,,the ,,man ,,of ,,galilee ,,by ,,atticus ,g4 ,,haygood ,lord1 to whom shall we go but unto thee8 ,thou hast the words of eternal life4--,simon ,peter4 ,,new ,,york3 ,,hunt ,,eaton ,,cincinnati3 ,,cranston ,,stowe #ahhi ,copyright1 #ahhi1 by ,,atticus ,g4 ,,haygood1 ,,new ,,york4 ,,to ,,the 8,,emory ,,boys10 ,,who ,,were ,,with ,,me ,,in ,,the ,,old ,,college ,,in #ahgf-hd1 ,,this ,,little ,,book ,,is ,dedicated ,,by ,,one ,,who ,,loves ,,them ,,all4 ,,the ,,author4 ,,decatur1 ,,ga41 ,april #i1 #ahhi4 ,,prefatory4 ,,decatur1 ,,ga41 ,april #i1 #ahhi4 ,,my ,,dear ,,lundy3 ,you and many others of my students at ,emory of the years #ahgf-ahhd have often asked me to put into permanent form the thoughts concerning 8,the ,man of ,galilee0--8,jesus of ,nazareth0--,i brought before you when we were together at the old college in ,oxford4 ,in this little book ,i have had the boys in mind all the way through1 as if they were before me in my lecture-room in 8,seney ,hall40 ,many times the very faces of the boys seemed to be about me as ,i have written1 and ,i could almost hear them ask me questions as they used to do4 ,scattered about the world now--not a few of them in distant mission fields--my heart follows them every one1 and these pages1 which would never have appeared but for them1 bear them the assurance of an interest in them that can never die4 ,your friend1 ,,atticus ,g4 ,,haygood4 ,the ,,rev4 ,,lundy ,h4 ,,harris1 ,professor in ,emory ,college1 ,oxford1 ,ga4 ,,contents4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,did the ,evangelists ,invent ,jesus8 #i ,,chapter ,,ii4 8,no ,dramatist ,can ,draw ,taller ,men than ,himself0 #ah ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john ,neither ,good nor ,great ,enough #bd ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,is ,jesus an ,ideal ,jew of the ,time of ,tiberius8 #ce ,,chapter ,v4 ,jesus and ,myths #db ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,jesus and ,hebrew ,human ,nature #ea ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,his ,method of ,thought ,differences ,him from ,men #fj ,,chapter ,,viii4 8,never ,man ,spake ,like this ,man0 #fh ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,the ,son of ,man and ,sin #hj ,,chapter ,x4 ,the ,magnitude of the ,end ,he ,proposed and ,set ,about #ib ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,never ,man ,planned ,like this ,man #ig ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,jesus ,neither ,theologian nor ,ecclesiastic #aji ,,chapter ,,xiii4 8,jesus ,christ ,took the ,way of ,perishing0 #aaf ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,his ,grasp upon ,mankind #abc ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,what ,jesus ,claims and ,demands #acc ,,chapter ,,xvi4 ,jesus the ,one ,universal ,character #ada ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,the ,christ1 the ,son of the ,living ,god #adh ,,the ,,man ,,of ,,galilee4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,did ,,the ,,evangelists ,,invent ,,jesus8 ,who and what was ,jesus of ,nazareth8 ,in this question and its answer is involved the whole of what we mean by ,christianity4 ,if it could be demonstrably proved that there never existed such a person as ,jesus1 ,christianity1 as a living force1 would cease from the earth4 ,there would indeed be a history1 a literature that would interest people according to their tastes2 but there would be no heart-changing1 world-up-lifting system of vital and vitalizing truths and corresponding duties1 binding upon the conscience of every human being and inspiring hope in every breast4 ,in the discussions we are about to enter nothing will be assumed except what is too obvious to question4 ,it will not be assumed that the little books called 8gospels0 were inspired at all4 ,you will not be asked to consider any miracle1 said to have been performed by ,jesus1 as making proof of his divinity4 ,nor will ,i quote proof-texts to show that he is divine4 ,the first question to ask is this3 ,did such a person as ,jesus is described to have been ever really exist8 ,did ,jesus really live in ,nazareth and work in ,joseph's shop8 ,did he1 for some three years and six months1 go to and fro among men teaching them8 ,was there1 in the days of ,herod and ,pilate1 a ,jesus as surely as there was a ,csar8 ,this much is certain3 we have in these four little books--compared with what is every day written about common men how small they are6--attributed to ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john1 a most distinct character1 known to us and known to history as ,jesus4 ,whether the men whose names the little books bear1 or some other men whose names are lost to us wrote them1 matters not in the least4 ,what books contain is more important than the question of authorship4 ,no matter who wrote them1 the character we know as ,jesus is in the books2 there can be no dispute about this2 here it is1 before our eyes4 ,and this character is as surely in history1 in literature1 in men's thoughts1 in all that we mean by ,christian civilization1 as it is in the writings of the four men we call evangelists4 ,not only do we have the character1 but we see clearly that it is a character absolutely unique4 ,it is unique in many respects1 but pre-eminently in this--it is the one perfect character that has appeared in the world that ever had a place in the history or the thought of men4 ,it is said that the volatile ,voltaire once compared ,jesus to ,fletcher of ,madeley1 thinking him as good a man as the ,nazarene4 ,but the light ,frenchman understood neither the one nor the other4 ,as one said of an unfit biographer of ,fletcher's great friend1 ,john ,wesley3 8,he had nothing to draw with1 and the well was deep40 ,is there one solitary defect1 the very least1 in this character that we find in the evangelists8 ,is there one weak spot1 or suggestion of fault1 or intimation of infirmity1 or suspicion of failure1 the slightest1 to do and to be what was right for him to do and to be8 ,look at him as he is set before us in these brief writings2 look1 reverently if you will1 but with open and fearless eyes1 to see all that may be seen of him4 ,what least flaw can be found in him8 ,is there the least possible shadow of reason for reversing1 or so much as questioning1 ,pilate's verdict1 8,i find no fault in him80 ,is there in all history one other character of which you can say or believe as much8 ,is there any other you are willing to name second to him8 ,if you are making an estimate of any other character--whether of a real person1 as a sage1 a statesman1 or a philanthropist1 or of some imaginary person1 as the hero of a story--how would you judge him most severely8 ,you would compare him with ,jesus4 ,we must remember that it is to ,jesus we owe those higher standards by which we judge men in our times4 ,christ-likeness expresses the highest ideal of character we are capable of conceiving4 ,some writers1 as you know1 have denied that ,jesus1 the ,jesus of the four gospels1 did at any time really live1 a man among men4 ,of far more importance than any mere denials in books is the failure of many thousands to realize in their inmost consciousness that the story of the evangelists is the record of a life actually lived4 ,we will demand of those who deny or doubt that ,jesus really lived to account to us for the existence of the character4 ,this they must do1 for the existence of the character they cannot deny2 it is here before men's eyes1 as it is in men's thoughts and lives4 ,this character is not in these little books only2 it is in a hundred thousand books4 ,it was not only in the minds of four writers long ago2 it is in the minds of millions of men1 women1 and children to-day4 ,if any deny or doubt the historic ,jesus1 let them explain to us how this character1 flawless and perfect1 ever got itself into the thoughts of men and is now in history1 literature1 art1 law1 custom1 in human life itself4 ,some have tried to explain the existence of the character1 while denying that ,jesus really lived among men1 by telling us the evangelists invented the ,jesus of these stories4 ,they tell us ,jesus is the product of the dramatic genius of the four men whose names go with the brief account we have of him1 his words1 and his deeds4 ,it would not alter the case to deny that these four wrote the books1 and to say some other writers whose names we do not know invented the character4 ,let us look carefully and fairly at this view of the subject4 ,if it be reasonable it may be true2 if it be true we need not fear to accept it4 ,nothing in ,jesus calls on men to profess to believe what to them is not the truth2 nothing can be more unlike him than to use words without convictions4 ,we cannot do otherwise than 8hold fast that which is true0 to us2 indeed we cannot hold fast to any thing else1 though it be called truth by never so many voices of men4 ,the theory that ,jesus is an invention is another way of saying that he is the hero of a romance1 a creation of constructive imagination4 ,it involves this3 four ,jews at about the same time1 among a people not given to making books of any kind--least of all books of the imagination--were seized with desire to write books1 and thus it came about that they have given to the world1 as the product of dramatic genius1 this character of ,jesus4 ,as1 for illustration1 it may be said1 in a sense1 that ,bulwer invented the 8,margrave0 of ,a ,strange ,story4 ,let us inquire into the antecedent probabilities that these men would naturally attempt to construct and put into form such a work of the imagination2 nay1 more3 whether they were likely to attempt any dramatic work at all4 ,we are not left to guesses in considering such questions4 ,it is historically certain that the ,hebrew mind in ancient days was not given to this sort of literary work4 ,the ,greek mind gave dramas to the world1 matchless of their kind2 the ,hebrew mind gave none4 ,there is nothing in ,hebrew literature of the period assigned to ,jesus1 of the period succeeding him1 or from the time of ,moses1 to indicate so much as a tendency to such creations of the imagination4 ,we have much to judge by1 and there can be no mistake4 ,we have the ,old ,testament ,scriptures1 the apocryphal books1 the comments of the scribes--called ,targums--upon their sacred writing1 the little book called 8,acts of the ,apostles10 the other ,new ,testament writings1 and the works of ,josephus as specimens1 showing the trend and method of ,hebrew literature4 ,the ,hebrew mind in ancient days was not given to art1 but to morals4 ,the ,jew did not develop art impulses till he had become cosmopolitan and ,christianity had changed the world4 ,in ancient ,hebrew literature1 whether in plain prose--in history1 statute laws1 or proverbs2 whether in psalms or other poetry2 whether in the magnificent imagery of the prophets1 we find that morals1 not art1 inspire the thought and form the expression4 ,there are neither paintings1 nor statues1 nor dramas4 ,their architecture was borrowed from the ,phenicians2 they were original in their ideas of morals and in their laws and customs relating to rights and wrongs4 ,their literature is dominated by religion1 and not by art1 in any of its manifold developments4 ,read it all--all ancient ,hebrew literature2 we have history1 laws1 proverbs1 poetry1 prophecies1 but we have no dramas4 ,you may cite me to the book of ,job4 ,this is more like a drama than any other4 ,if this be allowed1 it is the one exception4 ,but it belongs to a period very remote from that of the evangelists1 and if it be a drama it is1 as may be shown1 such a work as a ,hebrew might have written4 ,but the story of ,jesus is not such a drama as a ,hebrew of his period might have written1 allowing1 what is not true1 that at some other period it might have been imagined by a ,hebrew1 or any other writer of books4 ,as to the book of ,job1 it is in harmony with ,hebrew characteristics and with the time and country in which its scenes are laid4 ,the books of the evangelists are not in harmony with them2 they contradict them all and utterly4 ,consider well the four little books of the evangelists that we call gospels2 study them just as you would any other ancient writings4 ,see what is in them1 that you may know what manner of men they were who wrote them4 ,reject them all1 if there be reason1 but look carefully to this one thing--whether these writers were given to dramatic creations1 or1 indeed1 had faculty for such work4 ,there is evidence enough in their writings that ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john were not of the literary and book-making classes4 ,they were of the common people2 unlearned and unskilled in literature1 laboring and business men1 trained as laymen4 ,their lives were very far removed from the occupations and influences that dominated the very feeble literary instinct that belonged to that period of ,hebrew literature4 ,i conclude that it was antecedently as improbable that the evangelists would have attempted the production of any drama whatever1 as ,i will show that it was impossible1 had they made the attempt1 for them to have invented such a story as they tell us of 8,the ,man of ,galilee40 ,,chapter ,,ii4 8,,no ,,dramatist ,,can ,,draw ,,taller ,,men ,,than ,,himself40 ,the doctrine ,i set forward concerning ,jesus is this3 ,such a person must have actually lived1 as the condition of conceiving such a character1 for the reason that the power of creating such a character was never in the ,hebrew mind1 or any other4 ,at this point let me tell you how my thoughts were directed in the lines the argument takes in this discussion4 ,in the month of ,april1 #ahfa1 while a pastor in ,sparta1 ,ga41 ,i was reading one of ,hugh ,miller's books1 ,first ,impressions of ,england and ,its ,people4 ,the writer of this to me entertaining and instructive volume was comparing1 on the occasion of a visit to the grave of ,shakespeare1 the great poet1 ,sir ,walter ,scott and ,charles ,dickens4 ,hugh ,miller said 7,i believe the quotation is substantially correct2 ,i have not seen the book in a long time--it was loaned to some of you73 8,no dramatist1 whatever he may attempt1 can draw taller men than himself40 ,i closed the book and said to myself3 8,then ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john did not invent ,jesus40 ,it was not till ,february1 #ahfd1 that the thought1 which ,i often brooded1 was brought into a discussion4 ,while in camp as a missionary chaplain with ,longstreet's corps of the ,army of ,virginia1 near ,greenville1 ,east ,tennessee1 ,i sketched rudely enough1 one snowy day1 the outlines of an argument1 using it one night1 soon after1 in a sermon preached in the ,first ,methodist ,church1 ,atlanta1 ,ga4 ,in the course of years it grew upon me into a series of lectures delivered to senior classes in ,emory ,college4 ,it outgrew the limits of a sermon at ,monticello1 ,ga41 ,august1 #ahgh4 ,my old students and certain life-long friends will pardon this much of personal reminiscence4 ,for reasons connected with them these personal statements are introduced4 8,no dramatist can draw taller men than himself40 ,hugh ,miller did not mean that a writer may not describe greater men than himself1 but that he cannot invent a character greater than his own4 ,it is as plain as the axiom in physics that water cannot rise above its level4 ,that which is created cannot be greater than that which creates4 ,it is very common for us to write of 8taller men0 than ourselves2 we all do this4 ,when you were but a college-boy you did not1 as you will remember1 shrink from writing essays upon ,cromwell1 ,washington1 ,gladstone1 ,bismarck1 and the few such men who have lived4 ,i have known a young man to write fairly well of even ,socrates4 ,but he had the cyclopedias4 ,he was not creating--thinking out for himself and of himself--the good and wise old sage4 ,hugh ,miller says1 8,dickens knows his place40 ,the gifted novelist did not attempt great characters4 ,shakespeare did2 he was greater than any character he produced2 8taller0 than any man he 8drew40 ,when you come to ask whether these four ,jews1 the evangelists1 could have invented the character we know as ,jesus you must remember that they had1 first of all1 in order to do it1 to throw themselves outside the sphere of ,jewish thought and sentiment4 ,if to them had been granted all personal qualifications the conditions under which they lived made the invention of such a character impossible2 they could not breathe the intellectual1 social1 and moral air in which they lived and do it4 ,for this character1 the ,jesus of the evangelists1 is not in harmony with the essential characteristics of the ,jewish race or with the dominant influences of that time2 this character antagonizes these characteristics and influences at every point4 ,granting--and it is admitting an intellectual miracle that staggers credulity--that these men did meet the first condition for the invention of such a character1 and overcame1 as no other men ever did in any nation or time1 the controlling influences under which they lived1 let us ask whether1 in view of what they reveal in these writings of themselves1 they were capable of such an intellectual and spiritual feat as inventing a drama that should give ,jesus to the world4 ,to have achieved such a result they must have been in breadth1 depth1 and elevation of intellect capable of thinking out the mighty doctrines that ,jesus taught4 ,and this1 we may well believe1 was the least part of their task4 ,to me it is incredible that these four men could have thought out the teachings of ,jesus4 ,for such thinking they lacked all things that history and philosophy show to be necessary for such thinking4 ,why could not ,socrates and ,plato1 great1 learned1 wise1 and good1 to whom came more than glimpses of heavenly truths1 think out what the ,sermon on the ,mount contains8 ,socrates and ,plato1 if mere men could do such thinking1 ought to have thought out the ,sermon on the ,mount2 for they had every gift that nature could bestow and every opportunity cultured ,athens could offer4 ,and they did their best to think out the truths that bind man and ,god together4 ,they failed2 and ,plato sighed for the coming of a divine man who would make clear what to him was dark4 ,if ,jesus never lived then the four evangelists1 or men like them1 thought out his wonderful doctrines4 ,it is unthinkable4 ,but theirs was a far harder task than thinking out the truths attributed to ,jesus in the gospels2 they had also to think out a man who lived up to them4 ,it is easier to write a great speech than to set before the reader a man he knows to be capable of making it2 but this is easier than to proclaim a lofty doctrine of morals and show a man as living up to it4 ,their problem1 if they thought it all out1 was immeasurably more than the invention of the ,sermon on the ,mount and of the other discourses that move so easily on the same high plane of thought and spiritual life2 it was to invent a life and reveal a life in absolute harmony with these matchless discourses4 ,but ,jesus lived the ,sermon on the ,mount and all else that he ever taught4 ,not once1 in the least particular1 in word or deed1 does he fail2 always he lives up to his teaching2 he incarnated his doctrine4 ,no other human being1 before or since ,jesus1 ever lived up to the ,sermon on the ,mount2 the best men and women have only approximated it2 and it is the best who have most realized their failure4 ,but ,jesus lived his teachings so perfectly that it is only in his life that we truly read their meaning4 ,how shall we measure the capacity of these four1 ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john1 for creating this character of ,jesus8 ,by the revelations they make in their writings of themselves3 their capacity and character4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,matthew1 ,,mark1 ,,luke1 ,,and ,,john ,,neither ,,good ,,nor ,,great ,,enough4 ,how little the evangelists were capable of inventing such a character as the ,jesus of the four gospels is made very plain by comparing ,jesus and his doctrines with them and their notions4 ,it must be assumed here that you have1 to some extent at least1 considered what the character of ,jesus is and what his teachings mean4 ,as to your conception of him and his teachings1 this ,i am sure of3 if you continue to study him and his words your best ideas now will1 by and by1 seem to you to be very unworthy4 ,measure the evangelists and their thoughts by ,jesus and his thoughts4 ,how small1 narrow1 meager1 and lean of soul they are6 ,when they speak1 when they act in these histories1 they give us the gauge and the level of very common men4 ,they misapprehend him till he is rent with grief at their dullness and hardness of heart4 ,they misinterpret his simplest words4 ,they show in many ways what even to us seems to be amazing spiritual stupidity and spiritual incapacity4 ,this is a fair specimen of them and their thinking powers3 ,jesus said to them one day1 8,beware of the leaven of the ,pharisees and of the ,sadducees40 8,and they reasoned among themselves1 saying1 ,it is because we have taken no bread10 supposing that he meant they must not eat bread with these people4 ,this also gives us the drift and gauge of their thoughts3 ,jesus was constantly and in many ways speaking to them of the 8kingdom of heaven10 and they kept dreaming and talking of a 8kingdom of ,israel10 the restoration of ,david's throne4 ,this was the common thought and talk of their circle4 ,one of the best of the women who followed ,jesus and loved him1 braving danger and contempt for his sake1 ,salome1 preferred ambitious requests for her two sons1 ,james and ,john1 who were in their mother's secret and sympathy1 seeking high places for them in what they so longed for--the coming dispensation of national deliverance and dominion4 ,so far below his thoughts are their thoughts1 so unlike him are they1 that no ,christian child1 who has but partially learned of ,jesus what he means by the 8kingdom of ,god10 can read what ,salome and her sons say to ,jesus without recoiling from them4 ,were the evangelists good enough--did they have the moral elevation necessary to the conception of such truths as ,jesus taught8 ,of such a life as ,jesus lived8 ,of ,jesus himself8 ,if you know what is in these gospels it is too plain to you to need argument that these men were very far below the sphere of ,jesus as to morals1 rights and wrongs1 and whatever relates to spiritual life4 ,while he was proclaiming self-renunciation as the condition precedent to entering into life at