The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, July 1884, No. 10 — John Shaqi
The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, July 1884, No. 10Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, July 1884, No. 10
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
The works of Christ are, if possible, a still brighter illustration of
the same truth. Notwithstanding the vast stretch and compass of the work
of redemption, it is a work of the most humble detail in its style of
execution. The Savior could have preached a sermon on the mount every
morning. Each night he could have stilled the sea, before his astonished
disciples, and shown the conscious waves lulling into peace under his
feet. He could have transfigured himself before Pilate and the astonished
multitudes of the temple. He could have made visible ascensions in the
noon of every day, and revealed his form standing in the sun, like the
angel of the apocalypse. But this was not his mind. The incidents of
which his work is principally made up, are, humanly speaking, very humble
and unpretending. The most faithful pastor in the world was never able,
in any degree, to approach the Savior, in the lowliness of his manner and
his attention to humble things. His teachings were in retired places,
and his illustrations drawn from ordinary affairs. If the finger of faith
touched him in the crowd, he knew the touch and distinguished also the
faith. He reproved the ambitious housewifery of an humble woman. After
he had healed a poor being, blind from his birth—a work transcending
all but divine power—he returned and sought him out, as the most humble
Sabbath-school teacher might have done; and when he had found him, cast
out and persecuted by men, he taught him privately the highest secrets
of his Messiahship. When the world around hung darkened in sympathy with
his cross, and the earth was shaking with inward amazement, he himself
was remembering his mother, and discharging the filial cares of a good
son. And when he burst the bars of death, its first and final conqueror,
he folded the linen clothes and the napkin, and laid them in order apart,
showing that in the greatest things he had a set purpose also concerning
the smallest. And thus, when perfectly scanned, the work of Christ’s
redemption, like the material universe, is seen to be a vast orb of
glory, wrought up out of finished particles.—_Horace Bushnell._
[_July 27._]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account