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THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BV
DR. T CALVIN M’CLELLAND.
Theme: The Divinity of Christ.
Brooklyn, N. Y.—Dr. T. Calvin Mc-
Clelland, pastor of the Memorial Pres
byterian Church, Seventh avenue and
St. John’s place, preached Sunday
morning on “The Divinity of Christ:
One Way in Which a Man May Come
to Believe in It.” The text was John
1:14: “The word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His
glory, glory as of an only begotten
from a Father, full of grace and
truth.” Dr. McClelland said:
My theme is “The Divinity of
Christ: One Way in Which a Man
May Come to Believe in It.” What
do we mean by the divinity of Christ?
I would not be theological or meta
physical; this is a sermon for prac
tical men, for men who want to be
lieve in this fundamental truth of our
religion. Do we mean by calling
Jesus divine that He is God; that is,
all of God? We could not mean that,
for Jesus Himself said, “My Father is
greater than I.” Jesus stands for
God, speaks for God, acts for God,
His ideas are God’s, His feelings are
God’s so much so that Jesus and God
are one; we see nothing in Jesus but
God. For all practical purposes for
religion Jesus is God; for us He has
the spiritual value of God. He is God.
And vet in reality Jesus is not God;
though He can say in a very true
sense, “He that hath seen Me hath
seen the Father.” He also savs, “The
Father is greater than I.” Does not
the apostle exactly express it when he
writes, “The word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. and we beheld His
glory, ’ not the Father’s glory, mark
you. “but glory as of an only begotten
of the Father, full of,” not the Fath
er's omniprescence. omnipotence and
omniscience, but. full of the Fath
er’s “grace and truth.” And so,
though theologically Jesus is not all
of God, yet practically I know that
when I fall on my knees before Jesus
and say, “My Lord and my God,” I
am giving Him His true name.
Do we mean by calling Jesus divine
than He was something other than
man, a foreigner from some alien life
to the country of human nature?
Were we tempted to think that, the
sight of Him praying with plain men,
“Our Father,” would bring us to our
senses. We cannot think of Jesus
as unhuman when we hear Him sav to
plain men, “Follow Me,” which
means, “You can do what I do, you
can be what I am.” Would you trans
late the term “a human being” into
'Jesus’ language, you could find no
better term than His favorite name
for Himself, “Son of Man.” In so
calling Himself Jesus meant that we
should know that He was blood of our
blood, spirit of our snirit. He was
like us not in middle life only, but in
Infancy, in death and after death.
Jesus’ divinity makes Him not differ
ent in kind, only different in degree;
He is man, but more man than we.
The likeness of Jesus to us is patent,
but it is the difference we need to
realize; the likness without the differ
ence were meaningless and useless.
If He were just man, what gain? The
world is full of men. It is His differ
ence from us that counts. It is the
difference from us which makes it im
possible for us to call Him Jesus thd
Great, which makes Him Jesus the
Only. Charles Lamb once said, “If
Shakespeare was to come into this
room, we should all rise up to mefet
him; but if that Person was to come
Into it, we should fall down and try
to kiss the hem of His garment.” It
Is the difference between Jesus and
us which makes us feel unworthy to
put our lips to the fringe of His
cloak. It is the difference which
makes us call Jesus divine in a way
in which we can use the word in ref
erence to no one else.
And now what is that difference,
what is this divinity of Jesus? Just
this, that whatever Jesus said or did,
He left on men the impression of
God; like a telescope at or through
which we cannot look without think
ing of the heavens, Jesus always
brought God near. Always in Jesus’
presence there is this unavoidable
feeling of God. When He spoke, con
fidence heard in His voice the tones
of its infinite author; when He looked
at one, the soul felt its eternal judge
eearching its innermost secrets; when
He acted, one knew that it was as the
great God would act; when He died,
men felt that they had seen all of
God that human hearts could appre
hend; henceforth they knew that
there was nothing in God a human
mind could grasp but Christ. For all
purposes of living Jesus is all we
know of God; in Him the soul meets
God, God meets the soul.
Now how can a man come to believe
that? Believe not that Jesus is the
Absolute God, breaking for the first
time into a world from which up to
this time He had existed apart in the
inscrutable solitudes of infinity; be
lieve not that Jesus is some unhuman
wedge driven into natural human
life; but believe that in Jesus the un
seen God looks out upon us, the
moral character of the Deity becomes
flesh, and in that flesh is seen to be
grace and truth.