all in common with his life1 these men1 while claiming to be his disciples and best friends1 were wont to 8dispute0 with one another about seats of honor at dinings1 as well as places of honor in the earthly kingdom they were looking for4 ,some of them showed that they could fight upon occasion--their ,galilean blood was equal to that2 but they greatly lacked moral courage4 ,they were afraid not only of men's anger1 but of their criticism4 ,but it is impossible to think of ,jesus as hesitating1 for one instant1 from any sort of fear of men1 fear of death or criticism1 in uttering one truth or doing one right thing4 ,we cannot think of ,jesus as feeling the pulse of public sentiment in order to determine what he should say4 ,we cannot think of ,jesus as1 for one instant1 looking about him to read in the faces of his hearers1 whether they were ,galilean peasants or the chief estates of ,jerusalem1 the probable reception of his words4 ,we cannot think of him as veering the thickness of a line from the perfect truth as he saw it in order to win favor or avoid resentment4 ,it is certain to us that such thoughts were never in his mind--that such feelings were never in his heart4 ,his 8eye was single10 his 8whole body full of light40 ,do these men whose names go with the four gospels show right feeling1 sentiment1 for inventing such a character1 granting1 what we know they did not have1 all other qualifications8 ,seeing what they were1 what they show themselves to have been1 is it possible to believe that1 in their inmost souls1 they were in sympathy with the character they have given us in the gospels8 ,to invent a truly great1 all-round character1 there must be not only adequate gifts of intellect and force of conscience2 there must be also right sensibility4 ,there must not only be a large mind and a true conscience2 there must be a good heart4 ,the evangelists were not bad men1 but they were unspiritual4 ,if one cannot1 as an original conception of the intellect1 8draw a taller man than himself10 much less can he draw a better man than himself4 ,test their capacity for such a work as inventing the ,jesus of the gospels in any direction4 ,compare these men with ,jesus as to his doctrine and practice as to toleration and human brotherhood4 ,they shrink into nothingness4 ,jesus goes to the house of the publican1 ,zaccheus1 whom all ,jericho hated4 ,jesus dines with the man who was unpopular1 who was despised2 he preaches the full ,gospel to him2 he is kind to him2 he loves him4 ,the disciples were in sympathy not with ,jesus1 but the crowd that 8murmured40 ,they were mortified1 displeased1 afraid1 scandalized2 ,jesus had done so imprudent a thing as to dine with a man who had no friends1 but many foes4 ,you know of ,jesus from his words1 above all from his life1 that he was incapable of prejudice2 that no wretched or mean man of any class or race could appeal to him in vain4 ,you know that ,jesus was as free from all intolerance1 from all caste feeling and race prejudice1 as the virgin snow is free from stain4 ,but his disciples1 these men who have told us of him1 were saturated and poisoned with these feelings2 they lived on the low plane of their race and time1 and not above it4 ,in the 8,acts of the ,apostles0 we see what that plane was2 the ,jew hated ,gentiles4 ,consider the history of ,peter's visit to ,cornelius1 and you will see how deep and inveterate is the feeling that opened a gulf between the ,jews and other races4 ,consider what is meant by the sudden outburst of rage at the word 8,gentile0 that day ,paul spoke to the mob in the temple-court1 as he stood on the castle stairs4 ,all history illustrates this intense race prejudice4 ,in this country1 in the spring of #ahhh1 a ,jew celebrated the funeral of his daughter because she had married a ,gentile4 ,read the story of the ,syrophenician woman1 the parable of the good ,samaritan1 his heavenly doctrines about loving our enemies1 and then think of these writers inventing ,jesus and his doctrines4 ,see the false shame on their faces when they find ,jesus talking with the woman of ,sychar by ,jacob's well1 and ask whether men like these lived in the same world with him6 ,consider the attitude of ,jesus toward fallen women4 ,see how he bore himself with the woman who washed his feet with her tears in ,simon's house2 see his tender respect for ,magdalene2 see him1 his cheeks aflame with shame and confusion1 his eyes dewy with pity1 as he made marks on the ground with his finger that day they brought a sinful girl to him and demanded judgment upon her4 ,these men who wrote of ,jesus were as incapable of such sentiments and conduct as they were incapable of building worlds4 ,god pity us6 as incapable as we1 his disciples of to-day1 are1 who1 after all that he has taught us and done for us1 in our meanness and cowardice abide still in heathenism1 and scorn those whom ,jesus did not scorn4 ,we may judge these evangelists by ourselves2 they were as we are4 ,they were ashamed of him when he spoke respectfully and kindly to fallen women2 we would be ashamed of him now if he were again among us in the flesh1 bearing himself toward our outcasts as he did when he was in ,galilee4 ,if possible1 these evangelists were as incapable as we are of inventing the character of ,jesus4 ,in what has been said of the ability of these men to conceive such a character as ,jesus remember we are not speaking of copyists1 but creators2 not of those who merely put together a story from materials furnished by history1 or from some life that has been lived1 but of those who invent1 think out a character4 ,the copyists1 the historians1 the biographers1 the novelists1 easily enough write and talk of greater and better men than themselves4 ,this sort of literary work1 this sort of thinking1 is done every day2 it is as common as the 8making of books40 ,if the materials are furnished us we may well enough write of those who are beyond and above us4 ,we will naturally and often necessarily do this in describing one who actually lived4 ,great and good men and women have often had biographers immeasurably inferior to them4 ,a clever literary man may draw a fair picture of ,julius ,csar4 ,froude did it4 ,a man of hard and narrow spirit may so write of heroes as to make us feel their superiority4 ,carlyle did this for not a few4 ,a small man may tell us of his master4 ,even ,boswell could do this4 ,but in considering whether these four writers could have invented the character of ,jesus we are not speaking of the sort of work historians and biographers do1 but of pure creative work2 the thinking out of a character never described by another and that never lived4 ,for the theory we are now considering is that ,jesus never lived2 that he is only the product of the dramatic genius of these four writers1 ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john4 ,now1 you will conclude when you have considered it1 that very little1 if any1 of this sort of work is ever done4 ,perhaps we should hesitate to affirm that such creative work is impossible1 but it may well be doubted whether any character in any fiction or drama of any sort1 by any writer in any age1 is a pure invention4 ,is there not for every character in fiction as well as in history a man somewhere1 in some form8 some facts in actual life that furnish the materials for the conception and delineation of that form of life that the writing presents to us8 ,is there in any writing any character that has not intellectual descent from some life actually lived1 or in some way other than by creative processes brought into the writer's thoughts8 ,consider ,shakespeare's plays4 ,life furnished the materials2 his heroes and heroines have real men and women back of them4 ,take ,milton's ,satan4 ,he is very like ,milton in force and sublimity2 but the poet did not create the character4 ,his ,satan is a composite work from ,bible hints and heathen mythology4 ,this ,satan had lived in the thoughts of men before that ,milton took him in hand4 ,only think how difficult1 if not impossible1 it must be to think out a perfectly new type of character1 a type that has nothing in life to stand for it4 ,it would be like trying to conceive of a sixth sense4 ,back of legends the noblest and the ignoblest there is some form of life or some form of fact4 ,it may be that all ideas even not revealed have their type or origin somewhere in nature or in life4 ,whether with hand or brain man works upon materials furnished him2 man creates nothing2 man is created4 ,but there was in no nation whatever--and these four men knew the ,jewish nation only with any fullness of knowledge--any character1 any life1 any facts1 that could have so much as suggested ,jesus4 ,they were shut up to ,hebrew history1 and that could furnish no materials to the evangelists for the construction of such a character4 ,it was not suggested by the ,hebrew prophets2 for it is evident that the disciples did not understand these prophecies as pointing to ,jesus till after he had lived his life1 till his mission was ended4 ,nay1 with all the backward-shining light of his life no four men in the world to-day could1 without the actual story1 construct the character and life of ,jesus out of what the prophets say4 ,there has been a good deal of fanciful writing concerning certain characters in the ,old ,testament history1 considered as types of the ,messiah4 ,joseph1 ,moses1 ,joshua1 ,david--even magnificent and profligate ,solomon and the coarse1 dull ,samson have been set forth as types of the true ,son of man4 ,adam himself has been discussed and portrayed in this connection4 ,some of these men were among the greatest and best of the human race4 ,but whatever they were as types of the ,teacher1 ,prince1 and ,saviour foretold by the prophets1 there was nothing in these men that could have suggested the invention of the ,christ of the evangelists4 ,so far as the predictions in ,hebrew prophecy may be urged as accounting for the conception of ,jesus by the evangelists1 they not only did not understand them so as to make such use of them1 they misunderstood them1 and1 in common with their people1 supposed that they foretold another and altogether different character than that of the ,jesus of the gospels4 ,jesus had to live and die before they could understand the prophets as referring to him2 it was he who unlocked their meaning4 ,the whole ,christ is not in the prophets--could not be2 words could not manifest him2 he had to live to be known4 ,non-,christian ,hebrews are to this day looking for a different character to appear and fulfill the prophets4 ,the 8,jews' ,wailing ,place0 in ,jerusalem tells travelers of our time how they cling to an interpretation of the prophets that excludes the lowly ,nazarene1 of whom the evangelists have told us4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,is ,,jesus ,,an ,,ideal ,,jew ,,of ,,the ,,time ,,of ,,tiberius8 ,we will consider the notion that ,jesus is the product of dramatic genius from other stand-points4 ,have the evangelists given form and voice to national ideals8 ,jesus cannot be in those writings the crystallization of national legends2 there are no such legends4 ,had these writers constructed the character out of national legends or national hopes ,jesus would have been a national deliverer1 not a personal ,saviour1 talking to men of sin and salvation4 ,he was not at all1 as these writings and as other ,hebrew writings make plain1 the nation's ideal of a hero and deliverer4 ,jesus was any thing but such an ideal2 he utterly spoiled the national ideal of the ,shiloh who was to come2 he disappointed every expectation that rose to greet him4 ,once1 when the people and the priests thought they might use him as a national leader1 they tried to force a king's crown upon his head4 ,he refused their crown1 and they crucified him4 ,there is another fatal objection to the notion that ,jesus is only the invention of four romance writers1 suddenly springing up among a people who did not write romances4 ,if they invented him we should have four ,christs1 not one4 ,there are differences enough in their statements that we cannot explain in any honest way1 but that would1 ,i suppose1 cease to be differences if only we knew all the facts to show that these writers were not in collusion to tell a story that would hold together4 ,we do not know all the facts2 ,st4 ,john1 you will remember1 tells us that many things are not recorded2 perhaps we have only the smaller part of them4 ,these four men are not alike2 no two men are4 ,they differ in style and1 therefore1 in temperament1 gifts1 training1 and character4 ,they are as different as any four writers you know2 for illustration1 as ,carlyle1 ,emerson1 ,macaulay1 and ,irving differ4 ,to make plainer the thought ,i wish you to consider1 take ,satan as a character in literature4 ,compare the ,satans of ,milton1 ,goethe1 ,bailey1 ,browning1 and ,byron4 ,these writers show us five1 not one chief of devils4 ,they are as unlike as their authors2 and they are like their authors4 ,only a woman could have drawn the ,satan of ,mrs4 ,browning4 ,milton's ,satan is a copy of the ,miltonic intellect and character--grand1 scholarly1 metaphysical1 austere2 ,puritan is the hero of the ,paradise ,lost4 ,bailey's ,satan grew in the atmosphere of ,temple ,court1 and is a ,london lawyer of the first order with a diabolical nature4 ,byron's is like ,byron--brilliant1 moody1 desperate1 and vain4 ,goethe's is ,german1 and brought up in ,weimar4 ,he is like the high-priest and poet of materialism who gave us ,faust2 like ,goethe1 university bred1 learned1 scientific1 literary1 all-accomplished1 gay and cynical by turns1 a man of the world1 gentlemanly even in diabolisms1 one familiar with the best society1 cosmopolitan in his tastes1 and nineteenth century in dress and manners as well as in his opinions and habits4 ,but these four men who wrote of ,jesus1 these men so different in their training and manner of life--,matthew1 who had been a tax-collector under the ,roman ,government2 ,mark1 a mere child when ,jesus was among men1 and brought up under a careful mother2 ,luke1 a 8physician beloved20 and ,john1 a fisherman of ,galilee--these have given us one ,jesus1 not four4 ,the differences are such as four photographs of one man show in different postures taken by the same artist in the same day4 ,no matter by whose pen recorded1 the words and deeds of ,jesus in the four gospels are the words and deeds of one man4 ,but there is another view of the notion that the evangelists invented the character of ,jesus4 ,granting that these men had the mental and spiritual capacity to have created such a character as that of ,jesus2 granting that1 by some strange chance1 although without precedent or succession1 and in utter contradiction of all we know of the laws of the human mind1 these writers1 in themselves and their circumstances so different1 invented not four1 but one character1 there is another thing to be considered1 and it alone is conclusive3 they were bound to have invented a different ,jesus from the ,jesus of the gospels4 ,it is impossible but that these men were under the influences that not only characterized their times but made them what they were4 ,the gospels themselves show that these men were not only thoroughly ,hebrew in their thoughts and dispositions1 but ,hebrews of that period4 ,no writer can any more escape the intellectual and moral atmosphere of his time than he can escape the heredity that is in his blood4 ,these influences will show themselves in any work of the imagination as certainly as children will resemble their ancestors4 ,now ,jesus1 though a ,jew1 is not like his time or people4 ,he is a ,jew only in blood2 he is not a ,jew in thought or character4 ,the ,jew of that period1 saying nothing of what was past or of what was to come to that most wonderful people1 was narrow in his sympathies2 ,jesus was as broad as humanity4 ,the ,jew was exclusive2 ,jesus made welcome all who came to him4 ,the ,jew had small toleration for opinions that were not his own1 and none for men of other races2 no cosmopolitanism1 or even ,christian charity1 has ever yet reached the divine tolerance of ,jesus4 ,the ,jew felt only contempt for the mongrel tribes of ,samaria2 ,jesus makes a ,samaritan teach us universal brotherhood4 ,the ,jew felt that contact with other nations defiled him2 there is not in ,jesus the faintest flavor of any sort of race or caste prejudice4 ,the master passion that dominated ,jewish life in the days of ,jesus was a fierce patriotism that expended its fires in bitter and undying hatred of ,rome2 ,jesus1 while loving his people and weeping over their impending calamities1 said1 8,love your enemies40 ,if these writers were inventing a character when they wrote the gospels their hero would have been in sympathy with his time and people4 ,such a ,christ would have unfurled the lion-ensign of ,judah1 and every sword would have leaped from its scabbard from the mountains of ,lebanon to the borders of ,edom4 ,but ,jesus paid tribute to ,csar and commanded his disciples to do it4 ,of ,jesus we may well say what he said of himself3 he is 8,the ,son of man40 ,he belongs to all2 he is a universal character1 and the only one in history4 ,he is brother to every human being2 he loves one as well as another and each one perfectly4 ,he means as much to us of to-day as to those friends in ,bethany whom he loved1 or as he meant to that 8beloved disciple0 who leaned upon his breast at the ,last ,supper4 ,the necessary conclusion is1 such a character could not have been created by dramatic genius1 least of all by the four writers of that period who have given us the gospels4 ,the ,jesus of the gospels must have lived1 to have been conceived or described4 ,this conclusion agrees with the method these writers adopt in presenting this character to us4 ,it is the method of perfect simplicity4 ,they nowhere try to tell us what he was or what he was like4 ,there are no comparisons1 no analyses of qualities1 no character-sketching2 there is no effort1 not the least1 to draw a portrait of him4 ,they simply write down what they saw him do and what they heard him say2 and they make it plain that they understood neither his deeds nor his words1 and that least of all they understood him4 ,the loftiest genius could not have invented the character of ,jesus4 ,plain men1 like ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john1 could write of a life that was lived2 they could write down the words they heard him speak2 they could record the story of the good works they saw him do1 and so make us to know ,jesus1 8who and what manner of man he was40 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,jesus ,,and ,,myths4 ,some learned men1 in seeking a way to account for the ,jesus of the ,new ,testament without accepting the reality of his existence1 have sought to set up a notion like this3 ,it is true that the evangelists did not invent this character1 yet ,jesus never really lived2 he is only the myth of ,hebrew history4 ,we are to think of ,jesus1 they tell us1 as we do of the ,greek ,theseus1 of the ,egyptian ,isis and ,osiris1 of the ,thor and ,odin of the ,scandinavian legends1 of the ,hindustanee ,vishnu1 or of ,buddha1 and of scores of other myths that belong to the poetry1 traditions1 superstitions1 and religions of other nations4 ,much scholarship has been mustered into the service of this notion4 ,all this may appear more absurd than serious to one whose education has made ,jesus of ,nazareth real to his thoughts4 ,it may indeed be so2 but we must be fair even to those who seem to us to advance absurd views4 ,i cannot doubt that some able and sincere minds have accepted a theory of ,jesus that makes him out only a ,hebrew myth4 ,let us look at this theory in a common-sense way1 without burdening these pages with tiresome and confusing quotations4 ,there are some things which may be plain enough to those who are unlearned in the writings and legends referred to--some things that the learned cannot deny4 ,myths are growths1 and whatever grows--whether a tree1 a man1 a thought1 or a legend--grows under certain laws that cannot be violated4 ,there may be some laws under which myths develop unknown to me4 ,but some of these laws are unmistakable4 ,i mention them1 and you will see for yourself that none of them are observed in the story of ,jesus4 ,the story we find in the evangelists violates them all4 ,if the conceptions among other nations that are called myths are myths then ,jesus cannot be counted among them4 #a4 ,myths originate and1 as conceptions1 are complete before written history4 ,in all nations the earliest historians relate mythological stories that antedate all letters and all records4 ,in some nations a fragmentary history went to a sort of record before there was a true written language4 ,rude pictures engraved on stone or painted1 and what are called cuneiform characters1 such as are found on the bricks or clay cylinders among the ruins of ,nineveh and ,babylon1 and such hieroglyphics as are found on ancient tombs in ,egypt1 in ,mexico1 and other countries--these tell us of national myths that belonged to a period ages before even these crude attempts at writing were made4 ,the principle--it is invariable as a law--holds good in every nation that has a myth or written history of any sort4 ,but the ,jesus of the evangelists appeared1 and the story of his life was written1 long after the most eventful and important history of the ,hebrew race was recorded4 #b4 ,about all myths there is something grotesque if not monstrous4 ,they are exaggerations of men or animals4 ,sometimes they are natural forces represented as becoming incarnate in some fantastic shape4 ,if in human form the mythical characters are gigantic1 strange1 verging upon the unnatural and impossible4 ,but ,jesus appears as a man1 simply2 he has not a personal peculiarity to set him apart from his neighbors and companions4 ,not a word in the story suggests any thing abnormal or even singular4 ,there is not a word to tell us of his personal appearance2 there is no suggestion of any thing un-human or extra-human in his form or manner as he appeared among men4 ,the halo about his head you see in pictures is the pretty conceit of the painters2 there is not a hint of this1 or any thing like it1 in the story of the evangelists4 ,there is not so much as a word concerning his complexion1 his stature1 the color of his hair or eyes1 or the tones of his voice4 ,he is just a man among men--one who might have walked unnoticed in the streets of ,jerusalem4 ,read what the old books tell you of ,grecian1 ,roman1 ,egyptian1 