Jesus Christ Not an Impostor.
SOMETIMES we hear Jesus stigmatized as an impostor, but before we admit the charge, we have a right to ask, On whom did he attempt to impose? What motive had he for the attempt? What means did he employ to compass his design? Did he wish to impose on the priesthood? His language from first to last was, "Woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites." Did he aim to impose on the rich? Then the exclamation, "How hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of Heaven," was either madness or folly. Did he endeavor to impose on the poor? If he did, it was by preaching to them the gospel of patience, hope, and encouragement. But all impostors have a motive, and what, it may be asked, was that of Jesus? Did he seek popularity? With whom? The mighty? He never called them—except to repentance. With the people? He discouraged all their expectations of political freedom through his agency; and when they boasted of their descent, the glory of a Hebrew, he told them that God could of the stones raise up such children unto Abraham. Was his motive wealth? Strange that he should become poor, that others might be made rich; strange that he should heal the sick, restore sight to the blind, raise the dead, without fee or reward; strange that one little purse, in the hands of a traitor, contained so small a treasure that it could not always secure to him a place where he might lay his weary head. Was his motive, power? He preached to the multitudes to be sure, but his text was, "My kingdom is not of this world." Was it ambition? He only showed it by washing his disciples' feet. What was his motive, then, for incurring reproach, enduring every privation, and suffering a cruel death? I answer, Love, undying love. What was his object? Truth, the truth of God. Call you such, an impostor? Happy for the world had there been more such impostors, who spoke not their own words, but those of omniscient wisdom; who sought not their own good, but that of others; who obeyed not their own will, but the will of God; and who came not to condemn the world, but to save it.—Sel.