The Person of Jesus Christ [pp. 434-437]

THE LADIES' REPOSITOR r.
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST.
SECOND PAPER.
ET us turn to His Word. When the high
council sent out its servants to lay hold of
Jesus and bring him to judgment, they returned
without accomplishing their purpose, with the
explanation, Never man spake like this man.
Thus we, yea, all times shall be obliged to say.
Eighteen centuries have passed over the earth
since Jesus taught, the world's way of thinking
has entirely changed; but his word has preserved its old, eternally fresh strength and force
over the minds of men.
No especial stage of culture, no learned interventions are needful to understand its meaning and experience its operation. It is for all
without distinction alike perspicuous and powerful. Only we have become too accustomed to
it: for this reason it does not always have the
same original effect upon us; but when we,
with opened hearts, yield ourselves to it, then it
appears before our souls in all its triumphant
powers, as if it fell immediately upon us from
the mouth of Jesus.
Wherein lies this tecuziaribowerof his Word?
There are no single properties of his speech, in
which the mystery of its effect lies. Jesus is
no poet, no orator, no philosopher; it is not the
poetical ornament of the language which charms
us, not the ingenious turn which surprises us,
not the rhetorical sweep which transports us,
not the speculative thought which excites our
admiration-nothing of all this. No one can
speak more plainly than Jesus speaks-think of
his Sermon on the Mount, or of his parables of
the kingdom of God, or even of the so-called
high-priestly prayer. Plainer words can not be
spoken. Jesus utters the greatest, highest
things in the simplest words, so that we might
almost think, as Pascal once observed, that he
himself could not be conscious of what truths
he utters, did he not, at the same time, utter
them with such clearness, certainty, and consciousness, that we see he knows well what he
says, while he speaks the loftiest things in the
plainest manner. We easily recognize the world
of eternal truth to be his home, in it his thoughts
constantly move.
He speaks of God and of his relation to him,
of the supernatural world of spirits, of the world
of the future and of the future life of man, of
the kingdom of God upon earth, its nature and
history, of the highest moral truths and of the
highest problems of man; in short, of all the
highest questions and themes of humanity so
simply and plainly, without any excitation of his
mind, without any prominence of his special
knowlecldge, or even that lingering detail with
which one is accustomed to set forth something
new, as if every thing were perfectly natural
and self-evident. The highest truths are nature
to him; he is not merely a teacher of truth, he
is himself the fountain of truth.
He carries truth in himself as his being; he
dares say, I amn the truth. This is the feeling
which we all have with his words; we hear the
voice of truth itself. For this reason they have
such power over the minds of men in all ages.
Not only are his words a manifestation of his
wonderful person-Jesus makes even his Person
/he central point of all his words. He is the
substance of his doctrine. He speaks of the
kingdom of God; but he is the bringer of this
kingdom and faith in him the door of entrance.
The possession of this kingdom is for each and
forever united to his person.
Indeed, he is the teacher of the highest morality. His doctrine is the purest and most
spiritual system of ethics. It was his great act
to have turned religion and morality from an
external conduct to an internal action of the
soul and heart; he made them to consist in an
inner relation and conduct of the heart toward
himself. His doctrine is to believe in him, and,
by virtue of such a faith, to love God. He
places himself in the center of all his preaching.
The largest portion of his words do this not
indirectly, but directly. He grounds every thing
upon his person. The cause hle represents, the
salvation he brings, the demands he makes, the
future he announces-every thing lies in his
person. "I am he "-this is his great word.
"If ye believe not that I am hle, ye shall die iii
your sins "-this is really a summing up of his
whole doctrine. It is a remarkable word. There
can be nothing more ma,gnificent, more self-conscious. None of the great teachers of humanity have ever ventured thus to speak. We
would allow no one to speak thus. Each one
has only emphasized the matter he brought, and
possibly only affirmied of this that it was the
truth. The significance of the person arose
only with the importance of the matter. Jesus
builds every thing upon his person, and his
matter consists in his person. Throughout he
throws the weight of his person into the balance. If he wishes to asseverate any thing most
emphatically and make it certain, he says, Verily,
verily I say unto you. Not for the sake of the
truth of the matter, hut on account of the authority of his person we are obliged to believe
his word. Because he says it, therefore is it
true. The authority of the matter rests upon
the authority of the person. Verily, verily I
say unto you. No man speaks thus. Only God
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