and other myths4 ,how strange they are1 how different from men6 ,jesus appears as a man1 and the evangelists have not one word to indicate that he was peculiar in appearance in any respect4 #c4 ,myths reflect their time1 place1 and race4 ,this statement is without exception4 ,theseus is of ancient ,greece and is ,greek in every sinew and lineament4 ,odin and ,thor come to us out of the dark ,german forests1 and are but exaggerations1 in their virtues and vices1 of the mighty barbarians who dwelt in them4 ,isis and ,osiris are as like ,egypt as the desert1 the ,nile1 and its mysterious sources4 ,bel-,merodach is as like ,chaldea as the valley of the ,euphrates and its lost civilization could make him4 ,vishnu is as ,hindustanee as the ,ganges and its terrible jungles and the fierce beasts that made men afraid4 ,and so of them every one1 from the loftiest and noblest conceptions of godlike men that ever inspired the ,greek imagination with great ideals down to the meanest and most devilish that ever filled the superstitions of ,african or ,australian bushmen with terrors4 ,but in ,jesus there is not a trace of coloring from any scene or period in ,hebrew history1 from ,abraham in ,ur of the ,chaldees to the days of ,csar ,augustus4 #d4 ,in all nations myths defy chronology2 they are without dates4 ,in the imagination of their people they seem to have existed not only from the beginnings of national life1 but to have gone before it4 ,think of any of them--those that have come down to us from ancient nations1 as well as those that still hold their place in the folk-lore of barbarous peoples4 ,they are all without dates4 ,we do not read of ,isis and ,osiris appearing in the capital of ,egypt in the days of ,rameses ,,ii42 the ,egyptian gods are older than any of their dynasties and lived before men kept genealogies4 ,and so of all the gods of mythology2 they are without contemporaries known to any history4 ,myths precede the invention of calendars2 if time was counted at all the years were without dates4 ,how utterly different is the story of ,jesus1 that some men tell us is only a ,hebrew myth6 ,of ,jesus and the time of his appearing it is written3 8,and it came to pass in those days1 that there went out a decree from ,csar ,augustus1 that all the world should be taxed4 ,and this taxing was first made when ,cyrenius was governor of ,syria40 ,augustus was emperor2 ,cyrenius was governor in ,syria2 ,herod was king in ,judea4 #e4 ,myths defy topography as they do chronology2 they are not only without dates1 they are without definite localities4 ,they appeared not only some when that cannot be fixed in time1 but somewhere that cannot be found as a place4 ,their origin is shrouded in mystery4 ,some of the contemporaries of ,jesus made it a point against him1 8,as to this man we know whence he is40 ,in the story of ,jesus we are told of places with such exactness that the statements of the evangelists are to this day the best guides to the scholarly men who make explorations in order to find relics and fragments of lost history in ,palestine4 ,they do not tell us of ,jesus as appearing somewhere in their country1 as ,galilee1 ,samaria1 ,judea4 ,they tell us of ,nazareth1 ,bethlehem1 ,bethsaida1 ,capernaum1 ,bethphage1 ,bethany1 the ,mount of ,olives4 ,they tell us of the 8beautiful gate of the temple0 which1 he and his disciples looked upon1 and of 8,jacob's well0 8near to the parcel of ground that ,jacob gave to his son ,joseph0--the very spot where ,jesus sat to rest1 while his disciples went to ,sychar to buy bread of the baker--the well from which a woman of the ,samaritans drew water and gave him to drink4 #f4 ,myths are not completed at once4 ,they require long time--ages--for their development4 ,but the conception of the character of ,jesus comes into the thought of men with his manifestation and abides through the centuries that have followed as it was first given to the world4 ,there is absolutely nothing like it in all ,hebrew history that went before him1 as there is nothing like it in the history that comes after him4 ,and the conception of ,jesus that is given by the brief accounts of the evangelists is so finished1 so complete1 that the attempts of after times to add to it in the stories of the so-called apocryphal gospels have utterly failed of their design4 ,no marvelous stories1 handed down from one generation to another1 have in the least added to or taken from the ,jesus of the evangelists4 ,what ,jesus signified when the gospels were written he has been through the centuries that have followed him4 ,what he was then he is to-day4 #g4 ,all myths belong to the infancy1 never to the age of any nation4 ,they spring out of the morning mists2 they never appear in the light of day4 ,if the story of ,jesus had been placed in ,chaldea1 before the call of ,abraham1 it also would have belonged to the infancy of a race4 ,to harmonize with the laws that govern the development of myths the story of ,jesus should have anticipated the first chapters in ,hebrew history2 it should have been placed in that uncertain period that includes the dispersion from ,armenia1 the second cradle of the human race4 ,but the story of ,jesus is given to the world1 fresh and complete1 with not one hint of it in all preceding history1 in the last years1 the closing days of ,hebrew national life in ,judea4 ,the story antedates but a little while the destruction of ,jerusalem by ,vespasian and his ,roman legions2 when ,jesus was born ,augustus was emperor2 when ,jesus entered upon his ministry ,tiberius ,csar was in the fifteenth year of his reign2 his lieutenant1 ,pontius ,pilate1 governed ,judea as a subject province1 and his soldiers kept the peace in the holy city4 ,consider how impossible it is for myths to originate after written history1 in the sun-glare of life in a full-grown nation4 ,even the pretty stories of ,king ,arthur and his ,knights of the ,round ,table belong to that far-away period in ,england when there was no written history worth the name1 when letters were almost unknown1 when all was young and fresh and ignorant1 and the fairies still ruled in the forests4 ,think of a myth starting up to-day in ,london under the shadow of ,st4 ,paul's and ,parliament ,house4 ,think of the world in our time talking of 8,chinese ,gordon0 if there had lived no 8,chinese ,gordon40 ,if the people who have letters1 and write histories1 and 8turn the world upside-down0 with the gospel story1 should leave the poor savages of the ,congo ,valley to themselves1 thousands of years from our times ,livingstone and ,stanley will live in ,african traditions as godlike men2 and so new myths will be born1 will grow and fix themselves in the legends of these lands where they have done many wonderful works--but ,london and ,new ,york will breed no myths concerning ,livingstone and ,stanley4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,jesus ,,and ,,hebrew ,,human ,,nature4 ,there are writers who see clearly that the four evangelists could not have invented the character of ,jesus1 and who know that the story of his manifestation violates every known law that governs the birth and growth of myths2 but they tell us ,jesus was nevertheless only a man4 ,they say he did really live in ,palestine in the days of ,augustus1 ,tiberius1 ,herod1 and ,pilate1 and that he was only a man after all--a man of very great gifts and virtues1 the best man and the greatest teacher that ever lived4 ,this means that human nature was capable of producing ,jesus2 it means that ,hebrew human nature in that country and in that age was capable of producing ,jesus1 his doctrines and his life4 ,in other words1 he was a most extraordinary but still a natural product of his race1 country1 and time2 the normal product1 though the consummate flower1 of ,jewish life4 ,in considering that the evangelists1 granting them ability of all sorts for the invention of so perfect a character and such a character1 must have given us a different character1 some of the difficulties of the natural development theory were incidentally brought into view4 ,but there are other matters to be fairly considered in connection with this method of accounting for ,jesus4 ,jesus1 in one of the simplest--yet it is one of the profoundest and most comprehensive of philosophical principles--gave us the germ of our inductive philosophy and our modern scientific method4 ,when he said1 8,by their fruits ye shall know them10 he taught us that we are to make our theories conform to ascertained facts rather than explain our facts by our preconceived theories4 ,it is by the fruit we are to know what the quality of the tree is4 ,what manner of fruit grew on this long-lived ,hebrew tree8 ,you can seek the answer for yourself2 all ,hebrew history will tell you4 ,begin with the story of ,abraham1 in ,genesis1 and follow through the centuries the thread of ,hebrew history to the times of ,csar ,augustus and of ,jesus1 if you will1 till our own time4 ,we find in that history patriarchs1 law-givers1 priests1 judges1 soldiers1 kings1 statesmen1 poets1 reformers1 and prophets4 ,we have ,abraham and the other patriarchs2 ,moses1 ,aaron1 and his successors2 ,joshua and his compatriots2 ,samuel1 last and best of a long line of judges2 ,saul1 ,david--poet1 as well as soldier and king2 ,solomon1 genius and philosopher1 sage and profligate2 ,isaiah and the other prophets2 ,nehemiah and other reformers2 ,daniel1 the statesman1 in the service of an alien prince1 the conqueror of his people4 ,in later times we have ,judas ,maccabus1 the heroic defender of his country1 and the other mighty men who gave their lives in a hopeless struggle for the freedom of their nation4 ,still later we read of men like ,annas and ,caiaphas1 the wicked high-priests of an evil time4 ,we have ,gamaliel1 learned in the law1 and his pupil1 ,saul of ,tarsus4 7,but for ,jesus there would have been no ,paul47 ,we have the men brought to view as 8disciples0 of ,jesus4 ,later on appear such a man as ,josephus and the brave men who fought the ,romans and died for ,jerusalem4 ,consider them all1 the strong and the weak1 the good and the bad1 as they grew upon this ,hebrew tree4 ,these men show the best as well as the worst it could do4 ,we must judge this tree by its fruits4 ,can we place ,jesus among them and count him as one of them--the best of them8 ,could a tree which produces these others produce him8 ,to ask the question is to answer it4 ,i know what some writers have to say when they speak of finding types of ,jesus among those who lived before him2 what they say of ,moses1 ,joshua1 and others4 ,some of them were truly great and good men--among the best the human race can show for itself4 ,but we cannot place ,jesus among them2 they do not approach him1 and they are not like him4 ,he stands alone and apart4 ,he is not only above them1 he is unlike them4 ,the question is not simply whether the ,hebrew tree1 judging it by all its other fruits1 was capable of producing this one perfect character in all the world1 but also whether it could have produced this kind of character8 ,certainly it never did before him or after him4 ,search history for one shadow of proof that this race--wonderful and unique in all times and countries--from ,abraham to ,disraeli had in it any powers that could1 as a normal development1 produce ,jesus of ,nazareth4 ,if you will you may give your inquiries wider range4 ,forget that ,jesus was a ,jew by blood and birth and training4 ,try all history2 search the records of other nations4 ,tell me of the sages and reformers--the great and good men of other peoples and countries2 of ,zoroaster1 ,confucius1 ,socrates1 ,buddha1 and the rest2 of ,moses or any other ,jew you could name along with them4 ,is ,jesus only one of them8 ,the best of them perhaps--but only one of them8 ,read all you may of them as their best friends tell their stories1 and you would recoil if some maker of cyclopedias should talk of only adding the name of ,jesus4 ,it is not simply that you have heard your mother pray to ,jesus2 it is not simply the prompting of your 8cradle faith40 ,the reason lies deeper2 if to-day for the first time you were to read of the great and holy men of other nations and of ,jesus you must think of him1 without waiting to reason why1 in a place by himself1 as a great star shines alone4 ,no light is so splendid but the eye knows the sunlight for what it is4 ,but it is not1 as you know1 a question as to what the human race in some age could do2 it is1 what could the ,hebrew race do in the age of ,csar ,augustus8 ,for ,jesus was of the ,hebrew race and of that age4 ,but for the moment forget this limitation of our inquiry and ask1 ,what could that age do8 ,it is like asking1 ,what could the ,roman race and civilization do8 ,for the glory of ,egypt and ,babylon had long departed1 and the great ,greeks were before the time of ,jesus4 ,roman life then dominated the world1 and ,roman life did its utmost in producing ,julius ,csar4 ,but there was not in ,roman life1 tradition1 thought1 sentiment1 one quality or influence of any sort whatsoever that could have any relation to the production of a character like this that the evangelists have given us4 ,but at last we must ask simply this question3 ,what could the ,hebrew race in that age do8 ,only ,jewish influences entered into the life of ,jesus4 ,there is not in any single thought or word of his so much as an echo of any thing characteristic of other peoples4 ,there is not an undertone in his thoughts from the ,greek or ,roman masters4 ,he had nothing from other teachers or thinkers4 ,he was only a ,jew1 never out of ,palestine1 of a peasant family in ,galilee4 ,the ,galilean was a narrow1 suspicious1 and revengeful man2 provincial to the last degree2 holding fast old ideas and rejecting new ones with little regard to argument or evidence--the 8,bourbon0 of his time4 ,he was a man of bitterer prejudices than characterized even the men of ,judea4 ,but even ,galilee had its best and its worse1 and ,jesus was brought up in a disreputable mountain town4 8,can there any good thing come out of ,nazareth80 was a common proverb1 carrying its own answer and indicating the estimate placed upon the little town by the better people of the country4 ,jesus was untaught in the greater schools of his own people4 8,how knoweth this man letters1 having never learned80 implies more than that his hearers knew his history well enough to know he was not school-trained as their scribes were2 it means that they knew he did not speak as their scholars spoke4 ,jesus did not talk like a book2 he was not learned in books2 his language indicates1 so far as books count1 knowledge of the ,scriptures only2 he could read1 but he was no scholar4 ,compare now the conditions under which this young carpenter of ,nazareth1 working at his trade1 and doing good work till he was thirty years old1 grew into manhood2 consider what his people were at their best2 consider how little of what was best in ,hebrew life entered into his ,galilean bringing up2 consider the hard conditions and the narrow limitations of his life1 and tell me whether ,jesus is a normal development of his race and time and place8 ,we will not now speak of his teachings2 compare him with his natural conditions4 ,there is nothing in all human history that makes it possible to believe that a mere ,jew1 brought up in that ,nazareth1 could have become this flawless1 perfect character4 ,if it be otherwise there is nothing1 absolutely nothing1 in heredity or environment2 then any soil can produce any fruits4 ,better expect to find the kingly trees of the ,yosemite ,valley growing with the stunted sage of ,arizona4 ,consider the teachings of ,jesus and tell me can this perfection of truth come out of ,nazareth8 ,consider what he teaches about ,god1 the human soul1 sin1 reconciliation1 salvation and immortality4 ,consider how he teaches and illustrates in his life the brotherhood of the human race4 ,consider his ethics--his doctrines of rights and wrongs4 ,what he teaches about rights and wrongs1 in principle and practice1 is so absolutely full and perfect that good men--the best men in the world to-day1 so long after his time--cannot so much as conceive of one single virtue he did not teach or of one single evil that he did not condemn4 ,nay1 the wisest and best are always trying to teach men the truth ,jesus taught2 and his standard is so high that no sane and honest man has ever professed to have reached it4 ,one writer has ventured1 in order to find one spot on this sun1 to say1 ,jesus did not teach patriotism6 ,his whole life was devoted to his people2 his doctrines nourish and conserve patriotism4 ,he did not teach the thing a mere partisan of a clan or tribe calls patriotism2 then he would have been only a ,galilean zealot4 ,he teaches the only patriotism a good man can respect--a love of country that believes in righteousness and the golden rule that loves its own and another's too4 ,if ,jesus be only a man--a ,galilean ,jew1 we must remember--he contradicts in his flawless all-round character and perfect teaching the conditions of his life4 ,this perfection of character and teaching on the one hand1 and this ,galilean ,jew and ,nazarene carpenter on the other1 not only do not agree1 they cannot exist together4 ,it is by his life that we realize how imperfect all others are2 it is by his teachings that we test the rights and wrongs of all other teachings4 ,there is absolutely nothing in his race or age that accounts for ,jesus4 ,that he was a normal product of his race and age contradicts every law of life we know4 ,if it be not so all history goes for nothing and there is no law or reason in the nature of things4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,his ,,method ,,of ,,thought ,,differences ,,him ,,from ,,men4 ,in studying the story of the evangelists let us try to come nearer to ,jesus4 ,we need not fear2 he would have us find out all about him that we can2 he would have us know what manner of man he is4 ,if we love beauty1 goodness1 and truth1 we will approach him with reverence4 ,no good man1 no man you can respect or trust1 will speak of ,jesus with flippant words4 ,but we may go to him without hesitation2 he who took little children in his arms and blessed and kissed them will not receive the humblest student with coldness4 ,indeed1 the more one needs him the more welcome he is4 ,it was he who said to the 8weary and heavy laden10 8,come unto me40 ,let us consider now1 as best we may1 what we must call his method of thought4 ,it differences him utterly from all mere human teachers4 ,we can find many illustrations4 ,in the first place1 ,jesus does not seek the same end that the great thinkers1 who have given the world its philosophy and its science1 always seek--the creation of an intellectual system of and for the universe4 ,humboldt1 who was a very learned and gifted man1 gives us a great work he calls ,cosmos4 ,it tells all he knew1 or thought he knew1 of the universe1 and explains it all as best he could4 ,he is one among many2 all the philosophers try to account for things1 and the greater they are the more they try4 ,in the human mind there is a resistless tendency to search into secret things1 and to construct a philosophy of them4 ,aristotle gave us his ,categories2 the moderns try their hand in the same line of things4 ,it means only this3 men who are philosophers and thinkers seek to classify all facts and to find out and express--8formulate0 is the word--a complete1 all-embracing1 all-explaining law of them4 ,witty ,dr4 ,oliver ,wendell ,holmes1 in his ,poet at the ,breakfast-,table1 gives us a pretty satire on this invincible disposition and always disappointed and disappointing effort of thinkers4 ,his 8,philosopher0 was ever just about to find expression for his great discovery--just about to state the all-comprehensive law1 the perfect formula1 that left out nothing and explained all4 ,it is essentially a man's way2 in all departments we see the tendency and effort of men to explain the universe4 ,the chemist talks of 8atoms0 because he wishes to get down to the basis of things--to know the ultimate fact1 beyond which analysis cannot go4 ,the ontologist talks of 8germs0 for a like reason2 he is ever striving to find a something--a substance or a force--that will explain to him not one but every life process4 ,and the greater ones are seeking always to explain the origin of all things--to show how the universe was started or got itself going4 ,the philosopher who studies mind seeks the same sort of end--the construction of a mental science that embraces every fact and explains every mystery of mental action4 ,the theologian is in the same drift2 he wants a philosophy of religion4 ,he seeks to explain ,god1 and1 in not a few instances1 seems to labor more earnestly to show how ,god can save a sinner consistently with his own nature and government than to show the sinner how to be saved4 ,the theologian labors to show what the origin of evil is1 and to make his view a philosophy that will harmonize all differences and explain all mysteries4 ,the strength of this tendency in mere men--and it is strongest in the greatest--to find a statement that may account for all things is shown in the absurd conclusions that some of them1 entirely sane on other subjects1 accept for themselves and urge upon other minds4 ,a great chemist concludes that the universe was 8once latent in a fiery cloud10 and seems content with a form of pretty words4 ,another expounder of mysteries accounts for life in our world by telling us that 8germs0 were first brought from somewhere in space by 8falling meteorites10 pays his worship to what he dreams is science1 and is content to push his problem further from him4 ,the notion that the word 8protoplasm0 is supposed to stand for represents another effort to explain all things1 albeit by a theory harder to understand than the universe it would embrace and expound4 ,these are only specimens2 both ancient and modern times abound in them4 ,wiser1 perhaps1 and quite as scientific was the desperation of that student of the mysteries of life and man who concluded that the 8missing link0 must be in the bottom of the ,indian ,ocean2 for no diver can prove what is not in water so deep as this fathomless sea4 ,what we are now considering is a resistless tendency in thinking minds4 ,it is not peculiar to one class of men2 it does not characterize one age4 ,it is simply human nature to ask questions and seek explanations4 ,consider a few names now mentioned and see for yourself that the greater the mere man the more he tries to explain the universe--to find a formula large