How can a man believe that? You
•will not think as I point out this way
that it is the only way in which one
can come to believe that Jesus is the
image of the invisible God; I give it
tc you as only one practical way in
built as I am may come to
kneel at the manger and say: “Here
Was born my Lord and my God.”
First, then, the man.who would be
lieve in the divinity of our Lord will
bring his reason to the study of the
Gospel. He will want to know if the
record is the story of a real life.
Here, as I have intimated, reason is
satisfied. Tested by the laws of evi
dence the Gospels are known to be a
genuine record, and the facts they
account for are the best attested facts
in He can begin immedi
ately with the Christ Himself. Put
ting the sayings and doings together,
we get some idea of Jesus’ character.
And the first thing that strikes you is
His absolute stainlessness; He did no
sin; the narrative does not say this—
it goes without the saying; His life
was lived in the open, but the spoiling
world left no spot on Him; He spent
His time among the moral lepers, but
no contagion fastened on Him; broth
erhood with the sinfullest He claimed
except in this, their sense of guilt;
He, in the presence of whom others
cried, "Depart from me, for I am
guilty,” had no confession for Him
self. Saints among men tell how they
toil through repentance into sanctity;
but here is One who looked into the
face of the Almighty with no remorse
under the shadow of that end where
men most feel a shrinking from an in
evitable sifting. He spake. “I have
finished the work Thou gavest Me to
do.” case is without parallel.
This sinlessness separates Him not
only from the sinner, but also from
the saint; He stands alone.
But you have seen the least when
you have found out He did no wrong;
He always did the right. Every word
and act outruns conscience; He made
a new character. The first element
was humility’; the word was not new
in His time, the Greeks had an equiv
alent for it meaning “coward; ” Jesus
made the base-born word the key
word of Christian character. If ever
there was a world-lord it was He, and
yet He was among men as one that
serveth. And since then service has
been reckoned the crowning grace of
character, and men have stretched
out their lame hands to seize and
wear it. Another element of Jesus’
character was love; this, too, He cre
ated; not that none had loved till
Jesus came, but none had loved all
the time, under all circumstances, all
men. With Jesus love was laying
down one’s life in the way God gives
the sun and rain, without stint, with
out partiality, for good and bad. This
was a new idea, and since Jesus lived
His idea has been the standard meas
ure of love; anything less than that
which measures up to a cross is not
love.
Another element in Jesus’ charac
ter was forgiveness. This virtue v r as
not unknown: but they w r ho practiced
it aforetime did it under no sense of
necessity. It was a work of superero
gation. A man was not bound to for
give; did he, he had a lien on the
gods. Jesus said a man was bound
to forgive, only so could he know
God; and there rises before us the
vision of One whose countenance was
marred more than any man’s, who
was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
and while they butchered Him, He
prayed, “Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do.” In this
sort of character you have something
that stands by itself. No other char
acter is the match for it. The man
•who wears it is in a class by Himself.
What shall we do with this Jesus?
With Alexander the Great and Na
poleon the Great, with Shakespeare
and Michael Angelo; somehow’ our
sense of fitness rebels; we cannot
bring ourselves to call Him Jesus the
Great; He is simply Jesus. Where
did He come from? Somehow we
find ourselves looking past Joseph,
over Mary’s head, into the heavens.
Ordinary fatherhood and motherhood
never before or since brought forth
this kind of life; here is a glory, not
like Alexander’s, or Napoleon’s, or
Shakespeare’s, or Michael Angelo’s, it
is not like the glory of all these rolled
into one, it is another kind of glory, a
still greater glory; it is a glory as of
an only begotten of the divine; that
fits the case; He is the Son of God.
But we must go on, we are carried
farther. It is like this: Here is an
organ. Someone tells me that there
is in this chest w’onderful harmonies.
I go'up to it. I examine its mechan
ism. I see that it is ari®brgan; I read
the name-plate on the console and get
this guarantee of its possibilities. [
go inside the case and look into the
great tubes and horns of wood and
metal and I agree that it is good for
all that is claimed for it. There may
be unguessed harmonies in this -mass
of mechanism; there may be voices of
thunder, moanings like those of the
great deep, melodies like those birds
sing at twilight. I allow that there
may be all these things in this organ.
But, suddenly some one touches the
keys, and the great thing springs into
life; it sings itself and me away. I
hear in it the voices of the wind, the
murmurings of the little rivers, the
distant calls of the gathering clouds, i
The great chords run together, they
rise and fall in waves of melody, they I
tremble away into whisperings of
peace. The music has found me; the
organ has touched my feelings; I
know beyond the remotest shadow of
doubt that this chest of pipes is what
it claims to be.
