Spiritual Effluence [pp. 437-439]

SPIRITUAL EFFL UENCE.
I am a man; but, no one compares to that one,
Jesus Christ was more than a man." Thus it
must be. If he is really the Lord of the world
as he says, it is only because he belongs with
God as he teaches.
The historical person of Jesus Christ and his
word is a part. But this part remains an inex plicable mystery as long as we are not allowed
to solve it by means of his self-evidence of his
own divine sonship. If he is the Son of God
in that sense, then all is clear, and every thing
else is necessary. But what is the worth of all
other knowledge which we obtain, all knowledge
of the human mind and its history, of human
nature and its destiny, if we are obliged to let
the greatest part of the history of humanitywhlich affirms to be the solution of all mysteries,
and the salvation of our entire life-stand as
the most inexplicable of all? Even if we should
allow it thus to stand, we could not by this get
around it. Every-whlere it meets us. We must
place ourselves in a relation to it. There is no
other relation to him possible, without absolute
contradiction with himself, unless we regard
him as he is according to his own self-evidence,
the eternal Son of God, who himself is of divine
essence.
-This is the involuntary impression which we
all receive from his whole historical phenomenon. It is the confession of overpowering
feeling, when Thomas, overwhelmed by the appearance of the risen One, exclaims, ".My Lord
and my God." We have two institutions of
Jesus. He did not appear upon earth in order
to make external regulations for the religious
life. In the depth of the mind and heart, in
the internal state of the soul-life, he purposed
to lay the foundation of his kingdom which he
established, and which shall endure when heaven
and earth shall pass away.
He ordained and left only two institutionsthese are the two rites of the Church which we
call Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Their origin by Jesus himself stands without a
question. Both have something mysterious in
themselves, and both proclaim a mystery.
Baptism tells us who appeared in Jesus upon
earth; the Lord's Supper, why he appeared.
The mysteries of the Trinity and Atonement are
actually announced to us, and taught by these
two institutions of Jesus. These are the two
central truths of Christianity.
Jesus Christ is the end of the revelation of
God. In him God himself has become manifest. The contradictions of our existence are
here solved. These inner contrarieties are the
goad which will not let us rest.
Only in Jesus Christ these oppositions are
solved and we obtain rest. He is the unity of
these contrasts, of God and man, of holiness
and sin, of heaven and earth. He is the abso lute reconciliation. If we survey all spaces, we
find chiefly the God of power. If we survey
all ages, we find chiefly the God of justice. We
find the God of grace only in Jesus Christ.
The God of grace alone is the reconciliation of
the oppositions of the world and of our heart.
Christians of all times have found their peace
and joy in Jesus Christ. The whole life of the
entire Church is a confession of him. All its
actions, its whole religious service, its preaching, its prayers and songs, and its sacred festivals, are nothing but a testimony for Jesus and a
glorification of his name. As long as gratitude
shall be upon earth he will not be forgotten; so
long his name will live in the hearts and dwell
upon the lips of men. He who would take him
from men would tear the foundation-stone out
of the noblest structure of humanity. Let our
hearts beat toward him, and our knees bow
before him. And may the image of Jesus, as it
meets us in the Gospels, continue to hold its
mysterious power over the minds of men; and
may the Spirit which proceeds from him be the
bond which shall soon unite all hearts everywhere in faith and love to him, and thus become
the living bond of union among the nations of
the earth!
SPIRITUAL EFFLUENCE.
I BELIEVE in God, not in a Divinity who,
high above all human interests, sits upon a
great white throne merely to inhale quiescently
the incense which His true subjects offer;.or
hurl in petulance his flaming thunderbolts at
disobedient victims. But I believe in a God
who is always Immanuel-God with us-a
Heavenly Father really interested in all that
any way affects his poor, weak children. I believe in the Bible, too, accepting it as God's
written message to the world.
Yet from some inexplicable derangement in
my physical or spiritual life, there sometimes
comes to my heart a strange, uncomfortable
skepticism in reference to religious truth. God
sometimes seems to me as mythical as Jupiter
and Juno. The Bible becomes a bundle of
spurious poetry and exhortation, mixed up with
plenty of mythological stories. From some
such moments of doubt, I fear I might have
gone into a settled infidelity, had it not been for
the magnetic influence of some whose life, close
"'hid with Christ in God," has brought back to
me my spiritual faith, and made all Bible truth
seem real again.
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