enough to contain it1 to classify its facts and correlate its forces4 ,think of these men and the few whose names should go with them--,socrates1 ,plato1 ,aristotle1 ,origen1 ,augustine1 ,pelagius1 ,athanasius1 ,calvin1 ,edwards1 ,leibnitz1 ,bacon1 ,humboldt1 ,kant1 ,cuvier1 and1 perhaps1 some new men4 ,philosophers1 scientists1 theologians1 they are all alike in this--they are building a system1 a philosophy of the universe4 ,do not mistake my purpose in these illustrations2 the disposition which we have been considering is a pure human instinct2 it is resistless1 and it is the condition of mental activity4 ,the mind that does not ask questions1 that does not knock at the closed doors of knowledge1 is stagnant and will perish4 ,progress and growth depend upon inquiry4 ,wise men will cheer every earnest student1 whether he is trying to find what an atom is or what the stars contain4 ,it is a man's way to seek to explain all things2 the effort affords the drill and discipline that make growth and progress possible to the race4 ,but in these respects1 as in so many others1 ,jesus is utterly unlike the philosophers and scientists and theologians4 ,he does not in the least seek the end that mere men seek4 ,he makes us understand the universe--matter and mind1 man and ,god--better than all of them put together4 ,but he nowhere accounts for things4 ,he has not a word about the 8cosmos40 ,he makes no inquiry1 raises no question1 offers no explanation concerning the origin of things4 ,in him there seems to be no consciousness of the mysteries of the universe1 either as to its origin or nature4 ,but it may be said ,jesus taught morals1 religion1 not science or philosophy1 and he had no occasion to construct a system of the universe4 ,in morals and religion1 more than anywhere else1 do mere men build systems when they think1 explain things when they teach4 ,but ,jesus1 teaching morals and religion1 was unlike all others1 mere men1 teaching morals and religion4 ,he said not one word--he1 the only teacher who seemed to understand it--about the 8origin of evil10 the subject that has vexed not a little theology into lunacy2 he1 the only one who has seemed capable of doing it1 has given us no 8theodicy10 nor so much as seemed to think of it at all4 ,he did not1 he who made claim to perfect knowledge of ,god1 explain ,god or philosophize about ,god2 ,jesus did not so much as give us a philosophy of himself1 his life1 or his mission4 ,it was ,john1 the disciple1 not ,jesus1 the ,master1 who wrote of the ,logos4 ,jesus offers no philosophy of the plan of salvation2 he does not philosophize concerning faith1 or prayer1 or immortality4 ,as to evil1 ,jesus tells men what evil is1 shows the ruin it brings upon them1 and points out to them the way of deliverance4 ,he talks to men of their evil and the way to make an end of it4 ,jesus never investigates4 ,he never doubts his knowledge or questions for one instant the grounds of it4 ,we have no fit word for his method2 intuition is perhaps as good as any4 ,his thinking is not a process2 it is like seeing1 not learning1 the truth2 seeing not the outside of things as men see them1 but the inside of them as ,god sees them4 ,jesus never uses those forms of logic that are absolutely necessary to all others4 ,we are speaking of his 8method of thought20 perhaps such words do not apply to him at all4 ,how did he find out what was true8 ,he did not seem to find it out at all2 it seemed to be in him4 ,he never seems to discover a truth4 ,he does not1 by reasoning from what is to what must be1 find out what he did not know before4 ,in geometry we begin with what we call 8axioms10 a few simple principles that need no proof4 ,we call them 8self-evident10 because we see that they are true1 that they must be true1 the instant we know what the words mean that state them to us4 ,upon these we build our geometry and all the science and art that rest upon it or grow out of it4 ,when we prove one thing we did not know by something that1 being self-evident1 needs no proof1 we put the two together and prove a third1 and so on as far as we can go4 ,jesus would have known the third1 and the hundredth1 and the last1 as he knew the first--without this building-up process4 ,he would know all that the axioms contain as we know the axioms4 ,for want of fitter words we have been speaking of his 8method of thought40 ,as these words have significance to mere men1 ,jesus1 it seems1 had no method of thought2 he did not1 as men must do1 think to know2 he knew things4 ,perhaps this is in part what he meant when he said to ,pilate1 8,i am the ,truth40 ,,chapter ,,viii4 8,,never ,,man ,,spake ,,like ,,this ,,man40 ,we will consider the method of ,jesus as a teacher1 and the word is appropriate now4 ,he did have a method in teaching men the truths that he knew without reasoning about them1 the truths that he did not discover by investigation1 the truths he knew because they were in him4 ,to begin with1 ,jesus does not seek to prove things to his hearers2 he announces what is truth as ,god announces truth4 ,he is a divine dogmatist2 he offers no proof of what he sets forth as truth4 ,no other teacher ever taught as ,jesus did4 ,what we may call his logic-form is pre-eminently the teacher's2 but no teacher ever employed it as did he who came out of ,nazareth4 ,he reasons from the weaker to the stronger reason4 ,he does not reason to prove truth to others1 as he does not reason to discover it for himself1 but to teach it4 ,this is the form of reasoning we find in all his parables and illustrations4 ,his arguments are designed to help his learners understand what he meant and to impress it upon their minds4 ,he never seems concerned about proving to men the truth of what he said1 but only to make it plain and to enforce it4 ,many illustrations might be given2 let a few suffice4 ,one day ,jesus was teaching his disciples the doctrine of ,god's providence4 ,he makes no argument to prove that there is a providence2 he does not seek to convince them1 but only to help them realize in their own thoughts the all-embracing1 unfailing1 and gracious providence that kept them4 ,and he did this not to make them understand the doctrine of providence1 but to help them trust in it4 ,he seeks to bring home to them the truth he does not seek to prove4 ,how does he set about it8 ,what is his method8 ,not a mere man's method4 ,it is indeed an absolutely simple method2 but no other teacher1 who has not learned it of him1 has used it so in discoursing of such truths4 ,he begins with what they knew3 8,consider the lilies of the field1 how they grow2 they toil not1 neither do they spin2 and yet ,i say unto you that even ,solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these40 ,they knew the lilies--that is1 they were used to seeing them1 the little flowers so common1 so insignificant1 yet so beautiful4 ,jesus concludes3 8,wherefore1 if ,god so clothe the grass of the field1 which to-day is1 and to-morrow is cast into the oven1 shall he not much more clothe you1 ,o ye of little faith80 ,in the same way he reasons of sparrows and men4 ,he would inspire his disciples with the courage that has its root in faith in ,god's loving and unfailing providence4 ,he says to them the great ,god not only feeds the poor little birds1 but cares for them1 8,are not two sparrows sold for a farthing8 and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your ,father4 ,but the very hairs of your head are all numbered4 ,fear ye not therefore1 ye are of more value than many sparrows40 ,he would teach his disciples the folly of forgetting what is essential in brooding anxieties about small things3 8,and which of you with taking thought worrying can add to his stature one cubit8 ,if ye then be not able to do that thing which is least1 why take ye thought for the rest8444 ,therefore ,i say unto you1 ,take no thought for your life1 what ye shall eat2 neither for the body1 what ye shall put on4 ,the life is more than meat1 and the body is more than raiment40 ,he would make men see how perfectly simple and unmysterious is prayer and how absolutely certain it is that ,god will answer4 ,have we not listened to mere men--preachers they called themselves1 yet doing1 it may be1 the best they could--mystifying simple-minded people and little children--themselves most of all--with tortuous disquisitions concerning the 8subjective0 and 8objective0 results of their devotions6 ,answering infidels1 they suppose6 ,jesus makes no argument about the nature of prayer2 he has not a word to prove its reasonableness or to harmonize the doctrine with law4 ,he says3 8,ask1 and it shall be given you2 seek1 and ye shall find2 knock1 and it shall be opened unto you4 ,for every one that asketh1 receiveth2 and he that seeketh1 findeth2 and to him that knocketh it shall be opened40 ,how does he prove what he affirms8 ,he does not prove it2 he brings it home to them3 8,what man is there of you1 whom if his son ask bread1 will he give him a stone8 ,or1 if he ask a fish1 will he give him a serpent80 ,every hearer1 whether parent or child1 answered out of his heart1 8,there is not such a man among us40 ,jesus concludes3 8,if ye then1 being evil1 know how to give good gifts unto your children1 how much more shall your ,father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him80 ,the cold and cruel ,pharisees1 playing at religion and seeking their own1 complained one day that ,jesus healed a poor maimed man on the ,sabbath day4 ,jesus made no argument about the nature of the ,sabbath4 ,he reminded them that they would lift a sheep out of the ditch on the ,sabbath day1 and concludes with a question that brought the truth home to them3 8,how much then is a man better than a sheep80 ,these same people1 contending about the forms of religion and forgetting ,god and man1 complained that ,jesus kept company with 8publicans and sinners10 and was kind to them4 ,in answer he told them of the shepherd who1 missing one sheep from his flock of a hundred1 could not be content with the ninety and nine1 but went out into the wilderness seeking the lost one2 he told them how glad the shepherd was when in his arms he had tenderly brought it home4 ,he told them also of the woman who could not rest till1 with broom and candle1 she had searched her house for the piece of money she had lost4 ,he told them of her neighbors rejoicing with her when she had found it4 ,why he cared for publicans and sinners he made plain when he added3 8,i tell you there is joy in the presence of the angels of ,god over one sinner that repenteth40 ,jesus would make these hard guardians of what they called the ,church and despisers of their brother-men realize the ,fatherhood of ,god4 ,he made no argument of the sort mere men would make4 ,he tells them of the two sons and how glad the old father was when his poor prodigal got home4 ,the conclusion no human heart can miss3 the infinite ,father1 infinitely better than any earthly father1 is infinitely glad when his prodigals return to him4 ,the heart that once takes in this story of the two sons can never again tremble and cower before that horribly heathen conception of ,god that makes him only an infinite terror1 seated on the throne of the universe1 to be afraid of1 fled from1 and hated forever4 ,jesus sought to encourage the most despondent and abject to trust in the divine justice as well as mercy4 ,there is no lofty argument concerning the righteousness of ,god4 ,he tells of the widow and the unjust judge1 who feared not ,god nor regarded man1 the judge who made a boast of heartlessness and apologized to himself for seeming to do a good deed4 ,he grants the widow's prayer because he was selfish and mean2 he would not be 8wearied with her importunities40 ,jesus concludes3 8,and shall not ,god avenge his own darlings who cry day and night unto him80 ,how clear ,jesus made what mere human teachers make dark6 ,what even some preachers of our times1 too proud in their false learning to be simple in their methods and language1 make so tiresome and so bewildering to hungry souls who ask for bread and get chaff6 ,we will not understand how unlike the methods of mere men is the method of ,jesus till we have wearied ourselves with what they call reasonings2 till we have come to understand that no man can teach religion who rejects the methods of ,jesus for what he thinks are the methods of what he calls logic and philosophy1 truly understanding neither4 ,what we may call his manner1 as distinguished from his method of teaching1 differences ,jesus from mere men4 ,no great teacher1 unless it be some one who has learned of him the true secret of teaching--and how far below the ,teacher the best and wisest fall6--ever before or since has the manner of ,jesus4 ,there is a sort of fatality about men's teaching4 ,vanity or ignorance makes them seek to appear profound when they are only obscure4 ,what an unspeakable relief and blessing it would bring to all churches and schools if pastors and teachers would only study the method of ,jesus and seek to imitate the simplicity of ,jesus6 ,teachers1 not a few of them1 burden and bewilder their pupils with the dead lumber of learning that is not knowledge2 preachers1 not a few of them1 mystify and mislead their hearers with reasonings1 philosophies1 and argumentations1 mere war of words for the most part1 that are not gospel nor life4 ,when ,jesus talked of the deepest and highest questions1 of ,god and man1 of rights and wrongs1 of life and death1 of time and eternity1 of heaven and hell1 it is said1 8,the common people heard him gladly40 ,this could never be said of even the good ,socrates1 or the great ,plato2 for the 8common people0 could not understand them4 ,it is indeed a rare thing that the 8common people0 hear 8gladly0 a teacher of science1 philosophy1 or religion whom the uncommon people call great4 ,as a rule1 the greater one is1 as men measure greatness1 the less do 8common people0 hear him 8gladly10 and least of all when he speaks or writes upon the very greatest of themes4 ,is it because such teachers are not themselves brothers to the common people8 ,one reason is the great men do not truly understand what they teach4 ,and herein is a reason for patience4 ,perhaps1 for the most part1 the great ones do the best they can4 ,it seems that1 when a mere man seeks to think profoundly or to speak strongly1 he must fall into obscurity4 ,this obscurity cannot be due to any inherent difficulty in the truth itself1 but to those limitations1 mental and spiritual1 that belong to mere human teachers4 ,but ,jesus taught the greatest truths in language as simple and clear as when he spoke of the most familiar duties of daily life4 ,his manner is as easy and his words as plain when speaking of immortality as when telling men to be honest and to 8love one another40 ,compare the ,sermon on the ,mount and the writings of the greatest and best of men who have discoursed upon these themes4 ,how perfectly simple and transparent and easy the manner and style of ,jesus6 ,how complex and dark and difficult the manner and style of men6 ,how it should shame mere men into meek simplicity when they read of ,jesus1 the divine ,teacher1 8,the common people heard him gladly60 ,after all1 it may be that our method of thought is as unfitted for understanding the ,gospel as our method of teaching is unfitted for expounding it4 ,it may be that if we worried ourselves less with what men have written of his words--too often trying to read into his teachings thin philosophies2 if we brooded more upon his words and less upon men's notions of his words1 we would understand ,jesus better4 ,then we also could teach the people4 ,then1 it may be1 the 8common people0 would hear us 8gladly40 ,if we preached his 8text0 more and books about his 8text0 less we would preach more truth that saves and less philosophy that bewilders4 ,in speaking of the method and manner of ,jesus there is another matter1 not easy to discuss1 that should be mentioned2 ,i refer to the effect upon himself of his thoughts and words4 ,there is a divine calmness in him never seen in mere men2 that is impossible to them4 ,in this also he stands apart from men4 ,his greatest discourses are without intellectual heats4 ,this is very wonderful to me4 ,he shows himself to be the tenderest-hearted teacher who ever sought to lead men out of darkness into light4 ,we know that he is not cold of heart2 we know how deep is his compassion on men2 how infinite his concern for them4 ,but he delivers the most tremendous truths with the most perfect composure and balance of spirit4 ,if a mere man were to see clearly for the first time what the ,sermon on the ,mount1 the third chapter of ,john1 the parable of the ,prodigal1 and a score of other discourses and revelations like them really signify2 if a mere man were1 so to speak1 to come suddenly upon such thoughts1 such conceptions1 so vast1 deep and high1 it would unbalance him4 ,his brain would be on fire and his heart would break with holy excitement4 ,but ,jesus speaks these truths with perfect calmness2 they were not new thoughts to him2 there was no effort in order to grasp them or to express them4 ,yet ,jesus was full of sympathy4 ,he wept with the sisters at the grave of ,lazarus and bewailed the fate of ,jerusalem with sobs and tears4 ,you have read a story of ,sir ,isaac ,newton1 which1 whether it be historically true or false1 well illustrates1 for it is very like a man1 what is here brought to your attention1 as showing how ,jesus differs from a mere man4 ,when ,sir ,isaac had nearly finished his deep and long-continued studies of the laws which govern the movement of the heavenly bodies1 and was near enough the end of his great mathematical calculations to foresee the result and to realize that it would justify his sublime speculations concerning the controlling law of the material universe1 he became so excited--cold philosopher and trained to self-control as he was--that he could not complete the simple processes involved in his formula4 ,it was necessary to call in a friend to finish the easy work for him2 for the moment the great astronomer was out of balance4 ,sir ,isaac's was exactly a mere man's way2 great inventors have gone mad when they were within one step of triumph4 ,but ,jesus was calm when speaking1 in the simplest way1 of the greatest truths of life and the most stupendous events that await eternity for their unfolding4 ,no wonder those who1 on one occasion1 were sent to lay hands on him had only this answer when they returned to their masters without him3 8,never man spake like this man40 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,the ,,son ,,of ,,man ,,and ,,sin4 ,when we compare the work ,jesus proposed to do in the world with the schemes of earth's greatest ones we cannot classify him with mere men4 ,what did he think he came into the world to do8 ,what did he consider his mission to be8 ,we cannot be in the least doubt for the answer2 there was no confusion in his thought1 no ambiguity in his words4 ,if we ask what ,jesus thought his mission was we will easily find the answer--unparalleled by the thought of any1 absolutely unique1 stupendous1 but as unmistakable in meaning as simple in the form of expression4 ,we will answer in his own words3 8,the ,son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost40 8,i came not to call the righteous1 but sinners to repentance40 8,god sent not his ,son into the world to condemn the world1 but that the world through him might be saved40 8,i came not to judge the world1 but to save the world40 ,more forcibly1 if possible1 than in his words1 his conception of his mission is shown by his work1 his living1 and his dying4 ,st4 ,luke1 in the ,acts of the ,apostles1 gives us in a simple statement the whole history2 it is1 in a line1 the biography of the ,god-man1 8,he went about doing good40 ,that ,jesus should have seen in the world evil that needed to be remedied1 that he should have tried to remedy the evil he saw1 does not1 in itself1 difference him from good and wise men who have observed the facts of human life and have deplored human miseries4 ,all the great teachers and reformers have recognized evil in the world1 and many of them have distinctly recognized this evil as moral evil4 ,the doctrine of ,jesus is peculiar in this2 all the evil that is in the world is moral evil1 and all moral evil is1 at its root1 sin1 and sin1 considered as a quality in man's character1 is a state of being that is out of harmony with ,god2 considered as a fact1 it is life in violation of ,god's law4 ,the bad man is1 in his spirit1 at enmity with ,god2 in his life he breaks ,god's law4 ,he loves evil because evil is in him2 his life is wicked because his heart is bad4 ,and ,jesus comes to take away sin2 to deliver men from it1 its penalty1 and its power4 ,said the angel to ,mary3 8,thou shalt call his name ,jesus1 for he shall save his people from their sins40 ,in the view of ,jesus sin is the one evil2 deliverance from sin is deliverance from all evil2 it is salvation4 ,he struck at sin as the root of all possible evil2 he recognized no evil that was in man's circumstances1 as if his evil came out of fate or in some way invincible by him2 it is all of sin4 ,wherefore ,jesus does not set about bettering man's circumstances1 by direct effort improving the sanitary1 economic1 political1 or social conditions of life2 he works upon man himself4 ,whatever improves man's condition is1 in the doctrine of ,jesus1 to be desired2 but it is not enough to make man comfortable2 he must be made good4 ,he teaches that all that is truly good and needful will come to men who are delivered from sin1 and that no real good can come to him whose sin remains in him4 ,first1 last1 all the time1 ,jesus makes deliverance from sin the one thing needful--the chief good4 ,as his manner was1 he does not argue about it2 he states his doctrine positively1 8with authority10 as one knowing the whole truth of the case4 ,there is no qualifying word to tone down his statements and to leave place for retreat from possible mistakes4 ,his doctrine he taught and illustrated in every possible way4 ,it is in his more formal discourses1 his briefest comments on men and things1 his most occasional conversations and most incidental remarks4 ,his doctrine is in all his efforts to do men good1 as it is in every warning and every promise4 ,and there is never a shadow of doubt1 a suspicion of hesitation4 ,from his first word to the last1 from the beatitudes to the prayer on the cross1 it is always the same thing2 man's trouble is all in his sin2 his only salvation is deliverance from sin4 ,it comes out in the most