the light of truth, and of truth bearing upon the character of the ignorance and error. Con- flict can be allayed in the human spirit only by a power adequate to remove the cause of the conflict, and harmonise the principles of the nature which are in discord. All the sms by means of which men have attempted to raise themselves and others, have failed because of their negative character. Man, in order to the possession and enjoyment of true greatness and happiness, must recognise and act on the recognition not merely of his failings, but chiefly of the necessities of his nature, the requirements of his constitution, the wants of his sinful condition; in other words, he must look to, embrace, and co- operate with the power of his restoration; he must perceive that the forgiveness of sin, the . 26 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE quickening with life, the indwelling of the Divine, are absolutely necessary to his peace and progress in well-being. And to receive such he must look, not to self or to the doings of his fellow-men, but to God the Father, through His Son and Spirit, for the bestowment of such gifts. And this is what Christ has secured for, and offers to, the world. Jesus, as the Ele- vator of the race, not only breathes the true spirit into man, but reveals to him his real nature and circumstances, secures for him the power necessary to raise himself. He sup- plies man with an example, a principle, and a spirit adequate to the aspirations of his soul and the exigencies of his life. It is because . man is ignorant, or fails to perceive what is the true spirit, principle, and example of his life, that he squanders his time, energies, and aspirations in the selfish pursuit of pleasure, gain, position, fame; and strives by supersti- tious deeds to obtain peace in his soul. The Church has had her work, and a very important work it is, to indoctrinate the mind of man in right conceptions of Christian truth, and to exemplify before the eye of the world the power and beauty of faith in Jesus. A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 27 And in the performance of this work she must never grow weary nor fail. But neither the Church in general, nor the doctors of theology in particular, have as yet sufficientl seen that the great difficulty they have hat to contend with in indoctrinating the minds of men with right views of Christian truth, and in leading them into the realisation of the power of faith, arises out of the fact that the world possesses not “the spurit of Christ;” and that the Church, m dealing with the world, has as yet exhibited far too little of the spirit of Jesus; that in her work of seek- ing toenlighten the minds of men in Christian truth, and in her endeavour to induce them to imitate Jesus, she has herself too often forgotten what manner of spirit she ought to be of. She has too frequently lost sight of the truth that it is quite a possible thing to possess a clear abstract view of Christian doc- trine, and to exhibit a formal life of faith, while utterly devoid of the real spirit of Christ, and thus fail in the fellowship of the inner life, as well as in the work of evangelising the world. “Jf ye have not the spirit of Christ, ye are none of His.” “ Hereby know we that we are in Him, and. He in us, by the 2 28 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE spirit which He hath given us.” Until the Church is baptised with a fuller measure of the Spirit of Jesus she will not, and cannot, attain to the perfection of the Divine life that awaits her, appear in her true glory, or exert: that influence on the world which is necces- sary to its conversion to God. What then is the Spirit of Christ? It is- the spirit of self-sacrifice. And the posses- sion of this spirit is the requisite condition of immediate and intimate communion with God in the inner circle of the Divine life, as well as of the highest purity of being, and noblest: deeds of devotedness, to Him in a sinful world. And the death of Jesus Christ ex- hibits to the world the highest possible dis- play of the self-sacrificing. The self-sacrifice of the cross is the outshining of the purest radiance of “ the brightness of the Kather’s glory.” And this spirit must be given from above ere it can be possessed by man upon earth. No spirit can create itself, and much less can the spirit of self-sacrifice produce ' itself in the breast of an individual cherish- ing and acting on the spirit of selfishness. Like must ever produce like. The self- sacrificing must be infused or begotten ins — _— a P —— ee a A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 29 man ere it can be possessed by any individual of a race born in selfishness. The spirit of self-sacrifice is the purest, ‘noblest, and most blessed that can be cher- ished or acted on tn this or wm any world. It is ‘‘ like mercy, twice blessed ’’—blessed in those who cherish and act upon it, and blessed in those on whom its benign influ- ence falls. It not only secures the nearest communion with ‘the Father of spirits,” in the most glorious outgoings of the God- head; but by breaking open the fountains of the Divine in the inner depths of the im- mortal spirit of man, it secures the wellings up of an all-satisfying bliss of conscious fellowship with God in the gracious of His being and doing. It secures and establishes the harmony of the inner life, and ripens the ‘soul for the fuller enjoyment and sweeter realisation of the glory and bliss of heaven. The spirit of self-sacrifice, though neces- sary to the well-being of a fallen race, could never have been perceived in its beauty, or ‘spontaneously embraced and acted on, by man of himself. It was unknown to the world until ‘‘the fulness of the tumes,” and could not so much as have been conceived of by 30 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE ‘the carnal mind,” or selfish heart of man. Self-seeking cannot perceive nor admire the beauty of the self-sacrificing. Ifthe slightest glimpse of it had dawned upon the mind of the world, the soul of man would have turned away from the contemplation of it with loath- ing, as is clearly seen by the world’s treat- ment of it when in ‘‘the fulness of the times” it did manifest itself to the world. And yet. this spirit is absolutely necessary to the glory and bliss of fallen man. Self-sacrifice does not consist in depriving ourselves for ascetic ends of any power or faculty of nature, of any possession, facility, or enjoyment in society, of any benefit of social or religious life. No: such phases of self-de- nial are an insult to the wisdom and benignity of the Creator, and a contempt of His good- ness. Self-sacrifice does not consist in the banishing of ourselves from the intercourse of the world into the seclusion of the hermit’s hut, the monastic cell, or the nun’s prison, that we may live the more religiously. Such, instead of being genuine self-sacrifice, is the feeding of selfishness in its worst form; it is gross delusion, and a vile reflection upon the arrangements of that benignant: A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 31 Wisdom which places us in the world; it is the withdrawing of ourselves from the scenes of the greatest usefulness, and of highest spiritual discipline; it is the turning of what is fancied to be the means of a holy life into an occasion of irreligious selfishness ; for the busiest merchant, the sportsman, and the belle of fashion, do not live so much in the world as the mystic, neither are they so anti- ’ Christian in their lives. The living on ascetic principles is not the denying, but the feeding of self; the lacerations of the body, and the mortifying of the physical flesh for benefit to the soul, is the cherishing of a spirit and the acting on a principle that fosters the erossest selfishness of the heart, and which, instead of yielding up the powers and capa- cities of the soul to the reception of the Divine, idolises and inflates in the heart the spirit of self. The only self-denial of a physical character that is allowable, is the abstaining from what a weak conscience forbids; and this is to be tolerated rather than encouraged. Such is the manifestation of weakness on the part of those who cling to it, and not a display of streneth, or perfection of spiritual freedom. a CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE The proper self-denial of a religious life is not the spending of etistic hours for the wmprovement of our religious life in the se- clusion of devotional reading or Scripture study, a waiting on the altar or prayer- meeting, to the neglect of other duties; but a gomg- out into the haunts of sin and wretchedness, to relieve the burden of euilt and misery; or in the diligent prosecution of our respective callings in life, that we may have - wherewith to aid the cause of God, and to relieve the wants of the poor. Christ is not chargeable with the cruelty and folly of the ascetic, aiming to elevate himself in a life Divine, through struggling in opposition to the instincts and inclinations of nature. No; He supplies the grace which directs the in- clmations, and identifies the instincts of life with the true nature and interests of man. Self-sacrifice is the allowing the wicked by an act of violence to wrest from us what we highly value, and what we meekly yield to their injustice, that in so doing we may afford them a mirror in which they may see reflected their own character, and the extent to which we are willing to suffer on their own behalf. Self-sacrifice also denotes the parting with— A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 30 ‘even should it be at the expense of tearing out a right eye, or the cutting off of a right hand—whatever in us there is that comes in between us and our spiritual progress in the assimilation of the Divine, and our usefulness in the world. : Self-sacrifice is thus of a twofold charac- ter—viz., the parting with what is of worth (what we generously give), and what we yield up only to the violence and injustice of the wicked, that by our suffering we may let them see the extent of their wickedness and of our endurance on their behalf. Such is not a blind or mean parting with life, position, or property, but an enlightened yielding for the sake of important ends. Self-sacrifice is also a parting with whatever there is in us of evil, at whatever it may cost the flesh—?.e., not our nature, but our carnal mind. This is the denial of self, the yielding up of all and every corruption of our nature; and thus self-sacrifice is both passive and active. In one phase, self-sacrifice is possible even to a Divine Person while living among sinful creatures. In the other phase, it 1s necessary to the perfect life and pure enjoyments of c3 St CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE the fallen among the fallen. The first of these phases of self-sacrifice is that of which the Son of God has given to the world so: sublime an example, and in which He has been followed by not a few of the martyrs to His cause. The second is that which more commonly constitutes the self-denial of the believer in Jesus, and which every disciple of His must daily practice while any imperfec- tion remains in him. And this self-sacrifice, which is necessary for the well-being of fallen man, is impossible to untfallen creatures. In a sinless com- munity there can be no wresting, by violence and injustice, from any one, anything that is highly prized, and which is vielded only that the parting with it may afford a mirror to. the wicked to enable them to see their own injustice, and likewise the extent to which the wronged are willing to suffer for the benefit of the wrong-doers. Neither can per- fectly holy beings be required to part with anything that is opposed to the glory of God, to their own true and permanent well-being, and the good of others; and much less could the parting with such be to them an act of severe denial. A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 59 But self-sacrifice is absolutely necessary to well-bemg in a sinful world, and is the noblest, most beneficent, and bliss-imparting spirit of life m which fallen creatures can live. In a sinful world “72 ts vinpossible but that offences will come.” And the spirit of self-sacrifice is the only spirit that will enable us to receive offences with benefit to ourselves, and to turn them also to the advantage of the wrong-doers. If offences 9) which ‘‘ must come” are received by us in a peevish and fretful spirit, they will only de- erade and injure us the more; and if they are received by us in the spirit of retaliation, they will lead to greater injury and wrong, both to them who receive and resent them, and to those who do the wrong and then resist and retaliate the resentment of it. But where injuries are received in the spirit - of self-sacrifice, they are borne with in such a manner as enables the receivers of them to set a noble example to the wrong-doers, and to derive from them the greatest possible advantage to themselves. The spirit of self-sacrifice is the noblest on which beings can act. It is in the spirit of self-sacrifice that God Himself has mani- 36 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE fested the highest of His Divine perfections, accomplished His greatest undertaking, and confers the greatest benefits on the universe at large. It is in the spirit of self-sacrifice that the Church shines in her purest radi- ance, attracts with greatest advantage the attention of the world, and accomplishes for it the greatest good. And the spirit of self- sacrifice is acknowledged by the world itself to be the noblest that can animate a human breast. Who are those whom the world deifies as its most illustrious heroes? They are those whom it believes to have acted most in accordance with its conceptions of self-sacrifice. Those who most command the admiration of youth, of mature and of old age, are those who in the pages of biography and history conspicuously appear as having in life acted in the spirit of self-sacrifice: just in the measure in which they appear to have lived and died in this spirit, are they held in admiration. The philan- thropists, the patriots, the reformers, and martyrs, who have sought the good of their fellow-men in the exposure of themselves to injury and wrong, do, by a spontaneous unanimity, command and receive the homage A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 37 of after ages and generations. Nor is it in the power of any man to withhold this admi- ration from those he believes to have lived and died for the good of his fellow-men. He can withhold his admiration from the philan- thropists, patriots, reformers, and martyrs, of his own and former times, only as he either"degrades himself into the lowest sel- fishness, or persuades himself that they, instead of being animated by the spirit of self-sacrifice, were only hypocrites, actuated by the spirit of selfishness. It is to the marked prominence and clear proof that this spirit of self-sacrifice was the reigning spirit in the life and death of Jesus, that He go readily commands the admiration of all men ——of foes as well as of friends. This is a characteristic of human life and death which only requires to be exhibited in the view of men to command their admiration. It re- ceives the admiration even of the selfish in their better moments of reflection. And the spirit of self-sacrifice opens up in man the well-springs of the purest and deepest bliss that thrills the human heart. Just as it exposes its possessor to the rough gales and stormy blasts of the raging tem- 38 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE pests of the world, does it open up in the inner of the sufferer the wellings of a Divine joy. It is the consciousness of acting in this spirit that unites the immortal spirit of man with the eternal God in the purest realisations of the Divine. The joyous emo- tions and triumphant exclamations of the martyrs