"...with what confident familiarity do some people talk of " the scheme" of the Gospel, as if they saw through it all, and knew exactly the design of the Almighty in sending Christ into the world !
It is not my present design to attempt anything of this kind. I cannot tell the final purpose of God. The question is: What is the office which Christianity is to discharge here and now ? What special advantage do we receive from it ?
The office of Christianity is discharged, its meaning is interpreted to all our intents and purposes, when we are reached and moved by the divine force of the personal character of Jesus Christ. This is "the glory of this mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory." Christ in you, not mystically, not by any extraordinary union of his nature and yours, but in you, through an active heart-knowledge of his divine excellence; in you, as every friend whom you revere is in your heart, animating that with lively sentiments of reverence and affection. We are baptized, we are regenerated, we are members of his body and his Church, when the life of his personal character circulates in our being, kindling us into a like beneficent activity. Then we have obtained from Christianity its chief good. It is accomplishing its main work in us."
Blessings
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