the sun of the moral universe; it is the question of every man who instinctively yearns after him as the object of his noblest and purest aspirations; it is a question of personal salvation, which can only be obtained in the blessed name of Jesus. The whole fabric of Christianity stands or falls with its divine-human Founder; and if it can never perish, it is because Christ lives the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. The object of this book is to show, in a popular style, that the Person of Christ is the great central miracle of history, and the strongest evidence of Christianity. The very perfection of his humanity is a proof of his Divinity. The indwelling of God in him is the only satisfactory explanation of his amazing character. From his miraculous Person his miraculous works follow as an inevitable consequence. Being a miracle himself, he must perform miracles with the same ease with which ordinary men do their ordinary works. "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works' sake" (John 14: 11; comp. 10: 38). We believe in Christ, and therefore we believe his works, and the Bible, which bear witness to him. Standing on this rock, we may feel safe against the attacks of infidelity. The Person of Christ is to me the surest as well as the most sacred of all facts; as certain as my own personal existence; yea, even more so: for Christ lives in me, and he is the only valuable part of my existence. I am nothing without my Saviour; I am all with him, and would not exchange him for the whole world. To give up faith in Christ is to give up faith in humanity; to believe in him is to believe in the redemption and final glorification of men; and this faith is the best inspiration to a holy and useful life for the good of our race and the glory of God. This modest little book has been before the public for twenty years in several editions and in five or six languages. As it is still in demand, the author has given it a final revision, and brought it up to the present state of the christological problem, which is of universal and perennial interest, and calls for ever-progressing inquiry and solution. P. S. NEW YORK, 1880. |