in the midst of the flames is both a striking proof and a glorious illustration of the transporting power of this spirit in the life and death of man. Hence the Saviour, in speaking of those who through the faith of Him should receive the oift of the Spirit, says, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water’ —1.e., in his inner consciousness shall spring up the purest felicities possible to finite realisation. And so it was in the experience of the Saviour Himself—for, not- — withstanding the great amount of His ex- ternal suffermes, His was doubtless the ~ sweetest life ever lived on earth. With the exception of the hour of His mysterious de- sertion by His Father, it was only in the outer of His life that He was ‘‘the Man of sorrows.” His outer sufferings drove Him into closer. communion with His Father; and in His fellowship with His Father His A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 39 inner realisation was only the consciousness of the sweetest satisfaction and delight; and in the enjoyment of such He was the Son of joy—the more the trials and temptations of His outer life drove Him to the shelter. of His Father’s bosom, the serener and sweeter were the realisations of His inner joy. And thus, for the encouragement and consolation of His disciples, He has bequeathed to them “ His joy.” It is the fact of the purer and sweeter character of inner to outer joy, even when delusive, that enables us to contem- plate the mystic as nearer the fountain of bliss than the man of the world when wal- - lowing in his sensual gratifications, and to understand how it is that the mystic clings to his delusive joys amid the privations to which they subject him. Self-sacrifice is the all-glorious of the. Divine, the one perfection of the Godhead, which underlies and consecrates all the other attributes of the uncreated T'hree-One Je- hovah to the manifestation of His glory in man’s behalf; and it is this spirit which alone can raise man out of his fallen condi- tion, and enable him to enjoy fellowship with God in the sweetest and most glorious of the 40 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE Divine. Self-seeking was the cause of the first sin, and is more or less active in every transgression of the life of man. And it is by no means easy to detect the presence and insidious operations of self in man; but this only makes it the more injurious, and ne- cessitates the greater watchfulness against it. Self-seeking ignores the primary con- dition of all true enjoyment, and the neces- sary relations of the creature to the Creator. And the spirit of self-seeking in man can be overcome only by his inbreathing of the spirit of self-sacrifice. By no other power in existence can he overcome the evils of his fallen condition, and turn these evils to a real advantage. Self being the reigning spirit of fallen humanity—that in man which resists the spirit of God; that which perverts, degrades, and ruins man’s nature—must be expelled from him ere he can know true being or enjoy a worthy life. And it is in the inbreathing of the spirit of self-sacrifice that man yields himself up to God, drinks in the spirit of His life, and realises the supremacy of the Divine in his heart. And it is only in acting on this spirit that man can display the graces of an illustrious life, live for the A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. y ULAT. benefit of others, and the true end of his own existence. And thus it is that Christ, as the Saviour of the race, calls the attention of men to the glory and rewards of self-sacrifice. A few selections from His recorded sayings on this matter will place His doctrine clearly before the reader. “Then said Jesus unto Hrs disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me: for whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake, shall find tt; for what ws a man profited of he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for has soul?” “T give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand.” ‘And this is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” “I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in One.” “ Without Me ye can do nothing.” “The hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” “Father, glorify Thy Name.” ‘TI have both glorified it, and will 43 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE glorify it again.” Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him ; if God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straight- way glorify Him.” “TI have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do: and now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” | “ The glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them.” “ As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” “TI have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me.” “ Verily, verily, I*say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because LI go unto My Father.” “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” “ Verily, verily, [ say unto you, Hxcept a man be born again, he can- not see the kingdom of God.” “ Verily, I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall in nowise enter therein.” “Make the tree good and his fruit good.” “A good tree cannot A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 43 bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” “ Why beholdest thou the mote that is im thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that 1s in thine own eye?” “ If thy right eye shall offend thee, pluck it out.” “ Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father.” “He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” “ Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man’s life consisteth not im the abun- dance of the things which he spossesseth.” “ Therefore I say wnto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on; ts not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment ?” “For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” “But seek ye first the king- dom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” “Ve are they which have continued with Me in My temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father hath appointed 44 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE unto Me.” “Yewhich have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shalt: sit in the throne of His glory, ye shall also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” “ Verily, I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, ov children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not recewe manifold more in the present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.” “These things have I spoken unto you that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” “ Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake: rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great ws your reward in heaven.” “All power im heaven and earth vs given unto Me.” The teaching of Jesus concerning the soul is that it is the most important of all finite existence, the most receptive and assimilative of being to the Divine; and that the life of the soul consists in its union and communion with God, in its reception of the fullest out- goings of God, in the harmony of man’s ~ A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 45 relations with the principles and powers of being, in the perfection of man’s social through the perfection of his individual ex- istence. His doctrine is that, as the perfec- tion of man’s physical is through the perfec- tion of his rational, and the perfection of his rational is through the perfection of his spi- ritual, the perfection of his spiritual life is through the fulness of the indwelling of the Divine. He taught that the accomplishment of the soul’s salvation was the greatest work of God and man—a work, in importance, magnitude, and grandeur, surpassing any and every other work of time and eternity. He held it to be the greatest work of Godhead—the most illustrious in which man even with God can take part—so important, that were all crea- tion through all time to employ itself im concert with God in securing the salvation of one soul, the greatness of the end would justify the extent and duration of the means. And He held the soul’s salvation to be a work which confers the highest honour and felicity on all who engage in it. He main- tained that salvation renders existence glorious and blessed to man, and taught 46 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE that without it existence is a tremendous calamity to him. Christ held that in the performance of this work He glorified the Father in the highest possible degree, and raised the saved to the loftiest condition of the finite; and that for the performance of this work He received from the Father the highest Divine honour, glory, and blessed- ness possible for Him to receive or the Father to bestow. He told men that to take part with Him in this work they must believe in Him, yield themselves up to His spirit, mind, and life, make every and bring every thing into subordination to Him. He de- clared that the highest results would accrue and the most glorious rewards be given to all who would in any way co-operate with Him in working out the soul’s salvation; and He would so readily acknowledge the efforts of all who endeavoured to aid Him in this work, that even ‘‘a cup of cold water, given to a disciple in the name of a disciple, should not lose its reward.” He taught that the first in the order of time and importance, though not the only co-operators with Him, were His apostles. In their ministrations they were to publish A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. AT His truth to all the world. His missionaries were to carry His gospel to all heathen lands, and His ministers were to uphold it in all Christian countries. In their proclamation of His word they were to guard against all popular, philosophic, scientific, doctrinal, sec- tarian, rhetorical preaching, because in all such preaching the chief object is not the exhibition of Christ, but the display of the peculiar idol of the preacher. Such attain- ments by the preacher were to be consecrated to the preaching of Christ, and not preaching, in connection with His truth, to be employed for the display of human learning, personal attainments, individual or sectarian ends. The one and only end of all preaching in His Church was to be the exhibition of Himself. But the ministration of His word, while the chief, was not to be the only, means which He was to employ in the accomplish- ment of His work. Every disciple, in his own sphere in life and position in society, is to live for Christ; allthe influence he possesses he is to wield for the extension of Christ’s kingdom. Whatever position he holds in the State, relation he sustains in society, employ- 48 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE ment he pursues in life, he is to make subser- vient to the glory of Christ. As the trades- man, the merchant, the physician, the lawyer, &ec., ever bears in mind what is the peculiar object of his calling in life, and consecrates his time and energies to his special function, so is the disciple of Christ to consecrate his all to his Christian calling. The parent, the master, the merchant, the scholar, the legis- lator, the peer, the prince, the humble and exalted, the ignorant and the learned, the bond and the free, are to be all one in Him, and to live for the extension of His reign. They are all to devote themselves their powers, and their possessions to His service, and He is to bestow on them their reward. And this reward is to be the highest, most important, and glorious the finite can ever receive, the most exalted and blessed even the Godhead itself can bestow. And thus it will be seen that the self-denial which Jesus requires of His disciples is not to be an end with them, but only a means to an end; is not to be that in return for which He is to give salvation or glory, but to be their separating themselves from whatever retards or turns them aside from the prose- A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 49 cution of their noble undertaking. The self- denial which He requires is not absolute but relative, not lasting but brief, not humiliat- ing but honouring, not tormenting but bless- ing, not foolish but wise—that which is necessary and only necessary to the raising of fallen man. It is no ignoring or under- valuing of any of the facts of being, the prin- ciples of life, or the ends of existence. In order to this self-denial, Jesus taught - His disciples that they required to be quick- ened with the indwelling of the Divine; that as He was eifted, qualified, indwelt by His Father, for the accomplishment of His work, so it was necessary that they should be quick- ened, qualified, indwelt by Him, for the per- _ formance of their work. As He was in the world, so were they to be in the world; as He was sent by the Father, so were they to be sent by Him—as the Father was so in Him that whatever He said and did the Father said and did in Him, so was He to be in them, that whatsoever they said and did He said and did in them; and as He had overcome the world, so would they overcome it; as He was gifted and blessed with the presence of D et, . k ii 50 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE His Father, so would they be gifted and blessed with His presence in them. They were to be glorious and blessed in their own salvation, and to be glorious and blessed in the promotion of the salvation of others. And thus He taught them that it was more glorious and blessed to live in the Divine than in the selfish—that it was more glorious and blessed to shine in the light of the true, than to sparkle in the glare of the false-—that it was more glorious and blessed to realise in the acquisition of the righteous, than to suffer in the conflict of sin. He taught His disciples that to win others to God —to enjoy the consciousness of serving Him—to possess the attainments of the Divine—the honours of the spiritual and eternal—was of unspeakably more importance than the ac- quisition of earthly crowns, coronets, riches, or the pleasures of the world. Yet He never sought to lash men out of their wickedness or wretchedness by false or exaggerated descriptions of the things of time, or the conditions of eternity. He spoke not to the circumstances, instead of to the nature of man. He left no lurking suspicion VEE a — — A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. OF in the minds of His disciples that the grati- fications of self were desirable in themselves, and that sinful pleasures were to be foregone by them asa sacrifice to Him. He taught them that these were essentially evil, and necessarily detrimental to spiritual life and fellowship with the Divine. He showed them that the spiritual and the eternal were the all-important and necessary, and that their intelligent -co-operation with Him would se- cure to them all that was worthy in the seen and temporal, and protect them from all that was injurious in the selfish; whereas the pos- session of the worldly at the expense of the Divine, while it secured a momentary grati- fication, did so at the cost of final ruin—that while the world allured and captivated its dupes with what pleased them for the moment, it did so as would ultimately pain them with the bitterness of death, and leave them to writhe in conscious anguish and despair. And He emphatically assured men that belief in Himself secured to them the indwelling of the Divine, the vision of the true, the fellowship of the godlike, the admiration and imitation of the heroic and sublime. The substance, then, of Christ’s teaching D2 52, CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE regarding human well-being was that man is a fallen creature, in a diseased condition of spiritual life, and that without delay he must turn to God, and that the