The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-05

Eogue when he feasts then he is doing his
enty to God 1t is a great deal more I'm, I'M
.han that he should do his duty to his fell
low men. 1t is, therefore. far more impor-
tant that he should offer the right sacrince,
that he should repay the right titEes, that
he should comply with the sabbath and
festal regulations and particularly That ne
should observe the laws respecting cleanIl-
ness and uncleanliness, than that he should
do justly or love mercy. Indeed, the decla-
ration of the prophet that TO do justly ana
love mercy was all that Coo requlre1n MA, hau
long ceased to iJe orthodox te2chlhS 1hty
had dropped, b.y common consent, OUT OF
the Pharisaic calendar. 1t was a complaint
brought against Christ that lie had at
teYnpted to revive this old teaching of the
prophets and put righteousness about ritual.
To that teaching Paul would nave serious ,,
objections. He could not believe II. 10 MN
ritral was the heart of the law. Religion
was obedience TO ritual
AS touching the law he said, i was
biameless He further tasted twice Week,
on the fifth day because on that day Moses
had gone up into the mount, and on the sec
ond day, because on that gay MOSES lle.u
come down again. He celebrated in lasts
almost every calamity in the national MS
tory His year was full of Hastings lie
was scrupulous about the SaDDatn. D., + IL
would carry no bundle or burdens on tne
Sabbath day: he would not walk any co COL,
Siderable distance, and never under any CT CT
was scrupulous about the Jewish feasts as
well He was always at the synagogue
when the Sabbath day came round nen .
he returned from Il VAIN IHS ~ -
thing he did was to get the ever ana paslh
of water that stood in every JEWISH hou9go
hold and TO wash, at least ms h t 7,o,id
never touched a Gentle; then ne "ou i1t
have been unclean; and had he oeen VIII, VIII
unclean hands the uncleanness Woulo nave
been unto him and despoiled MN.
NOT SATISFIED.
''And vet he was not satisfied, LOT ne nau
an ethical nature. He did believe that there
was something more in righteousness IMAM
I,ca
attendance and 1.-THE paying and fasting.
He did believe that there was something
real and actual in justice and mercy, IN
temperance and practical righteousness
and. although as teaching the ceremonial
law he was able to be blameless, yet his
ideal always stood beyond his reach and
he never attained it. He has given US a
graphic picture of himself at TINS tilne- II
Is true this picture probably, represents n1s
later consciousness OF ms Garner slaSe. ~
know that Bunyan'S pictures OF ms oW ,I
condition are not such pictures as ne Woulu
have painted when he was d TINKER. we
know that John b. Cough S account Oh nls
own experiences is not such as ne Woulu
have given when he was a drunken stage
actor. And the consciousness which Paul
here so clearly and wildly porIrays was was
not the consciousness, shadoWy, vague, UNI
interpreted, which he had formerly ielt ohly
as a strange unrest. AfterWard ne came
to understand it and described it. am
new, but from my own:
philippians Iii, 5-12: If any other one thinks
to have confidence in ire ilesn; more q nI If
the tribe of Benjamin. a Hebrew OF Hebrew an
cestry, measured by the law of a Pharlsee, meas,
1Ired bv zeal prosecuting the church, measured
by the standards of righteousness afforded by the
vantages to me, these have | recAoned because
of the Christ loss. Yea, verify l 40 moreoNer
OF the supereminence of the knowledge OF Shfist
Jesus. my Lord through wnG4 4b hnt Tefu ene
in order that might gain Christ, ana De Iouno
when proceeds from the law but that which is
through faith in Christ the righteousness WnlSh
proceeds from God and is founded upon faith;
that l may Know Him. and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sunerings,
may attain TO the resurrection from the dead; not
that have already attained christ or am al al.
hold on that for which l was laid hold OF by
Christ.
II say again, we are not to suppose that
he was conscious of all this at the time,
but as he looked back and interpreted the
conflict which was going on in his soul IN
those earlier years, this was his lnterpreta-
ton of it. Along with this learning of the
law was also the learning of lsraefs hope.
Through the long vista OF the centuries the
literature of Israel had been bound together
by a golden thread of hope. From the ear
Hest tradition, when it was said that one
should rise through whom man should grind
the serpent's head to powder, and down to
the last prophecy of Malachi, the Old TeS-
lament abounds with promises of Mes
SLAMS coming Tor 1SIaeIS IenONdIlOn anu
redemption. These and other prophecies
and promises he studied, and what he
thought about them was something like
this: He believed a Messiah would sud-
denly appear; that he would appear in
power and great glory; that he would put
himself at the head of Israel; that all the
enemies of Israel would mass themselves
against him; that he would either destroy
them or he would subjugate them. Some
thought one, some thought the other and
some combined the two. Then, when they
had been subjugated or destroyed, Jerusa-
lem would be renovated the dispersed of
Israel from all lands would gather together
In Jerusalem, which would become the i'm
perial city of the world. The saints who
had been and We're dwelling in the shadowy
under world would emerge from the
shadOWy under world and come back with
the children of the dispersion from their
earthly hauntS. Wars would cease, famine
would cease, blindness and disease would
cease and the reign of peace and the glory
of the kingdom of God would come upon
the earth under the crowned monarchy of
Israel.
II would be easy, were there time to
quote chapter and verse from the Old
Testament to give warrant to all these eX-
pectations. If you take the Bible literally
If you forget that its poetry is poetry, it's
Imagery is imagery, If you regard it as
book of mathematics, not as q book of
literature, then it is easy to find chapter
and verse to warrant every element in the
Pharisaic conception of the Messiah's
kingdom. And the evidence of this lies in
the fact that there are to-day sects in
1t is true-whO still believe, substantially
that this result is yet to be brought about
who look for it and who have been com
PEELED thus far to postpone from time to
time the anticipated contamination
A MAN OF EARNESTNESS.
Consider, then, Paul as man of earnest
ness, as a man of passionate earnestness
a man whose patriotism was his religion and
whose religion was his patriotism; a man
who believed that the law of Moses
was law handed down direct by God and
who thought the most important part of
that law was the ceremonial; the law which
dictated duties which man owed to God;
who believed that a Messiah was to come
to ransom Israel and make it the dominant
nation of the world To him there come ru-
mors of a strange sect that has arisen in
Palestine. We interpret primitive Chris
tianity by the teachings of its converts. We
have the four gospels, written by those who
We're loyal Christians and loved and hon
ored Christ. We have the epistles of Paul
written by one who was His devoted follow
of Jesus Christ. But Paul had no such re-
sources at his command. Not a gospel was
written, not an apostle yet had written a
line He learned about this new sect from
its enemies. And if will go, first to the
New Testament, and then to the primitive
writings of the early days, echoing what the
pagans had to say, we can easily recon-
strlct the conception of Christianity which
came to Paul. Saul of Tarsus, / should
rather be calling him. 1t was something
like this:
So H.