GLADDEN

BORN IN 1836

The prince of life[1]

[Footnote 1:  From Mr. Gladden’s “The New Idolatry.”  By permission of The McClure Co.  Copyright, 1906, by McClure, Phillips & Co.]

And killed the prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead.—­Acts iii., 15.

This is the phrase with which Peter, in his great speech in the temple porch, describes the Master whose disciple he had been for three years, whose death he had witnessed on Calvary, and to whose resurrection from the dead he is now bearing witness.  “The prince of life!” It is one of the many great titles conferred upon the Lord by those who loved Him.  Reverence and devotion fell from their lips in lyrical cadences whenever they spoke of Him, and they wreathed for Him garlands of words with which they loved to deck His memory.  He was “the Prophet of the Highest”; He was “the Great High Priest”; He was “the Shepherd of the Sheep”; He was “the Captain of Salvation”; He was “the First Born of Many Brethren”; He was “Redeemer,” “Reconciler,” “Savior.”  Gratitude and affection shaped many a tender phrase in which to describe Him, but there is none, perhaps, more luminous or more comprehensive than this with which the impulsive Peter, facing the men who had put Him to death, gave utterance to his loyalty.  Its pertinence is confirmed by the word of Jesus Himself, in one of the sayings in which He described His mission:  “I am come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it abundantly.”  Author and Giver of life He was, and what He gave He gave with princely munificence—­freely, unstintedly.

The phrase seems to be one on which we may fitly dwell to-day, since the day of the year which commemorates His birth occurs on the day of the week which celebrates His resurrection.  Both events proclaim Him the Prince of Life.  In the one He is the Bringer of new life, in the other He is the Victor over death; and thus He becomes, in the impassioned confessions of the apostle, the Alpha and the Omega, the Author and the Finisher of Faith, the First and the Last and the Living One.

Those who are familiar with the New Testament narration do not need to have their attention called to the constant ministry of this Son of Man to the vital needs of men.  The impartation of life seems to have been His main business.  Somehow it came to be believed by the multitude, at the very beginning of His public ministry, that He possest some power of communicating life.  The wonderful works ascribed to Him are nearly all of this character.  The healing of the sick, the cleansing of the lepers, all resulted from the reenforcement of the vital energies of the sufferers.  When He laid His hand upon men, new life seemed to speed through their veins.  We have known some who seemed to have, in some imperfect way, this quickening touch.  It is a physiological