incidental way4 ,when the penitent ,magdalene washed his feet with her tears1 at ,simon's table1 he said not a word about her lost social position or of its possible restoration4 ,he said1 8,thy sins are forgiven2 thy faith hath saved thee2 go in peace40 ,when the four kind and loving friends of ,capernaum--whose names we would like to know--had brought their palsied neighbor to ,peter's house1 and had at last1 with much trouble1 through the broken roof laid him down at the feet of ,jesus1 the first words were not about palsy and healing1 but about sin and salvation3 8,son1 thy sins be forgiven thee40 ,this is what the story of the penitent publican1 crying out1 8,god be merciful to me a sinner10 means4 ,it is what the story of the prodigal means2 it is what the whole life and teaching of ,jesus mean4 ,we must notice particularly that the mere conception of a divine incarnation is not peculiar to the story of ,jesus4 ,the notion of incarnation1 the idea of the gods taking a form of flesh and manifesting themselves to men1 is in the traditions of almost every nation4 ,it has been said1 hastily1 ,i believe1 that there are some races1 at least some tribes1 so low in development as to have no idea of ,god whatever4 ,it is easy to be mistaken in such matters2 it is difficult for a cultivated man to find out what a savage really thinks about any subject1 least of all his religion4 ,perhaps the language difficulty is the least bar to understanding in such a case2 the differences between men are not measured by differences in speech only4 ,it is certain that the conception of ,god is1 in some form1 in most nations4 ,i believe it is in all4 ,and in every nation there is some sort of notion of divine manifestation4 ,the attempt to represent the gods in stone1 in metal1 in wood1 or even in rude drawings and paintings1 comes after a traditional belief has long held its place in men's thoughts of their manifestation in some visible and tangible form4 ,it is not always a human form2 it is generally not a human form1 except as it is part of the conception3 as in the eagle-headed ,belus of ,babylon1 as in the winged bulls1 with the head of a man and the feet of a lion1 that ,layard found in the ruins of ,nineveh4 ,these composite images represented ideas of the gods1 not facts concerning them4 ,thus the image found in the ruins of ,nineveh represented strength1 swiftness1 courage1 intelligence4 ,but the ideas expressed in these strange and grotesque forms grew out of traditions of divine manifestation1 of incarnation4 ,all the mythologies tell us of incarnations2 but the idea of divine incarnation in the story of the evangelists differs1 not in some incidents1 but in all essentials from all others4 ,one unique fact1 as has heretofore1 in a different connection1 been pointed out1 is that ,jesus was simply a man who1 as to his appearance1 had absolutely nothing that was peculiar4 ,neither stature1 beauty1 swiftness1 nor strength is attributed to ,jesus4 ,we might speak of the limitations that go with other conceptions of gods incarnate4 ,they are specialized by race and localized by country4 ,this thought has been illustrated elsewhere4 ,it may answer now simply to remind you that ,vishnu is ,hindustanee1 ,isis and ,osiris ,egyptian1 ,odin and ,thor ,scandinavian4 ,not one of them has relations to the whole human race4 ,but ,jesus1 who calls himself 8the ,son of man10 is of all1 and belongs to all4 ,but the most notable difference to be considered now1 that which alone would place ,jesus apart from all others1 whether men or legendary gods1 is in the end he proposed to accomplish4 ,the gods became incarnate and appeared to men1 or dwelt among them1 to do many and very different things2 ,jesus to do just one thing1 and to do what no other ever proposed to do1 or so much as thought of doing4 ,he1 8the ,son of man10 was of all and for all1 and he proposes an end that concerns all4 ,the evil he would remove from all is not a ,hebrew trouble2 it is in the human race4 ,this is plainer in comparison4 ,vishnu1 the supreme god of ,hindustanee mythology1 has condescended1 so the old stories tell us1 to almost innumerable incarnations4 ,but for what end8 ,always to work some prodigies2 to do some strange things on the plane of men's lives2 to do things affecting men's circumstances1 not men's character4 ,he comes to do something in a limited sphere2 something for his people1 ,hindustanee people1 not for the whole race of man4 ,vishnu1 when he comes in mercy1 comes to remedy external conditions2 he delivers from pestilence1 famine1 wild beasts1 poisonous serpents4 ,when he comes in wrath it is to crush his enemies4 ,in mythology the very conception men had of the coming of the gods grew out of their circumstances4 ,thus in ,india the conception of evil itself was determined by conditions peculiar to ,india4 ,with them evil grew out of the jungles where pestilence was bred1 serpents abounded1 and fierce man-eating tigers hid themselves and waited for their prey4 ,it was determined by those conditions of life peculiar to dense populations1 subject to the scourges that followed war1 and evil natural conditions--plague and famine4 ,the evil ,jesus considered was peculiar to no people and to no country2 it did not grow out of natural conditions2 it was in man himself1 and it was sin4 ,among warlike nations the gods came down to take part in mere national matters2 they fought the battles of their friends and punished their enemies4 ,your ,homer tells you all this in the story of the siege of ,troy4 ,virgil tells you the same thing2 your classical authors are full of it4 ,the poor ,indians and negro tribes tell of such incarnations4 ,it was this very human conception of divine incarnation that filled the national imagination and sustained the national hopes before ,jesus came4 ,such an incarnation they were longing for when they rejected him because they could not use him for their ends2 it is a conception that to this day lingers in ,hebrew thought and hope4 ,they looked and prayed for a divine warrior-king who would lead their armies1 restore their nation1 and give it dominion over the world4 ,how incredible the idea that the evangelists have only given us a reflection of popular sentiment1 the outgrowth of national traditions6 ,these sentiments and traditions were utterly spoiled by the sort of incarnation the evangelists describe4 ,the nation resented unto death the conception ,jesus had of his mission to men2 before such a king as ,jesus they preferred the ,csar they hated2 they put to death the man who only sought to save them from their sins because he disappointed them in their patriotic ambitions4 ,speaking in a general way1 the gods of the nations1 when they become incarnate1 come to do a man's sort of work4 ,they work upon the outside of life2 they seek to deliver man from external evils and to improve his external conditions4 ,the 8twelve labors of ,hercules0 tell us what men thought they needed a divine man to do2 the evangelists tell us what the divine ,man thought men needed that he should do4 ,when the gods of mythology become incarnate they work in the realm of circumstances2 ,jesus speaks only of the man himself1 his heart1 his character1 and seeks only to make him good4 ,here is1 therefore1 the essential difference3 his conception of evil1 and back of that1 of course1 his conception of man himself4 ,as we have seen1 in the thought of ,jesus the evil and the good1 the woes and the blessings of humanity are in man himself2 they are not in externals1 but internals2 not in circumstances1 but in character4 ,jesus does not1 therefore1 dwell upon poverty or wealth1 sickness or health1 enemies or friends1 contempt or favor1 servitude or freedom1 early death or long life4 ,he is not concerned about any circumstances whatever that merely determine man's external life2 he is concerned about man himself4 ,if there be any real good or any real evil the good and the evil are inside1 not outside the man4 ,let us note1 too1 ,jesus never places man's moral evil1 which is the one evil he recognizes1 in mere ignorance of truth1 as if instruction and merely changing man's opinions could remedy the evil2 he always places it in that something that alienates man's love from ,god1 that something that ,jesus calls sin1 that something that is sin because it antagonizes the pure will of ,god4 ,and ,jesus teaches that the very constitution of man's nature is such that no bettering of his external conditions can bring any real help whatsoever2 that so long as man is out of harmony with ,god there can be for him1 neither in this world nor the next1 any real good4 ,this he meant in the question that makes a man outweigh a world3 8,what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul80 ,jesus took very great pains to teach men that in themselves1 and not in their circumstances1 was their real evil and their real good4 ,he used almost every form of speech to teach them to think of a man as a man1 and not as the sport of circumstances4 ,for poverty ,jesus did not care2 for wealth he had no respect4 ,the story of the barn-builder gives us his solemn judgment upon a man who achieved very great worldly success2 who was what most men long and strive to be--rich and great4 ,but he was a man out of harmony with ,god--rich in purse1 bankrupt in soul4 ,jesus1 in the face of all human opinion1 plainly calls such a man 8a fool40 ,the drama of the rich man and ,lazarus turns the light of both worlds upon the question of man's chief and only good1 and emphasizes1 by the despair of the prince in hell1 his verdict upon the case of the prosperous and self-satisfied barn-builder1 in whose thoughts and plans neither his own soul nor the ,god who made him had any place4 ,always--whether speaking of his own personal work or in instructing his disciples as to their work--,jesus looks to bettering men1 not their conditions4 ,he did not care for conditions1 except as they connected men with influences that made them good or evil2 he cared for men only4 ,hence he always stressed character and nothing else4 ,character1 in the teaching of ,jesus1 is all2 it is both test and measure of what a man is1 and there is no other test or measure for which man ought to care1 for which ,god does care4 ,the amazement of comfortable and cultured ,nicodemus shows us that these ideas of ,jesus were not borrowed from the men of his time and race4 ,summing up what is here presented as to the conception ,jesus had of his mission to men1 a conception as unique as his own character3 only one thing he hated and sought to destroy--sin2 only one thing he loved for man and sought to bestow--goodness4 ,only one thing his true disciples hate--sin2 only one thing is worth striving1 living and dying for--goodness3 which is another name for ,christ-likeness4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,the ,,magnitude ,,of ,,the ,,end ,,he ,,proposed ,,and ,,set ,,about4 ,let us now consider briefly the magnitude of the work ,jesus proposed to do as the end of his mission to men4 ,it is the baldest commonplace to say the work ,jesus proposed to accomplish transcends all the dreams of the boldest imagination4 ,it is a deep offense that once1 at ,st4 ,helena1 ,napoleon contrasted the work ,jesus proposed to do with the dreams that he and ,alexander and ,julius ,csar had indulged of world-changing conquests4 ,it is no great thing that selfish1 ambitious1 and gifted men have dreamed of conquering what we call the world by force4 ,csar1 ,alexander1 ,mohammed1 ,napoleon1 even poor wild ,el ,mahdi of the desert1 may dream such dreams4 ,but what are such dreams when we think of ,jesus and the work he proposed to do and set himself to do8 ,we do not like to think of the dreams of ambition1 the loftiest that ever dared or planned a worldwide scheme of conquest1 when we are listening to ,jesus concerning his mission to men4 ,jesus speaks of the conquest of all nations1 not as they then were1 but of all nations for all times4 ,it is nothing less and nothing else than the moral and spiritual re-creation of the human race1 the absolute conquest of the love of men's hearts for time and eternity4 ,say what men may of ,jesus1 it was worth dying1 in shame and agony1 upon a ,roman cross to have had such thoughts1 even for one moment4 ,no mere man ever had such thoughts1 could originate such thoughts1 or for long hold such thoughts in his grasp4 ,the end ,jesus proposed to himself is as far above the noblest thoughts of the noblest men as the splendors of the midnight heavens are above the cheap glitter of a toy-shop4 ,the thought of saving a race was as extra-human and superhuman as the thought of the universe2 the saving of a race1 the saving of one man1 is as far beyond man's power as the creation itself4 ,we cannot grasp the conception ,jesus had of the work he came to do2 it makes us dizzy when we contemplate it steadily2 it is like trying to realize the distances of the fixed stars4 ,its splendor blinds us2 it is like looking at the unclouded sun4 ,no one1 whatever may be his opinion of ,jesus or attitude toward him1 can question that he believed absolutely in the success of the work he proposed to accomplish4 ,his plans embrace the entire race of man and require eternity for their consummation1 but he speaks of these stupendous things with the perfect assurance and simplicity of a little child3 8,and ,i1 if ,i be lifted up1 will draw all men unto me40 ,it was hard to say which is most unlike a mere man3 the character of the work he proposed to do1 the magnitude of it1 the unhasting zeal with which he set about it1 or his absolute confidence1 calmness1 and simplicity of manner in telling men about it4 ,it is impossible to write worthily on such a theme4 ,let us1 if only for a moment1 try to see how unlike a mere man it all is4 ,jesus considers the sources of man's misery and the nature of his remedy4 ,it is all open1 clear1 and certain to his thoughts4 ,he has not the least possible doubt that he has gone to the root of the subject and absolutely knows it all4 ,what has confounded all human thinkers is in the sunlight to his vision4 ,when the strongest and best of men tries to mine into the depths of man's nature and misery he labors heavily and breathes hard1 like a diver in his coat of mail down in the deep sea4 ,when a man attempts to tell what he thinks he sees in the shadows from which he cannot escape1 while meditating these difficult and to him impossible themes1 he is in sore travail for words2 utterance is heavy and confused4 ,but ,jesus makes no effort to grasp the truth2 his thoughts are clear and complete to him2 his language simple and clear to us4 ,it is like this3 8,out of the heart proceed evil thoughts40 ,therefore1 there must be1 not reformation only1 but change4 8,ye must be born again10 is his first word to ,nicodemus and to all who come to him4 ,there is another thought to be considered at this point in taking note of characteristics which difference ,jesus from men4 ,a mere man discovering in his reflections the abysmal depths of man's spiritual malady1 a mere man clearly comprehending1 as no man ever yet comprehended1 the evil of sin1 would be crushed by despair4 ,many good men1 seeing but a little way into this darkness1 have been made mad by what they saw4 ,where it is not morbid sentiment or philosophic play this is the origin of pessimism4 ,there is nothing of this in ,jesus4 ,he saw it all2 its uttermost deeps were open to his eyes2 but he faces the trouble with infinite calmness4 ,he announces a remedy adequate to the evil4 ,he speaks to a weary and sin-stricken race3 8,come unto me1 all ye that labor and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest4 ,take my yoke upon you1 and learn of me2 for ,i am meek and lowly in heart2 and ye shall find rest unto your souls4 ,for my yoke is easy and my burden is light40 ,and this is what he offers to a sinning and troubled world4 ,he says he will change men1 make them new and good1 make them well again4 ,but there are no lunatic airs1 common to dreamers and enthusiasts4 ,no mere man could think such thoughts and earnestly say such things without lunacy4 ,but there never was such perfect mental and spiritual equilibrium as we see plainly in ,jesus4 ,he speaks of the moral conquest of the entire race2 he asks for the perfect love of men1 that he may save them from all evil by saving them from their sins2 he speaks of his work as comprehending time and eternity2 he offers to the faithful immortality and eternal life4 ,and his calmness of spirit is absolute2 his simplicity of manner is perfect4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,never ,,man ,,planned ,,like ,,this ,,man4 ,what are we to say of the means which ,jesus proposes to use for the accomplishment of his vast and unheard-of ends8 ,i say broadly1 and with certain assurance1 ,jesus proposes none of the means which mere men would use2 of the sort they have always used4 ,his plans and methods are utterly unlike the plans and methods of men1 except as they have learned most imperfectly from him in humble and earnest efforts to do his will4 ,the methods that mere men trust in--always trust in--he will have none of4 ,jesus utterly excludes mere force4 ,his symbol is not a sword2 it is a cross4 ,he said1 8,he that taketh the sword shall perish by the sword40 ,some weak thinkers or insincere men have tried to fasten on ,christianity the guilt of barbarous cruelties1 and many wicked and horrible deeds1 perpetrated by ignorant or wicked men in the holy name of ,christ4 ,bad men1 in the darkness of ignorance and in the malignity of sin1 have used his name to force their brothers to think their thoughts4 ,the rack for ,galileo was an evil thought and a wicked method of bad and ignorant men4 ,but ,jesus does not tolerate force in carrying on his work1 nor persecution of any sort whatsoever4 ,on one occasion two of his disciples1 ,john and ,james1 were offended because a ,samaritan village did not offer hospitality to ,jesus and his friends4 ,then said the brothers1 8,lord1 wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them80 ,they were men1 and their method was pure human4 ,what ,jesus said to them he says to all3 8,but he turned and rebuked them1 and said1 ,ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of40 ,to charge upon ,christianity the wicked deeds of those who have violated the teachings of its founder is like charging upon medicine the death of men who1 in the name of medicine1 have been doctored to their death by impostors4 ,force could not do any of his work2 it was man's love that he sought2 and love cannot be forced by ,god or man4 ,love dies under force4 ,the ,csars use force2 it is a man's way4 ,the ,god-man uses love4 ,jesus does not trust in the purchasing power of wealth1 or of money1 its representative4 ,he hardly spoke of money except to show the danger of it4 ,the love of money he denounced4 ,he taught that greed of money is debasing4 ,getting to heaven1 for a rich man1 is like a camel's passing through the eye of a needle--only 8harder40 ,the only rich man who volunteered discipleship turned sorrowfully away when told to sell his estates and give the proceeds to the poor4 ,jesus warns his disciples with gracious vehemence of the folly and danger of laying up treasure upon earth4 ,personally he had no concern about wealth1 except to warn his disciples of the terrible spiritual dangers that lurk in riches4 ,he provides no treasure for carrying on his work4 ,he taught that the love of money is the source of more moral evils than any other thing in the world4 ,it is a man's way to bribe and buy favor and success4 ,satan believes in the power of money absolutely4 ,to ,jesus himself the devil offered the submission of the world if he would only pay him allegiance4 ,men of our time will not believe what ,jesus says upon these subjects1 and their prompt rejection of his doctrine is evidence enough that in rejecting from his plans the power of money to buy influence he did not plan like a man4 ,for money1 as money1 ,jesus felt only contempt4 ,he taught that wealth held for its own sake1 or used only in selfishness1 shows its possessor to be a 8fool20 that it both degrades and damns4 ,in his view it can in one way only be even honorable to be rich--to use riches unselfishly and usefully4 ,even then it is dangerous4 ,in his day1 as they do now1 men of the world reviled his doctrine2 8the ,pharisees1 who were covetous1 derided him40 ,for the teachings of ,jesus concerning money and its right uses few1 even of those who claim to be his disciples and friends1 have perfect respect4 ,he seems to them to be 8visionary0 in his views1 and his words seem to be 8unbusinesslike40 ,a man says to himself1 8,jesus says money is dangerous to my soul2 he tells me that ,i am only a steward holding money in trust1 and that ,i must give it away to those who need4 ,i cannot carry on business on his plan2 ,i will risk my plan40 ,such a man does not believe what ,jesus teaches2 unless one should so far qualify the statement as to say--unless it be that gold has so blinded his eyes that he does not understand what the plain words of the ,master really mean4 ,from his method ,jesus excludes diplomacy1 the art of playing one selfishness against another4 8,let your communication be1 ,yea1 yea2 ,nay1 nay2 for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil40 ,his disciples must1 indeed1 be 8wise as serpents and harmless as doves20 but they must live the truth4 ,deception is abhorrent to him4 ,the ,talleyrands understand and use diplomatic arts4 ,the 8,berlin ,conference0 is a modern instance2 it illustrates a man's method4 ,not necessarily a bad method1 but a man's4 ,consider a phrase we see every day in the papers1 8,the balance of power in ,europe40 ,see how the 8great powers0 and the small ones give themselves to all manner of intrigues1 using wily state-craft to circumvent1 deceive1 coerce1 hold their own1 or rob their weaker neighbors1 or by combination reduce the stronger ones4 ,many well-founded complaints have been brought against 8priest-craft10 which is state craft in church circles4 ,its crimes1 by the ill-informed and the evil-disposed1 have been laid at the door of ,christianity4 ,no charge can be more unjust2 it is as unjust as to blame ,jesus with the treachery of ,judas4 ,priest-craft is an invention of men2 it has no more place in the plans of ,jesus than state-craft2 he considers neither1 except as he may overrule them and force them against their nature into his service1 so that the cunning as well as the 8wrath of man shall praise him40 ,what is called the 8,church0 is not synonymous with 8kingdom of