one necessity of discipleship in Him-was that any one that came to Him must deny his self—bear with, nay, rejoice in the self-sacrifice which disci- pleship in Him entailed, and that all who did so would become identified with Him in nature and life, and in His nature and life realise a change of disposition, of view, principles, and end of living, and be conscious of His in- dwelling in them, as He was conscious of His Father’s indwelling in Him. He also taught them that in following Him in the regenera- — tion of the world, they would have to drink of His cup, and to be baptized with His bap- tism—submit to outer privation and suffering; but instead of repining they were to rejoice in their being enabled to endure afflictions, and to delight in their conformity to Him, inasmuch as their present inner joys and future glory would far more than compensate for their outer distress and temporal priva- tions. : | He also taught them that it was only while they were in the world that they could follow A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. ne Him in its regeneration, and that in following Him they were not to act in ignorance of things, but in the clear knowledge and prudent appreciation of His principles; they were to make no effort to force His truth on reluctant individuals, but to let the light that was in them shine out in its own heavenly beauty, so as to act upon others in the true benignant majesty of the conscious possession of the | divine. He required of all who came to Him to be plastic under the power of His spirit, to suppress pride in the cultivation of meek- ness, and instead of occupying themselves in the discovery of the failings of others, to cherish the spirit of forgiveness, and watch against the risings of evil in their own hearts. He warned them against allowing the care of outer things and the surfeitings of sentient life to disturb their inner peace, or to inter- fere with their devotedness to Him. He urged them to aim steadily at the high per- fection of the divine life by overcoming evil with good, and thus, by loving their enemies, blessing those that cursed them, and praying for those that despitefully used and persecuted them, to imitate their Father in heaven. And in all their efforts to promote His kingdom 54 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE they were never to interfere with or disturb the relations of life, but to uphold the indi- vidual family, social, and national life of man; each in his own position was to abide by the duties of his calling, and by so doing he would most effectually commend Christ to others. And thus it will be seen that the principle of Christ is the very reverse of the principle of the world, and at the same time the principle which is in accordance with the constituted order of the universe, the cir- cumstances of men, and the only principle which will enable man to turn the facts of: his present existence to true and permanent advantage. The principle of the world, as already shown, is to prefer the selfish to the divine, the sentient to the spiritual, the carnal to the human, the temporal to the eternal ; whereas the principle of Jesus is the pre- ference of the divine to the selfish, the human to the carnal, the spiritual to the sensual, the eternal to the temporal—and this preference is enjoined, not on the ground of a necessary or essential variance in all of these, but when a conflict should occur be- tween them the one was to. be preferred to A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 55 the other. In a correct or perfect life har- mony ever, exists between the sentient and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, the personal and the divine, and no occasion in such a life could arise for self-denial except from without. To act for God in the subordination of the sentient to the spiritual and the temporal to the éternal, is to act on the principle that necessarily unites, elevates, and blesses those who so act, and all that come under the influence of their actions. God is the highest and all-pervading of be- _ ings, whose will is expressed in all right exist- ence and life, and to act for and with God is therefore to act so as must unite to God, and to all that co-operate with Him. And to subordinate the sentient to the spiritual, the temporal to the eternal, is to act in accor- dance with the nature and order of being, and must secure the benefit of all who so act and are influenced by such action. And the principle of Christ, the reign disclosed by Him, is not a mere future state of rewards and punishments appended to the present life of man, but the imperial power of grace reigning by righteousness in the consciousness of the believer, commencing 56 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE with his belief in Jesus, and ever strengthen- ing and enlarging with the experience of his life of faith on earth, and completed in the glory and bliss of the perfect state above. The divine and spiritual are in themselves superior to the sentient and social, especially in the trainmg of man in his present im- perfect condition of being for his next and higher state of existence. And thus the foun- dation, the principle, and the end of Christian morality are different from—nay, the very re- verse of—heathen virtue. In taking a right estimate of the principle of Christ we must carefully distinguish between the accidental and the essential, the occasional and the perpetual, in the elements of Christian con- flict with the world. The self-sacrificing of the Godhead being the highest manifestation of the Divine, and that of all the doings of God which is most glorifying to Him, the training of men in the fellowship of this life must open up the deep capacities of the soul for the enjoyment of the nearest, purest, and sweetest realisations of being and doing. It is the bringing the spirit of man into union with God in the de- _ velopment of his life in fellowship with the A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 57 highest manifestations of the Divine, securing the harmonious co-operation of his powers and faculties with the immutable and eternal, employing him to confer the highest possible benefits on his fellow-men, and thus leading him into the most desirable life he can ever live. And those who refuse to enter upon this fellowship of the life of self-sacrifice not only lose the best of this present condition of existence; but are necessarily awanting in the erand essential qualification for entering upon the realisation of the perfect state of the gracious above. ‘To live in a realised fel- lowship with God is certainly far loftier and sweeter than can be known in a fellowship with self, conscious evil, the world. And the reward to be bestowed upon all those who, by living such a life, advance the reign of grace on earth, must not only bring their completed life of fellowship into the nearest resemblance of the divine, but in so doing open up the deepest capacities of the im- mortal soul for the fullest enjoyment of thrilling bliss, and raise it to the highest condition and employment of the finite above. The great work of the Christian on earth D3 58 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE is yet to be studied by the Church of Christ. Christian work on earth is not the mere escaping from hell, the living for sectarian or individual ends, but the training of the soul in the fellowship of the gracious. If the production of the Divine life in the soul of man be the great work of Godhead, that work to which Jehovah consecrates His all, is man’s life in the fellowship of such a work to be only the losing sight of the vani- ties of the seen and temporal? Is man to achieve nothing worthy of his nature and op- portunities in his fellowship with the Divine? The true life of man is the Divine in the human, the bliss of realising the Divine in the spiritual, the glory of exhibiting to the world the Divine in the life of fellowship. The human is the nearest of capacity for the indwelling of the Divine, and the life and . work of the believer is the life and work of God in him. . Even the working of the marble into the manly beauty of the human body, the caus- ing of the canvas to glow with the linea- ments of the Divine image of man, has grati- fied, dignified, immortalised a Phydias and a Raphael: how much more gratifying, digni- A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 59 fying, and immortalising must be the work of tracing the Divine lineaments on the death- less soul of man! The importance, dignity, and felicity of advancing this work, is un- equalled, unapproached, by any other em- ployment possible to man. And the con- sciousness of its blessedness is seen in the death-bed scenes of a Payson, a Richard Williams, and many others. The great- ness of the soul, the grandeur of the soul’s salvation, the importance of co-operation with God in this work, and the glorious reward of success in it, surpasses the com- prehension of man and angels. The soul—what is it? Capacity for the indwelling of the Divine, for the reception of “all the fulness of the Godhead,” tor the nearest, fullest, sweetest fellowship with the Father of spirits in His highest manifesta- tions and most Godlike work. And where else is this capacity to be met with? It can nowhere else be found than in that which is ereated in the image of God, and begotien of the Father, through the Son and by the Spirit. What has space of this capacity ? It is but a void. What has duration of this capacity? Duration, either as time or eter- “~ 60 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE nity, is but an echo—an indice. What has earth or the planetary systems of this capa- city? They are but the mechanism of con- structive matter. What has vegetable or animal life of this capacity? They cannot perceive, receive, respond to, enter into a oneness of spirit, mind, and life, a conscious fellowship of discernment, co-operation, and joy with the Godhead. No: this in the nature of things is impossible to them; the human, and it alone, can do this. The transformation of the spirit of man into the life of God, that it may enjoy the most intimate fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit, and through this fellowship afford to the gaze of the universe the fullest revelation of the Divine, is the great work of the Godhead. To rear the soul in the conscious possession of this life of fellowship with the Divine is the one great undertaking of Jehovah in all His operations in creation, redemption, and providence; to the accom- plishment of this work He consecrates His being and domg—devotes His all; in the performance of this one end the. Godhead is beheld travelling in the greatness of Its strength ; in effecting this one desire of the a A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 61 Father-heart there is a manifestation of the deepest, most comprehensive conception of the highest perfections and of the grandest doings of Godhead—of the Father giving the Son—of the Son humbling Himself and be- coming obedient to death, ascending to the . majesty of the throne of God, sending the Spirit of the living God to take up His abode in man—of the Spirit submitting Himself to be resisted, quenched, grieved, as He works faith in the heart of man, inducing the soul ‘to yield itself up to Him in the reception of the grace of God, that through that grace man may realise the full fellowship of the Divine. What are all the bubbles of earth’s vani- ties to this one achievement of time! what the great undertakings of men to this one accomplishment of the Godhead! what the work of creation itself in comparison with ‘the manifestation of the sons of God!” If the Godhead has consecrated Its all, sacri- ficed Itself to the performance of this under- taking, must it not be the highest possible even to God Himself? The inner of being is the most important of existence; the developing life of the inner is 62 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE ever throwing off the incrustations of the outer, as it rises in the conditions of its develop- ment. The inner of the plant is higher and of more importance than the inner of a clod, the inner of an animal than the inner of a plant; and the inner of a rational than of an irrational animal, the inner of a spirit than the inner of a mind, and the inner of God than the inner of the creature. Now, itis . to bring out the inner of the Divine, and to inwork i¢ into the capacity of the human, that is the great undertaking of the Godhead in the salvation of the human soul. And, in the fellowship of this work, the believer is the immediate receiver and direct co-ope- rator with God; and it is to this momentous truth that the Saviour refers when he says— “ Whosoever believeth in Me, the works that T do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto the Father.’ The Father-heart of God, in its yearnings towards the filial capacity of the human, comes forth in the manifestations of the Son, and by the operations of the Spirit for the quickening of the immortal soul with the filial of the Divine; and the spirit of man, in its receptions and through the indwelling ° A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 63 of the Divine, in the co-operative fellowship and love of the Divine, rises to the highest attainments of the life of God, the fullest visions of the Infinite and Eternal, the most blissful enjoyment of the Uncreated in all the plenitude of His being, doing, and manifes- tations of Himself. And it is only in working out his own, and in aiding in the salvation of others, that the believer in this life can be a fellow-worker with God in the accomplishment of this His godlike undertaking. And it is this fact that makes life on earth so momentous a period to man. Man is born into this life with a constitution physical and rational, which he carries with him throughout the entire of his existence here below; he may to a certain extent improve or deteriorate this constitu- tion, but he cannot throw it off while in the body. And if in the embryo state he had the power of influencing either his physical or mental constitution, the effect of such influ- ence would be apparent at birth, and be felt by him throughout the entire period of his life on earth. Now, in regard to his after bemg man has such an influence in his present life, which is but the embryo of his 64 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE future existence, and he carries with bim into the eternal the full result of the influence he exerts on his life in his present condition of being. As he leaves the life of time he enters upon the existence of eternity; carries with him his measure of capacity, of habit, of association, of development in the Divine or diabolical; and these determine his posi- tion and condition, the nature and develop- ment of his after existence in either of the eternal worlds. And it is this fact that renders Christian life of such unspeakable importance to man in this sphere and period of his existence. | This is the teaching of Christ, and the doctrine which was needed by the world for man’s well-being in it and the after of his existence. And it is alike distant from the notions of the religionist and the sentiments of the worldling, and yet it is the very doctrine which is in accordance with the constituted order of being, the nature and circumstances of man, and the only doctrine that can act on him so as to quicken and raise him. Man needs the indwelling of God to meet the Divine cravings and fill the deep capacities of his heart. He must be led into the A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 65 pursuit of the true heroic and sublime in order to his being diverted from the enslaving power of the pleasure-seeking, the wealth- acquiring, the place-hunting of the world, the revengeful retaliations of self, the supersti- tious efforts of prejudice, the vain and am- bitious