THIS opens the way for an inquiry of the highest importance, "What think you of Christ?" This leads to another, limiting the inquiry to one point, Whose Son is he? Of all the inquiries propounded to men, these are the most important, fundamental and all-engrossing. They penetrate down into the very depths; to the foundation of the religion of Christ; the bottom cornerstone of the faith and hope of the world. On these inquiries, the matter contained in them, the manner in which we treat them, and our actions in reference to them, turn our eternal weal or woe. The very first matter of inquiry pertaining to the only true religion on the face of the earth, and the only one having one particle of divine authority in it, is brought up for consideration in these inquiries, "What think you of Christ?" This question reaches to the very basis. It penetrates that which is fundamental--vital; it is a matter of inquiry that can not be let alone; it is so related to us that we can not be indifferent to it. Even the skeptic, who professes not to believe on Christ, and assumes, or [11] tries to assume, an air of indifference reference to him, can not let the inquiry alone about him. He must be talking about him. The bare thought that he might be all he claims to be, is exciting, rousing and alarming. He is not thus troubled about Mohammed, agitated and roused on hearing men talk of him; nor about the prophet of Mormonism; nor is he thus troubled about the Pope of Rome, Swedenborg, or Ann Lee! Why not? There is a reason for this. These do not annoy him; follow him in his meditations by day, and in his visions by night; he is impressed with no profound awe when he thinks of these, nor is he filled with any fear; he is not excited by these the one way or the other, nor troubled; he shows no particular interest in them the one way or the other, and has no zeal to oppose those friendly to them. But mention the name of Jesus of Nazareth to him, and a different feeling is roused at once. A fierce spirit of opposition is awakened in him, and all of the same sort in hearing are called up in hostility. The calmness, indifference and unconcern manifested before disappear! Why is this?

      In the same way, mention the Koran, the apochryphal writings, the unwritten traditions of the Papacy, or the Book of Mormon, and no excitement is produced, no concern is manifested, or fury awakened on the part of the skeptic; no cry is raised about imposture, superstition or tradition; no cry is heard about contradictions, absurdities and inconsistencies; nor is any fierce opposition called out. Why not? Is it because skeptics are friendly to these books? By no means. This is not the reason. These are dead books; he has no fear of them. They bear no relation to him, nor to the world, that can excite his fears, or rouse his opposition. They are null and void. But mention the Bible, and you rouse all the [12] skeptics in hearing. The cry is heard of contradictions, absurdities and incongruities in all directions. A spirit of opposition is awakened from one side of the country to the other. Every vicious spirit spits forth its venom; every unclean spirit sets up the howl about the uncertainty of "old musty manuscripts," translations, councils, and the like channels through which the Bible is supposed to have come down through the ages to our time. The general rule is, that those who know the least about these matters, talk the most, longest and loudest. But why should they be excited at all? Why not quietly settle down, saying simply, if they say anything, the Bible is all a hoax, and cease troubling about it? There is the difficulty; they can not do that; they can not tell why; they can not quiet down and let it alone, treating the whole with indifference. They know not why, but they can not be indifferent; they know not the reason, but the matter will not rest, will not be quiet, will not let them alone, or be let alone. Why is this?

      The Author of the Bible knows all about men; never errs when he speaks of them, but makes them sensible that he understands them throughout. The Bible tells all about men--what is in them. The skeptic can not rest with one book in our midst that describes us altogether. Such a book troubles him; he can not rest to have it printed, circulated, read, believed in private families, Sunday-schools, Bible-classes, prayer-meetings, and numerous other places. Whether men know it or not, like it or not, there is one Being over us who knows us altogether, and takes account of all our actions; and we have one book in which is revealed his mind about men; in which he tells all about us; even our thoughts, our desires and purposes; the very inmost thoughts and intents of our hearts; reveals what is in us. We can look [13] into that book and see ourselves--not as we see or represent ourselves, or as others see and represent us, but as we are. This is not all. This one Being not only knows us, but knows what is to become of us; what we are to be, and tells us; reveals it to us in the one book--the Bible. This is the dread part of it! Man does not like to see himself, and that as he is; especially in his sinful alienation from God. He does not like to read, and have others read, a revelation of himself; one that will be believed, and worthy of all credence; not only addressed to himself, but to all people; to be known and read of all men!