heaven40 ,men of worldly temper may within church circles do their own work2 they do not do ,christ's work by diplomatic arts4 ,jesus not only excludes appeal to all forms of selfishness1 he antagonizes them to the death4 ,his first and last word1 his ultimatum1 is1 8,if any man will be my disciple1 let him deny himself1 and take up his cross daily and follow me40 ,his first word is a challenge to surrender the stronghold of self-will4 ,till surrender is complete there can be no peace4 ,a mere man would be counted insane--and justly enough--to talk of advancing any little scheme of improving things about him in any such way--and because it is so utterly unlike a man's way4 ,jesus offers no inducement to mere self-interest4 ,he promises absolutely nothing of the things the world is in sore travail and anxiety to secure4 ,he does not promise pleasure1 or honor1 or fortune1 or power1 or health1 or long life4 ,he does say ,god will see to it that true ,christians shall have what is good for them4 ,but in many ways he makes plain that 8what is good for them0 will often include what the world calls evil4 ,jesus nowhere so much as seems to think of what men of the world call good2 the things they strive for so1 and give their time and strength and lives to gain4 ,it is an utter mistake to suppose that ,jesus offers worldly prosperity as a reward for duty1 a premium on piety4 ,those who try to read this meaning into an apostle's writings misread him2 it is against all his teaching4 ,it is true1 doubtless1 as ,paul says1 8,godliness is profitable unto all things1 having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come40 ,but 8the promise of the life that now is0 cannot1 in the kingdom of ,jesus1 mean worldly things2 it means goodness1 ,god's peace in man's soul1 ,christ-likeness in man's heart here and now4 ,undoubtedly religion makes this a better world1 but not because it makes man richer1 but purer4 ,if we believe in ,jesus and in his work in the world at all we may1 if we wish1 find out what he meant by what has followed4 ,it is true that the religion that makes men good restrains them and protects them from the follies and sins that waste energy and squander fortune2 but it is utterly misleading and confusing to try to read into the words of ,jesus the idea that he appeals to any mere selfish interest by promising fortune to the good4 ,it is like making worldly riches the reward of meekness and long life the premium on obedience to parents4 ,some very rich people have been deeply religious1 but in spite of their wealth4 ,it is as ,jesus said1 8,all things are possible with ,god40 ,it was he also who said1 8,how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of ,god40 ,but ,christ's best ones have not succeeded in this world according to money or other such gauges4 ,if the work of ,jesus--who excludes from his plans force and the cunning of diplomacy1 who denounces all selfishness and ignores all self-interest1 who demands absolute self-surrender at the very outset--is to abide in the world1 is to succeed1 then it must go against the tide1 and not with it4 ,at one time ,jesus seemed to think his hearers might possibly misapprehend him1 and he told them plainly that poverty1 trouble1 sorrow1 persecutions in this world1 awaited them if they followed him4 ,and he told them plainly1 also1 that if they would have any part in him and with him they must flinch at nothing--that they must die if need be4 ,when they did understand him 8many went back from following him40 ,and many are joining their company to this day4 ,what he said to the young ruler he said to all2 nay1 says to us all to-day3 8,the foxes have holes2 and the birds of the air have nests1 but the ,son of man hath not where to lay his head40 ,and we do him the deep dishonor of believing that he spoke the words of mere sentiment6 ,he could only mean by his words to the rich young man1 8,come with me and welcome2 ,i will help you1 ,i will save you2 but for this world ,i can promise you nothing40 ,he himself was always a poor man1 and his poverty was not an accident in his manner of life4 ,there never was a man too poor to be a friend to ,jesus1 never a man so rich that he could find special favor in those eyes that were 8single0 and 8full of light40 ,jesus could not have offered holiness to men as the chief good of man1 with worldly blessings as a reason for being good2 it would have spoiled the ,gospel4 ,he never promised that his disciples should be better off in this world than he was4 ,he asked them one day1 8,shall the servant be above his lord1 the disciple above his ,master80 ,but we explain all this away4 ,jesus was not indulging sentiment when he taught his disciples that following him meant a self-renunciation that would brave all things4 ,he distinctly told them to expect persecutions and tribulations4 ,and some persuade themselves that he was speaking only for those who were then his disciples2 that such ideas do not fit civilized times and countries4 ,an apostle1 being a mere man1 might well enough give his 8judgment0 as to what best suited an existing condition of life and society2 but ,jesus1 who belongs to all times1 speaks no word of simply local and temporary significance and importance4 ,it was so certain that suffering and persecution of some sort would follow fidelity that ,jesus gave his disciples and all who should come after them a test by which they might judge of their personal fidelity to him3 8,woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you40 ,can we imagine that ,jesus did not mean such words for all men1 of all times and countries8 ,he knew how his friends would need to stand firm1 and how fearful the pressure of temptation would be to deny him4 ,he told them they would 8for his sake0 be 8brought before kings10 and that 8some of them would be killed40 ,but he told them not to be afraid2 they were to fear ,god and no other whatever4 ,one day ,jesus was urging his disciples to be faithful and courageous in proclaiming his whole truth to the world1 and thus he encouraged and exhorted them3 8,and ,i say unto you1 my friends1 ,be not afraid of them that kill the body1 and after that have no more that they can do4 ,but ,i will forewarn you whom ye shall fear3 ,fear him1 which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell3 yea1 ,i say unto you1 ,fear him40 ,instead of trusting in any wise to self-interest ,jesus demands its crucifixion4 ,when he says1 8,if any man will be my disciple1 let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me20 when he demands self-renunciation absolute2 when he says that no interest possible in this world--whether houses1 lands1 father1 mother1 brother1 sister1 child1 or wife--must come between him and his disciples2 when he raises a cross by his own upon which selfishness must die1 he stands apart from all men4 ,his method is not a man's4 ,his plans are as different from a man's as the end he proposed is above a man's thought and different from it4 ,if no man ever spoke like ,jesus no man ever planned like him4 ,in considering further some things in the methods which ,jesus adopted for doing the work he proposed to himself we may mention1 as different from a man's method1 that ,jesus excludes from his plans for discipling the world reliance upon mere argument and force of intellect4 ,jesus left no room1 not the least1 for the fanatical superstition that his cause is to be advanced by ignorance4 ,his doctrine furnishes every inspiration for the very highest development of mind2 and the best educational work of the world is the outgrowth of ,christian institutions4 ,but ,jesus does teach his disciples that they must not1 in extending his kingdom1 depend upon learning1 upon mere force of intellect and argument4 ,if they did this they would fail4 ,so he taught them1 and history makes it plain to us that his disciples have failed when they have forgotten his teachings4 ,alas6 that it is so easy to pervert great gifts4 ,it seems to be almost as difficult not to trust in great gifts of genius as it is to possess great wealth without loving it4 ,with the end ,jesus had in view he could not depend upon mere learning1 mental gifts1 and force of argument4 ,for the essential trouble is not with men's intellects1 but their hearts4 ,it is not that opinions are so wrong2 it is that dispositions are so alienated from ,god4 ,man needs not a new opinion1 but a new love4 ,the task of ,jesus was a far harder one than the correction of errors2 it was the winning of hearts4 ,love is free2 men may be convinced against their will1 but love consents4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,jesus ,,neither ,,theologian ,,nor ,,ecclesiastic4 ,jesus did none of the things a man would do who proposed to establish and perpetuate any sort of kingdom1 or school of beliefs1 even in this world4 ,he established no institutions with formal constitutions4 ,he did not draw up a code--not so much as a system of moral philosophy4 ,he left no 8theological institutes10 with precise definitions and exact limitations4 ,some of his true friends have done their best at such work2 he did not4 ,theirs is a man's way2 his was not4 ,he left no formal creed2 he never mentioned such a thing2 he did not seem to think of it at all4 ,it is so much a man's way to do such things that we are not yet familiar with the idea that ,jesus did not4 ,it comes to many with a sudden surprise when they discover that ,jesus said not a word about systematic theology1 that to many is so precious4 ,in all his words are no 8articles of religion20 not a hint of them4 ,he did not so much as put into form a doctrine of his own nature and person4 ,very often and in many ways he spoke of himself and ,god1 and of his relation to the eternal ,father1 but he made no definition4 ,often he spoke of himself1 of the ,father and of the ,holy ,ghost1 but he said not a word of the 8hypostatic union0 of three persons in one ,godhead2 not a word of the 8economic relations0 of the ,holy ,trinity4 ,some good people1 if they chance to read what is here put down1 will be so certain in their own minds that ,jesus did employ some of the methods of a mere man1 in order to preserve his teachings in the world1 that they will suspect the writer of irreverence2 at least of indifference1 if not of something they think less of1 in what is said concerning 8creeds0 and 8theologies40 ,they will be in error1 as is common with them on such questions2 the writer is only stating facts that no man can deny as to what ,jesus did and did not do4 ,some admirable and good people have not yet learned the difference between arguing for their ,church and pleading for ,christianity2 between defending their own notions and expounding the teachings of ,jesus4 ,and not a few confound their notions about ,god with the fact of his existence1 as others mistake their theory of inspiration for the divine authority of the ,holy ,scriptures4 ,our way of teaching is a man's way4 ,if it is the best we can do let us be content2 if not1 let us amend our way4 ,but let us not defend our way by pleading his example2 let us follow our way because it is our way1 if there be no better reason4 ,certain it is that the way ,jesus took of teaching and perpetuating his doctrines was not a man's way in any respect whatever4 ,jesus wrote no book--not a line4 ,he founded no school or other training institution2 his three years' loving and painstaking companionship with his disciples was indeed a training1 but it was not an institution4 ,this does not mean that his friends should not do such things2 it is the only way they can do3 but he did not do such things4 ,he did not so much as establish a ,church2 the ,church grew out of his life as well as out of his teachings2 it was compacted by the sympathy of men1 women1 and little children of common beliefs and hopes2 above all1 by the sympathy born of a common love for him--this far more1 then as now1 than by what they understood or believed of his teachings4 ,he left for the government of the ,church 8no rules of order10 no book of 8discipline40 ,he ordained no form of church government1 8with checks and balances10 whatever4 ,all those things may be good1 and order in government is necessary2 but he did not provide them4 ,he left all such things to the common sense and best judgment1 guided by providence and the ,holy ,spirit1 of his disciples4 ,in ,church as well as ,state the principle is this3 ,god ordains the power2 he does not prescribe the form2 he ordains government1 but leaves the form of it to the good sense and personal preferences of those who are to live under it4 ,all these things we have mentioned here belong to the works and ways of men2 they are good or bad as they serve the ends of his kingdom4 ,moses1 though an inspired lawgiver1 yet a mere man1 gave many forms and prescribed the order of doing many things2 ,jesus1 the divine man1 gave none4 ,in nothing is ,jesus more unlike men than in his utter disregard of 8forms0 in the doing of the duties he enjoined4 ,he has no word about forms except the terrible words he used concerning the many forms punctiliously observed by certain ,pharisees and hypocrites who were playing at religion4 ,his life was full of worship1 but he left not a hint as to any forms or attitudes for devotion4 ,that simplest and most comprehensive of all prayers1 8,our ,father1 who art in heaven10 is not a form2 he said1 8,after this manner pray ye40 ,the prayer might take any form of words1 or leave all words unsaid4 ,and this prayer he gave his disciples in response to a request for a form4 ,jesus had no forms2 he cared for none4 ,nor did ,jesus care for the 8letter10 except as to the danger that good men might make a fetish of it4 ,he said of the 8letter1 it killeth20 8the ,spirit giveth life40 ,the ,spirit is every thing1 the letter nothing4 ,if we were to use of him the language that fits the case of a man we would feel like saying1 ,jesus looked upon punctilious eagerness about 8forms0 and the 8letter0 as mere child's play1 that he scorned such unspiritual folly4 ,this is certain3 the only thing he denounced in a tone that was almost anger was zealous adherence to the form and to the letter1 and sanctimonious contentment with this poor substitute for religion when the spirit of worship and service was dead4 ,it will be the plainer to us that his was very far from being a man's way when we remember that1 with men1 the less of spirit and reality an institution has the more anxious they are about mere form and letter4 ,a spiritually dead man will contend more zealously about the form of a duty than the duty itself4 ,and this is not unnatural2 when a ,church is dead there is nothing left but form--a body ready for burial4 ,what terrific words ,jesus used in what he said of such things6 ,let us hear him and try to understand how much he means for us of to-day3 8,woe unto you1 scribes and ,pharisees1 hypocrites6 for ye pay tithe of mint1 and anise1 and cummin1 and have omitted the weightier matters of the law1 judgment1 mercy1 and faith3 these ought ye to have done1 and not to leave the other undone4 8,ye blind guides1 which strain out a gnat1 and swallow a camel4 8,woe unto you1 scribes and ,pharisees1 hypocrites6 for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter1 but within they are full of extortion and excess4 8,woe unto you1 scribes and ,pharisees1 hypocrites6 for ye are like unto whited sepulchers1 which indeed appear beautiful outward1 but are within full of dead men's bones1 and of all uncleanness40 ,had ,jesus been only a man1 conceiving vast plans for propagating his doctrines and perpetuating his kingdom1 he would have done all the things he did not do4 ,he would have relied on force1 money1 diplomacy1 argument4 ,he would have considered what human selfishness is1 and he would have appealed to it4 ,he would have provided institutions and have founded schools4 ,there would have been a 8propaganda0 compassing the world in its plans1 and his agents would have been drilled in forms and methods after the manner of men4 ,he would1 to have been at all like a man in his plans1 have left a system of 8ethics0 or 8theology40 ,he would have formulated a 8creed02 he would have drawn up a 8constitution0 with 8bylaws0 for his ,church1 stating in terms every principle and providing1 according to the foresight given him1 for every contingency1 as did ,john ,wesley with his ,discipline and ,legal ,hundred4 7,can it be necessary to say this illustration is no reflection upon the great and good ,english reformer1 who was a mere man87 ,he would have set for rigid observance forms and ceremonies of which he had none and prescribed none1 not so much as telling men how they were to do in the matter of the sacraments--baptism and the memorial supper4 ,mere men always do such things4 ,jesus did not adopt a man's way in any of his work or plans1 unless we except those who have learned of him something of the divine art of doing good to the souls and bodies of men4 ,,chapter ,,xiii4 8,,jesus ,,christ ,,took ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,perishing40 ,if ,jesus was only a man there is another marvelous thing you must have thought of before this time4 ,he talked of a kingdom that was to endure forever1 that was to conquer the world1 and that was to bind the human race into a holy brotherhood2 but he made no preparation for a successor4 ,he expected to die early1 as he did2 he told his disciples1 time and again1 that he would not be with them long2 but he provided for no representative or visible headship when he was gone4 ,the idea of such a representative did not occur in all his thoughts1 as it was not intimated in any of his words4 ,napoleon shows us a man's way in his eager concern for a successor and in the cruel and wicked method he took to secure his ends4 ,what ,jesus did not ordain and require men may use in his work1 if their methods be in themselves good1 and consistent with the spirit of his kingdom4 ,but what he did not require men must not demand of his free children4 ,so far as plans are concerned1 of a sort recognizable by men as plans--of a sort they will admit who believe he was only a man--there was just one thing he did and commanded4 ,he called about him a few fishermen and other plain people--of what are called by some the 8lower classes0--and said in effect3 8,go up and down through the earth and tell every body what you have seen me do and what you have heard me say2 tell the people of me2 tell them to go on repeating the story2 tell them to hand it down through the ages1 telling it over and over40 ,these are the very words3 8,all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth4 ,go ye therefore1 and teach all nations1 baptizing them in the name of the ,father1 and of the ,son1 and of the ,holy ,ghost2 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever ,i have commanded you2 and lo1 ,i am with you alway1 even unto the end of the world40 ,mere men1 undertaking great and perilous enterprises1 conceal from their followers the hardships and perils that await them2 they tell them of victories and rewards4 ,so did the ,genoese1 mustering a crew to help him find a new world4 ,so all mere human leaders do4 ,and no mere man in such a case ever yet clearly saw the difficulty and danger of the undertaking2 if men could see clearly the toils and tribulations between them and success they would never enter upon any great and hazardous enterprise4 ,but ,jesus saw all the antagonisms that were in his path and1 unlike any other leader that ever lived1 told his disciples what awaited them4 ,in words like these he spoke to his disciples3 8,behold1 ,i send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves3 be ye therefore wise as serpents1 and harmless as doves4 ,but beware of men3 for they will deliver you up to the councils1 and they will scourge you in their synagogues2 and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake1 for a testimony against them and the ,gentiles4444 ,and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake3 but he that endureth to the end shall be saved4444 ,the disciple is not above his master1 nor the servant above his lord4 ,if they have called the master of the house ,beelzebub1 how much more shall they call them of his household8444 ,he that taketh not his cross1 and followeth after me1 is not worthy of me4 ,he that findeth his life shall lose it2 and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it40 ,let us think of all this4 ,such an end to accomplish1 such a plan1 such a claim1 such a promise6 ,if ,jesus was only a man this was lunacy1 unless we should impeach his sincerity4 ,yet with perfect simplicity1 perfect composure1 perfect confidence1 ,jesus relies upon such a plan as this4 ,it is not a man's way at all2 it is not only above and beyond a man's way1 it is unlike it1 foreign to it1 and impossible to a mere man4 ,how do men plan8 ,read history2 look about you4 ,it is easy to find out from books2 if you know how to read men it is easier to find out from observation4 ,alexander1 ,csar1 ,mohammed1 among warriors and conquerors2 ,richelieu1 ,macchiavelli1 ,jefferson1 ,hamilton1 ,disraeli1 ,bismarck1 among statesman and the men who know state-craft2 the fathers and popes1 ,ignatius ,loyola1 ,luther1 ,calvin1 ,wesley1 among churchmen--these show us the methods of men4 ,studying the lives of those mentioned here and of others of their order we will find plans many and diverse--wise and foolish1 good and bad--but they show a man's way4 ,if you wish something more like a parallel consider the plans of those who fastened what is called ,buddhism1 or ,confucianism1 upon hundreds of millions4 ,or consider ,mohammedanism4 ,in these systems we see the handiwork of men4 ,the authors of these systems recognize the ordinary influences that determine men's conduct and use them with rare human skill4 ,these employ agencies that ,jesus repudiates2 they appeal to motives that he ignored2 offer inducements that he utterly denied2 these planned as men plan in all they did4 ,what ,pascal says1 in effect1 in comparing ,christ and ,mohammed1 we may say of ,christ and any other founder of a religion3 8,if ,mohammed took the way of succeeding1 according to human calculations1 ,jesus ,christ took the way of perishing1 according to human calculations40 ,never did ,jesus look to using the strongest drifts in human nature to secure his ends2 his ends required him to arrest and reverse these drifts4 ,he was not ignorant of the forces locked up in human nature2 no man ever so deeply read the heart1 so absolutely 8knew what was in man40 ,as no other who ever taught men the truth ,jesus knew the force of the torrent