You, too, have been using your
eyes, your reason is the eye of your
soul, but your soul has an ear, and
while you were watching Jesus, study
ing Him to find out if indeed He is
divine, did your ear hear nothing,
were there no voices from that Life
which caught your spirit and led it
to lean our. of the w’indow enraptured
with sounds that were heavenly, songs
immortal? What do I mean? That
the divinity of Jesus is more than a
fact for the intellect, it is a force for
the conscience. Study Jesus and you
find Him studying you: read the Gos
pels, and you discover that your soul
is being read. Other men speak and
you are interested. Jesus speaks and
conscience takes notice. The great
among men make you think of things.
Cromwell makes you think of power,
Raphael of beautiful lights, Mendels
sohn of beautiful sounds and pauses,
but Jesus —the very name is a chal- j
lenge. Are you your better self or
your worse self? You cannot get |
uv.ay from the challenge; a Life has
clinched with you.
The eye sees the organ and allows
It is fit to make music; the ear hears
the music and allows that it is an
organ. The reason appraises the Man
of the Gospel and says, “If this Man
were not of God He could do noth
ing;” the spirit kneels and whispers,
“My Lord and my God.” The total
manhood agrees. “The word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us and
we beheld His glory; glory as of an
only begotten of a Father, full of
grace and iruth.” After all, brothers,
we do all believe in the divinity of
Christ, do we not? It is not that we
all have the same words with which
o describe it; there are still creeds
and creeds; but as under the fugue
on the organ’s flutes there throbs the
undertone of the sixteen foot pedal
diapason, so beneath the detail of
Unitarian and Trinitarian, underton
ing the intricacies of new theology
and old theology, throbs for the ear
that will listen for it, the deep con
senting faith in the divine Christ.
"God was in Christ.”
YOAKUM’S VIEWS
On Status of Railway Interests as Affected
by Recent Legislation-Agitators
Should be Relegated.
Traffic officers of 13 railroads were
guests of the St. Louis Traffic Club
Wednesday' night at a banquet of 200
covers. The principal address was
delivered by B. Y. Yoakum, chairman
fo the executive committee of the Rock
Island system. Mr. Yoakum said, in
part:
“There lias never been a time in
the history of our country when the
masses so w r ell understood the rela
tions of the railroads to the public or
so fully realized the difficulties and
hardships to which the railroads are
subjected. This is the natural out
come of the conditions of today, which
are calling for a more careful study
of the railroad situation than ever be
fore. The railroads handle the com
merce and commodities of the nation;
and, therefore, every man, woman and
child has an interest in this question.
The subject, however, is so broad and
comprehensive that it is not possible
for me in the limited time at my dis
posal to discuss it except in a general
way'.
“All the states and territories in the
union, barring the New England states,
need more railroads.
“The study of this problem is an in
teresting one for the American people.
It is so great in possibilities as to be
Incomprehensible until viewed from the
broad standpont of the future.
“The situation of today is a peculiar
one; in many ways a serious one, and
one that every thoughtful citizen must
give due consideration, as the country
is passing through an unusual siege
of agitation and uncertainty.
“Some of the most thoughtful men
of our country, the heads of many of
the great financial institutions c£/Tor
eign countries, and the able editorial
writers of our press, have described
the various causes that contributed to
and brought about the business diffi
culties we are now facing, and the
public is becoming well informed upon
the subject. The consensus of opinion
is that the trouble has been precipitat
ed largely by too hasty enactment of
laws, resulting in the discontinuance
of railroad construction, the suspension
of Industrial actiivty, factory develop
ment and a curtailment of markets for
•the farm products. But we should have
reached a point where we should cease
looking for the cause and give atten
tion to a remedy, and this remedy
must come through the co-operation
and action of the thoughtful citizens
of the country supported by the en
dorsement and encouragement of the
press.”
MORSE SETTLES INDEBTEDNESS
Alleged Bankrupt Steamship Promoter
Surprises His Creditors.
That Charles W. Morse, the former
banker and steamship promoter of
New York, is able to pay every dollar
of his indebtedness resulting from the
collapse of his business ventures in
the October panic, was a statement
made by his counsel, Anson McCook
Beard. Mr. Beard said Morse’s plans
to settle all claims as rapidly as pos
sible. He declared that when all in
debtedness is settled Mr. Morse will
have a substantial fortune of at least
$2,000,000 left.