      This one glorious Being connects the conduct of men in this world with their fate in the world to come, and shows that the conditions of men in the world to come will depend on their conduct in this world. In his own glorious book he reveals to man a heaven for the righteous, and a hell for the devil and his angels, where the wicked will have their part, in the world to come. In this one book, from side to side, he discriminates between the righteous and the wicked, him that serves God and him that serves him not. This is the trouble, on the part of some men, with the one Being and the one book of which we are to speak in this discourse. By this one Being, in this book, we are assured that "God is angry with the wicked every day;" that he has "no pleasure in the wicked," and that "the wicked shall be turned into hell with all the nations that forget God." This one Being is the supreme and the absolute authority both in heaven and on earth, and in this one book the supreme and absolute authority is set forth. This one book emanates from this one Being, and without him it would be all null and void. It receives all its authority from him; its very life is from him, and by his Anointed, [14] the Lord Jesus the Christ, by whom and for whom all things were made; who was before all things, and by whom all things consist. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "Without him was not anything made that was made." "He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending." He says, after his resurrection, in most triumphant language: "I am he who was dead, and am alive, and behold I live forever and ever, and have the keys of Hades and of death. I can shut and no man can open; I can open and no man can shut." Paul says, "He has, by inheritance, a greater and more excellent name than any of the august messengers that minister in the presence of Jehovah." He was God manifested in the flesh. He said to the Jews, "He who sees me, sees the Father;" and again, "Before Abraham was, I AM." John says, "He is the true God and eternal life." Paul says, "He is the express image of the invisible God, and the brightness of his Father's glory." He further says, "In him dwells all the fullness of the Deity substantially." "He is the head over all things to the Church."

      No other teacher ever came before the world in the same manner as our Lord. He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me." He says, "It has been said by them of old, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth; but I say, Not so now," thus placing his teaching in bold and avowed contrast with what had been taught of old. He knew what had been said of old, and regarded as law, and, indeed, what was law, and divine law at that, and gave all the privilege to understand that he intended a revolution, a new order of things, a new dispensation. He places the expression, "I say to you," in contrast with [15] what had been said of old, in the law of God; or, "It has been said of old, but not so now." Look, too, at the exclusive language we have quoted from him, "I am the way." This covers the whole ground, leaving no room for anything else, or any other way. But you inquire, "The way where?" The answer is, The way to the Father. He was not preaching the modern, liberal and charitable doctrine; that you can come any way; that it is no difference which way you come; but he was setting forth the way, and the only way, to the Father. As if he had said, "You do not come by Moses now, nor by the law of Moses, nor by the way, or any way pointed out by pagan doctors, or any other teachers, but by me. You can not find the way to the Father by the light of nature, by human reason, learning, the sciences, or any other means, but by me. I am the way to the Father. Not an offering made; not a prayer uttered; nor an attempt to worship, except through me, will ever avail anything after the ushering in of this new institution that I have come to establish. You may not pray as a Jew, a Deist, directly to the Father; nor need you think to come directly to him, for 'no man comes to the Father but by me."'

      He is, however, not only "the way," but "the truth." He does not simply claim to set forth something like the truth, or nearly like it, as simply truth; but more, the truth. This, too, is most exclusive. It leaves not one inch of ground outside of it; it covers the entire ground with the smallest possible number of words; it is the neatest little sentence ever uttered; as clear and conclusive as that a straight line is the shortest possible distance between two given points. Nothing can possibly be added to it, or taken from it, without marring it. If the Lord is the truth, there is an end of all controversy [16] about going to any other person to find the truth. The matter is simply reduced to coming to him, and being taught by him. The command, as it came from the Almighty Father, on the mountain of transfiguration, is: "Hear ye him." In hearing him we also hear the Father who sent him, and in rejecting him we also reject the Father who sent him.