that bore down upon him--the ,niagara his cause had to ascend4 ,if ,jesus was only a man how happened it that the methods he adopted are as unlike the methods of men as the end he sought is unlike the end that any man ever yet proposed to himself8 ,how happened it that in his plans he did every thing that a man would not do1 and nothing--all history being witness--that a man would do8 ,these pages are not written for exhortation2 but would it not be better every way1 for the cause they stand for1 if his friends studied the plans of ,jesus more and their own plans less8 ,placing ourselves1 in imagination1 in the company of those few faithful friends1 men and women--who were of the humble and obscure people--among those who received his command to 8disciple all nations10 let us look about us and consider what are our prospects of success4 ,what predominant influence in the world is friendly to the cause of our ,lord and ,master8 ,the only people who believe in the ,lord ,god have crucified ,jesus4 ,the ,romans are masters not only in the holy city but in all the world we know1 and the ,roman power has just sanctioned the death of ,jesus4 ,the ,greeks still give philosophy and art to the world1 but there is not among the ,greeks sympathy with the teachings and work of ,jesus4 ,no people befriend his cause2 no hand is stretched out to his disciples2 the world is against his cause1 and for his sake against us1 his disciples4 ,looking at it all as a man might1 was there then a single human probability that the cause represented by the crucified ,galilean would have the least place in history8 ,that it would abide among men for a single generation8 ,if ,jesus was only a man could any thing conceivable by the human mind be more impossible than the realization of the dream 7if he was only a man it was but a dream7 of this man of ,galilee1 crucified like a felon8 ,no wonder certain men1 while ,jesus was yet among them1 8laughed him to scorn40 ,,chapter ,,xiv4 ,,his ,,grasp ,,upon ,,mankind4 ,so far we have been studying the character and work of ,jesus as he is presented in the evangelists1 just as we might study any other character of that period4 ,we have not yet considered ,jesus as he now affects the world--a presence and force of our own times4 ,when the scientists proved the indestructibility of matter1 when they discovered the doctrine of the conservation of energy1 showing us how the coal measures1 that warm millions of homes and drive the machinery of land and sea1 are but stored-up sunbeams of untold ages gone1 they showed us that through all her wonderful changes ,nature loses none of her substance4 ,in this splendid formulation of natural law the scientists have done a secondary but more important service2 they have given us a symbol from things material1 an illustration of a law of the higher sphere4 ,nothing is ever lost in the spiritual world4 ,a thought with life and truth in it1 once set going1 can no more be lost than a drop of water falling on the fields can be lost4 ,professor ,harrison1 of ,england1 is right in his doctrine of posthumous immortality1 as far as it goes4 ,he sees part of a truth and states it well4 ,whatever force there may be in any human life abides in human life4 ,we may not be able to trace it1 as we may not trace the identical dew-drop that glittered on the grass this morning and that1 exhaled by the rising sun1 has now disappeared from our view1 but not from existence4 ,it may well be that the influences that have conspired in shaping our lives--in making us what we are to-day--have in some way come to us from many thousands of lives4 ,in a true sense ,moses1 ,david1 ,paul1 ,socrates1 ,plato1 ,augustine1 ,shakespeare1 ,bacon1 ,milton1 ,luther1 ,calvin1 ,wesley1 with many others--our parents and teachers above all--all these1 and1 it may be1 myriads more unnamable1 live in us to-day4 ,this is what ,froude meant when he wrote of ,martin ,luther1 8,no man of our times is what he would have been but for ,luther40 ,this is true because ,luther's life so enters into the influences of our times that no man ever brought into relations with him could escape that influence4 ,and few have escaped it2 none of the ,european nations1 none of the nations that have been brought into any sort of relations with ,christianity and the civilizations that have grown out of it2 few1 if any1 of what we call heathen nations2 for the influences of ,luther's life and doctrines are in the missionary movement of our times1 that now promises to do for these nations what the coming of ,christianity did for ,europe1 ,eastern ,asia1 and ,northern ,africa in the first centuries of our era--so changed them as to make a new epoch in history2 we might say1 a new world4 ,what is true of such a man as ,luther is true in a measure--less extensive it may be1 less real it cannot be--of every life that has gone before us1 and that has1 in any way1 entered into our own4 ,it would be easy to offer illustrations4 ,consider ,francis ,bacon--perhaps ,roger ,bacon still more--in relation to the scientific methods of our times4 ,think of ,shakespeare1 not in poetry only1 but in all literature2 or of ,kant1 ,spinoza1 ,locke1 in philosophy2 ,calvin1 ,wesley1 and the rest1 in theology and moral reforms4 ,or think of the artists and inventors1 the great soldiers and statesmen4 ,you may easily make out a very long list of names of human lives that1 going before us1 now live in us4 ,the list will show names that stand for diverse and antagonistic elements2 but all these enter into our lives1 just as1 to return to our illustration from the world of waters1 the water pure from the clouds1 sparkling in mountain springs1 foul and reeking from swamps and all manner of ugly places1 enters1 it well may be1 into the constituent elements of the dew-drop that reflects the sun upon each grass-blade in the fields4 ,it is nothing peculiar to the life of ,jesus of ,nazareth that his influence should abide in human history4 ,every human life1 the humblest and unworthiest1 so abides4 ,but the influence of ,jesus is different from that of other men4 ,i am not now speaking of degree1 but kind4 ,as his method of thinking1 of teaching2 as the work he proposed to do and as the plans he adopted difference him from mere men1 so does the history of the influence that flowed out from him into life and so made modern civilization1 so does the character of his influence now difference him from men4 ,it would carry us too far for the design of these discussions to enter now into the subject of the relation of ,jesus to the history of his era4 ,our calendar intimates the extent and power of that influence2 we count time from his birth2 this is #ahhi1 ,a4 ,d4 ,that influence has entered into whatever has made the world of our times4 ,the history of this influence is the history of the ,christian era4 ,we will consider the influence of ,jesus1 as it may be a matter of observation and consciousness4 ,consider the power of the teachings of ,jesus upon the human conscience4 ,this is to me a growing wonder4 ,other men's words stimulate the conscience to a degree1 but only when they echo his or approach harmony with them4 ,this is so strangely true that no words of any teacher stir the conscience--except to protest--that antagonize and contradict ,jesus4 ,there is no risk of exaggeration or dogmatism here2 it is perfectly safe and perfectly fair to say no doctrine of ,god or man1 of rights and wrongs1 that repudiates or denies what ,jesus teaches1 has any power over the human conscience4 ,other words and doctrines may quicken the intellect and dominate it2 may excite the imagination and stir the emotions2 but if they are contrary to his doctrines and his life they have no grasp upon the moral side of man4 ,it is easy to make the experiment and to make it conclusively4 ,read books that contradict his doctrines--that seek to overthrow them4 ,if you read with candor ,i am not afraid for you to read what his fiercest enemies say4 ,take ,voltaire1 where he ridicules the ,bible2 ,paine1 in that very misnamed pamphlet1 ,the ,age of ,reason2 ,hume1 in his speculations concerning providence1 miracles1 inspiration1 and the whole agnostic literature of our day4 ,these writings do not take hold upon the conscience except as they may weaken or paralyze it2 they do not strengthen any purpose to do right1 confirm any sense of personal obligation1 invigorate any will for right doing4 ,make the experiment with any words of men that contradict or repudiate ,jesus1 the lightest and weightiest1 the silliest and subtlest2 mere platform declamations or the sober scientific worship of materialism that knows no spirit--man1 angel1 or ,god4 ,do any of them stir our sense of obligation to high duty8 ,do any of them make our perception of duty clearer8 ,our love of virtue stronger8 ,our hatred of evil intenser8 ,all who have made the experiment may answer for themselves4 ,i do not say that only the words of ,jesus take hold upon the conscience2 this would not be true4 ,there are passages in ,seneca1 in ,epictetus1 in ,socrates1 in ,plato1 in ,confucius1 in the words of many ancient sages and modern teachers1 that do stir the conscience4 ,your ,shakespeare will furnish many illustrations4 ,so will ,george ,eliot1 ,hawthorne1 and very many other writers4 ,but these things ,i do say with perfect assurance3 #a4 ,no words or teachings of any writer or teacher1 of any age1 that antagonize or repudiate the words of ,jesus have power over the conscience4 #b4 ,those words and teachings of men who never knew ,jesus--as ,socrates1 ,confucius1 and other such men--that most affect the conscience are those words and teachings of theirs most in harmony with the doctrines and character of ,jesus4 ,all light is good1 but that which is nearest sunlight is best4 #c4 ,the words and teachings of those who do know ,jesus1 that most powerfully affect the conscience1 are those that most perfectly echo his words4 ,furthermore1 this is true3 ,the words and teachings of ,jesus not only stir the conscience as no others do2 they illuminate the conscience4 ,others may affect the sensibility of conscience to a degree1 but leave it in the shadows as to the very rights and wrongs of things4 ,the words of ,jesus--once their meaning is understood--as they apply to any concrete case of rights and wrongs1 not only awaken the sensibility of conscience so that the feeling of obligation to do right and avoid wrong is most pronounced and unmistakable1 but this also is true3 the light which his words pour on the question in consideration makes transparent what the right thing is and what the wrong thing is4 ,there is something here that defies analysis1 something that will not be held in logic forms4 ,take any doctrine ,jesus taught and exemplified4 ,it may be about truth1 honesty1 chastity1 charity4 ,read it1 see what it means1 apply it to your case1 and conscience says1 8,amen0 to it1 and upon the instant4 ,conscience receives it as the reason receives an axiom4 ,given the facts1 you need only to apply his tests1 and that instant you not only suppose1 not only think1 you know what is your right and your wrong in the case4 ,if there were no other reason1 herein there is reason enough to follow the ,man of ,galilee wherever he leads4 ,i urge upon you for your use in the tests that await you1 as a method of finding out rights and wrongs and determining duty1 what ,i have tried under many conditions of life and action2 a most simple principle of action--one that has never for one moment failed me or left me in doubt4 ,it is worth more than all reasonings1 than all books of casuistry1 than all advices of friends2 nay1 it is better than mere praying as if for some new light or other revelation than that which has come to enlighten every man that cometh into the world4 ,it is to ask1 8,what does ,jesus teach here8 ,what would he say if he were to speak8 ,what would he do if this were his case80 ,blunders of judgment1 many and grievous2 failures in living up to the light that the ,master gives1 more grievous than any blunders of judgment--these things ,i confess to sorrowfully and with bitter shame2 but for the truth's sake1 my conscience' sake1 and my ,lord's sake1 this much ,i must say1 and ,i cannot say less3 never have ,i asked1 8,what would he do80 but that the light has shined resplendent and all-revealing1 and the right and the wrong stood out clear1 sharp1 as when electric lights shine about us1 and ,i knew what ,i ought or ought not to do4 ,at this point we may recur a moment to what was1 in part1 considered heretofore3 the fullness1 the completeness of his teachings difference him from all others4 ,there is not in any other teacher such statement of principles that you cannot find outside their teachings one single ethical principle that they have not taught4 ,other teachers give us many principles of ethics2 does any of them give all8 ,jesus does1 though he wrote no book and elaborated no system2 though we have but few of his words recorded4 ,what ,i ask is this3 ,is there in any teacher of any nation one single principle of rights and wrongs that the suffrage of the race could approve1 that ,jesus does not teach8 ,is there one single principle of ,jesus as to rights and wrongs that the suffrage of good men can condemn as false8 ,men may1 indeed1 reject his teachings1 and oppose them with bitterest hate1 but which one of them--the least or the greatest--can they show to be immoral1 wrong8 ,as all colors are potentially contained in the pure white light1 and as the composition of all colors produces the pure white light1 so the teachings of ,jesus contain in principle all the forms of ethical truth that were ever in the minds of men4 ,but here the analogy fails4 ,all the ethical truth that all others have taught when brought together fails to make the sum total of his teachings2 some colors are lacking in them2 together they do not make the pure white light of the gospels4 ,,chapter ,,xv4 ,,what ,,he ,,claims ,,and ,,demands4 ,there is a fact1 personal to ,jesus1 that not only enters vitally into this argument1 but more than any thing else explains the power of his words on the conscience3 what was considered in another relation in the outset--the perfection of his own character2 his sinlessness3 his absolute purity4 ,a perfect doctrine will no doubt affect the conscience1 but a perfect doctrine uttered by one who lives a holy life has tenfold the power of the mere statement of doctrine4 ,and it is not simply that the hearer recoils from a doctrine stated by an inconsistent or insincere man because he is inconsistent and insincere1 but such a man cannot so much as utter the truth in its fullness2 he cannot conceive the truth in its completeness4 ,when ,jesus utters a truth it lays hold upon the conscience and life not simply because it is the truth1 but because he is the 8,truth and the ,life40 ,his conscience goes with the word and it enters into our conscience4 ,it was this quality in him1 more than aught else1 that led his hearers1 when the ,sermon on the ,mount was ended1 to 8wonder at his doctrine1 for he taught them as one having authority40 ,it is living a truth more than learning about a truth that gives the teacher authority4 ,an illustrative incident may help us here4 ,the late ,mr4 ,wray was a ,baptist missionary in ,india4 ,he was a man of known consistency of religious character4 ,a child who knew him well was asked the question3 8,what is holiness80 ,a man would have done as so many do with lamentable failure1 attempted a 8definition20 the child answered3 8,holiness is the way ,mr4 ,wray lives40 ,the child was nearly1 if not quite1 at the bottom of the subject4 ,the learner in the school of ,jesus may find here a truth of first importance4 ,it is twofold3 #a4 ,the best way to learn more truth is to live the truth he does know4 #b4 ,the only way to rightly teach any truth in morals1 in things spiritual1 is to live it4 ,religion1 like science1 believes in experiment and teaches by facts4 ,the incarnate truth is the truth that has life in it4 ,it is said with reverence1 but with confidence1 ,jesus teaches what spiritual life is more by living it than by his words4 ,his life expounds his doctrine1 and without his life we could not understand his teachings4 ,try the principle by any test of him4 ,for example1 he teaches us that forgiveness is a duty and that revenge is a sin4 ,what does he mean8 ,what he did4 ,you remember his last prayer3 8,father1 forgive them2 they know not what they do40 ,he teaches us to love our enemies4 ,what does he mean8 ,what he did2 always blessing them when he could4 ,he teaches that we best serve ,god by doing good to men1 and that the best proof and only proof of loving ,god is in loving men4 ,what does he mean8 ,what he did4 ,he was always doing good4 ,and so his life expounds his teachings1 and is the one safe and true commentary upon his words4 ,contemplate that life for a moment4 ,begin at ,bethlehem and follow him to ,bethany1 where1 it is said1 he ascended to heaven4 ,that life is blameless1 flawless4 ,he did not lack abuse1 denunciation1 defamation1 persecutions4 ,men called him a drunkard and a glutton because he was not an ascetic2 they said he 8had a devil0 because they could not understand how any man would do a thing only because it was right4 ,some called him a lunatic2 8he is beside himself10 they said1 because he was unworldly1 was what they considered 8unbusinesslike10 because they1 with their selfishness and pride1 could not imagine themselves living as he did unless they had lost their reason4 ,many hated him then1 as they do now1 because he was1 as he is1 in the way of their self-seeking and their sins4 ,bad men cannot be at rest where he is4 ,no wonder the perfect teaching of a blameless man has power upon the human conscience4 ,to this hour good men indorse ,pilate's verdict2 bad men can find no error in it4 ,when we look more closely into his innermost character we will find qualities that difference him from mere men broadly and unmistakably4 ,we see in him no fault that we can name as attaching to his life2 but we do see in him two manifestations of all others most marvelous and out of the range of mere human life4 #a4 ,there does not appear in him any1 the very least1 consciousness of fault4 #b4 ,in his religion there is no effort4 ,now these things appear in no others who are sincere--who know what they are and what goodness is4 ,the best men and women are conscious of faults1 and the best are most conscious of them4 ,if a man should say1 8,i am faultless10 we would question his sincerity1 his sanity1 or his knowledge of words1 or his conception of goodness4 ,and we would be right4 ,no sane man1 with any high ideal of goodness and knowing the meaning of words1 ever yet used of himself words that fit only ,jesus4 ,it is like a true artist's ideal3 the better artist he is the less he satisfies his own conception in what he does2 so in religion1 the saintliest most realize the distance between them and the ,christ4 ,an unbeliever has said that ,mary at the sepulcher idealized him1 and so made ,christianity possible6 ,he supposed he had accounted for the most stupendous fact of all time4 ,why is it that only ,jesus has become the highest ideal that ever filled the human soul8 ,that nineteen centuries have added nothing to him--taken nothing from him8 ,as to men1 religion is war with nature4 ,saint ,paul so teaches us4 ,it was his experience2 the holiest men best understand this and most frankly confess it4 ,paul's writings are full of terms that illustrate religion from agonistic struggles4 ,when ,jesus himself urges men to seek the life of religion he says1 8,strive to enter in at the strait gate40 ,the word translated strive is the ,greek form of our word of pain and conflict--agonize4 ,but the religion of ,jesus was effortless2 there was never in his heart antagonism to goodness4 ,his religion shines like the sun because it is full of light2 it is a going forth from fountains that1 in his inmost soul1 were in spontaneous and perpetual play4 ,he did have conflicts1 but with the evil that was without him2 there was none in him4 ,the story of his temptation does not at all militate against this statement4 ,the force of the attack from without he felt1 for it is said1 8,he suffered1 being tempted40 ,but when we read the story we feel that it was not only right for him to resist1 but natural4 ,we see so clearly that we never doubt2 there is in him nothing in sympathy with the evil to which he was solicited4 ,what does ,jesus say of himself as to these things8 ,what does he claim for himself8 ,he says to ,pilate1 8,i am the truth20 and it does not shock us to hear him say this4 ,he says in one place1 8,i do always the will of my ,father20 and we believe him--not only that he thinks he does1 but that he does4 ,in trying to give to his disciples the one true ideal of humanity he says1 8,be ye therefore perfect1 even as your ,father in heaven is perfect40 ,then he offers himself as an example to the human race1 and we are satisfied that he is what he says1 for we can 8find no fault in him40 ,and with it all we recognize perfect sincerity1 simplicity1 humility4 ,if a mere man were to say such things to us we would despise him2 the scorn of the world would drive him from the presence of men4 ,but he says such things and we feel that it is right2 it is the truth2 he is what he says4 ,in the same way we feel that he is entitled to make upon us the most tremendous claims for human service1 devotion1 and love ever put into words4 ,he says1 8,if any man will be my disciple1 let him deny himself and take up his cross daily1 and follow me40 8,he that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me40 ,all must be in abeyance to his will4 ,we are to forsake lands1 homes1 parents1 children1 wives1 all for him4 ,nothing in the universe must come between him and the loyal1 all-sacrificing love of his disciples4 ,he must be first in our hearts2 whatever comes between him and our love forfeits all claim upon him4 ,if a mere man made these demands the world would despise him1 and the world would be right4 ,but he sets up other claims of a sort no sincere and sane man1 who is only a man1 can think of for a moment4 ,he claims the right to forgive sins4 ,his critics were right--assuming him to be only a man4 8,why does this man thus speak blasphemies8 ,who can forgive sins but ,god only80 ,he not only claims1 as no other prophet ever did1 to represent the eternal ,father1 but he claims a perfect knowledge of ,god that no mere man can claim4 8,all things are delivered unto me of my ,father2 and no man knoweth the ,son but the ,father2 