‘STAND FAST IN THE FAITH’

New Zealand Tablet, 16 January 1913, Page 3

‘STAND FAST IN THE FAITH’

(A Weekly Instruction specially written foe the N.Z. Tablet by ‘ Ghimel.') THE DIVINITY OF OUR LORD: CHRIST, GOD-MADE-MAN. ~ • -f:, ‘ ' • ___ If we wish ; to act aright, we must have correct ideas of the great spiritual realities that affect our life here and our destiny hereafter. Nor can we rest content with the knowledge of childhood. ‘ When' I was a child,’ writes St. Paul, ‘ I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away the things of a child (1 Cor. xiii., 11). The sea grows always greater. This, of course, is especially true in regard to Him Who is Himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life. ‘ Our idea of Him will not affect Himself or alter our fundamental relations with Him, but it will affect the whole moulding of our spiritual life, our whole character, our every thought, word and deed here, and our whole eternity hereafter.’ Hence, at the end of these articles on the Divinity of Christ, it may be well to see if our impressions of Him have in any way become distorted.

- In Jesus, we adore and love the Uncreated God'. St. John commences his description of our Lord’s life upon earth with this sublime assertion of His Godhead : ‘ In the beginning (that is, from eternity) was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning and all things were made by Him.’ Christ Himself came to bear witness to this saving truth. Thus, when Philip heard Him speak so winningly of the Father’s love, he exclaimed : ‘ Show us the Father and it is enough for us.’ The answer came: ‘Philip, he that seetH Me, seeth the Father also. ... ■Do you not believe that the Father is in Me and I So, too, He said: I and the Father are One.’ ‘ You believe in God (the Father), believe also in Me.’ Only the Power of His Godhead could sustain a Kingdom, wherein hearts without number have found their boundless longing for happiness satisfied by pouring out their depths of love at their Lord’s feet. The soul of man seeks for endless peace, love and joy: it finds all it desires in Christ, the Son of God. It adores Him as God, our Ultimate Aim and End; and with mighty courage it loves Him for His beauty and goodness. Jesus is God-made-Man. ‘ The grace of God hath appeared to all men, instructing us that . . . we should live soberly, and justly, and godly in this world’ (Titus ii., 11-12). The presence or example of a good man can inspire us to noble deeds, and God, Who knows what is in man, determined to draw men to Himself by ‘ the cords of Adam.’ And so the. Son of God became man, that He might entangle us in the attractive bonds of His love, and by the charm of His society, the lovableness of His character, and the goodness of His Heart, lead us to the Father.

‘ 0 world invisible, we view thee, 0 world intangible, we touch thee, O world unknowable, we know thee, Inapprehensible, we clutch thee!' - (Francis Thompson.) The Son of God, then, without of course ceasing to be God, became man. ‘This Human Nature, which the Word assumed, was like our own in all things, except sin or any of those incidental imperfections which mar human nature. It was, in fact, an absolutely perfect Humanity, possessing everything that can exalt and dignify human nature within its own proper limits. A Humanity perfect beyond our comprehension; enriched, moreover, with Divine Grace in a manner we are unable to conceivesuch was Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, Teacher, Model, and Redeemer of Mankind. His Body was admirably fashioned, perfect in manly beauty, free from all disease or tendency to disease, and strong with the just, medium of manhood’s strength. His senses, both interior and exterior, were

exquisite, capable of recording the most delicate im- • pressions. His Will such that neither fear nor allurement could divert it by a hair's breadth from the path of rectitude. His intellect prompt, keen, and capacious ■'l beyond comparison with any other created intellect, * penetrating the secrets of Nature, and acquiring knowledge, at every step with a rapidity and sureness such that before His life closed He had exhausted the entire circuit of the human knowable. Moreover, from the first endowed with infused science, which He could use at will, even where acquired knowledge failed for lack of subject matter. In other created works God reveals Himself to us by signs, symbols, and representations. In the Sacred Humanity God speaks to us face to face in the accents of human speech. He looks at us with human eyes, He performs the actions which we perform, suffers the sufferings which we also suffer. ... He has assumed a medium of expression which we can all understand. We realise what He is by the study of Him in His Human Nature better than we could possibly do in any other way Here in this world. . . . He has become our blood-relation, our brother. We can pour out our troubles to Him, confide to Him our . hopes and aspirations, tell Him about our most intimate affairs, expose to Him the strength and importunity of our temptations, talk to Him about the petty affairs that concern us. . . , and all the while we are perfectly sure that our God will understand us with a true human understanding, sympathise with us with a warm human sympathy. We can treat Him with a familiarity which grows as we grow in holiness, yet which loses none of its awful reverence (Northcote: God Made Man . no 25-27). 11 ’