Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-06-12
HEARING,

the school.
HEARING.
The Voice of Christ the Voice of Trutl,
and They of the Truth Hear and Recog-
nize His Voice.
They all heard the Galilean Teacher
with the outward ear. They knew the
meaning of the words He used, for they
were the simplest words in the language.
But the same voice and the same words
impressed men very differently. For
some they were dark sayings; for some
they We're hard sayings; in some they
stirred up hate and envy, while some
heard Him gladly. 1t was the same
Teacher and the same words, but the
response ranged throughal ii the passions,
from the most devoted love to the most
violent hate. The same word which
fell meaningless on Indifferent hearts,
which stirred up hate in the ambitious
and self-willed, fell like the dews of
heaven on the weary and heavy laden.
He did not Aeed to seek out these diff
ferent classes. The word found them
as it fell on the multitude. 1t found
them as the sun finds the seeds that lie
in the ground; and ono springs up a
violet, and another a thistle, and
another that is dead springs not up at
all. Something in the seed determines
what the flower shall be. Something
in the heart determines what the result
shall be.
A mans knowledge is a mixture of
l what lS IN him orl of yrho A. ~, 70
him. A man judges what he sees by
what he is. When a man gives us, his
idea of a piece OF music he gives also
an idea of his own musical condition.
We know where to class him by the
way he classes different styles of music.
A mans Judgment OF a book may mark
his literary standing. AS he grades
the books on the library shelves he is
marking his own grade at the same
time. Every Judgment q man passes
is double, being a Judgment of himself
as well as the object he passes on. The
optician asks Il to look through an
instrument, then moves the object back
and forth till he can see it clearly. The
observer says he is finding the focus of
his glass. The optician says: II am
finding the focus of your eye" The
former thought the latter was testing his
instrument. But he was really testing
the others eyesight. 1t often happens
that our Judgment of what we look at
is still more a Judgment Of ourselves.
A friendly soul recognizes friendship.
We can not prove its existence to a
churl. He will answer our arguments,
explain our example, and mystify our
experience, and we shall not be able to
convince him. Yet we know the voice
OF friendship by an inner sense of
which we can not be mistaken. Some
thing in us enables lis to recognize it.
AS Jesus went about He seldom
reasoned to prove His mission, and sell
dom did He affirm what He was. When
John sent to Him out Of prison, He
said: $50 tell what you have seem"
Let him judge for himself. Often when
He had healed some one, He charged
him not to make Him known. When
Peter said: "Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God" He said: "Tell
no one" He wished them to accept
Him for what they saw, and not from
another's word. AS he went about in
His simple character and taught-in His
simple way, the Supplemented, the
spiritually-minded, "thcy that were of
the truth" would hear Him and believe
Him.
AS the disciples afterward went
abroad, there We're minds everywhere
to whom the truth came as q familiar
voice. Not that they had eyer heard
it before. but when they heard it there
was an answering response within.
Philip was preaching in Samaria. He
xvos pr1orod RI Uo dawn tcyvo,I tho
desert, and then he overlook a solitary
African Prince, whose study Of the
prophets had brought him to the ques-
ton: 'What next?" When Philip pre-
scented Jesus, it answered his questions.
it solved his problems, and was the COM
plement of all that went before. His
own thought had brought him to where
Philips sermon began. That sermon
was to him like the finishing of 4 story;
like the continuation of q song; like the
bringing in Of the missing part of q
picture. Peter was sent to Cnsarea,
not. to preach IN the market-place to the
m,ltitudes, but to preach to one soldier
whom q devout and prayerful life had
brought into an cNpectant state OF mind.
Paul went to Philippi. The multitude
was indifferent to his coming. But
thcrc was Il little company by the river
side "where prayer was wont to be
made" Among these was a woman
named Lydia "whose heart the Lord
had opened.n And she listened to the
things spoken by Paul, and through her
listening all the city was moved.
Everywhere the Gospel found its
Simeons whose souls waited for the
kingdom Of God. They may not have
known for what they were looking, but
they recognized it when it came. II
was like the coming of a friend at mid.
night. 1t was not known whence il