neither knoweth any man the ,father save the ,son1 and he to whomsoever the ,son will reveal him40 ,the night before he died he said to his disciples3 8,let not your heart be troubled3 ye believe in ,god1 believe also in me40 ,he says in many ways and in many places that he is1 in origin and character1 more than a man2 that he is supernatural4 ,he says1 8,i and my ,father are one40 ,he says that he is divine--that he is ,god4 ,if ,jesus was only a man such claims cannot be reconciled with his sanity or his sincerity4 ,augustine was right when he reduced this argument to its last analysis3 8,christus1 si non deus1 non bonus0--,christ1 if he be not ,god1 is not good4 ,,chapter ,,xvi4 ,,jesus ,,the ,,one ,,universal ,,character4 ,in considering ,jesus as he is now in the world1 not in the story of the evangelists and in books simply1 but in human life1 there are other views to be taken4 ,we can take views only2 we cannot see all that they indicate4 ,we must consider more carefully now what we looked at for a moment in the argument that compels us to believe that this character could not have been invented1 and that such a personality could not have been a normal outgrowth of ,hebrew life3 ,jesus is a universal character--the one and only universal character that has ever appeared in history1 that has ever been described1 that has ever had a place in human thought4 ,there are great differences in men4 ,some are so narrow and meager of soul as scarcely to have a thought or sympathy beyond the little circle in which they are born1 in which they live1 and out of which they go utterly when they die4 ,there are lives so localized that men out of their sphere they cannot understand1 and that men out of their sphere cannot understand them4 ,for every limited dialect in human speech there are limited thoughts and lives back of it4 ,what do we mean by 8provincialism0 as applied to a man1 or to the people of a ,state or country8 ,it means limitation4 ,illustrations are every-where4 ,take a ,scotch ,highlander1 an ,irishman of some seldom-visited farming region1 or1 in our own country1 a ,new ,englander born and bred1 never from home2 or a village ,georgian1 a thorough-going old time ,southerner4 ,these men are provincial4 ,they may have admirable and indeed noble qualities1 but they are limited in their views1 narrow in their sympathies1 and by so much they are cut off from the sympathies of their fellow-men of other conditions in life4 ,savage people show us the extremes of provincialism4 ,but let us take now our illustration from the loftiest ranges of life4 ,among the ancients take ,plato--broad-minded as any4 ,what is he8 ,grecian to the core4 ,there was no greater ,roman than ,julius ,csar4 ,but he was essentially ,roman2 he was localized by race and country2 there was much in him that only a ,roman could understand1 and therefore much that limited him in his knowledge of the men of other nations4 ,come to more modern times4 ,only a few years ago the ,protestant world celebrated the four hundredth anniversary of the birth of ,martin ,luther4 ,there was enough in ,luther to perpetuate his influence through many generations4 ,in every nation where the effect of the ,lutheran reformation is felt there was real interest in the celebration of the anniversary of the great ,german's birth4 ,there was sympathy with ,luther2 moreover1 more or less understanding of him4 ,there was enough forceful life in ,luther to overflow ,germany and enrich other lands2 yet he was a ,german1 and so not a universal1 but a limited1 character4 ,and so it is that he means more to ,germany than to ,england1 or ,france1 or ,america4 ,it is not simply that ,germans are more interested in him as a patriotic sentiment growing out of national pride in their greatest man2 they understand him better than other people can4 ,if he could come back to the world he would understand ,germans better than he would other people4 ,among great men in civil life take ,american ,washington4 ,great man though he was1 and having in him qualities that all true men recognize and approve1 he was yet essentially ,american4 ,he was also essentially ,virginian1 and plantation-aristocratic ,virginian of his time1 and no other4 ,take ,english ,gladstone1 of living men4 ,broad-minded1 well-informed1 ripe in wisdom1 rich in learning1 all-accomplished1 he is1 it may well be supposed1 second to no man of our times in greatness of heart and range of sympathies4 ,but he is ,english2 there is much in him that no foreigner can fully understand1 and there is much in any foreigner that ,gladstone cannot understand4 ,take one more illustration--the man we call 8myriad-minded0--the prince of poets1 the king of dramatists1 ,william ,shakespeare4 ,he could1 ,i think1 put himself into the consciousness of a man of a different nation as fully as any man who ever wrote4 ,he is as nearly as one can be 8poet of the human race40 ,but it is a mere commonplace of literature to say that many of the best thoughts in his great dramas cannot bear translation into foreign tongues2 just as the finest oranges that grow1 as travelers tell us1 a variety grown in ,brazil1 cannot bear transportation to other countries4 ,if it be said this is a language difficulty1 this itself implies the limitation that goes with mere men4 ,but this does not explain the difficulty of translation altogether2 it is in the limitations that characterize men4 ,no foreigner can rightly understand ,shakespeare1 who was ,english4 ,it has been said by some writer3 8,shakespeare dramatized the sixteenth century ,englishman40 ,he wrote of others2 he dramatized the ,englishman of his time4 ,he knew him4 ,he did not dramatize the sixteenth century man4 ,there is no character who can be at home in every country2 who can stand for the race4 ,still less did he dramatize the nineteenth century man2 genius is not equal to such a forecast4 ,for mere men are not only localized in thought1 sympathy1 and character1 by place1 they are1 if possible1 still more limited by time2 the influences that went before them and shut them in while they lived4 ,but what do we find when we consider ,jesus of ,nazareth in respect to time and place1 blood and country1 education and language8 ,this3 we do not at all think of him1 though we use the words1 as ,jesus of ,nazareth4 ,we do not think of him as a ,jew--as an ,asiatic even4 ,the ,galilean1 the ,jew1 the ,asiatic is lost in the man4 ,circumstances left no such impress upon ,jesus as to localize him--as to limit his sympathy--as to mar in the least his all-round1 harmonious1 perfect humanity4 ,if translators have thorough language-knowledge the words of ,jesus bear translation as no words of men bear it4 ,i do not believe that his thoughts lose any thing1 any flavor1 any color1 by being translated4 ,where they are properly translated his thoughts mean to an ,american what they meant to the people who first heard him speak4 ,they produce in men of different races and tongues the same thoughts1 excite the same convictions1 stir the same sympathies1 and lead to the same conclusions about rights1 and wrongs1 and duties1 in every language that has ever repeated them4 ,when these words of ,jesus are obeyed they produce the same essential characteristics alike in men of every nation1 the most enlightened and the most savage4 ,it does not depend on race1 or heredity1 or environment2 the results in character of receiving and living the ,gospel are the same always and every-where4 ,whether ,greek1 or ,roman1 or ,scythian1 or ,hebrew in the early days of ,christianity2 whether ,caucasian1 ,asiatic1 ,african to-day1 the the man who follows the ,christ is transformed into his likeness4 ,no soil1 no climate1 no time changes the fruit of this tree4 ,above all1 and least like any mere man1 not only do his words mean to us what they meant to his first disciples2 he means as much to us4 ,he is to a sinful and penitent woman of our times just what he was to that ,mary who kissed his feet in the house of the proud ,pharisee4 ,he is to any vile wretch who needs and wants him just what he was to the man full of leprosy1 or to him of ,gadara4 ,to ,marys and ,marthas weeping their dead to-day he means just as much as to the sisters of ,bethany4 ,all this agrees with what he said of himself as 8the ,son of man40 ,did any other ever have such a conception of himself1 of the human race1 and of his relation to it8 ,not one word1 not one act of his is shut up to his time or race4 ,jesus is 8the ,son of man20 the ideal and universal man1 the representative man of the entire race1 the brother of every man1 woman1 and child in the world2 loving all and adoringly lovable by all4 ,,chapter ,,xvii4 ,,the ,,christ1 ,,the ,,son ,,of ,,the ,,living ,,god4 ,what has been set forth concerning the power of the teachings of ,jesus to stir and stimulate and enlighten the conscience2 what has been said of his own character and life as incarnating1 and thereby expounding1 making clear and enforcing1 his doctrine2 what has been suggested concerning the absolute universality of his character1 making him brother to every human being and therefore as much to one as to another1 all this brings us to speak briefly of a wonderful but very common fact of daily observation and experience1 a fact that cannot be dissevered from the character1 nature1 and personality of ,jesus himself3 the effect of his doctrines and of himself upon men4 ,it is not meant that all who are called ,christians show these results2 that all who are ,christians show all these results2 that any man or woman who ever was called ,christian has shown all the results possible to humanity as the natural sequence of receiving fully the doctrine of ,jesus and living up to it4 ,no more than ,i will plead for counterfeit coins2 no more than ,i would say that all coins that have pure gold in them are of full weight and without alloy of baser metal4 ,but this ,i do say3 we do find1 and always find1 in those who receive and obey the teachings of ,jesus the results he pointed out as following their reception2 that the results follow in proportion to the thoroughness with which these teachings are observed2 that those who best keep them become most like him1 the one blameless and perfect ,man4 ,we will not enter into any theological discussions2 we do not touch the metaphysics of the subject2 but this may be affirmed roundly and without qualification3 those who believe and receive and obey his words are not only changed in their manner of life1 they are1 so far as we can have any means of judging men1 changed in their spirit of life4 ,so it does come to pass in those who keep his words2 old things become new1 not only in the sphere of action1 but also in the sphere of thinking1 feeling1 willing4 ,as it seems to me1 there can be nothing in this world harder to do than to change1 not men's external lives merely1 but men themselves4 ,changing men's hearts is like making worlds4 ,who else who ever taught1 lived1 or died1 does this8 ,does this while among men8 ,does this1 being for nearly two thousand years gone out of the sight and hearing of men8 ,but ,jesus works this miracle now1 and in men of all races and conditions1 civilized and savage1 learned and unlearned4 ,and their number is as the sands by the sea-shore and as the stars of heaven for multitude4 ,candid thinkers in accounting for ,jesus--in characterizing and classifying him--must take account of the effects produced in human character1 as well as in human lives1 and in human lives because in human character4 ,the men of science tell us we must take account of facts in forming our conclusions2 and they are right4 ,it was ,jesus who taught this principle long before ,bacon2 8,by their fruits ye shall know them40 ,in studying ,jesus we must take account of those facts in human life which seem to be connected with him4 ,we have spoken of the change in character--call it by any name or none--that follows obedience to ,jesus4 ,in this connection there is another most wonderful thing to be considered4 ,what ,i am to mention now is1 on the mere grounds of common sense and worldly reasoning1 the most marvelous and inexplicable of all facts observed among men in relation to any being not with them in visible1 tangible form2 ,i refer to the matchless love his true disciples feel toward him1 not as a teacher1 but as a person4 ,none can deny it4 ,who1 if ,jesus was only a man1 can explain it8 ,no man who knows history1 or the world to-day1 will doubt for one moment that millions on millions of human beings--men1 women1 and little children--have felt and shown for the person of ,jesus the most absorbing love2 a love that drove out all fear and mastered every other love4 ,some great teachers and leaders while they were yet in the flesh have had followers and friends who loved them well enough to hazard life for them and to die for them4 ,we can understand the soldier who1 on one occasion1 when a shell fell close by the first ,napoleon1 while it was just exploding flung himself between the fatal bomb and his loved chief1 and throwing his arms about him died in his stead4 ,but when ,napoleon was an exile in ,st4 ,helena he complained one day that1 among all those he had befriended in the days of his power1 there were none to draw sword for him when he was an exile4 ,who would die for ,napoleon now8 ,there have been thinkers1 poets1 orators1 philosophers1 who have enthusiastic admirers who contend for them in the pretty war of words4 ,shakespeare has as many such admirers as the foremost in all the world4 ,but who loves him--the man--in any such deep1 absorbing fashion as untold millions have loved and do now love the ,man--,jesus of ,nazareth8 ,it surprises you to hear such a question4 ,if ,jesus was only a man the question should not surprise4 ,how does it come about that such love as the great army of martyrs and confessors have shown was never felt for any except this ,galilean peasant8 ,there is not now1 there never was such love for ,buddha or ,mohammed4 ,such love was never professed for the founders of ,buddhism or ,mohammedanism4 ,such love was never felt for any person long gone from the midst of men4 ,this love is not like the fanaticism that fights for one's own idea2 it is the love of a person for a person4 ,this love for ,jesus has shown itself to be the master love that ever held sway in the human heart4 ,for this love all other loves have been given up--have been crucified4 ,do men and women1 in their senses1 give their strength and life-long service for any other name8 ,die cheerfully for any other name8 ,die for one long gone away from them--gone out of the world and1 so far as sense and reason know1 gone forever8 ,but neither lapse of centuries1 distance by separating seas1 distances unknown between this world and the world men do not know1 or separation by differences of race1 cools this love4 ,what the martyrs did in ,jerusalem they soon afterward did in ,rome1 in ,alexandria1 in every city and country of that age and that part of the world4 ,they did the same thing--died with songs on their lips for this ,man of ,galilee--in after centuries4 ,so did they in the ,middle ,ages in every country of ,europe4 ,so they have done in our own time in that great island1 ,madagascar1 that has shown in the dark sons of the tropics1 whose fathers were heathen idolaters1 the overmastering love of men1 women1 and children1 for the ,jesus they had never seen2 who lived on the other side of the world from them1 and taught men how to be saved nearly two thousand years ago4 ,they died in ,madagascar as they died in ,rome1 8the love of ,christ constraining them40 ,and the best people in the world to-day would so die for him in every country where his word has gone4 ,and this love grows fuller and stronger2 ,jesus is more in the thoughts and love of men than he ever was before4 ,if you would in some sense realize the wonder of which we are now speaking1 try to imagine such a passion coming into the hearts of millions of men to-day as would impel them to die with rejoicings for ,socrates1 or any other born of woman1 save the ,man who was once a carpenter in ,joseph's shop in ,nazareth of ,galilee4 ,you cannot imagine such a thing4 ,as to ,jesus1 and love for him1 it is not left to imagination2 we have history4 ,and we know a great multitude who would gladly die for ,jesus now if to them should come the martyr's test4 ,when ,jesus disappeared from the sight of men there was not a human probability that his name would be other than a reproach1 till1 like any common felon--like the forgotten thieves between whom he died--his name and fate should drop out of the memory of men4 ,humanly speaking1 it was certain that he would never have a solitary follower4 ,no sane man1 reckoning on the ordinary probabilities of human motives and action1 could have conceived the possibility of a vast body of disciples1 ever growing1 and pushing on his conquests round the world1 holding together through passing centuries1 enduring all manner of opposition and bitter persecution1 and now1 in this year #ahhi1 the master-force of the world2 a force that1 beyond all cavil1 is now the most active1 aggressive1 and revolutionizing influence ever set going among men4 ,it could not have been conceived2 every dominant power of the world was arrayed against him2 there was not a star shining for ,jesus if he was only a man4 ,but ,jesus crucified lives on4 ,around his cross has been the battle-ground of the ages4 ,all that human skill and bitter hate could do has been done to put out the light he kindled on ,calvary4 ,but he lives on--lives in men to-day2 single-handed he goes on his conquering way4 ,his servants1 because they love him1 are pushing his cause in every nation under heaven4 ,as in the old days1 in the lands that bordered the ,mediterranean1 so now among the great pagan nations--in ,india1 ,china1 ,japan1 ,africa1 and in the islands of the sea1 they are telling the story he commanded them to repeat till he should come again4 ,and1 telling it1 they are now1 as in the days of his first apostles1 8turning the world upside down40 ,in every land his children are building up his kingdom4 ,they die for him1 and others take their places2 and so the work begun in ,jerusalem never ceases4 ,history confirms his promise1 8,i am with you alway1 even unto the end of the world40 ,such a character could not have been conceived had not such a life been lived2 such a life could not have sprung out of ,hebrew soil2 no mere man ever knew the deepest truths without investigation or taught them without proving them2 no mere man ever conceived of such a work as ,jesus proposed to himself1 and no mere man would have adopted the methods ,jesus used2 no mere man ever conceived so vast an undertaking as the moral conquest of the race2 no mere man ever took such masterful hold upon the conscience1 love1 and will of mankind4 99 99 99 99 99 ,what ,simon ,peter said stands to-day as the faith of the ,church3 8,thou art the ,christ1 the ,son of the living ,god40 ,the great words of ,st4 ,john stand firm as the teaching of ,scripture and the verdict both of reason and history3 8,the ,word was with ,god1 and the ,word was ,god4444 ,and the ,word was made flesh1 and dwelt among us1 7and we beheld his glory1 the glory as of the only begotten of the ,father17 full of grace and truth40 ,the facts of his humanity and of his work and influence in the world forbid us to classify ,jesus with men1 and the recognition of his divinity alone explains the facts of his humanity4 ,considered as ,god-man all is in harmony2 miracles take their proper place in the records of his history1 and mind and nature1 heaven and earth1 ,god and man meet in ,jesus1 the ,christ4 ,but--if he be only a man--he is such a man as were a thousand times worth dying for and following forever1 through time and eternity4 ,,other ,,books ,,by ,,atticus ,g4 ,,haygood4 ,,our ,,brother ,,in ,,black3 ,his ,freedom and ,his ,future4 ,price1 post-paid1 #a4 ,new ,york3 ,,hunt ,,eaton2 ,cincinnati3 ,,cranston ,,stowe2 ,nashville1 ,tenn43 ,,southern ,,methodist ,,publishing ,,house4 ,it goes to the very kernel of affairs4--,atlanta 7,ga47 ,constitution4 ,a most exhaustive and interesting study of the colored man1 his present condition and future prospects4--,new ,york ,herald4 ,a more powerful plea for the ,negro than any ,negro ever made4--,cincinnati ,star-,times4 ,we recall no other work on the subject so entirely satisfactory4--,christian ,intelligencer4 ---------3,o3--------- ,,pleas ,,for ,,progress4 ,price1 post-paid1 #a4 ,new ,york3 ,,hunt ,,eaton3 ,cincinnati3 ,,cranston ,,stowe4 ,discusses ,negro citizenship and ,negro education on all sides1 the ,neglected ,classes1 the ,social ,evil1 ,public ,education1 ,prohibition1 and kindred topics4 ,a remarkable book1 that should be in every public library1 ,north and ,south4--,chicago ,advance4 ,covers almost every phase of the momentous race question4--,zion's ,herald4 ,no book of our day will serve the needs of information1 ,north and ,south1 as this volume4 ,it discusses our civilization and its future4--,richmond 7,va47 ,christian ,advocate4 ,this is the kernel of the ,southern question4--,des ,moines 7,iowa7 ,christian ,advocate4 ---------3,o3--------- ,,sermons ,,and ,,speeches4 ,price1 post-paid1 #a #be4 ,new ,york3 ,,hunt ,,eaton4 ,discusses the vital points of religion and daily duty4 ,most of these are discourses delivered to the young men of ,emory ,college1 ,oxford1 ,ga4 ---------3,o3--------- ,,our ,,children4 ,price1 post-paid1 #a #be4 ,new ,york3 ,,hunt ,,eaton4 ,there are single chapters worth more than the whole book4--,new ,york ,christian ,advocate4 ,most excellent1 wholesome1 and practical4--,zion's ,herald4 ,the best treatise of the kind of which we have any knowledge4--,dr4 ,t4 ,o4 ,summers1 in ,christian ,advocate4 ,it is a book for every household4--,bishop ,j4 ,h4 ,vincent4 ,a book that will at once instruct and arouse4--,western ,methodist4 ,placed in every family in the land1 and carefully read1 it would create a perceptible moral uplifting4--,holston ,methodist4 ,will be helpful to all ,christian parents and teachers4--,new ,york ,observer4 ,,send ,,to ,,publishers1 ,,or ,,to ,a4 ,g4 ,,haygood1 ,jr41 ,decatur1 ,ga4 ,transcriber's ,note3 ,spelling and hyphenation have been retained as they appear in the original publication except the following3 ,page #ff he does not philosphize changed to he does not philosophize ,page #id ,it were hard to say which changed to ,it was hard to say which ,page #ajf in any wise to self interest changed to in any wise to self-interest ,page #aeg present conditiom and future changed to present condition and future