Is there a Messiah? I take pleasure in answering at
once and thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time
our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends
of the St. Paul’s United Methodist Church:
“Dear Pastor, I am 8 years old. Some of my
friends say there is no Jesus. Papa says, ‘If you see it in the Epistle
newsletter, it's so.’ Please tell me the truth, is Jesus real?’
Virginia, your friends are wrong. They have been
affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they
see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little
minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be adult's or children's, are little.
In this great universe of ours, humans are mere insects, ants, in our intellect
as compared with the boundless world about us, as measured by the intelligence
capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, Jesus is real. He was conceived by the
Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was
crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell. The third day He arose
again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of
God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the
dead.
Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no
Jesus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no
childlike faith then, no poetry, and no romance to make tolerable this
existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external
light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Jesus! You might as well not believe in
fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on
Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus
coming down, what would that prove? Nobody alive has seen Jesus, but that is no
sign that there is no Son of God. The most real things in the world are those
that people cannot see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course
not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or
imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes
the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which neither
the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that
ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside
that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it
all real? Ah, Virginia, in this entire world there is nothing else real and
abiding.
No Jesus! Thank
God! He lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10
times 10,000 years from now, He will continue to make glad the heart of people
everywhere.
Every blessing,
Pastor Charles
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