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THE ARGUMENT FOR CHRISTIANITY FROM THE
UNIQUE PERSONALITY OF CHRIST.

No one can deny that the results produced by Christ in history have been of the most extraordinary kind. He is the fountainhead from which not merely the Church, but all the river of modern history has flowed. He was at once the solvent which silently disintegrated the mighty power of ancient religion and civilisation, and the constructive spiritual force which built up a new civilisation and religious life. And, indeed, it is not merely Christianity and modern civilisation which owe their origin to Christ, but even such an antagonistic system as Mohammedanism as well; for if Christianity and the Bible had not previously existed, it is certain that Mohammedanism would never have appeared.

But in all this it is evident, that it is Christ Himself who is the living heart, the fountain of spiritual power and energy. The current of modern Christian history received its original impulse directly from Him.

If

we think of those men who throughout the ages have been the powerful actors and the leading forces therein, we may see at once that it was from Him they drew their inspiration. These men were such as Paul and John, Athanasius and Augustine, Luther and Knox, not to mention hundreds of less famous names. But these men were and would have been nothing without Christ. It was not they, but Christ in them. Their torches were kindled at the heaven-descended fire that burned in Him, and but for Him would have remained for ever dark. At the very first sight, we see that there is evidently something quite unique and extraordinary in Christ.

Looking at the matter in another aspect, we readily see that Christ stands to Christianity in a very different relation from that in which the founder of a philosophy stands to his system. We may have a very complete knowledge of the systems of Aristotle or Epicurus, of Kant or Hegel, of Reid or Herbert Spencer, without any reference whatever to the person and character of their respective authors. But we cannot so separate between Christ and Christianity. In fact, Christ is Christianity. Every doctrine in it of fundamental importance runs up into Him and ends in Him. If we speak of the doctrine of sin, it was that dark fact that brought Him into the world and to the cross; if of the Trinity, it is around His person that the doctrine

of the Trinity has always turned; if of atonement, He is the sacrifice. If we think of Christian faith, He is the explicit object of it; if of justification, He is the ground of it; if of sanctification, He is both the pattern of it and the source of all sanctifying power. If we speak of the resurrection, He is the Resurrection and the Life; if of judgment, He is the divinely-appointed Judge; if of heaven, it is because He lives there that His people live there also. As in some of the old ecclesiastical cities of the Continent, the chief streets all lead up to the cathedral at the centre, so all the chief doctrines of Christianity lead up to Christ, and find their centre of system and order in Him. He is the Christian system, the living centre in which all things in it consist. We can no more separate Christ from Christianity, than we can separate the soul from the body without producing instantaneous death.

Nothing shows more convincingly that the personality of Jesus is felt to be something wonderful, than the many attempts which are constantly made by unbelievers to account for it on mere natural principles. They feel instinctively that it is a terrible stumbling-block to them, and that they must explain it away if their systems are ever to succeed. They are fain to ask with Pilate of old, 'What shall we do with Jesus, who is called Christ?' Hence they weary themselves with the vain problem, how they may best

dissolve Him into mythic haze, or resolve Him into natural elements. But they have not yet succeeded, and they themselves feel that they have not succeeded. For no sooner has one come forward with his explanation, than brother unbelievers show themselves to be conscious that it is not quite satisfactory. Accordingly, they set themselves anew to the task, only to meet with a similar fate. Paulus explains Jesus on the grounds of the old rationalism; the miracles were only natural events, but mistaken as miraculous through the stupidity of the apostles. Strauss arises and demolishes Paulus, and explains Christ by the hypothesis of myths. Baur, and especially his more extreme followers, prefer to explain Him by modified forgery. Renan finds his explanation in the legendary, not without a decided element of intrigue and intentional deception on the part of Christ. This course of action shows that even the opponents of Christianity consciously feel that the stone of stumbling has not yet been removed. They rush against the Rock of Ages at the risk of dashing themselves to pieces upon its eternal adamant: but it remains firm and immovable as ever,—

'As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,

Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm;
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.'

In considering the person and character of Jesus, we

are confined mainly to the four Gospels as the source of our materials. It is held, indeed, by some that the Christ of the three so-called Synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, is quite a different person from the Christ of John. That there is a difference between the portraits is true. It is not, however, the difference between two distinct persons, but only between two different views of the same person. The Synoptists show us Jesus teaching among the peasants of Galilee; John, the same Jesus discussing with the priests, rabbis, and learned Jews of Jerusalem. The former show us Jesus in His more public, outward life; the latter, largely, Jesus in His inner life and intercourse with His disciples, and revealing the higher truths of faith. The former show us Jesus speaking mainly in the sunshine; John shows us Jesus speaking when He is already under the shadow of the cross, and in the strange other-world light of His eventide. The Christ of the fourth Gospel is the Word of God; but He is still the Son of man. He utters no Sermon on the Mount; but still He preaches the kingdom of heaven. The sheep scattered abroad find in Him still the Good Shepherd. There is no exorcism, but the prince of this world is cast out. There is no transfiguration, but His glory is throughout beheld; no agony in the garden, but His soul is troubled. Mary and Martha reappear, but attended by Lazarus. He does not say,