HORSEMAN M’CREARY IS PLACATED
Congressman Heflin Pays His Hospital Ex
penses and Adds $2,500 in Cash.
Representative Heflin of Alabama
has affected a settlement with Thos.
McCreary, the New York horseman ac
cidentally shot while Heflin was shoot
ing at a negro on a Washington street
car. He is said to have paid all the
hospital bills and made cash payment
in a sum said to be $2,500. McCreary’s
counsel said he had not intended to
bring any action.
The
cxinbcui-Scftoof
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM
MENTS FOR MAY 10.
Subject: The Mission of the Holy
Spirit, John 15:2(5 and 10:24
Golden Text, John 14:10—Com
mit Verse 13—Commentary.
TlME.—Late Tuesday night or
early Wednesday morning. April 4th
or sth, A. D. 30. PLACE.—Near
Jerusalem. v
EXPOSITION.—I. Jesus Going,
the Comforter Coming, 4-7. The dis
ciples were filled with sorrow at the
announcement, of the departure of
Jesus. The story of the world’s hate
still goes on (cf. vs. 1-3). The world,
Jesus says, will excommunicate and
kill the one who is true to Him. How
true this prophecy has proven to be In
actual history, but Jesus prepared His
disciples for the fiery trial by fore
warning them of It, and He would
prepare us for the persecutions we
must surely meet, if we are loyal to
Him, by forewarning us of them (2
Tim. 3-12). The disciples were filled
with sorrow, so full were they that
they did not even stop to ask,
"Whither goest Thou?” If we would
only ask that question concerning our
departing friends, and get God’s an
swer to the question, sorrow would
no longer fill our hearts (cf. Phil.
1:23). Jesus did not tell them of
coming trial while He was with them,
but now that He was to be no longer
with them in person, they needed to
be forewarned in order that they
might be forearmed.
ll. —When the Comforter is Come,
7-15. Their sorrow over the de
parture of Jesus was altogether need
less. It was profitable for them for
Jesus to go, for another Divine Friend
was coming to take His place, a
Friend who could he much nearer and
more constantly nearer to them than
Jesus could be during the days of His
flesh. How clearly the personality of
the Holy Spirit comes out in all this.
Can we conceive of Jesus saying it
was profitable for Him to go, if the
One who was to come and take His
place was not a Person but only an
impersonal influence or power? The
word translated “Comforter” means
that and far more. It Is the same
word that is translated “advocate” in
1 John 2:1. But advocate does not
give its full force. It means one
called to stand beside another, as con
stant helper, counselor, guide, friend.
Jesus, up to this time, had been a
friend constantly at hand but He was
going and another Divine Friend was
coming who would not only be with
them, but dwell in them (ch. 14:16,
17). A Christian need never be lone
ly if he would only bear in mind that
fact, that in him dwells the best of
all companions, the Paraclete, the
Holy Spirit. The Comforter has come.
His first work is to show the world its
error about sin, to show that the
great, decisive, daipning sin is not to
believe in the Son of God (cf. Acts
2:36, 37; John 3:18, 19), and that
they are guilty of this sin. It is not
our work to try to convince the world
of sin. If we tried to do it, we should
fail; but there is one who can do it
if we look to Him, the Holy Spirit,
but He does it through us. Jesus
says, “I will send Him unto you” (v.
7), “and when He is come (unto
you), He will convict the world.” As
far as the Scriptures reveal, the Holy
Spirit has no channel through which
He can get at the world except
through those who are already saved.
Are you an unobstructed channel?
