Delaware gazette and state journal., 1896-01-23
"AUrH0R1rr.p

your child, or her child, or TO Bah.
-
"AUTHoRiTY."
a Powerful Sermon Preached by the Rev.
Charles u. Murray sunday Morning.
The Rev. Charles E. Murray preached
a powerful sermon on Authority" in
ST. Andrews Church Sunday morn
ing His text was st. Matthew vii.
90. 30: "And 1t came to pass when
Jesus had ended these sayings, the
people we're astonished at his doctrine,
for He taught them as one having
authority, and not as the scribes, :"
In the course of his sermon, Mr..
Murray said: "Our text opens UP the
great question of authority in religion.
What are we TO believe? Why are we
to believe? Authority is an admitted
principle in human affairs. No man.is
born into a limitless freedom: for years
he is under the authority of his parents,
and for years more under the authority
Of teachers. We are not required to
construct for ourselves creed out of
our own poor personal acquaintance
with things we seek the wise man and
we learn of him; we recognize that
there are men who are qualified to be
our teachers and governors and rulers,
and the constant need Of society is to
discover these men.
''But il we need authority in secular
things, still more do we need 1t in the
supreme matters of the soul and in its
search for truth. The average man
Graves the satisfaction of certainty; he
is i'll at ease while he doubts. And
nothing is clearer than that even the
strongest and most self contained of
men, finds himself weak and incapable
in the presence of the vast problems of
the soul. " In this connection Mr..
Murray referred to Carlyle, Ruskin,
Darwin and HUXLEY, each of whom
"confesses that all his knowledge fails
before the Infinite; that the deepest
need of the soul is for supreme
authority; and that, to any one iusti-
fled in the exercise of that authority,
he would yield all. Is there any pos
sible exposition of the need for authority
in life, that could be so clear and so
moving, so profoundly convincing as
| this?"
Mr.. Murray said that there are, two
answers commonly given to the intense
longing of the soul OF man, the one is
the authority of human reason, the
other, the authority Of the church.
|
"that human reason is insufficient; nor
indeed can the authority of the church
be admitted for instantly we ask,
what church? Is it the Greek Church,
| the Roman Church, the English
Church? If the custody of the truth
| belongs to any one church, we are told
it probably belongs to the most ancient,
and that is presumed to bs the Church
of Rome. can understand the force
Of that reply. can understand the
motives and processes Of thought that
led Newman into that church; can
understand why it is that ever and
again in our day, men and women turn
away from the perplexities of rival
creeds and contending claims, and take
refuge in Rome. 1t is the last refuge
of despair. Rome says to the per-
picked; My child, doubt no more.
Cease to think, and | will think for
you; resign yourself, and will tell
you what TO obey; believe in the infal-
lible authority OF the church that is
the age long custodian of truth, and
| you shall find rest to your souls. And
il | could admit that claim, l should
have to be Romanist. If believed
that any church could possess this
authority, / should be bound to sub
nit myself to this most ancient of
authorities.
"But | do not believe this Who is
to tell me which creed is right and
which council, among the many coun-
| ellis that have bitterly attacked one
another, has the authority seek? No
| the truth is not in any creed or any
church; it is in Christ alone; if He
was, what He declared Himself TO be,
the Teacher sent Of God, then the ono
indestructible basis of truth and
authority, is in His own words. If we
are to find final authority anywhere. it
must be in Christ's plain teaching,
which all can understand. and it was
| the supreme claim of Christ, and his
| justification of that claim which men
inetinctiveiy felt ard recognized when
they said, He taught with authority
and not as the scribes.' The one
eternal authority for the soul, is not
the church, but the living Christ.
To submit to any other
authority, either of church or priest,
is simply intellectual suicide"
To the question, what are we to
believe?" the preacher answered,
"Christ's doctrine which is contained
in His words and in His profoundly
original view of life which His own
conduct enforced" =" Mr.. Murray said
that we need creeds to put into sue
cinct form our intellectual conceptions
of truth, we need churches as the
organism of our corporate life; but no
creed and no church has any right to
claim final authority over the CON
sciences of men.
Mr.. Murray held religion to be, not
a matter of opinion, but of supreme
conviction. Broadly stated, for all
honest men, belief must needs follow
conviction of truth. To be convinced of
truth and not to act upon it, is to out
rage the soul, to tamper with the moral
consciousness, and TO let the moral life
ehb away. 1t is this vitiating insin-
cerity which in every age has brought
religion into contempt
Look out for colds at this seasc n, Keep your
| self we'll and strong by taking Hoods Shrsapa-
rilla, the great tonic and blood purlier.