pursuits of his fallen heart. In a careful inspection of the teaching of Christ, it will be seen that it overlooks nothing in the nature or circumstances of man, or in the brotherhood of the race; but is based on a clear and comprehensive recog- nition of the principles, relations, present condition, and end of human existence, and directs man in accordance with these for the true well-being of himself and his brother. Christ’s doctrine clearly teaches that man, in his fallen condition, is necessarily involved in conflict, exposed to ruin, and that his true interests require of him that he diligently and perseveringly co-operates with the aids and facilities secured to him by the gracious manifestations of the Divine, to realise his present good and after bliss. Christ's doc- trine undervalues no earthly good or temporal advantage—by no means; it merely requires 66 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE that when in the circumstances of any indi- vidual there arises, in the present condition of things, a conflict between the spiritual and the sentient, the Divine and the selfish, that the wisdom of the man display itself in preferring the unseen and eternal to the seen and temporal. It assures the disciple that while struggling with the powers of darkness he must main- tain an inner and outer conflict, but that in such he is not left to his own reason, but _has only to co-operate with the Spirit of God _ In the love of the Divine to secure complete triumph, and rise to the loftiest condition and purest life of future existence in this or the life to come. And this principle of Jesus is In accordance with the nature and relations of man. The teaching of Christ exhibits to man his wants—how they are to be filled; his opportunities—how they are to be turned to the best advantage; his responsibilities— and what will be the result of neglecting them, and the reward of attending to their requirements. And He secures to man the grace necessary to enable him to develope his life in accordance with the constituted order A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 67 of being, the law and government of God, and in so doing realise present enjoyment in the pursuit of future glory. We say in the present, for by the indwell- ine of the Divine there is the removal of conscious unrest in man, of the disquiet of the deep instinctive cravings of the human spirit in its outgoings after God; and there is the sweet satisfaction felt in the conscious possession of an indwelling God, the enjoy- ment of a pure and ennobling bliss in the harmonious co-operation of the inner powers of man with the Spirit of the living God. In this lite of fellowship with God there is all that is necessary to engage aright the powers and employ the functions of man in his securing his own present and the good of his fellow-men. In the contemplation and imitation of Christ in the true, heroic, and sublime of his self-sacrifice, there is an end worthy of, well fitted to engross and occupy, all the powers and aspirations of his soul, guide him in his lofty career, and fill him with the purest bliss. Conscious love is the most blissful realisation of the soul; the love of God assimilates into His moral image, and the love of God in the true heroic and sub- 68 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE lime of His doings draws the soul into the nearest likeness of His Son in the divinest elements of His life and death. And the perception of the grandeur of this fellowship, of the brief and uncertain time allotted to man to take part in this work, is well fitted to arouse him to the earnestness and energy necessary to overcome all the obstacles and difficulties of this work, as well as the re- luctances of his fallen heart. Man, in order to the concentration and energy of his life, must have an object and a motive set before him worthy of his powers; but while away from and opposed to God he neither has nor can have such a motive and end of life. Hence his inner unrest, and cravings after pleasure and possessions to satisfy his desires, distinctions and honours to commend him to his fellow-men, and meretricious deeds to recommend him to God. But with the consciousness of the in- dwelling of the Divine in his soul he can afford to make the outer a secondary thing with him, and be able to neglect the false vanities and alluring fascinations of the world’s distinctions and enjoyments, and enter with an enlightened mind and ardent spirit on A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 69 the self-denial which is not an end but a means to his advance in a divine conscious- ness for the promotion of a high and holy cause. Man, called to follow the Son of God in His self-sacrifice of the sentient and momentary for the gain of the spiritual and eternal, in deeds of true and sublime heroism, has a motive and an end presented to him worthy of the divine aspirations of his soul, and adequate to the circumstances of his earthly condition. Man is created and formed for the love and pursuit of the true and sublime, and, conse- quently, must seek for these in the false of the world’s vanities or in the ennobling deeds of a really virtuous life. And where but in the imitation of. Christ in the Divine, of His being and doing, has man an end worthy of his life, or an object capable of drawing him out of the bondage of the seen and temporal, and adequate to enlist him in the devotion of the arduous work of following the Son of God in conferring the highest possible bene- fits on his brother man? As a fallen being, man can live only for self in the perversion of his powers and the degradation of his life, to the injury of his fellow-men; but as a 70 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE regenerated individual, in the imitation of Christ he can live for the high end of his existence in the bestowment of divine benefits on his fellow-men. And how blessed and illustrious is the Christian’s life compared with that of the man of the world. What are the gratifications of the man of pleasure compared with the inner joys of the Christian, ‘‘the luxury of doing good.” The pursuit of pleasure as an end necessarily disappoints the pleasure-seeker his gratifications are never pure in them- selves, and are ever followed with more or less of the pangs of regret and self-reproach; whereas the inner joys of the man of God are ever pure and welling; they are secured with- out any misgiving or any pang of regret, ever in the consciousness of the Divine; and the deeper they are drunk into the more do they sweeten and elevate the life that realises them. — And what are the gains of the man of wealth compared with the unsearchable riches which endure unto everlasting life? The wealth of the man of the world is but a temporary possession, and at best it is held only by the — frail thread of mortal life, and not unfre- quently by a briefer grasp, and his riches are A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. at often acquired and held to the injury and degradation of his soul; whereas the riches which endure unto life everlasting can neither be acquired nor possessed but by enlarging, elevating, and blessing the soul of him who acquires them. And what are the positions and honours of the world compared with the immortal crowns and unfading glories which are to be bestowed upon all who love the appearing of God’s Son? The outer attain- ments of this life are at best but dazzling and evanescent; but the acquirements of the Divine in the spiritual are ever sweetening, enlarging, purifying, and elevating the con- sciousness of the believer, and they can never be lost, nor possessed with any accompani- ments of regret. The feeding of the poor, the relieving of the wretched, the recovering from crime, the enkindling of the life of God in the soul of man, the advancing of the kingdom of right- eousness and peace in the world, are in them- selves far more beneficial and ennobling deeds than the doings of the warrior, the devices of cabinet ministers, the efforts of statesmen, the speculations of philosophers, the dis- coveries of science, the achievements of art, wv? Pa Toe CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE and cast into the shade of insignificance the elitter of earthly crowns and courtly diadems. And all that is necessary to enable man to live in the performance of such illustrious deeds, is to inbreathe the Spirit of Christ, believe the truth as revealed in and by Him, live in the fellowship of the Divine lite, and shine in the meekness and gentleness of devotedness to Him in the respective spheres and different functions of social life. It is not in standing in the true, but in the false relations; not in the constitutional, but m the perverted employment of his powers, that man sins; and Christ, in His exhibition of, humanity to men in His own incarnate life and death, shows them what their nature in union with the Divine may become, do, and rise to. | The self-denial, then, which Christ demands of His followers, is not a requiring of them to ignore the substances, principles, relations, privileges, and advantages of their nature and lives; but the meekly bearing with evil, in the reception and manifestation of the Divine, tor the rescue of their own and the lives of their fellow-men from sin and destruction. It is not an effort to commend themselves to God. A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. ba but to amputate, blister, and purge out of themselves whatever in them stands in the way of their reception of the Divine, or re- strains them in the gracious co-operation with God on behalf of others. It is in the sacri- fice of whatever se/f in them yields not to, receives not, nor co-operates with the Di- vine, that they put forth true self-sacrifice. Self-denial is the refusal of the sinful, and self-sacrifice in its highest forms is the bear- ing with the opposition of the sinful for the overthrow of sm in them. And until an in- dividual is led to see and keep carefully before him “the mark for the prize of the high call- ing of God in Christ Jesus,” he will neither engage in genuine self-denial nor self-sacri- fice. It is not a supercilious spirit of over- weening conceit, or a vain conception of superiority to others, but the realisation of the Divine, that fits man for deeds of highest benevolence, and imparts a readiness to seize every befitting opportunity of manifesting the erace that is through Christ Jesus, so as to allure others to the enjoyment of the same. And to induce men so to act, they are assured that all the gifts of nature, all the overrulings E 74 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE of providence, all the manifestations of the Divine, are put within the reach of man for his elevation to glory and bliss; and all that ) is needed for the transformation of the world is the inbreathing, on the part of every man, of the self-sacrificing spirit, the understand- ing of the nature and principles of human well-being, and the acting in accordance with such. But man stood in need, not only of the in- | breathing of the spirit of self-sacrifice, and of the knowledge of the principle of well-being, but also of an example of perfect life. Man, not having of himself the idea of a perfect life, must look beyond himself for an example of such. Man by nature is a creature of imi- tation; he ever has followed, and he ever will follow, example. By a glance he will be made to feel the force of an example, and understand how to copy it. The efforts to indoctrinate him in theory, and lead him into the under- standing of principle, not only require time and patience, but, without the benefit of an accompanying example, will be found ineffi- cient. A child asked to do what he has never seen done, will go about the doing of it in a very different manner from the one who A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 75 has witnessed its performance. And fallen man in the things of God is an unpractised child. Example has a powerful infiuence with man; hence the necessity and importance of Christ setting before the world the attrac- tive power of a perfect example of life. And this Christ.has done. He has not only bréathed into man a spirit of self-sacrifice, announced the principle of self-denial, but He has also exemplified to him a perfect life. And in order to Christ’s perfect life having its proper influence on His followers, the ex- ample of Jesus as the model life of humanity and examplary death of man, must receive from His disciples the attention which its im- portance demands; for until they are led to — believe that His life and death is to be the model of theirs, they will not derive from His example the strength necessary to the proper discharge of their duties to Him and to their fellow-men. He is the perfect example of His people; and His spirit, life, and death should be studied and imitated by them in every position, circumstance, and action of life. While endeavouring to sketch a mere out- line of the life of Jesus for the purpose of HZ 76 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE learning more fully the example He has left us, we altogether shrink from the responsi- bility of delineating His perfect character, or describing with exactness the every feature of His divine life. Such has not been done, even by the pen of inspiration; and if holy men of God, as moved by the Holy Ghost, have not attempted to supply men with a full portrait of His perfect life, it would be the highest presumption and most unjustifiable arro- gance in any one, however gifted, and more especially in one content to occupy the position of an ordinary writer, to attempt to do so. The life of Jesus was perfect, both as re- gards God and man, in private and in public; and His death was all that was necessary for the glory of God in the salvation of man. His was the only life ever lived upon earth — which in every respect can be a model of imi- tation to all others. There was nothing in it defective, superfluous, or misplaced. Nothing in it that can be desired to be otherwise than it is. His dispositions, principles, and motives were all that they should have been. He regarded the authority of His Father as supreme, beneficent, and right in all things ; and He set God before Him in all that He A DIVINE REVELATION TO: MAN. oh was, said, and did. As a child, a youth, a man, He glorified God in the entire of His being and doing. He was original without being pedantic, profound without being obscure, clear without being com- monplace. In all His intercourse with men. He was impartial; never swayed by mere friendship on the one hand, or biased by prejudice or dislike on the other. He was meek, gentle, calm, dignified, and majestic in all His interviews or dealings with men. He was never allured into the pursuit of the vanities of the world, neither did He ever neglect, or discharge imperfectly, one duty to God or to man. He moved in society, taught in the temple, synagogues, and places of public resort, as well as in private companies; performed His miracles, prepared for His death, and yielded up His spirit, in a manner that was glorifying to God and beneficent to man. He was the obe- dient son, the diligent student, the patient. labourer, the resigned sufferer, the glorious martyr, the self-sacrificing victim of sin—in all things the perfect example. In childhood he grew up in favour with God and man; in youth he blended zeal for 78 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE the glory of His Father in Heaven in perfect harmony with reverence for the authority of His parents on earth, so conducting Himself as to offend neither, but always to satisfy and please both. In all His actions He mani- fested a deep insight into the requirements of man, and ever displayed a perfect knowledge and a profound regard for the things of God. He readily inquired into the principles of being, the duties of religion, the obligations