| OCR Text |
Show OR. BEJ. YOUNG .WARILY RECEIVED New Pastor of tho First Methodist Church Is Greeted by Large Congregations, Rev. Benjamin Young, the ncwly-clccted ncwly-clccted pastor of the First -Methodist church, wan greeted by large audiences at both the morning and evening services ser-vices of his church yesterday. From the arter-romarkn and smiling countenances of all jirercnt, lt was evident that the new pastor had made a most pleasing Impression upon his new Hock. He la a ready speaker, a logical and sound thinker, and possesses a voice of exceptional excep-tional clearness and feejlng. At the morning services he took for his theme. "The Problem "of Jetms Chrl3t." Ills text waf, "What think ye of Christ?" His remarks on this subject sub-ject were In part as follows: "The ideal of Christianity challenges thought. Religion being what It is, this can scarcely bo . otherwise. The principles which are at the baste of the Christian system force themselves Into our thinking. Jesus Christ ls a sure fact in history, it Is scarcely necessary to fortify the statement as to the 'historicity' 'his-toricity' of the master, because few deny lt lt ,is supported by the hlsto-rlana hlsto-rlana and saiirkoln of Rome and by the statements of the early fathers of the church. Back of the Ideal Christ ls the living, real Christ. Rosseau, the brilliant bril-liant Frenchman. a predated the force of thly argument, for he once said that 'the goppel bears marks of truths fo great, to striking, so perfectly Inimitable that the Inventor of such would be more astonishing than the hero.' And John Stewart Mill confessed that In the same thought there was much that baffled baf-fled him. It Is easy lo solve the problem prob-lem of Shakespeare and Bacon when you remember the laws dominating literary lit-erary development. But you cannot account ac-count for Jesus Clyrlst ln the samo way as you account for literary genius, because be-cause he sprang out of the heart of a dying nation and from the remote province prov-ince of an empire, the most corrupt which the world haa perhaps seen. Then again, this sinless Ideal, and this conception con-ception of sinlesshess Is unique ln history. his-tory. It was not evolved out of contemporary con-temporary life. There ls nothing like It ln the philosophy of Greece. And ro this question can only be answered with the affirmation of the real loving Christ back of lt. "The foundations of our religion are not based upon myth nor Imposition nor ' upon imaginative enthusiasm. It Is preposterous to suppose that the whole superstructure of our religion Is thus' based. Thut Jesus Christ was pre-eminently sane Is revealed In his doctrine, his parables and his life. The parable of the prodigal son and the good- Samaritan Samari-tan and the talents are not the offspring of a disordered, nor a fanatical Imagination. Imagina-tion. "Jesus Christ was a complete, symmetrical, sym-metrical, universal man. He Is a man-type. man-type. The great men of the ages have been sectional men men gathering unto un-to themselves the forces of their own times. Such men were Mohammed and Socrates, and even Luther, the father of Protestant revelation. The last-named was a tremendous force, but he was' German In his .thinking and Saxon ln all his theology. But Jesus Christ is a typo of all and is an ideal man everywhere. every-where. "He was marvelous ln his work, great ln his doctrine. Incomparable In his instruction. in-struction. It was a tremendous toclal truth that he taught when he said- 'God was the Father of all men.' And the correlative truth of the brotherhood has been an efficient factor in modern progress. It is said that Phidias carved his own Image Into the shield of the statue of Minerva, so that to destroy the Image would mean to destroy the statue. Take the Christ Influence, the Christ doctrine out of our civilization and you would mar Its fabric and make it a prey for the despollcr. "Jesus Christ was marvelous In his love because he could reach out fo far and down so deep. It ls suggested by the anguish through which he passed at Gethsemane and Calvary reveals lt. Jesus Christ has an Incomparable Influence In-fluence among the scientists-' such as Calvin. Young the famous astronomer. Guillen the great evolutionist, Asa Gray, Drummond and scores of others. His influence ls second to none among the philosophers. Kant, the father of, modern philosophy, held himself to be a mere bungler, interpreting the Chrlf-t work as best he could. The great poet3 of the world have come to the Christ with their sinking robes about them. Dante. Goethe, Shakespeare, Browning, and our own great American poets, have acknowledged the mastership of the one Nazarene. The great artists have received re-ceived their inspirations from what Jesus Je-sus put Into ilfe. The frescoes and ceilings and canvases are so rich because be-cause the geniuses In are have burned with loyalty to their Lord. Surely the one who could Invent so much from the world's Intellect and draw s-o much upon the world's heart Is none othei than the divine Christ. In fact, it seems to me thai there ls but ono colutlon to the problem of Christ the afllrmation of the divine son-ship and the recognition recogni-tion of tho fact that he is tho sent-of-the-Father and the Redeemer of the race." |