      He is the life. This, again, is exclusive. We need not go to Moses for the life, for the law had no eternal life in it; nor to the philosophers, statesmen, or pagan doctors, for they never had eternal life, nor any power to impart it. The life is not in them, but in the Lord Jesus the Christ. Here, too, is an end of all loose teaching about the heathen and others who have never heard the gospel, being saved on the ground of their ignorance. Here is the Lord Jesus the Christ, the way, the truth, and the life; the one and only Mediator between God and men, the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and the grand and awful statement from him, that "No man comes to the Father but by me." He is the only Savior of the world. The inquiry begins about him, "What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is is he?" Is he what he claimed to be? If he is, he is what man needs. Man is a poor, imperfect, fallible and erring creature. He needs infallibility somewhere to which he can come and receive instruction implicitly. A little girl once heard two ladies talking. They did not know who she was. One of them referred to a statement made by the mother of the little girl, adding, that she did not believe it. The other also said she did not believe it. The little girl manifested excitement, and inquired, with earnestness, "Did ma say it?" They then saw who she was, but answered her candidly that her mother said it. She then replied, with much assurance, [17] "If ma said it, it is so." That is faith; it is believing implicitly. She did not believe it because she could understand it, or comprehend it, or saw why she should believe it, except that her mother said it was so. We all need some one to whom we can come, in the same way as this little child, and whom we can believe implicitly; or believe what he says because he said it, and not because we can understand it throughout, or see and comprehend it fully.

      Archbishop Purcell opposed the dogma of infallibility before he went to the Ecumenical Council, and when in the council opposed it; but the dogma was passed over his head, and he was compelled to succumb. When he returned home, and undertook to adjust himself to the new position before the people of Cincinnati, he said: "The Pope is on a higher eminence than any of us, and can see farther what is for the good of religion and the glory of God." The archbishop thus came down and submitted to His Holiness; yes, and to His Infallibility! He could not see this himself, nor believe it, till the council passed it; he then received it implicitly--not because he could understand it, or see the reason for it, or in it, but because "the Pope is on a higher eminence than any of us, and can see farther what is for the good of religion and the glory of God." But he finds, or professes to find, the infallibility too low down. It is not to be found in Rome, nor in the Pope, nor anywhere else on earth. It is in the Lord Jesus the Christ. He is the Infallibility. We may believe what he says implicitly, or because he said it.

      The first thing to do, then, is to make up the mind about him, Examine the question: "Whose Son is he?" Can men look to him as the Infallibility? Can they look to him as the Son of God? Can they believe all [18] he said implicitly, or simply because he said it? These are the matters to be considered now. Can we look to him with the assurance that he knew all things? The following things are claimed for him:

      1. That his teaching was perfect. It can be said of him, not only that his teaching was good, that he taught good things, or that he taught better things than any other teacher ever taught; but his teaching was perfect. He taught nothing that was not good. Others had taught good things, but their teaching was not perfect. They taught some things that were not good. Among all the teachers, of all sorts, from the very beginning of time, we find our Lord Jesus standing out as the only one whose teaching was perfect--all good; nothing in it not good. His teaching has been put to the test, tried in every possible way--by philosophers, statesmen; by Jew, infidel and pagan, and stands to-day before the world the only teaching admitted to be without a blemish. This does not simply include what fell from his own lips, but all that rests upon him, whether coming from prophets or apostles. On the ground of a skeptic, or a Jew, that he was nothing but a man, how is it to be accounted for that he rose above all the race, and gave us the only perfect teaching the world had ever had--all good? No skeptic or Jew ever accounted for this, or ever can.

      2. Jesus practiced what he taught. Not a man, among all the keen-eyed critics, or the vilest opposers, has ever produced an instance of his violating, in practice, what he taught. His teaching was perfect, and his practice was perfect. This is not true of any other teacher. While philosophers, statesmen and pagan doctors taught many good things, they all taught many things that were not good, and in many instances, [19] did not practice what they taught. In this Jesus stands alone; the only teacher with a perfect practice; the only teacher that practiced all he taught. Here, again, is a matter for a skeptic or a Jew to account for; to tell us how it was that not another teacher ever gave us a perfect example, a perfect practice of what he taught! How was it, on the ground that Jesus was simply a man, that he practiced what he taught without a single infraction, and that not another teacher ever did this? How did it come to pass that one teacher, and only one, since the beginning of time, of the entire race of man, practiced perfectly what he taught? What is done by ordinary means one time may be done by ordinary means again. Ordinary means did not raise up one perfect teacher, and one that practiced perfectly what he taught, in six thousand years, and but one! This is of itself a miracle; perfectly extraordinary. Ordinary means can not produce extraordinary results.

