perfect man. True, there had been many great and good men; they had written excellent maxims; but on all their characters there was some stain or impurity. The world had not seen a MAN! The life of Jesus exhibited a moral greatness and beauty, such as the world never saw before. A moral life is disclosed which stands alone and unapproached in its wholeness and symmetry. He was the first being that ever carried out every virtue to the highest point, and the only one who has not been overcome by the Tempter! Wealth, fame, and honor, all came to pay him homage; but to all he said, 'Satan, get thee behind me.' At last he expired on Calvary, and prayed for his enemies. And at that hour his character received the last touch from the hand of Divinity, and he stood before the world as a perfect man! II. Jesus was Wonderful on account of the seeming contrarieties and diverse excellences that met in his character. He was born in a manger, yet destined to be the conqueror of the world; a King, yet no regal splendor and retinue attended him; with no advantages beyond those of his own rank in society, yet he manifested perfect wisdom and goodness; in him was the purity of infancy with the full development of maturity; he possessed all power in heaven and in earth, and yet was 'led as a lamb to the slaughter;' Lord of all, and yet a man! He was clothed with the attributes of Deity, and 'yet bore our griefs and carried our sorrows;' he was a Lamb, and yet a Lion. A writer, speaking of these strange contrasts, says, 'Against a crown of thorns; against the other ensigns of mock royalty; against the insults and the anguish which he endured on Calvary, we set the rending tombs, the darkened sun, the portentous division of the veil of the temple, and especially his own opening sepulchre and endless life, and we ask whether the title Wonderful be not eminently appropriate?' เ III. Jesus was Wonderful on account of the originality of his character. The originality of the character of Jesus appears in the apparent unsuitableness of the means which he employed as the founder of a new kingdom. The empire of Jesus,' says one, 'was intended to be the great anomaly of the world, and its founder designed that its distinctive character should be seen in the anomalous means employed to erect it. "My kingdom," said he, "is not of this world;" and forthwith he proceeded to illustrate the truth by laying its foundation in his own death, by erecting a cross for its centre and glory.' Let us pause a moment and contemplate him who bears so appropriately the title of Wonderful. I see him walking the streets of Jerusalem, a poor, despised Nazarene; surrounded by wealth, yet 'not where to lay his head;' without arms, without wealth, without fame, without eloquence; with every throne arrayed against him, and every earthly power opposed to him. In the midst of all this he proposes to found a kingdom, which, in its progress, will overturn every other upon the face of the whole earth; one that shall combine within itself the interests of a world. In fine, he contemplates a period when he shall subdue all things, and sit down upon his throne as King of kings and Lord of lords! To accomplish this, he seeks not the aid of human power or human eloquence; he solicits the influence of no monarch, no philosopher. No. He does what no teacher ever did before. He turns from the schools, and walks by the sea of Galilee. He sees a few fishermen mending their nets, and he saith unto them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.' A few fishermen to reform the world! Men of obscure birth; destitute of learning; without eloquence; without power; without influence. How chimerical! What a foundation for a new kingdom; a kingdom that is to rise above all others, to exceed all others, and to last when all others shall have forever passed away! What apparent madness! What apparent folly! A few fishermen to go out and meet the philosophy and learning of a world; to establish new laws; to overturn every idolatrous temple on earth; to subdue kingdoms; in short, to effect an entire revolution in all the thoughts and feelings of every moral being upon the globe! How improbable! Yet such were the means employed by him who bears the name of Wonderful! And how appropriate the name! What a different course would earthly wisdom have pursued! Such a character must have been formed in heaven. There is nothing earthly in it! It bears the impress of a God! No wonder that a voice was heard when he was on earth, saying, 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.' But we must stop. There is no end to the glories and beauties that dwell in the character of Jesus. 'Like the sunbeam which remains uncontaminated whatever the object on which it may shine, the Saviour emerged from this region of guilt, and reentered the portals of heaven as pure and unspotted as when he left the bosom of the Father.' We close with the following magnificent passage from Jean Paul Richter's 'Dawnings for Germany.' 'An individual once trod the earth who swayed remote ages, and founded an eternity of his own; gently blooming and pliant as a sunflower, burning and drawing as the sun, he even with his mild aspect moved himself and nations, and centuries together towards the universal and primeval Sun!' "When all these WONDROUS NAMES I view, Like diadems of light, That charm the ravished sight, Ah! no: far more than seraphs see, And more than verse can sing. |