74. Christ Was Divine
Christ Was Divine THE TRUE GOD.—Two gentlemen were discussing the divinity of Christ, when one of them affirmed that, if it were so, it should have been more explicitly stated in the Bible. The other said, “How would you express it?” He replied, “I would say that Jesus Christ is the true God.” The other answered, “You are happy in the choice of your words; and they are the very words of inspiration. John, speaking of Christ, says, ‘This is the true God and eternal life.’“
BEVERIDGE’S TESTIMONY.—When dying, Bishop Beveridge failed to recognize his wife and children. Then some one asked: “Do you remember Jesus Christ?” That name seemed to recall the spirit, hovering for a moment, ere it took wing to Heaven. Touched as by an electric influence, and, with a smile in which the soul took its flight to glory, he replied, “Remember Jesus Christ! dear Jesus Christ! He is all my salvation and all my desire.” MY LORD AND MY GOD.—The fourteenth chapter of John’s Gospel was pointed out to a physician who held Unitarian sentiments, with the request that he would read it through, first according to his own views, and then, divesting himself of prejudice, read it again as one would who believed in the divinity of the Saviour, and see with which view it best accorded. The physician rose up as he concluded his second reading of the chapter, saying with Thomas, “My Lord and my God.”
WEBSTER’S ANSWER.—A gentleman, passing a church with Daniel Webster, asked him, “How can you reconcile the doctrine of the Trinity with reason?” The statesman replied by asking, “Do you understand the arithmetic of Heaven?”
THREE LIGHTS.—The light of the sun, the light of the moon, and the light of the air, in nature and substance, are one and the same light; and yet they are three distinct lights; the light of the sun being of itself, and from none; the light of the moon from the sun; and the light of the air from them both. So the divine nature is one, and the persons three.
JULIAN’S ADMISSION.—In the days of his prosperity he (Julian the Apostate) is said to have pointed his dagger to Heaven, defying the Son of God, whom he commonly called the Galilean. But when he was wounded in battle, he saw that all was over with him, and he gathered up some of his clotted blood, and threw it into the air, exclaiming, “Thou has conquered, O thou Galilean!”
BETTER THAN THAT.—A man over ninety years of age was asked by his pastor: “My dear aged friend, do you love Jesus?” His deeply furrowed face was lit up with a smile that sixty-seven years of discipleship had imparted, and said: “Oh! I can tell you something better than that.” “What is that?” “Oh’ sir! He loves me.”
MEN DIE, HE LIVES.—Luther was once found, at a moment of peril and fear, when he had need to grasp unseen strength, sitting in an abstracted mood, tracing on the table with his fingers the words: “He lives! He lives!” It is our hope for ourselves, and for His truth and for mankind. Men come and go; leaders, teachers, thinkers, speak and work for a season, and then fall silent. He abides. They die, but He lives. They are lights kindled, and therefore sooner or later quenched; but He is the true light from which they draw all their brightness, and He shines for evermore.