      During the years of his minority, Jesus lived an obscure and private life; grew up to the stature of manhood without education, or, as one expressed it, "without ever having learned letters;" without association with the great, the learned, or popular. When about thirty years of age he entered his public life. In a brief space of time he called round him multitudes of people, who were "astonished at his teaching; for he taught as one having authority and not as the scribes." The question comes up, How did a humble, uneducated and obscure Nazarene call these vast multitudes around him? Viewing him simply as a man, how is this to be accounted for? He taught openly, and almost invariably in daylight. His wonderful works were done openly. It is easy to perform tricks in the night, in the presence of a few, the performer having arranged the entire programme [20] to suit himself and each item in it. But how a juggler could feed five thousand people on five loaves and a few fishes, in open daylight, who had promiscuously assembled, or make the people believe he had done it when he had not, or get them to tell that he had done it, and believe it, as he did, is a matter for skeptics, Jews and pagans to explain. It is one of the difficulties which their philosophy must account for.

      The teaching of our Lord was not an insignificant affair, that was not of sufficient importance to command the attention of the highest order of talent. It was not something to be treated with silent contempt. He commanded the attention of Jewish rabbis, the doctors of the law, men of the greatest learning and talent of his time; men who had studied antiquity, with the principal men and events of the world, from the beginning of time down to their day. He frequently came in contact with these men. If they talked about Adam, he was perfectly at home, and knew all about it and joined in the conversation. If they talked about Noah and the flood, they soon found that he knew all about these. They soon found that he knew all about Abraham, Job, Moses, David, and all the prophets; the Jews, Egyptians, all nations, kindreds and peoples; all the events of past time, and talked of all these as if he had lived contemporary with them, and been there in person. If they talked of the Jewish Scriptures, he talked about them; opening and reading, if he chose, from the Septuagint, or from the Hebrew; or, if he chose, he read without looking into the volume at all; thus showing that, like the eternal Father, he knew it all from side to side, every word that was in it. Not a man ever took him on surprise, touching any event or person of the past, either as recorded in the Scriptures, or derived [21] from some other source of information. They found that he knew everything. All the events of the ages past were open to him and present in his view. He looked back through the ages, as the Jehovah himself does; saw the events and persons of all past time, everything to the very beginning, and knew it all. They never found in him the slightest error in any of these matters, or the least want of information.

      How all this must have confounded them! They could not see how it was that this young man, without education, in the ordinary way, and without reading, looked back through the ages, through the Scriptures, saw, and knew everything; nor can any man see how it was who denies his Divinity, "his eternal power and Deity." But he did not stop with looking at the past, but looked down through the future. Forty years before the destruction of the devoted city, he said: "There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down." This was fulfilled to the letter. He proceeds: "And they shall be led away captive among all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled." How far does this extend? This captivity of the Jewish people is now before the world, on the records of faithful history, extending through eighteen centuries, and not ended yet. The treading down of Jerusalem by the Gentiles is also before the world, on the pages of history, extending down through the same period, and not ended yet. How much further "the times of the Gentiles" shall extend before they shall be fulfilled, is yet to be seen. But any one can see, who will read, that the Lord looked down through the future, saw it, knew what it would be, and foretold it. As some one expressed it, about one hundred years ago, he [22] stood between the two eternities, looking back through all the past, and forward through all the future--knew and saw it all, as the Jehovah himself does. Who can view all this and doubt his Divinity? All who view this so as to appreciate it, must be impressed with the idea that the divine presence dwells in him.

      No doubt many proud philosophers, statesmen, and Jewish doctors of the law, thought the name of Jesus would soon be forgotten, his life be effaced from the earth, and his work covered in the depths of oblivion. Many skeptics now think that Jesus has not much power in the world, and, specially, that he wields no power over them. But they would do well to consider the following:

      1. What has become of the names of the philosophers who lived contemporary with Jesus? Excepting a few, from among the great number that then lived, they have gone into forgetfulness, to be heard of no more till God shall unfold the records in the last judgment. Where are the systems of philosophy in which they gloried, as the sum of all perfection and all knowledge? A vast amount of it has been exploded by the advance of true science and actual demonstration, and shown to be false. Much more has been found to be the most idle and useless speculations and vagaries of the history of the human race, and much more has gone into forgetfulness. Only a few traces of the whole of it remain, and much of these traces is simply referred to in the way of contrast with the present, or out of mere curiosity.