How many there are in our homes
and our classes that the Holy Spirit
is trying to get at, and He is trying
to get the use of our lips, but we will
not place them at His disposal. Or,
if we do place them at His disposal,
our own lives are not surrendered
fully to Him and so He cannot work
through us. He shows the world, too,
its error about righteousness. He
shows to the world by the resurrec
tion and ascension of Jesus, that
Jesus is the righteous One and the
only righteousness possible to us is in
Him (cf. Phil. 3:9, R. V.). There
are two things that a man needs to
see in order to be saved—first, him
self, that he is a sinner; second,
Jesus, His righteousness, and the
righteousness of Go(l provided for us
in Him. It is the work of the Holy
Spirit to show these two things to
man. He also shows the world its
error about judgment, i. e., that there
is to be a judgment for it, inasmuch
as its prince is judged already. But
the Holy Spirit would do another
work, guide the disciples into all the
truth. The disciples were not yet
ripe for all the truth, and Jesus is an
infinitely wise Teacher, and gave
them the truth as they were prepared
to receive it. It would be well if
modern teachers would learn from
Jesus to adapt their teaching to the
digestion of the hearers. But the
time would come when they should
be led into all the fullness of God’s
truth. This promise was made pri
marily to the apostles. It is Jesus’
own guarantee of the inspiration and
truth and completeness of their teach
ing. But this promise cannot be lim
ited to the apostles, for John himself
applies it to all believers (I John
2:27). It is the privilege of each be
liever to be directly taught of the
Spirit, and we will not understand the
truth until we are thus taught. No
amount of reading of good books, or
of the mere letter of the Word, will
give us to know the truth the Spirit
Himself must teach us. Of course,
He will not teach anything.contrary
to the Book of which He Himself ig
the Author, but He will be the inter
preter of the Book
FOR THE FERN.
If you have a fern that does not
grow fast enough try putting the pot
in hot water—not boiling, but too
hot to bear the hand. This is espe
cially good for the large Boston fern
or ferns that have been transplanted
from the woods.—New Haven Reg*
ister.
ROSES ARE SENSITIVE.
Roses are among the most sensitive
of house plants and seem to do their
best for certain people who thorough
ly understand them. Roses having
numerous enemies In bugs and in
sects need careful watching and tend
ing. They are hard to kill, but fre
quently grow in ungainly and awk
ward shapes and have few flowers.— *
Epitomist.
MULCH IS USEFUL.
A mulch in the spring is useful
for several reasons. It keeps the
ground from drying out and baking
in the surface, which results in harm
to the young and tender root sys
tem. A more equable temperature
is secured. This is a point which
does not receive as much attention
as it should. A warm sun will raise
the temperature of the hare grouni
several degrees during the day, only
to be cooled off at night. Such
changes are not good for tender
plants. A straw mulch will also
lt a ep down weeds. —Weekly Witness.
FERTILITY OF WOOD ASHES.
All farmers know that wood ashes
are valuable as fertilizers. But that
value, as many know, is due very
much to the material from which the
ashes come. Thus, ashes*made from
hard wood are more valuable thhn
those from soft wood. In fact, some
ashes from soft wood have not
enough value to make It worth while
to bother with them. It has also
been found that the value is largely
governed by the part of the tree from
which the ashes are made. It is
declared by chemists that the ashes
of young twigs is of more value than
the ash of the trunk of the tree, while
the ash of the leaves is still more
valuable. —Agricultural Epitomist.
THE MAKING OF GARDEN WALLS
Even in a small garden, the laying
out of the walks is a delightful task.
It cuts the inclosure even more
tellingly than the laying down of
rugs within doors; it divides sweets
that may be neighbors from sweets
that may not; the introduction of
little threads of paths will harmo
nize vagrant colors as can no other
device. And this is a plea for walks
of grass. It is true that gravel
walks give a sense of neatness and
trimness; it is true that the strip of
cool white gravel is an institution
as honorable as the stars; but if you
have ever been in an old-fashioned
garden and stepped along between
sweet-smelling wildernesses, with,
wide walks of thick grass between
the beds, then you know that the
gravel walk is useful for nursery
men, but charming for nobody.
Particularly in naturalistic garden
ing—as if gardening can ever be any
thing else —grass walks are indis
pensable. And why not let the lawn
extend to the border beds? Of
course, narrow gravel strips may
edge the border beds when they do
not mar the general effect of the
lawn, but especially in small gar
dens these should be omitted. Do
you not remember the old pictures
of the castle gardens where prin
cesses walk all day?—From “How
to Make a Garden,” by Zona Gaie,
in the Outing Magazine.
AN ORCHARD SAW HORSE.
To be used for cutting limbs in
the orchard that are too large to chop
and too small to lay still on blocking.
Leave all the limbs possible on the
stick to be sawed*, and trim them off
as you get to them when sawing as
the limbs help in holding it stable.
Here is the saw horse. It should be
made high enough so as to raise the
sticks eitghleen inches or a little
A
more from the ground. This is made
of two by six mortised where they
cross and fastened with- a bolt count
er-sunk so the saw teeth cannot
strike it and thereby dull the saw.
All it is, is one end of an ordinary
saw-horse. The branches and twigs
on the stick and heft of same hold
the horse upright. I would not go
in the woods without? one.—W, IL
Kauke, in The Epitomist.
