December 1928
717
T h e - K i n g ' s ' B u s i n e s s
Who Is th e Christmas Christ? E was born in the meanest of circumstances but the ajr above was filled with the hallelujahs of ?the heavenly host. His lodging was a cattle , pen, but a star drew distinguished visitants from afar to do Him homage.' His birth was contrary to the laws of life. His death was contrary to the laws of death. No mir acle is so inexplicable as His life and teaching. He had no cornfields or fisheries but He could spread a table for 5,000 and have bread and fish to spare. He walked on no beautiful carpets, but He walked on the waters and they supported Him. His crucifixion was the crime of crimes, but, on God’s side, no lower price than His infinite agony could have made possiblei our redemption. When He died few men mourned, but a black ¡crepe was hung over .the!;sun. Though, men trembled not for their sins, the earth be neath shook under the load. All nature honored Him ; sinners alone rejected Him. - Sin never touched Him. Corruption could not get hold of His body. The; soil that had been réddenèd" with His blood could not claim His dust. Three years He preached His Gospel. He wrote no book, built no church, had no money back of Him. After 1,900 years, He is the one central character of human his tory., the perpetual theme of all preaching, the pivot around which the events of the ages revolve, the only re
The Romanist contention is that if Mary were to inherit the guilt of Adam’s sin even for an instant, she would be in the power of Satan and, therefore, could not have been the chosen instrument of the Holy Ghost in bringing the Saviour into the world. Therefore, they -give us not only à sinless man, the Christ, but one sin less woman, His mother. She is said to have been the only woman from whom the guilt of sin was excluded from the first instant of her conception. Where do the Catholics find Scripture warrant for this teaching? The greeting of the Angel Gabriel, “Hail, full o f grace!” But this signifies nothing more than the high favor granted her in being the chosen virgin. The sinlessness of. the Saviour in no way depended upon Mary (although without doubt she was a devout maiden), but upon the fact that He was “born not of bloods, nor o f the will o f the flesh, nor of the will of man, but o f God” (Jn. 1 :l3) or “conceived of the Holy Ghost” (Mt. 1 :20). Catholic writers appeal to, the writings of “the doctors of the church” quoted by Pòpe Pius in the bull of 1854. Satan was; created perfect—and sinned. Adam was created perfect—and sinned. Our Lord was not a cre ated man. He was begotten of God by and through the Holy Ghost, As a Person, He was preexistent, there fore, His sinleSsrteSS in no way depended .upon Mary. That which was begotten was not a person, but simply a human nature for that Person. Because this human nature was begotten by the Holy Spirit from the seed of the woman, it was holy— “that holy thing.” Since its
g e n e r a t i o n of the humán race. ■ Was it'merely the Son, of Joseph and Mary who .crossed ’the world’s . hèrizon 1,900 years ago? Was it merely human blood that was spilled on Calvary’s hill and which has work ed such wonders in men and nations through the centuries ? Your own heart must answer - . “My Lord and my God !” The Imm acu la te Conception N O doubt -many of our readers hear ministers speak of “the immaculate conception” as though it concerned the manner of our Lord’s conception in the womb. That par ticular mystery, however,- is known as the incarnation and we should be exceedingly careful as to the terms we use.' “Immaculate conception” is a Ro man Catholic dogma that Mary, from the instant of her Conception, from the first moment of her existence
quality was thus produced, there was nò sin in it, regardless of what Mary might have been. In the virgin birth a sinless human nature was joined to the eternal personality of the Son. His human nature did not sin because it could not be given the consent of His unique personality. It was the personality of deity manifest in the flesh. He alone was immaculate. As Illum in a tion and Insp iration S we expected, our editorial re view of “The Supplementary Bible” in our September issue has broüght forth some to a strong de fense of the “continuous inspiration” theory. The editors of this new Bible make the claim that that which in spires is inspired, and the poetry selected by seventy modern scholars is said to be inspired in the same sense as the Scripture writings. Dr. William Barrett M i l l a r d , editor of the Supplementary Bible,
was immaculate, free from all taint of original sin. It is not meant that Mary was. miraculously conceived, but that by miraculous power she was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin. Pope Pius IX declared this in the bull, “Ineffabilis Deus,” issued in December, 1854-
writes us : “I wonder how long it has been since K. L. B. has attended church and joined in singing that grand old hymn: ‘How Firm a Foundation.’ In writing that immortal hymn thé saintly George Keith submerged his own personality in order that G6d might
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