      2. What has become of the names of the proud statesmen of Greece and Rome? Excepting a few, their very names have disappeared from the memories of men and the records of the world! What has become of their great structures, in the form of human governments, the [23] constitutions and laws to which they gave rise? Saving a few dim traces, occasionally found, they have disappeared, and nowhere are they referred to as precedents for highly cultivated and civilized nations. The kingdoms and empires they founded have gone into forgetfulness, and are only referred to now as exploded failures in the world. The very countries they occupied have gone back, and hold no comparison with the countries styled Christian. The very nationalities of all the earth have been scattered and mixed, mingled and commingled, till there is but one distinct race on all the face of the earth. That one race has the pledge of the oath of the Almighty for its distinct existence. It is the seed of Abraham, Israel according to the flesh, standing in our midst, as the only distinct race on all the face of the earth, thus, unintentionally, fulfilling one of the oldest predictions of the Bible. All other nationalities are scattered, mingled and commingled, and lost.

      3. What has become of the Jewish doctors who lived contemporary with Jesus? Even these, too, with a small exception, are gone from history, and their works form no conspicuous part in the great monuments of the world. In no sense have they gained any great distinction, except in their persistent stubbornness in rejecting Him who came to his own. While they exist as a distinct race, maintain a distinct nationality, they are scattered and peeled, and have become a hissing and by-word among all nations.

      But in contrast with all this, the name of Jesus abounds in the principal literature of the world, from the time of his abode among men down through the ages for more than eighteen hundred years. The amount of early writings, in which his name abounds, and in which, in one shape or another, he is the chief subject; [24] the numerous quotations from his words, or the words of his apostles, and references to him, in the principal writings of the first five centuries of the Christian era, show beyond all doubt, that he was not only not being forgotten, but occupying a wider space in the civilized world each succeeding century. The further down we come, the more widely the name of Jesus extends. Now, that eighteen centuries have intervened between his advent and the present time, his name abounds almost everywhere--in the conversations, the letters, the business transactions, the courts, halls of legislation, the publications of all sorts, the orations, political speeches, the preaching and worshiping assemblies, and almost everywhere; and his name is rapidly spreading wider and wider every year. Almost every daily newspaper; every weekly, or monthly; every magazine and book that appears; every book account, every mortgage, bond, deed. note of hand; every license, or summons, has "ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-SEVEN" on it! What does that mean? It means the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven. Why is that on everything written this year? The advent of Jesus formed a new era, which has gained the recognition of all the most powerful, highly cultivated and civilized nations and peoples of the whole earth, and its influence is extending and spreading wider and wider every day, as civilization and general enlightenment extend. Did the era of the most enlightened, highly cultivated and civilized peoples and nations, and the most powerful in all the world, originate in a Jewish fable or a pagan myth? The event that originated a new era, and gained for it the recognition of all the most powerful nations of the earth, and that has continued to maintain that [25] recognition for so many centuries, must have been one of the principal events of the history of all nations!

      But please view the matter from another point of observation. Suppose yourself to be elevated high up in the heavens, and your vision so extended that you could see over all the lands put down in the geography as Christian, and see all the busy operations of all these countries, and see them open out of a Monday morning, in all the departments; the vast trains, steamers, manufactories, mechanical branches, merchandising, agricultural, professional, and all. You watch it all through Monday, and, till it closes down, late on Monday night; you keep an eye on it during Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, till late on Saturday night, and see the great body of it all quieted into stillness. On Sunday morning you witness a great change. The great mass of all this mighty whirl and hum remains quiet--it is still! What does this mean? What hand has stopped these vast and numerous operations? The people are quietly proceeding to places of worship. What has caused this change? For the first four thousand years of the world's history there was nothing of this kind on the first day of the week, the day now called "the Lord's Day," or Sunday. Whose hand is it, and whose name is it, that stops all this career of the world; causes it so generally to stand still on this day? What gave rise to this? This did not commence, nor has it been continued for eighteen hundred years, without an event of importance, the weight of authority. Do you say civil governments require it? True, but where did they get it? They did not originate it. Why do they observe it? The resurrection of Jesus on the first day of the week gave rise to all this. His resurrection from the dead is the grand event that originated all [26] this. From the beginning of time, till Jesus rose from the dead, this day, the first day of the week, had no religious significance of any sort, and was not observed in any religious sense by any people in the world. Jesus of Nazareth, in rising from the dead on the first day of the week, gave this day its religious significance, and gave rise to all the assembling for religious devotions on this day, and the cessation from temporal pursuits. What shall we say, then, of his name and power still manifested in the world? Did all this come into the world by accident? Did it originate in a false fact, or an assumed fact, that was not a fact? If it did--how? No man ever answered this, or ever can.