of life, and ever conducted Himself in com- plete accordance with these; He unostenta- tiously, diligently, and perseveringly complied with the conditions of His position and cir- cumstances at all times. There was nothing of anxiety, moroseness, sadness, or melan- cholic despondency in Him; no ascetic sour- ness, no misanthropic seclusion, no violent fervour of zeal, no fanatic censoriousness of pride, no base wavering in moments of temp- tation, nor any bigoted obstinacy of preju- dice in either His private or public lite. Wherever He saw good He honoured it, and commended it under all its drawbacks, and He could discover it under the many cover- ings of self which often encased it. He was never elated by success, nor depressed with A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 79 oppression or disaster. At no time was He enslaved by a consciousness of weakness, a sense of imperfection, or a conviction of wrong, nor was He ever cowed by the ire of His adversaries; but was ever calm in the clear perception of the dignity of His character, the greatness of the work He was engaged in, a knowledge of what was necessary for its performance, and a conviction of its ultimate success. He combined, as no other ever did, majesty with meekness, zeal with prudence, eamtleness with firmness, patience with sensi- biity, dignity with submissiveness, ardent attachment with impartial discernment, the decision of courage with the tenderness of love, the demeanour of the sovereign with the serenity of the martyr. And in His teaching He disclosed, in clear and luminous truth, without one shade of error, the nature and character of God, the condition and wants of nan, and the principle of human well-being. He moved among all classes of men and phases of character without flattering or fawn- ng upon either the one or the other. He ‘aught clearly, warned faithfully, and rebuked mdauntedly. He unswervingly declared the vill of God and the duties of men wherever 80 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE He went. He kept society with publicans, harlots, and Pharisees, without the slightest touch of sin, taint of immorality, or tarnish of self-righteousness. He was present at the wedding, the feast, and the funeral; He toox part in the Temple services and in the syné- gogue devotions ; and His heart beat im synt- pathy with each and all of these. He slighted not the rich, but took rank with the poor, aud founded His kingdom in the affections of the lowly; but by no garnished inducements dd He seek to allure adherents to His cause. He clearly pointed out to all the trials thy would have to encounter, the sacrifices they would have to make, the persecutions they must needs endure in following Him. He affectionately spoke to men of their danger of everlasting ruin, and clearly pointed out to them the necessity of immediate repentance ; impressively set before them the amazing love of God to men in giving His Son for their salvation, and the rich rewards He would bestow upon the faithful in His cause He was never indisposed or unprepared to exert Himself in rescuing the wretched, no1 did He ever send any away to return back at a more convenient season, but seized every | A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 81 befitting opportunity of benefiting the bodies as well as the souls of men. He forgot His own fatigue, exhaustion, and hunger, to un- burden the guilt of poor oppressed spirits whenever they came in His course; and He hesitated not to brave the dangers of His awful death, that He might carry the con- solations of His love to the bleeding hearts of the sorrowing sisters He had frequently conversed with in happier moments. No transient weakness from within, artful tempta- tion or fierce persecution from without, could even for one moment divert Him from His onward career of piety and beneficence. And as he demanded that all relations of life should be sacrificed to Him, so He readily sacrificed Himself for the benefit of this poor suffering world of ours. He was poor and houseless, hungry and weary, despised, scorned, insulted, crucified, and derided; but He was never disheartened, nor did He ever repine, or bewail His lot. He was forsaken by His friends, betrayed by His disciple, deserted by His Father; but was never peevish nor desponding, and lived and died in faith. He was perfectly free from the folly, in- justice, and ungodliness of men; there was E 3) 82 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE nothing of self-seeking, vanity, egotism, covetousness, revenge, selfishness, careless- ness, imprudence, or waste in all His deal- ings with men. Neither was He indifferent about the approbation of God or the esteem of men. ‘There was nothing of scepticism, rationalism, bigotry, or idolatry in His thoughts about religion or in His feelings towards God; but He was filial:and fraternal in His love, intelligent in His perceptions, and pious in His devotions. His heart beat in the purest affection that ever rose to the em- brace of God, and went forth in the most generous emotions of brotherly love to en- twine itself around every member of the race. So filial and fraternal were the risings of His heart, that when confronted with the most appalling and tremendous demands that could ever be made for the glory of God and the vood of man, He hesitated not to say, in the full view of His unparalleled sufferings, ‘‘ Not my sentient desires, but Thy will be done.” In His life He was free from every bias of fallen humanity, and perfect in His death as the sinless one. While living the most active life ever spent on earth, and devoting His days to A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 83 the welfare of men, He kept in the closest fellowship with His God, and consecrated whole nights of prayer to communion with His Father, He was clear and transparent as the light of heaven, and pure and peaceful as the Spirit of God. He had nothing to conceal, for He was free from all artfulness of purpose and had no consciousness of guilt. He never confessed a sin, or acknowledged in any sense to any one a wrong, but stood in the presence of God and before the world in the clear consciousness of an untroubled spirit. He claimed for himself, in solemn address to His Father, the merit of a perfect obedience to all that was required of Him, and challenged His enemies to convict or convince Him of sin. He had nothing to withhold or keep back from the gaze of any, but was at all times ready to impart Himself and bestow His all to all that were willing to receive Him. He was ever serene in His soul and consistent in His life, affording to men the only example of an unfaltering career of devotedness to the glory of God and self-sacrifice for the good of men. He was tranquil amid the severest temptations that ever assailed a 84 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE being on earth, and patient under the greatest wrongs ever done to any individual in exist- ence. He was meek, gentle, and composed in the deepest distress and suffering possible to any in time; He was reverent and re- signed under the hidings of His Father’s face, and forgiving amid the grossest ingra- titude ever displayed by man. His life was the life of a perfect man, and His death the death of the incarnate God. The closer His life and death are studied, the more intimately His character is scanned, the deeper and more fervent will be the reve- rence with which He will be regarded. His innocence was so apparent on His trial, the majesty of His character so conspicuous, that His judge felt appalled, and instinctively shrunk back from the guilt of condemning Him, and tried by every expedient he could devise to escape from the dire necessity of perpetrating so foul a deed; and when he failed in every effort to which he could betake himself to discern an escape, with trembling at the deed he was perpetrating, he con- demned to the cross the being whom in his heart he believed to be innocent, and insanely imagined he could remove from his con- A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 85 science the guilt of so base and perfidious a deed by washing his hands with water token of the innocence of Him he pronounced deserving of the ignominy of crucifixion. The example of Christ is different from that of the man of the world—so opposite as never to have been equalled, no, not even ap- proached or aimed at, by any of the sons of Adam. ‘The spirit, mind, and life of Christ, received by believing in Jesus, is the believer's realisation of the new birth of repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus; for what is the new birth but the inbreathing of the Spirit of Christ on the part of man? what is repentance towards God, but man’s turning in life from the principle of the world to the principle of the life of Christ? and what 1s faith in the Lord Jesus, but seeing the in- visible of the heart of God as manifested in Christ, and apprehended by belief in Jesus? The spirit, principle, and example of Christ are the very reverse of the world’s; they are the adequate power of the world’s well-being, and the only power of the world’s peace, glory, and bliss. It is, inthe nature of things, an utter impossibility for a human being to breathe the spirit of Christ, love his prin- 86 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE ciple, and copy His example, without realis- ing, in the measure of his so doing, peace, dignity, and bliss. He cannot breathe the same spirit, live on the same principle, and: realise the same life as Christ, without being raised out of the suffering, degradation, and strife of his inner wretchedness, and made superior to the evils which are in the world. How then comes it, it may be asked, that the world, after nearly eighteen centuries of the Church’s existence on earth, is not raised out of its suffering, degradation, and strife ? The question deserves the most serious con- sideration; and yet the reply is easy and near at hand. It is because the world has not as yet by faith received Christ in His spirit, mind, and life. And the reason why the world has not as yet received Christ in His spirit, mind, and life, is twofold—viz., the world’s preferring its own spirit, principle, and life to that of Christ’s; and the churches failmg to present Christ to the world in His true ‘spirit, principle, and life. The spirit, principle, and example of Jesus were needed by the world, and are all that are necessary for the elevation of man to the enjoyment of the divine life. It was the exhibition of A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 8s the spirit, principle, and example of Christ, in the preaching of the Gospel by the apostles, that “turned the world upside down” in their days; and whenever and wherever such are exhibited in the preaching of “ the Cross,” the same results will. be seen to follow. The doctrine of Jesus is, that man, in order to well-being, must live in the love of God and of his fellow-men; that this life of love is possible to man while on earth only in the spirit of self-sacrifice; that this life is in itself the most useful, dignified, and blessed ; that the only opportunity man will ever have of living this life is his present condition of existence; and that all who live this life in time will reign with Him throughout the eternal ages in the loftiest, most glorious, and blessed condition of finite existence. The losing sight of these phases of Chris- tian life was the great mistake of the Church after the Apostles were gathered to their fathers; and that, in a low state of piety, she, in order to escape fierce and cruel persecu- tions, should have entered into alliance with the State, is not to be matter of wonder; but, in so doing, she perceived not that she 88 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE exchanged the glory and bliss of the spiritual, for the security and wealth of the worldly. And that, in the fellowship of a State Church, the love of distinction and enjoyment should have led individuals to lose sight of “the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ,’ and seek for honour and grati- fication in ecclesiastical rank,’ crusades, honours of Knight-Templars, monastic seclu- sion, and nunnery solitude; or that the orders of ecclesiasticism should have usurped the power and perverted the piety of the Church of the world, should be no matter of surprise. And to the non-perception of the high place given by Christ to brotherly love, and to the importance of every disciple fol- lowing Him in the regeneration of the world, is to be traced the chief cause of the failure of the great efforts and earnest endeavours of the Reformation. And that the Reformers should have been blinded against the per- ception of brotherly love and the great im- | portance of following Christ in the regenera- tion of the world, by their contentions about abstract principles, is what might have been looked for. The wisdom of Christ is conspicuous in the A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 89 order established by Him in His Church. The influence of the world, and the remaining corruption in the disciple, must be overcome by a counter pressure brought to bear upon the disciple. And such Christ supplies in the motive, principle, and reward of following Him in the regeneration of the world. And it is to the want of giving due attention to Christ’s arrangements, and to no defect in His plan, that the apparent failure of the Gospel is to be traced. Man must have or seek after enjoyment, distinction, posses- sions, religious attainments; and the enjoy- ments to which Christ calls man’s attention are pure and without alloy; the possessions He enables him to acquire are inner, and far superior to outer; the distinctions He holds out to man are lofty and enduring; and the religious possessions He gives are necessary and adequate. An atmosphere of Christian society only requires to be created in the Church, in which Christ will be seen to be the grand luminary of life; a state of thought and desire in which to imitate and become lke to Christ will be felt to be the ruling passion of the soul; then the things and circumstances of 90 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE the individual, family, and social life of man, will fall into their proper places; then there will be no conferring with or conformity to the corruptions of fallen nature; but each individual in his proper sphere will become obedient to his heavenly vision, and the cast of Christian society will not be such as allures the youth and weak of Christian lands into the pursuit of the vanities of the world, but to the life of Christ. This spiritual sphere of spirituality will draw the thoughts and feelings of man to their proper objects; and Christ has given to the world this atmo- sphere in which man can freely breathe in accordance with his nature, in which he can find an object worthy of his being, to which he can consecrate all his powers, and find a motive adequate to all the conditions, contin- gencies, and hindrances of his life. Let this true atmosphere of spiritual being, which has been secured to man by Christ, be regarded by His disciples as the one end of their existence —understood, appreciated, and pursued, as the soldier, the lawyer, the physician, the scholar, the merchant, and the tradesman appreciate and devote themselves to the end of their calling; and then they will consecrate them- A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 9] selves and their all to this, the one end of their existence. Let but the spiritual and divine of man's being and opportunities be as well understood and appreciated as the sentient and social of his existence, and then it will be seen and acknowledged that the deed of the widow casting her mite into the treasury of the Lord is more illustrious by far in itself, and more important in its results, than all the hoardings of the millionaire; that the Bible- woman is far greater in her walk of bene- volence than the belle of fashion in her flauntings before the gay; that the teacher in the Sabbath-school is nobler in himself, and more illustrious in his deed, than the titled frequenter of the ring and the racecourse, or the peer in his bettings and sports; that the encourager of the ragged-school, the rescuer of the city Arab, the reliever of the wretched, are far more glorious in their doings than the leaders of armies, the makers of fortunes, the worshippers of applause. The life of a John Faulk, a Dr. Fliedner, a Howard, or a Whitfield, is far nobler in itself, more bene- ficent in its results, than the life of a Napo- leon, a Loyola, a Leo, or a Constantine. G2, CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE Let but the heads of families, of societies, of communities, and of the nations of the earth, be but earnest in breathing the Spirit of Christ, and prudent in their endeavours, while occupying their positions and discharg- ing the functions of their several standings in society, to bring all within the influence of Christian principle as they exert their legiti- mate influence over all who come under their control or into contact with them, and what a divine power would they exert! what illus- trious deeds would they perform! What is needed is, that each professing Christian breathe the pure and joyous Spirit of Christ, exert his legitimate influence in his own sphere, and properly discharge the duties of his calling in life. Christianity is designed and adapted for all men, in all circumstances and conditions of life on earth and existence in heaven, and requires no one to leave his own position, or to occupy himself with anything foreign to his sphere in life, for his promoting Christianity in the world. It is said of our illustrious Queen, that when certain heathen visitants inquired of her the secret of England’s great- ness, that she led them not to her arsenals A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 93 and dockyards, or to a review of her army and fleet; but took a Bible, and presenting it to them said, “‘ This is the secret of England’s greatness.’ In the doing of this, she moved not out of the sphere of her legitimate influ- ence, but occupied the most sublime position, performed the most illustrious deed of her reion. We have heard of a leader of the House of Lords, while seeking for health on the banks of the Nile, engaging in the labours of the colporteur, to circulate the Scriptures in lands of darkness. In such doings he was not out of his proper sphere of influence, but engaged in nobler work than while leading the British peers in their deliberations. It is also said of the Prime Minister of England, that he is in the habit of teaching in a Sab- bath-school; and in such a deed he is not beyond, but in, his proper sphere; and in so conducting himself, we hesitate not to say that he is making himself more illustrious, and securing for himself a nobler reward, than he will ever achieve in his place in the House of Commons, or by presiding in Cabinet Coun- cils. Let all who occupy prominent positions in society follow like courses, and their deeds will be truly ereat, beneficent to others and g4 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE blessed to themselves. And in such they will only be doing their duty; and by the univer- sality of such deeds they will do much to re- move the temptation which exists of idolising those who occasionally engage in such doings, which idolatry is a great evil in itself, and baneful in its results. We desire to bring no railing accusation against any man, for we hold firmly that no one has any right to do such; but we would earnestly ask of those professing to follow Jesus, who frequent theatres, balls, race- courses, betting saloons, midnight revelling parties, and such like, to ponder carefully their humanity, their means and opportunities of Christian life, their responsibilities, and the glorious rewards of Christian enterprise, and see if such frequenting, while souls are perishing in ignorance, while neglected out- casts are sinking in crime, while sick children and indigent adults are pining in starvation in their own immediate neighbourhoods—if it would not be more beneficent, noble, and blessed, more Christian in them, to direct their attention to the wants of their fellow- men, and exert their time, means, and oppor- tunities to the rescue of immortal souls from A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 95 ruin, and introduce them into the pure en- joyments of Christian life. And we would ask of those in humble society, who worry themselves in toiling with might and main to make gain and acquire position, that they may imitate the vain and frivolous deeds of those in higher classes, if it would not be far more satisfactory, and nobler in itself, for them to seize their opportunities, and consecrate their means to the true deeds of a Christian life. And thus each class, and each individual in his class, would live as becomes him, and realise the deep, pure, elevating, and enduring comfort of Christian life. Jesus, in exhibiting before the world the spirit of self-sacrifice, in revealing the Divine purpose and power, and in affording a perfect example of Christian life as He calls men to the performance of the most illustrious deeds, has displayed the deep insight, comprehen- siveness of His mind, and the wisdom of His plan. The losing sight of the true dignity of man, the necessary requirements of his well-being, the glorious rewards of his Chris- tian calling, and substituting in their place escape from hell, sorrow for sin, and the 96 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE self-denial of asceticism, has wrought unspeak- able mischief in the Church, and done great evil to the world. Man, as instructed by » Christ, is not to endeavour to love and live for God in order to escape from hell and get to heaven; but in the enlightened love of God for what He is in Himself and for what He ig to us, and in the perception of the true dignity of his own nature, man is to strive to. live worthy of his being, means, and oppor- tunities. And he is to be animated the more to this endeavour by the consideration of the brief period and uncertain opportunities of his _ probation on earth, and the conviction that in no other sphere of his existence can he engage in such illustrious deeds. The love of glory, the desire of distinction, and the craving after enjoyment being ennate in man, nothing that really robs of such, or fails to secure it to him, can long occupy his concentrated attention, or engage his entire powers. To seek heaven in order to escape hell, to serve God for the benefit of self, to despise the things of time in order to gain those of eternity, is to mistake the nature of Christian salvation, and to stumble on the threshold of a noble career. And to pursue he ’ A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 97 this nobler career, the disciple must see, that as the Master, “for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame,” so must he “rejoice and be — exceeding glad when reviled and persecuted falsely,” knowing in the consciousness of such he “as blessed, and that great is his reward in heaven.” By inspiring men with the love of God, and alluring them to the imita- tion of His own true heroic and sublime deeds, Christ supplies man with the only principles and motives adequate to a successful en- ‘counter and triumph over the evils of his “present state, and necessary to his turning these evils to an occasion of highest possible ' advantage to himself and others. The disciple of Jesus, engaging in acts of self-sacrifice from love to God and to his fellow-men—perfecting his own salvation in doing whatever he can, in accordance with his position and circumstances in life, to promote the salvation of others—lives the most glorious of all possible lives on earth... The disciple of Jesus is never to forget that the glory which Christ now enjoys in heaven, and will enjoy to all eternity, is not the glory which belongs to Him as “‘the Brightness of F 98 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE His Father's glory,” but that which has been won by Him in His life and death of self- sacrifice on earth. And this is the glory which He shares with His disciples, as is seen from His address to His Father, when He says—‘ The glory which Thow hast given Me I have gwen them.’ And, in speaking of His disciples, in reference to their carrying out His works, He says— Greater works than these that I do shall ye do, because I go to My Father. And hence, in telling them of the importance of their co-operating with Him, He assures them that they which followed Him in the regeneration of the world should sit with Him on thrones of glory and power m the world to come. - The life of devotedness to the cause of Christ is not only in itself the most glorious, but also the most blessed, a man can live on earth. No delusion regarding Christianity is ereater than the one which contemplates the Christian consciousness as one of narrow, morose, and sad realisation. The Chris- tian’s is a far happier life than that of the man of the world. Happiness will never disclose her lovelier beauties to, or bestow her A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 99 choicest favours on, the pleasure-seeker, the joys of whom are like “ the cracklings of the thorns under the pot;” but the delights of the Christian are pure, deep, and enduring. The happiness of the Christian consists in a con- scious union and communion with God pitt an exchange of hearts, in the giving of a pure affection, the reception of the sweetest out-flowings of the Divine, the conscious- ness of being guided and upheld by un- erring wisdom and infallible power, the liy- ing for the highest possible ends, the con- sciousness of employing the best and most adapted means for the accomplishment of the most glorious and blessed ends, and in the consciousness of living in accordance with the will of the Father, and the end for which the Son became incarnate, suffered, and died. And thus it is that Christ be- queathed to His disciples “ His joy; and this is no ostentatious bequeathment, but one worthy of Christ to bestow; and in reference to this joy He says, that whosoever believeth in Him should have “ rivers of living waters flowing up in his belly.” And that the self. denial He enjoins requires no ascetic life is clear from His declaration that whosoever F 2 100 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE forsook father or mother, brother or sister, wife and children, houses and lands, for His sake and the gospel’s, should in the present world HAVE FAR MORE THAN WOULD COMPENSATE FOR THEIR Loss, and in the world to come, life everlasting. And the life of the Christian in the world is of such importance as to throw into the shade of obscurity every other life that can be brought into comparison with it. It is a life lived in rescuing man from endless de- struction; it is a life spent in retracing on his immortal spirit the image of God’s own Son; it is a life devoted to the raising up of miserable beings to the enjoyment of the loftiest honours and purest felicities possible to the finite. The salvation of the soul is so stupendous, glorious, and blessed a work, that, in comparison with it, creation itself pales into insignificance. Such is the Divine estimate of the importance of the soul’s salvation, that no labour, no pains, no sacri- fice possible even to Godhead itself, has been thought too great to be devoted to its accom- plishment. The work of human redemption is so regarded by Christ as that He has occupied Himself with it from the unbeginning A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 101 ages, and consecrated to its achievement all that He is, ever can be, or do, and believes that in its accomplishment He performs the ereatest undertaking Godhead can engage in. And so highly does He estimate the least effort of the disciple in co-operation with Him in this work, that He declares He will regard such as done unto Himself, and honour it with a gracious reward. And not the least part of the benignity and wisdom of Christ’s plan is His arrange- ment that every disciple can take a part with Him in the regeneration of the world, and share with Him in its gloridus and blessed rewards. Whatever may be his position and sphere of action in life, there is work for every disciple to do; and no disciple fol- lowing Christ in the regeneration of the world requires to leave his position in society, or to alter his circumstances in the scale of social life. All that is required of him is to so live by faith in the contemplation and reception of the Divine, as to be able: to consecrate himself and his all to shme in the beauty of Christian life as he dis- charges the duties of his respective calling. By so living he will be able to win souls to 102 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE Jesus, not by the ostentatious display of trumpet-sounding, but bythe silent exhibi- ' tion of true Christian vitality, enabling him to let ‘his light so shine before others, that they, beholding his good deeds, may glorify his Father in heaven.” The good deeds of the genuine disciple are not the fruit, flowers, leaves, twigs, and stems of artificial work, but the genuine stem, twig, foliage, blossom, and fruit of the divine vitality of Christian life. The spirit, principle, and example of Jesus is the only power which, in the very nature of things, can meet the deep necessities of fallen humanity, and prove themselves the true leverage of man’s genuine elevation and bliss. And the spirit, principle, and example of Christ, whensoever and wheresoever they have been received and acted upon, have ever proved themselves to be the power adequate to meet the wants and supply the necessities of all mankind for well-being, both in time and for eternity; indeed, they are such that it is absolutely impossible for them to be received and acted upon without securing the well-being of all who do receive — and act upon them. The spirit of self- - sacrifice is not only the most Divine in itself, A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 103 but is such that, in order to fallen man being raised to glory and bliss, must be received and acted upon by him. Nothing short of such can raise man out of the con- sequences of his fall. And the exhibition of this principle of life in the view of the world, not only to allure men to the belief of His truth, but likewise to compel His disciples through life to in- breathe His Spirit and copy His example, not only proves Christ's deep insight into the wants and necessities of human well- being, but into the true character and efficiency of His own truth. To draw humanity out of its downward course into the way of life necessitates the highest con- ceivable manifestation of Divine love, and the most striking example of self-sacrifice, possible to the incarnate God. The only effectual method of ejecting the evil spirit from the life of man is to quicken the human soul with the Spirit of God. This ejectment of the diabolic by the Divine Spirit is in accordance with the constitution of humanity, the nature of being, and the will of God. The soul of man is created as much for the indwelling of the Divine as his 104 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF. TO BE body for the indwelling of his soul; and the soul of man can no more live the Divine life without the indwelling of the Divine Spirit, than the body of man can live a physical life without the indwelling of his soul. And since the Divine is the all-important in the- spiritual of man, so nothing short of the indwelling of the Divine can satisfy the deep cravings of his immortal spirit, and invigo- rate his powers for a life of well-bemg. If the spirit of a man be right, then, sooner or later, all things in him will be right; but