By A.T. Pierson, D. D.
THE exiled Emperor, while in banishment at St. Helena, was conversing with General Bertrand, who contended that Jesus was simply a man of great genius and power to command, and thus voiced his wonder and admiration of the Saviour:
“I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man! Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and every other religion the distance of infinity. We can say to the authors of every other religion, ‘You are neither gods, nor the agents of the Deity. You are but the missionaries of falsehood, moulded from the same clay with the rest of mortals. You are made with all the passions and vices inseparable from them. Your temples and your priests proclaim your origin!’ Paganism was never accepted as truth by the wise men of Greece, neither by Socrates, Pythagoras, Plato, Anaxagoras, or Pericles. Paganism is the work of man. One can here read but our imbecility. What do these gods, so boastful, know more than other mortals — these legislators, these priests? Absolutely nothing!”
When we study the marvelous history of those thirty-three years, we stand in the presence of the most significant period of all history, folding in its bosom the most precious facts ever cherished in the heart of man. The existence of Jesus Christ is the pivot upon which turn the history and destiny of the world. This one Man, born in poverty and bred in obscurity; without rank, wealth, culture, or fame; Who could call no spot home, and no great man His friend; Who was hated by the influential men of Church and State, and died as a criminal by their united verdict; even His tomb was the loan of charity, to save His Body from being flung over the walls to the accursed fires of Topheth― this one Man sways the world! We date our very letters and papers, not “Anna Mundi” — the year of the world — but “Anna Domini,” the year of OUR LORD. The man who, from his dark chamber of doubt and disbelief, sends out his assaults upon Jesus of Nazareth, still dates his pen’s production “Anno Domini”— unwillingly bowing to Christ’s Lordship, even of the world’s calendar! Even creation is forgotten, as the epoch from which all is to be reckoned, since that Babe was born in Bethlehem of Judea, as though all history had a new birth.
Kings are anointed in His Name. Millions of believers offer to Him their penitence for sin, the frankincense of their prayers and praise, the gold of their costliest offerings of gratitude and service; and even the profane swearer rounds his oaths with the precious Name of Jesus, while no other name is spoken with such reverence by the pure and good!
“What shall I do then with Jesus? However I may account for His existence, or explain His character and career; whatever I may think of His being born of a virgin and begotten of the Holy Ghost — whatever I think of His words and works, as Divine or human, He is the miracle of history! Science and philosophy vainly try to account for Him or interpret Him.”
He stands absolutely alone in history; in teaching, in example, in character, an exception, a marvel, and He is Himself the evidence of Christianity. As Bishop Clark says: “He authenticates Himself. The most natural solution of His life is the supernatural. The truths which He uttered were not truths which He had learned. He was the truth!”
It is therefore no marvel that the Word of God is full of this wonderful Personage.
In the British navy yards, all the cordage, from the huge hawser down to finest strands, has spun into it either a blue or scarlet thread; you cannot cut an inch off without finding it marked. So everywhere, woven into and through the Word you may find the Divine thread — and beginning anywhere, preach the blessed Christ.
One of the most sublime facts in connection with this wondrous Person of Christ is the strange hold He has upon millions of believers at this remote age. After nineteen centuries have passed, a large proportion of the human race, the most intelligent and the most lovely, can say of Christ with Paul, “Whom having not seen we love.” Everything, connected with His personal life on earth has perished. We can only guess at the spot where He was born, the place where He lived, the site of the cross and the tomb; and yet, millions are living for Him, and would die for Him. They believe that in their hearts. “Now that I am at St. Helena, alone, chained upon this rock, who fights and wins empires for me? ‘What an abyss between my deep misery and the ETERNAL. REIGN OF CHRIST, Who is proclaimed, loved, adored, and Whose reign is extending over all the earth!”
And so it is. A public life of three-and-a-half years, ending with a death of shame at thirty-three; yet today swaying a world’s history and destiny. Yet there is no middle ground. You must curse Him as a wretch, or you must crown Him as the King. If you claim to hold neutral ground and cast no vote, remember He has said: “He that is not with Me is against Me.” If He be a gigantic deceiver, you cannot be guiltless, unless you do all you can to meet gigantic imposture with gigantic resistance; you are bound, therefore, to be a pronounced foe. If He is the King, your only Saviour, your final Judge, your guilt is awful and your exposure terrible, if you simply withhold yourself from His service, or above all, lend aid or comfort to His foes! You are, by obligations of the highest sort, bound to be a pronounced friend, and to do your best and utmost to lead others to see and confess His beauty, until His unseen Presence inspires their faith, hope, love, life; and with this unseen Saviour they hold daily communion. They go through the valley of tears, leaning on His Arm; and they fear not the shadow of death, cheered by His smile.
This fact is absolutely without a parallel, and it impressed the great Napoleon more deeply than anything else about this mysterious Person. He looked back through the centuries and saw the blood of Christian martyrs flowing in torrents, while they kissed the hand that, in slaying them, opened the door to Him. “You speak,” said he, “of Caesar, Alexander; of their conquests; of the enthusiasm they enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers; but can you conceive of a dead man making conquests with an army faithful and entirely devoted to His memory? My army has forgotten me while living. Alexander, Cesar, Charlemagne, and myself, have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force! Jesus Christ alone founded His empire upon love: and at this hour millions of men would die for Him. I have so inspired multitudes that they would die for me — but, after all, my presence was necessary, the lightning of my eye, my voice, a word, from me, then the sacred fire was kindled.”
And so the voice of truth and duty calls on you, in tones of thunder, to choose this day what you will do with Jesus! You cannot, dare not, be indifferent to the issues. He is or He is not the Way, the Truth, the Life. If He be, then better you had not been born, than to wander from this way, deny this truth, forfeit this life. — “Many Infallible Proofs.” With acknowledgments to Living Links.