      There is, to the man of Bible intelligence, nothing clearer than that there was one divine mind before time began, that looked down through the ages and saw all that was coming; and developments are seen all along through the history sufficient to show this. His own inspired prophets did not comprehend or see his eternal purpose, nor did they understand many of the grand utterances which the Spirit of God spake through them. They were spoken, so that we now can see that they did not understand them--that God did not intend them to understand them--so that we might know that the things spoken were not their utterances, but utterances from Him who spoke by them. Their minds were running in one direction and the infinite mind in another. These things shall now be verified by a few of the many Scriptures that might be collected on this point. Let us hear the great apostle to the Gentiles, in his closing words in the letter to the Church in Rome:

      "Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was [27] kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: to God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen."--Romans xvi. 25-27.

      Again he says: "That by revelation he made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words; whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord."--Ephesians iii. 3-11.

      From the Apostle Peter we have the following:

      "Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the [28] sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto us with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into."--1 Peter i. 9-12.

      These Scriptures, and many more of the same sort, show that the prophets did not understand the things they uttered, and that these things were not uttered for them, but for us. We can see now that the Spirit of Christ that was in them saw what they did not see--that he made them instruments to utter these things, all tending in the same direction; carrying out, directly pushing on to the completion and fulfillment of God's eternal purpose.

      In the same way, any one who will read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John will see that there was no collusion between Christ and his apostles. They never understood him while he was on earth. Their minds ran in one direction and his in another. While they believed on him; that the Father sent him, and that the kingdom was at hand, they thought that he was to be an earthly king, and his kingdom of this world; and they supposed the whole to be fulfilled in founding a new civil government. Their ideas all ran in this direction all the time. But he never uttered one sentence looking in this direction. While he recognized the civil authorities, and arranged to pay the tax, he never intimated such a thing as that he intended any civil revolution. But it can be seen that he had his mind clearly set on the things that did come. The erroneous ideas of the disciples were all swept away. When he was taken by his enemies, and put to death, the visions the [29] apostles had in their minds were dispersed. At the same time, what he had clearly uttered, and what they never understood, was fulfilled. Everything transpired as he foretold, or according to his mind, and nothing according to their mind. Their expectations were all disappointed, while his were all accomplished.

      Any one who will carefully study the Scriptures of the prophets can see the mind of God in them, and running clown through them to Christ, and the same mind in Christ, during his earthly mission, and the carrying out and fulfilling of it all, in the coming of Christ, his mission, sufferings, death, resurrection, ascension, coronation, the descent of the Spirit, the inspiration of the apostles, their preaching, founding the kingdom, and the reconciling of the Gentiles and uniting them in the same body. He who can not see that God was in all this; that Jesus of Nazareth is from God; that he is the Son of God; that he was, and is, with God, carrying out his divine mind, executing his will and accomplishing his eternal purpose, must be slow to learn. Well does Paul exclaim: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen"--Romans xi. 33-36.

      With what profound awe and reverence does the man of faith view all this! How exalted are his conceptions and emotions in view of the wonderful works of God; and how he must adore and admire that almighty hand that has lifted him up and made him acquainted with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord-- [30] our only hope! What a wonderful contrast between the man thus elevated to union with the Father and with the Son, and the pitiable, bewildered, confused and doubting skeptic, hunting for contradictions in the Bible, or absurdities, or for some excuse for refusing submission to the only Savior of men--the Lord Jesus the Christ! Let us learn to reverence, adore and praise him forever and ever. Let us join the grand throng which John saw, in his vision, in the Island of Patmos, in ascribing blessing, and glory, and honor, and thanksgiving to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever. If we may not trust in Him, all is lost. To Him, and through Him, to the Almighty Father, let us ascribe all honor and praises forever and ever. [31]

[TGP2 11-31]