if — the spirit of the individual be wrong, then nothing in him can be right. And how the Church can most effectually co-operate with the risen Redeemer in baptising the world with His Spirit, should be matter of thought- ful’ consideration to all Christian mothers, teachers of youth, leaders of Christian opin- ion, and re-modellers of the social life of man. If individual man would look to God, in Christ, for the supply of his wants, sinful and natural, and act in accordance with the constitution of his nature, then would peace and prosperity prevail over all the earth; wars, crime, litigations, and disputes would A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 105 cease; society would be freed from all its incubuses; life would be true and energetic; labour in the different callings of man would be felt to be honourable, dignified, and wisely pursued; nature would be wrought upon in accordance with her laws; the constitution of man would be carefully and correctly stucied, known, and co-operated with; man’s wants would be all duly supplied; poverty would cease, and indigence be unknown; abundance would everywhere prevail, and — the universal brotherhood of man rejoiced in all over the globe; the golden age would dawn, the millennial reign commence; the kingdoms of this world would become the kinedoms of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; "all would be blessed in Him, and all would call Him blessed. _ The genuine love of humanity, or delight in the true estate of man, inbreathed from the Spirit of God, fosters in the disciple of Christ the true spirit of religion, of philosophy, of science, of literature, of art, of refinement, of personal purity—in one word, of the true well-being of all individuals in the several conditions of human society. And although certain individuals are to be found possessed 106 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE of the Spirit of Christ without much informa- tion in connection with these departments of human well-being, this fact can easily be accounted for without in the least imvali- dating the above statement. The Spirit of Christ begets in the enlightened believer a sympathy with true progress in all these phases of real advancement, and as oppor- tunity enables him he will be found culti- vating the genuine principles of civilisation, and making progress in all that is worthy of and beneficent to man. And this is what Christianity is really effecting in the earth. She is not only bap- tising individuals, but communities, with the Spirit of the Divine, and as she advances she overcomes the spirit of selfishnes’, which retards the true progress of man, and leavens society with right dispositions and correct ideas of true well-being. She overlooks no veal element of human welfare, but attends to the individual, the family, the social, and the national progress of man. She neither disregards, depreciates, ner overlooks any genuine want, desire, faculty, power, capa- city, or end of human existence, but seeks and promotes the harmonious satisfaction of ee A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 107 all the cravings of humanity in all the indi- viduals of the race. The love of benefiting man leads to the investigation of his true nature, his real ’ wants, the genuine principles and powers of his recovery, and of his onward progress; in short, to whatever is conducive to his com- fort.and happmess. And the Christian, in seeking the good of others, exercises, in the best method, the true means of promoting his own. The love of shining in the Divine leads to the perception of the boundless ca- pacities of the human for the reception and indwelling of the Divme. The knowledge of the fact that humanity is the true temple of the Spirit of God—far more than space or matter, animal or angelic existence; that the filial heart of man is the only true resting- place of the Father-heart of God; that the incarnate life of faith in Jesus is the only true and adequate life of man; that the love of God is the essence of religion, the primary element of human bliss, the infallible security of man’s well-being for time and eternity; and that the beauty of holiness is the glory of God in man, and man’s glory in God, and guarantee of the highest prosperity m indi- ~ 108 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE vidual and social man, leads to the closer study of these things. The love of depending on God for all that we are and hope to become, is the true principle and only condition of well- : being in the life of a rational creature. It leads man to perceive that the awakening in his heart of love to God is the only infallible evidence to him of the existence and eager desire of God to possess and fill that heart; of His determination not to refrain from doing anything or giving anything that Godhead can accomplish or part with, to possess and fill the heart of man with His love and presence. It algo leads man to see that the giving of his heart in love to God is the most rational, beneficial, and safe deed a human being can ever perform; and thus the spirit of self-sacrifice is seen. to be the true Spirit of God in man, and the very essence of human glory and bliss. The spirit, principle, and example of Christ, in order to become effectual in bringing about this state of things in the world, must be | exhibited by the Church to man in theor own pure light; this is the great necessity of all times for human well-being. The Church is commanded by her Head to feed His lambs * A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 109 as well as to pasture His sheep, and in this advanced period of Christianity the Church will do well to give marked attention to the lambs, and see that her dealing with them chiefly consists in her inbreathing into them the Spirit of Christ. She must also be tender in her treatment of youth, affection- ately striving to mature in them the same spirit; and in her efforts with those of maturer age she must hold up to their view the one spirit, principle, and example, the glorious prospects, the divine opportunities, the gra- cious means, the solemn responsibilities of men in connection with “their high calling - of God in Christ.” She must exhibit in her operations the spirit of self-sacrifice, and show to man that this spirit must be in- haled from the first to the last of his pro- fession of Christianity on earth. | The Christian mother must rear her infant in the Spirit of Christ; the Christian instructor of youth must train his pupils in the Spirit of Christ; the Christian employer of men and women, while requiring of them the labour he hires them to perform, must, in all his intercourse with them, exhibit the Spirit of Christ; and the Christian brother- , a 110 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE hood must seek to live in the conviction that the one thing in winning others to Christ, and advancing the life of faith in believers, is to. exhibit the Spirit of Jesus in all that they are and do, and not to endeavour, by moral reformations as auxiliaries to the Church, to prepare men for faith in Christ. | If the earnest mother, with the most sincere effort and assiduous care, teach her child the most beautiful. and appropriate prayer, and lead her infant to utter the most fervent supplications ever whispered in the ear of God, and at the same time instil into her child the spirit of vanity, ambition, egotism, self, all her maternal solicitude for the religious education of her child will, by her fostering in him such a spirit, be thrown away. If the teacher of youth indoctrinate his pupils into a knowledge of the purest truth ever apprehended by the mind of man, and at the same time infuse and foster in them the spirit of vain glory, worldly ambi- tion, self, or inculcate the very truth itself in the spirit of severity and harshness, making religion a drug instead of a cordial to them, he will spend his labour for worse than nought. If the public instructor of men in A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 111 “the truth as m Jesus’ employ his time . and opportunities in directing their attention to self-righteousness, moralities, creeds, rites, ceremonies—and not to the spirit, mind, life, death, and ascension of Christ—he will retard, instead of advance, the cause of Jesus in the world. The Spirit of God will not regenerate or sanctify a soul by sectarianism, morality, self-righteousness—no, nor by any other instrumentality than the spirit, mind, and example of Christ. If the professor of Christianity breathe not the spirit of self- sacrifice in his intercourse with his feliow- men, though he should earnestly and perse- veringly strive to improve them in their religious condition, he will not influence them in behalf of Christ. The cherishing of the spirit of self-sacrifice in training men to the spirit, principle, and example of Christ, has not and cannot fail in securing the true religious life of man. The reformatory schools of Germany, the labours of Williams and Luther, the preaching of the Wesleys and Whitfield, the early deeds of the Reformers, the ministrations of the apostles and first heralds of the Gospel, abun- dantly testify to and establish this truth. 112 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE ‘ The Christianity of these men was the Chris- tianity of the New Testament, and not the creeds of the churches; the theology of these teachers was the doctrine of Christ, and not the abstractions of the schools; and the lives of these Christians were the lives of self- sacrificing and not of self-seeking individuals. And why all men in Christian lands—the world at large—have not realised the higher conditions of the divine life, and the true manhood of human existence, 1s because this mode of breathing the spirit and living the life of Jesus has not been so rigidly adhered to as the importance of Christian principle and the necessities of human well-being demand, It is only as men breathe the spirit, live the principle, and copy the example of Jesus, that they are or can be dignified and blessed. And men cannot copy the example, live the principle, and breathe the spirit of Jesus, without first yielding up their hearts to the striving Spirit of God. To attempt to live the life of Christianity—which is too often done—without first inbreathing the spirit of Jesus, is the self-deception of the mere professor, the thoughtless effort of man A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 113 eager to be religious for the sake of the mere benefits of religion. Without His spirit Christ cannot be embraced. God bestows the immediate of life and revelation from Himself to fallen man in the spiritual, the true, and the self-sacrificing. He can reveal Himself in the elevating power of the gra- cious to fallen man only as man yields him-_ self up to and inbreathes the spirit, principle, and life of self-sacrifice. A fallen being can know and enjoy fellowship with God in His eracious work, and realise the true end of his existence, in no other way than in yield- ing himself up to and inbreathing the true spirit of self-sacrifice. And this is not only true of the individual, but of the ecclesias- tical and social life of man. These views of humanity, and what is ne- cessary to the realisation of the true state of human society on the face of the earth, can be met with in, and only in, the teaching of Jesus. And why the world has not been brought into the full realisation of His spirit, mind, and life, is traceable to no defect in His spirit, principle, and example; but because men have not looked to Him as He is in Himself, and because the Church 114 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE has failed to present Him to the view of the world in His own spirit, mind, and life. Nothing less, and nothing more, than the spirit, principle, and example of Jesus are necessary for the entire renovation of human society on earth, and the complete overthrow of wickedness in the life of man. He alone, of all that ever lived on earth, has under- stood the nature, perceived the wants, and secured to man the spirit, principle, and power of human well-being; and He has said, done, and exemplified all, and nothing more than what was necessary for the true greatness of man. Man of himself has been unable to discover what his spirit sighed for, or to secure what his heart yearned after; and he has failed be- cause hesought for such in an undivine, unbro- therly, selfish spirit. Still man, as we have seen (Part First), has ever looked to heaven, and clung to the notion that, sooner or later, God would come to his aid, and afford him the light necessary to guide his steps into the path of life. Experience has taught the world that the finite cannot supply the place of the Infinite, the creature become a substi- tute for the Creator, the sovereign make up A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 115 for the Father, the Judge do the work of the Saviour, or the law produce in man the operations of grace. History not only shows that man has ever been restless in the midst of his worldliness, but that he has been anxious about a revelation from God; that the most illustrious men of antiquity have confidently expected a communication from Heaven to direct them to the true and the sublime. The starless night of a settled despair never shrouded the world in rayless gloom; heathen nations and Jewish tribes, at - the close of the old dispensation, were in con- stant expectation of the appearance of some illustrious deliverer; and this expectation - was not merely local and momentary, but a wide-spread confidence, grounded not in the mere temporary circumstances of a few, but in the nature, and springing out of the necessities, of man’s universal being and life. Man has everywhere felt his need of a com- munication from Heaven, and looked to God for a revelation suited to his nature and adequate to his circumstances—a revelation of truth that would meet not only the circum- stances of a few, but the wants of the many —a revelation that would speak to man’s 116 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE fears as well as to his hopes, to his necessi- ties as well as to his desires—that would bring near and into him the quickening of the Divine, the enlightening of the true, the invigorating of the heavenly. Man—amidst the gifts of nature, the nume- rous advantages of social life, the refinements of literature, the speculations of philosophy, the discoveries of science, the progress of art —has ever felt that his deepest wants have not been met; and as these are his most endur- ing necessities, he cannot rest until they are supplied. He has ever felt that, should nature pour her choicest and most abundant gifts in richest profusion into his lap; should the sceptre of universal dominion be put into his hand; should the laurels of brightest deeds be wreathed around his brow, and the highest niche in the temple of fame be freely awarded to him, such could not meet his urgent necessities, procure his permanent peace, nor afford to him the deep-felt and _ enduring satisfaction after which his spirit craves; and ever since he began to seek the favour of God through efforts of his own deservings, he has felt that the mere per- formance of ceremony, the studied observance a A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. BET of rite, the looking through type, the offering of sacrifice, the infliction of penance, the speculations of reason, could never remove his consciousness of guilt, meet his divine instincts, satisfy his yearning spirit, or fill the void in his immortal soul. And where, amid the most illustrious men of antiquity, the sages, heroes, patriots, and priests of the old world, could the true spirit, the genuine principle, the needed example of human elevation be found? or from what source could the clear and dis- tinct teaching of a Divine sacrifice on man’s behalf be discovered ? But Jesus Christ has given to the world the very example, prin- ciple, and spirit man needs for his true and permanent well-being. The teaching of the sages, the example of the heroes, the sacri- fices of the priests, the utterances of the oracles, never did nor ever could meet the deep necessities of man’s well-being, or satisfy his longing soul. But this is the very thing Jesus Christ has done. All who have breathed His spirit, lived on His principle, copied His example, in the measure in which they have so done have realised reconcilia- tion with God, peace in themselves, and 118 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE power over all evil. Just as Jesus Christ 1s received in His spirit, mind, and life, does He meet the wants, supply the necessities of all who embrace Him; to all such He has proved Himself to be ‘‘all thew salvation, all their desire.” He has dispersed in man the gloom of the most tormenting fears. He has gladdened the most desponding of spirits, and cheered the saddest of human hearts. He has elevated the most grovelling desires, and tamed the fiercest passions of man’s soul. He has spoken to humanity as none else has. ever spoken. He has united civilised and savage, learned and ignorant, rich and poor, white and black, sick and in health, virtuous and criminal, in bonds of an ardent affection to one another, and bound them together in a blissful union by the strongest ties of uni- versal brotherhood, and linked to each other in the cords of tender love the bitterest of foes, the most deadly of enemies. He has turned the stream of human life out of its downward course, and sent it Godward in a blissful and glorious up-flowing. He has re- fined the manners, improved the laws, and humanised the wars of nations. He has im- proved the sciences, corrected the philosophy, A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 119 purified the literature, and consecrated the art of all civilisation. He is saving the race by drawing it to Himself. He is, in short, proving Himself to be such as cannot be contemplated in His own light without exer- cising an elevating power on all who really look to Him. And the experience of upwards of eighteen centuries proves that all that is necessary for the world’s true and permanent exaltation is to breathe His spirit, act on His principle, and copy His example. And the more that His spirit and principle are studied and seen in the light of His own example, the more will they be seen and acknowledged to be all that is necessary to secure the true and permanent well-being of all men; nay, that they are such as cannot be embraced without effecting in all who embrace them all that is necessary for their present and everlasting perfection. Whence then this spirit, principle, and example? Of earthly origin, and human growth? Ifso, then would others have been found to manifest such. But none of mere earth-born have ever approached, far less reached, the like. In His spirit, principle, and example, Christ stands alone among all 120 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE that have ever appeared on the earth. And this clearly shows that He was not of this world; that He received nothing of His + spirit, principle, and example from it. The more we contemplate Him in His spirit, _ . principle, motive, and end of life, the more clearly will we perceive that He was not, and could not have been, of this world. His self-sacrificing spirit; His principle of living not merely for this life, but principally for the life to come; His motive of obeying God in all that He was and did, most emphati- cally proves that between His life and the life of the worldling there was a great oulf, None but those that have learned of Him have ever approached His spirit; principle, and example; and these are the first to acknowledge that in whatever measure they have been able to display such a spirit, prin- ciple, and example, they have done so only by ceasing to be what they were im them- selves, and by learning of Him what He is in Himself; and the most advanced of such have been able to near Him only at an immense distance, and although they have striven hard, they have never reached Him; and to reach Him even in the measure they Se » A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. ir, ae ar, have done, they have had to undergo an entire. change—they have had to give up their own spirit, principle, and motive of life, and to embrace His. And if this be the united testimony of those who, of all men on earth, are certainly the most competent to judge of and bear witness to the fact, must it not be clear to the common sense of every indi- vidual capable of forming an enlightened opinion on the matter, that Christ was not of the earth earthy, but was the Lord from heaven. His claim to a divine nature, mission, and work—His right to the declaration that He brought His principle and spirit with Him - from the courts above—is actually awarded to Him; for devils, disbelievers in Him, the men of the world, will not clawm, but refuse, affinty with Him in spirit, principle, and example of life; and those who acknowledge the truthfulness of His claim agree with Him in His declaration that He brought His spirit and principle from above; they readily % acknowledge that His claim to the ability to euide the thoughts of all men into all truth, to regulate the life of every human being in righteousness, peace, glory, and joy, is G 122 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE a righteous claim—a claim which all who know Him will glory in awarding to Him. And for a mere human being to put forth such a claim, and especially to do it—as the meek and lowly One—instead of receiving its acknowledgement from those best able to judge in the matter, would have been to have exposed himself to the charge of the grossest arrogance and the highest insanity; but instead of being charged with either arro- gance or insanity in preferring such a claim, Jesus is supported in His right to this claim by the wisest and best of civilised humanity from His own to the present day; and to believe that this could take place in connec- tion with imposture is to believe the most absurd of miracles. Whence, then, the difference, opposition, allaptation, power, success, unapproachable superiority, of the spirit, principle, and ex- ample of Christ over those of the world? The unbeliever, as an honest and reasonable man, ig bound to account for these facts in the person and life of Jesus, or else believe in Him. In Jesus we have presented before us an absolutely perfect character, an unselfish principle of life, and a self-sacrificing spirit, A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 423 And His reason for manifesting such before men is, that He may induce them to receive His spirit, mind, and life, and through their reception of such reconcile them to God, and thus deliver them from sin and all its conse- quences. And to attempt to get rid of these facts in the life and death of Jesus by con- ceiving of Him as being Himself deceived, as deceiving others, or that the Evangelists concocted these conceptions of Him from existing myths, is what will not stand one moment’s serious investigation. Could Jesus be deceived in His concep- tions of His own’ nature and work—He who read the nature of man as none other ever has done; who read man’s life clearly, correctly, fully; who revealed the highest per- fections, disclosed the profoundest purpose, and exerted the greatest powers of God- head; who so understood the relations of man to God, and of God to man, as to display that self-sacrific2 of the Divine which brings down God into the soul of man, and raises man up in the conscious life, likeness, and enjoyment of God—as enables him to realise the perfection and bliss of his existence? ‘To entertain such a G@ 2 7 124 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE conception, is to conceive of what is perfectly absurd and impossible. Or to suppose that He who laboured with such unwearied diligence and unbounded beneficence to benefit men; who, in the most solemn address to His Father, could claim immaculate purity ; who could challenge His enemies to detect one flaw in His life; who, unasking, could draw from His judge the spontaneous acknowledgment of innocence ; who was acknowledged by the demons to be the Holy One of God; who has exerted on the world the most truthful influence ever brought to bear on it, and who has produced in all believing on Him the most pure, sincere, upright character ever known among men— to conceive of Him as a gross impostor, who, in the most artful manner, has given Himself to the one object of deceiving men in their highest interests, and to mislead them in connection with their most sacred rights, would be to dream of a miracle of character which cannot be realised even in thought. And if Jesus did not live a life of consum- mate perfection, then must the Hvangelists have drawn their account of His character from their own imaginations. And to assert A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. 125 that they did concoct such a character from existing mythical elements, is the most gra- tuitous assumption ever made. We do not hesitate to assert, and to abide by the asser- tion, that there did not exist one fragment of the characteristic elements of the nature and life of Jesus in all the then extant writings of men, or in any of the legends of the nations; there was nothing approaching to such in the conceptions of the Jew, the Greek, the Roman, or of any other people on the face of the earth. The only approach to such were the latent indications of Holy Writ; but so deeply embedded and obscurely encased were these, that the most acute Rabbi, whether scribe or lawyer, could not perceive the faintest indication of such things. And to imagine that three obscure fishermen, independently of each other, could depict a character of such unearthly gran- deur and consummate perfection as is given by them in the life and death of Jesus, would be to conceive of them doing what the genius of a Sir Walter Scott, a Goethe, a Shake- spere, has not been able in the least manner to approach. And that a learned physician should, without concerting with them, de- 126 CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE scribe the same character, in the like beauty of perfection, is wholly incredible. And that these men should publish their fiction as truth in the very place, and at the ~ very time, where and when their deception could be detected and exposed; and that, instead of being detected and exposed by any among the men most capable of forming a correct judgment on the matter, they should draw multitudes into the belief of their fiction as truth, spread their opinions con- cerning Christ far and wide, and that those joining them in their religion and life should become the most discerning, wisest, and best of men; and that all this should be done without a motive, and at the expense of poverty, ignominy, suffering, and death—to ask men to believe such, is to lay upon their credulity a task far beyond what is implied in the simple belief of the Gospel; nay, beyond what has ever been done in connec- tion with the grossest superstitions and de- lusions imposed upon mankind. Yea, further, to ask men to credit such would be to require of them to believe that ‘“‘ eleven” rude and uncultivated men with a jiction could exert a greater spell of fascina- A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN, Tey tion on the world than all the truth, learning, and eloquence of all times have ever done; and that, although they published their doc- ’ trines in the most public manner in numerous and distant places, these ‘(false witnesses” had each discovered the secret of never contradict- ing himself, or of those acting in concert with him; and although they were brought before numerous tribunals, and examined by the most acute and accomplished judges, they never showed the slightest indication of an artful design, nor could be detected in the least error or inconsistency. Yea, more, 1b would be requiring of men to believe that these men, with a falsehood, have exerted on the nations of the earth such an elevating, purifying influence as throws into the shade all the religious and moral truth known by man in all times and all countries of the globe. And thus it would follow that the craft of the ignorant and unlearned can baffle the ingenuity of the learned and wise; that the rude discourse of the uncultivated can exert on all classes of men a power far- beyond what the most eloquent genius and talented rhetoric of the most gifted men have ever approached ; yea, finally, that the false- 128 CHRISTIANITY, A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. hood of the simple few, in a short time has, in leading the world to the knowledge of the highest and most comprehensive truth, to the most devout, pure, and upright life, far outwit- ted the pious, sincere, and persevering efforts of the devout and learned of myriads of ages. Those who can believe such, may surely be held as possessed of an amount of credulity far beyond what has ever been reached by any believer of all the superstitions of earth. In the view of these facts of the life and death of Jesus, there remains nothing but to believe in Him as the only One of absolute perfection, sublime self-sacrifice, and blissful existence. And would that all men every- where could, with heart and soul, join in the ascription of praise due to Him—*‘ Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins m ITis own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God even [is Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to recewe glory and honour and power ; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” RECENTLY, PUBLISHED: PART FIRST. CHRISTIANITY SHOWN FROM ITSELF TO BE A DIVINE REVELATION TO MAN. PNT ae BN LB CONTENTS OF PART FIRST: THe STaTE OF THE WORLD AT THE APPEARANCE OF Curist—THE Position He Took UP IN 1T—AND rHE CoNFIDENCE WITH WHICH Hk assumMED HIs Position A Proor or His SuPERNATURAL Mission, OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. From THe “Datty Terecrapy.”—“The book is the production of an earnest Christian and a vigorous thinker. . . Every page may be read with advan- tage by the Christian, who will gather fresh thoughts ; and by the doubter, who will see truly what spirituality and faith are. No more satisfactory evidence of the wholesome activity of religious thought among us could be desired than the appearance of this work.” From THe “CuristiAN Review.”—“The argument is conducted with Mr. Cooper’s usual ability. From his familiarity with metaphysical phraseology he has “ on re IL OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. *. been led to depart from the stereotyped modes of ex- pression; while this may prevent him from being understood by some, it may make his argument more acceptable to those who dislike the usual theological language, whose conviction we believe to be the object of his work. . . Altogether the book is one that few could have written, and we congratulate Mr. Cooper on the addition which he has made to his former literary productions.” From THE ‘WESLEYAN CHRONICLE.”—“This is no ordinary book, but bears the impress of close thought and logical reasoning. . . It must be acknowledged that the design is both noble and comprehensive; judging from the present instalment, it is likely to be well executed. In noticing Mr. Cooper’s Science of Spiritual Life, we had to point out certain instances of obscurity of style by which that otherwise able _ book was disfigured. We are glad to say that in this respect the present volume is all that can be desired ; and though requiring constant thought on the part of the reader, is very readable.” q ; ; j » 2 i) ae it ae TS i > . - 1p =< 7 4 i 2 re i ee a can yy ain aT bie i NE PA i oy . Mi 5 » : M NS ee aM i —= en aan Tors a MSS ates Set Ne “>